During my journey across the Silk route into China, we travelled to the ancient city of Wuwei, here we visited the Wenmaio Temple . Beautifully ornate and spread over a large area.
The ancient Bell tower Dayun Si built during the Ming dynasty, also in the city of Wuwei . Houses a Tang dynasty bronze bell, which I had the pleasure of striking!
The Confucius Temple is known also as the Wenmiao Temple in Chinese, and is situated in the southeast of Wuwei City. This ancient complex dates from the Ming Dynasty having been established in 1439 on instructions from the reigning emperor and with the strong backing of public subscription. The construction of the original temple took just two years but various extensions have been added over succeeding centuries.
The complex covers an area of a little over 1,500 square meters and is the largest and best-preserved temple dedicated to Confucius in Gansu Province.
One of my favourite places in Vietnam was the hill station town of Da Lat. Cool and friendly I enjoyed the atmosphere of the town and this utterly crazy and weird guest-house. Yes you can stay in it and you can just look around if you want to. Very Hansel and Gretel!
An amazing selection of street art in this old China town in Kuala Terengganu in Malaysia. This are a great place to wander around and take photos and eat amazing food and meet lovely people.
This is one of my many favourite places in Malaysia
The amazing Heritage walk round one of my favourite Malay towns of Ipoh where the food is amazing too! The heritage walk is about 4 miles long covering most of the historically important places and might take approx. 2 hours to complete all the places. In fact I am so keen for you to find out about Ipoh, I am attaching a link for 7 free heritage walk maps and info on Ipoh. Yep FREE!!
I visited this weird and quirky place in 2012 when spending time in Laos near Vientiane. It caught my imagination, I hope it does yours!
This Buddha Park is more curious than spectacular – which makes for a curious spectacle. A rogue monk is said to have attempted to reconsolidates Buddhism and Hinduism into his own brand of mysticism through a prolific collection of sculptures depicting various deities and scenes from both religions. The information provided at the park is less dramatic, simply stating that Bunleua Sulilat constructed this sculpture garden in 1958 before fleeing across the Mekong to Thailand in 1978 and building a sister park across the river in Nong Khai.
The Link to the video of Sala Kaew Ku Sculpture Park in Nong Khai on the Thailand side of the Mekong can be found on my you tube channel https://youtu.be/QoaaRMcv6IE
The Plain of Jars is a collection of large stone jars interspersed throughout the Xieng Khouang plain in the Lao Highlands. The stone structures are mostly made of sedimentary rock and, ranging from 3 to 10 feet in height (1 to 3 meters), each can weigh up to 14 tons.
There are approximately 3000 of these vessels, dated from 500BC to 500AD. Limestone and sandstone are the predominant stone used, some with their lids but most without. There are three different sites that I visited on this trip and each one gave a unique view and feel for these unusual structures.
During 2013 I was travelling at the later end of a Year across Central Asia and SEA. Whilst in Laos which I covered extensivey up in the North near Sam Nuea I vistsed these Menhirs.
Some 110 km (70 miles) northeast of the famous Plain of Jars in Laos is a less well known but equally mysterious series of archaeological sites: the standing stones of the Hintang Archaeological Park in Houaphan Province, not far from the border with Vietnam.
These megalithic sites are located in the mountains about 35 km south west of the sleepy provincial capital of Sam Neua. The two most important sites are San Khong Phan and Keohintang.
During my travels round Laos in 2013 I visited Luang Prabang and visited Mount Phousi and enjoy the stunning views of Laos. The walk up and down this large hill gave you much to see with not only the views but the hidden and not so hidden shrines.
One of the most profound journeys I took was from Nukus to Moynaq in Uzbekistan. To the last port on the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan, which is a sea no more. The desolation caused by the overfishing and redirection of the “inland sea” left this desert of a town like something from the wild west movies. And still even more stark it has happened in as many years as I have been on the planet. After visiting the ships graveyard, I was able to visit the “Cannery” where the fish was processed on mass for export mainly to the Ukraine.
When an opportunity to see a major cultural event came my way in Bagan, Myanmar, I jumped at the chance. I was at the right place at the right time, to witness an important rite of passage, the Buddhist Novitiation Ceremony in Myanmar. The Shinbyu, or Novitiation ceremony, is a coming of age ceremony as in other religions, for boys under 20 years old.
The Novitiate ceremony is when boys do their service to Buddhism and are entered into the order of the monks for a week or longer. This incredible event turned out to be one the highlights of my entire trip to this incredible country.
The Novitiate Programme for the day
1)Blessings in the homes The festivities of the day started with visiting some of the young boys’ family homes. We paid respect and offered blessings and donations to the father and mother of the household. Novitiation is the obligation of every parent and the most important gift to their sons. It is believed that this deed will prevent the parents from having an evil afterlife in Buddhist tradition. The boys started getting dressed for the occasion. Earlier in the day their heads are shaven. Then elaborate green, yellow, blue and pink satin costumes with colourful make up of the same colours filled the village. These intricate costumes are symbolic of the look of a royal prince.
2) The Procession Early on in the day, a procession of the over 20year old monks begins, a ceremony that enters these boys into full monkhood. It starts with a short alms offering of money to the men. These men have now become fully ordained monks, to fulfil more years in the monastery if they so desire. Next, the procession started toward the monastery. It was a spirited, happy spectacle. As far across the fields as we could see, colourful families paraded to the village joining the long colourful train. The decorated Pandal or bamboo chairs, were hoisted over the shoulders of the men of the family while the boys were ceremoniously carried above their heads, shaded with gold umbrellas. In larger cities, and depending on stature, boys may be riding horses, oxes or elephants. Here the Pandal was painted to resemble a horse. To pay respect to the Buddha, the parade circles clockwise around the monastery. Following the boys are the fathers, mothers and sisters are given the duties of carrying the Alms bowl, the monk robes and ceremonial lotus flowers. We saw a beautiful array of the traditional tribes and the finest colourful formal wear, particularly from the Danu and the Pa-O tribe communities. An enthusiastic group of musicians on chimes, drums and bamboo sticks followed the procession as many joined in with dancing and singing. Wow! What a spectacular event!
3) The Feast No celebration is complete without a satisfying feast. Hundreds of low round tables set on fine bamboo mats and rugs set the stage for the welcoming traditional feast of soup, curried salted fish, vegetables, rice, fermented green mango and bean sprouts.
4) The Monastery Ceremony Once the procession was over, the families were brought into the monastery. Boys were stripped down of their colourful costumes and left in their white undergarments. After the senior monks perform alms and prayers, they are transformed, by receiving their maroon robes. The residing monks help them into the robes showing them how they are to be worn. It was one of the most amazing spectacles I have ever seen and I feel extremely honoured not only to have seen it but to have photographed such an auspicious event.
In early 2015 I visited Myanmar. During my three weeks I travelled from Yangon to Bagan, to Kalaw in the mountains and then down to Inle Lake. This is the first slide show showing you Yangon and some of the wonderful colonial and modern buildings along with some of the religious buildings too. Yangon stands on the east bank of the oceanic River Yangon, about 30km from the Andaman Sea. It came to prominence in the latter half of the 19th century when the British made it the capital of their new imperial possession. The colonial port area is still the commercial centre, though the heart of the city remains the gigantic gold Shwedagon Pagoda, visible from most places and so the main focal point.
Inle Lake in Myanmar isn’t in fact one big lake, it has a main bit and a smaller Inle Lake North. Here You will find the famous floating Pagodas of Sankar, which sadly due to the droughts that Myanmar receive are now not floating. Or least they weren’t when I visited in 2015.
Journeys From A Small Room 