Author archive
5 February 2024
The drive from Auckland to Tongariro National Park took us through a township called Temple View. It looked like a new town with three Mormon churches but upon looking it up in Wikipedia, it was established in the 1950s and is still looking immaculate. After a lunch stop in Te Kuiti, we reached Howards Mountain […]
5 February 2024
Tongariro Crossing, or officially Tongariro Alpine Crossing is often considered the most beautiful day hike in New Zealand. So, it seems wrong that after nearly 40 years in the country, I hadn’t done the walk. We had tried going in spring before my Saudi trip but had to cancel due to bad weather. Late spring […]
26 January 2024
Despite the lightning strike which put the flight on hold briefly, we landed at Auckland about 30 mins ahead of the scheduled time of 0940. This was when we lost our gain. The airbridge operator had trouble with the airbridge and after some time trying, had to get an engineer. After about 30 mins, the […]
25 January 2024
Above: Flight path after being struck by lightning. I had trouble getting to sleep last night and had to wake around 0600 to prepare for the 1030 flight. The included breakfast at 0615 looked amazing. However, quite a few things didn’t pass the taste test. The chicken was hacked Asian style with lots of bones […]
24 January 2024
Above: Tune Hotel lobby at KL International Airport. Today, I only have to make my way to Kuala Lumpur International Airport for a nightstop for my journey back to Auckland via Singapore tomorrow. I started my search for the way to the cable car more or less immediately. Some 20 mins later, I had found […]
23 January 2024
Killing some time Just for a change, instead of staying in Kuala Lumpur any longer, I had booked to go to Genting Highlands instead for a one-night stay. I had been perhaps 27 years ago in May 1997, that being my first and only visit. There’s no point getting there too early due to the […]
22 January 2024
Flying to KL I had trouble falling asleep last night with a sense of bloatedness. And I had to get up in the middle of night, emptying my belly completely but it wasn’t liquid and was a one-off. I don’t think it was diarrhoea but perhaps the oily pad see ew I had for lunch […]
21 January 2024
I had three full days in Bangkok including today. After such an amazing but busy time in Saudi, I had run out of steam and interest. I was wary that my time here would be wasted unless I tweaked my attitude. I had limited success shifting my attitude. I got out and about in my […]
18 January 2024
Another dream standby flight My Thai Airways B777-200 pulled up at the gate 5 mins before our schedule departure time. Boarding took place without passport checks. We departed about an hour late but it was otherwise an awesome flight with only around 50 passengers. I had three seats on which I was horizontal for 6h […]
17 January 2024
Killing the day I had spent yesterday entirely indoors on the computer and at the hotel gym, only stepping outside to get a meal. My only human interaction in spoken words was calling home to Kim and also a friend. Tonight, I have a flight after midnight but realised that the 1200 check-out isn’t true. […]