In every inch of its existence Venice’s history stands in contrast with commerce. The deep laneways are a wonder to wander with discoveries to be had around every corner. It is a city that grew in an era of non-existent town planning, and is all the more astonishing for it. Between the weathered walls, glass…
I clutched my camera firmly to my chest, hunkered down and learned against a wall made 2000 years or so years ago. My nylon poncho flailed around in the wind as a bitterly cold rain lashed my face. The ceiling of this building had been blown away in a storm of a different kind long…
I’ll just say this. There comes a point when you are spending so much time with the great classics of art, that you find yourself really grasping what modern art is all about. Gosh I love history, but while I was surrounded by such breathtaking pieces of art I felt myself desperately seeking a breath…
The flying time from Melbourne, Australia is brutal. I watched the sun rise as our plane took off at 6am, only to see it set 22 hours later as we commenced our descent into Leonardo Da Vinci – fiumicino Airport. On the way we stopped by Dubai for two hours, providing a stark contrast in…
Early in September I had an opportunity to visit a country I have always been quite fascinated by. While its colonial past seems relatively peaceful, Singapore became a major flashpoint during the Second World War that had huge implications for the region, including Australia. It is an island that shares a waterway with the south…
If I can fix a typewriter, surely I can fix a motorcycle No, I haven’t fallen of the face of the earth or shut down my blog. I’ve just been a little bit…. preoccupied of late. In the last 8 months my work has been very fatiguing, as for a number of reasons my shifts have…
My relationship with Shenzhen dates back a decade or so. I first visited here in the early 2000s which was back before the Chinese Olympics. Back then it was a city that was exploding almost out of control of the government, and was a pretty wild place. For those who are unfamiliar with Shenzhen, it is…
I’ve been eager to write Kowloon Walled City for a while. It was one of the main reasons I wanted to re-visit Hong Kong, The book can be acquired directly from the…
Here I was, thousands of kilometres from home and standing in a darkened street digging through piles of trash in the back of Hong Kong looking for typewriters. It felt surreal. We arrived at Temple street market late in the evening after spending the day doing some shopping on the main island. This market is…
The Filthy Platen 