Eastern Europe (Romania, Bulgaria)

First bush-camp outside a small village (Borozel) in Romania.


Sunset in camp.









Another bush -camp by a lake near Kazanlak (near Shipka village). Snow capped mountain which we drove through (Shipka Pass).
Setting up camp at Kazanlak; Tim getting bbq ready. So far on trip, if we not eat like kings, we certainly eat like lords. Every night was different. Photo of an unusual orthodox church at the other side of Shipka Pass.
Snowing at Shipka Pass, Bulgaria.






Photos taken at the Monastery at Grabrovo, just before assending Shipka Pass, Dryanovo Monastery (1876 up-rising centre). Stream flowing through the monastery.


The buildings are well preserved. Slate (rocks really) roof - must have strong roof structures.




It was cold at the monastery; stopped to visit and had lunch by roadside.




Some pictures taken from Bucharest.

Having a coffee break in Cismigiu Garden - not too far from the Revolution Square.
There are plenty of museums. The above is another example of fine architecture of the old.

A monument for the Aviators in the middle of one of the highways in Bucharest. One of the streets leading to this monument have fine achitecture.


The huge park behind the marble arch is worth visiting. (Just one little issue I have with the parks and gardens is that they don't mow the lawns.) The musical bells at the entrance to the park at the Marble arch is worth listening to. It plays a tune every seven and a half minutes - Christmas carols and pop musics. The park is really serene and one end of it is a popular venue for activities such Bigwalk competition. Stray dogs are all over Bucharest and the parks are no exception.
The Marble Arch is obvious a French influence. The flags tell it is Romania.


One visits Revolution Square not for its old architecture as there aren't that many. It is obviously an important square in terms of modern Romanian political history. Nicholae Ceausescu made his last speech there and apparent executed there as well. The sculpture (I don't know what it represents) - looks like several arms - commemorated the revolution.

The picture shows an exclusive restaurant (in the old town) the group went to for dinner. The building is an historic building converted to a restaurant. It retains the old relics of the past.

Near by is an old orthodox church. It is worth visiting and look at the old frescoes. I fear it they are not preserved, in the near future these frescoes will all disappear, if not thru tourists, the weather would. As Romania gets more accessible, tourist numbers will certainly increase.

The picture shows a road in the old town being ripped up for reconstruction. The digging revealed catacombs - one could spend hours looking at them. Locals were wonder what I was looking at.

The massive Romanian Parliement - the second largest building, only surpass by the Pentagon. Quite a modern building built by Nicholae Ceausescu.

Arrival at Bucharest camping ground - Camp Casa Alba

The infamous Dracula Castle - where the story was based on.

Tim preparing yet another bbq at another bush camp.

Another bush camp - about 20km out Singhisoara, en route to Brasov.

Pictures taken in Singhisoara. The yellow building (a queue of people standing outside) is where the real Dracula was born. Pictures of two of the twelve towers of Singhisoara.

Western Europe

Here we are, after spending months thinking about it, we are finally on the truck (sorry, bus). Penelope (wife of Odysseus) has been retired and the replacement bus is Calypso (mistress of Odysseus).

Pic- Sending off party: Me, Keng, Le, Tony and Ching

First day of travel and have just set up camp. Being the first day, Tim and Cheryl did the preparation and cooking and we were soon given duties: generally two sets of duties - the cook-group and the "housekeeping-group".

Waiting to be served on the first evening in Tournai, Belgium. Camped at Camping de L'Orient.



I have waited many years to take on another one of these Rhineswineaxe's, look at the glee in the face. The truth be told, I had Le to help me. Even that, we didn't quite finish the feast. Cologne's Brauhaus Sion Restaurant/Bar



Visited the Cologne Catheral again. The awe has not demished and it is as magnificant as ever. It is a bit more shrouded by modern buildings (mainly cafes), unfortunately. Entry to the catheral is free but there is a fee for going up to the spire.


I tell you she is a jack(-ie) of all trades. We didn't see the dust man any where, so she doubled up as the stand-in, in Cologne's Dom Square.









Bamberg is truly a very pretty town. The entire township is one of the UNESCO gazetted World Heritage site. Have attached some photos taken from Bamberg. Photos don't tell the true colours of the town, unfortunately.

Picture shows the Dom (yet another DoM) above the hill behind the township.
























Walking through the wood to the castle, Altenberg (Bamberg).
View of the Dom from the Altenberg Castle, Bamberg. Took the wooded track to the castle and then back down the side and walked back to the camp.

Close to the camp site, Campingplatz Insel is this pub with an unfortunate name.









Asparagus are in season in Germany. Picture taken in the streets of Bamberg.








A relaxing time at Bamberg camp. The toilets/shower facilities would put a lot of the "multi-starred" hotels to shame.


...And what is this?












More details:
12th April Easter Sunday Left London for Tournai in Belgium:
Left london in a foggy morning. En route it was another Smith’s tour of London city, albeit in a car. Arrived at Victoria Station in good time. Most of the fellow travellers were already there. Met Pete, Tim and Cheryl for the first time.
Route to Doval was fairly uneventful being a Sunday on a long week, although we had a grand tour of the terminus carpark when Tim took the wrong turn to the queue.
Camped at Camping de L’Orient in Tournai, Belgium. Arrival about 5 pm. We were allocated duties. Don’t think we all understand our duties but we chipped in to do the chores anyway. It was only for an overnight stay.

13th April Monday Tournai to Cologne, Germany
Left early 7:30am in another foggy morning. We arrived at the Camping de L’Orient about 1:30pm and it was by the river. Calypso almost couldn’t get into the campside, because of the narrow roads. (One of the things we miss is wide roads and dwelling space.) We walked to town and were told it would take 40minutes’ walk to the city but it is about 7 or 8 km and took most of us closer to 2 hours. In town, they were at the end of an international bicycle race, and parts of the city roads were closed. For the record, the chap from Danmark won the race. Joined in the atmosphere and had a bratwurst.

The main attraction in the city is obviously the main cathedral – the Dom. Took lots of pictures. This was not the first time we visited Cologne, but the sight was still overwhelming. We organised to meet at the Brauhaus Sion for dinner. It has been a few years since I last had a Rhineswineaxe (pig’s knuckle) and I was not going to let this chance to go pass. Despite of all the hot air about managing it all by myself, Le helped to me finish (with some left over for lunch tomorrow). It didn’t disappoint. Dennis and Richard did finish theirs though. Caught a train back to the camp.

Camp site: Campingplaz der Stadt Koln. The camp did not have hot water – ugh....the ablution amenities were under renovation.

14th April Tuesday Cologne to Bamberg, Germany
Left camp about 8:20am still foggy. On leaving Cologne, we observed yet another motorway accident. I estimated the jam was 7km long at that stage, and still building up. The fog lifted about midmorning and turned out a glorious day for us. Arrived at camp late afternoon. After dinner, some decided to go to town to taste the famous local beers – most well known is probably the Smoke Beer. Le and I were just contented walking around the camp and enjoy a glass of the Late Bottled Vintage 2003 Taylor’s Port which we bought on the ferry for 11euros. Some campers returned about 2:30am while others 5am.

It was a free day in Bamberg. A wonderful small town with the entire township UNESCO gazetted for World heritage. A truly remarkable town – a smaller version of Prague (for those who have been there before). See photos. Le and I walked the town, criss-crossing and eventually had lunch at the uni grounds. I sampled the local sausages – they serve them in pairs in a bread bun – very palatable. We then walked up to the Dom (yet another cathedral) via a longer road while in search of the rose garden which we never found. For another challenge, we decided to walk to the Altunberg castle – the highest point in the area. Beautiful walk through the fields and woods. When we got there, we decided yet another challenge – to walk back to the camp. That was a lovely walk too, while we were walking through the woods and fields.

16th April Thurs Bamberg Germany to Prague Czech.
Another beautiful day. About 400k trip but we made good time. Arrive about 4pm. Stopped by the road side to have lunch in a carpark. A German tour group was having lunch too. Their leftover food were well received. They even gave us a leg of ham, sauerkraut, rye bread, etc.day - It was a great lunch.

Arrived at Prague at about 3:45pm but took another hour to negotiate through the traffic to reach the camp (Triocamp – slightly north of suburb of Kobylisy – about 10-15km north of Prague. Spend the rest of the evening preparing camp and updating log.

UK, London

This post is dedicated to the family. Le has a sister Ching and brother-in-law Tony Smith in London and another sister Keng and brother-in-law Francios in France. Ching and Tony put us up at their house in Highgate - a newly decorated guest room with ensuite. We'd better enjoy it as we won't have this luxury, living mostly in a tent for the next six months.

Tony and Ching. The Smith family at yet another dinner party.

Smith family: Tony, Stephanie, Guy, Ching and Louise






Dinner at a long lost relative's place, Corine and Phillip Wee




Keng and Francios came over from France to meet up so we can spend about a week and a half catching up.
Francois and Keng Millet, with Le





When families get together, there are always hi's and lo's. In this case, we are having only hi's and hi'ers - really enjoying the company.

The only thing I cannot fit-in is their discussion on the intimacy of wines. The French love their wine and Tony is in the wine trade all his life. So, I'm out-of-place there, however, there are plenty to talk about - so much so that most of the time we talk over each other. All in good humour.

The area and surrounding have many adjoining woods. We have been exploring them.

Ching is the work-horse (I'm saying this with the ultmost of respect), and Tony provides the generous variety of exceptional wines and acts as a part-time guide. Francois also provides other variety of French wines and a good person to discuss travels - as he is real intellect on the subject. And Keng, with her infamous recipes of Foie Gras de Canard and Confit de Canard, we could not let her get away without serving them up, can we?

Here is Keng with her infamous duck. What a proud moment when the Confit de Canard is served up.




A family outing at Hampstead Heath and Hampstead village.

Hampstead Heath, Parliement Hill: the three sisters, with the two wise men behind.

Group photo include Guy and Louise


We also spent a few days in the Lodge (Northhampton) and spent a day in Oxford.


Some pictures taken at the Overstone Lodge, Oxford and surroundings











Tony organised and shouted us to a dinner in Covent Garden at Davy's Crusting Pipe with 5 kinds of wine:

1. Manzanilla Sherry
2. Sauvignon Blanc (Chile)
3. Sarget Guarard Larose 2003 St Julian
4. Chateau LaGrange 2003 St Julian
5. Special Reserve Port served in a Jug and in accordance with the old British tradition (first serving to the right before himself, then passing the jug to the left. No one to be accused of being Bishop of Norwich).

Unfortunately, yours truly don't consume a lot of wine and missed out on these fine drinks.

Move over Tony, let me show you how this is done. Tony in the first picture and me in the second holding a "hand broom" to paint the garden shed.









Painting the gates and here is Francois giving the finer tips of painting.



The Smith Tour of the city included Greenwich, the south bank of Thames over the Mellinium bridge, etc. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't kind to us.

At the Davy's wine bar at Canary Wharf, Greenwich. Look for the Davy's sign through the window.







Wet day in the city for the Smith Tour






Another dinner party tonight - the last one before we hit the road to start out expedition tomorrow morning.

Here comes Odyssey Overland London to Darwin, 12th April to 10th Oct 2009.