“If you’d rather stay put and unwind, the balcony of our suite offered a great opportunity to do that. What could be better than sitting down with a cold cocktail, a good book, and a view of the cruise liners sailing in stately fashion through the Penang Strait?” Kay and Dave indulge in a spot of pampering at the E&O.
Dave reviews Quisqueya, Ginnie Bedggood’s account – at turns funny, candid and hard-hitting – of her first eight years as an expat in the Dominican Republic. Compulsory reading for any expat planning to move to a developing country!
“Let’s move on to the more widely-drunk, “standard” Belgian beers: the “blonds” – broadly speaking, lighter, more lager-like beers – and the browns, which are maltier and more like English mild or German Altbier. (And no, there don’t seem to be any redheads – unless of course you count kriek, the cherry-flavoured beer…)” Dave looks at more of Belgium’s great beers.
“The English and the Germans may think that their beer’s something to brag about, but when it comes to variety and quality, you’d be hard pushed to beat the Belgians…” Dave has a slurp of some of Belgium’s great beers.
This week: Losing touch – the difficulties of maintaining friendships and family ties in the face of separations of distance and lifestyle.
“John Mole’s book is very much in the Mayle mould; he starts off with a similarly ramshackle property in a similar traditional rural community. If anything, though, Mole’s predicament is even further removed from the urban UK – even the UK of the late 1970s, when he and his family were contemplating their move.” Dave reviews John Mole’s account of his new life in rural Greece.