A spot of packing for the trip back to Pakistan for a wedding, complicated by the long stopover in Beijing, long enough to leave the airport but where the weather will be dramatically different. I think I have decided to go through the Forbidden City, get a quick bite to eat, watch the Tiananmen flagraising […]
Crater lake
A leisurely morning and we packed up and left. This was difficult with my suppurating eczematic fingers, but had to be done and so was. In any case we took a taxi to the bus station, there to wait for hte bus to open. I stayed with the bags while the Gentleman Friend sprinted off […]
Cosh to the head
We left our flat to catch a 9.30 flight, forgetting a delicious croissant on the counter so had to buy breakfast at the airport. I was impressed by how well arranged the security and immigration was. Immigration was entirely through electronic gates, I had to place my passport on the reader and go, that was […]
A kind of homecoming
Strange how much South East Asia feels like coming home even though we have never lived in Thailand. We arrived late at night and it felt such a relief: the warmth, the humidity, the smells, the bearing of the people. Today my eczema, which had flared in both Lebanon and Nepal, has calmed down; the […]
On the defensive, again
I am in the executive lounge at the airport, waiting for a much delayed flight. It was supposed to leave at 11 in the morning, then yesterday we got that email informing us that it was postponed to 4.40 in the afternoon. Wednesday arrived at the airport a couple of hours early you find a […]
The luxury option
I was collected bang on time and then, of course, it took a while for matters to settle. I was taken to the place where the jeep departs, as is often the way it was basically a ditch on the side of the ring road from which a jeep erupted every 15 minutes or so. […]
Firm believer
I arrived in Beirut a firm believer in airport lounges. The stopover was in Istanbul’s small, over-crowded second airport. the lounge was also small and overcrowded, but I found myself a table (though an Arab family tried at one point to take it over and I had storm back in a range and put back […]
Melancholy hill
I’m sitting in the Stansted airport lounge, far superior to the cattle pen. I might get used to this – I am only here on sufferance really, because we have a credit card that, with an added fee, gives lounge access. They gave me the credit card by mistake and then decided to just waive […]
Flying away
I had a very vivid dream last night that the Gentleman Friend and I were in Somalia. It reminded me greatly of East Timor in the dream because of the low level of development, but it was definitely itself, with people we met and stayed with who were whole and vivid individuals with histories behind […]
Glum meal
We strolled once more through Cricklewood on our way westwards towards Willesden, there to have dinner with a couple of our acquaintance and their children. It was not the most enlivening meal, as one of the children was recently diagnosed with a congenital condition that will require major surgery, as well as a less major […]