Culture Shock!!!From Asia where everything is shiny and new to France where everything is old and cultured. From the heat and humidity to cold and rain. From cheap cheap to Tres expensive. From happy loud people to quiet reserved, miserable looking folks, from tight and sparkly New Years Eve daytime dresses to black and navy wool skirt suits - In June!!!! From three inch sexy shoes to everyone in matching ballet flats or Tods driving loafers. From glass and steel...

Next destination - Amman Jordan. This leg was 5 hours I think and we landed around 5:30 am their time. I was flying on Royal Jordanian Airlines - my first time with that company and as we came out of the clouds - presto - desert!!!! - Cool! And so different from the lushness of Thailand and Hong Kong. The Amman airport is pretty small and was my first in the Middle East. I had about one hour between flights in this little airport. Scattered around the airpo...

So, back onto the plane - no time to even grab a Turkish delight nougat and off to Paris - 5.5 more hours in the air. We landed at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris around 11 am their time and the plan was: I was to find the train station and take the high speed train for 2 hours to the small town of St Pierre de Corps - about 250 km south of Paris. There, my friend Clem would be waiting on the platform to take my tired carcass home for a rest. I met Clem an...

May 25 - Hong Kong to Bangkok to Amman Jordan to Paris to St Pierre de Corps to St. Avertin....a 45 hour journey and that was just travel time!!!Check out at the Mansion was 10 am so I hung around till then, packed my stuff and stored it with Mr. Phillip's wife - a woman apparently with no name. Every time I asked Mr. Philip he said "no - no name" and she just smiled sweetly. When he wasn't around I asked her her name and still, just a shake of the head...

When you are travelling, every day is a Sunday!!!: you are often not aware what day of the week it is. I headed across the Bay from Kowloon to Hong Kong and hopped on a double Decker bus to have a look. Right away I noticed hundreds of Pilipino women parked in every nook and cranny around the Ferry dock. I thought maybe they were queuing up to buy tickets or attend an event. As the bus pulled away, every single street and sidewalk and park and, well everyw...