Back in the UK we had a trip down to Devon again - this time staying in the north part of the county. Amongst our various trips and activities was a day at Dunster Castle. The castle itself is lovely, but so are the grounds, and, in true Downton Abbey style, we had a tour of the servant's quarters.

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Another quick blog post from Cyprus - this time a visit to Kykkos Monestery in the Troodos Mountains. One of the richest and best known monasteries, the galleried murals are just fantastic.  Enjoy!
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Our main trip was to be Cyprus - a chance to take Shanhong to see the country of my birth!  Lots of day trips here to share, all in the main 'reports' section of this site. However, here is a glance at one of the day trips - Kourion. Enjoy!
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After Dublin, it was a trip to the South Coast, to visit Devon, another part of the UK we have never visited. Staying in a seafront beach hut, we had nice days out at National Trust properties, model villages - and, as this post shows, Pennywell Farm!
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Summer saw us visiting Ireland for a couple of nights in Dublin.  Apart from trips to the Guinness Storehouse and Teeling Whiskey distillery, we had a lovely day trip to Cashel, Cork and Blarney Castle to kiss the stone. While all the details are in Singapore Report 61 - here are a few pics from the Rock of Cashel.
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April gave us a couple of long weekends - so we booked a couple of trips to different parts of Malaysia. First up was Kuala Lumpur, the capital city, with a couple of viator/tripadvisor excursions. We arrived Friday morning, checked into the hotel, and were straight out to explore the Batu Caves, a series of Hindu shrines just outside of the capital. On the way, we called in at the Royal Selangor factory to see pewterware being made.
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Our last trip in the States was to see the Grand Canyon. Met by stretch limousine, we were taken to the local airport where we got on the helicopter for the 30 minute flight over Hoover Dam, and to the floor of the canyon for a short boat trip, before flying back up to the top and one of the look-out spots. The following pics are of the canyon itself, in some ways amazing, in others, just a pile of rocks!
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The next trip was a very full day with an early pickup and drive out to Hoover Dam where we got in the water – you can see the dam in the background of the first few pics. For those who are interested, Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam on the border between the states of Nevada and Arizona. Constructed in the 1930s by a six-company conglomerate, it was completed 2 years earlier than scheduled, but at a cost of more than 100 lives. The dam’s generators provide power for the states of Nevada, Arizona and California. It is also a major tourist attraction visited by almost one million people a year.  From the dam it was a 7 hour Kayak down the river! I loved it – Shanhong tired early and didn’t enjoy the last few hours at all.
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The next trip from Las Vegas was a sunset ride with barbecue. We were picked up at the hotel and driven out to Red Rock, the edge of the desert, where we mounted up and followed a trek through the scruffland as day turned to night. It ended with perhaps the best food of the whole trip – absolutely scrummy steak, potato and salad with beans etc – and huge portions too – this plate is after Shanhong stole half!. This was probably my favourite trip from Las Vegas. The last photos are from the company website.
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Our first day trip while based in Las Vegas was to Los Angeles, stopping at Malibu Beach and in Hollywood before driving through Beverly Hills on the way back. A five hour drive each way – it is hard to say if it was worth it – especially when the van broke down on the way home and we had to wait three hours for a replacement!  But, I did get to walk on Hollywood Boulevard, and I did get to play ‘Baywatch’ (anyone still remember that show?)
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