Snorkelling with Spu

When in Cairns, one must go to the Great Barrier Reef.  I had a most fun time swimming with the fishies last time, I really wanted to go again but not as a Nigel this time.  Cue the Spu.  

Spu was a bit worried that he wasn't a strong enough swimmer for snorkelling.  I said, 'I reckon I'm a worse Asian swimmer than you and if I could snorkel last time, you can do it too.'  We contemplated diving but the health restrictions recommended not flying within 24 hours.  Best not to risk it but anyway, it was much more expensive.

We examined a bunch of brochures and settled on the Moore Reef Cruise from Sunlover.  I had thought my previous tour had a big boat but this Sunlover boat was about double the size.  

Our boat.  Ok, it's a catarmaran. 

Spu sitting next to Mr. Green Sea Turtle.  

First pit stop.  Fitzroy Island!  This seemed more to be where locals got off with their BBQ and cricket bats.  

A good 30-40% of passengers got off the boat at Fitzroy Island, leaving Spu and I with a LOT of rowdy Mainlanders.  Of course we were mistaken for them too.  

Once we reached the Sunlover purpose built pontoon, we all jumped off ready for our chosen activities.  Spu and I decided to snorkel first.  

Spu and I channeling our inner ninja.  Stinger season peeps!  I don't need a stinger bite.  

The view from the pontoon.  Water so clear.  Fish so bright and pretty.  

These pics were taken by a disposable waterproof camera and the grainy appearance is genuine, not Instagram filtered.  

Fishies so close to me!!!  Spu and I each tried to touch them but they were too quick.  

We also saw a Green Sea Turtle :D  I couldn't get a photo but I'm so happy to have seen one especially as I was quite disappointed at missing out last time.  I can die happy.  Content with our snorkel adventure, Spu and I decided to hit the buffet lunch and of course missed out on the fresh prawns because they'd been attacked by the Mainlanders.  Grrrrrrr.  

Next actvity - the semi submersible tour.  It's almost a submarine.  

Spu decided that it was too hot for a shirt.  Mainlander demonstrating a Camera Stance. 

Next activity - Glass bottom boat.  It's so dangerously close, it's a wonder they don't hit any of the coral.

My view through the glass bottom. 

Better idea of the view through the glass bottom.  My favourite coral is there too!  The spaghetti looking coral.  I like how it wafts in the water.  

Next activity - petting zoo.  Ok, it's not a zoo, it was a touch tank.

Spu not enjoying the big black sea cucumber.  Me enjoying it too much.  It was slimy and squishy and we were discouraged from squeezing it.  It would spurt water otherwise. 

Another sea cucumber I think.  It looked like a loaf of bread in the water, but when removed became deflated and bit sad :(  Me so happy to have a baby starfish in my hands.  It was alive! 

Next activity - presentation on the Great Barrier Reef.  Held on the pontoons underwater theatre.  This was very pretty and an excellent way of seeing up close the fish you didn't get to meet while snorkelling.  I could sit here for hours just staring at them..... or I could stare at a screensaver.  Nah, real fish are better.

Look at the parrot fish!  It has human buck teeth!  

I was pretty satisfied that Spu and I did EVERYTHING available on the pontoon bar the extra optional activities.  So with our fours hours up on the reef, we boarded the catamaran and headed back to Cairns.

Now for dinner.  I had eyed a ramen bar near my work and even though it's never soupy weather in Cairns, nothing was stopping Spu and I from scarfing up some tonkotsu goodness.  Hearing Japanese spoken within the restaurant is always encouraging and we were seated promptly.  Spu and I had popped in at a good time because shortly afterwards, a queue formed.  Also, when a ramen bar gives you the option of stipulating how 'hard/chewy' you want your noodles to be.....well that's a good thing.

I ordered the Tonkotsu I think whereas Spu, feeling the heat ordered a cold soup ramen.  He was a bit apprehensive but happy with his very tasty and refreshing choice.  We also ordered a serve of the homemade gyoza.

The reviews for this place are generally positive and while it's probably not the best bowl I've had (soup was tasty but some more topping wouldn't have hurt) I was pretty happy overall and Spu (being the less fussy eater) was super happy.  We shall return!  

Go Ape

After deciding that we weren't flying out of London for the weekend, Smee and I decided to take advantage of the weirdly excellent weather and get our chimp on at a Go Ape ropes/zipwire course.  I first went two years ago and it was super super fun!  If it was possible, I would do this every day!  Smee couldn't make that occasion and had to run away on a jet place back to Oz.  His fear of heights certainly caused an excessive reaction.  But just recently, Smee had decided that Go Ape was 'easy'.  I showed him clips - 'Easy' he said.  I showed him the Tarzan rope - 'Easy' he said.  I don't disagree at all, it is easy!  But for Smee, I was a bit worried.  

We initially wanted to do the Leeds Castle course but it was booked out for the day :( so we headed back to where I first did the course at Bedgebury.  A word of warning when travelling to Bedgebury.  Give yourself a buffer of about 30 minutes 'getting lost' time because the GPS will direct you to the wrong entrance of Go Ape!  (Don't worry, the correct entrance is just a few hundred metres down the same road.)  This is what happened to us and we ended up arriving 15 minutes late to our safety briefing and understandably annoyed many of our fellow climbers.  We can also blame the extra slow service of the Park Gate Inn who took far too long to serve our food.  Nice surroundings in the pub though.  

With the harness and carabiners on the ready, we started on the first section which involved a short six metre rope walk and a zipwire with a maximum height of I dunno, two metres.  Smee initially got off the zipwire and said 'I'm going home'.  We didn't end up going home - he then decided he wanted to prove he was more manly than me! 

The second course.  So tough at the base of the rope ladder.  Smee found the rope net quite comforting.  Smee giving me the thumbs up from the ground.  

Smee's nervousness eventually gave way but only after verbally abusing the ropes.  'This is bullshit', 'Wtf', 'I should be home playing computer games'.  All lovely things to be heard by the very confident seven year old girl behind Smee and egging him on.

Smee goes across the wobbly planks.   

Hmmm.  They should probably think about replacing some of their ropes.  

There are some videos of today's adventure but they are full of expletives.  Anyway, we completed the course and had HEAPS of fun.  I got a few bruises from bumping the ropes too hard and Smee ate too much tan bark from his bumpy landings but all in all, a good day out.   More importantly, Smee is less scared of heights and wants to do the course again!  :D 

Hurrah! 

Seriously peeps, get your butt down to a Go Ape course.  

Bowling with Smee

It's me and Smee hanging out time and today we decided to go bowling at Chaddy.  I'm going to classify this as exercise because this is the biggest workout I've had in a long time.

Game 1.  I won!!  A fairly respectable score may I add.  

Game 2.  I won again!  I didn't mean to win but I couldn't help that I finished with a strike and a spare.   

Sorry Smee, I won both games.  Smee is surprisingly ok about it. 

Snorkel, snorkel

My intention of leaving Cairns for Christmas and Boxing Day was decided for me when I saw that return flights cost $800-$1000. Seriously... wtf. Aah well. This was going to be my only weekend in Cairns having spent the first weekend working/exploring central Cairns and last weekend in Sydney. If I didn't do the Great Barrier Reef, then it defeats the reason why I scheduled work here in the first place!

My Christmas was a bit ho-hum. I slept in until about 11am, had lunch, did a load of laundry and then went to the beach and read some of my book. Oh and then I remembered that I would need cash for my snorkeling tour and so I hopped into the car and drove in search of an ATM (which I found, of course). I had my dinner, watched a few episodes of Supernatural (Dean is freaking HAWT!) and then forced myself to sleep in preparation for my early rise. An 8am boat boarding time is not ideal.

My disposable underwater camera. Pretty cool eh? But if I could go again, I would buy a camera with a flash. The water dulls the colours of the coral and the deeper you go, the duller it gets.

I'm not the best swimmer and if left to my own skillz, I would be one of the first to die in the great big ocean. Thankfully the tour organisers make it pretty much impossible for anyone to drown out in the pretty, pretty corals. It wouldn't be a bad way to go though, but the fish, coral and future divers might not be too impressed with your carcass. Flippers and a swimming noodle are provided! With that kind of equipment, you could even be a non-swimmer! The swimming noodle doubled as a type of fish-nip, guaranteeing you some fishy action.

According to our tour organisers, Tusa Dive, the weather conditions were just perfect which permitted us to reach the outer Saxon Reef. We snorkelers had to wait for the scuba divers to head off first before embarking on our own more superficial exploration.

I was reminded that I was under water when I exclaimed 'Cool!' and my snorkel filled up with salt water.

It was pretty amazing and just like swimming in an aquarium, except it's not an aquarium - it's the ocean! It was soooooooooo cool to have all the different tropical fishies swimming past, getting on in their daily tasks. I didn't get to see the sea turtle which some other snorkelers saw :(

I don't suffer from motion sickness but after my first snorkel I felt a little woozy. Maybe I should have eased up a bit but I'm sure that my teech clenching on the mouthpiece also contributed to my headache.

I had a Cornetto in an attempt to counter my ill feeling.  This is what happens to ice cream in Cairns.  By the time we made it to Hastings Reef, I felt a bit better and was glad that I wasn't going to barf.

Yes, beneath the sea I will still attempt an Asian pose.

I found Nemo!

My teech clenching got the better of me and I found way back to the refuge of the boat. If you ever head to far north Queensland, it would be an utmost shame to not snorkel or dive out in the reef. Even if you can only just float, that'll be enough to do basic snorkeling.  IF you can't swim, you can do an underwater reef walk!  Fun for all!

Go Ape

Smee and I had initially planned to join JT, G and some others for some primate climbing action.  But... Smee had to dawdle off to the Antipodes and miss out on some super super fun!  Rumours are rife owing to his incessant fear of heights that he did not in fact head to the southern hemisphere but rather he was serving self-imposed witness protection to avoid any form of height-related activities.  Hmm I do wonder....

There are several Go Ape courses around the UK and we opted for one at the Bedgebury Park.  The drive was a pleasant one hour or so out of London into the English countryside and I am happy to report that nothing eventuated from the close encounter involving Sweemo nearly colliding with a mother duck and her ducklings.

We were pretty lucky with today's sparkling weather and it made more for enjoying our lakeside picnic amongst the ducks.

Here's a friendly duck asking me for food.  *quack quack*

After fueling up, we headed to the course ready for some ropes and flying fox action. 

I shook hands with Mr. Ape and it's also good to know that I qualify for the course.

Being a girl and gym-bunnie in my previous life, I brought along my gym gloves to ensure that I wouldn't get callouses on my hands.  Everyone bagged me!  But a-ha!  I shall have the last laugh!

After being assisted into our harnesses, we were then taken through a safety demonstration of how to ensure that we don't plunge down 10 metres and hurt ourselves.  I could barely contain my excitement!  *clap clap clap*

 This little baby is all that exists between me and me going splat on the ground.

For anyone who is scared of heights, this is really a good way to help get over the fear.  After the demonstration, it is your own responsibility to ensure you are correctly attached to the zipwires.  The guides are available from the ground but they are not physically up there to monitor and strap you on.  Just try not to think of that  infamous opening scene from the movie Cliffhanger :P

The swinging walkbridge and the wooden tunnel.... which was very painful to crawl through on your knees.  I got bruises!  

The rope bridge.... miss that rope and fall to your death!  Ok, ok you only fall as far as the safety harness will go... which is about 30cms.  But still, that'll give you a jolt!

This picture doesn't really demonstrate the height between the rope bridge and the ground, but trust me, it is pretty far up and you don't really want to fall from there.

Making my way across another wooden/rope bridge....  ever so gracefully.

The entire course took about 3 hours to complete but I swear I could have kept going.  It partly takes so long because you're waiting for the slow pokes in front of you to hurry the f*&^k up!  The highlights of the course were the tarzan swings onto a rope cargo ladder (my smashing into them gave me more bruising!) and the flying foxes *thumbs up*. 

Here's a vid of JT making her way down the flying fox and not sticking her landing.

If you don't happen to land on your feet, then it can be pretty messy with all the tanbark flying around and into your shoes, socks, pockets and undies.  I had tanbark go where tanbark has never gone before!  (Not a nice feeling but hey, you gotta put up with it).

Here's a video of my view while going down the flying fox. 

I was doing pretty well until about the 11 second mark when my body began turning left.  The camera wavers as I start kicking my legs around in a desperate bid to remain forward-facing but alas, I scare away a dog as I land backwards.  My silent trip down the flying fox is broken with a delayed yelp. 

Yay!  We finished the course!

Hungry from all the energy expenditure, we stopped by the first pub we saw which as it turns out, serves really good food!  I'm not usually one for the typical pub food fare, but the menu at the Green Cross Inn and the food we saw coming out of the kitchen was very tempting indeed.

Outside the Green Cross Inn.  It's like a gingerbread house!



One of the dishes we saw being ordered by many of the other patrons was the avocado and crab bake.  We'll have 6 of those thanks waiter.  It was a bit heavy for a starter and I could feel that my arteries were now clogged with cheddar but it was delish!  I ordered the fish pie as my main and while it was nice and such a generous portion that I was unable to finish it, I felt envious for not ordering the baby back ribs, pork roast or crab!  Mmmm num nums. 

If I'm ever out that way again, I'll be sure to pop in for a meal here.  So yes, if you're after a different kind of day out, do the Go Ape course.  I can't wait to go again!  (And yes, unlike some others, I did not have any callouses on my hands *nyah!!*)

Race for Life: Hyde Park

Last week I participated in a 10K run.  I became ill for about four days following the race (not run related) and think I may had contracted the dreaded swine flu but .... I'm feeling okay now.  Really - it's nothing.  Yay for my refugee immune system!

J, Cz, me and few others decided to meet at Sloane Square tube (outside Harvey Nicks!) for a walkies to the park.  Cz was a little late so we had to go off without her.  J and I being fans of Race for Life decided to participate in the Hyde Park event this year to see how it's course compared with that of the familiar Regent's Park.  The weather wasn't looking great and before we reached the meeting point it started pissing, pissing down.  We sought shelter under a large tree along with 100 other women (not wise) and remained there for a good five minutes until the rain subsided.  Great - wet grass. 

No one was there to cheer us on *sob sob* and consequently we didn't have any bag carriers.  I only realised this when I was on the tube when it occurred to me that I had a backpack on my back.  Oh dammit - now I would have to do a 5k run with a bag on my back!  The drag will slow me down!

The first thing J and I noticed was that there were too many women participating in this run.  The race began on the not-wide-enough footpath and we had to run along the edge of the mass of women dressed in pink in order to avoid pushing the other participants.  It was elbow to breast elbow for a good 300 metres before the pack starting breaking up.  I realised during the run that I have barely explored Hyde Park and it is indeed an ideal park for jogging.

With the knowledge that this race was not going to be as difficult as the 10K, I did push myself to run it at a faster rate.  5K surely is a piece a cake after doing a 10K run!  As we approached the tail end, I immediately thought the race organisers must be true sadists for including a small incline - the only incline - less than 500 metres from the finish line. *wince*

As I gained close to the finish line I was pretty happy to see that I was going to better my previous efforts and I clocked in at 17 mins 25 seconds??  If anyone saw me cross the finish line at that point, they would have seen my face transform from delight to confusion.  Whaaa? I deducted 1 minute and 10 secs to counter the delay at the start line.....so I ran the race in 16 mins 15 seconds? No way!!  That would mean that I averaged just over 3 minutes for each 1 km?  I might as well compete professionally! 

J and I figured out that there must have been a 10 minute discrepancy and so my time for the run was the more respectable (and believable) time of 26 minutes 15 seconds.  My best time to date! This will probably be my last Race for Life for a while but here's to competing in charity runs in other places around the world!

British 10K Run

Inspired from last year's 10K run, this time I actually made a conscious decision to participate rather than fill in as a last minute replacement. I figured that if I could do it last year with a blase training schedule, then surely this year I would make it a piece of cake. Ok, ok I exaggerate. It would be nice to make such runs 'a piece of cake' but I set myself the same goal as last year which was the more realistic target of 'not stopping'.

The Race for Life run in May was a bit of a warm up but you know, that was a whole two months ago and my half-committed training schedule - 'oh fark, the 10K is in four weeks!!' - didn't help. In preparation, I looked at the running route provided to me in my race pack and noticed that it was different to the previous year. In fact the route looked longer and I started having a panic attack. Did they shorten last year's race and I wasn't aware? Why the hell did this route cover so much more distance than what I recall running last year? I then realised I was looking at the half marathon map. Duh-yip-yip! Tee hee!

This year J and I joined forces with her colleagues to run for a purpose - the poor and homeless people in London. Thanks to everyone who made a donation! As a result of running for an organised charity we were given *bright* yellow singlets to wear. Yellow is most certainly not my colour.

I think about 9000 people participated in this year's run and not surprisingly, it takes a bit of time to shuffle that many people down Piccadilly to the starting line. We didn't get to the start line until 33 minutes after the shot of the start-gun. J and I bid our farewells (I wasn't going to try keep up with her!) and off we went on our merry way.

I'm thankful that this year was not a repeat of last year's wet singlet competition and it was sunny the whole way. The first 5 kms were ok and I was fairly content with ending my run there and then but no, no, of course I had another 5 kms to go. From there on the run dragged a bit and the final 3 kms especially were killing me. I kept thinking 'When will it be over?!?!?!' and when I got to Westminster Abbey and began running towards Victoria I was like 'I don't remember running this part of London last year!'

The race photographers were situated about 100 metres before the finish line ready to take our photos of glory. This is probably the best place for a photographer to be situated if they want to obtain the least flattering photo of a person running a race. I was sweaty, red, out of breath and grimacing. Let's just all agree that this photo (right) is not great and in fact is the perfect example of all things unaesthetically pleasing. I even look a bit fat! I think it was because while my fellow runners were stampeding their way to the finish, I was slumping it through. I must congratulate the photographer on capturing my pain most effectively with this photo.

Despite me portraying this run like it was chore it was do-able and I'm quite happy to have clocked in at 64 minutes, 12 seconds. J managed to crack the 60 minute mark with a time of 57 minutes (I think). She's a MACHIIIIIIIINNNNE. The worst part after finishing the race was J's chirpiness. 'Don't you just feel sooo goooooooooooood?' she chimed. My reply was a short 'Mmm yeah' as I shot her a 'don't look at me, woman' look. Aww J I still ruv you!

Of course, after the race I was happy to claim my cyber certificate :) J is trying to rope me in for the half-marathon she's signed up for but I know my limits and it hasn't quite extended to 21 kms.........yet.

Race for Life

That time of the year has come around again when I commit myself to some charity runs. It is really the only way I can get out of the house and exercise. I can't believe this is the third time I've done the Regents Park Race for Life 5km run. Wow, time flies when you're getting old! Also joining was a sick Lil Miss J, J and K. Of course, all the men came along to support us and more importantly, carry our bags.

Lil Miss J and I participating in the group aerobics warm-up (right). The best bit was when we broke out in a Mel & Kim style dance. There is video evidence but it wont be posted (unless by popular demand!)

Like previous years, it ended up being quite sunny even though the morning had threatened rain. My training had only been so-so and yeah I could feel it while jogging. The good thing about having done the course previously, you know what was coming and it was easy to tell when the finish line was near. I couldn't foster up enough energy to sprint over the line so don't be fooled by the photo. Smee was shouting for me to pose for the camera but while I was looking for him I couldn't see or hear him above the other cheering

Despite the mediocre training I was pretty chuffed with the time I clocked in - 30 minutes flat. Yay!

Greeting me at the finish line was my little midget looking less midgety and even a little bored to have waited for me to run my course. Lil Miss J didn't care; she just wanted to snatch him from me! My next run - 10k in July!

*Edit: Due to popular demand! (ok, it was only SuBoo and J, of which J has seen it) I've posted up the video of Lil Miss J and I doing aerobics. You can clearly hear Kahoons saying "Pooey, this is not Loop" and then I re-create my proton gun move. The best compliment about this clip was from Kt who asked "Where did you guys learn to dance like that?" We didn't! We just broke out in dance!

Batter Up!

As part of my state primary school curriculum, it was compulsory for us tykes to compete in Summer and Winter sports against other local schools. I was far from an asset to the team and our school was generally quite shit at sport so I didn't feel too bad as we probably lost more games than won. Whilst the opposing school usually were meticulous in their matching uniforms, we were the side full of misfits with a half-baked semblance of a team. I recall my best friend at the time being jibed by the other team for wearing a Kylie Minogue t-shirt. This of course when Kylie sported a daggy, fluffy perm and before her rebirth as the Princess of Pop.

Netball was my Winter sport. The other options were AFL or Soccer and as if I was going to play either of those. In Summer, I had the choice of Cricket (ppfffffftttt), Rounders or Softball.

I don't know how I ended up in the Softball team but I think it was partly because the Rounders team actually had a bit of talent and it was popular with other female students. All the boys wanted to play Cricket of course. So where do the all the kids who are don't like/aren't good at sport go? They were sometimes the socially awkward ones too. They go to the Softball team!

That's not to say I wasn't actually good at Softball. I wasn't great but I could hit the ball and make it to the first base sometimes. Every now and then I would make it all the way back to the home plate. Yay! Still, I wasn't about to win MVP or anything like that.

So, when Smee suggested going to the only baseball batting cage in London I got really excited :D Was I really any good at softball? Or was it all in my head? There was only one way to find out.

Smee in his gear.... or doing his best Marvin the Martian impersonation.

Me gearing up for my turn *stupid grin*

I made contact with the ball!!! Nothing but bat.... ooooh yeah...

... and off the ball goes into the net.... ooooh yeah...

Smee and his swing.

I initially was using a baseball bat and it was surprisingly heavy and hurt my wrist each time I made a swing. I didn't realise it was a baseball bat until the cages' maintenance guy handed us a softball bat after seeing me in the softball cage. Oh, that was much better, much lighter.

I only batted in the softball (not baseball) cages and only in the slow - medium cage. Strike rate was about 75% - yay! Smee starting getting a bit scared cos I was whacking the ball with extreme enthusiasm.

After a while my forearms really started to hurt but I was addicted and kept wanting to bat more and more! I could have happily continued but it started getting darker and forearms were hurting too much. In fact as I type this, they're quite sore and I had difficulty unbuttoning my jeans. You don't realise how often you use your forearms until they are suffering from muscular pain!

Anyway if it weren't for the park being so far, I would go to the cages regularly. So so fun!

Race for Life - again!

The time has come again for another Race for Life charity run. We returned to Regents Park- always a very nice site for running. The grey clouds threatened our run but not our spirits! Our attempt to run in matching outfits was somewhat soured as all the pink stuff at Primmy was gone! We settled on matching green starry pajama pants instead. They were pretty funky and plenty of compliments were received. I can't wait to wear them at home! Hehehe

Kick it to the right. Kick it to the left.

Yeah that's right. I'm pumped.

Well, the 10K run must've helped somewhat as I managed to improve on my time and crack less than 30 minutes. Yay! I think it was 28 minutes or so.

Yep, not breaking out of asian mode. Running to the finish line with peace fingers. Jade doing her bit with the asian peace fingers.

Given that this is the last run I'm participating in for 2008.... I guess it's gonna be a slow decline into laziness and winter hibernation. Fatness time!

British 10k Run

The last minute withdrawal of a few friends from the British 10K Run meant that I was... well, running 10 kilometres. Not cos I was dying to do so, but Jade wasn't available as the volunteer replacement. I was more than happy for her to do the run. But given that no one else was keen on replacing the replacment, I thought why not? Might as well step it up from the usual 5k runs I was doing.

The run goes past the typical London landmarks and despite it being high summer, I was pummeled by rain for the first 20 minutes of running. Then the road was wet for the rest of the time..... err... yay? Given my lacklustre training schedule, my aim of the day was to just not walk any of it. I achieved that goal, although my 'running' speed was probably just as fast as walking. I managed to finish it in about 70 minutes (not sure of the exact time), so I'm pretty happy with that.

Lil Miss J, our one and only spectator didn't manage any photos (she couldn't find us!) but this photo is as good as it gets.

The reward for finishing was this cyber-certificate.

Oh wow - this cyber certificate is enough incentive to do the run again next year! Btw, that is sarcasm. But seriously, yep, I think I'll do this run again next year.

Race for Life & Sex and the City Movie

Well this is first of several runs I've signed up to as a way of forcing myself to get out and exercise. A group of 10 of us decided to run this year and I must say, it's not easy to get matching outfits for us. Every other person has the same idea and the whole of female London buy up all the pink merchandise out there! Well at least we managed five matching singlets and five matching tshirts.

All the chickies participating. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

The start/finish line.

The boys and handbag carriers, Kahoons and Mona spot us in the crowd.

I spot them right back and say 'Hai!!!!'

Hang on, is that a pink power ranger running alongside us? Yes it is! There was actually a group of 5 or so. I dunno how they managed in run in all that gear. Sweaty as.

I was pretty happy with my finishing time, somewhere around 38 minutes. Give or take the delay at the start, probably less than this. Yay! The actual run in London city was kinda ick. I mean, starting/ending near the Smithfield Meat Market? And then bottle-necking us at times by making us run through smaller alleys. There are sooooooo many streets they could have picked from and this definitely wasn't the nicest track.

Keeping in with the women's day theme, off we went to the cinema to watch the much anticipated Sex and the City movie. I must admit, while I do like the TV show very much and have the box set within my grasp, I still have not watched the series in it's entirety. I didn't even know that the reason why Aidan and Carrie broke up was because she cheated on him with Big! Hahaha... worst fan ever.

Anyway, despite demonstrating poor fan-ship, waiting for this movie felt like I was waiting to see old friends again. Excitement! I couldn't help but grin when the movie started. :D There were reviews complaining that this just felt like four back to back episodes. That suited me just fine and to be honest, I just wanted to movie to keep on going.

Our adventure to the cinema began earlier in the week when we pre-booked our tickets. I would never usually do this in anywhere but London, but unfortunately that's how it goes here. Annoyingly, allocated seating does not exist, which meant that we had to unearth our asian ways and queue 45 minutes early to order to guarantee prime position. It was a pretty catty wait with the 99.9% female crowd evilling each other if anyone dared to queue jump. Once the barrier was removed there was a mad stampede into the cinema, akin to scenes of a designer handbag sale.

I sat next to Kt who admittedly cries every single time she sees the finale of series. This movie evoked no less of her. She began crying... oh I dunno but quite early in the film. Her crying was contagious, so it made it more acceptable that I became a blubbering mess. Wtf. I cried when Miranda yelled at Steve, when Carrie realised she got jilted, when Charlotte found out she was pregnant, when Charlotte yelled at Big, when Miranda and Steve got back together and maybe some other scenes. Who knows. It was getting a bit stupid with Kt and I sitting together crying. Oh I didn't cry at Carrie's moping in Mexico. Or at any of Samantha's scenes haha.

I think the clothes were a bit hit and miss. Carrie's huge wedding dress was just the pits and what on earth was she thinking putting that horrible bird in her hair? And I don't care what anyone else thinks, SJP is not pretty. Make-up does improve but ..... no, get over it, she is not pretty. Conspicuous attire aside, if she was not famous, I doubt that most people would give SJP a second glance. Just watch a few of her movies before SATC and you'll see what I mean - unremarkable. I did think that the hairstylists were pretty good at getting variation out of Miranda's short hairdo though.

I enjoyed the movie so much, I can't wait to watch it again! Next time without having to prebook tickets. The gripes that other reviews have about the movie bothers me none. It's a movie that would be best enjoyed by those who are familar with the series. Why would anyone who hasn't watched the series bother otherwise? Unless you're a guy wanting to impress your first date.