Archive for the 'Thailand' Category

Happy 11th birthday Trevor’s Travels

Swamp wallaby and joey in pouch Sydney

Swamp wallaby and joey in pouch

HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY TO TREVOR’S TRAVELS

I can hardly believe that I started this blog 11 years ago. It was started with an account of my travels in Thailand and Nepal. During that trip I trekked with my daughter up towards Everest Base Camp. It was an amazing experience and one I highly recommend.

You can read about my adventures in those countries in one of the following ways:

  • use the search function in the top right-hand corner
  • use the archives button on the top bar of each page
  • click on the “Contents” heading in the sidebar
  • click on one of the topics in the cloud on the sidebar on the right

Each of these ways will take you to well over 1000 articles about my travels around the world. In many cases, I have included photos taken on our travels. The main places covered include the following:

Australia: my wife and I have travelled extensively throughout many parts of our home country. Along the way we take photos to share here and on my other site Trevor’s Birding. I enjoy taking bird photos where I can, as well as scenery shots to share here. I also like taking shots of native Australian flowers and plants which are of interest to my wife, as well as many of our friends.

Thailand: I only spent a few days in this country on my way to Nepal. Despite that, I made the most of my time, seeing some of the highlights of this interesting and beautiful country.

Nepal: my visit to Nepal was to meet up with my daughter who was on her way home from teaching in England for a year. Together, we had some amazing experiences on the route to Everest Base Camp. On this site I have shared some stunning scenery we saw on that trip.

Ethiopia: a few years ago my daughter again showed how adventurous she is by going to Ethiopia to teach for a semester. At the end of her time there my wife and I joined her, travelling around Addis Ababa and nearby parts of the country. This year our daughter has returned to teach in Ethiopia, this time for two years and we are hoping to make another visit soon.

Morocco: after our visit to Ethiopia the three of us continued on to travel around magical Morocco. This trip included many of the principal cities as well as rural highlights and the magnificent Sahara.

Spain: we concluded our wonderful journey by exploring southern Spain. We came away having fallen in love with the people and country, not to mention their food. We would dearly love to return to scintillating Spain.

An apology

I must apologise to my readers for a lack of new articles and photos on this site over the last few months. We have been very busy this year. Some of that time was taken on two trips to Sydney to look after our two grandchildren, ages 8 and 5. Each trip took about five weeks.

The rest of the time was occupied helping our daughter pack all of her belongings and putting them into storage for the time she will be in Ethiopia.

Life is now getting back to normal, so look for new articles and many more photos over the coming months.

Happy travels.

Trevor

Laughing Kookaburra Sydney

Laughing Kookaburra Sydney

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Sydney

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Sydney

Australian Brush Turkey, Sydney

Australian Brush Turkey, Sydney

 

Happy Birthday to my blog

Ama Dablam, Nepal

Ama Dablam, Nepal

This blog about my travels is now four years old.

I started this blog exactly four years ago in the dining room of my son in Sydney. He had just set up the domain name and busily went about teaching me how to blog. He was a good teacher for I was soon off and away with blog entries. And I haven’t let up in the intervening years. I try to post every day but during the last two years I have also been trying to complete my Master of Arts in Creative Writing which has impacted on how frequently I have been able to write articles here. I’m also in the last stages of completing the writing of a novel for children as part of those studies. It has all taken a lot of my time.

During the life of this blog I have written about many places, including a visit to Thailand and trekking in Nepal. By far the majority of the nearly 600 articles are as a result of travelling here in Australia, including New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory and my home state of South Australia of course.

I’d like to thank all my many regular readers, those who have occasionally dipped into various pages and especially those who have taken the trouble to leave comments. I value you all – you people make this blog a worthwhile endeavour.

A special thanks to my son Sim’ who looks after the background administration of this and my other blogs, keeping them ticking over nicely.

Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens

Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens


A Milestone for Trevor’s Travels

Scene from our lodge in Monjo, Nepal

Scene from our lodge in Monjo, Nepal

Trevor’s Travels reaches a significant milestone in its journey.

This is post number 500.

I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing my travel experiences and photos with all of my readers. There are plenty more to come and I would encourage your to leave comments where appropriate.

For those who have come recently to this blog for the first time, let me share some of the highlights. Here is a list of some of the most popular articles that have appeared over the last three years:

And don’t forget my photo gallery here – with over 2200 photos taken by my wife, my son and me.

A photo of me with Everest in the background

A photo of me with Everest in the background

Travels in Thailand part 9 Railway Viaduct

Railway viaduct near the River Kwai, Thailand

Railway viaduct near the River Kwai, Thailand

Our final stop during the bus trip to the River Kwai was the railway viaduct. This was an impressive engineering feat for the day and the conditions. What amazed me were the harsh conditions forced upon the Australian (and other) prisoners of war. In the oppressive heat, energy sapping humidity and terrible illness they continued on with the construction. How some survived astonishes me. When I visited it was mild, low humidity and with a slight breeze. I tried to imagine what they went through. Their amazing resilience and courage was incredible.

True heroes are made in times like that.

Related article and links:

Railway viaduct near the River Kwai, Thailand

Railway viaduct near the River Kwai, Thailand

Travels in Thailand part 8 River Kwai

The bridge over the River Kwai, Thailand

The bridge over the River Kwai, Thailand

After my visit to the War Memorial we continued on to visit the bridge over the River Kwai. I was not sure what I expected. What disappointed me was the commercial aspect to everything. T-shirts, caps, tea-towels, postcards, jewellery, food stalls and all sorts of tourist oriented items.

Boat trip on the River Kwai, Thailand

Boat trip on the River Kwai, Thailand

After a train trip over the bridge we had an exhilarating boat ride on the river. At the end of the ride we visited the JEATH Museum. This was a sad and run down building much in need of renovation. The paintings, memorabilia and newspaper cuttings on display showed the abject horror of the sufferings of the soldiers, all prisoners of war, who constructed the Death Railway. How they suffered. Sombre, sad, and confronting.

Related articles: