Enjoy Writing Calligraphy during Coronavirus Lockdown – A Curvsive Piece on Friendship between Two Famous People when Poor

The Walls at the Acropolis, Athens

Some Notes on our Trip to Phuket – Photo showing view of Nai Yang Beach from the Hotel

The background of our travel:

Unrest – where we are based is affected by riots, protest and destruction of infrastructure for 7 months and is still on going; polarizing the whole society

Fears – coronavirus spreading.

Stress– worries about the above plus general health condition of family members have led to stresses

The atmosphere around us is very negative. We decided to make a short escape / visit to Phuket, where we can breath freely the fresh air without the need of a facial mask.

Transport:

Slightly more than three hours by plane.

Taxi from the Phuket airport to our hotel at Nai Yang Beach only took 10 minutes but cost 800 Baht (US$26). It was a rip off. For our return trip to the airport, the hotel’s limousine only charged us half the amount.

Itinerary:

We did a half day visit to the highest point on Phuket island, over viewing the whole island and also to Promthep to see the sunset. The driver / car cost us US$80.

We did a 7 hours group tour (car transfer then speedboat)to visit the islands : Maya, Phi Phi Don, Bamboo Island, Monkey Beach, costing US$90/ person.

We have a good tour of the Nai Yang Village and the adjacent beach.

Why Choose Phuket and not other places in Thailand:

In recent years, we visited Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Koh Samui. Phuket and Krabi are the two places which we haven’t visited for decades. We prefer Phuket as there is a direct flight.

Overall:

We breath fresh air, without a mask.

We saw many idyllic islands, beaches, clouds, swimming monkeys.

We have lunches and dinners by the beach.

There were also opportunities for snorkeling.

We love to have the sun, sand, blue sky and fresh air throughout the trip. My wife likes particularly the snorkeling she had in the sea; viewing the fishes. It was a good escape from our home base 🙂

Alleys on the Greek Islands

Cats

Southern Italy, Sicily and Malta

The trip is made in late September and completed in early October this year.

I have never visited Italy. So, it was my first trip there.

From where we are based, we flew to Rome via Doha.

We drove through Napoli, then Sorrento before reaching our first destination Pompei.

From there, we headed south visiting the areas below, crossing the Messina Strait to Sicily and from there also to Malta by way of ferries. Our final destination was Malta from where we flew to Doha and home.

There were several detours along the way, so that we were able to visit more places.

We did not visit the Amalfi coast. This is our biggest regret. We were told it is a bit difficult to drive along the scenic coast as it is hilly and narrow.

Below are photos showing some of the visitas in the order of our visits.

Pompei Ruins

Sorrento

Capri

Paestrum

Matera

Sassi & Rupestrian

Alberobello Village

Crossing the Messina Strait

Taormina

Palermo

Agrigento

Siracusa Church of Weeping Madonna

Malta

Gozo Island

Victoria

Flowers of trekking: Sighting of rare Brahma Kamal — Vagabond Images

Had heard a lot about the Brahma Kamal flower earlier. But got to see it blooming for the first time when I went to Valley of flowers and Hemkund trek almost fifteen years back. (But here I will like to remind you that it is not Valley of Flowers, where you will find it normally,…

Flowers of trekking: Sighting of rare Brahma Kamal — Vagabond Images

The Chapel at Syros

Windmill at Patmos

Memory of the Golden Hour at the 9 Curves 18 Meanders in Xingjiang