August Bank Holiday Weekend

So what does a guy in the UK do while his wife is at home in KY?

Thus far he plays golf, goes to the pub, and eats KFC fried chicken...

It was a beautiful day here in Surrey after many ugly ones this past week. No rain, no clouds just the sun at a marvelous 80 degrees. A great day for a round of golf!

While Steph is away I am thinking of going to Notting Hill Carnival on Monday. Its one of the largest street festivals in Europe. Sounds tempting, has anyone been that can give me some pointers?

Also, I posted the Paris pictures for those who are interested.

The one above is me in front of Notre Dam. Here I am at the Louvre and here sliding down a hand rail on a huge set of stairs. Check out Steph by the Arc with the Grande Arche and La Défense district in the background.

Finally, please tell Steph the cats say hi but they want her to hurry back...

Now its time for a movie.

The Steph's home in KY

Steph has landed safely in Lexington and will be in KY through the weekend. Everyone help give her a big welcome home for me.

This means the cats and I are on our own for a few days. What is a guy and his 2 cats to do? Funny right? I guess its is a good time to practice driving because I need to get my UK drivers licensee. I hear its quite a bit tougher than the US's process so I better start preparing.

Steph enjoy the heat. Its cold and rainy here. What happened to summer? I am not sure we even had one...

A Quick Trip to Paris

We are back from Paris. It was supposed to be a relaxing weekend but we are worn out. The walks on the Champs-Élysées, to the Eiffel Tower, through the vast Louvre, up the 250+ stairs of the Arc de Triomphe plus strolls through a quite a few of the lovely surrounding neighborhoods have taken their toll.

In short we had dinner at 2:00 am Saturday morning, got stuck in the metro, lost in the Louvre, and still can't speak but a few words of French. It was a good time and totally Parisian.

Paris has such a different pace of life if you can stay away from the tourist hot spots. It is a pace we could easily get used and one we totally enjoyed.

For now I am off to catch up on some much needed sleep before work tomorrow. We will fill in the gaps in the coming week...

We bought a car!

After looking at car options - buying one versus leasing one through my company - we decided the used car market here is loaded with good deals, AKA cheap cars. And as we are more interested in spending cash on airplane tickets than a shiny new car, used car prices work for us.
We started looking in June before Tanzania and went to see a couple dodgy looking vehicles (well they didn't look dodgy on autotrader). We were trying to stay under 1000 GBP (yeah, I know, cheap). After a couple strikes, we decided to give up until after we got back from Africa and dealt with the fact that our car budget might have to increase.

After having a rental for the past two weeks it crystallised the fact that we need a car. Although public transport here is awesome, having a car can just let you do so much more...

...like allowing you to roam around small villages looking for a neat place to eat dinner and to tour the English countryside on the weekends.

Well, after all of the suspense, here she is - the 1996 Vauxhall Vectra. I know you're jealous. haha! This is actually a larger vehicle here but it will allow us to tote around our guests without their knees being up to their chins in the back seat.

Yes, that beauty and we stayed within our original budget! (Ok, it DOES have a little ding on the bumper, but oh well...)

We went to the Queen's house last weekend...

Haha! Well, we toured Buckingham Palace last weekend while the royal family is at their summer home, Holyrood Palace in Scotland. You have to book tickets far in advance to tour the palace as it is only open for a few weeks each year.

It was the hottest day yet this summer, but a nice day for being out and about. The palace interior was absolutely AMAZING. The Palace is full of intricately carved wood, amazing ceilings, silk covered walls, art and sculptures from all ages, and so much more! Beautiful place, but unfortunately we have no pictures to share as no pictures are allowed inside. Google it. I'm sure you'll find something.

Interestingly enough, the guy hired (way back when) to decorate the palace was fired prematurely as he vastly over spent on his budget. The rooms not decorated by him are lovely as well, but you can tell they are missing the minute details and intricacy of the other rooms. Although that must have been bad for the government that fiscal year, I'm sure the royal family is not upset by what he gave them.

We also toured the Royal Mews - the stables....for the horses and the royal carriages. We also saw the Rolls-Royce stretch Phantom. Amoung the many carriages was the one Princess Diana rode in on her wedding day...I have no idea how her dress and Prince Charles both fit in there with her! They also have a carriage that has Waterford crystal lamps on the side that have the Queen's likeness carved in to them. The horses look like they have a nice place to stay although I'm sure some Kentucky stables would knock their socks off.

The third part of our tour was the Royal Gallery - a collection of fine art. Nice. Josh and I appreciate art but we weren't moved by this collection in any way....no paintings that resembled family members here.

Oh, for the ladies...one of the most spectacular parts of the Royal Gallery and the Palace were the jewelry pieces on display. Oh, I get woozy thinking about them. I drooled over the ascher cut and pear shaped diamond broch being 64 and 94 carats, respectively. Oh my. And the crowns...every little girl's (or young-at-heart-woman's) dream! Amazing. Oh, and the diamond bracelet about 2 inches wide...it didn't just sparkle - it glowed! Oh, and the pink diamond - the largest pink diamond in the world! (Jane, you would have loved it!) I lingered for awhile at these cases while Josh waited for me patiently. What a good man.

Overall it was a nice day minus Josh being slightly under the weather due to a cold. We would suggest the Palace tour to friends but would say you could skip the Royal Gallery and the Mews (although ladies, half of the jewels you see are in the Royal Gallery).

Watch out Britain - Steph's on the M25

Yep, that's right...I am driving. I have officially been driving for 2 weeks now (I know, I really should have blogged about this sooner). However, if I had blogged about this the first day that I drove to my client site on the west side of London, then you all would have been getting a much different blog.

So, we picked up the rental car on a Sunday so that I could "practice" for Monday. Practice went well, although I had a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel, and Bill Fisher was right in saying that it takes two people to drive in Britain! After studying the step-by-step map on Mapquest, I was ready - at least I thought I was!

I set out Monday morning with about 1 hr 45 minutes to get there. Mapquest said it would take 45 min (no traffic estimate though). As soon as I hit the M25, I understood why people hate it.

TRAFFIC. 4 lanes of speedy little cars and lorries all zooming in the same direction. Narrow lanes. Variable speed limits and speed cameras...let me explain that one. They are big on speed cameras. We hear that they are still using film versus being digital so theoretically, a freshly loaded speed camera will run out in about 10 minutes per the locals...but you never know. Hmm. Variable speed limits: they have these huge lighted signs across the motorway saying what the limit is, then there is a series of white dash lines after you drive under the sign that the camera uses to measure your speed. It doesn't sound all that bad, EXCEPT that these variable speed limit signs are about every half mile! And driving 30 miles around the M25, passing Heathrow airport in the process, the variable speed is super annoying. The one benefit is that they truly slow you down for an upcoming traffic standstill or wreck. The speed goes from 60 to 50 to 40 then, bam, sitting still.

I survived the variable speed signs but to make a long story short, Mapquest was wrong, who knows how to deal with a double roundabout and a phone call to ask directions is never out of line....I finally made it to the client site about 20 minutes late. I would not have had a positive blog at the end of that day! haha!

Since then, I have figured out how to get to the client site without getting lost and I have MASTERED the double roundabout! (Picture a figure 8 with cars moving all around you). Yes, I mastered that...without side-swiping someone.

Even funnier, Josh can't drive the rental (that would have cost 9 GBP per day * 13 days...umm, no). So, he has been patiently dealing with me. He says he can't wait until he can drive....I can't wait until he can drive so I have the chance to make fun of him! It's not easy adjusting your natural driving instincts.

After two weeks, I can confidently say that driving here is getting easier. I guess I need to read that Rules of the Road book that PwC sent me in my welcome package...that might explain some of those funny looking, colorful signs! haha!

Tanzania and The Journey Back to London

The last day of the safari really started our journey home even though our flight wasn't for another day. From the Serengeti we had about a 6-7 hour drive back to Arusha. It's times like these when you really miss the Interstate system. Check out this short video clip of our ride. Now try and imagine 4+ hours of this before you hit the paved roads. Dust anyone...

After we made it back to Arusha we had to re-confirm our flights at the local Kenya Airways office. For some reason if you have more than 72 hours between your arrival and departure flights you must re-confirm your flight or else it will be cancelled. Yes I know, its a strange policy.

To wind down our trip we had one more night at the Patwa's residence. Luckily we took some advice and booked a flight to Dar instead of the 8 hour bus ride again. The 12-seater plane was an adventure and when we hit a nice little air pocket in the sky it gave us that feeling of free fall. Although it lasted a mere moment, it made us exchange sideways glances!

We caught our flight in Dar back to London and arrived "home" without any issues.

Finally Steph and I want to give a few shout outs to wrap up the trip.

The Patwa's, thank you for all of your hospitality! Thanks for giving us more food than we could possible eat, places to stay before, during and after the wedding and for helping schedule the safari and Zanzibar trip. To the whole family - we enjoyed meeting and getting to know you all. Someone ask the Secretary General to keep an eye on his "diet" for me...

Ali, thanks again for helping schedule our flight from Dar along with shuttling us to the airport. Also thanks for keeping an eye on me during the wedding ceremonies helping me to avoid any "stupid moments". It was a pleasure!

Sameer, thank you for letting us be a part of your wedding. It was a wonderful experience and we were honored to be invited. Best wishes to you and Tez.

That's all for Tanzania. So what's next?

Safari Day 4 - Sunrise over the Serengeti

We had our driver pick us up early, 6:30am, so that we could see the sun rise over the Serengeti. As we headed towards the game areas, we had several beautiful sunrise moments.

Today's mission was to spot some large cats as they tend to hunt in the early morning. As we drove around, the silence of nature was amazing. With the vehicle stopped, engine off, the delicate sounds of grass chewing, a few gentle steps and the occasional trot, made a peaceful soundtrack to the spectacular views. There were also fields as far as you could see full of gazelle and zebra.

During the early morning drive we found a pack of hyenas that were following a male lion. We came to find out from our driver that the hyenas thought they were following a female lion hoping to chase her off of an eventual kill. As the lion continued they soon realized it was a male lion and dispersed. It wasn't a total loss because the lion walked directly in front of our vehicle as he sauntered across the road. See this short video of the lion.

After a couple more peaceful hours of morning drive, with no major sitings, our driver started cutting through a field. In some parts of the park you are allowed to drive off the paths which can be helpful due to the size of the park.

We saw a few vulchers circling above and then saw movement in the tall grass as we drove closer. We spotted more vulchers finishing off a recent kill and not too many paces away were two cheetah. They were walking away having just given up their leftovers to the vulchers.

We followed the cheetah across the field where they stopped to sit on top of a dirt mound for a good view. Then we noticed the cheetahs were surrounded by lions. On one side was a lone lioness on the prowl. On the other was another lioness with her two cubs. Since none of the cat species get along the cheetahs were trying to avoid any contact with the lions by laying low not moving or drawing attention.

We were able to get extremely close to the cheetahs on the mound. It was one of the best moments of our safari, rivaling one of the lion hunts in the crater! The cheetahs were so amazing, too bad we couldn't have seen them in action at full speed.

We saw quite a few other animals and the only other thing to mention is a leopard we found sleeping in a tree that had carried its kill into the tree. Unfortunately it was quite far away so the pictures didn't really turn out.

Finally the picture is of a yawning hippo.

Serengeti Photos

Next Up: The Journey Home

Safari Part 3 - Serengeti Day 1

Where to start with the Serengeti? For starters it is the most well known National Park and biggest in Tanzania plus it is casually referred to as the eighth wonder of the world. The first thing that strikes you as you are driving through is the vastness the park. The plains and forest go in all directions as far as you can see....and in some ares the animals seem endless too.

We were in Tanzania during winter, the dry season. This means the plains are usually only inhabited by gazelles at this time who can quench their thirst by eating the grass so they don't need to be next to a water source. My favorite gazelle was the Thompsons Gazelle which is a smaller gazelle. They have a 6-8 inch tail that is constantly wagging happily like an excited dog. It is quite humorous to see a herd of them bent over eating peacefully but to see a wave of little black flicking tails! So cute!

One of our first stops was a hippo pool. Oh, the hippo pool, how it stinks. During the dry season the water where these hippos were doesn't turn over very much so the water becomes filthy dirty with poop. Yuk, it smelled so bad. Here is my initial reaction, funny I know. The hippos spend a lot of the time under the water or in the water during the day. They actually get out to eat at night. They are interesting to watch, bobbing up and down, snorting water, moving slowly about in the water...but the smell was too much to handle for too long!

We also found a huge crocodile, thankfully at a good distance. We were fighting off the infamous tsetse flies while spying on the croc. These flies are super annoying, flying all around your face and at your ears. They also carry the disease better known as Sleeping Sickness which basically makes you very sleepy. So, we headed straight for our bottle of DEET bug spray! It helped immensely!

The remainder of our first day was relaxing with several lion spottings but they were all in trees, relaxing in the shade from the late afternoon sun.

We also spent some time at a zebra watering hole. There was a VERY large herd of zebra and wildebeest next to the river. Zebra are smart, but suspicious animals so they always feel conscious of potential lion or crocodile attacks. The watering hole was hilarious because zebra in a group would wonder over, start drinking, then one zebra would flinch and they would all take off in a mad dash away from the river. In this short video clip you can see them running away but also here a zebra call (donkey-like he-haw). It was always being echoed throughout the herd. I wonder what they were saying...

We then took the long ride back to the lodge, speeding fast down some questionably rocky roads, but standing out the roof with the warm wind in your face was actually quite invigorating. Talk about fresh air - we were breathing it all in.

At the lodge, we relaxed with a cup of coffee and the view over the vast Serengeti before getting ready for dinner.

All of the Serengeti Photos

Next Up: Serengeti Day 2

Safari Part 2 - Ngorongoro Crater

Our second day of safari started with about a 2 hour drive to the Ngorongoro National Park and Conservation Area. We then had to to descend 7000 feet down to the crater floor where all of the action is.

Two words sum up this day, "Lion Hunts".

After our descent we enjoyed our first glimpse of the wildebeest. They are such goofy looking creatures but we decided they are very photogenic. One even decided to run into our vehicle.

From there we ran across our first and only Serval cat of the safari. A small but beautifully colored cat. She was the size of a very large house cat.

At our next stop there was a moment to savor, our first glimpse of a pride of lions in the wild.

As we watched a pair of warthogs stumbled into the area, the poor things have terrible vision. In this picture, you can see one of the lions watching hungrily. Gradually the lions all took notice and started moving into place stalking the warthogs. You can see the lioness stalking in the background.

This went on for a while when our driver said, "Oh, that warthog is in danger".

Then out of nowhere a few zebras wondered into the area near the warthogs and one of the lionesses took off chasing them across the plains. The surprised warthogs and zebras scattered in all directions trying to confuse the lioness. Wait, a moment of indecision by the lioness. She tried to change targets in mid chase. That was all it took, one moment of indecision and the prey escaped, luckily. The hunt was over with no snack for the lions this time.

The adrenaline was pumping. Steph and I exchanged looks in awe of what we had just seen. It was intense and thrilling to watch the lions in action. What a show!

We left the lions since there was no prey remaining to see what else we could find. We drove around for some time until we found another pride of lions which included males as well. We were on a road bumper-to-bumper with other safari vehicles. Then one lioness just stands up and starts walking towards the vehicles. Steph was getting a little nervous as it looked like her sight was fixed on our vehicle, then our driver says, "She is hunting. You are very lucky to see this twice". Steph, still a little nervous, didn't relax until she turned around to see a large herd of zebra in the field behind us.

The lioness proceeded to stalk the zebras, walking between the safari vehicles as if we were part of the environment. She ended up walking one vehicle away from us. You can actually see the tire of the vehicle right behind us in this picture of the lioness, not to mention her whiskers and teeth. She ended up chasing the herd, aiming at the slowest zebra at the back of the running herd, but was quickly out run by the zebras. Our driver at one point during this chase said, "just dive at it", but she didn't and failed. Again totally breathtaking.

After lunch we came back to the spot of the second hunt to find the male lion snacking on a kill. Again some warthogs wondered in and another hunt was on. Three in one day, can you believe it?! This one was short lived as the warthogs got wind of the lions and took off. We did however get this incredible picture of one of the lionesses stalking about to pounce and another of the warthogs escaping.

Overall, Ngorongoro crater was an amazing day. We saw many other animals but the lions stole to the show.

All of the Ngorongoro Photos

Next Up: Serengeti

Safari Part 1 - Lake Manyara

Our Safari started at the Lake Manyara National Park. It is a smaller park that gave us a good start into our safari. In the picture you can see our safari vehicle. The roof pops up for optimal animal viewing.

After entering the park the first animals we saw were elephants. We turned a corner and there was a family of elephants blocking the road. It was a male and female elephant with their little ones. We watched them for quite awhile but eventually they decided they were tired of us so the last one let out a silent, but deadly, elephant fart and as they strolled off into the jungle. And YES, elephant farts stink. We didn't stick around much longer.

At one point during the morning drive we found ourselves stopped looking at a family of hyper monkeys on the right side of the vehicle and a family of bandit mongoose on the left side of the vehicle. A few minutes pasted when our driver noticed an eagle high up in a tree straight ahead. All at once the eagle took off and everything went into action. The monkeys starting sounding off to each other while they dashed for cover...up into the trees and into the bushes. On the other side, the mongoose simultaneously did the same disappearing act. They were all locked on the eagle in defensive mode. It all happened so fast. In case you didn't realize, this eagle eats animals such as these small monkeys and mongoose.

When we stopped for lunch at a picnic site we were with a group of other tourists. After one group of people finished the mother and daughter starting walking away from the site towards the lake. They were a ways away before the driver noticed and starting yelling for them to come back. "Hey. Come back. Its not safe to be walking out there". Think - you are in an open park that inhabits lions, leopards and other large wild animals. Stupid tourists...

Finally on our way to the lodge we met a family of baboons walking in the road. Here is a photo one of the baboons sitting on the guard rail. Not a bad photo.

Lake Manyara Photos

Next Up: Ngorongoro Crater

Wedding Photos

I posted photos from Sameer and Tehzeen's wedding photos. The picture above after the final reception and we holding traditional Maasia symbols.

For some reason quite a few of the photos didn't turn out as expected. We think it may have been the lighting because we were quite a bit of low lighting during the wedding. Anyway the best of the bunch are available. Have a look. There are some good ones of us wearing some traditional outfits. Steph was digging the clothes...

Next Up: Lake Manyara

Zanzibar Photos Online

I have posted a collection of the Zanzibar photos. They are broken down into 4 sets organized into the one collection. Below is a brief description of the sets but you can also refer to the blogs Zanzibar 1 and Zanzibar 2 for more detail.

Dar Es Salaam Photos - The economic capital of Tanzania, this is the city we flew into on day one, having lunch at a place called Slipaway. We then caught a ferry to Zanzibar the same day. Only a few photos here.

Stone Town Photos - This was the first portion of Zanzibar where we visited the Stone Town a World Heritage Site. It was a vibrant and hectic place.

Ras Nungwi Photos - Sitting on the north tip of Zanzibar is our resort Ras Nungwi. Here we were able to take a break from the hectic pace and relax on the beach. The service and food were fantastic. We even took a snorkeling trip.

Jozani Forest Photos - Here we took a trip to the Jozani Forest where they have an endangered species of monkey, the Red Colobus Monkey.

Next Up: Sameer's wedding

Am I Really Back To Work Already?

The trip home from Tanzania was uneventful which is how we like it. We reached the flat early Sunday morning and had to happy cats waiting for us. Now we are resting up getting back to real life which kicked in quickly because we both went to work on Monday after 17 days away.

As many of you know our trip was split into 3 distinct events Zanzibar, Sameer's wedding and our safari. We have right at 1000 photos for the entire trip so I have some weeding outdo. Over the next week I am planning to post the 3 sets of pictures and blog about the remaining portions of the trip, mainly the safari so check back this week.

Next Up: Zanzibar

Back From the Safari

We are back from safari safe and sound. What an adventure!

Lions, leopards, cheetas, jackals, hyenas, zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, buffalos, hippos, crocidiles, monkeys, elephants, vulchers and on it goes.

I don't have much time at the moment so I have to be quick.

We start our journey home tomorrow morning getting in to London some
time early morning on Sunday. I will do my best to get some pictures and blogs up on the safari soon. We haven't had any access to the internet all week. For some reason in the middle of the Serengetti they just don't have internet connectivity...

More safari details coming soon.