Come away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o
One of the most memorable sunsets I’ve ever seen was this one in Kota Kinabalu.
Just a few minutes later and this is how it looked.
Looking towards the islands where for the first time in my life I tried snorkelling, it felt like I was in paradise.
This weeks photo challenge from WordPress is Rise/Set. Although I’m a morning person, being up and being out are very different so I rarely take sunrise photos!
The word delta has always conjured up images in my mind of powerful rivers flowing into the sea. The Nile, the Niger and the Mississippi, exciting places that make me think of the great explorers of days gone by.
Erica at the Daily Post throws wide the definition of delta, she says,
This week, share a photograph that signifies transitions and change to you. It can be the very beginning of a phase, or the very end. As you pick up your lens, explore the ways in which a single photograph can express time, while only showing us a small portion of any given moment.
so I’ve taken advantage a little with my photo.
The Kinabatangan in Borneo rolls into the sea near Sandakan, Sabah. I was there in 2009, taking this photo five minutes before landing.
I love how the river swirls, curves, and seems to turn back on itself, an unstoppable force heading for the Sula sea.
And a bit scary too . . .
It’s easy being green!
What kind of image helps you relax? Perhaps it would include a sofa, a TV, a glass of wine? Mine would always relate to somewhere warm, with water and a lovely view.
This is the place . . .
Sabah, Christmas 2009, at the Sepilok orang-utan rehabilitation centre. I was beginning to feel pretty rough, dizzy in fact and I didn’t get better for a few days. It was annoying because we’d found somewhere to have an English Christmas dinner and I could only watch my friends enjoying it. Before that though, I’d seen a troup of orangs arrive for lunch in the centre. There were lots of long tailed macaques, cashing in on the free tuck. Very cheeky monkeys, who would sneek up behind you to see what they could find. Like the baby orangs they were cute when tiny, but here are a couple of pre-teens.
I don’t know what they were up to but they were definitely partners in mischief!
Jude invites us to share images of wild flowers for the month of May, and this one is about as wild as you can get. Luckily she doesn’t seem to say that they can’t be exotic, because this one was taken on the banks of Kinabatanga river in Borneo.
I don’t know what it is, it looks quite like a streptocarpus, but I think they originate in South Africa? Visit Jude to join her Garden Challenge, which has a different them each month.
Michelle W, at the WordPress Daily Post says,
This week, share an image inspired by dinnertime — whether you take a photo of food or simply shoot during the evening hours is up to you!
I thought you might like this intimate photo of an orang utan family.
Taken at the Sepilok orang utan centre in Borneo.
Sometimes we find interesting places on the way to other places, Michelle at the Daily Post asks us to share them for this weeks photo challenge. Here are the ones I’ve chosen for you.
Taormina in Sicily is real jewel of a town and one of the ways of getting there is by train. We travelled from Fiumefredo and were delighted to find this stunning ceiling in the ticket office when we arrived at Taormina station.
This road is on the way to the entrance of Sepilok, the orang-utan rehabilitation centre in Sabah, Borneo. It was a hot, and humid walk from our rain forest lodge, but well worth it for the amazing experience of seeing these wonderful creatures up close.
The long road from the north of Ghana was dotted with villages, where people would rush out to greet us, and we could by eggs and fruit for lunch.
This is the view from the air on the way to Sandakan, from Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. The coast is surrounded by coral reefs, the only time I’ve attempted to snorkel. I love the sea, but I’m not a strong swimmer, so I had to be brave to try it. It turned out to be one of the most incredible things I’ve ever done.
There are lots of on the way posts to visit here, and you can join in too!
Josh at the Daily Post asks that we show a picture of ‘Inside’ for this weeks challenge. I’m a bit technologically challenged today because my PC is dying and my new laptop isn’t set up yet – wish me luck with that please!
I’ve found something to post though!
Inside a Cappadochian cave.
The rope I held to scramble into a cave formed by volcanic eruptions on Mount Etna, Sicily.
Our guide deep inside the cave.
Inside Gomantong caves Borneo.
To join in visit http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/weekly-photo-challenge-inside-2/
Julia said ‘the blackness just enveloped me’, and the challenge requires another 100 words, here are mine.
Gomantong Caves
‘We’ll turn the lights off just for one minute’ the guide said. I was scared of the dark, but I’d be okay wouldn’t I? Mark was here. A flick of a switch and the darkness just enveloped me. Every sound was amplified. I tried to reach Mark’s hand, but instead felt something scuttling on the handrail. The single cockroach I’d seen became a thousand in my imagination, and the sweet, sleeping bats were suddenly a murmuration. A silent scream got stuck in my throat and my knees began to crumple.
‘Imagine sleeping here in Gomantong caves?’ said the guide.
Get me out of here.
Lucid Gypsy 