The Cave

Hello one and all! Welcome to The Cave, my little slice of virtual-real-estate that has been lurking in the ether of the internet long enough to start toddling on its own... There's no escape now!

 

Travels from Base Camp (May 2006 - Present)

Returning from not one, but two trips of a lifetime after a period living in the randomness of Japan (see below) should be setting me up for a dull period in my life... Um... Sorry to disappoint!

It took the cavegirl and I about ten days to find and move into our castle - from where we intend to continue our adventures.

 

We are always open to new experiences, and more than happy to help if you want any prehistoric advice about travelling - so feel free to e-mail me.

 

 

 

The India Grand Tour (December 2009 - January 2010)

After an eventful year we joined forces with the Cavegirl's mum and headed off to a destination none of us had been to before... India!

 Our trip started off with a dash around the monuments and markets of Delhi before hopping on the train to historic Agra.  After being overwhelmed by the beauty of the Taj Mahal and the exquisite artistry adorning the other tombs and forts of the area we left our trusty taxi driver Arif and his marvellous Ambassador taxi to board the overnight train to Mumbai, and onwards to Aurangabad.

 The area around Aurangabad is famous for the two cave complexes of Ellora and Ajanta.  Both are impressive sights, with intricate carvings and paintings, but the highlight for me was the massive Kailasanatha temple in Ellora - a huge structure hewn out of the cliff face.

We took a few days to kick back and relax over Christmas in the southern state of Kerala before exploring Fort Cochin and joining a group for the remainder of our time in India.  The tour encompassed the serene backwaters near Alleppey, the verdant hills of the Western Ghats and a spot of body-surfing at Varkala.

Breaking our journey home in Bahrain was a great opportunity to see a little more of the Middle East - we'll definitely be coming back here!

You can see all the photos on flickr.

 

 

 

Time Off For Good Behaviour (November 2008 - January 2009)

With an invitation to Keisuke and Machi's wedding in Japan and a promise to visit Vix in New Zealand, it was time to take some well earned time off... Our respective bosses signed off the holiday forms and away we trotted to STA to plan another round the world adventure!

Starting off back in Japan, armed with a rail pass, we returned to Fukui as guests of the Okada family.  After a full day of partying and a few more revisiting old haunts, we headed down to Kyoto, Himeji and Hiroshima to indulge in some fantastic food (prepared by crazy chefs) and visit some sights we'd missed in previous visits (including the elusive monkeys of Arashiyama).  

Next up was Indonesia - exploring Jakarta and Yogyakarta in Java and spectacularly failing to get to Komodo due to a 28  hour bus journey from hell... Still, we were deposited in Bali and made the most of this unexpected detour in the beautiful town of Ubud.

After a brief stop in Singapore we headed to New Zealand for a fantastic Christmas in Wellington with Vix and a great crowd of friends.  Sampling the best of New Zealand, we also fitted in a dash to South Island, some winery goodness, a helicopter ride and zorbing - yay!

Our final stop was in the picture-perfect Cook Islands including the atol of Aitutaki - gorgeous! 

You can see all the photos on flickr.

 

 

 

Wanderlust (February 2006 - May 2006)

The culmination of years of hopes, dreams and planning, our itchy feet took us to STA Travel with a bucket of cash (also known as a credit card) and a list of the places on this earth we wanted to visit.

A few months later we found ourselves at Heathrow airport, embarking on a trip that took us through Jordan, Egypt, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Easter Island, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador (including the Galapagos Islands), the USA and Canada.

Methods of transport included aeroplanes (in various states of repair), buses (again in various states of repair), trains, boats, cars, taxis (the ones in Egypt definitely do not go under the heading of cars), tuk-tuks, scooters, cycles and a random selection of smelly noisy beasts (myself not included).

We were privilaged to meet some fascinating new people and particularly enjoyed visiting some old friends in the USA and Canada - Thanks for putting up with us!

Needless to say, we had a fabulous time and the memories will last forever!

You can read all about the trip in the Travel Diary bloggy thing, and see where we went on the world map.

 

 

 

The Long Route Home (July 2005 - September 2005)

In July 2005 it was time to head back to the UK with the Cavegirl, after a couple of years teaching English in Japan. However, being the people we are, we thought it would be a bit of an anticlimax to just hop on a flight, so we pottered over land via the slow boat to China, then the Trans-Mongolian train through Mongolia and Russia - YAY!

Just before we left, I wrote the following on this website:

"The journey should take in the region of two months, depending on tropical storms, interesting food induced stomach disorders, scary officials on the siberian border, mafia encounters, muggers, train derailments and anything else the man upstairs wants to throw at us!"

Well, we experienced pretty much ALL of the above (if you consider pick-pocketing akin to gentle mugging, and stopping-the-train-while-fixing-the-line-in-the-gobi-desert akin to quasi-derailment) - and much much more!

The train journeys were very civilised, and we met some really interesting people along the way. Any rumors that we became addicted to Armenian Cognac are totally unfounded.

You can read all about the trip in the Travel Diary bloggy thing, and see where we went on the world map.

 

 

 

Japan (October 2003 - July 2005)

In October 2003 I flopped into a seat on a Lufthansa flight to Osaka, via Frankfurt to join my beloved Cavegirl who had been living in Fukui city on the west coast of Japan since July 2003 (trying to escape - she should have known she'd never get away!). One cancelled flight, a swift ticket exchange and a couple of flights (via Dubai rather than Frankfurt) later and I made it to my home for then next 21 months...

Sometimes I used to stop and think "How the hell did I get here?". This usually happened after another random Japanese adventure - such as standing, freezing cold, on the side of Mt Fuji "Banzai-ing" the sunrise. The answer has eluded me to date, but one thing I am certain of is that my time in Japan was not wasted. The sheer number of experiences thrust upon me and the once-in-a-lifetime nature of many of them will ensure they stay with me for a long time to come.

You can see plenty of photos and accounts of our mishaps in Japan on the Cavegirl's website.

I was sad to be leaving Japan and the list of things I will miss is probably too long for this page, however I am certain that in the future I will see many of the people who have made my time here what it was. Let's enjoy e-mail until that happy day! (that should be a T-shirt from Jack!)