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So far Linda has created 67 blog entries.

Armenia – “The Ground beneath their Feet”

By |2022-09-07T15:15:53+02:00June 4, 2018|Middle Earth|

Footprints criss-cross a country. “We bear witness to history”! Large and small, old and new, they are. This way and that, over and under each other, they go. Some stroll, some march, some stagger, some stomp. It always bewilders. But in Armenia, two sets of bold footprints claim us! One set belongs to Christianity and the other to Communism. Steadfast and stubborn, these footprints zigzag Armenia, still today. Imagine Armenia is the world’s first country to declare CHRISTIANITY its official religion. Way back [...]

Ruth’s Tail

By |2022-09-07T15:16:10+02:00May 28, 2018|Middle Earth|

We drop our roll-bags, expansion bags, tank-bags, helmets and jackets with heavy sighs. We are eager for three days and three nights of no-where and nothing, in a cabin on a ferry from Burgas, Bulgaria to Batumi, Georgia. Then, a dog barks! And our hearts leap. Oh, we miss our Potter and Oscar. We crave the company of dogs. On the deck we soon meet Ruth and Homer …. And another, Pluto! What a joy. We chat and pat eagerly. Ruth’s tale crawls [...]

Romania – A last few Photos

By |2022-09-07T15:17:13+02:00May 15, 2018|Middle Earth|

Here is a last little collection of photos from Romania .... Romania has many little villages ... ... and it is a pleasure riding through them ... spot the stork ... ... it is a long winter and we wonder if she thinks she has arrived too early ... we are told some of them have to be rescued as it is still very cold. There are plenty of spots to stop and picnic. [...]

Gypsies – “The Measure of a Smile”

By |2022-09-07T15:32:21+02:00May 2, 2018|Middle Earth|

Gypsies are Roma. But Roma are not from Romania. Roma or Gypsies leave north India in the early Middle Ages. They travel and settle throughout Europe. Here they adapt, and adopt local religions and languages. Gypsies are Europe’s largest minority group with 11 million people. They endure centuries of discrimination. It culminates in WW2 when Hitler tries to exterminate them. The EU estimates 34% are unemployed, 20% have no health insurance and 80% live below the poverty line. Today, Europe’s far-right parties again [...]

Transylvania – “Now you see it, now you don’t”

By |2022-09-07T15:32:35+02:00April 23, 2018|Middle Earth|

Transylvania evokes medieval villages, Saxon castles and Dracula!! Yes, it’s the mid 1200s and the world’s empires race to claim land. Present day Germany craves the land to its east; Transylvania. It’s magnificent, in the heart of Romania. Grand Carpathian Mountains shield a fertile valley on all sides. The peasants there are mild. And a call to Saxon craftsmen to colonise Transylvania rings loud. The promise by Teutonic Knights to guard this Christian mission heartens. So blacksmiths, carpenters, traders, farmers and their families [...]

! Middle Earth !

By |2022-09-07T15:33:14+02:00March 20, 2018|Middle Earth|

  ! Middle Earth ! How did we miss it! Our first trip skirts around it. Our second goes under then over it. And our third slips away. How curious? We are. How curious! Middle Earth is. Turns out. Everything clatters here, in the Middle. First - Vikings, Saxons, Slavs, Romans, Arabs, Turks and Persians. Then the empires - Greek, Hapsburg, Ottoman and Russian. Now the super-powers - Europe, Russia, the US and Arab world. Strong-arm here, right in the Middle. ! Middle [...]

If you meet the Buddha on the road …?

By |2022-09-07T15:33:33+02:00April 24, 2016|South and South East Asia|

Our trip ploughs through a heap of world religions. On top of the ones we know. Animism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism! BEFORE OUR TRIP, I wonder, how will I emerge from this heap? My icy cold relationship with religion. Will it change? I have a head full of questions and a heart full of emotions. And it finds form in this question ... If you meet the Buddha on the road ...? It's a bit of a tease. A riddle. And it pesters [...]

A last few Pics – Laos, Cambodia and Thailand

By |2022-09-07T15:33:49+02:00April 17, 2016|South and South East Asia|

Here we sweep up a higgledy piggledy bunch of photos from Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. A collection of 'the little things' we desperately don't want to forget.   In Laos, Luang Prabang, we see rows of monks carrying bowls to receive offerings of rice and food from the community.   This happens everywhere and every morning at 6. Some families still send their youngest sons to monasteries.   ...   We find Laos and Cambodia seriously [...]

Power Shifts

By |2022-09-07T15:34:06+02:00April 12, 2016|South and South East Asia|

I like to keep a tidy mind. But history is messy! In fact, history records stupefy! And day after day, my mind becomes messier and messier. And kilometre after kilometre I become dumber and dumber! What to do? The trick, I figure out, is too uncover just enough. Pick up the trend. And sweep out the rest. Quickly. Smartly! Dynasty after dynasty drops antiquity after antiquity. We see them in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand. I set to work. Spring clean my mind. Dust, [...]

Walking on Water

By |2022-09-07T15:34:20+02:00April 7, 2016|South and South East Asia|

It’s a miracle! Or two miracles? One on top of the other! The lake, Tonle Sap. And the people that live on the lake. Hang on, it’s only one. Science explains the lake. But it doesn't explain the people on it. They are walking on water … - Tonle Sap - Check out the map. The Mekong River rushes from Tibet, through China, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, all the way to the sea. When the snow melts and the monsoon rains, the [...]

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