In 1983 I took 6 months off work. The second half was a journey 'round the world'; the first half was its preparation.
Hawaii
High-rise concrete-box hotels and many down-and-outs
are what I remember most from my week here, together
with the abundance of colourful fish in an
underwater National Park.
Fiji
A rickety bus with canvas awnings instead of windows
to keep out the deluge of rain when I first arrived.
Third world atmosphere?
Not at all; the people were the warmest I found anywhere.
Australia
Two great weeks on a bus with a crowd of local youngsters
camping, boating, flying,
snorkeling up the east coast and out to the Barrier Reef.
Indonesia
First time in Asia. Travelling alone. Clinging vendors,
insanely incessant horns
of stinking cars and buses together with vibrant colours,
happy strident music and cheerful friendly locals.
Rice paddies, volcanoes, markets, religion lived every day and all day
by gentle people.
China
A few days in Hong Kong - all industry and bustle - before the
habitual rigidity of a
quadrilingual package tour to visit such highlights of the mainland
as were then allowed. However, these were many and varied, full of
interest, wonder and fascination.
Nepal
Alone again, thank goodness, but my baggage didn't arrive till the
day before I left. No matter; a lovely week in and around Kathmandu before
present-day sanitation, clutter and smog.
Here was the age-old Asia of traditions and customs that I had read about.
India
To round off the trip I visited the Taj Mahal by autumn full moon.
What splendour, what huge and majestic monuments, what
an over-densely populated country
with a lifestyle so amazingly different from everything I had known!
It has taken years to assimilate all I saw and heard.
