JerusalemMarch 23 2011I first heard in one of those crammed dusty sellalittlebitofeverything Old City shops. The kind where you wonder how they amassed all these items especially that large ancient discolored menorah hanging from the ceiling. Would not a little less clutter and maybe a little polish help move some of this inventory The shopkeepers were speaking in Hebrew. It was somethin

We really hoped that the train would be late but the Lakswahdeep Express arrived at Margao right on schedule at the ungodly hour of 340am. We killed the next three hours relaxing among the unwashed masses at the station before venturing out to find a tuk tuk. We accepted the drivers recommendation of a hotel in Colva and stayed at Casa Roiz for the next two days nice hotel very quiet a bal

A bit more about My Czech Beer Festival trip.I always think that planning a trip is almost as much fun as the trip itselfIn my younger days this was done by getting guide booksreading up on various places watching geography and history programmes on TV or just getting a map out and looking at what was in an area.The international youth hostel hand book was the bible of the independant travell

Been working on getting the house settled. The bedroom is done so thought I'd share some pictures. Shamong is known for its garage sales and road side finds. We found the bed and dresser on the side of the road and painted them black. Looks greats That way we could afford to invest in a new king size mattress and rug. Loving it

Rich was asked to speak at a conference in MD so yesterday we headed there. As we drove along the Chesepekee Bay we reminised about James Misner's book the Chesepekee and the movie Patriot Games. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the drive. We arrived at Sandy Cove a christian camp Rich spoke had dinner and headed home. But we made it to two new states DE and MD

Luang Prabang

There was a slight rough start to the day seeing as it was the day after St. Patricks day we were all moving a little slow. We finally got all our belongings together and hopped on a bus from Galway to Limerick then caught our connection to Killarney from there. We didn't get in to Killarney until about dinner time it was a good thing the B B was right accross from the bus station because we

gibbon experience

My mum left this morning at 5am got message from her to say airport bus never turned up so not sure how she got to airport but can only presume she managed in time for flight. I couldn't get back to sleep for ages so ended up having nice bath and chilling till 11ish. Then went in hunt for food that was not macdonalds or chinese food. Was happy to find baked potato not the best but nice change H

1 Week in China Hello everyoneToday as mentioned in yesterday's video I moved out of the shortterm place and into my new permanent apartment the Panda House if you will. I got up early which turned out to be slightly disappointing and so went on walkabout for a bit took the bus over to the National Library of Ancient Books which is SUPER impressive. I was there before opening hours I act

Arrive Hanoi Friday 25th March after an uneventful flight. The taxi to Manchester airport developed a flat tyre. The car did not possess a wheel brace and a Manchester taxi had to summoned to complete the journey arriving nearly 3 hours after leaving Clitheroe and in the nick of time for the flightSaturday 26th March. An early breakfast followed by a vehicle transfer of approximately200km to P

HiAttached photos from last blog.I have also attached the narrative again for completeness.Barbara John in Kwa Zulu Natal KZNWe have spent two weeks in KZN and it has been a varied period covering wonderful scenery cultural interest and good beaches.My birthday saw us on the road to Ramsgate on a 9 hour journey. It was good to be leaving what I thought was quite a strange farm and farmers

So I arrived in Bucharest at 6am after a somewhat uncomfortable overnight train from Sofia there werent any couchettes and didnt want to pay extra for a bed and was woken up about 4 times for passport checks but felt ok when I arrived. I dropped my bag at the station as I was taking a 1pm train to Brasov. Bucharest isnt as bad as what people say but I suppose its hit and miss with eve

It's been a very busy time in Koh Samui so I thought I'd better update everyone before we move onto our next place Despite the rain in Koh Phangan the crossing was really smooth to Koh Samui. It seemed like a like a lot of backpackers had the same idea as us as the boat was packed. We didn't have anywhere to stay in Samui so we headed to the popular area of Chaweng to find somewhere for a few nig

From tranquil Vientiane we went lively party town of Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is a muststop on the Banana Pancake Trail through Asia Banana Pancake Trail is the route most travelers take through SE Asia so named because you can always find banana pancake stalls catering to Western tastes. The main attraction in Vang Vieng is 'Tubing' which is where you hire a inner tube from town and then get

Saturday March 19 Last Day in RomeWe woke up somewhat early and decided to take a run through the streets of Rome. This was a great way to get exercise and also see more of Rome quickly. We ran through the streets while navigating the people who took up most of the sidewalks and the cars barely had enough room to drive on the roads themselves. We ran close to 4 miles and were glad we did.w

Healey DellThe group of girls and I headed to Healey Dell nature reserve to visit Sarah and her family for the first half of our intersemester break We attempted to play snooker but failed to finish a sin We explored the dell and found some prospective homes for the four of us and then after the two girls left Sarah and I explored the Greater Manchester area and all of the National Trust sites t

Morning CampersJust thought I would give you a cheeky rundown of my weekend anticsWell to start with the last week Ive been keeping myself busy going for long walks and working out with good old Davina Mccall super body workout dvd its crackingWork is... well work nothing special happening on that front the teachers surprisingly are being relatively communicative and telling me in advanced

Sunday March 27th 2011Strait of Hormuz South of IranLatitude 25 degrees 13 minutes north Longitude 57 degrees 32 minutes eastArabia is behind us in a cloud of dust literally. We pulled out of Dubai yesterday afternoon and visibility was only about 500 feet. Luckily the dust storm did not roll in until we were on our way out of the harbor. In the morning we were still able to see the worl

After a few hours on a bus we got a short boat ride to Don Det in the four thousand islands. This is where the Mekong River fans out and shit loads of river islands are created don't know whether there are 4000 but probably if you count every rock. They managed to chuck my and a few other peoples bags in the water which was a bit worrying but was only really my clothes that got wet and clothes