Hello from Denmark. We arrived safely via Helsinki. Like our first day in Beijing, the weather in Copenhagen was absolutely freezing. We had to break out the beanies and gloves. The cost of things here is very high. We have decided to not to think about it too much. A beer costs about $20. On Sunday we did a bus trip around Copenhagen. We decided to do this because we would have frozen if we had walked around. We saw the litle mermaid which is a famous sight in Copenhagen. We also saw the changing of the guard which is a smaller version of what happens at Buckingham Palace. Interestingly, the guards have live ammunition in their rifles and are elite troops from Afghanistan. No one messes with them! Things have gone well at the conference. ... read more

Sorry, but the blogsite decided to post the last entry before we finished it, hence the abrupt ending! We did go to Tianamen Square, but found that we had missed the viewing of Mao by 5 minutes! Not to worry, he was probably having a freshen up. Ater being dead for 30 years. it's understandable. Now I have collected 2 of the 3 and will never complete the set as Lenin has defrosted and now is buried. (We saw Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Minh) in 2005). We did also try to see the China Museum, but it was closed and only the toilets were open. That's probably more important considering the situation! We also saw the Forbidden City where the Emperors lived from 1420! Not bad condition seeming it was thrown open in 1949 by Mao. ... read more

Saswasdee from Bangkok from pj & Sandy We're staying on the 36th floor of the Baiyoke Sky Hotel. At night the view is magnificent; hotel lights twinkle like stars. The view is not so great during the day...we can see the roofs of the rabbit warren of buildings that make up Pratanum market.! It was a bit busy down there yesterday. There is a big sale on around this area. Imagine the boxing day sales throughout dozens of shops the size of an average bathroom. The concept is that you keep inching forward through two metre wide alleys thronging with people, cars, motorbikes, food carts, dogs, kids playing. Oh and by the way you look at shops and buy things! This afternoon I counted six lanes of people trying to get through. Luckily Peter is tall; ... read more

Hi Tomorrow we start off on our latest (planned in 2008 when the global economy was fine) sojourn overseas. Our flight to Bangkok leaves from Sydney (we start in Brisvegas!) and we sincerely hope that there aren’t any angry bikies lurking around the Sydney domestic terminal! After a couple of days in Bangkok eating some excellent food and just checking out (??) the shops, we depart for Beijing to see our friends Chris and Ping. We’ve mainly visited Hong Kong in the past and of course spent lots of time hanging around the airport lounge. This time we’re going right to the heart of China. We’re very excited! This week has been enormous for us. Sandy had an extremely important exam as part of her PhD. It involved submitting a 50 page document about her thesis ... read more

HI leaving soon for the flight back to London. We have had a great time in Central (not eastern, they don't like that) Europe and have met some great people and shared many beers, slivovitzs (sp?) and wines with them. Chris has been a great host and driven us everywhere. Yesterday's effort was like a Bris to Rocky trip ( Kezmarok to Pargue)! He had already done the Bratislavia to Kezmarok trip and a couple of day trips. But you should see the number of trucks on the roads here!!! His little Renault goes like the clappers and fitted the four of us & our baggage well. We have done two castles in depth, seen scores on hilltops as we drive around, visited lots of churches, been to a concert in a cathederal in Bratislavia, had ... read more

Hi everyone We've decided to stop talking about the weather (aka rain) because it never changes!! Canterbury was a very interesting and picturesque town. We stayed at a hotel called Fusion in the Paris room. It's an old coaching inn that had been modernised with taste. You know those places with small crooked staircases, uneven walls and black wooden beams that tall people are guaranteed to hit there head on! We had a French themed room and the bathroom was superb. We seem to be having a run of great luck with bathrooms! This was more attractive than the last one....it had a claw foot bath just like you see in old French movies! The town was full of narrow cobblestone streets, funny little crooked pubs and interesting shops. A most pleasant way to spend an ... read more

Hi everyone We are currently in Kent having left London this morning none the wiser about the bomb threat. The biggest problem here is which pub to go to! The bomb threat was around the Haymarket area where we had been the afternoon before the bomb threat. No hint of of anything to come, just the usual London hustle, bustle and rain. Just shows you how things can change!! The train trip was great, fast smooth and scenic. Now we have both been to Kent, ther birthplace of Sandy's Dad. The ntown is great, full of french school kids on excursion and the town is very historic. Looking forward to seeing Gavin & Helen tomorrow for more explorations. England is still enduring the wettest weather you can imagine! Floods, tornadoes in fact everything you don't associate ... read more

Hi everyone We arrived safe and sound from Edinburgh on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately our Irish friend David arrived in Edinburgh with a very sore toe, due to a bout of gout! Now that meant that Barbara and I had all the energy and Sandy and David were the slow ones. The three days we spent with them were pedestrian, compared with the hectic pace I usually maintain. My plans for scaling Arthur's Seat, walking to Leith etc were put on hold. We spent a lot of time in cabs! Anyway we managed to continue our eating journey around Asia with a trip to Thailand and a return visit to Pakistan. I managed a great coup, being invited to join a tasting panel for SMWS at the vaults. In company with a former blender, a whisky researcher ... read more

Hi everyone and greetings from the Crieff library! Peter has gone off to Glenturrett Distillery and I am having a lovely time here in Crieff. Crieff is a very small town about 1 1/2 hours from Edinburgh. Very picturesque. The Fast Food revolution has passed by Crieff. There is not one takeaway shop in town! I noticed a Bangledeshi restaurant up the high street. Lunching there will complete my eating tour of the subcontinent. OK, so there's not much of Crieff and not much to do here. However the library is warm, has very comfortable chairs, good books and the internet has come back up. I almost fell asleep before but I wasn's sure if sleeping was allowed in British libraries? I'm about to be kicked out because they close for lunch. Hi Peter here. I ... read more