Exbury & Beulieu

This is post is kinda long overdue... :P... anyway a colleague of mine is really, really fascinated with gardens, so we thought he has a huge orchid or flower garden... then he said he only plant useful plants... and then only found out his "useful" plants are veggie and fruit trees... :P. So he found out one of England's famous garden is abt 50 mins drive away... so away we go...

So this is it... 4 GUYS... going to one of the most scenic spots around here... ishhhhh.... anyway The Exbury gardens cover 200 acres of various flower and plants but mostly are rhododendrons, azaleas and camelias.

Rose among the thorns

Stream running through the gardens

Lane full of flowers in a riot of colors

Reflections on the lake within the gardens

After the walk around which took us about 2 hours, we drove by to a place called Beaulieu, a small village nearby. You actually have to pay an entrance fee to enter this tourist spot which set us back by 15 quid... after paying 7.5 quid to enter Exbury... :(. Anyway Beaulieu houses a few stuff... the British National Motor Museum, Beaulieu Palace House and Beaulieu Abbey. The British National Motor Museum has a huge collection of automobiles from bygone eras (T-Ford's... to the latest Bugatti Veryon). The Beaulieu Palace House is a huge mansion built during the 16th century and still in a perfect condition. The Beaulieu Abbey, or actually what's left of it is home to some monks from France during the 13th century.

From the old vintage...

To the record breakers.

The Beaulieu Palace House

The dining hall of the Palace House... supposed to be haunted...

Basically at the end there was a special exhibition which featured a lot of the original stuff featured in the James Bond movies from the old and new...

Remember this?...

Was it Halle Berry that drove this car?

MY NIECE!

PROMOTION: My niece has a blog!!... check out s U n S H i N E

She's real cute and I use to babysit her, putting her to bed, feeding her etc... etc... EXCEPT BATHING and CHANGING DIAPERS :P...

One of my earliest pics of Le Anne

She's small enough to fit into the basin :P


Used to put her in the basket and "fly" her around


She was always fascinated with the phone

Leanne having fun... running around in the house

Leanne with one of her favourite fruits

Leanne and her camera face... ;)

p/s: 9/6/07 - edited spelling mistake... :P

Cambridge...

This weekend was a bank holiday, so was contemplating where to go as monday was a holiday. So while chatting with my friend who's in Cambridge he asked to come over. When? he said today? huh? 3 hours drive at night? hmmm... ok then :P.

So immediately after work, sent my colleagues back, grabbed a few stuff to sleepover and this gung-ho clueless Malaysian juz plugged away on the van with the outdated GPS navigation system. The place he was staying wasn't even in the list!!... so that was how outdated it was... later found out the highway I took wasn't listed either... (hmmm dun think i would have taken the trip alone if I knew all these! haha...)

Anyway it wasn't really a pleasant weather, drizzling most of the time. Cambridge is a well known old university town, has a long history even before the roman empire and it's universities have spawned many start-up companies working on new technology stuffs. According to stats 25% of ppl here cycle to work....

Anyway some of the famous colleges are King's college, St. John's College, Jesus College and Trinity College, most built between the 12th to 15th century. An advantage of knowing someone local is... you are able to get into the college the back way, without paying the admission fee... ;)

Bronze model of Cambridge City with the location of all the famous colleges.

Me with my friend at Trinity College, where Isaac Newton studied

Gatehouse of King's College. Main college of Cambridge University, comissioned to build by King Henry 7

Within the compounds of St. John's College

Bridge of Sighs, connects St. John's College over the River. Locals joke that the name of the bridge was due to the sound made by the students as they cross over for exams! haha.

The market at the centre of Cambridge with Great St. Mary's Church at the back

Rows and rows of strawberries at the market

An interesting building that I stumbled upon in Cambridge was this strange round building, It's actually known as the Round Church, the only one of it's kind in England, and it's built in 1130!. Most probably inspired by crusaders coming back from Jerusalem during those times. Didn't realize the significance and history if this church at that time I was walking around, the round shape is supposed to signify the celebration of resurrection. Anyway more info can be found here:

The Holy Sepulchre AKA The Round Church

The River Cam that flows through Cambridge

Punting in River Cam

Well all in all it was a great time going round Cambridge amd meeting with my friend Chuan. Since he came over here he's becoming an excellant cook, and my first meal was a home made burger, even the beef patty was grinded by himself! Check out the Superb Cambridge Burger below... till then... cheers all!....

The Superb Cambridge Burger ;)

Virtual DNA

Interesting psycho test... What's yours?

Description of mine HERE

Top 10 things I miss...

So here it goes.. the top 10 of things I miss:

1. Mum's cooking
2. Roti Pisang Cheese @ Ayob
3. Nasi Lemak @ my mum's house
4. Nasi Beriani @ Durian Daun
5. Nasi Goreng + Telur @ Nyonya Suan
6. Tosai Masala @ that aunty's shop... forgot the name
7. Cendol @ Nyonya Suan
8. Roti Bakar @ the shop opposite nyonya suan
9. Char Kuew Tiow + pork fat @ the opposite of old capitol
10. Maggi Goreng @ 3 Ros AKA gigolos
11. Pratha + dhall @ Bonani
12. Butter Cheese Naan @ Pak Pandir

Hmmm the list goes on... oh and i nearly forgot I also miss my "ahem-ahem", family, niece, friends, church ... and etc. etc... :D

Cheers...