Sea Tigers of the LTTE
Richard PendavinghIn a lagoon north of Mullaitivu is a gold-painted 'victory monument'. It presides over the area where the 'Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam' (LTTE) made their last stand against the Sri Lankan army in 2009.
In a lagoon north of Mullaitivu is a gold-painted 'victory monument'. It presides over the area where the 'Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam' (LTTE) made their last stand against the Sri Lankan army in 2009.
It's hard to know when to visit Sri Lanka. December to April is officially the dry season but the weather conditions are somewhat complex with various monsoon seasons affecting different parts of the island at different times.
A couple of chance encounters highlighted the dueling narratives of Sri Lankan history and the tensions that still remain following the end of the civil war.
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The best way to see Sri Lanka is on two wheels.
Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag paints images of suburban Sweden in the 1980s transformed by some unexplained technological breakthrough.
I met my first talkative local wandering Osaka looking for the famous Umeda Sky building.
You can find a lot of dead sea creatures at Tsukiji Fish Market but you wont find much whale meat.
Right in the center of the biggest city in the world an experiment in agriculture is being conducted.
2015 led me back to Tokyo. This time I spent most of my time in the district of Sumida in Tokyo's Northeast.
The Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo is a run-down testament to the ambition of some of Japan's most celebrated post-war architects.
The small coastal city of Joetsu on Japan's north coast highlights some of the problems facing modern Japan.
Earlier this year I tagged along with the Australian/International off-pissed ski team to the slopes of Myokokogen. Matt chose Myoko because the guidebook gave it four and half snowflakes out of five in the 'powder' category. Also because our plan called for us to go from there to Kyoto and then onto Tokyo and we wanted to make sure our itinerary doubled as a tongue twister.
The old capital of Kyoto is home to about 1600 temples and countless smaller shrines.
The National Library of China holds an artifact that represents what must be the most ambitious attempt to control information in history.
Beijing incorporates all of the contradictions of Chinese society.
Huashan is a mountain located about 120 kilometres east of Xi'an- China's old capital. It's home to some very dicey walking tracks, a really spectacular set of cable cars, a tea house perched on a cliff face and a photo studio with some genuine occupational health and safety issues.
The entry point for my brief tour of China was the southern Province of Sichuan-famed for its incredibly spicy food and baffling theatrical performances. I flew into the capital Chengdu at the start of October and explored the city between bouts of rain before venturing out into the nearby mountains.
When I first decided to visit Ton Sai ten or so years ago I discovered getting there was a little tricky.
On South Africa's western cape we visited the coastal towns of Kalkbaai, Hermanus and Gaansbai.
In South Africa, the saying goes, 'wildlife must pay its way'. It's not enough to be endangered you have to generate revenue to be conserved.
Another bleary-eyed morning spent rock-hopping in the pre-dawn light to get to a vantage point before sunrise.