Month: January 2011

Victory awaits him…..

On By James HandlonIn Quotes2 Comments

With some time on my hands until my travels and adventures start in earnest for 2011 I thought it would be a good idea to keep this blog ticking over regularly with some inspirational quotes from the famous and infamous of the adventure and travel sphere.

Sometimes a crazy quote from some crazed obscure person is all the motivation required for a call to arms and action! So with my waffling all finished, and with no further a do, here is the very first quote for the year, I hope you enjoy.

At_the_South_Pole,_December_1911

“Victory awaits him who has everything in order ….. luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck!”
– Roald Amundsen


Mad Dogs and Englishmen!

On By James HandlonIn Destination Hong Kong1 Comment
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The famous Noon Day Gun

I have always been fascinated with tales of the old colonial days and the epic stories from famous 19th Century explorers. Hong Kong was of course once part of the old British Empire and itself under colonial rule for some time. Today you can still see traces from this bygone era around and about old Hong Kong, from the street names, to the architecture, even to the financial and business systems still in place to this very day.

One of the most famous hangovers from colonial rule is the Noon Day Gun. Now I have always had a fascination about the gun and its history and with only a few hours left in Hong Kong I decided to cram in one more trip and search out and find this legendary gun.

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Ten Thousand Buddhas and counting!

On By James HandlonIn Destination Hong KongLeave a comment

With only one full day left in Hong Kong it was a tough choice how to best spend the day. There were still so many things we wanted to do and places that we wanted to visit. Eventually though we had to choose one, in the end we chose The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery at Sha Tin a short train ride away in the New Territories.

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The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery

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Over the mountains to Stanley

On By James HandlonIn Destination Hong KongLeave a comment

Hong Kong Island south was just begging to be explored, and with a bus stop directly outside our hotel and a bus-route over the mountains to the southern coastline of the island on hand we just had to jump aboard and give it a go.

We jumped aboard a very British looking double-decker bus and using our now ubiquitous Octopus Card we hammered our credit some more and headed for the port of Stanley.

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Stanley’s beautiful harbour

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