Category: Travel Journal
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Pemaquid Rocks
We think we’re off to see a lighthouse, but it is the ROCKS that steal the show at Pemaquid Point, at the south end of Maine’s Route 130. Formed hundreds of millions of years ago, these beauties were once deep sea sediments. Hoisted by heat and pressure within the earth’s crust, they changed into the metamorphic combinations…
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Penang Pleasures
Thailand is locked in political turmoil so we decided on Plan B – to explore Penang instead. Penang is an island on the North West coast of peninsular Malaysia known for its scenic beaches, well-preserved heritage buildings and great food. The capital George Town is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. Our Penang adventure…
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Street food is king
It’s inexpensive and it’s absolutely delicious. Food is an international language and Singapore excels in it. In fact, it’s one of the reasons tourists come here. Food lovers with an adventurous palate will find so many treasures that it’s mind boggling. Where do you start? There’s a gamut of offerings from upscale establishments featuring international…
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The House on the Hill
Just behind the National Museum of Singapore on Stamford Road lies a quiet green oasis that once was called the Forbidden Hill. Forbidden, because this was the hillside abode of the Malay sultans who ruled Singapore since the 14th century. It’s now Fort Canning Park and my good friend and knowledgeable guide Shobana took us…
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Prague Summer
I had every intention of rereading Kafka, The Metamorphosis in particular, before we left for his birthplace in the Czech Republic a fortnight ago. It was not to be. I still have the volume by my bedside and will get straight to it after I finish my current favorite Coetzee’s Scenes from a Provincial Life.…
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The Power of Petroglyphs
I’ll admit this. Before I went to Albuquerque in 2006, I did know about the images and designs carved on rocks centuries ago, I just did not know that they were called petroglyphs. Now, it’s one of my favorite words – PETROglyph, petroGLYPH, PETROGLYPH! Our recent visit to Taliesin West reminded me that I’d written this after a trip…
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Taliesin West
Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” Frank Lloyd Wright The desert has a voice. And Frank Lloyd Wright heard it a long time ago. He arrived in Scottsdale in the 1930s and ten years later had built Taliesin West as his winter residence, architectural studio and campus. Taliesin…
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“Big Bugs” – Big Buzz!
Never imagined I’d look admiringly at a praying mantis, but psstt! that’s an old thought. It’s actually the first insect one sees on entering the Desert Botanical Garden in Scottsdale, Arizona where there’s a “Big Bugs” exhibition on until Jan. 1, 2012. We all came away excited with these oversized, sometimes whimsical wood sculptures of…
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Crazy for Lighthouses
I have always been drawn to these beacons of light on rocky shores. While their purpose is critical to seafarers, it’s their location that always attracted me. I must be a real romantic at heart. The salt sea air, pink granite rocks, brooding fir trees, craggy cliffs, an imminent sunset – cast your cares to…
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