So here we are now in Hungary, a rare new location for me. And what a change after a couple of weeks in Russia. Not that the latter was not interesting and enjoyable, but for all the recent changes, it is still not a carefree and happy place. Not too many smiles, no great willingness to help, with attitudes sometimes as cold as the weather. Whereas in Budapest, you feel as though the veil has been lifted. Almost summer weather again, a vibrance about the place, and greetings, smiles and offers to help from everyone. But first things first. To get [View Full Entry]

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So we have finally arrived in St Petersburg (the old Leningrad, but you guys all knew that already), home of the Hermitage and Winter Palace, and the initial driver for our booking this cruise all those many months ago. And it didn’t disappoint. The locals tell us that St P only gets 60 days of sunshine per year, so given we have just snaffled 5 of them in succession, we almost feel blessed. Mind you that doesn’t mean we have been sunbathing, or swimming in the River Neva, and I guess the closest I can compare it with is a crisp [View Full Entry]

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Actually, it is not only without a paddle, but I’ve got to say very comfortable thank you! We have travelled almost 2,000km over the last 5 days, in which time we have straddled 5 different rivers (incl the Volga, the longest river in Russia), 3 large lakes (incl Ladoga and Onega, the two largest lakes in Europe) and a reservoir, and dropped a total of 120 metres via a series of 14 different locks. While travelling on inland rivers is clearly different from travelling on the ocean, or even around the coast, it has still been remarkably smooth sailing throughout. And [View Full Entry]

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So here we go again! For those who don’t know (and assuming you really care), we have just taken off for a 4 week visit to Russia and Eastern Europe, and internet facilities permitting (which at the moment look decidedly uncertain), we plan to record details of our travels. The first stage of the trip, and the only part that is organised in advance, is a cruise from Moscow to St Petersburg. This comprises around 3 days in Moscow, 5 days cruising the Volga, Svir and Neva Rivers, then 3 days in St P. As well as Joan and myself, [View Full Entry]

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I returned from Luang Prabang to Chiang Rai (north of Chiang Mai, and close to the Golden Triangle - Thai, Laos and Burma borders) for my second week of the summer schools. As it turns out, this was a whole lot more difficult than the first week, so I’m glad that at least I had that prior week’s teaching experience behind me. We had a total of 24 children for this session (names being Oil, Tine, Pai, Joom, Net, Ying, Ton, Tom, Peem, Pop, Nok, Pet, Ten, Gig, Nuei, Beer, Pol, Wiw, Q, Golf, Dan, Jip, Pat & Nice), ranging in [View Full Entry]

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So school was out let early on Friday (since I’m the headmaster!) and by mid-afternoon, I was winging it over to Luang Prabang, courtesy of Lao Airways, an hour’s flight from Chiang Mai. Not as scary as it might sound, as the aircraft was quite new, and the reservations clerk did me a big favour by putting me in seat 1A (not first class, I can assure you!), but which let me be first in line of the 30 or so foreigners (‘farang’) seeking ‘visa on arrival’. I hadn’t booked any accommodation up front, but they fixed me up with something [View Full Entry]

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Well, here I am back up in the far north of Thailand, back "on duty" for a couple of weeks for the Dr Sem Foundation, my first visit here since August last year (see blog#1 below). For those who subscribed to our travel blogs late last year, and expected to see something more exciting, please hit the exit button straight away. But I had a number of requests to document my travels and experiences up here in Thailand, so this is for those lucky viewers. Basically, I have been asked to help out at two different summer camps this time round, [View Full Entry]

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One of the great disadvantages of the various TV travel documentaries on channels such as Discovery and National Geographic is that there aren't too many surprise venues left in the world these days. As an example, while we loved our visit to Machu Picchu, it wasn't a total surprise, as I guess we had viewed that location many times previously on telly. But I'm pleased to report a pleasant surprise on our first viewing of the Iguazu Falls. Not only was the scope and magnitude of them greater than we had anticipated, but no TV channel can quite reproduce the thundering [View Full Entry]

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The only reason I have included this as a seperate blog is that it is another country! Before travelling to Buenos Aires, we had a number of people telling us we "must go" over to Colonia in Uruguay for a day trip from BA, because it would take you back "several centuries" in time. Given that it was only a 1 hour cruise on a hydrofoil across the Rio de la Plata, and we were advised that Uruguay customs would be no hassle, we decided to take the advice. Well it certainly seems to be a popular spot, judging from the [View Full Entry]

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Well, after the hustle and bustle of La Paz, we were looking forward to a more laid back time in Buenos Aires. We certainly were happy to be able to hop into a clean taxi, pay on the meter instead of haggling over prices, and have a relatively honk-free trip, and while we enjoyed the change of pace, there were a couple of elements of life here we struggled slightly with. Initially, we toured the main city area, focussing on the triangle of Plaza de Mayo, Plaza de la Republica and Plaza San Martin, since we were staying near the latter [View Full Entry]

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