Back in the UK

After saying goodbye to warm Cape Town I stopped in England for a bit to see Rachel and Rikki again. Having been in nothing but warm weather for 6+ months even the 'mild' winter weather in England was a bit of a shock for me, especially having no real warm clothing. Fortunately Rachel's brother was kind enough to let me borrow a couple of hoodies.

Rachel and Rikki and I caught up for a couple of days, and I tried to lay low and do some reading while they both did work on essays that had to hand in while I was there. Over the weekend we had a great dinner with their friend Greg and Sarah whom I'd met on my pass through in June.

I had to run into London one day to get my Thailand flight squared away and took the opportunity to meet up with Lizzie, who I'd met while I was on Lamu. Lizzie was kind enough to take me around London for the day and we had a quick blitz tour of St Paul's, London Bridge and the Millennium bridge, stopped for coffee at the Tate Modern, and popped in to Harrod's Dept store and saw what it would be like to buy overpriced groceries from a department store. She also informed me that the german movie ('Afrika Mon Amour') that had been filming while we were there was finally complete and had aired.

Before pressing on I got the chance to see the 'Boots Maneuva' (Rikki and Greg's football team) in action which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately they were handily beaten by a far superior team, and I'm glad I wasn't out there running around.

Having a few weeks back in developed countries where things were easy and they worked and prices are fixed was a welcome break from the travel and I got a lot of rest, just hoping that it was enough to be ready for India...

Photos: Oxford, London

Wrapping Up Oxford

Well it's been a great few days in Englad. I've been able to see a few new cities I've never been to, get in lots of sleeping, catch up with a couple old friends and meet several new ones. For those looking for a relatively sleepy town, with a decent number of character ridden pubs and cafes, I'd recommend spending a few days in Oxford. It has a nice pace to it.

We had a pretty fun and relaxed day around Oxford yesterday. Rikki, Greg and I spent the day wandering around, stopped in the Three Goats Heads pub for a drink, narrowly avoided a flash downpour by ducking into Cafe Loco for a spot of tea, and went punting.

I spent most of today just wandering the streets, getting lost and finding my way, admiring the buildings and relaxing in the park with 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being'.

One of the activities I have been enjoyed taking part in, to my own surprise, is watching all of the World Cup 'football' games. Somewhat to my embarassment, although not really, all of the English folks that I've met know much more about all of the US players/team than I do. I have to admit it was a bit disappointing to see the US get destroyed by the Czech Republic the other night.

Tomorrow I'm off to Turkey and the beginning of a bit more culture shock.

Photos: Oxford

Video: Ducklings

While 'punting', a group of ducklings and their mother came begging at the side of our boat.

Video: Punting

Rikki, Greg, and I doing a bit of 'punting' along the Thames in Oxford. Punting => using a giant pole to propel a flat bottomed boat.

Brighton, England

Coming back from France, the plan was to meet up with Rachel and Rikki in Brighton, about 2hrs south-east of Oxford, on the coast. Unfortunately, due to a lack of communication and planning on my part I was unable to get a hold of them when I arrived in Brighton Friday night, and ended up spending the night at the very lovely Queens Hotel. Luckily we were able to connect the next day and meet up to enjoy several of the World Cup games.

We also spent a nice amount of time on Saturday and Sunday enjoying the sun at the beach. Strangely, to me, the beach at Brighton doesn't really have any sand, but is made up of fairly large stones, which was an interesting experience. It certainly made things much less messy.

Photos: Brighton

Missed the train

I just missed my train to France (apparently you have to check in a minimum of 30mins before departure) so I had to hop into an internet cafe to get a few phone numbers and thought I'd provide a quick update.

I had been doing pretty good with jetlag, meaning not having much of it, until yesterday. After having a great day on monday walking around, taking it easy, and catching up with my friend Rachel I had planned on doing more of the same yesterday. When I attempted to get up at 11am my body finally rebelled and I crashed, sleeping most of the day until 5:30, with a brief wakeup from 11-1.

The weather here has been great, about 80F degrees plus/minus, which I am told is highly unusual and that I shouldn't expect it much longer. Ok time to go, before I miss the train again. This will be my first trip on the chunnel, I hope I don't get claustrophobic.

Audio: Farewell my pen