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Home...to Heathrow

This pair could have been me.  I arrived back at Heathrow on Friday morning, knowing that terminal five was open, but also knowing that I wouldn't be using it.  I'd had an e-mail from BA a few days earlier drawing my attention to the fact that despite the opening of the new terminal my flight would still come in to terminal four.  I remember being quite disappointed at the time because I quite relished the chance to see the new state of the art facility.  Imagine my disappointment now.

 

The smiles and smells of Bangkok

This six-month trip began in New York, the city that never sleeps; it's ending in one where I doubt if anyone's ever thought of even turning off the lights.  It's not often that I feel overwhelmed by my urban surroundings, but a first taste of Bangkok can be thoroughly bewildering.  No pavement is easy to walk along, no road is anything other than perilous to cross, no stall can be passed without an alleged bargain being offered.  It's a city where breathing in is an experience; wonderful smells mix with less than wonderful ones, and every gasp is diluted by the taste of the city's relentless traffic.

How Malaysians have taken Formula One to their hearts

OK, it's hardly the frenzy of the Rose & Crown during an England penalty shoot-out, but be in no doubt this crowd of local enthusiasts in a bar near my Penang hotel wouldn't have missed coverage of their home Formula One race for the world.  I've just watched the tenth Malaysian grand prix alongside them, and it brought to an end several days of build-up on television and in the newspapers which showed just how much people here love the event, and celebrate the fact that it puts Malaysia on the sporting map.

On the train into Malaysia and beyond

Can there be a four-word phrase in the English language which causes the heart to sink more quickly than 'rail replacement bus service'?  I suppose when the dreaded announcement happens somewhere just outside East Croydon it lacks the exotic qualities of Malaysia, but the impact is broadly the same - delay and confusion.   I'm two thirds into a train journey from Singapore to Bangkok, and so far it's not been the travel 'event' I hoped it would be.  The first leg - to Kuala Lumpur -  transferred to a bus because of a derailed goods train further up the line (this photo shows the scene at Gemas station where we all had to get off), and the second leg - to Penang - was delayed by two and a half hours.  I wonder what the overnight bunk to Bangkok will bring?!

Singapore; so spick and span

Singapore looks like a city that is dusted and vacuumed early every morning.  Walking around its streets reminds me of the feeling you get when you visit a friend's home for the first time and you're immediately wowed by the immaculate decor.  You can appreciate the fact that everything matches, the fact that the place is exceptionally clean and tidy, but you can't imagine coming home of an evening with a takeaway tucked under your arm and eating it with your feet up on the sofa. 

Bali, a sarong, and a chance to think about heading home

Bali has provided me with a chance to wear a sarong for the first time in my life, and to look ahead to my homecoming and an end to all this indulgence.   The sarong was a brief experience, brought about by the fact that some temples won't allow visitors to enter without one.  I was loaned this shiny turquoise number with pink trim, and walked around the beautiful Batwan temple as part of a day tour to the town of Ubud on Wednesday.   I think David Beckham carried off this particular fashion statement rather more convincingly than I did, but the temple was certainly worth it.

'Visit Indonesia Year 2008' in Bali

I love the clash of the spiritual and the commercial in Bali.  This photograph was taken amidst a beautiful array of temple buildings in Kuta; the setting was peaceful and there was a hint of incense in the air.  Look closely over my right shoulder and you'll see a low red roof, under which all manner of merchandise was on sale.  Look even more closely and you'll see a Michael Carrick Manchester United shirt on offer.   In the southern part of the island, by far the most populated part, temples and shops are simply all squeezed in together.

Farewell New Zealand

New Zealand was summed up for me by a friend I had dinner with a few nights ago.  'Without doubt,' she said, 'this is the most stunning country I've ever visited'.   Twenty-one days away from the end of my six-month career break - not that I'm anxiously counting the days or anything - I am due to head on to pastures new on Sunday.  To Bali for a week, then Singapore, Malaysia and eventually Bangkok. 

Milford Sound: worth a visit even on a grey day

I've received a lot of well-intentioned advice about places I simply must see while I'm in New Zealand, and I think everyone has mentioned Milford Sound.  It's not just the heady mix of soaring cliffs and tranquil waters that makes it a 'must see', but the journey there from Queenstown is almost as special.  My visit coincided with mainly grey skies, gusty winds and an almighty shower, but it's the sort of place where bad weather doesn't seem to matter.  After all it is in fjordland, on the south-western coast of the south island, and the surrounding countryside is green for a good reason.

Kawarau Bridge, Queenstown, where commercial bungy jumping began

It was back in 1988 that Henry van Asch and AJ Hackett decided there was money to be made out of people wanting to throw themselves off bridges while connected to a piece of extra-strong elastic...and commercial bungy jumping was born.   Since then this bridge has become a world-famous site for the activity.  As someone whose only skiing holiday was forever tarnished by the height of the chairlift, and for whom the cable car across to Sugar Loaf mountain seemed to last two and half hours rather than two and a half minutes, I'm not best placed to comment on the attractions of actually doing it.  But it does make pretty good viewing.

Walking across the Fox Glacier

Ever since I failed to make it to El Calafete in southern Argentina I was determined to see a glacier before this trip was out.  Clearly Australia was unlikely to deliver; indeed if it had I'd have made it onto the Times front page rather than here, and would also have provided unmeasurable succour to the 'climate change is just a myth' lobby.  But no.  I've waited until the New Zealand South Island, where I not only saw one close up but walked on it too.

Christchurch: home from home

Yes, you can go punting in Christchurch city centre.  On the River Avon.  Which is bordered by Oxford Crescent on one side and Cambridge Crescent on the other.  And the man holding the punting pole wears Edwardian costume.  You will detect a trend here.  I've heard one or two slightly sniffy comments about Christchurch since arriving in New Zealand, and most of them came from people who love their country and perhaps have doubts about a city that so blatantly reminds visitors of another one.  That's not to say that Christchurch isn't beautiful - the Botanic Gardens in particular are a delight - but it is very very British. 

To the South Island via Napier and Wellington

As ferry journeys go the one between New Zealand's north and south islands takes a bit of beating.  For the first three quarters of an hour there are the views of Wellington harbour to enjoy, then just as the stretch across the Cook Strait begins to drag, land is spotted and the last hour of the voyage is spent marvelling at the jagged, heavily forested islands of Marlborough Sound before docking in Picton.  I confess I have just made the crossing on the calmest of days - the Cook Strait can get lively, I'm told - but even if there was a bit of a swell, with accompanying stomach problems, I doubt if the trip would be seen by many as a bad experience. 

The steam and bubbles of Rotorua

Now look carefully to my right.  Yes, that's steam gently rising from the stream alongside me, but photographically this is a quiet start to the wonders served up by Rotorua.  I've spent much of the day wondering how people function here if they happen to be building insurers...or mortgage providers.  "Yes, Mrs. X we'll gladly give you a loan to buy no. 52....you say it's got a hole in the garden with steam coming out of it?....don't worry, that won't be a problem".  No wonder the Halifax hasn't got a branch here.  Or Northern Rock.

Rangitoto Island: a youthful 600 years old

We've all had those moments when we look out of the window in the morning and think that something's changed.  We can't quite decide what it is, but we know there's been a subtle alteration to the view we enjoyed the previous evening.  Imagine, then, how those living on Auckland's North Shore must have felt when they looked east one morning in the early part of the 15th century and a new island had appeared.  It's called Rangitoto, and a half-hour ferry journey took me there yesterday.

New Zealand's new sporting hero

Ten days ago the former New Zealand wicketkeeper, Adam Parore, wrote that this man was too fat to play for his country.  He put it as bluntly as that.  But in the space of four games fans of the 'Black Caps' seem to have taken Jesse Ryder to their hearts, and yesterday you could see why. 

Security in NZ: how refreshing when it's not top of the political agenda

If you were to glance at these headlines and then guess which part of the world they came from I doubt you'd say New Zealand.  It's perhaps an indication of the level of surprise felt around this country at Friday's bizarre incident on a tiny plane flying between Blenheim and Christchurch when a woman attacked both pilots with a knife and told them there was a bomb on board (BBC online coverage) .  Thankfully the incident ended with no-one seriously injured and the woman arrested, but now questions are being asked about security on domestic flights here.  As it stands passengers are not routinely subject to security checks on smaller short-haul flights, and neither is their luggage.

New Zealand's national day

I arrived in Wellington yesterday, and was immediately won over by what I'd call a cute capital city.  Small, yes, but perfectly formed around the beautiful harbour, and a place where I'm looking forward to spending a few days.  This photograph was taken outside the parliament building, a place where no work was going on yesterday because February 6th is a public holiday in New Zealand.  In 1840 on that day the Treaty of Waitangi was signed - the document that set out to make one nation out of two peoples.

So what is the world's best city view?

The trouble with raving about Sydney having one of the best urban views in the world, as I did in an earlier blog, is that you can't be sure it isn't going to be outdone.  Now I don't think Auckland quite beats it, but it pushes it pretty close, and where New Zealand's biggest city scores heavily is in its proliferation of extinct volcanoes which offer any number of different perspectives on its skyline and the surrounding shores and islands.  This photograph is taken from Mount Victoria in Devonport, just across the harbour from the main city (12 minutes on the ferry), but I could have clambered up any one of forty-eight volcanoes - according to my guidebook - and reached eagerly for my camera. 

Auckland at the start of five weeks in NZ

I remember an Air New Zealand steward telling me an overused joke a few years ago; namely that as international flights came into land an announcement used to be made about the time difference.  "Ladies and gentlemen, you're about to land in New Zealand so please adjust your watches, and turn them back thirty years".  It didn't have much basis in fact then, and it certainly doesn't now.   Quite apart from being stunning to look at, Auckland is buzzing in the evenings, multicultural all day long, and - like most major international centres - has a little bit of edge to it to keep visitors like me on our toes.