Road Trip Through Pictures Day 3: Eden Project and St Ives

Day 2 started off with our visit to Eden Project. I was really excited. The thought about going back to Malaysia even for just the day was more than enough to make me drag 4 other people down with me to this man made tropical rain forest.

The Eden Project main concept is about proving that with combined efforts, we can transform a degraded environment to a full fledged jungles of different climate while sustaining it. Do visit it to understand more and experience this once in a lifetime experience of traveling round the world in a day. 

You'll be surprised by the number of people turning up on a normal weekday. The car park was so big that we had to use the shuttle bus to get to the main entrance.

A automatic puppet show about the consequences of not looking after mother earth. Very new concept. The entrance fee was 8 pounds for students and valid for a year. Really worth the money paid.

The 4 awe-struck visitors. The Biomes were really impressive.

Lunch at Mediterranean Kitchen

We stopped for lunch first at this really nice restaurant located between the Rainforest Biome and Mediterranean Biome.

Food made from fresh ingredients. Even my vegetarian pasta tasted so delicious. The complimentary bread for starters were really nice too. From scallop tagliatelle to pizza with mussels, we all enjoyed all of them.

Group photo

Mediterranean Biome
We visited this Biome first as it was going to be closed from 2pm onwards for a wedding ceremony. What a cool place to have a wedding! I wonder who thought of that idea.

With flowers in full bloom, needle like leaves, massive cactus and gigantic Aloe Vera, I almost wanted to pluck one of the leaves and do facial there and then. Hahaha. So, South Africa and California ☑

There were some weird statues showing the sacrificial ritual and dance to worship Dionysys, the Greek God of vines. Don't ask me to explain it as I'm still clueless.

Tea with the Gardener

This outdoor activity proved to be more interesting than I'd expected. We were introduced to insects and animals which were used as pest control at the Biomes. Things that I could remember include Kung Fu was originated from the movements of Praying Mantis, lizards are able to stick on any surfaces using the many fine microhooks on their feet and will remain stuck to a surface even after death, a toad was called Grumpy toad as extra folds appear on its skin the more it ages making it look grumpy. Very educational. The tea was really nice too.

Outdoor Biome

We saw Daisy the cow, more flowers and sunshine. I think the years of photo taking has become a liability to me. Nowadays I even give directions to strangers on taking our group photos. Hahahah.

Rainforest Biome
Finally, I'm back home without the 13 hours flight! It was soooooo hot and humid.

Banana trees everywhere. I was so tempted to take a leaf home to make pulut panggang and maybe some of the fruit for pisang goreng.

Bridge across a river. The environment looks so natural that it was hard to believe that there was a curator to design the place. Apparently a lizard was added to the Mediterranean Biome as the curator for the place complained that he had no pets in his Biome. Awwww...

Imagine finding a waterfall in this man-made jungle. Impressive. You don't have to go all the way up the mountains in Malaysia to see this.

Cold room - it was seriously too hot. How am I going to survive when I get back home? Maybe put air-conditioning for the whole house.

The curator must have visited Malaysia. It's too authentic to be true. There's even a rocking chair made from rattan there. I can even see the rack that I used to use to sweep the leaves around my garden when I was little.

I seriously think that this sign is stolen. There's only lori balak in Sabah and I find it here in Cornwall! Maybe a Malaysian donated this but to post it all the way from Sabah. What an effort.

Giant tyre

I have never taken photos of the road side stalls that I've passed many times on my way from Sandakan to KK and now I'm taking photos of the make-shift one in Cornwall. I need to take more photos when I'm back. I think one of the reasons is because I don't own a digital camera at that time.

Back to Cornwall climate

Ice-cream time! So refreshing after all that humidity.

Jumping photos

The Core

This gigantic egg shaped structure is The Seed. Beneath it contains a personal message written by Queen Elizabeth II herself. There's no way anyone can even take a peak at it looking at its size and weight. We watched the videos on The Seed and Eden Project there.

Try figuring out what items were used in building the Weee Man. Clue: electrical

On the way back.

Imagine having Cornish afternoon tea here. Too bad the restaurant was closed by then.

Spot anything unusual? I see 4 really worried people discussing amongst themselves.

St. Ives
After a long drive, we finally reached St. Ives, a small lovely seaside town.

Groupie from where we parked our car.

The view of the beach was really beautiful even though it was already dark.

Seafood Cafe

This place was recommended by the reception at the hotel that we stayed in for that night. We had to go to the counter to choose our fish, then the sauce to go with it and sides.

I regretted not ordering the sauce as my Halibut and Monk fish tasted too blant but fresh. Had grilled scallops and seafood kebab too which was delicious.

Our hotel for the night. They were kind enough to add another extra bed so that we didn't have to share the double bed. Too bad it was a bit noisy at night as people were gathering at the nearby pub.

Next up: Last Day of the trip but not the last holiday for me.

Road Trip Through Pictures Day 2: Bristol, Bath and Stonehenge

Day 2 started with the tour around Bristol. It's a really lovely city which can be covered on foot. The weather was really lovely too.

Broadmead Shopping Centre. Love the roof design.

Walk along Castle Park and River Avon

Tourist information centre

This area reminded me of Venice, with the unique building designs and small ships anchored along the walkways. I think I look a bit too Malaysian and our reputation for the love of food has spread too far cause the lady at the tourist info kept on recommending places to eat when I asked her where should we visit. I think I heard 'you can stop here to eat' at least 6 times during that conversation. That phrase really stuck with me as she had this really cute accent when she said 'eat'. The most enthusiastic guide that I've met so far. If you're interested, the places that she recommended include Cheddar, Glastonbury, and Frome where we could have our morning tea, lunch, 2nd lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, 2nd dinner, supper, okok, you get the idea.

Bristol Cathedral - a very impressive looking cathedral with beautiful interior designs. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

First statue of a unicorn that I've seen in my life. I used to be so crazy about them.

St Nicholas Market in the old town

Farmers' market - lots of fresh seafood, meats and bread

Sweets and more sweet! Chocolate cigar anyone? (Right lower corner)

Clifton suspension bridge - our last stop before we bid Bristol farewell.

Bath - the 2nd visit

I had a feeling that I would return to Bath one day but I didn't expect it to be exactly a month later. Seems like just yesterday. For more extensive stories about the city, please visit my previous post. This post will be focused on eating!

Sally Lunn

I'd always wanted to eat at this restaurant but previously, we already have our packed lunch with us, so, I have returned this time. I'm sure they did put this mirror on the wall for a reason. Same shot but with different company. We didn't have to wait long to be seated in this small cosy restaurant.

This place served the best coffee and tea that I've had so far. The coffee had this really nice aroma and the taste was really unique. It had a tinge of bitterness which suited me really well. The tea was awesome too. I do recommend to drink it plain without milk or sugar. The Sally Lunn buns were really delicious too. I had Rarebit...if you're thinking the same as I did when I saw it, no, it's not rabbit. They're too cute to be eaten, but saying that, we do have rabbit satay back home. It's a Welsh dish made from savoury sauce with buns topped with cheese and toasted. Yummy! I want to go back to Bath again.

Stonehenge
We managed to fit stonehenge into our itinerary. Reached there around 4pm and believe it or not, we stayed till 6pm and were the last ones to leave. You must be wondering how can we spend so much time there right? Well, read on.

Stonehenge, which also means Hanging stones has been built in 2500BC. Till today, nobody knows why huge rocks were carried from miles and miles away to Salisbury to build this circle of rock. The latest theory is that they are for ancestor worship as there are many graves around the area. I'm sure we'll discover the answer to that mystery one day.

If we went back in time, our photos will age but the stones will still look the same.

Now, to take you through how we spent our time around the famous circle of stone:

First, start with all the normal posts and take pictures of the rocks while listening to the audio guide. I had fun listening to it as it interests me. Next, take jumping photos followed by optical illusion shots. By the time we finished those, we had to be chased out. Hahaha.

My favourite photo. It seems so small here.

Highest difficulty level of pose, thanks to SM for volunteering. Good work!

Chilling out

The month can also be determined by where the shadow falls at certain times of the day. A ring of small stones in the middle circle are called Blue stones which is believed to have healing powers.

I was glad that they have put in effort to preserve the stones. I was shocked that the guide told us that some of the stones were 'stolen' for building houses and smaller pieces were chipped off by visitors as souvenirs. There was a few visible graffiti too.

How the stonehenge actually look. There are some speculations that there may be a roof in the past but hasn't survived till this day.

I'm going to carry this piece of stonehenge for the foundation to my new home. Hahaha.

Story of the haunted house

We set off for Cornwall right after we left Stonehenge. As we didn't book any accommodation that night, we just randomly stopped at any B&B which had advertised vacancy. It was already dark when we drove through really narrow lanes to get to this B&B. It was a really lovely house, brightly lighted with a car parked in the front. We rang the doorbell but there was no answer. So, we tried the handle, the door was opened. Went in calling out but nobody answered. Somehow, it was too quiet. Really quiet. It felt like this was a trap, the house was too welcoming but something just didn't seem right. There's a car but no one's answering and the house was fully lighted and doors were unlocked.

We quickly left the place.....it did look really haunted from the outside.

Checked into Travelodge at St Austell - worst hotel that I've stayed in so far. Unless you're given the room which they keep for inspection, do not stay there, you've been warned.

Finally, we reached our original planned destination after 3 detours. Should have started this trip earlier.

Next up: Eden Project