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Namaste'

The first one is very hypnotic

and one from Nepal



This one really lifts me up

Did any of you sad old suckers read "The Drifters" - James A Michener's rather condescending tale of the Hippy Trail.
There was one girl, Scandinavian i think, or Dutch, who was absolutely committed to breaking free and hitting the lands of sunshine and freedom.
Slaved away, saving every cent. It took her yonks. (ages)

But she had this thing of absolutely refusing to put a picture of a palm tree, or any kind of idyllic image of what she was aiming for on her wall.
She reckoned it would dissipate her will, give her a little easing of that terrible burning desire - and no way would a second best, second hand picture taken by anyone else be good enough for her.
She wanted the real thing - Only!
She just lived with her own inner image of her burning heart's desire - and that drove to do everything she could to get there herself.
So no romantic adventure travel stories either. It's all Coca Cola compared with The real Real Thing.

PS, I don't recommend The Drifters 50 years on - it was already dated when it was contemporary, written by a good writer but a very old fashioned man.

was a good read but
"Caravans", also by Michener, was better

We all read Michener back in the 60’s in NZ. We loved him. All far too dated now. His first and second books were his best. Tales of the South Pacific and Return to the South Pacific. He won the Pulitzer Prize with Tales. It was controversial at the time but they kept changing the rules.
Michener was in the Navy, a new breed of officer. He was a fixer who went everywhere but never saw a sub or an aircraft carrier and never set foot on a battleship. The book is fiction and very folksy and most places he served have fictitious names like Bali Hai.
But it is full of the flavour of the times and the places and the war.
The Pink House in Noumea sounded great. And Kennedy the brave Kiwi on Segi Point which Michener describes as the most beautiful place in the SW Pacific. Kennedy has a private army and kept the Japs at bay. And the bouncing Betty, a stripped down B24 that roamed as far as NZ seeking booze.

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Mon Apr 13, 2020 3:44 pm was a good read but
"Caravans", also by Michener, was better

I always liked his book Poland. I first read the book when I was 10 years old. I can still imagine women in my village being captured and brought back to Mongolia simply because Mongols wants buxom, blonde white girls. Me and my sister had a few castle lego sets and I would renact these events to the best of my ability. The Tatars would come out of the east and my Cossacks would attempt to repel them. They would join forces when the Queen of hearts would arrive with her allies the queen of spades, clubs, and diamonds.

Nice videos,

A bit frustrating but Thanks for sharing!