Bank Holiday

Day 19 - London

Today is a bank holiday and the last day of the summer and school holidays (kind of like Australia Day), and it's also our last full day in England.

We walked to Covent Garden, we didn't find anything remotely green but there were lots of shops and people (apparently there was once a convent and a garden in the area, hence the name). We then caught the train to Camden Market to find lots of people and lots of tacky, Chinese made souvenirs.

We then visited the British Museum. It's free entry, but there were two queues, for people with and without tickets. We joined the "no ticket" line, only to find that the lines merged in just a few metres and we all entered together.

We visited a few of the museum highlights, like the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon Marbles, as well as the African section. It was very busy, much busier than we remember from out first visit in 2011. 

We finished off the day by visiting Somerset House (which is not a house but more like a grand palace) where K managed to talk our way into the gift shop of the M. C. Escher exhibition where M bought a small souvenir, while K snuck in to see a little bit of the exhibition.

We went for a drink in a nice quiet pub close to our hotel, the area where we've been staying has been very quiet because of the holiday weekend (which we like), but nothing like what the area would normally be like.

Some final observations for our last full day in the country:

• UK would be the the easiest country for Aussies to travel in, except maybe NZ.
• People in general seem much politer than at home.
• There is no "walk on the left" rule, just walk where there's a gap - unless if you're on an escalator, where you stand to the right.
• There appear to be a lot more smokers and vapers.
• Instead of  "Hi" or "How are you", the say "You all right"? That took some getting used to.
• There are still lots of bookshops and greeting card shops, at home they seem to be dying out.

Forever stained

Day 18 - London

We seem to have a knack of turning up to major cities to find out there's a major event on, this time we discover at the last minute that's it the famous Notting Hill Carnival. They were expecting between one and two million people to attend so we decided we should at least check it out.

We started with a walk down to nearby Fleet St and on to the Thames. The streets near the hotel were almost empty but at the river it became quite busy. There were lot of people around, the weather was mild and it was a bank holiday weekend.  

We crossed the Millennium Bridge then returned via Blackfriars Bridge. We hopped on the train at Blackfriars station, hoping to get off at Notting Hill Gate, only to find that the station was closed (too many people, we presume). The next stop was Bayswater so we jumped off there and followed the crowd to the festival. The carnival is Caribbean based and the crowd, especially the women, were dressed with that theme, many being very scantily clothed. 

There were a surprising number of police around, though many of them seemed to be in the back streets and well away from the crowds, though we did see two people pulled out of the crowd and taken aside. There were also a lot of event staff, arrayed in lines across the road. They were still letting people through, and many were taking photos and videos as if they were part of the crowd.

We watched a group of Mas band members and followers swarming the streets, they were heavily dyed in black and purple paint that was literally thrown around. K ran to try and escape the paint but it still managed to splatter her clothes with purple, effectively ruining them. It was only later that we read that it is recommended to wear old clothes to the festival ... too late for us!

After watching for a while we decided to move on as the crowds were getting quite dense. We stopped for a drink at a surprisingly quiet pub, though by the time we moved it was almost full as there was a heavy rain shower while we were there. 

We planned to visit Mayfair so we needed to get to Bond Street station, we walked to Queensway Station only to be told it was also closed, so we walked on to Lancaster Gate. We wandered the upmarket streets of Mayfair, then continued to Regent St and Soho, then Piccadilly Circus, before getting the train back to Chancery Lane and home. 

After that we popped in for a drink at the grand Old Bank Hotel on Fleet Street before heading back home to cook the Indian meals we'd bought from M&S, taking advantage of the cooking facilities in our studio apartment while we can.

Be careful out there!

Day 17 - Hope to London 

We were on the road by 9:30am for the four hour drive to Heathrow to drop off our rental car before our London stint.

There was a bit of rain and there were also disruptions on the M1, but other than that the drive into London wasn't too bad. We had to fill up car and have a quick toilet stop just before we reached the airport we stopped in a place called West Drayton. The place looked impoverished and the locals were surprised we had chosen there to stop there and told us to be very careful with our belongings.

The car return went smoothly, we made our way to the airport railway station and travelled to Chancery Lane, with just a three minute walk to our studio apartment where we were staying for the next three  nights. The streets were very quiet as we were staying in a mostly commercial area, it was a Saturday and also the last weekend of the school holidays.

Hoping for better weather

Day 16 - Hope

It had rained more overnight but the morning was clear so we drove to nearby Castleton for a coffee, with the ruins of Peveril Castle overlooking the town. While checking out the local shops with stones and jewellery made from something called Blue John stone, the miniature bowls for sale were exquisite but unfortunately so were the prices. 

We decided we should explore one of the many local caves, we liked the sound of the self guided Treak Cliff Cavern so we hiked up the side of the hill (with some great views of the area on the way) to enter the 330 million year old caves, where the Blue John stone had been mined for over 300 years.

The Cavern was interesting with beautiful colours and formations, though the tacky plastic dinosaurs placed in some of the most beautiful spots did cheapen the attraction somewhat. From there it was a short drive and walk to visit the Odin Mine crushing wheel which was used to break up the mined lead ore. 

For lunch we drove to the historic village of Eyam, which is famous for voluntarily quarantining itself during the bubonic plague in 1665. We had just ordered lunch when the rain started again, luckily it had started slowing down by the time we finished.

We headed south to visit the sites we missed due to yesterday's rain, including Heights of Abraham where we chose not to take the cable car. We walked along the promenade of Matlock Bath by the Derwent River. It was like an inland version of an English seaside town, with lots of fish and chip, ice cream, confectionery and tacky souvenir shops. 

On our way back to Hope we detoured via Chatsworth House and were blown away by the sheer size and scale of this so called "house" and the numerous grand buildings surrounding it. The farm shop down the road was also an eye opener as the range and quality of food was a big step up from our options at home.

For dinner we went to a local pub up the road in the village, which was much quieter than the one where we were staying. What's surprising is that they had a food menu for dogs, with what appeared to be very reasonable prices.

Losers!

Day 15 - Stoke on Trent to Hope

We woke to rain that kept getting heavier, so we delayed leaving Stoke in the hope that the weather would clear. By 11am we had to get going so we hit the road to drive to the Peak District. We had planned stops at Dovedale and the Stepping Stones but as the rain wasn't letting up we continued to Ashbourne where we grabbed some lunch.

The rain wasn't stopping any time soon so we decided to skip the places we had planned to visit and instead went via the cute villages of Bakewell and Buxton before checking in to our pub accommodation at Hope, just as the weather started to improve.

We walked into village and surveyed the dinner options, we could see a huge tent that was being set up by the Old Hall Hotel for the upcoming Hope Beer and Cider Festival, so we crossed that off our list, opting instead to book a late dinner at the local Indian restaurant that had been recommended to us by our accommodation.

Thursday night was quiz night at the pub we were staying at so we decided to try our hand and joined in with the locals for a change at the prize pool (which we figured was about £13 in total). Unfortunately for us the questions were very UK-centric so we struggled, eventually coming equal last with just 16 points. Defeated and dejected, we walked back into the village for our tasty Indian meal.

We noticed along the way that the old red public telephone boxes have now been converted to house defibrillators, a  clever use, though we do wonder whether the victim needs to be transported all the way to the phone box first.

Going potty

Day 14 - Stoke on Trent

The final day of visiting the Potteries today and our first stop was the famous Gladstone Pottery Museum. We were able to see inside a number of bottle kilns as well as preserved areas of the original factory with displays of glaze testing, decoration, mould making etc. 

This is also where The Great Pottery Throwdown is filmed, and we were told Keith (host of the show) could be floating around somewhere as they currently filming a new series, but we didn't bump in to anyone we recognised. There was a large exhibition chronicling the history of British sanitation, complete with simulated offensive odours and examples of toilets through the ages, starting at holes in the ground all the way to Japanese automated toilets.

We left Gladstone for a quick visit to the Spode exhibition and shop, as well as lunch, before returning to our hotel. We walked to the Potteries Museum just behind our hotel, only to find it closed for renovation. 

We returned to Moorcroft and Middleport (where we'd visited yesterday) so K could purchase some items to mark our visit to the home of English pottery.

What is the deal with this place?

Day 13 - Stoke On Trent 

A lot of the pottery places at Stoke on Trent are closed to visitors on Monday and Tuesday as they're open all weekend, so in hindsight we could have done with arriving a day later as there's not much else to do.

We started the day with a tour of Middleport Pottery which was very informative. It was interesting seeing inside the huge bottle kiln and to learn that they are a dual wall structure with the actual brick walled kiln inside the larger outer wall that you see from the outside. All the work was fired in saggars stacked on top of one another to protect the pots from debris and dirt from the coal.

We then drove to visit another couple of potter shops, which more interestingly were directly opposite a statue and other tributes to Lemmy, the lead singer of Motörhead, who was born in Stoke On Trent.

We filled in the rest of afternoon by visiting Biddulph Grange gardens, then the old ruins of Mow Cop Castle, before heading back to the hotel.

We tried a different pub for dinner this time but once again were told they weren't serving food .... what is the deal with this place? We ended up at a different Italian restaurant where K was served the the smallest "King" prawns she'd ever seen in her life, the servings were so small we ended up at the supermarket for a snack afterwards!

Since when did pubs not serve meals?

Day 12 - South Bristol to Stoke On Trent

Time for a change of scenery so we drove north along the M5 for almost three hours to England's home of pottery Stoke on Trent. The town has seen a resurgence since the TV show The Great Pottery Throwdown started filming there in 2015 and is now in it's ninth series.

We stopped off at Trentham Village for lunch, thinking it would be a nice place right by the very popular Trentham Gardens, but it turned out to be more like a shopping mall with a few average looking food places.

After our disappointing lunch we made our way to the World of Wedgwood for the 2:30pm tour of the factory. We were taken through the factory showing the meticulous steps involved in making their very expensive once fired jasperware ceramics.

From there we stopped briefly at the Emma Bridgewater Pottery shop before visiting Moorcroft Pottery, which had one of the old bottle kilns as well as some very impressive work but unfortunately the prices were a little off putting.

We then checked into our hotel and wandered up to a local pub for dinner, only to be told they weren't serving meals that night, so after a quick drink we found an Italian restaurant that was open and had a nice dinner there.

It's only OK if you're a local

Day 11 - South Bristol

We had been invited to A&L's for a late lunch so after a sleep in we drove to Nailsea for a coffee and then on to Clevedon Beach for a drink and snack at a local pub while relaxing in the sun. 

Clevedon is notable for the huge tidal difference, and as the tide was out we could see how high the pier supports were. We would have walked to the end of the pier but they charged £6.50 per person. It's an annual fee so perhaps it's worth it if you live locally but we couldn't justify it for a one-off visit. The beach wasn't much but there were still people attempting to sunbake in the 22 degree sun.

At A&L's we joined their family for a tasty roast lunch outdoors, the weather was perfect for that sort of thing, before saying our farewells for this visit, maybe we'll be back in another 15 years?

I've never seen so many black t-shirts in one place!

Day 10 - South Bristol

A&L had invited us around for breakfast so we arrived at their house mid morning for a coffee, then went for a walk past the allotments and through some fields (not paddocks). Everything was very dry and crisp. but there were a lot of ripe blackberries and plums growing wild so we tried a few along the way.

After leaving A&L's  we drove into Bristol, hoping to find somewhere near the harbour to enjoy the sunshine but it was so busy and we couldn't find anywhere to easily park the car so we gave up and drove back to our hotel.

Our hotel was in the grounds of an old private estate and school, with manicured gardens and terraces, and there was a wedding reception underway when we arrived, We sat outside and had a some drinks and a snack, then got ready for what M had been looking forward to for some time. 

Just after 6pm we hopped in the car and drove to the the ArcTanGent music festival at Fernhill Farm, the main attraction being to see the Cult of Luna with Julie Christmas, who were closing the festival with a performance of their album Mariner, The festival was very well organised with huge big top tents, lots of food and drink and (to K's surprise) clean toilets!

Once the sun set it became quite chilly and we headed back to the car for more clothes. In a sea of black t-shirts and nose rings K was pretty confident she was the only one wearing a soft pink New Zealand alpaca wool jumper and a mink hat. We had a drink and watched a couple of the lead up bands before venturing into the main tent to see the headliners.

The performance was as excellent as M had hoped it would be, and if you want to see what it was like here's a sample:

Once it all finished at around 11pm we were a little concerned it would take some time to get out of the car park, but it was all pretty painless and we were back at the hotel by midnight,  

This is not the time for a cheesy joke

Day 9 - Frome to South Bristol 

We said goodbye to Frome and started our drive to Bristol. We had a couple of things planned for that area, including a visit to our friends A&L in Backwell.

We went via Cheddar Gorge which was very touristy with many shops that of course sell cheddar cheese, along with lots of fudge and ice cream. We decided that the entry fee to visit the caves was a bit rich, instead M climbed the 274 steps of Jacob's ladder and then up to the highest point at the Pinnacle, which had a good view of Cheddar town and reservoir. 

We made a short lunch stop at some cute tea rooms in Ashbridge before arriving at A & L's. On our previous trip to the UK in 2011 we had stayed in their summer house in their garden and used it as a base to visit other places in the UK

After a nice catch up with we left to check in to our hotel in South Bristol for the next three nights, then driving to the nearby village for an excellent dinner at The Congresbury Arms.

Look, no wires

Day 8 - Frome

We woke to rain, something very welcome in England at the moment, which continued as we drove to Lacock. The ran stopped by the time we started walking around the abbey that is famous for being the site for the TV show Downton Abbey as well as the cloisters for the early Harry Potter movies. We then wandered around the National Trust owned village which is very popular for period filming as it has no overhead wires.

Our lunch stop was at Bradford on Avon where we walked over the 13 century bridge to have cake at The Shambles, a short shopping street dating back to the Middle Ages.

The final stop of the day was the stunning gardens at Iford Manor.

We made it back to Frome in time to visit the last few shops K wanted to see before they closed for the day.

Hare Hare Hare Krishna

Day 7 - Frome

At last night's dinner we were given some good advice on towns to visit in the area, so we started off by driving to Wells. It was market day so we had to stop by a few carparks until we finally found one with space. We strolled around the town, visiting the Wednesday market, the cathedral and Bishop's Palace.

We drove on to the "hippy" town of Glastonbury, known for the music festival but apparently also a place where westerners can pretend they are religious Indians and sing about Hare Krishna. There were lots of shops with crystals and potions, men with pointy beards and pony tails and women with kaftans and pink/blue hair. 

It was a nice sunny day so we had lunch, then walked around town for while, viewing the ruins of the abbey from the outside and with the Glastonbury Tor in the background.

Back in Frome we walked the steep cobbled streets, checking out some of the local shops, followed by a quick drink at a quaint local pub which seemed to have a nice authentic atmosphere. 

Winchester Cathedral, you're bringing me down

Day 6 - Winchester to Frome

M took an early walk through the Winnall Moors nature reserve before returning to pack up and check out. We left the car at the hotel and explored Winchester, including a look at the cathedral, which we have since learnt is the longest in the world, though it wasn't obvious to us at the time. 

We drove on to Southampton and stopped at the waterfront (where the Titanic left from) to watch huge ships being towed by small tugs to start their ocean journey.

Our next destination was Old Sarum outside of Salisbury, though we had a little trouble getting there as we always seems to be in the wrong lane and ended heading off in the wrong direction, and the traffic didn't help, getting caught in a traffic jam along the way.

Old Sarum was built around 400 BC, the massive circular earthworks served as an early defensive hilltop fort. William the Conqueror built a royal castle here around 1070, and a cathedral followed. Not much of it is left, there are some excavated stone walls and drawings to help you imagine the original buildings and rooms, but much of the stone was removed to build other forts and castles in the area.

We made it to Salisbury Cathedral where we joined the 2pm stonemasons tour, a behind the scenes look at the restoration work being done at the cathedral. The cathedral is home to Britain's tallest spire, oldest working clock, and an original copy if the Magna Carta from 1215. The tour included a visit to the stonemasons' workshop, where they seemed to be working in what seemed to be dusty and potentially unhealthy conditions. After the tour we had time to look at the Magna Carta and wander through the very impressive cathedral.

Finally we drove to Frome, our home for the next 3 nights. We spent a lovely evening with K's Spanish teacher from Barcelona and her friends at one of the local pubs, though it seemed they'd lost our food order but made up for it by offering us free drinks.

It's so dry

Day 5 - Brighton to Winchester

This morning we woke up at a regular time, hopefully our time adjustment is now sorted. 

Our room had a lovely view over the ocean which K enjoyed while M went for a walk, heading away from the beach through some parks then along the beach and down to the water's edge.

After that we went across the road for a decent flat white at one of the cafes on the promenade by the pebbly beach, followed by a wander through The Lanes. 

We then walked to The Royal Pavilion where the gardens had been burnt to a dry crisp by the heat waves and drought that's hit England this summer. The Royal Pavilion was built for King George IV and has distinctive Indian architecture with bulbous domes, minarets and arches. Apparently the interior is decorated with a Chinese influence, talk about a cultural mix.

We left Brighton and drove on to Worthing, stopping in the pretty village of Arundel for lunch by the river with the very impressive Arundel Castle up the hill.

Our next stop was Portsmouth, where we stopped at Gunwharf Quays which was a huge shopping centre which reminded us of Docklands, very modern with lots of shops. From there we walked to Spice Island and the historic waterfront area of Old Portsmouth which was more interesting. Walking through the ferry terminal we followed the edge of the harbour, finding a pub where we had a quick drink while watching the huge ferries pass by.

We drove on to Winchester, our stop for the night, relaxing for a drink in the hotel garden before heading out for a delicious Nepalese meal.

Woosh Woosh

Day 4 -  Dover to Brighton

We woke up around 5am, not quite having caught up with the time difference yet, so we decided to visit the Dover cliffs before the crowds arrived. Getting there around 7am we basically had the place to ourselves with only a couple of locals walking their dogs. We followed the cliff path admiring the chalk cliffs and the huge port below us, and we could faintly see France in the distance.

Our early start meant we had more time up our sleeve than we'd planned so we drove to Margate, the opposite direction of our originally planned route, to visit the Shell Grotto. The grotto is a series of 21 metres of underground tunnels discovered in 1835. It's unknown when it was built, by who and for what purpose. It's decorated with 4.6 million shells all over the walls and ceiling.

Our lunch stop was at the very busy Harbour Arm in Folkestone for lunch where the pebbled port and foreshore area had been developed into a very popular entertainment area.

From there we followed the coastal road through Rye and Hastings to Eastbourne where we found ourselves driving through crowds who were there to see Europe's largest seafront airshow! There were road closures, detours, traffic queues and lots of buses. We seem to have a talent for finding ourselves in cities during major events that we had no idea about, like when we were in Budapest during the Red Bull airshow. As we drove through town we could hear the woosh of the planes overhead but couldn't see them from inside the car.

After Eastbourne we took the coastal drive which takes in the striking chalk cliffs of Beachy Head, Birling Gap and Seven Sisters. We stopped at Birling Gap to walk to the lighthouse along the cliff edges with their sheer straight drops down to the ocean. The edge of the cliff was roped off for safety but that didn't stop people from standing near the edge for photos.

The coastal drive from there took us through Seaford to our hotel on the Brighton foreshore. We checked in then explored the Lanes area behind the hotel. It was a little quiet as it was Sunday night, but there were plenty of eating and drinking places open.

You can't build a sandcastle here

Day 3 - Helsinki to Dover (England) 

Our body clocks weren't in sync with the local time zone yet so we were both wide awake at 4am. We headed down for a very early breakfast, surprised to find there were already lots of people up and eating.

It was only a two minute walk from the hotel to the departures terminal where we checked in for our flight. We were flying into Heathrow for the first time, the only other time we've been to the UK we flew in and out of Bristol.

The flight was only three hours, we landed around 9am, retrieved our luggage then walked for about ten minutes through a long underground walkway to collect our rental car. Of course they didn't have the car we had booked, but we resisted the attempts to convince us to pay "just a little bit extra" for a larger car, finally walking away with the larger car and no increase in price! After finding the car the next thing we had to do was google how to put the car into reverse, it turns out the controls were on a stalk on the steering wheel!

Traffic out of Heathrow was very busy, so figuring out a new car while working out where to go was a bit tricky, but we finally were on our way to Dover for our first stop in the UK. 

We arrived in Dover a while before we could check in so we decided to visit the White Cliffs, only to find that the car park was full. So, we parked the car, dropped off our luggage, and spent the afternoon walking along the promenade, watching the ferries crossing the channel and wondering how people could lie on such a pebbly beach!

We were pretty tired so had a very early dinner at at a nice Italian restaurant with water views, before going to bed around 7:30pm. 

How long has it been?

Day 1 - Melbourne to Bangkok 

Yes, it's been a whole 66 days since we returned from our last trip. Must be a record, right? Maybe - but only if you don't count M's short trip to South East Asia that he returned from just 13 days ago!

Enough of that, time to get this blog going again.

We took off for the first of three flights to England, first leg Melbourne to Bangkok. A civilised departure at 1.30pm had us arriving around 8pm local time, for a stopover at our usual airport hotel.

Day 2 - Bangkok to Helsinki 

With what's been happening in the world we weren't keen on getting to Europe via the Middle East, so from Bangkok we opted to fly to Helsinki, taking advantage of some reasonably priced business class fares, which made the 13 hour flight slightly more tolerable.

We were looking forward to visiting Helsinki again after our visit four years ago, but by the time we made through the incredibly slow and inefficient border formalities we ended up having an early night at the very convenient Clarion Hotel at the airport.

Back to the cold

Day 28 - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Melbourne (Australia)

Our flight ticket allowed us to use the Malaysia Airlines lounge, so after an early start we were able to have a reasonable breakfast (nothing special, but at least the coffees weren't made in a machine), before our uneventful flight home.

Our next trip isn't too far away, but we will have to endure more of Melbourne's cold winter weather than we'd like before escaping again!

That paru rendang looks nice ... hang on, wait a minute ...

Day 27 - Kuala Lumpur 

The only task for today was to change hotels as the city is an hour from the airport and we had an early flight home the next morning. 

We had been looking forward to breakfast as the buffet was one of the highlights of our previous stay at Traders Hotel many years ago, but we ended up being a bit disappointed. It was crowded, the food wasn't very hot, and M couldn't bring himself to try the Rendang Paru, which translates to beef lung rendang!  

After a final visit to the Club Lounge we checked out at 12pm, and made our way to the Sami Sami airport hotel (yes, Grab again).  We arrived a bit early for check-in so we had some lunch, before finally making our way up to our room. We explored the departures area of the airport to see if we could have dinner somewhere other than the hotel restaurant, finding a Malaysian restaurant where we later had the final rendang of our trip.   

Nice upgrade!

Day 26 - Bandar Seri Bagawan (Brunei) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) 

Royal Brunei Air flies directly to Melbourne and this would have been a much easier way to get home but as it was an overnight flight we decided to take the long way home via Kuala Lumpur. Our flight was very early so there was little traffic, meaning we arrived a bit early and we were pretty much the first people there (and of course the flight then left late). 

After landing we took a Grab (where would we be without Grab) to the Traders Hotel, where we managed a free upgrade to a club room, meaning access to the Club Lounge with a great view over KLCC Park, free afternoon tea with scones, jam and cream, and complimentary drinks and nibbles during happy hour until 7pm. After afternoon tea we took a walk to the KLCC Centre, a giant shopping mall crammed with both locals and tourists, including lots of children visiting the Lego exhibition. 

We definitely feel that we're on our way home now and that the 4 week holiday was too short, especially given that we're returning to a Melbourne winter.

The Sultan is very good to us

Day 25 - Bandar Seri Begawan  

We hadn't really timed our visit to Brunei very well, as our only full day there was a Friday, the Islamic holy day, which meant many attractions and places of interest were closed.

We decided to book a morning city tour to ensure we saw the key sites before leaving, so at 9am we were collected and joined four South Korean ladies who were spending a week in Brunei.

Our tour guide had very good English (it is taught in school) and she was very good at explaining how this tiny, but extremely wealthy, country operates. Some of what she told us sounded a little like propaganda, as she was continually praising the Sultan and how he looked after his people. 

We visited a local market, followed by a Chinese temple then a stop at the magnificent Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, which tourists couldn't enter on a Friday.  The mosque has an enormous lagoon out the front complete with a full size replica of a 16th century Royal Barge. It was very hot so we all scurried back to the cool of the van once we'd had a good look.

From there we visited the government handicraft training centre where the seven main art forms of Brunei were taught and showcased (nearly everyone in Brunei works for the generous government/Sultan). There were things like leatherwork, weaving and metalwork, but strangely no ceramics. 

We then visited the outside of the Istana Darussalam, the old wooden palace where the current Sultan of Brunei was born, before visiting the Istana Nurul Iman, the Sultan's current palace and the world's largest private residence of a monarch. We stood outside the gates and peered in, before jumping back into our van to escape the heat.  

We finished off our tour by visiting the impressive Jame' Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque, complete with an incongruous private escalator to take the Sultan to the top floor.

After returning to the hotel around 11:40am we thought we'd get something in the hotel café, but as it was Friday this meant everything had to be closed between 12 and 2 for midday prayer. Strangely though we could still get room service during this time. 

That afternoon M went for a walk into town, walking along the waterfront across from the floating village (which had been rebuilt by the Sultan after a fire), then visiting the food market where families were spending their afternoon.