Venus rising
We went to the first day of Wimbledon. Got there at 7:30 am to queue for ground passes. You have to sleep out overnight to get some of the tickets left for court 1 or centre court (all other tickets are balloted out earlier in the year) so we had no chance of getting these. Got into the ground at 11:30 am.
Watched Nicole Pratt fall to the British number 1 girl on an outside court. Wandering around later we were stunned when an older couple walked up to us and handed us their Court 1 tickets. We went in and found oursleves in the 2nd row! Watched Venus Williams win her match, then we watched 3rd seed Coria of Argentina Vs Wes Moody of South Africa.
Play stopped at 20:45 when the light started to fail, so we retired to a pub for some grub and to watch England beat Switzerland at UEFA Euro 04. A nice day really.
Chaweng beach, Koh Samui
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We arrived in London safely last Sunday. Flight from Koh Samui to Bangkok was interesting. Our Bangkok Airways flight was held above Bangkok for 30 mins waiting for a localised thunder storm to pass. Eventually we landed in the middle of the storm with lightening flashing all around the plane (litterally). Probably our most scary landing ever. Stepped onto the tarmac into 15 cm of water.
We have spent all week treading the streets of London looking for somewhere to rent. Put in an offer last night for a small 1-bedroom place in Fulham, SW London and looks like we have been approved today. So we should be able to move in tomorrow which is good, as even half price budget hotels (thanks to wotif.com) and hostels erode the funds very fast. Obtaining a lease here is a nightmare; mountains of paperwork and reference checks. We have also renewed our uneasy relationship with the archaic, beaurocratic London banks.
The weather is nice. Yesterday was 32 deg C. It was forecast to be 30 deg and the news bulletins were carrying stories about "how very hot" it was going to be at a "sweltering 30 degrees" and how to deal with the heat by staying out of the sun, wearing suncrean, carrying water etc - like we would do for a 43 c day in Melbourne. Seems cool to us after the heat and humidity of Thailand...
Photos from Thailand (from our new digi SLR) and site redesign coming soon...
Yep, we are travelling again!
The plan is to live and work in London for another year, wandering around the UK and Europe in our spare time and holidays.
Right now we are on a 9 day stop-over in Thailand. We are hanging out with friends Penny and Melinda from home, and Melinda's British boyfriend, Ben.
Spent a few days in Bangkok; grimey, hot, stickey, busy, noisy, in your face but exciting as always.
The rest of the time (minus about 18 hours spent in taxi, sleeper train, bus, ferry and songtau getting down here) is being spent on Koh Samui. Ahh, Koh Samui; silky sand, warm clear water, warm weather all the time, fruit shakes, BBQ'd seafood on the beach, curry, seafood Pad Thai, touts...
We went over to Koh Phangan via speed boat last night for the infamous Full Moon Party. As mad as they say it is. Sun was up when we got home. Think i'll step back out onto the beach and have a lie down...
