So.. I cant beleive its been nearly a year since my last post.. shameful

Ive been a busy boy with adventures

I decided to recap with one picture from each country I went through in the last 15 months, Ive been very fortunate. All of them fantastic experiences

South Africa April '12:
Lioness and cubs, Garonga Lodge, Makalali reserve

Australia May '12: Kayaking on the Hawksbury River

Singapore: Cocktails at Ku De Ta, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore -  sling with a view

Zambia Jun '12: Leopard cub in the South Luangwa Valley

Malawi: Sailing Dhow on the Lake

Greece: The Monasteries of Meteora

Paris: Montmartre Bistro

Kenya: Elephant River Crossing, Samburu National Park

Vienna:  Christmas Windows

South Africa April 13:  Cellars Hohenort, Constantia

Zambia April 13: Tongabezi breakfast on the Zambezi

Botswana: Sundowner on the Chobe River

Australia May 13: Helicopter over Katherine Gorge

Hamburg: Hafencity by Night

And no I'm all up to date again before Uzbekistan on Friday!

The Selous Game Reserve

Following on from Zanzibar, we took a light aircraft down to the Selous Game reserve in Southern Tanzania. The Selous is one of the largest reserves in all of Africa, although the northern section is the only part open to safari traffic. While the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater in the North draw the largest crowds,  the Selous has a magic of its own. Wild and untamed, with areas that you can visit and not see another soul and with two large rivers snaking through. Safari experiences here tend to be both land and water based.

I found some of the game quite skittish and timid,  I suspect due to historical hunting further south. But at the same time, it felt wild and the scenery beautiful and very varied. Further North around Lake Manze the game is more concentrated (as well as the people), and we finally found our lions, who were more than happy to sprawl in the sun and be photographed. On the way back we had to wait for a herd of buffalo 300 strong to pass, hoofing up great clouds of dust. It was like something out of the wild west

I stayed at two wonderfully luxurious Serena properties,  Selous Luxury Camp and Mivomo River Lodge. Selous Luxury Camp falls in the category of what i like to call Pretend camping. This is popular in Africa - basically all mod cons, in this case down to rolltop baths and chandeliers and a hint of Out of Africa colonial charm - but with canvas walls for atmosphere. I did hear a very vocal hippo through my own set of canvasses.  Mivomo river lodge is perched dramatically on the river banks - alltogether less of a bush camp experience, huge suites with aircon, private terraces with plunge pools and outdoor showers overlooking the river.  Whilst enjoying a gourmet lunch we saw 30 or so elephants come down to drink on a distant shore.

Zanzibar

Zanzibar.. The Spice Islands.  The names themselves conjur up exotic travel, Dhows carrying exotic goods from the East blown by the trade winds, Sultans and harems. Zanzibar became the capital of the Omani empire in 1698 and has a rich history with a unique blend of Arab and Swahili cultures. On a darker note it was formaly the centre of the slave trade to the East until Livingstone had a hand in bringing about its abolition.

The capital, Stone Town has a certain faded charm, with crumbling merchants houses and palaces with intricately carved wooden doors and snaking alleyways.

The meat and fish markets make for a colourful and vibrant experience, though not for the faint hearted vegan.












Away from the capital are a host of gorgeous beaches, spice plantations to visit and the Jozani forest with an uber cute troop of Colubus monkeys. These days its a great add on to a Tanzanian Safari to the Selous or the Serengeti reserve 

I first went to Zanzibar for the Millenium, and was lucky enough to pop back on a flying visit hosted  by Serena hotels en route to the Selous Game reserve last September. As the sun has come out in London, I thought it might be time to share these sunny shots of East Africa.

London -San Francisco - Sydney - London

My Life is so complicated right now!. So no posts on here for over a month, sorry folks. After my gorgeous little English countryside trip in early October it was time to sort my life out and figure out what the bloody hell I was going to do next. Now generally I find it hard to decide what to have for dinner let alone what life choices to make. I had however had the feeling that I wantd a bit of a change on embarking on this adventure so I did put all my stuff in storage. Now after much deliberation I've decided to give living in London another bash, this time hopefully living and working fairly centrally. So this week ive been back in Sydney going through 10 years of aquired stuff, Ebaying and donating and generally stressing over lists of things to do - but this Friday is it - flying back to London. Meanwhile on my hastily arranged flight back to Sydney last week I did manage to squeeze in a 2 night stopover in San Francisco. This was a welcome break from all the organisation and stressing, it was nice to feel 'on holiday' again. I hadnt been in San Francisco for about 20 years. The last time i remember deliberately dropping my guide book in a cafe and mumbling something in deliberately emphasised Queens English in a (successfull) attempt at picking up a local. We ended up on a mini break up through the redwoods. I used to love how shallow people were about a twinky 21 year old with an English accent!. I have to say it doesnt quite have the same effect when youre 42 with a mongrel pommy/aussie accent!. Anyway i very much enjoyed wandering about and taking my snaps. Could be the last set for a little bit so enjoy

Travel Philosophy Number 8 - A Thirst for Knowledge

Broken Jewish Tomb Stones - Kazimerz Cemetary


Without trying to be too preachy, not everyone has the opportunity to get out and see stuff in the world, sometimes people have not been able to travel outside their own town, and perhaps due to the media they are fed by which ever governement they live under (North Korea's been popping up on BBC World alot in the last few days), they may have a pretty limited understanding of the larger world around them. I always feel a certain responsibility to myself to learn as much as I can while I'm traveling. A good day is a day that sends you to Google to research something further.

Without setting out for it to be that way, this trip has been quite a religeous education for me. As I've said previously, I dont hold any strong religious beliefs, but at the same time, the concept, culutural traditions, shared beliefs and historical backgounds of the major religions is fascinating and learning more gives you a much deeper understanding of the world today. It just so happened that Ive ended up travelling through Biblical lands and Muslim countries and now in Krakow I am in what was once one of the most important centres of Jewish culture in Europe. I say 'was' in that there are now only approximately 200 practicing Jews in the city following the devastation of the war, but then it is still a major site of Jewish pilgrimage and has the grave of a prominent Jewish holy man. We hired our own local guide to give us a walking tour of Kazimerz, the historical Jewish disctrict. We visited Synagogues and learned alot about Jewish culture and traditions.


Learning stuff is not neccesarily always a fun experience either - our next stop was the site of the wartime ghetto, where the local Jewish population were moved into and literally walled in - a starting indication of the deliberate cruelty was the fact that the ghetto walls were made in the shape of Jewish tombstones. Close to there was the Oscar Schindler factory. with an excellent newly completed exhibition on Nazi occupied Krakow. Not an easy exhibition to go around, even though it was housed in a place linked to an uplifting message - i.e the thousand or so jews on 'Schindlers List' who he managed to save.

Finaly an experience which is hard to describe and whilst certainly not being enjoyable, was profoundly moving and again a travel experience to learn and take something away from - Auschwitz.

I found the diverging train tracks at Auschwitz II - Birkenau, where someone had left flowers at the junction quite symbolic as essentially when people arrived at the camp and got down from the trains the first thing that happened was the 'selection' where they would either go to the left if deemed fit enough to work or to the right - straight to the gas chambers and cremetoria if not.

Also very effective for putting things into perspective were the collections of possessions found in warehouses on liberation of the camps. When you look at the piles of shoes, shaving brushes or suitcases and really imagine each one belonging to a different person, and that these were just a tiny proportion found there at the end, it gives you some idea of just how many people passed through these camps where in the words of Rudolph Hess, the only way out was through the cremetoria chimneys. And then of course this collection of 3 camps was not the only one in operation in Europe.

I've been joined in Krakow by my 80 year old parents who were in their early teens during the war. My mother found the Auschwitz camp experience particularly unsettling I think, as she remembers very strongly feeling petrified as a girl of the Germans being succesful in their attempt to invade Britain and what would happen to her if they did. As it was they lived through the air raids and remember the bombs. It does make you think how lucky you were to be born in a certain place though - i.e on an Island as opposed to just over the border from Nazi Germany.

Heliophos

And so to Greece and Santorini Island - if you see a picture postcard view of the Greek Islands its bound to be of this one. Mykonos also has the impossibly cute white washed villages and to be honest probably alot more going on in terms of nightlife and action, but its hard to beat the cliff top setting here. Besides the biggest thing on my agenda for this part of the trip was doing pretty much nothing, so this place suits me fine. The pic above is part of the communal area - I did some book reading there with a glass of wine the other day as the sun was setting.

I had set my heart on a cliff view and waking up to a dramatic vista either in Oia or Fira but was a bit gobsmacked at the prices, an extensive trip advisor search brought me to this place - Heliophos. And I love it! - Absolutely perfect, what felt like a compromise when booking as its 10-15 mins walk away from Oia itself, turned out to be just what I wanted. Its in Finikia a traditional quiet village with a couple of tavernas and a handful of tourists, and whilst not smack bang on that dramatic cliff edge there are still sea views all around from the beautiful terrace and no crowds at all. The owner Sophia has done a fantastic job of creating a peaceful welcoming environment, that while a fraction of the cost of similar establishments in the noisier towns, is packed full of tasteful antiques and personal touches.

If I was based in London I would definately be hopping on an easyjet flight any time I wanted a quiet getaway. So quiet in fact that the taxi driver had to park in the village car park and then wander up several paths asking people where the hotel was! Thank goodness he helped me out - in the end it was a relay of three people that got me down the right paths and down into my slice of Greek Tranquility for the week.

The Pic above is the communal breakfast table - everyone mucks in, they're mostly French guests here so good chance to practice! Sophia prefers it to English too so im giving it a bit of a bash.

These dark doors to the right are the entrance to the local taverna, where I had the best Grilled Liver everrrr - though im still unsure which beastie it originated from.


The following pics are all of my own private bit of Greece - bedroom, living area, table nook and patio - Is it any wonder i'm struggling to actually go outside here! - book and bed and blog are primary occupations.

Wrapping up Turkey - The Hagia Sophia

Before we get too Greekified, lets go back and take a look at the 4th Great Architectural monument in that small area of Istanbul around Sultanahmet - The Hagia Sophia. Built around 400 or so AD under Emperor Constantine of the Eastern Roman Empire which became Byzantium, expanded under Emperor Justinian, - the spiritual heart of the Byzantine Empire until it was turned into a mosque under the Ottomans in 1453. From The outside standing next to the Blue Mosque it looks very Islamic with its minarets and multiple domes, once inside though it still remains very much a Byzantine Basilica at heart, especially since they have painstakingly removed the layers of plaster to reveal the incredible Byzantine mosaics once again. Once more we took an audio tour - had fun trying to find the numbers to plug in. What a way to finish up Istanbul, an incredible building.

Travel Philosophy Number 7 - 2 Tears in a Bucket, Mother F*&K it!

This ones on a similar theme to an earlier one saying just do it, dont worry about the money, its the experience youll remember. But there are also so many other reasons why you might not get up and do the thing you always wanted to. Dont cry about it and say I always wished i'd been to such and such a place, dont say in a few years, or when x y or z has happened. If your looking at the photos on this blog and thinking you cant do it, think again..

Ok so maybe you have a family and kids and commitments, maybe you cant just take off for a few months, but make getting to that one place you always wanted to a goal, its not as hard as it seems, where there is a will theres a way - perhaps the place you wanted to visit is doable in a much shorter trip, maybe you can farm out the nippers on their own local holiday for a week or two while you escape, maybe they could come with you on that once in a lifetime journey and you will set them up for a world of exploration in later life. Maybe your kids have left home, nows your time to shine again!. At least encourage your kids to go out and see stuff when theyre old enough. I have my mother saying 'do it while your young' and her mother before that to thank.


No one to go with? - go anyway, either do bits and pieces on your own (you will have your most mind blowing moments in your own company), perhaps a short trip to start, or join a small group adventure tour. You dont have to be on a big nasty tourist coach to do something where the tough parts are taken out of your experience.

Partner isnt interested in going anywhere? - screw em, do it anyway - dont let anyone hold you back, plenty of couples I know have 'me-time' trips away from their partners and come back feeling refreshed.

Maybe your working hard and thinking youd never find the funds - youd be surprised what you can achieve if its a priority and if your smart taking off travelling never has to look bad on your CV. This is my 5th Round the World / extended travel trip, if you can find a way to do it at least once and distance yourself from your routine life for a decent period of time you wont regret being abe to put the world in perspective.

Even if you cant do this, make sure you are seeing something you have always wanted to at least once a year. Life is too short, dont look back and regret the things you always wanted to do but didnt get round to it.

Take a post it now - write down one thing in the world you always wanted to see, stick it on your mirror and work out how its going to happen.

Watching the sunset over Santorini was one of mine...



p.s Get me being all preachy and life-sorted! dont worry theres plenty of other life areas Ive struggled with where im sure many of you have been successful, but seeing the places I always wanted to is not one of the ones ive found hard! Everyone has their strong points. I certainly won't be looking back thinking I never went anywhere. The trouble is the more you see the more you want to see *sighs*

If you really genuinely are quite happy in your own town, in your own environment and have no desires to stray from it, thats fine also - you can just look at my pictures from the comfort of your own home!

Travel Philosophy Number 6 - Your'e Never Alone with a book

Perfect Dinner for one in Santorini


If you want to travel alone and you dont want to feel like a muppet when you go out to dinner, take up reading!. Its amazing the difference it makes, you can disappear behind your book and surreptitiously people watch, enjoy your food, enjoy your book and feel comfortable sat there all alone, without feeling like you've got no friends. Who knows...maybe you will even make some new ones when they see what you are reading! I think I said in a much earlier post that I went to a Tango show in Buenos Aires early and didnt take my book. 45 mins of awkwardness sat at a table nursing a drink surrounded by couples eating, no book = feel like muppet! Have book = find cosy corner anywhere and feel at home.

Islamic Art at the Topkapi Palace

Following our end of tour breakfast and before our rooms were ready at the hotel, Nat and I still bleary eyed from the train took ourselves off to the Topkapi palace, home of the Ottoman Sultans for over 400 years. We got the audio tour which has been a welcome addition to Turkish museum attractions and to my mind adds a lot to a visit to anywhere unless you have an excellent personal guide. I often cant be bothered to read all the English signs and its nice to have someone explain things to you, occasinaly you get bonus amusing musical introductions to each piece or mispronounced words to keep you entertained. Perhaps that should be a travel philosophy...yes...lets, i think thats um, Travel Philosophy Number 5 - Fork out the extra for the audio guide if there is one!. 5 Philosophies in all this travel, thats not much is it - I will have to get my thinking cap on,

Apart from the musuem collections in the Palace, containing all the treasures and some fantastic Sultans Kaftans which were perfectly preserved, the most interesting part of the palace was the Harem. A big labyrinth of rooms reserved for the wives and concubines, the entrance strictly guarded in both directions by the highly influential Black Chief Eunuchs. The only males allowed in there were the Sultan and his brothers and sons, the latter mostly being kept locked up in there both for their own protection and for the protection of the Sultan as everyone of them was essentially a threat to his power. Amongst the females the main power base was the Queen Mother and the Mother of the legitimate male heirs. It reminded me a lot of the descriptions of the Zenana in Indu Sundaresans novels of Mughal Indian court life and harem politics. Nat coincidentally had been reading a non-fiction account of a French woman who had wound up in the harem and ended up being the mother of a sultan and a powerful figure who brought a French influence to the court and told her story afterwards. Actually it was interesting to note that allot of the wives were abducted from the West, so there would have been few 100% Turkish Sultans.

I had cause to think of my Mother a fair amount walking round the palace - She used to be a ceramics teacher with a love of Islamic designs and in fact we very nearly had a holiday to Istanbul when I was in my teens and had a period of spending a week a year in a European city and taking day trips out. I would have liked her to see the beautiful Iznik tiles everywhere - Mum if your reading, I was thinking of you when i took those tile shots. I always remember her explaining to me that theres few depictions of people or animals in traditional Islamic art, as it was frowned upon to re create the image of something only God could. Hence the traditions for creating intricate patterns as the basis of their art instead. That said Nat did spot one or two animals depicted in the tiles, theres plenty of floral designs and they certainly did depict people in portraiture. The Sultans often had minatures of themselves.

I really love the Islamic style - its very tasteful and invokes a peaceful atmosphere with gentle arches and often water trickling from fountains. The detail on the walls and ceilings is stunning.

Istanbul - Officially back in Europe

From Goreme, it was a 4 hour bus then a 9 hour night train to reach the Asian side of Istanbul, from there a short skip on a ferry over to the European side and a tram to the hotel.

What a trip - I worked out ive been travelling overland for 36 days - I allready crossed from the African continent to the Asian continent at Aquaba on the Red sea, and at Istanbul from Asia to Europe across the Bosphorus



The Train was a minor nightmare, not because of the standard but because of the company - one of our group picked that moment to get nasty and have a meaningless argument and tensions were running high in the big brother house - (as we've occasionally christened it as even after 3 days we were discussing who would get evicited if this were a show, and analysed those with alliances and those flying under the radar!). Basicaly the group had been kind of clinging on out of politeness the last week or so with some definate factions having formed, although we were aware of some bitching going on, but we had a complete implosion on the last day which was totally unnecessary and it lead to the most awkward final breafast and goodbye ever. Still, luckily we managed to catch up and spend a little more time with those we really wanted to.

So Istanbul - it was love at first sight - its a high impact city, dramaticaly located, with towering minarets, buildings climbing hillsides, surrounded by water. Very cosmopolitan, coming from Egypt and Syria and then easing back slightly into Western laid backness in Goreme, hitting Istanbul we totally came back to a world class modern city environment. A joy to travel around, thriving with smart (and very attractive!) people, trendy cafes and boutiuque shops. You realise how much you miss those things when you come back to them after a period of absence! Ill definately be back to see more of Turkey at some point. Photo wise I'll be posting a couple of slideshows in the next couple of days of the main sights.

In between the attractions

For those of you experiencing a pang of jealousy at my glamour architecture shots from far flung places, I do feel it my duty to draw your attention to the bits in between, the bits where you say to yourself - I paid for this?! - We have been having a running joke of late saying there should be some glass you can break with a lever behind saying "UPGRADE NOW!".
Not that weve been doing it nearly as tough as it could be done, afterall theres a reasonably useful guide who at least runs around pre-booking buses and pointing us in the right direction and telling us where we might next expect a toilet stop and all the hotels are booked so we dont have to trapse too far with packs.

There's long travel involved though and times you would like to throttle certain fellow travellers.
Since Aleppo of exotic souk and citadel fame we had a bus that decided it wanted to leave an hour early so nearly left without some group members. That one was not a bad bus save a miserably prissy bus 'hostess' who decided to get agitato with us when our passports took too long to get checked over at the Syrian border, then got us embroiled in a cigarette smuggling debacle with Turkish customs - that was a half day of travel, then a 9 am sharp bus this morning, again not too horendous comfort wise but 7 hours long taking us to the town we are now in, tomorrow an 8 am start for another full day travel to Goreme where we spend 2 nights - then a 4 hour bus and a 9 hour train to Istanbul. So plenty of trying moments, long journeys, heat, irritability and tiredness to contend with - but with the right frame of mind the experiences and new horizons are definately still worth it.

I do sometimes think maybe id like to do it in more style these days but then your chances of having to contend with prescious fellow travellers increase dramaticaly the higher up the comfort scale you go.