New York New York

America doesn't 'do' small, does it ?

From the Empire State Building at 1,250ft to huge Shopping Malls with big savings on merchandise with displays piled high. 

But we hadn't gone to bargain hunt but to visit friends and celebrate a 60th birthday. So either side or zooming up to the 80th floor of the Empire State in under one, ear-popping minute, before continuing to the 86th and finally the 102nd floor, we spent plenty of time talking, eating and visiting, along with laughing and talking, drinking and eating some more. Catching up with great friends and having a thoroughly enjoyable time.

We took a drive to Greenport at the end of Long Island (North fork). Wondered at all the Christmas lights and decorations. Visited a craft market and a small winery while admiring the lovely homes of Stony Brook. Not to mention the view from the Empire State and the window displays at Macy's and Bergdorf Goodman in the City.

On Toni's birthday we ate Italian at Bruno's, Howard Beach right near the airport. Which was brilliant. See picture below.

Happy Birthday, Toni. (centre, right) and Jimmy.

And, America is 'big' on hospitality too.
So if I can get with the lingo, "Happy holidays, everyone".  M&B x

Andalucia

The idea for this holiday took flight over a year ago when Jane and Nigel (of 'Narrowboat on the Thames' fame - see blog: April 2011) asked us if we'd like to join them for "a bit of a doo" to celebrate their BIG Birthdays in 2014. Having signed up to this Spanish "Big Birthday Bash" weekend, we thought why not tack a few extra days on and make a week of it. Seville was always the option and having eliminated a few detours along the way, it all came down to this:

SEVILLE

Our chosen hotel proved excellent. Not on top of the 'old' town, but close enough to walk, we found ourselves in a part of Seville surrounded by lovely bars frequented by locals around the Alameda de Hercules.

We hired bikes and cycled beside the river to the Maria Luisa Park. There were bike lanes everywhere and Seville drivers were very courteous and pleasantly aware of cyclists. (London, take note). On the 'hop on, hop off' bus tour we missed our 'hop off' because due to traffic build up the headphoned commentary wasn't always synchronized with where you were. Hence when they prompted you by saying you can hop off here, you may have not got there! or in our case, you may have past it already. We missed our intended stop in Triana due to this out-of-sync prompt.

(left, right) Hotel Vime Corregidor and cycling day

Selfie in Seville

We enjoyed an evening of Flamenco, which was fantastic. And we found a friendly bar just minutes from the hotel. 'Cerveceria el Realito' where they served, in an air-cooled atmosphere, delicious tapas and refreshing copas. It may well have been this heady combination of food and drink that caused these silly photos. I'll let you be the judge!

Leaving Seville on the Friday morning, armed only with the hotel's substitute breakfast - a picnic containing a sandwich of cheese and ham (not one with cheese and jam on! as we had thought) - we took a rather unspectacular train journey to Malaga to meet up with the birthday group.

Not as warm as in Seville, eight of us boarded a bus that would take us up into the mountains via a very winding narrow 'main' road to the hotel: 

Room View

Weekend walkers: Jan, Jane, Julian, Sabina, Toni, Richard, Humphrey, Margaret and Nigel

The Finca, from the tree house

FINCA EL CERRILLO

What a find!

Moorish courtyard
For more details see: www.hotelfinca.com/

As we meet up with the rest of the group (16 in total) the first thing we did after arriving was a quick tour of everyone else's room to discover they were all very individual and unique. And the views just amazing.

After this you did as much or as little as you wanted. Laze by the pool. Go on a walk to the nearby white towns of Canillas and Competa. Take in the view or put your feet up (with a drink) in the tree house. Maybe park off in the shade of secluded sitting areas. Or, simply enjoy the delicious food and hospitality on offer. The owners appear to have thought of everything and have created a lovely place in which to relax.

It was a great weekend. A great group of people to share it with. And a big 'thank you' to Jane and Nigel for inviting us.

Thailand

I had not been to Thailand in 27 years and Margaret had never been, so everyday there was something new to enjoy. From discovering mangosteins to the playing of the National Anthem on metro stations! Beautiful warm weather, calm friendly people, sandy beaches and palm trees and buddhas.

But rather than show you endless pictures of these (of which we have loads) I thought let’s intersperse them with a selection of anecdotes... I did initially call these ‘GOOGLES & TIPS’, but felt on reflection the play on words ‘NOODLES & CHIPS’ didn’t quite work.  

Our introduction to the Hotel iResidence was after a 12 hour flight from London followed by a confusing taxi ride through the Friday evening 'rush-hour' Bangkok traffic. We were tired and perhaps in another world.

We were shown our room and planned to eat before we fell asleep. We'd asked about the hotel restaurant and were told we could eat there, which was as far as we wanted to venture. On leaving our room the lights went out. Odd! We mentioned this at reception and went to the top floor restaurant, which was deserted and clearly not open for business. Back at reception we were told the electrics in our room were fixed. After eating just round the corner we got back to the room and the lights were still out. A few moments later a man appeared, juggled something at the fuse box and on came the electrics. Fine! However there was one light we simply couldn't turn off and had to sleep with this on regardless.

The next morning before going to breakfast the lights cut out again. Now frustrated we told reception they must fix this properly or give us another room. "You can move if you want sir", we were told. However after breakfast we met a hotel worker at our room and he showed us (for the first time) that by putting your room key into a small housing you operated the electrics for the room. Removing the key as you leave cuts them off and saves energy. Just wish someone had shown us this before. We then saw (also for the first time) the instruction to do this written (in English) on the key fob, we were just too tired and out of it to have noticed. I present this tale for others unfamiliar with these new-fangle modern hotel keys. 

This was our stay at the iResidence, Bangkok. 

Rocking-back and forth at the guest house.

From Bangkok we took the train south to Lang Suan, not on everyones' map, but the home of Colin, a friend of mine since junior schooldays. He and his wife have a house, inches from the beach which is fantastic and rather than simply not do it justice here, I've decided to add a separate (and larger) entry on our 'tales' blog page. (For those other 'old' school friends who may be interested).

Colinland he called it, is in a part of Thailand far removed from tourism. A disappearing Thailand someone had written in his visitors book. And he welcomes guests all the time. We stayed in the guest house, while another couple, Americans Leila and Bryan, stayed in the extra bedroom in the house.

After we'd slowed down, taken part in the dog-walking, relaxed and enjoyed 'happy-hour' on the upstairs terrace of the main house, we rocked-back and dropped out for a few days. It was just great. 

Pictures of Colin and Kyoko and ALL the dogs will appear on our other blog page, see www.mandbtales1.blogspot.co.uk/ 

For further details see:  http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/feb/03/durian-worlds-smelliest-fruit-sale-britain

After leaving Lang Suan we headed further south towards Phuket, only we went via Khao Lak and loved it so much we stayed six nights. A popular honeymoon destination this was not your fashion conscious lycra set, more your let it all hang out brigade. But paradise is fragile, as it was here that the 2004 tsunami caused a lot of damage but Khao Lak has made a remarkable recovery.

At a museum there were rooms showing videos, some of which were quite harrowing and frightening. It appeared those who took some of the videos from hotel balconies and roofs had some warning, but it left you wondering as your strolled along the beach afterwards how at any moment this could happen and how powerless you’d be in the circumstances. Signs pointing towards tsunami evacuation routes (seen in many places in Khao Lak) would only alert you to the danger and the direction of higher ground. No guarantees that it would save you.

The 'Up to You Bar' on the beach in Khao Lak was the perfect place to spend the afternoon. Swimming or just watching the warm waters of the Andaman Sea and drinking pina coladas at 100 baht a go. (less than £2). Same again, please.

In Bangkok as we left the Chao Phraya river pier for the Grand Palace we made our way through market stalls and then a jumble of people holding placards touting for your business. One told us some story that the Palace was closed, due to a ceremony, until early afternoon but they could take us (for a ride) to some other attractions and get us back again for its opening later on.

Suspicious, we side stepped this trip-trick and walked on regardless. At the main entrance to the Palace there was an official sign (in English) warning you to look out for and avoid 'wily strangers'. Naturally we were amused by this sign having already encountered Mr Wily, grateful for the helpful intention of the tip off and glad we were alive to the deception. 

We couldn't really end without at least one buddha, alright then two.