The Big Wedding Bash in Wales

After traveling round the world our next stop after home was Abergavenny in Wales. Why? Merc and Chris were getting hitched! They were holding the wedding in Mercia's mum's home town and it was an amazing weekend: Mercia looked beautiful, the venue was perfect and easy(no walking which was lucky as I hadn't had heels on for over 11 months!), the speeches were highly entertaining and the bridesmaids did a great job!


Fiona trying to entice Jamie to eat some cheese

Andy propping Jamie up after 12 hours of drinking. And yes, Sarah does have a tie on her head!

Merc and I having our first dance

Merc and Chris having their first dance!

The groom and Tim

Merc with the boys

Merc with the girls

The boys

Us two

Lovely ladies

Merc getting her bling put on

The mother of the bride, Hilary, advising Merc on toilet breaks

The bridesmaids

Back in Blighty

After 11.5 hours on a plane, that we nearly didn't make (long story), we touched down at Terminal 5. Mr Forbes was there with Bertha (that's his car) and Celia (that's his wife) to greet us. The sun was shining and it really felt good to be back on home soil after 10 months away. Everything looked greener, cleaner and nicer than we remembered.

A drive through the countryside got us to Digswell, our home for the next few weeks. Big hugs, Cadbury's Cream Eggs and shepherds pie greeted us, plus licks from Rosie(that's the dog).

The next couple of days disappeared seeing friends and family and trying to find stuff. It really would have been a good idea to label all the boxes we packed away! It was like Christmas as we opened up boxes and re-discovered all our things, but it also made us realise how much rubbish you collect.The clothes I had been living in for the past 10 months were once again by 2nd skin as I was a little overwhelmed by the sudden selection of clothes I had. I could have opened up a shop with it all, yet ten months ago I never had enough clothes!

After a couple of days of being back it already felt like we had never been away, in a good and a bad way. South America was a distant memory and even Japan was becoming hazy, whilst it was reassuring to know we could still remember how to use a mobile phone and talk to people other than each other!

Soon we were off to Chelmsford for lunch and afternoon tea with my grandparents.It was lovely to see them and going into their home and seeing all the old photos was a trip down memory lane.
Afterwards it was back to see Mum and John, in there lovely pad in Welwyn


Rob and Joyce

I cant remember the last time I'd had tea from a proper tea cup, very old school!

Helen and John's little abode

The lovely summer room

Rosy taking five

Helen making some yummy food

John being his typical quite self

Crazy dress, a wedding and a shrine

And here are some of those crazily dressed Japanese.....

Loving the paper chain accessory

Not sure what to label this look, school girl goth?

Little Boo Beep?

Meiji Shrine

Huge barrels of Sake

A traditional wedding we crashed

Lots of black, but it's a wedding

Pretty park view

Out and about in Tokyo

We spent four days in Tokyo exploring the city. It was probably a little too long but we still managed to amuse ourselves. From the red light district with the themed Love Hotels to the famous department stores where we were served tasters of Sake by a hiccuping member of staff, we were never bored.

My fascination with Japanese dolls took us all over the city trying to find a bargain, we never did. I don't think bargains exist in Japan! We made the mistake of looking at the exchange rate in the LP which was 238 to the £ at the time of writing (2006)...when we were there it was 146, ouch!!!

People watching was great in Japan, especially on a Sunday. The Japanese are so stylish, so perfectionist, yet so over the top you literally find yourself stopping, staring and even pointing at them. Over the bridge near Yo-Yogi Park, groups of Japanese would pose in their outfits for you to take pictures. All very crazy but what you began to expect.

Most restaurants have plastic models of the food they serve to show people what they can order (very handy when you don't speak Japanese). This shop was an amazing showcase. I left the shop quite hungry after looking at all this food!

Tim looking at some tinned whale meat

Ermmmm, think I'm pretending to go crazy in our cell like room! It was tiny with a thick metal door and peep hole!

The bright lights of Tokyo

Us with Tim and his wife Nao in the nightlife area of Roppongi. Tim showed us a great little Sake bar and a not so great Irish bar which served up pints for £7.50!

Electric town where you can buy pretty much any sort of electrical good you could want

They are all mad for manga out in Japan

Girls all dressed up pulling in the geeks

Interesting outfit

We didnt just people watch in Japan...

Ssome interesting architecture and an old bloke feeding the pigeons

£5 apple, it was pretty big though!

Squid balls in the making. There are normally huge queues for these things

That famous busy intersection in Shibuya, an area which also houses one of Japan's most busy subway stations and which is also known as one of the country's foremost fashion centres for young hipsters. It's also one of the crowded places for a night on the town with plenty of cheap eats, bars and - of course - karaoke joints

The bright lights of the city, again

Tokyo Fish Market

It's pretty much a must see whilst in Japan, so we got up at 5am to make our bleary eyed way to the fish market. It was definitely an experience; I have never seen so many different types of fish in one place or nearly been run over by speeding trollies!

Yes it is a very big fish

Looks like hard work

Yum?

The huge pile of boxes left after the stalls are set up

More tuna, I didnt realise it was such a big fish!

Me telling Tim to get out of the way of the speeding trollies that zoom about everywhere

Frozen tuna being sawed into pieces

Lots of crabs, doesnt look like there's much meat on these fellas

Deadly puffer fish which is a delicacy in Japan, in fact you pay a lot for the potentially painfull eating experience!

Tuna being chopped up ready for selling

In case you hadnt realised that tuna is a big fish, we thought we'd show you another picture!

Nice. Dont think i'll be having these for breakfast