Author Archives: Sarah
Puerto Rico & Manaus, Brazil 23 – 30 January 2024
San Juan (23-24 January) The second destination of my journey is Amazon and northeast Brazil. In order to reach Manaus, I bought a ticket that first flew to San Juan for one night before catching an Avianca flight to Manaus via Bogota. This one-way ticket was only expensive but has given me a bad experience. … Continue reading
Dominica: Whale-watching 15-23 January 2023
Sperm Whale Watching 15-22 January 202 Why this trip? Mark Carwardine, a British zoologist leads groups to watch wildlife, whales and birds. I first met him on the Wrangle Island expedition in 2019 and joined his grey whale watching expedition in Baja, Mexico in 2020. I am curious about sperm whales and decide to join … Continue reading
Dominica to Namibia: 8 January – 24 March 2024
Why this Journey I have joined a sperm whale watching trip in Dominica in mid January and an expedition by boat from Puerto William, Chile to Walvis Bay, Namibia in March. As a result, I decide to stop at Amsterdam, London and northern eastern part of Brazil during this journey. January 8-9: Amsterdam & London … Continue reading
Shikuko Pilgrimage 2023 (3)
November 26 Sunday Temples 55- 59 & 61-64 We had a busy day visiting nine temples that are not far apart. They included Temples 55 Nankobo (南光坊) (deity – Daitsu-chisho Butsu); 56 Taisan-ji (泰山寺) (deity – Jizo Bosatsu); 57 Eifuku-ji (栄福寺) (deity – Amida Nyorai) ; 58 Senyu-ji (仙遊寺) (deity – Senju Kannon); 59 Iyo … Continue reading
Shikuko Pilgrimage 2023 (2)
November 23 Thursday Temples 37- 40 (4 temples) Today we visited only four temples as they are far apart. We started with Temple 37 Iwamoto-ji (岩本寺) (deity-Fudo Myoo, Kannon Bosatsu, Amida Nyorai, Yakushi Nyorai and Jizo Bosatsu); then drove 82 km to reach Temple 38 Kongofuku-ji (金剛福寺) (deity-Senju Kannon). This is the longest stretch between … Continue reading
Shikuko Pilgrimage November 2023
Shikoku Pilgrimage (四国遍路) , an UNESCO site in Shikuko, comprises a multi-site pilgrimage of 88 temples associated with Kukai (774-835 ), a Buddhist monk commonly known as Kobo Daishi who founded the esoteric Shingon School of Buddhism. The walking course approximately 1,200km long may take 30 to 60 days to complete on foot. I joined … Continue reading
Soloman Islands, Vanuatu & Sydney 31 October- 12 November 2023
Solomon Islands (also known as the Solomons) consists of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, to the northeast of Australia. The country has an area of over 28,000 km2 and an estimated population of 750,000. Honiara located on the largest island, Guadalcanal is the capital and largest city. First … Continue reading
Papau New Guinea 23-30 October 2023
Papua New Guinea Bordering Indonesia to the west and Australia to the south, PNG is an island country located on the Pacific Ocean. It occupies the east half of New Guinea Island that is in both Australia and Oceania, and some nearby islands. Papau and New Guinea used to be separate entities, influenced and colonized … Continue reading
Indonesia October 7-22, 2023
Why Bali – Vanuatu on Heritage Adventure 2023 I had booked two expeditions with the Heritage Expedition to explore the coast of Sea of Okhotsk and Kamchatka in May-June 2020. COVID 19 threw the world upside down. A year later the Ukraine war made it impossible to visit Russia. I therefore switched to a one-month long expedition … Continue reading
Fujian Pilgrimage 21-27 September 2023
I joined a 5-day pilgrimage trip to Fujian 福建 (September 21-25) organised by the Buddhist Compassion Organisation and stayed behind in the Fuzhou for two more days a few days. It is a nice discovery tour : while the basic structures and layout of all Chinese temples have similar features, all the nine temples visited … Continue reading