Author Archives: Lesley Tan

Tynemouth North Pier

26th June, 2017 | Article By Lesley Tan

AttractionsFamily DaysLandmarksSceneryWalking

One day this summer I decided to take a walk from my home down to Tynemouth, The Haven and on to the North Pier. This is an especially lovely walk, if at times a bit windy! The reason for this is that the pier extends right out into the sea, ending at a lighthouse, there to guide the ships into The Tyne from the great North Sea.

It was a lovely day and a lovely walk. I thoroughly enjoyed it. First of all, this is the place where my dad used to spend most of his evenings fishing, The Haven was where most of my childhood summers were spent with my family and last but not least, it is a very scenic bay with loads of character and history; the Pier itself is steeped in history.

Anyway, number one in my book is that it is a great bracing/refreshing, mind-boggling walk! The views as you walk along the pier are fantastic: great cruise ships, ferries and transporters entering and leaving The Tyne, yachts and small boats bobbing on the sea, views from the north to the south of The Tyne and the view from the very end of the pier looking back to land is beautiful. Tynemouth Priory and Castle are in view from the pier too. The sound of the sea and the waves crashing against the pier is mesmerizing and there are also distant views of Cullercoats and Whitley Bay.

On certain dates there are tours through the walkway INSIDE the pier and also the lighthouse. I have never been on one, but have heard they are excellent.

If you care to visit Tynemouth, you must surely give The North Pier a visit. BUT a word of warning for safety’s sake, when the weather is bad and sea is rough the pier will be closed to the public. When you see my photos you will understand why…

Dynasty Chinese Restaurant

4th May, 2017 | Article By Lesley Tan

Food and DrinkHotelsOccasionsRestaurantsVenues

The other evening we were treated to a very sumptuous meal in a private VIP Room in Dynasty Chinese Restaurant (upstairs from the main restaurant) right here in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia.  It was held in aid of visiting friends. The company was brilliant and so was the food!

As we sat chatting before the meal there were tasty tidbits to snack on. We were served Lobster, Peking Duck, Beggar Man’s Chicken and Scallops to name but a few. Loads of delicious fresh vegetables were also served and a great dessert of Red Bean Pie and Fresh Fruit.

We had our own waitress service and there is a ‘Call Button’ set right into the ‘Lazy Susan’!

You can choose the size of your room by the number of tables required. This is perfect for Reunions, Family Get-togethers, Parties, Celebrations, Business Meetings and so on.

The original Dynasty Chinese Restaurant is still on the ground floor and we have always enjoyed the food served, dining there on countless occasions. I think these new VIP rooms are just another great reason to choose to eat at Dynasty Hotel.

Miri Country Music Fest 2017

3rd April, 2017 | Article By Lesley Tan

EntertainmentEventsFestivalsMusic

This year’s Miri Country Music Fest was held over two days for the first time! On 25th and 26th February Miri Country Music 2017 was launched and despite the rain, was a great success and drew people from far and wide.

Brilliant Singaporean legend Joe Ferdinands (Of Mel & Joe fame) was the MC for the fest and he was excellent, he led the finale with country music faves.

The performers of this year’s fest were:-

Raggy Project (Penang, Malaysia)

Russell Curtis (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Casual Ceilidh (Brunei Darussalam)

Adi and Maha (Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia)

Mountain Wind Band (Sarawak, Malaysia)

James Thomson and The Strange Pilgrims ((Australia)

Country Road Band (Sarawak, Malaysia)

Shane Smith and The Saints (USA)

The venue this year was at The Parkcity Everly, Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia.

Also on offer over the two days were: Food and Drinks stalls, Handicraft stalls, MCMF Merchandise, Games, and a Kid’s Corner.  A Darts Competition was held on Saturday and a Barbeque Cookout on Sunday.

Country Music Workshops and Line Dance Workshops were held on both days with the actual concert starting at 6 p.m. on Saturday and 5 p.m. on Sunday.

The MCMF TEAM is headed by Advisor Gracie V. Geikie, directed by Mark Justin Sylvester, the Artistic Director is Asif Ben Pishori, in charge of Marketing – Mona A. Manap, Sales – Traci Tay, Secretariat – Annie Wong, Public Relations – Glacherie Tipik, Vendors & Volunteers – Fifi Lea and Sound, Lighting & Projection – Ritchie Ramil.

Together with a host of  ‘volunteers’  they worked tirelessly in getting the event organized.

Despite the rain, all of the enthusiastic Country Music fans had a brilliant time, they either just danced the ‘Pocho Pocho’  in the rain, or danced under umbrellas. What a fabulous following we have indeed!

This event is now listed in Malaysia Major Events and I am so proud and happy to have been awarded the honour of Ambassador for Miri Country Music Fest!

Banks of The Thames

31st March, 2017 | Article By Lesley Tan

BeachesDay TripsSightseeingViews

After visiting The Glass Floor of Tower Bridge with our friends last year, we took an enjoyable walk around the banks of The Thames and surrounding areas. The sights to see are many and varied and we stopped off at a pub or two for a break and a drink and also had some lovely food at a pre-booked restaurant.

The views across The Thames are stunning, The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, The Shard, St Paul’s, HMS Belfast, Shakespeare Theatre and much much more!

We saw puppet shows and people creating sand art on the small beaches created at low tide. There was even an invisible man!

It was a lovely day out, one which I surely will want to do again.

Darren Turner’s Images Of Tyneside

19th February, 2017 | Article By Lesley Tan

LandmarksPhotographySceneryViews

Darren Turner is a very keen photographer who specializes in taking photos of the North East of England and the Tyneside area and related events. His photos are very beautiful, varied and always interesting.

I have been following his photography for quite a few years now and love all of his work. He covers areas such as Tynemouth, Cullercoats, North Shields, and especially Gateshead and Newcastle.

His images include street scenes, local monuments, bridges, and sunset views of the River Tyne, beaches, festivals, events, parks and many other areas in the North East.

His photography continues to evolve day by day, and now includes photos of the boxing world. I look forward to seeing his future work very much.

Here is just a small selection of Darren Turner’s impressive, extensive collection; capturing the character of Tyneside.

Blog by Lesley Tan

Photos by Darren Turner

Bocketts Farm Family Fun

17th January, 2017 | Article By Lesley Tan

AnimalsAttractionsDay TripsFamily DaysFun

This year our son and daughter in law took us out for the day with their baby son, our grandson!

Bocketts Farm, in the lovely county of Surrey,  is a wonderful place for the whole family, where children and adults alike, can enjoy watching and petting all kinds of animals with lots of fun activities too. There are playgrounds, a Pig Race, a ride around the park, a Souvenir Shop and loads more, not to mention all the lovely animals to see.

We brought our own food so we sat in the picnic area to enjoy our food and drink; this is situated next to a playground so the children can continue to let off steam, while the parents relax. If you are still hungry after your picnic ice cream is on sale around the farm.

Activities on offer include pony rides, goat milking, animal handling and tractor rides and the Pig Race is great fun to watch!

Our grandson loved it all and so did we. We saw pigs, horses, llamas, cows, rabbits, hens and more; the farm is big and they are adding to it all the time.

I would recommend a visit to any family who loves animals or just looking for a fun-filled day to spend together. There is ample parking and it is well sign-posted from the motorways.

Bocketts Farm is open most of the year from 10 am to 5.30 pm and only closed on 25th and 26th December and 1st January. It has Disabled Parking and Baby Changing facilities.

Full details can be found on the Visit Surrey web page below or on the Bocketts Farm website:

http://www.visitsurrey.com/things-to-do/bocketts-farm-park-p47653

Lovely Lovely Llangollen

14th December, 2016 | Article By Lesley Tan

BoatingCafesDay TripsRaftingScenery

We were visiting great friends in Liverpool this year and were taken on an excellent day trip to Wales which included the lovely village of Llangollen, Pontcysllte Aquaduct and Horseshoe Pass.

Llangollen is beautiful, picturesque, interesting and quaint all in one. There is a fast moving part of the River Dee flowing right through this pretty village where we witnessed White Water Rafting and there is also a reproduction railway station where visitors can wander around and take photos of how it used to be. All of the touristy places are decorated to attract the visitors and the views of the mountains in the background are spectacular!

Next our friend drove us a short distance away to the Pontcysllte Aquaduct. Here, you can watch the canal boats crossing the Aquaduct and walk along side them, high above the ground. When you reach the other side you can have a drink or a snack to take in the lovely surroundings before walking back. An amazing experience!

Our final destination before returning was Horseshoe Pass.  A lovely heather laden, hilly area, with sheep that came right up to the windows of the restaurant/café where we stopped for refreshments – Ponderosa Café.

This was my first time in Wales and I loved it. I would LOVE to return!

Tower Bridge Glass Floor

17th November, 2016 | Article By Lesley Tan

AttractionsDay TripsHistoric BldgsSightseeingViews

We Viewed It All Sky High!

Well, this was a great day out in London, my husband and I knew roughly what we would be doing BUT the actual day turned out to be something totally different to what we had expected.

It was our friend’s birthday and her husband had pre arranged for us all to meet in South London as a surprise, unfortunately she had already cottoned on to our plan of meeting up. She still did not know what we would be doing though.

We met as arranged and very quickly put our plan into place.

We would meet at Richmond Underground Station and then travel up to Tower Bridge and take a very interesting walk way up high over Tower Bridge’s new WOW factor GLASS FLOOR!

We alighted at Tower Bridge station and walked the short distance to Tower Bridge. The views of London were breathtaking as we walked so we stopped for many ‘photo shoots’ and as our tickets had been previously purchased online, entry was quick and there were guides everywhere to help you out if you needed it.

We got into a lift and it took us to the top walkway of the bridge, fabulous! The view of The Thames was spectacular enough from there, but the walk along was made even better with two stretches of glass windows in the flooring! There were also mirrors above in the ceiling so most people had great fun with various poses in this section and after a short while I also joined in. Far below you could see the traffic crossing the bridge and the river.

There are photos of famous bridges around the world all along the sides of the walk way and interesting bits of information and historical exhibits about the area. You can also go and visit the engine room too if you want.

We had a very enjoyable time and later more mega walking around the Thames side areas of London, a drink in a pub and then a meal. A great day out!

Clarke Quay and The Merlion

14th November, 2016 | Article By Lesley Tan

AttractionsEntertainmentLandmarksShowsSightseeing

This year we had a trip to Singapore and one evening we walked to Clarke Quay. We had been there years ago and it was really nice, with lots of quayside restaurants to choose from, but it has been totally transformed and is now an even more fabulous tourist attraction.

People walking everywhere, taking in the sights. People (like us) sitting at the edge of the quay just looking around in awe, and the whole area colourfully and beautifully lit up!

There are activities like bouncing up and down on a gigantic elastic band, listening to bands playing, eating at quayside restaurants or joining boat loads of revellers cruising up and down the quay – I loved watching it all!

We walked the whole stretch of the quay until we reached the famous Singapore Merlion. This had, at one time, faced out to the open sea from the harbour, but it is now surrounded by many more sights including the fabulous Marina Sands Hotel and the Marina Barrage,  most of which have been built on reclaimed land.

We arrived in time for the Water and Light Show from the Marina Sands, which we watched from a very convenient set of steps leading down to the water, directly opposite. Another entertaining attraction well-worth a watch.

We then walked back to our hotel and were able to see the colourful bustling sights all over again.

Definitely recommended!

Cultivated Royal Kew Gardens

8th November, 2016 | Article By Lesley Tan

AttractionsDay TripsFamily TravelNatureParks-Gardens

I had never been to Kew Gardens so I was in for a pleasant surprise… It was amazing! And huge! It is home to many different species of plants from all over the world. It took us most of the day to just get a general look around but we tried to cover as many areas as we could in the time we had.

The location: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AB.

First of all, it was lovely weather, which always makes a difference, and secondly, we were in great company, my son, daughter-in-law and grandson.

We made our way around the many different areas of the gardens and this included the incubated Giant Greenhouse which houses plants from tropical climes in the Palm House , the Bonsai House and the beautiful Waterlily Pond.

When we entered the Waterlily Pond I was excited to be greeted by one of my Facebook Friends who recognized me. I knew that she volunteered there but she told me she would not normally be there on a Sunday or in that particular area – amazing coincidence!

The Rose and Cactus Gardens were very interesting and there were some fascinatingly enormous trees.

We had lunch in the Café, when we needed a rest and then resumed our walk with a visit to the Stately House… and the Canopy Walk, which had fabulous views of the surrounding trees.

I also loved the approach to the Pagoda. There are several paths leading to and from it creating good photo opportunities. The HIVE is an amazing insight as to what being inside a beehive is actually like if you are a honey bee!

A note here is be sure to wear good comfortable walking shoes as you will certainly need them! If you decide to take it a bit easy, you can book a place on the tram that takes you around the gardens for a small charge.

It is better to book online in advance to save a few pounds and there are also concessions for those over 60 and a chance to get a yearly pass at a small extra charge if you so desire.

The area is so large it is easy to imagine you are the only people there, then you turn a corner and there is a group of visitors having a picnic. There are picnic benches and scenic areas for you to take advantage of all over.

Kew Gardens is a great family day out for young and old, there is so much to do there!