Danziger's Travels

There’s a quote from the book Danziger’s Travel that has sat with me since I returned from my travels in the early 1990s. Danziger’s words spoke to how I felt on returning to my home country, Britain. I was feeling lost and his words told me that I was not alone. Nick Danziger had returned from an extraordinary journey, traveling through Afghanistan during the war with Russia, crossing the Kunjerab Pass between Pakistan and China before it was open to foreigners, making his way into Tibet when that country as well was closed to foreigners, and after finally arriving in Beijing he found a boat to take him back to the UK.

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Day 13 of the September Photoblogging Challenge: Glowing, suggested by @anniegreens

A hotel lobby somewhere in Kyoto.

A hotel lobby somewhere in Kyoto with yellow neon lights built into the ceiling

Day 12 of the September Photoblogging Challenge: Panic, suggested by @maique

While I’m not sure that I was panicking, at times I felt uncomfortable as we walked up the switchbacks of the precipitous Halemau’u Trail at the end of our crater hike last week.

The switchbacks of the Halemau’u Trail in Haleakala National Park

Day 11 of the September Photoblogging Challenge: Retrospect, suggested by @chadgmoore

This just fitted the bill for me for retrospect. A area from my past and which is still in my heart.

A sign on a post in South Wales pointing out the route for the Usk Valley Walk

Day 10 of the September Photoblogging Challenge: Cycle, suggested by @agilelisa

I miss the annual Providence Bridge Pedal in Portland. This photo (that arm on the left bothers me) from 2014 of cyclists stopping for the view from the Fremont Bridge, normally busy with freeway traffic.

Cyclists stopping on the Fremont Bridge in Portland during the 2014 Providence Bridge Pedal, possibly at the start of the ride as it looks from the light as though the sun is just rising

Day 9 of the September Photoblogging Challenge: Language, suggested by @thedimpause

If it wasn’t for the pictures of the food in this Kyoto restaurant, we would not have eaten.

A restaurant in Kyoto, Japan where they had pictures of the food that they were serving

Day 8 of the September Photoblogging Challenge: Yonder, suggested by @jidabug

Inverness, CA.

A wooden pier jutting out into Tomales Bay from a house in Inverness, California

Ruminations on Travel and Place

Wednesday of last week I went back over to Lahaina to spend the day volunteering. It was hot, very hot, but rewarding. As I drove home I was reflecting on where I had been for the day. I had traveled across a good part of Maui in traveling from my home to Lahaina. Let me try and give some perspective… My home is on the north east shore of Maui.

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🩻 A hospital goes from a place that I rarely see, to one that becomes quite familiar. A chest X-ray just completed this lunchtime, with a follow up doctor’s visit tomorrow morning. All to see how my healing from pneumonia is progressing.

🩻 A hospital goes from a place that I rarely see, to one that becomes quite familiar. A chest X-ray just completed this lunchtime, with a follow up doctor’s visit tomorrow morning. All to see how my healing from pneumonia is progressing.

Day 7 of the September Photoblogging Challenge: Panorama, suggested by @dejus

The audience in Portland welcoming His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 2013.

The audience of a large arena welcoming His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Portland. Everyone has Khatags, white silk scarves, around their necks, a traditional Tibetan greeting

Note to self: Do actually look at your ToDo list! 🤦🏼‍♂️

Day 6 of the September Photoblogging Challenge: Well, suggested by @val

I think that this must have been a well? Now inside a hotel on Lake Como.

Standing above what might have been a well, now inside a hotel on Lake Como

I stepped outside this evening to a clear night sky, and there traveling overhead was a trail of Starlink satellites. That was the first time that I had seen them. It looked like a trail of Christmas lights floating across the sky. It was quite a sight. I’m now on the look out for the next sighting with the aid of this website.

I like Manuel Moreale’s analogy of seeing the online world as a mirror of the physical one.

Day 5 of the September Photoblogging Challenge: Forest, suggested by @ovr

The woodland leading down to the river Avon from Durdham Downs in Bristol, my stomping ground when I was growing up.

Woodland leading down to the river Avon from Durdham Downs in Bristol

Sunset this evening from our lanai.

Sunset view from our house with red and grey clouds

Hiking Haleakala Crater

I spent yesterday hiking Haleakalā Crater with a friend. The mountain sits at just over 10,000ft in altitude. The crater that is there today is not a classic volcanic crater, but rather a large erosional valley. It is believed that two valleys, Ko‘olau to the north and Kaupō to the south, expanded into the remains of a much larger volcano, possibly 12,000ft high, creating the crater that is there today.

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Day 4 of the September Photoblogging Challenge: Orange, suggested by @ekcragg.

An orange cloth, along with other items, in a china bowl on a shelf

😮‍💨 Exhausted but happy after a day hiking through Haleakala crater today.