In October, while visiting Taipei, we had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art and the exhibition running at the time called ‘Once Upon a Time – Unfinished Progressive Past’, curated by Kao Chien-Hui. It was the first exhibition in Taipei’s five-year curatorial project ‘Contemporary Art Ongoing’, conceptualised to celebrate the institution’s 18th anniversary. To be honest, we didn't know what all these exhibits were all about as we decided to not take the f

In 2017 I wrote the first book I was going to self-publish, and that was Taste for Coffee, which is set in an imaginary coffee shop in Leith, Edinburgh. I’ve been to Leith years before when a friend of my husband played in a pub there, long before Leith was considered to be trendy. When I was looking for a setting for my book, Leith kept on popping up, so I’ve spent many hours research Leith and the environment, buildings, etc, to create an authentic setting. Oh yes, I’ve bee

According to the Aberdeen Council’s website, Johnston Garden is a photographer’s dream, and they are not lying. They mention that the park comes alive in the spring and summer with several flowers blooming, but boy, have they forgot to mention the splendour in autumn! Maybe it was just me, coming from Africa and not used the autumn colours, but I absolutely love the garden and will go back – one day when we can travel again. How did I know about this garden? Of course, I met

The road had several turns and bends, taking you higher and higher. With each turn you think: this is it, we’re there, but then you go around another bend and finally, finally, you are there. You might think you are in the middle of nowhere, or, if it is a misty day as so often happens, in a magical village. Others may want to tell you, this was the inspiration for Tolkien’s The Hobbit, but apparently it isn’t the truth, but nobody will blame you. It looks so magical that you

According to Wikipedia street art is “…visual art created in public locations; usually unsanctioned artwork executed outside of the context of traditional art venues. Other terms for this art include “independent public art”, “post-graffiti”, and “neo-graffiti”, and is closely related to guerrilla art. But when is it street art and when is it vandalism? According to https://davidcharlesfox.com/what-is-street-art-history-definition-purpose-importance/, the legal distinction be

What is it about Scotland that made it one of the countries finding a place on most people's bucket lists? Not difficult to think about that one, is it? You only have to close your eyes when someone mentions Scotland to recall the beauty of the countryside: rolling hills, glens and castles, whiskey, golf, lochs, shortbread and men in kilts – and that is only to name a few attractions! Yes, they are all there, but if that is what you think makes up Scotland, you're making a bi

The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh was the highlight of my recent visit to the Scottish Capital, even though the wind blew a gale and I couldn't visit the glasshouses as it was considered to be dangerous. It is only a mile north of the city centre and is easily accessible by bus or taxi – that is if you do not want to talk. According to their website, you can get a beautiful view of the city but I, of course, only searched for flowers and didn't look at the skyline. If you

If you check out my Instagram page, you'll see that I love sunsets and sunrises. I didn't have that many opportunities in 2019 but here are some of my favourites. The first photo, I've taken on the first night of a road trip which were to take us eventually to Hogsback. It took this when we drove into Bloemfontein where we were to stay over the night, which turned out to be quite a nightmare as Bloemfontein had been without water for two days by then. The next five photos I'

Along the scenic R62 route, between Oudtshoorn and Calitzdorp, lies Bella de Karoo on Andrieskraal, one of the most historic farms in the Klein Karoo with buildings dating back to the early 1800s. On an extremely hot day, we did the crazy thing to drive from Wilderness to Seweweekspoort. Bella de Karoo felt like an oasis . It is one of these quirky farm stalls, and one of my favourites so far. We didn't have lunch there, but the coffee was just what the doctor ordered. There

It took me months to start this blog, but I am back already today. When I received another author’s newsletter, something caught my eye, and that is the 2020 AtoZ Blogging Challenge. I thought it would be a great idea to kickstart my new blog, so without thought, without even having set up the blog correctly, I signed up. You can imagine how I scattered to set up the blog to make it look half-decent. I may need to make changes as I go along, but it doesn’t look too bad, even

I'm not usually keen on zoos or aquariums, but it was a rainy day in Kuala Lumpur, and I was fed up with travelling. Aquaria was a two-minute walk from our hotel and we didn't even have to get wet, as it is located on the concourse level of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. It was, therefore, an easy choice. Aquaria is said to be one of the largest aquariums in Southeast Asia. Home to over 150 species of marine life, its star attractions include scary tiger sharks, lethal s

Up to today, I’ve been ‘on the road’ for about four months. It had been seven months of constant changes, flights, living out of suitcases, meeting new people and seeing new places. It was exciting. Until it wasn’t. It just happened one day, the euphoria of constant travelling wearing off, overtaken by that feeling of longing for home. And then you realise you don’t have a home. It hit me about two months ago. I’m tired of the constant change. I want stability. I want a place