My next trip finds me to the land of the rising sun, when it wasn't snowing that is! It is very easy to find information on how to travel in Japan so I will just restrict this blog to the highlights. Tokyo Tokyo was everything I hoped it would be, a futuristic, clean, polite and yet the promise of wild nightlife was a pleasant supplement to the order of the place. Over the next 2 days visited I visited various sites outlined in the pics including the Tokyo Metropolitan building which afforded great views and was free! This is Tokyo's City Hall, and with its 243m, it is the 7th tallest building in Japan. Built to resemble a computer chip and also a Gothic cathedral, it makes for one of the best observation decks in Tokyo. ... read more

Yet again I had another early start, this time it was 04:50 to get ready before being picked up for the cage diving in Gansbaii with the great white sharks. I had booked the diving with Hermanus Backpackers who were extremely helpful in organising the whole thing for me. The backpackers deal with Great White Shark Diving company ( http://www.greatwhitesharkdiving.co.za/). The guy leading it was brilliant, he was very knowledgeable and extremely patient, far more than I’d ever be, throughout the day he had to listen to moronic questions from several members of the group in addition to being asked the same question 2,3 and 4 times during the day. The added bonus with this company was that they were the cheapest – nice! Most of the packages involve them picking you up from your hostel ... read more

I was going to spend the whole of the next day and night and the following day on the road and so I wanted an early night but due to the heat and the mozzies I got around an hour’s kip!. The next day I caught the Pathfinder bus to Bulawayo at 07:00 which arrived at 13:00. The journey commenced with a prayer and then a song about God!! It seems religion is a big thing over here and they are intent on ramming it down the throats of everyone else!! I couldn’t complain too much though as Chris Brown followed at full blast. I then had a wander round Bulawayo for a couple of hours and I never saw another whitey and everybody was staring at me, it was interesting! After lunch I headed off ... read more

Back on the road again and back to Africa again, this time further south than previously. Another whistle-stop tour encompassing some of the highlights (to me at least) of South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The main aim of this trip was to tick 3 things off my bucket list, swimming with Manta Rays (and hopefully whale sharks), going on safari to the Okavango Delta in Botswana and to go Cage Diving with Great White Sharks, the rest of the trip is a bit of an adventure getting between these places. I could have taken the easy route and caught flights, but the cost would have been extortionate ( there are very few bargain air routes in southern Africa) and it would be too easy, the other option would be to go on Overland Tour, but ... read more

I was off to the famous Singapore zoo today but I totally messed up with my travel arrangements to get there, I made a cursory glance at my itinerary and remember it said to get to Woodlands MRT station from where you get a bus. However when I got there after 50 mins to the tube I couldn’t find any bus to be seen, after walking round looking like a complete numpty for 10 mins a lovely old lady took pity on me and asked if she could help. After a little laugh when I told her my destination she explained that you only got off at Woodlands on Sundays the rest of the week it was Ang Mo Kio station – Doh! So I then had to buy another ticket to take me there and ... read more