Balam's VirtualTourist Home Page

Nothing much to tell, I like travelling which I suppose is obvious being on here, I live on my own in a terraced house in Oldham, Manchester, UK. I work nights as the Senior Supervisor of a security company and work long hours so I do not get much time at home especially as my son lives with my mum and dad just around the corner so I spend most of what spare time I have there,

I love going on holiday or day trips and looking at old buildings (it's the old Goth in me) and watching people . I hate sitting on a beach, it's so boring and there are so many interesting things to see. I love to walk around Ancient places and to explore castles and archaeological sites or to sit in a local tavern and watch the world go by. I can quite happily spend every day just walking around exploring places and taking lots and lots of photos.

Some of my Videos are on My Myspace Site and videos on My Youtube site or on my sons Youtube but now that VT has videos on I have uploaded them and more to Virtual Tourist and added the links on to my tips.

I am currently writing tips and moving some around without Pictures because of the ongoing problem with the Uploading of pictures on VT although it seems to be much better now.

I love cooking and can quite happily spend hours in the kitchen just cooking and freezing food, or looking around food and cookware shops both at home and abroad. I have a large collection of recipe books and books about cooking.

A few years ago I found a fantastic website on everything to do with cooking, it is called FXcuisine It is done just as a hobby by a Swiss man called François-Xavier and it has really taken off. If you Love cooking and Travel this web site really is a must.

I love reading not just novels but more or less anything, from Harry Potter to Theology, from local history to old travel guides picked up cheap off eBay but I really do love to read books about the full aspects of cookery not just a load of recipes but books with things about the places and the people as well as just the food.

Photography is another passion; I believe in taking as many pictures as possible and love to browse through them.

Old buildings are great, I hate these modern metal and glass structures that will probably have to be pulled down in 50 years, give me a castle or a Tudor house any day especially if it's haunted. My ideal holiday is just walking around castles and Fortifications from the middle ages, or ruins from ancient Rome, Greece and any other Ancient Civilisations. The most amazing places I have been has to start with Herculaneum and Pompeii, they were absolutely fantastic.

I have and have always had a great interest in Japanese history Particularly the Samurai and Geisha traditions and the Martial Arts, Thai boxing, Tae kwon do, Kenjutsu, Iaido, bojutsu, Bujutsu and of course Ninjutsu. I collect Swords and other Ancient/martial art weapons.

When I was Little we started to go to Spain, at first only me and my mum would go (Along with a large group from The Failsworth Home Guard Club) and my dad used to stay at home. In those days (1970's) everybody went to Spain. We went to Mallorca (Majorca) quite a few times and eventually my Dad started to come with us. we went to different places in Spain and a Couple of places in Italy before going to Rhodes and staying at the Hotel Oasis in Afandou, My Mum and dad loved it there and they went every year from 1982 to 2006 as well as visiting some other places in Spain and Portugal, when the Hotel was leased by an Italian company and although there are still some rooms available to others we decided not to go.

MSN is: balam@hotmail.co.uk

My email is: balam@tesco.net

If you want to add me on MSN that is ok but send me a message first because due to the large amount of scammers out there i don't just accept anybody.

Are you on Facebook??
Add me but please don't forget to put VirtualTourist in the friend request.

My son has also joined Virtual Tourist; his username is Evenith666
He is currently at University in Bangor North Wales.

In the past years I have taken the most photo's and so some of our pictures may well be the same but as I take thousands, he is now using one of my cameras and his phone has a camera there should not be to many that are the same but we pool all our photo's and music when he comes home so he has the choice of any and if anybody else needs a photo from somewhere I have been feel free to use one or ask if I have one of somewhere and if I do I will send it you, all I ask is a small mention on your page.

Travel plans for this year 2009:

Trips to North Wales to see my Son who is at University in Bangor
Including Caernarfon, Beaumaris, Llanberis

The VT Euro Meet at Cascais near Lisbon in May 26/05/09 - 02/06/09

Back to North Wales 08/06/09 - 09/06/09

Qwara on Malta 07/07/09- 14/07/09


South Wales

Back to Alvor on the Algarve 24/10/09 - 31/10/09

Among these my best friend (And fellow VT Member mickeyboy07 ) and I have been going to places on my days off.

Travels for 2010

Trips to North Wales to see my Son at University in Bangor

Euromeet 2010 in Krakow

A Cruise

Back to Alvor on the Algarve

It's also good to take pictures of the more unusual things that have or are happening, this is a picture of a ship which was stranded just off the coast of Blackpool, many people went to see it including us when we were paying a visit to Blackpool and the places that my Mum grew up in

Pompeii and Herculaneum was probably the most fantastic experience I have ever had, words cannot explain the feelings that you get from walking around these ancient places. Both are certainly worth a visit by everybody even if they have no real interest in history.