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Halong Bay-Hanoi-Tam Coc: Towards Stunning Scenery
The look and sound of a wet road and the repetitive whine of windscreen wipers are inextricably linked to my memories of childhood Saturdays, and as we make our way back to Hanoi from Halong Bay in the “limousine bus” this particular Saturday is doing its best to trigger those memories. We knew to expect inclement weather during this spell, it’s that time of year here in the north. No visit to Hanoi is complete without a trip to Train Street, so, given that we are passing back through the city at a weekend when there are more trains scheduled than at other times, we play the game of grabbing…
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Completing The Buddha Circuit: Balrampur-Sravasti-Taj Mahal
We awake on Day 7 of this 8-day tour with our train silent and stationary at Balrampur station, the sky grey outside and the early morning cup of chai clanking its way down the corridor. Amongst the Punctual group we have bets on how much we’ll miss the 6.30am departure time by: Lovely Malaysian Lady wins with a punt at 7:05 which proves to be out by just one minute. Thirty four minutes late. Here we go again. Of course we have some very decent people with us on this train as well as those who have surprised us with their behaviour: Malaysian Lady and Pretty Girl are just two…
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In Deeper: To The Sacred City Of Kairouan
We feel quite a sense of anticipation as we make our way across the nondescript scrubland plain towards the city of Kairouan and step down from the minibus beneath greying afternoon skies. Indeed, there was a time when we couldn’t even have got as far as this: until being taken by the French in 1881, Kairouan was strictly Muslim only with all others barred from even entering the city. It is today the fourth most sacred city of Islam after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, tradition stating that seven pilgrimages to Kairouan equals one pilgrimage to Mecca. The Great Mosque of Kairouan (aka the Mosque Of Uqba) is widely accepted as…
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The Doors & Shops Of Tunis
Doors and shops. Now there’s two things which hold a fascination for many travellers. Doors because they just do: there’s something irresistibly photogenic about them. Shops possibly because they are a familiar concept whose distortion by different environment is such a tangible measure of a different culture. Tunis has delivered so much on both fronts that we thought we’d interrupt our commentaries with this gallery. Doors first….. And on to the shops….. And to finish, a few mosaics from the walls of the Medina….
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Egypt So Far: The Not-So-Good Bits
Three weeks into this North Africa adventure and we guess that in a way we’ve hit the pause button. Followers will know that we are now in the previously uncharted ground of a resort hotel, out here on the Red Sea coast, kind of into international tourist territory and outside of authentic Egypt. This is most unlike us, we never thought we’d be taking the resort hotel option, not in a million years. Apart from the practicalities – it was indeed hard to find a viable alternative – it’s fair to say that there have been other influences on this decision which mean that taking a break from Egypt isn’t…
