wanderings & wonderings

1991 ... I knew as soon as I saw them that trouble was brewing. It wasn’t that there were thirteen of them. Despite me being superstitious and not very keen on this unlucky number. It wasn’t the way they were all shoving and pushing to get through the narrow door into the train carriage. How else would you board an Indian train? It wasn’t that they had an inordinate amount of luggage. That was quite normal. It was their sheer physical size that was daunting. They were all eno

Another little piece I have found, also from 2009; an exercise for the writing group I belonged to in Singapore. The task was to write about our favourite smell in less than 100 words. This is my offering - 99 words. Rich, round and yellow this aroma arrives without knocking. A blast of fragrant happiness that makes the limbic system salsa. A trace of spice underlying a big, bold statement of lemon. Or is it? Sherbet lemons, for sure. But lemons off the tree? No. If this aro

This was written in the Funan Food Court in Singapore in 2009. I found it today when I was going through some old notebooks. I remember this encounter as if it were yesterday... They stared at you they did At your difference At your height At your eyes At the curve of your spine They did not see what I did You asked to clear my plate A raised eyebrow and eye connection No words I smiled with you eyes to eyes Said yes please You asked me how my meal was A circle of your thumb

Sky dancing, early on a Friday evening, from Singapore to Bali. Six days after the second Bali bombings in October 2005. The aircraft has a 2-3-2 configuration. There are three Indians sitting behind me, to my right. A couple. Tiny, wizened, wrinkled like walnuts and the same colour. By the looks they are old in years, yet somehow young at heart with the wisdom of many lives in their auras. Eyes the colour of charcoal sparkling like diamonds in the sun. Scarlet bindis on thei

Part 1 : Bali 2006 Ubud, Bali. Late one Friday evening in July. In the circle of friends sharing laughter, good food and companionship. The songs of our chatter and the voices of frogs blending together in the cool, freshly-washed night air. Discussions over dinner bounced from one subject to another as we travelled round the globe on a journey from Bhutan to South Africa, the Maldives to Scotland, Singapore to England. From Thimpu to Cape Town, Male to Iona, Changi to Heath

I do not know this man’s name. I know him only as Seeing Eyes. I met him under a tree on a local island in Shaviyaani Atoll in the Maldives

Calcutta is one of the most extraordinary cities I have visited. I love it. Maybe I have such a fondness for it because I’ve had some very s

I love this image that I took on a local island in the very far north of the Maldives 25 years ago. These young people are radiating happine

Bangkok, Thailand, 1992. Heading into the monsoon season, the Festival of Songkran over for another year. Hot. Very hot.

Such a beautiful morning. Still. Barely a breath of wind. So clear. The volcano island is standing proud on the eastern horizon.

Take a look at the image above. What do you see? Several pretty pastel-coloured houses.

the shrill ringing of my alarm clock competing with the raucous croaking of the frogs in the rice fields, piercing the peacefulness of my de

I am in the dentist’s waiting room ... Saturday morning, a gloomy, glimpy, grey day. Opposite me sit a father and daughter,

Bali, June 2006, the island lashed by uncharacteristically wild winds and heavy rains that blanketed the mountains in deep, dark cloud

I saw a man on the bus today on the way to an exhibition about ancient Egypt: his skin captivated me.

I wandered into a dark broom-cupboard of a second-hand bookshop in Ubud, Bali a while ago. As I crossed its musty threshold I was ...

A cool, bright night in the rice fields. Not a whisper of wind rifling the mosquito net that fell in a waterfall of pale cream cloth from ..

Central Bali, gazing out of the window into the inky blackness that blankets the rice fields. A brief moment of darkness...

Early one Saturday morning in the middle of April. A day that dawned bright and clear and sunny. A canopy of endless blue sky ...

New Year almost upon us. I worked out the other day that in a six month period I celebrate not one but six new years. Lucky girl.