Longest Pool in the UK

Jesus Green Swimming Pool

I had the opportunity to swim in the longest swimming pool in the UK - Jesus Green Swimming Pool. It's a 100 yard (or 91m) pool, that's almost 2x an Olympic-size I used to swim! The best part is that it's located in Cambridge and I just signed up for a 1-month pass that cost me £31.40; that's alot cheaper than £3.60 per entry. I just had to make sure I swam at least three times a week to get my money's worth. So, I can basically use this pool whenever I like throughout the month, including the Parkside Pool or any of the pools run by the Cambridge City Council.

Effectively, I could only choose between Parkside or Jesus Green because they are located in the city and by a short distance between each other. Parkside is only 25m but it's a heated indoor pool with an average water temperature of 28 deg C throughout the year, which is fantastic especially in this country. Jesus Green isn't heated, there are plenty of floating leaves and the water temperature is 18deg C! That's gonna freeze the ##### of me! But I've already done Jesus Green twice and Parkside once.

Plenty of changing cubicles but my first encounter seeing an open top changing area!

Since I do laps, JG is THE place for laps. I only needed to do 20 laps to clock a mileage of 2km! Swimming in JG is far more promising than in Parkside. 2km in 40minutes the first time, and 38 minutes the second. Parkside? I could hardly know about my time. I lose count easily trying to track 80laps in Parkside. I'd use the card more in Jesus Green.

Parkside Pool

Grateful moments...

I had two great encounters in one day; the Shell Centenary Scholars' Farewell and the Wolfson June Event.

Phuong and I at the Shell Scholars' event held at Sidney Sussex College

The farewell dinner. Trust me when I said dinner. The photo was taken at 7.45pm. The bright backlight was because of the long daylight that we enjoy here. It only gets really dark at 10pm (equivalent to Malaysia's 8).

The farewell dinner made me realise how time flies. It was as if I was strapped to a bullet train or something! I could never have gone through studies in Cambridge without the scholarship. I feel very thankful to the scholarship trusts every time when I think about all the things I have accomplished in Cambridge that some people could only wish for. On hindsight, I am glad that I didn't let my time in Cambridge whizz away doing nothing. I am still surprised that I was able to juggle my time with the massive workload/assignments in the course, did a few European trips, ran the London marathon and a few other races and a research in Malaysia! I couldn't have packed all these within 9 months in Malaysia but I did it here.

I attended my college's June Event as well, after the farewell dinner and it was a great experience. June Event is similar to May Ball, a very Cambridge thing. Oxford call theirs Commemoration Ball. But they are the same. The reason my college called ours a June Event, according to the Cambridge City Council, was because of its smaller scale of organising, earlier finish time and more restrictive operating budget. There was quite a balance of June Events and May Balls in Cambridge. MB/JE has a theme and Wolfson's was "Treasure Island" (meaning Pirates of the Caribbean kinda stuff). The challenging part was that the event was held through the night until the next morning at 6am! They even have a survivors' photo session at 5.30am.

The JE cost £60 or £35 for non-dining. Either one was too expensive for me. So I didn't bother buying a ticket. Besides, affording a ticket was only half the cost of attending the JE. You would have to abide by a strict dress code too! In Wolfson's case was black tie meaning tuxedo and bowtie. Never worn any of these in my life! So, no chance of attending one.

But as usual, when I rode my bicycle to town and saw the pomp and splendour in other colleges' May Ball, I could only wish that I had the chance to attend one. So I just whispered to myself, "O God, how nice if I could be part of this." Guess what, God answered!


Tom, one of my block mates who was playing the piano for the event asked if I needed a ticket for the JE. Because he was a performer, he didn't need one. I was just surprised that he offered me the ticket because he could have given it to his closer friends or even his girlfriend! I was hesitant at first because I didn't think I should take such an expensive item from someone. I said, " Er...er (finger tapping my chin), why don't you give it to your girlfriend or other friends first and if they don't want, you can give it to me." But the little devil in me screamed, " You idiot! Take it, just say yes I want it!" But before I could yell or shout or burst into joyful smiles or whatever, Tom insisted I should take it and said, "Hey, you gave me that Maggi instant noodle from Malaysia, remember? So, I am giving you a piece of paper in exchange, that's all I can give. Hope you don't mind. But I'd get it for you later." He winked and left. I was really dumbfounded. An 8p Maggi mee for a JE ticket??? The math just didn't work!

I went for the farewell by Shell and did not think much about it after that because Tom didn't get back to me with the ticket since he spoke about it 4 hours ago. So I thought he was not given a ticket after all. I came back from the farewell dinner at 9.30pm and there was a note at my door, "Hey I have the spare ticket for free." The ticket was stuck with a blue-tag next to the note. I was really happy though I was drained by the farewell dinner since 6pm.

I had a ticket but without a black tie suit. What a frustrating situation to be in! I called Eskandar if he had a bow tie. He had but it looked terrible with my white shirt and black jacket. He suggested Winson, so I called him. Winson was around and yes, he had a full suit and was willing to lend it to me. Great! Everything worked out well. So, I cycled to Winson's place to try out his suit and it fit on well, as if it was custom-made for me. I couldn't thank him enough for the night.

I must say the JE was such a great experience. Then I realised I was so near to missing the once in a lifetime experience studying in Cambridge. My little prayer said while cycling along Trinity Lane was answered through two different persons sent by the one Almighty...

ESD-ers: Me, Rehab and Don

Michael Jackson?? Not if this one speaks with an English accent.

I loved this chocolate fountain...

I was surprised by the level of seriousness in the game, though no money was involved!

The Last Wolfson Formal

The people I attended the formal with

This would probably be the last time I attended a formal in my college. It's the end of the Easter term and things would start wrapping up from now until August. Quite a sad reality but yeah, I am equally excited to meet up with everyone next time and talk about our careers post-Cambridge. Maybe I'd still able to see some people who'd be continuing their PhDs. Honestly, I am more excited (or worried) about where I'd go after this!

"Where would you go after this man?" "No idea, I probably be looking at taking over some public listed utility companies in my country and turn them into a sustainable business. This is how it works...."

"No way man! This guy must be joking! He's thinking of taking over companies and restructuring them after a short stint in Cambridge!"

An English Outing

The route to Grantchester through the vast expanse of open field was a nice experience

The people I went with

Last Thursday was Gina and Don's birthday. We had a get together at this place called The Orchard. It was a pretty English tea garden. There were park chairs and coffee tables sprawled across the orchard, overlooking a vast expanse of land. The place was well hidden and anyone could easily pass the place without realising it. In fact, I ran passed the place many times for my regular runs without suspecting there was such a beautiful place for tea!

The history of the place was interesting. According to the website, The Orchard started "by accident" when "a group of Cambridge students asked Mrs Stevenson of Orchard House if she would serve them tea beneath the blossoming fruit trees rather than, as was usual, on the front lawn of the House. They were unaware that, on that spring morning in 1897, they had started a great Cambridge tradition."

Gina and Don blowing their cute little birthday cake

The people we met at The Orchard

Just sitting, chilling out and enjoying the sun were such a nice thing to do. After all, everyone took their time off from research to catch up. We only have 3 more months or less before we say goodbye to everyone.


English scones with Cornish clotted cream and jam. Served with English tea. All these for only £4.50

Does it imply that the park chairs are a hot item too?

Goodbye Terence Leong

Terence Leong and wife

I was very sad this morning when I received the news that Terence Leong has passed away peacefully. He leaves behind his wife and young children.

At the Port Dickson Triathlon

Terence, as I remember, was a very strong-willed person that despite the cancer diagnosed earlier, has fought on for his rights to live a happy and fulfilling life. He was a joker, an avid blogger and a great friend to be with. I still remember he was one of the first generation bloggers who has given life to sports blogging especially with his unique animations, photo editting, high octane and "no holds barred" reporting. It was because of his contribution to a different form of sports blogging that earned him a place in the coveted PowerBar team.

Terence's last article in his blog

What I will always remember him telling is "I want to do an Ironman before I die. Life is short". Maybe this is the only thing he has left unfulfilled before leaving the world.
To me and many of us, Terence has done more than an Ironman. Many people in his shoes would have given up hope in life. However, Terence soldiered on to do marathons, triathlons and continued living his life to the fullest. He covered his pains with smiles and jokes. He told no one about his sufferings until now, that he has left us all. This is certainly more than an Ironman feat...

Let us all pray that Terence's family be strong in this time of grief.