Going to have to take my camera with me more often...

...otherwise this blog is going to look very very boring.

Had a great weekend this weekend. On Friday we wandered around Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus bought Family Guy season 4, came home and bought a couple of beers from the supermarket on the way and made some dinner, drank beer and watched family guy. it was nice. although I fell asleep on the couch coz I can't take my alcohol. haha.

Saturday we had a work thing of Simon's to go to. It was a 'garden party' at one of the boss' country houses. It was nice, but very (very) english. Pimms on the patio to start, followed by games and then a BBQ on the back lawn by the pool, then swimming in the pool, playing croquet, soccer (sorry football) or various other things in the front garden, followed by afternoon tea with multiple cakes, then more amusement and then there was also dinner and a dj, but we came back to London before dinner as we wanted to do some more looking at locations on Sunday. Unfortunately there was some sort of strike/'passenger' under the train/some other problem that meant there were no trains coming back and we had to catch a bus to another station where trains were running from. Our first encounter with the public transport system running rather less smoothly than it could (otherwise we've been quite lucky by all accounts). So we didn't get home until late. On the upside I saw a fox at one of the train stations, and also when we got back to our place our favourite local restaurant was still open (it was about 10.30pm) so we got to have a yummy dinner. This place is amazing. you can get yummy organic brown basmati rice, grilled chicken and fish and other things, the yummiest salads ever, flatbread wraps, etc. The salads have peas, beans and quinoa and nuts etc. Mmm. so. good. (I'll try to stop this blog from being me talking about food constantly!)

Today we got up late and took some food (ok just a bit more) from spittalfields market (next to where we live) to a friends place. The place we got the food is like an organic salad stall that sells the most amazing salads and wraps. we had rainforest wraps and also bought some brownies and stuff. We went round with the food and hung out there for a while. Was really sweet seeing Ki and the baby. He's so cute (even when he's terribly annoyed with life). We went from there to have a look around Burough as another potential place to live. It was quite nice, and might be a bit cheaper than Angel/Islington but wasn't quite so vibrant. So we'll see. I'm going to have to do some ringing of agents this week to see if we can view some flats. fun. sigh.

Promise I will remember to carry my camera with me more often so the blog is more exciting.

Best. Burger. Ever

We just went looking at areas we might like to live. Had a bit of a gander around Bethnal Green, don't think I want to live there as I wouldn't be keen wandering home from the tube in the dark. Also, I didn't see anywhere that I might want to eat dinner so that's not cool. We then walked from there down Hackney Street to Old Street and caught the tube up to Angel. It was quite nice around the Shoreditch area, but nowhere near as cool as Angel/Islington. I really liked it there, and so did Simon. We wandered around and had a look at some of the real estate agents letting ads. We're going to be spending a lot of money on rent.

On the upside we stopped there for dinner at this burger place. It was awesome. Didn't promise much from the street, but had the best vegetarian burger I've had. It was huge and had roast veges including aubergine, capsicum and courgette, homemade pesto, yummy lettuce, tomato and delicious goats cheese. Yum. We both had milkshakes as well. also possibly the best milkshakes ever. Simon had banana and peanut butter and I had chocolate. It was made from that chocolate ice cream with actual chocolate chunks in it (small ones that fit up a straw). amazing.

feeling a bit full, but totally loving angel. lots of agents to look up online...

Sorry about the long time between posts, but lots of stuff has been happening. So, story until now...

After leaving pattaya and jasper behind, which was very sad, but lovely to get to spend some time with her, we went up to Bangkok and spent a day doing the markets up there. We spent half the day at Chatuchak weekend market, which was incredible. It was so huge that there is a little golf cart train that takes shoppers to the location of their desired purchase. We bought a few things and generally got overwhelmed by the size of it. In the evening we went to an evening market and bought some more shit (by this time well over the allowed 15kg baggage limit of Air Asia). We left the next day and were charged an arbitrary excess baggage fee, so by the time we arrived in Malaysia (with a few more Air Asia flights still to come) decided to leave some baggage there that we didn't need in Borneo.

We arrived in borneo on the 2nd July and stayed for a night in Tawau. It wasn't much to write home about, so I won't. well I kinda am, but no more! We were picked up by Pulau Sipadan resort staff at 6.15am on the 3rd and transported to the resort by speedboat. This time, in a departure from the recently experienced and lax to say the least safety standards of thailand, we were actually given life jackets and the boat had a radio on board! amazing. The ride was really cool, we travelled up the coast a bit from Semporna, passing little villages that extend from the mangrove-like bushes out into the ocean on stilts. Then were were out into the open ocean where we passed other resorts like the one we're staying in, which is located on Kapalai island. I use the term loosely. Kapalai island only emerges at low tide, and the rest of the time is a pale spot near one side of the resort. The resort is a collection of bungalows on stilts literally in the middle of the ocean. The bungalows are connected by wooden walkways. It was amazing there. Paradise. like something you dream about and never believe you'll see. As you walk along the board walk you can see crystal clear blue waters underneath (about 2-5m deep) with tropical fish swimming along and starfish all over the sand.

Right off the back of the resort is a coral reef and we had our first dive there (an orientation dive). I have to say, it was the best dive of my life up until that point. We saw the most amazing fish. Giant gropers, which were the size of labradors, a crocodile fish, stone fish, lots and lots of tropical fish and once again I found nemo.

The second dive was a boat dive and was about 1 minute (or less) away from the resort. We saw about 4 turtles. They're huge and it was incredible to see them. They're not at all bothered by divers and just watch you. I annoyed one of them a bit by blinding it with the camera flash and he went away, but it was beautiful to watch him swim none the less. they almost fly. Apart from the turtles, which I must say kinda overshadowed everything else on the dive, we saw stingrays, puffer fish, beautifully coloured sea snails, more nemos, parrot fish and eels. We did a sunset dive in the evening and saw more of the cool tropical fish.

Sipadan (the island we're here for) is a 15 minute boat ride away and has been made a reserve so you can't stay on the island any more. We go out there for the two morning dives and sit on the island for our surface interval. I must say, the guys in the malaysian army that get to guard sipadan have a pretty cruisy life. They guard it because of a kidnapping that happened in 2000 where a bunch of tourists were abducted by Filipino pirates and held for 5 months. Since then there have been a few more kidnappings of local people, and now sipadan and all the resorts are guarded by the army. there are army guys that walk around in army fatigues with their machine guns and a bunch of other guards as well. We had an alarm button in our room in case of emergencies that would bring the malaysian army to our room! Had to try really hard not to confuse it with the water heater button!

After that I continued to have more and more of the best dives of my life and in all we did 16 dives in 6 days. We saw so many turtles, white tip sharks, and so many other amazing things that I can't list them all. One of the days we had a videographer come with us, so we have a dvd of two of the dives. Unfortunately, it was a day when the weather was pretty bad and the current was so strong that the video shows people holding on to the coral in an attempt to not be taken out to sea and all our air bubbles streaming out away from us. It was pretty full on. On the second dive we saw a leopard shark. it was amazing and it's so cool to have it on video! We also did a couple of dives at nearby Mabul island, which was nowhere near as cool as diving at sipadan or outside our resort but still interesting. Two of them we did below an old oil rig which has been converted into a dive resort (more like a backpackers, and the rooms are containers that have been stuck on the rig). It was like diving on a wreck as there is so much debris down there. Old shelves and some other pipes etc that giant eels and other fish have made their homes in. We also dived on an 'artificial reef' which looked more like one of the wooden bungalows of the nearby resort had fallen into the sea.

We really didn't want to leave when the time came. Really.

After sipadan we flew to Sandakan and spent three days looking at orangutans at the Sepilok orangutan rehabilitation facility. They look after orangutans that have been found in plantations (as their natural habitat is converted into palm plantations) or being kept illegally by locals and try to rehabilitate them for the wild. The public is allowed to visit what they call "Platform A" which is a platform in the forest that has ropes running to it from the facility and out into the jundle and where the animals are given food at 10am and 3pm. Some of them come from the jungle if they've reached the stage where they're not returning to the facility, but the younger ones come from the outside nursery where they can come and go into the jungle as they please and return to the nursery where they feel safe. Human contact is gradually reduced until they stop coming back altogether. It can take up to 6 years apparently. We saw a few feedings and different numbers of them came at each time. There were two big old ones that were always there, and some of the littler ones came each time also. They were so cute. just like twins and would swing along the ropes in unison and were in almost constant contact with each other.

On the second morning we went on a sunrise walk along the boardwalk leading to platform A. We saw a juvenile green pit viper, a scorpion that the ranger had thoughtfully picked up from the rangers quarters to show us, and some tiger leeches which he found on the bottom of a leaf. Apparently they sit underneath the leaves on the ground to avoid sunlight and then when disturbed move to the edge of the leaf and attach themseles to people walking by. ugh. gross little suckers.

We also visited Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary which is basically some guys house on the edge of the forest. The guy used to be a plantation worker and one day a proboscis monkey came and stole some of his lunch, which was a basic pancake like thing. the monkey came back the next day, and the guy started making pancakes especially for it. Eventually other monkeys started coming and now there are three families with heaps of them in each which come every day for the pancake and grasses and other stuff that the guy puts out for them. They're much more active than the orangutan and would hurl themselves from tree to tree. Amazing to watch. One of the little ones came right up onto the balcony and sat around waiting for us to feed him (which we didn't of course) but the workers gave him a bit of pancake and fruit and he sat there happily eating in the middle of all these people taking photos of him. While he was sitting there a little sea otter also came up onto the deck from the small river on the property (the sea was very near I think, but you couldn't see it). It was so cute, and really cool to see one so close. When we were leaving the santuary we also saw some hornbills and i managed to get a photo before they flew away. So cool.

Unfortunately the honeymoon had to come to an end and we flew to London via dubai on the 13th july. We arrived and managed to get to our apartment and have sorta settled in. The apartment is very near Liverpool Street Station and Simon's work is just up the road. The apartment is a bit like a sauna actually. Faces west and all afternoon the sun streams in the windows. There doesn't seem to be any air flow and I am going out soon to buy us a fan so we don't die.

On Friday we caught up with Mike and Kiran and met little Toby. he's super cute and I can't wait to spend some more time wiht them. Yay babies (and no I'm not pregnant thank you!). We spent Sunday with Camille and her family at the Spittalfields market right next to our apartment, then walked to the Tower of London and across the Thames and had dinner on the other side. I have done a bit of shopping (but miraculously haven't bought anything) and have blisters on my feet!

I am trying (no, I really am) to sort out the whole work thing - I could really use the cash if I'm to do any shopping ever - but having trouble first with broadband access (I hate British Telecom already) and now with the work systems. Hopefully they will be sorted soon, so I at least have something to do while I'm in the sauna... Damn UK heatwave. it's actually quite nice, 30+ degrees and beautifully sunny in london! Simon started work yesterday and is reconsidering the whole lawyer thing. On the news they're talking about getting companies to give their workers the ability to dress casually because making them wear suits in this weather is bonkers. we'll see! in the tube stations they advise you to carry water! and what to do if people collapse on the tube! There is a man made beach right next to us - god knows why. no water to talk of. They're predicting 36 degrees for tomorrow, which will be a new record for July!

We will get UK mobiles soon, we're going to go for Orange seeing as they have a free broadband deal going at the moment. nice.

View from outside our room

View from outside our room
Originally uploaded by grublet.

it's like paradise on stilts.

Getting the blog up to date!

Have just spent three days in Ao Nang on the Andaman coast in Southern Thailand. Went diving and on a speed boat tour of the Phi Phi islands. Both days were good, apart from the rides home in the boats (one was a longboat with a car engine strapped to the back, and the other was actually a speed boat with three huge engines) both trips were pant-fillingly scary and I wasn't sure that we'd make it home during both trips. However, we did but have sworn off boats for a few days while the weather is so changeable.

The diving was ok, it was good to get some in, but the visibility was awful. We kept losing the guide as he swam off ahead of us. fun. but I found nemo and stingrays and other cool things, so wasn't all bad. The trip back in the longboat was terrifying. Mental note: never, ever, ever, ever, ever, and once more for good luck everevereverever go diving off a long boat. EVER again. The guide was also a bit crazy and it looked like he'd had some sort of brain surgery at some stage as you could see the scars on his skull and scalp. He also didn't really speak english - kind of a hybrid between english, german (mostly german, he would start in english and continue in german for the most part, but also threw in a few made up things as well, like niceynicey and other such things) thanks to my rudimentary German I was able to ascetain what the hell he was talking about in most circumstances (as for the rest!? Who knows!)

The speed boat trip was awesome for the most part, we went to Maya bay where The Beach was filmed but couldn't land because the sea was too rough on that side; bamboo island where we swam around for a bit - your typical idyllic thai island with stunning white sand beaches and clear blue water. Then Pileh bay where there's this amazing deep lagoon in the bay - really warm, but no fishies. Had lunch on Ko Phi Phi, which was beautiful, but some full on reminders of the tsunami. Apparently 8000 people died on the island (there had been around 20,000 people there before it) and there's still a lot of rebuilding going on. There were a few pictures up of the area just after the tsunami hit. scary. From there we went to Monkey bay where the shore was filled with monkeys and we got to feed them - so cute! have posted some pics on flickr. And finally some snorkelling off the coast of phi phi island. After that we got back on the boat to head back and the waves were about 5-6m and the guy at the wheel had a death wish apparently. It was made a lot worse by the fact that you couldn't see land in any direction because of the clouds and the rain. Once again, terrifying. I actually thought Simon might have a heart attack at one stage, and I was fairly sure I was going to fight the skipper for the lifejacket that was on his seat. I reckon I could have taken him! Still, near death experiences make you all the more glad to be alive and sure bring on the appetite, and the food has made everything ok again. Especially the mango, sticky rice and coconut milk dessert... yum.

We decided to flag Railay bay for this trip as the weather was really crap and headed to Ko Samui for a bit longer than we'd originally planned. However, that idea also changed and because of the large amount of fat sweaty tourists with "lovely" thai ladies and we took the catamaran to Koh Tao. Got to watch "the prince and me" on the way there. really stoked about that! :S We had four days on Koh Tao, and spent two days diving. Wicked. in seas that didn't scare the shite out of us. amazing visibility and lots of cool fish etc. sea snakes and sting rays and lots of tropical fish. it was fantastic. the skies were beautiful and blue and the water a balmy 30 degrees. sigh. we wished we didn't have to leave!

From there we went to Pattaya to see Jasper. It was great seeing her. She lives in Thailand at the moment, so it doesn't happen all that often. Otherwise, Pattaya is a hole. It's full of ugly fat old tourists with young thai girls on their arms. its creepy how many of them there are... It was a bit of a comedown after Koh Tao. We rented a scooter in Pattaya and spent 3 days busy trying not to get ourselves killed on the crazy pattaya streets. apparently there aren't any road rules in Thailand. it wasn't so bad in smaller places like Samui, but in Pattaya - madness.

We left Thailand on the 2nd July for Malaysia for some more diving (where I am writing this from). Currently I am sitting in the dining room (we get WiFi! yay, but for some reason gmail doesn't like it and we can't send emails from there, boo!) eating a plate of pasta and drinking watered down juice from a tiger beer glass. classy. We have now been here 5 days and have done 13 dives. We had a morning off this morning because there was a huge thunderstorm and if our little tiny stick bungalow (held together with chewing gum and drawing pins) was swaying in the wind. The loudest thunder I think I've ever heard (directly above us) and lightning. not our ideal diving conditions. especially when the trip out there would have taken about 45 mins in huge seas! shudder.... We went for an evening dive though. around this old oil rig that's now a dive resort (more of the dive, less of the resort). We are staying in paradise. honestly. it's amazing. I will blog one of my photos as proof. We have our last day of diving tomorrow. I will write a post about what we've seen in the big blue sea at some point, but have done enough typing for now...