Gnomesville

If you don't like very strange things or aren't easily enamoured to a bit of whimsy then I suggest you look away now. What I am about to show you is very, very weird and also (if I'm honest about my proclivities towards the bizarre) a little bit freaking awesome.

About 2 hours drive south east of Perth there lies a magical place. A place so shrouded in myth and mystery that it attracts people from all over the world. Alongside a fairly average country road there lies a village of critters no taller than your knees. Gnomes. Yes, gnomes! Thousands of these critters inhabit a small strip of forest alongside a beautiful bubbling brook. And when I say thousands I mean THOUSANDS! Now, I didn't just stumble across Gnomesville. I deliberately set out to find it and had no navigational problems thanks to the directions of my mobile phone GPS. Yep, Gnomesville is officially on the map!

I only learnt of the existence of Gnomesville a few months ago. I was kind of mystified as to how I could not know about such a remarkable example of community outsider art in my own country, especially because it attracts visitors from far and wide. There were a number of international visitors exploring the site whilst we were there. It was truly marvellous to see people from all over the world smiling their way through the winding paths of Gnomesville! 

I love outsider art and kooky landmarks so Gnomesville was a bit of a dreamscape to me. Whilst there is undoubtably a sense of whimsy and childlike wonder surrounding Gnomesville, there is also an element of the macabre. Being exposed to the elements the gnomes are in various stages of decay. Some are faded, others chipped or dirty, the saddest creatures are missing limbs or wear large cracks in their gnome armour. Add in the gloominess of a dreary, drizzly overcast day and you could be forgiven for sensing something a little bit sinister happening amongst the inhabitants of Gnomesville.  Of course, this just adds to the appeal!

Would I recommend a trip to Gnomesville? Hell yes! If you're in WA and heading down to the Margaret River then be sure to take a little side trip to visit this remarkable site. It is really something to behold! The below photo explains the history of this most unusual shrine:

Koh Phangan...

Time is a treacherous fiend. I can't believe it's been two months since I returned from holidays! Two whole months and I still haven't finished going through all of the photos I took whilst away. I am determined not to let this task get away from me so I'm dedicating this week to getting these images sorted and blogged so that I can move onto other things and feel that everything is in its right place. Well, I am very happy with today's progress because I can share with you images from our time on the beautiful Thai island of Koh Phangan.

Koh Phangan is a little island paradise a short boat trip away from Koh Samui, one of Thailand's island tourist meccas. Koh Phangan is probably best known in the west for its Full Moon parties - basically backpackers and partygoers from all over the world travel to this tropical locale every full moon to push their body to the limits. I've heard that they are not for the light hearted! We visited Koh Phangan as an after holiday retreat and to spend time with a dear friend who had been living there as a writer for the past several months. It was the perfect anecdote to the weariness brought on by our hectic Japanese schedule, and our ten days on the island went by in a blur of lounging, eating, snorkelling and cocktail imbibing. Yeah, it was pretty nice work on our part!

We arrived on the island in time for Songkran, or Thai New Year, and our first outing was to Thong Sala (the port town on the island) to experience the celebrations of the day. Basically these celebrations involve drenching everybody in sight in water! Lots and lots of water! Water pistols,  water bombs, buckets, and hoses were used to drench anyone brave enough to walk the streets. It was a lot of fun and a great way to participate in local tradition. The celebrations also brought a big thunderstorm and lots of beautiful cleansing rain to the island - rain that they hadn't seen for many, many months. Of course rain and thunder gave us the perfect excuse to do very little for a few days, but we spent much of our remaining time by the sea, or in the sea, or in cafe's drinking cocktails. When too much of nothing was done we headed a little further abroad by the use of bike or a hire car which was not too far away from needing some major mechanical work done - haha, it was dodgy!

I took a lot of photos on the island. I still haven't found the time to look at all of them. But I've made a selection of the best to share in this post and to give a feel for our time there. I'll spare you the happy snaps.  Although they are some of my personal favourites you probably don't need to see a hundred images of cocktail consumption! :) 

Here's my visual ode to our time on Koh Phangan...

Beaches for days...

Buddhist temples in the centre of the island...

Thong Sala Night Markets...

Island dogs...

 The Big Tree (The biggest tree on the island)...

Tropical beauty...

Sunsets to die for...

Thanks for a wonderful time Koh Phangan!! :)