Cheeky trip to Bristol

As a bit of a last minute thing, I decided to go to Bristol for a few days with my friend Robbie.

Not necessarily the first place you think of as a holiday destination but there was an offer on with the hotel and the train fare turned out to be pretty cheap.

We spent the first day wandering around the city's marina area and checking out the shops. It feels like a lot of work has been done recently to improve both areas as everything seemed pretty modern and most of the shops were still occupied. We also checked out the aquarium (if you've read any of my previous entries, you may notice that I love aquariums). Sadly this one was a bit on the disappointing side. After promising one of the largest captive octopus in the world, we got to the tank to find that said octopus was out on loan at another aquarium while the tank was being improved.

Keeping with the animal theme, we decided to go to Bristol Zoo on the second day. After the slightly unimpressive experience at the aquarium, I had low expectations. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised. Most of the animals were out and about despite it being a little chilly. Plus, we managed to get quite close to some of them, particularly the lemurs. You could actually go inside the lemur enclosure and as it had just been feeding time, they were all hanging out on the wooden barriers separating the path from the trees/rocky area intended for them to play on. I was almost close enough to touch them, pretty cool.

Giant tortoise

Up close with the lemurs

We also checked out the penguin and seal feeding time. The two weren't fed at the same time but had enclosures next to each other. The seals had been trained to do some fun tricks, apparently to help them get checked regularly by the vets. The keepers demonstrated by getting them waving, jumping in and out of the pool and generally performing in exchange for some food.

Back to normal South West London life now but I'll try to write another update soon.

The blog is back!

Adventures in an airport & more fun

I've decided to try and make a few semi regular updates. This is partly in exchange for my sister Megan making updates to her blog while she is travelling to more exciting places. If you've stumbled across my blog by accident, you should check hers out too http://megs-meanders.blogspot.co.uk/

As I am not travelling very far at the moment, I'm not sure how far I will get or how interesting it will be.

Yesterday I took the day off work in order to see Megan off at the airport with my Mum. She's off to teach in Indonesia for a year. We met at the bus stop in Teddington and got the fast bus over to Heathrow. Once in Heathrow, we checked Meg's bags in and decided our next priority was to get coffee. By this point, I was struggling not to feel very jealous of the people who were actually catching a plane to somewhere exciting so welcomed a distraction.

Megan & Mum at the airport

 



After making our coffees last an impressive amount of time, we wandered over to the security gates. It was time to say goodbye. We're not an overly emotional family so I think Megan found it a bit awkward but we had a hug and waited until Megan had disappeared behind the security gates.

As we'd booked the whole day off, Mum and I decided to go over to Greenwich for the afternoon. We headed off onto the Piccadilly and Jubilee lines in order to reach North Greenwich, home of the O2 (formally the Millennium Dome. Our plan was to have some lunch and then go on the Emirates Cable Car that has been open for just over a year.

Unfortunately, shortly after our lunch it started raining. Big style. We waited it out to see if it would eventually ease off or even stop. Luckily, we only had to wait about 15 minutes until the clouds cleared and the sun came back out.

The cable car itself was not very busy so Mum and I got a gondola to ourselves. As you can see from the photo, you could almost pretend it hadn't just been raining.

 

 

The only disappointing element for me was the view. The O2 and Canary Wharf are interesting enough but those were the only real landmarks I knew well enough to recognise. I'm sure people living in the Greenwich area would disagree but to me, the tower blocks all start merging into one. Despite that, it was a fun trip and definitely worth it.

 

After that, we got onto the DLR at Royal Docks and headed back to Bank. By that point it was nearly 4pm and we were keen to avoid rush hour. As a result, we decided to get the Waterloo & City line back to Waterloo then get a train back to Teddington.

 

Not quite as exciting as a trip abroad or a year in a foreign country but stick with it, I may write something good soon.

To Cardiff!

It's been a little while since I last added an entry. Mostly as I haven't left the London area and don't have much to say about an area I spend most of my time in.

For the Easter weekend, I took a trip to Cardiff with my housemate. Due to parking concerns, we elected to go by coach. For £20 each return, it was cheaper than both driving and going by train so it seemed like the best plan. Unfortunately, everyone else was going to Wales on Good Friday. Instead of the scheduled three hours, our coach took six hours to get from London Victoria to Cardiff Central. A long and slightly uncomfortable journey for all concerned.

When we eventually got to Cardiff and found our hotel, we were worn out from all the travelling and decided to get an early night. A true sign that I am getting old.

My housemate's main reason for going to Cardiff was to visit the Doctor Who Experience so on Easter Saturday we walked down to the Cardiff Bay area. It was about a 45 minute walk from our hotel but fortunately the weather was sunny for a change. We explored the area around the Millennium Centre and Roald Dahl Plass first. Apparently this area was heavily featured in the Doctor Who  spin off Torchwood.

The Millennium Centre

 

We then joined the queue for the Doctor Who Experience itself. Considering it was Easter Saturday and school holidays, we didn't have to wait for too long. The exhibition starts off with an interactive experience where essentially you all get to pretend to be the Doctor's new assistance. You go in the TARDIS, defeat some Daleks and see some other villains before saving the Doctor's life in some manner. Pretty good fun, even for someone who isn't so much of a Doctor Who fan. After this, there is an exhibition featuring aspects of the series throughout it's history. There were costumes from all of the Doctors and many of the assistants. There were also recreated TARDIS interiors and most of the villains were featured too.

 

A collection of Daleks, scary

 

 

In the evening, we went for a night out in Cardiff town. Being Londoners, we found ourselves pleasantly surprised by the lower alcohol prices and had a good night out. Despite it being the evening after a larger rugby game in Cardiff, the town wasn't too busy and we found ourselves in a 90s themed night club to finish the evening off.

 

The following day, we decided to get a bit more cultural and visit Cardiff Castle. The castle was only a short walk from our hotel which also helped persuade us it was the place to go that day! Like with the Doctor Who Experience, it wasn't as busy as expected but this made wandering around much easier. For the entry price, we got a free audio tour which was pretty interesting. My favourite part was climbing up to the top of the Castle Keep where I could see the city and surrounding countryside.

 

The Castle Keep

 

View from the top

 

I think two days was enough to cover most of Cardiff's major sites and I really enjoyed my second visit to the capital of Wales. 

 





Japan part 2 - Kyoto

After a less than comfortable night in Tokyo bus station, we finally got to start our eight hour journey to Kyoto at 11.30am the following day. Having not got a great deal of sleep, I was hoping for a nice and comfortable bus so I could spend most of the journey napping. Sadly, my height let me down. 5ft8 is apparently quite tall in Japan which meant limited leg room on the bus and a slightly uncomfortable trip for me. After a longer journey than planned, we eventually reached Kyoto at around 8pm and were totally worn out.

The following day we started exploring the city. After Tokyo, Kyoto turned out to be a lot less busy and was much easier to explore on foot. We also made a few friends at the hostel we stayed at who told us about the better places to visit and where to get good food from.

Within walking distance of the hostel we were staying in was one of the larger shrines in Kyoto. There were lots of Japanese lanterns and areas for praying as well as some nice park areas to wander around.

 

 

We also visited Nijo Castle.  I think it was built for the imperial family at some point in the 17th or 18th century. The floorboards were designed to creak so that you could hear any potential assassins waiting to pounce on you. Nowadays, there are no potential assassins (forunately) so we explored the castle in peace. Japanese castles are not the same as those found in the UK. There is a moat of sorts but no battlements or turrets. Here is a picture to illustrate my point...

 

There were also extensive grounds around the castle, my favourite part was here...

 

 

Probably my favourite part of Kyoto was the Golden Pavilion or Kinkaku-ji. I'm not sure when it was built but I think there is actual gold used on the Pavilion. It probably looks good even on really bad days. The day we went was fairly dull but even then, the pavilion was impressive.

 



I felt with both Tokyo and Kyoto there was a lot more to explore than what we managed to see in our time there. I really enjoyed Japan and am now quite keen to go back to revisit Tokyo and Kyoto as well as new places like Osaka.

Sorry it's taken a while for me to post this. Turned out that I wasn't too good at handling the jet lag after I got back to the UK. On the first day I got back, I woke up at 2am. This wasn't too much of a problem as I'd booked the day off. Unfortunately, each day afterwards I woke up at stupid times and had to drag myself to work despite how tired I felt. I drank more coffee on my first day back in the office than I normally would in a week.

Japan part 1 - Tokyo

I've always wanted to go to Japan. I can't quite explain why but it has always been on my list of places to go. When my sister announced that Japan was the final leg of her travels in Asia, I decided to go for it and booked my flights.

We started in Tokyo. It's a massive place with a train system that I could never quite grasp. There are lights and people everywhere, everything I expected of the city.

The first evening we met one of my sister's friends who is teaching in Tokyo. He took us to a restaurant where you cook your food on a hot plate in the middle of the table. We cooked these savoury pancake type things. Not quite sure what was in them but they tasted great.

The following day we met my sister's friend again. Our first stop was a Japanese cat cafe. Not what you're probably thinking... In Tokyo, a lot of people live in flats where they are not allowed pets. As a result they visit a cat cafe to get a chance to play with the cats and feel like they have a pet for an hour or so. It was a strange experience but one we all really enjoyed. Probably took a few too many pictures of cats though.

 

 



After getting very attached to the cats, we moved on to Asakusa to visit one of Tokyo's larger shrines. It turned out to be huge and really busy but very impressive. There were loads of people visiting just to reflect and pray.

On the Saturday, we took the train to Hitachi-Ushiko to meet with our former Japanese neighbours from 1988. They invited us into their home for Japanese tea and cake before taking us to Koubuntei. Koubuntei was a good two hour drive from their house so it was a struggle to stay awake for the whole journey! At Koubuntei, there is a 17th century (or so) house and park. We took a tour of the house with our Japanese friend translating before having a wander around the gardens. It was all very pretty.

Once we got back to Tokyo, we went to the Imperial Palace Gardens in the centre of the city. The gardens were really pretty and surrounded by the sky scrapers of the city. It reminded me a lot of Central Park in New York.

The snow hit on our final day in the city. The day we were due to get the night bus to Tokyo. We decided to spend the day exploring the shops and hoped the snow would ease in order to allow our journey to Kyoto to go ahead according to plan.

Unfortunately, when we arrived for our 10.45pm bus, we were told it was cancelled due to the snow. Leaving us with no alternative but to book onto one the following day and spend the night in the bus station waiting room. Not comfortable at all! Particularly as we got woken up at 5am and told to leave the bus station for an hour.

My next entry will be all about Kyoto and what we did when we eventually did manage to get there!

Northern adventures

It's been a bit longer than intended for me to get round to writing this. I always find something else to do instead.

On Friday, I managed to get myself out of bed at 6am. I am not generally a morning person but managed it and was ready to go and pick my Dad up at 7am. Fortunately, at that time the roads leading to the M1 were not too busy so I didn't have any real scary incidents.

I ended up driving for the majority of the journey with my Dad was navigating. He couldn't map read and drive at the same time. The first real problem we encountered was in Sheffield. There was a massive road accident right in the middle of town. The part we needed to get through. The original plan to stop in Sheffield for some geeky tram trips had to be hastily scrapped and instead I got to practice my clutch control on Sheffield's many hills and drive behind a lot of trams that were also stuck in traffic. Eventually we got through and carried on to just outside Wakefield for the National Coal Mining Museum.

As with any self respecting coal mining museum, there was a trip underground. This involved getting a hard hat and safety gear then cramming into a lift with 15 other people to descend 140 metres into the mine. The chap providing the tour was from Barnsley and enjoyed using various distinctive Barnsley phrases to confuse the more southern members of the group. Despite banging my head a couple of times on the low ceilings, it was a detailed tour and fairly interesting. Perhaps went on a bit too long though.

The next day we drove back via Sheffield so we could get our fix of tram riding. Luckily there were no accidents or traffic jams on this occasion. We took a tram from Meadowhall shopping centre and tried to find an Industrial Museum. We found the museum but unfortunately it was shut on a Saturday and we were there on a Saturday. Instead we had a wander about before catching the tram back to Meadowhall and starting the journey home.

This part was slightly more stressful. There were a lot more crazy people out on the road. There were people doing 80/90 miles per hour undertaking and the odd annoying truck. I managed to keep my cool and we made it back to south west London by about 6pm.

Now it's back to normal life - pottering about in the suburbs of London. I got a trip to Essex for work on Monday but that mostly involved giving a presentation and enduring noisy school children on the train back to Liverpool Street.

Trips and other plans

At the beginning of the year, I set myself a few targets. Most of which I haven't done too well with despite rebranding them from the more normal term of new year's resolutions.

One of my targets for 2012 was to do a road trip. Since January, I have managed several road trips. Driving to glamorous destinations including Cardiff, Bournemouth, Brighton and Plymouth. My next big trip is on Friday when I am driving to the North of the UK for the first time.

I've done all the preparation - checking the oil, tyre pressures and attempting to clean the car. Now all I have to do is negotiate my way onto the M1 and head towards Huddersfield. Easy right? Fortunately for my fellow road users, it will not just be me on this journey. On this occasion, I will be splitting the driving with my dad.

The plan is to visit Sheffield then head onto the National Coal Mining museum near Wakefield. Staying over in Huddersfield for the night then heading back, probably through a few other fun towns along the way. Maybe not as glamorous as some trips but hopefully it should be fun and the driving won't be too complicated.

I am trying to make an effort to update this blog more regularly so I will write an update on how I get on after the trip.

I also have a conference to attend for work at the end of next month. That too is in a less glamorous location - Croydon. I've only been to one conference before for work and it was two days of awkward team building moments. Fortunately there is an evening do where a lot of people drink too much and do silly things. On the last conference, I enjoyed the complimentary wine a bit too much and was feeling a bit delicate for the group presentation the following day. Not good. This year, I have to give a 10 minute presentation by myself on the merits of being on the staff panel. Perhaps I will provide an update on how that one goes too?

The big exciting trip to somewhere new and fun is in January. I am going to TOKYO! I've always wanted to go to Japan and since my sister will also be there at the same time following her Malaysian adventures, I thought this was the ideal opportunity. Regardless of any less exciting blog updates in the meantime, I will definitely try to keep a record of the trip here.