The usual morning ritual of washing, packing, taking breakfast and going to buy lunch was brought forwards by 30 minutes as today we were to catch several boats to the first of our islands. Our rambling snake left the overnight accommodation and made its way down across the road to the bus stop and on to the Star Ferry terminal. Crossing the harbour, we darted right and soon found ourselves at the ferry to Lamma. The Star Ferry has been running across the harbour since the 1950’s and takes just 7 minutes from Tsim Sha Tsui on the Kowloon side to [View Full Entry]

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08h30 and Michael Lington’s soft saxophone is waking me up. I head for the bathroom and am ready and packed by 08h50. Having learnt from the previous day that one shouldn’t go into breakfast at 09h00 because that’s the time everyone else goes, I made a mental note not to go at 08h50 either; there were even more people there as a plane load of Aussie’s had checked in the previous evening. Foregoing the bacon, I settled down to watermelon followed by noodles, garlic green beans and chilli (with chopsticks) and, on finishing my coffee, made my way into the morning [View Full Entry]

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My roommate had gone for breakfast by the time my alarm went off. So after having had a relaxed wash, I made my way down to breakfast at exactly 09h00. As I wandered into the restaurant, I was greeted by a sea of pale faces and a babble of Estuary English. I vowed there and then never to go and stay in a hotel frequented by Brits again! Nothing was right - there were no fried eggs, the tea tasted funny (as did the milk) and who on earth would want noodles and rice for breakfast! As I sat there eating [View Full Entry]

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"Get up - it's quarter to nine!" My room mate's voices edged its may into my dull mind, stimulating the food part of my brain warning me that, unless I got up quickly, I'd miss breakfast! I'd slept well and leapt out of bed, rushed into the bathroom, washed, dressed, packed my camera, locked away the PC, grabbed a bottle of water and was still downstairs, nine floors below, by 09h00! Breakfast, as usual when in the Far East, was fresh watermelon and fresh pineapple, followed by coffee, bacon, rice and chilli. Feeling refreshed, I headed into the Sip Sip Bar [View Full Entry]

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It's half four. Usually that means that it's cold and dark and I'm getting up early to go on another jaunt to some far off place and experience something different. Well; two out of three's not bad - it's cold and (nearly) dark but it's actually half four in the afternoon and I'm in Bedfont (near Heathrow) having completed a day's work in the office. It all started the day before. After a very hectic weekend trying to tie up lose ends before taking a break, I finished my meal, brought the car round from the garage and packed my trusty [View Full Entry]

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The height of an English summer and intermittent rain fails to stop the villagers enjoying themselves. Neither could the event at Cholmondeley Castle (pronounced Chumly!) which was also held today. The main difference was that the Cholmondeley event cost £30 per person whilst the village event cost, taking into consideration staff and security fees, litter fees, fairground organ and bouncy castle fees, approximately, rounded up to the nearest pound, roughly nothing. Granted, there would probably have been more vehicles had the Cholmondeley event not coincided, but, so what, it was a great e [View Full Entry]

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Four days in which to enjoy Sweden's Midsommarfest! [View Full Entry]

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The final day of the holiday arrived all too soon - well, it was 06h15! After a breakfast of cornflakes, yoghurt and toast, we decided that this was Zambian cuisine at its best and went to check out. By 08h00, we’d unhooked the trailer and were heading towards the Victoria Falls. Before we’d even got close, the spray was incredible; it’s no surprise that David Livingstone was drawn to these very waters. Even at this hour, the temperature was soaring and so we stopped well before the falls to look at the view towards them. The Zambezi looked so calm as [View Full Entry]

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Early to bed, early to rise. It was 05h15 when the phone rang; it was the front desk reminding me to get up. Why so early? It wasn’t going to take me 45 minutes to have a wash, get dressed and meet in Reception for the 06h00 safari. Oh well, as I had to answer the phone anyway, I got up. It was still dark as I made my way through the cold building to Reception. Both Jill and Brian were there, but there was no sign of Alfred, our guide. As 06h00 approached, so did Alfred. He guided us to [View Full Entry]

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I slept like a log and, like a log, I was covered in insects. I awoke at 06h15 and could see lots of the tiny critters all over my sheets and pillow. Worse still, my shoulders were covered in mosquito bites and I had bites in places I didn’t realise I had. Of course, like any gentleman, I’d used precautions, but no-one had bothered to tell the mosquitoes that they were supposed to stay outside the net! I was not a happy bunny and quickly got up and stood under a hot shower in a vain effort to rid my rather [View Full Entry]

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