Global Adventures

Photos: Another Year Flies By

dawnnbrian — Sun, 1 Mar 2015 03:48:00 GMT

Another year flies by

dawnnbrian — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 03:40:00 GMT

_{Valentine's Day 2014 @ The Gables in Russell, NZ}

The end of Jan 2014 was our last update and for those who remember it you will be pleased to know that Brian retained the Old Crab Trophy in Russell, against the advice of Dawn who said it wasn't right for the organiser to win two years running. (Brian might be just a bit too competitive to listen to such sillyness).

_{Nearly Old Codger's Quinthalon 2014}

We were sad to leave Russell, NZ at the end of March, but we'd had the warning emails from immigration that Americans weren't allowed in country for more than 3 months. Hopefully when we go to NZ towards the end of this year Dawn will have a British passport and we'll be able to stay for up to 6 months, hooray.

_{Dawn & Cris enjoy one last paddle together in the beautiful Bay of Islands, NZ}

So what did we do with ourselves while in the UK for 9 months? Well, there was lots of work on the new flat in Bath to keep us occupied. This included painting every inch of walls and ceilings, replacing doors and some windows panes, changing light fittings, ripping up the flooring throughout and replacing with tiles or wood, replacing the skirting boards throughout, etc. We did not get obsessed with this work so it kept us busy for the full 9 months we were in UK.

_Before....

_{And after!}

To give us some distraction from building and decorating Brian headed to the golf couse to swear at golf balls and took up table tennis again to try and keep his aging body flexible. Dawn, who hasn't got an aging body, did pilates, some kayaking on the river Avon and volunteer teaching at a start-up school. Both Dawn and Brian also got involved setting up a residents association in the block of flats, plus involvement in a group working to improve the upkeep of living standards in the community.

As usual we can't stay in one place for too long so at the beginning of June we took ourselves off to Wales (don't need a passport!!). Stayed in a nice resort just outside Aberystwyth and did some touring of the area, including Harlech Castle. Also in June we had a visit from Ed, big man from NZ. He was touring Europe and came to UK to attend a Ukulele festival.

_{Barmouth, Wales}

_{Harlech Castle, Wales}

_{Big Ed @ the Cheltenham Ukulele Festival}

Brian (who was not restricted to UK) and his brother David set off on another of their motor bike trips in mid July. This time they went through Belgium, along the Moselle river, down the Rhine, across to Munich, then into Austria where they stopped for a week to tour the valleys and mountains. Then, because of terrible weather they switched the route, missing cold, rainy, Switzerland and went back up Germany to Koblenz, picked up the Moselle again and went back down to Trier. Then they finished the trip visiting some of the towns with memorials for those who died in World War 1. Very sobering, especially as it was at the time of rememberance for 100 years since the start of the war.

_{As high as we got - Edelweissspitz in Austria}

_{Scenic route near Berchtesgaden, Germany}

Having checked how much time Dawn had spent outside UK we decided that she could squeeze a 6 day trip to visit Dick and Gitte in Munich while Brian was playing at being Easy Rider.

Brian had started jogging to achieve one of his bucket list aims of doing a half marathon. As part of the build up he ran in the Lacock 10km on 9th August, finding it surprisingly easy. On 7th September Brian ran in the Chippenham Half Marathon and most definitely did not find it easy, but did manage to run the whole 13.1 mile distance.

We had visitors in Sept. Sonomi from Japan for 5 days, followed by Dominique (daughter from Seattle) who came for 10 days. Both wanted to be tourists in London for a day so they got to see the ceramic poppies at the Tower of London which were "planted" to commemorate the nearly 900,000 British servicemen who lost their lives in World War 1.

In October we had the pleasure of attending the Christening of our second Granddaughter, Beatrice. who is a sister to Esmee.

_{Eloise with Esmee, Katrina with Beatrice}

November saw Brian getting itchy travel feet again so he used the excuse of his brother's 70th birthday to take him and his wife Bridget to Spain, where a great time was had by all (except Dawn of course who was stuck in UK meeting the requirements to become a British Citizen). In July Dawn passed the Life in the UK test and has been granted residency so now we're in the final stretch and hopefully Dawn will have a British passport by the end of 2015.

December saw us enjoying the lead up to Christmas, going dancing and to the Pantomine (Cinderella). It was all great fun and gave us a taste of Christmas in the UK before we left on 19th December for our next epic journey, going to Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, Montana (Dawn only), Maui, Back to Seattle, Iceland and Finland. A great adventure that I will cover in the next blog within the next few months.

Photos: Feb 13 to Feb 14

dawnnbrian — Wed, 5 Feb 2014 14:29:00 GMT

UK to NZ

Dawn and Brian still travelling UK, Spain and NZ

dawnnbrian — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 16:22:00 GMT

Hello family and friends. It's been a year since we last did a blog update. By our standard things have calmed down a bit, hence nothing for a year. We're probably 18 to 20 months away from Dawn becoming a British Citizen, she still has to take the exam to show that she speaks and understands English and knows the answers to some difficult questions about the UK (glad it's not me). This means another 9 month stint in UK from when we return from NZ at the end of March. But what did we do in UK for 9 months before leaving for the worst of the winter???

In March 2013 we moved into the flat in Marshfield, a fairly typical old English village, and Dawn looked at ways to integrate into this very unique society. Having ruled out the Women's Institute with knitting on Wed mornings (members a bit ancient) and the Church (not something we do) it left the 3 pubs, each having their own clique. Not ones for pubbing every night we settled on Sunday lunchtime, not best for social gatherings. So Pilates and Yoga became Dawn's main activity in the village. Brian escaped to golf.

We soon needed a break from such a frantic lifestyle so we slipped out of the village and went to Cornwall. Rugged coastline!

When we got back it wasn't long before the Bath Music Festival started. Dick and Gitte visited for a week and some friends from USA dropped in for an overnight stay. Their stay co-insided with the great Georgie Fame playing at the Spiegel Tent for one night, supported by his two sons. Everyone declared it a success. (Hands up those who have not heard of Georgie, Yeah Yeah??).

We also had a trip along the Kennet and Avon canal with Dick and Gitte.

Summer came and went, a nice one:). We fitted in a trip up to Aviemore, Scotland in Sept, stopping at Chester on the way up. Chester is now one of our favourite English towns. When in Scotland we toured some lakes, walked up some mountains and through some forests and found a great pub that had live music.

Of course, we went to see Nessie while we were there.

Sue and Dave visited in Oct so we fitted in a trip down Devon, golfing for Brian and Dave; sight seeing and gossiping for Dawn and Sue. Dave learned that in links golf it can be sunny, still and warm one day, horizontal rain, high winds and cold the next. Not sure if Dave has the desire to experience links golf again. We all went to Tintagel, where the legend of King Arthur comes from.

By now Dawn was spending more and more time in Bath, a city she truly loves, along with most other people who have been.

Consequently some discussion on what we want from life (English village vs vibrant Bath) led us to start looking for a flat in Bath. Once we got over the shock at the prices and one false start when the Estate Agent messed up, we found a place that was affordable and close to the centre of town. It was also in one of Bath's famous Crescents (Norfolk), of which there are four.

By this time it was getting close to Christmas and our time of departure for NZ, but we like a challenge so we decided to get the Kitchen and Bathroom competely ripped out and replaced before we moved in. Ha, ha you might think and you'd be right.

We managed to get most of the kitchen fitted and importantly one sink and the toilet connected the day before we moved in. By this time we were frazzled and stressed so we closed the door, gave the builder the key and disappeared off to the sun in Lanzarote for a week.

Most of the work on the bathroom and kitchen in the flat is now done, they worked while we were away and we now have shower etc. Still lots to do decorating, but we will have oodles of time when we get back.

Arriving in NZ was a relief and life has been fun since we got here. Weather fabulous, kayaking great, golf frustrating (but it's such a beautiful course), street theatre invigorating, community life refreshing and friends kind.

Brian started the second year of Nearly Old Codgers Quintathlon on the 3rd Feb with a third more entrants, defending the Old Crab Trophy he won last year. We're also looking forward to some friends visiting during Feb and March.

We still spend lots of time chatting about what to do with the rest of our lives, then revert to just enjoying the now. But plans must be made so we'll talk some more over a glass of wine on the balcony watching the sun go down. As ever, love to receive comments from our readers, but no cussing from those in UK (we see the weather reports).

Brian and Dawn

Photos: USA to UK via Jordan/Munich/Vienna

dawnnbrian — Sat, 2 Feb 2013 18:35:00 GMT

Travel

Seattle to UK

dawnnbrian — Sat, 2 Feb 2013 15:17:00 GMT

Hello readers. Long time no write, not really got any reasonable explanation either... Anyway, better late than never (at least I hope that's true). We left Seattle after our Road Trip, flying to Jordan with a little bit of apprehension because of the troubles in the neighbouring country of Syria. Luckily, our slight concerns were unfounded and the country was peaceful and the people kind and friendly. It's strange to us that although you constantly read about troubles all over the world, every place we visit the people are kind, warmhearted and friendly. If only we could easily dispense with the 1% who seem to be the trouble makers, what a wonderful and diverse world it would be. Wishful thinking I know:)

We landed in Amman and picked up our hire car. It's a bustling town with poor road signs and as a result we saw a lot of the town before we even got to our hotel!! Having seen most of Amman on arrival we spent the second day in the spectacular old Roman town of Jerash where you can wander without being hassled and see artifacts and buildings dating back to the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. Plazas, baths and colonnaded streets have been impressively restored.

We left Amman to do the trip to the Dead Sea, stopping in on Mount Nebu and the tomb of Moses. The drive from there down to the Dead Sea was gorgeous, with no turn-offs, so having found the road after a few false starts even we couldn't get lost. The Dead Sea is one of those places that should be on peoples bucket list. It's the lowest point on earth at 394m (1293ft) below sea level. It has no outlet and the constant salt content of 30% makes it impossible to sink. Great for non-swimmer Brian. The mud is healing so you just pick it up and slap it all over, as demonstrated to us by a group of rather large and very friendly Russian women.

Next stop was the Crusader Fort Oculus in Karak. For once we used a guide to make it easier to understand the complexities of the structure. Unfortuately he was a touchy/feelly arab, but he excluded Brian, who's job became standing between the guide and Dawn.... Fascinating buiding though, so advanced in kitchen, water flow and use of light.

Petra next. Wow, a historical site of carved structures built into the rock, including soaring temples, elaborate royal tombs, a carved Roman Theatre (seating 3000), large and small houses (some still lived in), burial chambers, banquet halls, water channels and paved streets. Impossble to see the whole site in one day, but well worth the sore feet....

Back to Amman the direct route, picking up a couple of Jordanian hitchhikers on the way. An expected thing to do if you see people at the side of the road. Lanquage was a bit of a problem, but we managed to understand they wanted us to come to their house for tea as a thankyou. Experiences like that you can't buy, an amazing couple who were proud to welcome us into their simple home and show us how to make tea and coffee the Jordanian way. A lovely end to a wonderful trip, Jordan is recommended (but maybe after the ever growing troubles in Syria are over).

A stop-over with Dick and Gitte in Munich for a couple of weeks when we got the opportunity to join family and friends in seeing their son Ben perform his final classical guitar piece at the University in Vienna to achieve his Honours Degree. We stayed a couple of days in the beautiful city of Vienna.

We arrived in UK to start the process of getting Dawn British Citizenship. Which means 9 months in UK and 3 months in NZ for the next three years. We're currently avoiding the British Winter and are luxuriating in the sunshine in NZ. Unfortunately, it means our world travel adventures have stopped for a while and it could be boring writing a blog purely about travelling direct between UK and NZ. Dawn will probably place particular highlights we have on Facebook or some other outlet. Meantime, I'll sign off for awhile and start again when we are free to once more travel extensively. If any of our readers want to take the opportunity to visit us (NZ during Jan/Feb/Mar and UK for the rest of the year) you would be most, most welcome. One last photo of us in the sunshine, ahhhhh.

Keep smiling and please remember to look at the other photos from the link above (if you want to that is....).

Brian and Dawn

Photos: NZ to USA

dawnnbrian — Mon, 2 Jul 2012 21:46:00 GMT

NZ to USA

dawnnbrian — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 07:34:00 GMT

Hello all.

Seems a long time since I wrote an update of our adventures, but you'll be pleased to know that life continues to be an adventure for us, at least for a few more days, after which we'll be spending less time travelling and more of our time in UK.

We got safely to our home in Russell, Bay of Islands in November and slotted back into living a restful, peaceful, happy life for a few months.

Highlights there included Brian's Birthday:

Brian achieving a golf handicap of 16 (for a brief shinning moment!):

Dawn getting a kayak and bonding with dolphins a couple of times:

our debut in historical Russell street theatre (Dawn as a Strumpet and Brian as a Drunken Sailor who got into a brawl!

And a visit from Dawn's mom Carole:

A setback to our plan of NZ residency because of changing foreign teacher requirements was a blow, but we decided that plan B, Dawn applying for UK citizenship was not a bad option.

Investigations into that process showed that UK government planned to introduce a change to their rules from 1st April which would mean the time to be in UK to achieve Citizenship would be extended from 3 to 6 years. YIKES! A hasty plan was put in place where Dawn flew to Hawaii to make her application before 1 April. Some hiccups were overcome, not necessarily to our satisfaction, but Dawn now has her visa allowing us to start the process of Dawn becoming a British Citizen. This should take 3 to 4 years (including Dawn pledging allegiance to the Queen) from when we arrive in UK on 8th July.

For the first 5 weeks while Dawn was making the application from Maui, Brian stayed in NZ looking after house, garden and golf club. Dawn spent a lot of time somehow hanging out at Duke's (a beach bar) with dad John,

former KOMO colleague Shirley E.

and former sweet student Erinn Z. Whats up with all these Seattle folks on Maui?

We eventually met up again in Seattle at end of April after what seemed like ages apart (although you may think one of us being on Maui while the other was in Bay of Islands was not too much of a hardship:)

Because this is our last round the world trip for a few years (while we go through the British Citizenship process) Dawn thought it would be nice to do a road trip around the American North West, so on 9th May we set off on yet another adventure, starting with a week in Portland with 'Uncle Dave and Aunt Terry'(where Brian did some serious bonding with Nitro the fun dog),

and a visit to 'Cousins' Paul & Christine, where we helped celebrate her, ahem, BIG birthday along with other family and friends.

A visit to "Portland Underground" the 10th most haunted place in USA, was a creepy,but interesting place, where Dawn felt a ghostly chill up her back (not from Brian on this occasion)! Luckily Uncle Dave also took us on some great walks through the woods and the town:)

Then we headed for Park City, Utah for our 3rd Wedding Anniversary celebrations.

While hiking, Brian had his first encounter with a moose (big, big animals).

Jackson Springs was next for a chilly float down the Snake River in the Tetons Mountains

and a visit to the annual antler market (yes you read that correctly), where they sell naturally shed antlers found in the local woods.

We then drove through the South Entrance of Yellowstone Park to be met with 8 foot high banks of snow

and frozen lakes. We saw Old Faithful blow and lots of coloured hot water pools before leaving to stay one night outside the West Entrance.

Back in though West Entrance and across park seeing Buffalo with their young, spurting mud pits and the impressive Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Out the East Entrance to stay in Cody (Buffalo Bill's hometown) where Brian embraced his inner Cowboy with a hat (wearing) and steak (eating) that was supreme, reminding Brian why he can never be a veggie.

Then went on the Chief Joseph Highway through beautiful mountains

to stay the night in Cooke City, where we were told a Grizzly was seen in our hotel car park the morning we were there (missed it by sleeping in, shame as one of our hopes was to see a bear!!). Back into Yellowstone through NE Entrance, more buffalo, moose and deer, but those darn bears were elusive. We did the trip round Mammouth Springs, more bubbling mud and water, before leaving Yellowstone through the North Entrance.

Having now been in the states of Washington, Oregan, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Montana we were feeling proud of ourselves (except for not seeing a bear in Yellowstone) and headed for the town of Hot Springs, MO. A unique place to say the least and it does have great value spa baths open to the public at $5 a day.

Why did we stay there, you may well ask? The reason is one of the best friends we could ever have, Bart, has decided to buy a holiday house in this anything but ordinary town.

The hiking is great, we went up in the mountains on paths that nobody seemed to hike on and came across a black bear with cub, who luckily scampered away rather than towards us... No time for photo, but the sight is etched in our memories.

What made the town especially unique for us were the wonderful people. It seemed every one of them believed in the upcoming Rapture/Shift in Consciousness/Polar shift, etc. on 21st December and had found their way to Hot Springs because it is in a vortex and, we assume, therefore protected. Brian bonded well with one set of guys who seemed to want to spend the time up to the Rapture in a state of rapture (if you get my meaning, wink, wink). We left even though the locals were keen that we stayed, or at least promised to return before the 21st Dec.

Next we went to Lakeside, Montana to stay with Bart and his very hospitable parents at their real log cabin house which had a wood heated sauna, so, so hot, phew, but great! From there we day tripped to Whitefish, quaint, and Glacier National Park, wonderfully tranquil.

We woke up to deer in the garden on the day we left Lakeside for Usk, Washington, an even smaller town than Hot Springs where 'Uncle Dick & Aunt Carole' have a house on the Pend d'Oreille River.

Dawn had the opportunity to go Kayaking with a fit 88 year old man, which she accepted and certainly did not have to keep waiting for him to catch up.

After Usk we crossed the border into Canada at Oroville and went along route 5 towards Vancouver. What a beautiful road and guess what - we had a close encounter with a big black bear which was grazing 10 foot off the side of the road. Wow, had time for a photo, but not with the window wound down, far too close......

Arrived in Vancouver to stay with more good friends, Sue & Dave. Brian played golf poorly with Dave, while Dawn & Sue drank wine coolers in the hot-tub on the deck. (Now who had the better deal here?) We got taken to a 1 hour spin class (believe us, it's not easy peasy pedaling - thanks Sue), shattered we were, but we still had a great time during our stay.

Reluctantly we left for Seattle with the feeling that our road trip was already over. After a few days with Dominique and lighting quick visits to various other friends and relatives: Rita,Claire,Susan C.,Jeff,Erinn,Dawn & Chuck,Sue L.,Jill & Jeremy,Brandon & Nicky,Craig & Penny, and the infamous Mr. Fortillini and his lovely wife Sharon:

we flew off to Jordan for another GREAT adventure which will be covered by the next blog.

Photos: Next 22 days in Nepal + HK and Vietnam

dawnnbrian — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:29:00 GMT

Next 22 days in Nepal + HK and Vietnam

dawnnbrian — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:31:00 GMT

After the first few days at Harihar school we settled into a comfortable routine of arriving each day around 10am and working (or playing in Brian's case) with the children. Although they have very little (in some cases a family cannot even afford pencils or pens), the children are cheerful, fun, polite, intelligent, smart, desperate to learn and absolutely adorable.

When you take into account that the classrooms have no windows or doors, the

blackboards are splintered wrecks and the desks would not even qualify for firewood in most western schools, you have to admire the teachers and children for their dedication to schooling.

Brian spent most of his time either teaching them new games (like Hopscotch, Simon Says and the English version of Hokey Pokey) or playing cricket, football or any other game they wanted to play. He did turn his hand to teaching a couple of times, which resulted in a comment of "natural teacher" from Dawn.

(Brian remembers enough Cricket to bowl)

Dawn taught the children, had a session with the teachers explaining the latest thinking on teaching practises and organised the library (quite a task that was!).

We also did some things to benefit the school; buying supplies for the stationary cupboard and arranging for some building work to be finished which would give the school a room big enough to accommodate all the children, which had the benefit of windows and doors.

(Brian helps carry one of the SOLID WOOD doors up the hill to the school)

Uday, the Principal of the school, is an inspiration. To guard the school, he, his wife and their two fantastic children sleep/live in one room of the building. A second room is for cooking and eating. Their 'bathroom' is the school squat toilet and a cold water tap outside on the school grounds. Yet he is one of the happiest men I have ever met.

But I could fill a page on the traumas he's suffered in protecting his school, including being attacked with machetes by people trying to steal the school money. He believed he was going to die before he could reach the local hospital. His brother and other villagers carried him through the village, across a valley on a suspension bridge and 3 miles to the nearest hospital. As a reminder of this ordeal, his body is covered with vivid scars.

Because educating girls (which has only recently become accepted in Nepal) is critical to getting rid of illiteracy, he encourages families to send girls to his school and currently has more girls than boys.

(Uday, Dawn and some of the girls)

The large room project was successfully completed the day before we left and on our final day we were asked to arrive a 10am as usual. What a blast the day turned out to be! Some of the children were so excited they walked the 4 kms to school arriving at 6am, waking up the Principal so they could start decorating and practising their dance routines. When we arrived there was much activity.

(The new room all finished and ready for a party)

We were taken to the new room, given flowers and asked to sit in chairs. Before the entertainment started Uday said we were to be honoured with a Tika (the red dot on the forehead). Trouble was every child wanted to give us a Tika so our "dots" became "full face".

(Extreme Tikas!)

The children danced for us,

we were presented with more gifts and flowers,

(Uday presents us with a beautiful carved photo frame)

then we all danced.

(Best school party of the year!)

That colourful new room (pink was the children's favourite colour) was well and truly christened. It was a wonderful day, ending with happy sadness and lots of love from the children, with requests that we do not forget them.

(Brian's angels)

During the weekend when the school was closed we did a trek, with guide (well we were in Nepal!!). Avoiding the popular tourist treks we walked up (2 days) and down (1 day) the mountain Panchase (at 2500 mtrs a mere hill in Nepal). On the way up we stayed in a mountain village and met an English Twitcher.

(Leech country!)

He advised us to watch out for leeches as it had been raining. Our guide didn't seem too concerned, but Brian decided to glance down occasionally. After walking through some dense grass Brian stopped and glanced down and had the illusion that his shoes were still moving. He told Dawn, who looked down and squealed.

Our shoes were covered with leeches all looking for a way to reach bare skin. They were in the shoe eye-lets and between the laces. Some had made the top of the shoe and were heading in. Others were making the longer trek up the socks. Having cleaned them all off our treking experience became more looking down than up, at least until we reached an altitude the leeches did not seem to like.

(On the more basic end of tea-house trekking)

At the top of the mountain we stayed in very basic accommodation in temple grounds that had only in the last few months been opened to the public. We ate in the kitchen, along with some workers who were improving the facilities for future guests.

(Fire in the middle of the kitchen floor makes for a SMOKEY evening)

The caretaker cooked for all 7 people on an open fire old clay cooker. The room was warmed by a pit fire in the centre of the room. The food was delicious and we discovered our grumpy guide liked his local liquor, becoming very happy and chatty.

(Traditional Nepali Kitchen at our guest house)

The walk down, in one day, was challenging. Neither of us realised there were so many different ways of taking steps to try and avoid the discomfort (Englishman's word for agony)in our knees. The steps were also very slippery, which helped us understand why so many tourists were on crutches in the local town. Although a beautiful walk,

(Hmmm, leeches or downhill steps...which is worse...)

we were both relieved to get to the bottom. So much so, that we let the first bus go without us so we could celebrate our achievement with a beer or two. Catching the next bus, we off-roaded for an hour into town, with a bus full of smiling locals who shared their snacks with us.

After Nepal we spent a couple of days in Hong Kong where we experienced "Dialogue in the Dark". This is an experience in total darkness where, led by blind guides and trainers, one learns to interact and communicate by relying on other senses. It is well worth a visit if there is one near you www.dialogue-in-the-dark.com.

Vietnam was next. What a wonderful country with warm friendly people! We stayed with Tamara (our London wedding photographer) in vibrant Hanoi. And on a peaceful island in Halong Bay.

(All we needed was Somebody yelling 'The Plane, The Plane' to make us feel like we were on Fantasy Island)

A six hour boat trip with kayaking through caves into secluded lagoons was magical.

Well, that's about it. Sorry it's a bit long this time, but lot's happened. Wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a creative and successful 2012.

Brian and Dawn

Photos: First 8 Days in Nepal

dawnnbrian — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:53:00 GMT

First 8 Days in Nepal

dawnnbrian — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:49:00 GMT

We arrived, excited and cautious, in Nepal on 5^th Oct, the place where Dawn has wanted to visit for the last 10 years. Brian had little idea of what to expect, except that he had been to India on a number of occasions and thought it would be similar.

Kathmandu for us (what exotic images the name of the town evokes in the mind of many) started with the airport, where we were met by a taxi organised by the hotel. Our luggage went from us to the driver to a 'gaggle' of porters who trooped along with us to the waiting car. About 6 stood by and watched as the youngest, who had absolutely no spatial awareness, tried with brute force and ignorance to cram our suitcases into the car. After slamming the boot lid down on the cases about 10 times he seemed to realise it wouldn't shut. He then started banging the cases with his hands to try and force them into the available space. To avoid us having to watch any further systematic demolition of our cases we were ushered to the side of the car, where the oldest porter came and demanded $10 because they had needed such a big team to deal with our luggage. Brian was not impressed and gave him an appropriate amount. Somehow the driver got it sorted and we were off.

Now, if you like off-roading, Kathmandu is the place for you. The majority, and I mean majority, of the roads are potholed nightmares and the trick seems to be to miss the biggest holes by swerving. What makes it interesting is that you are then in the path of oncoming buses, lorries, cars and motorbikes that have no intention of giving way. Added to this are the pedestrians, cyclists, hand cart traders, buffalo, cows and dogs that wander along in the road. The lunatics with the loudest horns seem to prevail, except for the buffalo and cows which seem to have right of way.

Arriving at the hotel was a blessing, especially sitting in the courtyard for a few calming beers. Some knowledgeable people that we met during our stay told us that about 10 years ago Kathmandu had character and charm. The influx of cars and motorbikes, with no money spent on infrastructure, has stolen any character and charm it had. Pollution, dust and noise are now the most notable memories of our visit to Kathmandu.

The few things on the plus side are that living is still cheap (even at the inflated visitor prices), there are some very good restaurants,

the architecture is sometimes breathtaking (even if crumbling)

and traders do not hassle you too much. But the most telling fact is probably that we were booked to stay in the 'exotic' city of Kathmandu for seven days, but left for Pokhara after only five.

After more adventures at the Kathmandu domestic terminal (but we had learned, so took little luggage, ignored porters and Brian just pushed his way to the front looking important), we arrived in the city of Pokhara. What a contrast..........., tarmacked road all the way to the hotel, much less traffic and a calm, cleaner and less frenetic feel. We both had a strong feeling that we had found the Nepal we had hoped for and so it turned out. People were friendly, polite and welcoming, the scenery (Pokhara is on the side of a lake) was wonderful and that evening as the sun went down the Anapurna mountain range was bathed in light providing a breathtaking scene.

The main reason for coming to Nepal was to visit the school that Dawn had been in contact with over the last 10 years. It was based in the village of Bhalam, just outside of Pokhara, but to get to it you had to cross a ravine by long suspension bridge, which made the village isolated.

Dawn contacted the Principal and he asked us to visit the school the following day at about 10am. We got a taxi to the drop off point for the suspension bridge and crossed into a different world of clean narrow footpaths and no traffic. Polite, gentle people and poverty in a village that had an atmosphere of acceptance and contentment. Nice people just getting on with their lives.

Our arrival at the school was greeted by enthusiastic children ranging from ages 4 to 14. We got deluged with garlands from smiling, happy and adorable children who all started asking questions, mainly about where we came from/lived. We got introduced to the teachers and shown round the school.

Uday, the Principal, explained the children/teachers were officially on holiday, but with the exception of those who were away visiting family, the children and teachers wanted the school opened for our visit. About 2/3s of the teachers and pupils were in attendance and they were going to do revision (with Dawn) and play (with Brian). At lunchtime we were taken to Uday's mother's house where she had prepared a traditional lunch, cooked on the clay fire oven which has been used for the last 80 years. We then sat on the porch and chatted with the family. People with so little being so content with life gives you pause for thought.

Next instalment in the Nepal saga will cover our trek and the rest of our time at the school.

Very warm wishes

Brian and Dawn

Photos: 4th Year of Travel Begins!

dawnnbrian — Sun, 2 Oct 2011 21:53:00 GMT

Starting the 4th Around the World Trip!

dawnnbrian — Sun, 2 Oct 2011 13:25:00 GMT

Hello everyone. Year 4 of travel adventures has started. Guess this is getting to be a habit! If you're on the ball you will have noticed this is a different blog site. Dawn decided that this one was easier for transferring photos. Let us know if you don't find it as user friendly as our previous blog site. Also, be sure to check out the photo gallery for each blog along the way!

After a lazy summer in Spain, with an assortment of guests who got taken to the usual places, including our favourites of Ronda and Istan (you've already seen enough photos of those!!), we met up with Dawn's Uncle Dick & Aunt Gitte in Cork where we spent a week and half traveling around Co. Cork, sleeping in a real castle in Castletownshend, and Co. Kerry where we stayed in Killarney.

Castle where we stayed in Castletownshend. In the village there was also a great pub/restaurant where we discovered Smithwicks beer, which became our choice for the time in Ireland (just couldn't get used to the heaviness of Guinness).

For the final 11 days we stayed in the lovely town of Dingle, where we met up with Brian's brother David and sister-in-law Bridget who had travelled out for a week to join us. Dingle has a lot to offer and we had a fantastic time learning about Irish Trad music, Irish pubs, leprechauns and other mystical things with Bridget's brother, sister and other relatives who live in Dingle. The other thing about Southern Ireland is the beauty of the area. We both agreed that it matched Bay of Islands and that's saying something.....

After Ireland we had a couple more weeks in Spain before going off to UK for the most exciting event of the year. Brian got to walk daughter Eloise down the wedding aisle on September 24th! It was a glorious day, with the wedding taking place in a small 14th Century church just outside of Bath. As you can see Eloise looked stunning and Brian just beamed with pride and nerves... Everybody had a wonderful time at the reception and party that followed in a local hotel. A lot of sore heads the next morning and for some even the traditional cure of a full English breakfast couldn't produce it's usual miracle cure.

This blog's a little late being issued, so we're now into leg 1 of the 2011-12 trip. First stop was a 6 hour lay-over in Delhi. Hmmm. Luckily they have a new terminal so it wasn't too bad. Then onto Nepal for 30 days, which includes a trip to Pokhara to work and support a local school! That will be the next blog, coming soon......... (I hope).

Cheers to everybody!

Dawn & Brian

Global Adventures

Photos: Another Year Flies By

Another year flies by

Photos: Feb 13 to Feb 14

Dawn and Brian still travelling UK, Spain and NZ

Photos: USA to UK via Jordan/Munich/Vienna

Seattle to UK

Photos: NZ to USA

NZ to USA

Photos: Next 22 days in Nepal + HK and Vietnam

Next 22 days in Nepal + HK and Vietnam

Photos: First 8 Days in Nepal

First 8 Days in Nepal

Photos: 4th Year of Travel Begins!

Starting the *4th* Around the World Trip!

Starting the 4th Around the World Trip!