To dispel all myths, the number of shoes in my wardrobe has increased only by 3 pairs since I left Malaysia... Not bad for six weeks of shopping time :-) Now if I am honest, that is four new pairs minus one thrown away pair, but who is counting!!

I have passed on all comments to the appropriate people – pleased that Sharon is managing to keep you all amused.

Andrew tells me has nearly found me a new house to live in – yeah. Looking forward to checking out his taste when I get to Hong Kong in just a couple of days.

See all you Aucklanders soon! Love, Sonia

A rather verbose Sharon here...

Hello all, especially to Daryl, Braden and Lauren.
We have returned from our jaunt to Kovalam Beach, which Kyla enjoyed more than I did. More about that later.
We arrived at Chris and Karyn's just before midnight on Friday night. Our first few days in Ooty were spent at Chris and Karyn's house and it was great to see where and how they live. We went into town and were shown the market and "Modern Stores" (actual name) where Karyn and Wendy shop. We also went to Cafe Coffee Day which is the Indian equivalent of Starbucks... this does not bode well for the quality of coffee, but it was in fact the best cup of coffee I have had since leaving New Zealand. On the way back to Hebron School, walking, it began to rain. Now I have been told that rain in Ooty is not just drizzle, and it is very true.

The photo shows clearly that any part not covered by a waterproof jacket does not stand a chance of staying dry.

Kyla enjoyed exploring the school with Samantha, and generally catching up. She experienced a bath Indian Ellwood style and here is the photo to prove it. While she bathed, Samantha sat in the bathroom so they could continue giggling and talking and then they swapped places. On Saturday afternoon Karyn, Wendy and I went for a bike ride which started off on the road, which was slightly rough, got rougher and didn't seem like a road but apparrently still was and then went truly off road. It was a lot of fun, and apart from the first couple of hills, wasn't too difficult. That night we had a Kiwi BBQ atEllwoods with another kiwi family from Hebron and the McCabes. There were a total of 9 children there that night, so it felt very normal.

Sunday night in Ooty, we all had dinner at McCabes, a beautiful dish called Kadai Chicken, served with rice, Dahl (Kyla really liked this), Nazima's famous chapattis (she is Wendy's cook) and a few green chillis on the side. Ian assured Chris they were not really too hot, so as you can see, Chris tried one. Ian conceded that the chilli he got was in fact somewhat milder than Chris's one after tasting Chris's one. All very amusing watching boys try to be staunch in the face of a hot green chilli. Daryl would have fitted in perfectly!

On monday morning we organised ourselves, ready for our trip to Kovalam Beach in Kerala state. Our train trip down was an eye-opener, much as Chris had hoped it would be I suspect. We were located at one end of the Sleeper carriage, too close to the toilet, which was odourous (that is definitely putting it mildly). I woke in the morning (after waking numerous times in the night) to discover that someone I didn't know had decided to sit on the end of my bed, and another sleeping on half of Mikaela's bed opposite me. Apparently it happens in India.

Kovalam beach is lovely. At one end of the beach is a working lighthouse, red and whie striped, and I thought of you, Braden, when I saw it. You would have liked it. Here is a photo of it for you, and I have a picture of it that Alex drew for you. The beach has good waves for Boogie boarding and Kyla spent a lot of time doing so. I joined her on the first day. There were people walking along constantly trying to sell sarongs and wrap around skirts, or fruit. They are very persistant and telling them no is not enough. You have to then ignore them or they will just keep trying. Day two, I woke with a headache which then became a temperature and dihaorrea. Samantha also came down with the same type of bug. Samantha was largely recovered by Day 3 but I stayed in bed feeling yuck and homesick. During these two days Kyla still went to the beach with the others, and it became apparent that her togs really are too small. They had crept up a bit far at the back and she ended up with a sunburnt bottom. Daryl, if Chris's phone had been working he wanted to text you...."Mr Palmer, wife sick, Daughter has sunburnt bottom, please advise." My being sick did affect Kyla, and she came back from the beach on her own on the 3rd day and was a bit upset and missing Daddy and just wanting to play with Braden and Lauren. That was kind of hard to see when I was feeling much the same. The trip back to Ooty was long and slow. The train was okay, we were in the middle of the carriage this time, and so a reasonable distance from the odourous toilets. We took a minibus up to Ooty from the train along with a whole lot of others from Hebron school, and it appeared that the driver's aim was not to get to Ooty as quickly as possible, but in fact to do other things along the way... which he proceeded to do, so we didn't arrive back until about 3pm after having left Kovalam at 9:30pm the previous night. It is a long time to be travelling. It was a relief to be back in Ooty. We are now at Ian and Wendy McCabes, enjoying being waited on and having to do very little. I am mostly recovered and had my first proper meal in three days last night for dinner (albeit a very small one). Over the next two days we plan to eat, drink and be merry, in other words, not a lot apart from relaxing and enjoying ourselves. Possibly a little (more) shopping.

Well I have been in Ooty 3 days now. After a slow climb up the hill from Coimbatore (poor Sammy was sick more times than I cared to count!) we made it to Wendy's house around 11.30pm. I think the earlier flight makes life a lot easier - I think next time we will go back to staying overnight in Chennai before heading off for Coimbatore.

Saturday we spent catching up with all the news. Chris and Karyn took Kyla and Sharon to the markets in the morning, and then we met them for Dosai for lunch. Saturday afternoon we had an Indian cooking lesson - expect Sharon to be producing rather yummy Chicken for you next time you are invited for dinner!

Sunday Wendy and I went to church - do not know where the Ellwoods were!! Oh yes we do - we saw them at Cafe Coffee Day having Sizzling Brownie and coffee!! How naughty...

Sunday night was a barbeque at Chris and Karyns with some other friends of theirs from NZ. More yummy food - the jeans are getting tighter...

Sharon and Kyla have now headed down the mountain and off to the beach. Hope they have a happy time... No photos today sorry - will try harder next time :-)

Sonia

Reminder

The other blog (the old one) is still going. Now in Hong Kong. http://asrick.blogspot.com/

With Kyla and Sharon in Bangkok

It has been a few days - never will be as verbose as Andrew...

First of all, Happy Birthday Mum!! Sorry I never managed to get hold of you on the right date... I will bring you home a present - promise!!

I think that as she has never had a turn, I will let Sharon write this one... here goes :-)





I discovered how useful Kyla could be while travelling, when just after going through the gate at Auckland airport she spotted a sign that said Cafe Espresso, and she pointed it out to me. What a useful girl. We will keep her I think.

The flight here was 12hrs 10mins. It doesn't take long to say but seemed to be never ending. Still, Thai airways has individual consoles now, so Kyla watched Beauty and the Beast, and a couple of other movies to keep her occupied. The plane was not full - perhaps New Zealanders are scared of tanks? (We haven't seen any.) Arrived in Bangkok, and after being met by Sonia and walking out of the airport, Kyla's first comment -"I can smell the heat". We are getting used to the heat a little, and even felt the need for a jacket when returning to our air conditioned hotel room today.


Yesterday, Wednesday was shopping day, local mall in the morning - tiny shops crammed with stuff, and 1 or 2 sales people as well. It was tempting to ask to see the bag at the bottom of an enormous pile but we resisted the temptation. Found a dress for Jayna - it is beautiful and I am sure Jayna won't want to take it off. Sandra may not be quite so thrilled, but it is so pretty! The flash mall is a complete contrast - huge designer stores with prices to match, and a very cool gourmet market that even sells Mainland Cheese, very strange to see that here. So who did the sign in the photo remind us of...



Back at the hotel we watched the Banyan Tree staff practice their fire fighting skills on the roof of the building next door - nice to know they will be able to protect us if the building goes up in flames! Bizarre though - who in Auckland would let you use their roof to light multiple petrol files which the staff then take turns to put out... Spectacular.



Then we bowed to junior pressure and headed to the pool. Someone was very hot by this point... Nighttime came while the swimming continued. The pool is lit up really nicely.




The night market was a little disorientating - so many stores that sell the same stuff that you feel like you are going in circles. We learnt to barter, a little, but are not as good at it as Sonia is, she does a very good "So expensive, kah!" I think she is a little more convincing than Kyla and I who tend to look quite hesitant.

We caught a tuk tuk back to the hotel, after Sonia negotiated a 100Baht fare, (about $4) however the driver seemed determined to show us that he thought it was too cheap, which involved going very fast and scaring the living daylights out of Kyla who was woried that I may fall out. At the traffic lights he would kill the engine, and when we did arrive back at the hotel, he killed the engine and swept around the little traffic island in such a way that I nearly fell out of the tuk tuk because I was laughing so hard.

Today we woke at 6am , Well, Sonia tried... we nearly rang Andrew to ask him to tell her to get out of bed but eventually she surfaced. A 1 1/2hr van ride took us to the floating market, which begins with a high speed boat ride through the canals, continued with us walking through parts of the market, and then being paddled through the rest, where we were continually accosted by people trying to convince us to "buy this for baby" meaning Kyla.... who wasn't thrilled about being referred to that way.

She was even less thrilled about our guide "Rabbit" who kept holding her hand to guide her. Suddenly I found her holding my hand, a rare occurrence. It was effective however.






Here are some other floating market photos - note the beautiful framed bat - a popular souvenir!! MAF may not be so thrilled, and they speak so little English it is not worth trying to explain. This little girls only English words were 'buy hat'. Very cute.


















The ride back to Bangkok was very different to the ride there, about twice as long, and instead of all on Motorways, it seemed like the driver was determined to show us the rest of Thailand, narrow back roads that had us hoping he knew where he was going. Lots of traffic when we did get back to Bangkok meant a lot of sitting in traffic waiting.

Kyla is enjoying herself, although perhaps affected by the heat a bit. She swings between full of energy (in air conditioned spaces) and wilting when outside. She is not particularly adventurous about trying the thai food, just as well the breakfast buffet has croissants and fresh fruit.

About to go out and post postcards. That's all for now.

KL

Well we are back in KL again for a short time. The flight from Paris was uneventful, giving me sufficient time to watch 2.75 movies.

• "The Devil Wears Prada" was amusing with the requisite happy ending associated with Ann Hathaway movies.
• "Cars" was good, but I kept finding that I was dozing off as a result of a lack of sleep the previous night.
• After a long nap and while eating breakfast, I watched the first 3/4 of "The Da Vinci Code" before we landed.
  

Sonia watched "The Breakup" and a set of sitcoms and travel shows before catching a very extensive nap (suprising?).

We're checked into the hotel here, have recovered the bag that we'd left with them when we started the holiday, have had a 1-hour nap, and are now catching up on our Coffee Bean quota. Then in a few minutes we're off to look at cameras and find a new suitcase for me to use at work.

And now, the holiday is over...

We are packing to leave to the airport in Paris. Walking out the door in ten minutes.

And then it rained... and rained... and rained...

Well Italy? It rained. Shall we move on to France? No, ok... As I said earlier, we made it to Verbania in one piece, having spent a nice 20 minutes on the ferry ride. We'd arrived just in time to get a ticket and then drive the car onto the ferry. Once on the other side of the lake we realised that there were a suprising number of gentlemen walking around with green felt hats, often with a large feather. Think "Sound of Music". It turned out that the town had been given over for an Alpini Association get-together for the weekend (this was Sunday afternoon). The bars and restaurants were full of them, and little else was open. From time to time we heard bursts of song - one in particular was suprisingly good with multi-part harmonies, all by the gentlemen in the green hats. A bit like the Welsh choirs, but more ad hoc.

After checking into the hotel and getting ourselves sorted out, we ended up eating dinner in the restaurant. The dinner was suprisingly disappointing, given the hotel is a member of the "Small Luxury Hotels of the World". The wine was good - we now know two nice Italian wines. When I asked the sommellier where the wine was from, it was a bit difficult to understand the resulting explanation. In order to obtain other similar wines, we were instructed to look out for wines with "nello" in the name (this wine was called Flaccianello)! Sure enough, having looked it up on the Internet, there are other wines with "nello" in the name, and the prices suggest a similar level of quality. That was it for the day - the night finished with a few small drops of rain.

Monday... and the rain arrived with a vengence. It rained, and rained and rained. All day. Without stopping. Just like Auckland. We decided that a quiet dry day in our hotel room was in order, and so the books we had stolen from Diana in Wilmslow got a good read. Not much to tell really :-)

Tuesday was much nicer, although still not the brilliant sunshine that always appears on postcards of the Italian Lakes. We headed out in the morning on a walking adventure - heading around the lake to some little villages and some stunning old houses. We realised again just how 'new' New Zealand really is. The architecture was stunning. Took a photo of the hotel (or is it of Sonia - Andrew never can work out what he is supposed to be snapping... the hotel is the wee blotch in the background - Sonia is the big blot in the foreground...)

We then found a park with a group of giggling German grannies (and one or two grandpas) and had to investigate further. A close look showed them trying really hard to get this 'cigar' into the mouth of the composer Toscanini - once they had succeeded Andrew joined in the photo opportuity - such a handsome fellow...
In the afternoon we headed off in the car for a more extensive look around ('tis embarrassing to admit how little of the lake we saw by foot!!). Lake Maggiore is very long and thin, heading up into Switzerland. Andrew drove in fear that around the next corner he was going to find border control. We had left the passports in the hotel and he was quite sure they were not going to be happy with that story! The road around the lake varies in width and windiness - the local drivers sure do take it fast though. We had memories (or was that nightmares!!) of the trip through San Remo when we had all the others with us - the drivers are just mad. Zach would be impressed to know that we really were like Dora the Explorer - looking for clues along the way as to where to go next!

The scenery is impressive, and hopefully you'll see some of it in these photos:



Dinner was a great restaurant back in Intra - called La Latteria ("The Dairy"?). Shame that what we thought we order (beef steak) turned out to be tuna steak with Soy and Sesame crust, but hey - it was good anyway! Think we will invest in an Italian/English dictionery if we ever get back to Italy. It's not difficult finding places to eat there - seems to be something good on ever corner, as well as the spots in between.

Wednesday we were due to leave for Paris, and so the weather turned beautiful - typical... We spent the day travelling, with the first leg from Intra to Milano Malpensa airport. This was a challenge, without a map and attempting to follow Italian road signs to the A26 Autostrade (motorway for those in NZ). The signs to get to the autostrade took us through lots of back streets, and in the end there must have been quicker paths to it. Getting onto the motorway was ok - just follow the signs for Milan. Then Milan disappeared from the signs, and the only place listed was Genova. In my mind, this sounded a lot like Geneva and I started to worry that we'd missed a turning, or indeed were on the wrong motorway in the first place. After twenty minutes or so, we got off and drove into a small (one-car-width roads) village. Finding the post office, I went inside and "spoke" to the lady behind the counter. She did not speak any English, and I do not speak any Italian (just in case you've forgotten). Eventually we agreed that to get to Milan we needed to follow the signs to Genova, not to Gravellona (opposite direction). Getting back onto the motorway, we still didn't see any Milano signs for another 30 minutes or so. But they did appear in the end. Then following the signs to Malpensa airport, which the local council decided to use to direct traffic through back streets. Having a vague memory of the map in mind, we realised that this route bore no resemblance to the map.

The flight to Paris was via Munchen (Munich) again, with 30 minutes to spend in the Lufthansa lounge (disappointing except for the free gummy bear sweets. And why do the airlines feel that they should charge for Wireless Internet? Landing in Paris, we caught the RER train into town, then a twenty minutes walk to the hotel. This must be the longest that we've walked with the packs actually on our backs. Feeling very much like backpackers, we checked into the four-star hotel. Very small room, and smaller bathroom, which is typical Paris. But a nice place, with free Internet! Dinner at a restaurant in Montparnasse (which is where the hotel is) - very yum!

Today was spent walking around St Germain des Pres, then through the Luxembourg gardens in the afternoon. We write this (guess who wrote each paragraph!) from another cafe in Montparnasse where we are recuperating from our exertions with a glass of wine. The only remaining challenge/task for today is to select a restaurant for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow the holiday is over - we catch a midday flight to Singapore and KL. Andrew flies to Hong Kong on Sunday, while Sonia prepares for India and NZ via a stopover in Bangkok to negotiate peace treaties with the tank drivers. Sharon and Kyla will join her for the trip to India, unless Kyla is sold into the Thai army as a mascot to be placed on the front of a tank.

Photos and "Intra"

Some photos first:

1. The view from the hotel in Varese.


2. Sonia on the ferry across to Intra.

And now, for your viewing pleasure (?)

The seats of Prague, a photo essay by Sonia (with editing by Andrew).

Directions to mothers - please click on the photo to see it in all it's glory (will take a while to display since it's such a great photo!)

Saturday and Sunday

Yesterday - a flight to Munich and Milano. We knew the day was not going to be great, when the checkin counter labelled the two bags "Hot". At our confused looks, the girl behind the counter explained that 1/2 an hour was not a long transit time for Munich. Sure enough, we had to clear immigration (thank goodness for business class and being first off), then complete a ten minute sprint acorss the airport to a new gate, which Lufthansa had conveniently booked at the opposite end of the place. At least that's what it seemed like. On the plus side, Air Dolomiti does serve some of the best food we've had so far. Cheese, salami, prosciutto, etc.

We made it to Milan airport in one piece, then had to locate and collect a rental car. The car rental agencies are conveniently located at the opposite end of the building to the arrivals gate. And the luggage trolleys require you to have change to use them. Which, coming from another country with diffirent currencies, you are unlikely to have!

The Ford Fiesta (1.4l) that Hertz tried to foist on us in place of the Merc A-class just was not going to cut it. Andrew has decided that he has "mug" written on his forehead. Hertz in Italy are not impressive. Customer service seems to be just the label on the badge that they wear, not a description of their job. Eventually we got a Ford Focus 1.8 diesel, which goes alright but stalled a few times until Andrew figured out how to drive it.

Then came the challenge of nevigating our way from the airport to a small village on the outskirts of Varese - look it up on Google Maps and you'll see the challenge (click here for a link). You need to zoom in a long way to understand that many of the directions take you through the small (only wide enough to allow one car at a time) roads through the centre(?) of Varese. Then combine that with Italy's lack of road signs and Sonia's navigation skills (lack of), it was a difficult afternoon. We got to the hotel (very nice) and went to sleep (4 in the afternoon). On waking around 7pm, we decided to walk into the town, and ended up getting choclate icecream (not as good as in Prague), and then Pizza for dinner (very nice prosciutto pizza). Then watched American Dreams, the movie, and went back to bed. In the morning, a slow start leaving just before the 12-noon checkout time.

Sunday morning we made it to Laveno-Mombello (again, look it up on Google Maps here) just in time to catch the ferry. It took a few tries to get through Varese onto the main road. We know the centre quite well now. I wrote most of this, sitting on the ferry on the way across the lake. Given the location, we could see Switzerland from the ferry. The weather was closing in a little, with the big cold-front that's been making it's way across Europe arriving in Italy in time to greet us. We do feel a little hard-done-by, as this is the only bad weather we've struck on the trip.

PS. Now at the hotel. It's very nice, sitting right on the edge of Lake Maggiore. They upgraded our room from a side-lake-view to a full-lake-view. Nice, but I don't think I would bother if I was having to pay for it. The room is European-small but pleasant enough.

Prague day 2

Sonia here today...bet that is a surprise :-). Well another day of being a lady (and man!) of leisure is over, and I must admit that I am not ready for it all to be back to work just yet. We are now four weeks into our holiday, and in just one more week Andrew will be back and working in Hong Kong... We cannot work out where the weeks have gone - time sure has flown by.

After Andrew pulled me out of bed (cute toes, aye?), we headed out.














Today we spent exploring the Old Town of Prague, drinking much coffee (none would have qualified to your high standards Paul!) and enjoying the fabulous sunshine that has continued here in Europe. Andrew is finally ready to admit that I was right, and Prague is well worth a visit - I tried really hard to get him here the whole time we lived in England, but it just never happened. The streets are beautifully cobbled, the buildings are amazing and the people are really friendly. We have had no trouble at all getting around, and if we remember to think in British pounds rather than Malaysian Ringgit the whole place seems to be amazingly good value :-)

For those who have been keen for proof that Andrew was indeed with me on this trip, I have collated pictures of him in Prague. This will be posted in due course - once we figure out how to edit them to remove the frowns. Here is one to keep you going....














Tomorrow we head of to the Italian Lakes where we are intending to do as little as possible and enjoy the last days of our holiday. Think we might start planning the next one....

Prague Photos

Some photos of Prague:

View of the city from the Castle.














View of the city (and Sonia) from the Castle.














Detail of the entrance to the Castle's Cathedral.














Stained glass window inside the Cathedral in the Prague Castle.



















Mosaic on the outside of the Cathedral.














River view from the main bridge - actually the bridge used in the film "XXX".














Dramatic pictures of the Old City from the bridge.

Wilmslow and Prague

On Monday, we caught up with Tacit/Bravura ex-colleagues for lunch. As before, it was good to catch up with peoples' stories and see what's been going on while we've been away. Some dramatic changes (Duncan is finally engaged, and Carl has a fancy Chrysler Crossfire) and some small. Monday night Sonia and I revisited another favourite place in Wilmslow - or rather Alderley Edge. The Alderley Edge Hotel is still there, and still has a great restaurant. This used to be a regular haunt - maybe once a month we'd head there for dinner on a Saturday night. A very civilised place, with a great menu and excellent wine list (check out the website). Some of the faces are the same, and the service is still excellent.

For some reason Monday night was a difficult night to sleep properly. The room was a little warm, so maybe that was the problem. Anyway, Tuesday morning was taken up with washing clothes at the laundromat in Altrincham, then heading to the Honey Bee (English family pub) in Wilmslow for lunch. In the afternoon we packaged up clothes that Sonia bought from Next (an old favourite of the nieces and nephews in NZ) to send back to Auckland. A short break in Cafe Nero (new since we lived here), which has better coffee than our old haunt Best Barista. From what I hear the multiple changes of ownership of Best Barista have degraded the service levels and quality over time. A bit of a shame as it used to be great. Next stop was Mailboxes Etc to post the parcels, then back to the hotel for a short snooze to map up for last night.

Then back out to meet other friends from NZ who have been living over here. Dinner was at the Cedars of Lebanon - new since we were in the UK. Great food, and we ordered about 12 starters between us and just dug in. This was much better than ordering individual plates, as we took the opportunity to sample a number of dishes that we had not had before.

Wednesday morning was an early start (comparatively) - we needed to get the car back to Budget and then catch a 10:45 flight to Prague. Over the next week or two, we will be spending three nights in Prague, four in Milan (Lake Como area), then two in Paris. Then it's back to KL via Singapore. There is not long left!

We've had our first full day in Prague. Sonia dragged herself out of bed at 10am, and we then battled with the Wifi connection in the lobby until 12 noon. Walking into the city turned out to be vey doable (we are staying in the Art Hotel). The actual street that the hotel is on is not great, but the location is generally good - outside of the city centre (therefore cheaper) but still close enough. It turns out that we are situated right behind the Sparta Football Stadium (for anyone who is actually interested in football/soccer). The artwork on the walls is interesting - a sample from one wall of our room.


A very nice city, full of old buildings. I do wonder if it was as nice under communist rule. We walked into town and through the Prague Castle. Amazing buildings, although not that much to look at other than in the cathedral inside the Castle. We did find one unusual statue inside the castle grounds:














And then there was the Barbie Poster (still inside the Castle):


Towards the end of the day Sonia managed to find a wine bar that serves Cheese Fondue. We ended up spending about and hour working our way through a fondue, a plate of Italien (sic) sausage, and glasses of French red wine.

Walking back up to the hotel area about 7pm, we decided to have dinner at one of the local restaurants. The menu posted outside had both Czech and English, but the one inside was only Czech - bit of a problem. I ended up taking the menu outside, working out what I wanted and then coming back in to tell the waitress.

Anyway, back at the hotel now, time for bed, I think. Another day of walking around and taking photos tomorrow.

London and Wilmslow

London was great - time to catch up with Phil, Liz, Peter, and Heather (friends from Kuala Lumpur) in Surrey. We walked through the woods (Epsom Common) over the back fence (well almost), which was a great chance to spend some time in the outdoors. We did see a dear walking across the path ahead of us as we were making our way back to the house. We spent the rest of the evening catching up on news of what's happened in KL since they left (about 1 year ago) - not much. And talking about the process of settling back into life in your original/home country.

The next morning we started early. Well we tried to. We managed to depart the hotel around 10am, hoping for a 3 1/2 to 4 hour trip to Manchester. The roads were good through the M25 and M40 (after we finally remembered that you need to use the M40 to get to the M6). Stopped at the Oxford Services, which seem to have improved in the last 3.5 years. Other people have confirmed that generally the quality of the motorway services has improved somewhat. Things were going ok, and we took the new Toll road that skirts Birmingham. However... once we joined the M6 north of Birmingham, things degenerated into a stop-start run through to Manchester. Some things have not changed.

Anyway, we made it to Manchester in one piece and without incurring any points on the license or fines. The hotel we're staying in is next to the airport - a new place called Bewleys. It's a new hotel, fairly basic but good, clean, and has a great breakfast! The sausages are nicely spiced, and cooked properly. And they are not chicken sausages!

Last night we met up with the old gang from the office in Wilmslow. We met up at the Slug & Lettuce, then had dinner at one of the local Chinese places. It was great to see everyone again after so long - four years!

Some of today was spent revisiting places we used to hang out. Lunch was poached salmon (for me) and a prawn rosemarie sandwich (for Sonia) at the Selfridges Deli in the Trafford Centre. That used to be a staple Sunday lunch activity. Dinner was Indian/Nepalese at a local place in Northendon with another group of friends. Again, great to see what people have been up to, and a chance to reconnect. It does remind me how bad I am with writing emails to keep up to date with people!

Earlier tonight we decided that we should probably get organised booking accomodation and cars for the Europe stops of the world tour - Prague, Milan/Lake Como, and Paris. Some is now complete, but it does show that we'd better get this done fast. We arrive in Milan at the same time the Fashion Week commences, however we'll probably end up driving north into the lakes area.

Time for bed, I think. Tommorrow is lunch with old work colleagues, then dinner at a favourite restaurant.

Toronto

Well, we are sitting in Toronto airport lounge waiting for the flight to London Heathrow. Had to crawl out of bed at 4:50 this morning in time to have a quick shower, then downstairs to check out and jump into a taxi. The taxi took a while to arrive, but eventually we were on the way. Bouncing our way through the dark streets in a car that seemed to have more in common with a small boat than with other four-wheeled vehicles.

In my mind, Toronto was full of shopping malls and childrens' hospitals. The three days we had here were spent walking between the hotel (Econolodge - cheap), the children's hospital (to visit Zach), and the various downtown shops. The Eaton Centre is a nice airy place with a big Apple Store. Spent some time browsing the iPods, laptops, etc. Also a nice big Sony store with a 40-something inch Plasma TV. Drool....

The weather has not been great, and jackets were in order. Sonia took the opportunity to look through the shops and procure a new jacket. Funny how even with a single pack, there is still room to shove a jacket, two new pairs of shoes, and a pair of boots. The temperatures have grown colder as we've moved North (as you would expect). Vancouver was not bad at 20-26, Edmonton was warmer (mostly around 26), but Toronto has been down around 15 during the days. The wind whistling through the high-rise buildings doesn't help the temperature any.

In many ways Toronto is just another big city. Lots of people, the usual shady areas (we seemed to walk through them every day getting to and from the hospital), and the usual shops. Just different accents on the streets and brands on the posters.

It will be good to get to the UK - catch up with people who we have not seen for more than three years. A long time. See you soon....

Photos

Some photos:

Zach with Bruce-the-Moose and Goldie-bear:















Sonia and Zach:




















Got your ears on, buddy?

Post-op

There was an anonymous request for more photos, so I will post some once I can get to a half-way decent network connection.

The operation appears to have been successful. After wandering around the Eaton Centre in Toronto for the first part of the day, we got word that Zach's operation was successful. He was in recovery for about two hours, then we headed up to the hospital. He was very cute, lying there very dozy from the general anaesthetic. Plaintive cries of "I'm hungry" started as he began to recover fully. There are scars around his left ear and up into the hair line. There is also an incision inside his upper lip. Then his right leg is swaddled in bandages where they took out the nerve. The doctor is saying that everything is a "go" for the second operation in nine months.

Bedtime now, will put more into this once I get to the internet cafe tomorrow.

Toronto

Well we made it as far as Toronto. The flight was uneventful, but did give the opportunity to look out the window onto the lakes. Canada has very varied terrain/landscapes. Time for bed now, but tomorrow I'll try to post some of the photos from Evan's 40th.

Sunny skies

The weather continues to be sunny over here. It's hard to believe that previous summertime visits to Canada were grey or wet.

Yesterday afternoon was occupied at the driving range with Jay (Evan's brother-in-law), attempting to remind little-used muscles of the correct way to swing a golf club. At first things went ok, but then the hated slice started to show it's ugly head again. Time to gracefully retire to a seat and shoot photos of Evan and Jay as they practice their swings. There were a suprising number of people at the course, given that it was a weekday. We obviously work in the wrong industry - or maybe it's just that we work at all?














Today started with Evan's birthday (yesterday in NZ), then visiting another shopping mall. I'm writing this from a coffee shop (this time Second Cup), trying in vain to locate free wireless internet access. It's a change from KL where every coffee place is working to attract people through their Wifi access.

Maybe it reflects the lower quality of coffee in KL? Interestingly, trying to locate a good cafe (or two) in Hong Kong, I searched CoffeeGeek to see what other people recommend. The general opinion was that Hong Kong is very short of adequate cafes. A couple of names were mentioned, but in the next greath people were saying that the cafes were closed, bought out by another company, or that it was ages since they'd been. Something to search out when we get there.

Evan's party is tomorrow night, so there is lots to get organised. Fill the kids paddling pool with ice to keep the drinks cool, obtain and prepare the food, etc. Guess it's time to get going.

Blue skies and cash-for-votes

Another lovely day in Edmonton. As I write this, we are sitting outside having just finished hamburgers for dinner (supper for those who reside in Canada). It's 7:30pm, and it's still light, with little cloud. Sonia and Kirsten are looking through old photo albums catching up on what's happened over the years.

This afternoon we had a relaxing time sitting outside while the wives snoozed and the kids played with the neighbours.

Last night we walked outside and could see the stars clearly - a wonderfully clear sky at night. Looking off in the distance there are some clouds gathering now, so I guess we will see what happens with the weather tomorrow.

DJ (kitten) has now been returned to the mother-in-law's place, so Kenya (think mature madam of the house) is back to ruling the roost. She no longer needs to hide on top of the fridge.

The NZ Herald has an interesting article today, with the Prime Minister telling the MPs that it's never acceptable to accept money for services. Is NZ now so bad that something so obvious needs to be explained? You can see the article here. Interestingly it's Sharples and Harawira whose names are mentioned in the article. For once I have to agree with Helen Clark - her comment that this is just common sense. This goes to show a lack of that trait within NZ politics.

Whistler, and Edmonton

Yesterday we traveled to Whistler, which is about 110km away from Vancouver. We had a couple of options to get there, having researched on Tripadvisor. Other people talked about how great the train ride is, and said that it takes four hours each way. We figured that getting up early enough to catch the train at 8:30am was unreasonable - we are on holiday after all! The alternative is flying (expensive) or taking the bus. In the end, having walked past the Budget rental car office the previous day, we decided to splurge and rent a car for the day. We were lucky and got the last Ford Mustang Convertible GT. White is not as fast as Red, but beggars can't be choosers.

The trip to Whistler took about two hours, because of the amount of road-works under way. I guess with the Games coming up in 2010, summertime gets used to do a lot of work. Whistler town itself is a neat little place, full of restaurants and bars. The hotels (particularly the Four Seasons) look amazing. The probably look even better when surrounded by snow-covered trees in winter.

The drive back was another opportunity to make the car "growl" as Sonia put it - pressing on the accelerator produced a very satisfying noise. Strangely, though, the car did not feel as responsive as the SLK used to. Maybe just that it was that much larger and heavier than the Merc. On the way back, we were treated to some amazing views across the water. Blue sky, blue water...

In the evening we drove back to Granville Market, arriving just in time to get bread, cheese, and wine for dinner. 10 minutes before closing time (7pm), and the stalls were already shutting down. It's quite a difference to KL, where the shops stay open much later.

Today we are flying to Edmonton, and as I write this I can look out the window over the Rockies. There's a bit of snow around, dusting the tops of the mountains. The rest is very dry. Speaking of which, the big news of the moment is Tofino (a town on Vancouver Island), which has run out of water. Being a town dependent on tourism, and this being the long Labour Day weekend, this seems to be a bit of a problem. Understandably, the good citizens of the town are up in arms and banging (literally) on the door of the council rooms to find out what the council is doing about it.

Security at the airport was interesting - they are more thorough in scanning people, and even asked one little girl (3 or 4 years old) to remove her sweatshirt for scanning by the x-ray machine. After all it might be a security threat. In the end the lines were not much longer than normal in Asia, so maybe it's not such a big deal. They were stopping people from taking their Starbucks coffees onto the plane, which I imagine will irritate some people.

We are now just coming to the edge of the Rockies. It is quite a defined line - one minute you're over the mountains, the next it's all flat off into the distance. Another half an hour and we'll be in Edmonton. Looking forward to seeing Evan, Kirsten, and the girls. And not long until Evan's 40th(!) birthday on Saturday.

Getting old

After yesterday's long walk around Stanley Park, my knees are very sore, and my right-hand shin is hurting. It is apparently a result of being old - according to both Paul and Sonia. However in Sonia's more lucid moments she does concede that it's more likely just that I am very unfit.

This morning Sonia was suffering from jetlag, and slept late after being awake from 2am until 6am. I might point out that this disturbed my sleep - unreasonable expectations on Sonia's part that I would actually be interested in her insomnia at 2 in the morning!

Just been looking through some of the photos we've taken over the past few days (as usual, not many). The one here is a dedication plaque on a bench in Stanley Park. As we walked around we looked at them and wondered who the people were. Some were touching, some were boring, and this one? Well.......




And here's a raccoon that we came across - or did he come across us? We were walking in opposite directions along the path. When he finally realised that we were coming his way, he stopped dead with one paw in the air - as you see in the photo. Maybe he was entranced by the sight of two kiwis?

On a totally unrelated matter - just got a text message from Paul saying that he's accepted a job - three months contract.

A road less travelled

You would hope that this afternoon's route is one "less travelled". We met Paul at 1100 Melville St, and had coffee at one of the (good) local places. Strangely enough there was a Kiwi behind the counter. Then we walked to Granville Market to look around, going via the ferry and meeting Reuben. After a bit of looking at the market (the fresh bread, cheeses and meat looked very appealing), we decided it was time for lunch and so Paul walked us for miles to his favourite place - which also has good coffee (he found Elysian on CoffeeGeek.com). They had wireless internet access, so we caught up on bits and pieces.

This afternoon we decided to go to Stanley Park, so walked back across Burrard Bridge, then along the waterfront to the park. Around the Lost Lagoon, and over to the North-eastern side of the park. Then back around near the Vancouver Yacht Club, and back up Cambie Street. We have stopped at a Starbucks close to the hotel to recover. My feet are aching - not used to so much walking. When you think that most of my days are spent tied to a desk. For some reason, Sonia is still ok, albeit her shoes are looking a bit tatty and the soles are splitting off.

Off for dinner tonight with Roz, Reuben, and Paul. For those of you who know him, Paul has lost weight - a lot!

The first leg

Well I write this from an airplane somewhere between Singapore and Seoul. We have about 1.5 hours left to fly, the weather (?) is slightly bumpy, and I've watched two movies so far. The first was MIssion Impossible 3 - in my (humble) opinion, it was not as good as the first two. The second was Ice Age 2: Meltdown - again, not as good as the first one, but still good for a few chuckles along the way.

Starting to feel tired, athough it's only 2:30pm. And we have another 10 hours in the air once we depart from Seoul. It's starting to feel real, and I keep reminding Sonia that we are on holiday. I wonder if it's getting irritating yet? Like a school report card, "must try harder" ;-).

Dinner last night was at Bobby's rib place in Chijmes in Singapore. The second time we've eaten there together and my third. Introduced to the place by Mark S (now in Korea) - thanks Mark. A massive rack of pork ribs (yeah for pork!) called the "Steel City Rack" for me, and a Surf n' Turf (smaller rack plus two mammoth prawns - more like small crays) for Sonia. Pork ribs taste amazing after so long eating beef bacon and turkey ham.

Looking on the Tripadvisor website from the Singapore airline lounge to see what we should do in Vancouver. We will probably spend an afternoon in Stanley park, getting a little exercise. Then Granville Island as well. I looked at the reviews for Gastown, but they were generally along the lines of "too dangerous to get there, and once you're there the buildings look nice but not worth the trip". We may spend a day catching the train to Whistler (summer time so no snow) to have a look around. The train leaves Vancouver at 8:30am, and takes four hours - travels a max of 25 mph (less than 50kph). The bummer will be having to get up in time to get to the train by 8:30 in the morning - and when we are on holiday no less! Will also spend some time with Sonia's brother Paul. I suspect the three days will be filled up.

We do need to do washing - a lack of clean underwear will begin to threaten our social acceptability. The packs seem to be working ok, although the straps on mine have become a worry for putting it on the plane. We bought a cover and have entrusted it to the plane using that even though it's a bit on the big side. See how it's fared when we get off in Vancouver...

Starting with a bang

At the airport now - safely checked in (although the bags almost ended up going to Vancouver without us). It is starting to feel real. We now need to get to Singapore (a matter of walking downstairs [out of Starbucks], around the corner and onto the plane).

The pack that I bought has turned into a little bit of a hassle - there are lots of straps which will catch in the conveyor belts, so we tried to get a cover. But the cover is too big, so we'll need to look for another in Singapore. The guy at the shop decided to sell a cover regardless of which pack it was designed for. Something to watch out when shopping in KL - the shop staff are not always worthy of your trust.

It's the strangest thing

Sitting in Bangsar Coffee Bean (our final visit) before driving out to the airport. We have no home. Our belongings are confined to three bags and a daypack. One bag is being stored until I arrive back in KL to move to Hong Kong. Two packs are in the boot of the car. The daypack is beside me right now - and that's it.

Another sign of change - the keyring has been depleted over the past few days. First we give back the access card for the office, then the carpark card, then the keys for the apartment. Right now it has keys for the padlocks securing the pac ks, and the carkey (shortly to be returned to the rental company).

Sonia has decided that a small handbag is not sufficient to hold the stuff that she wants to carry around the world - so she is planning to head off shopping for a daypack in Singapore this afternoon.

Looking at the title for this blog, maybe I should change it to reflect the vagrant nature of the existence that we've entered into? Looking through a thesaurus, words pop up like peripatetic, peregrination, vagrant, wandering, etc. A bit deep for a Sunday morning.

The start of a new chapter

Today is the start of a new chapter. Specifically the end of employment with Prudential Services, and the start of a 5 week holiday where we plan to visit the sites and catch up with friends dotted around the world. I intend this blog will be the record of our adventures, starting tomorrow. Hopefully I can do better in keeping this updated (compared to the other blog, which will I will continue to update at a less frenetic pace). Watch this space.