Transitions

 

Following on from my time in South East Asia,  a week on Norfolk Island was next on the agenda for 2023. Overseas trips back to back are certainly not standard for me and I feel the need to explore the biggest contrasts between each country. Apart from the cuisine, were the change in light from the warm tones of Asian light to the crisp, clear, and vivid light of Norfolk Island where there is no light pollution caused by the burning season, or the exhausts of traffic, cooking fires, and millions of people living in high density. 

Thailand

Don't get me wrong though, the differences between each country aids in separating each leg of the journey. (follow links to my blogs for Thailand and Singapore). To compartmentalise it, making each special, individual, and memorable. The majority of our four weeks in Thailand was spent within rural settings, rice fields, wetlands, salt pans, national parks and state forests. With crepuscular sunrises, the sun glowing red as it rises and burns through the early morning miasma, wandering its way over the sky as we journeyed and birded. Then, seemingly to hang suspended as it settles onto the horizon during the golden hour before dusk. 

Singapore

As a photographer I find this time of day peaceful, relaxing, after a sometimes frenetic pace of life when travelling. I sit and contemplate the day as it comes to a close, revisiting in my minds eye the highlights, in order to cement them into the memory banks. 

On the way home from Thailand, we spent a week  birding in Singapore  (an island nation of high rises, motorways, and a highly developed market economy which is based historically on extended entrepôt trade).  As a nation they pride themselves on a clean space, limited gas emissions with restricted vehicle numbers on island, and more trees are planted each year than possibly occurs in any other similarly sized nation in the world. With a population of over 5 million people, it has the second highest population density of any country in the world. As a result of  dedicated urban planning,  there are numerous green and recreational spaces that encompass 10% of the island country's land mass.  Singapore has earned its reputation as the garden state.

Railway Nature Reserve, Singapore

One of the most noticeable differences between the countries is the detritus of human habitation in Thailand. The lack of rubbish management. Plastics and waste materials are often discarded in ditches behind homes only to be washed downstream during periods of high rainfall. Over four weeks, we traversed the length of the country and it was noted that the southern tourists areas were perhaps the cleanest. This contrasted deeply with the cleanliness of Singapore and the pristine Norfolk Island.

Overlooking Kingston heritage precinct, Norfolk

On arrival on Norfolk Island, what took my breath away were my immediate impressions - the colour saturation, the rich blue of the sky, the deep verdant land, the sparkling crystal clear waters of the Pacific Ocean. The clarity of the fresh salt air, stiff sea breezes and pelagic birds on the wing, cows roaming free range. It took several days before my senses calmed and the impact settled.