The Blog Is Dead. Long Live the Blog.

Obviously this blog as been laying low for a quite some time now. But as a newly-married man with an extension to the family on the way already, I've set up a new site which will have all photos, videos and general news from the entire McColl household.

I'll keep this one up for the archive of old photos, but all new updates will be at the much, much better: www.kennyandrobyn.com.

Lazy

As you might have noticed, I'm getting a bit lazy when it comes to updating this site.

I'm still putting photos up on Flickr though, so check there for the latest activity. If you have a Flickr account, make me your friend and you'll get an email whenever I add photos. Or if you're a geek, you can subscribe to the rss feed.

Eurotrip Photos

See our route on a map!

	France - Montagny
	Holland - Amsterdam
	Scotland
	Belgium - Brussels & Bruges
	France - Paris
	Luxembourg
	France - Strasbourg
	Germany - Munich
	Austria - Vienna, Halstatt and Salzburg
	Slovakia - Bratislava
	Hungary - Budapest
	Romania - Transylvania
	Bulgaria - Plovdiv
	Turkey - Istanbul
	Getting there - Lyon to Istanbul (via Montagny, Alba, Monterosso, Sienna, Sorrento, Amalfi, Bari, Thessaloniki & Kavala)

Where are we?

Details of our trip around Europe. Most of it is subject to change. I'll have my regular cell phone with me and we'll be checking email.

June 23	Arrive in Lyon
June 24-27	Italy: Parma, Modena, Bologna, Napoli, Bari
June 27, evening	Ferry to Greece
June 28-29	Drive through Greece
June 29, evening	Arrive in Istanbul - Hen/Bachelor Parties
June 30	Bosporus Cruise and dinner
July 1	Omer & Elif's wedding
July 3	Leave Turkey
July 3-14	Drive through Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Austria, Czech Republic, & Germany
July 14-15	Amsterdam, Falkirk game on July 15
July 16-17	Belgium
July 17	Ferry to Scotland
July 18	Arrive in Scotland, drive up to Fort William
July 23	Kenny & Gayla's Wedding
July 24-27	Glasgow
July 28	Ross's wedding
July 30-Aug 5	Walking the West Highland Way
Aug 5-7	Edinburgh
Aug 8-9	Drive to London
Aug 10- 15	London
Aug 15-18	Drive to France
Aug 18-21	Karen's chalet, Montagny La Thuile, France
Aug 21	Fly home

Japan Photos

Watch The World Cup at Mundial

Watch the world cup in style - full details and schedule here

Snowboarding in Utah 2006

Watch the video!

The video is also available on Google Video

Photos

Hogmanay Photos

The Observer's 5 Hangover Rules

• Next day, don't call to apologise until you can speak in whole sentences
• If they call you, claim memory loss
• Anything that can be cured by a fry-up isn't a hangover
• Achieve. Don't lie in bed all day. Lie in the bath and on the sofa, too
• If you wake up feeling fine, you're still drunk

All Around The World

This is the part where we bore you all ...

Photos
	Highlights - the best of all the photos
	Scotland - Glasgow
	Slovenia - Ljubliana & Celje
	Italy - Venice
	England - London - Karen's 40th Birthday Party
	Thailand - Bangkok
	Thailand - Krabi
	Thailand - Chiang Mai, Bangkok Again & Chiang Rai
	Laos - Mekong, Luang Prabang & Vientiene
	Vietnam - Hanoi & Halong Bay
	Vietnam - Hoi An & My Son
	Vietnam - Hue
	Vietnam - Phu Quoc
	Vietnam - Saigon
	Cambodia - Siem Reap & Angkor
	Singapore
	Australia - Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road & Mornington Pensinsula
	Australia - Queensland
	Australia - Uluru
	Australia - Sydney, The Blue Mountains & Hunter Valley
	Scotland All Over The World
	Graffiti of the World
	Mythical Creatures of the World

Trip Miscellany

Top Places

• Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Luang Prabang, Laos
• Hanoi, Vietnam
• Hoi An, Vietnam
• Angkor, Cambodia
• Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Highlights

• Consistently great (and cheap) food in Thailand, especially the North
• Diving the Yongala wreck
• Karen's fabulous 40th birthday party in London
• The jungle-covered Ta Phrom temple at Angkor - even better than Angkor Wat
• Dolphins swimming past us as we waited for the dive boat to pick us up (Australia)
• Magnificent away win for Scotland in Slovenia with three spectacular goals
• The Luang Prabang night market
• Spectacular scenic flight on a four-seater over Uluru, Kata-Tjuta and Lake Amadeus
• Walking through the Mangrove Bat Walk with giant fruit bats and flying foxes at Singapore's Night Safari
• The Aussie burger with "The Lot" - beetroot, fried egg and sometimes pineapple
• Six foot barracuda trying to eat Robyn's dive mask (Australia)
• The glass-floored cable-car 900 feet above the Katoomba Falls ravine (Blue Mountains, Australia)
• Staying overnight in Halong Bay aboard a traditional dragon boat (Vietnam)
• The sunset from the top of Mount Phousi in Luang Prabang
• The Laundry Bar in Siem Reap - best bar of the trip
• Getting from Thailand to Laos by cruising down the Mekong
• Double Flaming Lamborghini in Singapore
• Surviving eating raw fermented pork in Northern Thailand
• Blue Elephant cooking classes in Bangkok
• Spotting an echidna then several koalas within hours of leaving the city in Australia
• Spotting not one, but five rare cassowaries in Queensland
• Finally spotting a field full of kangaroos the day before we left Australia
• The sheer photogenic allure of Angkor Wat and Uluru (not to mention Ko Phi Phi, Halong Bay and the 12 Apostles)
• Sea kayaking through caves in Phang Nga (Thailand)
• Super-cheap custom-tailored clothes in Hoi An
• Mangosteen - out of season, but lived up to the hype - delicious
• Learning that motorbikes can carry anything: 5 person families, 3 pigs, 10 dogs, you name it...

Not So Good

• Vietnamese traffic & road "etiquette"
• Frenzied, loud & high-pitched sales appeals outside calm temples in Angkor
• 5am hour-long propaganda broadcasts in Hanoi
• 7am hour-long amplified street karaoke in Bangkok
• The giant tarantula in the bathroom at Pakbeng, Laos
• Bird's Nest beverage in Bangkok - absolutely disgusting!
• Ridiculously persistent flies in Australia
• In Vietnam, the sidewalk/pavement is not intended for walking on - it's for motorbike parking, or family dining - which means walking in the fearsome traffic
• Flying cockroaches in restaurants in Sydney
• Water Puppet Theatre in Hanoi
• Our camera breaking the day we visit Angkor (fortunately it made it through the day)
• Our inability to identify the street meat we bought in Bangkok (our best guesses: mussels, pigs ear, chicken plus one other)
• Everything closing at 8:30pm in Australia
• Food poisoning from one of the most expensive restaurants in Bangkok
• Durian out of season everywhere we went, so still haven't eaten the fruit fresh
• Smell of dried squid everywhere you go in Thailand
• Searing heat in Luang Prabang, Angkor & Queensland (great weather everywhere else)
• Taxi driver hotel scams in Hanoi
• Insistent motorbike "taxis" in Hoi An
• Sleazy old Western men with teenage Thai girlfriends / wives
• Tourist tat in Venice
• Admitting that Malky was right about Laos
• Flying through cyclone storms in Australia
• Bed bugs carried onto dive boat by horrible American stereotype
• Dive conditions in Vietnam (too cloudy to see anything, then too windy to dive)

Top Meals
	Borek / street stand / Ljubljana
	Bone marrow / St John / London
	Khao Soi (spicy noodles), Chicken with Chilli / Sailomjoy / Chiang Rai Total cost (including sodas): $1.59 Highlights: No electricity or refrigeration, little boy puking at table next to us
	Croque monsieur & salad / Cafe Banvatsene / Luang Prabang
	Fried fish (Cha Ca) / Cha Ca La Vong / Hanoi
	Chateaubriand / Bibi's / Saigon
	Pho bo / Pho Hoa / Saigon
	Scrambled eggs & bacon / Bills / Sydney

Interesting Animals Seen In The Wild

Dolphin / Gecko / Tarantula / Spiky Echidna / Koala / Possum / Kangaroo / Wombat / Rainbow Lorikeet / Jabiru / Cockatoo / Cassowary / Albatross / Turtle / Sea Snake / Shovel Nosed Ray / Epaulette Shark / Reef Shark / Stingray / Barracuda / Maori Wrasse / Lionfish / Clownfish / Nudibranch / Squid / Cuttlefish / Eagle Ray / Fruit Bat

Interesting Animals Eaten

Emu / Kangaroo / Horse / Crocodile / Pigeon / Water Buffalo / Yabbies

Local Beers Sampled

Lasko Zlatorog / Union / Smile / Sokol / Leo / Singha (lion) / Chang (elephant) / Beerlao (tiger head) / Beerlao Dark / Tiger / 333 / Saigon Red / Halida / Huda / Larue / Bgi / Red Beer (bia do) / Festival / Saigon Special / Hoa Vien Pilsener / Hoa Vien Dark / Angkor / Klang / Anchor / Brewerkz Wheat / Brewerkz Golden Ale / Brewerkz Mao Tai Lager / Brewerkz Pilsner / Brewerkz Darkside Lager / Brewerkz IPA / Brewerkz Brown Ale / Brewerkz Oatmeal Stout / Brewerkz Brewberriez / Brewerkz Hopback Ale / Brewerkz Xtra Ipa / Brewerkz Moh Gwai / Coopers Pale Ale / Little Creatures / Coopers Sparkling / James Squire Amber / James Squire IPA / James Squire Pilsener / James Boag / Townsville Bitter / Carlton Mid / Carlton Pure Blonde / Eumundi / Crown / Tooheys New / Tooheys Old (Black Ale) / Cascade Pale Ale / Red Back Wheat / Victoria Bitter / James Squire governer king pale ale / James Squire Golden Ale / Cascade Premium / James Boag Premium / Mountain Goat Hightail Ale (Dark Ale) / Blue Tonge Alcoholic Ginger Beer / Blue Tongue Hunter Ale / Blue Tongue Pilsener / Blue Tongue Lager

Movies to Netflix

• The Man With The Golden Gun
• The Beach
• The Quiet American
• Apocalypse Now
• Tomb Raider
• Two Brothers
• The Killing Fields
• Picnic At Hanging Rock
• Wolf Creek
• Finding Nemo

Kenny & Galya get Married

Pictures from John's roof after the ceremony

iJamming!

My latest web venture - a redesign of Tony Fletcher's iJamming! site. Tony is a music writer (amongst other things) and has written books on the Clash, the Bunnymen, REM, Keith Moon and more. He updates iJamming! on a daily basis, so check it out.

Tour De France

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Malcolm & Kristina's Wedding in Maine

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Spain

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Meribel with the McNeills

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