Don't Stare at the Sun....

Due to a metabolic imbalance from consuming a heady mix of the Portuguese grape and copious amounts of Johnny Walker Red label during the previous evening, yesterday started somewhat later than normal and went rather slowly. The mid morning transaction to obtain ourselves a showy set of wheels went smoothly and by lunchtime we were the proud owners of a sporty grey Fiat Panda with an economy trim, albeit a few years old but with an extended contract and a quality insurance premium that would cover us until Christmas Day. Now there was no stopping us, it was time to don the shades and hit the road and pose down the promenade,'Crockett and Tubbs' stylee with the Panda's beatbox cracklin' out some of our favourite smoochy Portuguese soft rock ballads from the wireless. Lurching away from the embarrassed hire shop manager, the sheer power from under the hood was instantly recognised and as we set off in the wrong gear, mounted the curb and stalled in front of him I could tell that this beast was a handful and it was not going to be a smooth ride, un-deterred we headed off for downtown Albufeira armed with only one thing on our mind......the shopping list!
It wasn't long before the euro was slotted in the trolley and we were shuffling around the Pingo Doce supermarket taking in all the promotions like a couple of Old Danish house-husbands. Hours later, with our local speciality goat cheese selection firmly in the fridge we left the flat again and jerked along the main road and round the corner to take in the sights and sounds of the Old Town, the Marina and then finally and romantically we had a magical moment as we watched the sun go down over St Eulia beach together.  By now it was after 5pm and far too chilly to be out without a knitted cardigan so we headed back for the 'All you Can Shove Down Your Neck' Chinese buffet with the rest of the wrinklies......another successful day in paradise, and no mistake!

This post blog title was inspired today by...'Don't Stare at the Sun',  another helping of one of my personal favourite artists, Richard Hawley....one of the best voices you will ever hear folks!

http://youtu.be/BguyBo-PamE

Dog days are over...

One thing that you can't do in the UK is have your breakfast sat outside in the December sunshine so to be sat here taking coffee is a real treat..especially when your mate is as cute as this....

This post blog title was inspired today by 'Florence and the Machine'

Nobody move, Nobody gets hurt.....

In the cold light of day the little studio at the resort is perfect, but like I say, in the cold light of day it's bloody freezing! My cheery 'good morning, mon ami' was greeted with complaints of frostbite and the merits of having a snugly fitted patio door! Still, the place had started to look quite homely, with the contents of the massive luggage strewn all over the place and yesterday's underpants hanging from the chandelier.
The 1000 room apartment complex has a lovely pool and plenty of plastic seating, easily enough to cater for the 17 elderly coffin dodgers that would appear to be staying here with us over the festive period. The problem being that until the sun gets up over the yard arm none of us are likely to be brave enough to slip into the speedo's and do a few lengths.
Breakfast was taken in a nice terrace lounge and a stroll around the grounds revealed that we were probably going to be bored stiff unless we upped our game. The ' every 15 minute free bus' beckoned and we just didn't care where it was going to take us....so we waited.....and waited.....and waited......when it didn't arrive after 2 hours we set off walking to take in the sights and delights of downtown Albufeira and managed to get about 300yds away from the hotel.....the 'all day happy hour' signage had worked it's magic and found us settled down with a glass of Portuguese red in the December sunshine, under the scattered clouds, all was peaceful in the world.....tell you what, let's just stop here.....

 


This post blog title was inspired today by...'We Are Scientists.......Nobody move, Nobody gets hurt......a single from the album 'With Love and Squalor'....and a memorable night at 53 degrees in Preston with the fellow I'm sat next to......

For Reasons Unknown...

Holidays are here again but this time I have a massive idiot in tow. Having managed to get to Liverpool airport and parked up nicely in the car park it was time to trundle into the terminal to check in for the 17.30 flight to Faro. No hold baggage had been booked so we had to accommodate everything into the10kg cabin allowance which would have been fine had one of the party not been to the incorrect shop to buy his desired luggage carrier. A local shoe shop, for some reason, had been the obvious choice of luggage purveyor and then I can only presume the shop assistant heard the destination as 'Antarctica' instead of 'Albufeira'!...and probably the word 'expedition' in place of 'quiet beach holiday'. This resulted in the purchase of the most enormous coffin shaped body bag known to man with wheels that looked perfectly at home on a farmers land-rover, being filled with freshly laundered underpants and the odd string vest. Unperturbed we shuffled towards the 'have you got anything in your bag that the whole world knows not to set foot into an airport with' signage and discovered that the massive sack also contained 'banned substances' of varying quantities. The 100ml allowance was swiftly attained so the overpriced Arm&Leg toothpaste along with the Oil O'ulay defoliating foot&face balm and the African Sexy Spicy deodorant had to be ditched awkwardly at the final hurdle. Concern continued to mount at the sheer size of the trunk and no amount of 'stuffing it as hard as you could' methodology was able to get it to fit into the statutory allowance display. Heated discussions then took place into the benefits of butchering the wheels and undercarriage off which were the parts that seemed to be sticking out about 2ft over the allowed parameters. Airport staff had to be consulted at this point and verified that if the bulging trunk could be persuaded to bend in half then with some degree of lateral thinking it might stand a chance of being allowed onto the aircraft but not inside the sitting bit....basically it had to go as hold baggage with all the other 'massive' suitcases that folk take on holiday full of their worldly belongings when they visit the sunshine.



This first post blog title was inspired today by...'The Killers.....For Reasons Unknown'' ....basically I have no idea why you would go to a shoe shop to buy luggage?....but what do I know?

We'll live and die in these towns....

Iv decided to put this blog to bed for a while and use it only as a travel blog so each time I take a trip I will update. The reason being is that I have another blog that I intend to use as a regular place for my musings so if you are interested you could go here...

andromedaonthelancastercanal.blogspot.co.uk

If not, then you will have to wait here for the the next train to transcentral or you can get out of your own town and go off and write about your own stuff instead of reading my version....one life remember!

Previous  blog post title inspired by...The Libertines :  EASY: 1 point
From the initial 'Yaaaa'' this tune will make you drive fast with the window down.

Don't look back into the sun...

Up at 6am for the hotel minivan to take me to Suvarnhabhumi airport, it's a ten minute drive and when I arrive I can check in straight away, no waiting around just straight to the front and then my personal Etihad lad did the rest and pushed my trolley with my bike box to the oversize baggage and wished me a safe journey.

 

That was it, it's over. Just a couple of planes and il be back in blighty. Flight EY403 is only half full so I get a window seat and no-one next to me so I can put my feet up and look out into the bright sunshine of the Asia that I leave behind. Flying over the Ferrari Grand Prix track we land in Abu Dhabi completing the first leg of the journey.

Previous  blog post title inspired by...Frank Turner  :  HARD 3 points
A good, catchy travellers tune aptly called 'the road' from this UK folky punkster...

" to the south, to the south, my time is running out...."

Wasting time in the noodle bar..

Tuk tuks waiting at the station

The express sleeper train is a good way to travel, it's cheap and for 565 baht you get a bed included for the night, this time I had an upper bunk to climb into and I slept for most of the journey quite comfortably. Arriving at Hualamphong station in the centre of Bangkok at about 8.30 in the morning following the usual and expected delays. Unfortunately my bike didn't get on the same train and was now expected on a later one so I found myself with a couple of hours or so to kill with coffee and breakfast on the street outside. Here I get a chance to watch busy Bangkok at work and around the station there is plenty to see. Taxis around here are tuk tuks and they sit in rows expectantly waiting for customers, each new one worth 700,000 baht (£13k). Mopeds fly about carrying everything and everyone. All walk of Thai life is here including lost travellers, deliverers, monks, workers, beggars, sleepers, guards, sellers, bin men and even a guy waiting for a lost push bike.

Other folk waiting...

The workers gettin on wi'it

Because I'm static, it's presumed that I need to be going somewhere, so every few minutes a horn will beep and a tuk tuk or a moped taxi will stop to take me somewhere with offers of "lady,lady..boom boom - boom boom", whatever that means?. The only thing I want to get on around here is my trusty steed!....I'm gonna go and see if she's arrived yet on platform 5 ......she hasn't!  When I get to the guys who unload the carriages they raise both arms and jiggle their hands about and this, it would seem, is the international sign for 'your bikes not arrived yet!'...two more raised fingers means it's going to be 2 o clock.....I hope that's what it means!

Riding back thru the protest sites

Blockaded roads in Bangkok

It wasn't.....it arrived earlier to my surprise at 12.30 and then it was out into the death trap that is downtown Bangkok and the unbearable humidity. I had memorised the route and just had to go with the flow. My journey took me back through the road blockades in the heart of the city to where the protesters are still camped near to King Rama IV statue by Lumphini park and the scene of the recent troubles on tv. The police have been clearing some areas around the city but this is definitely still a stronghold of the government opposition. It was peaceful now but I wasn't for hanging around as it is a volatile area of the city now. Halfway back I had to stop for an iced coffee. The last part of the ride was just as manic but finally, back at the Siam Place airport hotel my reservation was a haven of power shower bliss...

Back at the hotel

Previous  blog post title inspired by...The Jam  :  EASY: 1 point
Ok, not a tubestation but an excuse to play a classic Jam track...!