Bangkok to the Motherland

Dave and I at the Southampton Port

The Roman Baths, in Bath

The Thai family in Bangkok

Windsor Castle

Changing of the guard-Buckingham Palace

One of those famous red telephone booths
Avebury stone ring-sw england

We spent our last night in Bangkok, and South East Asia, before heading to the mighty Londontown, at the Salawas. Since we were there last they had moved out east of the mighty city. Dave and i, all packed up to the brim with our new purchases flagged down a nice air con cab for the journey - well eventually anyway. They're reluctant to go any long distances and the drivers that were had no clue where the address was that we wanted to head to. After a 70minute drive through suburbs where we stopped three times to ask for directions (and at one stage our driver went into a reception area for no less than 15 minutes) we eventually made it to their humble abode. The taxi driver was extremely happy i bet he went home for a well deserved local brew. Their new house was rather nice and in a gated community described by dave as something off Desperate Housewives - much to his pleasure i suggest. That night we ate a lovely home cooked meal. The family has two maids so you are constantly getting fed and you don't have to do a thing which is something that i imagine takes a while to get use to. It was great to spend a couple of days with the family because you get the true experience of how they live, what they do, how they interact, what they think etc.

We were dropped off at the Bangkok airport on Sunday night. Driving down the maze of motorways to get there the airport was an amazing sight - something a bit reminiscent of Star Trek. And inside it was amazingly massive and not particularly easy to find your way around. We checked in, were under our baggage limit (just), and as we moved closer towards our terminal we were sadly saying farewell to the place that had been our home for three months and getting closer to what is the unknown part of our journey.

We touched down in Heathrow at 6:30am Monday morning and was greeted my Daves mum, Diana. As we drove through the outer suburbs of London towards Worcester Park (the apartment of daves sister, renee, who is in Turkey for two weeks) i sat in her little campervan and admired the old stone buildings just as you could expect on a typical postcard. we were finally in england, the motherhood, rich with history and although i was a bit sad to leave the adventure of travelling around asia i was excited about what lay ahead. that afternoon we rested up and i must say that it is so great to finally have a base where you can just relax in rather than moving places every other day. we went for a walk into the village where i went in every second shop excited by what i might find which was either the same or different from back home. although i couldn't help it, its also hard not to compare the prices of things from in nz and asia to here...its actually quite depressing, $6 for a coke or $5 for a loaf of bread. we got to cook tea that night which, believe it or not, is such a luxury when you've been on the road for so long. in fact, i estimated that we had to choose no less than 200 times where and what we would eat next in asia-a prospect that can be frightening but is more tiring.

the next day, being tuesday, di took us on an adventure into london (city). i went on the train and the tube for the first time as we arrived at the famous waterloo station (boy its massive), walked to see the hospital where she trained to be a nurse, which was bombed in the war, many years ago. we towered to the 30th floor where we had a great view of londons sights. we walked along the river towards the famous tower bridge and got hit my some unfavourable unsummer like weather. the museum of london told of englands amazing history up until the fire pof london in 1666 which lasted for five days and wiped out most of the city, which had been hit one year earlier by the black plague. catching a double deaker busthrough the eart of the shopping centre was a highlight. we reached trafalgar square and then walked down to buckingham palace where we were just in time to see the changing of the guard. it was so formal and a bit of a laugh really. there had just been some sort of a luncheon as masses of people dressed up as though they had jsut been to the boxing day horse races scrambled out. our short walk to westminster abbey turned into a bit of an ordeal when it absolutely persisted down, had thunder as loud as that encountered in Laos and massive hail stones. dave and i got drenched while Diana was safe and dry having skipped out the walk to the palace. westminster abbey was consequently closed and by that time we were soaked and ready for home. we caught the tube and train, in the rush hour, back to worcester park. we only managed to see a glimpse of the city but its history is absolutely amazing, and i can now see how you could get stuck in a place like this with so much to see, do and experience.

pi sit here in renees apartment exactly one week since we arrived