Asian & Antipodean Adventures - Part 1

I've not been posting lately as we've been away on our travels again... This time Singapore (see above) and Australia, a much anticipated 26 day road trip around Oz with stop-overs in Singers, it was lush! 

We left the UK back in August, leaving the brown dried out grass to head down to tropical, humid old Singapore with our Son and his Girlfriend, their first trip to Asia. However, it was only a one night stop-over after which we'd fly down to Sydney and they headed up to Vietnam (Hanoi) and did their own tour of that country, much like we did back in 2024, we all met up again at the end of our respective touring in Singapore and spent five days there. We'd been before, back in 1999 (pre-kids), so we thought we'd show them around the place before heading home (although it was significantly different and more developed since we were there previously) We arrived home this morning, at some ungodly hour and I have a feeling that today is going to feel like a very long day!

So, this little series of posts covers our time in Singapore and Australia where we visited Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, lot's of miles travelled, much good food, wine and beer consumed and some new friends acquired, it was a hell of a trip, more in part II..

Dead Cat Bounce

Had one of these over the weekend, it's a new IPA from Siren and is made in a "California" style (meaning dry, bitter and fruity) with Citra, Simcoe and Nelson hops. It's a nice beer that kinda needs warm sunshine to be best enjoyed, luckily that's exactly what we had over the weekend so it went down a treat! I'm not sure why it's called "Ricochet", something to do with the last West Coast IPA not selling so great perhaps, like a dead cat bounce perhaps?

Monday Mirth

The old ones are the best ones..

Memories of Vietnam

Thinking back to 2024 and our trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, one of the places in Saigon we visited was the memorial to the monk who immolated himself in protest against the pro-Catholic regime running the country at that time, it was a seminal moment captured by an American press photographer who snapped a picture that became famous a thought provoking spot.

Fruity for days

New collaboration between Elusive and Verdant a classic Westy that I managed to snag from the Elusive "Fridge of Dreams" on my way through Finch this week! Very pale and packed full of flavour from the unusual combination of hops added (Nelson Sauvin, Superdelic, Krush and Ekuanot), fruity for days, a nice effort!

So True

Strange how we have to constantly remind religious people of this simple concept (so far as everyone who does not share their particular flavour of faith is concerned) - You'd think that people who believed they had ALL the answers to life's difficult questions would be happy, apparently they're not until you believe their answers too?

Friday Smirk

The barmaid explaining to the lads how faith in science is not the same as faith in God (any God) But, when you think about it, semantics are very important to theists, after all, it's all they've got..

Weekend Beer

We visited a local bottle shop last week and they had some Verdant beers in stock, I snagged a couple of cans of this beauty "When Myth & Science Agree", a 5% pale ale made in collaboration with the "Plant One" charity who aim to restore 500 hectares of fish forests over the next five years, a worthy cause. The beer itself is delicious, classic Verdant murk loaded up with Nelson, Krush and NZH-106 (first encountered by me last year), a flavour explosion of limes and tropical fruits, a real pleasure to sup!