I wrote this blog because I am lucky to be able to travel a lot, and when I do travel I normally email friends and family to tell them about my adventures. What I didn’t realise was that the emails I sent got forwarded to other people that in turn expressed an interest in what […]
Each year I try to head somewhere interesting – I am a confirmed cheapskate, so normally it is an impulse trip determined by where I can go without selling the kids. At least not until I can get a really good offer for them!! Sitting at home (Christchurch, New Zealand) one day late 2015 I got […]
Written 12 April 2016, 7pm So I woke up at 4am, caught the 6.30am flight to Sydney, then on to Kuala Lumpur and a few hour later on to Dhaka. The K/L to Dhaka flight was interesting – it was full of returning construction workers, and most of them couldn’t read or write so I […]
I was booked on the overnight Rocket Paddle Steamer later in the afternoon so I had the morning free to explore – I hired a cycle rickshaw again and headed off to see some more sights. Apart from being amazed by the sights all around me I went to two “Tourist” destinations – Lalbagh Fort […]
My train to Rajshahi wasn’t until 2.50pm so I had a chance to sleep in and explore Khulna in the morning. So after a great sleep at the CSS Centre I was trying to get the internet working when I had a knock on my door – it was Dr Mohiuddin Ahmed – I know that […]
After an excellent nights sleep with great internet at Hotel Nice International in Rajshahi, I was up early and onto an Auto to the bus station to get a bus through initially to Puthia, and then after sightseeing there, to flag down another bus to get me to Bogra. Problem was the auto driver took […]
It is currently 7.45pm, 17 April 2016. The only word to describe today would be outstanding. It started normally enough for me on this trip. Breakfast, then an auto to the area where the buses depart, find the bus to Joypurhat and sit in the bus sweltering for a couple of hours hemmed in like […]
4.05pm, 18 April 2016 All I can say about this trip is wow, wow, wow. Yesterday I got taken in an auto (electric tuk tuk) to Alta Dighi – a Dighi is a Lake – which they are impressed by here but back home we would call it a farm pond. This particular one was roughly […]
Another day another adventure. I awoke at 5.15am when I heard the Village Head in whose room I was sleeping open the door, it was starting to get light, so I got up. I had slept fully clothed with a small blanket wrapped around my legs as protection from the mosquitos, my arms were exposed (wearing a […]
9.06am 21 April, Chittagong, south east Bangladesh. It is becoming apparent why this is still a 3rd world country – they literally have (almost) no idea of time. I backtrack to yesterday morning. I was told that breakfast would be ready at 7am and that my ride from Joypurhat to Saidpur Airport (about 1.5 hours north) […]
Today I had three tasks – get a train ticket to Comilla for tomorrow, Chittagong Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and in the afternoon the ship breaking yards 26 ks north of Chittagong. Task 1 was easy (sort of), as usual everything is in the local language not English (funny that since I am Bangladesh), I […]
Up at 8am, off to Chittagong War Cemetery – got there the day before 15 minutes after they closed for 2 hours for lunch, and since I was going to the ship breaking yards that afternoon I couldn’t get back, so it’s first task for the day. By fluke it was only 250 meters in a […]
10.40pm, 23 April, Dhaka I awoke in my poxy Hotel at Comilla at 6.40am, gratefully bed bug bite free and was ready to go at 7am as arranged. Shah-Newas Khan knocked on my door at exactly 7am as arranged, so as a University Student studying physics he clearly knows about time. When he turned up […]
After travelling pretty much non-stop for the last couple of weeks I decided it was time to put my feet up and have a lazy half day to recuperate before my next exciting part of my journey to the very north east of India – Nagaland and Manipur. I decided that I would go to […]
So as you will see from the title I have now traveled from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Kolkata (Calcutta) India. I had organised for a random that I had met on the street in Dhaka to take me to the airport in his car for a fraction of what the Hotel wanted to charge. He was […]
Today is a day I never really thought would happen. Anyone that knows me well will know that I have long had a strong interest in maters relating to World War 2. A lot of young boys did when I was young, but most of them grew out of it, I never did. In WW2 […]
After a late night typing I awoke at 6am – just over 5 hours sleep, but that’s life, at least I wasn’t lying in a trench getting shot at all night!! Vijay and I had eggs on toast followed by watermelon and a cup of tea on the balcony of where we are staying. Kevi […]
Rice with bacon and egg this morning for breakfast on the balcony of our homestay in Kohima, Nagaland. Kevi our driver turned up at 9am with news that the border crossing into Manipur State, which is where tomorrows destination Imphal is, has just been closed for 36 hours due to civil unrest. Manipur is a […]
So although we were told the border into Manipur is shut, luckily for us it turns out that it is the border to the South of Manipur that is shut meaning the side we want to enter is currently open. So we decided to get there while the going was good in case the situation deteriorated […]
Up and about just after 9am. Problem with the Hotel was the internet was absolute crap, and since we were paying good money we decided to shift Hotels. I (despite the crap internet) managed to get online and search the nearby properties, not that here are many here. We walked to the first one who […]
Vijay and I breakfasted then headed out to the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Imphal. Three New Zealanders are buried there, two died serving under the New Zealand Air Force (Mervyn Ingram DFC and Sidney Sadler) and one died serving in the Royal Air Force (Eric Todd). It was down a dirty side street and nestled in […]
6pm, 2 May, Imphal. After our previous nights excitement it was amazing to awaken to a beautiful day. The storm had gone, the leaves were being swept away and it was as if it had never happened. Even the power had come back on. We had breakfast on the terrace beside the restaurant looking down […]
Well I survived the special Manipuri feast that was laid on for us last night. It comprised on a large silver tray with banana leaf on top of it. Above that in the centre was a mound of rice which had another 8 tasty morsels piled around it in separate piles. They were all vegetarian […]
Today Vijay flies home to Delhi at 3pm so before he left he played tour guide and took me to see where Mother Teresa lived, worked and died. She is entombed at Mother Teresa House, it is a place anyone can visit. There are nuns doing their chores, a small museum dedicated to her, you get […]
My flight from Kolkata back to Dhaka, Bangladesh was scheduled for 10.10am but for some reason it was one hour late. Never mind. My next flight from there wasn’t until 2pm so I had plenty of time. When we finally got to board the flight to Dhaka all the announcements are in Bengali which of […]
When I arrived yesterday at 3.30pm I was told there was a problem with the internet but it would be fixed in 10 minutes. I went to my room and had an afternoon siesta until 6pm, when I awoke I went to the office and said still no internet?? – they said the IT man […]
Well I changed my mind last night and never went down for dinner, the waiter wasn’t there this morning so I don’t know if he survived his triple dinner disaster or not!! Got up early this morning, breakfasted then headed to the railway station to catch the train to Srimangal or Sreemangal (they seem to […]
9 May. 7.13am, Sylhet, Eastern Bangladesh. Yesterday was one of those days where I wondered how I was going to fill in the time until the train came at 3.20pm, but ended up being a day where I ran out of time. If I haven’t really found much to do in a town, my time […]
I booked my trip to Bangladesh without any prior knowledge of what I was letting myself in for. It was somewhere different and not visited by many Tourists, that was the attraction for me. Due to some westerners being murdered prior to my going I boarded my flight with equal parts anticipation and trepidation. I […]
I need to preface my comments about food by letting you know that I am not a “fine diner” – I am a does it give me energy and fill me up type of eater. So if you are looking for reviews of a detailed type you will need to look elsewhere. In general I […]
In previous blogs I said “due to some westerners being murdered prior to my going I boarded my flight with equal parts anticipation and trepidation” Ultimately all aspects of travel in a foreign country, and to a degree even living at home, involve an element of risk and luck. The media focuses on the bad […]
