I'd only ever seen the Hong Kong skyline on the TV and that made it look like a very modern and clean city, so when we drove into Hong Kong I was quite surprised by just how grubby and dilapidated some of the areas were. The building that housed our hostel was no better, although the room itself was spick and span, if not the most spacious. Nathan Road, the main North-South road is a mass of people, cars and signs and because of this we inadvertently walked into a Japanese restaurant when hunting for a Chinese meal! Surprise surprise, we [View Full Entry]

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I love Japan. I love Japan. I love Japan. The Japanese are so friendly, courteous and helpful - probably the opposite of us English!! Tokyo itself was a great place with so much to see and do, but it's the memory of the people that will stay with me longest. (and the women are very hot too!) Some examples: Arthur left his unwanted US dollar coins next to a ticket machine in the entrance hall of the metro. We went down to the platform and were waiting for a train when one of the station staff jogged up to us, bowed [View Full Entry]

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I am SO behind with this - we left the USA on 19th May... Anyway, I can still remember what happened, so here goes: The last night in San Diego was a torrid one for me as I was very sick. I'm blaming the salad that I ate on Coronado Island, but I'll never know for certain. The next morning the alarm went off at 7am so I dragged myself out of bed as we had to get going as early as possible. I can quite honestly say that I've never felt as ill in my life and I was continuously [View Full Entry]

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I'm condensing a few different places into one blog as it'd take weeks to update you otherwise. The first stop after San Francisco was Yosemite National Park. We got up to about 6,500 feet above sea level (although some of the mountain peaks rose to 13k) and the weather changed as we approached. The blue skies and warm sunshine that we'd become used to were replaced by grey clouds and cold rain. It was like being back in blighty. I found the scenery quite spectacular and although we only spent a few hours there we got to see a lot of [View Full Entry]

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It felt good to get back to the structured lifestyle of the USA after recharging our batteries in Belize. Although we didn't get out of the airport until gone midnight, we had our hire car ready and waiting for us there and we managed to find our hostel without too much trouble. My first worrying San Fran incident came very early in our stay. After checking in I had to park the car about half a mile from the hostel and walk through a dark, quiet residential estate to get back. On the walk back a large cat that looked pregnant [View Full Entry]

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Last week I was in San Pedro. It all seems like yesterday, so far away... Belize, in Central America, was the stop after Miami. We stayed on Ambergris Caye (island) which is east of the Belize mainland. The main town on the Caye is San Pedro - and if this isn't the place that Madonna sang about then the locals have done a good job in convincing people that it is! We arrived in Belize International airport and the humidity was practically unbearable. I thought New Orleans was humid, but it was nothing in comparison to this place. Our cabbie that [View Full Entry]

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What a welcome change it was when we got out of the airport and drove to Miami Beach. Hot sun, palm trees and a wide beach that stretched for miles. I'd been a bit put off by stories of crime before arriving - we even considered - changing dates to spend less time there - but now we were here I was glad to have the best part of four days to kick back and relax. And that's mostly what we did. The hostel we stayed in was in real need of a refurb, in fact it's the only place I've [View Full Entry]

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Pronounced 'Nawlins' When we planned the USA part of our trip, we had no idea that the New Orleans Jazz Festival weekend even existed, let alone that we would arrive on the first day of it and leave on the last! Skill. We also had no idea that the last few Jazz Fests had been washouts. Not this time!!! New Orleans was hot and humid, but not unbearably so. We only had one morning of cloud and the rest of the time it was lovely. Our hostel was more like a converted old house and although it didn't have much character [View Full Entry]

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I'm playing catch up with these travelblogs as I've left New York, partied in New Orleans and am currently sunning myself in Miami Beach. Anyway... New York was great and we managed to see and do most of the things we wanted to in a short space of time. If I go back there then I'd use the time to wander around some of the areas that I didn't see and just take in the place a little more. I'm glad that we went to most of the tourist attractions, but a little more time to kick back and relax would [View Full Entry]

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So much to update you with as I've now been to New York and am in my second day in New Orleans BUT the internet charges are astronomical and uploading my photos takes ages... In the meantime, here are some photos from Montreal (inluding me with my new commando haircut): [View Full Entry]

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