We arrived in Moscow at 5.30am this morning after a 4 hour flight from London. Our guide arrived at 12 after we managed to get a couple of hours sleep and took us on a tour of Moscow city. It was very hot-they have had a heatwave here for weeks. We ended up in Red Square which was fascinating. Very few people speak English and almost nothing is written in English. It feels like starting to learn at school all over again!

Cotswolds

The Cotswolds were beautiful-we stayed in a beautiful little village called Bibury. It was so old-one of the churches was over 1000years old. We drove around lots of different places and saw Blenheim Palace on the way back to London. It is a huge palace built about 300 years ago. I'm glad 34K did very well at the sports-which house won? Tell Steven I didn't see the BFG or the Queen. Keep practising for the concert.

Yesterday we had lunch with the Queen! Well, we ate our lunch out the front of the palace where I'm sure she would've been eating her lunch. We watched the Changing of The Guard which was very impressive. We have been on about 100 underground trains and have ridden on the top of several double decker buses. I didn't buy anything in Harrods the other day because it was too expensive! (I'm saving my money for Paris!) Today we are going to the Cotswolds north of London where there are lots of little villages that are very old. I saw a fantastic lolly stall at Waterloo station and took a photo of the marshmallow because I thought 34K would like to try some!

London!

We're finally here! It was a very long day to get here-it took 22 hours altogether.
Yesterday we walked all over London-Notting Hill market, Harrods, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Hyde Park, Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben and 10 Downing St where the Prime Minister lives. We rode on the Tube and double decker buses and had a great time. There were so many tourists everywhere! Today we're off to Kew Gardens to have a picnic. There is so much to do!

It's Wednesday in Chiang Mai and we have just been up to Doi Suthep Temple at the top of the Mountain.(like in the first photo on the blog) Lots & lots of steps!!! there were some very cute children there dressed in hill tribe costume. We haven't eaten any snails but you can see there was a big one by the pool after the rain. tomorrow we fly back to KL and then to London on Friday.It is hot here every day and the pool is lovely. I hope all of 34K are working very hard!

Monday

We had a lazy day today after our big walk around the market last night. We went to the tailor to have some clothes made and also to a silk factory to see how the silk worms spin into cocoons and then they use the cocoon to make the silk thread. Each cocoon can be unwound into 300metres of thread. The moths lay around 200 eggs each and they hatch into caterpillars. They feed them on mulberry leaves until they are fat and spin their cocoons. Then they put them in the sun so it kills the caterpillar inside because if they make a hole to get out when they are a butterfly they can't use the cocoon. I bought a beautiful silk scarf there.

Sunday in Chiang Mai!

Just back from the Sunday Walking Market and Stuarte has tried every exotic kind of food available! We went to visit the Orphanage this morning and went to church there with the kids. Then we gave them the toys we bought with us-frisbees, connect 4 and Uno! It was chaos with all the kids having a ball. It is hot and humid and poured rain this afternoon for about 2 hours. I had a Thai massage this afternoon and I think I will be black and blue tomorrow! She was even meaner than Mary at home!
I will load some photos tomorrow! Bye for now