Me and Mr Mandela...a very prominent figure in my life now...

Well that`s 2 months, 5 countries and most importantly some incredible experiences under my belt...
South Africa for me provided a pretty conservative beginning for my trip and as a result allowed me to `test the water` in a way that built confidence gradually and I felt that within my first week I had already made encouraging steps and adapted to my new surroundings as a back packer...
By the end of my time here in South Africa I really felt I had relaxed into a comfortable routine and was eager for new experiences...Questions such as `what are are you doing here boy?!` were now replaced with `where are you going next..?! I was ready to move on mainly because I had schedual to keep, but believed I could of stayed longer...
It is impossible for me to forget my experience here in a country with so much beauty both the land and it`s people...

I am leaving you with the image of Mr Mandella and I at the airport...It was very fortunate for me that this great man was here in Johannesburg to see me off...He`s become a hero of mine and and I strongly recomond that you read his book...

`A long walk to Freedom`

Thank you South Africa for all your love, I will not forget you.

Rob

written by  willrob on January 19, 2010 from Johannesburg, South Africa
from the travel blog: Rob Williams 'a year in the making'
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Greetings from Bahrain...!!!

Ok、 this Blog (in order to catch up with myself) will be short and sweet...

I arrived in Doha on Wed 20th and within a few hours I was in the great company of my Edinburgh Collage friend Omar...(after being frisked at the airport...`Welcome to Bahrain`!!!)

We studied together until 2005 until we graduated, Omar then went back to Bahrain to teach. I can`t say how pleased I was to able to meet and spend this special time with him...I was treated to great hospitality and shown many amazing sites of his country...!!!

We spoke at great length about the Omar`s religion. Islam was very interesting to me and I felt that one question only encouraged more...

I`ll leave you with some of the best Videos from my 4 days and there are quite a few pictures to look at too...they`re all tagged Manama although Omar was a Brilliant Host and took me just about everywhere...!

Also I`ve finally worked out the Map at the top of the page, so I`ll keep it up to date...!!!

Thank you to everyone and I hope your enjoying the weather...you`ll be pleased to know Japan is a cool 10 C...

Lots of love

Rob　：-)

written by  willrob on January 20, 2010 from Manama, Bahrain
from the travel blog: Rob Williams 'a year in the making'
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India was in a lot of ways what I was expecting...but what you think and what actually happens is sometimes altogether entirely different...

My Flight to Delhi was delayed because of the 'Fog' (pollution) so instead of 9.45pm it was to be 6am the next day...I can't begin to tell you how annoying it was to be woken up by someone coughing in the 'sleeping room' every half an hour in Doha airport...

From the moment I arrived in India... one thing was apparent...PEOPLE...everywhere...masses of people... moving from terminal to terminal, crossing the street...where ever you looked...nose.
I take full responsibility for my negative first impressions of Delhi...I was unorganized and as a result spent the night in an expensive hotel which was horrible had a tour guide/taxi driver who should of been in hospital he was coughing so much and all together being royally ripped off at every step I made...

The best way for me to describe Delhi is:

Within 24 hours, I was in Goa hundreds of miles away on the west coast in the middle of India.

I soon settled and started to enjoy India and for a couple of weeks I REALLY enjoyed the people, the relaxed lifestyle, warms ocean dips, a brilliant sun with equally stunning sunsets...and of course that liberating feeling of packing up my things, loading my 'T1000' and heading off into the distance unsure of where I'd be sleeping that night.

I had a travel companion for a week or so, Randal, from the Netherlands who was great company and we shared a lot of great experiences in Goa, Hampi and Fort Cochin, (specially the overnight 'sleeper bus' to Hampi...where it was impossible to SLEEP! and I was nearly left behind in the middle of the night for stepping off for a pee...!)

Towards the end of my time in India I was reminded again of the poverty and the mess in which the place is in...On my 2 day train from Fort Cochin in the south, every meal was simply tossed out the window...because of the simple fact that in India there are no BINS!!! I never thought I would do this and it was very much against my nature but just common practice for the Indians I met.

There so many great Indian people I had the pleasure to meet...the many groups of young guys playing cricket on the beach in which I was quite happily envited to join...randoms on bus and trains...and especially to Prince Abraham, who was great company and kept me amused in our shared carriage for the two days back up to Delhi...

There is lots more to be said about India and it's a place I think will always be on my mind...was India such a bad place or was it my attitude...?!

I'll leave you with some videos from my month there...I’ll add more later, China has a ban on Facebook and YouTube so I’m just managing when I can...I've also uploaded more pictures of India...

missing everyone!!!

R

written by  willrob on January 25, 2010 from Delhi, India
from the travel blog: Rob Williams 'a year in the making'
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