Tibet was an after-thought after I arrived in Nepal and completed my trek in the Annapurnas. Well, maybe not quite… Actually, there was a funny incident when I tried to apply for visa for Tibet. As preparation for the trip to Nepal, I had originally tried to apply for a visa into Tibet by going [...]
View Larger Map While in the air above Nepal, I could not help but have a tingling sensation of a mixture of anticipation and also apprehension. It was a total unknown. Perhaps partly due to my own imagination, but the horizon seemed more curvy than usual, i.e. the curvature of the earth was probably more [...]
Canberra was my home from January of 1996 till about September of 1999. While for three and a half years I was hard at work to complete my PhD, it was also one of the most wonderful times in my life. I have made many wonderful friends and learnt to live independently. In fact, during [...]
View Larger Map Cities visited: Rome, Venice & Florence Rome To photos (opens a new window) Venice To photos (opens a new window) Florence To photos (opens a new window)
Cities visited: Zurich & Lucerne Zurich Zurich was intended to be a brief stop-over on the way to Italy, so I only stayed for 2 full days (but only 1 night). Arriving at around 5am on an overnight train from Paris, I was surprisingly fresh after the trip. Had a chat with an South-African girl [...]
Upon return from my trip to Europe in 1997, I decided that if I had the chance, the next destination would be somewhere more ‘primitive’. Less civilised technology and big cities, but with some mystique in the culture. In my mind, I had settled on either Nepal or the Andes in South America: Incas, City [...]
View Larger Map Cities visited: Paris, Rennes, Tours Paris I arrived in Paris a few days before Bastille Day, the French National Day, and it was full of people. Mostly tourists, like myself. I must say, staying at a youth hostel for about AU$12 a night was a good way to travel, because. Naturally at [...]
Cities visited: Delft, Amsterdam Delft Amsterdam To photos (opens a new window)
View Larger Map Cities visited: Brussels, Bruge, Ghent, Leuven & Antwerp Brussels To photos (opens a new window) Bruge To photos (opens a new window) Ghent To photos (opens a new window) Leuven & Antwerp To photos (opens a new window)
In 1997, about halfway through my PhD days at ANU, I was fortunate to have the chance to travel around (Western) Europe. As part of attending the European Control Conference in Brussels in July of 1997, I also arranged a number of visits to various universities in Belgium, Netherlands and France. When all the ‘business’ [...]