Travel Musings . . .

Ramen noodles in Tokyo

For when we are old, grey and forgetful . . .

“Don’t worry — if we crash, then we will crash slowly”  – Siem Reap taxi driver when he sees us concerned that the back seats are missing seat belts (Cambodia, 2007)

“Good brakes, good horns, lots of patience … and lots of good luck!” .  .  .  our driver’s motto (India, 2009)

Bryan Adams, mushroom soup, killing spiders by throwing shoes at the wall, news of the US Congress not passing TARP and the resulting financial meltdown, little kids in the internet cafe writing to their Western ‘pen pals’ on Facebook  (Bhutan, 2008)

Having dinner in Istanbul and then suddenly realising that our flight to Hong Kong was that evening (in 3 hours time!) rather than the next evening!  (Istanbul, 2012)

Seriously 1970s peroxided-blondes as air stewardess in the Air Uzbekistan business class lounge (Tashkent airport, 2010)

Black pepper crabs and crab curry on the beach at Same, Same But Different Restaurant (Thailand, 2008)

Bovine disrespect — Bruce getting pushed around while photographing streetlife and the pushers were the cows roaming the streets!

Clockwork cicadas by our beach resort — they were so loud that at first we thought they were alarms from nearby villas.  (Thailand, 2008)

Non-stop nightly canine operas and sleeping dogs in the middle of the street in the middle of the day (Bhutan, 2008)

Saigon taxi driver trying (but failed) to scam us — airport toll was only 10,000 dongs but he tried to pass it off as 100,000!  When I questioned the amount, he gave me a receipt but the receipt had the wrong date on it.  Furthermore, driver refused to pull up to the hotel drive (thus the hotel staff could not intervene and assist in settling the dispute).

The Amanusa beach all to ourselves with bar service and WiFi (Indonesia, 2013)

Crooked museum staff tried to get Westerners to pay (in cash) a dollar each for picture-taking-fee in the museum courtyard (Cambodia, 2007)

Monklets with toy machine guns at the festivals (Bhutan, 2008)

The BEST massage ever at the Oberoi Hotel (Agra, Indi, 2009)

The AMAN cocktail – 42 Below Manuka Honey Vodka, guava & peach juice and fresh mint – the best cocktail ever!  (Beijing, 2009)

A Chin shaman from a nearby village insistent on selling a necklace that has been in his family for 10 generations in order to buy rice for the village after their entire rice harvest was destroyed by a plague of rats. (Burma, 2011)

Tracking our route with a GPS device and old Soviet maps. (Mongolia, 2013)

Eating our way thru Washington, DC with MyHanh and Chris (Dec 2012) and New York City with Roz and Steve (Dec 2012)