Category Archives: Travel

Commentaries and images from my various travels around the world.

Sri Lanka, 2001

Sri Lanka (nee Ceylon) is famous for its tea and Arthur C. Clarke, but, as I found out, there’s much more to it than that!

We started in Negombo, a beach resort a few miles away from the airport, moved round to take in the ‘Cultural Triangle’, down to Kandy, Adams Peak and a tea plantation. Finally, we headed to Unawatuna, a beach resort near to Galle (and the England – Sri Lanka test series) and then back to Negombo for the last night. We made plenty of stops along the route.

A combination of a new camera and the beauty of the place meant that I took as many pictures in Sri Lanka as I took in Georgia and Thailand put together! Here I present the highlights.

Click the small pictures below for a full size version.

All these pictures were taken on my Canon EOS300, mainly on Fuji Superior ISO400 film. I ran out of film towards the end of the trip so the last few are on Kodak Max (ISO400).

The same pictures that are on Kodak film have white lines down the middle. They are scratches on the negative that appear to have been put there during either developing or printing. I’m tempted to name the guilty company…

If the pictures have piqued your interest, there are a few web sites that you might want to visit:

  • The Lonely Planet guide is usually worth consulting.
  • If you prefer hard-copy (much more portable than your laptop!), you can buy a copy from Amazon (UK or US).

Miscellaneous Pictures, 2000

Until now, all the pictures I’ve put here have been based on a theme: the country I was in when I took them. I do take pictures at other times though, and there are often not enough of them to justify a complete page to themselves.

That’s what you’ll find on this page.

There are basically four groups. Firstly there are a few snaps from a quick trip around Durham, in the North-East of England. Then I was briefly in and around Montreal, Canada in May 2000. There are also a couple of pictures taken around Wimbledon during the summer. All these are taken on the Canon Sureshot. At the end you’ll find the highlights of the first roll of film through my EOS (Jessops ISO200). They’re all in and around London.

Click the small pictures below for a full size version.

Durham Cathedral Durham's market square A couple of hours south of Montreal A view over Montreal
A square in Montreal Near Wimbledon Common Tower bridge St Pauls cathedral
Just outside St Pauls Outside my bedroom window

Thailand, 2000

Thailand is such a beautiful country that I could help but take a huge number of pictures. What you can see here represents the good fraction of those taken!

We started in Bangkok, got the night-train up to Chang Mai and a boat up to Chiang Rai. From there we mini-bused and walked through some Hill Tribe villages back to Chiang Mai, Bangkok and then flew home. A tiring couple of weeks, but well worth it for the scenery alone.

Note that the spelling of many Thai places are not strictly standardised. I’ve used the spellings that our tour-guide or my Lonely Planet guide used, but you may well see others.

Click the small pictures below for a full size version.

A temple viewed from a boat trip down the Chao Phraya R Another view from the river, Bangkok Wat Po, Bangkok Wat Po, Bangkok
Wat Po, Bangkok Wat Po, Bangkok Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, near Chiang Mai Chiang Mai from a taxi
Traditional Thai dancing View of River Fang from near Tha Ton View from the River Fang on the way to Chiang Rai View from an elephant
A Chinese temple in Myanmar, near the Thai border In Myanmar, just across the border from Thailand On the trek The first Hilltribe village we stayed at
First thing in the morning at Huayrai A little later at Huayrai The second village we stayed at On the way to the third village
On the way to the third village Mixture and high- and low-tech at Ahka Makamporm, the t Near Ahka Makamporm Near Ahka Makamporm

If the pictures have piqued your interest, there are a few web sites that you might want to visit:

  • Lonely Planet have a useful guide to Thailand, including a large number of interesting links.
  • If you prefer hard-copy (much more portable than your laptop!), you can buy a copy from Amazon (UK or US).
  • Some of the above pictures were taken in some of the northern Hilltribe villages. This web site gives some useful information about them.

Ireland, 2000

Ireland, as I’m sure you know, is a small country in the north west of Europe. It is famed for it’s glorious landscape and frequent and heavy precipitation. We were fairly luck, but we did get very wet on more than one occasion!

We started in Dublin, headed down to Cork via Cashel, up to Killarney and then back to Dublin through Limerick, Killaloe and Kildare. The location of most pictures has been noted.

The pictures of Limerick were actually taken in October 1999, but it didn’t seem worth putting them on a separate page.

Click the small pictures below for a full size version.

Looking at Hore Abbey from the Rock of Cashel Hore Abbey, near the Rock of Cashel Muckross Lake Muckross Lake
View in the People's Park in Limerick Clock tower in Limerick King John's Castle in Limerick The treaty stone in Limerick
Killaloe across Lough Derg from Ballina Looking out over Lough Derg

If the pictures have piqued your interest, there are a few web sites that you might want to visit:

United Arab Emirates, 1999

The United Arab Emirates was not anywhere near the top of my list of places to visit, but I went anyway. (Now I think about it, neither was Georgia!) This time it was for work rather than strictly as a tourist, but I did have enough time to have a look around Abu Dhabi and take a few pictures. At the bottom are a couple from Dubai too, although, generally, those pictures did not come out quite as well.

Click the small pictures below for a full size version.

A typical street (plus photographer!) A waterfall A strange monument Mosques in the shade
A roundabout on the Corniche View of the waterfront Clock tower in Dubai The riverfront in Dubai

If the pictures have piqued your interest, there are a few web sites that you might want to visit:

  • Emirates Net. The local ISP and phone company.
  • Arab.Net. Lots of information on the middle-east as a whole.
  • You’re going to need a guide while travelling around. And since you’ll find there’s not a lot to see in UAE you may as well get a guide on the whole region rather than just the Emirates. As always, there’s a Lonely Planet guide. You can buy a copy from Amazon (UK or US).

Georgia, 1999

Georgia nestles between Russia, Turkey, Chechnya, Armenia and Azerbaijan putting it right at the border between Europe and Asia.

At its north and south borders you find some impressively large mountains called the Caucus (the Lesser Caucus to the south). We travelled around quite a lot, as you can see, and managed to see Tbilisi, the capital, and some of the beautiful scenery in the north.

But a picture, he said in a cliched manner, paints a thousand words, so on with the photos. I may add a little commentary later, but for now it’s just the pictures.

Click the small pictures below for a full size version. All the full size pictures are optimised for a 1024×768 display and are in 24-bit colour.

Church on the route from Tbilisi to Alvani. Its name es Another view of the same church. Another view of the church on the way to Alvani This is another church on the same route. I can't remem
This is the inside of the same church. Alvani high street Yet another church! A waterfall in the Lagodechi National Park
View of a church from another Another church on a big hill A view from a church on the way to Gudauri. On the way up to the Kobi Pass
Coming down from the Kobi Pass (around 3000 metres) A shrine of some kind in the Truso Gorge I think this is the Tsminda Sameda Church. It's Mount K View of Tbilisi

If the pictures have piqued your interest, there are a few web sites that you might want to visit: