Very sad news about Slinky our cat - he became ill just before Christmas and has sadly passed away. Many of you will have fond memories of this beautiful cat so we decided to write a few words in his honor… Slinky cat of Wivenhoe 2000 - 2008 In 2000 two little black cats, Came to live at Foresters Hall; Bob and Mima couldn’t resist, The one who climbed Bob’s leg and sat, Upon his shoulder cute and small! When he arrived he was called Frankie, But later on his name did change; First was Stinky ‘cos he did whiff, But [View Full Entry]

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Our seven day jeep trip from Lhasa in Tibet to Kathmandu in Nepal started badly, and the first day was to get steadily worse. We had turned one corner and were heading down the main street in only light traffic when our driver clipped the back wheel of a cyclist, sending her toppling to the floor. I was sitting in the front and saw it all very clearly. I was expecting the driver to swerve at the last minute to the right, just the centimetres that were necessary to avoid the collision, but he ploughed straight on. This caused immediate commotion. [View Full Entry]

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Our journey overland from Wivenhoe has got us to Nepal so far. We have been here for six weeks now and much of our time has been spent off the road in one way or another - a fantastic antedote to all the time spent on the road since September! Our first stop was Pokhara - we both finally sucummed to the inevitable phenomenom of Asia - the travellers squits (I'll skip the details but we're both OK now!) This forced us to stay off the road for a while but gave us the perfect excuse to while away many days [View Full Entry]

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The journey from Lhasa, Tibet to Pokhara, Nepal was both stunning and dismaying, awesome and frustrating, saddening, maddening, funny and sunny but at times very, very cold! Seven layers in To-bed is really no joke!... 1. Two pairs of socks 2. Thermal long johns 3. Warm trakkie trousers 4. Thermal top 5. Thick fleece jumper 6. Thermal fleece hat 7. Fleece gloves ... and that's before getting into a thick hooded sleeping bag, on top of and below as many blankets I could find! This was how I survived the night we spent in a place called Rhonghpu - the last [View Full Entry]

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So, it's been a while since I've managed to sit down and write a little about where we've been recently! Bob has been busy writing stories (now tagged as Bobanory!) which I hope you have found entertaining... I certainly have!! We have also spent time saving photos from the camera so have now been able to add images to earlier blogs including 'Moscow to Mongolia' and 'We're on the road (or rather the train)' The journey from Ulan Baatar to Tibet has taken us across China stopping in Beijing and Xian, we have taken in a multitude of awesome sights and [View Full Entry]

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Believe the hype of the Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant in Beijing - it offers fantastic duck at reasonable prices and excellent service in a comfortable restaurant. But don't fall for the 'Quanjude Group' scam (like we did) and get carted off to a second rate restaurant that tries to push you into parting with exhorbitant wedges of cash for a few average tasting slithers of duck. it was our last night of our trip to Beijing and for one reason or another we had not yet got round to having the famous roast duck that is the usual first culinary stop [View Full Entry]

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In two weeks I saw three dead people, which is three more than I have ever seen before. Two of them were among the most influential people in the twentieth century. Each brought communism to their Country and although their policies, attitudes and methods are now being questioned even by their own Countries current politicians and political commentators, the fact that thousands of people stream past their corpses daily are a testement to the fact that they are still revered by the average worker. The first was a decidedly spooky experience - we were short for time and to avoid having [View Full Entry]

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A trip to the Bolshoi circus was a memorable highlight of Moscow, as much for getting there and getting a ticket as the spectacle of the performance itself. With new found confidence on the Metro, we managed to arrive at the 'Univerisitet' stop which was right by the circus, but on the way we took a tour of some of the more famous Metro stations , which proved to be an architectural highlight in Moscow. One station featured beautiful stained glass windows depicting classic proleteriat scenes - one window would be a peasant woman working the fields and the next a [View Full Entry]

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The League of Cheesy Rock Song {Artist} <Points> Hotel California {The Eagles} <333> Various {Bob Marley} <318> Various {The Kathmandu Cover Bands} <292> Aqua/Camelman {Barbie-Girl} <291> Buddhist Chanters {Om Mane Padme Om} <98> The Power of Love [View Full Entry]

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'It is vital to spend the few hours it takes to master the Cyrillic alphabet before you go, otherwise you'll have trouble deciphering the names of streets, metro stations and most importantly the names of stations along the Trans-Siberian and Trans-Mongolian routes.' I read this sentence in the Trans-Siberain Handook as we departed from Warsaw on a twenty hour train journey that took us to Moscow. I scan quickly down the neatly presented Cyrillic alphabet, with its Roman alphabet equivalent listed alongside. Cyrillic is derived from Greek, so everything is recognisable, but not quite the same, [View Full Entry]

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