Hamburg

The Hong Kong Crew are slowly getting married off. In actual fact, this could be the last wedding for some time bar some shot gun, baby in the oven type scenario. First time to Hamburg, plenty to look forward to. Oddly enough an old university friend now calls Hamburg home, which was a gem of a reason to reconnect and I forgot how much fun we used to have.

The wedding itself was held one hour out of Hamburg in the private estate of Tresbuttel. Hamburg was experiencing one of the hottest summers to date and midway through the ceremony one of the most spectacular storms hit exactly the moment the bride and groom were to proclaim their love for each other. It made for entertaining viewing, as the ceremony huddle under a large tree, while the wedding harmonist belted out "Hallelujah" the rain relented as the wedding party were drenched from head to toe. Within 20 minutes, the rain had passed, the wedding was abridge but the outcome was still the same. There were tears, and they were married. The last thing I remember was "the bride and groom are really upset, we have to have have a good time!".

I am very hungover, I think I had a good time.

Speyside Whisky Trail

In 2011, I left London. At the time I was exhausted with travel and the idea of weekend trips no longer appealed to me. Despite this, there still remained some European holidays that still interested me that I hadn't gotten around to, think of it as a bucket list of sorts. These places included: Scottish Whisky tour, Turkey, Greek Islands and a road trip around the north of France. Fortunately for me, we had a trip planned back to Europe.

Back to Europe, you say. I was excited. I hadn't been back to Europe since I left and even more fortunately for me, I was traveling with a bunch of folk who were amenable to the idea of touring one of the whisky regions in the Scottish Highlands. Being a novice to whisky and the regions we settled for Speyside, one of most famous regions and admittedly the region with the most recognisable list of distilleries. The tour was a hodgepodge of private and group tours. The high level stats would be Seven Speyside Distilleries in three days. The tour would start in Edinburgh where we would join a group tour, break off half way for a bespoke tour on day 2, and rejoin the group for the penultimate stops before returning to Edinburgh.

Day 1: We arrive in Speyside, we start off at Dalwhinnie a small local distillery where we are given an excellent primer into the art of making Speyside whisky and the "The Water of Life".

Day 2: 9 am Visit The Speyside Cooperage to see where the whisky casks are made. 10 am The Solero Deconstructed Tour at The Glenfiddich Distillery for an in-depth tour. This is an excellent Tour and one of the best tours in Speyside. This costs £50 per person and we walk away with a bespoke sample. 1pm Lunch at The Malt Barn Restaurant at The Glenfiddich Distillery. 2pm Visit The Glen Grant Distillery for a short 'Whistle Stop' tasting Tour and to see the beautiful gardens - next stop Glen Farcas. At this point in time, there's not too many more stills and distilleries that we want to see. We've been drinking since 9 am things are getting hazy. 3pm The Macallan Distillery for short 'Whistle Stop' tasting Tour and to see the new distillery. 4pm Visit The Cardhu Distillery for short 'Whistle Stop' tasting Tour. This is the only distillery in Speyside that was run by a woman.
5pm Visit The Glenlivet Distillery and The Famous Exhibition. Fish and chips for dinner and we pass out.

Day 3: Morning stop at Whisky Castle Royal back with the group followed by an afternoon at Lochnager. We are now expert Whisky drinkers. For dinner we treat ourselves to Hawksmoor. Loved this trip, can wait to visit the other regions.

Iamsterdam

Two of us make the fifteen hour flight from Hong Kong to Amsterdam. It's my first time back in Europe since I left London - Instantly, I am reminded how charming Europe is during the summer.

36 hours in LA

Feeling light and refreshed; what an amazing trip!

Bar the 40°C heatwave, there's something very comfortable about LA, maybe because it reminds me of Sydney.

Highlights include: Catching up with with Danny, Grand Central Market, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Trevor Noah and strolling around Little Tokyo. It's the first time I've been to LA where I have not felt like a tourist. Reality awaits ...

Peruvian Food