elainelovestriathlon: UK 14-24 July 2008

Dad, Mum and I flew to London to visit Jie and attend her graduation.

Arriving in Bloomsbury, London

Spanish dinner

Walking around Chinatown after dinner, Mum super jetlagged.

Day 2, Breakfast

i love cream tea

Primark

Dressing up for a nice dinner and musical:

1 Michelin Star restaurant, Arbitus

Watching Chicago the musical

We went running along River Thames, past Westminster Abbey, London Eye, Tate Modern Museum, etc. London is still kinda chilly and dready in summer. Feels a little claustraphobic.

Oxford

Waiting for the Oxford Express outside Hyde Park

Market

Harry Potter dining hall

I absolutely love the architecture in Europe/UK. It's so intricate, so old, so different...

If I just flap my wings hard enough maybe I could fly.

Rushed back to get tickets for another musical

Phantom of the Opera musical. I am in love with the soundtrack. I love these British musicals. They're so different from American, more contemporary stories. Phantom is very grand. Elaborate props, embellished costumes and grandiose music. The lead actor and actress had great chemistry, making it even more romantic. haha.

Jie's graduation

Looking very accomplished

Soon.

One of life's milestones. Dad and Mum must be so proud.

Very good First Class Honours =)

Celebratory dinner at 1 Michelin Star Chinese fusion restaurant, Hakasan

Start of our road trip...with our rented new Audi A8. Niceee...

i love driving

Windsor Castle

Grrr...I gotta hold up this house!

Drury House, oldest restaurant in Windsor, for lunch

Quaint and English. Perfect.

Bath

we walked-in to YMCA. It's the first time Mum's staying in a YMCA. Dad and Mum staying in YMCA?! Impossible! Must've drove them so crazy they started singing the YMCA song complete with actions. That's a retarded "M", Dad. hahaha!

Dad lying on a street bench like a tramp trying to take a good shot of the church.

Traditional Italian food in enormous portions.

At Bath market looking for Rong's flags.

Checking out the Roman Baths

Horrible tasting water from the springs or something.

Sally Lunn's Bath buns

We went for relaxing Thermal Spa as well! It wasnt hot like the hot springs in Japan/Korea. It's just warm mineral water. We floated around with floats. There was an open air rooftop pool with glass surrounds overlooking the city on one side and the countryside on the other. All we need is some cocktail...Tis the life! haha.

Cornwall
We arrived in Cornwall in the evening without pre-booked accomodation with the intention of walking-in, but alas, EVERYTHING was full!! Desperate and faced with the prospect of spending the night in the car, we found Headland Hotel, super cushy place right on the beach. Perfect.

Headland hotel

Beautiful beach with a great surf

Little picnic holes to shield from the chilly winds

Oooo people fly in here in helicopters? Fancy.

Our new Audi A8 isn't too bad either...

Surfing!

Managed to convince Dad and Jie to take surfing lessons with me haha.

Post-surfing. Huddled in thick bath robes with a hot drink.

Hiking

Hiking in a dress and slippers? Yeah!

Land's End

We had lunch of cornish pasties too

Excuse me, which way to New York?

Coasteering
Dad, Mum and Jie went deep sea fishing and so I went to check out coasteering on my own. I was lucky it was a quiet day so there were only 3 of us with 2 guides. Perfect. So we had more time to do more stuff and it was more fun.

Coasteering is super fun. It's basically coast exploration. The water was kinda cold, but there were no jelly fish so it was gd. Our warm up activity was to dive underwater and pluck a piece of seaweed. So cold and so scary. I hate diving underwater when I can't see the bottom and don't know what's there lurking in the dark.

It's about 3hours we sawm swim along the headlands, climbed over rocks along the headland, explored caves, jumped off cliffs, and dived down an underwater hole as well. Hold your breath and dive through a small cave underwater. Fun but kinda scary. Even one of the guides didn't dare because he was quite burly and had a fear he'd get stuck. Only me and another young man went through it.

During the cave exploration, it was really dark and the guides said occassionally seals will walk out and scare the people. So we were looking out for them. The guide asked me to peer into a little corner in the cave to check and when I was checking, he made some seal calls and I totally got a shock and jumped. haha. stupid.

There were no seals coz they had all gone to look for Dad, Mum and Jie out at sea who'd feed them fish.

We also swam into a lil rock pool and the guides taught us how to float face down and let the currents wash you in and out of the pool and swirl you around. It was very fun. The guides obviously love their jobs.

Cliff jumping. Super scary! It's too counter-intuitive to fling yourself off a cliff. We jumped off 2 cliffs. We were taught the proper technique and the guides told us the common mistake was the "arm chair" technique where u jump in a sitting down position, and you smack your thighs painfully on the water.

On the first jump, one guide jumped while the other stayed with the 3 of us at the top. The young man tried to go first, but he didn't dare. I wasn't so scared until I saw how scared ande hesitant he was. After many failed attempts to jump off, his father-in-law, a 60+ year old man said "do u want me to go first?" and so he did. 3-2-1 he jumped down. Maybe at that age there's nth to fear anymore you know, you've lived. haha.

I went next. My plan was totally to march up there and jump off. But when I peered down the cliff, it was super scary. The guide counted down and I couldn't do it. But on the 3rd countdown I decided I just have to not think and take that 1 step, no biggie. The moment I left the cliff edge, my entire body just froze. Paralyzed with fear. I could not even move a muscle or scream. So i did the classic armchair, but it was not too painful, thankfully.

On the next higher jump, I did much better. I stood at the edge and screamed even before jumping off, thenI managed to do the proper technique. It was really fun. I'd have loved to do a couple more jumps!

The waves crashing along the headland was actually quite strong and high, so it throws you against the rocks. The currents were farily strong and the waters very choppy, but good thing I am a strong swimmer so it was alright. Midway through the elderly man had a lil trouble breathing, probably from the tight wetsuit and flotation device, so at certain points he walked on the rocks instead of swimming.

Super exhilarating! Jie was shocked at the lack of safety/insurance procedures. Well it's true it's risky, but heck, I'ma risk taker.

Dad, Mum and Jie had gone deep sea fishing.