Blog

Durrës, done and dusty

12/8/2025

We headed out of Tirana yesterday to the seaside town of Durrës. The highlight for me was the 2000 year old amphitheatre. JD was keen to swim in the sea, but it didn't really live up to his memories of the warm, fish-filled bays that he enjoyed on holiday in Malaysia a few years ago.

We've tried some Albanian food over the last few days, but haven't been that impressed with the rather stodgy stew/bread based cuisine. Instead we found an authentic and well-priced Chinese restaurant within walking distance of our hotel and have enjoyed meals there more than once! We fly back to the UK this evening.

Albania bound

8/8/2025

We flew into Tirana, Albania today. Albania only has a population of 3 million so, despite being the capital city, Tirana still feels quite small (½ million). We've started to have a look around including the quirky Bunk'Art (a museum/gallery situated in an underground bunker) and the beautiful Namazgah Mosque.

Grand Tour - "home"

16/5/2024

JD and I flew back to Kunming today after a brilliant two weeks of holiday. Jiajia is staying in Shanghai for a few more days of business.

The trip felt like a practice run for moving to the UK - packing, flying, settling into new accommodation, experiencing new things. Not long now...

Grand Tour - "disney"

15/5/2024

We flew to Shanghai yesterday. Jiajia has some business there and so while she worked, JD and I visited Disneyworld there for the day. This is the sixth Disney I've been to (USAx2, Euro, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai), completing the set. It was JD's second, though he has no recollection of the first Hong Kong visit. And he was desperate to ride his first rollercoaster!

We packed in a full day; 4D Pirate ride, Pirate stunt show, Pirate ship exploration, Seven Dwarfs Mine ride, Water Splash canyon, Rock Climbing experience, Winnie's Hunny Pot ride, meet the Pirates [see above right], Peter Pan flying ride, Disney Parade & Tron rollercoaster!

Grand Tour - "army"

13/5/2024

We visited the Terracotta Army today, having booked our tickets a week ago. It's changed a lot since the last two times I've been there. Queues to get security checked, more queues to check tickets, a bus to take you to the site, more queues to enter and then thousands (literally) of Chinese tourists pushing and shoving to get a view of the statues.

JD and Jiajia were very impressive with the attraction though, it being their first time, and the attached museum was a little quieter and showed off the craftsmanship and detail of some of the best-preserved soldiers.

Grand Tour - "cycle"

12/5/2024

We flew from Beijing to Xi'An yesterday and settled into the Sheraton - another 5* hotel. Today we walked to the walls which surround the old city. At the top you can hire bikes and cycle around the whole 13km walls. JD was keen, despite his still healing leg, so off we went!

After completing the trip, and a welcome ice-cream we headed for the Big Goose Pagoda which Jiajia had always wanted to visit.

It took half an hour by taxi to reach it. JD was flagging a bit by then after all the cycling, and I'd seen the Pagoda before, so Jiajia explored it by herself and enjoyed the Buddhist museum displays.

Then we headed back to our hotel for a rest followed by a relaxing swim in the hotel pool.

Grand Tour - "wall"

9/5/2024

I've visited the Great Wall 4-5 times in the past, in various places, so I suggested we head for the less crowded MuTianYu section today and we were delighted to find peace and space after recent crowded days. We took an hour's taxi there and a cable car to get up the mountain.

JD was still limping, so we only walked an hour or so along the wall before returning. But we saw a lot and were mightily impressed.

Grand Tour - "fly"

6/5/2024

Jiajia, JD and I are heading for the sights. We've planned a 2 week trip to let JD see the most famous places in his country of birth before we leave for good. Today we flew to Beijing via the small town of ZhongWei for some reason. We were the only aeroplane in the airport!

Fish, feast and fast boats

29/9/2023

Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese National Day fall in the same week this year (the former being linked to moon phases). This means everyone gets an 8-day holiday (minus all the catch-up days before and after). JD is very excited at being off school for so long, especially as it coincides with his half-birthday!

The main tradition for Mid-Autumn Festival is eating little round pies, with various sweet or savoury fillings, and gazing at the full moon. We'll spend our holiday in and around Kunming with plans for a fishing trip with friends, spending vouchers at a huge all-you-can-eat buffet, R/C boat racing and a yard sale of JD's unwanted toys.

Malaysia malaise

27/7/2023

A smooth journey back to Kunming today - taxi/plane/plane/taxi. Missing Malaysia already...!

Crystal clear

26/7/2023

We left Redang Island today by ferry. The two hour journey took us to Terengganu City, passing the gorgeous Crystal Mosque.

We'll stay in Terengganu for a night in a hotel near the airport, to catch our homeward flights tomorrow morning.

Scuba do

25/7/2023

JD was keen to learn how to scuba dive this holiday - something JiaJia and I enjoy doing when we can. So we arranged for a Dive Shop to give him an hour of training. Scuba trainer Aaron gave JD an onshore briefing before practicing "Mask clearing" and "Regulator/BCD management" in the shallows. Then they headed 6m/20ft down to the coral beds to explore while I looked down on them, floating up on the surface. JD loved it and Aaron said JD was "fearless" and a "natural"!

Paradise?

24/7/2023

We took a boat to Long Beach today, around the other side of Redang Island. We'll be staying in Paradise Resort for our last few days here. The hotel is only a little better quality than our last one but the beach is literally outside our room and there's no Mosque to wake us up!

There are also new areas to explore, including a beach full of shells.

Bar none

22/7/2023

We took a boat-based snorkelling trip today to explore some other areas. On the way back, we stopped at this pretty sand bar for photos!

Mosque annoying

21/7/2023

One annoying aspect of our hotel here is this mosque, some 200m away. I'm all for religious tolerance but the wailing "call to prayer" blaring out over loudspeakers at 6am (and then four more times through the day) does not endear me to the Islamic faith!

It's one reason why we are thinking of moving to a hotel in another part of the island for our last two nights here.

Turtley amazing!

20/7/2023

Well, "Turtle Beach" is just amazing! We swam out from shore to interact with huge (1m/3ft) sea turtles. Or there are closer coral reefs just begging to be snorkelled, with hundreds of fish such as clownfish ("Nemo"), zebrafish, neons, sea cucumbers, parrotfish, angelfish, sea snakes etc. The water is crystal clear and the sand is white. The beach is public, but somewhat out of the way and therefore nearly deserted at times. We had a blast!

No boat, but...

19/7/2023

We flew to Terengganu today. We had planned to jump on a ferry there to our island destination but, on doing more in-country research, we realised that the "3 ferries a day" in our guidebook had now been cut down to one a day - and our flight arrived after it left.

We expected to have to find a local hotel and "waste" a day. But on arrival at the airport, we seized the chance to charter a private speedboat to get us to the island same-day. It was expensive but we had already paid for our hotel on the island, so we went for it and were whisked over in 45 minutes (the ferry takes 2 hours). It was bumpy and splashy, but JD loved it! So were are now in De'Rimba Hotel - a bit basic, but just a 20 minute walk to "Turtle Beach".

Indestructible

18/7/2023

We spent this morning shopping in "Central Market". The shops there are an interesting mix of local crafts, food, clothes, antiques, tourist souvenirs and curiosity shops. In was in one of the latter that I suddenly spotted these two toy vehicles from "Captain Scarlet" - my favourite TV show of the 60s/70s. Sadly, they were far too expensive to purchase (I own painted versions in the UK already). But seriously, what are the chances?

Palace place

17/7/2023

We took an open-topped bus tour today to see the main sights of Kuala Lumpur (without all the energy-sapping walking we've been doing lately). It was good to take in some of the eye-catching buildings in the outskirts of the city, such as the National Palace, National Museum and Merdeka Independence Square.

After lunch, we shopped and then headed back for another evening swim.

Great skates

16/7/2023

We visited Kuala Lumpur's aquarium today. It gave us a taster for our diving later in the holiday, especially the glass tunnel underneath a huge tank of sharks, skates, stingrays and sea turtles.

In the evening, we found the city's night market for some local food. Jiajia was on the lookout for exotic fruit to buy, while JD tracked down some model aircraft as souvenirs of his travel. Once back at our apartment we had a cooling evening swim in our rooftop pool.

Twin towers

15/7/2023

We have rented a great apartment in Kuala Lumpur - two bedrooms, kitchen, living room, shared gym and swimming pool etc. And it is just ten minutes walk from the imposing Petronas Towers.

Plane sailing

14/7/2023

JiaJia, JD and I flew off to Malaysia today for a fortnight's holiday in Kuala Lumpur and Redang Island. The only direct flight from Kunming to KL is with AirAsia - a budget airline. So a cheap and cheerful four hour flight.

JD is something of a plane buff and seemed more excited about the thought of air travel than the holiday itself. We spent most of the journey listening to him regale us with various facts about the Airbus A320!

Pools

30/1/2023

We spent today in and around the various pools at our spa resort.

Spa kle

29/1/2023

We're off on a little trip - one night in a spa chalet and a further night in the neighbouring hotel.

Hike and Hotel

22/8/2022

Yesterday, we took a trip out to CongMao Reservoir with two of JD's old schoolfriends and their parents. We hiked up a mountain collecting edible mushrooms and checking out the wildlife!

After an evening meal together Jiajia, JD and I drove on to a 5 star hotel for the night. Jiajia had secured some vouchers for three nights, at 10% of the usual price. So we slept well on the 20th floor (great views) and pigged out on the buffet breakfast this morning. We'll use our two additional nights later in the year.