This is another fantastic place for sunsets – The Bay of Naples. Monsieur and I had been to Capri that day and decided to overnight in Sorrento. We hadn’t booked anything so called a few hotels in the guidebook. I was scared that with my bad Italian I’d misunderstood the hotel manager who said she…
Category: Hotels
Bandes Dessinees weekend 1 – The Case of the Missing Navette
There are too many people in this world who simply don’t understand the fascination of bandes dessinées (otherwise known as graphic novels). Monsieur and I are not among these people. We still read Tintin, raced madly through a series called XIII (Treize, as in ‘thirteen’) which gripped us with political intrigue and Kennedy-esque family, spent last…
Malaysia Part 9 – Melaka Moments
As Monsieur had selected most of the hotels for our Malaysian holiday, I decided to find something a bit different for our time in Melaka. Trawling tripadvisor, I found repeated reference to the Hotel Puri, its fabulous antiques and themed rooms and the über-efficient Madame Jo who ran front desk. If the five-star hotels we’d…
Malaysia/Singapore Part 7: Bumboats and hotpants
Monsieur and I left the bowling ball bullfrog behind on Clarke Quay as we jumped on a bumboat (a.k.a. junk) to take us up the Singapore River. It was late afternoon grey as our almost empty boat set off from the jetty. Up the green river we went, under the pedestrian Riverwalk bridge and adjacent…
Malaysia/Singapore, Part 6: From Fortunes to Frogs
Today Monsieur and I swam before breakfast. Down at the pool it was raining hard and an attendant wearing bright orange gators stopped us before we could swim. “If there’s thunder or lightning, you must get out of the pool EE-ME-DEE-AT-LEE.” he stressed each syllable and looked us hard in the eyes to be sure…
Malaysia/ Singapore, Part 5: In the Night Zoo
I’m not really a zoo person, but I’d been assured that the Night Safari in Singapore was different. Curious to see for ourselves if it was as animal-friendly as we’d heard, Monsieur and I went back up the road for Johor Bahru to talk with the animals. The park itself was opened in 1994 and…
Malaysia, Part 4: A Cold Bus to Singapore
The morning of our journey to Singapore, we were woken by an orchestra of wake-up calls and alarms, set the night before to ensure that we did not sleep late. With somewhat fragile heads, the legacy of hitting the KL night life the previous evening, we made it to Pudu Raya bus terminal intact. There,…
People in Glasshouses need sleep, too
The Glasshouse in Edinburgh is quite something, according to the awards it boasts about on its website. With a preserved church facade behind which the omnipresent glass of this particular hotel stands, it makes an intriguing first impression. However, this place is a lesson in that piece of wisdom: ‘Don’t judge a book by its…
Malaysia, part 3: Biba’s, The Batu Caves, The Beatles and Beer
Today, miracle of Malaysian miracles, Monsieur and I made it to breakfast on time. This was of particular importance as Biba’s, the hotel breakfast restaurant, had been cited as being a favourite destination for martial arts man, Jackie Chan, apparently fuelling his lethal flying side kicks. I wondered what it would do for us. The…
Malaysia, part 2: Immersion
Apparently Monsieur and I were not immune from jet lag, in spite of keeping to local time on arrival. We slept fitfully that first night and when we finally dragged our heavy bodies down to breakfast, it was all gone. What next? We decided to talk to the concierge about our sightseeing options, but he…
Epicurienne 