http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/WazzaSof/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from WazzaSof en-us Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:07:58 +0000 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:07:58 +0000 We spent five days walking near Corrour Station a station that was made famous by the film Trainspotting. It is Britain's highest train station and the area between the station and Ben Alder is one of the most remote in Britain. in Trainspotting Tommy explains to Rents Sickboy Begby and the ginger one what a great country Scotland is but they wholeheartedly disagree. Maybe they knew something http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/The-Highlands/blog-440818.html Cian is now a year and a bit old so to celebrate here are some pictures from his earliest 5 weeks The days before teeth toddling and tantrums. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-332766.html In August I went over to Ireland for Sean and Breda's wedding flying to Dublin overnighting in Monaghan and then Enniskillen. I also had 4 nights in Dublin and took the opportunity to wander the streets of the city where I spent almost ten years of my life. It was nice to visit some of my old stomping grounds and see the changes that the Celtic Tiger economy had wrought. I don't know if the sum http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/Dublin/blog-329350.html In June before we left Vietnam for ever we tried to visit some of the places we'd enjoyed in our time but also some of the places we'd never managed to go. Of course we also tried to meet up with the friends too. Saigon is a great city full of energy and noise and hubbub. It may not be the most beautiful city in Asia or even in Vietnam but there is more life in a single back street there tha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-329300.html The scene I am writing this on a dreary night shift in Edinburgh. Oh joy It's only the end of September but my memory is a bit fuzzy. Outside it is cold and dark and dawn is far away. With the invaluable assistance of Huma I was able to retrieve over a thousand photos taken in the Philippines Vietnam and Ireland. They were on a camera which took a swim off El Nido. Nice memories...Choices A tr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Palawan/blog-328776.html PanicTet or Chinese New Year to those outside Vietnam approaches. Panic The dates on the Lunar calendar lurch this way like some distant but notorious relative that Mother has warned you not to get to close to we decided to get ourselves away the hell out of Saigon. Sofie and myself will fly to Bangkok and meet Kelly there for a couple of days of shopping eating and wandering.First I have http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Ko-Chang/blog-246617.html Tribal Tour Note There are two pages of photographs so check out page two or even better use the slideshow toolFrom Puri we embarked on a six day Tribal Tour booked through the excellent Adventure Odyssey thanks to Chinya Deepak and Jaisan and had a fantastic insight into the adivasi cultures of West and South Orissa where over seventy indigenous peoples are recognised each with differe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Orissa/blog-226817.html After leaving Bhuj we made our way to the Southern Gujurati Saurasthra region in part to climb the 10000 steps of the Jain pilgrimage route at Girnar Hill near Junugadh. We hoped that our Nepali trekking experience would carry us through but that trial was fading from muscle memory. Apart from Junugadh we also paid a visit to the last place in the world where the Asian lion is still untamed a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Gujarat/blog-226754.html After our 6 day camel trek brought us to Jodhpur. It was nice to be back in civilisation. Jodhpur with it's fantastic Fort. The socalled 'Blue City'. I really enjoyed it here although we stayed in four different rooms on our four separate nights there dogs loud prayers it is a great city and certainly puts Jaipur to the sword in terms of general friendliness and ambiance. We did some shoppin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/blog-226537.html We spent the descent sliding on our backsides in the thick snowAfter the dizzy heights of Thorung La we expected the rest of the Circuit to be less impressive. How wrong we were The scenery changed from icy frozen tundra valleys and peaks to dusty rocky wasteland. If anything it was even more impressive passing through the old kingdom of Mustang with it's squat stone houses and villages the K http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Annapurna/blog-226461.html National Teachers' Day VietnamItrsquos a sign of a good school if they look after you well on Teachersrsquo Day. Today my school proved this by having a half day and treating us to a staff lunchOn my way to school I saw almost every child and every family on their motorbikes with baskets of flowers and bags full of gifts. Vietnamese culture prescribes a high level of respect towards teachers http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-221145.html HelloWell despite numerous warnings about the place formerly best known as prison camp hellhole I arrived in Con Dao. The 50 minute flight whisked me over the Mekong Delta and into the heart of the South China Sea for a glorious week. I stayed in a comfortable but good value villa with great sea views at the Con Dao Resort just west of the main town. This meant that I was able to enjoy the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Con-Dao/blog-215563.html It's been one whole year since Sofie and I had our marriage ceremony in Hoi An and we decided to get out of Dodge and head into the wild Mekong Delta as far as the bustling Cambodian town of Chau Doc. Chau Doc was a real breath of fresh air in more ways than one. For one the people are friendly happy. They're border people like just like me Warren. It's a long way from here to Monaghan bu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Mekong-River-Delta/Chau-Doc/blog-205132.html Ahhhh Scotlun' When will we see your likes agin Well on 14th July as it goes and as we touched down on the tar MacAdam of Turnhouse just to the West of Edinburgh thoughts were not on Bastille Day celebrations in France nor were they on my own birthday. Instead I was thinking about the beautiful flight down the Firth of Forth past the volcanic beaches of Gullane and the sleepy villages of Fi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-194360.html Sport and the Scoundrel Saint Patrick's Day 2007. Memories A sickening last minute heartbreaking try by France against Scotland in Paris to deny the Irish a first rugby Grand Slam in over fifty years. On the same day the Irish cricket team was sending Pakistan out of the Cricket World Cup in the West Indies. At the same time my old alma mater Saint Macartan's Monaghan was gearing up for a M http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-140270.html I think I'll just to stick to the pictures of our short 10 day trip to Cambodia this time which for Sof and I took in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap Angkor Wat. When Sofie headed off to Bangkok to do her massage course I went deeper into the Heart of Darkness by taking the slow boat to Battambang but the photo evidence on this trip is limited. I came back to PP and then HCMC and the whole journey s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-131604.html After all the romantic views of the Angkor temples I decided to have time on my own in Bangkok and do the things a girl loves most shopping and massage Last year I was at the Wat Po Thai massage school for the General massage course which works on the whole body. This time I went back specifically to learn the Foot massage technique. This course is also 5 days at the famous Wat Pho massage sch http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-131608.html Just back from a lovely weekend in the beach resort of Nha Trang. We just missed the tailend of the Typhoon Durian which cost many lives in the Philipines. Even a couple of days before the storm was due waves were battering the coast. Spectacular waves stopped us having too much water fun. It's hard to gauge but I suppose the waves would have been 3 or 4 metres high. Our friend Chris has http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Nha-Trang/blog-108385.html Guess whorsquos backWe have been meaning to blog Saigon for ages. We are living here now and people are curious about our lives in Vietnam. We have plenty of photos below from the city our schools our flat our friends and various other stuff too. There are also a couple of short videos just to the left of this text if you take the time to download them. They will give you some more insi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-102984.html Hi everybodyWarren at the healm once again. You may remember me from such blogs as 1000 Things To Do with Stuff and Where Did I Leave My Dong After I had parted from the missus we made our way from Hoi An and entered Laos via Hue and across the border at Lao Bao. from there it was to Savanakhet on the Thai border. And just in the nick of time as it had pretty much rained for 48 hours straig http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-93343.html