31st May - Meeting Marshalls in Bath

Punting

Pushbikes and Punts....

Checked out and trained to Oxford this morning.  Great weather so far.  Hired a couple of bikes - mine had a basket and I felt like Mary Poppins on it!  Found our way eventually to the Cherwell Boathouse and hired a boat.  Floated down the Cherwell River - very serene - sun was great.  Biked back to town, collected our packs and trained to Bath.  Walked out of the train station to check out a taxi to take us to lodgings and bumped into Wendy and Les who had been travelling for 27 hours! Awesome, shared a taxi with lots of laughs, dinner and bed after planning the next couple of days here - so much to see....Stonehenge a must, Comedy Walk, Sally Lunn House for a high tea and Airforce Museum on the to do list.....

Weekend in London

Arrived in London 6.30 in the morning after our flight from Brunei.  Plane was packed, but both managed to get some decent sleep and after chewing Jet-lag pills through the 16 hour flight, both felt surprisingly good and ready to explore the South Bank area.  SB was definately in Festival mode with lots happening and we easily filled the day.  After a pub meal crashed out for the night.  Spent the morning supporting the 10000m run, competitors included the Olympic trialists for 2012 team.  Far out - the male winner finished the 10km in 29 minutes and first female in 32!  Thousands entered and we staunchly stayed to the end - some came in at 2 1/2 hrs.  Enjoyed the afternoon strolling around Soho and spent the evening at the Comedy Theatre, Operation Greenfields - great play with lots of laughs - 4 very talented young people.  Managed a tasty italian meal on the way back to the hotel....Meeting marshalls in Bath tomorrow....

28th - Towning around in Brunei

Relaxing in Hotel Foyer

John joined us for breakfast this morning - what a spread!  Multicultural continental buffet breakfast - kilos are definately going to be gained if we keep this up!

Went on a 4 hour tour with a lovely young guide, Vynna and driver Hakia.  Vynna took us in a water taxi to the Water Villages which were inspired by Venice, and have been around since 14th century.  We were treated like VIPs and invited to take tea and sample the homemade sweet treats and as Vynna said if they don't think its sweet enough, more palm sugar is added, "just in case".  At the home we also learnt how to play the ancient game of Chonghkak with lovely carved long dish and marbles.  The game is played often and common for guests to play at weddings during the week long celebrations.   The rest of the tour took us to the Royal Regalia Building, Brunei Museum and 28th Sultan's Mosque.  All very impressive.  The marble buildings, gold leaf domes and detailed mosaics were spectacular.
We spent the afternoon in "The Mall"  which was airconditioned and consisted of many, many hi fi stores, import clothing shops and food hall.  We managed to find "The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf" Cafe down the street where Ross sampled the tea and scones...(mocha was pretty good too)
Back to the hotel to collect our packs and off to the airport for night flight to London....long night ahead with a short fuel stop in Dubai.

Royal Regalia Museum holds a vast display of gifts to the Sultan, Chariots and many artefacts

One of the 3 chariots still used today - taken in the only area allowed to photograph inside the Royal Regalia Museum

29th Sultan's Mosque - Very elaborate

Outside the Mosque - no photos were allowed inside, but we were priviledged to enter the Men's Prayer Room which can accomodate 3,000.  10,000 can gather in total in this magnificent building to pray.

The Mosque Tower - no building can be built higher!

Water Village - School and Homes

Shell Shop for water taxis to refuel and water village in background



One of the Schools of the Water Village.  With 20,000 villagers it is a self sufficient community including firestation, medical centre & hospital. 



Brunei Darussalam

32 degrees in Brunei - enjoying the heat, delicious fresh fruit and lovely mocktails!! (Alcohol free flight and city! Stop laughing girlies!)  Plane wasn't to capacity so we had room to stretch out.  Great service on Royal Brunei flight and all the stewardess look like they are models!  I watched 3 tear gerker movies during the 9 hour flight  so bawled quite a bit of the way!  Ross watched his old favourite - The Hulk and then the original of "The Mark of Zorro"  Not sure where they dragged that up, but he loved it!

Rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous:  shared the shuttle with John Adsett and ended up enjoying a very entertaining evening over a special buffet dinner at the Orchid Garden Hotel, as he described his very interesting career in the soccer world.  Now retired and living at Mount Maunganui he is on his way to Thailand for Golden Oldie Games as the chief organiser of a NZ team.