Dehli was the first stop on the way to the Taj, which is the whole purpose of this leg of the sojourn. I was half expecting to be overwhelmed by Delhi, but it somehow failed to happen. Sure there's about fifty people packed into an area of a postage stamp at times and everyone wants a part of you but it's not that much of a struggle. It's also a place of contrasts with Old Delhi being packed to the rafters plus some and New Delhi having more space than it knows what to do with. Add to that the casualness [View Full Entry]

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The journey to get here has been a bit of a tour though, due to unexpectedly spending an extra night in Kuwait. Spending the extra night menat trying to juggle two flights to still make it here in time to fly to India. Fortunately the lady at Gulf Air was very understanding and threw up a few options. After being waitlisted for the connection from Bahrain to Muscat there was a glimmer of hope. Then someone blew out the candle and I ended up having to spend the night at Bahrain airport waiting for an early morning flight. All was not [View Full Entry]

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You know you're going somewhere different when you overhear people waiting to get on the plane saying "the last time I flew into here was on a troop transport with 300 other guys". After a late night arrival into Kuwait and a confused taxi driver I managed to make it to the hotel in one piece. The first thing that you notice is that everyone behind the wheel here is insane. There must be some brain implant they give you when you get your licence, because everyone seems to think that they own not only the road but the footpath as [View Full Entry]

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It's been a bit of a detour filled journey on the road to Damascus but I'm finally here. The trip to Hama from Beirut looked so easy when I read about it in the guidebook, go to bus station get on bus after a border crossing and a few too many hours in a bus arrive at Hama for a couple of days. Well that was the plan anyway, the initial part of the plan worked like a dream. I found the honest Beirut cabbie who took me to the bus station, dropped me at the right part of it and [View Full Entry]

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After 12 hours in transit involving two buses, three taxis, three different currencies and two border crossings I've managed to arrive in Beirut and what's not to love about the place, except maybe the tanks and machine guns as you drive into town but apart from that it's all good. But getting here was half the fun as always. It all started at 0615Hrs in Amman, Jordan when I caught the taxi who's driver's kids I'm now putting through school. It's Friday which is like their sabbath over here so that was the excuse he used to charge me double. But [View Full Entry]

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What's not to love about Petra, with all the buildings carved out of the rock face. Well there are a few things not to love about Petra, like the town nearby Wadi Musa, for some unknown reason any great monument around the world has an incredibly dodgey town nearby that exists purely as the bunion on the toe of a marvel of the world. Then there's trying to get out of Wadi Musa, there's buses, taxis and service taxis combined with a few too many people trying to extract the hard earned from you as you flee the town for places [View Full Entry]

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The flight over to Jordan was a pleasant way to while away the hour or so, although it's the only flight I've been on that's had a bouncer at the door as you got on the plane. I'm guessing that they take security a little serious in this part of the world as this miniature man mountain got on the plane and sat down beside me at the last moment, after the seatbelt light was switched off he vanished down the back of the plane only to return when he strolled up the aisle sussing everyone out. Come time to land [View Full Entry]

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After a very enjoyable flight halfway around the world again I'm back in Turkey for another bit of fun in Istanbul. Malaysian Airlines made the flight very easy to take with the service laid on from the time we got on to the time that we arrived in Turkey. The added bonus was the flight to KL wasn't full so those of us in the cheap seats still had room to spread out in what I like to term as povo business class. It's been a bit like I haven't really left Istanbul since the last time, everything is a little [View Full Entry]

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Montreal has a lot of things going for it, the scenery, the old town and a lot of French speaking people. Which is a little strange at first as you're in Canada not France. But it is a nice touch to walk into a shop and be greeted with bonjour hello, as they have an each way bet as to how you're going to answer them back, and there are some shops you just want to keep walking in and out of to hear the accent over and over again. One of the beautiful things about Quebec City though is that [View Full Entry]

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After deciding to leave Sir Paul who would have thought that after getting to Montreal airport that my flight to New York would be canceled. Was this a sign that I should have stayed in Quebec City? Fortunately the airline was "kind" enough to book me on an early flight the next day. Given my limited time frame I explained that that may not be the best option and is it possible to find another flight. Luckily Air Canada had a seat with my name on it so NYC here I come. Before this quick jaunt to the large pomaceous city [View Full Entry]

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