Loads of travelling....

I have been busy doing quite a bit of travelling, and more to come up in the next 3 months as well! To start with, from June 13 to 26 I went with a group from my church to Turkey and Egypt, and we had a brilliant time! There were 20 of us in total, 21 including our local tour rep (Angeline) who came along with us. I don't think she realised what she could expect from a bunch of irascible, opinionated Malayalis who are used to voicing their opinions! :-) But, leaving that aside, we all got along well, had a load of fun, lots of jokes and story telling, tons of photographs, some shopping extravagances (Turkish delight, apple tea and carpets in Turkey, perfumes and papyrus in Egypt!), bargain hunting, crappy food in Turkey (apart from one or two decent meals, but I never want to see lentil soup or watermelon again!), great food in Egypt (apart from one so-called Chinese meal, where the only thing Chinese was the name of the restaurant), good tour guides and drivers, very comfortable 45-seater buses (for 21 of us!!), and overall a really, really good experience and a great holiday.

Two weeks after getting home from that holiday I was off to the UK, to meet up with Ken's best friend (Kevin), and also Ken's family (his sister, Avis, and her husband, John; his 2 daughters - Debra-Lee and Sarah - and their respective families), and to settle some minor admin matters regarding Ken as well, then from there to visit friends and attend my class reunion (from school days, 1975-1978, in UK), and then to Netherlands to meet up with Ben and Christine (Ken's and my dear friends from SG days!).

So, landed in London, and hopped a mini cab (arranged by my old classmate and good friend, Marie) over to Marie's family home in Putney. Now, bear in mind that Marie and I had not seen each other since 1976 (other than a couple of conversations on Skype last year), so you can imagine the apprehension I was feeling (and Marie too, while waiting for me to turn up) as I headed to her place, arriving at 5pm. Would we still be 'friends' or would it be uncomfortable and awkward? Well, let's just say that the minute her house door opened, it was like we had never been apart. Hugs, smooches and LOADS of catching up, some tears (when talking about Ken), and almost non-stop talking between the two of us until 10pm, which is when I started flagging. Of course, in between, I met her wonderful husband (Robert) and her absolutely gorgeous daughter (Natalie - not only gorgeous, but a very talented violinist too!). It was amazing and wonderful to realise that we are STILL friends, despite the years that separated us.

Anyway, the next day (Sunday), hopped a train to Wales, where Kevin met me. Headed back to his farm (Berryhill, on top of a hill, literally, with beautiful views all round), where I met his three dogs - Megan (quite the gentle grand dame collie at 16 yrs of age), Austin (miniature terrier, who absolutely adores Kevin), and Dash (a lurcher, who gets very jealous if you pet either of the other two!). Kevin has done a LOT of work on his farm (Ken and I first saw the farm in 2003 when it was bare bones and needed a LOT of work!) and he has made it very very comfortable and cosy. We spent quite a bit of time talking, reminiscing about Ken, and, of course, crying together - and that is the great thing about Kevin, that we CAN cry together about someone we both loved dearly. Stayed at Kevin's place till Wed and hopped a train to Warrington where I was met by the best sister-in-law and brother-in-law that ANYONE could have. Avis and John, as always, made me feel so welcome and so at home! And I was able to meet up with Debra and her husband and son (Jim and Brad), and also with Sarah and her husband and kids (Glen, Ben, Megan, Connor, John) and also with Ben's partner (Ruth) and their gorgeous little boy (Cohen) who is Ken's first GREAT grandson. Totally mind-blowing! They all, without exception, made me feel completely welcome into their families. For which I thank them all a LOT, and look forward to seeing them again.

The following Thursday I hopped a train to Glasgow, where the very lovely Lise Brincard (old friend from Singapore days) was my hostess. She took me to eat haggis, tatties and neeps (can't go to Scotland and NOT eat these!). The haggis was better than I expected, though I have to admit it is not something I would search out to eat either. Went wandering around Glasgow, went with Lise to a party (Thank you to Dominique for making me feel so welcome at the party), checked out the Charles Rennie Macintosh WILLOW TEA ROOM, had dessert at Pollock House (had lunch after that at home!), wandered around Queens Park, etc, etc, etc. Wow!

On Sunday 25th July, hopped another train back to London, this time to Marie's just refurbished apartment at Islington, literally round the corner from the Angel tube station, and walking distance from supermarkets, shops, and a multitude of restaurants. Debbie Tye was already ensconced there and it was great to catch up with her and Marie. Then during the week the rest of Marie's and my classmates turned up - gorgeous Alex, effervescent Caro, irrepressible Bahara, lovable Lisa, patient and gentle Philippa. We all missed Rozlin though!!! The week was amazing, and our friendship has been rekindled even better than it was before. I guess we all have matured, gone through headaches and heartaches, and learnt a lot, and yet have remained fundamentally who we have always been, which means that we were friends before and we are better friends now! The reunion was a lot of fun and it was good to catch up with the whole lot who turned up from all the various classes. And, believe it or not, EVERYONE is still recognisable and NOBODY seems to have aged! Wonder what the school gave us that more than 30 years later we still look pretty much the same (OK, maybe a little bit more weight than in those days, but then, that just makes us more huggable!).

In between, on 27th July, took a train to Birmingham to meet up with Surin and Nicky and spent the day with them. Catching up, eating (as always, as good Malaysians always do), wandered around the centre of Birmingham at the "Bull Ring", took photos, even went to a Chinese supermarket. It was really good to see friends from home :-).

Next stage of the journey, on 2nd August, was to Netherlands, where Ben and Christine picked me up at Schiphol and we headed back to their home in the pretty little town of Sneek (pronounced as "Snake"). They have an absolutely gorgeous home there, with a canal running along the foot of their garden where they keep their 2 boats tied up. It was a completely new experience for me to go into town by boat! Spending time with them was so wonderful. They are both so dear to me (and Ken loved them too) and they both totally understand what I am going through as each of them, individually, have gone through this too. They took me to so many places in Friesland (the province of the Netherlands that Sneek is in), and also took me to Dronten to meet old friends (Art and Marie), and then on to Rotterdam to meet my old boss, good friend, Erik and his wife Marianne - who cooked a most delicious Indonesian style dinner for us! Erik took us for a walkabout around Delft (famous for their blue and white porcelain), and I spent the night at their place. On other days we went to Hindeloopen, Enkhuizen, Ijls, and, of course, for the Sneek Week regatta, where we saw the Skutsje Sylen, and the opening parade of the regatta, went shopping in Sneek, ate pannenkoeken and poffertjes (hmmm, did I spell those correctly?), and generally ate too much.

Finally had to say my goodbyes on 10th August, flew back to Heathrow, and from there flew back to KL - landing on 11th August at 5.30pm, and hopped a cab straight to my sisters place where I was expected for dinner. My parents came over to her place too (they only live 3 doors away!) and we were able to catch up then, and I was able to unload all the pressies I had bought for my parents and for my sister and her husband and kids. (Presents for my brother and his wife and kids had to wait till Sunday, when they came over to KL for the day). Dinner was great but I was glad to get home after that - though I did not go to sleep until around 2am as I just had to go through the process of unpacking, sorting, putting things away, getting the mail and clearing that too, etc. Yeah, Yeah, I am anal retentive and just CAN'T leave things for 'another day'.

On Saturday evening the whole bunch of people who had gone on the Turkey/Egypt trip turned up at my place for a get-together - my dear friend Suja had organised the whole thing (I volunteered my place as most of them have never been to my place before!), and it was a pot luck so no cooking was necessary on my part :-) - all I did was get the drinks sorted, get plastic plates, get 20 chappatis, get some crisps and peanuts and chocolates, and get the table ready. The food, as brought by the ladies of the 'gang', included loads of healthy fruits :-p, dry mutton curry, chicken curry, appam, salad, spicy buttered tiger prawn, vegetarian cucuk, potato salad, and, for dessert, fruit cake, pound cake, chocolate tarts and ice cream. PHEW!! Talk about stuffed to the gills. It was a great evening all told :-), with 27 people all together as I had invited my sister and her family, and there were a few others who had planned on going for the trip but in the end had not been able to make it for one reason or another.

Anyway life is now, more or less, back to normal, at least for a while. I am back on my diet again and I have 3 weeks to lose the weight that I put on in my 1 month travel... and hopefully lose a bit more than that too. What happens in 3 weeks? Well, I am off to Sri Lanka this time :-) with 3 lovely ladies (ex-colleagues from Oracle - Ruku, Aley, Mercy), and 2 of Ruku's friends as well. 6 ladies all together (including me), and it should be a blast :-). Only negative is that we are flying AirAsia (NOT my favourite airline), but that is a small price to pay really for the pleasure of the company and the holiday.

So, folks, that is it for now (yes, you can now breathe a sigh of relief that there is not much more to read!). Have a good life, and take care of yourselves. Till next time...