Many whale-watching excursions result in nothing more than sunburn, disappointment and a wasted day.  My recent whale-watching trip with Auckland's Whale & Dolphin Safari certainly dispelled that myth. With 6 weeks of Rugby World Cup 2011 ending 6 days ago, Auckland has returned to a cosmopolitan lifestyle city offering more than just rugby.  With a Sunday ahead with no sport,...

    I was recently asked what my favourite city was.  What a tough question!  I've been privileged to travel to many places. To me, the beauty of travelling is seeing new places for the first time and experiencing different cultures. Experiences like those will be influenced by many things: The people, the weather, the stage of life you've reached and much...

Updated October 2011 No trip to Singapore would be complete without having a Singapore Sling in the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel.  What I had forgotten was the exorbitant price tag that comes with it! One Singapore Sling (for Rhys), one Tiger Beer (for yours truly) and 3 mini-burgers blew an already large hole in my pocket at S$64!! (about NZ$68). ...

Updated October 2021 As today was ANZAC day, we caught the extremely efficient train (MRT) to Kranji and then walked the short distance to the War Cemetery to mark our respects. As this was our only full day in Singapore, we decided on a whistle stop walk around the city to see as many sites as our weary legs would allow.   Sentosa...

Updated October 2011 I was looking forward to Singapore.  I feel a strong connection with her as I was born there and have been fortunate to visit several times since. We left Mumbai at 10:05 this morning and the flight to Singapore was full and not the best flight I’d ever had!  We landed in Singapore at 17:00. Getting to our hotel...

Updated October 2011 What an experience last night at the game.  Mumbai Indians won a close game and the atmosphere at the stadium was excellent.  Certainly the best of the venues we’d been to. But what an ordeal to get into the stadium – we were frisked 18 times for weapons, etc and had our tickets checked 12 times. As they say...

Updated October 2021 We decided to have another flexible day today.  Rhys finally awoke just after 9:30.  His body alarm clock must have alerted him to the hotel’s breakfast service closing at 10:00! We finally managed to get our tickets for tonight’s game between the Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings.  They had been sent to a “friend of a friend’s...

Updated October 2021 Today was another official “blob out” day as we needed to check out the hotel by 12:00 and were flying back to Mumbai in the afternoon. The day got off to a bad start.  Rhys discovered that someone had stolen his “favourite” shoes from our “private” courtyard.  Needless to say hotel staff denied any responsibility and the hotel...

Updated October 2021 I slept really well last night.  I looked forward to a full day excursion to see the 14th century intricately carved Jain temples of Ranakpur and impressive Kumbhalgarh fortress. But first, I had breakfast to tackle! Udaipur is a much “gentler” place than Jaipur.  The trip to Kumbhalgarh Fort took a couple of hours as we meandered through rolling...

  Updated October 2021 Arrived just after 06:30 this morning from the overnight train from Jaipur and felt a tad groggy.  This perhaps had something to do with trying to sleep on a noisy train in a cot with crusty cotton sheets and a thick woollen blanket! The Orient Express it wasn’t!  Rhys slept soundly he said! Staff at Swaroop Vilas Hotel checked...