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Day 5 Thar Desert to Jodhpur ( The end of the entente cordiale)

I did warn them, a night under the stars in the desert sounds wonderful, but a night under the stars with someone that has apnea could be a bit tricky …. they are now glad we voted out of Europe. The Ing has achieved in one night what Nigel Farage has been trying for the past 12 years!

Breakfast was had in silence by me as I took the full brunt of the jokes, did you hear the B52s last night ? To which I replied not really my taste in music, but love shack was good, the repost was “well there would be no loving last night with the noise you made !” At that I quietly hide behind a bush,

A 300 km trip across rough roads through the Thar Desert today, with a transport cafe lunch stop, good food no cutlery !!! Frank spilling off three times in the sand ! and dropping it just turning into the hotel!

Dinner on the roof of the hotel looking at the fort, and a room in the servants quarters due to my snoring !!!

Tomorrow is the hard hill climb or does one have a cunning plan to get out of it?

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Day 4 Jaisalmer to Thar Desert ( a decent nights sleep)

At last a decent nights sleep, but I have woken up looking like one of the killer clowns. My nose has swollen and it bright red. Not a pretty sight so no photos. Today go and visit the fort on the top of the hill and then the Jain Temple of Lodurva, followed by 130Km into the Thar Desert to overnight in tents and they say warm blankets, I jolly well hope so. I have been a bit amiss with the updating so I am trying it this way a morning what’s going to happen and then a write up with photos in the evening. I will catch up with the updates and photos … honest guv!

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Day 2 Mandawa to Bikner

So today we left the haveli and went to yet another one! But this was special, it was so special that I left the group to just stay sitting in this location. I sat with the owner of the haveli and said four simple words. They were “I could die here” and then I realised I was at a life changing moment. She then took me around the haveli again explaining the history, she did before to the others but it was in french. But now it was just me, and out came the photo album of the place before the renovation. There is so much to write about this, but I am going to leave that for a separate story because this story has not ended.

I caught up with the rest of the group in the town and toured other old buildings in a state of disrepair thinking how nice it would be to buy one and restore it. After an hour or so we set off on our 200k ride to Bikaner. Our hotel was so so, and we were dispatched on tuk tuk to the fort and then the local tut market, it was a smaller version of old Delhi which is a place I love. As you can probably tell my emotions are getting to me as this is me …. oh sorry this is a travel blog and not about me … so it was bloody cold in the room, and then at 2.30am I found blankets …

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Living the dream ………………..

I don’t often write on this blog, mainly now because there are others I do write on and for, but I suppose I need to just put some fingers to keys and say there is a new blog,  adventures of a restaurateur in the far east. To steal from the blog….

I have been retired for some time and life got well a tad boring (travelling to far flung places around the world every month), so I hatched a plan in late 2010 to realize a dream, have a restaurant. Now the really funny thing is I used to be an engineer and could not spell engineer , of course I can now with the help of F7. I now also realize I can not spell restaurant (with out the help of F7), I think this may well be an expensive way of learning how to spell that word!

Anyway yes I have entered in to the mad world of cooking, counting peas and costing them, most of my staff can not speak a word of English, my Chinese …. Oh, I forgot to mention, yes I like a challenge, so my choice was to go to some place where they don’t speak English and employ local people that have not been out of the country,  to cook …. wait for it ….. western food,  from countries I have never lived in … barking?, yes I am … but I am living the dream ….  so this is my way of sharing experience, sit back , have your morning coffee and see life can be great, if you just look at it from the correct perspective. 

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New art, new web sites

Another piece of art has been purchased for the Central Park Gallery, this time from an Australian Aboriginal artist Jeannie Pitjara, whose works can also be seen in the National Gallery of Australia. Purchased at auction, it is an oil on canvas abstract. I will ensure the photo will go up on the web soon.

Which brings me to an exciting development … well not really …. as you may know this site is hosted on blogger and blogger along with other sites such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter  are banned in certain countries around the word. So to make it easier for my friends in these countries I now have other sites hosted on different servers which should be accessible worldwide.

Unveiled on these web sites will be a new logo, this was commissioned from Famous Chinese Artist Ye Xue (http://yexue-art.com/), whose works are featured in many collections globally, including ex US President Bill Clinton.

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Fresh Air ……………………

So in the last month, after travelling to UK, Turkey, China and Dubai .. I arrive in Switzerland fresh air at last !!, I have been here a week now visiting family and finally chilling out in Zermatt. This has given me time to reflect the past year and all the travelling, there has been so many trips and in the last two years going on holiday every month has begun to take its toll. And whilst it has been fun and I have seen so much, I think maybe its time to think about cutting down on the travel. But in the meantime I think I will get my ski’s on and whizz over to Italy….
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Shipping, Shipping !!!

So yes we decided that the painting should be purchased, and here it is. It looks much more striking in the flesh. Its a mixed media by the award winning artist J C Rathnayaka, very striking and imposing ( at 4ft x 4ft) and should make a welcome addition in the Central Park Gallery.

This morning we did not have rain and so a quick dip in the pool was in order prior to striking out again on Tuk Tuk to go to the markets in Pettah, as normal we ended up in a kitchen supplies shop purchasing more hardware for the kitchen.

An early night as we have a journey by train at 7am to Kandy ………

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It’s spitting …it’s spiting …..

No it’s not, it’s raining and raining hard, and there are these flashes of light in the sky ( maybe thats what the candles were for ?).

Any ideas of going swimming were put on hold (well in the pool at least), myself and Swiss Miss set off on various Tuk Tuk rides around the city.
So what does one do when it rains , stay in doors and read a book noooo, if your female then one goes  shopping……
We sally forth, without a care for the rain ………
A tuk tuk ride along the coast road and we find ourself in an area that is called “Fort”  there are armed police and army everywhere, after 30 mins we alight the tuk tuk and go for a walk … only to be approached by a local who kindly tells us all the batting averages of the local cricket team, I think this guy would give Peaples a run for his money with his knowledge of cricket and not a Wisdens in sight .

However this was not getting us anywhere nearer the shopping and on his advice another tuk tuk was taken and we set forth to find a gem store via a temple which had an elephant tied up out side and lots of 19th printing presses. 

So after a mear 58 mins and 26 seconds (according the the stopwatch ) of leaving the hotel we find ourselves outside a gem store. A little guy complete with beard comes to the door and with eyes of the snake from jungle book , an entranced swiss miss is lead into the store, however we were sitting at the wrong table, this was the cheap stuff…. so 30 mins later and the owner of the store serving us, we walk out many dollars poorer in exchange for a little bag of rocks and Swiss Miss feeling very pleased with herself. 
After lunch at an art gallery, which was full of Tai Tai’s (thats women who have nothing better to do than lunch and spend money, yes we fit right in here) we find ourselves holding a painting, well  the assistant is holding it and we are there thinking how do we get this back home , if we take it off the frame then the paint could crack, we could ship .. but the customs duty on it would be horrendous …
So we ask assistant to work out shipping to home and we will think about the purchase over night.
Now I am thinking surely mission accomplished for today, but Swiss Miss reminds me … we have another 8 days to shop !!!!!! 
Waddamire !!!!!
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Sri Lanka the home of Spices and an average cricket team

After a one hour flight delay and a quick pit stop in Bangkok, that  would have put Martin Whitmarsh and Team Mclaren to shame, we arrive in Colombo 10 minutes ahead of schedule. 


Mr immigration passport checker dude, is instantly surprised that my passport of only 2 year of age is almost full and has to squeeze in his little chop between others. 

AND then ….. the wait, oh the wait, the one hour we made up by having Jenson Buttons’  Sri Lankan  uncle as pilot was completely negated by the no arrival of luggage. 

Now this can’t be difficult there are only six passengers actually waiting at the luggage carousel, the remainder of the passengers were all transiting to locations unknown. 

So there we wait, Mr and Mrs French, a Sri lankan merchant and his Chinese friend and myself and the Swiss Miss.

After 20 mins Sri Lankan merchant and his friend get their luggage, one suitcase and 20 boxes of candles (don’t ask, but I suspect they are expecting power cuts and hope to make money on the ensuing demand for alternative light sources).

40 mins later…… we spot two silver cases …. yes here comes the Rim, it is now 10.30 local time and the race is on through customs … now you wont believe this , we are actually going through what is the Sri Lankan equivalent of Currys or Fortress ( if you live in Hong Kong), people are actually purchasing fridge freezers, ovens and all manner of household goods in duty free ( now try getting that past your cabin check in  allowance) and then wheeling them through customs.

So out the other side and the driver is waiting for us, to lead us into RAIN !!!, (spending the last two years in Beijing, it is unusual to see so much rain )  

Now for the hour long drive to the hotel and it is scary … so scary (well not as bad as the drive through the Coca plantations in Peru), it was easier to fall asleep, my problem was being awaken by the screech of brakes as we slide towards a crane doing a turn using “forward and reverse gears” in the middle of the road, and my snoring !!!.

We arrive at what is described as a Retro chic hotel , a 200 year old mansion (http://www.casacolombo.com/) part of the Tablet Hotel collection, where we are swiftly shown our suite by our personal butler !!! 
Quickly ordering a few curries and the ubiquitous Gin and Tonics found in Sri Lanka ( for those of you that have not had one 75% gin , 25% tonic ), we settle in …….  


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Slacker ………….

OK, I have been slack , I know, I know but I have had a lot on my mind, but this is no excuse, I mean its not like I go to work anymore … instead I think, I travel … no no I am not Bourdain …..

So where did we leave off, oh yes escaping the Ash Cloud by making the quick dash to Schiphol Airport and then off to Panama ……. then the trip to Peru … hmmm yes I do have a lot of catching up to do on Penfolds adventures … so over the coming days I will write the log of the Peruvian adventure, followed by Ahr Seoul, Scubaing in Samui during bike week, getting serious in Shangers …. and the current adventure “The Ingles go wild in Nippon” tour … and there are still many more adventures scheduled this year, so stay tuned …….