Just some notes

Things I achieved in 2016 (in no particular order):

• Cycled to Shoreham again without dying and this time, didn't feel totally exhausted at the end (although I was still pretty worn out). 
• Trips to Dubai, Totnes, Arles and Hull (although I forgot to write a blog for most of them).
• Helped a friend to buy a second hand tandem by sending them on an advert in the classified section of the Tandem Club journal.
• After nine years of working for the same company, I found a new job somewhere else at the end of the year. 

 Things I hope to achieve in 2017:

• Pass my probation period with my new employer and show them that they made the right decision with choosing me for the job.
• Run 5km without stopping or dying. 
• Remember to update this blog!

Another trip to FRANCE?!

The bag is half packed and I've just settled down to watch a recording of "First Dates". A text arrives from the airline "Your fight [flight number] has been cancelled. Please follow this link for a refund or to rebook". With less than 24 hours before I was meant to be in France, it looked like the whole trip was cancelled.

A frantic phone call to Megan followed. Unlike me, she doesn't worry unnecessarily when things like this happen and within a few minutes, had booked us onto the next flight which left a day later. We texted our aunt to arrange being picked up a day later than planned and were then left with a day and a half of unplanned time off in London.

After a bit of searching using a well known search engine, we decided to go to Eltham Palace on the day when we were meant to be flying out. We got lucky and the weather was good. Entry to the house included a free audio/interactive tour which provided some interesting facts about it all.

As we were flying out from Luton, I stayed over with Megan in Earlsfield ready to get the night bus to Victoria at 2am the next morning. After watching every comedy available on BBC iPlayer and a tense game of Trivial Persuit, we gave up and allowed ourselves two hours of sleep. Probably not the best move when we had to get up again.

I've never flown from Luton before and it definitely wasn't the nicest airport I've been to. That was until we got to Nimes at the other end and had to queue on the tarmac of the airport to get through French immigration. Meanwhile, our plane was already loading luggage and letting the return journey passengers back on.

We stayed with our aunt in Arles. We had originally hoped for some sunshine but sadly it rained for all of the two days we were there. Despite this, we had a fun trip to Avignon where we saw the famous bridge and Palais des Papes (excuse the French). We also had fun exploring the Roman architecture and small streets of Arles. Maybe next time we go, it won't rain so much. Here's some fun pictures to fill up the rest of this entry because I've run out of things to say:

A particularly long bike ride

On Wednesday 23rd September I did something pretty cool. Well, I think it was pretty cool anyway.

With my Dad for company/navigation, I set off at 8.30am for the longest bike ride I've attempted for some time (or ever). We rode out from Teddington with the aim of reaching the coast.

We started out by cycling through Esher and Oxshott to reach the other side of the M25. We continued using a variety of cycle paths, roads and bridleways. We'd planned in three stops to break the journey up. The first was for a much needed coffee in Fetcham. Once we'd had coffee, we continued for another twenty miles or so before stopping for lunch in a place called Rusper. For future reference, a large lunch right before getting on a bike for 40 more mies is not a great move. No matter how hungry you feel. It was made even less sensible by the fact that the hills after Rusper seemed to increase in frequency. The climbs were challenging but I made it up each one and enjoyed the ride backd own.

Using an old railway line that has been turned into a cycle path we headed towards a gap in the South Downs. In parts, the cycle way was really well surfaced but sadly in many others, it wasn't. Making the climbs and descents more of a challenge at times. After completing another twenty miles or so, we took another coffee break. Much needed as by then, my energy levels were starting to dip. We'd done 45 miles but still had twelve to go in order to reach our destination of Shoreham.

The final twelve miles was a push for my endurance. My previous longest ride had been about 44 miles and I'd probably (definitely) not done enough training for this. Finding my inner sports mentality (which is generally under used), I pushed on. It was all made worth it when we reached the beach at Shoreham shortly after 5pm - yay!

 

Awkward bike pose on Shoreham beach

Mileage at the beach

After 57 miles of cycling, we chose to get the train back to Teddington so cycled up to Shoreham station to catch a train to Clapham. From Clapham, we then caught another train to Twickenham before cycling the final few miles back to Teddington. By the end of the day we'd covered 60 miles of cycling and I was shattered. It was definitely worth it, I'm still really pleased I did it four days later. Onto the next challenge!

Return to Japan

Time for my celebratory turning 30 trip to Japan! Again! I know I only went about eighteen months ago but unexpectedly, I persuaded my friend Robbie to join me for a return trip.

We started in Tokyo and although I'd been there before, Robbie hadn't. We covered a lot of ground in the two days we had to explore the city. We visited a few temples, Japanese gardens and explored areas like Akihabara. We even met a little Japanese man in Shinjuku station who joined us for a trip to Harajuku shrine telling us lots of fun (yet confusing) stories about the Japanese Emperor and Japanese history in general along the way.

Shinjuku park

Tokyo station

After a few days in Tokyo, we activated our 7 day Japan Rail passes and caught the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka. Getting the Shinkansen was something I'd wanted to do for a while and was something I didn't have the opportunity to do during my previous visit. A journey of about 300 miles took just under three hours and ran exactly to the schedule set out for it. An opportunity to embrace my inner train geek and have a cheeky nap.

Once in Osaka, we spent our first day exploring the city. Osaka is a fairly industrial city but had a rebuilt castle and a large aquarium to explore. If you're a regular reader of my occasional blog, you'll know that I love a good aquarium. The aquarium was apparently one of the largest in Japan and featured various marine creatures including otters, capybaras, sharks, rays and jellyfish. The castle was a replica of one that was bombed during the war. The queue for the lift was too long so we chose to climb up the seven flights of stairs to the top level. It nearly killed me despite my improved level of fitness but there was a nice view of the city from the top which made it worthwhile.

View from Osaka Castle

Using Osaka as our base, we spent the next few days taking day trips out to other places of interest. Starting with Kyoto. I went to Kyoto last time I was in Japan but the Golden Pavilion was still just as impressive the second time around. We also headed over to the Silver Pavilion and explored the Philosopher's Walk which featured several other temples and shrines. It ended up in the middle of a suburb of Kyoto where we found an overcrowded commuter bus to take us back to the station. Forty minutes standing uncomfortably close to other people is a little bit awkward for me.

Golden Pavilion

Silver Pavilion

The following day, we went to Nara. Nara was apparently the capital of Japan at one point and is known for it's free roaming deer and temples. The deer reminded me a lot of the monkeys I saw in Malaysia. They were very friendly and were particularly interested if they thought you had some food for them. When I got some special deer food for them, I found myself surrounded by several deer who in their enthusiasm tried to head butt me to get to the food.

Buddhist temple in Nara

Meeting one of the Nara deer

By this point, we were getting a bit tired of temples and shrines. Shocking I know but there's a point where you reach overload. To take a break from this, we spent the next day in Himeji. Himeji Castle had only just reopened after a five year refurbishment so we picked the right time to go. It was probably my favourite place that we visited in Japan. We got tickets to explore both the castle and the nearby Japanese garden. Part of the fun of the castle was removing shoes to explore inside before climbing some wooden staircases in socks and trying not to fall over onto other tourists. The view when we got to the top of the castle was worth the potential accident risk. Getting back down the stairs was equally scary but luckily I didn't display any clumsy behavior and cause chaos.

View from the castle

View of the castle

The next day, we caught the Shinkansen back to Tokyo for our final two days in Japan. We spent the last day visiting a cat cafe (essential for any trip to Japan), exploring a few areas and picking up various souvenirs. Ended up spending far too long back in Akihabara helping Robbie decide between different manga/anime figurines.

New friend at the cat cafe

Next month, I am off to Paris for a few days to celebrate my birthday. I'll try and remember to write an update which is at least as enthralling as this one once I get back.

Livin' it up in Liverpool

I should start by apologising for the awful title of this entry. There are numerous better Liverpool related things I could have gone for but I can't think of them right now.

A second apology for how long it's been since my last entry. Since that entry, I've been to a few places in the UK as well as the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, I forgot to write something at the time and am not convinced I'll write a good entry several months later. The most recent trip I made was at the beginning of this month so I'm hoping the memories are still fresh enough to get something vaguely interesting for the blog.

I went to Liverpool with my family as it was my Mum's birthday. Since Liverpool was the Capital of Culture a few years ago, she's always wanted to go and see the city so it seemed like a good destination for a short weekend trip.

On our first day in the city, we found a free walking tour to join. It was free in the sense that you didn't have to pay but you were expected to put in a donation at the end depending on your level of enjoyment. We had a three hour walk around the key sights of the city centre along with some interesting stories. Obviously The Beatles formed a big part of the stories but there was also a lot of interesting history stories about Liverpool's role as a key port during the British Empire.

Statue of Prince Albert and a slightly scared looking horse

Eleanor Rigby statue

short John Lennon statue outside the Cavern Club

On our second day in the city, we covered a few of the museums and the dock area. For me, the most interesting museum was the Maritime Museum which incorporated the Museum of Slavery. It was laid out really well and was really good for a history geek like me. We also visited one of the art galleries and went back to some of the sights we'd covered briefly on the walking tour.

The ferry across the Mersey was the main activity on our final day. Unfortunately, I get sea sick far too easily and the Mersey was very choppy that day. An hour on a choppy river in the cold and rain is not my idea of fun but I guess it's one of the essential things to do if you are in Liverpool.

In May this year, I have another trip to Japan planned. After my last trip (featured in earlier blog entries) I felt there was more to see so persuaded a friend to join me for a return trip. Assuming I don't forget again, I'll try and write a blog entry for that trip. Hopefully, it will be a bit more exciting than this one!

"It's about time you wrote another blog entry"

Bowing to "popular" demand, it's probably time for another entry. A few things have happened since I got back from Malaysia so I'll try and make it interesting.

The big thing is that I've now moved out of the flat I was sharing with a friend and back in with my parents. Although my flatmate found another job, it didn't pay enough for her to afford to stay and I couldn't afford to stay on my own. After ten odd years of flat/house shares, I wasn't sure I could handle any more randoms with questionable living habits. At my age (late 20s), it's a bit of a change to make. Hopefully, it won't be too long term and it means I can save up with a view to making an escape to a place of my own.

Don't worry, I have also done some (less far flung) travel to balance out my failure to be an adult.

Croydon 
Actually Selsdon - a suburb of Croydon but nobody has heard of there so Croydon will do. I went there for the periodic work annual conference. Two days of talks, awkward videos and group discussions about improving strategies and developing new ideas to become a better company. To make up for this, there was a dinner on the first evening featuring a large amount of wine and a cheesy disco.

Dorchester
Another work trip including a very long train journey. On the way there, someone started a fight on the train causing the journey to take three hours, I was incredibly bored by the time I actually reached Dorchester. I also found myself there on one of the first hot days of the year but unable to enjoy it fully. I did get time to have a wander around the town and establish that nowadays there is a little bit more to do in an evening - even a cinema.

Bognor Regis
A couple of road trips down to West Sussex's best kept secret - an amazing crazy golf course. I even managed my record lowest score of 44 and rang the bell for a free game next time I'm there. The main purpose of the visits was actually to visit my Gran and on both occasions, there was nice, sunny weather so we could take her out for a walk along the promenade.

Central London
To celebrate reaching my late twenties, I had a day off for my birthday. My policy is that I should do my best to never work on my actual birthday and so far, I have successfully stuck to this policy. This year, I went up to central London with my Mum to have a touristy day on the river boat tour. Not the crazy hardcore party antics most people my age get up to but it turned out to be pretty good.

We caught the boat from Westminster Pier and joined a trip to Greenwich. On the way we had one of the crew provide a "quirky" commentary about the various sights of London. For example, "did you know that Big Ben was named after the Clerk of Works in charge of building the Houses of Parliament? His name was Ben and he was 5ft tall. He was also 5ft wide so many people thought he looked like a bell. As a token of appreciation, they named the bell after him". Who knows whether that is true...  We had a spot of lunch by the Cutty Sark in Greenwich before joining another boat for the journey back to Westminster with more or less the same "quirky" commentary in reverse. 

Tower Bridge

The Cutty Sark

Celebratory sparkling wine

I have also relaunched my fatty to fitty campaign. Over the last couple of years, I let my fitness slide a little bit so I decided to use moving in with my parents as a motivation to change that. I started by cycling to and from work every day, regardless of weather. A minimum of 2 miles each way but I've tried to go longer routes on the way home or cycle up some more hills to improve my slightly poor lung capacity. In a week's time, I'm taking part in a ride into and around Central London (part of the Prudential Free Cycle event) which will put all this to the test. Perhaps I will write an update after that to let you know how I got on.

Sorry for the delay...

Part three - Kuala Lumpur and home

Sorry for the delay, I got distracted by work and painting the bedroom I'll soon be moving into at my parents' house. Such an exciting life I lead, sure you're wondering why I only update this occasionally.

Anyway, after the amazing sing song on the plane we collected our bags and caught the bus into central KL to find our hostel. Once we dumped our bags, we headed off to the Batu Caves. The Batu Caves is home to a large Hindu temple and a massive staircase to get to the temple. Once we got to the top, it was pretty spectacular. There were statues of the various gods all over the caves in two large cavern type spaces.

Outside the Batu Caves with the massive staircase behind

Once we got back from the Batu Caves, we explored Little India and I tried a pretty hot (by my slightly wussy standards) jalfrezi curry. Megan managed to find the milder option and didn't spend her dinner frantically searching for water and tissues. I think the waiters found it hilarious and clearly thought I couldn't handle curry. They were probably right but it was nice despite how hot and spicy it was. 

After that, we made our way over to the Petronas Towers. By then it was dark and we found ourselves in a square behind the towers at the right time for a water fountain show. It was pretty impressive, Megan even took a video (link available on request). We then went to a hotel bar on the 45th (ish) floor where we were opposite the Petronas Towers. Sadly, the waiter sussed we were only really there for the view and was keen to get rid of us as soon as we'd finished our drinks. It was cheaper than going up the Petronas Towers themselves though.

Water fountain show

The Petronas Towers from the square

On our final day in KL, we joined a tour which took us out of the city. The first stop was an area well known for it's large wild monkey population. The area was quite popular and there were monkey snacks available for all the tourists which attracted more monkeys. We chose not to buy any monkey snacks but still got very close to the monkeys.

Monkeys

 After seeing the monkeys, we went to a riverside seafood restaurant (if that makes sense) for dinner. The fish we were about to eat were all in tanks at the entrance to the restaurant, bit different to anything I'm used to. We got a selection of seafood to try including crab still in the shell, a first for both me and Megan. 

When we'd finished dinner, we joined a boat trip to see the fireflies which hang out along the river. It took a lot of squinting but I actually managed to see the fireflies, it was really cool although I think I was expecting them to be much brighter.

The following morning, Megan left really early in the morning. Leaving me with most of a day to fill before I needed to head to the airport. 

I started off by trying to find the botanical gardens. Megan had recommended them to me and the man in the hostel had given me what seemed like relatively straight forward directions. After about an hour of walking around in circles, I came to the conclusion I had taken several wrong turns and decided to take a different approach. I headed to the main square with the giant flag and joined a tour bus. The idea was that I would get off when it reached the botanical gardens and in the meantime, enjoy the commentary. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of traffic and after a while it started raining, monsoon style. I hadn't reached the botanical gardens stop by this point and the rain didn't ease off. In the end, I gave up on the botanical gardens altogether and stayed on the bus until the point nearest to the hostel so I could get changed, collect my bag and head to the airport.

I got to the airport about four hours too early. I filled the time by helping a Malaysian student with his dissertation (I filled in his questionnaire about food and wine). I also spotted a man wandering around the terminal clutching a giant cheque and saw about 10 groups of travellers get their bags wrapped in cling film.

That's it for the Malaysian trip updates. It was awesome, particularly because I got to see Megan. After 7 months, it was great to have a catch up and also a holiday. I don't have any travel plans that are quite so exciting coming up but I'm going to try and write some more regular updates here anyway. Hopefully it will help me improve my writing skills and be interesting to read.