Holiday Photo Albums Uploaded!

Click on the below photos to access my online albums:

Thailand 2007

Em and Andys Wedding & Adelaide 2007

Sydney 2007

Thank you to my Sydney friends

Back in the UK. 24 hours in a plane is never fun, but the flight was surprisingly ok. I managed to sleep for a good chunk of it. The only down side was that our stop over in Bangkok was only 45mins so I didn't have time to get one final massage!!

A massive thank you to Brad, Cheline, Ali and Dave for all of their hospitality while I was in Sydney. They really looked after me, made me welcome and made my holiday fun!!! I'll buy you all dinner at Meze Managal the next time you are in London. You need to set a date Dave otherwise you will be left out. :)

Hoping to get some photos up during the next couple of the days. I'll post a quick blog to let everyone know when they are up.

Restaurant Review: Bills

I'm managing to get one last blog in from the airport. Boy am I not looking forward to the long flight home. Ho hum, it is part of the price that you pay for having fantastic holidays in exotic locations........

My final day in Sydney was a slow, drifting and relaxing day. I spent the morning taking apart Brad's BBQ in the garage in the hope that we would then be able to lift it up the stairs to his balcony in order to have a BBQ that night.

About lunchtime I caught a ferry into Circular Quay and then another ferry to the rather pleasant Watsons Bay. It has to be said that unless you want to give money to the Doyles empire (they have three restuarants and a hotel in the bay) there is little else to do, but it is very pleasant to drift around, take in the views back across to the city and have a gentle stroll to the lighthouse at the entrance to Sydney harbour. On my walk I came across a nudist beach which was quite a fright as it only had one rather over wieght gentleman standing there in all his glory doing stretches. Not what you want to see at all................

In the evening Brad and I managed to carry the BBQ up onto his balcony and successfully reassemble it. We spent the evening having a very pleasant BBQ with Chel, Dave and Ali while sipping a few Coopers. It was my first BBQ on Oz (on this trip or last). The cultural experiences just keep on coming.........

This morning we went for breakfast at Bills. Bills is a bit of a Sydney institution and is owned by Bill Granger. Possible Oz's best known chef, in the UK at least. It is a very relaxed cafe/restaurant with a laid back style focusing on unfussy food and high quality ingredients.

I have to be honest and say that the food, while still being excellent, wasn't as good as I remember from the last time. But everyone else was fulsome in their praise so I think it was just me. I'll certainly be going back next time I am in Oz, so it was really very good and I am just being too critical!

Restaurant Review: Billy Kwongs

There was always one certainty about my trip to Sydney; at some point I would be eating at Billy Kwongs. Brad introduced me to this restaurant two years ago and it simply has the most amazing Chinese food I have ever eaten.

Kylie Kwong is a celebrity chef here in Oz, but doesn't seem to be that well known in the rest of the world. She has one small atmospheric restaurant in Surrey Hills in central Sydney and thankfully hasn't sold out to commercialism. I went with Brad, Chel, Dave, Ali and Kath (another survivor from two years go) and we ordered an array of dishes. All had a unique and beautifully balanced flavour. The crowning glory was a whole roast duck cooked in an orange sauce Chinese style, I can still taste it now. I could never be a journalist as I am not very good at beautiful prose and I don't think I can do the place justice. All I can say is that if you are ever in Sydney you simply must go.


Other highlights of the day included a swim at the North Sydney Olympic pool, lunch on Blues Point Road and getting on the wrong ferry and ending up in Chiswick. Chiswick in Sydney isn't quite the same as the one in London and is not on the tourist maps for a good reason......

This is most likely to be my last post while I am still in Oz. I'll be back in the UK on Sunday and will add a final couple of updates than.

Wonderful world of blogging

A blog is just a personal stream of consciousness that you are putting on the internet. A modern form of diary. It is a wonder that people read it, but they seem to be.

A welcome to those in Colorado, Brazil, Indonesia and Denmark that all seem to be stopping by. (I must have offended the French as they seem to have stopped visiting.)

Keep your comments coming as they really mean a lot and thanks to all the friends that are also reading back in the UK, Thailand, Singapore, Oz and New York.

This isn't todays main posting, which is below.

ANZAC Day & the BIG Move

Yesterday was ANZAC Day which was good because it was a public holiday and had parades, reflection and celebrations. Bad because for the third day in a row it was raining and we missed all of the above as we had to move Brad between his old and new flat!

A ute had been especially hired for the occasion and we spent 7 hours carrying stuff down from his old flat, loading it into the ute, driving across to the new place and then carrying it up three flights of stairs. Despite the physical labour I quite enjoyed the day for its quintessential Australianess. There was the ute, pies, beer and hard work. The only things missing were the singlets and a cork hat.

The one thing that we couldn't manage to carry up to the new flat - due to its shere weight - was the BBQ. This has slightly scuppered the plans for Friday night so we are trying to work on an ingenious plan to get it up the stairs. Current thoughts are to take it apart, call on the neighbours or rig up some elaorate pully system from the balcony. All suggestions welcome!

Brad's new flat is still in Manly and has amazing view from his balacony over the ocean.

In the evening we went for dinner to a pub in Freshwater with Chel, Ali and Dave. The placed was absolutely packed with people celebrating ANZAC Day and we were lucky that we had a reservation as they were opperating a one in one out policy when we arrived.

For the first time since arriving in Sydney it is glorious sunshine so I am off for a swim.

Finally a Coopers Pale Ale

A lot of people seem to be quite down on Australian beer, thinking it is all Fosters and 4X. I don't subscribe to that theory at all, there are a lot of very good regional beers to be found. An induction that Brad gave me last time I was here two years ago. May favourite tipple was Coopers Pale Ale and so far circumstances had contrived against me savouring a glass on this trip. Thankfully that was corrected today and I am quaffing a bottle as I write this blog.

A second day of rain greeted me today which limits the opportunities for sitting on the beach, swimming and taking photos in glorious sunshine. It feels a bit like how imagine all the tourists feel when they arrive in the UK and are greeted by rain, a little disappointing.

In the morning I had breakfast in a cafe over looking Manly beach and than walked round the head land to Shelly beach which is supposed to be excellent for snorkeling on sunnier days. Just before lunch I caught the ferry to Circular Quay and spent a few hours drifting round central Sydney, China Town, Darling Harbour and the Botanic Gardens.

At 15:30 I met Brad at the ferry so that we could head back to Manly and pick up the ute (a pick-up to those Brits reading) in anticipation of Brad moving flat tomorrow. We spent a few hours moving tables, washing machines and beds etc... down three flights of stairs and into Brad's garage in preparation for loading into the ute and over to the new flat tomorrow morning.

The photo shows me with a crate of Coopers and the ute in the bacground. Refreshment for all our exhertions!

Sydney in the rain!

I arrived in Sydney yesterday. Brad and Chel (who I was meeting for the first time) picked me up from the airport. Brad is an old friend from JPMorgan who I met when we both worked in the ESS group all those years ago...........

We headed straight round to Chel's flat where I was invited for dinner. Her dad is a Chinese chef so needless to say the dinner was very good! After dinner it was onto Brad's flat (he has moved since my last trip to Oz) which has great views over Manly beach. Sadly, it was raining pretty hard which ruined the views somewhat..........

Today was the start of Plan O. It didn't get off to the best of starts as I was told my expectations were a little too high. We will have to what and see what develops.

I met Brad and Chel for lunch and then went for a look round the Sydney Museum. I have to say that unless you have a particular interest in the building of the harbour bridge I wouldn't say it was worth the $10 entrance fee.

I travelled home on the Manly ferry in the pouring rain which distracted somewhat from the picturesque scenery. In the evening we had dinner with Brad's flat mates Dave and Ali who it turns out were fellow Brockley residents before they moved to Aus!

Adelaide for the wedding of the year!

The real purpose of this holiday was to attend the wedding of Emily Duggan a friend who I met when I first moved to London back in 2002. (Not to be confused with Emily Chigwidden who I used to live with and was also there as a bridesmaid!)

I visited Adelaide two years ago on my last trip to Oz and it is a beautiful little city with a friendly atmosphere, good food market and great Victorian architecture. I was pretty tired from the jet lag, so once I had checked into the hotel I decided to take a nap. I had been invited to the wedding rehearsal on the Friday night, but in my jet lag stupor I managed to make a mess of setting the alarm and arrived 30mins late. Thankfully I didn't have a critical part in the ceremony so it didn't really matter!

After the wedding run through I was invited back to Em's parents house for a pre-wedding dinner with her family and the bridesmaids. The whole weekend was marked by being welcomed into the Duggan's home at such a family time for which I am very touched and grateful. During the evening Em just dropped into conversation that she had heavily edited the reading I was supposed to be doing at the service tomorrow. "Here's the new version, let me hear it..." It was the poem that Andy read to Emily when he proposed. So there I am standing in the middle of the kitchen reading through a text that I haven't seen before in front of the assembled family and bridesmaids. At this point I realised how nervous I was!!


My time keeping was really going awry as I was nearly late for the ceremony itself having taken too long to get back from Glenelg which I visited on the morning on the wedding. I sat next to a family friend who on discovering that I was English pronounced that "I love England, I love the English and I love the Queen. When can you come to dinner?".

Thankfully my reading was second in the order of service so I could get my part out of the way early and enjoy the service. Deciding that my English accent was probably my best asset I hammed it up a bit, peppered the poem with as many dramatic pauses and as much intonation as I could muster. Throughout the evening I received a lot of kind comments for people on my reading, so all those Rotary Young Speaker competitions must have taught me something!

The reading was Oh, the places you'll go by Dr Seuss for those that are interested.

The ceremony only lasted an hour which must be some kind of record for a Catholic wedding! I love going to weddings in different countries as you get to see the cultural differences to a UK wedding. (Nothing beats a Swedish wedding for me so far!) There were multiple grooms men, not just a best man. There is a choir to do the singing and the congregation don't get to join in. After the service the bride and groom disappear to have their photos taken and arrive at the reception venue an hour later. Goodness knows where they went in the mean time. Thank you to Pete and Cherise for looking after me during the break in procedings.

The reception was held on the Armory Lawns at Adelaide museum. It was a beautiful wedding breakfast with excellent food, wine, funny speeches and company. A second noticeable difference to the UK was that only the bride, groom, bridesmaids and grooms men sit on the top table. The parents get family tables of their own.

I have a bit of a complex about being the only one not thanked in wedding speeches having been a usher and reader for Rob and Joel respectively and missed out. I was greatly heartened to be thanked twice by Andy for reading and travelling all the way to Oz! :-)

On the Sunday before flying to Sydney I was invited to a recovery lunch at the Duggan's home. I am even more in debt to the Duggan's for their hospitality as I was one of a very few non-family members there.

If you are still here thanks for bearing with the longest blog so far. I am currently being techincally icompetent, but will try and get some photos added soon.

A big thank you to JD

A massive thank you to John for being an excellent host over the past few days. Without all of his enthusiasm, generosity, insider tips, encouragement and language skills a visit to Thailand wouldn't be half as good!

A few of you reading this blog will know John personally already. For those of you that don't he is a rising Thai pop star who you can check out here.

Arrived safely in Adelaide this morning. Was sitting next to some creepy old man on the plane who has a wife in Thailand and two in the Philippines. Takes all sorts I suppose.....................

Final Post from Thailand

Writing this with literally minutes before I have to leave for the airport.

Collected my suit from the tailors and it is looking very good, so hopefully I will be one of the smartest people at Emily's wedding.

Final massage of the trip, before it was off out to RCA where we went on the first night to celebrate Songkran. It was an evening to remember! (As they all seem to be in BKK!)

A massive thank you to John for being a wonderful host yet again.

Adelaide here I come!

Thank you!

Just a quick thank you for all of you who are stopping by to read the blog. It seems to be developing a small following of loyal visitors, including some unexpected guests in France, Canada and the USA. You are all very welcome.

Google Analytics is an excellent little tool if you want to see how much traffic your site is getting.

Restaurant Review: Anna's Cafe

Went to have the second fitting of my new Dinner Jacket today. The alterations to the trousers look really good, but some more adjustments to the jacket are required so I have to go back again tomorrow. I know that the end results will be worth it, but I just want to stop trekking too and from the tailors in 30+ degree heat!

I had promised to take John out for dinner as a thank you for having me to stay. Last trip we went to an amazing roof top restaurant at the Banyan Tree hotel (click the pre-2007 and photos link on the left if you want to check out some the pics.) and wanted to try something different this time. John recommended Anna's cafe which is a small chain of 4/5 restaurants in Bangkok. The food was excellent. It has all of the traditional dishes that you can get at any street stall or restaurant across the city (Larb, Som Tum, Crab Curry etc........) but the quality is just taken to the next level. The ingredients are excellent and the cooking is delicate and balanced. The prices are very reasonable too. Next time you are in Bangkok I definitely recommend a visit!

Devastating

Yet again a lazy start to the day, some aspects of Bangkok life never seem to change.......

We were thwarted in our attempts to get a massage so headed straight into town to go for the second fitting of my suit. It was little more than a waist coat style fabric template that hung off me as it was pinned, altered and marked with chalk. Just like you see in Saville Row, so I am hopeful for the end result!

After the suit fitting we headed up to MBK to buy some jeans. As anyone who has been to BKK will know MBK is a massive shopping centre in Siam Sqaure filled a huge array of knocked off and genuine goods. Somehow we managed to find the same shop in the bustling market section that we had been to last time. I don't think they remembered us, but John's charm and Thai meant that we got a good deal anyway.

In the evening we went to Santika which has to be my favourite night club in Thailand that John has introduced me to on either this trip or the last. It is a venue where great things happen and last night was no exception. To protect the modesty of those involved I won't say too much; but the evening involved six friends, two bottles of whiskey, 30 hot girls, mortally offending the owner of the club, an after party, an after after party, borrowing money off a girl when I realised I had no money in the taxi and getting locked out of the flat. John and Andre ended the night physically crying with laughter as they fell back through the front door.

Devastating.

Visa Update + Advice Needed

Avid fans of the blog will be please to hear that although I can't find the reference number for my Oz visa I have found the credit card receipt which proves I purchased one at least.......

Despite the call on facebook I still need some suggestions of what hat to wear Em's wedding in Adelaide. It's black tie so I don't think my baseball cap will go somehow!

Finally I am taking John out for a meal tomorrow night as a thank you for having me to stay. All suggestions of smart restaurants with top quality food welcome! We went to the Banyan Tree last time and want to try something different this time.

Sony Music buys me dinner!

Well they bought John dinner and I was just a hanger on.........

It was a very lazy start to the day as a combination of jet lag and the night before caught up with me. John had a singing lesson and had to disappear to that. I went down to Central (a shopping centre close to John's flat) to get some lunch in the food court and in a comedy cultural experience to buy a mobile phone top up voucher using nothing but actions. Due to Songkran the streets are all very quiet for such a usually bustling city.

In the middle of the afternoon John gave me a call to invite me to the bar/restaurant where he and his Project Manager at Sony were having a drink. I hopped in a taxi and headed over with a crazy taxi driver telling me he watched Manchester United play on TV last night and going round corners very quickly shouting "Schumacher, Schumacher!" Just part of the surreal experience that is life in Bangkok.

We spent a chilled out few hours drinking, eating and chatting in the bar. John's Project Manager was very amusing. She hasn't quite decided what target market John should be going for yet. Thoughts of chasing after the pink pound and housewives caused much amusement. Not quite the adoring female teenage/early twenties fans John had been dreaming of!

Dang is difficult to pronounce in Thai and sounds like a word that means red. John Red just doesn't have the right ring to it somehow. We went through several options for a new name, around the theme of JD or giving it a Thai twist of Jai Dee. The ultimate Jedi was soon hit upon. Visions of starting a show with a stage covered in smoke, a battle with lightsabers and someone cutting off John's shirt leaving him playing naked quickly emerged!

On reflection we realised it wasn't the good idea we all thought and everyone went back to watching the farang sweat profusely as he ate food that was far too spicy...........

In the evening we headed out to a club called Bar Yantre, hoping to avoid the water fights of the previous night. As we approached the club everyone coming out of the door was soaked to the skin. We quickly stuck our heads inside and then bid a hasty retreat to the neighbouring bar that had banned water pistols. Sadly we were stood up by Noi.

When flirting means shooting someone with a water pistol!

After only six hours back in this great city it is not hard to see why so many people love Thailand.

Arrived after a painless flight. Texted John to let him know that I was jumping in a taxi and would see him in about an hour. When I got to John's apartment block I sent him another quick message to let him know I was chilling out and waiting by the pool. Little did I know that all Thai mobile numbers had recently had an "8" inserted at the start and John hadn't received any of my messages. Thankfully he was beginning to wonder where I was so came looking for me after about 10mins. Otherwise I could have been sitting there a while!

We headed straight down to Tesco Lotus for a massage. What a joy after sitting on a plane, and so cheap! Feeling a little peckish we had some Pad Thai and then it was onto the tailors to get myself measured up for my new Dinner Jacket. Raj - the owner - is away for the weekend, but John caused quite a stir as their chief referral officer hadn't been there in a while. It didn't take a long to get measured up and say "black, single breasted dinner jacket please".

We then headed over to Lumphini night market to do some shopping and to grab dinner. I bought some new sandals and a few silk scarves and surprises for mum and Ruth. It was tempting to spend a lot of money but I had to rein myself in. The bank balance is not looking at all healthy until I get paid in about a weeks time! The food was predictable excellent if a little bit "ped ped" (spicy spicy) for my English taste buds. I need to get used to it all again.

We headed back to the flat via Carrefour (why come to Thailand when you could head for Calais for the same retail experience?) to pick up a water pistol for Songkran. Songkran is the Thai New Year and celebrated with a massive water festival. When walking down the street you get attacked by people on the pavements with buckets of water and kids on the back of scooters doing drive by attacks. It's just crazy!!

In the evening we headed to RCA, which is a street of clubs. It was a crazy party atmosphere! The clubs were all full and the whole street was rammed with people having a massive water fight. You go armed with your water pistol and the guys shoot the cute girls and the girls shoot back at the good looking guys. After breaking the ice you dance, chat etc.... to the girl you have just drenched. It was quite a hands on experience! Needless to say everyone ends the night soaked to the skin!

Oh no, I've lost my visa number!

In a mad and flustered rush to do my packing I can't find the reference number for my Australian visa. I'm now having serious doubts to whether or not I actually applied!

I might not even get there!

Come fly with me!

What’s the difference between travelling and simply going on holiday?

Back in 2001 when I left Europe for the first time and spent five weeks visiting New Zealand I decided to keep a diary of my travels. Every time I have been somewhere new and exciting since I have also kept a diary. They’ve been fantastic for remembering where you have been, what you did and giving tips to friends who are going to the same place.

Holidays – shorter, closer to home, experiencing something for the second time or purely just for the purpose of relaxing – have never qualified for the diary treatment.

But where does the boundary lie? I’ve been to both Thailand and Australia before, but they are both far-flung and exciting. So I’ve decided to keep this blog as a half way house.

All tips of things to do, places to go, where to shop and eat welcome! I’ll be in Bangkok, Adelaide and Sydney at various times over the next fortnight.

What do you post when a diverse group of friends and you mum are all reading? I’m sure I’ll figure it out……..

Check back regularly for updates, you might even find yourselves mentioned as I’ll be seeing a few of you along the way.

Right, I'm off to get my flight.................