A bad place to be tall in the rain...the conclusion

So where was i? oh yes we had just been told the devastating news that we wouldnt make the game and we should find a pub.

We just all looked at each other, I said what about the metro, cant we catch one of them and then walk, I had read the ways to get there on the same discussion board (yep geek I am!) that had told me to leave two or three hours early, all the stations mentioned on there that you have to catch taxis from the end point to get to the ground anyway, (yep bangkok has a huge stadium with no public transport to it). The concierge just looked at me and went no way too far about 45 – 60 min walk. Got us a map and showed us where the ground was (which we already knew) and then where the metro was. We all looked at each other and said well we are here we have to try, So we grabbed proper shoes and headed off to the metro (about 15 min away) to get to one of the stations towards the ground and see if we could grab a cab.   Maybe we could get there for half time.

I was feeling so upset cause I had thought of getting the metro and then a cab but had decided on the easy option of a cab straight away thinking we were early enough.

So off we set with me charging away anxious to get onto the metro. We were almost to the station when two guys walked past and then stopped and asked us if we were heading to the game, not that the shirt and our flags gave us away. But turns out they were trying to get there as well.

All their taxi drivers had told them to get a boat. Now we were in the middle of down town bangkok with the river on the other side of town, A boat? Then I remembered the canal boats the lonely planet recommended using. I didnt know they applied for around here though.  I grabbed the map out and fair enough the canel we had just crossed headed towards the ground, we just had to hope we got on a boat  that took the turn the would lead us almost to the ground! That's if there was such a boat…..

So we turned around and headed towards the canal and hopefully the game…I wasn't getting excited yet though, I didn't remember seeing any docks along the canal, fair enough loz and I were looking out at the river, waiting for the guys to catch up,   wondering where to catch it from and if a boat would ever turn up when the guys spotted the docks on the other side of the road.

Off we set, obvious from our get up where we wanted to go the first boatman automatically sent us to the other side of the river. Where it had the stadium written when we got there, oh did I forget to mention it was still raining?

A mass of people were lined up, and they all managed to fit on the first boat, so we were near the front. I asked the security fellow and he didn't understand English but understood the map, we wanted to make sure we got on the right boat. He was lovely made sure we got on the next boat. I was getting excited now. We may actually make it to the game. The others werent that sure yet till we got there but I had a good feeling.

Luckily we got seats, loz and I with our knees up around our ears. They put up tarpaulins so the rain wouldn't get us and everyone piled in. We thought it was full…..after numerous stops we realised our mistake and loz started to fear we would sink. Our massages had been forgotten and all good work from them undone.

Of course we were chugging along a canal in bangkok so you could imagine the stench…let alone our half true jokes of not surviving if we did capsize due to the toxic water.  The rocking of the boat every time more people got on and the fact we couldn't see because of the tarps didn't help!

By this stage, the front of the boat also looked like a peak hour tube, everyone packed in looking at each others armpits as they tried to hang on to what they could find. Seats at the back, standing room only at the front.

More people piled on…by now we had been travelling about 20 min and had asked numerous people to let us know when to get off….we were the only non thai people on the boat. It was an experience. They were all looking at us wondering what we were doing.  

Still we were anxious and counting the bridges as we went along as they were virtually the only things we had to go off the map as to where we were, as they were the only things we could see through the gaps. Three young thai guys got on and let us know that they were heading there and to follow them when they got off.  

Trying to get off was also an experience as by now we were well in the middle of the seated section of the boat, so climbing over everyone scared it would leave without letting us off or I would drop my bag into the river or worse fall in, we finally made it off.

Walking down the street simon and I recognised the road at the end and so left the others while we grabbed some food.   And then raced for the game. Hmm we were a little further away than we thought but it was only 7.30 so we were going to see most of the match!!!!!!

Now it was still raining….we were trying to race along busy footpaths…all of us taller than your average thai…who were all carrying umbrellas…you get the picture? I have trouble with people carrying them normally let alone while running and while they are all at my face height! It was like an obstacle course.

Anyway we survived with minimal wounds and made it to the ground…this then meant a huge walk to the actual stadium, but there were people everywhere…oh I forgot to mention the standstill of traffic out on the road. Not that we really took too much notice dodging the umbrellas.

You could tell the aussies all trying to run along the wet concrete through the puddles in their thongs/flip flops it provided entertainment along the way.

As we approached our entrance (which was around the other side of the stadium by the way)   there were huge roars from the crowd (the game had already kicked off), I was so worried we had already lost and I hadn't even seen a minute of it. We needed to win by three clear goals…not an easy task in soccer!

Finally got to our seats…nil all still! And the Thai's were pumped! The crowd was roaring, two tiny pockets of aussies trying to be heard. It was an awesome game, just for the atmosphere. The crowd didn't give up even as we got to three nil (which mind you Oz waited till after half time before giving us any joy (if I remember rightly)). 

On Mondays in Thailand everyone wears Yellow in support of their King. So it looked like the whole stadium was supporting Australia!

But then even if they had scored then it would have meant they were thru to the quarters and not us. It was a stressful evening even without the trip there. But lots of adventures!

At half time we heard some of the horror trip stories. Two guys arrived at half time having run 4 km. only to have some thai people sitting in their seats and not willing to move.   Two others had got a lift on the back of a scooter…the same scooter and they weren't small guys!

Oz ended the game 4 – nil and the thai were leaving even before it finished not for lack of support for their team but more for the traffic I think!

We had a sedate trip home and were so exhausted from our adventures we were boring and went to bed!

A bad place to be tall in the rain

A few weeks ago i attended the World cup qualifier of the Socceroos vs Japan in Brisbane. The nice easy public transport ride to the game, with time for dinner before hand reminded me of another not so sedate trip to a socceroo's game. This adventure happened quiet a few years ago but i thought it worthy of a repost as telling it to a friend recently produced just as much amusment as the telling just after it happened.

It started out a good day. We had met up with Loz the night before and after a very late dinner had called it a night. Awoke slightly refreshed and headed to our breaky on the 42rd floor checking out the skyline of Bangkok while enjoying the buffet breaky (we were living the high life!). Piled into a taxi and headed to the old part of town. Stopping off at the tourist office for info on our choice of tours. We then went for a fitting of our suits. feeling like imposters while we were ushuered upstairs like VIP's, served drinks and asked to sit in comfy couches. Feeling more and more like an imposter there was i trying on a suit!

We then went to the internet to check out our snap decision to reject the tour and catch a plane to Chang Mai for 3 days! booked and away we were heading the next morning.

We then thought we better do something touristy so headed to a budda along my types of lifestyle. The reclining budda. We wandered around its compound and found the budda. Where an anxious secruity/worker fellow came rushing up to me, i thought i was going to get in trouble for taking pics inside the temple...but i was told to cover up...my top was too low (how embarresing!)

This was the Budda i was told off for showing my cleavage to. 

A lot of work is currently going on, on all the tourist areas, being the low season. Their OH&S is very interesting, bare foot workers, putting tiles on almost 90 degree angled roofs without safety ropes and heaps more that i just cant remember, its an eye opener. 

We then thought it had been such a strenous day that we should check out a thai massage. The offical school was just around the corner from the temple so off we headed for a half hour massage, as we were on a tight schedule. Hmmm painful and interesting, but gee felt good when i got out. As simon said, we werent sure our limbs were going to streach as far as the ladies tried to place them!

All the good work was undone when i started to have a minor panic attack that id read the tickets wrong for later on in the evening.  7.30 was when i though it was but was beingining to think it could have been 5.30 . It was now 4.30 and we were stuck in peak hour traffic. Our taxi driver was also crazy i wasnt sure we were going to make it back alive. We finally made our hotel at 5.15 and luckily the tickets read 7.30. I had read a few horror stories of making other game nights and so knew to leave early. 2 hours before for a trip that took us half an hour earlier in the week. That sounds like extreme preparation to me. 

During our 15 min of getting ready i had been watching this huge black cloud start to head towards our destination.  When we got outside the heavens opened. Trying to get a cab proved interesting, most of them driving off on us, we thought they couldn't understand our destination, when we went back to our hotel and they helped us get a cab we realised most didn't want to head to our destination, only offering a flat fee almost triple what we had payed the other day.

In the end we really wanted to get there and there were three of us and well the cash when converted to pounds..nothing!

So in we jump, head out into the worlds worst traffic jam. Just kicking back talking, eating, thinking how lucky we were being inside and not out in that rain, with me watching the clock and getting more and more anxious. All of a sudden after half and hour of going about 500m our taxi man did a u turn and went through all these back streets…hmmm cool he knows a short cut, then we realised we were back at our hotel and he was telling us to get out, he wasn't taking us. It was now 6.30.

We asked or hotel guys how to get there. They just took one look at us and laughed, you better go to a pub. To get to a thai football game in bangkok you have to leave 2 hours before the game (which we almost had mind you) I was devesatated. There we were standing there fully decked out in our aussie colours flags and all, in bangkok having travelled from uk and australia to watch this game and we were being told to go to the pub. 

To be continued......

Where a little old lady puts me to shame

I love taking the train to melbourne,  its relaxing, drops me right in town, I can read and most of all I don’t have to worry about falling asleep driving or finding a park.

So last Sunday I impulsively decided to go to the Digital Show in Melbourne,  treat my inner Geek to a day of photography. I didn’t want to drag anyone not so Geeky along and also felt it would be better off to go by myself so I could wander and stop where ever I wanted.  There was a talk I really wanted to see and a few others that sounded ok.

I had no idea what to expect, the only thing I had to base it on was my previous life as an Assistant to the Coffee Fairy at amazing Food Fairs.. some how I  thought this may be a little different!

I made this impulse decision Saturday afternoon, after making sure I had a lunch date incase the show was a fizzer. This impulse decision was made from the couch where I had crashed after my first attempt at playing soccer, hence no research was done till I made it to bed at 11pm.

First things first, I rechecked the timetable for the talks… 11am was the first one, but we were reminded to get there early as It was first in first dressed for seats.  There were little updates about how the show had gone on the Saturday and apparently the line was around the building, which was pretty impressive seeing it was at the Exhibition centre or Jeff’s Shed as its known.  

I pre-registered to get my free ticket and beat the ticket lines. I was feeling very organised.

Checking the train timetable damn Sunday trains, its 12.30am by this stage and I had two choices of trains 8.05 or 9.20.  Decided on the 8.05 as I didn’t want to make the effort to get up there and miss out.  So much for me catching up on sleep this weekend! Oh well ill sleep on the train.

I get to the station, parks everywhere, no-one catches the train on a Sunday morning obviously.  As Im walking behind an older couple towards the ticket booth, I overhear them comment on the  Vline bus at the front of the station.  As I over take them I say ‘It better not be for us.’ 

Now im not sure why this upsets me so much, I don’t have that much against buses. Especially on a Sunday morning as there is no traffic so it wont take that much longer.  I understand that track works need to be done and Im not one of those people who gets angry when public transport gets delayed or doesn’t work, these things happen.  I just think that on this particular morning I had been so set on catching the train the bus threw me and well I cant read on buses.  Motion sickness you see. Buses are also cramped.  So for some reason I was grouchy about this bus.

It also didn’t help that we went to each station in Geelong, and picked no-one up.

But by the time we got to Werribee I had fallen asleep.  We got into Melbourne and I grabbed breakfast and a coffee.

I arrived at the Exhibition Centre in plenty of time, finished my coffee looking at last years AIPP award winning photos and then enquired about picking up my ticket.

Now this was the second time in two days that having a fancy phone had come in handy, I never wanted to get one but im quiet glad I did. I could show the email confirming my soccer registration to the Ref so I could take the field and well this time I could show the fellow my confirmation booking email, cause at 12.30am the night before I missed the whole print out and bring to confirm part of the instructions.

This didn’t really help though as my registration from 12.30am hadn’t gone through the system yet… or maybe never was going to being such a late entry.

I was sent to the registration centre, which was a caravan in the foyer of the centre.  There they also didn’t have me on file.. so while the lady was looking for my registration, the gay guy was flirting outragesly with me. Being half asleep it all felt very surreal.  I also had registered as a company, and was feeling very very unprofessional having people running around finding my late entry, flirting with the staff and feeling like id dressed more like a young TV reporter than a professional business person.

I joined the queue that had already formed and waited for the doors to open. Now lately I am never on time for anything, let alone early so this was quiet a shock to the system. Also I was lining up to get into a show, usually I had a staff pass and could walk right in. Being a normal pleb was going to be an experience.

I spent my time checking out the types of people who were turning up, and wondering at the many that had gone to the trouble of properly labelling their camera gear to the standards required to take it into the show. Why would you need your camera gear at all was the question I had to ask myself?

And I was in… as soon as I walked in the door, I was handed a Nikon promotion bag. Now if you understand the MAC vs PC, IPOD vs Andriod, M&M’s vs Smarties arguments, you understand the Nikon vs Cannon argument. This was a very good ploy on Nikon’s behalf… by the way I still haven’t forgiven Jamie Oliver for advertising Nikon.

My problem was I just didn’t seem to be able to wake up, There was stuff everywhere, I was having trouble taking it all in. You don’t understand how big this show was. Nikon, Cannon, Fuji and many others seemed to have moved their entire shops in, walls counters and all.  The rest were the small marque type set ups I was used to.

I got the lay out of the place, checked out a few of the smaller booths and then found the lecture hall… no-one around at all. I asked information and they said I wouldn’t need to be there till 5 min before hand… great the early train was seeming more and more like a bad choice. I did get an updated list of speakers and a chance to look at the press award nominees. I was so tired a few of them made me a little teary.

The first speaker was an amazing old school photojournalist. Apparently an Australian legend. Micheal Coyne. Spending most of his time in Iran his photos were very hard hitting and emotional. His stories also inspirational. 

The next speaker was on not long after Michael so I just sat and waited. This was the one I had come up for. Making the Shift from Amateur to Pro. A panel discussion.

Wow this talk made me feel like an imposter,  making all the mistakes they were talking about. It was very hard to hear them for a digital show you think they would have got the acoustics correct!

I didn’t feel that I learnt much from these guys but I did get the American fellows business card. An American contact not sure when this may help but who knows..now where did I put that card.

I originally wasn’t too interested in the next speaker but I hadn’t heard from my friends about lunch and I was so disappointed in the last one I thought I would give this one a go to see if I could learn something for the day.

It was worth it.  He was a great teacher and his message was one I had heard a lot but still you can never hear it too much. Shoot Less – take better photos . Less is More. Experience the moment as well.  I left feeling slightly more inspired.

I wanted to look around but I was feeling very information overloaded and felt I needed a break.

Lunch with good friends, I was going to just hang out with them for the afternoon but there was a talk at 4 that I wanted to see, I couldn’t believe I had originally missed seeing it on the program and I still hadn’t seen the rest of the show.

Well turned out the talk was a misprint on the days timetable and was shooting better portraits not better travel photography.  Not my thing, didn’t stick around and was not impressed id waited around for that talk. Rest of the show seemed to be all about getting photo books printed, different sorts of printing papers, and weddings.

I checked out the Australian Professional Institute of photography photo entries and they also while amazing seemed to all be weddings. Feeling in a daze and quiet jaded I headed home.

I queued for coffee, and waited and waited, one fellow working on a Sunday evening not the best idea.  Finally the elderly lady in front of me and myself got served, then he takes 5 more orders before making our coffee’s. I check the time I now only had  7 min instead of 15min to get to the coach station.

The elderly lady asks If I want him to make mine first and I say im ok. We get talking, I was feeling jaded, annoyed at what currently felt like a waste of a day and annoyed at the bus, this lady put me back in my place.

She had travelled to colac and back to see a friend in an aged care facility. This included my bus and then another train, the bus took some time from her 2 hour visit. She does this every couple of weeks. I thought that was a big day for her, she then informs me she is just waiting for her train to warragul and from there she had an other hours drive. Making the entire trip 4.5 hours each direction not including layover times. Every couple of weeks she does this, it would knock me for six, it must take her days to recover.

I felt humbled after listening to her and hopeful that in the future I would be such a good friend and so ready to travel and take things in my stride.

She was still happy and relaxed and ready for her next part of her journey with her giant hot chocolate, making my small chai look insignificant when I rushed off to catch my 1.25 hour bus home.

The day i became the bag lady.

So today i booked my tickets to America for my next little holiday and it reminded me of my first trip to America and the adventure i had on the way there. Its one of my favourites and one i thought i would share with you.

The day i became the bag lady.....

When I first met Becka she had had her luggage stolen and was traveling Europe with a day pack and a plastic bag. By the time i left her she had a day pack and about three different plastic bags full of clothes (we had found the shops of Czech republic). But even then my huge backpack next to her stuff looked like I was carrying the kitchen sink.

She was the person I was going to visit in America. But first I was spending some time in Nicaragua visiting Martina. That is another story but where this one starts.

Martina and I went out for a huge night on my last night in Nicaragua. Few bottles of rum later found us dancing away at the local night club. Where I decided that it would be nice of me to give my handbag to a girl as a substitute for not letting her kiss me (well we assume shes the one who stole my bag im not sure any of our group remembered to ask if it had been handed in at the bar I think we all assumed everyone else had and I couldn’t speak Spanish to ask anyway!)  So we decided it would be a good time to leave especially as I was also having trouble walking as had taken a huge chunk out of the bottom of my foot (stu, gareth yes I know you always warned me dancing bare foot wasn’t a good thing!)

So limping home with a bad case of hiccups, bit disappointed that I had lost my little camera but knowing it was my own fault for leaving it unattended and realizing I was going to have to find some way to cancel my credit card before getting on the plane. When one of our group who was walking us home all of a sudden said this is where I parked my car…its not there. Hmmm my troubles all of a sudden became nothing.

Home we go, I pass out trying not to think of how I was going to get my bag out of the locker without a key.

Finally register that there is an annoying noise going on and I have been turning it off for a long time. Look at my mobile…oh oh I have been hitting snooze for the last half hour (luckily I set my alarm before going out and set it earlier than needed whew.) remember that there is a taxi coming for me in the next half hour. Ive set my shower stuff out ready on the bed (yep fell asleep on top of it!) grab that, hobbling along as cant walk on my foot. Cold water shower so cant really wash it properly but it sure wakes me up!

Back to my room….hhhmmm need to get to my bag…..luckily the lady who owns the place has spare keys! Oh no my passport it locked in my bag…cant find padlock keys..starting to panic that they were in my bag as well as the locker key…nope under my pillow gee I must have known I was going to loose that bag.

Don’t really remember packing, no idea how I got it all to fit in that bag. Wake martina say goodbye still with major case of hiccups. Ladies in hostel laughing at me and demonstrating I need to drink out of wrong side of cup…hmm be ok if I had some time and drinkable water!

Taxi man is laughing at me telling me I need to drink ‘agua’ with very limited Spanish, pidgen English and sign language I explain we had had a big night of drinking…he tells me off!!! Not good. Hes only a few years older than me!

Ok cant handle these hickups anymore but have lost all my cordobas in my handbag. Hmmm open my wallet…ahhh credit card! Didn’t take it or my ID out last night…thank goodness for that! Hand the taxi man a US dollar bill and ask him to get ‘agua’ for me. He pulls over and buys me a big bottle and even gives me the change lovely man.

2 hours to airport. Its 8.30 in the morning no idea how much sleep we had.  Get a bit concerned when I think the taxi man is asking me to stay and marry him. I pretend not to understand and hide in my back corner of the car and look out the window.

Get to airport with plenty of time. It was an 1.5 hour taxi ride…only 25 pounds! They ask me for some sort of immigration paper…oh was I meant to keep that..oh oh…its ok just fill out a new one for me whew…pretending to be a bimbo works sometimes!

Feeling really spaced out I go and wait for the plane. Coffee and cake turns out be my last food for a long time.  Really scared that not everything is in my bag as it all seemed to fit too well but well cant do anything about it now.

Ok now my plane flight here hadn’t been the most stable and well no idea if it was the plane or my fragile state (or a mixture of both) but I was so sick on the take off and landing.

Get to Miami. Think that im arriving at 2.30pm and think im flying out at 6.25 so take my time walking to immigration instead of the usual running…hmmm not a good idea get to immigration and I see by the clock I have arrived at 4.30pm not 2.30pm

The hostess had handed me an immigration form while I was asleep its in Spanish so I grab the English equivalent and fill it out in line. Getting real edgy as its now very close to 5pm and I still need to get my boarding pass and my bag on the plane. Get to guy, do you have a visa, no visa for USA (what?!) Ahh you Australian, you need to fill out a green form go back and fill it out and come back to front of the line, ok the panic is starting to set in I have another two flights to make after this one, I cant miss it!

Fill out form quickly, get back and the damn guy is going on break they have to log out etc. New lady yells at me as I haven’t filled out all the form, (didn’t know there was a back there wasn’t on the other one) and I also don’t have a destination address. Back out of the line I go, throw my stuff on the floor, a guy comes over and says are you ok, im almost crying as I dont have an address and have to catch my plane.  Tell him I have to catch a flight at 18.25 its ok you have time he says and no you cant use a P.O box as your address (the only one I have for becka), ‘come over to the counter cant have you sitting on the floor’, ‘here ring her on my phone’, I scare the hell out of becka as I sound in such a panic.

Ok all done through I go grab my bag race to customs…’do you have food or alcohol in your bag?’..no…I do but have no time to go through customs. Drop my bag off to the people. Race out and cant find damn place to get boarding pass, see board…damn my flight is at 18.05….i have half an hour, no idea who im flying with guess American airlines as I have a quantas ticket and no one knows them here, Cant find the place some lady asks me ‘oh my gosh whats wrong’ my face must look horrible! Sends me to a lady who decides to have a rant cause she hasn’t had a break and some girl thinks she can push in to the front of the line as her plane leaves soon, she wasn’t going to help me but I kept being pushy…I don’t have a bag to check lady I just need a ticket…oh ok here you go oh and you better run. (all in a sarcastic voice of course but I got my ticket and that’s all that matters.) Grrrr

Race though airport to security, say to guy my placn leaves at this time, ‘no stay in line you will make it’. I have 20 min before the plane leaves. But it’s a domestic flight so the security actually wasn’t too bad. Realise that I still have sunscreen and aeroguard in my bag! Damn they are over the limit oh well they have made it through one scanner im sure they can make it through another.

They don’t find my stuff and I didn’t have to empty my bag, pull my boots on who cares about the laces and off I race. Get to the plane with 15 min whew!!! Man this isn’t doing my foot any good.

Nope no food on this one either, 5 hour flight next to some huge guy who wants to talk, thank goodness I wasn’t sick on take off this time I would have hated to have that for every flight.  15 min late arriving.

Get off plane have 1 and 3/4 hour exactly to pick up luggage and check in to next flight (realize now I could probably have checked luggage the whole way but thought I couldnt due to different airlines and tickets.)

Hmm no bag….they’ve turned off machine, few of us standing around with no bags….45 min till plane leaves…damn it, Thing was I had a feeling I was going to loose my bag somewhere this trip. Thank goodness it wasn’t in Nicaragua.

Go check in to next flight as I have to make that flight. Leave the lady with my bag ticket as I have ten min to find it and bring it back to her.

Nope no bag.  Go to lost luggage people, huge line as lots of us with no bags from that flight.  Lovely guy lets me go next as I have another flight to catch. Lady races through my form and says they will send it to beckas place (as I now have her address thanks to immigration). Turns out one of the baggage carts got sent to the wrong terminal and they will be 20min to an hour at least idiots! nope no time for that!) Run through airport again security man sees my face and looks at my ticket and lets me jump the line. (at least I burning off all the calories from the alcohol but I would love some food its been 10 hours!) oh and once again I make it through with my sunsceen and areoguard so much for scanners.

Get to flight with 15 min to go and they are still boarding, ask if I can purchase some food on board, nope not on this flight sorry. Where then as its 11pm and everything is closed…maccas is back down the hall (damn it I haven’t eaten maccas for 2 years but I cant wait another 4 hours).

Race back down there, impatiently waiting for them to cook my food, race back and get on board, takes for ever I didn’t need to run! Find out that im very lucky and the reason this plane is chockers is that the airline had cancelled at least 100 flights that day due to bad weather. Whew I didn’t need to deal with that as well.

Arrive at Charlotte finally after one more much more relaxed plane change. Totally over flying at this time. Its now 8am local time. After all the changes Ive made I have no idea what time I feel it should be. Its great getting off the plane and not having to worry about luggage.  Check with the lady nope there is no note that your luggage has been found yet. I greet Becks with nothing but my day pack and a tripod... 'Remeber when we met you had only a day pack.. well its my turn now'

Wish I had some clothes though as all that running and sleeping and the fact it freezing cold. Luckily Becka has been virtually living out of her car for the last couple of days so she has extra clothes. Ring and get told my luggage has been found it didn’t arrive until 12am, I flew out at 11pm it must have not have made the plane in the first place. So its on its way but prob wont arrive till Sunday it is now Friday. Hmmm Oh I get $50 for that….not much but it will do between borrowing becks stuff and heading to wallmart! Yep I get the real American experience of shopping at wallmart and they do have everything!

By the time I finally get to Becks place 2 days later and get my bag I have gone mad buying stuff and now look exactly like Becks did when I left her in Europe! Day pack and bags of souvenirs and clothes.  And she looks like me as she had no time to pack properly and has a huge black bag full of clothes! Now to see if I can get it all to fit on my already full backpack! Oh and somehow the only thing that seems to be missing from my bag is my face wash and my padlocks. I was worried it may have all ‘gone missing’ on the way.  

Unfortunately as far as we are aware no photos were taken of either Becka or I in this unfortunate state so the above image will have to suffice.

A lovely day at Leeds Castle

So where did I leave you all… that’s right being looked after by CL after a lovely ramble along the Pilgrims Way.

Did I remember to tell you the Pilgrims Way stretches from Winchester to Canterbury and Chaucer based his Canterbury tales along this track?

CL had taken the day off to be able to do a day trip with us to Leeds Castle. I love this castle, its grounds are amazing, the aviary is incredible. I had gone here a few years  ago with my mate Luke, we had spent the whole day there, almost missing the castle because we spent too long chasing the ducks and checking out the aviary.

Karen and her little girl Zara were also meeting us there.  We were planning a lovely girls day out with a picnic in the grounds first then a tour of the castle.

But first we wanted to show mum the end of the Pilgrims Way in Guildford. St Catherines chapel.  So after another slow start I calculated we had just enough and I mean just enough time to drive to St Catherines. Check it and the view out and then hit the M25 for Leeds Castle… if the M25 didn’t become the car park its known to be.

So glad we took the time to show mum St Catherines. I forgot how nice it is up there, especially in spring with all the daffodils.  It was a treat for CL and I to reach it by car and not struggle up, from the river, the giant sand dune cliff the chapel sits on.

St Catherines Chapel - Guildford

It is thought by most that the chapel was built for pilgrims travelling the Pilgrims Way from Winchester to the martyr St Thomas à Becket’s tomb at Canterbury, so they could pause for worship and rest. St Catherine’s Hill was perfectly located for such a purpose as its at this point the Pilgrim’s Way drops down to the river Wey (the giant sand dune) where the travellers could call for the ferryman to row them across. The less romantic think that the chapel was built so as parishioners living some distance away from the Church of St Nicolas in Guildford could instead use St Catherines and only travel into Guildford for special occasions.

In my searching for the history of St Catherine’s and St Martha’s on the Hill ive found this local legend I just have to share with you…

St Martha’s on the Hill on the opposite side of the valley to St Catherine’s, was built by a giantess called Martha. The story goes that Martha constructed her church at the same time as her sister Catherine built hers, both with their own hands. The two sisters only had one working tool to share between them, an enormous hammer, which they tossed to and fro between the two hills as and when it was required.

Ok so its not quiet believable but still pretty cool!

So much legend surrounds St Catherines, it was the site of a five day fair until the Rector of St Nicholas in Guildford didn’t pay the license fee and the fair stopped in 1318, the chapel was a ruin then and was being used as a barn of all things. The local spring at the base of the hill apparently had healing powers. I could go on but don’t want to bore you.. lets get back to the story.

St Catherines Chapel - Guildford

We got stuck in traffic on the M25, its almost a cliché  it happens so often to people. But luckily for us it was just people rubber necking the crash on the other side, thank goodness we weren’t going to the other way, all lanes were closed. The queues stretched for miles. They were still stuck when we turned off to head towards dover and the ferries… people obviously weren’t getting told when they got off the ferry.

We felt like yelling at them driving past us when the queues ended to let them know that in a few minutes time they wouldn’t be going anywhere poor things.

We arrived 15 min late but luckily Karen had got caught in the slow traffic too so we hadn’t been too late. What we had forgotten, none of us with school age kids, was half term started today. Oops…

Luckily the grounds are big enough that once you dodge the strollers and ankle biters along the entry path there is enough room for everyone.

Zara loved the ducks.. well I loved the ducks as well. We were lucky enough to see a white peacock spread its tail feathers and strut around, such arrogance.

There was a peacock up in the tree and while I was entertaining Zara and answering her questions about the peacocks.. Karen raced ahead and positioned herself to get the perfect pic of the peacock flying out the tree.  The cheek.  

my quick attempt at capturing the Peacock leaving the tree

It was the perfect girls day out, lovely and warm, with a lovely picnic in view of the castle. While mum and I were packing up in the morning, CL had gone out and bought some great stuff for a picnic, I always end up with the same boring stuff and get plate envy of everyone elses picnic wondering why I hadn’t thought of that.

Claire-Louise, Me, Karen and Zara at the spot of our picnic- Leeds Castle

We then headed into the castle, having run out of time to fit the aviary in.  Karen had to race ahead as reading history on the wall really wasn’t Zara’s thing.

CL and mum, this being one of mum’s first castles and CL not having seen many, checked out everything.

CL is fascinated with thought of secret passages and hidden doors in castles as we all are. And so when we read about a secret passage located in the drawing room, she had to find it. Mum and I had started to walk out when we heard the security lady ask someone what they thought they were doing? From her tone of voice she sounded like she was talking to a little kid. We turned around to have a look and there was CL behind the curtain in the corner, having crossed the rope into the out of bounds area, looking for the secret door! 

The security lady threatened to kick her out , but the laugh in her voice gave her away. CL now has the honour of being threatened to be kicked out of Leeds Castle and St Martha’s on the hill! Can’t take her anywhere!

The history of Leeds castle is just way too much to tell you. So I wont bombard you with it all just a few little facts below.  

Leeds Castle was built by King Edward the 1^st as a present for his wife Queen Eleanor. (wow what a present). It was worked upon and added to by each different owner during the many years till its last owner an American; Lady Baillie who bought the castle in 1926.  She redecorated the interior and during the early part of World War II Leeds was used as a hospital where Lady Baillie and her daughters hosted burned Commonwealth airmen as part of their recovery. What a lovely setting to get better in. She left the castle to the Leeds Castle foundation upon her death and it opened to the public in 1976.

After we finished with the castle and id had my dream of a library in my house enforced by the library in the castle it was time to say goodbye to CL and Karen and head onto Cambridge.

Leeds Castle - Kent UK

On the walk back to the car the weather dropped 20 degrees and the sky darkened. My throat instantly decided to join the weather and become extremely sore, ive never had a sore throat that instantly.

Karen had a present waiting for me at her car as we were saying goodbye… a new suitcase! She was going to throw it out so what better, than to hand it to someone in need?

As we got in the car the heavens opened. It was a very long and stressful drive to Cambridge, I could hardly see the road.

Waiting for us in Cambridge was Georges mum Jennifer with a hot cup of tea and a lovely AGA (an awesome old fashion stove) to warm us up.  She was nice enough to put us up for a few nights even though we had never met her. ( I used to work with George in London and he had spent a month or so with us in Australia while looking for a job.) 

It was so nice to be in a home and by this stage I could hardly talk my throat was so sore. Jennifer introduced me to Beechams an English must when it comes to colds and I headed straight to bed after dinner.

  

A sunday walk

So after a night on a blow up mattress that went down, but I was too sozzled and tired to notice, I woke up in Claire-Louise’s gorgeous sunny flat in Guildford. It was so nice a day we had brunch out on the balcony.

After a lazy morning, CL and I realized we didn’t have enough time left to do our day trip we had planned (as per usual Guildford Sundays) and as Simon and I had both lived in Guildford and loved it, I really just wanted to show mum around.

Me at sunny CL's planning our day

So we set off to walk thru town and then do one of CL’s and my favourite walks.  I love Guildford it has all the high street shops, theatre, cinema, lots of pubs and even a few dodgy nightclubs but then if you walk in the right direction within 10 min you are out in the countryside. Oh and it even has a river running through town.  The River Wey.  Though I must say they haven’t made enough use of it,  there are no restaurants or cafés and there are only two pubs that over look it and one of them is always in the shade!

Mum and I had packed for cold weather, somehow when we got to UK we realised we had both taken our shorts out at the last minute.  It was hot outside! And we were going to be as the English call it rambling. So I would just like to say a big mention to CL for the size of her wardrobe and the fact it could fit both mum and I out in clothes for a ramble.

Guildford high st

After taking mum to the castle, she, as most people are, was surprised we had one, especially in the middle of town.  We set off on our walk, we were starting it in a different spot, we usually start at the river but we decided we would show mum that on the way back. I had done a walk starting from the castle once before and both CL and I had looked up the walk before we left.  We promptly started disagreeing on if we were going the right direction. But as per usual I was sure I was correct and then when we had walked a bit further and we were still in suburbia I had to apologise and agree we must have taken a wrong turn at the start!

But I was following my inbuilt compass (my fluke compass)... and we stumbled upon a walking track sign and followed that through some laneways. And ta da we found ourselves crossing a road and entering a carpark at the start of a walk. Having no idea how we got there or if it was the correct walk we congratulated ourselves anyway.  It seemed to go the right direction, the other walk to newlands corner could be seen across the downs heading parallel to us and that matched the map we had seen.

We were heading to St Martha’s on the Hill church on top of St Marthas Hill along the Pilgrims Way which is part of the North Downs Way. A few years ago I convinced a few mates to go in the Oxfam Trailwalker and CL was one of our training partners for this trek, most of our walks took us along this stretch though we usually reached it from the River Wey along the Pilgrams Way.  It had also been a few years since we had done a walk.  (my fault I left Guildford for the big smoke) so our memories were a little bit sketchy!

Anyway we were on our way and mum was entering her first bit of English forest.

We were heading uphill though not really a track we recognised we thought we were heading in the right direction. I was conscious of the time though, we had headed off a bit late.

Finally just to confirm we were heading the right way, while mum was off chasing a squirrel with her camera, I asked someone coming the other way if St Marthas Church was this direction they said yes just keep heading the way your going.

We came to another car park and ‘a you are here’ sign, I love you are here signs… when they actually say you are here. This one didn’t. It was just a sketch showing the walk. I thought I knew where we were on it.  And so we kept following the track we were on and heading up a steep hill there at the top was St Martha’s Church. 

St Martha's on the Hill

This church was first built in 1100, it burnt down and then has been rebuilt numerous times by different people, but its tiny, still very old and lovely. All wood, white washed and un- decorated with a big bell attached to a rope that hangs down inside the church. The first day we came here we accidently ended up here on an open day.  CL got to ring the bell and we had the history explained to us. The next time we came CL thought she could still ring the bell, man we got in big trouble apparently that means someone has died!

We sat in the sun on a wooden seat outside the church yard looking out at the view and ate left over strawberries from brunch.

I realised how turned around I had got when I was trying to work out which village was which in the view, the way I thought the sign had said we were coming in was actually opposite to where we had actually come in. I thought we had come to the church via the back way but infact we had come in the way we were meant to. I was soooo confused!

So back through the church yard we went, which meant through the graveyard but to be honest what a place to be buried, what a view!

We tried to make sure we were on pilgrims way, so we would walk back a different way and end up walking home along the river. We checked out the ‘you are here sign again’ and following posted signs.

Then the signs ended, as seems to happen all through Europe and we were just following the track. I began to worry, I had thrown my thermal jumper in my bag but CL didn’t have anything, mum only had a light jumper and we were all in shorts.  It was 4pm by this time and we were not prepared in any way to be caught outside at night lost in the woods.  I didn’t say anything though, It was a track and it was leading somewhere and unlike the australian bush, there were villages all around. It wasn’t going to be dark for a few more hours, I was just being a worry wart.

We then ended up on the same track that we had walked in on. I was quiet relieved to realise this. But we were disappointed to miss the walk to the river. 

When we got to the end of the track we decided to head down the road instead heading up the laneway towards the top of town. We turned a corner and opposite the end of the road could be seen the playing fields of Shalford Park which is situated along the river. I started to get excited.. it was beginning to seem that we had walked the pilgrims way somehow after all.

Just before we crossed the road into Shalford Park we noticed the road we had just walked down was aptly named…. Pilgrims way.

We had planned to complete this section of pilgrims way and take mum up to the ruins of St Catherine’s on the other side of the river but we felt we were running out of time and not as fit as we thought we were. We left that for the next morning.

The River Wey

We wandered along the river and back into town. We watched a canal boat going through the lock. Something CL and I had never stopped to watch even though the system is located in town and near one of our favourite pubs.

We then headed back up to CL’s place via one of my fav walks in town, through the narrow passageway up onto the cobbled road of Quarry St and past St Mary’s and onto the High St.

St Mary’s is the oldest church in town. People have worshipped there for over 1000 years.  Something I find hard to comprehend.  There is a story told that the wall had to be moved a meter as Queen Victoria couldn’t fit her carriage down Quarry St. But I haven’t seen this confirmed anywhere. 

St Mary's Church

My favourite short cut

the Guildford Scholar

The Guildford Town Hall Clock

We finished the day with a nice quiet evening of being spoilt by CL of a lovely home cooked meal, a bottle of wine and a girly film. 

Time and Navigation were not on our side

So I was wondering if I should tell you if I ever met Dracula or if I should tell you another story and let you hang for a little while longer. I realize it’s been a longtime between storytime with shell sessions and I apologies heartily. But getting back into the swing of work again has taken its toll.

Also when I decided to finish writing this adventure story today I realized I had lost it. I have actually lost two stories but luckily I had already told you one.

So here’s hoping I remember enough to make this an adventure worth reading about.

Oh and no I’m not going to tell you about Dracula im going to save that for another day.  I know im cruel.

So where was I… oh that’s right Glastonbury and the very strange B&B… here we go…

I awoke to the sound of a conversation. A very loud one in the room next door or so I thought. Considering we had been told breakfast wasn’t till 9, I thought it quiet rude that they would sit and have a loud breakfast right next door before hand. On closer listening I realized it sounded almost like a monologue. 

I soon understood that I was not going to be going back to sleep with this weird conversation next door as I couldn’t quiet make out the words and hence it sounded like the drone of bees and that really wasn’t helpful for sleep.

After dressing and repacking it was 8.45 and as I could still hear the conversation I thought it time we ventured out to find the breakfast room.

The kitchen door was still closed but it was from behind this that I could hear what now definitely sounded like a monologue. I knocked and wasn’t heard but decided to enter anyway, hey I was hungry.

We were greeted by the strangest sight of a fellow in an oriental dressing gown tied loosely with a big thick old fashion corded tie with the chest open,  silky trousers and bare feet who had backed the breakfast lady up into the corner of her kitchen and was talking at her. This explained the monologue.

He gave us a startled look, said goodbye to the breakfast lady and fled. Only to appear 5 minutes later dressed normally and wearing flip-flops.

She gave us a very grateful look and sat us down for breakfast, which wasn’t quiet ready due to Mr Talkalot.  But was still delicious.

I tried very hard not to catch Mr Talkalot’s eye as I could see he was dying to get into conversation with us. But I was conscious of the time and well I wasn’t awake enough to deal with someone like him! He seemed to be one of those people who head to Glastonbury to find themselves, think they are cool because they are a trying to be a hippie but just totally miss the mark.  

I know its rude but I kept hoping mum wouldn’t start talking to him, luckily she was feeling like me or was too interested in breaky to realize.

Eventually he started talking to the breakfast lady again and to save her she dragged us into the conversation. I was sure we would never get out of there!

Luckily I found a break in the conversation and we made a dash for it. Hitting the road much later than I wanted to we started out for the must see of England. Stonehenge. 

Now I would just like to point out, coming at Stonehenge from the non London side there are no signs until you can almost see it yourself. Even though I knew I was on the right road and we had a map, without signs to let me know im on the right track I stress. I still think they need to think about signs, im really not the most confident tour guide.

When we finally arrived into the carpark of Stonehenge it was to be greeted by busloads of tourists down from London on whirl wind tours. I totally forgot about that - an early start and breakfast on the run should have been the plan.

We hesitated, im not a people person, but we were here and I couldn’t let Mum not see Stonehenge no matter how crowded it was going to be.

Now this was my third time here and I love it each time. The Audio guide is one of the best ive had and I am just captivated by the stones. I cant believe im here everytime I see it.  I know I know – it must be the hippy in me.

Everyone stops as soon as they get to the first stone to take a photo, no matter that the crowd in front of them are doing the same thing and blocking the view of the stones… never less mum and I fell for it and tried to take one of her there as well!  Tourists.

The last shot of the day... the best

 As I said ive been three times.. I know the view gets better as you move around the circle, the path pulls away from the stones and the crowd thins out… but I still try and take photos at the start and all the way round everytime.. some professional I am.  I end up with millions of photos..none good till the end. What can I say? as I mentioned im captivated by the stones.

I lost mum once again as I was taking all these photos.. lost her among a busload of Japanese tourists (all getting in my photos..grr).  Finally found her way around the other side having her photo taken by a distinguished elderly gentleman… obviously gave up waiting for me to take her photo!

Thought id get the distinguished gentleman to take a photo of both of us seeing as he was already taking pics

The slaughter stone - so called for its blood red stain

So one more must see before you die icon down .. after escaping the souvenir shop, never again. I had to bolt for the door before I freaked out.. I needed a coffee. Even with our late start we seemed to have time to take a detour  so we decided to continue in our King Arthur theme and visit Winchester. Coffee and a quick lunch stop. Hmm yes I knew better,  you can never have a quick visit to Winchester.

After finally finding a carpark, it seems every man and his dog has headed to Winchester for the afternoon. We head to the Great Hall.  Here hanging on the wall is King Arthurs Round Table.  (some say it’s a replica.. but I don’t mind, its King Arthurs round table! Though I haven’t quiet worked out what its doing in Winchester)

Check the size of that table and Great Hall!

King Arthurs Round Table - Winchester

The Great Hall with Politician 'family tree' - Winchester

The great hall was the seat of parliament in the middle Ages. ....  This fascinated mum more than King Arthurs table.  Maybe King Arthur was wearing a bit thin.

Having done our usual trick and lost track of time we power walked on.. I introduced mum to Cornish pasties.. (Continuing in the tradition of Simon and I last time we visited) . We eat these and our coffees (finally!) sitting on the cathedral green… along with what seems like the whole of the towns population. Though I soon realize looking around that its not a green.. it’s a graveyard!

No-one seems to care everyone is having their picnics at total ease, out enjoying the sun in the tradition of the English on a sunny day. Or so it seems until you look closer and around every gravestone is at least a meter of clear space. Everyone has unconsciously not sat near the tombs. Which is totally understandable not my thing either.

IMum got this nice shot of winchester Cathedral the graveyard is off to the left. You can just see one tomb on the left edge of this shot.  (Very annoyed we didnt think to get any shots of people picnicking amongst the tombs)

Checking our time we rush to have a quick look inside and decide not to on finding out the cost. I couldn’t justify paying that for the 15 minutes we could give it. I’d programed in enough cathedrals to our itinerary to skip this one. Jane Austen’s grave would have to wait for another day.   

I also thought that Jane Austen would appreciate us visiting her house more than her grave.  That’s where we were rushing to next. I lived 15 min down the road from her house for 5 years and never made it there. This was one of the places I insisted we visit. Though I think our problem with time was that we had a chance to see it the next day if we needed though preferred to get it on the way to our stop for the night. So we needed to get there before it closed and get out in time to make it to Guildford by six.

Hmm now remember I said that I knew better than to try and do a quick visit to Winchester… the reason for this is that if you drive in you cannot get out.  Its like a black hole all roads lead in none seem to lead out. Fair enough we get lost and end up driving back the way we came. 

You know how dad said no fights… well we came pretty close.  What’s a road trip without the navigator and driver getting into a fight? The navigator once you end up on the wrong road cannot read quick enough to satisfy the driver who is trying to keep to the right speed, but not go too far in the wrong direction, read signs and try and picture the map in their head.  Meanwhile the navigator is frustrated, your lost so doesn’t know where on the map you are, most usually has never been in this area and is getting yelled at by the driver.    

Well id been in the area knew which road we were on and which one I wanted to get to… so decided to go cross country. Mum knew where we were by then and had worked out how to get across… if only the map had matched the actual road network it all would have been fine.

Time was ticking away.. We saw a sign I went one way… mum was sure it said the other way. I insisted no it wasn’t on there…

Hmmm when we pulled over 5 min later after I realized that we really didn’t want to go the way we were going. I apologised… the sign must have been right or it wasnt on the sign at all. (Unusual for me to read signs wrong.)

We totally were going cross country now.. there were no road names on the map, and no signs on the road we were on. We had no idea where we were but I was sure it would all work out… there are always signs in country England.  Plus mum was back being happy again I had pulled up next to a thatched cottage. She was out taking photos while I worked out where we were!

Mum's thatched roof - somewhere to the east of winchester....

Well it worked out. We finally made it onto the A31 you should have heard the cheering in the car when a sign for a village that was actually marked on the map appeared and we could work out the next village we needed.

So our only problem next was… I didn’t quite know where Jane Austen’s house was.. I was sure the turn off was off the A31…id passed it so many times! But you know when you see something, make a mental note to yourself you really should go there and then forget in the excitement of wherever you are off to at the time?

It wasn’t on our maps or in our guidebooks and I was beginning to doubt myself a little like Stonehenge.  We were getting closer and closer to Guildford, we decided that if we couldn’t find it Iwe could check the internet later and we would go the next day. And there it was and we were just in time. Last entry!  We had been taking photos out the front when I realized we really should check that they were still open and take photos after!

Jane Austen's House - Hampshire

It was all ok, I wasn’t excited about it at all inside it was just another old house… and then I was standing next to the table she had written all her books at, and it hit me, this was Jane Austen’s house and I was next to her table.  Some of my fav books had all been written right there. After that I was like an American tourist… I turned around and there was the dress Kate Winslett had worn in sense and sensibility.. click… the first ever edition of sense and sensibility, written ‘by a lady’ as she wrote anomously so she could be a normal person in society.  Click.  By the time we had finished looking and taking photos of everything.. we had been locked in! We had to get the security lady to let us out of the house and back into the barn which was the entrance and gift shop.

Jane Austen's writing desk!

First Edition of Sense and Sensibility signed by a Lady

Luckily I already had all the books (except one, I now own it, from that gift shop) and the American tourist feeling had worn off enough not to buy all the other tat in the shop.

So it was homeward bound well that’s what it felt like. Back to Guildford and a Guildford Family dinner party. Mum was going to be able to finally put faces to names… but well I wasn’t expecting her to get all the correct names and faces.. We had about 20 people at dinner!

The only place we could get for that many people on a Sat night in Guildford was the Rum Wong and sitting on the floor Thai style… Some how all the tall fellows ended up on the wall side.. Mainly cause us girls needed to socialize.. and they had trouble unfolding themselves at the end of the night!

Thanks once again to everyone for coming along.  The Guildford family dinner for the last time.. again.. im sure there will be another one someday soon ;-)