May 2007

Firstly cheers to Hayle and the crew in Crouch End, we had a really good time stayn with ya’ll and having you show us your London.

It was four days in total. The first day was a bit of a write off, doing laundry and boring stuff, getting over the jet lag and generally lazing around having naps.

On the second day we decided to actually do something so took the tube into the city and did a bit of a self tour round Southbank. Saw Big Ben and Wesminster Abby, went around the Queens walk to the Tower of London stopping at Tate Mordern to see some art and the Shakespeare Globe Theater.

It was raining by the time we got to Tower Bridge so we decided to go for a look in the Tower of London. Quite a big place really, not just a tower it’s more like a little village inside castle walls with a castle on the grounds. We got to see the crown jewels and lots of suits of amour and medieval weapons.

For dinner that night we went to brick lane the curry centre of London. It reminded us of Thailand with Indian guys lining the streets trying to shake you hand and get you into there restaurant.

One thing we have noticed is the lack of public toilets around, which is magnified by the tiny size of rachels bladder. After walking about a km trying to find one we got into a tube station and went for the nearest relief point. Rachel stormed in and hit the turnstile, she didn’t know what was going on and jumped over and raced into the loo. Little did she know that the tube toilets cost 50p and since she didn’t pay she was chased into the cubicle by and angry attendant who was yelling at her. After much pleading and promising that she would pay when she got out (whilst already on the throne) the attendant buggered off and let her finish. Sufficed to say that she has not been to another tube toilet since.

On the third day, after all the walking we did the day before we hopped on an open top bus tour of London.

We got to see lots of the sights like Buckingham Palace, Mayfair, Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. It was like playing a big game of monopoly.

I'm not sure how he's meant to protect the Queen if he can't see!

That night Haley and her flatties took us to a local pub to experience the British ‘culture’. The first thing we noticed was the grey haze of cigarette smoke which is not yet banned in England. Rachel has discovered English cider and has decided that it will be her ‘beer’.

Second day in Dubai

When we got up I thought that we were going straight to the souks (old markets) to have a look around. But Rach tricked me into going to one of the big malls and when we got there she went shopping for an hour or two. I amused myself in the virgin megastore and listened to a few albums, so not so bad.

Finally got to the area of town where the souks are (old markets). First up was the Spice souk, don’t know if we were just stupid or the heat was playing tricks on us but we only found two stalls that sold spice (lots of fake rolexs and electronics though). We then headed over the river on an Abra (boat) with a bunch of the locals (1 dirham for the trip = 40c NZ). The old souk was heaps better, lots of pashminas, tshirts and material stores, as well as the fake watches and electronics (and for some reason lots of places selling pots??).

Rach was starting to fade by that point, the heat getting a bit to much for her (about 38 degrees) so I put her in a taxi and we headed back to the Mall of the Emirates. We’d had a look at the indoor ski field there yesterday and I really wanted to have a proper look around inside. So we donned the gear and went to the snow park area (didn’t have enough time for a ski). Got to do some tobogganing and tubing, pretty cool time as well as temperature, negative 5 degrees!!

Anyway on to the main event for the day, a desert safari. Started out with an hour ride out of dubai into the desert where we met up with the rest of the tour party. We got loaded into 4x4’s and went for a convoy ride through the desert. It was nuts the guy threw the car around so much, basically sliding down the edge of these huge sand dunes. Sand was flying everywhere, a few time I didn’t thinks we were going to stay upright but somehow he kept control.

After an hour of that we ended up at a ‘traditional’ (made for tourists) Bedouin camp. Got to go for a camel ride, rach got a henna tattoo on her ankle and we smoke the water pipe (flavored apple, mmmmm). One of the things I was really keen on doing was the sand boarding down a steep dune, kinda disappointed as the sand was too soft and the board kept digging in. got a few good runs of about 10m, of which I was having to keep jumping the board to stop it getting submerged.

They also put dinner on for us and a belly dancer came out to entertain us, it was pretty crazy to se how she moved. She got pretty much everone up to dance at one stage or another but had to keep kicking there Iranian guys off they stage who were really keen on showing off there moves, they were sitting next to us for dinner and didn’t know much English but apparently one of them loves me??

So it’s been a really good time in Dubai we both really wished we spent more time here than we have. Highlight was the 4x4 ride in the desert but also the city itself just a really nice place to be. Directly contrasting from Bangkok.

As I right this were on the flight to London where the OE really begins. So I’ll leave you with a photo of rach taking a cat nap while waiting for the desert safari

Got off the plane in Dubai at 2 in the morning and it was 32 degrees, didn’t think it could get any hotter after Thailand. We were herded to the taxi line outside where fans (heaters) blew the super hot air down on us. Lucky we only had to wait about 5 mins before jumping into an air conditioned taxi.

Talking about taxi’s…. There doesn’t seem to be a speed limit on the motorways here or if there is it’s either 140km or no one cares. Our driver was constantly going over 130 km, and like Thailand they don’t seem to be big fans of lanes or indication, not very reassuring when we past an accident involving a mini bus and a pole, not pretty! On another ride our taxi almost had 3 nose to tails, locking up the wheels twice to avoid smashing into the backs of other cars.

We woke up and heard the weather forecast was for clear skies and a temperature of 38 degrees, arrr! So we decided to take a little dip in the pool. Of course this is Dubai and nothing is little here. We spent the day at Wild Wadis, a water park out by the big 7 star hotel that looks like a sail in the wind but which name escapes me. We went on all the rides and generally had a good time.

That evening we went to the ‘mall of the emirates’ the biggest shopping mall you will ever see (I think), it’s the place that houses the indoor ski field

Rach thought the shopping was awesome, the prices are a little less that NZ but the stuff is way cooler. So many shops to choose from, we spent 4 hours there and only covered about a quarter of the mall.

In the centre of the ground floor a stage was setup where the shoppers and us were treated to a yoyo show. It was really good and quite funny but we think the humor was lost on most of the locals as we and a rowdy bunch of Indians were the only ones laughing.

Everything here is extravagant, marble floors in the mall, huge domed ceilings and the skyline is dominated by bigger and bigger skyscrapers. Even in the carpark at the mall there was a ropped of area for the VIP customers to park their rides.

Off to the desert tomorrow, hope we don’t get lost

After the hussle and busstle of Bangkok we were looking forward to a nice relaxing time on a tropical island, Phuket. But little did we know that the place is just a smaller version of Bangkok with a beach. Everyone here seems to be even more desperate to sell their wares than back in the city.


We are staying at a hotel called the Patong Bay Garden Resort. Really nice place in the Middle of Patong Bay right on the beach.
I (jamie) had emailed ahead and said that we were going to be on our honeymoon, and this is what we got on arrival, ohhh so nice.

Rachel eating on the beach (as usual)

We went on a tour which explored several caves on the smaller islands off phuket. It was very cool, lots of awsome formations. The enterances to some of the caves were so low that we had to lie down in the canoe while the guide pushed us through. One of the caves was full with bats which was cool except for the stench and the constant fear of being pooped on.

Hey guys, we're just putting some more photos up of our time in Bangkok.

and we thought Auckland had traffic problems.

View of Bangkok from 84 floors up. We were outside on a dodgy revolving metal walkway with a wire mesh fence stopping us from falling to our deaths. Probably wouldn't meet NZ health and saftey standards. As you can see from the photo's it's rarely sunny in bangkok due to all the smog.

We used the sky train heaps to get around the city. It's really cheap and really fast.