Author: sage

Thursday 11th February

After a last minute decision to go on a break, we found ourselves up reasonably early, though with the last minute shenanigans we ended leaving a little later than planned (8am), so we hot a bit of traffic initially, but luckily the motorways were good (and we just missed getting caught in the queue from a pile up as we were only a couple of cars behind) . With a couple of pit stops, we got to the hotel (Middlethorpe Hotel) in York by 12.30. We were checked into room 29 (2nd floor in the stables).

We were a little hungry after all this so we went to the drawing room and ordered an afternoon tea to share, we ended sitting on a couch near a large low table, so it seemed we were taking the best place, but it was the only place available then. We had to make sure we ordered a different sandwiches from the normal, so it all took a while before the food came – Sandwiches, 2 scones and a few little cakes/desserts. It was surprising how filling this all was.

So after the few hours there, we went to the spa, where we spent a good 2 hours (sauna, jacuzzi and swimming). Refreshed we then got ready and after facetime to Kenya, drove into town at 6.30, parking in one of the public car parks. We then walked into the old town and across the river, where we stopped for a drink in the Slug and Lettuce. The bar man who served us was quite new and gave Bhavni a drink that defiantly was not ginger beer, but it got sorted straight away. It was nice sitting out of the chill overlooking the river and having a drink. We then walked to “Le Piano” which was a vegetarian/vegan restaurant. The food was slightly strange, some bits nicer then others. I had a burger in a gluten free bun, with veg chips, whilst Bhavni’s had rice and aubergine which was not that great. The hot chocolate was not bad – and it was made with coconut milk.

After dinner we got back to the hotel and I tried to watch a bit of TV, but soon I was asleep.

Friday 12th

So no lie in today as I had got up around 7.15. We got ready and went for breakfast – It was a continental breakfast with some cooked options. We had porridge on top of the continental and I had poached eggs also. We got out and I left Bhavni relaxing in the room, whilst I went to the spa, for my massage, that Bhavni insisted I have, at 9am. After the massage, I went downstairs where Bhavni just walked in for her massage. So I relaxed in the spa, with Bhavni joining me a little later.

We then got ready and after initially thinking of taking the bus walked into town as we could not be bothered to wait. It was just as well as we got into town without seeing a bus. We stopped at a cafe, for a pannini. I had an americano and Bhavni had an ice cream take away. It was quite cool seeing places we saw around 5 years earlier and remembering taking photos then, such as cliffords tower. We had quite a long walk around seeing the city before we decided it was time to go to Betty’s tea room. We found the shop and went upstairs, but it smelt quite a bit so we left before getting a place. So we thought we would go to an alternative place, but there was another Betty’s tea room ahead, which we went to. There was around a 20 minute queue, before we got seated, ordering one afternoon tea between us, and some special sandwiches – nice. We then had another walk around before heading back to the hotel. There was a brief panic about loosing the camera cover, which was in the bag, so we managed to get back just a bit before the sun set.

So we had a little time to relax in the hotel room, before we got ready and drove into town, parking in the same car park as the day before. We again made our way into the town proper and scouted the restaurant since it was on a weird side street – it looked OK. We had some time we went to the Slug and Lettuce again, much busier today. I had pint,  whilst Bhavni had a mocktail (which was 241 which we did not no about). The dinner at Krakatoa was surprisingly nice, mix of indian and thai flavours.

Getting back we were awake enough to watch King Julian on netflix.

Saturday 13th

So we went for the lie in – getting up at 7.45, so we could go for breakfast not to late. We both had porridge (with cinnamon) and I had my usual poached eggs, though I tried fried bread which was a mistake. After breakfast I went to the spa, leaving Bhavni in the room pretending to sleep, though she joined me 30 minutes later. So we got out by 11 finished packing and checked out.

We tried to drive to Harrigate, where we though we could stop for a bit, but  there was so much traffic around that area that we bypassed the center and carried on driving to Fountains Abbey. The road was a small country road and we had rain and hail on the way, which made for an atmospheric drive.

Getting in, the car parks (much to Bhavnis disbelief) were quite full, but we parked and changed into waterproofs as the weather was unpredictable, then made our way in. We were trying for a guided walk at 13:30, so we had a bit of time. Inside Bhavni realised she was peckish, but the restaurants further in were closed, so we just walked a bit until the talk/walk started. It was really quite cold, especially when standing still, accentuated by the sun going behind cloud cover. So even though it was quite an interesting talk, and the ruins of the abbey are hauntingly lovely, Bhavni soon began to have trouble concentrating – Lay brothers and choir priests, quarters, sheep crisis and trade – and after 40 mins or so, went back to the entrance cafe. I carried on with the tour which lasted another 30 minutes, with the sun finally coming back out near the end. Fun fact was that this was a sister abbey to Jervaulx abbey where we stayed 5 years ago.

After the walk I made my way back to the entrance and found Bhavni wondering if I’d been kidnapped. She had left some hot soup for me and we had some scones and tea. After Bhavni made a trip to the car to put on her warmer shoes we braved the cold again. This time to walk past the abbey and onto the water gardens, round the deer park and back to the entrance. I dont really think the deer park and the walk near the main road are worth it, but the water gardens are nice.

We got back and found ourselves leaving at around 4.20. We had come quite north, so it even took some time to go past the York exits. If we drove straight to London, we could get there for 9ish, but we thought we should get some food on the way. Bhavni booked Jamies Italian in Milton Keynes for 8.45 as that was the earliest booking available. Fine, we got there just a bit past 8 (odd place to drive and park), so just stayed at the bar till time having a drink. I was disappointed that the polenta chips were not vegitarian, so we had to settle for fried pasta parcels and breads and dips for starters which were generally nice. However mains were a disaster. My pasta was weird with lentils and spices, giving a weird taste, Bhavni ordered and Ariabiata, and gave me what she thought was a cheese covered pepper garnish which I put in my mouth. It was not that – it was a slice of scotch bonnet, so I was in a bit of pain for 5 mins. But her pasta really had no flavor bur chilly. We could not even have dessert after that. Setting back out, we manged to get back home near 11pm.

5th December Saturday

An early start today as the flight was at 6.50am. So after barely 2 hours sleep, I woke up at 3am, followed by Bhavni, getting out the door at 4am. It was a clear run to Luton, where we parked in the mid term parking and immediately got on the bus to the terminal, meaning we were quite early (80 minutes until the gate was even announced). So we sat and got a coffee whilst Bhavni got on with the work she had to do on the laptop. Soon enough we were boarding for our flight – which was good (We were told our bags would have to go in the hold but due to me not reading our boarding pass we got the bags stored at the front).

Arriving in Barcelona we got out of security quickly and got a map from the tourist info, before heading to the train station and getting a train to Passeig de Gràcia (T10 ticket). The station was around a 15 minute walk to the hotel – H10 Art Hotel. Our room at this time (10.30am) was not ready yet so we sat in the lounge and Bhavni carried on with her work. I think the guys felt sorry for us as very soon they gave us a room, however the room given was a really basic inner room, so we went down and soon enough (after showing the booking and saying we would never go for the basic room), we were given a correct room. We stayed in the room until around 1.30, which was the time required for Bhavni to finish the work, me to check it and then submit it.

We got freshened up and then headed out, taking a walk to La Sagrada Familia. We decided to just join the line instead of pre book. Well as we approached, La Sagrada Familia suddenly came into view and Bhavni said “what is that ?” – surprise! Well we got into line and got our ticket for 3.45, so we had enough time to get a pancake, before going in (at 3.30). It is a cool space with the interesting faces on the sides with the completely different styles. Inside, its a massive space, they had put in the stained glass since I was in last, so the light was nice, with the palm columns. Bhavni was impressed by the structure. We had got the audio guide, but I was disappointed with them as the order we had to go was reverse the original order, so it kept referring to items we had not seen yet.

After leaving, we walked down towards Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, stopping on the way at a cafe, for coffee/drinks and bread with olive oil and tomato. We got a good view of La Sagrada Familia whilst walking. The hospital is a UNESCO site, and was a nice looking building (where a colleague of Bhavni’s worked for a while). After looking around we walked round the hospital, up hill then towards Park Guell, which was amusing as Bhavni kept on saying “are we carrying on” and we did – just to see around the next corner. By the time we arrived it was getting quite dark, so after abandoning taking photos, we walked down towards Garcia neighborhood.

We spent a bit of time (mostly window) shopping in the neighborhood. Getting hungry we went into “the pasta factory”, where we had some really nice pasta for dinner all for under 25 euros. We then made our way back to the hotel (quite a long walk) and crashed early.

6th December Sunday

We woke up at 8am today, getting downstairs for our buffet breakfast. Lots of tea, fruit and bread (along with a few hash browns just for me). We managed to leave by 10.15, walking down Les Ramblas to Plaça Reial. We were early, so after registering and getting our little stickers with “runner bean tours”, we explored for around 15 minutes.

At 11am we got back and were introduced to our guide, Catherine originally from Ireland.

The walk was in the old town or Gothic quarter over the next 2.5 hours. The tour took us first to Plaça del Pi and the Bascilla there, before going to the old Jewish Quater with the stories of the persecution there. We found that it was really busy, it turns out that we had picked a bank holiday weekend till Tuesday for our trip. So it was a struggle getting to Plaça Sant Jaume, which was busy with the “christmas” markets as such (though they believe in a log with a smiley face over the holiday). We then went to the cathedral of Barcelona and into the Cathedral cloister, which was open to the public today due to the holiday. We then went to the quiet Plaça Sant Felip Neri, then saw parts of the old Roman City, before heading to Plaça del Rei and finally to Santa María del Mar (the peoples church).

After the walk we asked about where to go for food and were advised of a place for now and one for dinner. We walked past the massive line to the Picasso museum, and decided it was not worth the wait. The place recommended was a tapas bar, where the service was a bit lack luster. We had three tapas; nacho’s, fried peppers and tomato bread.

We had a walk around the little shops, and through the Parc de la Ciutadella, seeing the Arc de Triomf before getting to the Palau de la Música Catalana for around 5.30. We got in and had to stay in the crush for a bit, before we could go into the hall and to our seats. It was really full (unlike when I had booked), but our seats were not bad at all.

When Carmen started – I realized it was not Spanish, but French, not that it helped understand much more. Its amazing how much of the music you recognize. During the break we went down and got a coffee/sparkling water, before going back in. Bhavni had a wee little siesta.

Finishing we exited and went looking for the restaurant that we had been recommended – well we went round the place and it did not exist, but instead there was another pure vegetarian restaurant close by called Teresa Carles (so probably the same place). It was a 25 minute wait for the table. The food was not bad, but not that amazing either – Bhavnis “pizza” was a little burnt.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and did a bit of reading into Montserrat.

7th December Monday

We had decided to go to Montserrat today, which involved an early wake up at 7am, so we could have an early breakfast. We got our stuff together, walked to Diagonal station and caught the green line until Espenia station, where we went to the trains. With the help of a guide we got tickets – upgrading to the return trip with both funicular journeys. The train was meant to leave at 9.36am, but it was delayed leaving with us having to move carriages – but luckily we still managed to get seats.

The train arrived at the cable car station at around 11am, and we had to wait for the second cable car to go up – it was a bit of a squeeze. Well is was quite misty with further peaks harder to see. Hopefully it would clear a bit I thought. Anyway we had a little wonder around, and had a not very helpful conversation with the info staff there. We then joined the main queue to go into the monestry. It took around 30 minutes to go inside – which was not bad as i thought it would be a lot longer – in the mean time the clouds thickened and it started drizzling in earnest (luckily we were sheltered). In side we passed lots of religious artifacts and alcoves, which then culminated in the statue of the Virgin Mary, which pretty much everyone kissed as they went through (the bit that was not encased in glass). We did not, but it was amusing that Bhavni did not notice the view behind down into the main chamber of the church. We then after exiting and going through the candle area, entered the main chamber and sat for a bit, where Bhavni noticed where she had been.

After we went to the funicular’s and caught the one down to have a look around (we did not feel like walking to the black statue). We got a few photos of the very misty scenery, before heading back up (trains were at half summer frequency). We then took the funicular to the top (with the first proper Indian family – that I have seen the whole holiday – talking loudly). As we went up, everything disappeared into the fog, so that at the top we had only 50m or so visibility. We stayed up only enough to get a few shots and look at the exhibits there, before getting the same train down and proceeding to the cable car. It was a good thing we did as there was a queue there due to lunch break. We were just able to get on the next cable car down, and make the train which arrived 5 minutes later, back to Barcelona.

Back in Barcelona, we arrived back at Espenia, where we got out, and as it was late for lunch, we went to the shopping mall right next to it and had pancakes and bagels for lunch. We then walked out past the magic fountain (and the car show that was on) and up the hill (using the many escalators) to the art museum. It had already closed at 3pm, so we walked around into the Olympic park, taking our time and waiting for sunset near the communications tower. As we had plenty of time we walked back to Espenia and to the Arena for some shopping.

We made our way back to the musical fountain for the 7.30 show, or no show… so we waited for the next scheduled one at 8, which did not happen either. Well that was 45 minutes of waiting for no reason. So we got the train back to the hotel and got our selves ready for dinner.

We went to a restaurant called Margerita, which was a couple of blocks away and had some great reviews. It was quite busy, but we got a table and had some nice starters (including a massive ball of cheese – mozzarella), a nice pizza and stuffed ravioli for mains, with a nice half bottle of wine to accompany it. Recommended.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and booked park Guell for tomorrow and then called it a night.

8th December Tuesday

I got up at 7.30 today as we had to pack before having breakfast. After which we checked out, leaving our two bags for collection later. To go to park Guell, the reception suggested we take bus 24 from outside the station, however that turned out to be a mistake as two 24 buses came and refused to stop as they were really full. So in the end we took the train to Lesseps and walked to the park (getting a coffee on the way). Its not that bad getting up the hill as they have escalators to help. We made it there around 11.10am, and went into the park proper.

Gaudis park is quite different with lots of weird flowing shapes and terraces. We started at the top, through the odd walkways with their different columns. After which we spent a bit of time in the show grounds area, which was really busy. There were great views of the city and the sun was out. So after chilling for a bit we went through the gardens (which were not that interesting) then to the entrance stairway and then the columned area underneath.

After avoiding the person doing modeling we proceeded out of the park and above it, where I sat in the sun on a park bench for a bit listening to a busker playing the guitar. We then went down to Lesseps and caught the train to Drassanes, which was the closest station to the sea front on that line. From there we walked over the “Rambles de mar”, a bridge over the docks to the shopping mall there. We had a little look round the shops there before getting a ice cream and looking out over the water. We could see the W hotel from here.

We then walked back over the bridge and had a wonder through the old town near Las Ramblas. As it was lunch time we had it at a falafel place, which was quite good – I got some excellent chips. It was exhausting watching the lady serving as she was doing so many jobs at the same time. We then found our way to a shop which sold aprons (that Bhavni wanted to see from our walking tour), where we got a couple more presents.

We then went back near the hotel and wondered around the shops there, before calling it a day and having a couple of crepes with spiced tea.

Getting back to the hotel, we did a final pack in the lobby (which was a real struggle as there we had bought a decent amount of stuff on top of nearly full bags). We headed out at 6pm to Diagonal then the train to the airport at Passeg de Gracia. At the airport we went through security and all I wanted to do was sit down as I was really feeling unwell with the cold. So much so that when we got on the plane I knocked out for most of the flight (having told Bhavni I was sitting next to the window).

Back in Luton, we got to the car around 10.30 as the buses were a bit slow, meaning we got back home at 11.20 after a stop to get milk.

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Wednesday 5th August – Tuesday 11th August

The 5th started like a normal day – got to work before 7.30am and had most of the morning before leaving at 11am. Our taxi pickup (for parentage, Bhavni and I) arrived at 1.30pm, for Heathrow T2. In the airport we surprised parentage by seeing them in the lounge. Soon it was time to fly, to Istanbul, then Nairobi.

We arrived on the morning of the 6th at 7.30ish and after getting out, we were picked up by a taxi for a surprisingly short trip to Bidwood apartments where we were staying. After a brief rest and freshening up, we went to Mitens new apartment, for a blessing ceremony, where we met everyone. After we went to slush for pizza and bujyas. The girls left first, then the rest slowly left. I left an hour later with Miten. We went to Surya Masi’s house and did some other errands before getting back to the apartments and getting ready for the informal dinner in the evening. Rishul and Rakhee just were not going to make it today, as there were no spaces on standby, so they booked a real ticket, and we figured out what of our stuff they could leave for Rakesh to take back. I spent some time making chocolate box replacements.

The morning of the 7th we went to OC for the Lagnotri. This is after sorting up Mitens bad wardrobe choices. I did not realise I would be on stage so much. After the late lunch, we had a bit of time back at Bidwood. We then got ready, then spent time getting Miten ready (man not sharp). Rishul and Rakhee had arrived and had got our bag for the clothes tonight. We then went back to the OC for the meet and greet reception, which involved standing in a line shaking hands for a while.

On the 8th, we had lunch at the OC. After we had a bit of time at Bidwood, where we got Miten organised (hey sage, I like your trousers – I’m taking that). We then had to convoy to the Lions Club as only Meera knew where it was. Was a late drunken night, with trying to  get the polorieds working somewhere in there and Mitens and Bijals first dance.

We had a day on the 9th with no official events, but a Karoga at “Curry in Hurry” where we had plenty of food. We had a brief visit to Bijals cousins party.

The morning of the 10th, we were at the OC for the Mandwho, where I had to be on stage again. After we had a photo session for the nearly wedded couple, before lunch. In the evening we had dinner (Kantis) at the OC.

D Day – the 11th. We were up nice and early and I went down to make sure the breakfast buffet for everyone was set up – which of course it was not, but eventually it was set up, and even another wedding party started to use it. Miten was finally stressed in the morning due to Kenyan timing to get to OC. When there, things moved quickly again, and it was fun as the Jaan entered from a large disco party bus. Again I was on stage lots, and soon enough Miten and Bijal were married. We went to Mitens flat in progress for the walking in ceremony, though we had to wait 25mins for the builders to open up the building. Bhavni and I went and got changed before the dinner at OC. In the evening we went to a hotel for drinks, before bidding bye for the night to the married couple.

Wednesday 12th Aug

A day to chill. We picked up Meera from her parents house and drove to village market, where we had a coffee and deserts after some brief window shopping. In the evening we went visiting where we had dinner – pani puri and masala dosa. We left nearly at 12am for the apartments.

Thursday 13th Aug

Today was a really early start – I had the alarm go off at 4.30, as Miten had said that he wanted to be on the road by 6am. Breakfast again was the weird slow affair it always was, with Rishul and Rakhee being first down and served after us. Our 3 land cruisers arrived at 5.40ish, but it was still after 6am before we were loading up. One of the land cruisers went directly to Bijals house, whilst the other two went to get ice from Nakumet UK first. After loading up all the others there, we hit the road – 6.40am. Most of us in our Land Cruiser (Miten, Bijal, Rishul, Rakhee, Bhavni and I) were asleep soon enough, but woke up (well I woke them up) as we got to the rift valley for some photos. Still it was a long way to go, so we entertained our selves on the way with some music.

We tuned off the main road onto the dirt track – still a couple of hours to go. This was the hot dusty part, with the main excitement our cruiser being hit a little by another one. We arrived around 2pm at Tipilikwani camp, where we were shown to our rooms. They got it slightly wrong – we were given twin rooms and the single was a king size – so we swapped. After a quick freshening up we went and had some lunch, which had some nice soup.

It was then a 4pm game drive. It took 10 minutes to get into the park proper, but wow – wilderbeasts everywhere. We also had a a few of the usual gazelles, giraffes and zebras around. We managed to find a small pride of lions. We all were amused at how lazy the males seemed to be in the evening and how well they blended into the grasses. We also saw a few buffalo from afar. We then had a stop near the river to see any crocs and the hippos there from a high bank.

Finally we stopped in a grassy area and had had a champaign toast with all of us as the sun set. It was then a drive back to the lodge, but this time we got off at the bridge which went straight from the park to the buildings.

We had dinner (with a masi dance as well) before retiring to bed.

Friday 14th

So today we had decided to go on a morning balloon safari ride. Nilesh, Bindal, Jaiveer, Miten, Bijal, Nirav, Bhavni and I had booked on for the balloon ride. Bhavni and I were up at 4.30 again, as we had the pick up at 5am (though with Kenyan timing it was 5.15am) I even managed to fill up the hot bottle. The drive to the fig tree camp where the balloons took off from took about 20 minutes in the almost pitch black. At the camp we signed in and I had a coffee whilst we waited. After about 15 minutes there was a rush to get us out to the balloons in the fading twilight. We had the short walk to the balloon – number 6, which was piloted by “captain Brain”.

We had to get in the basket whilst it was lying sideways as there was quite a breeze going on. Soon the fire was on and the balloon was filling up. Brian told us to hold on as the balloon righted its self and after a couple of bounces we were aloft. Straight away we were over a giraffe – completely different view. We saw lots and lots of animals; the big herds of wilderbeasts, zebras, giraffes and even lions in the distance. From low down you could see animals clearly, but at the max hight of 2000′ they seemed like ants and were hard to make out often. We had quite a few photos taken whilst up there and it was nice to see the sun rise. We had to land before the Mara river, which gave us a good hour before our bumpy landing (better than other balloons which landed before).

We were then picked up from our landing site and driven to our champaign breakfast, having a mini safari on the way – as we saw Lions and hippos. We had the last table with a vegetarian food area for us – this was good as it felt more like sitting in the wilderness. Most of the food was good – except for something white which we could not figure  out. Our amusement was an angry Chinese women who got upset when joining our queue when she saw someone picking up food with their hands – though she walked away soon when she realised it was all veg food. Brian gave us our certificates and tried to sell us a memory stick for $50.

We chilled for a while, until the rest of the group came and caught up with us. We jumped into the car with Bindal, Jaiveer and Nilesh, for the game drive. We saw quite a few of the herd animals around as we did our tour, slowly making our way to the mara river again. Here we saw some elephants eating the vegetation. They eventually left and we parked up for lunch here having a picknick. I was persuaded to have some wine. I had to make sure everyone picked up their rubbish in the end.

After lunch we drove to the top of a nearby hill which gave us a great lookout over the surrounds. We then drove to the Sand River crossing as we had heard the wilderbeasts were crossing there, but when we arrived they had stopped as their had been a kill. We saw the probable culprit for it – a lioness who crossed the river into the Serengeti.

From here we all slit up in different directions. Bhavni and I jumped ship into the jeep with Nirmal, Rajvi and Anji. It just so happened that Rishuls Jeep also followed us. We suddenly saw something we were not expecting – 2 Rhinos. We got some shots – but Rishul got better as his car followed them, whilst our driver went back for another Jeep, after they got too far from the road. With some more roaming around (and Bhavni recognised the area) we saw a cheetah.

We eventually got back at around 5, crossing the bridge into the camp. After a rest and freshening up we went for dinner (laughing at Rajvis slo mo video). There was also an anniversary cake served for one of Bijals cousins.

Saturday 15th

So we had the option of a morning game drive before heading back to Nairobi. Well I managed to wake up by 5am again, but Bhavni decided to have a lie in instead – she was not the only one. There was a low turnout with most other halves not coming (including Rakhee). The morning ride was relaxing – seeing most of the big herds around, but apart from some hyenas and wild cats not many other big game, only a few kills that we had missed. We got back to the camp around 9am, where I met Bhavni for breakfast. We had a little time to sort our bags as we were meant to be on our way at 10am.

So at 11am we were finally on our way back. It was a really long journey back – which included a 1hour stop for lunch at a chip place – serving chips with sauce and other things like mandezi. I had Nirav and Nirmal insisting on tieing my shoelaces together.

We got back to Nairobi at around 7pm at Surya Masi’s house. We cleaned ourselves up and went for dinner at 8.30 to a local Chinese restaurant (Bhavni and family and Rishul/Rakhee). We managed to get back to Bidwood by 11am for a stay (Rishuls old room which was fixed of any problems, but he had a room where they had forgotten to put the hot water on). Miten on the other hand did not get in until much later.

Sunday 16th

So today we were both down for breakfast by 6.30 in the morning (with Rishul and Rakhee already there). After the quick breakfast, we climbed on board the hired jeep that had arrived and went and dropped a load of bags to Surya Masi’s house (as we did not need them with us). From here we started our drive to Tsavo national park.

It was not too bad going getting out of Nairobi as it was a Sunday – though I had to remind Miten of the need to point out places as it was the first time for R&R. After a couple of hours on the Mobasa freeway, we turned of down the dusty road towards the camp. After nearly an hour we had to stop as there was a new GSM checkpoint. So instead of letting us go – the person in charge said we would have to wait till 1.30 until another convoy was due to arrive (im not sure it was helped by the driver being convinced before that we could not go through). After Miten phoned the camp and they phoned the guards – the situation changed – we could go through, but only with an armed escort. Apparently Jeeps are being hijacked in the short stretch into the park. Well we could not really get around that, so after much delay, we has a GSM officer in the Jeep with his rifle. 20 minutes later we arrived at the park entry – where we said bye to the armed guard. It was another 15 minute wait whilst the ranger made out a bill of payment for us. Finally we were through and soon enough at Finch Hatons – It was now 1.30pm.

Well it was nice arriving, we were shown to our luxury “tents” – talk about glamping – where we quickly freshened up and then found ourselves back for lunch. What a lot of food for lunch; we really enjoyed it. After we decided to go to the pool area, to relax. As usual Miten was running behind us. A gentleman was chilling in the shade, and asked me if I knew where Miten was – I said “he is just coming – and who are you ?” or words to that effect. He replied “Well Im…. well the chairman of this place”. Lol it was mitens Boss (boss). Anyway we had a small dip and chilled out there for a bit.

After we went to the watch tower for sunset, then made out way to our tents and got ready for the evening. Soon enough we found ourselves in front of the fire drinking a pre dinner cocktail, whilst a member of the camp played guitar. We then had our dinner which consisted of 6 courses. Not only that, but Mitens boss sent us a whole bottle of Dom Perignon, which actually was mostly drunk by Rishul and I.

After dinner, with most of us feeling sleepy, we went to the telescopes that they had and lazed around until we were all ready for bed – when we were escorted to our tents (as animals wonder the grounds), where we retired for the night.

Monday 17th

Today started of lazier. We woke up at 8.30 (which is kind of a big lie in so far). I managed to chill out overlooking the lake for a bit reading whilst Bhavni got ready. By 9.30 we went with Rishul and Rakhee to breakfast (as Miten and Bijal had only just woken up).

After a hearty breakfast (which also included veg eggs Benedict) we chilled near the pool area for a couple of hours, before another large lunch. We had a quick visit to the camps zoological tent with its maps and old bones before playing with the telescopes for a bit.

Soon enough it was 4pm and we gathered at the front of the camp for a game drive / sunset tour. Rakhee abstained from the trip as she was not feeling right. We saw a few animals – mostly giraffes and zebras, though there were a few buffaloes. It is much harder to see animals as there is a lot of bush, so your line of view is limited. After a while we went onto a proper dust track and headed towards the chyulu hills.

We actually ascended quite a bit to a forward camp that was set up on the hill, where we were served our selection of drinks. They opened up some canapés, and soon we had bees buzzing around us – apparently they can smell the water. Most of the group were running around like headless chickens avoiding the bees, until they set up a few sacrificial drinks on the side. The view was amazing as you could see all the small hills around and in the background – quite clearly, 2 of the peaks of Mt Kilimanjaro. We had plenty of time to relax before sunset when we took lots of shots.

We drove back in the dark – flashing torches to the side to see if we could see any nocturnal activity – unfortunately there were no animals around. Getting back to

camp, we got escorted to our rooms, freshened up and came back for dinner (stopping at the fire for a drink first). We ate upstairs where the telescopes are normally kept – which had been set up for a photo-shoot. They gave us some red light torches so we could eat in the dark, which we managed for a couple of the courses. For a while we had 4 people on their phones…. time to get a grip people.

After dinner we went back near the fire for a while, where Rishul and I tried to photograph stars, whilst having an after dinner drink, before we retired to our rooms for the night.

Tuesday 18th

We had decided to do a morning safari today, our last chance, so we had our wake up call at 5.30am, with some tea being placed in the room (though as usual I was awake earlier). We got ready, with the lovely view of the lake in the pre dawn light and headed to the camps entrance (accompanied). Rakhee had to give it a miss as was still not well.

Getting into the jeep we were on our way at 6.15am, with a bit of light around now. We spent a bit of time looking around the “watering hole”, seeing if we could see any predators. We saw a really big giraffe, which was right in the road staring us down. Some hyenas, and lots of zebra. After driving a bit we saw the elephants, first the females and children, and then the males – with a few with truly impressive tusks. The view of Mt Kilimanjaro was truly great from some of the spots, clear and massive.

We drove through some good off road tracks, past trees full of monkeys, until we eventually stopped in a large clear area. Here we got out and stretched out legs, whilst the guides removed to carrying cases, which contained china cups, tea and breakfast. There is something cool about having tea in china cups in the middle of the shrub with sounds of animals in the distance.

Heading back, we were on the lookout for our last of the big 5 – the leopard, but it seemed to elusive to see. Well nearly back at camp, we spotted one just on the lava stones near the road. It calmly walked around back up the hills, giving us ample time for photos. Going on the road to see if we could spot it again, we actually saw another one, ha smile on my face.

At the entrance to the camp, we took some photos of the entrance which is shaped to line up with one of Mt Kilimanjaro peak.Back at camp we indulged in breakfast – I got a eggs Benedict again. Talk about stuffed. We played with the telescopes a bit showing all they worked fine, just needed lining up, then we were treated to the “crocodile whisperer”. He was the head chef, and he called the crocodiles. He stood nearer the bank and threw a heavy stone so it reverberated on the ground, immediately a few of the crocs from the other side made a bee line to the source of the sound, with big ripples in the water. They approached the bank and then climbed out, plonking themselves near the edge. Soon enough (with a few more stones) there were half a dozen crocodiles not even 3m from us.

After this spectacle, we went to our rooms, to clear up and get ready for our departure. We settled up our park fees etc and then left at around 11.30. It took a little bit of time to get out of the park gate, as they questioned whether we paid. A few hours later of dusty roads, we were on the main Mobasa to Nairobi road. it all was going well until we were near Nirobi, where the traffic started building up. The original plan was to go to Surya Masis house, pick up the bags and then drop Rishul and Rakhee to the airport for their trip to Zanzibar. We altered that to go to the clinic and pick up some drugs for Rakhee. We got to the hospital closer to 7, where we had a one hour stop, as Rakhee was not feeling great. In the end Rishul changed the flight to the next day.

Getting back to Surya Masis, we had a nice simple meal, then Bhavni’s Kanti Mama and I did a drugs run for Rakhee. Getting back, my parents came over to see Rish and Rakhee and us. We after retired for the night.

Wednesday 19th

So the plan was to leave Rishul and Rakhee, to get a taxi to the airport this evening, whilst we left early to go to Nyeri. However, the girls decided to go beautify themselves at a hair place, so in the mean time I picked up parents from Dipuks house. We then had to wait for the girls to get back. So in the end we left at around 11.30. On the way we stopped in Thika, to go to someone’s house who mother had said she would try to, where we (after finding it) had some tea.

Carrying on, we got to Nyeri, for late lunch. All the children were around, with Rajvi and Anji. We had the said late lunch. My mother went to help out preparing food for tomorrow, while my father went by car to see the shop. Bhavni and I in the mean time got the children (reluctantly) together and walked to the shop. Slightly slower walking with the children, specially with Sanya trying to walk independently. We soon were at the shop, but Bhavnis father was not there after all that, so we walked back, via Bhavnis uncles shop. We managed to stop the children attacking the ice cream, then carried on our way back home.

Getting back the two fathers, and the children got in the car with me driving and we did a large round (in the end 60km), seeing some of the villages and towns around.

Getting back we got ready and headed to Sheila’s apartment complex for the pizza party

at the top. Miten and Bijal eventually arrived near 8pm, for some cake cutting and pictures.

After we took two cars to drop my parents and Miten and Bijal to Aberdare country club for the night. We got slightly lost on the way back as they were doing road improvements. (pity no one agreed to my suggestion as it was the correct one in the end).

Bhavni and I, after meeting at home, went to Sheila aunties house for the night

Thursday 20th

So I was up by 7am, and after getting ready, with Bhavni, we had a little bit of food – few were up, then went to the house. There was no need to rush as nearly everyone were still getting up. So instead of sending the driver our, Bhavni and I went to Aberdare country club to pick up mother. She was waiting for us, so after a brief drink of tree tomato juice, we went back, leaving father to go get a massage and go later with Miten and Bijal.

We dropped mother directly to the majanwari, then went home to help with the food at home, completing the deserts.

Bijals family all arrived in a big bus, and we served them dome food and drinks, entertaining until it was time to go to the majanwari. This turned out to be unusual as Bijals relatives helped serve food (where they were meant to be the guests). Bhavni and I gave out chocolates.Whilst Bhavni and I were helping Miten, Bijal and the crew went to Outspan for a while, but came back before we had a chance to help them. We then returned to the house and did some more entertaining until the bus load with Bijals relatives departed.

Miten was umming and ahhing about when to leave, but in the end stayed and had a light dinner with my parents and Nirav, leaving to go back at 7.30.

After they departed, we chilled for a bit then went with the parentage to Outspan hotel, for a coffee in front of a real fire, generally the hotel had gone downhill even since I have known it, they could not make a decent cup of tea for Bhavni. But the fire was nice.

After dropping parentage home, we went to sleep at Sheila’s house again, where there were people awake. But I had to retire a bit earlier.

Friday 21st

We awoke early to a grey day. We got ready and joined the guys for breakfast, before leaving and going to the house. We spent a bit of the morning chilling and not doing much, until Bhavni and the kids went shopping to buy shoes, whilst I went to the market for some supplies with Bhavni’s mother, for dinner and some fruit to have. Back at the house we had lunch, but there was too much going on, so in the end Bhavni and I took the children to Greenhills for entertainment. Neer played football, whilst Saanya and Prisha played on the swings. It was cold… but I still got my beer, and chilled reading, until all the children came and we had a couple of portions of chips.

Back at the house, I made dinner – Satay stir-fry with noodles – Adult and children versions, with Rajvi saying kids wont eat… Well I managed to get Neer to try after a while of persuasion, and soon enough Neer and Prisha had a bit. Only Saanya (as usual) would not comply.

After the rest of us ate, though one of Bhavni’s uncles would not eat it – even with me bullying him saying even the children ate.

After chilling in the evening, we went back to Sheila’s house to sleep the night.

Saturday 22nd

We woke to the sun shining today – thats a change. So after having breakfast we went to the house and packed our bags, which took a while as things needed rearranging a few times.

So after lunch, we went for a ride – all in one car – with the children and Anji in the boot. We went for a good drive to Nyeri Hills, as high as we could get (as right near the top, the road became 4×4 only). From here we had a great view of Mt Kenya, with only a bit of clouds near the peak. We showed the children (and the bigger kids) some of the crops and how they grow (eg maize, banana, tea and coffee).

After driving back, we had a bit of ice cream together, before Bhavni and I got ready and left – By this time with the last minuite things that always happens it was 5pm. Now with the road getting darker, we ended up getting lots of tail backs, with people driving 40kph (probably as they could not see) and the random delays with the zebra crossings on the freeway. All in all, it was a much longer journey back, with Miten wondering where we were, and having to rearrange dinner.

We arrived around 9pm at Surya Masis, and with Miten and Bijal waiting for us, went to a place called the Phanitian, where we met Bindal and Nirav and Yugna, for some tepenyaki. It was nice, but as usual filling.

After we all went to Art Cafe, meeting Kanti Mama, for a coffee. By the time we left it was nearly 1am – time for bed, But Miten had other ideas and took us to a place called Sizzle and Spice – against us protesting. This was because it was a sheesha parlour. Ok so an hour later after talking to some drunk people, we were out of there and back to Surya Masis for the last night.

Sunday 23rd

Waking up at 6.30, I had to knock on Mitens door to get him up, so we left by 7.30 for the airport. Weird having to get out of the car to walk past the security point. Well we checked in, then I managed to get back out of the airport and meet Miten and Bijal for a final coffee.

We went in and after security, sat in Java for the remainder of the time before the flight. The first leg to Istanbul was not bad – we had a spare seat in the middle. In Istanbul airport we had a bit of dessert and then a walk around all the shops we had blindly missed on our way to Kenya.

The flight to UK was much more annoying, first some family were sitting in our seats as they had been split up, which after would have been ok, but even after resolving, we had kicking children in front. Back in London, Minul picked us up.

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10th July

It was Bhavnis Birthday today. So with us getting up at 5.30, and with everyone wishing her a happy birthday, we left at 7am (30 mins later than we planned). We did not hit too much traffic though but it was a bit hard due to the early start. So our pit stop was north of Birmingham, where we had some breakfast. Half an hour later we were back on our way north, past Manchester, then Lancaster on the M6. Driving past Kendal and Windemere and onto Ableside, where we saw our first view of Lake Windermere near Waterhead. It was around 12:15 when we parked out car and checked into our B&B for the next two nights (Hillsdale). Offloading the car and meeting the hosts (George and Lindsey) we put out bags into the 3rd floor room, and after a quick freshening up we were out within the half hour, parking our car just down the road near the church.

It was a quick 2 minute walk to the town centre, where we had a look at the tourist information (post office), to see if there was any information that would be useful to us. There were a few guides for sale, as well as OS maps, but not really any lists of walks. So instead we had lunch at a local cafe, a baked potato and soup of the day, with tea and coffee.

We then walked to Waterhead which was around 10 minutes away. We got to the park at the end and chilled for a little while on a bench looking over the lake. We got some ice cream and then made our way back towards town.

Getting to the car, we went for a drive. Initially we were aiming for the wast water region near Wasdale (which is really close to Scafell pike). Well we drove past the turning we should have taken, but we ended up near Blea tarn which looked pretty. So we parked at the car park and went for a walk around the lake. It was very gentle so even without our walking shoes it was ok. We saw some people coming back from a longer walks from much more tougher paths. At the end we had to go back on the road back to the car park. We carried on driving the loop back and then parked back at Ambleside. We had 3 hours until dinner so we went to the room and rested for a bit before freshening up and going out at 8pm.

We had a little walk around town looking at the old buildings before having a drink. We got to Doi Intanon (thai restraunt) for 8.45, where we had some nice tempura, corn cakes and a really hot green curry.

It was then back to the B&B after for the night.

11th July

Getting up we were ready and heading downstairs for breakfast at 8.45. Sitting at our assigned table we had cereal, followed by a veg full English for me and toast and beans for Bhavni. After breakfast George gave us some advice about walks and suggested to walk to Grasmere direct from Ambleside – there were two routes; the coffin route and the terrace route. We decided to take the terrace route.

The walk started at the post office, through the town, but soon enough we were in a park and then heading down a quiet country lane, following a river. After some stepping stones and a photo opportunity there, we joined another path that took us slowly up overlooking the river “lakes”. This was the terrace and had some nice views. We came here to a famous cave which we had a look in (Bhavni managed a good photo waiting when there were no people in her shot). Slowly the route then descended to the lake and we eventually found our self in Grasmere. After a bit of window browsing, we went to eat. There was a nice looking place, but the outdoor area was full so we tried another place, sat down, but realised there was little in vegetarian food, so we went back to the first place. After all that we had a place outside.

As the sky had gone really cloudy and George had said the forecast was for afternoon rain, we took the bus back to Ambleside (after getting the ginger biscuits that were recommended) – Rip off at £4 per person for 10 minutes – oh well. Back in Ableside we visited the smallest house – where we had a really nice chat with the National trust lady there, about history and the general surrounds. After we walked to the nearby falls – 15 minutes walk or so, where we chilled for a bit on a small rock overhanging before going back to town.

Back in town Bhavni bought a local road map, then we got into the car and drove to Wray castle (it was around 4pm). The outside is really cool, but the inside is really strange (old naval training place), so much so that Bhavni wanted  to get out. After leaving we drove down the road near the lake as according to the map Bhavni bought – It did not tell us the road turned into a bridleway!

Going back round we drove to the car ferry terminal and joined the queue. It was £4 for a car, but we just missed getting on the ferry – so we turned round and drove back as there was no real time advantage of the ferry – just the experience. When we got back to Ambleside, we had a little time to get ready before we had to go to dinner. So it was at 8pm that we crossed the road and went into the vegetarian restaurant, Fallinis where we were given a corner table, next to a loud “couple” – luckily they left soon afterwards. We had roast onion salad which was nice. Then haloumi Kababs (not great) and hazelnut loaf which was better. For desert the fondant chocolate cake was very nice.

Back at the B&B we attempted to watch some comedy but were soon asleep.

12th July

Waking up we finished our packing before heading down for breakfast. We had similar to yesterday, except that Bhavni had hash browns and beans.

Soon we had checked out and loaded our car. Filling up fuel, we then headed to “the struggle”, a proper hill road that connected to the A592. As we got nearer the top we were soon enough in fog. We left the fog as the A592 descended down the Kirkstone pass. The scenery was really nice and brooding with the steel skies as we headed to the Ullswater, and round to Aria Force.

We parked at the National Trust car park there (free for us)  and started the walk up to the waterfalls. We took our time, with plenty of others walking it took time to get the ideal photos. As we were nearer the second stone bridge the light drizzle became a bit more prolonged – thank goodness for waterproofs. As we climbed higher, the rain stopped and slowly blue breaks were visable. At the top of the falls (past the high force fall), we just continued up along the river up towards the gate and through the farm lands. Climbing up the pike we were treated to brilliant views of the Ullswater, until we reached over the false peak and up to the peak. It was windy here, but the views were great – we could see north and views including keswick and the northern fells.  The sun was really out now and it was lovely as we began our gradual decent, around the hill and in front of the Ullswater.

Getting to the car park we got our tea and scones from the trust tea room – well deserved, before driving on. We took the less traveled route between the Great mell fell and the little mell fell and joined the A66 towards keswick past the northern fells. We turned on towards the Derwant water and drove to a place called the “Surprise”, which has a small hump bridge on the road and nice views of the hills and the Derwant. After a apple break we headed back past Keswick and then down past Grasmere and Ambleside. We headed towards Kendle and as we were hungry we stopped at the Hawkshead brewery for some chips and soup (with an ale for me). Though in retrospect we should have head the ale ice cream instead as it looked good. Bhavni drove the rest of the way home to London.

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Saturday 7th March

I had the feeling that Bhavni was getting the itch to go to visit Meera in Dubai as she had the week off. To that end I was looking at flights out for Sunday first thing in the morning. Around 11am Bhavni phoned up saying she wanted to go (did I also) but she was going to speak to others as she was meant to be going to an event or two in the week. Before 1pm she phoned saying she had cleared her schedule and that she was going to look for flights. Within the hour I saw an email for the e-ticket – for tonight ! I would just have to leave a little earlier to drop her.

Going downstairs I let everyone know – then the next thing was that I was being told off by everyone why I was not going (Meena, Shelina, Arun and Parents). So I phoned up Bhavni gingerly asking to book another ticket. Surprised she managed to book one as the travel agent was open a bit later for some reason. Soon I had another e-ticket and I online checked in, leaving the shop by 4pm (With Aruns lounge access card). I got back home before Bhavni and started the packing. She came a little later and we were just ready for the pickup at 5.30. We got to T3 and checked in. Birjus requested 18year Japanese whiskey was not available, so we went and sat in the Airport lounge, until out 9pm flight.

Sunday

After the long flight, we landed in the morning, in Dubai. Disembarking we followed the crowed and got through immigration, then picked up our one bag. We got a taxi and gave the directions that Meera had provided (Umm Suqeim 3) near Jumerai Beach. There was a bit of traffic around so it took a bit of time to get there with us directing as best as we could. It was sunny with quite blue skies, but we could not really see much of the famous skyline as the whole place was hazy due to massive sandstorms that had happened. It was so hazy that we got our first view of the Burj Khalifa when we were only a couple of miles away. All the other tall building seemed to loom out of the murk all the way to Meeras house. Arriving at what we assumed to be her house we paid the taxi and walked up the drive; it was her house – she heard us and opened the door.

We had a bit of breakfast catching up, then went for a shower and a bit of sleep whilst Meera finished her errands. After a couple of hours of rest we all caught a taxi and headed to Meena Bazzar. Meera asked the taxi driver to drop us to a certain area, but he dropped us to a different place, so it took a bit to orient our selves. We went to a pure veg Indian fast food restaurant and had a couple of dishes – quite cheap and not bad. From here we then went to a jewellers – 3 hours later….. Bhavni had bought a wedding present for Bijal. The only plus point is I had a massala Chai.

By now it was dark outside so we went to Dubai Mall where we would meet Birju for dinner. We had a bit of an explore looking at some of the shops and the indoor aquarium. We then went outside to see the dancing water show in front of the Burj. Well if you have seen the ones in Vegas, there is not much difference. After some dodgy photo shooting, we went to Waffi Express, where we met Birju. We enjoyed the Lebanese food. After we all walked into the other shopping Bazzar having an ice cream before going home, where we chilled for a bit before retiring got the night.

Monday

I was up quite early, but no-one was up in the morning so I went back to bed for a bit – which meant that inevitably I missed saying morning to Birju. Bhavni and I had a nice breakfast with Meera – I got to poach eggs. We then all bundled in Meeras car and drove towards the Palm.

It was actually an easy drive to get onto the palm. We wanted to go right to the end near Atlantis, as the monorail terminus that we were going to ride was near there. The roads are really badly marked so we ended going the wrong way and in a bid to get back we ended up on the spine driving back again and looking for a turning. A weird round about later we managed to get there and park on the road outside the hotel (Valet parking was £50). We boarded the monorail and went up and down the palm. You get a better view of the palm and the sheer scale of it but its still a little hard to appreciate it still. Lots and lots of accommodation.

After the monorail, we wondered into the Altantis hotel, looking at the different areas and aquarium before having afternoon tea there. We ordered 2 afternoon teas (which came with 4 different teas) and a club sandwich. We were pleasantly surprised by the food and enjoyed the different teas.

After we had our fill we drove back, stopping at a supermarket for buying a cake. We then just relaxed at the house for a while. We then went to Biju’s aunts house for dinner, where we had a pau baji and chips. Birju met us there. They had a good view of the Burj from the house. After dinner we went back to Meeras house and went to bed soon after.

Tuesday

I actually got up at the right time to meet Birju on the table before he had to go to work. After Bhavni was up, we had a lazy breakfast before Meera drove us to the Hall of the Emirates. We parked on a side that Meera had never parked at before, so it took a bit to get her bearings, but soon enough we were at the Thrifty car hire counter. Now instead of the cheapest car, we ended up hiring a VW Passat. So saying bye to Meera I drove out slowly – obviously the first problem was that there was no exit ticket – so a few minutes of annoying the cars behind us.

So even after discussing what we were doing, we were soon going the wrong way on the moterway, so we had to turn around. We got off and went round the block, but this would only allow us back in the wrong direction. So another try around the block, but we tried to follow the signs for a petrol station; we ended up stuck in a MOT test center – a few Ferrari’s and other nice cars were there, but it took us a while to get out. Bhavni is not that relaxed in these situations. So after going round 4 blocks, we were finally able to get on the moterway the correct way. Petrol was getting a bit low for our liking, so we kept a lookout for a fuel station, but only found one as we were leaving Dubai – Cheap. It was then a nice hour drive to Abu Dhabi.

At the end we still took a few wrong turn before finding our selves at the famous Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. We parked and then approached. Bhavni was not wearing her shawl so we got directed to the fitting rooms for Bhavni to put on a black costume. We then were able to go in. The structure outside is really nice and white, with the blue pools around. As we went inside (taking our shoes off), we found out the inside is almost an immense hall, carpeted with chandeliers hanging. We followed the tour route looking at the opulent surroundings before leaving and returning Bhavnis costume.

We then drove right into town to the Etihad Towers, where we valeted the car around 3pm. Going to reception we called Sonali and were soon met by her, where we got shown around the hotel and the observation level on some high floor. We could see the vast complex that will be the Sheiks new extra home.

Getting back to the room, we had coffee and soon after Kalpesh arrived. They had planned on taking us for a bit of food, so we soon were walking to a nearby Hilton hotel to the Waffi Express there for a bit of a full late lunch. We then had a walk down the Corniche (relaxed as Bhavni and Sonali took a leisurely pace). Soon it was dark, but we got to the end point of the walk (with a few shops and ice cream parlours), which normally is quite crowded, but was empty today.

Walking back all of us were a bit dehydrated, but our next stop was the Palace hotel, were we took the obligatory phtotos and then went to Hakkasan for dinner (even more food but nice). By the time we had finished it was nearly 11pm, so we quickly went to their hotel to get our stuff before starting the drive back to Dubai.

The drive back was easy and we manged to get all the way back to Meeras house without getting lost. Birju luckily was awake and opened the door for us.

Wednesday

Today we took our time getting up, having a late start. We had breakfast with Meera, before leaving her (as she had cleaners coming) to drive to the Mall of the Emirates as we had to return the rental car. Getting there was not that hard and we were soon parked and approaching the Thrifty shop. “Sorry Mr Shah, we tried to get in contact with you” – it turned out that they should have not rented us the car as it was not clean enough. But by the time they realised we must have been stuck in the Dubai motorway madness. Anyway I left Bhavni to sort out the paperwork whist I showed the car to the person. By the time I got back (nothing wrong with the car), Bhavni had finished. 20 Dhirums discount for the dirty car.

So we went shopping in the Mall of the Emitrates, first to Patchi, to get some chocolates, then a wonder around all the way to see the indoor ski slope. We then took the Metro (helpful guard) to downtown and the Dubai Mall. Getting off, it was around a km walk in the raised walkways to get to the mall. We did a little wondering around the mall, taking pictures of the waterfall and the paper butterflies in the fashion area, before we had some food – wraps and Nandos chips. After a bit more wondering around we went out and caught a taxi – took us a while to find where the taxi rank was.

Getting back to Meeras place, we found that some of her cleaners had not come, so we chilled for a bit until it was confirmed that the cleaner was not coming. We then went for a walk down to the beach and also to the Park that was there.

Back at Meeras house we had a little wait until Birju came come, then we were off the Jamies Kitchen in the Jumeriah Beach Hotel. I really enjoyed my Expresso Martini with the food. Though was a bit annoyed that the waiter thought we were fresh indians who would not like Polenta Chips… Bhavni tried to pay for the dinner – and would have succeeded, but gave Birju his credit card back before the waiter had actually taken the cash.

Well we all just went back to the house and after a bit all hit the hay as we had an early start the next day.

Thursday

So we were up well before 6am as our taxi pickup was for 7am, though it came by 6.40am. The taxi driver dropped Bhavni and I first (instead of Meera and Birju to the other terminal), but we were all early so it was not much of a problem. After checking in, we went through security – Bhavni was not on the system. So we had to go and get our passports stamped especially in a different office – not hard just wierd.

We had plenty of time, so we just headed to the Airport Lounge and realaxed for the best part of 1.5 hours, before getting on the plane. It was much an uneventful trip to London – a few fims, a bit of dozing.

They let us of the plane at 2.15pm, so after going through the immigration and getting our bag as fast as we could, we then made a dash for the heathrow express, getting the 2.45 train. (The tiket guy asked if we wanted a reurn as it was valid for 30 days – I made him laugh by saying no way – too many holidays). Bhavni did some repacking on the way to padington, after which we took a taxi to Marble Arch. We walked into the Montcalm Hotel at 3.15pm.

We had a really nice afternoon tea, followed by a couple of hours in the spa – hardly anyone else was there. Refreshed we headed home at 7pm (ringing my parents as they were on their way to the airport by now). We got picked up by Rajvi who dropped us home.

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