Edinkiwiburgh

Well, well, well. Look at what we found when we went on a little jaunt to the northern territory of Edinburgh. Truth is, we may as well have jumped on a plane and flown 150 bleary-eyed hours east to the Land of the Kiwis, considering what we found oop north.

First of all, there was BUNGEE JUMPING! Yes, you heard that right: that thrill-a-second, infamously New Zealandish pasttime, could be had right there, in the middle of the night, in the centre of the city Edinburgh, accompanied by blaring pop music and screaming kids and popcorn. (Mind you, this version did have the kids sitting on--get this-- a sofa). What will they think of next?

(Actually, first there was lunch at the Kiwi-owned Gourmet Burger Kitchen, complete with a New Zealandish brew, but we don't have a photo of that).

Then, we had a walk down the Water of Leith, along a path that was by turns soggy with mud and frozen with ice ('Not the most relaxing walk in the world,' as noted by one intrepid peramulator). And when we got to the end, the Port of Leith, what did we find? Haggis? No! Whiskey? No! A scottie doggie? No! Instead, we found A ROCK FROM NEW ZEALAND!

That's right, it was a piece of volcanic rock from Dunedin, NZ, with a nice plaque and everything, just sitting there, in Edinburgh, as though it belonged.

Well, by now we were beginning to get suspicious.

What was this (admittedly) wondrous place that called itself by one name, yet exhibited so many characteristics normally heralded by another? What--in the name of all that was good and goofy--was going on?

We scurried as fast as was humanly possible to the lovely Bow Bar, to recover and try to puzzle out this exceedingly mind-twisting conundrum--and met an old friend:

So we had a wee dram or two and a bit of a chat, and sauntered off into the chilly, north air, determined to simply relax and enjoy our time in Edinburgh/New Zealand, no further dramas.

Which is precisely when we ended up in Mexico.

The End (for now)

Hot, hot , hot in the Hawke's Bay

Hope you all had a great Chrsitmas and it wasn't too cold. I have been having a lovely time in the Hawkes Bay and it looks like we have hit to jackpot with weather as it has been pretty mixed elsewhere. It has been extemely windy today but still hot. I have been making the most of Robert and Christine's pool. It's great being back after such a long time as I feel like a tourist in my own country. On boxing day my friends Jude and Joff took me down the coast to a beautiful beach (name TK) I had never been to before -  they thought it was crowded with about 20 people on it - and yesterday Robert took June and I to the Kaweka Ranges. He and I went for a walk up one of the tracks until we hit the scree - not very safe in jandals! Five fully equipt trampers went past us with horrified looks on their faces. They asked us if we were going to the top.
The cottage we stayed in for the first two nights was in a yineyard and a few hundred metres from the sea, we are now in another cottage in another cottage on the hill overlooking the bay. Battery running out - will finish later.

Sydney stopover

I arrived to a scorching hot day so I dumped my bags at the hotel and jumped on a ferry to Manley for the afternoon. Sydney Harbour really is quite spectacular - seeing the Harbour Bridge reminded me of Newcastle. I found a cafe right beside the beach at a small bay around from Manley to have lunch and relax for a couple of hours - location excellent, food average, two glasses NZ sauvignon blanc yummy. Went for a bit more of a wander after lunch and then caught the ferry back early evening.

Busy Bangkok

My five days in Bangkok flew bye and I only managed to see a few of the places I had on my list - the Royal Palace and the big gold lying down budda were pretty impressive. It was quite hot, there were lots of people and it is not really a city to wonder around at leisure so I bought a one-day boat pass for two of the days and enjoyed going up and down the river seeing the sights. The longboats you can hire looked like fun and I loved all the the activity that goes on up and down the river. It was actually the King's Birthday while I was there so the river was closed off on the Saturday in prepartation for the celebrations that night. The range of eating places here was also amazing - the seafood fried rice that I had in a little place next to the Chong Nonsi skytrain stop  was fantastic and I had a couple more great meals a two doors down at Lek's seafood. Across the road at the other entrance to the skytrain was a newly opened Dean and Deluca where all the trendy people (including me on one occassion) were hanging out in the weekend and I imagine it is filled with business types during the week.
The cooking school was probably the hightlight of my stay in Bangkok. It was great to go to the local market and then cook up some very yummy dishes. I look forward to cooking a meal fo you all at some stage.

Skype

Yesterday I talked to Wendy on the Skype. It's a miracle and I now understand why people have web cams. We've had our floors sanded and loads of rooms decorated and it's just hit me how much work we've had done on the house in the last year and a half. I want to make a list but will just say instead that I'm missing you Wendy and will be putting your spot back in the bay of the living room. Stopping now as this is Mel's keyboard and it's not agreeing with me. See you next in Sydney? Will ask Mel to hook up our web cam (I'm assuming we have one) and then you can tell us all about the cookery course. Bon chance mon amie xx

Tuk tuking around Vientiane

Well my say in Vientiane is coming to an end - only one more night. Today I am going to go to the Museum of Art and Culture, sit somewhere and enjoy a fruit shake and then probably have another massage of some sort. Its too hot to be rushing around.
It was nice to catch up waith Allan and we did a fair bit of walking around, drinking coffee, chatting and eating. We caught a tuk tuk out to a monument called Patouxia(it has been modelled on the Arc de Triomphe) and went to the top for a birsd-eye view of the city. There is a lot of new development going on and I suspect things are going to change here very fast. The funny thing about the monument is that it is actually on a street that is modelled on the Champs Elysees as well. At the other end of the street is the Presidential Palace, an impressive French Beaux Arts-style building.
The tuk tuks are fun to get around in and the drivers don't hassel you. In fact they are often having a sleep in them - they have hamocks tied to the roof inside and when things are slow they drop them down for a snooze. Yesterday I took one out to the That Louang, Lao's most important religious building, and its national symbol. It is pretty impressive and very gold. The driver waited for an hour or so until I had looked around and then took me back to town.
Last night I went for a facial spa before dinner. I had no idea what that involved and when a machine was put in front of me and started spraying steam over my face I wondered what I had let myself in for. It all turned out very nicely though and I went away feeling very relaxed.
Well I better get on with my day before it gets too hot. Off to Bangkok tomorrow afternoon. Have booked a cooking class for Saturday morning so looking forward to that. Unfortunately I couldn't find one in Vientiane.

Snowout

Moody, moody, dark and broody Whitley Bay. There was thunder and lightening last night - strange winter weather we're having.

Which is why we abandoned my birthday excursion to the Lakes… boo hoo. We set off determined to make it across the pennines to the more clement Lakes - but got as far as Cowgate where the blizzard was making people go askew, and we bailed out. Both upset but reconciled to staying in Newcastle. The surprise element is out of the bag, but I love it all the same.

Well, we'll simply have to extend the remit of my birthday and go another time. And make lovely other plans for Wednesday.