I do not have a ‘bucket list’ of things I want to do or see before I die.

I do have many books waiting to be read (far too many to list!) and I do keep lists of those books I read each year as I try and reach my target of 50 books per annum.

I have lists of TV series to watch and again of those I have watched. Continue reading →

Remember when it was possible to travel almost at will? To go where we wanted to go and whenever we wanted? Finances and time permitting of course! Continue reading →

Preparations

After spending pretty much all of 2021 in Thailand I returned to the UK in mid December so that I was able to spend Christmas with my wife Sharron and three kids Sarah (36), Lisa (34) and David (32) because ever since Sarah was born in 1984 the three, then four and then five of us had spent every Christmas together.This was in either the UK, Canada or Switzerland and once each in Australia when Lisa was completing her PhD and could not get away, and once in Staunton, Virginia in the USA where Sarah and I had friends. This was just after my mother died and we wanted to go somewhere that had no associations with her to remind us of our loss. Continue reading →

I am sure that you have heard of the expression ‘It never rains but it pours’ (very apt for Thailand!) and as commuters say the world over ‘I waited 20 minutes for a bus and then two came together.’

Why am I mentioning this? Continue reading →

The most famous historic ruins in South East Asia are justifiably the magnificent and extensive ruins of more than three dozen often ornately decorated Temples found amidst the dense jungle at Angkor Wat, near Siem Reap in Cambodia. And as a result Angkor Wat is a heavily visited destination, attracting visitors from all around the world. Indeed when I first visited Angkor Wat in 2006, I was also fortunate enough to visit the Great Pyramids in Egypt and Machu Pichu in Peru, also both for the first time the same year, and it was Angkor Wat that for me was by far the most impressive. Continue reading →

This essay was partly written in August 2020 before a likely relocation to Switzerland and was intended to be an account of my previous 6 months in Thailand as the world faced the challenges of a global pandemic.

As it happened I remained in Pattaya a further two months where I was largely distracted by some work challenges in the UK, and in Thailand until mid December although much of my last seven weeks was spent on three road trips visiting different parts of ‘the Land of Smiles.’ Continue reading →

Coming soon March – April 2021

The famed Golden Triangle is a region of northern Thailand close to Myanmar and Laos.

Like most regions it is not delineated by lines on a map but is an area associated with a way of life or historical events. In a similar manner you will find no lines on a map marking America’s ‘Rust Belt’ or the ‘Midwest’, England’s ‘Wessex’ or the ‘Scottish Highlands’ but everyone knows where they are there because of either a distinct way of life or an association with past events. Continue reading →

Coming soon March – April 2021

My Canadian nephew Daniel recently stayed with me in Mürren Switzerland for 12 nights. It was his fifth visit, as he first stayed with us when he was 9, again at 18 not long before we climbed Kilamanjaro with our daughter Lisa. He returned again when he was 23 and 29. I think we worked out he had spent almost two months in Mürren, although his father and my brother-in-law Wayne has yet to make a visit! Continue reading →