LUANG PRABANG - LAOS – Market Mini-Series

Now that the April A-Z Challenge is over, I thought I would return to my Market Mini-Series for your entertainment.

During one of my South East Asia trips we travelled through Laos by bus. The journey was fairly gruelling, but it did mean we got to see quite a lot of the beautiful Laotian countryside, but I’ll save those details for another post.

Vangvien

Our bus journey terminated at Luang Prabang, a beautiful old city sited at the confluence of the Mekong and Khan Rivers. 

As we wandered the streets of Luang Prabang I was fascinated by the racks of rice cakes set out to dry everywhere. However, I didn’t sample these cakes because I was slightly concerned about hygiene.

The market stalls were equally fascinating with many foodstuffs and dishes I didn’t recognise. I watched these ladies stuffing lettuce leaves with an interesting range of ingredients. Although I was tempted - the smells from the various bowls were enticing - I decided not to try one of their little parcels because I wasn’t sure about the wisdom of eating salad leaves without knowing how they had been washed. 

These chickens were easy enough to recognise. 
They looked and smelled delicious, but I was a little disconcerted by the volume of flies that she was doing her best to fan away. I also wasn't entirely sure how we would consume a chicken whilst wandering around a market!

Finally, I could resist no longer because one of the joys of travel is to sample the food that the locals eat instead of the homogeneous, bland fare that passes for 'western' or 'international' food which is so often served to tourists. 

So, I bought a stick of sticky rice, and it was as delicious as I hoped it would be. 

I should have known better - rice is notorious for its dangers. I went down with food poisoning and spent two miserable days in bed. Ironic, eh?

It hasn't put me off trying local food - or market snacks - I just have to remember to choose more wisely!

Z IS FOR ZEBRA : A-Z Challenge

Welcome to the final day of the 2016 A-Z Blogging Challenge and my Wildlife Encounters theme.

I began the Challenge in Africa with A is for Aardvark, so it seems only fitting to complete the Challenge in Africa with Z is for Zebra.

We were in the Etosha National Park on our self-drive tour of Namibia. I had a map showing the location of the waterholes because they’re always a good place to view wildlife.

We were heading towards a waterhole we hadn’t visited before when we came upon two Burchell’s zebras right on the road.

The animals were very calm and unconcerned by our proximity: it was a perfect photo opportunity. 

In fact one passed the car so closely I couldn’t fit it in the frame!

In Kenya’s Samburu National Park we saw a beautiful male Grevy’s zebra.

This zebra is chunkier, with narrow stripes shaped like chevrons. It’s the only zebra with an all-white belly.

I have also seen Mountain Zebra in South Africa, but they were so distant my photographs of them aren’t worth posting.

Thank you for following my blog during this Challenge – it has been a real pleasure to meet you and I hope you’ll look in from time to time in the future. 

I usually blog once a week. I have a weakness for running mini-series. Past subjects have been Foreign Markets, Insects and On the Road Surprises – all of which will continue on an ad-hoc basis coupled with new subjects.

Y IS FOR YELLOW BOXFISH : A-Z Challenge

Welcome to Day 25 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge.  My theme is:

Wildlife Encounters

When it comes to the underwater world I have some favourite creatures which I’m always thrilled to see. An animal might be elevated to ‘favourite’ status because of its beauty, but more often it’s because it’s unusual, weird, super-ugly or full of character. (see my U for Unicornfish post)

Grey Reef Shark, Fiji

There are certain creatures that my husband and I always point out to each other. In addition to the obvious stars like mantas, sharks or turtles, we have a raft of smaller denizens which we love to see.

Spotted Boxfish, Thailand

In what has become a large repertoire of favourite reef fish one of my all time favourites is the Boxfish, so named due to their shape. 

The first time I saw a Boxfish I was diving in Thailand. I was highly amused. A living, breathing, swimming box? How mad! How wonderful!

Young Adult Yellow Boxfish

There are several species of Boxfish. It took me a while to learn how to identify the different species, not least because these fish look quite different in each stage of their development.

Intermediate Yellow Boxfish

Juvenile Yellow Boxfish, Thailand

When I saw my first baby Yellow Boxfish I was delighted. It was no bigger than my thumb and one of the cutest little fish I have ever seen. 

Juvenile Yellow Boxfish, Thailand

These tiny juveniles can be challenging to photograph because as soon as you approach they do their best to hide from you. I have seen many now over the years, yet I still experience a thrill every time I see one.

See you tomorrow – I’m heading west. Can you guess where and what the last animal will be?

If you want to blog-hop to the next A-Z Challenge blog, please click HERE

X IS FOR XANTHICHTHYS AUROMARGINATUS : A-Z Challenge

Welcome to Day 24 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge.  My theme is:

Wildlife Encounters

There are about forty species of triggerfish many of which have very beautiful markings. Xanthichthys auromarginatus - or the Gilded Triggerfish is one such fish and I was delighted to see it whilst diving in the Philippines. 

Male Gilded Triggerfish

Blue Triggerfish

Hunting triggerfish are fascinating to watch. They use their fins to flap away debris and squirt water from their mouths in their search on the seabed for prey such as worms or crabs. 

Triggerfish have a reputation with divers as being aggressive. Their aggression is usually triggered (sorry) when they are protecting their nests. 

My husband and I were once attacked by Titan triggerfish when we inadvertently swam over an area of nests. We had fish coming at us from all directions. We positioned ourselves back to back so that we could kick out to prevent being bitten, whilst at the same time swimming out of their territory!

Apo Island, Phillippines

Keeping a wary eye on a Titan Triggerfish

Normally it’s not difficult to avoid triggerfish attacks – but I do keep a cautious eye on Titan triggerfish when I see them.

The Gilded Triggerfish has a reputation for being far more docile.

See you tomorrow – I’m heading west and slightly north. Can you guess where and what the next animal will be?

If you want to blog-hop to the next A-Z Challenge blog, please click HERE

W IS FOR WHALE : A-Z Challenge

Welcome to Day 23 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. My theme is:

 Wildlife Encounters

I am fortunate to have seen Humpback Whales in South Africa and the South Pacific. Here are the relevant (edited) snippets from two of my articles.

 Extract from an English language newspaper in Spain:

The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park is on the shores of the Indian Ocean.  Inland from St Lucia, the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi game reserve is the oldest proclaimed national park in Africa.  At 960 square kilometres, it is far smaller than Kruger, but has a good reputation. We visited the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi reserve first, electing to do the Umfolozi side since we could pronounce it.  

The slightly scruffy town of St Lucia sits at the mouth of the St Lucia estuary. Advantage Deepsea Charters arrange trips to view humpback whales from July to October.  

We boarded the boat directly off the beach.  The skipper gunned the engine and we were soon bucking and slamming through the breakers.  Once past the breakers we were permitted to remove our lifejackets,  although the ocean was as rough as a washing machine.

Three of us joined Skipper Danie on a small viewing platform with a secondary wheel. From this lofty perch we could see for miles.

All eyes were peeled, searching for tell-tale 'blows'; the plume of spray that is a whale exhaling.  My husband spotted a blow.  Suddenly we were chaperoning five humpback whales for a few miles of their mammoth journey south.  

It is hard to assimilate how large a humpback is as you glimpse the curve of a back or the span of a tail as it dives.  The eye thinks it is being deceived, but they really are as large as trucks.

The return to our embarkation point entailed a scary high speed ride so bone rattling I was nearly catapulted overboard.

Air-Pacific in-flight magazine extract:

“Mantas!”  James leapt to his feet and raced out on deck. 

We swiftly followed. Manta rays were breaking the surface two hundred metres from our boat.  

In no time flat we were enjoying an impromptu dive with possibly the most elegant animals to grace our oceans.

For the diving enthusiast, or person who wants to learn scuba diving, there is nothing quite like a dive live-aboard cruise. It gives you the opportunity to live and breathe this addictive sport for several days with like-minded people. Couple this with a cruise around Fiji’s abundance of exquisite small islands and you have a perfect holiday combination.

In addition to diving the reefs around Makogai Island, we made landfall.  Villagers gathered on the beach to welcome us with a song.  We were garlanded with sweetly fragrant leis and village chief Watson shook everyone’s hand…

It was at Makogai that ‘blows’ were spotted.  

Before you could say “humpback whale” we were speeding out in the skiff for a closer look at a mother and her calf as they lazily breached and dove for several magical minutes.

See you tomorrow – I’m heading north west. Can you guess where and what the next animal will be?

If you want to blog-hop to the next A-Z Challenge blog, please click HERE

V IS FOR VULTURE : A-Z Challenge

Welcome to Day 22 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. My theme is:

Wildlife Encounters

The thing about vultures is that it’s easy to focus on their looks and underestimate just how fabulous these birds actually are. Their importance in the food chain cannot be exaggerated.

Vultures act as a clean-up crew which helps stop diseases caused from rotting carcasses and they are fully adapted and designed to do just that. 

African White Backed Vultures on an elephant carcass 

It does however mean that they lack feathers on their heads. Some species also lack feathers on their necks too, (these are the ones that insert their heads inside carcasses to delve for juicy treats). 

Vultures’ abilities as scavengers rely on features like powerful beaks and talons and their ability to sniff out or spot a rotting corpse. These features are hardly endearing to most humans, but believe it or not, I do find vultures endearing. They are so perfectly adapted to do what they do, and there is something strangely sweet about a flock of these mighty scavengers waiting patiently for a hyena to eat its fill whilst also keeping watch to see if they can pinch a  morsel when the predator isn’t looking. 

Feisty, clever, patient and with incredible skills which enable them to reduce a dead animal to almost nothing, what’s not to admire about vultures?

Did you know that a group of Vultures is known as a ‘venue’ and when the group is seen in the air, circling together, it is called a ‘kettle’?

Apologies (again) for the picture quality – these are scanned photos from a Kenyan safari taken before I switched to digital.

See you tomorrow – I’m heading to two locations. The first is south of Kenya and the second is quite a long way east from there. Can you guess where and what the next animal will be?

If you want to blog-hop to the next A-Z Challenge blog, please click HERE

U IS FOR UNICORNFISH : A-Z Challenge

Welcome to Day 21 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. My theme is:

'Wildlife Encounters'

Amended version of a 2015 blog post titled Touching the Unicorn

The first time someone mentioned unicornfish I was intrigued. Unicornfish? 
Surely the stuff of legends and fairytales! 
Of course the reason for this name is more prosaic. Unicornfish have a protrusion between their eyes, some more obvious than others.  I have to confess to feeling somewhat disappointed when I identified my first unicornfish. Visions of endearing fish in My Little Pony colours were shattered. Generally drab coloured, it is the ‘horn’ that makes the unicornfish instantly recognisable rather than its ‘plumage’.

So, I ignored unicornfish in favour of the flamboyant and flirtatious strumpets of the fish world.

Yet, the unicornfish had something up their metaphoric fishy sleeves that would knock the others’ behaviour into a cocked hat… their curiosity of divers and our bubbles.

Pause for any length of time around unicornfish and they’ll hover above you in your stream of bubbles. There is something enormously appealing about any wild creature that is willing to interact.

Now, whenever I spotted unicornfish on a dive, I would wait to see whether they would approach and hang out in my bubbles.

On the last two occasions that I went diving in The Maldives I enjoyed close encounters with unicornfish. 

The first experience was with a unicornfish who stayed put when I reflexively reached out towards it, allowing my fingers to brush against its surprisingly velvety skin.

The second experience occurred just last month. A unicornfish faced me head on. We looked at each other. I reached out and to my astonishment it approached and touched the tip of my finger with its soft mouth in what felt like a little kiss.

See you tomorrow – I’m heading south west. Can you guess where and what the next animal will be?

If you want to blog-hop to the next A-Z Challenge blog, please click HERE