India: Kerala Homestay in Kannur
Flashpacking Travel | December 15, 2012 | 7 Comments
The Train from Kochin to Kannur We left Kochi and headed for somewhere a little bit more off the tourist map to a place called Kannur in Northern Kerala. Our five hour train journey was a giggle in our seated carriage, as we were the only tourists there. The children seemed fascinated with us, as […]
Kerala Relaxation, Backwaters and Ayurvedic Massage
Travel Blog | December 11, 2012 | 1 Comments
Kerala Backwaters Our second full day in Kerala was devoted to the water. No trip here would be considered complete until you have experienced the calm tranquillity of the Kerala backwaters. If you want to get the complete experience you can hire one of the Ketuvallam boats for yourself, they come in a range of […]
India: Touring Fort Kochi and a bit of Kathakali
Travel Blog | December 6, 2012 | 3 Comments
After our filling vegetarian breakfast at our hotel we were ready to go off and do a bit of sightseeing. The low rickshaw prices and the stifling heat meant that we chose to do our tour under the power of an engine rather than with our legs on a bike. We are not being lazy, […]
From China to India: Gods Own Country
Travel Blog | December 3, 2012 | 2 Comments
We decided to go overland from Shenzhen to Macau. The two hour coach journey from the Railway coach terminal was trouble free apart from the odd experience of the coach staff taking everyone’s individual picture before we departed (we both did our best winning smiles). The irony was John got shouted out for taking a […]
How to get a Visa for Travel to India in Bangkok
Travel Blog | December 1, 2012 | 2 Comments
As you are travelling round the world it is often necessary to obtain your visa for countries that require one while you are on the move. This usually means a trip to a major city where the country has a consular presence. In our case this meant a stopover in Bangkok. We had previously managed […]
Guilin: Alternative Yangtze River Cruise
Travel Blog | November 27, 2012 | 10 Comments
Guilin and Yangshuo Guilin weather on arrival was the same as our flu and moods. Wet, dripping, dark and grey. This gloom and weather stayed with us for our first two days there. It was raining so heavily even the street vendors gave up, so there was no decent street food to munch on. Not […]
Sightseeing in Xian: The Terracotta Warriors
Travel Blog | November 23, 2012 | 8 Comments
Wall to Wall Cities From the wonderful walled city of Pingyao we set off early in the morning to catch our train to tour in Xi’an, another city in China famed for its walls. Our preference was for a night train, but despite our best efforts we could not get a bed on a train […]
Flashpacking China: From Beijing to Pingyao
Flashpacking Travel | November 21, 2012 | 0 Comments
A Step Back in Time at the Ancient Walled City of Pingyao The time had come to leave Beijing, and head west to the province of Shanxi, to visit a city called Pingyao. We’d managed to see all the main sights we wanted to in Beijing, but there are always other things to do and […]
Beijing: Forbidden City and Jingshan Park
Travel Blog | November 19, 2012 | 2 Comments
Beijing Hotel Booking Problems We decided to stay a couple of extra nights in our Beijing accommodation, and tried to extend direct with the hotel. It turned out, they wanted to increase the room rate significantly, we felt it was a bit of a scam aimed at foreign tourists. They wanted to charge us a higher rate than […]
China Tour: Badaling Great Wall of China
Travel Blog | November 16, 2012 | 2 Comments
The Great Wall of China “You are not a real man until you have climbed the Great Wall” (Mao Zedong) “The Great Wall of China is the only man made object visible from space” (Urban Myth) Both quotes often heard in relation to this magnificent piece of history and architecture, sadly both are myths. Although the one […]
India Car Rental and Driver Hire
How to Rent a Car and Driver in India We’d like to share our experience, and a few of the stories we learned about renting a car and driver from our two week tour of Rajasthan. Like arranging other things in India, it is not always as simple or easy as you may first imagine. […]
Photo Flashback – Kerala Kathakali Dance
We are not really ones for the cultural shows that you regularly find in travel destinations. Often they are a thin representation of the actual song or dance traditions of a community, overpriced and leave you feeling a little bit cheated. This was certainly the case in Waitangi doing the Haka with some actors. Sometimes […]
Goa Retirement, Revamps and a bit of Home Cooking
We hang about in Goa for our remaining time in India sampling foods from home and join the large expat community and retired folk enjoying what is on offer. We had decided in Udaipur that it was time to invest some time doing some work on the blog. Our traffic has been growing steadily over […]
Udaipur And A Break From Travel Blogging
For those arriving at this travel blog post hoping to find out detailed information about our experiences and things to do in Udaipur, leave now, as you’ll need to look elsewhere instead. The hectic schedule of our last two weeks on the road with our driver had wearied us a little. The thought of seeing […]
India Rajasthan and Golden Triangle Itinerary
Two Week Itinerary for Rajasthan and the Golden Triangle You can get to see some of the top sights in Rajasthan and the Golden Triangle in India in fourteen days or less, it will not be a restful experience, but you will gain a lifetime of memories and images from the magnificent Taj Mahal to […]
Jodhpur and the Road to Udaipur
Jodhpur – The Blue City It was a long drive to Jodhpur, our second to last destination in Rajasthan, before waving off our driver. The three restful days in Jaisalmer and our separation from each other had allowed driver and passenger relations to be restored to more friendly less tense mood levels. So we set off […]
In our last travel blog post I mentioned that I had done another diving course. I’ve included some underwater photographs and videos taken whilst I was on this course. We stayed in Bohol, longer than anywhere else in the Philippines, because of the excellent diving sites at very reasonable prices. Bohol is a magnet […]
A delay in this post has been caused by very slow internet connections throughout the last part of our travels in the Philippines. Apologies. However, it now means you have a fun packed bumper blog of travel frustrations, cute monkeys, the chocolate hills and a small slightly disappointing beach. Weather Retreat Given the weather we […]
Donsol, Whale Sharks and Legazpi
Reluctant as we were to leave the beauty of Saud beach we had a lot more Filipino treasures to explore. From the relaxing, serene shores of Saud beach, we headed south towards Donsol in search of some whale sharks. The weather proved challenging, but the wildlife made it all worthwhile. From Pagudpud we reversed […]
Ilocos Norte, Pagudpud and Saud Beach
The ‘Borocay of the North’ is the strapline trying to attach itself to this beautiful part of Ilocos Norte in the Philippines. While I cannot make the comparison yet, I believe Saud Beach in Pagudpud really is a little hidden gem that may eventually give its more famous southern cousin a run for its peso. We […]
Manila and the road to Pagudpud
We arrived in the Philippines on board another Jetstar flight at around 8pm on a Saturday. Having left Bali we had a brief layover in Singapore before our arrival in Manila. The immigration, customs and baggage pick up went like a dream and we were out of the airport within half an hour of touching down. This […]