Oh, Mandalay! Such an exotic name. It conjures up ancient tales of the orient. Expats downing gin and tonics under whirling fans, shining palaces and the lazy Ayeyarady River winding by. Well yes it is that but is also a very big commercial city and oh so hot at this time of year. Every day is over 40 degrees as the monsoon season nears and the dust is ever present, as the countryside cries out for rain.We used every type of transport imaginable to get around Man...

"This is Burma and it is unlike any land you know about" said Rudyard Kipling over a 100 years ago. Still true today and it is with a sense of wonder we discover the quirks and differences that makes Myanmar, as it is known today, so different from other parts of South East Asia.First indicator is transport. Our taxi from Yangon airport to our hotel has the driver on the right hand side, but then we quickly see that traffic drives on the right too. It seems so ...

 A comfortable night in a "cheaper end" Singapore hotel not far from the bus station we wanted to be at the next day, made a good start to our adventure.A reasonably comfortable bus took us to the Singapore - Malaysian border and the pesky border formalities then onto Malacca. We had jagged a fantastic price for a Novotel Hotel for our three nights.Luxury!We enjoyed wandering around the easily walkable old city and exploring the Portuguese and Dutch buildings. ...

 Anticipation.It is a wonderful part of travel. The planning stages are a real integral part of the anticipation. How to make an itinerary work? How to get from A to B? We settled on a plan that would include a good look at Myanmar, a catch up with three lots of English friends and an expedition to the Arctic Circle. .We started by basing our dates around the centre piece of the trip, a G Adventures Expedition leaving Edinburgh, travelling to the Shetlands then...

 "Build it and they will come" was the theme of the movie Field of Dreams.  It didn't quite work that way for the inaugural West Oz Blues Festival held at Bolgart 9th,10th & 11th October. Unfortunate for the organisers. We, on the otherhand, were unfazed and enjoyed the opportunity to get close to the stars and not join the usual festival queues at the bar. We heard an interview on ABC radio about this festival when we were back of beyond, roughly 1,000 ki...