See It Do It Live It

Dec.30
0

Living in the Worlds Most Liveable City

Posted by in Australia

While Kylie has been up in Brisbane, sweltering in the heat and dodging thunderstorms, I have been relaxing in the perfect climate that is the Melbourne summer. I’m staying with Phil, an old Kiwi friend from my days working at a summer camp in the States (12 years ago!). Phil works in the local Science Museum which I’ve taken advantage of, with free entry to the museum and planetarium as well as free IMAX cinema tickets 🙂 Well – it would be rude not to visit, eh? Pretty much the first…read more

Oct.26
0

Bandung

Posted by in Asia, Indonesia, Trip

We spent two nights in Bandung, the city where my family lived for 4 years when I was a kid. Its a big, smelly, crowded city so not much of a tourist trap. We decided not to attempt the convoluted public transport trip to see the hugely overpriced volcano or hot springs just  north of town and opted to go shopping instead!

Oct.10
0

The Lion City

Posted by in Asia, Singapore, Trip

Evidently Kylie was quite taken by Singapore first time around as she was happy to return there for a few days with me before we set off for Indonesia. We took the 10 hour bus journey straight from the Cameron Highlands to Singapore. As we queued briefly in the sparkling clean, air-conditioned immigration room at the border crossing we couldn’t help but contrast it to some of the more ‘rustic’ immigration facilities we’d experienced in Africa. Arriving in the evening, we swiftly dropped our bags and walked down to the…read more

Oct.09
2

Back to school

Posted by in Asia, Malaysia, Trip

30 years ago I arrived in the Cameron Highlands, aged 5 yrs 11 mths, to start my primary education at a little boarding school in the middle of the jungle called Chefoo school. I have so many happy memories of my six years at this school and I felt an appropriately child-like excitement about returning to this magical land of my childhood. The Cameron Highlands is, as you might have guessed, high up – the climate while we were there was not dissimilar to a rather damp Spring week in…read more

Sep.21
0

Its all downhill from here

Posted by in Asia, Thailand, Trip

Being the attentive, supportive kind of person I am, the first thing I did when I heard that Kylie had another scary dentist’s appointment was to sign myself up for a whole day of mountain biking. After dithering about which route would be a suitable difficulty for me, I opted for one of the intermediate downhill routes. It turned out to be just about right – although I confess to wimping out of a couple of the more ‘interesting’ sections. I can thoroughly recommend Mountain Biking Chiang Mai – they’re…read more

24 hours in Thailand

Posted by in Asia, Thailand, Trip

a short play Act 1 [Graham and Kylie have just crossed the border from Laos and are waiting for their night bus in Nongkhai. Graham is sent off to find some ‘bus food’ while Kylie watches the bags.] GRAHAM: ‘OK – that market stall looks just right. I hope they speak English’ [strolls confidently over to the stall] GRAHAM: “Hello” [gives the old lady at the stall a winning smile] “Fried rice?” OLD LADY 1: “สิ่งที่” GRAHAM: “Er…yes…ok. English?” OLD LADY 2: [to Old Lady 1] ” แกล้งคุณ ไม่พูดภาษาอังกฤษ” OLD…read more

Sep.15
2
Aug.22
1

It’s not Same Same!

Posted by in Asia, Trip, Vietnam

In Thailand I saw a western man wearing a t-shirt with the words ‘Its not Same Same‘ on the front and ‘Its totally f***ing different!‘ on the back (excuse the language). I now wonder if he’d had a similar experience to us at some point… To back-track a bit: we’d bought two sets of tickets in Saigon: Saigon to Phan Thiet and our overnight onward journey – Binh Thuan to Hue. The ticket office lady, with a casual wave of her hand, had assured Kylie that Phan Thiet and Binh…read more

Tour de Phu Quoc

Posted by in Asia, Trip, Vietnam

(In the absence of a camera, I have substituted thousands of rambling words for the few pretty pictures I would otherwise have taken. Aren’t you lucky!) They have a saying in Phu Quoc: “Maps, road signs, mirrors, indicators, right-of-way, helmets and speed limits are for pussies. Ain’t nobody got time for that!” Okay – well they should have a saying like that in Phu Quoc. Combine all those challenges with 100% humidity, a glaring sun and the constant threat of a tropical thunderstorm and the obvious plan is to walk…read more

Aug.20
1
Jul.06
0

Monkeying Around

Posted by in Africa, Trip, Zambia

What do you get if you cross two sheep, a circus monkey, a few talking parrots, peacocks and about a hundred chimpanzees? Answer: Chimfunshi Wildlife Sanctuary, tucked away in the depths of the forest in Zambia’s Copperbelt, just near the border with the DRC. And it was to this remarkably un-touristy attraction that we made our way on our last weekend in Zambia. In fact making our way there was (as always in Africa) its own little adventure, involving a crowded but entertaining 3-hour bus trip, an overnight in the…read more

Jun.23
1

A typical day

Posted by in Africa, Trip, Zambia

My alarm goes off about 6:15 – a good two hours earlier than I’m used to back home! Breakfast is usually a couple of slices of toast or some oatmeal washed down with ‘Ricoffy’ (coffee and chicory). Water needs to be boiled for 5 minutes here before its safe for drinking so we’ll normally try and boil a pan of water at this time as well which is then left to cool during the day. Just after 6:45 we bundle out of the house for the 30 minute walk to…read more

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