Marching into Mali

Today Mali isn’t really the first place you’d go in West Africa. It’s had militant problems and Islamists controlled part of the country for quite a while before French intervention, but I have been on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forum and I see the odd tourist is still going to Mali. It’s quite sad …

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Sunday Spotlight – Yokohama

Welcome to Yokohama, Japan’s ‘Bay City’, a place with a hellovalot going on to keep you entertained and interested for days. Yes, the spotlight is shining Japan way and Yokohama is in the centre! The visitor to Yokohama might be justifiably overwhelmed when first arriving. In some ways, though far bigger, nearby Tokyo is easier …

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The West African Return!

For the last series of Saturdays I have pulled out some old blogs and reflected on my first journey to West Africa. You might think that after contracting malaria in Burkina Faso and the difficult time I had during the trip in general, I’d be sworn off the place. You’d be wrong! After my 1999 …

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Sunday Spotlight – Yvoire

Howdy all on this fine Sunday! I hope you’re well wherever you may be. Today’s ‘Sunday Spotlight’ is more of a photo journey because there isn’t that much to say about this pretty little French village that isn’t better expressed in photos. I visited Lac Leman, in Savoie on the French and Swiss borders in …

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Train Journeys – Pyin Oo Lwin to Nawngpeng

Welcome back to Myanmar, where the train rides are bumpy and adventuresome! I love a little train ride with a good reputation for adventure, and here is one such ride, from Pyin Oo Lwin to Kyaukme (pronounced Chow-mei). This is only part of the journey as the train goes further on to Hsipaw and Lashio, …

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Travel Itineraries – Ethiopia

Hey folks, I thought I’d start up a new series of posts on some of my itineraries. Thought it might be useful for anyone planning a trip to various places at the very least, and I could talk about how I went about it and what worked, what didn’t.     My trip to Ethiopia …

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