Happy New Year

Still New Years Eve here though - due to the time delay I think it is about midnight with you all so Happy New Year!

I read the wrong page in the book about today - it wasn't where the settlers first landed it was where the people who were already living in north Chile landed when they tried to claim southern Chile for Chile......and now its all one big long country. Fuerte Bulnes it was called - Fort Bulnes after the president who sent John Williams south in 1843 to declare the Magellane area Chilean. We solved our small confusion about the two flags we keep see flying around. One is the Chilean flag which we knew. The other is the flag of the Magellan, it shows the mountains, the southern cross and the blue sky. The fort isn't the real one - its a reconstruction but very cleverly made out of wood and mud bricks. Apparently the first one was made by axe but this one definately had chainsaw marks on it.
Then we went to a very peaceful fishing bay.

Cheerfully we finished with Puerto Hambre - Port Hunger where all the people died of starvation. Apparently Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa set out with 23 ships from Spain at the request of King Felipe II. He arrived at this place with only 3 of his boats - the rest having perished on the Strait of Magellan somewhere. The people survived for a bit living off the few shellfish they could find. Pedro left them all behind and went back to Spain but he was put in prison by the Portugese. Thomas Cavendish arrived from England a while later and rescued / found one or two survivors but all the rest perished.

To make sure we didn't starve we went back to the supermarket and had New Years Eve supper of dodgy plastic cheese, salami and a donut. We are fairly sure this is the only country we've ever been to that even seems to put sugar in its cheese, these folks have seriously sweet teeth!

Anyway, you'll notice if you look to the right you can now scroll through a small selection of our piccies. Martyn had a geeky afternoon while I had a nap. We're now trying to stay awake to see the fireworks, which will be interesting as we worked out last night that we think the sun is still up here at midnight!

Wow 3 nights in the same place

Quick do the washing, oh dear 6 loads of bath water later and things seem to smell a bit better. Unfortunately we now need some industrial cleaner to get the scum off the bath. Martyn was quite worried that all the mud and grit would block the drain at one point. Still all done now and I'm sat experiencing some kind of water torture as our washing drip dries around me. Might need ear plugs to block out the dripping tonight. Next time we're using the laundrette it was only 2 pounds per kilo - doh.
Tan looking good already - hole in ozone layer directly above us and everywhere is covered in sunburn warning scales today was warp factor 9 out of 15 which is just in the red on the traffic light system they have factor 30 sun tan lotion is the minimum they sell here.
Off to see the place where settlers first landed tomorrow before an afternoon nap in the hope we will then stay awake for fireworks at midnight although our success rate with this sort of thing is not great and we have to be up at 7 am on new years day to go see the penguins. Happy new year everyone as you will get there before we do !

How big...

Was the hole in Martyns trousers exactly ?
Well i don't have a ruler so I used the age old method of putting a body part next to the object to show the scale of the issue. I am never putting my head inside a pair of trousers again. All mended now though just need more thread for sewing kit. Still laughing.

Forgot to mention....

Our other new friend from yesterday who introduced himself as Herman ze German. Very nice man mit den grossen rooksack und die dodgy stomach. Can't have been zat dodgy a stomach as he decided his toilet roll didn't fit in his exceedingly grossen rooksack so he left it behind. Never mind - we packed him off with the hundredweight of nuts and raisins we'd collected over the last few days of provided box lunches hopefully he made it to his next refugio.
He sounded just like the large green caterpillar from A Bugs Life as well. I wonder how many stereotypical English traveller abroad things we are conforming to-best not think about that!
He did confess that his name wasn't really Herman but it was easier for people to remember. This was quite disappointing.
We have just learnt that somone Martyn used to work with 10 yrs ago is in Punta Arenas at the mo - we're on our way back there now so maybe we will meet up. Small world. In the meantime more giggly memories of good old Herman.

Goodbye Torres Hello Puerto Natales

4 hour walk after breakfast before lunch and 2 hours on bus.
Currently sat in hostel - we seem to be the only ones here. Log burner roaring away - melting the TV and us!
Saw Lama jumping fences today and a Rhea (funny emu like thing) and lots of Condor. Very nice walk with our two new friends from Portland who we left at the bus stop as they were off to Argentina.
Oh and when we walked back into our room after dinner we had to open all the doors and windows as we had left our dirty washing out and the room stank. We've sealed it all into plastic bags until we get to Punta Arenas tomorrow - always assuming we get there. Puerto Natales is not a big place but it took us an hour to find our hostal today. 2nd note to self - always take the guidebook with you - even if you think its too heavy to bother carrying on your trek - it has the only map you have of where the hostal you are staying in is....that is no good if left in the bags you put in storage - oopsie. Still found hostal eventually after practising our direction finding question and answer Spanish! Legs ache so off to bed now - have to try and find bus at 8am tomorrow.

Look what we found.

Big trip starts today - we decided

Today was the first day we did what the 'plan' said we were supposed to do on the day we were supposed to do it - well we changed the plan at the end of the day but that was our choice and more on that later.
After nearly being blown away yesterday we had beautiful sunshine all day today much sunscreen and sunhats needed. Lakes were emerald green and snow so White you could only look at it through sunglasses.

At least we remembered to take a picky today it doesnt really do it justice but never mind. We'll get some better ones on the Internet soon.
So back the same way as we came yesterday only today we could see the views as we weren't blinded by the wind and so we appreciated it much more. After 3 hours ish we came to a sign for a shortcut - should have known better shouldn't we! But at that point we decided we might make it to the Torres viewpoint today so we went for it. We made it to the next lodge by 3 pm and worked out we had another three he's to go to the viewpoint so change of plan happened we are staying in this refugio tonight going up to the Torres tomorrow but not for sunrise which requires leaving at 3 am. We've done enough early mornings etc for a bit and are happy to risk the weather miss the sunrise and enjoy the walk more thank you very much
Oh and much laughter - Martyn ripped his trousers some more today he says it's so warm it's actually nice ventilation. I'm still laughing.......

Double trouser failure

So we made it to the trek at long last. Bit of a Colca Canyon day today. Claire will know what that means. Buy some snacks as full board starts with evening meal. Ok no probes we thought - silly us it's Christmas everywhere shut. Still managed to find choccy bickies and oranges and popcorn. We did 7 hrs walking in headwinds so strong that Kay was nearly blown over once and we had to hunker down close to the ground twice. Skin is looking great though - fully exfoliated.
We finished the walk having consumed 2 packets of raisins 2 oranges 1 small bag of popcorn and some choccy bickies needless to say Martyn really enjoyed his chicken and potatoes for dinner. We love the fact that tomorrow we are going to walk back the way we came - just the way it's worked out with the flight chaos ho hum.
oh and the trouser failure well the elastic at the bottom of kays trousers broke and so did the button so she's on safety pins and when putting on his waterproofs today Martyn managed to split his trousers still can't work out how but I'm still laughing too much to think about it !
Views were so stunning we forgot to take picky with this camera but will try and remember to tomorrow.

Strudel!

After this we just about waddled to the bus station, then pretty much slept all the way to Puerto Natales on our very posh bus.

Christmas Pudding

The results of the dessert pointing game are impressive, Martyn had a sort of mince pie strudel, Kay finished off with this gigantic Kuchan which looks like this:

Christmas Dinner!

Merry Christmas from the strait of Magellan looking out towards Tierra Del Fuego. As you can see, it's not exactly 30 degrees here, and it's raining. We arrived here at, er about 2.30am this morning, and after a really nice stay in Hostal Oro Fuegino and some breakfast we went in search of a bus to Puerto Natales we think it's at 1pm, but aren't sure.

Punta Arenas is a sleepy town, especially on Christmas Day but we have napped on the promenade in the rain for an hour, booked our bus for 1700 and are now sat in a nice warm cafe to see if we can get our Christmas dinner - whatever it is I should tell you Martyn will love it - he was all see up for rice n beans but in chile everything seems to come with cheese at the moment. I like this cafe though we ordered 2 cokes and they came with a free bowl of dark chocolate buttons yum.

Christmas Dinner?

Right well, have slept some now but still playing catch up but then I will probably still be catching up on the last few days in 2 weeks time knowing me!

Anyway, airport hotel has served us well and has free internet and printing so bargain. Of course it is now Christmas here so everything is shutting down around us.

Our somewhat limited Spanish is improving rapidly and we have not had to resort to our Point It book yet. We are very proud because today we managed to communicate that we had cancelled one flight and asked for a refund but could we rebook and pay the difference (much gesturing and handwaving and pointing at a calendar involved) and SUCCESS. So we only had to pay the difference on our flight and we are off down south as planned. This means our Christmas dinner may well be an in-flight meal. Things are looking up as far as Martyn is concerned and I am trying not to think about it.

We think we have a hotel booked for tonight and then a bus journey tomorrow and we might then manage two days of our original 7 days trekking. But we will be in the right area and the pictures on the internet look lovely anyway. Oh and its bank holiday tomorrow so the shops are all shut but we have been told to buy some snacks as our meals do not start until evening dinner on 26th December so all our meals for the next few days could be interesting! I have packed my snack bars and raisins just in case that is it for a day and a half.

Still, we are much better than one of our newly formed friends as his baggage has not yet turned up.

Oh, did I mention that it is 30 degrees here? Yum. But for some reason we are travelling down south where it is 8 degrees, raining and very windy.....we must be missing home already. ha ha.

hola chile - feliz navidad

Well our luck finally started to change.
Due to airline crew strike in Argentina our rebooked flight via Cordoba was delayed to 07:20 this morning. We were then due to overnight in Argentina before coming to Santiago.
We left Madrid airport at 1am to go back to the hotel having only left the hotel at 11pm. Fortunately for us we jumped ahead of the 50 other people who were dumped at the hotel because the lovely little man on reception said 'ah you again - you didn't leave yet? you want your room back' Hurrah.
Then we arrived in Argentina in time to make the connection to Santiago today so we didn't need to overnight.
We now find ourselves sat in the Holiday Inn at the airport. We are sat, but we've done so much moving around that the ground feels like its moving still. Ah well. A good nights sleep and we might see about getting down south to Punta Arenas tomorrow to se if we can salvage some of our trek.
Sleep now. 9 hours scheduled all in one go. Wow, what a luxury.
And at least we beat Heathrows predictions and made it to our destination country by Christmas. Big Trip is definately back on now. Have a lovely Christmas everyone.

Don't cry for us Argentina

Flight from Madrid to Argentina delayed 5 hours.

Are now due to leave 07.20 tomorrow morning. Its now 01:00.

Seriously getting tired now. 8 hours sleep in 48 is not enough. I may actually sleep when we get on a plane next!

Still, airline putting us up in hotel in Argentina tomorrow night and according to current flight plan we have one whole day in Cordoba before flight to Chile so we might actually get to see a bit of Argentina.

Must go - need sleep, might just squeeze in 3 hours kip before trying airport trip again.

Gotta laugh.

Oh, we did go to the Prado Museum in Madrid today - and yes I've spelt it right - its art not fashion. Neither of us were sure about the text that went with the 18Century picture of a lady displaying her breasts - it said '......leaves more open to suggestion than is obviously displayed'. We're not sure what was left to suggest really!

Are we nearly there yet (2) ?

ummmm, well no not really but we are a bit closer than the last time we tried.

Spent two hours freezing our butts off outside Heathrow, then were let in, checked in - all going well so far.

Nerve wracking time looking at departures board as flight was delayed and took ages to get a gate. Said we would have a gate at 18.40. We sat watching the little digital clock change until 19:20 when hurrah - gate 23.

Plane left about 20.30 HURRAH

Plane arrived Madrid about 00:20

Flight to Santiago left 00:10

Are you spotting the problem?

4 hours later got to a nice hotel with two nights stay and all meals paid for by Iberia - woop woop.
I think Martyn is going to post a picture of the view from our nice hotel - its not that bad but we're on the 8th floor and when I opened the curtains it was to see rubbish blowing around level with my head! Inside nice, outside hmmmmm

Slept for 5 hours, missed breakfast (no surprise there) gained internet, sent more emails, got map - voyage of discovery around Madrid scheduled for this afternoon as our new flight doesn't leave until 1am (ugh). Ho hum. Saved the best to last. We are now going to Santiago Chile via ARGENTINA.
Martyn has worked out that all the delays mean it will no longer be Christmas in a tent. Unfortunately as its peak season and Christmas over there I think it might be Christmas Eve in an airport but what the heck - we made it out of London :-)

Oh. A plane!

Don't say anything but we are actually on a plane. May have issues with connection later in Madrid but this is progress.

Layer up

So it was nice of all the websites to say that heathrow t3 was only letting you in to the terminal to check in 2hrs before your flight. We got here early to allow time to queue. Kay efficiency strikes a third time.
I am currently wearing 4 layers plus jacket jeans and 2 pairs of socks with hat and gloves having managed to finally get a space in one of the tents they had put up.
Martyn of the dodgy stomach is eating a recently claimed lukewarm bacon sandwich - nice.
flight still scheduled so we'll see

Day Two Big Trip

Was also spent on sofa, and telephone to Chilean airline and email to hostals we had booked.
Internal flight cancelled, web refund email not working but at least we managed to cancel so can now apply for refund later. Trek rescheduled. Now shorter. Martyn thinks this is a good thing.

Day Three Big Trip - we are on the Heathrow list of flights due out today - woop woop. There is a nice disclaimer though - something about more snow being due. We're ignoring that bit. Taxi booked.

Big Trip take two here we go.

Day One Big Trip

Was spent on the sofa under the duvet.
Did manage to work out that I haven't done that since I had Chicken Pox when I was at middle school.

Anyway, Martyn feeling slightly improved so has now mended the blog - wrong check box checked. You now do not need to be a registered user to comment - oopsie.......

Have done snow check and discovered next bit of bad news - lovely powder, not good for snowmen. Ho hum......

Do you think if I use a well known search engine and type in "things to do when your flight is cancelled, there is 4 inches of snow outside and you don't want to muck up your lovely clean house" I would get anything back?

I'm off to try it,...........

every cloud has a silver lining

And our silver lining became more than apparent at about 1am this morning.

I thought in the 'x' years that Martyn has known me he had been fully apprised of the 'Kay does not do vomit' situation. Silly me. Still, at least we were at home and not on the aeroplane.

I have just mentioned that being as we're now stuck at home for two days we could go and see Tron Legacy at the cinema. He's declared himself better!

There was much more to this blog entry as I needed to share my recent trauma with you all but Martyn has edited for grossness factor and being as he is the poorly one I'll put my obvious psychological damage to one side for the moment. Just ask me to tell you about our new unit of volume if you want to know more!

are we nearly there yet????

ummmm, well no quite frankly.....today went like this:

wake up, breakfast, wash up, put away kitchen bin - where is lid? Kay efficiency strikes again - kitchen bin lid had been thrown in wheely bin with bag of rubbish from kitchen bin. 5.30am saw Kay with torch and head in wheely bin rescuing kitchen bin lid.......taxi early (should have known we were doomed then), journey to airport all fine, checked in, bought lunch (Iberia do not provide on short flights), got to gate.

Saw the snow
Took picture of snow
Blogged picture of snow
Wondered if we would leave
Technical Issue with Plane (apparently it couldn't fly in the snow due to a technical issue - at this point other planes were still leaving. We think a windscreen wiper was probably broken)
Technical issue with plane fixed - yippee
Airport closed due to snow - boo

Still at least we had already bought our lunch.....

Get kicked out of gate and told to collect bags
Man in baggage collection says don't wait for bags get up to arrivals to Iberia desk to rebook flight
Queue for 2 hours before grabbing Iberia lady and extricating phone number. Kay queues, Martyn sits at power socked on phone......2 hours later we have rebooked flights.
In amongst that Martyn had to be assertive with security in order to get back airside to get our bags. Martyn doesn't really do assertive so it must have been bad
6pm get the last bagel from the bagel shop just as all food places start to run out.........
6.45 make it to Central Bus Station - bus in 10 mins, things are starting to look up.....
8pm Reading Train Station, bestest of mates picks us up, takes us home and feeds us
10.30pm in bed, house still warming up, rescheduling emails sent, just need to wait for Chile to wake up and see what we might be able to do next.

So, in total a 17 hour day, 12 of which was spent in airport, 7 of which was spent in various queues. Well, at least we had some practice with the volcano earlier in the year......and we were inside and warm and dry and fed and we weren't stuck in the car on a motorway or anything else.......

Snowman building tomorrow though.........

Should I stay or should I snow?

Only about 1in snow, but it's falling 8-/.

We are waiting in sight of our plane to see if we are going at all at the moment- jets are still leaving right now, but we want to go very very sooooon please!

Bags Too Heavy......

Definitely - 1st attempt at packing yesterday.......

I think the trouble is that many of my usual 'luxury items' seem to have become necessities.
Well......I'll get through some books on the 'plane so that will make things lighter......I bought a travel pillow - never had one of those before, usually use a jumper rolled up - do you think the travel pillow is making the difference. Bag is about 3kg heavier than usual and the tent is only half of that.....what can it be???? I think Martyn has snuck a load of his stuff in my bag......

Trouble is there is not much room for purchases.........very stressful!

I won't tell you how many pairs of pants Martyn thinks he can survive with - he's doing the washing thats all I'll say.

Is one whole tube of toothpaste and more than 100ml of shampoo really necessary? To be honest its almost certainly the insect repellant (see previous post) but hey.....

I'm off to re-pack.............its time to be ruthless. Mainly because I can't actually lift my bag - has anyone seen Runaway Bride ? If not don't worry you're not missing much but there is this scene in it where Julia Roberts puts a backpack on and falls straight backwards...........very nearly replayed that last night - fortunately Martyn caught me (well the bag - it did have gadgets in it!)

Will they go or will it snow?.......

Of course for those of you that don't remember the actual line in the song is
'should I stay or should I go'.........but with the somewhat inclement weather I changed it a bit for the title of todays blog which may well be the last one before airport time - fingers crossed.
So far weather says 'Light Snow' for tonight and Friday morning getting heavier on Saturday...jolly good, nothing like a battle to the airport........
We may well start this trip with a blow the budget stay in an airport hotel on Friday night just so we don't have to dig ourselves out of the driveway on Saturday morning!
Oh, and we've both got colds. We're trying to decide which one of us will look and sound the healthiest for checking in so that the other one can hide behind them. Martyn seems to be refusing to blow his nose on the theory that he will not then look like Rudolf. This is too disgusting for me so I've sent him to work. I on the other hand have drunk half my body weight in orange juice and the other half in a well known brand of blackurrant cordial - the two are not mixing well in my stomach.........All of that is before we open our mouths and both sound like newly born dinosaurs (or sheep being as no-one actually knows what dinosaurs sounded like although I seem to remember seeing on telly once someone having a go at making sounds of dinosaurs based on voiceboxes / skull shapes or something - all very clever, I'm digressing aren't I.....?)
Anyway, it has been the previously foretold busy week with one car but friends visited, carols sung (before cold arrived), panto narrated (with help of microphone as cold was well on the way by then), dogs walked (no, don't own them - just walk them with friends), more filing and shredding done so we're just left with the inevitable monster pile of ironing (which I'm just putting off by typing this in....), housework oh and the packing so we still don't know if we are bagstooheavy.blogspot.com or not.......

And just to get you really worried - Martyn wrote ANOTHER list last night. I think the snow is the least of my concerns...........

Kay 'Efficiency' strikes again........

Please can someone explain to me how I manage this with what is becoming such astounding regularity.....

So, in a fit of organisation I decide it would be a really good idea to take my car up to my parents for while we are away. Dad can look after it etc etc.......having talked this through with parents I seem to remember at some point Mum mentioned that I might need my car in the last week we are in England. You'd think I'd have progressed past that teenage obligatory dismissal of parents by now wouldn't you but no......'Don't be daft' I say 'I won't be doing anything except packing by then...'

Can anybody out there help with getting to two panto rehearsals, one carol service, one panto performance, two meals out, one friend visit and the supermarket (yes even my planned eating up of what is in freezer and cupboards has been a little too efficient as we have nothing left to make a meal from.....) oh and Martyn has to get to work and back as well.......have checked, there are no buses, no trains etc.....I wonder if I can balance my laptop, amp and speakers on my bike to get them to school for the panto.....

Of course not taking the car to my parents is not on the options list.......

Well it'll be an interesting week anyway.......

bottom of list.......

Just booked taxi to airport (very exciting, I know you needed to know that......)

However this does mean that I may actually have just go to the bottom of my list .. of course I should warn you that the world may end very soon - just as I was getting towards the bottom of my list Martyn decided that we were getting quite close to going and he needed to write his own list. Those of you that know Martyn will understand how major the implications of this are. I'm quite worried about him really. Unfortunately many of the things on his list apparently had dependencies on me (not sure why) but I had to write a new list of things I needed to do to ensure Martyn could achieve the things on his list - oh what it is to be a dutiful and loving wife.....

Anyway, just about done now just need to update the big trip plan (sorry Martyn, not plan obviously - folder of possible ideas.....), pack and go.....oh and sing in school carol service, narrate the panto, make the costumes, slide show and sound effects for said panto, do some days in work, get car back from garage (did Martyn tell you about engine failure?), drop my car at parents......crumbs, maybe I should write another list.....

I thinks thats probably enough nonsensical blog entry for today. Just thought I should type something in so that those of you who are new to this get more of an idea how it works. Most people travelling round seem to blog quite useful stuff about their experiences.....Martyn and I just well......let you know our most prevalent memories really - laughingly or depressingly depending on how you look at it these quite often seem to revolve around food, toilets or embarassing things we seem to manage to do or have happen to us.....

Of course we are wondering how we will manage so long away on our own. Usually on the big mad trips we do we have up to 15 6th formers tagging along, we've just begun to realise that we may actually have to talk to each other - now that is quite scarey - we practised in the car on the way to Martyns parents for family Christmas at the weekend - we managed okay for the 50 mins it took to get there and back so we figure we'll be fine.....???!!!!

Right definately going now - just one last thing......if you've never read any of our other missives from our travels and if you happen to have some spare time (ha ha) then you might like to check out the following which I'm listing more because its taken me 20 minutes to find them all and I don't want to forget them rather than because we seriously imagine that you will be interested.....

exploring-ecuador.blogspot.com
tomatosandoicchi.blogspot.com
mkindia2009.blogspot.com
borneo2008.blogspot.com
martgadget-aussie.blogspot.com
uganda-adventure.blogspot.com

we did one for the thames path as well but I can't find that which is a shame as we saw a cool white slug and I remember Martyn got stuck in a gate somewhere - I'll see if I can find it later.....

How Much? .. Continued.

yes well, continued but on a different yet similar theme......

okay so some of you may have heard of Kays 'efficiencies'.....these are usually quite random occurences in which she attempts to be efficient and ends up well, not being quite frankly....

Usually these events manifest themselves on the work front.....she is very organised and does something weeks in advance but then forgets and does it all over again or is convinced she has done something and then spends ages looking for it only to discover she hadn't done it at all......

Sometimes she has these efficiencies with trips.....this time she was in a certain well known chemist a while back and thought she would be efficient and save herself another trip into town. So she bought hand gel and wet wipes and all the usual trip stuff that gets used up.......oh and mosquito repellant - very important and this well known chemist sells roll on stuff that we've never found anywhere else so she bought a couple of bottles.

We've just got round to looking through the 'trip medicine box' just in case we've run out of the vitals (rehydration sachets and immodium etc.....) and look what we've ended up with - HOW MUCH.......yet again, another perfect example of a Kay efficiency.......ho hum, will just have to do lots more travelling to use it all up won't we .....lol.......

how much?????!!!!

I am definately making this harder than it needs to be I think. China visas sorted. Am now drowning in SE Asia visa chaos.
Thought we would go overland......not entirely sure about visas but seemed like a good plan (although obviously due to Martyns distinct aversion to these there isn't really a plan......just a list, nope not allowed those either.....well just a sort of vague idea of things we might do then - thats a plan to most of us just don't tell Martyn)
Then we sort of chickened out of the overland border crossing thing - read some nightmare stories and didn't really fancy standing arguing with border officials with guns and the like......
Then discovered Thailand has an exemption for UK passport holders and you can get visa at airport - great, as long as you have proof of onward travel - and a flight out of Hanoi doesn't count......so we need a flight ticket out of Thailand........apparently no-one ever asks to see your proof of onward travel but given our luck (see previous Christmas Eve, no room at inn posting) we know what would happen if we risked it!
So I've spent 4 hours digging into SE Asia flights hence the HOW MUCH?????!!!!!!! humph and the like. We're definately going overland now!
Ah well, its kept me busy while the snow fell, and I've avoided the filing for long enough!
I think I shall do something more constructive and book a taxi to the airport (no doubt this will result in another HOW MUCH????!!!!!)
I have this excellent spreadsheet you see with macros and exchange rates and everything. Martyn of course is into blowing the budget with his gadget shopping list........we'll be doing lots of walking on this trip - its free! Unfortunately when I last looked at the spreadsheet I said 'HOW MUCH' - seems to be the phrase of the day.....haven't even left yet...........

No room at the inn.......

Seriously, its Christmas.....just had an email from our lodging scheduled for Christmas Eve and due to a double booking / date error on our booking there is no room for us........Anyone got a spare donkey........do you think three men will visit offering gifts........I am actually not joking.......

All is okay though - they have tents and Christmas Dinner is still on. Phew, was not looking forward to boil in the bag rice for Christmas......and if I had to make room in my bag for the camping stove for one night I would not have been pleased - I think camping stove is probably equivalent to at least 10 pairs of pants and something tells me I'll really value those pants.......Will let you know if we have any livestock try to sneak into the tent or other strange visitors or if someone tries to sneak a manger into the tent......I think Martyn might seriously object to that one - he's gamely smiling at the thought of a tent......my promise that we were following the sun around the world came to naught as he checked the weather for southern Chile the other day and discovered it was raining and 8 degrees. Maybe it will warm up by tent time.....

Have China visas - hurrah....watched An Idiot Abroad in China last night, not looking forward to eating toad - it was the spine on top of the pile that did it for me, foetus in an egg is definately a no no as well...... I tried telling myself and egg is an egg but no, our eggs must definately only be at the zygote stage....zygotes are fine, foetus no.....I might have to try a scorpion though. Martyn just keeps saying 'we're going on an organised tour - they'll look after us' I say'yes dear'........lol

Anyway, better go and investigate SE Asia flights......have checked list (again) and there still seems to be quite a lot of things we haven't done yet. Started moving things from the 'things to do before we go list' to the 'things to do when we get back list' at the weekend....ha ha don't tell Martyn.........

test

ha ha well, we're here, still in the UK that is, haven't left yet, in fact haven't packed yet......definately getting down the 'to do' list though being as today has been spent writing our Christmas missive to friends and family and, setting up this blog.......

Not that we're both at all excited or anything.......

Christmas presents wrapped, Kays family Christmas done, Martyns scheduled for a week or twos time. Last injections on Wednesday and a trip to the Chinese embassy on Tuesday and then we're just about ready.

Oh, apart from the ever growing pile of stuff in the spare room which means that the bags may actually be too heavy. blogspot.com..........

Life still goes on at its normal pace for now however and whilst this blog is now up and running dinner is also ready so I have to disappear for a bit.........more updates later no doubt, possibly before we leave as once I start on these blog thingies its usually hard to stop me.....K xx