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The Focus team welcomes local photographer, writer, van Bilsen Focus on Scugog is pleased to announce the addition of Jonathan van Bilsen to our team. As a contributing writer Jona- than will cover many of Scugog Township's in- teresting happenings. Jonathan will also bring his popular travel column, which highlights some of the world’s most interesting sights. Jonathan has been a professional photog- rapher for 36 years and has travelled to sixty- three countries on six continents. He has also published four novels a ie photography ees join us in wel- coming Jonathan to the Focus on Scugog team. You can reach Jona- than van Bilsen at ob- server@powergate.ca with any ideas for stories or just to say hi. Yravelon By Jonathan van Bils Local author shares his travel experiences Travelling is one of the greatest sources of learning available to us and | have been fortunate to have been able to visit more than sixty countries around the planet. For those of you who have been reading my columns for the past several years, you know that there have been numerous incidents and obstacles which | have encountered. More importantly are the people | have met and the places | have seen. The oppor- tunity to share those with readers has been rewardin. | was flattered when | was asked to con- tinue my column in Focus on Scugog maga- zine, as | have dozens of tales which have yet to be penned. In the December issue | will share one of the greatest man made wonders of the world, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, as | am travelling in that country while the current issue of Focus is being produced. Hopefully, | will also have made my way to Vietnam, one of the newest travel destinations available. As a photographer | have been fortunate to study people and places carefully and have developed a great appreciation and respect for diverse cultures and different ways of life. Travel is one of the greatest educational op- portunities available to us, especially in this era of advanced technology. | can recall dozens of memories of the past 36 years of travel, where | have been chased by guards through Egypt's Valley of the Kings and was nearly arrested in Beijing. | have spent a night in jail in Kentucky and came very close to a brawl in Morocco. There was also a time when | found myself in the middle of a riot in Bolivia, and once my boat ran aground in a tributary of the Amazon. | look forward to sharing my experiences as well as the beauty, culture and history of faraway places on the pages of Focus on Scugog magazine. Not only has travel broad- ened my personal horizons it has reinforced how wonderful a town like Port Perry is to call home. The place ix ae wind. <a you Pe 40 FOCUS - NOVEMBER 2008