Day 1: Little sleep, long flight

So...the first proper post on my blog is going well….only writing it 4 5 days later...that’s totally legit right.

I feel the culture difference between home and Bangkok makes it seem like even more than four five days have passed. There is just such a culture shock here in Thailand, and a climate shock too - 37 degrees Celsius is not normal for me! But I feel that without the heat to deal with, it would not be feel so different and exotic. Yeah, I’m admitting I sort of like the heat, if only to reinforce how far away I am from home.

There is very little of interest to say about my travel from home to the airport. I mostly just want to mention it to be able to include my first attempt at making a photo collage with Google Photos ;)

It wasn’t too great, annoyingly, as I can’t select the photo order. Hmm...annoying.

I spent an enjoyable 5 hours in Birmingham Airport. Well, enjoyable is the wrong word - little about an airport is enjoyable except leaving it. But it was passable - 2 hours sitting in Costa completing notes about Laos (enabling me to bin another guide book) while getting horrified looks from a librarian-type while I cut-up said soon-to-be-rubbish guide book. Then I spent a slightly less relaxing 3 hours in a departure lounge crammed full of nail shacks and promotional cars, with a correspondingly diminished selection of seating. It really did feel cramped, and the airport’s obvious mercantile aims made the lounge much less appealing than the standard characterless-airless-mercenary-shithole departure lounge. I felt I won a small victory by not buying anything, not even water. Yes, I had to fill my bottle up very slowly and with warm water, but it was a small victory.

Onto the plane….well, what can I say. It was a plane. A fairly shabby plane actually, with some decidedly poor quality TV screens that made everything grey and miscoloured simultaneously - a feat their manufacturers should be rightly proud of. It was however sufficient for me to enjoy watching a few episodes of New Girl, and the new Kingsmen movie.

I do have two very nice things to say about the plan. One was the meal; roast lamb with mash and gravy was surprisingly nice, and I appreciated tasting English food for what might be the last time for over 100 days. The second was the small lights set into the aisle roofs that simulated stars when the cabin lights were dimmed. It was such a small unnecessary extra but I adored the effect. Sadly I did not get a non-blurry picture of them (it was like 3am, I was sleepy, it was dark, etc etc) so you’ll have to make do with a picture of my plane food.

This takes photographing your food to new heights of sadness...gettit???? Heights of sadness???

DSP

Local Travels: The greener side of Milton Keynes

Recently (Easter Monday) I took a trip with mother dearest to Milton Keynes.

I must admit that I am rather a fan of Milton Keynes, at least for shopping. There’s a decent selection of shops (fashion, cafes, Disney store, etc), all undercover in one huge shopping centre, meaning rain or cold can’t disrupt a retail therapy session. It’s especially a godsend at Christmas, because while cold and slush and wind are nice, by darkest, deepest December, it’s starting to get a little tiring.

However, aside from the shopping centre, I have seen very little of Milton Keynes.

Well, I’ve seen dozens of numbered, business-sponsored roundabouts (MK loves its roundabouts), and on the handful of times I’ve caught the X5 bus which goes via Milton Keynes to Cambridge, I have been given a very thorough tour of the rail station bus stop complex. But I had never explored Milton Keynes by foot, and the glorious weather we had on Monday gave me an opportunity to do so. I looked on Google Maps, found that a park bordered the shopping centre, and off Mum and I went.

Surprisingly, it turns out that Milton Keynes has over 35 parks, most of which are connected to each other using underpasses and bridges. Within minutes of leaving the centre, we could hear birdsong, see fields and sheep, and the only clue we were in the middle of a city was the sound of traffic. This was the view we had within minutes:

Blue skies and open parkland in the middle of an urban jungle.

Campbell Park continued past woodland, open grassland (carefully maintained by eco-lawnmower sheep) and cricket pitches. Passing over a canal, and past a fairly loud themepark (it wasn’t all idyllic), we eventually reached my goal of Willen Lake, which was absolutely packed with local families relaxing on one of the first nice days of the year. The crowds, hordes of kids, and go karts being raced along the paths distracted me from photographing, but I can set the scene for you. Big lake. Sunshine. Blue skies. Many people and many pushchairs. Ice cream van. Pretty etc etc etc

After admiring the view (and glaring at a few brats children who pushed past us in their games, we decided to begin the journey back, and on our way we discovered the MK Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Temple. It had a cherry tree in full blossom, and so I was obliged to take multiple pictures of masses of pink blooms. Cue picture show:

The pagodas’ garden complete with pond, miniature bridge, and cherry blossom.

Many many flowers

Filters may have been applied, but I couldn’t resist ;)

After boring Mum with my self-indulgent photography session, we wandered back in the vague direction of the car, and we discovered another little gem; a tree cathedral.

Trees, in straight lines….oooooo!

For those who have not had the delight of visiting a tree cathedral, the basic idea is to lay trees out in the shape of a cross/church, and as they grow they will create a living ‘building’ with the trees touching overhead in an arch of sorts. This was my first, and it was quite pretty, though didn’t particular strike me as church-shaped.

After enjoying the ambience here for a little while, we continued back to the centre, and I spent the drive home scoffing chocolate eclairs and listening to Shakira whilst trying to ignore Mum’s horrendous hummed harmonies.

‘Whenever, wherever, we’re meant to be together….’

DSP