England 1 week December 3, 2009 A whirlwind trip to the UK -- specifically, Sittingbourne, with a small side trip to London. View fullsize Waiting to board in Bangkok... although you'd never know it! View fullsize And voila! 16 hours later, in the Heathrow tube station! View fullsize The famed London Tube. The cars are really tight compared to the Skytrain's. View fullsize Transferring lines at Acton Town... View fullsize ... and realizing for the first time how cold it really is outside! View fullsize An intimidating escalator at Victoria Station. View fullsize Victoria Rail Station, from which trains to Sittingbourne depart. View fullsize Two suitcases enjoying the comfort of an empty rail car on a Saturday morning. View fullsize Look, look! Nicole got to use her sunglasses in England, if only for 10 seconds. View fullsize We made it this far! Now just one small taxi drive away. View fullsize My cozy room, home for 4 days. View fullsize Brr. Two sweaters, a jacket and My Hat were not enough to combat a cold British afternoon. View fullsize Ooh. British countryside. View fullsize The river (and some beached boats) separating the Isle of Sheppey from the mainland. View fullsize SHEEP! View fullsize Our afternoon's destination: the teeny town of Sheerness (-on-Sea). View fullsize The town -- and its amusement park -- get hyped up on the side of a main street building. View fullsize The Amusement Park, in its full glory, was underwhelming, to say the least. View fullsize The extent of it -- some coin-operated rides and casino games from 3 decades ago. View fullsize Not quite the weather for cold drinks, thick shakes or ice lollies. View fullsize Aha! I see the sea! View fullsize We came to see the sea -- and see we did. We also felt its chill. View fullsize More industrial port cities a bit further north. View fullsize Walking on the beach, just to say we did. View fullsize The beach looks like it's made of stones... View fullsize ...but really they're shells! (Of the sort people love to eat in Thailand, in fact.) View fullsize An odd choice of days for a family picnic. View fullsize A new seaside condo in the foreground, and a church in the background. View fullsize A row of classic British houses. View fullsize That same church, this time from the street. View fullsize The Working Men's Club & Institute, built in 1882. Could use a little help in 2009. View fullsize We came 6000 miles for a Thai massage. View fullsize The one open store in the main street was closing down. View fullsize Sheerness's claim-to-fame: The largest freestanding cast iron clock tower in Kent. View fullsize Finally, some place open for lunch at warmth. View fullsize Our huge British lunches: a huge fish and chips, and a huge omelet and chips! View fullsize Woah! Gone! View fullsize Back in Sittingbourne, a Bra bank... whatever that is. View fullsize Then we stumbled upon Sittingbourne's annual Christmas Lights festival. (Note: it's only 4:30pm in this photo.) View fullsize Following the marching band was Mr. Grumpy, pulling Santa in his sleigh. View fullsize Along comes Santa on his particle board sleigh to usher in the Christmas Season. View fullsize There were lots of games and activities for the kids. View fullsize No festival is complete without spinning tea cups! View fullsize And candy floss and toffee apples to care for the teeth. View fullsize A huge crowd gathered in the square, to witness the lighting of the town's Christmas lights. View fullsize A dramatically-lit church on the High Street. View fullsize And finally, at the clock struck 5, (a select few of) the lights came on! Impressive, no? View fullsize At Sainsburys, to get our fix of UK groceries! Here, the Carbon Footprint we came all the way for, on a bag of chips. View fullsize Excited by all the discounts on Christmas sweets. View fullsize The cake aisle. I'd forgotten how grocery stores stock a huge assortment of cakes on their shelves. View fullsize Nicole checks out, and the reality of everything she's bought checks in. View fullsize My (few) purchases fit neatly into a new reusable shopping bag. View fullsize One hour later, and the festival has completely packed up and gone home for the night. View fullsize Refreshingly warm winter veggie soup for dinner. View fullsize The big group next to us was having their Christmas dinner... a month early? View fullsize Enjoying a latte and hot chocolate on the company's tab. View fullsize Mmm! My steaming sticky toffee pudding! Isn't England great? View fullsize Having our hearty breakfast before heading into London for a day of trekking. View fullsize Heartily bad for the digestive system, that is! These are the deadly vegetarian sausages!! View fullsize Our ride to the train station: an excessively large taxi for two, don't you think? View fullsize In comes the train to London. Just over an hour's ride. View fullsize One of the many picturesque towns / small cities on the train's route. View fullsize A rainbow... an unfortunate indication of the day's weather to come. View fullsize And we're spat out onto Cannon Street, one of London's main business districts -- dead on a Sunday. View fullsize St Paul's cathedral, from the rear. (The only view that hides the scaffolding.) View fullsize The cathedral's blueprint tiled into the ground at its side. View fullsize And with Richard's arrival comes the first of many rains that day. View fullsize Paternoster Square, next to St Paul's. View fullsize Wherever we go, always a statute to mimic. View fullsize Crossing the Millenium Bridge under an ominous London sky. View fullsize Some lovely riverside properties. I'd take any. View fullsize Posing with St Paul's and some crazy city joggers. View fullsize Our excellent tour guide points out his neighbourhood. View fullsize Old and new mesh together on the south bank. View fullsize Exiting the Millenium Bridge, onto the property of the Tate Modern. View fullsize Excited to see birch trees... not common in the tropics. View fullsize Overwhelmed by the hulking insides of the Tate Modern. View fullsize Richard explains the recent redesign of the GBP's notes. View fullsize Posing with the London skyline and all its cranes! View fullsize Where are we again? Oh yes, still right in front of the Tate. View fullsize All sorts of funky architecture lines the wharf. View fullsize One of the many bridges crossing the Thames. View fullsize Yup, I'd take any of these properties too. View fullsize Seagulls enjoy their prime real estate, and don't seem to mind the gloomy weather. View fullsize A cute row of shops perpendicular to the riverside walk. View fullsize Posing with one lousy pigeon. View fullsize A favourite hangout for local skater kids... the smell of fresh spray paint was overwhelming. View fullsize The famed eye of London... or something like that. View fullsize A riverside vendor tries to sell his gummies in the rain. View fullsize An art installation, I assume. View fullsize Wet guests queue up to ride the Eye despite the weather. But me? Nope. I chose its toilets instead. View fullsize After the two-hour drama, enjoying a soothingly warm drink in a cafe upstairs. View fullsize At least they had a nice view as they waited. (Taking a picture on the BB to send home.) View fullsize The dreaded building whose bathrooms I hope never to visit again. View fullsize The famous shot of Big Ben and his House of Commons. View fullsize Almost blown away as we cross back to the north bank. View fullsize Some cabinet offices across the square from the House of Commons. View fullsize One gawks at Westminster Abbey, while the other wonders where we should go next. View fullsize Westminster Abbey, seen from its slim side. View fullsize Inside its cathedral. View fullsize The Eye peeks out from behind some more modern architecture. View fullsize Wondering what on earth that fellow is doing up there. View fullsize Posing with the poor little palm tree helplessly trying to survive London's frigid temperatures. View fullsize London has Duck Tours, too! And Winston Churchill is riding this one. View fullsize The classic shot. Can't leave London without it! View fullsize More cute buildings all in a row. View fullsize Wondering what's so impressive about this Downing Street anyway. View fullsize It was Nicole's idea, not mine. I swear! (Poor chap.) View fullsize The entrance to The Mall leading down to Buckingham Palace. Needless to say, we didn't make the trip. View fullsize Instead we stumbled upon Tourism Malaysia! Has some prime real estate. View fullsize Trafalger Square and the National Gallery, in all their rainy glory. View fullsize The start of the theater district and lots of hopping restaurants. (We'd return to this Italian one for dinner.) View fullsize Christmas lights and carnival sights near Trocardero. View fullsize The famous walk along Regent Street. View fullsize Our destination: the famed Hamleys Toy Store. View fullsize It had its cute Christmas window displays up. View fullsize A Lego advent calendar! Consumerism corruption? View fullsize Bearville -- my favourite floor. View fullsize One souvenir bear ready to fly back to Thailand. View fullsize One kid who feels right at home. View fullsize Completely fascinated by a fake-snow powder. View fullsize On the 5th -- and top -- floor, looking down. View fullsize Nighttime has fallen completely. Dinner time! View fullsize Another view of the Christmas lights at Picadilly Circus. View fullsize Two cold, waterlogged trekkers stop at a red light. View fullsize More bright lights and decorations. View fullsize Finally. A warm and toasty place to defrost. View fullsize Richard's plain jane burger. View fullsize Creamy chicken and chips. View fullsize My soothingly creamy cannelloni. Real Italian food -- it's been so long! View fullsize Group shot courtesy of our waiter. View fullsize Trafalger Square, lit up for the evening. View fullsize Riding on a double-decker bus (top deck) for the trip back to the train station. It's a must! View fullsize Back at Cannon Street after a tiring day of sight-seeing. Bye bye, London! View fullsize The next morning, another hearty breakfast before our first day of training. No sausages for me, please! View fullsize The office! Can you believe it!?! McKinnon & Clarke have the whole building. View fullsize The property on which it sits. Totally serene and peaceful. No city stress here. View fullsize The car park sign is bigger than the company sign. View fullsize The lobby has a comfortable, homey feel. Too bad the heating was broken. View fullsize Posing with our Directors. We have the same plaque in our office. View fullsize The main office! It feels like someone's fireside living room. View fullsize And the upstairs, where the engineers sit. Suckers! (But cute, no?) View fullsize The view out the second-floor window. They could have M&C horses or something. View fullsize In the conference room, five trainees (from Germany, UK, Italy/Switzerland, France and Thailand) gather 'round. View fullsize The conference room, which normally sees no more than 4 people, had to make room for 14 this week. View fullsize The biscuits the secretary brought in for us. How British! View fullsize One fellow (Luis from Spain / Venezuela) gets comfortable with the camera. View fullsize The cute office kitchen. How cozy! View fullsize The guy standing is the one from the Carbon Trust who conducted the training. The one he's talking to is our boss. View fullsize Valentina from Italy / Switzerland gets used to my clicking, too. View fullsize Posing idiotically for my two seconds of fame. (Foreground, a colleague from Germany.) View fullsize Working hard, or enjoying the tea break? View fullsize Group dinner after the first night. This is the closest to a group shot that we got. View fullsize Nicole thinks this colleague looks like a famous American actor (whom I've not heard of). See a resemblance? Let me know. View fullsize Joking around after the end of the second day's session. View fullsize Back at Sainsburys, loaves of bread covered in the Carbon Footprint we just learned all about! View fullsize Nicole decides to buy a larger-than-life bag of crisps to take back. View fullsize Sittingbourne High Street -- completely abandoned at night. Not even 6pm. View fullsize Last night in the UK! Nachos at one of the only open places in town. View fullsize Richard actually ventures to try them! Stop the presses! View fullsize Last night, last beer! View fullsize Bye! See you in another five years! View fullsize Last meal in the UK. At a bagel shop (!!!) in the airport. View fullsize Toasted sesame with grilled veggies and cream cheese. The bagel was actually not bad! I was impressed! (Or maybe it had just been so long since I'd had a bagel.) View fullsize And a Starbucks! Too expensive to buy in Bangkok. Another luxury forgone in the east. View fullsize My travel partner has a unique way of ensuring sleep on the plane. View fullsize My vegetarian gnocchi at midnight. Despite its looks, not too bad, all things considered. View fullsize Hey! The Pain au Chocolat brought all the way back from Heathrow. View fullsize All my imported goodies! Looking forward to the Christmas Pudding! View fullsize Isn't the UK great? Come one, rest-of-the-world. Catch up!
