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After breakfast on January 4th we got a Grab to the bus station for our overland journey to Singapore. We travelled through the green lush countryside to the border. The cheap alcohol I bought in Langkawi for my cocktail making was getting more expensive as I had to pay customs duty 😉 We finished the journey in the north of Singapore and got a taxi to our hotel,The Scarlet in Chinatown. Perfectly located with a handy indoor food market near the end of the road as well as Maxwell MRT station.Chinese New Year is celebrated on January 22nd this year so the shops are busy and the streets are being decorated in preparation for the year of the rabbit. We were given a corner room which didn’t have windows as the street is on a hill ... read more

Short flight from Penang on Christmas Eve,then got a taxi from the airport to Camar Resort Hotel, our base for 5 nights. It’s located in Pantai Tengah south of Cenang Beach the main tourist location on the island. Checked in and shown to our room which we were very happy with. It had a very nice view of the fabulous beach and islands, was very close to the restaurant and bar but far enough away from the pool area and reception to be quiet. The bath was an added bonus 🛁😉. We sorted ourselves out and went for a wander to suss out the location of places to eat etc. We booked somewhere to eat at on Christmas Day, had a drink in the Bodega bar (being newly managed by an English man), found a spa, ... read more

Bangkok has been amazing- we have used the metro, boats, tuk tuks ,2 types of bus, trains and walked 9.5 miles on average over 3 days 😉 Our hotel was perfect for exploring, the room was quiet with a fridge and kettle 👍, the staff all very friendly and the breakfast delicious 😋 On Saturday we walked to the Grand Palace to suss out the strict dress code, visited Wat Pho with the reclining Buddha, got a boat across the river, found the main train station to work out Mondays timings before getting the Metro across town to the Sky Bar! A cocktail with fantastic views over the city then found a small family run restaurant for some dinner and a fun tuk tuk journey back to the hotel. On Sunday we got a tuk tuk ... read more

Just a quick blog to say hello and welcome new blog readers 👍 A lovely golfing buddy of Steph’s dropped us at the Premier Inn yesterday as we are on a 9:40 flight this morning. In hindsight it was a good idea to book at an airport hotel the night before as it led to a less stressful sleep as there was no worry about bad traffic due to the train strike or the weather 🥶 A very early night after dinner and watching the end of the ⚽️. Slept relatively well aided by Chocolate Baileys and Rioja ( not both together I hasten to add 😂) Awoke an hour before the 6:30 alarm - excitement maybe or hunger 😉 Very smooth and speedy check in; followed by fairly swift security and then breakfast, last 🥓roll ... read more

We left Vladimir and on a Sapsan train which meant no cabin just conventional seats. It only took 1 hour 45 minutes to get into Moscow where we headed down to the metro. Steph was brilliant at sorting out the route to our hotel in the Arbat district just off the main pedestrianised street which stretches 1.25 km to the outskirts of Red Square. We checked into the sumptuous Mercure hotel and then headed out for a walk. The lure of Red Square was too much so we walked down Ul Arbat with its cafes, restaurants, shops, street entertainers and musicians,past the tomb of the unknown soldier and entered the square through the Resurrection Gate. The huge imposing walls of the Kremlin dominate the square with Lenin's mausoleum in front of them, the massive GUM shopping ... read more