Bhutan

Been a bit slack lately but have just come back from 8 days in Bhutan and 6 days in India. Bhutan - what can I say, all of us thoroughly enjoyed it and would love to return. Fresh air, mountains, forests, friendly people, stunning architecture and great food. What more could a person ask for.

Here are a few of my favourite photos - others to follow later.

Monk at Punakha Dzong

Paro valley & dzong

Tigers Nest Monastery

Punakha Dzong

Haa Valley farmer

By the way, we travelled with Bridge to Bhutan.

Bhawal National Park

Last weekend when Alice and I had a van we decided we'd visit a forest not far out of Dhaka. It is actually called Bhawal National Park. Although only meant to take 1 hour to get there, it took almost 2 but did take less than 1 to get back. It is less than 38 km!!
A forest?? Not exactly what I would call a forest in Australian terms. Yes it was a collection of trees but I actually wonder if they were planted at some time as they seemed to be quite orderly. Underneath the trees was just dried leaves, no bushes, few grasses, no flowers. Tracks and footpaths wound around the park with a lake that has numerous arms in the centre of the park This lake provides a focus with short boat trips an option, fishing rods for hire (but not sure if you would actually catch anything) plus the banks are a nice place on which to sit. There are also pony rides, rickshaws for the lazy and a cleared dirt area in the middle, which appears to be the ground for organised cricket matches.
Visiting on a Friday, it was obvious that the park is a popular picnic spot for locals over the weekend. There was bus after bus parked there. But a Bangladeshi picnic consists of taking huge cooking pots, like 1 metre across, lighting a small fire, and cooking or reheating using these pots.
It was a nice change of scenery but I would also be curious to see it at a time of the eyar when it wasn't so dry. Mind you, then there would probably be mud and leeches!
Here are a few photos.

Back to Dhamrai & Savar

At the brass shop

Last weekend I went back to Dhamrai, the brass village, for the 4th or 5th time. It is always great to get out of Dhaka plus the village is great for taking photographs and the brass shop is interesting. But I think I will have to go back again and buy a brass elephant that holds a tea light candle. But a need to buy a tile to sit it on beforehand. It is always good to have an excuse to go back. Here are some photos of the traditional "lost wax" method used to produce the brass objects.

The wax mould of the cast

Breaking open the clay mould to reveal the brass statue

Wandering around the village is always fun, especially if the women in their colourful saris are walking around spreading the rice, or pushing it into rows or sweeping in between the rows. The bridge over the almost dry river, provides an ideal place to look down on this.

Sweeping the rice

Watching the women working on the rice

Boy watering the street

Decoration of a rickshaw seat

On the way we stopped twice in Savar. Once at the golf course to check out the details of playing - cost, availability etc, and the other at the Martyrs Memorial no doubt more crowded than usual because it was a long weekend.

Some of the very friendly visitors.

One of the best kept gardens in Bangladesh is around the Martyr's Memorial

Some pompom ducks for sale outside the Martyr's Memorial

A few Morocco photos

Here are a few photos from my holiday in Morocco.

The first three are from a group of spice and dried fruit shops hidden up a short alley.

Small shops selling sweet pastries

Miniature babouche

The minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque in black and white

Donkey cart

Hand-carved wooden chess set

Dhaka at night

Even though I have seen some spectacular sunsets, this evening would I looked out a combination of storm clouds and late evening light made quite a spectacular sight. So I tried a couple of photographs of the view from my apartment, one from the side balcony and one from the main balcony that looks over the lake.

Stormy evenings

There have been a few really spectacular storms recently with lots of lightening and thunder plus driving rain. At least I have my back door fixed so it no longer blows open or lets the rain in underneath. Anyway here are a couple of photos of the lightening I took a few weeks ago. Certainly not great, but considering I didn't use a tripod or a shutter release, I suppose I shouldn't complain!! It really is difficult to take photos though but at least digital does make it easier.

Wonderful Dhaka vehicles

Since I spent so much time on the streets getting to work over the last two weeks, I had plenty of opportunity to watch the traffic and even managed to get a few photos of typical forms of transport.

First - Here is a CNG, the Bangladesh tuktuk. Here is is loaded with fruits, no doubt on its way to market. Why are they called CNGs? Because they run on Compressed Natural Gas!

Second, here is a typical commuter bus. I've actually been wanting to photograph one for a while. Note the "decorative" scratching on the sides. What does that tell you about the traffic. At least this one appears to have all the side windows. But look carefully at the photo below - very jagged looking glass in the back window. What would Occupational Health and Safety make of that?

Thirdly, this is the back of a rickshaw bread van.

Lastly, a slightly blurry photo of the local school transport. These young children are locked in the back of a cage at the rear of a rickshaw. Every morning you see "vehicles" transporting 6 or 8 children off to primary school. At least they have air conditioning!!

Central Australia

While I am at it, here are a few photographs of Central Australia. I love the outback, the desert, the space and the sometimes spectacular landscapes.

Rainbow Valley

An early morning hot air balloon flight just outside Alice Springs

The Olgas at sunrise

Kings Canyon - I love the cloud formation

A camel safari in the East MacDonnell Ranges

Sunderbans slides

On my visit back to Australia, one of the things I brought back with me was my slide scanner. Although I only brought a few slides back with me to scan, I have a lot here to do - Morocco, Mali and Eastern Europe. I only have one box of Bangladesh ones, those from my Sunderbans trip last October. Here are a few to whet your appetite!

The first one here is of the boat we travelled on into the mangroves, which was also our home for 4 days. We were a group of 13, but the boat catered for 20 passengers so we had plenty space. It was very comfortable and we had great food. We travelled with a company called "Guide Tours" based here in Dhaka and this is one of three boats they own.

I remember taking this photograph but can't remember whether it is the sun going down or the moon coming up. I have a feeling it is the latter!!

There were lots of colourful butterflies.

Some woodcutters near the river mouth where we spent most of our time.

A river sunset

This boatmen we saw on the river, through the rain, on our journey down to the Sunderbans.

Maybe on my next post I'll put up a few photographs of Australia that I have scanned;just to whet you appetitite.