Film: Jumanji: The Next Level

The (second?) sequel in the Jumanji franchise plays it safe. It is essentially a remix of the first (second?) film, with essentially the same plot, progression and hammy acting. Even some of the jokes are recycled directly from the previous installment.

But you know what? It didn't matter. If you're going to see this, then you'll know exactly what to expect; and that the film delivers on it all is no bad thing.

And that's pretty much why there's not much more to say about Jumanji 2 (3?). It's recommended to those who loved the fir... previous one.

Food: Neat Burger

I've been eager to try these new breed of meat like vegan burgers for a while, and although Beyond has been available in certain supermarkets for a while, it was only until I had heard of Neat Burger that I really believed I could give it a go. The marketing is a bit strange on this one though - when it was launched the restaurant was quite explicit in where the meat was from, with the Beyond brand plastered all over the menu. This has since changed to "Neat Meat", so even though I visited today I'm not actually certain that I've tried Beyond meat.

But perhaps that's not really the point. Regardless of where they source their patties, it's the end result that matters the most, as well as how Neat Burger is as a place to eat overall. The place is certainly clean, modern and, yes, neat, and although there's not actually any table service what is provided is with a smile. It being a hipster joint is most certainly reflected in the price, with my double burger with trimmings (I had opted for cheese and to make it spicy), but no sides, hitting the £10 mark. And yes, you need the double.

Which brings us to the food. Although it wasn't the best burger I had, and clearly wasn't meat, it certainly wasn't shabby. It had a overcooked texture, but I wasn't sure if that was due to the nature of the substitute or excess time on the grill. Otherwise it was tasty enough and I would be more than happy to go back if not for the price.

Book: The Hope of Elantris, Brandon Sanderson

That there doesn't seem to be an established way to approach such a vast series as the Cosmere seems to be a gaping flaw in an otherwise amazingly well built series. Although some may see this "anything will do" approach as accessible, for someone who wants it all something a little more structured is required. For me, that means publication order.

The Hope of Elantris is a one of many short stories that are drawn from the Cosmere, some relating to existing larger books, and some which stand alone. I'll be reading most of them from Sanderson's Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection, a compendium as well as reference. I'll also be revisiting it as a book in its own right... once I hit its place in publication order.

The first short story is nothing more than a curio, something to keep you going while moving on to the Cosmere proper. It fills in some gaps, and fleshes out others, but is kind of overshadowed by the brilliance of Elantris. But it's short and in terms of value per page is teeming. That alone makes it essential reading.

Film: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

You know, I'd be the first to say I'm more forgiving than otherwise with regards to this current trend of milking nostalgia. I enjoyed both TFA and TLJ enough for me to consider them decent films (although I also enjoyed the prequel trilogy too so...) Heck, I'm even happy to be described as a Star Wars apologist.

But try as I might, I just can't bring myself to defend TROS. I find it equally difficult to explain why it was so bad. Is it a hack job? A cash grab? Does JJ just not care? I sadly smile while I revisited my review of TFA which warned about Abrams' potential to ruin all our lives, and here we are.

It was just all so flat, so hum drum, so... convenient. I found myself thinking about the MCU, and how easily they managed to serve us such a rewarding experience - was it really not possible to do the same? I guess not, and it turns out that fanservice isn't easy after all. One highlight was Babu Frik, but it wasn't enough to save the film.

I'm even struggling to recommend this for a cinema watch, where the event vibe of such a release would compensate for any shortcomings in its quality. So no, my official recommendation is to not watch this, even if you are a die hard fan - it's perfect for a home viewing though, something to watch with that new Disney+ subscription you'll all be getting.

Book: Star Wars: Resistance Reborn, Rebecca Roanhorse

It turns out that it takes an event to force me to read these days. Enter Resistance Reborn, a Star Wars novel set soon after the events of The Last Jedi and the Battle of Crait.

First up a spoiler: no, you don't need to read this book to get any insight into either TLJ or The Rise of Skywalker. Reading in that hope will, like it did for me, only result in disappointment.

The good news is that otherwise the novel isn't that bad. It's accessible, well written and manages well in the characterisation it offers to the reader. It's very much a "day in the life of a resistance fighter" kind of tale, and as such could be seen as quite flat, mundane even. But it's such a low effort and quick read that's not the problem it could have been.

Overall I'd recommend the book for those who want something to tide them over till the release of the next film, or just as a quick timepass for those who miss the SW universe. For everyone else there may be little to see here.

Film: Charlie's Angels

I mean, for sure, Charlie's Angels is a badly made film. The editing is poor, the acting uninspiring and the plot passable. And yet... I really enjoyed the film.

Maybe it's the charm, or how easy going it is, or that it never takes itself too seriously, sometimes even going as far as to mock itself. It was very laugh out loud at times, and held a constant level of FGF.

It's one of those films that is much better than it has any right to be, and for me just about comes recommended. Just don't go in expecting Little Women, I guess.

Film: Frozen II

It was in looking at Frozen II that I realised I had also watched the first in the cinema way back in 2013. I do feel that my opinion of Frozen has changed - it's a better film after repeat views I guess - and in an over-saturation of animated films it does sit quite high up.

It's ironic then that I could write exactly the same review for its sequel.

I still don't know what was missing: the lack of a decent villain maybe, or just the jarring pacing issues throughout. At the end of the day it just felt like an excuse for another Frozen movie, which if we're honest, it probably was. Still, Toy Story 4 managed to pull it off so there was no reason why Elsa and Anna couldn't have either.

There were some highs. The technology has improved and the film looks great - particularly the water (as boring as that sounds). Oh and that Chicago-esque 80's power ballad was definitely the best part and was possibly even what saved the film for me.

So yes. Frozen II is just another animated film, rather than a Disney classic. But hey, who knows? Maybe when the second sequel is released I'll appreciate the film before more.

Food: Mak Grillz

Halaloodie burger reviews are more or less completely commoditised now, so I won't spend too much time subjectively talking about yet another gourmet burger place open in East London. So yeah - the service was great and more importantly the food didn't disappoint either. I went for the safe choice of a burger with turkey rashers and was sufficiently satisfied with the whole experience.

The price was middling which I supposed is a polite way of saying it was a little overpriced. A quid or so lower and Mak's could have become a go to place, but as it stands it ends up just another option in an already saturated and optimised market.

Film: Knives Out

Although mainly billed and received as a throwback to the classic whodunnit genre, I would say that most assessments of that sort really aren't doing the film justice. In fact I'd go as far to say that Knives Out was a poor murder mystery - it was just contrived and convenient enough to always stay ahead of, so if you're looking for a chewy brain busting story to make yourself feel smart when solving... this isn't it. Similarly don't expect too many surprise twists or big reveals here.

But here's the thing: I really didn't mind because the whole thing was so much fun and a joy to watch. It was smoothly made (if you forgive some of the stretches it makes for the sake of the mystery), with some great shot work and as a commentary it managed a lot so concisely without being overbearing. Expect political satire, the contemporary mixed with old fashion and lovely characters just going at it. This is a film with a mansion, a murder mystery author, social justice warriors, alt-right trolls and even Instagram influencers.

I did have some issues with the film, but I can't quite say much about them without spoiling the film. But in any case they don't matter - as long as you're not dead set on a Poirot, you really can't get much better. Recommended.

Film: Le Mans '66

It pains me to start any review with a comparative, but Le Mans '66 (elsewhere known as what I see as the lesser title of Ford vs Ferrari) is just not as good as Rush - and that on multiple levels.

The film itself had its set pieces, even if they were alongside some wonky pacing. It was otherwise made well enough but overall misses the spice and energy that a racing film is supposed to have.

But more than that, its the rivalry that comes short in this film. There is not much of a "vs" in this film, with our heroes actually only ever battling their own managers and bosses. We don't even hear the opposing drivers talking.

I'm being unfair of course. Not every racing film can be a Rush or Fast and Furious, and if you don't look too closely Le Mans '66 is a decent enough time pass. It's just not a film that'll win any races.

Film: Doctor Sleep

The best way I can describe Doctor Sleep is to call it an appropriate sequel to The Shining. Those looking for more Kubrick levels of cinematography and mindscrewery might find themselves disappointed - this is first and foremost a horror film from the modern era. The story and direction are all more explicit, and therefore I suppose far easily digestible.

And yet the film doesn't suffer at all for it. On the contrary I suspect if it had chosen to ape The Shining it would have been a bit of a failure. That's not to say it totally disposes of its heritage: there's more than enough fan service here to satiate all but the purest fans of The Shining.

So yes, all in all Doctor Sleep is a well built and enjoyable flick that gets my recommendation.

Film: Zombieland: Double Tap

Quite shockingly, it's been a decade since the first Zombieland came out, and since I appeared to have enjoyed that back then (I can't claim to have remembered it, so thank heavens for this blog) I was mildly excited about its reprisal.

And Double Tap does a pretty decent job - the ten year gap has clearly stopped the producers from making this just a cash in, and instead we get a film that takes what makes the first so great and turns it up a notch or two. The cast are great, the story more than ample and the action firmly of the slapstick genre. At this rate in 2029 I might even be making a claim for best trilogy.

Fun, tight and well built Double Tap gets a recommendation from me.

Film: Terminator: Dark Fate

Despite many flaws, Dark Fate does what the (first two) Terminator movies do best. They each portray a menacing chase against an insurmountable and never-tiring enemy only to come out tops at the end. In many ways then, Dark Fate is just a remake of Terminator 2. That isn't necessarily a criticism though.

Most of the flaws come from the story and perhaps the pacing of the film. The time travelling and other holes are simply magicked away (not least by completely deleting T3, Salvation and Genisys from existence), while some of the special effects fall short of what is otherwise a great spectacle.

It's easiest to consider the film a series of highly enjoyable and high adrenaline set pieces, and forgive the rest. And as someone who also doesn't mind a bit of fan service, the homages all act as the icing on the cake.

A recommendation from me.

Film: Ready or Not

Apart from looking like a fun romp, I was particularly looking forward to Ready or Not due to it's lead actress, Samara Weaving. I felt that a lot of 2017's The Babysitter's decent comedy horror came from Weaving and hoped the same for this film. And it seems that it was a good bet to have made.

Ready or Not is a lot of fun. It's not the smoothest of films, but does have some genius within. It also doesn't pull any punches - I was surprised at its 18 rating but on balance it was well earned. It also manages to balance its simplistic set up with a rewarding enough payoff, although this is a film that seems to solidly follow the playbook so don't expect too much novelty here.

Ultimately the film, and Weaving, both do enough to earn Ready or Not a recommendation from me.

Film: Joker

Joker is a good film. It's actually a great film. It's been wonderfully produced and the acting treads that fine line between class and comic that very few comic adaptations manage to do. It tackles some pretty high level topics like mental illness and civil revolution, and yet provides enough basic entertainment (be that comedy, drama or even violence) to remain accessible. It's multidimensional too, and gives the viewer plenty to talk about post credits.

The problem is that all these things make Joker merely a very okay Joker film. I'd even argue that it would have been far better, perhaps even reaching classic status, if the film was set outside of Gotham. As it stands the superhero (or rather supervillain) context is superfluous at best - and distracting at worst.

That said, with a bit of effort it's easy enough to ignore the comic book ingredients and enjoy the film for its good parts - a dark, sad tale about how an already disadvantaged soul is transformed by the harsh environment he lives in. And with that qualification the film gets a recommendation from me.

Lisbon, Day Four: Jummah, Trams and Tarts

As usual, the day being Jummah meant we had a focal point to build the day around. We found the mosque quite early, so we took the opportunity to to visit the nearby Parque Eduardo VII - a splendid way to kill some time while waiting for prayers.

After lunch at the mosque we headed back to Martim Moniz to catch the famous tram 28. Except after seeing the queue we decided to go with the circular 12 instead, which had the added benefit of keeping us within the vicinity of home.

All that was left for us was to enjoy some tea and pasteis de nata on the square in the sun, in anticipation of our taxis back to the airport. Which brings me to my final hot tip for Lisbon: that terminal 2 is an absolute dive.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by Lisbon. The place is accessible, cheap and provides enough to remain interesting over a small number of days. It reminds me of a small but closer Istanbul in fact, providing just the right framework to have a stay that allows you to do pretty much whatever you want.

Lisbon, Day 3: The Riverbank

Due to our relative success on Tuesday, we were free to leave the vicinity of the Old Town and head west to mop up the rest of Lisbon. Our first stop was to the Basílica da Estrela, a nice church in which to spend 20-30 minutes or so.

After that we travelled on to the Jerónimos Monastery, another impressive building that required a bit of time to appreciate - entrance to the church was free too.

We then switched to lazy mode and walked along the coast up to the Belem Tower after which we caught a private boat back to the Arco.

It was still relatively early and so after checking out the Timeout Market we headed home for a quick chill before heading out again for an afternoon walk, heading to the Santa Justa elevator to see what the fuss was about.

After dinner we ended up retracing Tuesday's tuktuk ride while checking out the night time views of Alfama as well as some of Lisbon's famous street art along the way.

Lisbon, Day Two: Sintra and Cascais

A great day trip from Lisbon is to visit Sintra or Cascais. So of course, I geared up to visit both. Trains in Lisbon are cheap and appear reliable, and with a little bit of planning it should be possible to do everything. Hot tip #1: make sure each passenger has their own ticket as you are not allowed to reuse multiple journeys on a single one.

We decided to hit Sintra first, where I walked up the hill to Pena Palace instead of taking the bus. Hot tip #2: make sure you ask someone credible how to make your way up, as the directions we were provided by a taxi driver took us up a road instead of a trail. Still it was a pleasant enough walk, although the Moorish castle at the top was a bit of a bust.

Pena Palace was much better - Hot tip #3: stick to the park ticket as it still lets you explore a huge chunk of the palace.

I joined the rest in the bus back down to the town centre (where the aforementioned walking trails up really start), and then caught a quick taxi to the Cabo de Roca, with a brief stop at Quinta da Regaleira on the way - and if there's anything I feel that we missed it was the gothic palace.

You don't need more than 30 mins or so at Cabo de Roca, so it's arguable as to whether it's worth it or not. Still, there's something undeniably romantic about being at the western most tip of Europe.

We got to Cascais later than planned, but this was okay - it's a place to hang out and have tea and ice creams rather than spend any real time doing anything in. As a last stop of the day it served well in allowing us to chill and unwind on the days hectic schedule. After we were done, we headed back to Lisbon proper for a late dinner.

Lisbon, Day One: Old Town

For those keeping track, yes, it has been less than a week since my return from Peru. In my defence this stint in Portugal's capital promises to be different for many reasons - it's with extended family for one, and between the length and geography it should in theory just be much easier than the more epic trips I've taken recently. That's the hope anyway.

Such is my attitude to the trip that I haven't actually done any planning, and will try to simply follow the nose of the group as much as possible. Take today, for instance: after an insanely early flight here, and a bit of rest, we did a bit of random wandering and finally caught a tuk tuk tour of the Old Town, which was actually a bit of a decent win considering how the six of us made it good value. We managed to see all the main points this afternoon, enough to allow us to do other things with our remaining days.

After a second rest in our apartment, we headed out to buy some supplies and visit the two mosques in the Old Town - which were both amusingly and depressingly separated by no more than 50 metres.

Dinner was a quick affair at home, after which we went out for a local walk to the Rua Augusta Arch.

So yes, very ad hoc yet pretty productive, as we look to head out of Lisbon proper tomorrow.

Peru, Day Nine: Lima and Home

Since we were now on a free timetable we decided to go for an early flight back to Lima to spend the day there before catching our international flight home.

Most of our time was spent in Plaza de Armas and with not much of a plan to go by. We walked around the vicinity reaching Miguel Grau Square for a walk in the park and outside view of the various galleries and museums there.

To be frank we were pretty spent from the intensity of the previous eight days and it was a struggle to want to do anything except chill out in cafes and restaurants. Eventually we decided to draw a line under the whole thing and head back to the airport where we caught our flight home, knackered but satisfied by such a ram packed trip to Peru.

Peru, Day Eight: And Back We Go

It became clear this morning that we didn't have many options once we left Cabanaconde two nights ago. For instance: what do you do when you have to hike 3-4 hours to catch a 9:15am bus? The answer, as hateful as it is, is to begin said hike before sunrise.

Still, at least we got to see the effect of the rising sun on the canyon. This was almost a straight ascent back up to Cabanaconde, some 1km higher. It was super tough but we made it with a little time to spare, after which we took the much less gruelling seven hour bus ride back to Arequipa.

This was essentially the end of our planned holiday - everything from this point was to be much less structured and much more easy going. As such we enjoyed our final hours in the city visiting the cathedral, having a final supper and walking up to the Yanahuara for the view of the city and imposing volcano.

There's nothing like a three day hike you make you appreciate the quieter things, and if I did have spare time in Peru I would have loved to have spent it here.

Peru, Day Seven: Hiking to Sangalle, The Oasis

The plan was pretty simple - to leave Llahuar and hike to Sangalle. But it seems that a second day of hiking affects the way you experience things: even after counting the ad hoc stop in Malata it was six hours of hard walking, most of which was wondering how long was left to go. More objectively though the trek did head up rather than the constant down we had yesterday.

And so the views also weren't as great, and of course it rained - although thankfully just as we arrived into Sangalle.

In hindsight however, although the day wasn't as "enjoyable" as the last, it did serve to add to the whole experience - hiking in these conditions is hard, and there are no guarantees of any kind of return. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing when you realise that effort doesn't have to go rewarded to have value.

Peru, Day Six: Colca and the Trek to Llahuar

Although we had already experienced a Peruvian trek earlier this week (on the Inca Trail), the fact that we knew it was a) for a single day and b) well trodden convinced us to try something a bit more... involved later in the trip. And so that's why we had ended up here, in the Colca Canyon, hoping to stay out in the wilderness for three days and two nights.

Before the trekking proper however, we had some of the tourist trail to clear up. We made two stops on the way to Cabanaconde - first in Maca, a small village (and to be honest I'm not actually sure why we stopped here, but it was quaint) and the second at the Mirador Cruz del Cóndor where we were lucky enough to see some fantastic birds in flight.

Cabanaconde is another small village that serves as the starting point for most of the more popular Colca circuits. This choice enabled us to keep things flexible until we arrived, but after talking to a very helpful tourist guide we finally decided on what was known as the "second hardest" loop (the hardest being doing the same loop but in reverse). Needless to say, we felt pretty fit and confident at that point.

The hike was great. The views didn't disappoint, and the journey itself was quite special, both physically and mentally. For me the experience was already much better than what we walked on the Inca trail and apart from being able to say "we did it" our first day in Colca alone would have made a perfect substitute for anyone's trekking needs in Peru.

Four hours and 10km later, and we were in the natural hot pools of Llahuar Lodge, waiting for both dinner and electricity to be served. It was bliss, and came close to the feeling I got on islands like Koh Rong or Ile Aux Nattes.

That said, there were differences. After a few games of Coup the lodge pretty much took an early night and was dead by 9:30pm. This felt a bit anti-climatic until I realised the biggest difference between a trek like this and the islands - this trip is demands a whole lot of hard, hard work: and by virtue of being in the middle of nowhere there was much more to come.

Peru, Day Five: Arequipa

Well rested, we woke up mid morning to explore Arequipa.

The plaza and cathedral were as pretty as a picture, while some of us broke off to visit the Ice Maiden exhibition covering the found remains of the human sacrifice that used to be practised by the Inca. Our whole time there was overshadowed by the imposing volcanoes - it was unreal, almost like a real life photoshop job.

Jummah was with some bros I had been in contact with for half a year. As far as I knew there were only two real mosques in Peru - one in Lima and the other in Cusco - so finding a place to offer Jummah in Arequipa was pretty fortunate, especially given how our tight scheduling depended on it having been available. And as always Jummah proved to be a great chance to get in some cultural exchange, very much including the home cooked daal they served for lunch.

In fact, we only really spent as much time as we did in Arequipa for my prayer requirements - as soon as I was done we were once again in a taxi, this time heading to Chivay. This was a relatively short drive so we still had the evening, which I spent visiting the planetarium, where I was introduced to the southern hemisphere view of stars and planets - including a view of Saturn and its rings.

Given the nature of the trip so far, it was an odd and out of place digression and so thoroughly recommended.

Peru, Day Four: Lake Titicaca

The main (and perhaps only) reason to visit Puno is to tour the adjacent Lake Titicaca, known to be the highest nautical lake in the world. We booked ourselves on a typical day trip on Titicaca, the first highlight being a stop at the Uros floating islands.

Inhabited by the indigenous people of Peru and Bolivia, the culture porn was of a decent enough quality, with families singing and dancing for us as we were told how the Uros people lived.

We then carried on to the (real) island of Taquille for more local culture and a grilled fish lunch.

The whole thing was a bit of a tourist trail, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

As soon as we left the boat we loaded straight onto a van for another long drive, this time to Arequipa. On balance Puno wasn't unmissable, and certainly a dubious pick given the hours spent on the road getting to and from there - but hey, at least we got to witness a wide array of stars on the way.

Peru, Day Three: The Road to Puno

In what might be seen as the biggest fail of any of my recent trips, today we set out for Puno.

After an early (albeit pretty) taxi ride lasting a whopping seven hours we arrived in a bit of a ghost town, with nothing much to do - at least for today.

As such, after walking around a bit we decided to call it a day and catch up on some well deserved rest.

Peru, Day Two: The Inca Trail

As cliched, uneconomical, faddy and shallow as it sounds, the whole point of our trip to Peru came down to today: our visit to Machu Picchu.

And yet, despite being so popular and accessible, finding out how the Inca Trail worked was an exercise in advanced Internet searching and message board trawling. Perhaps visitors to Peru just can't communicate their experiences well, or maybe the tourist industry there isn't as well developed. Most likely though is that the landscape and rules change so frequently that every year is a new experience for all involved. Not helping was us choosing perhaps the most niche of experiences when it came to The Inca Trail: The compressed, one day, km104 hike and Machu Picchu visit. But first, a bit of a primer.

The main locations in the area are Cusco (for the airport), Ollantaytambo (for the start of the traditional 4 day Inca Trail Hike) and Aguas Calientes (for Machu Picchu). Cusco and Ollantaytambo are connected by rail and road, and choosing between those largely depends on whether you want to visit anything on the way. Ollantaytambo and AC are also connected by rail - with a special and fancy (read: expensive) novelty train shipping pilgrims to the latter where they can proceed to the MP site (via a less fancy and novel bus service). It is therefore possible to see MP without any hiking, and indeed in a single day, by taking a train(s) from Cusco or Tambo, to AC, then a bus to the MP site. Indeed, this is what the vast majority of visitors do.

For the adventurous, you can skip the MP train and essentially walk to MP from Ollantaytambo. This walk takes four days and three nights, through some pretty and pretty tough terrain at (for most of us) a high altitude, temples and vistas, and retraces the route that the Inca used to take themselves. This is the Inca Trail, and is what most see as the most authentic/instagrammable way to experience MP.

A relatively new option available is the km104 hike, and it's essentially a mix of the two. You take the same MP train as the others from Tambo, but around half way to AC the train stops (there is no platform or station), drops you off, and you walk the rest of way. The hike isn't quite a full subset of the Inca Trail, but does join up with it after a while. This option is pitched as a two day programme: one day to complete the walk to MP, but without visiting it (you'd spend the night in AC), with the second day reserved to visit MP. This is already a new and therefore niche choice, but we opted for an even more tailored option - to hike to MP and visit the site in the same day, leaving us to return to Cusco the same night. Although requiring an early start and late finish, its for certain the most time efficient way of experiencing MP and the Inca Trail. In fact the only real downside is the cost, as even though it's around a third of the distance, its still over half the price of the full Inca Trail.

The 4:30am start was expected yet no less unwelcome. Also expected was the overpacking - both due to inexperience and my usual overcaution - and by the end of the 10km the pack was feeling pretty heavy. I would like to say that the views were worth the journey, but no - there were a few ruins to visit on the way, but make no mistake: this is a hike one walks for the challenge, the social aspects, and to experience what the Inca used to go through with far fewer resources. In those terms it was a tough, fun and rewarding hike, and confirmed our choice of limiting it to the one day - without knowing about our ability at high altitudes it was a bit of a gamble, but fortunately we didn't suffer from any real debilitating effects.

On the other hand, Machu Picchu had plenty of visuals to offer. One of the benefits of either hike is that you enter the site via the original Sun Gate, which provides a wonderfully classic view as you peak and turn a corner. It really does feel like a pilgrimage as it appears in view and thankfully the weather was totally on our side.

We made the site by 2pm which gave us more time than we required to explore the site proper. In many ways the visit was interesting enough, but it was certainly enhanced by having to hike there, and the whole day just made more sense than each component would have on its own. Between the short term exertion getting there and our lifelong plan to visit, it's safe to say the whole thing was pretty cathartic.

The only thing left for today was then to head back to Cusco - taking the bus to AC, the train to Tambo and then a van to Cusco. After the 18 hours of activity, exhaustion was inevitable... and I expect to sleep soundly tonight.

Peru, Day One: The Sacred Valley

After a what turned out to be not that bad a night, we finally landed in Cusco at 7am, our driver waiting for us at the arrival gate. After a well deserved breakfast in the main square, we headed to our first stop in the Sacred Valley: Pisac. Although we may have lingered there for slightly longer than we should have, the hilltop temple ruin was our first taste of Incan culture and so we never got bored.

As per usual we were on a tight schedule; in fact we had only really budgeted today for the Sacred Valley. Eventually we had to adjust our itinerary, nixing Chinchero for Maras and Moray, each peculiar and vital in their own way.

Moray was a quick visit - the salt mines themselves aren't really accessible beyond a balcony overlooking the area. Contrast that with Moray, where we were really able to get up close and personal. Both were equally vital to visit though.

Ollantaytambo was our stay for the night, and although we had initially aimed to check out the fortress and terraces we were pretty much spent by the time we reached the town. Between dinner and what we knew would be another early start the next day, we decided to call it a night.

Peru, Day Zero: Slumming It in Lima

I won't bore you with another diatribe on my current relationship with travel. And yet here I am, less than four days after returning from what was a pretty epic (read: packed) trip, embarking on yet another. Peru has always been on the list though - it was probably the first on that list - and even though I'd be the first to admit that going now is probably a result of a collective midlife crisis its nice to finally go for something in that has been so long in the making.

Flying West means a long day already, but due to the somewhat irritating scheduling in Lima (where it's impossible to catch any domestic flight if landing direct from London) a 5am flight tomorrow promises a rough night ahead with what will be a first for me: slumming it overnight on the airport floor.

North Pakistan, Day Fourteen: Islamabad To The End

The biggest issue we faced today was the holiday. It was Muharram, so almost everything was closed. I'd even go as far as to say we became pretty desperate for things to do. In fact, I'd go further and even suggest that, respective to the rest of the trip, the last three days had pretty much stalled.

Our first attempt at visiting an attraction was the Pakistan Railway Museum. The museum itself was closed, but the station itself had plenty of colonial delights to offer us. It was actually quite enjoyable even though most of it was restricted for us. Perhaps just as interesting were the slums we drove through on the way; the first indication I saw of the poverty here in Islamabad.

We then went on to the Shakarparian Friendship Garden, where visiting leaders and dignitaries would be asked to plant trees. There were actually some big hitters named here, including various past leaders of the USA, China and Iran.

Next up was the Pakistan Monument. This was exactly what was said on the tin, although I have to admit the monument itself was pretty impressive - and informative if like me visitors take the time to interpret all the murals present.

We then visited Saidpur, which was esoteric itself even before you visit the Hindu temples at the end of the village.

Our next stop was our hotel to kill a couple of hours before heading off to Faisal Masjid to offer Asr prayer in congregation. This was another significant memory brought back, and considering it wasn't exactly a new mosque 20 years ago it was doubly impressive to see just how timeless its design still is.

Dinner was then at Monal on the Margalla Hills, which offered both decent food and excellent views of the capital. We managed to stay there for sunset so got Islamabad both during the day and night.

By the end of our meal we had all gone into clock watching mode as we counted down the hours to our late flight back home. Our driver took us to Rawalpindi for tea and pakoras, which in my eyes was definitely a bonus as I had never visited the much older adjoining city before (and in fact never realised how accessible it was from Islamabad).

And that was all we had left for our trip of North Pakistan. We did a lot; more than enough, and in some ways we had even done too much on a trip that might have better been served with repeated return visits. Then again, we do still have most of the west of the region to cover, so maybe these are lessons we can forward with us after all.

North Pakistan, Day Thirteen: Civilisation

We began the day with a visit to the Patriyata Chair Lift. This was a decent enough time pass, with the chairlift itself being more of an attraction than the park at the top. Unfortunately the second cable car leg was closed, and I suspect that might have been where the real views were offered. Ultimately though, I feel that we should have stuck with Neelum Valley.

We were now in Muree proper, and spent some time in Mall Road for shopping and ice cream. It was again nice to be back in the hustle and bustle of a tourist attraction, although I suppose we didn't spend enough time there to get bored. After that it was on to Islamabad, eating corn on the cob en route.

The rest of the day played out like a Islamabad checklist: we spent some time in Lake View Park, and had a quick drive by tour of all the various administrative buildings that you might recognise from the usual news channels and the like.

After checking into our final hotel of the trip, we went for well deserved chapli kebabs at Habibi's, after which we treated ourselves to a quick drive around Islamabad.