My favourite places in North America are San Diego, Palm Springs, most of New England (particularly Maine), Oregon, Hawaii, Alaska, the cities of New Orleans, Seattle, Montreal, Toronto, the Cape Cabot Trail in Canada's Nova Scotia province, and British Colombia on the Canadian West Coast. My favourite national park in the US is the Jedah Smith National Park in southern Oregon, the Redwood National Forests in northern California, and the Algonquin Park in Ontario, Canada.
In October 1996 my job (I'm an international marketing researcher and consultant) transferred me to Hong Kong. Since then my travels have taken me from New Zealand, Australia and the pacific islands (Vanuatu) in the far south, to the most northern Japanese islands (Hokkaido) - in northern Asia...and most of the countries in-between. My favourite places in Asia are Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Vanuatu (southern Pacific islands), Borneo Island, Bali, and the rest of Asia! I'm an avid scuba diver (PADI) and just love the abundant sea life of the Asian waters.
On April 11th 2005 I worked my last day (for now) after spending 16 years with the same company in Toronto and Hong Kong. While it was a very difficult decision to leave them, I was long overdue to embark on my epic journey around the world to explore different cultures, to study consumers and products around the world, and to return with new insights and marketing ideas, and also awesome and inspiring pictures! My first 6 month trip (May 11 to Nov 6 2005) took me through 23 countries mainly in eastern Europe (Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany and up to Norway - up far north to the Løfoten Islands north of the Arctic Circle, then Sweden, Russia, Estonia, and Finland). Then over to Toronto, Montreal and New York, and down to Chile, Peru (Inca Trail hike to the ruins of Machu Picchu), then Argentina (down to the world's most southern town of Ushuaia), then Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil and up to Mexico. From there to Hawaii and back to home base: Hong Kong.
I then spent a few weeks around South Africa, then back to Brazil (Pantanal swamps), Ecuador (including Amazonia and the Galapagos Islands), Colombia, all of Central America (Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico (again) and up to Alaska. Back to Asia to do northern Thailand, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), China, Japan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Vietnam.
Back to Hong Kong to recharge the batteries and then to South Africa and up north to explore the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Iran, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and over to the Balkans to check out Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary (again), Romania (again), Moldova, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and Latvia....down to Azerbaijan along the Caspian sea, Georgia, Armenia, and back to Hong Kong via the UAE (Dubai) and Thailand. (Tried to leave Armenia three times but every time there was a problem with the flight so I was turned back at the airport. End up spending four more days in Armenia which allowed me to photograph a few more monasteries and while on my hikes, I managed to eat 2,540 cherries (for free) within a two-day period).
Since then I've done a couple of trips:
Since then I've done a couple of trips:
- Russia (the Golden Ring area) to photograph the domed cathedrals in the winter (for my 6th book - Frozen Zone)
- Sumatra in Indonesia (hiking and sleeping in the jungle to photograph the orangutans).
- Borneo Island, Indonesia, to photograph the orangutans and proboscis monkeys
- I lived a few months in Sweden where in studied in 2008/9 and photographed Lapland (northern Sweden, Finland, Norway).
- Svalbard, near the north pole to do dog sledding and snowmobiling in search of the elusive polar bears.
- Swiss Alps, Italy, Malta, Canary Islands, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Spain, and Ireland.
- South Africa: Beaches and wildlife
- Rice terraces and hill tribes of northern Vietnam (around the mountain town of Sapa)
- Tibet - however the trip to Mount Everest Base Camp had to be cancelled due to a snow storm
- Northern Yunnan and Sichuan provinces of China
Based on these, and prior travels, I have to date published eight books:
- "Incredible Destinations" (November 2011 - 440 pages)
- "Wildlife" (October 2011 - 360 pages)
- "Frozen Zone" (June 2011 - 440 pages)
- "Bangladesh" (January 2011 - 440 pages)
- "Burma - Land of Tambadipa" (December 2010 - 440 pages)
- "Seven Ages of Man" (January 2010 - 225 pages)
- "Crossing Borders - A race against time" (December '09 - 440 pages)
- "Unveiling Our Enigmatic World: The earthly explorations of 'Globerovers'" (October '08 - 320 pages)
- Coming up:
"Seven Ages of Man" (In B&W)
"In the Sand Prints of Freya Stark: An Arabian Odyssey"
"Hong Kong - Then and Now"
Whenever I have time....and that won't be soon. Tired to dedicate weekends and late nights to work on my books. Should spend this time on client-work as at least they pay me :)
I'm still in Hong Kong (more than 15 years and loving it!) ...recently completed my Ph.D in Sweden, established my own marketing research and consulting firm, and every day realize just how good life is.
Whenever I have some time off again, I hope to get up to Papua New Guinea, North Korea, and Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Afghanistan), ....all Deo Volente.
Life is beautiful....and then we die!
