After a rather stressful first month in my new contracting role, it was a relief to escape London fin the first weekend in May to visit a surprisingly transquil and verdant Holland. I was there primarily to catch up with an old friend from New Zealand, Leonie. Leonie is one of the HVHS gang from high-school days. She was over in the Netherland on a four week holiday to visit with friends and family. We found plenty of time for sight-seeing however, and with the help of Leonie’s friend Johan who lives in Rotterdam, we visited the Keukenhof tulip gardens, Haarlem and the sites of Rotterdam.

More photos available in the Photo Gallery…

For Easter, Claudia and I joined Faye, Sabrina and Joachim in visiting Berlin. Faye, Claudia and Joachim stayed in style at the Gendarmenmarkt Hilton, while Claudia and I stayed at the rather more modest Eastener hostel.

As always, more photos available in the Photo Gallery…

(more…)

Hoi An is a lovely town, and one of these days I hope to return when it is not raining! After two days of incessant rain, and with a forecast of days of the same to come, I finally gave up and returned north to Hue.

In Hue it was raining also, though not as much. I managed to squeeze in a short visit to a couple of the famous imperial tombs nearby (which were actually quite atmospheric in the drizzle!) before boarding the night-train to Hanoi.

(more…)