travels with an ageing punkrocker/publisher
Soundtrack: First full day in Singapore, and first priority is sorting laundry so I have enough clean clothes to get me through. I failed to find a laundry service nearby (a mall might have one but I walked around it and couldn’t find the place, I did find a second hand bookshop to check later). Instead I headed for a […]
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Soundtrack: “Money Changes Everything”, Cyndi Lauper (and any other song with money in the title really) Macau for a full day. I’m sure there are people for whom Macau is their favourite place in the world. Some of them might even be from outside of Macau, who visited and found this former Portuguese colony to be all they’ve ever looked […]
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Soundtrack: “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, U2 Today was probably my least prepared border crossing ever (I’m ignoring Schengen Zone crossings, because they don’t even feel like you’re in a different country, those ones are like, oh, we just drove around a roundabout and have now been in 5 countries: if I don’t have to stop and […]
Read moreSoundtrack: “People Who Died”, Jim Carroll Band A full day in Bukhara that kicked off with meeting a new guide at 9am. She spoke fast and I’m really bad at remembering names, so I’m not sure what exactly her name was. Uzbek names also take a bit of getting used to, there’s a lack of Shazza, Kazza, Bazza and Dazza […]
Read moreThe Swan Song bar is the wonderfully eclectic result of three very passionate whisky people. Since discovering this place in 2020, in their old location neat the Auld Alliance, I’ve had the pleasure of going to their current place last trip with L, and being back in town, went their again last night. I say eclectic as the whisky on […]
Read moreFlight was fine, boring and smooth just how I like them. Caught a couple of movies, Oversteer, a Singaporean movie set in Malaysia (I thing it was Singaporean, it was in the Singaporean Showcase tab) about families and street car racing, and The Roundup Punishment, a Korean cop movie starring Ma Dong-seok where he goes around and punches people (it’s […]
Read moreAnd yet, despite everything, it’s still not Constantinople. I’m beginning to think that I can’t go back to Constantinople. Our last full day in Istanbul, and kind of the last day of the trip. Tomorrow morning we grab breakfast, then a car takes us to the airport, then the next stop is a couple of hours in Singapore before the […]
Read moreStill not Constantinople. Today was about ticking off the big ticket items, the Hagia Sofia (reminder, pronounced “aya sofiya”) and Topkapi Palace (rough translation “palace with too many stupid tourists”). The Hagia Sofia (translation “Holy Wisdom”) was built in the 6th Century to be a cathedral, after several other churches in the same spot had existed (the one immediately before […]
Read moreSpent most of the morning’s ferry cruise dealing with Optus help trying to get reconnected. At various times I was connected to Swedish, Finnish, and Estonian telcos but at no point would any data flow. In the end Optus have cut my 5G access at account level, which seemed to work (I say seemed as I wouldn’t be surprised if […]
Read moreWhere I become an accidental pilgrim, and walk a lot. Woke still quite tired, but with my hotel room facing east the morning sun was warming it up (there is an aircon in the room, but it is more noise than cool) so it was time to go walking. Found an interesting and popular place, Leni Loves Coffee I think […]
Read moreWe can just call this Bruce Springsteen day really. Started in Amsterdam, checked out, and it was a simple single tram to the central station. Grabbed a muffin and a coffee, thinking that would work for breakfast while there would be something on the train to Aachen. Nope, no food to be found, just seats, not even a great amount […]
Read moreApologies dear reader, I’m checking in late for this one, for reasons that will be explained. Kicked off my last morning in Edinburgh doing some final shopping, picking up bits and pieces, and figured I should go for one last full Scottish breakfast before heading to the continent. Found a nearby place called the Ginger Coo Cafe, sadly, but they […]
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