The Journey... Earth

When I began this Blog, I didn't know exactly where it would take me. Yes, my intention was to feature the 'journey' of my novel, Pursuit of the Golden Lily. I wanted to record the actual physical landscape of the story and visit the places that had lived solely in my imagination for so long. Miraculously, along with my two dear friends and travel companions, Marjorie and Ruby, I was able to achieve that, and experienced the trip of  a lifetime -  a journey close to my heart, that allowed me to return my father's precious diary to the place where it was written while he was a prisoner of the Japanese during WWII. It was phenomenal. But now what? The book is finished, the task of marketing it to the world has begun and once again, I find myself reflecting on the metaphor of the 'Journey'.

In truth, the journey began a long time ago, when a little girl who grew up in a magic kingdom, called Sherwood Forest, was allowed to roam freely. She made friends with the animals, the birds, the trees, the people. Her imagination flourished. It was there that she learned to have empathy with all living creatures and promised herself, that in her lifetime she would do what she could, whenever she could, to help those in need. She understood that somehow all things are connected. 

So today, as I reflected on what direction to take with this Blog - just one tiny voice amongst millions - I decided to continue writing about issues of importance to me. Fortuitously some of those same concerns are referenced in Pursuit of the Golden Lily, so I'm still on topic! I'm not heading off on a narcissistic tangent, but merely wish to map out the route, guide my thoughts and seek subjects which might be of interest to others and at the same time raise awareness. If any of these topics are of interest to you, then I hope you will join my email list and ride along with me.

I begin with the Earth; this perfect planet that gives us life. For the next couple of posts, I'm going to explore biodiversity and examine why it is so important. In the book, and on the journey, we travelled through several areas of immense biological diversity. Some were thriving, others not so much. The trunk emerging from the water in the above photo, is the ghostly reminder of a former rainforest canopy giant. That photo, the one at the top, and the one below were all taken at Khao Sok National Park, in Thailand.

Formerly an ancient rainforest dating back millions of years, the area was flooded in the 1980s when the Klong Saeng River was blocked to create the Ratchaprapha Dam. While there was much controversy back when the dam was first built, today the surrounding forests would probably be threatened by logging if it were not for the protection afforded by the national park designation, ushered in by Royal decree.
Biodiversity - the existence of many different kinds of plants and animals in an environment - is something we are really only just beginning to understand. For the next couple of posts I'll share some of the examples of biodiversity encountered on this journey.
Stay tuned!