Floral display to mark the anniversary of the fall of Saigon
Strange as it may seem, Hanoi is a city obsessed with ice cream! Continue reading
May Day in Hanoi: ice cream capital of the world
Tamil Nadu 2: New Year and festivals
We have a charming leaving ceremony at the Mantra Retreat: after being smeared with vermilion ash on our foreheads, a fragrant flame is wafted around and some coconuts smashed. We now understand why the geese and ducks have been waddling around expectantly all morning as they dive for the succulent flesh with cackles of delight. Continue reading
Tamil Nadu 1: girls’ road trip to the deep south
My two boys are away heli-skiing in Canada, something the poor old hip won’t allow me to do at the moment, so what better plan than to have a girls’ jaunt round Tamil Nadu with my India-loving friend Hilary? As she lives in Abu Dhabi it’s only a short hop for the both of us. Continue reading
Easter in the Taroko Gorge, Taiwan
Looking up the gorge towards the Swallows’ Grotto
We arrive in Taroko on Good Friday, in the rain, after a pain-free train journey from Taipei and a scenic ride up the winding vertiginous road that leads to our hotel. Continue reading
Flash-packing in Laos 3: Luang Prabang to Vientiane
Luang lives up to its reputation, though we are overwhelmed by the number of tourists, ranging from dreadlocked backpackers to chic French groups, via the hordes of Koreans, Japanese and Chinese, that descend en masse upon this sleepy town. Continue reading
Flash-packing in Laos 2: Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang
The karst landscape on the Nam Ou river
In the second part of our journey we travel from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang, via Nam Tha and the ‘Green triangle’ of the hill tribes. Continue reading
Flash-packing in Laos: 1 Vientiane to Nong Khiaw
We arrive in Vientiane after a disaster of a start to the holiday: first Ross can’t find our tickets online so he rebooks them, and then he gets shortchanged on arrival at the airport. But bad humour is soon dispelled by cousins Christine and Diego, who are waiting at the hotel, and the arrival of G&Ts and beers. Continue reading
Of headhunters, bat caves and apes in deepest Borneo
Kuching at sunset
Nicholas meets us at the airport. He is our Iban guide, descended from the legendary headhunters and heavily tattooed in traditional fashion. He will be looking after us for our few days in Mulu, in the heart of Borneo, bordering Brunei. Continue reading
Celebrating TWO years in remission
The majestic Dents du Midi from the little chuff chuff up to CHampery
Sorry for the long silence! Nothing amiss just…travelling back to London and Switzerland has proved extremely exhausting. I know it sounds curmudgeonly to complain – and I’m not really moaning – but being homeless while our house is being renovated is unsettling to say the least. We are turning it into two flats, one of which we shall rent out, but it involves the whole house being re-organised as you can imagine. Continue reading
‘Teaching the unreached’ Part 2: Banlung and Ratanakiri schools
Welcome committee at Blai
The second part of our journey will take us to Banlung, the hub for the 23 Ratanakiri schools and where the UWS journey began. Maxine and John have gone on to Siem Reap, so we are now five. It’s a 3 hour drive from Siem Pang to Banlung, and after an hour or so on the pitted murram the road returns to tarmac, and the scenery changes from scrub to row upon row of rubber plantations – the ecocide that has destroyed the rainforest and scarred the landscape forever. In between are cassava plants which leaches the soil so it’s all in all a no win situation for the future. Continue reading
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