We drove the quiet streets of NaTrang at dawn. Twelve hours on the battered highway from DaNang and we fell out of that mini-van barely able to walk. In a concrete Russian built hotel across the street from the beach, that soft bed should have been the most delicious thing in the world. But, as … Continue reading Nha Trang
There is some dispute about how we met; but Hera has had so many other adventures that the one she had with me is probably in the shade, so I reckon we go with my version. Checking in for a flight in Singapore, something makes me glance down to see what this blondie has on … Continue reading The Brave One
I'd been watching these two play chess in the afternoon for a few weeks. For someone who loves taking photos of people I lack the pushiness that's required to stick a camera in a strangers face uninvited. But this afternoon I just walked up and asked if they'd mind me taking their picture. They made me … Continue reading The Grandmaster and the Galah
It begins with the far-off sound of drums. Fading in and out and washed my way by the same breeze that’s rustling the rice stalks like a sweeping hand. Then as I walk towards town, the beat gets stronger and under the high-pitched rat-tat-tat that's traveled the furthest, there's the boom of the heavy drums, … Continue reading Burning the demons
You’ll never know what worse luck your bad luck just saved you from. Cormac McCarthy wrote that in ‘No Country for Old Men’ and I recall it every time I think of the occasional character who’s dealt me a hard life-lesson. Tyrants can be our greatest teachers and while I’m thanking them through gritted … Continue reading Finding the switch
Drinking a supposedly sealed bottle of water in the back-blocks of Vietnam had me a sick as I can remember being. Sitting on a toilet in Dalat with a bowl in my lap, spewing and shitting from the same muscle spasm has to be one of the low points of my life. I was … Continue reading You never know what miracles are around the corner
We used to train under one floodlight on those near freezing mid-winter nights at Kupara park in Katanning. I can remember hearing a call ‘Ming! Ming!’, all I could see through the gloom, was a set of white teeth and kicked it straight to Vince. It might have been instinct because I couldn’t ever count … Continue reading Changing the tune
I was only just thinking that the world needs a few more like John Muir, Edward Abbey, Dian Fossey and Ansell Adams right now when I saw a quote from John Muir, talking about the word ‘saunter’. He said, in part, ‘away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to … Continue reading Holy Land
