We're off!

We're currently in Tokyo. We left on Tuesday - well, Wednesday at 1.25am to be precise - which is what happens when you fly as cheaply as we do on Air Asia.which also means we go via KL and almost double the journey - but for half the price, we're not complaining! And I do like KL.

We arrived there just before 7am and bought the required cab voucher to get us into KLCC (Kuala Lumpa City Centre) for the six hour stop over. As luck would have it, we got an amazing driver called Aishia. The mother of 8 daughters and countless grandchildren, Aishia had had several careers, including freelance sales rep for various car brands and owning her own food business before deciding driving a taxi was the least stressful option at this stage in her life. We heard about each if her daughters including one who made and sold cheesecake as a business. 'Baked?' I asked. Yes she said. Yum!

Having mentioned we were hungry on the hour long trip into town, she offered to take us somewhere that had authentic Malaysian Muslim food. We accepted. She took us to a food court where 'staff' eat and it was delicious and everyone friendly.

In the end, we spent a couple of hours with her, exchanging views on family and relationships. She was very open - even quietly confessing to me that she had rushed into her second marriage, didn't live with her husband and on occasion, still slept over at her ex- husband's.

We liked her so much we asked if she'd come back to collect us for the trip back to the airport. She picked us up and said she needed to stop past her house for 5 minutes. Seemed a bit odd but we agreed. We pulled up out front where some of her daughters and grandchildren were clearly expecting us. Without leaving the car, we all said hello and they presented us with a parcel - cheesecake  to eat on the plane. How generous!

So weren't we surprised when we opened the delicious looking cake to discover it was a sponge cake, smothered in cream and topped with grated cheese!!!!

Odd - but didn't detract from her kindness.

The Home Coming

Can you believe Elle's year at boarding school is over?

Seems like yesterday I was screaming at her to get on that bus and don't look back. Yes, that send off was quite the start to her adventure and my year without her as you may recall.

And now she's back. For good. And so far it's going quite well!

Here she is, striking a pose as she disembarked the bus for the last time.

She made it - although Geoff always suggested she stay away from cliffs - she is a little clumsy and he was concerned she'd fall over.

In fact, we watched the DVD of the year's highlights on the night of her return and there's a great bit of the whole year, all bunched up for a group photo in the snow on Mt Buller and suddenly the formation starts to collapse from the middle out to the left like dominoes - yep, Elle slipped over.

So I guess it was no surprise when after this confident pose, she stepped off the bus - and tripped!!

At least there was no cliff nearby.