This one's for you Mary........................

I am now taking requests on my blog!

Every time people travel abroad, the same old subjects crop up I guess. What's the weather like? How are the locals?  You know, the really important stuff that matters when you're abroad. I guess many of us hanker for some tastes of home when we are away. Some spend their entire holiday in Paddy McMakeyupname's, the local Irish bar, which in fact bears no resemblance to any bar at home. Other's are prepared to pay huge excess baggage fees and flaunt International Custom & Excise Laws by freezing 50lbs of Superquinn sausages and packing boxes of Barry's tea and Tayto crisps. It's always nice to have something to make you think of home I guess.

For me there two features of this trip that make me feel right at home. One is the potholes in the roads which are about as wide as Julia Roberts gob, and the second is pictured to the left. I could write many words on how nice the food is here, unfussy and basic at times, but nevertheless tasty. However for those of you that know me, this picture sums it all up really. (Still not as nice as my Mammy's homemade variety though)

TV Sunday Matinee

Look what's on TV here today.

I kid you not!!

The flights..............

Ok I know this is not in chronological order but it's been such a hectic week I haven't had a chance to write about all of the wonderful experiences we have had here.
The trip began with a very pleasant surprise on the Dublin to Dubai Emirates flight. Having taken my seat a very pleasant member of the cabin crew came up to me and asked if I was Donal Brennan. I replied in the affirmative to which she said "I believe you are an utter ledge, how would you like a seat in business class?". I thought about it for all of 0.489245 seconds and promptly took my place in the very comfortable surroundings of business class.

My initial reaction was one of slight worry when I noticed my arm rest was like this

But these fears were soon far in the back of my mind when I discovered this

And this

And this

And this

Needless to say I arrived in Dubai reasonably fresh.

The next phase of the journey was to Johannesburg, once again with Emirates but this time I was in the cheap seats of the world's largest plane, the A380. Look at what I had to endure for this leg of the trip (leg as in no room for it)

The things I have to put up with...................

That said, this plane, the A380, as well as being the largest in the World, is surely the most intelligent too. The video screen on the back of the seat facing you can even sense your current physical state.

How clever is that????

Gerry the Bish, Part 2

Day 4 at the building site and we had a visit from Gerry the Bish. In case you aren't too sure which one of these 7 guys is the Archbishop of Maseru, it is the guy in the middle of the 6 pink lads, wearing a funny hat. If you can make out the slogan on Damo's t-shirt immediately to the Archbishop's left it might bring a little grin to your face. Gerry fully approved anyway.
The hat he is wearing is a traditional Basotho hat, but I am not too sure of the source of the rest of his outfit. Perhaps it's "Priest, by Jasper Conran". Come to think of it, that would make for a very catchy new men's fragrance. I can see it now, a natty bottle with a white collar and a mixture of incense and candle wax and when you spray it you immediately absolved of all your sins. Think I'm on to something there......
The rest of us are sporting the less traditional free baseball cap and free linen napkin (courtesy of the hotel) to protect our poor Paddy necks, which at this stage have a touch of rouge about them.

Gerry The Bish

This dude came for dinner this evening. Gerard Lerotholi, Archbishop of Maseru, or Gerry The Bish as I prefer to call him.
Myself and Gerry shot the breeze and discussed everything from child abuse in the Catholic Church to whether James McLean should be forefront in Trapp's plans for the Euro's.
Having told him that I spent the day on a the building site shovelling and mixing cement Gerry opened with Proverbs 14:23 - "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty". I countered with Donal 19:9 "Jaysus Gerry, me back is only killing me and I'm after getting fierce sunburn on me oul Gregory Peck". Gerry countered with Jeremiah 30:17 - " "But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds," declares the LORD." to which I had no reply. Round 1 to Gerry I guess.

First impressions of the whole thing - the abridged version

Flights - long, poxy, upgrade aside, I am just not built to sit in a seat that size for 8 hours straight. Further details and pictures on the upgrade will follow.............
In flight service - you still get the same food, same movies and the same flight time in business class as you do in the cheap seats, it's not ALL it's made out to be!!!
Catching up on all those movies you missed - Don't bother joining Xtravision, this is the way forward. Book a long haul flight. Simple as. On my way here I have watched "Drive" - (Overrated - too many bleedin slow motion scenes and I don't care what anyone says, Ryan Gosling is NOT the next De Niro or Pacino based on this or other latest releases (that said, I will watch The Ides Of March on the way back),
50/50 (Decent comedy flick with a darker theme than normal, was over in a flash though) and Moneyball (all in all a good film, Brad Pitt can act only one way, but that one way is often good. Fat lad from Superbad is decent too)
Driving from Jo'burg to Maseru, it is clear that this country is of no interest to the South Africans. When we rented the cars at the airport, there were a few raised eyebrows when we said we were travelling to Lesotho. Even though South Africa surrounds this country the closer you get to it, the worse the roads are. It's as if it's a gentle "hint" that they don't really want you to go there. I guess that's how the darker parts of Laois feel in relation to the rest of Ireland. It's there, we can't ignore it and the other 25 (or 31) counties surround it, but we never really want to go there. At least now there's a motorway through Laois so we no longer have to stop when we are travelling to somewhere nice, ideally beyond Abbeyleix.
To summarise, if you want to catch up on a few DVD's.book Emirates.

Things I know about Lesotho.............

It begins with L.
It ends in O.
It is in Africa.

About 9 months ago when I was "asked"* (* = more or less told!) that I was going to Lesotho I have to confess to knowing very little about this country. Admittedly I did know that it was a landlocked country within South Africa, something which I have since learned very few other people know, having been often asked where the place actually is! Years spent looking at atlases and maps of the world finally reaped their rewards -  and yes, I do have the anorak.

Since then however I have learned a little more about this country and no doubt I will know a hell of a lot more in just over 2 weeks time.

So here are some useless facts about Lesotho:


The lowest point in the country is 1400 metres, making it the country with the highest low point in the world, if that makes sense! To put that into context, 1400 metres is higher than the highest point in the islands of Ireland and Great Britain (Ben Nevis clocks in at 1344m).

They gained independence from the United Kingdom in October 1966.

The flag has 4 colours, green, white, blue and black. Black represents the native population, green resembles prosperity,  white represents peace and the blue represents rain. I wonder why we have green in our flag, and come to think of it, why we don't have any blue!

Daniel O'Donnell once performed an open air concert in Maseru, the capital, in a World of Diverse Cultures Festival. He was booed off stage and pelted with the most abundant local natural resources, wool, diamonds and river frogs.

That last fact was totally fabricated.













Lesotho is one of the least afforested countries in African but some of the indigenous forest includes the white stinkwood (Celtis africana) and the mountain cabbage tree (Cussonia paniculata). Based on those names I think I know a good few people that have climbed both these trees...........












Armed with those enthralling facts I am sure you just can't wait for more news on my experiences.