Off on the shinkansen (bullet train) – it is an amazing sight seeing these dolphin nosed machines zoom through a station. We arrived at a blissfully small town, a huge relief after the concrete and neon of Tokyo. We arrived at our first ryokan. Our room was small, but appeared spacious due to the lack of furnishings. A bare tatami mat floor with a low square table holding tea-making equipment was in the centre of the room. Having already forsaken our street shoes...

I have just returned from a two-week sojourn in Japan. I was unable to send many postcards – the Internet is revolutionising some countries faster than others...here, postcards are as hard to find as Internet cafes.
 
The trains and subways were easily negotiated to arrive at my hotel. The trains are scarily efficient. You buy a ticket at your starting point, and all stations have a ‘fare adjustment’ machine where you can check your ticket and add more money on in case...

It wasn’t a good time to be in Rwanda – or Zambia or Uganda for that matter - but there we were. All desperate for first contact. That magical experience.

We had already spoken to a group that had made the attempt in Uganda, only to high-tail it back down the mountain with the sound of shots ringing in their ears. Such was our need, this did not deter us.

The maximum number for a group is eight, and there are strict rules to be obeyed when visiting our distant...

Running along the northern edge of Longtan Park, very close to the Temple of Heaven, is a backstreet market.

I discovered this place in the cool of a summer evening looking for a non-tourist-infested place for some exercise. The heat of the day had gone and business was winding down to a far more sedate pace. Still, there was a lot of bicycle traffic and one had to keep on the alert.

Wandering in at the eastern end of the street I found myself in an area specialising...

The streets are so wide in Bulawayo, crossing them seems to take place in slow motion. Such a broad flat sprawling place, profuse with bakeries and hardware stores, reminiscent of any number of Australian country towns.

The startling thing, though, is the ease of getting around. No one hassles you. You are allowed to get on with your own personal business in your own personal space.

Even at 7.30am this morning people are already busy, even though it's Saturday. After...

It was a chilly start to the day, zooming along dead-straight tar roads to Botswana in an open jeep. Tamsin, who we picked up from The Sprayview Hotel, was my travelling companion for the day and we spent the entire trip there shrouded in blankets with our hair going haywire.

The border checkpoints were a non-event compared to the Middle Eastern experience I was used to, and we drove straight into the park on arrival.

Before long we were oohing and ahhing over some...

Here I am in Victoria Falls. I can hardly believe it. After all my African reading and careful planning I’m actually here. Moreover, I’ve just had a very scrummy donut and am still enjoying a surprisingly good cup of coffee (percolated no less). I say surprisingly, as I had been warned about the poor quality of coffee here and that they use a lot of chicory. Not in this case. And all for the bargain price of $ZIM10 (70p)!

It’s a nice little bar too – ‘McDonuts Coffee...