Reminiscing about Thailand

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY FOR SUNDAY TO ALL THE MUMS READING THIS, ESPECIALLY MINE WHO HAS BEEN ABSOLUTELY SENSATIONAL IN ATTENDING TO ALL THOSE LITTLE THINGS THAT ENABLE ME TO CONTINUE TRAVELLING. THANKS MUM AND HAVE A GREAT DAY... HOPE YOU LIKED THE LITTLE SURPRISE:)

Buckingham Palace from the side.

It was great to meet up with Daniel last night whom I met in Chiang Mai back in February... all that time ago... the year is flying by. Both of us absolutely fell for Thailand and had fun reminiscing about the great time we had there, including the local friends we met in Chiang Mai. Daniel, from Brisbane, is working in London as an IT Travel specialist so has access to a wide range of cheap flights. He's hoping to buddy up with me in either Spain, Portugal or Ecuador later this year. But it's hard giving him dates etc. because I don't have the foggiest of where I will be come August. It's the great thing about the rest of my plans... I have no tours as I did in China (yet) so can arrive and depart countries at will. Apart from 3 weeks in the UK and 2 weeks in the Ireland (could change... who knows????), all I know about Europe is that I arrive in Amsterdam, depart from Madrid and have a 2 month Eurail pass (10 days of travel in a 2 month period).

Daniel and I at the theatre.

Daniel took me bar-hopping around Soho last night. Soho is a fantastic place for backpackers... we had a £2 small falafel looking thing for dinner (forget the name) and chips with mayo... delcious. After that, we paid between £2 and £2.95 for pints of beer. I prefer the scooners we have in Australia... pints are too big, especially if you're buying rounds and have a quick drinking partner. I've been having Stella Artois... don't really like it... miss the Asian beers, and definitely miss our Aussie beers like VB, Toohey's New and Carlton Cold... Fosters is everywhere here but does nothing for me.

I'm sharing my 3 bed room with a 19yo guy from Paris and another guy from Cyprus who I have yet to see. He's got his stuff in the room but he hasn't been in the room since I arrived on Thursday. The guy from Paris is very easy to share with... very friendly and, like me, loving London. London is a very hard city to dislike. Last night he met an Australian 18yo girl so didn't come back to the room at all. Joys of travelling... you never know who you're going to meet around the corner. The YHA Oxford Street is a very sterile place and has very little atmosphere... the showers are limited to a treckle and the rooms/bathrooms are very small. But the YHA is in an excellent location and I don't mind paying the £20 per night for that. The other thing is that you have to pay deposits for everything... magazines, irons, towels etc. Didn't have to do that in Asia! I've since been in touch with Wendy in Cheam and will travel out there tomorrow... Cheam is a suburb in Surrey... will be absolute bliss staying in a house for a short while:)

I love Picadilly Circus

London's weather has been sunny and warm up until today. Even though it is dry, the temperature has dropped to the mid teens. I can definitely live with this type of weather after the hot and humid weather of the likes of Bangkok and Hong Kong.

There is a lot to do here... I love the buildings, the red double decker buses, the underground tube (it goes at frightening speeds compared to that of Asian MTRs) and the full range of food and drinks. I spent most of today roaming around Leicester Square, Picadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park and Oxford Street. The shopping is second to none here and I can't wait for my short-duration trips where I can spend up big on the full range of fashion etc. I'm relaxing for the rest of the day in preparation for my night out on the town... will probably hit a club tonight. We'll see how it goes.

Love the outfit.

One of my biggest observations so far is that there are many, many young people (20 to 40 year olds) here in London... and coffee, like beer is on every corner. I've noticed a huge influx of cafes since my last visit here in 2000.

PS... I ventured out to my old house in Leytonstone yesterday. The address is 26 Preston Rd Leytonstone. I lived here for 10 weeks back in 2000 whilst I did supply teaching all over London. It was probably the best 10 weeks of my travelling life... at the time, I was 26 and wish I could of stayed a lot longer but had a job in Perth to go back to. I'll download photos when I get a computer with a USB connection. These large internet centres on Oxford Street don't seem to have the software to enable me to view and subsequently download the software.

Me showing off my gift for Wendy and James

Soldier going for a little walk.

Such a grand old building.