Author Archives: Karen
Quays of the Kingdom
Right on the harbour close to Raffles Landing is an area of former warehouses. These have now been turned into trendy areas called Clarke Quay and Boat Quay. Clarke Quay contains a mixture of shops, restaurants and bars all clustered around a centrally covered area. A quick walk along the canal brings you upon a […]
The Littlest India that was…
Missing Indian food and finding poor substitutes in the little isolated Indian Restaurants, (all run by Tamils from Chennai by the way!), scattered around the old French Indochina there was only place to go… Singapore’s Little India!! Like Little John in Robin Hood it seems this place is ironically named.There is nothing little […]
Highlights of China
China was a place we had been curious about for some time. We thought it would be a little different from anywhere we had visited before. Hearing so many people tell us it would be impossible without a guide or joining a tour group, intrigued us more. In true JK roaming style we ditched the […]
In Salvador’s Town
Dali was the chilled out haven we had been longing for after a very hectic month in China. It’s biggest appeal was the array of good cafés and restaurants with English menus. We ate our way around the cute little town. Our favourite being the French bakery which offered a cheese and meat platter. The […]
Anna Karen(ina) and I
Chengdu was never on our original hit list. However after chatting to Sarah and Danielle in Shanghai about their trip and the promise of a local to show us around we squeezed in a stop over. The deal breaker was the chance to get up close with pandas of all shapes sizes and colours- yes […]
“These City Walls..
..only to be with you” On a rather dull grey morning we headed towards the Goose Pagoda in Xian. This involved navigating our way round the city on the local bus. Confidentially we hopped on the bus no 6 and handed over our 4rmb and sat eagerly following the bus route on our free hostel […]
Hutong Clan ain’t nothing to drum with!
Beijing’s back streets are a maze of alleyways, locally known as Hutongs. Nearly all Hutongs run east to west so that the main gates faces south, satisfying fang shui requirements. They say the spirit and soul of the city lives and breathes among these little lanes, where there is a huge sense of community. Sadly […]
Peking Duck Hidden City
Today would involve walking and lots of it, our destination was the Summer Palace. This was once a playground for the imperial court fleeing the summer heat of the stifling Forbidden City. The palace grounds, temples, gardens, pavilions, Kunming lake with numerous bridges and gate towers is a beautiful landscape so much so that UNESCO […]
You’re my Wonder-Wall!!
A century of good times- our 100 post! For many years I (Karen) have always wanted to walk the wall, not just any wall but the Great Wall of China. Monday 9th June 2014 @10am was the moment it happened!! Since this had been at the top of my bucket list for years we spent […]
Treasure Hunt
Today we were on a treasure hunt. Sarah who we met in Huàngshàn had kindly invited us to stay with her Shanghai. Sarah would be working when we arrived so she had sent us detailed directions to find her apartment. Firstly we had to get to Shanghai, our transport would be on the trailer of […]
I am the Mountain..
The alarm went off for the second morning at 5.30 am. We woke to the sun glaring through the crack in the curtains, what a difference a day made. We were off to climb the Huàngshàn mountains, commonly known as the yellow mountains or for the movie buffs the scenery in Avatar! Steven packed us […]
There’s an awful lot of Chinese here!
Showered and bags filled with our picnic- thanks Jessie and Steve for a lovely home made dinner all packed in tinfoil, almost as good as Helen’s packed lunches for Cork airport, we headed to Guilin train station. The journey would be in 3 parts, a taxi from Stonebridge to the bus station , or so […]
He’s the Hong(ky) Kong Man!
Ever do 80mph in a TukTuk on dark streets before? As of now we have. We reached the airport in no time which was nice but it was too early as the Laissez-fAIR ASIA ground staff only opened the gates 10 minutes before they would close! It was to be our first introduction to the […]
Back to CM
As we ate our yoghurts at Lampang bus station, John felt a sudden sharp familiar pain in his ribs. Turning to Karen she was pointing at the rest of the station’s occupants. In our hunger filled daze we hadn’t noticed the dramatic music that came on abruptly and forced everyone to stand in silence – […]
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