‘Do you know I won’t be here next year’ Sylvia asked, eager to make conversation as she sat down beside me on the bench outside her solitary isolated barn at Busenalp, high in the Alps of Switzerland’s magnificent Bernese Oberland. Continue reading
18 – Smoke on the Water – The Montreux Jazz Festival – July 21 2013
As I get older I find that each year there are certain events I try and get to annually and subsequently provide a framework around which I plan my year and travels. Continue reading
17 – Little Old Yeovil – A Love Story. Wembley Stadium London – May 19 2013
This website is not called Notes from a Nomad by accident as I live a peripatetic life, always moving and belonging nowhere. I am fortunate to have homes and friends in many locations but when I travel between them I find that there is no subject that is more useful to Continue reading
16 – The House that Gio built – an Italian in the Orient – April 21 2013
If one of the subjects of this website is remarkable people it is fair to say that Juergen Lusuardi (Gio) qualifies and it is equally true that anyone who meets Gio will not quickly forget him – and especially when they discover how many others benefit from his energy and efforts. Continue reading
15 – Meandering through Myanmar? – April 5 2013
I am spending a period of three and a half months writing a book in Thailand and I needed to leave the country to renew my visa. Rather than a quick one day hop across the border to Cambodia, Laos or Malaysia I thought this was an ideal occasion to visit Myanmar, a country my wife Sharron visited Continue reading
14 – The Beauty Pageant – Bantayan Island – Jan 18 2013
Today is our last day on Bantayan Island after spending seven days here. The first three we enjoyed the beautiful white sand beach but on the last three the wind got up and we spent most of our time in the restaurant accessing Continue reading
13 – The Dating Game – Bantayan Island – January 15 2013
The New Year has found me in the southern Philippines where I have been telling everyone the women are fast, or should I just say friendly and the internet is slow.
I am renting a house in Thailand Continue reading
12 – Leonard Cohen in Quebec – Lessons from a Master – Dec 9 2012
If the question is what could possibly induce me to visit Quebec in late November with the daytime temperature reaching minus 16 then the answer is to watch one of the most talented artists in the world perform in his home town of Montreal.
Continue reading
11 – A family outing – Thailand Oct 22 2012
For the second time this year I find myself typing away with a fan behind me in the village of Baen Non Waeng in Northeast Thailand. The fan is 5ft tall, a beautiful bronze complexion, and twists smoothly back and forth imparting relief and pleasure at every moment. Unfortunately this relief is provided by courtesy of Continue reading
10 – China on my mind – Oct 8 2012
I keep thinking this is my third visit to China but in fact it is the fifth time I have been in the country as I have twice visited Tibet and whether we like it or not after 50 years Tibet is as much part of China as Wales and Scotland are part of the UK. So perhaps I should say this is my third visit to mainland or undisputed China. Continue reading
Notes from a Nomad 