On the way through Soho, passing on the other side of the street, I spotted this amazing doorway to a London pub, The Salisbury in Covent Garden. Continue reading
Category 2016
Monday Window: Clifton, Bristol, UK….
Clifton is an inner suburb of the English port city of Bristol.Clifton is one of the oldest and most affluent areas of the city, much of it having been built with profits from tobacco and the slave trade. Continue reading
Thursday Doors: The Bloomsbury Hotel
This week, a floral extravaganza around the entrance doors of the Bloomsbury Hotel, Great Russell Street, London. Continue reading
Monday Window: From a window, reflections….
Early morning in May in Dubai, from my window, the rising sun reflects off one building’s windows on the trunk of the artificial islands of Palm Jumeirah. Continue reading
Thursday Doors: In Jaffna….
Jaffna, capital of the Northern province of Sri Lanka, has been a contested city since 1619. The more recent civil war was not considered as ending until 2009.
Visiting in July 2015, it’s obvious the rebuilding of the ravaged region is still continuing and will for a long time. Not a top of most people’s list as a tourist destination to visit, but as always somewhere off the beaten track lures me into its web. Continue reading
Monday Window: Jumeirah Mosque
Jumeirah mosque was opened in 1979 when Dubai was a much smaller place than it is now. Built in white stone, the architecture is of the medieval Fatimid tradition (909-1171 AD). Continue reading
Thursday Doors: Doors and more….
One of my favourite weekly challenges is Thursday doors. Since joining in this quirky challenge and one or two others, I find I have become so much more aware of my surroundings from a feature viewpoint. Continue reading
Monday Window: Philippines windows or not….
Palawan island in the Philippines, referred to as the last frontier, for a variety of reasons. A new island for me, with some very different windows….
Palawan officially the Province of Palawan, is an island province of the Philippines that is located in the Mimaropa region. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of jurisdiction. Its capital is Puerto Princesa City, but it is governed independently from the province.
The islands of Palawan stretch between Mindoro in the northeast and Borneo in the southwest. It lies between the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea. The province is named after its largest island, Palawan Island , measuring 450 kilometres long, and 50 kilometres wide.
Bamboo is the construction basis for all housebuilding outside main towns. Palm fronds are also put into use too. Shops selling every conceivable part of bamboo, from stems to woven panels line the road outside Puerto Princesa. Tricycles and jeepneys laden with bamboo and palm fronds were not an uncommon sight.
The climate is hot and humid. In small remote settlements, electricity is not part of everyday life, fans and air-conditioning seem a luxury confined to towns, so window openings are a necessity rather than a design function.
I checked the Oxford dictionary for window definition whilst writing this post as I’m not sure some of these “windows” can be defined as windows.
An opening in the wall or roof of a building or vehicle, fitted with glass in a frame to admit light or air and allow people to see out.
You can decide for yourself….
Palm fronds on the ubitiquous jeepney…. interesting window too…not much line of sight….
Ingenious transportation of bamboo…. this is a motorbike with a tricycle conversion, used as a taxi and family transport…a motorbike with windows…
Fancy bamboo fretwork for privacy and decoration….
It is rare to see glass used in windows outside a town…
Bamboo decoration used for air and light….
A remote church in a jungle settlement, the windows were the only windows with glass for many a mile………
A jeepney stop, fretwork decoration and election posters decorating these “windows”….
Just a piece of bamboo to close the window at night….
No windows at all , just a makeshift baby gate to stop this little one wandering…..
Window frames and curtains only….
A roadside church on the Southern highway, colourful and with windows….
The Bamboo Bar at Honda Bay, stylish bamboo windows…
Beautiful eyes through a window…..
Come and join into Monday Window blogging… find some windows every week….
Thursday Doors 28/4/16:Al Hisn Fort, Sharjah….
Al Hisn fort in Sharjah , the home of the Al Qassimi ruling family of Sharjah since 1820, but nearly totally demolished in 1969, when the present ruler, who was abroad, managed to rush home to try to stop the demolition.The Fort was restored 20 years later with the original doors and windows saved from the demolished fort. Continue reading
Wordless Wednesday…..
Monday Window: Blue Souk, Sharjah…
I found a plethora of windows at the Blue Souk, Sharjah, UAE on Saturday, so for once my post has more than one window! I think you will like them, the Islamic style of the Souk is eye-catching with the beautiful blue sky above, setting off the tiles and architecture perfectly. Continue reading
Thursday Doors: 21/4/16
Traditional Cyprus town house doors on an empty building in Paphos old town. Colonial style villas once lined these streets, now there are few left. The centre glass pane opens to allow air to pass through into the house. Continue reading
Monday Window: Angkor Wat
What sights were seen through this window?
Participating in Ludwig’s Monday Windows challenge… come and join in the fun, find a new window each week..it’s certainly a challenge!
Thursday Doors: Once-splendid in Oman….
Along the coast of eastern Oman, a region known as Ash Sharqiyah, the coast road passes through many small fishing villages, buildings are weather-beaten, dilapidated and life appears to be very different to that of the main cities. Continue reading
Monday Windows: All gold in this window….
Traditional 22carat gold jewellery in the Gold souk, Dubai. Bedazzling!
Participating in Ludwig’s Monday Windows challenge… come and join in the fun, find a new window each week..it’s certainly a challenge!
Thursday Doors: On a fishing hut in Oman..
This old fishing hut had some lovely doors! There are no walls, only bamboo laced around the perimeter…
Taking part in Thursday doors over at Norm’s site…
Wordless Wednesday: Sunset in the city…
Wasit Wetland Centre, Sharjah, UAE….
I found a lovely place to visit last weekend, a small wetland in the heart of Sharjah’s Wasit area.Beautifully laid out, it’s a gem of a place to visit for a couple of hours. Continue reading
Monday Window: Traditionally styled windows in Shindaga, Dubai…
Alongside Dubai creek, Al Shindaga is an area that has been renovated and traditionally styled. Continue reading
Thursday Doors: Shindaga Heritage Village
Pseudo doors decorating a wall at Heritage village, Dubai Creek.
Monday Windows: Bank window, Dubai creek….
A stylised window and entrance into a bank on Dubai Creek…
Participating in Monday Windows challenge…
Day Fourteen: Scale & Observation
Reflections in mirrored walls give a sense of scale…
For once I look small, but bad news for some, I have a twin…
A desert selfie early one morning in March, a long-legged wave to everyone!
Hi there…
Monday Windows: Mysterious windows in old Dubai…
Just outside the Gold Souk in the old part of Dubai, I came across this building on one of the side streets.
What a mysterious and intriguing facade. Continue reading
Thursday Doors : Making Them
These shots are typical of locations where you see modern doors being displayed and made in small workshops somewhere close by, in the smaller towns around the Middle East region. Continue reading
Monday windows: As Sulaif Fort, Oman
Great window arrangement…
I came across this wall of windows at As Sulaif fort, Ibri, Ad Dhahirah Governorate, Oman. Breaking our long drive home, we came across this fascinating walled fort, mostly in ruins. It is an excellent place to visit if you happen to be in the area…
Desert moments…
When I drive in the desert, utter calm descends over me.
Lowering the tyres to 12psi, the Pajero seamlessly floats over the surface of the sand, every dune unknown, accelerating up and over, easing the pressure as the car crests over and down the ridge.
Beautiful desert colours encompass the surroundings with sand hues ranging from pale yellow to deep ochre, offset by the cloudless blue skies. Continue reading
Photo 101: Day 5 assignment: Solitude and the Rule of Thirds
Off the coast of Shannah, Ash Sharqiyah region, Oman.
Thursday Doors: At Ras al Khaimah museum, UAE.
Real doors, opening into a room, not often visible here, normally I only ever see doors opening into a courtyard, privacy of the home and family is very important…
Finally, I found some doors in the UAE that I call doors, not solid, thick, meaty doors, I’m not sure I’m ever going to find those types here, but these ones are carved, slightly misshapen and quaint. I’m really happy to have found these doors. Continue reading
Monday Windows: Whitby Abbey
The empty and atmospheric windows of Whitby Abbey.
The original monastery was founded in the Anglo-Saxon reign of King Oswy in 657 AD. Work on the ruins still standing, probably began around 1200 AD as a Benedictine monastery, disestablished during the reign of Henry V111, as part of the dissolution of monasteries in 1539 AD. In later years, the haunting ruin was the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula.
I visited on a moody Yorkshire day, the Abbey perched high on the cliff above Whitby harbour, a graveyard below; the scene was set for swirling mists, howling dogs, black cloaked men and nefarious deeds…
Here are the links to Wikipedia and English Heritage who now run and care for the historic site.
History of the Abbey can also be found at http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/churches/abbey.shtml
Note to potential visitors: Avoid visiting on English Bank holidays, Whitby is popular on the Yorkshire tourist trail and most of the visitors had arrived before me and taken all the parking!
Monthly Memories : February 2016
I have wonderful February family memories. February is my personal Aquarian month, memory month for my boy, born on 6th February. Often rainy and windy in Cyprus, it was a good month to go home, celebrate with the birthday boy and suffer some cold before the long hot summer starts in the Middle East.
But Cyprus was beautiful, a glorious spring Cyprus, almond blossom covering the hillsides, white clouds of fragile flowers everywhere. Winter skies and moody sunsets, sun-filled days, too short and sweet.
A slug has attacked my lily, need to go home more often to expel slugs..!
Feeling orthodox…
Almond flowers…
Sunset on a grey day…
Cheerful celandine…
With my Aquarian…
Spring over the mountains..
Blossom and blues…
Bluebell in my garden…
Stark white and blue, so Cyprus…
Sunset on a pink day…
Another day, another flight, back to the city in the sand. Work days fill the week, waking on the 35th floor to white-out conditions as the Dubai fog swirls over the city, creating surreal views of skyscrapers towering above the mist. Weekdays consist of traffic, work and traffic. Work days and nights are quiet ones.
Moody arrival at work…
Emirates towers in the mist…
Marina towers above the fog…
I take any chances that arise on my precious weekends. This time, a visit to the East coast of the UAE, with the Emirates Natural history group. A weekend of immersion in the history and nature of this region. Shell collecting with a group of keen enthusiasts, then visiting one of the region’s wetland sites, ending up with a wadi drive through Madha to Chees, an Omani enclave in the Eastern region. February is the month to head outside and explore this region, the summer heat is coming. I relish all the opportunities for fresh air before the long drawn out summer in air conditioning.
View inland from Khor Kalba…
Heron in the mangroves…
Whose footprints are these?
Turtle gliding through the sea…
and surfacing…
Boats at rest…
Finding a nudibranch sunning itself on the rocks…
What’s in inside a barnacle?
A live Grayana cowrie, some brittle starfish…
Impenetrable wadi mountainsides…
Absolutely!
On the way to Chees…
Wadi pools at Chees…
A very red dragonfly…
Up to the village…
Tiny, narrow village alleys…
Old watchtower on the hill…
Heading out of the wadi…
Enjoying a walk at Khorfakkan…
A quiet moment…
Sunset over the mountains….
Another weekend, another flight, another place, this time, Kalptiya, Sri Lanka. Within easy reach of Dubai, it’s my place to go to relax, feet in the sand, a boat trip exploring the furthest reaches of the offshore archipelago. A beautiful country, far too quickly it was time to board the return flight.
Birds on Puttalam lagoon…
Fishermen bringing the catch home…
Fishing is the way of life in this remote area…
Windswept palms…
Sea Eagle just sitting still…
Church and huts on the island….
Beach art…
Weatherbeaten dwellings…
At the end…India next stop…
Chicoreus ramous found cast up on the beach…
Flowerfest…
Tranquility….
Just in case you forgot where I was….
Chilaw temple…
Peaceful sunset……
Flying home, clouds over the Western Ghats…
Ah yes, the diet, slow progress, perhaps I must spend a quiet month to achieve faster progress… hmmm.
Participating in Monthly Memories, created and hosted by Basant She
Travels in the Middle East and beyond 