Syria

I think this was about 97. I have a very vivid image of seeing all the posters and billboards of the President, on the bus from the airport to Damascus. I'd never been anywhere with such a cult of personality before. We ended up sleeping on the rough of a hotel, as it was full.
The ruins were unbelievable. They are so complete (not ruins then) that you didn't have to use your imagination. A whole street of columns set against a brilliant blue sky tends to put some stubby post in a damp field in England into perspective.











Towl with hair.

Skye, Scotland

As with a lot of these photos from my previous life, I can't remember what year I went. I guess it was around 94. I can usually remember what I was reading though. I read a book by Henry Roth, about a small Jewish boy growing up in New York. I also remember it being so windy, that someone had put wooden planks across the window of the house where we stayed, just in case the glass blew out.

From the look of it, I was going through an over exposed black and white period.

The castle below isn't actually Skye. It's Eilean Donan, the Kyle of Lochalsh. If you've seen Highlander, the movie, you may remember it.

Morocco 95

There never seems to be any middle ground with people that have been to Morocco. They either love it, or have an awful time and come home complaining of being pestered to death. I loved it. Apart from some bother in Marrakech, people were either friendly or uninterested. Fes, (or Fez) is still one of the most amazing places I've ever been. I remember great bread, delicious steaming stew from giant pointed pots, and fresh mint tea.

Russia 92

I think it was an April or May that I saw Moscow. It was nippy. At one point I thought I saw a mass brawl breaking out, but on closer inspection it was a group of people all trying to buy an ice cream from a big fat white coated woman, pushing a silver cart.
A woman who sold entrance tickets to a museum didn't have enough change (maybe she was from Chile originally), so she gave me the quantity of tickets that my smallest note would buy, about a metre of tickets. I could have got a coach party in.

The train is The Trans Siberian. I sat on it for 3 days, to Irkutsk in Siberia. My watch was on Moscow time, the Americans in the next compartment were on US time, the real time was unknown, and the woman who worked on the train was miserable all the time.

Miami, Coral Gables Venetian Pool

No TV in Algorrobo

The elaborate ploy of booking accommodation with no TV, thus prompting husband to wife chat, didn't really pay off. The Diminutive One worked her way through a load of quilting magazines, and when they were finished, she watched a DVD on how to make rag rugs.I read old copies of the Times sports pages, when Arsenal were top of the Premiership.

Las Cruces

The last time I was in Las Cruces I stayed in a creaky old hotel on a cliff top, and watched the fog rolling in. This time was much better, as it included shrimp empanadas, and no fog. The only tense moment was when it looked like there was no decent postre (afters), although the establishment was able to whip up an ice cream pancake, roughly the size of a regular house brick.

Tunquen

Two fish soup please!
Although The Diminutive One was initially unhappy about booking a hotel room without a TV, she soon perked up if fed seafood every four hours or so. Apart from heading straight out to sea, you will pretty much find a good plate of sea gloop in any direction along the coast of Chile. We only ate at this place(north of Algarrobo)as the road ended and we couldn't turn round.

South Africa

Again, I don't know what year I went to South Africa. Maybe it was about 96. While I was there I read a book called My Traitor's Heart, by Rian Malan, about a white South African who fled his country to avoid military service. I prefer to remember the amazing scenery, rather than being berated on how institutional racism had a purpose, by fascist Brits.
The elephant was in Addo Park. After a day of seeing nothing but dogs, we were suddenly surrounded by elephants.
The penguins live on a beach near Cape Town.
The little kids were from Soweto.

China 92

China is not part of Chile. China is a big country that I went to in 1992. The photos have sat rotting in a box since about 1999, but Father Towl recently went on a scanning frenzy (they are those old fashioned ones that you have to use a film for) and here are the results.
I remember not being able to buy things in shops, as bashful sales assistants just ran off. I also remember being followed down the street by a curious crowd of onlookers, as well as cyclists nearly riding into a lake because of the startling sight of a couple of round eyed freaks sitting on a park bench.