http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Cumberland-Sausage/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Cumberland Sausage en-us Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:57:21 +0000 Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:57:21 +0000 Even after being back for five months we're still experiencing elements of Einstein's relativism spacepeople who have travelled very fast and returned to find time has moved faster at the place they left than with themselves and it's not just all the weddings. When people talk about last year we both immediately think of events in 2004 for us 2005 and early 2006 just didn't seem to exist. No http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/South-Yorkshire/Sheffield/blog-100123.html Finally after sixteen months of toil and hardship acts of bravery and endurance cowardice and betrayal itching and scratching life and death finally we had reached our goal the heart of an impenetrable darkness the source of all Backpackers. Khao San Road. Bangkok.It was unearthly and the men weremdashNo they were not inhuman. Well you know that was the worst of itmdashthe suspic http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-100122.html The onelegged teenager pondered the huge piles of rusty antipersonnel mines with the feigned disinterest common to those his age I almost expected a drawled whaaatever. Then he handed me one of the mines and said with something approaching glee Press here. It should have been obvious what would happen but when we heard the loud 'CLICK' of the internal detonator we all jumped nonetheless. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-78247.html What's wrong with First Aid It's got only twenty percent of the syllables and thirty four percent of the letters. Sat in the hot tropical air of a humid Malaysian wet season watching yet another tedious and overlysimplistic training video concentration was hard to come by. The only saving interest were the extremely bad actors who approached their victims with the same wild staring intensity http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/blog-73513.html Standing at 5000m near the head of the Gokyo valley I turned to our guide Man Magar and said Man I've visited fifty two countries in my life and I've never seen anything like this. We were braced against the wind perched on the moraine at the aptly named Scoundrel's viewpoint so called because it affords an excellent view of Everest and Nuptse without the need to climb any of the steep su http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/blog-68932.html To the casual observer the engine behind the world's 3rd largest economy might well appear to be India's numerous hawkers conmen and beggars the persistance of whom would please any hardnosed western capitalist. Of course in the Britain of Norman Tebbit and John Major beggars were either indolent miscreants too lazy to get on their bikes to look for the jobs that unskilled and with no emplo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/blog-48836.html The miserable blogs continue I can't find anything amusing to write about. Apologies if I'm starting to sound like a cross between Alf Garnett and V.S. Naipaul but I'm only really apologising to Indian people those many kind folk that have made us happy welcome or more simply just interested who perhaps don't deserve yet another diatribe on how awful they all are.But Western reaction to Indi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/blog-55726.html There that dates me. We were always encouraged to avoid Tiswas as being aired on a commercial channel it was considered lowbrow.Will you play HoliHappeeee HoleeeeI wish you a happy successful and colourful year.Nearly all pictures taken with a Canon Powershot S1 IS with WPDC50 waterproof casing for obvious reasons.No more blogs for a month I'm afraid we're off trekking in Nepal.Ho http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Udaipur/blog-49735.html What do you do if you are on a train and the Tsunami comes We were stood in the open doorway of the slowmoving express train from Matara to Colombo the hot breeze wafting our faces and the baking sun lowering beneath the palms. Out beyond the blasted skeletons of once solid brick houses beyond the temporary camps of tents and the gleaming white of the newly erected stupas and gravestones w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/blog-42886.html A short blog this time. If you want something good to read try 's harrowing description of a recent visit to hurricanedamaged New Orleans . Reading this hit us doubly as we are currently sitting drinking lassis amidst the devastation of the Tsunami in Sri Lanka.After a whistlestop visit to the UK taking in friends relatives and the Indian Embassy we decided to take advantage of free acco http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-39962.html His face was leering into mine uncomfortably close his ugly grin accentuated by a thin greasy moustache. The discomforting slightly theatrical effect was complemented by an odd looking suit and a tango hat but then we were in a tourist bar watching tango lessons. He seemed very earnest determined that we had some information for him. The fact that we could not speak Spanish didn't seem to bo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/blog-37959.html A visit from the sponsors is always a tricky affair. Do you shower them with Champagne or impress them with your cunning frugality in the spending of their money Ideally both which with good wine in Chile available cheaply seemed to be entirely possible. For this section of our trip we have been joined by Kims Dad Steve and his newly betrothed Margaret. Both have just retired this summer and s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/blog-32397.html Ok so I couldnt find a rhyme for Being. If you are a fellow creative and have some serious financial backing seek out a good IPR lawyer and try to obtain what is called an Artistic License. Clearly reality is often too boring Big Brother and hence to create interest one must focus on a particular aspect and well exaggerate. Hence the worthy writers of the tall and slender lean and lo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/blog-37890.html Part II of my various vague ramblings on travelling with a camera. Some links to good photographers near the bottom of the page so if you just like looking at pretty pictures try out this section. A section on underwater photography with digicams is included at the end.I would add the major caveat that I am selftaught and no expert and so the opinions offered here are entirely my own and may we http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-17382.html A small but regularly increasing number of people have asked questions about what camera I am using for the photos on travelblog. To save myself time in trying to answer everyone individually I decided to add this blog. Hopefully people who are considering travelling might find it of some use. Due to what looks like a size limit on travelblog I've added this as two separate blogs. The first concen http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-17379.html This nondirect as I don't have the original to hand quote from Stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende has always stuck in my mind for two reasons first it is a fascinating example of the power of selfdelusion secondly it brought home that Southern Patagonia must be a bit of a grim place.And of course it is. Grim but stunningly beautiful. And lets face it I used to live in Crookes in S http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/blog-33667.html Some things can never be forgiven. Never. When it comes to the issue of the many deaths that occured during the Malvenas conflagration whilst I have no historical knowledge to draw on I am quite prepared to persuade myself that the wonderfully moral and righteous British Democracy is at least as culpable as the murderous dictatorship that ruled Argentina at the time. Johnny Foreigner invading our http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Chubut/blog-33629.html Arriving in the small village of Copacabana nestled on the shores of Lake Titicaca in landlocked and underdeveloped Bolivia Kim and I both experienced a strong sense of culture shock. Too many tourists. Too many backpackers. Too many travellers uniformly dressed sporting local alpaca headgear and huge rucksacks wandering around looking unsure and lost. Che Guevara whom quite a few of these http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/blog-28047.html After the Irish New Zealanders must be the friendliest people in the world. I was going to add the caveat 'English Speaking' but to be honest they are probably near the top of all nationalities in the being open chilled and pleasant to newcomers stakes. With that in mind we found the strange South Island policy of denying access to those desperately in need of toilets all across the South Island http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-25186.html As long as the good people of Japan keep up pressure on their leaders to buy woodchip from sustainable plantation forest rather than the beautiful and ecologically unique oldgrowth forests unlike Europe Tasmania may be saved from itself. Finally export revenues from exploitative forestry are under threat and are starting to be replaced by tourism. Apple museums and jam factories are springing u http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/blog-21696.html