Toledo con jamon

     I love places that resist the urge to become complete slaves to tourism. And, thankfully, Toledo is just such a place. Of course, I do accept the potential hypocrisy of being a tourist and decrying tourism, but I can justify that by saying I never buy t-shirts with a town name on, fridge […]

Coastal Sri Lanka

It’s very weird to arrive in one of the locations in Sri Lanka that was obliterated by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami just as the Japanese tsunami is occurring. All the new buildings here and the occasional large boat stranded way inland serve as a reminder.I can’t say I looked at the Indian Ocean and […]

Tea for one

      I’ve never seen tea on bushes before today. And when those bushes carpet every spare corner of the rolling hillsides in the pleasantly cool atmosphere at about 5000 feet up in the Sri Lankan mountains, it’s extremely refreshing. Nearly as good as a cup (Liptons of course, since Sir Thomas founded his […]

True Grit

I’m not sure whether an Americanism is exactly suitable, but whatever the phrase, I reckon the colonialists of old must have been made of much sterner stuff than me…     After 4 hours on two buses traveling west,  I arrived in Galle which was colonised by the Portuguese, then grabbed by the Dutch, who […]

By the old Moulmein pagoda

This is slightly disconcerting, because as I write this, I have an audience of hotel employees standing behind me watching. I’m in Moulmein where there is simply no internet, and I’ve yet to see a mobile phone. The buses are old Chevy trucks with a roof built over the load area, and about one person […]

Mindblowing Myanmar

Words fail me – well nearly! This is the most stupendous traveling experience I have had in a very long time.Whatever else the governing generals may have done, their policies have effectively placed Myanmar (only the British decided it should be called Burma) in a time-capsule. No credit cards, no ATM’s, no mobile phones, hardly […]

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