Yearly Archives: 2018 “Any fool can carry on, but a wise man knows how to shorten sail in time.” – Joseph Conrad I’m not a great sailor: my favourite part of sailing is making a safe landfall. This is especially true when the landfall is somewhere new and different, and when the sailing has been a bit fraught! […]  (Double click for: Elkesh Herself by Kugyershin Family’s Songs) It is said that if you want to see traditional Kazakh culture, you should go to Bayan-Ölgii province in Mongolia, rather than to Kazakhstan. In the 1800s, the expanding Russian Empire pushed the semi-nomadic Kazakh tribes into neighboring countries, including Mongolia – where members of the Middle Jüz Kazakhs […]  “Yuorait?” “Yu stap gut?” The calls of “How are you?” in Papua New Guinea’s Tok-Pisin were all around us when we stopped at a simple roadside stall just outside Maprik in East Sepik Province. The local people who were gathered in the canopied shade – selling their produce, gossiping and chewing betel – seemed happy to see […]  It is no wonder that Budapest is called one of the most beautiful cities in Europe! Approaching it from the Danube River that runs between what were originally the separate cities of Buda on the right bank and Pest on the left, renders it magical: this section of old city along the Banks of the […]  Balinese dance is an integral part of life on this tiny Indonesian island. Bali has a richness of unique culture that is immediately apparent to its many tourist-visitors. The productiveness of its lush, terraced rice fields and its relatively equitable division of food and labour have allowed the people time to develop and expand their […] |
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