Last month I returned to Nepal for the first time in 11 years. Part of the trip included a trek from Birethanti to Ghorepani (two days of the Annapurna Circuit) then two days across to Chomrong where we joined the Annapurna Base Camp route and returned to Birethanti.

Here are some highlights. Click here for the full gallery.

“Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains.”
― Jeffrey Rasley, Bringing Progress to Paradise: What I Got from Giving to a Mountain Village in Nepal Read more

I thought I’d seen some crazy festivals in my time, but the Thai new year celebrations in Bangkok still took me by surprise.

The festival basically amounts to an enormous water fight, although many Thais do visit the wats and temples for merit making, prayers and so on, plus there are some amazing cultural events around the city. But it’s the water you have to look out for. I never got more than a few steps from the hotel without being doused each day – which was fantastic anyway as it was pretty warm around 35 degrees each day.

Wherever you go there are people on street corners with hoses and buckets, cars coming past with water barrels in the back and motorbike riders wielding water guns.

Photography was really difficult and I went out armed with a water proof bags and plenty of plastic and had to shoot under pretty hurried conditions. Still some shots came out okay. Here are some favourites.

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Boats bedecked with swaying dancers in full costume, heaving markets, nightly cultural performances, lantern parades, fireworks… the Regatta Lepa in Semporna in the state of Saba is a feast of images.

Not entirely sure these do it credit but here’s a small taste, click through to the full gallery of Regatta Lepa.

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Feel free to email Jo at admin@visitedplanet.com with your comments/thoughts/photo aspirations. See and learn more at www.visitedplanet.com

I’ve been publishing photo galleries regularly on Travel Wire Asia (www.travelwireasia.com) of late.

Here’s the link to a few of these:

In pictures: Burma’s Buddhist monks

In pictures: Burma’s many modes of transport

In pictures: The stunning beauty of New Zealand’s South Island

In pictures: Maluku Islands, Indonesia – Part 2

In pictures: Maluku Islands, Indonesia – Part 1

Alternatively view my profile and all other posts at this page: http://www.travelwireasia.com/author/jolane/

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Feel free to email Jo at admin@visitedplanet.com with your comments/thoughts/photo aspirations. See and learn more at www.visitedplanet.com

I read “Tuesdays with Morrie” some time ago about a former student visiting his professor who was dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS).

For the last six months I’ve been visiting a friend in hospital dying from AIDS on Saturdays after lunch. It became a routine: bike ride, market, Rudy. There is little that is honourable, decent or dignifying about AIDS and watching the slow deterioration in this friend has been agonising.

Like in the story, I enjoyed immensely the time we had together, even though Rudy was no philosophiser on life. His face would light up when he saw me, he’d whinge and complain about family members to me in confidence and we’d go downstairs in his wheelchair so he could smoke away to his heart’s content. Yes I took him – why should he have been denied a few simple joys in his last months? A nip of Baileys and a good dose of chocolate were our other great shared joys. Read more