TimsZone

Hello world (well, the very small part of it that might happen across this sporadic blog).

 

I just wanted to write to say that I have just returned from a trip to Snowdonia in north Wales. The purpose of the trip being three-fold; firstly to get out of the office, secondly to give my new car a serious run and thirdly to get up a couple of mountains. I am pleased to report that all three objectives were accomplished.

 

I'm not planning on boring you too much with the details of what I got up to and when, but I would like to point you in the direction of the new photo album, where you can see my photos. There are no comments yet to tell you what you're looking at, but I am working on it. Alternatively it would be great if you could head over to PlacesIHaveBeen.com where there is more info.

 

Edited: To add that there are now descriptions to go with the photos in the Snowdonia album.

Hi All,

 

It's been a little while since my last entry in this blog. The reason is not that I am boring (I hope ;-) so much as that all I have been doing since my return from holiday (see previous blog entries) is working.

 

Anyway, I thought I would tell you a little about my other website, www.PlacesIHaveBeen.com

 

This is a website that I've been slowly putting together in my spare-time to show-off a selection of the photographs that I've taken on various trips to destinations both near and far. I have just today uploaded the South East Asia section which includes some photos from my recent trip to Borneo as well as some that I've taken on previous trips to Thailand and it's beautiful islands.

 

I do hope that you'll take a look at the site, and any feedback is always gratefully received.

 

Thanks for reading!

OK, I know it's not been long since the last entry in this blog, but hey I've got to keep momentum, or this might fall behind.

 

I'm now back in the UK, but just had to tell you about the last night I spent in Bangkok. The advantage of having a friend that lives there is that you get to see some of the stuff that you'd otherwise miss. I've been to Thailand and Bangkok a couple of times before, but only ever really seen the typical backpacker-tourist side of things. This time however, Kev decided to show me some of the nightspots that he likes; we started at a bar called Vertigo.

 

After we had made our way through a very fancy hotel lobby to the lift Kev hit the button for the top floor, number 49 no less! Emerging from the lift there were a couple of very polite Thai ladies bowing (and also checking that we were correctly attired!) Another couple of flights of stairs and we were on the roof of the hotel, one of the tallest buildings in Bangkok. The view, just after sunset, was simply amazing. A quick (and not inexpensive) drink later and we were off to the next venue.

 

This time another swanky hotel with a wine-bar called V9. A couple of beers here, with a rather interesting assortment of foods!

 

Next on to a place that was much more down-to-earth in all senses. A little bar that would have been right at home in any English city, Brown Sugar. A couple more drinks nicely accompanied by some live Jazz.

 

The final place was a bar called Tokyo Joes. Again, live music although this time with more of a blues twist.

 

All in all a great evening. Makes a nice change from the usual traveller hangouts in the Khao San Road or the commercialised surroundings of Siam Square.

Well... where to start... hmmm...

 

This is the first entry in my blog. It seemed like a good time to start as I am currently on holiday and am writing this from my friend Kev's house in Bangkok. I came out here just over a week ago, spent a couple of nights in Bangkok, including a fantastic evening in Bed. That is the "Bed Supperclub" in Bangkok, a very cool restaurant/bar/club. Kev took me there with a couple of his friends from his time working in El Salvador who also happened to be visiting Bangkok on their way to Laos. I highly recommend a visit to this stunning club, quite an experience that feels totally out of place in Bangkok and would be more at home in some of the trendiest areas of London or New York!

 

Anyway, after that Kev and I caught a flight down to Kota Kinabalu, which is the principle city in Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo. The purpose of the trip; to climb Mt. Kinabalu, a peak of 4095m towering up and over the jungle of Borneo. We set out from KK with the rising sun and started our ascent of the mountain and by lunchtime had reached the main camp. When the rain stopped and the cloud cleared there were some fantastic viewsdown over the island from this vantage point just above the jungle tree line. Next morning it was an even earlier start at 2.30am to clib in darkness for the summit. We made it a full hour before sunrise so were in prime position to see the first glimpes of light hit the surreal, almost alien landscape of the granite mountain-top. (When I get back to the UK in the next few days, I will add some photos.)

 

After completing the climb and returning to sea-level, we spent a very relaxing 24hrs in a beach resort, to rest our aching legs and then headed back to Bangkok last night.

 

Anyway, I think that's enough for now.

 

Thanks for reading!