Yearly Archives: 2014 February 14th was a special day this year: there was a full moon. Across Western countries, the fourteenth was Valentine’s Day, that most romantic celebration of love, or most cynical expression of consumerism, depending on your perspective. In North America, the full moon was the “Snow Moon”, named for the heavy snowfalls February usually brings. In Theravada Buddhist countries, the […]  Is there anything more magical than flight? … being transported through the air by an overweight contraption that somehow lifts itself (and you) into space? … watching graceful machines do impossible acrobatics high overhead? I love airplanes. I love their shiny, reflective surfaces; their lines and curves. While I know almost nothing about the actually mechanics of lift […]  What an amazing place Bagan must have been in its heyday! “Bagan is a gilded city alive with tinkling bells and the swishing sounds of monks’ robes” – attributed to Marco Polo‘s late-12th-century account. Probably founded in the mid-to-late 9th, the city was the political, economic and cultural capital of the Pagan Empire for 250 years, and would […]  The little alpine village of Thredbo (pop. 477 in 2012), a winter ski resort and a summer access point for sublime walks in the High Country of Kosciuszko National Park, is always a delightful place to visit. Every year in mid January, however, the village really comes to life. Blues and roots musicians from Australia and overseas fill […]  Religion and religious faith are the heart of Ireland. So, it seems fitting that one of the most fascinating religious/historical sites sits at the heart of the country – almost dead centre – where the traditional east-west land route crossed the River Shannon. It is also apposite that this site, dating back to the earliest […] |
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