The gorgeous primates of Borneo offer hours of endless fascination watching their antics as they frolic and go about their daily lives in the jungles of Sabah.

The unusual Proboscis Monkey with freaky noses and ears look a little like they’ve sparked numerous sci-fi movie characters, while the beautiful orange young of the Silvered Langur is such a wonderful yet unusual sight.

As they reveal their personalities it is incredibly easy to see how they are our closest relatives.

This is a collection of images from the sleepy living relic of times gone by – Yangmei.  A place where art students and discerning tourists come, hoping to catch a glimpse into a bygone era where the treasures are being preserved in an olde world atmosphere.   Surrounded by river on 3 sides this seemingly lost ancient hamlet ensconced amongst lush fields of sugar cane and banana plantations just 30 kilometres from Nanning, capital of Guangxi province, China.

To read more about this wonderful village click here to head over to the LazyTravelWriter.com

Stunning Detian Falls straddle the China, Vietnam border shining with brilliant, jewel-like colour.   Consisting of several tiers of water that gush over its edges, the falls stretch more than 200 metres and are surrounded by beautiful limestone karsts.  Water flow varies throughout the year, however regardless of the season I am sure they maintain their simple magnificence.

Sometimes you find the most wonderful things wandering!

That was definitely the case with these bridges, which we just came across on the side of a quiet rural road in Fuchuan County, Guangxi Province.

I love these wind and rain bridges, and it seems the more disheveled the better.   I am a little curious though as there wasn’t a river or stream anywhere to be seen.   I guess the landscape changes, or it could just be part of the many of hectares of floodplains and land reclaimed during Mao’s times for agricultural use.

Their decaying architectural beauty provides the perfect contrast to the surrounding lush green.

The small village of Basha, tucked away in the mountains of south-east Guizhou, is a fantastic place to get a taste of ethnic Miao culture.

With the main street through town straddling a mountain ridge the village flows down either side.  Many women continue to wear traditional clothing, with males carrying on the ancient practice of winding their long hair up into a top-knot and shaving the sides of their heads.

Officially the village has an entrance fee which usually indicates lots of tourists, however these are likely to be day-trippers.  Stay overnight in a small guesthouse and you will often not see another person.  You will also be able to wander the stone pathways in the early morning amongst the bamboo and wooden stilt houses that cling to the mountain-sides as mist swirls through the valleys.  An awesome way to get a real taste of village life.

Marinas are fantastic places to get out and about with a camera!

The reflections, strong angular lines and repetition can give some great results.   This gallery of black & white images from the Airlie Beach marina also includes stormy views lingering in the skies above.

Enjoy!

I spent a few days relaxing amongst the beauty of the Whitsundays and Airlie Beach last week.

But it was not all magical sunshine and blue skies as fierce thunderstorms rolled over most nights, with the occasional daytime occurrence too making for sheer drama across the skies.   I love not only the fantastic cloud formations but the impact these fast approaching storms have on the landscape, intensifying  colour and turning the stunning turquoise seas wonderfully luminous.

Oh, and we also had a couple of superb sunsets!

I have been out to the Great Barrier Reef a few times and gee it really still does manage to wow!!!

I was fortunate enough to spend a few magnificent days up in Airlie Beach this last week and had a fabulous trip out to the reef where I did a helicopter flight up to Heart Reef.   The pilot and staff were fantastic taking the door off so I had amazing views and plenty of scope to shoot.

The images you see here are a brief selection of the day!

As one of China’s 4 sacred Buddhist peaks, Wutaishan is actually a collection of five peaks or plateaus that is home to in excess of 50 temples and monasteries.

Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009, Wutaishan is a great place to explore for a couple of days.

One of the things that stood out for me here was the level of decorative elements in the brasswork and exterior paintings/murals – both symbolic and intricate, they really set some of the temples here apart from the many, many others I have visited in China.

Sunrise from the east peak is a must.

In my previous post, Vietnamese Ethnic Minorities, I briefly talked about the images,  the minorities and how I managed to click of 8-10 rolls of film in a couple of short hours.

Hopefully, seeing the images in full colour gives you some idea of what I was experiencing – surrounded by the magnificent, vibrant colour of the traditional dress worn by some of northern Vietnam’s ethnic minorities was just too much to resist.

While it is still possible to witness the traditionally dressed in everyday life, the increasing modernisation of society means that this is only possible in some of the more remote areas.