After visiting New York, Toronto was bliss. The food was affordable, the metro navigable and the place names familiarly British. From York University to Don Valley Trail, it was clearly Yorkshire folk who settled in the area. We arrived on […]
Xiahe, not quite Tibet
After looking at prices and travel times for the trip to Urumqi, plus how few unreserved spaces remained due to us travelling during Golden Week (the 7 day period that encompasses October 1st, the founding of the Peoples Republic of […]
Hokkaido: the north island
Japan consists of four main islands: Honshu (the largest containing Tokyo), Kyushu (the westernmost closest to South Korea), Shikuko (the smallest and most rural underneath Honshu) and finally Hokkaido in the north. From this northern island it is possible to […]
All too brief stop in the Japanese Alps
Ever since watching ‘Joanna Lumley’s Japan’ a couple of years ago, I have wanted to walk on the Nakasendo Way. This is one of the main roads that went between Kyoto and Tokyo during the Edo period. On it are […]
Democracy Park
One of our favourite activities in Busan is climbing the hills that pierce through the urban blanket of the city. Although the homes and office blocks make every effort to ascend the steep slopes, towards the top they surrender to […]
I Seoul U
This is the city’s slogan. I don’t really get it, but loads of people of course love taking their photo in front of the sign on the main plaza. That’s the first thing you notice about South Koreans – they […]
Ascending Taishan
Tai Shan or Mount Tai is the first of the five great mountains of China. It is known as the eastern mountain out of the five and is the most climbed mountain in the world. The close association with birth […]
Dilly Dalian
Dalian was the second stop in our visit to China (if you discount the few hours spent in Manzhouli). It isĀ a port town on the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula which juts into the north of the Yellow Sea. […]
Leaving Hereford
I guess one of the realities of visiting lots of new places is that you have to say goodbye to a lot of them as well. Some of these are fairly easy, but leaving Herefordshire and my mum and sister […]
Carn Brea
Carn Brea is in the centre of old mining country, more recently referred to as Poldark country. Even the postcards these days are Poldark themed. We drove to the village of Piece and the plan was to walk up Carn […]