Out & About
Living Rainforest photos
Somethimes a picture really is worth 1000 words, so here is a short photo gallery of shots from our recent visit to the Living Rainforest, near Hampstead Norreys in Berkshire.
Enjoy.
+17Live Jive 2009
It was great to receive an invitation to Kev and Carrie’s annual BBQ at their farm cottage just outside Basingstoke.
Last year’s gig was unfortunately cancelled for various reasons and when I heard it was back on this year, I was chuffed.
By the time I arrived around 2pm there were already a dozen or more tents pitched in the back yard and FuZeD were just tuning up and by the time I had popped the top of a cold beer and greeted a few pals, they were off and rockin!
+46Back in Blighty
Two weeks ago today, in the wee hours of Wednesday the 13th of May, my plane touched down in Heathrow and I set foot back on the soil of Blighty for the first time in almost 6 weeks.
It’s interesting watching how news and current affairs play out around the world. In Bangkok, the news was all about the political unrest and the riots (it’s rather disconcerting to catch a glimpse of the hotel you have just left, between rioters on one side throwing Molotov cocktails and armed soldiers on the other firing rubber bullets.
+17Hong Kong 2009 (Part 2)
Another day comes to an end.
Hong Kong 2009 Photos now available.
Last night’s visit to the Temple St Night Market was a good one. After leaving the Pacific Coffee House, I wandered down to the Market’s edge and found a good seat at my favourite roadside restaurant. The place doesn’t look like much and the cheap plastic tables and stools don’t necessarily get your taste buds into overtime, but the owners cook the best sliced beef and vegetable satay, this side of the Pacific.
I sat in the warm humid afterglow of the afternoon, happily munching on this spicy dish and washing it down with a large chilled bottle of the local Tsing Tsao beer, watching life go by and the stall owners finish setting up for the evening. An hour later I was strolling through the markets, haggling for all I was worth with the stallholders and having a great time into the bargain (no pun intended). 
At the end of Temple St, I watched the many fortune tellers plying their trade and as always, it was interesting to see the range of clientele; from wizened little old Haklo boat ladies to young business executives in their tailor-made silk suits, everyone wanted to know what the future held in store for them. Just around the bend is a place I affectionately refer to as: Karaoke corner/
+24Hong Kong 2009 (Part 1)
Hong Kong 2009 Photos now available.
Anyone who reads this blog (or the Bandanna Club website) – even occasionally – will know that I’ve made a number of visits to Hong Kong. Certainly it’s my favourite stopover whenever I head back down under and I don’t generally miss the chance to stroll down it’s streets and sample the wares of it’s markets
+29Harvest Time
It’s been more than 20 years since I helped with a fruit harvest on my folks’ orchard. Back in those days, when the orchard primarily grew citrus fruit, my folks would hire a handful of staff to help them pick the crop and we would work at a steady pace for weeks, filling bin after bin. I can remember some harvests taking as long as 6-8 weeks to complete.
+18Two Nights in Bangkok
Well here I am, sitting in a Bangkok internet cafe, on the last morning of a flying visit to Thailand, sipping a freshly brewed cup of Jasmine tea and collecting my thoughts…
I arrived yesterday afternoon into a typical late Thai summer day of 40°C with 99% humidity. The roads from Suvarnabhumi Airport to my hotel (the Royal Princess Larn Luang in the old part of the city) were choked with traffic (thank all the Gods for airport limos with air conditioning) and it took about an hour and a half to get to the hotel.
+25