Thanks to the creative requirements that using airline points can produce, my trip to Madagascar involved flying Delta there and Air France back. This gave me the opportunity to spend two full days in Johannesburg, South Arica, as I waited for my connecting flight to Madagascar. The first day would be spent visiting the Apartheid Museum, the Mandela House…
This past weekend my daughter had a soccer tournament at Coronado. Chance would have it that a family not big on mornings would get starting game times of 8 AM on Saturday and Sunday. With the coach’s requirement to be at the game 1 hour prior, that would mean a 5 AM wakeup to get to Coronado on time….
This post is a continuation of last week’s Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden tour. As promised, I will now focus on the amazing plants of Nong Nooch. I mentioned last week that I had taken over 400 photos during my visit. With great effort I was able to filer that amount down to 40 for this post….
When the wife and I knew that we would be going to Thailand to celebrate our ten-year wedding anniversary, I immediately began working on her to include a quick side trip to the Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden. The palm tree lover in me could never be forgiven if I missed the Mecca of palm tree botanical gardens. A visit…
Back in November I posted about a tree (Acacia leucophloea) that stood out to me while on my travels through Myanmar. In this week’s post I will introduce you to a tree that has done the same for me while in Thailand. That tree is Dipterocarpus alatus, commonly known in Thailand as the “Yaang Naa Tree.” What…
I have been home for a little over a week now after an amazing three weeks in Myanmar. My favorite region in the world is Southeast Asia and my trip to Myanmar only strengthened my bias. Tourism is in its fledgling years. The history is rich. The scenery unique. The people were some of the most friendly and trust-worthy…
While traveling throughout Myanmar you will find that there are a few trees that are really important to the Burmese people and can be found growing most everywhere we visited. One, of course, is the Thanaka Tree (Limonia acidissima). It is the tree from which Thanaka, which is used by most Burmese women for beauty and cosmetic purposes, is made….
To me there is no better statement-making accent piece that you can put in the garden than stonework. It can range from a natural rock formation to carved stone pots to my personal favorite – stone statues. I have found gnomes, dolphins, turtles and even a carving of Zeus in gardens that I have visited. But for me it…