http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/mharleyuk/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from mharleyuk en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:57:14 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:57:14 +0000 Most things have remained the same one or two new things to catch up on. I found the maple syrup in the same place as always in the supermarket but who the hell is Lady GaGa No such person when I left.I caught up with Dorothy in Rotterdam who helped provide me with a soft landing and spend my first night back in the UK at Sonia Mick's place before picking the car up and driving home t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/blog-357005.html Nearly the end. Ukraine is my final significant destination I'm going to tell you anything about. After that its a brief stop in Western Europe to see friends I haven't caught up with in a while then it's home.In a way I'm already windingdown from the trip since the adventurous bit is finished now. I've been to the Ukraine before I have friends in Kiev and I know my way around. I can t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ukraine/Kiev/blog-387923.html I hadn't initially planned on a second entry from Georgia but this one place left a bit of an impression on me and I want to tell you about it. So a shortish entry fuelled only by my enthusiasm. I returned from my week in Armenia with enough time to try and knock off the cave monastery of Vardzia. The guidebook says you should try to see either David Gareja monastery or this one. I hadn't http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Georgia/blog-388218.html Public transport The MarshrutkaI'd been working on Russian I had a few dozen words maybe but no grammar because I'd been doing it myself from a book and a CD in the car. But my tutor in Aberdeen Anya gave me a couple of hundred more words plus some basic grammar so I should now be able to hold survivallevel conversations about buying tickets asking directions and ordering food. But th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Armenia/West/Yerevan/blog-384637.html Outside the Parliament building in central Tbilisi they're flying the blue EU flag next to the Georgian national one. But if I get a map and draw a line directly south from here it passes through Iran which is definitely in Asia. Also Georgia is further East than Middle East countries like Lebanon Israel and Jordan... so where am I It's this location at the crossroads of 3 distinct ge http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Georgia/Tbilisi-District/Tbilisi/blog-358086.html I've thought for years that airline stewardesses get a rough deal on looking good. The uniforms are reasonable except for KLM whose shade of blue suits nobody but often the hats are ridiculous. For example Servisair in the UK used to give it's checkin girls these awful boaters with a widebrim they looked like gauche public school girls I say do you play Lacrosse. I seem to recal http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Qatar/Doha/blog-379884.html Stop Following MeI flew to Vietnam feeling quite apprehensive. If you spend a couple of hours with the guidebook you'll get the impression you're going to get scammed and ripped off at every corner. There are stories about drivers that take you to their family's guesthouse rather than the one you already booked then getting shirty when you refuse and ask to be taken where you wanted in the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-374712.html So Vietnam won the poll for those of you that didn't spot my brief note at the bottom of the last entry. I've got a visa and have a flight booked as well so I'll tell you all about it in another couple of weeks. But first... Kuala LumpurDad was stationed in Singapore when he was in the Navy in the late 50's. He'll have had Chinese food for the first time watched dragondances at New http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Selangor/blog-369899.html A short entry this time. I've had a relaxing 10 days in Perth doing next to nothing. After 4 months of peering at computer screens copying numbers and directions into my notebook buying tickets in a foreign language booking flights and bus tickets and I have done all this without making one mistake with my credit card reading the guidebook and trying to come up with what to do today... a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Perth/blog-367245.html A bunch of the guys and girls I used to work with at Kenny's have now moved to Perth in Western Australia and I also had an invitation from Cameron to stay at his place if I was ever in town. I'd spent a week in South Australia between Merryn's pal Sarah's house in Dutton near Nurioopta and then a weekend in the city of Adelaide itself at Amanda and Adrian's to see the opening stage of the http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Perth/blog-363577.html Bondi Beach tickOpera House and bridge tickMeat pie tick'Roos emus possums and koalas all ticked as well it's a photo checklist out here. No spiders yet though if I find a redback in my clothes before putting them on I'll try and get a picture for you. That is if I remember to shake my clothes at all...Sarah ...just hold your trousers out and shake them out before putting them http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-362534.html OguniAll I had was a name and a phone number given to me by Yukari in Hiroshima. I did not book the accommodation myself and I didn't give any credit card details so the whole thing was being done on word. And I don't even know what they look like but since I am likely to be the only Westerner with a backpack hanging around the bus station it should work out fine. I'd said I wanted to visit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kumamoto/blog-355534.html I know there's an oddone out in that title as 'Sword' isn't in the phonetic alphabet should be Sierra. I'll explain why it's there down below.Another thing always interested me about the Japanese was their capacity for improving something or practising something to perfection regardless of how long it takes or whether what they're doing is even commercially viable. There was something http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kyoto/Kyoto/blog-352400.html My cousin Alison lives in Shanghai now with her husband Piers and their new 4month old Ruby. I haven't seen her in more than 5 years and since I was in the vicinity it seemed like the ideal opportunity. So after emails from Alison with some paperwork and two trips to the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo bingo a visa. The flight is just over 2 hours and I landed at the new airport East of the riv http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/blog-351508.html I think I figured out the bath thing I need to take my shaving gear in. The 10 minutes it takes gives me time to cool down before the next dip. I must also be doing something else right if when I walk in a guy nods at me now just wait a second before you get the wrong idea there gives me a big smile to say hello and after I've been washing a while grunts and smiles again gesturing to the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-348699.html Politeness and the culture clashI've been a sucker for all things Japanese since I was at school. The TV broadcast James Clavell's Shogun and Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha in rapid succession and I was rather taken with the place. So I am a little disappointed in myself that it took so long to come here. I think I know why this is though. To a large extent writing about Tokyo or Japan is easy http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-346162.html It's like the End of the World againIt seems I was worth a shout on the radio HEY I just picked up a tourist from SCOTLAND. That was Sheila owner and chief driver for Mr. Kab in Unalaska and Dutch Harbor and also my guide for the afternoon. She's not cheap nothing is in Alaska because of the cost of importing everything northwards. But whilst the rest of Alaska was expensive compar http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Unalaska/blog-345120.html The Inside Passage to JuneauNo map this time too fiddly. More slow travel though The MV Malaspinaferry from Bellingham in Washington state takes two and a half days to navigate up the inside passage to Juneau the state capital of Alaska. The SouthEast they also call it the panhandle is mostly blue sea grey cloud and green trees. This far South even in midwinter I'm told the averag http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Juneau/blog-341760.html Things to do in Winnipeg...I'm afraid to say there wasn't much to report on Winnipeg. I wanted to like it but it was closed. Like Toronto and Calgary it has one of those enclosed walkways above street level connecting buildings in the town centre. It enables people to walk in airconditioned comfort during the blistering cold in Winter or the prairie heat of Summer. The downside is it robs http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Banff-National-Park/blog-338442.html On the night bus from Montreal to Toronto I was too alert to sleep. I drowned out the rattling emergency exit window with the mixCD Mick had given me as a present before I left home. He's included the Stones Zeppelin Dave Brubeck and a few other jazzfunk tunes so it felt a little like an imaginary road movie passing latenight remote gas stations and diners with neon signs to a soundtrac http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Toronto/blog-334406.html