Transitional Nature

Life Near the Rax is pretty great

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We’re doing Workaway in the Austrian Alps at the moment, and the place that we’re staying is really great. I’ll post some photos that I’ve taken in addition to these, but I wanted to post the ones from our amazing Dolomites self tour as well.

I’ve been really lazy about Lightroom in the meantime, so here are a couple of the shots from a (very) long day of sunrise, sunset, and astro photography. All of these images as panoramas, shot with my tripod and stitched together to make the final image.

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And here are the promised shots of our current life here in the Raxalpes.

If anyone is interested, I’d love to write about Workaway and how it works as a travel amplifier.

On Home

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Candles. I bought some new ones. They were on sale.

Candles stuck in glass bottles are one of the things that makes our home, ever since London. Try watching your favourite period drama by candlelight. It changes the whole experience. We started with Vikings, but now we’re in my native land with Godless (I recommend the Western). It feels like we’re right there if the candles are lit, and the standard fluorescents really kill the mood.

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Try some alternative lighting. It makes a huge difference. Make it a habit.

Why did George Orwell move to Burma?

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Why just move to Italy?

ferrara window

First sunrise in my homestay in Ferrara, January 2009

Why suddenly decide to become a teacher in rural Patagonia?

Patagonia calls to me

2011, Campo outside Puerto Natales

Why Suwon?

Yeongtong, 2012

Why go around the planet the long way through India and England to your native Colorado?

Holi in Jaipur, 2013

Why London?

Leyton High Road, 2014

Why Shanghai?

Shanghai, 2016

Why move to a remote Scout Camp in Iceland?

Icelandic Highlands, 2016

Why move back to Korea, leave, go to Vietnam, then go to Iceland again?

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Sajik-Dong, 2017

Why move to Hanoi?

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Hanoi, 2017

I defer to Neruda.

“Me defundí, no hay duda,
me cambié de existencias,
cambié de piel, de lámpara, de odios,
tuve que hacerlo
no por ley ni capricho,
sino que por cadena,
me encadenó cada nueva camino,
le tomé gusto a tierra a toda tierra.” – Adioses

My translation:

I diffused myself, there is no doubt,

I changed myself in many existences,

I changed my skin, my lamp, my hatreds,

I had to do it

Not by law nor by caprice,

But by chain reaction

Each new road enchained me

I tasted the earth in each land.”

2017: Without Comment

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Presented without comment: My favourite photographs from 2017. I’m working on a post about the year, but this is a good start. 2017 was packed with great stuff, and had opportunities for some of the best photographs I’ve ever taken. I’m ready to explore some more in 2018.

For reference:

  • January-April 12 = Busan and Seoul, South Korea
  • April 13th-23rd = Vietnam
  • April 23-June 13th = USA (Colorado and North Carolina)
  • June 13th – September 9th = Iceland
  • September 15th – Present = Vietnam

January

February

March

April

May

Hue 2017
Hanoi 2017
Janoi 2017

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

 

Haven’t been writing…But here’s some of Hanoi

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I can’t write much at the moment. I’m participating in NaNoWriMo, though (National Novel Writing Month) as Hemingway wrote in his posthumous memoir:

The first draft of anything is shit.

So here’s some pictures of Hanoi! I plan to write a bit about what it’s like to teach in a Vietnamese primary school, but it’s been done and done and done and done to death. Travel blogs just aren’t what they used to be.

I will write soon.