Nice in France
Sorry I haven’t written in ages but I was moving house and then had a delightful couple of weeks in the south of France.
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myhotel, Brighton
This isn’t really a hotel review as such – it’s more of an excuse as to why I have been a bit negligent toward the poor old www.thewordofward.co.uk website. The reason is that I have been busy at work and then busy holidaying. I’m not sure that is a good reason but that is the…
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Conwy Castle, Wales
If you like castles or spectacular decaying edifices, I highly recommend Conwy castle. It was actually pretty fun to go on a bleak mid-week afternoon in January as well, as we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
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Octoberfest Munich
Mrs Word of Ward and myself were a bit mental in that we went in October. Most of it is in September, but the Bavarians obviously decided Septemberfest sounded stupid. I highly recommend going mid-week because it can get ridiculously busy at weekends or holidays.
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Railay Beach, Thailand
As I have mentioned frequently over the last few weeks, I am currently on holiday in Thailand. For some reason this caused a lot of envy-laden comments amongst my Facebook buddies. Bastards. I suppose, to be fair, I had just posted a link to this website from a hammock. Which would annoy me too if…
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Coming to you live from Bangkok!
Dear readers, I apologise most profusely for my lack writing. But I do have a pretty awesome excuse. I left my flat of 4 years and had to pack everything in storage. As anyone who has ever moved apartment will know, this was a massive stressful ball-ache. Not just the lifting but calling half of…
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I’m in Florence
I probably won’t be writing much for the next few days as I am in Florence. That’s in Italy, in case you are a tad geographically challenged. If you have never been here before, you should. It’s bloody gorgeous. One of the Assassin’s Creed games was set here and bizarrely, it helped me find my…
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Hong Kong. What’s it like?
I was born in Hong Kong and lived there until I was 21. It is a superlative place. It is like living about 10 years in the future. Hong Kong is like Blade Runner mixed with Minority Report/5th Element/Coruscant. We are actually thinking about moving back there in a couple of years. People often ask,…
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I turned 40 and have fled to Prague
Yikes! A few days ago, the 31st to be precise, I turned forty. That would officially make me middle aged if it wasn’t for the fact that life expectancy in the West is now over 82 and will be higher by the time I get up to my octogenarian milestone. So I have a couple…
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The slow boat to Luang Prabang. Part Three
Over an hour later, there it was. Luang Prabang at last. A finger of raised land that sticks into the confluence of the mighty Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. I could see temples and bars all along its side high above the river. It looked like the promised land.
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The slow boat to Luang Prabang. Part Two.
Our boat was due to leave Huay Xai at 11am and it was hot already. Easily over 30 celsius. Given that we were in Laos I was fairly surprised at the efficiency of the crew and the fact that we left just after 11:30. (I’m not being sarcastic, I have been to Laos before and timetables are like indecipherable hieroglyphs.) The first couple of hours you cruise down the Mekong with Laos on your left and Thailand on your right. The scenery is pretty with the occasional concrete or wooden village on each side of the low banks.
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The slow boat to Luang Prabang. Part One.
Our journey began in the mountains an hour outside of Chiang Rai, Thailand. My group consisted of myself, my wife Nim, my mother-in-law (Nim’s mum), her friend, a guide (who happened to be a student of Nim’s mum and was a local Chiang Rai businessman), and another guide who was from Laos. A lot of…
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The Bangkok Podcast
Well I’m back in Blighty. Bangkok was, as always, very exciting and warm and fun and full of hot sexy, er, food. I’m feeling mildly homesick for the place which is a bit odd as I only lived there for two years. Maybe I just miss South East Asia – my home for over two…
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Back in Bangkok
Well we are back from Koh Chang. Quite frankly it was awesome. I miss being able to jump on a bus and be on a stunning tropical beach a few hours later. My life has taken a wrong turn somewhere and I surprisingly find myself as a thirty eight year old non billionaire. I was…
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St Ives Guide
What with the economy being broken and credit crunching and blah blah tedium, more people are having what has annoyingly being termed a ‘staycation’. We thought we’d give one a go. I’ve always wanted to go to St Ives and Cornwall in general. It was also my wife’s birthday. I knew there was both art…
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Land’s End, Cornwall
It’s the End of The World as we know it. Well the end of England anyway. The land part. Ok, I’ll stop, this is getting a bit tortured. In case you didn’t know, Land’s End is at Britain’s most south westerly point. Not including islands we have in the Atlantic, obviously. If you are visiting…
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The Eden Project
I’ve been wanting to go to the Eden Project for years just because of some awesome looking photos I saw on the internet. If you don’t know what this project is, you should read more about it. It’s brilliant. Massive bio-domes in an old clay quarry in Cornwall. It’s being done as an experiment with…
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I got married… again! This time Bangkok Buddhist Style
Yes, I’ve done it again. Same lady, but different country and very different ceremony. So my blog and review output has been somewhat lacking. Apologies for this but I have to have priorities. My ‘Wedding 2’ was held in a large ballroom in Bangkok. There were nine monks, a hundred guests, and lots of emotion….
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Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Galaxy.
Well, I’m back. I apologize for not writing recently but I have been on a minor European tour. First off, I’ve been to Bruges. In Belgium. Like the feckin’ movie. It was a lovely place and is one of the most perfectly preserved medieval cities in Belgium. It’s full of cobbled streets, cafes, statues, old…