20th to 21st October Ende The town of Ende is in a beautiful location, surrounded by beaches and jungle covered mountains. The town itself is not particularly attractive, they seem to be doing a lot of work there, but as more tourists visit it will improve. We did found the locals very friendly. After being met at the airport and taken to our hotel, we decided on a walk through town to the beach. We noticed that the local public transport system consisted of adolescent boys driving pimped out mini vans, with the doof doof sounds systems blaring out what sounded like the Bahasi version of gangster rap music. There seemed to be an interesting mixture of Christian and Muslim followers in the town. Most of the buildings and houses appeared to be rather boring, concrete ... read more

During our stay in Laos we were lucky to spend a lot of time with local friends and friends of friends. This gave us the chance to try a lot of different Lao food, from street food to higher end restaurant cuisine. Through this we also got an insight into Lao culture and family life. Our impressions of Lao food is that it is very fresh, simple, healthy, and very tasty. We also found out that Lao people spend a lot of time cooking and sharing food with family and friends. They also love to share a drink or maybe ten – during our visit the Beer Lao flowed in an almost endless, happy stream. We spent a lot of our time eating, drinking and chatting, in road side eateries, people’s gardens, during impromptu get togethers ... read more

Lorenza and I are lucky to have many wonderful friends. When Mike and Hang asked us if we would take on the role of “Spiritual Parents” for their daughter Maya we were only too happy to accept. (It occurred to me later that a better description of our role may be the Pali term “kalyana mitta” which means spiritual friend.) As our first act of spiritual guidance we organised for Maya to be blessed by Sayadaw U Pannathami at the Panditarama Meditation Centre. Mike also explained that Maya had been named after the mother of Gautama the Buddha. Mike explained to Sayadaw that Hang and he had asked that we try and guide Maya in the right direction over the coming years, much like God-parents would. Sayadaw spent some time talking to them and getting an ... read more

Kimbriki public school opened its doors in 1869 and closed in 1972. Sometime in that period my mother was a student there until she left in year six to complete her education via correspondence school. On the weekend I drove my mother back to Kimbriki to attend a school reunion. I am told that the word Kimbriki in the local Aboriginal language means “water reed”. The area has a population of about 350 people. It was once a thriving dairy producing area. Now, most of the farms are devoted to cattle, horses or are hobby farms. Cedar Vale My mother grew up at a property called “Cedar Vale”; the original house is still standing, but the farm itself has now been sub-divided. My grandfather, Horace, logged all the timber for the house, had it milled and ... read more

The Australia Burma Community Development Network (ABCD Network), with the participation of the Sydney Burmese community held the Burma Food & Cultural Festival at Darling Harbour, in Sydney on Sunday 12th September 2010. The material promoting the event said … “It is also to bring the community together in a unified purpose and to show off the rich tradition, cultural and arts of the people. You will be able to tantalize your taste buds, be entertained with live performances and informed as well as picking up some nice souvenirs for yourself or your loved ones... and all this for a great cause! Organized by: The ABCD Network, with the participation of the Sydney Burmese community. Come join in the fun and show your support.” I met up with some friends to visit the festival and found ... read more