Abu Dhabi airport

No pics today, just taking advantage of wi fi at the airport while we are waiting for the connection to London. It’s 7:40 am in Melb & 1:40 am in Abu Dhabi.

Visited the Royal Barges Museum in Bangkok this morning – another trip on the river which is good fun. The barge museum has about 8 incredibly ornate barges most with huge figureheads – lots of gold, mosaic tiles and mirrors.

Very hot and humid again with a tropical storm with lots of rain just before we were picked up to go to the airport. Bangkok airport is very efficient and there were no hold ups. This is markedly different to Abu Dhabi airport where you are warned to allow 25 minutes to get to your departure gate. Had to walk 10 mins from the arrival point, then go downstairs through security again and walk back underneath the first walkway most of the way back to where we started from. Cynically was this to make sure we passed through the extensive duty free shops again?

Should be boarding in about 45 mins, so that’s it for now.

Bangkok

Had a good flight to Bangkok on Tuesday, but the 9+ hour flight was about 8 hours too long. We were picked up at the airport & driven to the Anantara Hotel, upgraded (so they said) to a bigger room on the 23rd floor. Pretty good view.
We had a substantial buffet breakfast this morning & caught the skytrain  down to the Chao Phraya River to the river boat public transport. It’s a very efficient system with a choice of stopping all stations, partial express (stopping most) & express which stops at fewer still. It takes about an hour from start to end on the partial express Cost 15 Baht, about A$0.55c.
We stopped off at The Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn). Really impressive and there are very steep steps partway up to a  great view. The final steps are probably about 70 deg, and everyone went down backwards. It has a very intricate mosaic facade. It is a Buddhist temple and was built in the 17th century.


We jumped back on a boat, well carefully stepped on it, while the driver held it against the wharf (boy is there work needed on their maritime structures) and went to the end of the line, to a place called Nonthaburi which seems to be a business/market town. I bought a genuine?? pair of Ray Ban sunnies for $3. We really enjoyed the breeze when the boat was moving, it was 35 deg and humid. On the boat for the full length of the route.
 
Passed under an impressive cable stayed bridge.
Back to the skytrain (makes a huge difference with the traffic gridlock) and on to the MBK shopping centre, 7 floors of stuff – 1 floor for camera stuff, one floor for mobile phones (never seen so many ‘phones in the one place), one floor for jewellery etc. Good food court with big selection for dinner.
Back to the hotel for a shower and to cool down.

Stay tuned…

14 May - 2 weeks before we leave

Sydney Arms Hotel

We're starting to get things in order now, checking that we've got all of our paperwork for the flight to Bangkok and on to London and accommodation and ferry vouchers. We've booked our first night in the UK, a small hotel in Dorchester, Dorset called the Sydney Arms. It is only a few hours from London, so an easy drive for our first jetlagged day.

Port Isaac

We plan to head to north Wales via Devon & Cornwall, via Clovelly and Port Isaac (where Doc Martin was filmed).







We have booked 2 nights at the Tafern y Rhoss, apparently looking towards Mt Snowdon. We have a couple of weeks to get there with a ferry crossing to Dublin for 24 hours, then on to one of our bucket list adventures.
 

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

We spend a week on a narrow boat on the Llangollan Canal with the famous Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
Co-incidentally, a couple of weeks ago, SBS had a great 4 part series presented by Julia Bradbury called Canal Walks, with one episode on the Llangollan Canal. Don't know how long it will be available for, but at the moment the episode is here.

Our intended route

Hopefully we will manage to update this blog every couple of days once we leave home. Feel free to leave comments on the blog.