Ancient Grace: the cathedral and town of Chartres
9 Feb 2019 I’m standing on the station platform. The train doors are closing and are more than half shut …
Author Archives: Alison and Don
Paris is always a good idea. Stories of a brief winter sojourn
5-8 February 2019 In December 1973, when I was 23 years old, I left Australia for the first time. The …
Winter In The City of Light – ordinary and extraordinary Paris
5-8 February 2019. I’d returned from a solo seven-week journey to Japan and China in early June 2018. The summer …
Birds Of A Feather – The George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary
They are there when you first walk in, just a short distance down the path from the entrance building. Dozens …
A Blue And Green World: Cowichan Days on Vancouver Island
The Coast Salish First Nation, the first people to live there, gave the place its name. They called it Quamichan …
Water Water Everywhere . . . hiking the Dragon’s Back in Hong Kong
10 June 2018. I’m sitting hunkered down in the shade, squished up against the low bushes on the side of …
Treasure Islands: Hong Kong’s Lamma Island and Cheung Chau
9 June 2018 I never forgot Cheung Chau. Back in 1978 it was one of the most exotic places I’d …
The Streets Of Hong Kong: a photo essay
24-26 June 2018. From Yangshuo we travelled to Hong Kong: a two-hour ride in a private van to Guilin, followed …
The Great Wall That Wasn’t, and other tales from China
16 May-7 June 2018. All the stories that couldn’t find a home in any of the other posts about China: …
The Legend of the Song Fairy: Impressions Sanjie Liu
Presented on the biggest natural stage in the world! The river as the stage, the mountains as the backdrop! A …
. . . . For All The Tea In China! A tea plantation, a town, and a village in Yangshuo
4-6 June 2018 Legend has it that a few thousand years ago, somewhere in China, a cocoon fell from a …
The Glorious Landscape of Yangshuo, China – a photo essay
4-5 June 2018 This time I know I’ll be able to do it because I’ve already done it in Xi’an. …
War of the Three Kingdoms – like an action movie only live!
1 June 2018 The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, it must divide. Thus it has ever been. These …
Yangtze River Cruise: don’t get your hopes up!
1-3 June 2018. We were warned that the Yangtze River is very industrialised and not to expect lush scenery or …
