Tony Wheeler’s Travels

https://tonywheeler.com.au/im-not-going-there-anymore/ Living: I’m Not Going There Anymore Thursday, 24 April 2025 The boring, too often repeated, questions I field all the time are ‘what’s your favourite place – followed by what’s the most dangerous thing that’s ever happened to you – and then where do you never want to go to again.’ Recently I’ve been hearing from friends who have decided they’re going to look after the world and not fly anywhere anymore. A bit late I generally feel, if you’d made that resolution decades ago, before you had been absolutely everywhere, I would treat that decision with much more respect. For the moment I’m going to continue travelling and continue to feel guilty about it. But where am I not going back to: RUSSIA – for certain, as long as they’re buddying up with North Korea and the USA to attack Ukraine. And as long as Putin continues to kill innocent people. There have been untold numbers of Ukrainian deaths of course, but also there were 27 Australians amongst the 298 innocent passengers and crew on Malaysia Airlines MH17 which Putin’s boys shot down in 2014. Or there’s the death in 2018 in Salisbury, England of another innocent bystander, killed by a totally shambolic assassination attempt by more of Putin’s silly boys. Click here for more on Russian ineptitude when it comes to Salisbury Cathedral. ◄ Of course I have been to Russia several times, here I am with the locomotive of the Trans-Siberian Express in 2013. I’ve been to Ukraine a couple of times as well. SAUDI ARABIA – so many reasons I never want to go there anymore, whether it’s murdering journalists (Jamal Kashoggi in Istanbul) or check the New York Times for the report on Saudis murdering East African domestic workers. Or on my own travels to Somaliland in 2022 I encountered cheetahs saved from being shipped to Saudi Arabia to be kept as pets, and then killed when they grew too large. Who knew Somaliland had cheetahs? Who would be so stupid to think they might make good pets? Saudi Arabia? No thank you. ▲ I did have a very interesting time when I travelled around Saudi Arabia in 2002, here I am with Saeed Juman, a terrific guide who showed me around Najran right down in the south of the kingdom, just across the border from Yemen. BALI – sorry Bali, there are so many good things about that Indonesian island and I’ve just had a great travel writers reunion trip there, but until they sort out the ridiculous traffic I never want to go back. Unless there’s a very good reason to drag me there. Bali has great places to stay, wonderful art and dance, terrific food, great shopping if that’s your thing, but no way I ever want to spend another two hours of my life travelling between the Kuta beach strip and Ubud. ▲ In 1999, when clearly I was younger and fitter, I joined in with Balinese farmers to plant rice seedlings as part of the research into Rice Trails, the book about the story of the world’s most important food which I worked on with photographer Richard I’Anson. USA – I was sort of ticking off states until I’d been to all 50, last year I added Missouri and South Carolina to my checklist, the year before Montana, leaving only three states to go: Alabama, Kansas and Mississippi. But right now with the orange one (AKA Liz Trump, or even Donald Trump to some people) and his associated scoundrels running the place I really don’t want to go there anymore. Despite having spent nearly 10 years of my life living in the USA (Midwest, East Coast, West Coast) and despite having many American friends, I’m currently happy to leave the USA at the bottom of my dance card. As long as Trumpistan is shoulder to shoulder with Russia and North Korea in causing chaos in the world, quite apart from crazy tariffs – sorry, but no thanks. ▲ In December 2024, my last trip to the USA, I roadtripped from Kansas City to St Louis in the state of Missouri, stopping at the St Paul Lutheran Church cemetery in Emma, near Concordia, to look for the graves of German settlers, pro-United States (ie Unionist) and anti-slavery who, as a result, were murdered in a Civil War massacre by a Confederate guerrilla force of ‘bushwackers.’

Entrevista completa a Andrei Tarkovsky - Subtitulada al español (HD)

Unhappy: Una vida ordenada | ARTE.tv Cultura

La última entrevista de José Mujica con BBC Mundo

GEREWOL: donde las mujeres escogen a los hombres

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“Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us every day. Unseen, unheard, but always near, still loved, still missed and very dear” – Unknown

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Matteo Massagrande (Padua, 1959)

Manifiesto Lliubiana ( para comprender y tener pensamiento critico es necesario leer )

«La lectura no se agota en la descodificación pura de la palabra escrita o del lenguaje escrito, sino que se anticipa y se prolonga en la inteligencia del mundo». Paulo Freire Es interesante saber además que, según las investigaciones científicas como por ejemplo esta, las personas que poseen una alta competencia lectora y de compresión de textos complejos, son las que muestran también una alta competencia digital. Tal y como dice Joaquín Rodríguez, miembro de la Asociación Espacios de Educación Superior, lo analógico no es enemigo de lo digital, y que el hecho de dar a la lectura la importancia vital que tiene, no debe de permitirnos olvidar que la importancia del resto de alfabetizaciones, que aseguren que nuestros jóvenes sean educados en el conjunto de competencias necesarias para afrontar los desafíos de esta era digital que avanza a pasos agigantados. Afirma Rodríguez que "necesitamos aprender a programar antes de que nos programen, aprender a manejar las grandes cifras que, en forma de big data, amenazan con saber más de nosotros que nosotros mismos; aprender a pensar gráfica y visualmente, y fundamentalmente, aprender a resituarnos en un mundo en el que somos sólo una de las muchas inteligencias que lo habitan".

la ventaja de leer libros

Anette Björk Swensson (Falun, 1956) pintora sueca https://www.anettebjorkswensson.com/watercolor

con una  curiosa mirada sobre todo lo que le rodea. artista

con un halo “hopperiano”

Dias perfectos de Wim Wenders

Divine Comedy a lady of certain age