Campbell had a crappy nights sleep last night so I decided that we would only stay out for part of the day then come home and chill out at home when Col and Kirsten went to the war museum. We can’t really expect him to keep up at an adults pace for the duration without having some breaks along the way!! I have been so proud of the way he has been behaving and am happy that he has decided walking isn’t so bad! (In Australia he hated walking anywhere, not that I blame him – it was just too hot!)
Anyway, on with the day, we went to go into Madam Tousards (sp) but when we arrived the line was HUGE – we asked the guy how long the wait was from there (a guy who worked there) and he said 2 hours!! So we flagged that! He said if you go at 8:50 in the morning that you just walk straight in so that’s our plan for the morning!!
We walked from there through regents park – it was a nice walk – saw a few more squirrels and even saw some climb up trees!!! (lol, by the end of our trip I might not be so amazed by them!) we walked past a playground so of course stopped for a play for 10 mins before continuing through to Camden.
What a neat part of town Camden is!! It Is so full of character and is bustling! (Not that any of London so far hasn’t been full of character or bustling!) there were loads of markets and heaps of little cheap shops etc. We wandered around there for awhile before deciding to head back to the Tube. By this stage it was about 3pm so Cam and I took the tube home – it was a freezing walk home for us from the tube station, that for sure! We got hailed on (which cam was sure was snow) but made it without too much drama! When we got here we snuggled up on the couch and watched kids tv for a couple of hours, gave cam a warm bath (he’s been wanting baths instead of showers so that he can play with the bath toys hehe, he’s very taken with the toys here!). Col and Kirsten arrived home at about 6 and not much later Cam went to bed, so hopefully will have a great nights sleep!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29th
Yesterday was a huge day! I was waaay to tired when we got home to post on here so am doing it now, hopefully I get the last few days posted up too – I typed them yesterday morning but didn’t have time to post them in the end.
We caught the tube into town at about 10 I think it was – we managed to find our way to the underground station (took us maybe half an hour to walk there I guess) and managed the train change half way without any bother hehe. We met Kirsten in town and our day began!
First we saw Lester Square, where heaps of film premieres are held – they were getting all organized for one while we were there – James bond I think.
We walked through China town, and headed to Piccadilly Circus. Cam was very taken with the big TV screens! Of course Col and I were with how impressive and old all the buildings were!!! It’s amazing how beautiful every single building is!! We just wanted to take pics of them all LOL, I think Kirsten thought we were a tad bonkers hehe.
We walked through to Trafalgar square – Kirsten was annoyed because her perfect view was obstructed by a big stage thing that was being put up!! From here we could start to see Big Ben really well! We took a few thousand pics of the view before heading past Downing Street and to Big Ben and the Parliament buildings. On the way we saw the changing of the horse guards which was pretty neat – even if Cam decided he didn’t like horses much!!
Big Ben and the Parliament buildings were even more impressive than I had imagined! It was almost unbelievable to be actually standing in front of them as opposed to just seeing them in a picture. Campbell was mesmerized by Big Ben – but then I guess who isn’t!! Our tour guide (Kirsten) that the hands on Big Ben are the length of 3 double Decker buses on top of each other….she’s not sure if she’s making it up though LOL.
We walked down to the London eye, but decided against going up – the lines were incredibly long – Campbell was being great, but thought waiting in the line might be pushing him to his boundaries! I might go on it when we’re back in London before we go home (in Feb) if I get the chance.
We wandered down to Westminster Abby to take in yet another impressive scene! It’s hard to know what to say about all these places, except that they are absolutely beautiful, full of character and history and are everything you can imagine and more!
After stopping for a coffee (to defrost!) we kept walking down to Buckingham palace where we took another gazillion photos (lucky we have the portable hard drive HAHAHA, I think we took 300 photos yesterday!) before walking through Green park to Hyde park corner where the NZ memorial and the Wellington Arch are – Kirsten thinks that when the Wellington Arch was built the queen didn’t like it so she got the arch made smaller – this meant her car couldn’t fit through so they couldn’t use it!! Hehe, again I think she’s unsure wheter she just made it up, or whether it’s an entirely different arch but I thought I’d share the story…maybe true….maybe not…
We walked through to Hyde park where we found loads of squirrels for me to take photos of hehe, and Cam raced around a bit – where his energy came from I don’t know!!!
We caught the Tube to St Pauls cathedral, walked along past the Tate modern and over River Thames on the Millennium bridge – which had an awesome view of the South Wark and London Tower bridges. By now it was getting dark so it was looking really awesome all lit up!
We kept walking along the river bank to get a better view of the tower bridge and to see the HSM Belfast, before catching the tube home! So we saw loads and were all pretty knackered by the time we got back home!!!
We caught the tube into town at about 10 I think it was – we managed to find our way to the underground station (took us maybe half an hour to walk there I guess) and managed the train change half way without any bother hehe. We met Kirsten in town and our day began!
First we saw Lester Square, where heaps of film premieres are held – they were getting all organized for one while we were there – James bond I think.
We walked through China town, and headed to Piccadilly Circus. Cam was very taken with the big TV screens! Of course Col and I were with how impressive and old all the buildings were!!! It’s amazing how beautiful every single building is!! We just wanted to take pics of them all LOL, I think Kirsten thought we were a tad bonkers hehe.
We walked through to Trafalgar square – Kirsten was annoyed because her perfect view was obstructed by a big stage thing that was being put up!! From here we could start to see Big Ben really well! We took a few thousand pics of the view before heading past Downing Street and to Big Ben and the Parliament buildings. On the way we saw the changing of the horse guards which was pretty neat – even if Cam decided he didn’t like horses much!!
Big Ben and the Parliament buildings were even more impressive than I had imagined! It was almost unbelievable to be actually standing in front of them as opposed to just seeing them in a picture. Campbell was mesmerized by Big Ben – but then I guess who isn’t!! Our tour guide (Kirsten) that the hands on Big Ben are the length of 3 double Decker buses on top of each other….she’s not sure if she’s making it up though LOL.
We walked down to the London eye, but decided against going up – the lines were incredibly long – Campbell was being great, but thought waiting in the line might be pushing him to his boundaries! I might go on it when we’re back in London before we go home (in Feb) if I get the chance.
We wandered down to Westminster Abby to take in yet another impressive scene! It’s hard to know what to say about all these places, except that they are absolutely beautiful, full of character and history and are everything you can imagine and more!
After stopping for a coffee (to defrost!) we kept walking down to Buckingham palace where we took another gazillion photos (lucky we have the portable hard drive HAHAHA, I think we took 300 photos yesterday!) before walking through Green park to Hyde park corner where the NZ memorial and the Wellington Arch are – Kirsten thinks that when the Wellington Arch was built the queen didn’t like it so she got the arch made smaller – this meant her car couldn’t fit through so they couldn’t use it!! Hehe, again I think she’s unsure wheter she just made it up, or whether it’s an entirely different arch but I thought I’d share the story…maybe true….maybe not…
We walked through to Hyde park where we found loads of squirrels for me to take photos of hehe, and Cam raced around a bit – where his energy came from I don’t know!!!
We caught the Tube to St Pauls cathedral, walked along past the Tate modern and over River Thames on the Millennium bridge – which had an awesome view of the South Wark and London Tower bridges. By now it was getting dark so it was looking really awesome all lit up!
We kept walking along the river bank to get a better view of the tower bridge and to see the HSM Belfast, before catching the tube home! So we saw loads and were all pretty knackered by the time we got back home!!!
Tuesday, October 28th
The 15 hour flight to London went well – Campbell was perfect which was great! He was alseep before the plane even took off (and wasn’t even drugged up! Just bribed by a surprise if he had a sleep hehe) and slept right up until I had to pick him up to put his seatbelt on upon landing in Brunei. We got to get out of the plane for about an hour I guess before reboarding. After about 3 hours he went back to sleep and again only woke up when I moved him to put his seatbelt on! So out of 15 hours he slept 12!!!
We arrived in London at 6:30 am and proceeded though Heathrow airport pretty easily – we were both expecting a mega busy and stressfull time but it was relitively quiet and we got through pretty speedily – faster than we get through at NZ and AUS!
We waited for 5-10 mins for Kirsten who arrived with Oyster cards all loaded up and ready to go for us – we were so stoked just to be able to jump on the train and not have to get sorted! The trip was just over an hour – the train packed out and cam slightly hyper after the trip LOL. But probably about half way cam and I nabbed a seat which made life easier (well for me anyway hehe). We got out and walked the 10 mins to Kirstens place, admiring the cool joint houses along the way!!
After a cuppa and a shower we went for a walk in Green Wood where Kirsten lives, stopped for lunch in a nice pub and wandered around here little (well I say little, but by all standards it was pretty big!) suburb. We walked up to Alexandras palace which was a very impressive building, with an awesome view!! Oh and saw some squirrells!!!
We got back to her place at about 3 and I rung Alisons brother about getting let into her place – he didn’t have her keys with him so would have to go home after work to get them so could only get to her place at like 8pm! Felt stink that he had to take so much time after work just to let us in, but very grateful that he didn’t seem to mind!!! Cam col and I all crashed out after that!!! With all out bags and us crashed out there probably wasn’t much room for kirsten to sit in her little room hehe! Kirsten phoned for a car to pick us up at 6:30 which arrived a bit late but still got us to Alisons by 8. We drove over the tower bridge which was awesome!! Cam didn’t wake up when we put him in the car and slept the whole way – so probably from 4 – 8 hehe! We googled delivery takeaways to find something to have for dinner and ended up with pizza hut, then straight to bed for us all!!! Thankfully Kirsten had gone for a walk while we were asleep and picked us up some cornflakes, milk and tea so we had something for breakfast! Cam woke up at 4:30 saying he was hungry and he probably was as he had only eaten a banana and some fries since we got on the plane about 36 hours earlier! (his own fault mind you – only ate the fries with his lunch at the pub, and didn’t eat any pizza or wedges at dinner time….was just too tired) so we got up and he ate some cornflakes then went straight back to sleep hehe, has only just woken up now at 8:30 am!
We arrived in London at 6:30 am and proceeded though Heathrow airport pretty easily – we were both expecting a mega busy and stressfull time but it was relitively quiet and we got through pretty speedily – faster than we get through at NZ and AUS!
We waited for 5-10 mins for Kirsten who arrived with Oyster cards all loaded up and ready to go for us – we were so stoked just to be able to jump on the train and not have to get sorted! The trip was just over an hour – the train packed out and cam slightly hyper after the trip LOL. But probably about half way cam and I nabbed a seat which made life easier (well for me anyway hehe). We got out and walked the 10 mins to Kirstens place, admiring the cool joint houses along the way!!
After a cuppa and a shower we went for a walk in Green Wood where Kirsten lives, stopped for lunch in a nice pub and wandered around here little (well I say little, but by all standards it was pretty big!) suburb. We walked up to Alexandras palace which was a very impressive building, with an awesome view!! Oh and saw some squirrells!!!
We got back to her place at about 3 and I rung Alisons brother about getting let into her place – he didn’t have her keys with him so would have to go home after work to get them so could only get to her place at like 8pm! Felt stink that he had to take so much time after work just to let us in, but very grateful that he didn’t seem to mind!!! Cam col and I all crashed out after that!!! With all out bags and us crashed out there probably wasn’t much room for kirsten to sit in her little room hehe! Kirsten phoned for a car to pick us up at 6:30 which arrived a bit late but still got us to Alisons by 8. We drove over the tower bridge which was awesome!! Cam didn’t wake up when we put him in the car and slept the whole way – so probably from 4 – 8 hehe! We googled delivery takeaways to find something to have for dinner and ended up with pizza hut, then straight to bed for us all!!! Thankfully Kirsten had gone for a walk while we were asleep and picked us up some cornflakes, milk and tea so we had something for breakfast! Cam woke up at 4:30 saying he was hungry and he probably was as he had only eaten a banana and some fries since we got on the plane about 36 hours earlier! (his own fault mind you – only ate the fries with his lunch at the pub, and didn’t eat any pizza or wedges at dinner time….was just too tired) so we got up and he ate some cornflakes then went straight back to sleep hehe, has only just woken up now at 8:30 am!
Monday, October 28th
Well today was our last day in Brunei – we were hoping to go on a water taxi, but we didn’t end up getting organised enough to catch the 9am shuttle into town! So we caught the 11am one instead, just into the mall part with in the hope of going to see the other big mosque. We arrived at the mall and our driver said that he would come back at pick us up at about 1:30, which was good for us as we wanted to be back in plenty of time to pack our bags, get some cash out for airport taxes etc before heading to the airport at 5.
We went into the mall and got a couple of things we’d seen the other day, then went up to the top to the food court ‘cos I wanted to try some taditional food – I got what looked like (in the picture lol) chicken kebab kind of things, (not very adventurous I know, but it was just so hard to tell what anything was! And of course no one spoke english so was just kinda pointing at things like a dumb tourist! ) they ended up being prawn kebab things, which hot kind of spices on it. They were pretty yum, but had to be peeled which made them tricky to eat! (well I presumed they had to be peeled LOL, not much of an expert on such things!) I tried hard to remember what they were called but alas my memory has failed me hehe.
After lunch we attempted to walk to the mosque, but we came to a big highway thing so couldn’t cross the road!! So I took what photos I could from the otherside of the motorway, we went for a wander around then met our man at 1:30.
We got to the airport at 5pm and checked in our bags before finding somewhere to eat dinner. There was a nice restaurant at the airport and since we had quite a bit of spare brunei $ we decided to go there - it was so delicious!! I had Mussels in cream sauce and col had tandori chicken wraps. Cam Had fish and chips and in his usual style only ate the chips!! One day we will learn and only order him a side of chips hehe.
And so ends our time in Brunai!
Interesting facts:
It’s illegal to drink in Brunei – however tourists are allowed to take some alcohol in to drink during their stay!
A lot of the people speak enlish, and most of the sinage etc is in english and Malay
They love the Sultan!!! They don’t have a king, he runs the country and makes all the decisions. The taxi driver said that everyone is happy as long as there is a good king – which the current one is!! Aparently he is expected to retire soon – maybe next year
Not many tourists were roaming the streets – well not many european ones anyway! We saw a handful but that’s it – they all stared at us hehe and were extreamly taken with Campbell! Aparently he looks about 6 or 7 by there standards and like Harry potter!! Hahaha.
Our hotel staff were so amazingly helpful and always polite! If anyone ever goes to Brunei we totally rated our stay at the traders inn - the sink thing about it was that is wasn’t in town, but they run a free shuttle so it didn’t matter too much!
We went into the mall and got a couple of things we’d seen the other day, then went up to the top to the food court ‘cos I wanted to try some taditional food – I got what looked like (in the picture lol) chicken kebab kind of things, (not very adventurous I know, but it was just so hard to tell what anything was! And of course no one spoke english so was just kinda pointing at things like a dumb tourist! ) they ended up being prawn kebab things, which hot kind of spices on it. They were pretty yum, but had to be peeled which made them tricky to eat! (well I presumed they had to be peeled LOL, not much of an expert on such things!) I tried hard to remember what they were called but alas my memory has failed me hehe.
After lunch we attempted to walk to the mosque, but we came to a big highway thing so couldn’t cross the road!! So I took what photos I could from the otherside of the motorway, we went for a wander around then met our man at 1:30.
We got to the airport at 5pm and checked in our bags before finding somewhere to eat dinner. There was a nice restaurant at the airport and since we had quite a bit of spare brunei $ we decided to go there - it was so delicious!! I had Mussels in cream sauce and col had tandori chicken wraps. Cam Had fish and chips and in his usual style only ate the chips!! One day we will learn and only order him a side of chips hehe.
And so ends our time in Brunai!
Interesting facts:
It’s illegal to drink in Brunei – however tourists are allowed to take some alcohol in to drink during their stay!
A lot of the people speak enlish, and most of the sinage etc is in english and Malay
They love the Sultan!!! They don’t have a king, he runs the country and makes all the decisions. The taxi driver said that everyone is happy as long as there is a good king – which the current one is!! Aparently he is expected to retire soon – maybe next year
Not many tourists were roaming the streets – well not many european ones anyway! We saw a handful but that’s it – they all stared at us hehe and were extreamly taken with Campbell! Aparently he looks about 6 or 7 by there standards and like Harry potter!! Hahaha.
Our hotel staff were so amazingly helpful and always polite! If anyone ever goes to Brunei we totally rated our stay at the traders inn - the sink thing about it was that is wasn’t in town, but they run a free shuttle so it didn’t matter too much!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Day 2
Today begain early for cam and I - I think I was up at about 4:30, and Cam 5! we quietly played on the playstation/laptop until col woke and then went downstairs for breakfast. It was absolutely pissing down so we decided to book the 11am shuttle as opposed to the 9am one to hopefully give it time to dry up a bit!
At 11 we got our ride into the city centre, we looked at Kampung Ayer from the other side of the river - it looked really cool. We would have loved to have gone on a water taxi but at this stage it was to wet so we declined the guys who were all desperate for our money!
We then walked up to the markets which were interesting, lots of stalls crammed into a small space, an lots of ppl selling dried up little fish! I wonder what they use them for? like stock or somthing?? The would like put handfuls into plastic bags when people would buy it - looked funny!
From here we walked to the mosque - it had stopped raining which was great!! We passed though a neat sports field - the taxi driver later told us it was only used on very special occasions, eg the sultans bday etc. The mosque was huge and beautiful - we couldn't go inside which was stink - might do so if we get a chance tomorrow.
we went across a big bridge which took us to part of Kampung Ayer - it was a much cruddier part that the part you can see from the city!! We decided to go for a walk over into the village - this meant walking along the somewhat thin, rickety looking bridges, which had me absoutly freaking out!! I can honestly say I don't think I have ever been that scared before in my life! No way did I expect it but I ended up walking as slow as a turtle, and was shaking and nervous as hell!! Col reckoned he needed the video camera cos I looked so funny LOL, something I only found amusing when I was back on solid ground! Campbell (bless him) was calling back to me "watch out for this hole in the wood mummy" whenever he would go past one. It was very cute that he was trying to look out for his very scared mummy!
After that we walked back around to the water taxis, but the rain had started up again! So we wandered round a little more before catching a taxi home. Back to the same place for dinner as is nice and close!
The bridges that scared the living crap outa me!
Seeine how small and rotten the wood gets under the water was why I was so freaked!
At 11 we got our ride into the city centre, we looked at Kampung Ayer from the other side of the river - it looked really cool. We would have loved to have gone on a water taxi but at this stage it was to wet so we declined the guys who were all desperate for our money!
We then walked up to the markets which were interesting, lots of stalls crammed into a small space, an lots of ppl selling dried up little fish! I wonder what they use them for? like stock or somthing?? The would like put handfuls into plastic bags when people would buy it - looked funny!
From here we walked to the mosque - it had stopped raining which was great!! We passed though a neat sports field - the taxi driver later told us it was only used on very special occasions, eg the sultans bday etc. The mosque was huge and beautiful - we couldn't go inside which was stink - might do so if we get a chance tomorrow.
we went across a big bridge which took us to part of Kampung Ayer - it was a much cruddier part that the part you can see from the city!! We decided to go for a walk over into the village - this meant walking along the somewhat thin, rickety looking bridges, which had me absoutly freaking out!! I can honestly say I don't think I have ever been that scared before in my life! No way did I expect it but I ended up walking as slow as a turtle, and was shaking and nervous as hell!! Col reckoned he needed the video camera cos I looked so funny LOL, something I only found amusing when I was back on solid ground! Campbell (bless him) was calling back to me "watch out for this hole in the wood mummy" whenever he would go past one. It was very cute that he was trying to look out for his very scared mummy!
After that we walked back around to the water taxis, but the rain had started up again! So we wandered round a little more before catching a taxi home. Back to the same place for dinner as is nice and close!
The bridges that scared the living crap outa me!
Seeine how small and rotten the wood gets under the water was why I was so freaked!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Day 1
As I write this ai am so close to falling asleep! My eyes keep drifing shut, so beware it will prob be full of typos and won't make much sence!
today bagan early - well late, depending on which was you look at it!! After spending the night in Auckland with mum, dawn, gary, lisa and pete, and having literally no sleep we went to the airport at 1:30 am to catch our 10 hour flight to Brunei!
After about an hour cam fell asleep - and stayed that way for about 6 hours!! yay! Only stink think was he fell asleep with his head on my legs and it didn't take long for my leg to fall asleep and for me to need to go too the toilet! But moving may have woken him up so I sufferered through hehe... royal brunai didn't match the standards of our beloved Emirates, but flight went well and when cam was awake he was awesome, couldn't have asked for much more from him!!
sm goingto hve ti finish this off tomorrow as my eyes are not staying open!
Haha, ok I'm back!! We arrived in Brunai at about 8am and it was raining! I couldn't believe it - I was expecting nice weather LOL. But it was still really hot, a different kind of hot to Aus though, more muggy.
We caught a taxi to our hotel, which we thought was in the city centre but it wasn't LOL. It's a nice hotel with a decent sized room which is good - and a bed for Cam which I wasn't sure it had so that was great! People jump up to open the front door for you and help you to carry your bags etc. I felt stink yesterday 'cos the man was waiting to shut the car door for me and campbell was farting around taking ages to get in - it was pouring with rain so the poor guy must have been getting really wet!!
After we arrived Col lay down and promptly fell asleep LOL. Cam and I decided to walk over to the shops across the road and found a little bakery where campbell got a couple of things to eat, then walked a little further and came acroos a supermarket so went in there too - I always love supermarkets at different places - I find them really interesting hehe. Here they have an awesome bakery section with heaps of different breads and doughnuts - you go around with a tray and choose what you want, then take it to the bakery counter where they price it and give it back for you to take to the check out. Alot of it looks (and the ones we brought tasted) really yummy!
After that and after col woke up we caught the shuttle into the shopping part of town and had a walk around there - it was interesting to see all the shops for womans clothes - heaps of different patterned burkers (is that what they're called?? the head things!) and robe things. And funny to see all the woman in their looking through trying to pick them! I was going to take a photo, but decided to do it on my way back, then on the way back had realised you weren't meant to take photos in the mall (?dunno why!) so I decided not to hehe. The buildings are neat - heaps of cool archetectual features, and mosaic patterns on them. We have decided that the theme for our holiday might be me falling over as I have fallen over twice already! LOL that reminds me I need to rinse the mud of my pants!!
We got picked up at 5pm (the hotels gives you free rides into town, but to get home charge you $10, you can catch a bus which is only $1 but we decided just to get them to come and collect us!) and went back across the road (by the supermarket) to a burger place for dinner. Is really the only eating place nearby and was really yummy! Came home where cam played the playstation and then we all fell to sleep at about 8pm (hehe, me while in the middle of posting the above!!)
Sunday, October 5, 2008
hi!
hmmm, well obviously I didn't take those photos of the town...there's not much to see anyway!!! And I've been neglecting the blog a wee bit, but in all honesty there has been nothing much to say!
Since we've been here life has pretty much been about working, saving and sleeping hehe. Have had two trips to Townsville - the first was with Dad to get cam his new Glasses, the second was last weekend 'cos Col was on R & R. We got pretty much everything we still needed for our trip, and now with just 17 sleeps, 15 work days for col and 8 work and kindy days for cam and I to go, we are pretty much all organised. (other than having to seriously sort through our stuff to figure out what to chuck and what to leave for dad to take home!)
Other than that, life's just been ticking by over the last little while.
Since we've been here life has pretty much been about working, saving and sleeping hehe. Have had two trips to Townsville - the first was with Dad to get cam his new Glasses, the second was last weekend 'cos Col was on R & R. We got pretty much everything we still needed for our trip, and now with just 17 sleeps, 15 work days for col and 8 work and kindy days for cam and I to go, we are pretty much all organised. (other than having to seriously sort through our stuff to figure out what to chuck and what to leave for dad to take home!)
Other than that, life's just been ticking by over the last little while.
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