Tag Archives for single parent
After a week spent sorting out Chinese visas in Kathmandu, plus getting stuck in Lukla on the back of Everest Base Camp, my projects for Beijing are, pretty much: * see friends and do kiddie stuff with them * sort out Chinese visas * do some work * eat my bodyweight in Beijing duck * [...]
Farewell to Kathmandu
Having neglected most other parenting duties over the last few days, I figure that today would be a good day to continue Zac’s ongoing masterclass in how to navigate airports. The internet seems to think our flight is two hours late, but I figure it’s a good idea to get to the airport on time [...]
Important Projects in Kathmandu
Among my social circle, I am famous for my financial providence, frugality and forward planning, so it will surprise absolutely no one that, when we arrive in Kathmandu, the $700 worth of unspent helicopter fare so kindly spotted me by the White Knight is almost literally burning a hole in my wallet. Well, it would [...]
Mountain Madness
Readers of a sensitive disposition might want to skip this post. How about reading the first post I ever wrote instead, or this lovely one about a tribal wedding in the jungles of Halmahera, Indonesia? As I wander Lukla’s limited range of shops, purchasing menopausal fantasy items such as the balloons that Tenzing has been [...]
Stuck in Lukla
As we amble from Phakding to Lukla – a walk that took us three hours coming down but half that going up, a measure of our increased fitness – we pass and, more often, are passed by folk we’ve met in the mountains. They, like us, are headed to Lukla to reconfirm their places on [...]
On Thin Ice Everest Base Camp the Lazy Way: Day 18 “Nir,” I open, tentatively. We are on the last-but-one night of our trek, insha’allah, sitting in the cold of the village of Phakding, where we stopped on our first day, so, if I’m going to ask Nir any personal questions, I’m going to ask [...]
Mountain Goggles
Everest Base Camp the Lazy Way Day 15-16 – Gorak Shep to Pheriche When I awake, it feels that winter has really hit. Fat, soft snowflakes are drifting down, the earth a morass of white and grey, the sky like dirty cottonwool. As we descend through snow towards Pheriche, the yaks come with us, great [...]
Bali — A GREAT Place to Lose a Child
When it comes to places to lose a child, I can confirm that Bali beats the hell out of Bulgaria and the UK. It’s not that I make a habit of losing children. Admittedly, I did once misplace someone else’s in the course of a sleepover. And I once inadvertently left my own child on [...]
And This Is No Way To Recuperate…
It’s a cliché to say “My heart bleeds…” but there’s a sharp heart pain as we wheel Zac up to the ward, still teary eyed. The porter physically lifts him from his gurney and deposits him into his bed. I’ve never had surgery, let alone had surgery while travelling, so I have no idea what [...]
What Country Am I In, Again?
Still damp from the hot springs we have been swimming in, we are barrelling through the back streets of Siwa, an oasis town in Egypt’s Western Desert, mudbrick houses looming out of the desert dark in the lights of the 4WD. Then there is a bang. Z flies into me. I ricochet into him. My [...]
