Author Archives: Mark and Sarah - MASTERS!

MARK: You know when you say something and then next day live to regret it? Um, well that’s exactly what’s happened to me. And in the cold light of a grey Frimley Monday morning, perhaps I should just have kept my big mouth shut!

Yesterday afternoon, the sun was shining and the fizz and beer were going down a treat. Guests of the Duckworth’s at their lovely garden party, conversation swiftly turned to international cuisine on our trip and what I was looking forward to eating most. “Street food” was my answer and then for some obscure reason (perhaps to do with the empty bottle in front of me) I asked the group to write down what they would like me to eat as part of a Foodie World Challenge. Big, big mistake!

As you can see from the photos below, some of the items I can do standing on my head – for example a gin in every country. Guinea Pigs I am told are not too bad. Even Kangaroo Penis’s I can handle, (if you pardon the expression) – if well cooked. But Broccoli – OMG! I hate the stuff with a passion, ever since I broke a tooth in Florida ten years ago. That is going to be a real problem.

Any way, if you want to add to my horror list, please feel free to add your food suggestions and I will try and do my best to deliver with a photograph as evidence. Just nothing green please.  

MARK: “So where did the inspiration come from, for this hair brained idea of travelling the World?”  It’s a good question and one we’ve been asked a lot recently. The answer is, underneath the stars whilst sleeping out in the middle of the Wadi Rum Desert, where we met Ted the Camel.

Ted isn’t really a camel – he’s a lovely chap, whose married to an even lovelier lady called Lesley. They were our travelling buddies around Jordan a couple of years ago and regaled us with loads of stories of how they had travelled around the World, having decided to simply “take off” from their Cornwall home, a little later in life….

We were impressed! So much so, that we said then and there, “that’s what we’ll do!”

So where does the camel come in? Well, truth be told I sometimes get the hump – hard to believe, I know! But there were a couple of people in our travel group, who let’s just say were a bit of a pain. Ted kept winding me up about this. So enjoying a couple of G and T’s on the flight back from Amman, my new friend with a glint in his eye presented me with a small present – a fridge magnet…

Ted the Camel!

I promptly named him ‘Ted’ and @ 35,000ft, promised that if we ever did travel, our little friend would come too – a promise we will fulfil over the next nine months – watch out for the photos of Ted on Tour!   Meanwhile, if you are ever in Cornwall – go and say hi to Ted. He’s the skipper of the boat that takes people from the Cornish mainland across to St Michael’s Mount when the tide’s in. A top bloke – a real inspiration!

So you know what Ted looks like – here he is on his boat with Sarah, with Ted the Camel and with his lovely wife Lesley

MARK – The end of our Grand Depart 2015 around Yorkshire and pleased that our trip coincided with Yorkshire Day! It’s all been a bit strange really. Seeing family and friends for the last time. Visiting areas of the County that I have not seen for many years. Eating and drinking too much, culminating in a visit to a wonderful Indian restaurant in Leigh (Lancs) – will this be the taste of things to come, next month?

The taste of things to come – Lancashire style

Next week, we have some serious organisational things to do. That all important Chinese Visa needs to be obtained. Trouble is, you can’t get it until three months before you enter/leave China, which gives us only a small window as we leave for India in just a month’s time.

Looking forward to see Joe after 10 days away. Sarah is preparing to inspect the cleanliness of the house and will be using this a yardstick for next week’s housekeeping training programme – poor Joe me thinks.

As I write this short note, the sun has come out. How is it, that the temperature today is nearly ten degrees cooler in the north?

Training over.  Going live.  Follow the link below and check out the pandas!

http://www.masters20152016.com

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