This is a photo essay of Tynemouth Priory and its surrounding areas. I took the pictures in January but hadn’t managed to add the pictures until now. ‘Fed up’ were the only two words willing to come to mind. As I sat, drenched from head to foot, looking out from the bus...

This post concludes our trilogy of temples/historical sites in and around Yogyakarta. Here you can find our photo essays on Ratu Boko, &  Candi Prambanan. Candi Borobudur is by far the most famous temple in Yogyakarta. The 9th century Buddhist site is a single structure with various...

The bellowing thunder rolling around the distant hills was a sign of things to come. It wouldn’t be long before the storm hit. We had to be quick. All around us lay the ruins of a once majestic kingdom, now referred to as Ratu Boko. Doorways stand eerily at the top of haunting hills...

Kuala Lumpur is everything Rachel and I love in a city. It’s seeped in culture and history but offers an exciting, cosmopolitan vibe for the modern-day traveler. Its monorail makes getting around the city a breeze. And we were almost never bothered by touts selling everything but the...

We’re in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, right now – just a quick trip. We’ll be back in Indonesia on Tuesday. Immediately after I published last week’s collection of pictures, we went to Prambanan. Here’s the post with most of the shots, if you haven’t already seen...

Neatly piled rubble, remnants of smaller temples, line the grassy area that surrounds the compound of the main structures. The large temples sit silently, magnificently, and with a form and ambiance often absent in the modern world. The craggy, pointed buildings almost seem aggressive at...

Like much of East Asia, bartering in Indonesia is expected. However, unlike other places, I actually enjoy the push-and-pull of the haggle here. On occasions I actually feel guilty for haggling over what seems to us like pittance, but mostly I think all’s fair in the world of the barter. In...

The taxi driver spoke, and spoke, and spoke… I kept thinking “What scam is he trying to pull?” On the road I’m always quick to assume the worst. If a local is talking to me, he probably wants my cash – not the most humanistic stance, but it has kept us scam free...