Massachusetts, with friends

Pit stop number 3. Massachusetts. 2 childlike friends - Lineng and Ragu.

Lineng and Ragu

Arriving from London, I have been waking up at 2am and then getting out of bed at 5am.

A beautiful moment would await - the horizon evolved from darkness and the sky slowly turned from pink to orange before the sun popped out.

I did a bunch of non-touristy things with my hosts:

Photo credit: Lineng

and visited a lot of places as a tourist (many thanks to Lineng & Ragu for planning and driving me around!):
- Plymouth, where the first settlers first arrived in the USA on board Mayflower in 1620 (there is a 1620 stepping stone on display but it may not have been the real thing that the pilgrims stepped on)

Stone which pilgrims which have stepped on when they disembarked from Mayflower

- Boston and Harvard (they have some really expensive art works!)

Auguste Rodin, Eternal Idol
Claude Monet,
Charing Cross Bride: Fog on the Thames

Having a picnic next to
Henry Moore's Large Four Piece Reclining Figure

- Provincetown, the tip of Cape Cod, where sand dunes, sharks and whales can be seen. The sand dunes were left behind by retreated glaciers 16,000 years ago and the dunes and coast lines have always been shifting with the water and the wind, seconds by seconds over time.

- the Sandy Neck Marsh, where a variety of plants and animals thrive. The gulls would find clams in the marsh area and drop them from height on to the road to feed on the meat. 

Salt spray rose

- Heritage Museums and Gardens, where there is an automobile museum, a carosel and American art museum and a Whimsical Gates exhibition

Flume Fountain

1910 Cadillac

Angela Rose and Lauren Miklavic
Welcome to our world

Being a tourist was really hard work - we did so many jump shots and cheesy tourist poses, it was quite tiring. I have not appeared in as many photographs in my rtw trip thus far.

My favourite jump shot - 青蛙跳与水上飘

To my childlike friends.

*Photo credit: All photographs of Lineng and me were taken by Ragu*

London, with friends

London is my second rest stop, again to catch up friends. It has been lovely, being able to catch up with most friends. Surprisingly, I managed to catch the sun in London too.

I stayed with Fiona and Steve in their beautiful home. It was so good to have a home and friends to go home to. Steve also cooked up a storm and we had some wonderful home-cooked dinner.

Thanks to Louis, I had a hair cut and wonderful massage from Doyle who came back from her leave. Anyone who needs a hair cut and a head, shoulder and upper back massage in London, drop me a note to get Doyle's contact details.

I met up with PJ in Oxford for a pub lunch.

Then stayed overnight at Rosie and Mike's for a fantastic barbecue.

Steve, Mike, Kate, Fiona, Tom, Rosie

Emma, Abigail, Max

When I first met the twins, they were just babies. They have started school now! They are so adorable. Abigail thinks I am 14 years old (Brilliant!) and Emma thinks I look like Dora the Explorer. I think they will become Team GB's best rugby players when they grow up.

Emma

Abigail

I visited Katrina and she treated me to a great lunch.

We saw some amazing plants and a cute ladybird near her home. She also introduced the Letchworth Garden City and showed me the first roundabout in UK.

Brilliant sunset outside pub in Letchworth

Qiujie and I went to Team GB and ParaIympicsGB athletes' parade. 

Champs Helen and Heather doing a cheerleading pyramid

Free advertising to the world from the office window

We also had a picnic at Richmond Park and it felt like we were back in Africa.