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Critical Praise for “Trials & Tea Ceremonies”
A hilarious and heartfelt journey for anyone who has ever wondered: "Is this it?" What happens when the life you've built no longer feels like your own? That's exactly what Basho and his wife Cesca felt. So, they walked away from their jobs, packed their lives into two bulging backpacks, and embarked on a year-long, life-altering journey across the globe. Their story, Critics are loving it: "A richly written, unexpectedly profound journey." - Mike Richards, bestselling author of 'The Travelling Ape' "I especially enjoyed your reflections on Zen... on the ways in which we complicated the simple and try to explain the inexplicable." - Pico Iyer, bestselling author of 'The Art of Stillness' "For a hearty dose of mind, body, spirit, travel, and Zen... pick up Basho's musings and take yourself somewhere magical." - Goran Powell, bestselling author of 'Waking Dragons' “This book reminded me [...]
Announcing my new book: Trials & Tea Ceremonies: Misadventures in Far Away Places.
A hilarious and heartfelt journey for anyone who has ever wondered: "Is this it?" What happens when the life you've built no longer feels like your own? For Basho, turning thirty felt less like a milestone and more like "a splinter in the mind." A series of personal crises convinced him and his partner, Cesca, to make a radical choice. They walked away from their careers, put their lives in storage, and set off on a year-long, unscripted adventure across a dozen countries to answer one question: Is there a better way to live? Their path takes them from the rugged shores of Australia to the spiritual heart of India and the serene temples of Japan. But between the moments of transcendent beauty, a deeper, wilder journey unfolds. They must face down spitting alpacas, chaotic farm hosts, a terrifying encounter with the world’s largest spider in a Laotian toilet, [...]
Basho rewrites: Rime of the Frostmaiden – Sunblight
**Caution this post contains spoilers for Sunblight!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons & Dragons with. Now, I am 46 and play with my own children. Yes - I built my own [...]
Mount Wudang and the Meaning of Life
In China, Daoist temples atop mountains are so numerous that there must be something about these high places that answers a longing for cliff edges and being above the clouds. A simplistic analysis of this, one using that most ignoble [...]
Chan Buddhism, Daoism and Zen – Journey through the East
Writing an article about Zen is almost a contradiction in terms. That is unless I simply leave the rest of it blank... Just a finger, pointing to the moon… But, I don't want to do that! At its basic [...]
What is Daoism/Taoism?
Before we start I should add a caveat to this article: I am a philosopher and a Daoist. As such, I suppose, I am open to accusations of bias and a lack of objectivity. This is unavoidable. However, if one [...]
OMEGA Speedmaster Professional “Moonwatch” review
THE SPEEDMASTER PROFESSIONAL MOONWATCH. For well over half a century, the OMEGA Speedmaster has witnessed events that have tested the limits of physical endurance and human courage, including the first manned lunar landing in July of 1969 and every one of NASA’s piloted missions since March of 1965.
A Wild Sheep Chase
**Caution this post contains spoilers for The Wild Sheep Chase!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons and Dragons with, it being the 80’s and the game not being popular here in the United [...]
The Hidden Context in some Great Movies
I love the cinema and movies. I also make films myself. What stared as a simple passion for the action and adventure in films has become a life long urge to understand what the filmmaker, [...]
Varanasi City of Gods – Special Edition
How does it make one feel to be in one of the most “holy” cities in the world?
Basho rewrites: Rime of the Frostmaiden – Defeating Auril, DM’s guide and ending
**Caution: this post contains spoilers for Rime of the Frostmaiden!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons & Dragons with. Now, I am 46 and play with my own children. Yes - I [...]
Beijing and the Great Wall – Our final days in China
"So," said Cesca loudly and clearly, just as I was drinking from a water bottle, "What's all this about China and Tiananmen Square?" I almost did a spit take. "Quiet!" I said and I looked around, wiping water running [...]
“Morgan” – Digital Watercolour
"Morgan" by Basho Painted in Rebelle 3.
Varanasi – City of the Hindus
Many Indian cities are a jumble, a mix of the ancient and modern, but nowhere I have ever been compares in this regard to Varanasi. I come from a country, and from a city, which [...]
Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, green tea and finding inner peace
I have written before about travellers wanting a point to it all, to travelling. In part this is perhaps seen as them wanting to justify the vast cost of travel; to have a point for spending all that money, [...]
The day I met the Buddha, and killed him
Delhi. Many people say they have “done” Delhi, but in all honesty they haven’t. They have perhaps done the tourist parts of New Delhi, or maybe spent some time in an Ashram there – which amounts [...]
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist | Dungeons & Dragons
**Caution this post contains spoilers for WDH!** My players (9-year-old children, my wife and her 70+-year-old mother) just completed Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and there follows my write up of the adventure. The piplins! [...]
The Purpose of Travel – Now Published!
We often take arriving at the destination to be the purpose of travel. Taken in this way the journey itself is not the point, rather it is the serious business of transporting our bodies from one place to another. Getting [...]
And so I went for a walk…
"And so I went for a walk..." by Basho Painted by hand onto a Microsoft Surface Studio 2 in the software "Rebelle" using a digital stylus. This is near the village of "Mount Bures, Suffolk, UK" [...]
“The Backroad to Bures”
"The Backroad to Bures" by Basho AI image upscaled from 2019. It would make a lovely computer background.
You’re the Pretender – a Tier 1 tribute
A loving tribute to 5 years of Tier 1 Military Simulations events. They say that it is only when you lose something that you realise the value it had. That emotional wrench requires a loss of access. Not that [...]
The Alam Clock Lesson
Early in my leadership career, I had a junior member of staff who was late to work. Nothing unusual about that, you may think, for are we not all occasionally late into the office? Most of us commute and moreover [...]
Things Will Change – a Basho travel film
Things Will Change A travel film exploring humanity's journey through history, touching on themes of faith, nature, technological advancement, and the essence of human connection. The film is divided into four chapters, each reflecting on [...]
Children of the Red Rose
**Caution this post contains spoilers for Children of the Red Rose!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons and Dragons with, it being the 80’s and the game not being popular here in the [...]
Basho rewrites: Rime of the Frostmaiden – Destruction’s Light.
**Caution this post contains spoilers for Destruction's Light!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons & Dragons with. Now, I am 45 and play with my own children. Yes - I built my [...]
“Countryside walk” – Digital Watercolour
"Countryside walk" by Basho Painted in Rebelle 3.
New Zealand WWOOFing at Furneaux Lodge
Will the second time be any better than the first?
The Salmon of Doubt
Gday all Has anyone else read “The Salmon of Doubt” penned by the late great Douglas Adams? One section [...]
Four Shades Of Black – Karate Book Review
A review of a Karate book by one of my martial arts masters on the topic of Goju Ryu
Tokyo Marui Pro Goggle Review
After coming home from my travels I accessed my secure shipping container and got out all my airsoft gear. GZ is coming and I wanted to do a ops check and full clean so I would be ready. My old, fantastic, HFC mesh mask had seen better days. After considering the risk of using rusty mesh, I benched the mask and started hunting around for another solution. There was something else too. My team now play 24h milsim games. As I was going to join them, I needed a face rig that would enable me to eat and sleep in the field, but not be a compromise on safety.
Letter to MP: SAVE Airsoft!
Office of Hazel Blears MP Minister of State Home Office 50 Queen Anne's Gate London SW1H 9AT Dear Mrs Blears, [...]
Malaysia: Highlands to Langkawi
The Cameron Highlands, well named that they are, are the tea growing centre of Malaysia. The temperature up the top is a good 4 degrees less than in the cities and a nice breeze helps take off a few more. It is a place of gentile rolling tea fields under mountainous peaks. I found this much more to my liking!
The story of my new PC: Part Three – I HAVE IT!
Finally the quest ends!
“CHOJUN – A NOVEL” Review: The real Mr. Miyagi
It is said that you can only truly know someone by fighting them, for in the stress of combat the [...]
New Basho Artwork
Dear all, A couple of weeks, Cesca and I went to a very strange cafe. It was a cafe where [...]
Losing Control, Releasing Nature – The Directors Cut!
In the last of my series of films re-examining my output over the last 10 years, I present the definitive [...]
The best MOVIE actor of all time
Sir Michael Cane
Cambodia – Journey to Angkor
Spiderville stands between us and the wats, can we escape the 8 legged freaks?
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ : Book Review
The first line of Philip Pullman’s novel reads: This is the story of Jesus and his brother Christ, of how [...]
Announcing: buddhabooks.co.uk is now open
Dear all, Announcing the opening of a new Basho website! www.buddhabooks.co.uk I have been writing reviews of books on this [...]
Tier 1 Military Simulation – Operation SANDSTORM Writeup
"But I didn't want to raise the alarm" "Why not?" I asked "Well," said the man, uncertainty creeping into his [...]
Guest post for Rohan clothing
A few weeks ago the CEO of Rohan clothing emailed me and asked if I would write them a guest post about for their new website Rohantime.com.
Tier 1 Military Simulation – Operation BLACKHEART promo
This is a dual editor collaboration. The DVD will contain 2 x 30 minute renders of the footage from the game (one by me and one by Chris). We had filmmakers following both teams, capturing all the briefings, the serial events and all the action in the best FPS Basho tradition - quite a package!
Hamilton JazzMaster Maestro Auto Chrono Watch Review
Yes, there are many reason to wear a watch, but simply telling the time is the least of them. The first clue that there is another reason comes from the mind boggling array of wrist-based choice.
8 Years’ today!
8 Years' ago today, Cesca and I took off on a 1 year backpacking adventure around the World. I'll never [...]
The Hunter Valley
All praise the god of wine!