29th Nov. Today we are heading north of Putre with Flavio to explore some of the region no tourists have been to. The roads are some of the roughest we have been on. We climb to just above 5,000 metres above sea level. Oxygen is getting thin, but we seem to have acclimatised ok. The scenery is truly spectacular. From painted mountain sides to snow-capped volcanoes and amazing plant life thriving in the desert conditions. We stop for lunch and take in the incre...

27th Nov. An early start this morning. We are catching a bus for Putre. Bus departs at 7am. The 120k trip will take around 3.5 hours. We are starting at sea level and climbing to 3,500 metres. The bus is nice and modern, and our driver is quite safe. We pass many crosses on the side of the road indicating a death. The road is littered with them. Apparently the Bolivian drivers are really bad. The drive up the valley was nothing spectacular. Arriving at Putre ...

24th November The flight from Sydney to Santiago was one of the best flights. So smooth, no turbulence. We were held up for some time at the airport, as we had to pay a arrival tax, then get on another queue to clear immigration, then another queue to clear customs. The bus ride to the city went according to plan, didn't get lost trying to find the apartment either. Now the apartment we are staying in is ok, but the noise from the road is horrendous. So you ca...

10th July Spent the first hlf of the day visiting the newly completed Roppongi Hills Complex near Tokyo. It was nice but lacked character and people. We found a busy little restaurant in a back street to have lunch at. It seems it is better value to have lunch as your main meal. The restaurants offer specials including soup, main meal and drinks for one set price which can be half the price of just the main meal for tea. The other day we ordered lunch in a mal...

8th In Shinjuku there is the Tokyo Government Building. It offers a roof top observatory for free, so off we went to the top floor. The view was pretty amazing. Wandered the streets of Shinjuku and then headed to Yoyogi park. A really beautiful park with many interesting sights. A lot of people want to be seen here and have various acts they perform to entertain others. Our next stop was Omotesando. It has a wide tree lined boulevard thats reminiscent of the Ch...