From UK to Malaysia

Our friend Jamalulail Ismail, his wife Sofinee Harun and their 4 kids are embarking on a fantastic journey. They are embarking on long trip, from the UK to Malaysia by road on their 2.9 L Turbo Diesel Mercedes Benz motorhome, fulfilling a dream that Jamalulail had for a long time.



Right now they are busy preparing for the trip which will take them across more than 30 countries and some hot spots.


Their planned route.

They post regular updates on their By Road to Malaysia Facebook page and also on their blog .

Check out their website for more information about their project - it is a huge project.

Wishing them all the best on this amazing journey.

Travelling in London - the Dynamo way

Really cool Pepsi ad. Magician Dynamo goes for a ride on a London double decker bus - only thing is that he is outside the bus, stuck to the side.



Cool ad from Pepsi.

Video clip link via Spreaditfast.com.

Throckmorton airshow 2013 videos

Some short clips of the amazing acrobatics.





Helicopter ride. Bit blurry in the beginning.



All video clips taken using my Nokia Lumia 900. Quite impressed with the results.

Throckmorton airshow 2013

The air show is an annual event held at the Throckmorton airfield in the village of the same name about an hours drive from our house.  Had to pay £25 for all of us. We could have got it much cheaper via Groupon (only £10) or £20 online but we found out too late.

Here are some pics from the event:

It was a bright and sunny day and I actually fell asleep even with all the noise.




New police recruit


Someone is going to the police station








Flying the air rescue helicopter.










Apache helicopter




The RAF Typhoon flown by Flt Lt Jamie Norris - flying past at supersonic speed. It's amazing my camera phone was able to capture it.


Aerostars in their Yak-50s going through the paces






My wife and daughter going for a helicopter ride over the surrounding countryside - only £35 each.









This was an amazing fun day for the whole family.

See their website for more details

Cycling trip to the midlands in the good old days

Interesting video about cycling clubs in the 1950s and trips to the Midlands.

Design your own bikes

For those who are thinking of taking up cycling, there are so many designs out there. However, most of the bikes are uninspiring and frankly quite boring. It would be great if we could design our own bikes, the components and choose the colours. Well, now we can.

Mango Bikes, a company started by two University mates are offering customers the chance to design their own bespoke bicycles - well almost.  You can choose from several bright, high quality colour combinations - from the frame to the chains. They are really well designed - with simple and clean lines, and they weigh only about 10 Kg. The comments from their customers speak for themselves.

This is not really a new business concept and there are already a few companies out there which offers you the choice of designing your own bespoke bike. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that the cost of the bikes start from only £269. I was expecting them to cost £500 and above.

Check out some of the possible design combinations. I am seriously tempted to buy one for myself.

Which one do you like?

Work starts on Cycle Coventry Project

Work on the £6.9m Cycle Coventry project has finally started. In the first phase, they are working on the route 3 which links the City centre to Longford via Henley College and University Hospital. This is a well established cycle route and I wish they had instead started on Route 1, the City Centre to Ricoh Arena, with links to Radford instead.

Sorry. The map is not very sharp

You might think that it is for selfish reasons but No! Right now  there is no proper cycling route and is quite dangerous with fast vehicles on the road with a quite steep uphill climb (or downhill depending on the direction) - some of the few reasons I am still not cycling to work.

While trying to look at some alternative routes, I recently found Coventry CycleStreets page where I can plan my cycling journeys in Coventry. The new route is off the main road and relatively safer, passing by some places I have never been to in Coventry - should be interesting.

Related links: Cycle Coventry page on the City Council site