http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Gadsali/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Gadsali en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:47:00 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:47:00 +0000 In our week long break between retreats we took a ferry over to Morocco North Africa. Arriving in Tanger we had a few hours to spare before our overnight train departed for Marrakech. Our first impressions of Morocco was that was an intense place. In the cities things are nonstop. Market stalls open early and trade late into the night. Everyone wants something from you and will stop at nothin http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Marrakech-Tensift-El-Haouz/Marrakech/blog-412289.html Granada and the Alhambra After another bus ride we arrived in the city of Granada. Walking out of the bus station we were immediately taken aback by the scenery. Granada is the most Europeanlooking city we have seen so far in Spain. It's a maze of cobble stoned alleyways weaving their way up a hill towards the amazing Alhambra that overlooks it. Beyond the city you can see snowcapped mountains http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Granada/blog-403621.html After our adventures on the farm we headed East to Almeria by bus. The change in scenery was quite dramatic with the seamingly endless blockade of beachfront hotels and resorts finally giving way to smaller villages and eventually some coastal cliffs. Almeria and the sorrounding area is mostly famous for being used as the movie set for many Spaghetti Westerns Western movies made very cheaply in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Almer-a/blog-399406.html Well with another busy week of work done and dusted we headed out to a little farm North of Malaga where we were to live and work with a nice Spanish family for two weeks. Or so we thought. Upon arriving in the town of Colmenar we were greeted by our gracious host Adam. Adam although being a very inviting and interesting person could not be less Spanish. In fact our Spanish was probably on pa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/M-laga/blog-399211.html We have just spent the past two and a half weeks traveling around the countryside in Southern Spain Andalucia province. Before we left Malaga we sent the last night enjoying the atmosphere of the Festival de Malaga which was a week long multicultural festival. There was also an international film festival on at the same time. We enjoyed a variety of tapa dishes from around the region and also m http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/M-laga/blog-395368.html We arrived in Malaga Spain about a week and a half ago. We were amused by the passport checking station as they barely even glanced at our passports. A blank page was opened for a split second just enough time to stamp. Those with Spanish passports simply held them up and they were ushered through without even looking at the photo We immediately fell in love with Spain it was nice to be in a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/M-laga/blog-391779.html Having decided that we had enough of Olde London Towne Ali and I hired a car and took off down to the country but not before a quick trip to Greenwich to stand on the prime meridian and sychronise my watch.We headed down about 2 hours South West of the city to a lovely little town named Wimborne Minster which is situated about 25 mins north of Bournemouth and Poole two towns on the English sou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Dorset/Bournemouth/blog-387251.html London. Cold. So very cold.After a fairly cold welcome to the UK we managed to navigate our way to the tube take two trains on two rail systems and a cab and made it to Lisa's studio apartment where we are staying and were very warmly welcomed and happy for it. Our first priority in London was warmth. I was lucky and picked up a winter jacket on the first day here but for Ali it has been somew http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-385713.html Dubai is one of the most interesting and different places we have seen. It basically looks like a brand new city of skyscrapers that has landed in the dessert amongst some very traditional buildings. Stu would describe it as a place of extremes. It has an extremely old and traditional culture infused in an ultra modern setting. We experienced some of the cheapest and best food we've had in the wor http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-384611.html We're about to say goodbye to Phuket and head to Bangkok. It's been awesome here and despite the weather forecast being thunder storms for our entire holiday according to the Thai Meteorological Department before we left we had great weather sunshine for most of the time.Highlights of the trip would include our Thai cooking class held at our hotel. As you can see from the photos we were very http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Phuket/blog-382081.html Sawatdee kah Well it's our first day in Phuket and so far we have been to the beach swam in the hotel pool twice had a thai massage and we're just waiting for happy hour to start at the pool bar so we can indulge in some cocktails.Tomorrow we are doing a Thai cooking class which includes going to the local markets and selecting the produce for our recipes and according to the brochure a c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-381005.html