It would not be a complete festive season without the Fortnum & Mason specially decorated windows and external advent calendar. As has become my tradition I travelled to Piccadilly to photograph the windows, which this year feature animals from over here and overseas. This is what F&M themselves have to say about the display: “Fortnum’s […]
San Juan La Union Today we would head around 85-miles south to the beach resort of La Union following our morning in Vigan. It promised golden beaches & surf, however I had booked a hotel around 30-minutes hot and sweaty walk away. No problem, Carlos drove us to a beachside restaurant where we feasted on […]
Continuing our November 23 tour of Philippines main island of Luzon.
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 […]
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 […]
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 & […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
