London - off the beaten track

London is weird and wonderful and a place I love exploring each time I visit.

One of those more-weird-than-wonderful things to see in London is ears. Yes, ears! 😆 If you happen to wander over to Floral Street in Covent Garden, keep an eye out for ears! This post is already going downhill 👀

The traffic light tree near Billingsgate Market might not be something the average tourist would chance upon or one you might miss altogether if you don't know it's there but it's worth a look.

More on traffic lights - there are ones near Trafalgar Square, I think on Duncannon Street, which display LGBT+ images. So cool!

Then there's the grave in the graveyard of St Pancras Old Church that's rumoured to have inspired the telephone box.

This graveyard is also home to the equally quirky Hardy Tree. This is an ash tree with hundreds of gravestones around its base, which were placed there by novelist Thomas Hardy.

Did you know Britain's smallest police station is in London? I challenge you to find it!

And there's a rhino hanging about. A sculpture of one to be precise.
At the time I accepted it as just one of London's many obscure works of art. A bit of research now tells me it's called Rhino Sospeso by sculptor Stephano Bombardieri and the person whose property it is displayed in front of calls it 'a thought provoking sculpture designed to encourage reflection on the link between man and nature'.


Food to die for

Anything from the Cheese Bar, Camden Town

Peas, mange tout and quinoa salad from Harrods.
Yes, it's green.
Yes, it's a salad.
Yes, it's amazing.

Chips from HipChips. You can have these funky chips with sweet or savoury dips.

Jellied eels from Goddards at Greenwich. This is best eaten with vinegar and pepper. Makes it far more palatable as I found out the hard way.

Things to do

Take a tour of the Royal Opera House - My sister is a classical singer and my playlists are full of an array of music ranging from hip hop to EDM and rap to Latin music but we could both appreciate what goes into a performance here.

Walk through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel - I forget how far beneath the water this is but it's well worth the walk just knowing you're under a large body of water.

Visit the Fan Museum - It doesn't take long to go through the collection but it is surprisingly interesting and the highlight was seeing that they even have a Sri Lankan sesatha on display.

Dine in the dark - Yep, that is exactly what you do. You will not see what you eat, you won't even see your dining partners but you will get some pretty good food served to you by vision impaired waiters and the chance to experience food with one less sense at your disposal.

What rhymes with Mauritius?

There's more to Mauritius than its incredible beaches and surrounding sea but once you've seen these, there's a good chance you won't care about anything else!

I certainly could have spent the entire time doing nothing but reading or snoozing by the sea!

Can you blame me? 😍

People here speak English and French (among others) and communicating was not difficult at all. As a large part of the population is of Indian origin, hearing and seeing South Asians speak French was rather strange at first!

The people of Mauritius are some of the friendliest I've ever encountered. While curiously eyeing some street food, I was pleasantly surprised when a nearby stallholder offered me what she had just purchased for herself. There was another time when a street vendor, seeing that we were tourists, generously handed out samples of all his wares to help us select what to buy. He wasn't even trying to force a sale!

Seafood is abundant but the penchant for drowning everything in turmeric was difficult to handle. My favourite by far was not seafood at all but mazavaroo, which is something like a sauce or dip made of red or green chillies.

Mazavaroo (the green stuff) is served with everything

Any accommodation with beach access and a view of the ocean tends to be on the expensive side. As a beach is never too far away, you could opt to stay further inland and take a walk to get your daily vitamin sea.

Getting about on foot is easy in most parts of the island. You could also take public transport or taxis but I found it easier to do a bit of walking and to hire a car for a day at a time to visit several sites that were further afield in one go.

There's some interesting wildlife to be seen - including adorable tortoises - so a visit to a place like Ìle aux Aigrettes is worth your while.

A highlight for me was a glass-bottomed boat trip over a coral reef in Blue Bay. With the sea being crystal clear and a knowledgeable and responsible guide at the helm, the excursion was amazing! The group of Mauritian youngsters who shared the boat were friendly and pleasant company though they spoke little to no English!

The Rault biscuit factory is something I would have given a miss. At the risk of offending an entire nation I must confess that slightly sweetened sawdust is not my idea of a biscuit.

This is ironic really because Mauritius produces darn good sugar!

Eureka House and Seven-coloured Earth were both places I didn't expect to be particularly impressed by but I was and would recommend visiting if you tire of lounging by the sea.

Maison Eureka

Chamarel seven coloured earth

I would happily go back to any island nation I've visited and this one is definitely one of those.

Quirky Qatar

How do I begin to describe Qatar ... For starters, there seem to be very few Qataris in Qatar!

In fact, the tour guide who showed me around one day was not a local but instead hailed from the Philippines!

This was a first time in all my travels as any guides I enlisted in other countries had been from the very place they operated in.

The upshot of this is, I didn't get to learn about Qatari society, local traditions etc.

Uber was my travel pal once more and I was also fortunate to have a dear friend residing in Doha who drove me around as well.

Public transport is available but as I had foolishly caught a cold upon arrival, the thought of spending any time roasting outside was unbearable.

As my hotel room only had a coffee machine and no kettle, I wondered what I should do for water because I'd usually make myself a cup or two of tea in addition to coffee and drink the remaining boiled water once any complimentary bottled water ran out. I was warned however to stick entirely to bottled water as the tap water is questionable, boiled or otherwise.

My quest for local food took me to Souq Waqif because it turns out Qatari fare is rare with just the one restaurant known to offer local cuisine! I had no luck here either because it was siesta time.

This did give me the opportunity to observe incredible discipline and trust. Shops in the souq are left open and unattended for a couple of hours. An unusual sight for someone hailing from a country where anything that isn't nailed down runs the risk of changing ownership rapidly!

Goods both inside and outside unmanned shops in Souq Waqif

More than 90% of the population resides in Doha, which was apparent as I ventured out of the city. Pretty much dessert and nothing else out there apart from a few settlements.

Al Zubarah Fort

The mosque in Al Jumail, a 19th century pearling and fishing village abandoned before Qatar's economic boom

The opulence in parts of Qatar - for example in Pearl-Qatar - was therefore quite fascinating in comparison.

There is no lack of malls to escape into to beat the heat but apart from shopping and a bit of sightseeing, with nothing much else to do, this is another destination that can be covered in a week.

Oh Oman!

The vastness of Oman struck me as soon as I landed and my travels within the country later went on to cement this impression.

It also appeared less affluent than its neighbours, which meant that goods were cheaper.

Uber has no foothold here and taxi drivers are quick to fleece unwary travellers. Therefore, I opted for the local equivalent app OTaxi, which proved to be extremely reliable.

I was not impressed by the brazen offers of lifts and such from leery strangers in Muscat but elsewhere I was not bothered by anyone.

In spite of the above, my personal observation as I shamelessly cast an appreciative eye over the Omani people is that they are some of Mother Nature's best work 🤷🏽‍♀️

I couldn't say what exactly constitutes Omani cuisine and I suspect that it's really a mix of a range of regional influences, but what I can say is that there is plenty of interesting stuff to try.

The variety in terrain was astonishing. From rugged hills to pebbly beaches to scorching deserts, they have it all.

The highlights for me were:

- The incredible White Beach, Fins - the pebbles don't make walking easy but that's a small price to pay

- The views of Al Nakr Canyon, Jebel Shams

- Trekking through Wadi al Shab

- Turtle watching in Raz al Jinz turtle reserve - I saw around six mama turtles' journey from hauling themselves on to a beach to digging, laying, covering and waddling along right back in to the sea

- Relaxing under a rocky outcrop in Wadi Bani Khalid with my feet dangling in the water while fish nibbled my toes

- Sleeping in a tent in Wahiba Sands - I will not forget the sound of the unrelenting wind at night anytime soon

These places and experiences were so incredible that I'm inclined to agree that "beauty has an address and it's Oman!"

Ours. Yours. Bahrain

Bahrain is a small country (third-smallest in fact) and can be covered in a week. I would be hard pressed to find things to see or do for longer than that unless staying at a resort purely to relax.

People are perfectly civil but won't engage with you out of the blue. A solo female traveller could easily go about undisturbed.

I didn't relish the prospect of dealing with difficult taxi drivers as per travel forums; therefore, I opted to use Uber or walked around.

There is no public transport.

There are hardly any pedestrian crossings either! As someone who likes exploring places on foot, I very nearly became roadkill!

There are lots of malls and restaurants to get away from the heat in but everything comes to a standstill for a couple of hours in the afternoon, which takes a bit of getting used to.


The process of obtaining a visa was a new experience for me ... If you don't have a long-lost-and-willing relative/friend to sponsor a visa on your behalf, go along the route I opted for, which was to find a hotel that does it for you.

This list helped me select a hotel to get this done. My criteria for selection was based 100% on responses to my queries ... of which I received a grand total of one! 🤷🏽‍♀️

The Elite Group of Hotels saw to everything on the condition that I stay with them for the duration of my visit. Convenience comes with a price tag.

Couldn't complain about the view from my room

I learned about the Dilmun civilization of Bahrain (technically this civilization covered Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and eastern parts of Saudi Arabia) and about current Bahraini society from a tour guide I spent a day with.

It was an interesting day, which included a visit to the first oil well of the Middle East, a 400-year-old tree, a fort and royal camels.

Inside Bahrain Fort

I must say this island nation is an interesting mix of scorching desserts dotted with burial mounds and a deliciously cold sea lapping sandy beaches. I may not revisit but this visit was certainly worthwhile.