Walking I’m just back from a very interesting weekend in Wales. I walked in the mountains and explored the valleys. I went with my company’s walking club. I’ve never been away with them before so everyone was a stranger. The club had hired a bunkhouse in the village of Talybont-on-Usk to the north of the Brecon Beacons National Park. I decided to take Monday off work in addition to the weekend to go and explore “The Valleys” of South Wales, an area which I do not know, but have a slight connection to. The journey from London was a long one [View Full Entry]

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From the bus station, I got a (CUC) “colectivo” taxi to my next casa particular. I had asked Débora if she knew any casas particulares in which I could stay and she arranged for me to go and stay with her “great friend” Isobel. Isobel lives near to the Universdad de La Habana with her daughter and elderly mother. They all seem very friendly. I was introduced to Juanita, Isobel’s cousin who they employ as a house keeper. I had dinner at the house, then Isobel told me that today was the anniversary of the foundation of Havana, and everyone in [View Full Entry]

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The bus arrived at 7am in the morning. I walked past the small gaggle of people promoting their casas particulares and walked to the address Sofía had given to me. I was met at the door by two very friendly old ladies who gave me coffee, then explained that they’d let the room that had been reserved for me because Sofía had warned them I had stayed at Guantánamo and so may not have made the bus connection. They brought their next-door neighbour round and I went round to hers. She seemed a real sourpuss and I felt rather depressed. This [View Full Entry]

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Well, as tourist attractions go, it’s a bit of a weird one. But I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to see one of the most famous and controversial places in the World right now: the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay. It took a lot of arranging. When I was at Sofía’s in Santiago, I had asked her if any of her previous guests had been and how I could go. To my surprise, no one had been but she made some phone calls and we found out that you have to get special permission and there are only [View Full Entry]

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The next morning, I got up early to catch the five hour bus to Baracoa. Waiting for the bus, I got chatting to Phil, a fellow Scot. We ended up spending the next day together. He’s an interesting guy. He helps run a recycling scheme on a Scottish Island. The five hour journey to Baracoa passes first through the town of Guantánamo, then along the coast. Then it turns inland and goes through some very windy mountain passes. Apparently the town was only accessible via the sea until this road was built in the 1960s! With casas particlares, you can get [View Full Entry]

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My promised “10-12” hour journey from Havana, to Santiago de Cuba in the South East of the country actually took 16 hours! Cuba is Long! It’s longer from tip to tail than the British mainland and my journey was similar to London to Aberdeen. Not much to say about the journey really. We travelled first along an empty motorway, stopping at a few places on the way, and then the roads got smaller and more confusing as there were no sign posts. From my bus window, I saw countryside and towns full of tiny, dirty houses with as much poverty as [View Full Entry]

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I’ve been in Havana for the past week, learning Spanish, and much more besides. Cuba is a country which has long fascinated me. It is somewhere which really does look unique in the modern world. Given that Mr Castro does not look in good health, it seems to be about to undergo some change or other pretty soon so I think now is the time to come and see. I’ve managed to get three weeks off work (yay!) and have booked a Spanish course for my first week, and then I’m going to travel freestyle for the other two. I arrived [View Full Entry]

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Koenig Solutions Pvt Ltd So, that was the end of my four months travelling! I returned to Delhi where I was to start five and a half weeks study for a professional IT qualification. I’m studying at a company called Koenig Solutions. They are a bona fide IT training outfit which offers programmes to westerners. I was there for an intensive 40 day programme to become a “[url= http://www.koenig-solutions.com/training/mcsd_training.asp?currid=7&CourseId=20&CityName=Delhi&hStatus=Budget&k=]Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer[/ [View Full Entry]

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It’s lovely being met at the airport. I am in India mainly for study, and the training centre has sent a driver to meet me at the airport. I’m taken straight to the centre where I pay them their fees. They also hand me some train tickets to Rajasthan. I have two weeks before I actually start studying and had asked them if they could book these for me. I dumped the things I’ll not need for the next 10 days and got a lift with the company driver to the Nizamuddin Railway Station. I was slightly alarmed when he didn’t [View Full Entry]

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Yet another country! My flight from Bangkok was full of Indians as it had previously come from Mumbai (I didn’t want to cause offence and was careful to use the new name but was told to call it “Bombay” - now I’m confused!) Anyway, it’s very exciting to be in Hong Kong SAR! It’s like a bonus prize to be here as it was not on my original shortlist of destinations for the trip. I’m staying in a tiny room in an apartment in the massive Mirador Mansions apartment block in Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon. I awoke the next morning [View Full Entry]

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