rain rain and more rain 28 july 09

last evening Bangladesh was inundated with a deluged of rain and the beginning of the monsoon season which was 2 weeks late

the monsoon season kicked in with the heaviest one day rain fall in 53 years. 13 inches of rain fell in 12 hours. The water was about two deep in front of our apartment and a huge tree had fell down during the windstorm that accompanied the rain.

SOLAR ECLIPSE FROM DHAKA

Good day

Early Wednesday morning the family along with an family from India who are our neighbours watched from our roof top the solar eclipse. It was quite a spectacle. The photos are courtesy of Anil (our neighbour) who is also a professional photographer


http://newber.com/anil/journal/2009/07/22/total-solar-eclipse-22-july-2009-dhaka-bangladesh/


I will be doing some entry and photos from our travels around Asia during the last 4 year.

Thanks

LEAVING LONDON

Well were are at Heathrow Airport in London in the Singapore business class lounge. We are flying on the Airbus 380 (doubledecker). It a nice ride we flew it on the way from Singapore to London back in June.

We had a lovely tome in London. mind you I was stuck in a hail Storm on my way to the high commission

Well the clerk is announcing our flight for boarding

the blog will continue in Dhaka

DAY 2 IN LONDON

Well day today in jolly old London was underway before the torrential rains and hail the size of marbles hit London.

We visited Buckingham place and was there when PM Gordon Brown's motorcade showed up for a function with the queen.

we walked around for 6 hrs, and saw the gardens, the Canadian monument to WWI and WWII fatalities.

we traveled to Piccadilly circus, the Ripley's Museum, and Trafalgar square, Due to the anniversary of the London Tube Bombing 7 July 05,, there was a very big security presence, in the parks, Subway, Palace etc...

Tomorrow we will visit the aquarium and cruise the Thames river.

halifax to london

The last days in Canada were marked with horrible wet weather. We drove to Halifax to catch our UK bound flight. We had a delightful seafood supper at Murphy's on the water. (Salmon and scallops). We arrived at the airport at 7:45 pm for our 11PM flight well we didn't leave Halifax until 2AM due to technical difficulties.

Erin was sleeping on the floor of the airport we arrived 4 hrs late. We are lucky that we took 3 days lay over in London as we would have probably missed our connector flight to Singapore

We are staying at nice hotel downtown London 500m from big Ben, and right next to the London Eye (Big Ferris wheel). We walked around the Thames and took many photos and videos. and Erin playing in park called jubilee garden's

tomorrow we will be heading out to Hyde Park, Buckingham palace and the London aquarium

TREEGO EXPERIENCE IN MONCTON

The high light of our trip was a trip to treego, which is a outdoor extreme sport that combines rappelling and tree climbing. Erin had a blast and it was a great confidence builder as well. There are 6 levels, one for kids and 5 for adults. The last level in the adults is an extreme level. The height ranges from 25 to 75 ft in the trees.

You climb one tower at the beginning of the course and the only way down is completing the course. there are no ladders after you complete the first obstacle. They will come and rescue you and you will be lowered from a basket if you get the jitters at any portion of the course. The kids level take over an hours to complete. There is a video of Erin on the test run which adults and kids have to do the same course before embarking on the course

HOPEWELL ROCK

Just before Canada Day, we visited Hopewell Cape/Rocks. The Cape is a natural wonder which is caused by the tides of the bay of Fundy(which are the highest tide) 18M change between high and low tide. It is amazing at low tide you can walk on the ocean floor and visit the rock formations "flower pots" which are 300 million years old. Erin collected some rocks

MONCTON AND SHEDIAC

Well we had a great journey from Bathurst to Shediac. Erin got a kick out of the big beware of moose signs on the side of the highways

We went to Crystal palace which is an indoor amusement park. Erin really enjoyed the bumper cars and she also played a round of mini golf with with her Great Aunt Stella.

Erin and daddy at the wharf in Shediac (the lobster capital of the world)

A WEEK IN BATHURST

After a 2 year absence we visited Karen's parents and sister and brother. We stayed at a lovely hotel on the outskirts of the city. I was up a 5 AM (Jet Lag) walking around the rural roads of the bathurst township like the wandering Jew. Karen got a lot of walking on the rural roads were quiet however infested with mosquito's

Erin had a great time with her cousins. they played mini golf, making Smores, doing their hairs etc...

we had horrible weather it never got beyond 23 Celsius and it rained almost everyday

Erin had a great time on her bike with the wide open spaces something that is absent in Dhaka.

We finally had one good day of weather and we visited the historic Acadien Village (17 th century French settlers to Canada). Erin had a great time she even help the ladies collect eggs from the chicken coop

THE JOURNEY TO BATHURST VIA SHEDIAC

after 2 days in Halifax we started our journey to New Brunswick and dropped in to visit my parents in Shediac. Erin took her pair of roller blades out for a stroll.

THE LONG JOURNEY ENDED IN HALIFAX

the long journey ended and the rental car agency gave me a free upgrade which was nice. We stayed downtown at the Cambridge suite apartments which was located at the base of citadel hill.

we fought the jet lag by walking around the downtown area of Halifax and bumped into a couple of Halifax regional police officers that use to work for me. The weather was 14 C which was big shock especially when down on the waterfront. Erin visited the discovery center were they had a special on Jane Goodall and she left a message of the board a well

SINGAPORE AND BEYOND

Good day

we started a second blog site as we had problems with our original one. This is the first from our travel. We left Dhaka in the wee hours of the evening which is one of the few ways of leaving Dhaka. the airport in Singapore is like landing in a luxury 5 star shopping mall with a movie theatre, pool, 3 hotels, shopping, good restaurants, and OSIM foot massage machines throughout the airport.

we spend a long 12 hrs in the airport which was not so bad as we booked a room at the airport hotel. (A travelers hint book before you fly into Singapore).

We visited the butterfly garden and the Goi fish pond We spent time in the business lounge before departing for London