Out of Norm Travels

A long standing travel wish was fulfilled in November 2012 when I attended Thailand's International Balloon Festival at Chiang Mai , in northern Thailand. I was fortunate enough to be there for the morning flights and evening programmes for 2 out of the 3 days of the Festival as the 3rd day of the festival forced to be cancelled due to a huge thunderstorm. It was a festival like no other that I have attended elsewhere - it was filled with lovely big balloons and a marvelous carnival-like atmosphere in the evenings complete with music and delicious food for picnic on the grounds of one of the oldest golf courses in Thailand. One cannot feel but happiness and joy when seeing the hot air balloons take off into the big blue skies. Truly a beautiful sight!  I managed to get up close with the balloon when it was being filled and it was HOT, HOT, HOT!  I have made a pledge to come down for the 2013 festival as for me, this is the Life that is worth livin...

" Charity Through Photography " is started by 2 gentlemen who came up with the brilliant idea to  added a dose of charity  with my 2 loves, photography & travel. The idea is simple - arrange for trips for those who love to take photographs and travelling so that they can do  a little good by taking trips that bring happiness to the people in the  villages they visit and at the same time, take photographs to document the life of villages itself. I started my 2013 trip list with a 2D1N trip to Bintan, Indonesia which is some 45mins away from Singapore.  We dropped in at a Charcoal village and did a quick photowalk around. Part of this involved the distribution of goodies like stationery, biscuits and clothing to the children who stayed at the village.  It was lovely to spend some time with the villagers & I captured many shots of their simple village life where a simple game of catching crabs can occupy a child's afternoon and fresh seafood can b...