Travel theme: Clean

Posted on April 11, 2014 by ailsapm

I’ve just been catching up on the week’s news and I audibly (and, it turns out, appropriately) gasped when I read this article in The Guardian about Beijing’s pollution crisis and canned air – or the alternative, bagged mountain air as photographed by Getty here. First we bottle water, now air; we’re running out of natural resources to commodify. Is it just me, or does this read like the opening scene of a really bad post-apocalyptic sci-fi?

In sympathy for the plight of beleaguered Beijing residents and in disbelief at worldwide corporate greed perpetuating the downward spiral of our environment, I’m choosing the theme Clean for this week’s theme. Freshly fallen snow makes everything seem cleaner, turning New York‘s Central Park into a winter wonderland.

It was laundry day when I visited Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. All along the shoreline women were busy scrubbing clothes in the lapping lake waters.

I was sitting on a park bench in Manhattan’s Battery Park when this little bird landed right next to me and proceeded to groom herself. Her antics were so funny I couldn’t stop myself from taking a few photos. She didn’t care; she stayed put until she was nice and clean.

Raindrop-sprinked lilacs in springtime are about the freshest, cleanest scent I know.

Are you ready to make a clean sweep? If you would like to join in this week’s travel theme (everyone’s welcome!) here’s what to do:

Create your own post and title it Travel theme: Clean
Include a link to this page in your post so others can find it too
Get your post in by next Thursday, as the new travel theme comes out on Friday
Don’t forget to subscribe to keep up to date on the latest weekly travel themes. Sign up via the email subscription link in the sidebar or RSS!

It’s time for some spring cleaning!

xxx Ailsa

Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you see the world. – George Bernard Shaw

Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Scientists will eventually stop flailing around with solar power and focus their efforts on harnessing the only truly unlimited source of energy on the planet: stupidity. I predict that in the future, scientists will learn how to convert stupidity into clean fuel. – Scott Adams

About ailsapm

Hi there! I’m Ailsa Prideaux-Mooney. I’ve lived in many places, and travelled to many more. I had a lot of fun getting there and being there, wherever there happened to be at the time. I climbed a castle wall in Czesky Krumlov, abseiled down cliffs to go caving in the west of Ireland, slept on the beach in Paros, got chased by a swarm of bees in Vourvourou (ok that wasn’t fun, but it was exciting), learned flower arranging in Tokyo, found myself in the middle of a riot in Seoul, learned to snowboard in Salzburg, got lost in a labyrinth in Budapest and had my ice cream stolen by a gull in Cornwall. And I’m just getting started. If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read so far, I’d love you to follow my travelogue - wheresmybackpack.com - and remember, anyone who tries to tell you it’s a small world hasn’t tried to see it all.

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