After two restful days at sea, we arrived in southern Japan; specifically the port of Nagasaki, in Kyushu. Nagasaki is a small city which hugs both sides of a steep valley, in fjord-like fashion. At the entrance there are some shipyards and other industries; it was those shipyards which led to Nagasaki being on the […]
There are three iconic experiences for the visitor to Hong Kong. See the city skyline at night; take the Star Ferry across the harbour; and ride the Victoria Peak tram. Having achieved the first last night, we set out hoping to include the other two in our second and final day here. Once again, disembarkation […]
Our second sea day was much like the first – trivia, eating, trivia, eating, trivia, eating, theatre show, sleep … We needed a rest after our day in Nha Trang, and we were mentally gearing up for two days on our own in Hong Kong’s heat, humidity, and crowds. It was a late morning arrival, […]
Knowing it would be hot, and with no public transport to speak of, we’d pre-booked a tour in Nha Trang, our only port of call in Vietnam. We booked with “True Friends Easy Rider”, a local outfit that specialises in motorbike tours, but they also run a shore excursion in a private (and importantly, air […]
Mercifully, we had a late checkout, which gave us plenty of recovery time to prepare for the cross-town trip with suitcases in tow. With plenty of time, and the MRT being so easy to use with lifts everywhere, we’d decided to travel by train to the cruise terminal. We broke out our EZ Passes one […]
We’re leaving soon to board the cruise ship, and will be offline for a few days, so here’s a quick wrap of our day yesterday. We walked for miles/hours, and ended up feeling like we’d completed a 12 hour rogaine, but we did see a lot. I’ll let the pictures do the talking … they […]
But first – Mt Faber. The itinerary said “Get up early, and walk up to Mt Faber (short, steep uphill climb). What were we thinking! Splashing out on a all-day cable car pass seemed like a much better idea; saving an hour of walking meant an extra hour of sleeping. Around mid-morning we strolled down […]
Thanks to the Formula 1 Grand Prix being on in Singapore this weekend, hotel prices in Marina Bay and downtown were through the roof. AirBNB and the like are banned here so we couldn’t find a place with cooking facilities – not even a microwave. We settled for a hotel in Harbourfront, opposite VivoCity, which […]
28 March 2023, Los Angeles, USA – Buoyed by our success at navigating the LA Metro, we planned a longer, more complex excursion. We confidently added day passes onto our TAP cards, and set off for downtown LA – DTLA for short. We could see some snow on the Sierra Nevadas in the background, and […]
27 March 2023, Los Angeles, USA – It was a late night arrival into LAX after flying half way across the country. We were relieved to check into a reasonably nice, quiet room in Hawthorne, not far from the airport. We woke this morning to blue skies – we seem to be dragging warm weather […]
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