A Sonic, A Surprise and a Big Blue Bus

Here's Ayesha learning that she's about to do a 4 hour DOCTOR WHO filming locations tour around Cardiff...  We knew who the guide was, because he was the guy holding a SONIC SCREWDRIVER.  Du-du-du-dah, du-du-du-dah, OOOOH-WEEE-OOOOOOOH!

Outside Cardiff Castle, with panini in hand

The big blue bus which took us around

This is the church, St Johns, where The Runaway Bride was filmed with Donna dematerialising while walking down the aisle.   There are Knights of the Templar in one part of the church, but one of them was stolen, so it was replaced in a peculiar way.  Look closely at this picture...

You will be deleted...

 We went around a place that had lots of the locations for Human Nature and the Family of Blood, where we thought of Holly a lot and expected her to jump out in a scarecrow mask at any moment. The next picture shows where the TARDIS was hidden while the Doctor thought he was John Smith, a human.

We saw a lot of minis on the tour too, which made us think of Kira.  There were 2 parked on this street, can you spot them?  (The black one had a John Cooper signature on the bonnet).

Where Donna lived in Turn Left when she and her family were evacuated.

 This is the church where Rose's parents were going to a wedding when they were attacked by Reapers in Father's Day.  We also saw the intersection where her dad finally died.

Cowering in fear of reapers

 A pub in Cardiff has an interesting entrance to their toilets...

If you don't know what this is, you're a noob.

 When we got to the Ponds' blue house, I obviously listened very carefully to our guide, Matt, who has appeared in 6 episodes himself (as an extra) and is also an avid Whovian (or Wholigan, if you like).

And, finally, Ayesha took a starring role in the tour's reenactment of the Amy Pond and the Doctor scene in 'Leadworth' for The Eleventh Hour.  This took place exactly where the original scene was shot.

AYESHA: I'm just going to point out, this is the only take, no practicing AND I couldn't properly see the script.

DOH! a DEER and how a National Trust medal was won

Sorry this has been a BIT delayed ... (from Monday 25^th June)

We are now in Bournemouth, England. Aunt Alison came down with us and we are staying with Nanny Irene who is my great grandmother (Mum's grandma). She is 93 but still lives on her own, which is impressive. Mum's going to write a post about her and our family after this.

We went into Bournemouth town this morning where there are big public gardens that lead down to the beach. The beach has yellow/brown sand, very cold water, and a lot of little huts in different colours of the rainbow which line the foreshore. We looked inside a hut and it's basically just a beach cupboard that you can rent to keep your stuff for the day in. And make a cup of tea. 

Unknown guy sunbathing next to his cupboard :)

 In the gardens we found MINI GOLF!!! Of course, we played. My favourite hole was called the 'ant nest' and the hole was at the top of a mound which was hard to get the ball up. Dad liked the one which went up through a tunnel. None of us got a hole in one, but there were very near misses.

Later, we went to Corfe Castle; it was AMAZING!!!

First of all, on the way there, there was a deer on the side of the road. It thought about crossing and only saw us when it already had one clippety-cloppity hoof on the road. Luckily, it got out of the way.

Corfe Castle is an old ruin... lots of royalty lived there. One of the royals was called 'Ethelred the Unready'!  The last royal owner was Queen Elizabeth I. It's dungeon, or keep, was GIGANTIC and once held 22 rival knights from France who were starved to death. King John also held his wife prisoner there! I guess they didn't get along. 

(For more on the interesting and gory history of Corfe, try this page http://www.accesslanguages.co.uk/pb2k/corfe_hist.html)

 

 

I won a National trust medal... it isn't as amazing as it sounds. I did a quiz at Corfe Castle. While we explored the remains, we found shields, on them they had a bit of informative text and one question on each to answer. After we had finished all of the questions and been all around the ruins, we exchanged the quiz for a plastic medal. 

 Also, this happened. 

GRACING THE QUEEN with our fascinating presence

A treatise on Ascot, cherries, fascinators, Queen E & sleep deprivation. by Kath

Early morn arrival at Heathrow after an overnight flight found us bleary eyed, but quickly processed through and into the car, navigating our way to my Aunt Alison & Uncle Ramzi's place near Ascot. Noticed a lot of Union Jack bunting* around the town & soon learnt that the Royal Ascot racing carnival was drawing to a close with the grand finale race starring Black Cavier and with the Queen & Prince Phillip on hand to cheer everything along.

*strings of decorative flags

 

So, after a delicious breakfast courtesy of my hospitable family and a wee rest, we strolled into Ascot, stopping to pick and eat cherries from the trees in the square on the way. It's not scrumping* when it's in a public place. 

Soon we were amidst the crowds of the well-heeled and the high-heeled, the stuck up, the wobbly and the drunk -all in their finery or their slappery, all in their hats and fascinators, slurping down their champers**, wearing patchy fake tans. I loved the touts*** & gypsies with their cockney 'come-buys' most of all - “Need tickets?”, “A rose for your lapel, lovely?”. Then we found a couple of fascinators for ourselves... fate seemed to have left them lying about for us.

*stealing fruit

**champagne

***people selling stuff in a dodgy kind of way (Dodgy - Kira!)

 

 

It occurred to us that the Queen and Prince Phillip might want to have a look at us, so Ramzi led us to where they would pass in their carriages on the way to the Royal enclosure. We donned our fascinators, took our spots on the fence and watched the joy on the royals' faces when they spotted us.

McGYVER the DRIVER and DODGING TRAFFIC

  An interview with Howie

 What's your favourite transport in KL? The elevated monorail because it's like a flying train.

What's the traffic like? Mad. Crazy. Typically South-East Asian.

How do you cross the road? Wait on the curb til you gain confidence and you find a little gap, start edging out, giving a small wave to the drivers and go! The general rule, I think, is if you've got your nose in front, you've got right of way.

How did you get to the airport? By a taxi through KL city centre rush hour with McGyver the driver who would duck in and out of hotel valet parking driveways to gain half a dozen car lengths. Impressive driving.

What's it like driving in England? Shut up. I'm trying to drive. (Fair enough). A bit distracting, with lots to see. Narrow lanes keep you on your toes. Just when you think you're out on the open road, there's another village. Generally good and exciting being in a new place.

 How's your rental car? Ex-cell-ent! The 2012 Seat Leon with inbuilt sat nav, duel climate control, integrated phone system that scares us when we accidentally hit a button and it loudly says, “There is no phone connected.” Etc, etc. Oh, and it's got a key that flicks out like a switch blade.

Towers & Toilets

Written a few days ago - postponed due to jet-lag.

 Kath, Howie and Ayesha here in England, at Ali and Ramzi's house..

Yesterday was mad, with the final dash in Malaysia. First me and dad went to the Petronas towers and spent AGES in line to get tickets. Then we had our last buffet breakfast, :( awww . We went to the pool after that. Me and dad went to the Petronas towers and first went up 86 floors!!! (Cue Picture )

Kath & Howie photographed by Ayesha the previous night

 ...then we went to the sky bridge (which is 41 floors up! )

Later we checked out of the hotel, hopped on the monorail and wandered around the huge shopping centres, until we found this...

T-Bowl Restaurant table and chairs

This is their signature dish.  Are you hungry?

We don't know its name but Peter says he 

should be 'Little Poopy'

It is a bathroom themed restaurant called T-bowl. The seats are toilets, the tables are bath-tubs with glass on the top and the food is served on toilet seat plates. The mascot of the restaurant is this...

We'll catch up with news of our time in England soon. 

UPDATE:   I thought I would add a link for this restaurant chain, for the sake of those who want a night out with 'Little Poopy' at the T-Bowl.  http://www.t-bowl.com/

Taiwan have a similar chain (possibly even more hard core in their toilet obsession), The Modern Toilet.  See them here at  http://www.moderntoilet.com.tw/en/about.asp

First days in KL

Ayesha, Kath & Howie here at the Renaissance Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Been a hard day of shopping at the Central Market, where this happened...

We found some doctor fish who clean your feet. It was really weird and ticklish, as you can see from Mum's face.  (We wanted to upload a video, but there's some sort of tech-glitch.  Just as well, because Mum's knickers did flash while she was shrieking and squirming).

All the markets and shopping centres that we've been to have been HUGE. There were thousands of people and one was 9 stories high with a theme park inside. Dad and I don't like thrill rides, but if someone else was there (Smithy!) Mum would've gone on the roller coaster (she's mad).

We've never stayed in a 5 star hotel before (though Mum stayed in some when she was a kid) and it's strange to hear Dad called Mr Gaskin all the time. Sometimes we don't realise who they're talking to. Here's the swimming pool, which is bigger than our house.

Howie wants a job driving the monorail. Simpsons fans sing now... Monorail! Monorail!

Kath's note:  Howie and I suffer odd travellers' guilt staying in salubrious surrounds like these but we get over it quickly whenever we go down to the buffet breakfast.

More from us when we get to Blighty. xxx

Doggy love

" Go on, bite my face."
"Ha, chase me, chase me."
"Aaaarrrrrrr."
"Rrrrrrrrraaaaaaa."
Then Howie and Kath stopped playing and the dogs did this.

Leaving her behind

She's been beach-walked, washed, brushed, coddled and cuddled and she'll be perfectly spoiled by Nanny and Poppy.  But we're leaving our puppy behind.  Sigh

You know you're going soon when...

...the 'How many sleeps left?' countdown hits the single digits.  Nine!
...you go shopping for miniature bottles of shampoo and conditioner.
...there are more things crossed off the list than not.
...current internet weather forecasts include a time when you'll be there!
...you catch the current dreaded lurgy and rejoice because it 'gets it out of the way' before you go.