The End

We certainly an awesome break, although now our thoughts turn to what comes next! Enjoyed a few luxury days in Dubai. It was certainly a shock to get on a plane in Dubai mid 30 degrees and land at Heathrow where it was 4 degrees! Shorts and T-Shirts felt very out of place suddenly. It will probably take us a couple of weeks to recover. Next steps are to find somewhere to live in Jersey! Thanks for reading the blog, and we are both looking forward to catching up with everyone in the near future!

Dubai - We are going to like it here!

It was an eight hour flight from Bangkok, because we were going via Mumbai. The flight was pleasant although not as good as the other business class flights. We arrived to a very warm 32 degrees (at 11pm!) which was very pleasant, although I guess it will be sweltering tomorrow in the daytime. Splashed out on these last couple of days in Dubai and booked a nice room in a nice hotel. Nice limousine transfer from the airport (which was very modern and tidy) to the hotel. Imagine us with jeans and T-shirts and small backpacks on with sandals tied to them! The other guests were wearing shirts and jackets and had "proper" luggage. We had a rather pompous couple looking down at us as we reached the check-in desk before them. That's when we had the last laugh when we were directed to the Executive check-in desk and they were all left queuing. Shame they couldn't see us sat down with our complimentary welcome drinks relaxing while being checked in!

All joking aside the room is great and there is lots of complimentary items: Fast internet (although our VOIP Skype is actually illegal in Dubai!?!?), Hermes toiletries, free breakfast in the "Club lounge", free afternoon tea, free canapes and evening drinks at happy hour, etc.

Well, we have to make the most of these last few days of our honeymoon, as it won't be long before we hit the ground at Heathrow with a bump!

Bangkok - Leaving so soon?

Ok, so actually we have just arrived in Dubai but felt a little guilty that we hadn't even mentioned Bangkok at all. Spent a pleasant three days there but mainly stayed in the hotel. The hotel was very nice but after the luxury of the resort in Phuket it was always going to feel like a bit of a letdown. We ate very well at the enormous buffets. We had a nice river view from the room, although the brown, muddy river is not much to look at. It is interesting seeing the amount of traffic using it though. Still amazed at how nice the new Bangkok airport is!

Phuket - Blue Pool

Typical just on the day before we leave we find another pool hiding on the resort. The blue pool was another enormous pool with a great swim-up bar under a waterfall, and an even wider selection of bar food!

Phuket - Last Day

Well we really did just spend five nights in one place, enjoying the lovely grounds, pools, facilities, restaurants, beach of one hotel resort in Phuket. It was great to just relax in idyllic surroundings after all the moving around of the trip. Left today and flex through a monster electrical storm to Bangkok, an ominious welcome! Landed safely at the gigantic, brand new Bangkok airport and had a straightforward transfer to our hotel on the banks of the Chao Phraya River with a great view from the sixteenth floor.

Phuket - Suprise visitor from the front

Phuket - Part of the pool

About one third of the main pool, it is enormous.

Phuket - Suprise Visitor

Its not every day you see a baby elephant climbing the steps into the hotel. Imagine us lying on our sunbeds suddenly looking up to see this! It turns 0ut it was expected and was there to give some of the young children a ride on the beach. Enjoyed a gorgeous breakfast in the hotel this morning. A buffet encompassing just about anything with a tenuous link to breakfasts somewhere in the world! Sat outside on the balcony and enjoyed the view of the Andaman Sea. The temperature is a lovely 32 degrees with some lovely swimming pools dotted around. Vicky was most impressed with the constant supply of water, cold towels and fruit brought to us while relaxing in the sun.

Thailand - Phuket safe and sound

Well after some great fun, lots of lovely food and good company we have left Tokyo. Our favourite moment probably in one of the restaurants with a grill on your table, Chris ordered a big selection of meats but initially all that came out was a gigantic plate of tongue!! After just about getting through it all, out came the "normal" meats. Chickened out a little getting to Narita airport, using a hotel shuttle bus rather than braving the indecipherable train ticket machines again.

Anyway we flew Japan Airlines this time from Tokyo to Bangkok. The lounge in Tokyo was one of the best but although the flight was really nice it wasn't as good as Cathay Pacific or British Airways, probably on par with Qantas. Bangkok airport was completely new, really tidy, straightforward to get around with a great dining hall. We transferred to another plane, and flew to Phuket, back to economy for that one. It seemed the whole plane was a little apprehensive at every judder coming into land, with the recent plane crash here, but it was fine. What a lovely suprise when we got to the hotel though. It is absolutely stunning. Our first glimpse was a huge reception area lit by flaming torches after we got out of the hotel chaffeured Mercedes, complete with very aggressive aircon and some bottles of water and ice cold towels. We are going to love it here for the next five days before heading back to Bangkok. Hopefully we will get some great photos but right now, for the first time, it really feels like a honeymoon.

Tokyo - 5 months of marriage!

Tokyo - Temple

Japan - Tokyo

Arrived in Tokyo after a lovely flight on Cathay Pacific. Had written some brief notes on how to get to the hotel but we weren't expecting the sheer complexity of the railway station at the airport. Some signs were in English, most were Japanese which means you can't even have a guess at what it says. It also doesn't help that there were three rail companies all travelling different routes. The underground and overground rail system for Tokyo is immense and completely dwarfs the London Underground for number of lines and stations. We finally picked a company and managed to get a ticket to Shimagawa Station very close to the hotel where we are staying. The journey was quick and very punctual after we had worked out which numbers on the ticket were the carriage number and which were the seat numbers.

Anyway we arrived at the station and were pretty suprised at the number of people everywhere. It really seems to be constantly busy. We managed to find the hotel after a few false starts (including ending up on the fourth floor of the wrong hotel, unable to find a way out). We got offered an upgrade to one of the sister hotels across the road which was great, the room is fantastic and the hotel is really nice.

Next stop we met up with Chris (Lee's friend since junior school) and went out for a great JApanese meal. Chris having been here for two years was ordering in Japanese and translating the menu for us like a pro. The restaurant was great with very low tables with a hollow space underneath to put your legs, also you had to take your shoes off. The selection of food was great and Vicky found one dish really to her taste. She thought it was a really tasty beef but it turned out to be the horse steak!! It was gorgeous. Next day we visited the shopping districts, a temple to see some of the old fashioned Japan, and some more great Japanese restaurants. Yoko and Chris also kindly took us out on the night to a Karoke place in Roppongi, where we hired a room and had a really fun couple of hours singing (more like screaming or shouting in some cases). We finished off with a visit to an English style pub and watched England beat Australia (Oh why couldn't we still be in Australia or New Zealand for those rugby results!!)

Today, nursing some pretty significant hangovers, Chris took us to Kamakura where we visited more temples and went to the beach and watched the hundreds of surfers and windsurfers. The streets and trains were absolutely jammed with people, although everyone has been very friendly, everything is really clean and tidy, everyone seems to be very polite and it feels an extremely safe city, even late at night. Pictured are Chris and Yoko.

Hong Kong - Hot and sweaty

Taking a quick stopover in Hong Kong on our way from Auckland to Tokyo. We had a lovely flight on Cathay Pacific and landed in Hong Kong at around 9pm. The temperature was still a hot and humid 28 degrees! Certainly a bit warmer than the Winter weather we have been enjoying in New Zealand. We took the Airport Express train into Hong Kong City and walked to our hotel, sweltering even in the late evening. First impressions were great, the city looked exciting with skyscrapers everywhere all lit up at night. The people seemed friendly and all announcements and signs were in English and Chinese. Checked in to another great boutique 5 star in a lively district right in the middle of it all.

Enjoyed the harbour tour today, still staggering to see the number of skyscrapers everywhere! We also checked out some of the shopping. The IFC mall was gigantic and filled with all the expensive designer shops. Enjoyed our day in Hong Kong and would like to come back to check out more of the sights. Early start tomorrow as we head off to Tokyo.