Tag Archives: arts and crafts

Irony: the future of the little city of Hội An has literally been saved by it’s own past demise. Hội An (會安) means “peaceful meeting place”. Once upon a time, particularly between the seventh and 10th centuries, this strategic port near the mouth of the Thu Bon River was part of the Chăm Pa Kingdom (192-1832). The Cham, who were seafarers and traders, controlled the spice […]

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(Double click to start Tullamore Blues by Irish Mythen) It’s a small world, right? We were at the Byron Bay Bluesfest (Back to the Roots) recently. On the Saturday, we walked into the Delta tent to hear the delightful celtic accent and the cheeky, cackling laughter of Irish Mythen, a singer-songwriter born and raised in […]

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“What are water puppets?” asked one of our travel companions from Argentina. We were on a small bus from Hanoi to Halong, and had stopped in Yen Duc Village for a show and an early lunch. “Ahhh, they are a unique local entertainment; you have to see them once.” I replied. “But only once?” he responded, with […]

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If you start typing “Reykjavík” into a Google search, the second thing that comes up – after “Reykjavík” itself – is “Reykjavík weather.” No surprise, really. When I visited Iceland’s compact coastal capital city at the tail end of the nordic winter mid-March last year, he things that stood out to me most were the […]

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According to Google Maps, it takes 4 hours and 42 minutes to drive the 309 kilometres through the heart of Stro gateway to Namibia’s northern border regions. Google Maps doesn’t tell you that most of this distance is on what “Maps of Namibia” calls “Main-Gravel Roads”: dusty, corrugated, white-gravel, roads with potholes that leap out without notice and where on-coming or overtaking […]

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