Author archive
18 October 2019
Moving to Duhok Today I move to Duhok (also spelt as Dohuk). It is close to the Syrian and Turkish borders and at this time, Syrian refugees are streaming in to escape from Turkish attacks in Syria under the Spring Peace operation. The information provided by my NGO contacts suggest that Duhok is safe. After […]
17 October 2019
The plan for the day was to make a daytrip to Rawanduz from Erbil. The information available suggested that I take public transport in the form of shared taxis to Soran and then change to a private taxi. After breakfast, I headed out around 0830 to hail a taxi to the shared taxi station. I […]
16 October 2019
First taste of Erbil I wandered out after a leisurely breakfast for my first taste of Erbil. I found my way to the citadel area about 20 mins walk away. The route from my hotel was through areas selling unattractive things like hardware. Around the base of the citadel was the city’s main square and […]
15 October 2019
Preparing for Iraqi Kurdistan My flight to a new adventure starting in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan departs at 1835 this evening. I thought I could do a bit of sightseeing this morning. But this is a familiar city and I’d just be largely repeating myself. And I have two late night departures coming in the next […]
14 October 2019
Exploring Asia In my various stays in Istanbul, I’ve never explored the Asian shores, except for getting to Sabiha Gokcen Airport (SAW). I’ve been close to the various parts on the ferries, but that’s it. Today, I thought I’d remedy that. I walked to the ferry terminal at Eminonu and found the pier for Kadikoy. […]
13 October 2019
Locating places Sightseeing wasn’t a priority today as I had been to Istanbul many times. I thought I’d locate a few places to smoothen the way for later: First up, I found the Eminonu bus stop for getting to the airport. While I expected it be directly across the multi-lane road from where I had […]
12 October 2019
Flying out of Suvarnabhumi My flight to Istanbul was scheduled for 0925. Istanbul is the gateway to my next adventure in Iraqi Kurdistan and then Sharm el Sheikh. I woke at 0545 and left the hotel at 0630 for Suvarnabhumi Airport. I had pessimistically allowed an hour’s ride on Grab to get to the airport, […]
11 October 2019
Token sightseeing Having been to Bangkok three times in recent years, I didn’t feel like doing any sightseeing. But as Kim hadn’t been here (in earnest) for a while I thought I should show him the nearby sights. We set out after breakfast at 0930. It was stinking hot when we walked to the Chao […]
10 October 2019
Saying goodbye to Samui I said goodbye to Samui last night after a good cheap dinner in the open-air markets nearby. For a change, food was good and also good-value.. A very meaty chicken panang was only THB70 with rice and a meaty chicken kebab only THB40. Juices were only THB45. To avoid getting ripped […]
8 October 2019
Our paradise We’re really pleased with our selected location, at Lamai Beach and also with our property. We are close to the beach and a few minutes walk from food. The hotel is very quiet and so is much of the Lamai Beach area (and the whole of Samui); apparently it is low season. Our […]