Author Archives: Wilbur's Travels
Philippines Tour Part 5 – Pagudpud & Ilocos Norte Region
Continuing our November 23 tour of Philippines main island of Luzon.
Remembrance Sunday
Tower of London Poppy Display As we fondly remember this and other nation’s fallen heroes today, I am reminded of the amazing display of poppies at the Tower of London in late 2014. The artist Paul Cummins & designer Tom Piper filled the fortress’s ancient moat with 888,246 handmade ceramic poppies (one to represent every British […]
Philippines Tour Part 4 – The Ancient Tattooist
We left the Shire after an early breakfast and well before elevenses to continue northwards. We would pass fabulous rice terraces once more and end up in Tuguegarao for the night. However, the highlight of the day would be a visit to the village of Buscalan in the province of Kalinga. We met our local […]
Philippines Tour Part 3 – Sagada & The Shire
After leaving Banaue we had a long journey to get to Sagada where we would be staying the night. The journey required very skilful driving – tight bends corkscrewing up and down mountain roads, potholes deep enough to be swallowed up in, sporadic road works, trucks & buses providing obstacles to pass, and chickens & […]
The Life & Times of Mr Bartholomew Bucket
In a departure from the Hornbill Publishing label, I have written a book to raise funds for RSPCA South London. Here is their press release: The Life & Times of Mr Bartholomew Bucket Press Release “We are delighted to announce the publication of ‘The Life & Times of Mr Bartholomew Bucket’. The book has been written […]
Philippines Tour Part 2 – The Rice Terraces
We met our driver after an early breakfast and set off for two nights staying in Banaue, home of World Heritage rice terraces. This was to be a journey of 9-hours as we wound our way up and around the Mountain Region into the Cordilleras Mountains. After leaving the sprawl of Manila we soon hit […]
Philippines Tour – Part 1 Manila
My travel buddy Hamish and I arranged a trip to the main Filipino island of Luzon for late 2023, to be followed by a few days in South Korea. Practicalities Philippines is 8 hours ahead of U.K. time, with South Korea an hour further ahead. The big difference was the temperature. Low 30s for Philippines […]
East Africa Tour Part 6 – Mombasa
We arrived on the train from Kenya as described in part 5, and took a taxi to the excellent Tamarind Village Hotel situated over a bridge from the city centre. Mombasa is on the Indian Ocean north of Dar el Salaam in Tanzania and just south of the Somalia border. We struck lucky with the […]
East Africa Tour Part 5 – Nairobi to Mombasa
Our final port of call on our African adventure would be by the Indian Ocean. We chose the train as our way of getting there. Nairobi to Mombasa Train As part of their belt & road policy, the Chinese have built a wonderful railway line from capital to coast. It features three passenger trains a […]
East Africa Tour Part 4 – Nairobi, Kenya
Having returned to Lusaka by bus, we flew Kenya Airways via Harare to the Kenyan capital. The airport was unusually surrounded by national park land with huge fences keeping rhinos off the runway. We would be staying two nights at the wonderful Hobb House in the north of the city, 30-minutes by our pre-booked taxi […]
