Author archive
2 August 2011
Travelling back We woke early for the 0745 direct bus to Tirana. When a bus pulled up at 0720, the driver said “Tirana” and “directo” … so we boarded. Strangely, none of the markings on the bus said “Tirana”. Sure enough, when we reached Vlore, he instructed us to change to another bus. It was […]
1 August 2011
From our dorm at summer school, Jale beach is about 45 minutes away but we didn’t go there. Supposedly it has restaurants and is quite well patronised. We’ve been told that if you walk right or left from Jale, you’ll get isolated spots to yourself. Instead, our host Ben drove us (about 10 minutes by […]
31 July 2011
We travelled from Berat to Vlore (2.5h) to connect on to Vuno (1.5h), where we stayed in its local school. The school (Shkolla Vuno) is closed for summer (or in the last couple of years for the whole year due to lack of kids), when it is converted into airbed dorms. It is run by the […]
30 July 2011
Today we climbed up to the Kala or citadel above Berat. It was a hot but nice little outing. We had a traditional Berati meal up in the village in the citadel. As with the rest of Albania, there isn’t too much of “Wow” sites which allows one to relax, people-watch and appreciate the subtleties […]
29 July 2011
It wasn’t a long (2.5h) or windy road from Tirana to Berat but strangely people were vomiting. I thought Albanians might have the motion-sickness gene but later bus travels didn’t show that up … so maybe there had been some serious partying prior to the bus ride. Berat is an old Ottoman town scattered on […]
28 July 2011
Wandering around Tirana I soon realised that the sights listed in the guidebook existed because they had to fill that heading with something. The couldn’t just leave the section blank! Tirana isn’t exactly beautiful either as many of the buildings are plain and functional. It’s probably a reflection of the communist era. Despite all that, […]
27 July 2011
I met Nicole for breakfast today; we had studied Thai Masage in Bangkok together and stayed at the some hotel. It was lovely to see her again and the venue was very atmospheric at Mariandl Pension’s cafe called Cafe am Beethovenplatz. It was a nice old building with an outdoor section. I had enough time […]
26 July 2011
After a two-night stay in Downham Market with my brother-in-law, I have an evening flight to Munich for a 22h nightstop. Lufthansa like most good old-fashioned airlines consider any flight connection less than 24h to be a transit (rather than a stopover) and is free-of-charge … anything longer is only permitted on a more expensive […]
24 July 2011
Above: Flying near the Tibetan Plateau, 40,000 feet doesn’t seem so high. It was a 0440 wake up for the 0830 Air New Zealand flight from Hong Kong to London Heathrow. I caught the last “Night Bus” to the airport at 0510 but I should have slept for 15 minutes longer and caught the 0530 […]
23 July 2011
There wasn’t much time for anything today apart from waking up and getting to KL Airport for the 1350 AirAsia flight to Hong Kong. Upon arrival at 1745 I bused down to my accommodation, Singh’s Guesthouse in Chungkin Mansion, on the bustling Nathan Road in the heart of Kowloon. All I had time for my […]