“The smell of death” – Delhi again

One of the things that has struck me most about travelling has been the amazing difference between experiencing an event and then recollecting it. Often, the less enjoyable travelling experiences that I have seem to slowly evolve to become a cherished memory and a great tale to tell. For instance, our overland crossing of Thailand…

Jaipur

The drive from Agra to Jaipur took 7 hours and led us deep into Rajasthan. We stopped on the way for another excellent cheese curry, before then heading to Fatehpur Sikri. This was another Mughal Dynasty site and one that came highly recommended. Ashwani drove well again and kept us well stocked with mango sweets….

Agra

The drive to Agra was fairly long. Our driver Ashwani showed remarkable skill at the wheel in what is clearly a very challenging driving environment. I’ve travelled in some countries with bad driving standards, but India takes top spot from Vietnam for sure (honorable mention to Morocco and their special roundabout system). There are plenty…

The Unexpected Tour

I got chatting to a guy in Peru back in 2011. We exchanged a few tales and then he told me about a chap he had met a few weeks previously. This guy had been at an ATM somewhere in Peru when a bag was pulled over his head. He was then bundled into a…

Delhi

India. Given some of our previous travels you might think that India would feature highly on our wish list, but in truth it never has. For every person that told us how amazing the Taj Mahal was, another would tell us how unbearable they found the poverty and filth. But when I was offered the…

Hong Kong, the blog from the bog

Getting ill is part and parcel of travelling, just as it is part and parcel of life. We both had 2 nasty stomach bugs when we travelled long term, which over a period of nearly 7 months was pretty good going. It’s really annoying to get ill on a short trip though, but thankfully it…

Angkor 2018 continued

I had achieved much of what I wanted on day one. I walked somewhere in the region of 15 miles and my legs were not happy when I woke for day 2. I had arranged with my tuktuk driver to begin at 8.30am on my second and last day, and I immediately threw him a…

Angkor 2018

Cambodia really touched our hearts when we visited in 2010. So much so that we returned 2 years later for part of our Honeymoon. Claire is always reluctant to return to places we have previously visited, but for Cambodia our return was brilliant and a valuable lesson that covering old ground can be worthwhile. What…

A flying visit to Shanghai, literally

It is time once again to bring this blog back to life. We have travelled a lot in recent times, but not the sort of places that make for entertaining blog posts. China is not a place I have ever longed to visit. It certainly has plenty to offer but for many reasons it had…

How I found out that there are 2 airports in Istanbul

Have you heard the saying “complacency is the mother of all cock ups”? I doubt it as I think I just made it up. But it sums up our journey to the airport when we left Istanbul. At some point in the 24 hour period before departure I convinced myself that the airport we needed…

Aosta Valley (Italy) – Snow Shoeing

If you asked me to name 10 words that summed up this blog one of those words would certainly be “complacency”. It doesn’t happen much admittedly but enough to make me smile when I realise I have underestimated something. Our eventful visit to Lake Titicaca is a great example. For our second snow shoeing experience…

Addo Elephant Park

Our good friends Dave and Grainne have been droning on about South Africa for years. Telling us about the incredible scenery and the amazing food. To shut them up we decided to go and see what all the fuss was about. Getting to South Africa is pretty easy and best of all there is barely…