Saturday, June 26, 2010

An English Windmill




I'm not in La Mancha yet, but I've just seen this beautiful windmill in Rye, East Sussex.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Off tilting at windmills


I am travelling in Europe for the next couple of months, and so won't be keeping up my blog, but I'll be back at the end of August.

One of the things I'm hoping to do while I'm away, which I've been meaning to do for a very long time, is see the windmills of La Mancha. I'll show you the pictures when I get back. Until then, here is a photo from Rhodes, which Don Quixote would have needed a boat to visit, although he'd probably have used a barrel or a bath tub.

Have a great summer!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Corner View - Bliss


CAYOS ZAPATILLO
PULAU KAPAS
PRAIA LOPES MENDES

Apart from the obvious bliss we share at certain moments with loved ones, there is a special kind of bliss that I feel when I am in paradise. For me paradise involves a voyage in a sailing boat to a deserted tropical island, where I can then snorkel in crystal clear waters with the rich marine life there. This has happened to me several times during my life. The first time was when I lived in a wooden house on stilts at the edge of the South China Sea. Opposite my house, a few miles offshore, was an idyllic desert island, called Pulau Kapas (Cotton Wool Island), which I could visit in a local fishing boat. This was my first time snorkeling in clear, warm, tropical waters, and the coral and marine life were stunningly beautiful. Island hopping in the Seychelles was another blissful experience, but, for me, Ilha Grande off the coast of Brazil is even more beautiful. There, you can be dropped off by a schooner and walk through the rainforest to what I consider to be the best beach in the world, Praia Lopes Mendes. I have had some wonderful times in the Caribbean, but the most idyllic desert island I have visited there is, without doubt, in Cayos Zapatillo off the coast of Panama. It is a picture perfect paradise. The most blissful experience I have ever had snorkeling, however, was on the reef near Caye Caulker in Belize, where after a beautiful trip in a schooner, I was able to swim with and touch sharks, stingrays and turtles, which was incredibly exciting and sheer bliss!

Amsterdam