Narrowboatboy’s Big, Bad Blog...Narrowboat & Travel blog based on Lancaster Canal

Today feels different, the atmosphere feels charged with devotion, spirituality and divine energy… It’s probably because it is Maha Shivratri, a big party day on the Hindu calendar and is celebrated every year with a lot of pomp and grandeur as it is of great spiritual significance. The festival falls on the 14th day of the dark (waning) half of the lunar month, a day before the new moon and Lord Shiva, one of the cosmic gods and father to old elephant nose, Ganesha, who was also the founder of this occasion.  Lord Shiva has 3 eyes, four hands and wears a serpent around his neck as a scarf and often carries a trident so he can be easily recognised. I sincerely hope it’s not a religious scam,  but today Iv decided to take up the offer of following the path of inner peace, to overcome ignorance and attain self realisation, absolve negative karma and give myself  a new direction in life…what do I have to lose? Iv started the day by forcing myself to lie on a hard, wooden sla...

After a hearty 5* breakfast and a repack of Stratos & Altus, it’s  time to leave the skyscrapers behind and slither out of town like a couple of snails. Taking the now familiar  KL Rapid monorail from PWTC was easy and ten stops later we were at Bandar Tasik Selatan, a transit stop for the bus station. Here we bought 2 tickets for 22 ringgits (£4 each) for seats 4&5 on the next big pink bus to Kuantan, about 4 hrs away, on the east coast of the Malaysian peninsula. Onboard, the coach journey took us up out of KL, past the struggling wagons, on the steep climb up over the Genting Highlands. The main E8 was busy today so time to just sit back and take in the scenery. I spy with my wonky eye, something beginning with P…? “PALM OIL”….correct, in obscene amounts! Miles and miles of the damn stuff! Malaysia grows about half the world’s supply of Palm oil in its monoculture plantations which has had a major impact on the eco system in these parts and imports are rightly banne...

Meet travel companions Atmos & Stratos For what it’s worth, I’m just wondering about having a bit of a blogfest again as preparations are being made for a nice month long trip into Asia…So, I’m currently trying to convince myself that I still have the time and creative inclination to string a few musings together and litter them with some colourful pics as we trot round Malaysia, mainly as a vibrant diary to capture a few memories digitally. Ok, so decision made…il give it a go… The blog has had a bit of a re-vamp and is now good to go too. Looking back, the previous blogs covered last years bike trip with the boys and before that my time living and working in Italy and trips around Europe so we were due some coverage of this ‘long-haul’ respite for the next month. respite /ˈrɛspʌɪt,ˈrɛspɪt/ noun a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant ie.Work… As the last big Asian adventure was to Thailand in 2016 , I’m going to make the effort and keep a log o...

Well...after thousands of emails demanding “Why don’t you write them witty and informative blogs anymore”.?...and littered with worthy praise like “as I found your literary skills littered with bad grammar and your misguided observational musings so amusing and informative, not to mention enlightening.....and the world is such a grim place without them” Really...?...so I have relented and bowed down to peer pressure! View from the bow Really...? Well...not really....I was just talking the other day and remembered that I used to enjoy to write occasionally and thought I should maybe give it another bash and do an update. I then made a New years resolution, there and then on the 26th Jan that I could at least try to produce at least one blog for each month of the year for 2022,,,can’t I?...we’ll see, can’t promise but I will try. So here goes...I have revamped it and rebranded the product to freshen things up but it will be the same old me moaning about stuff, littered with inspirational...