Gardenia flowers

 We started a fragrant garden 3 years ago, which includes, various types of jasmine, frangipani and gardenias.  While we've lost a few plants on the way, I'm glad to say there's been many successes.

The potted jasmine plant and the jasmine vines you've seen.  Well here's the pic of the gardenia near our back door that is starting to bloom.

Clothes from Hari Krishnas

For Dewali we went to the Hare Krishnas in North Sydney.  We were hoping to get dinner as well, but couldn't wait that long.

I did pop into their shop and bought lots of gorgeous things including incense and incense holder and this top which I wore today when we went to a Laura Riddell's art exhibition in Dural.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Walter and I went up to Hornsby Heights to visit dear friends, Lynne and Mike.  They live in a wonderful house originally built by them over 30 years ago which still overlooks the bush. 

Majority of material and furniture was wood and alot of windows and open space makes the place look so homely and well, just perfect.

The neighbours keep chickens which roam the street.  Just gorgeous!

Jasmine pride

We have the star jasmine in a pot at the front of the house, and we're reminded that it's there when we come home or come out the front by the intense perfume at the moment; end of October and early November are peak blooming time it.

The bursting white flower, intense fragance is just divine.

Jasmine Season: one year on

Last year our Jasmine plants were a joy to behold.  It was the first time I got to enjoy the fragrance and incredible burst of flowers.  The pic below is of the same jasmine pot plant, exactly a year later!

And in the backyard, the jamine vines are going well too!

Fabulous Verushka

My earlier post was about Verushka Darling coming out to Cabramatta to buy material for her Hong Kong show - a fundraiser in support of breast cancer research.

Well the shopping was the before, raw shot, there is a couple of examples of over-the-top simply fabulous after - the first one was the cover of the Sydney Star Observer for Shop Yourself Stupid, and the other one, below!

AdNews 9 October 2009: Unlocking Ethnic Markets

Jasmine flowering

My potted star jasmine is starting to flower this year.  It looked fantastic last October last year. 

Already I can see the fragrant and visual potential. Last year Walter wasn't home to see it, but this year we'll both be able to experience it together.

Google Wave

Thanks to a work colleague I'm also now a google wave tester.  I know about all they hype around google wave and the exclusive invites only status etc.

What I've found is in order to collaborate your contacts need to also be on google wave.  So not much good if you're on it alone, and I reckon the more contacts on google wave the better.

Since I don't have any contacts except the mate that extended the invitation to me, I'm sending out a hello to the www to see if anyone wants to include me in their contact network so we can all test google wave - email my google wave account.

Frankfurt Book Fair 2009 - Destination Saigon

It's so exciting to see my partner's book being included in his publisher's catalogue for the Frankfurt Book Fair this year.  It was all a rush to make sure it gets included into Allen & Unwin's catalogue for the Fair.  Walter's is only one of nine non-fiction books they're taking to Frankfurt.  It's so amazing to see him included in the same catalogue as Christos Tsiolkas, Clive Hamilton, Stephanie Dowrick, Armando Percuoco and David Dale.

A&U hold the worldwide rights to Destination Saigon: Adventures in Vietnam, by Walter Mason which will be published in Australia in March 2010.   They've been incredibly supportive of Walter and amazingly great at promoting his book

I think everyone has great hopes for it.

Walter is in the other room making the final, final corrections to the manuscript even as we speak.

Here's the excerpt about Destination Saigon from A&U's 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair catalogue:

DESTINATION SAIGON
Adventures in Vietnam
Walter Mason

A personal insight into one of the world’s most popular travel destinations.

This funny, fascinating travelogue is the perfect book for travellers wanting to know more about the people and places they’re about to visit. With Walter’s distinctive voice, knowledge and wicked sense of humour, the sacred and profane meet in a riotous celebration of a remarkable and resilient nation which has become a great tourist destination.

Walter Mason has spent the last fifteen years madly in love with Vietnam. In that time he has made numerous trips to the country, and he has seen the country undergo huge changes. In Destination Saigon, he shares many of the bewildering, frequently funny cultural complexities that face any visitor to Vietnam, and at the same time provides a rare insight into Vietnam’s rich culture.

Travelling to the little-known south-western provinces where the last vestiges of Khmer life is to be found; to far-flung villages where he is imprisoned, and caught up in local wedding celebrations; to experience the Cao Dai religion, made famous in Graham Greene’s The Quiet American, where Charlie Chaplin and Victor Hugo are worshipped as saints; to forbidden fortune tellers and the Ien Dong ceremony where ghosts and celebrities are channelled; these are just some of the adventures Walter will share.

Walter Mason has several blogs, gives regular talks and has a strong feel for popular taste in travel writing.

Category: Travel writing March 2010 paperback