The price of my three
e-books are now $0.00 – on Amazon: "A Love Letter to Malaysian
Borneo.", "Surviving Suicide" and, "Naked in Budapest:
travels with a passionate nomad,". Enjoy my gift to you!
A Love Letter to Malaysian
Borneo
Showing posts with label travel books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel books. Show all posts
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Free e-books: World travel; Suicide Grief; Malaysian Borneo (green travel)
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Malaysian Borneo- one of my fav places
There’s no universally
accepted definition of ecotourism, and there are considerable overlaps in the
meanings. It’s perhaps the most over-used and misused word in the tourism
industry - often deliberately misused for marketing purposes.
Hapeta say
"I’m a self-taught writer, not a journalist, or an ecologist. This is not
a scientific paper with lots of facts and figures, merely the musings about
green issues by a traveller who wants to walk as lightly as possible on
Earth"
She uses her
trips to Malaysian Borneo as a way of exploring the issues. She also says she is "Time-rich, I’m a
slow traveller, so stay longer in more places than most, trying to absorb the
culture and flavours, to sit and watch people. It also means that although I
don’t always sign up for an expensive eco-tour, I do try to practise the
principles of ecotourism."
This small
book starts with her surrounded by noisy, diesel-fumed boats, nudging each
other, racing their engines, drivers manoeuvring so their passengers get the
best view. It made her wonder "can
a travel writer, or any traveller, really be green - or is this just an
oxymoronic dream, given the air miles needed to get to destinations?"
In this
essay-cum-travel memoir she considers how green she was, or wasn’t, while
exploring this ‘seething hotspot of
bio-diversity’ of an island. (‘Quote from Planet Earth’ BBC TV).
She
obviously agrees with Malaysia's tourism tagline. ‘Malaysia - truly Asia’ and
this booklet is a good introduction to the island of Borneo and green travel
issues around the world.
Hapeta has two other book available on Amazon ( and other e-sellers) Naked in Budapest: travels with a passionate nomad; and, Surviving Suicide - a mother's story
She writes travel blogs on www.kiwitravelwriter.wordpress.com
Her FaceBook page is The Travelling Writer
Her FaceBook page is The Travelling Writer
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Naked In Budpapest - e-version on sale - a great round the world vacation story
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
great review of my book- passing it on
An unsolicited email from an unknown reader
I purchased your book yesterday (Friday 14th August 09) after the Probus meeting and have just finished it.
It can only be described as an absolute gem. It is a fabulous travel book; it is an even greater person story. I read several books a week and for me this is The book of the year. Your comments on your success in the battle with alcohol for me made this book even greater. Well done Heather. You have the great skill and achievement of knowing what is important in life and of knowing what is trivial.
Also, places I have been to and know reasonably well especially S.E.Asia I could suddenly see in a whole new light, I guess that is the skill of the very observant traveller and the skilled travel writer
Cheers, Harry (NOTE - last name not added here in respect for this person’s privacy, Heather)
Another male wrote -
‘Suffering serious withdrawals after finishing Naked in Budapest, and being deprived of my daily fix of travel in far-away places. I have not enjoyed a book so much for yonks.’
Hugh Adams (author of ‘A bakers dozen’)
Read more reader comments here
Buy Naked in Budapest: travels with a passionate nomad (ISBN 978-0-473-11675-0) for Fathers Day: Details here http://kiwitravelwriter.com/
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Emotional danger of travel
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Once again I see the dangers of travel. Not the rare physical danger of airline or vehicle crashes; not the occasional danger of being robbed or becoming sick, but the every-day common danger of your heart getting to know people and places. People we would not usually met. Each week, hearing of train accidents, deaths in the Middle East, and riots in India, bombs, wars, earthquakes, or floods I am very conscious of that emotional danger.
Geography was of more interest than history at school. One could have a stab at answering questions if I knew a couple of other facts. Distance from the equator could give clues to temperatures and climate. Mountains, plains, rivers all added up to some understanding of a place that dates and historical facts didn’t - well for me as a teenager.
Now travel has given me a different perspective. Geography remains important, history helps with understanding people and the two, combined with travel experience, gives me a sense of, not exactly ownership or belonging, but something rather like kinship, I’m attached - I leave a bit of me in every place, and take some of the place away with me
To me this feeling of human-oneness is particularly acute at times of high emotions; small countries achieve a goal; overcome an obstacle; a national team wins; and in particular, really acute in times of national pain.
My first real experience of this came after I’d been to Ireland when shortly afterwards ‘the troubles’ began again. I was devastated that the wonderful little city of Londonderry (or Derry, depending on the map consulted) was yet again the centre of violence. Streets I’d walked down were now dangerous. That people I had maybe spoken to or walked past were now dead or injured had me crying in front of the TV or newspaper.
Turkey and Greece had earthquakes, people in Israel and Palestine killing each other, years ago London had rubbish bins removed from the street for fear of terrorism, New York and the New Yorkers I love were devastated and traumatised, monsoon floods happen in Asia, and in Egypt, fabulous country and generous people, is grief stricken with deaths from buildings collapsing, and Indian pilgrims die during a festival.
What ever the cause, I think of the diverse people whom I have come to know, love, judge and compare and empathise with their pain. Yet what can we do to ease that pain? Nothing. The one thing that would help - having loved ones live again - is way beyond anything we can do.
However maybe travel-writing that gives the texture, flavour and smells of a place helps bridge that gap between us and them. After all scenery and monuments are the same on everyone’s photos. It’s our experiences that provide the difference.
Travelling, or reading about travelling, help us realise people are not like those presented in the headlines of our papers or in the sound-bites of radio or television. Young or old, male, female, Christian, Pagan, Muslin, or freethinker as a Japanese friend describes herself, we’re all part of the human family and when a family member is in pain we feel it.
Geography was of more interest than history at school. One could have a stab at answering questions if I knew a couple of other facts. Distance from the equator could give clues to temperatures and climate. Mountains, plains, rivers all added up to some understanding of a place that dates and historical facts didn’t - well for me as a teenager.
Now travel has given me a different perspective. Geography remains important, history helps with understanding people and the two, combined with travel experience, gives me a sense of, not exactly ownership or belonging, but something rather like kinship, I’m attached - I leave a bit of me in every place, and take some of the place away with me
To me this feeling of human-oneness is particularly acute at times of high emotions; small countries achieve a goal; overcome an obstacle; a national team wins; and in particular, really acute in times of national pain.
My first real experience of this came after I’d been to Ireland when shortly afterwards ‘the troubles’ began again. I was devastated that the wonderful little city of Londonderry (or Derry, depending on the map consulted) was yet again the centre of violence. Streets I’d walked down were now dangerous. That people I had maybe spoken to or walked past were now dead or injured had me crying in front of the TV or newspaper.
Turkey and Greece had earthquakes, people in Israel and Palestine killing each other, years ago London had rubbish bins removed from the street for fear of terrorism, New York and the New Yorkers I love were devastated and traumatised, monsoon floods happen in Asia, and in Egypt, fabulous country and generous people, is grief stricken with deaths from buildings collapsing, and Indian pilgrims die during a festival.
What ever the cause, I think of the diverse people whom I have come to know, love, judge and compare and empathise with their pain. Yet what can we do to ease that pain? Nothing. The one thing that would help - having loved ones live again - is way beyond anything we can do.
However maybe travel-writing that gives the texture, flavour and smells of a place helps bridge that gap between us and them. After all scenery and monuments are the same on everyone’s photos. It’s our experiences that provide the difference.
Travelling, or reading about travelling, help us realise people are not like those presented in the headlines of our papers or in the sound-bites of radio or television. Young or old, male, female, Christian, Pagan, Muslin, or freethinker as a Japanese friend describes herself, we’re all part of the human family and when a family member is in pain we feel it.
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