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Seeing the doctor

The doctor said my tonsils are swollen on one side; the other side seems fine.  I had previously had a wicked sore throat which has now disappeared but left me with swollen glands on one side. The swollen glands are on the side of the swollen tonsils, so it makes sense as my lymph nodes […]

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Historic Old Goa

After doing a yoga class next door, I checked out of my hut and had breakfast. I found a taxi for INR700 to take me to my hotel in Panaji, which took about an hour. I managed to get straight into my room at the Casa Paradiso even though it was before the official check-in […]

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Moving down the coast a little

Today I finished my five day Iyengar yoga course. After lunching and farewelling my coursemates, my guesthouse owner biked me to Mandrem, a quieter village about 10 minutes south of Arambol. It lacks the colourful people that make up Arambol. It is so quiet and laid back it makes Arambol feel like a town rather […]

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My time in Arambol

My five days in Arambol I woke at 0500; about an hour earlier than I had planned. It’s not too bad considering the 7.5h time difference that my body is on. I had a mango before going to my first yoga class here in Arambol. The yoga course consisted of five days of classes, starting […]

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Feels like a long road to my destination

Arriving in Mumbai We landed in BOM at 0115 and was bused to the International arrival hall bursting with people waiting to be processed. It took 1h30 for me to clear. I was feeling pretty tired and all I needed was for the ATM to not read my card (actually the guy in front of […]

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Killing time before flying to India

Killing time I slept till 0700 and did some admin on the computer till 1000 when I had brunch of fishball kwayteow soup. Uniqlo beckoned again and I went to their flagship store next to Times Square which was impressive even before their expansion slated for next week. That killed half a day and I […]

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Hong Kong nightstop #1

Immigration was a breeze today. It always seems to be the case when I need to kill time and when the queues are shocking, I have a tight self-connect to make. I took the A21 bus into Mong Kok and was at the Lucky Hostel by 0730 waking up the manager from bed. I was […]

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Disappointing end

Today I wanted to explore the more European urban area of Istanbul. The main area of Taksim was somewhere I hadn’t seen much of previously. I took the tram to Kabatas and transferred to the underground funicular to Taksim Square. From there it was a pleasant walk downhill on Istiklal pedestrian mall down to sea […]

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Redoing Istanbul’s gems

Today I wanted to repeat some of the sights of Istanbul that I had done on my previous visits. First was the Blue Mosque, known by that knickname becase of the blue tiles in the interior. It involved some queueing and was free. While it is beautiful, my heart goes to the Ayasofya which I […]

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Istanbul again but for three nights

My prebooked taxi didn’t arrive. After 10 minutes I decided to hail one. The driver agreed to the correct price unlike the one coming in from the airport. He turned out to be a wonderfully friendly chap who had an interest in football and his club is sponsored by some rich Malaysian businessman. Despite the […]

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