- Photos uploaded into Flickr for our morning in Thimphu
- Stroll through the backstreets to Columbia Road Flower Market, returning with four varieties of tomato plant: Shirley, Moneymaker, Yellow and Sun Baby
- Quick catch up with Jo, Barney, Rosa and friends at the Waterside cafe
- Home to chill out on the roof terrace, lounging on the beanbag rereading The Far Pavillions - having long ago forgotten that much of the novel is set in the Himalaya of NWFP
- Once the shadows arrived, refreshing the soil in various terracotta pots and planting out the tommy toes - capturing one snail (large) and one slug (small) in the process; both later liberated in a podium bed
- Heading back down to the podium with book and beanbag for another few chapters and an opportunity to luxuriate in the unseasonably early summer sun
- And now, armed with a pot of tea and malt loaf, back to the Bhutan photos....
.... otherwise known as, "How I spent the bank holiday weekend".
Saturday featured a leisurely sending spree along the Kings Road, with co-shopper Hazel. A successful outing, in the shape of new clothes for work for us both.
Sunday required an early rise and shine to get to Harrold by 10.30, for the church christenings of Gregor and William Murdoch. Bank Holiday weekends being prime railway engineering works, we were fortunate in having the Denton taxi service on offer. Break down engine and digger discussions come free. A lovely day, with plenty of time to chat with Laura and Ian's family and friends - the last such occasion had been Findlay's christening....
Monday was a college day for Phil, which allowed me to spend the morning and early afternoon getting some more of my Bhutan photos online. I only managed to get one more day done - but it was the day we spent at the Paro Tsechu (festival). Phil and I did manage to squeeze in an hour or so enjoying the May sunshine in the Barbican garden before Flickr uploading and profiling resumed..... and the bank holiday culminated in a two hour tutu-making marathon on ye olde Singer sewing machine. The things I do for love....
Phil and I went to see Kneehigh Theatre Company's production of Brief Encounter last night, and it was excellent. I had not realised that the staging at the Haymarket theatre was so significant.
I was particularly impressed with the shift from stage performance to film footage, achieved by the actor diving through the venetian blind film screen at the same time as their image appeared onscreen - a clever technique and dependent on precise location plus split second timing. As always, the physical movement and characterisations were excellent. The one element I found a bit trite was the use of the sea and crashing waves to depict the characters' emotional inner turmoil, although I can appreciate that the 1940s setting, and indeed the whole strength of the story, requires the characters to keep a stiff upper lip.
Well worth seeing, if you can get a ticket.
Having spent last Saturday and yesterday shrinking and rotating my only-just-less-than 1000 photos taken on the Land of the Thunder Dragon trip, I'm now starting to work my way through them, adding highlights to my Land of the Thunder Dragon set on Flickr.
I may be some time.
What you see so far is days 1, 2 and 3..... most of which were spent getting to Bhutan. Day 4 we spent at the Paro festival where I took a bazillion photos of whirling dancers and Bhutanese dressed in their best togs .... and day 5 featured the fantastic Tiger's Nest monastery trek and is almost as bad in terms of the number of photos I took.
Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for Phil to buy me another 2GB memory card in anticipation of my Central Asia trip this autumn ....
It may be tricky adding my photos to the Flickr Map mind you:
Paro is somewhere around here - to the West of Thimpu and North East of Haa:
Next trip: Beijing to Tashkent, September/October 2008, courtesy of Explore .... I know, breaking the Wild Frontiers habit... but their Silk Road Odyssey is full, doesn't include the Western China overland element or an overnight journey on the Uzbek train system plus autumn is better time of year than the summer for getting four (4!) weeks off work....
Happy Birthday to me!
Itinerary: Central Asia Overland
Day 1 Fly London/Beijing
Day 2 Arrive Beijing
Day 3 Visit Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City; fly Urumqi
Day 4 Visit museum; Drive Korla
Day 5 Drive to Kuqa
Day 6 In Kuqa; visit ancient sites
Day 7 Drive to Aksu; visit virgin forest
Day 8 Drive across Taklamakan Desert to Hotan
Day 9 In Hotan; visit Cottage Industries
Day 10 Drive Yarkand
Day 11 Drive via Uighur knife factory; drive to Kashgar
Day 12 & 13 In Kashgar; visit famous Sunday market; optional full day excursion through the Pamir mountains to Karakul Lake
Day 14 Drive via Kyrgyzstan border to Tash Rabat
Day 15 Drive Song Kul Lake
Day 16 Drive Bishkek; via Lake Issy Kul
Day 17 In Bishkek; optional visit Ala Archa gorge
Day 18 Drive via Kazakhstan to Tashkent
Day 19 In Tashkent; city tour
Day 20 In Tashkent; overnight train Urgench
Day 21 Arrive Urgench; drive Khiva; sightseeing in the Old City
Day 22 Drive Bokhara
Day 23 In Bokhara; tour
Day 24 Drive Karmana; continue to Yangikasgan; 4WD to camp, optional camel riding in desert
Day 25 Morning at Lake Aydarkul; drive to Samarkand
Day 26 In Samarkand; visit Gur Emir Mausoleum and Registan Square
Day 27 In Samarkand; visit Ulug-Beg observatory and museum; afternoon optional visit to Marakanda
Day 28 Drive Tashkent; fly London
I'd originally gone for the Secrets of Central Asia organised by Peregrine Adventures, which looked brilliant - lots of time camping/hiking in Kyrgyzstan, travel through the Fergana Valley and crossing into China via the Irkeshtam Pass. Got lots of info from them and an invoice.... only to get an email saying they'd mucked up and there weren't spaces after all. To be fair, the trip was a combo of two separate trips, and it was only one that was already full booked, but they were advertising the combined trip as a single tour.
Anyway, foiled on that front, I had a good look at what else was available, and as WF's Silk Road Odyssey was fully booked I've ended up on Explore's Central Asia Overland trip, September/October this year. What sets is apart from all the other Central Asia trips is the 10 days in the far west of China, another place that's been on my wishlist for a while.... plus that overnight train journey in Uzbekistan (I might see that in a more negative light after the event!!).
My main reservations are about going with Explore, given that they're more mainstream and the group size is relatively large. But then again, I would have thought anyone booking for 28 days in Sept/Oct to go to that part of the world isn't going to be that mainstream.