A New Year...IZ says it all....Remote Islands and Manners....

King Kamahemeha Day Parade , Hawaii 2008 (photo the author)

It’s a new year. And when I was preparing for friends to visit today I listened to IZ Somewhere over the Rainbow He was inspirational…and has now sadly passed. I hope, as you enjoy the first day of 2012 you also enjoy this inspirational clip.

I have spent many months of my last few years with my companion traveling around remote islands while he researched them for his books. To be able to live with and enjoy and learn from the people of these islands has been an unexpected gift for me.

These buses were everywhere...feeding the participants in the Pipeline Competition

While the remote islands of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, Yap, Palau, Norfolk Island and more have intrigued me, when I went back, through IZ's music, to the time when I was travelling with my companion in Hawaii in 2008 I found my memories just there. And here I share some photos.

"So, did you leave me some coffee?" (the gecko in our house in Hawaii photo the author)

Happy New Year…please don’t forget to dance as if there is no tomorrow….and to remember to be kind, considerate and genuine. To yourself, and those you love. It’s all about the manners…

The island of Molokai...and the resting place of Father Damien

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Bali…Bogans, Tattoos and the Ugly Australian…

Balinese temple (photo LP 2010) I have returned in the past few days from a holiday in Bali, Indonesia, with my sister. Unlike my trip in 2010 when I stayed more remotely in the north west at Pemuteran and the north east at Amed, this visit was to a five star resort in Legian. What a difference! The streets of Legian were very busy, the locals almost outnumbered by the Australian tourists. I heard very few languages other than “Aussie” spoken and it reminded me that when I travelled with my French boyfriend to the northern part of Bali, I was told by the Europeans I met that they tended to avoid the tourist hubs of Kuta, Legian and Seminyak because of the loud, rude and crude Australians…yes a generalisation about the Aussies, but unfortunately, as I was to learn, a correct one. A friendly local trying to sell us a toy (photo LP 2012) It is difficult to write this post without appearing a “snob”. But having canvassed my ideas wit...

Bare Breasts, Betel Nut, Weetbix... and Yapese Manners

(Artist: Tommy Tamangmed. http://www.yapeseart.com/) And so, yes, I have returned. The time came for me to leave the “remote” islands of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia and the tiny nation of Palau and return to western “civilisation”. It has taken a few weeks to readjust to the pace of “modern” life having experienced the tranquillity of living in a mobile phone/ television free environment. The concession of extremely slow and eventful internet connection seemed incongruous in these places of ancient yet vitally living culture. My spirit is uplifted and my sense of pride in the human ability to share kindness and show good manners has been restored. Arriving in Yap in the early hours of the morning was exhausting. A tiny airport, tired passengers, equally tired immigration officials but then the first of many Yapese warm and ready smiles in the arrival hall as I was given a beautiful lei by a young girl wearing only a lava lava and a wreath of flowers artfully draped a...

Friendships...gold and silver...real and virtual...priceless!

My 21st birthday dinner...Oh so formal then! I was talking with a friend the other day about friendship. About how it impacts on our lives, from childhood and teenage friends, to becoming friends with boyfriends’s friends, husband’s friends and their wives, parents of other school children, social club friends, friends after divorce or death of a partner, passing friendships, acquaintances…and now virtual friends. It’s complicated. And I am finding in my “middle” years that my need for friends has reduced…not that I don’t value and cherish my friends, but my actual need has lessened. Why, I wonder? I used always be a “People who need People” (with apologies to whoever wrote the song made famous in Funny Girl ) sort of a person. I was always out and about, making sure that I saw my friends, knew all that was going on with them and theirs. Afternoon tea for the girls...with bubbles! However, as the years have moved ...

MANNERS AND OTHER MATTERS

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