Hama is a medium sized town midway between Damascus and Aleppo and so an ideal place to stop for a few days to explore the hinterland. There are plenty of things to see including two of the highlights of Syria, the crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers and the Roman ruins at Afamea. Hama is also a worthy stop in itself. It is situated on the banks of the Orontes River in one of the few fertile areas of Syria….
Palmyra is probably the most well-known of Syria’s attractions and is certainly one of the most impressive historical sites of the region. It’s position, in the middle of the Syrian desert, only adds to its aura and even if you are bored with visiting another ancient bunch of rocks you can’t fail to be impressed by its desert surroundings and watched over by a magnificent arab castle. The ruins date largely from 2nd century AD but the site itself is…
Here’s a short video of our trip to Damascus. Before exploring the souk and the old city of Damascus I thought I’d include one of the most familiar sights of all our time in Syria – the Syrian breakfast which was completely unchanged in every hotel and guesthouse we stayed. Was it enshrined in law that all guests must be served boiled eggs, olives, white Syrian cheese, lebneh (a delicious cheesy yogurt) and arabic bread? All washed down with sweet…
Just like our apartment in Bangkok, I thought you may be interested in our home in Amman which we shared with various cats. We had a really great time here between August 2007 and August 2009 We found a home fairly quickly after arriving. It was just what we were after, it was quite large, the ground floor flat of a three storey building, had a garden and was a five minute walk to work. However, it didn’t have an…
This page features the videos from the Thailand pages of globalwanderings. However there are also some vids which don’t appear on globalwanderings at all and also a few more which are from www.podcastsinenglish.com. This is a site which Jackie and I have set up to help learners and teachers of English – so the commentary is specifically simplistic but the videos should be quite fun to watch. The first two vids are our first forays into recording and editing for the site…
Welcome to Jordan! We arrived in this land of contrasts at the end of August 2007. Some people told us it was boring and quiet, yet others told us it was dangerous – how could it not be, nestled between Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Despite these contradictory warnings, in our first week we only found positives – the people were friendly and welcoming, the weather was great, the food was delicious, apparently crime was almost…
The following pictures were taken while on holiday in Jersey in August 2007. They present just a small snapshot of what this beautiful island has to offer. St. Catherine’s breakwater St. Catherine’s Bay Jersey shark Jersey cow St. Helier’s victorian market a quiet square in St. Helier, the capital
I thought this page would be of interest only to family members and friends, but then again it could be of interest to anyone who is interested in comparing how different people (in this case us) live in different countries. Anyway, have a look through our keyhole and see what you think. The photos below were taken on the day we moved into our apartment block (Sep 2005) and then two years later (June 2007) before our big move to…
I lived in Hanoi for two years and loved heading off into the mountains to explore the rugged countryside and photograph the many different hill tribes that inhabited the completely undeveloped and wild regions of the north. In fact I even designed a website of my travels with the unimaginative name of “Ethnic Minorities of Northern Vietnam”. However, I had never explored the areas of far northern Thailand which was even more famous for its colourful local people. I knew…
Touring Nakhon Si Thammarat province April 07. It is said that in the 1970’s a few hippies stumbled across Ko Samui and found paradise, with powder-white sands, clear turquoise water and gently swaying palms. Over the next 30 years this paradise was swamped with ever encroaching development. Now, there seems to be more concrete than sand. However, perhaps not surprisingly, just across the water from Samui there are beaches near the fishing village of Khanom, which are still in pristine…