Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Pushkar, India to our family, relatives, friends, neighbours, co-workers and fellow travellers !

Nepal

The Himalaya Mountains from our hill station lodge.

A beautiful Nepalese girl.

At an ancient Hindu monument with our hiking guide Gelu Sherpa - of the Norgay Sherpa family. Gelu has climbed Everest twice as well as worked on search expeditions to find Mallory's camera.

Mountain biking in the foothills of the Himalaya.

Local craftsmen working their trade in Bahktapur.

Jane - looking rather tall today.

Fabrics not found in other parts of the world.

Nepalese woman enjoying a smoke in the afternoon sun.

Buddhism & Hinduism - Nepal

Sadhus - Hindu Holy Men.

Swayambhunath - the most important Buddhist stupa in Nepal.

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Prayer wheels - always spun clockwise for good luck.

Hindu woman sitting on the steps of a temple in front of guilded doors.

Hindu priest presiding over a rice feeding ceremony where a baby at approximately 5 months is first fed rice after only having breast milk.

Young Hindu girl engaging in a marriage ceremony to a piece of fruit. At approximately age 11 she marry the sun, and thus be prepared for her final marriage to a man at age 18.

Hindu woman in front of a local temple.

Buddhist monk sitting in contemplation.

Cremation Ghats on the bank of the Bagmati River.

Ancient wood carvings on the struts of the Erotic Temple in Kathmandu Durbar Square.

Seychelles

Beau Vallon Beach - picture postcard perfect.

Whale mouth rock emerging from the sugar sand.

Catch of the day looking for a frying pan and a little garlic butter.

Hey - thats my leaf.

Clear blue skies over gin clear waters.

Mauritius

The pier from where we snorkelled and kayaked for a week.

Hindu shrine on the edge of the Indian Ocean.

Mangos - we only had time to try a few of the 101 varieties.

View from my beach cot looking up.

View from my beach cot with head slightly raised.

Young boys fishing from the rocks at sunset.

Madagascar

Malagasy girl from whom we bought a fresh pineapple along the road.

Fragrances of the many species of wild flowers provided a natural aromatherapy.

Wild ginger - ginger flavours with fresh zebu steak - mmm.

Flore - our naturalist and guide during our hike thgrough the tropical rainforest of Antisabe National Park.

A small waterfall and natural pool where we took a swim during our hike.

Near the edge of the granite massive while hiking in Isalo National Park.

Mother and her baby at a local market.

School girls savouring homemade mango popsicles on their way.

Clothes drying on the roof - a few bananas for sale.

Boys hanging out in front of a typical food stall.

Threatening skies above our small bungalow soon turned to lightening and a torrential downpour.

We bought fresh muffins and bananas from these industrious young girls in the early morning.

The beautiful baobab tree - its branches emmulating its roots.

Photovoltaic panels in the foreground absorbing the last moment of solar radiation at sunset.

Wildlife - Madagascar

Black and white ruffed lemurs.

Golden lemurs.

Ring tailed lemurs.

Chameleons - very slow moving but hard to spot blending in with their natural surroundings.

A 2 meter long tree boa basking in the sun next to the trail.

A croc waiting to snap.

A 75 mm spiney spider dangling above our heads.

Tomatoe frogs having a go .....

..... and junior.

The tortoise just wanted to hang around outside our lodge bungalow.