Stupa

Swaymbhunath Stupa (also known as ‘Monkey Temple’)

“The stupa (“stupa” is Sanskrit for heap) is an important form of Buddhist architecture… At its simplest, a stupa is a dirt burial mound faced with stone.” (source) The Swaymbhunath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal, is far from a simple mound! In the photo above, the textured curved white base is the stupa itself; atop it is the “yasti, or spire, which symbolizes the axis mundi (a line through the earth’s center around which the universe is thought to revolve)”.

You can get a better idea of the scale of the Swaymbhunath Stupa complex in the photo below. For more information on Swaymbhunath Stupa, and a more comprehensive photo, go here.

The complex seen from a distance.

Posted for Becky’s SquareUp challenge. I’ve gone with “playing around with the word up”.

Puppet buskers

I came across this pair of puppet buskers in Amsterdam — in 1992! I wonder if the buskers and the puppets are still going now?

Posted for Becky’s SquareUp challenge. I’ve gone with “playing around with the word up”.

Two of a kind

Rent-a-Camel

I have definitely been of the dilatory kind this month as this is my first photo for Becky’s Kinda Squares. These two camels, resting in front of The Treasury at Petra, Jordan, were available for tourists to ride.

The top of the world

Himalaya Mountains, Nepal, shot from airplane

Measured by height above sea level, the Himalaya Mountains are the highest in the world. Everest, its summit measuring 8,850 meters (29,035 feet) ASL, is the highest of them all — though I’m fairly sure it’s not in this photo, given that we were flying west from Kathmandu to Pokhara. This region is often called “the roof of the world”, which I am shamelessly morphing into “top of the world”.

Becky is back with her squares, and for April the theme is “top“.

Travel Memories 1: Goa

Park Hyatt Hotel, Goa. The view from my balcony.

This photo was taken in 2013. From 3 March to 14 April, I had sailed on the tall ship Lord Nelson from Durban in South Africa to Kochi (Cochin) in India. Definitely the longest time at sea I’d ever spent! We did stop along the way — Mauritius, Sri Lanka — but still, it was many weeks on a boat with 40-odd other people in weather ranging from the high winds and chill of 35deg South to the hot humidity of the Equator. After we’d reached India and gone our separate ways, I headed to the Park Hyatt in Goa for a few days of spoiled luxury, a big bed, clean sheets and unlimited showers. And (of course) bubbly!

This is the first post of a new theme for me, called Travel Memories. I plan to post a single photo from a trip: one that always makes me smile, or reflect, or want to go back.

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Stormlight

Threatening skies over a small island in New Caledonia

hmm, is stormlight a word? 😉

Posted as part of January Squares, the theme for which is words ending in light.

Dragon in the night

This is one of a pair of winged dragons by Henri Alfred Jacquemart on the Fontaine Saint-Michel in Paris. Not as cute and cuddly as the last dragon sculpture I posted!

Posted as part of Sculpture Saturday

Stand behind the yellow line

You can make out “stand behind” and the yellow line on the platform behind the black bulk of steam engine 6029 as it eases into Bowral station.

What is it with yellow lines and train stations?

This cute little stream train is the Bally Hooley Railway in Queensland. The yellow line is almost eclipsed by the bright yellow train!

Not so much a line as a fence! But it’s yellow. Grand Canyon Railway, Williams, Arizona.

Kuranda Scenic Railway at the station in Cairns. I strongly recommend this trip (first class, of course) if you’re in Cairns.

A very thick yellow line keeps you away from the Southwest Chieftain at Lamy, New Mexico.

Who could take their eyes off the magnificence of The Ghan to spot that yellow line at Alice Springs station?

Mind the gap! Stand behind the yellow Line! Tube train at Earl’s Court station, London.

The vintage Pullman carriages almost match the yellow line at Victoria Station, London.

Posted as part of October Squares Lines&Squares.

Tree Line

A view from Grindelwald, near Interlaken, Switzerland.

The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures or associated lack of available moisture). (source) This particular tree line is in the Swiss Alps.

Posted as part of October Squares Lines&Squares

Astride the four hemispheres

One foot in the west, one foot in the east. Prime Meridian, Greenwich.

East and West
In the photo above, my friend has one foot in the eastern hemisphere and one in the western. (This is my friend’s photo, not mine — though it would need quite a contortion for me to take this!)

North and South
When I moved from England to Australia in 1999, I fit in a 2-month overland trek from Rio de Janiero (Brazil) to Quito (Ecuador) plus the Galapagos Islands. The photo below was taken near Quito and the thin line in the middle marks the Equator. On the left are the people in the group who lived in the southern hemisphere; northern dwellers are on the right. And I am stepping across the Equator to signify my move from one hemisphere to the other. (Faces blurred because these people, who I have not seen in 20 years, might not want their youthful likenesses floating around the internet.)

One small step for a woman …

Posted as part of October Squares Lines&Squares