If I'd known you were comin.....

A few photos of the people we met - the children in the Al Khaili household, Tessa and Sujata Shah at the Shah's house, and pictures of us and the Singapore 'Good Morning Yesterday' bloggers.

Now that we are nearing the end of our trip we thought we might take the opportunity in the last few blogs to reflect on some aspects of our experience . More than anything it is perhaps the personal contacts we have had in some of the countries we have visited that have made the trip so special for us. Each day may have presented new and sometimes extraordinary and exotic sights and experiences, but it was the chance to meet old and new friends that made our trip so special for us and gave us the richest and most enjoyable insights into life in other places.

Our first family visit was to the Al Khaili family in the United Arab Emirates. Ahmed Al Khaili had lived with us in Cambridge for about 12 weeks during 2008 and had become in that short time a valued friend. When he heard of our travel plans he asked us to visit his family home in Abu Samra near the Oman border. Without our friendship with Ahmed we would never have visited the UAE and experienced the hospitality and home life of an extended Arab family. We would not have been taken to the desert to see family farms, be nuzzled by Ahmed's camels, visit racing camel training and breeding places, take part in a demonstration from one family member in her Beduouin tent of how life was lived 'before the petrol', nor experienced the thrill as Ahmed turned his SUV off the track and across the desert sand dunes. We began to find the desert a rather suprisingly peaceful and attractive place. We will be eternally grateful for the privileged insight we were offered into a very different way of life and will always welcome Ahmed and family members back to his other 'home' in Cambridge.

In India we spent over a week with the Snehal and Sujata Shah in Ahmedabad. The Shahs have been friends of Tessa's cousin Martin and his partner Richard for many, many years, since Snehal Shah was a student at RIBA. In the summer of 2008 their daughter, Sunaina, came to stay with us while she went to a summer school at Cambridge University and though we didn't know Snehal and Sujata very well, they offered us hospitality in India whenever we wanted to come - and graciously dismissed our need to apologise for arriving a week later than expected! Staying with the Shah's was just fantastic, Sujata is the most wonderful cook of vegan food so tasty, varied and utterly delicious. We never sat down to the same dish twice! Our days were filled with trips to fascinating historical sites, shopping trips and family visits. We received essential help with the very complicated booking and purchase of Indian Railway tickets and - the absolute icing on the cake - were invited to two functions that were part of a family wedding including the actual wedding ceremony. An Indian wedding is a feast for all the senses, an opportunity absolutely not to be missed.

After six weeks in India we headed for Singapore, a place with family memories for both of us and made more special when we met up with a new but also 'old friend' made through blogging on the internet - Lam Chun See. Chun See and some of the 'family' of bloggers who contribute to his blog site 'Good moring Yesterday' dropped everything to accompany us to places associated with Brian's youth or Tessa's grandparents. Brian saw the house he had lived in as a teenager and the RAF School he attended. Tessa saw the house her Grandfather lived in (which must simply have the best position on the island overlooking the harbour) and where her father lived as a small boy when Grandpa Williams was involved in the building of the Causeway. We had lunch with some of the bloggers (one of whom 'YG', Chun See himself had only 'met' online before) and visited Chun See's home, met his wife and admired his son's collection of pitcher plants. Amongst the household we were introduced to the oldest rooster on the block - sadly just deceased we read from Good Morning Yesterday. It was a great experience to have such fun with people who have only been names and stories on a screen before. As he bade farewell Chun See said we felt like old friends and we certainly felt the same.

When we reached Kuching in Sarawak we were delighted to meet up with Diana Cook (friend from Cambridge) who was visiting her son William Beavitt and his partner Becky. Becky is teaching at an English mediun school in Kuching and William is studying Proboscis monkeys in the wetlands around Kuching. Though we only knew William slightly before (he is a little older than Sophie and went to a different school so we didn't know him as a teenager) he and Becky advised us on where to stay (the quirky, but fun, 'Fairview') took us to the Baku National Park and were very gracious as we puffed along the mere 800 metres path through the jungle. Full of interesting information and advice on what to see, eat, how to deal with dehydration, who to hire as a taxi driver, William and Becky were spot on with everything including expert advice on seeing lots of wonderful wildlife sights. They helped to make our two weeks in Sarawak a wonderfully interesting and restful interlude - including finding our luxury hideaway 'The Village House' in Santubong.

We flew from Bangkok to Japan where we were able to stay with Junko Koshinaga, her husband Morimichi and daughter Michiru. About ten years ago Junko lived with us for a year while she studied Music Therapy at Anglia Ruskin University. We had kept in touch with Christmas cards and on arrival in Tokyo, Junko and Morimichi put us up for three days, enabling us to get to know the delightful two and a half year old Michiru, do a little sight seeing in Tokyo, meet up with Mr and Mrs Yoshida again (Junko's parents who also visited us in Cambridge), enjoy some lovely Japanese home cooking and the most amazing meal at a resturaunt that we would never have found on our own. Junko advised on taking the trip to Hakone and on the special dish to try when we were in Hiroshima. It was such fun to see Junko again, to see her so happy with her lovely husband and daughter and making headway with music therapy which is relatively unknown in Japan.

And of course we have ended our trip with visits to Canadian relatives we have recently told you about. A great mixture of new places and people and renewing old friendships.

Tessa and Brian