Patrick

Name that Code...Nadi (NAN)

I thought the cabinboy on the Black Pig was called Tom, anyway I met this bloke called Tom in a pub once who  said he was the cabinboy years earlier. He confirmed that Pugwash was a Pedo. He told me he was bending over making the captains bed one time, when Pugwash came hurtling accross the room and plugged him. Pugwash told him not to panic it was just the roll of the ship, but Tom said it felt more like a roll of lino.

Can't tell you how many years I've waited to slip that old joke into polite conversation.

For me it has to be 131, I think my first visit to Patts was at the time when both the bar and Franck were at the height of their popularity, how Franck eneded up is well documented, but before he lost the plot he was a charming and accommodating host. The staff were for the most part great, including a certain special  Mamasan . My first bar fine was Alice an experience I repeated a few times and she never disapointed.

Sadly this "summer of Love" feeling didn't last long, soon Francks main preoccupation apart from Nicky, was scamming customers and staff alike to try to stave off his inevitable financial and probably emotional melt down. Luckily Ezy Bar came to the rescue.

A mate is here now and really likes this hotel.

 

Perhaps the best value in the Nana area as long as you're OK with having no pool.

 

http://www.asiahotelandtravel.com/index.php?/topic/2-bangkok-accommodation/?p=22

I can manage without a pool, but found the lack of a bum squirter off putting. I recall at the DIG you could employ the shower hose, but at the Ibis it's a wall mounted shower head. Still it is a nice good value spot in the right location.

The penultimate picture is of the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi

Well done. I was reading a blog of a couple who travelled through Georgia on a motorbike journey from UK to Oz, they really enjoyed their time in Georgia.This is what I meant about the unique written language.

From it's geographic location you might expect they us Cyrillic text here, but infact the written language is unique (I think) to just this country

Well if it's not soi 6 I'm going to guess Venice.

When I did that trip we could only buy alcohol in India on Wednesdays. And you had to apply at the local police station for a permit. Then when you got a beer it wasn't cold. Things are a bit better today.

 

With the attitude in Pakistan being so hostile towards westerners I'm not sure I would recommend you going to Karachi to catch that flight. I would fly from either Delhi or Kathmandu to Iran & give Pakistan a wide berth. Do you really want to risk being held hostage by the Taliban?

 

As for the Rangoon to Kolkata flight, I have done it twice, only arriving at the second attempt. The first time we were in the air before the pilots could communicate with India & they turned us around as there was a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal. Rangoon airport had no way of contacting Kolkata before take-off. The one positive that came out of it was I got to spend another 3 days in Rangoon at the expense of the government. We were put up at the best hotel in town & all meals were supplied. There was no chance of getting fat though, I think they were told to keep the servings to a minimum. 

 

On the second time on Burma Air I was seated next to a westerner & mentioned to him I didn't like the look of the large dent in the leading edge of the wing. He said it was OK, he was an inspector travelling the world looking at the safety procedures on third world airlines. He told me Burma Air was one of the worst ones but not so bad they needed to shut it down. He said some of the national carriers in Africa were terrible & he wouldn't risk flying on most of them. 

 

The worst airline according to him back in the 70's - Zimbabwe Airlines. He thought it a miracle everytime they landed one of their planes safely.

Can't argue with your observations on Pakistan Paccers, Also Katachi is a shithole irrespective of the risk levels. I know Lahore is nice and also safer, but going over the border near Amritsar for a few days in Lahore before flying out is not practiacal. Pakistan has got to be one of the least desirable countries for non muslims to vist, and yet getting visas seems to be inordinately difficult and pricey. and the air fares from Lahore to Shiraz are about twice the price of flying from New Delhi. The trip is still two or three years away so lots can happen before then, maybe it will be possible to cross the land border between Myanmar and India.

The writing is certainly Cyrilic text, so I guess Seven is on the money, although Russia is not the only country where russian is the language, old soviet states that became independent after the cold war,

Well the Scottish flag outside the church must be a red herring, so what European Country has a Church of Scotland? the trolley wires suggest Eastern Europe, but I'm going Helsinki Finland.

OK on the MAS question:

Malaysian Airline System was the airline I flew when migrated from the UK to Australia in 1980.

Shiraz (Syrah) is the top drop here. Sunshine in a bottle is how I describe it. And the answer to your first question is Shiraz in Iran. Your clue about your favourite wine not being available there refers to it being a Muslim country. What a waste! All those wonderful old vines & none of it can be used for wine making. 

Of course it is Shiraz..

I have started to plan an overland trip from Melbourne to my hometown in the UK using only public transport,

As things stand at the moment there will need to be three short fights. Darwin to Bali, Rangoon to Kolkata and Karachi to Shiraz.

It won't happen for a couple of years yet,but I think I will need to get in training for Iran by trying to have a couple of AFD's (alcohol free days) a month.

Gotta be some Middle Eastern place so I'll risk Saudi Arabia.

Yo have the approximate region. Do you know what red is most popular in Australia?

Malaysian Airlines are very much in the news, occaisionally in news stories they are refered to by their old name MAS, what did MAS stand for?

City and country wins 3 cigars...country only, just one small stogie.123.jpg

A clue, my favourite red wine would not be available in this city.

It is the one that now sits in front of the Queen Victoria building in Sydney. It used to be in front of the government buildings in Dublin.

http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/the-statue-of-queen-victoria-26410809.html

Quite a few lasses moved from Doblin to Sydney over the years.

City and country wins 3 cigars...country only, just one small stogie.

Aaah Vauxhall Victor, that brings back memories Lung...all of them bad, I bought mine off a mate who lost his licence. Paid 50 quid obviously too much. It used more oil than petrol. I had an arrangement with a local garage, the used to save oil taken out of cars during a service and sell it to me for 9d a pint.

The thing had a column change with just three gears, but first was almost impossible to find, stopping at traffic lights on any kind of an incline would bring me out in a cold sweat.

Eventually after about 3 months the bloody diff seized up whilst I was doing 70 on the M62, I will never forget being in the car holding the steering wheel as it was towed away arse first...lots of waves from cars flying past. I still get embarrased thinking about it 45 years later

This was not the actual beast...no rust on this lass.

This time the cigar goes to Paccers.

I think the correct name is the Queen Victoria Memorial Kolkata.

Not sure what we did with the statue BB, but come the Australian Republic, it will be shipped back to England.

Bugger BB, I just saw your clue and was about to post Camino as the answer...then you went and told us..grrrr

The big building is stumping everyone, this old girl is sitting in front of it.

They all won the Irish Grand National.

Sorry no cigar this time BB, no statue of Billy Bremner either

City and country?

Mr. Bumblebee is correct, specifically Billy Bremner's statue outside Leeds United's Elland Road ground, or the stadium of broken dreams as it has become for us long suffering  Leeds fans these days.

MOT