NZ4ME
Kevin & Caroline Joined: June 6th 2007
Logged in: February 1st 2012
Logged in: February 1st 2012
Travel Blog Posts
Overloaded Single Cylinder
The question of the day from Malcolm is: In one word, describe India. Kevin - dirty Malcolm- filthy Dick - chaotic But, it is more than all of these and is; Incredible; Historic; Polluted; Burgeoning; Noisy; Smelly; Friendly; Overcrowded; Colorful; Dusty, Surly and much more....... I'm glad that I have made the trip. It has been an assault on the senses and we've had laughs, frustrations and wonder. Monday, November 8 On the road again, today we are heading to Agra and its a six hour road trip. Myself and Dick get lots of photo's of trucks and overcrowded jeeps. However, there is a bonus, we see herds of camels being driven up the road and presume that they are going to the Pushkar camel fair. About 40km from Agra is the ghost town of Fatehpur ... read more
Urchins
Thursday, 28 October We leave Jaisalmer this morning and head out through the dusty desert towards Jodhpur a city of approximately 500,000 inhabitants. The desert I see from the road is a lot different to the desert in Morocco; the Indian desert has a lot more scrub than sand. Our itinerary includes a Jain Temple, but this is fairly average and should be missed. Back in the car, I plug in my Ipod and listen to some Good Ole Rock n' Roll rather than the Bollywood selections that Harri sings along with.. On the outskirts of Jodhpur it's a scheduled stop at gardens that house a funerary temple, lots of monkeys and some pretty garish wall sculptures. Fortunately for us a school group is on its way to have a class photo taken, so we take ... read more
Sikhs
I've just had a two week sojourn in the Yorkshire visiting my mother, sister Ann and her family. There's no blog and I didn't do too much except spend time with my Mom. However, I did manage to get down to the Blues Bar in Harrogate on Saturday nights. I n addition, I enjoyed dinner and beer in York with two other independent Russellite Travelers (Heather Hebblethwaite and John Garret).. I'm now starting to head towards home, but first it's Bangkok and India. The ticket to Bangkok starts in London. My friend Ian Binks kindly offers me a bed for a two nights to allow me to catch up with old friends, Dennis and Sue, Marian Reese and Ian and Annette Wheeler. On Saturday, 16 October the flight leaves LHR and arrives in Bangkok on Sunday, ... read more
Azy-le-Rideau
My time in France is coming to an end, in fact, I only have eight days left. I have hired a car for three days to tour through the Loire Valley. However, Caroline has given me instructions that I mustn't see all of the chateaus, but must leave some for a future trip. I comply and decide to leave the jewel in the crown, Chambord. As far as navigating through the Loire Valley, I have my not-so-trusty TomTom which turns out to be absolutely useless (I will replace the battery when I get to the UK). Wednesday, 22 September, 2010 Francoise drops me off at AVIS outside of Gare St Jean in Bordeax and I then head towards La Rochelle on the peage (toll-motorway). It's about 6.00pm when I arrive in La Rochelle, however I am ... read more
Bordeaux at Night
The last time I saw Francoise and Raymond was in Fiji approximately two years ago. Kathy, Sue and Stephen had spent time with them before arriving in Carcassonne for the birthday bash and had told me about the fabulous time that they had. Now, it is my turn..... Tuesday, 14 September, 2010 I'm on the bus from Tarragona; it arrives at Gare St Jean in Bordeax approximately two hours late. Luckily for me I managed a sleep along the way, however I am ready for a refreshing shower. Raymond greets me and takes me to his house, I shower, and we have lunch. Francoise is a nurse and a carpenter, and herself and Raymond have been working on renovating a house on the property, this is where I stay. The main house is against the cliff ... read more
Map of Morocco
My first experience in Morocco is when I get ripped off by the taxi driver on my fare from the airport to the hotel. It should be about 100 dirhams which equates to around 10 euro, I'm charged 200 D dirhams. I find that you cannot accept the first price offered by a taxi and must immediately ½ any suggested fare. Later, I find that Marrakech is one big extended hand always asking for dirhams from a tourist. This is very much in practice in the square, if you ever want to take a photograph of a person, you had better have a pocketful of change. Marrakech is no longer a very cheap city!!! Thursday, 2 September, 2010 I arrive at the Imperial Palace Hotel, take a shower, have a beer and then go outside to ... read more
Buddy, Jane & Mike
The week to ten days that I spend with two old friends, Jane and Mike, who I have known from my early 20's, is all about laughter, memories, food and beer. We have 35 years to catch up on and manage it very well. Friday, 27 August, 2010 Kathy has gone South, Stephen and Sue have flown to London and I take the train from Barcelona to Tarragona about 70 minutes south. The train is full, however I'm one of the lucky ones that manage to get a seat. It hugs the coast and I see lots of high rise apartments; the journey takes just over an hour and when I emerge from the carriage, Jane and Mike are waiting for me. Hugs and kisses over, we retire to a bar for a well deserved beer. ... read more
Barcelona Architecture
Tuesday, 24 August, 2010 - Barcelona There's now only the four Russell-ites left, Stephen, Sue, Kathy and myself. Although we are up reasonably early we take our time, have breakfast and walk to the train station. It's a 30-40 minute train ride into Placa Catalunya in the city. Our plan is to get a two day pass on the tourist bus which we achieve immediately on leaving the Metro Station. It's about 30C and the sun is shining fiercely; we climb the stairs to the top deck and plug in our earphones.. These buses are great and I have taken them in many cities in the world and at 22 Euro I think that this is a bargain. In fact, there are three routes you can take and by the end of the two days we ... read more
Rafting Up
The Locaboat experience is to be shared by, Kevin, Caroline, Stephen, Sue, Kathy (All Russell-ites) and Brenda, Russell and Gary (friends of Stephen and Sue's from Auckland). The representative of the company explains the ins and outs of the boat and is rather sheepish as he tells us that the boat has a holding tank, but there are no pump-out stations on the canal. All of the effluent goes into the River Baise and the Canal Garronne. Yes, the turd police are lacking and what has worked for centuries continues into the 21st century. There are several companies that are running very lucrative boat businesses on the river and the Garronne canal, and we Kiwi's are very surprised that there is not a single pump out station or even a pump-out truck. What is also surprising ... read more
Wendy, Caroline and Carcassonne
I've just been running around all week, friends and family have been arriving at various hotels around the area to celebrate my birthday, so I decided to make this a small blog about my week in the Aude. Dates are not used to protect the innocent. Caroline and I arrived in Toulouse on August 4 and immediately get in line for our rental car. It turns out to be a VW Polo (Diesel). I have been forward thinking, and purchased a second hand TomTom in the UK, so I plug that puppy in, and lo and behold it doesn’t work. It's back to the map, which is not good for my relationship with Caroline.. After much bickering and a little bit of cursing on my behalf, we finally reach Mailhac. Our hosts have made a wonderful ... read more
