Riddles

The island of Penang was long known as "Pearl of the Orient". Founded in 1786 by Francis Light (father of William, who founded Adelaide), it was a trading post for the British East India Company and was one of the three Straits Settlements, along with Malacca and Singapore. We had spent three happy years working and living there in the 1970's. At that time the island and its capital, Georgetown, was showing its age and looking a little run down - the pearl was losing its lustre. On this short five day visit we saw a different Penang. This island, along with the rest of Malaysia, is booming, but progress comes at a price. It has certainly lost its quiet provincial feel with towering condominiums and smart hotels lining many of the foreshores where formerly Malay ... read more

Although only small in size (220km x 430km) Sri Lanka has plenty to offer. For the past 12 days we have been part of a group of 11 on an adventure tour which took in many of the highlights of this beautiful island. Our group of Aussies, English and an American, were all like-minded travellers and our guide Kingsley, had an amazing love and knowledge of his country which he communicated with great skill. Our driver Athula, was very adept at navigating our minibus along roads often choked with adrenalin-charged drivers of vehicles of all shapes and sizes. The tour took us from the ancient and long-abandoned cities in the north, through the central mountains and highlands and along the beautiful southern and south-western coastline. Elephants feature prominently in Sri Lankan history and mythology. We were ... read more

We continue to be intrigued by the regional differences in France. The western Pyrenees shares the spectacular mountain scenery of the eastern end but there are many distinct and intriguing cultural differences. This is the Basque area of France. As with the Catalan, in the east, there are many shared traditions with the Spanish side of the border. The Basque language is quite unique and sounds very different to either Spanish or French. It is undergoing a revival of interest and there are Basque TV stations and newspapers. As always when visiting France one of the main areas of interest is food and this is certainly the case here. Being close to the coast seafood is on every menu and it's not just paella. We have spent the past two weeks in Pau, a beautiful city ... read more

After our three hectic days in the sometimes chaotic, but always interesting, Palermo, a short one hour train trip along the north coast found us in Cefalu where we spent the night. This pretty and historic seaside resort is a favourite holiday venue for the locals. The narrow beach was 'pay only' entry (10 euro) for your umbrella and sunbed for the day. Everyone and everything was being prepared for the summer to come. The following day a two hour train trip took us to Millazzo from where we caught a hydrofoil to Lipari town, capital of the Aeolian Islands. It was here we spent the next five days. Lipari is the largest and main island of this group of seven volcanic islands. We had really been looking forward to a relaxing time here and weren't ... read more

We really didn't know what to expect in Malta, but after almost a week here we are really enjoying ourselves. After a direct flight from Sydney we were expecting an easy afternoon and early night when we flew in last Sunday. Our hotel was situated on a square opposite the gate to M'dina, a perfectly preserved medieval walled town described in Lonely Planet as "one of the jewels of Malta". We couldn't have picked a better time to be there as the town was celebrating the annual medieval festival weekend. We were straight into it. There were plenty of tourists joining in with the locals who were dressed authentically - knights in full suits of armour, beautiful maidens, courtiers, jesters, troupes of instrumentalists and dancers. It was a real treat to wander through the squares and ... read more