How can I find the time to write this blog? The answer lies in the fact that it is four thirty in the morning here and, as I've not established a full night's sleeping pattern yet, I'm filling it with writing up a briefish account of the main highlights of yesterday. By the way, our hotel room looks on to a side alley and is only picking up the buffeted sounds of early morning motos and those assembling themselves for the harmonious madness that exists here. We w...

It's about 15 hours in the air from Manchester to Ho Chi Minh City, plus a few hours connecting to a different aeroplane in Dubai. so, having left Manchester airport at nineish last night, we are sitting here at nine o' clock at night local time expecting an hour wait for the landing visa to be processed. And this is a crazy system. A hundred plus are crowded into a little corner waiting for the return of our passports for which we will have to hand over $50 each...

We are staying at an amazing hotel called Rio Magnolia. Hotel? The word "hotel" cannot do any justice to the experience that is provided here at Rio Magnolia. I'm sure that for some people staying here would not suit but I would defy anyone not to be in awe of what John and Maureen have created which is quite simply magnificent. When making your way to Rio Magnolia from the coastal, tourist town of Dominical in the south western region of Costa Rica, it is a st...

We arrived at Rio Magnolia on Wednesday last