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
Weekly Photo Challenge: Face
The lovely faces of some Sri Lankans I met on my travels around the north coast of this glorious island, also known as Serendipity. The history, beautiful scenery and the people make it an island to love and I remember all of these moments below with such pleasure.Faces tell such a story… Continue reading
Garden Photography Challenge: May: Wild flowers
May’s theme is indeed a challenge. I have no garden in the Middle East and this arid region produces few wildflowers.
Trying to stay close to my present home in the Middle East for this month’s wildflower challenge, I’ve found one wildflower in 4 years! The Desert hyacinth or Orobanchacea (Broomrapes): Cistanche tubulosa. I’ve found this in wetlands and on the dune line behind the seashore, always growing in sand. Continue reading
Skywatch Friday: Above the Western Ghats, India…
Just before sunset, getting dark on the ground under the clouds, but up in the air, the clouds are highlighted by the sun’s last strength….
Linking to Skywatch Friday…. head on over and check out the sky….
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
Wordless Wednesday….
A to Z Reflections
Signing up for April 2016 A to Z challenge, super keen, just out of Blogging 101, Photo 101 and Commenting 101…. yes, yes, another Blogging event, I’ll do it. 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….
Weekly Photo challenge: Earth…
Colours of our Earth… layers of soil, undergrowth, tree trunks and foliage up to the intense sunlight…. taken from a moving jeep in the jungle using Slow Shutter app on Iphone6 and Snapseed for editing…
Earth
Daily Post : Beach
I try to spend as much of my free time on beaches, not sunbathing , but walking along the beach shore searching for shells and looking at the aquatic life that inhabits this zone.I wrote my April 2016 A to Z challenge around the sea shores of UAE and Oman.
Yesterday I spent time on a beach which I can only describe as magnificent.
View from the beach….
A beach on one of the islands in Honda Bay, Palawan, The Philippines. No other people on this beach. A mile of snaking beach, full of sea biscuits, jellyfish and starfish. Flat calm, aqua water lines the beach, a 2-hour walk on the beach, to the end and back. Bliss on the beach, a memory to treasure….
My boat to the beach….
Starfish on the beach….
Reflections from the beach….
Weekly Photo Challenge : Admiration
I’m travelling in the Philippines right now and I am full of admiration for the tenacity and nature of the people inhabiting this vast island state.
There is an unimaginable disparity between those who have and those who do not and I have been so welcomed in the most remote places, wonderful people…. This photo encompasses the ingenuity of folks who have to make do to survive… my full admiration for this dangerous and resourceful packing idea, needless to say, there were no traffic police around…
A to Z Challenge: Z is for Zonata…..
My final mollusc of the challenge just had to sneak in here to round off my Seashore series… Hydatina Zonata, an intertidal zone inhabitant, usually found cast up on a wrack line. Fragile, akin to a fine eggshell, these beautiful little molluscs were a lucky find on a windy beach on Masirah island, Oman. I suspect they were blown across the waves and ended up tangled and dried in seaweed, where I found them… Continue reading
A to Z Challenge: Y is for Yellow shells….
There are not that many Yellow shells around the Arabian coastline but I have found most of them! Continue reading
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
A to Z challenge: X is for Xenophora…
What’s quite good about doing an A to Z seashore theme is that you just know that someone, somewhere will have used “X” to name a family in the taxonomy, so it removes the X-day stress! Continue reading
Driving from Dubai to Salalah, a very long journey…
I just had to visit Salalah.
Located at the southern end of Oman, I had heard tales of the Khareef season, the rain, greenery, and mists, contrasting with the hot, endless summer in the rest of Arabia. Continue reading
A to Z challenge: W is for Window panes and Watering pots…
It’s ok readers, I haven’t totally lost the plot. The seashore can throw up some unusual treasures and both of these are just those, colloquial names for sea-shells, which are both treasures in their own right. Continue reading
Wordless Wednesday…..
A to Z challenge: V is for Volvarina and Volva…
Volvarina is a genus of small to very small sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Marginellidae, the margin shells.(Wiki) Continue reading
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
A to Z Challenge: U is for Umbonium
Re-posting this from my Arabian Asides category, published back in early March. “U” is quite a difficult sea-shore letter to find another interesting subject to photograph and write about! Continue reading
Weekly Photo challenge: Abstract # 3
Sea anemone at low tide, flopped over on one side, waiting for the sea to return… abstract shapes and electric colours, PicMonkey for the outer blur…
Abstract
Weekly Photo Challenge: Abstract #2
Weekly Photo Challenge: Abstract….
Underwater red sponge, today, under a bridge on the Dubai shoreline… Water is a great way to create an abstract medium, with a little help from PicMonkey…
Joining into the WordPress Weekly Photo challenge: Abstract
A to Z challenge: T is for Turtle…
Fours species of turtles nest in the coastal areas of the UAE and Oman, including the green turtle (Chelonia mydus), hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), olive ridley turtle (Lepydochelys olivacea) and the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta). Continue reading
A to Z challenge: S is for Starfish…
Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea. Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or “basket stars”. Continue reading
Skywatch Friday: UAE, an eastern region sunset…
Linking with Skywatch Friday.. join in the sky fun and check out the other posts…
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
A to Z Challenge: R is for Ranellidae…
The Ranellidae, common name the triton shells or tritons, are a taxonomic family of small to very large predatory sea snails, marinegastropod mollusks in the clade Littorinimorpha. (Wiki) Continue reading
A to Z Challenge: Q is for Quicksand
Quicksand features quite heavily in Oman, especially on the sabhka wastes of the coastal peninsula of Bar al Hikmann and as my recent ” H is for Help” A to Z challenge post describes, much care needs to be taken after heavy rainstorms. Continue reading
Travels in the Middle East and beyond 