Bonjour from Paris

We arrived in the beautiful city of Paris and were pleasantly surprised that our hotel was across the road from the Arc de Triomphe.  There were so many amazing buildings and monuments.  We took a walk along the Seine river and lucky for Mick there was an aviation exhibition beside the river which kept him amused while i took a few hundred pictures.

Statue in Paris city	The lovely and busy Arc de Triomphe
One of the many pretty streets in paris	Outside the Louvre

Before we left many people in Australia told us that the French are lovely and the rudeness thing is a myth..well they lied.  There are many lovely people who helped us with directions on the streets, however most waitresses have been to rude classes, this is bizarre for a profession working for tips.

Michelle enjoying her A$15 cup of coffee, don't ask how much the lemon tart was!	Michelle pulling her best french face
Getting lost in Paris	Standing on top of the tunnel that Princess Diana's car crashed in.

Highlights of our days in Paris would have to be the amazing Eiffel tower (which we walked up to appreciate fully rather than taking the lift) and the boat tour along the river.

Looking at the Eiffel Tower at dusk from boat tour	Looking up the tower...
Micki and Miche sharing a champagne on top of the Eiffel...a little romantic even...	View from the top of the Eiffel

The toilet found on top of the Eiffel tower
Miche eating waffles on top of the tower, surprisingly Mick had a beer

London part 2

At the end of our week in London we figured out how to book a Eurostar fast train ride to Paris then went to see the famous Portebello Road in London to see it’s markets.  Unfortunately we couldn’t find the famous door from the Notting Hill movie, but met some interesting people…

Portobello Rd Market	Portobello Rd local
Portobello rd Market	Lisa and Miche enjoy a crepe on Portobello Rd

The famous Portobello Rd street sign

London

Long flight to London which included a one hour stop over in Vienna where Michelle was felt up by large Austrian lady because she peeped on the metal detector.  Arrived at London immigration and they let Micki in without even a second glance, surprisingly.  After a few heated debates we figured out the London tube system and met Michelle’s friend Lisa who put us up for a week and was our tour guide.  First day in London was the typical cold weather and pouring rain but we were pleasantly surprised to find the rest of the week warm and sunny!  Coming from Thailand it was great to be in a country where they spoke Australian.  It was also pretty clean with a really efficient train system-you don’t wait more than a few minutes for a train.

We visited Big Ben, Hyde Park, the Queen’s house and as many places from the Monopoly Board as we could (i.e. Leister Square, Trafalgar Square, Euston Rd).  We took a double decker bus around the city to see the sights also.

Micki figures out London bus system	Visiting the queen
Micki in Hyde Park	Telephone box near Oxford Street
Big Ben	This one's for you mum (vicki).. Marks and Spencer on Oxford Street

Visiting the queen

Sa wat dee from Bangkok!

Bangkok is the busiest place we have ever been. Just being in the city is an adventure in itself, the motorcyclists are crazy.  The most number of people we have seen on a scooter is 5- (the family wagon).

On our first day we visited the Grand Palace which was amazing in both size and detail. In the afternoon we visited more temples including the the marble temple and the reclining Buddha where we dropped 118 coins into 118 metal buckets so that the gods could hear us and grant us good luck.

On day two we drove to the north of bangkok and took a ride down the canals in a long-tail boat to get to the floating markets.  Such a different way of life-see photos!

Today we took an original Thai style cooking class! We learnt how to make the best curry pastes and a range of other dishes.  Surprisingly, even i could cope with the chili.  The other nice surprise about being in bangkok at this time of year is that it is the annual ‘national vegetarian festival’, so all the shops serving vegetarian food display little yellow flags in their windows…perfect.

Off to visit the night markets now…

Ladies conducting their business Thai style

Hanging out at a local farmer's house

Outside the Marble Temple

Michelle and 'teacher' at Thai Cooking class

Moving home!

G’day all, Mishy and I have had the busiest past week.  Apart from finishing up at work- me doing bugger all and Mishy frantically writing reports and catching up with friends, we had to move home.  With great help from family we squeezed all of our gear into a 2×4 storage facitly.  This task was grosly under estimated, i can’t believe how much kit you can accumulate in 2 years- we are glad it’s over.  Now it’s time to have a bit of a relax down at our favorite bed&breakfast in Portarlington whilst getting last minute IT advise from John and some quality food from Vicki- yum. 

Squashing in all our stuff