Central Vietnam - Quang Binh and Quang Tri provinces

I have recently returned from a trip to Vietnam where I accompanied Stephanie Guyer-Stevens from Outer Voices whose aim was to record a radio documentary on the so called “Asian food crisis”, which has been ripping through the continent recently. We were there with staff from a Vietnamese NGO, SPERI, Social Policy Ecological Research Institute.

To read more about this trip as reported by Stephanie Guyer-Stevens, you can visit the ‘Untold Stories’ section of the Pulizter Center on Crisis reporting.

More pictures from this photo shoot can be found here.

More Clown Eckie in Mae Sot

Following on from his previous show at BHSOH (Boarding High School for Orphangs and Helpless Youths),  Clown Eckie, the ‘only’ British professional clown in Thailand, performed for the children at Mala Young and Panoki Nursery School.  

Some of the children at the nursery school were recently arrived from Burma and previously had no or little contact with foreigners - let alone a white person wearing large shoes, brightly coloured clothes, a wig, a hat, and a painted face.  Needless to say, the reception was somewhat mixed as can be seen by the images below!

More pictures from this event can be found here or click on one of the thumbnails below to view a larger image.

Safe Haven Orphanage ride to Ban Tha Song Yang

On the 5th July, 22 children from Safe Haven Orphanage decided to ride their newly donated bicycles from Mae Sot to Ban Tha Song Yang (also known as Ban Mae Tawo) a distance of some 140km.  The local Mae Sot rescue service were on hand to escort the children along the ride as well as a number of other support cars.  After making it to Mae La, a distance of 65km, it was decided that all the bicycles and children would be loaded into the support cars and taken to within 25km of Ban Tha Song Yang.  The last 25km was completed in torrential rain as can be seen from the images below.  Congratulations to all involved and well done to those who made it on bicycle!

Click on an image below to view larger picture.

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Victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma

It has now been 2 months since the devastating Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy delta region of Burma.  Peoples lives in the Irrawaddy delta region are in complete chaos.  Mothers have lost children, children have lost parents, there are people who have lost brothers and sisters and other loved ones.  Many people have very little left.  

Hundreds of villages were washed away and more than 130,000 people lost their lives. It is estimated that 2.4 million people have been severely affected by the cyclone and almost one million lost their livelihoods.

Fuel is at such a premium that most people cannot afford to use it to burn the bodies of the victims, despite the health risks that this imposes.  Therefore, various groups including the Free Funeral Service Society, are collecting the abandoned bodies of the cyclone victims to burn or to bury in graves for sanitation reasons.

Click on an image below to view larger picture. Pictures courtesy of the Aiya Burma Fund.

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Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) in Mae Ramat

Muay Thai literally means Thai Boxing and is also known as The Art of the Eight Limbs. Muay Thai has a long history in Thailand and is the country’s national sport.

In its original form, Muay Thai consisted of an arsenal of nine weapons - the head, fists, elbows, knees and feet - known collectively as na-wa arwud. Although in modern Muay Thai, both amateur and professional, headbutting an opponent is no longer allowed.

More pictures from this photo shoot can be found here.

Clown Eckie comes to Mae Sot

Clown Eckie, the ‘only’ British professional clown in Thailand, brought his brilliant mime show to Mae Sot where he performed for children (and some of the older ones…) at BHSOH (Boarding High School for Orphans and Helpless Youths).

BHSOH was established in 1994 by Khaing Oo Maung, an Arakanese born in Bangladesh, in the extreme south of Burma. They frequently had to change the location of the school to avoid contact with enemy patrols until finally they settled down in Mae Pa, just north of Mae Sot, in 1999.

Today BHSOH is a member of the BMWEC (Burmese Migrant Workers Education Committee) and looks after 150 students, of which 35 are boarders. It offers all levels from Kindergarten up to grade 10.

To view more pictures from this show, click here.

The rains are here…

…well last night they were anyway. But even more impressive was the electrical storm. Some people might call me mad for standing in the middle of the yard with a metal tripod but I think my mother really wanted to see sparks fly and offered me an umbrella as well (what’s that burning smell??).

23.8mm of much needed rain fell during the storm which lasted about 2 hours over Shepparton.

More images can be found here.

Under 17 Cricket semi-final

Was asked to take some photos for the under 17 cricket semi-finals. Played at Kialla in Victoria.

More images from this shoot can be found here.