2024: Land of the Tiger

This was an excellent year for travelling. Following on from the success of our trip to Tokyo last October, we decided to head for Asia again, and Judy particularly fancied trying Hong Kong. We are glad we did. We felt so at home here, it felt like it was half China and half being at home, so whilst we got the oriental side of things in terms of knowing we were along way from home, the fact that everything was in English, people spoke English and plenty of western food options as well as Marks and Spencer’s, meant that it was a home from home. We did a lot of lovely things in Hong Kong, but the highlight was the trip to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddah. Everything about that day was fantastic, the most beautiful cable car ride, great village, lovely food at the Mountain Cafe, views to die for from the Big Buddah itself and then a misty end to the day all added to the mystique of it all. Whilst in Hong Kong we also did a trip to Macao, spending the first half of the day in the old colonial town (felt like a mini Lisbon) and then to the grand hotels, a la Las Vegas. We even went on a quirky cable car ride around one of the hotel complexes. We also had a day trip across the border to Shenzhen in China which felt like a different world, very noisy and vibrant, even though we were only a few miles from Hong Kong itself. Again we split that day into two parts, the first was a memorable trip to Window of the World where we went on a golf buggy to tour around a huge site to see models of many of the top landmarks in the world, before we had a wander around the bright lights in the centre of the city.

Next up it was a trip on my own to the Paris Olympics. The omens weren’t good from the start as there was problems on the Eurostar on the day of the Opening Ceremony and I was grateful to a lovely lady working for the train company who saw me distressed and in full Paris Olympic gear who got me on an earlier train than I was originally booked on to mitigate the delay as the journey was taking over 4 hours instead of 2 and a half. The events themselves were great, I particularly liked being at Roland Garros for the Tennis where I saw Djokovic amongst others. However, it was a trip dominated by the weather. Firstly, getting soaked to the skin at the Opening Ceremony along the River Seine, five hours of the heaviest rain which left me as wet as I have ever been, ruining my shoes amongst other things. Secondly, it was then very hot, and with many of the stadiums that I was attending being temporary structures, I was in the heat of the sun for too long and combined with lots of walking, packed metro trains, airline security at all the events and a stuffy hotel with thin walls, it all meant that the excitement of the trip was being overtaken by the difficulty of it all. So, I decided to come back early, cashing in my last £1300 worth of events and put the money aside to go to the next Winter Olympics instead. Surely it won’t be hot there!

In the autumn we returned to Asia and having done a lot of research, we fancied going to South Korea, basing ourselves in Seoul but adding a couple of days in Busan to the itinerary. This was a magical trip, as close to 10 out of 10 as you can get and up there with Japan as the best trips we have ever done. We absolutely loved Myeongdong where we stayed, it had lovely night markets and the ambience was wonderful, vibrant but not exhaustingly busy, bright lights, great food and shopping, and lots of character stores. Busan was equally fantastic, but it is much more spread out than Seoul and the transport links weren’t as good, so we got a lot of taxis here. We did some great things in Busan, the cable car, the trip up the mountains to the village with great shopping, a quirky individual monorail ride along the seafront, but best of all was the temple by the sea which was simply stunning. We also did an excursion whilst back in Seoul and that was the Demilitarised Zone tour. This was great and by going on the cable car we actually set foot on North Korea (our 70th country visited together) even if it was only a technicality by stepping foot on the North Korean side of the cable car and having to come back immediately with barbed wire up everywhere around you. Indeed, just before the end of the tour, with one aspect of the tour remaining (one that we weren’t too bothered about anyway), we sped out of the area quickly on the coach to be told by the guide that North Korea are firing missiles in the area for the first time in years and we need to go! A fantastic