Impetus

Just in case life only happens this once...it's worth living each day like it's the last. Do your best and do every last mad thing that you can think of.

Good Morning Hues

The light in Hue at dawn was asking to dance, went to see what the DLSR would make of it.
It captured some spontaneous imagery that spoke more of light, and texture. And a little of composition.

Nice Street Party...

...French folk get jolly down at the Nice Flower Carnival.

Wabi Sabi Wood Bench

Wabi Sabi: Japanese term for appreciating the beauty of imperfection.

My Grandad was a talented carpenter with his own workshop in Hong Kong,
and through my Dad I've always been fascinated by wood since childhood.

I just dig the imperfections in this old Macau bench, gently accentuated by the fresh morning sunlight.

Click to see the detail...

On the Tonle Sap road

Along the way, broken, exposed straw huts hug the roadsides. Entire families are perched inside single room huts of planks and straw, upon which all their possessions are also crammed. There is no privacy here - indeed the poorest literally have nothing to hide.

Annual flooding in the surrounding fields forces the people to shift their homes by hard labour, some with the aid of trucks, up onto the mud embankments, the only high land above the flat paddies.

On the river, boat people of distant Chinese origin and a mix of refugees from the American War in Vietnam, edged over time off the land find new homes in houseboats floating on the muddy water leading up to the mouth of Lake Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. Further upriver some of the more organised communities come with a full compliment of floating public services and amenities - some quite ornately decorated.

Back on the road to Siem Reap, three small scruffy girls harass me as I step out to take some shots, the most boisterous one finally giving a smile for the dollars they manage to scrounge.

Easter Shopping List

Anyone know where to get:

1 beat up leather sofa
(dark brown, like ones u get in cool coffee shops)

2 cool outdoor reading chairs for the patio
(with a small side table for putting a cuppa on
and sticking up ya plates of meat)

A contractor who ain't a muppet
(I defy you to find one of those)

...spam me details today!

And a right loungy sun chair thing would be great for me buggered back - seeing as it decided to go out of place last Saturday and left me hobbling again like I just had replacement hips. Sitting sends a constant thudding dull pain down my left hamstring - and walking is only possible when preceeded by a 5 minute warm-up.
I need to spend more time in a reclining position, which suits me as that puts me outside on the patio with a cuppa and a book.
Kato the dog don't always dig going out there, he sometimes has the idea I'm gonna jip him with a biscuit and quickly lock him out...

Shangri La

The old Tibetan led us to places written about by past adventurers, to the mythical Shangri La, high up in the Himalayan foothills.

As the lake mirrored the sky in overwhelming silence, I was in tears.

If Heaven could be found on Earth - here it was.

Kyoto

Daimaru, Kyoto.
It's almost as if the images on the wall are more real than the sleeping girl.

Departure

January 2007, Grandad's street.

Canto Boy

One of a series taken from a smokey spot behind the altar of Yen Wei Temple.
After a tearful 20minutes, the little rosy cheeked fella walked right into the shaft of light.
It worked well as the detail in all the dark areas came out, adding texture to the mood.

2059

2059: Bubb Sickly invents Ventriloquist Soup, so long range communication is possible without the aid of harmful wave-emitting devices

Loafing Chair

...with the lacquered Macau side table.

At last, on the way to that outdoor kopi/reading/surfing/loafing area!

Last Passenger

Version 1 and Version 2.