Kolkata Quickie

I'm squeezing in one last holiday before work starts again and am in Kolkata visiting friends, eating and taking pictures.

I'm working on trying to take pictures of people from the front, I am reticent doing this as I've mentioned before.

I tend to bumble around new places with the odd google search or tourist map to help me on my way but this time I signed up for a guided tour with Calcutta Photo Tours and can't recommend the experience highly enough.

I was guided around markets, places of worship and residential areas by Manjit, an exceptional story teller and gifted photographer and had an absolutely fantastic time. 

I learned so much about the city and enjoyed the experience so much that I've already decided to do another tour when I come back in December. I went on the Culture Kaleidoscope tour, next time I'll be mooching around markets

Holiday pictures from Kerala and Pondicherry

This post is just a random collection of pictures I took on recent travels.  Since that's what the entire blog is about I make no apologies:

Tea garden.  I loved the way the light and textures changed from moment to moment.  I could have spent hours in just one spot.

Kathakali performer.  I couldn't go to Kerala without taking one of these pictures.  The more interesting ones might have been of the makeup and dressing process but alas, I arrived too late for that.

 Jackfruit,  I love jackfruit but I had no idea just how delicious it could be until I ate it in the South. 

 

Smart bird taking advantage of the bait I laid so I could snap a picture.

And this, continuing my interest in terrifying beauty parlours.

 Scary.

 

Beach time

I wasn't sure about how I would take to Goa. For sure I was up for a bit of in-your-face tourism with all the cocktails, beach loungers and eating places geared to the international beach bum. I wasn't too keen on the by product of all that, lots and lots of other people looking for the same thing but as it turned out I struck lucky. A guesthouse backing onto a busy beach at a part of the beach that wasn't too busy so if I angled my book right the place looked almost deserted.

I had a hammock at my beck and call

Visitors were few and very cute

Beach vendors were photogenic and not not too pushy


with just the right amount of creative framing the beach looked lovely

I've just realised, I didn't have one cocktail! Just as well I'm going back to explore another part of Goa in a week.

Morning

Sunrise isn't usually as spectacular as sunset but, since Indian cities don't tend to get moving very early and I do, it's a quiet and lovely time of day.

Up On The Roof

When I lived in Vietnam I had a roof terrace, I miss that outdoor space now that I am in a flat without even a balcony. The closest I can come to outdoors is sitting on the window seat with the windows opened to maximum but it isn't the same. Our hotel in Jaipur had a roof terrace where we spent a lot of time with views of other people doing the same.

Edinburgh extended stay

A quick week stop off has stretched out further as the work visas are taking longer than anticipated to get processed. No problem, time for more pictures, more oatcakes and more baked tatties and lots of time at the visa processing centre.

Vermin


There's a Spanish tourism promotion this week and appropriately themed buskers.


There are more traditional Scottish buskers


and traditional buskers with twists.

Otherwise I've been out and about getting arty-farty with the new lens.







Fingers crossed for the next pictures coming from India.

Edinburgh

Back in the old stamping grounds after four years in South East Asia. It's been a whirlwind of panic, frustration and tangled rules and regulations as we attempt to get travel, visas and banking all sorted out while still leaving some time to catch up and catch breath.

I've rediscovered how few people are out and about before 6am and still being on a Vietnamese waking schedule have found it a good time to get out and take some pictures. There's no doubt Edinburgh is a striking city.

Clouds

Palings

Lums

Lamposts

Castle

Cobbles and a rare personal appearance.

Hoi An yearly visit

The annual trip to Hoi An to get some work clothes made is just over. I was fairly restrained this year and unlike previous trips didn't have to buy a new bag to haul the stuff back to Saigon.

As always I took far too many photographs but they're easy to transport.

Girls working on shirts and stuff into the night. The clothes are generally made off the premises but some finishing touches are made in house.

Beer by the river watching the world drift by is always welcome.

The pictures above were taken at Son Cafe, a slightly ramshackle place on the beach road. It's been a regular stopping off point for me since my first visit to Hoi An.

The Japanese Bridge is still standing and still a prime and picturesque site for hawkers.

I hadn't noticed this nicely distressed red bust before, I have no idea who it is because it doesn't look anything like the usual Uncle Ho statues seen around.

Not much has changed since my last visit, the market is in a new building and the international tourists seem to be fewer in numbers but internal tourists are growing in numbers. All seems well and the sea was toasty warm.

El Nido, Palawan, Philippines

We're just back from Palawan and Manila in the Philippines. I took far too many photographs to post here but just for a taster here are a few.

Day two of island touring in the Bacuit Archipelago, we saw a starfish, presumably dead but still pretty.

And a very alive hermit crab.

We were picked up from the front of our hotel, we had to walk back a fair bit at low tide but it was an unexpected luxury.

Meanwhile in El Nido town the local children indulge in the local equivalent of hanging around outside the corner shop.

Or chilling out, but check the hair, that quiff surely didn't get there by accident.

There are more, lots more, I know you'll be desperate to see them so will post more in the next day or two.

Phu Quoc

Phu Quoc. It's a Vietnamese island in the Gulf of Thailand just a few miles off the coast of Cambodia. It has clean beaches, warm waters, lovely scenery and incredible sunsets and you'd beter get yourself there now before the international airport the cruise ship docking facilities and the mega casino do.













A fifty minute flight from HCMC.

Hue Hey

Hue, pronounced something like "whey", was an interesting place for a couple of days stop off. It's got a much slower pace of life than Ho Chi Minh.



And a Citadel to see.



It was the hottest place I've been in Vietnam, some tourists took great pains to protect themselves from the sun.



While others tried hard to blend in:



...and if we go down here I think we can each get an Ao Dai too.


There were some interesting sights and the river was particularly picturesque. The local cuisine was excellent but we had some of the most awful faux-French food and an especially bland curry. I suppose it serves us right for not eating local.