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Tell Them to Get Lost: Back on the Banana Pancake trail

Philip — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 01:13:52 +0000

Over the years I’ve returned sporadically to places like Penang, Chiang Mai and Kathmandu, those watering holes where I and so many others ‘chilled out’ (in today’s parlance) along the great Asian overland route in the 1970s. Once or twice I have sought out those same fabled flophouses, the seedy Chinese hotels and the homespun [...]

Japan: Still Sometimes Lost in Translation

Philip — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 00:39:45 +0000

Five in the morning, still dark beyond the rice-paper windows, but I’m awake, snug under my futon (quilt). Need to get up and leave the room, but must try not to wake my companion: sleep doesn’t come easily to middle-aged Anglo-Saxon limbs when forced to do without mattresses. As in most ryokan, traditional inns, guests [...]

Run a Half Marathon in Port Douglas: what was I thinking?

Fiona Harper — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 00:18:44 +0000

A blank look and extended silence is all I got when I told my Mum I was going to run a Half Marathon. The Solar Eclipse Half Marathon in Port Douglas no less. She didn’t get it. And quite probably thought it was just one more half-baked idea from a middle child who’s major success [...]

Travel Writer: ‘That’s my dream job!’

Fiona Harper — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 03:07:34 +0000

Travel Writers. You’d think we had it all, wouldn’t you? Travelling professionally, it’s all in a days work dropping into obscure landscapes before sunrise, disappearing over the horizon before the sun sets, whizzing through throbbing cities, stalking wildlife with our cameras, striding up mountains, cruising far-flung seas, tasting our way through the alphabet soup of [...]

Image Gallery: Samoa, Savaii Island

Fiona Harper — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 20:00:37 +0000

Fiona Harper travel writer/photographer explored the Samoan island of Savaii. Check out her stunning images in this gallery Fiona Harper travel writer/photographer

The Way of Tea in Japan

Fiona Harper — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 20:00:30 +0000

Tea is not to be trifled with. Indeed when you’re the tenth generation entrusted with creating pots for ritualistic tea ceremony, tea is life. Master potter Chozaemon Toshiro, known simply as Tenth Generation, and awarded a Person of Cultural Merit award from the Emperor, has serious clay credentials. With lineage dating back to his ancestor [...]

Taiwan: Lanterns & Dumplings

Fiona Harper — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 20:00:49 +0000

Tantalising steaming broth shoots onto my fingers as my chopsticks pierce a delicate, perfectly formed dumpling. Catching the juicy flavours of pork, shrimp, ginger, garlic in my spoon which also contains soy sauce, vinegar, slivers of ginger and slices of chilli, it’s an enticing combination that I slurp down in a single gulp. It’s no [...]

Image Gallery: Hiking with Polar Bears

Fiona Harper — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 20:00:20 +0000

Fiona Harper travel writer/photographer joined Churchill Wild’s Arctic Safari to hike the tundra with polar bears at a time when they’re in a sort of walking hibernation, waiting for Hudson Bay to freeze over. More Info Churchill Wild Canada Tourism Commission

Flavour Trail of Prince Edward Island

Fiona Harper — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 20:00:12 +0000

The chilly North Atlantic Ocean worms its way through the gaps between skin and wetsuit. I’m chest deep in water that can’t be much above 12 degrees Celsius. I can feel liquid ice oozing down my neck as I duck my head beneath the surface.” At least the harbour is free of icebergs,” laughs Captain [...]

View from the Village

Fiona Harper — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 21:00:51 +0000

Sylvester is looking for a wife. Sort of. Chatting in his Grandmothers kitchen, as other family members lurk inquisitively in the shadows, he tells me he’s single. I get the impression he’s pretty happy about it. Tradition, however, dictates that he find a wife to bear his children who will in turn care for the [...]