Our Tale in Cambridge

Every Friday night, I get to hear this question from Babah Sarah, "Nak buat apa this weekend?". I always find myself guilty if I just answer, "Pergi town (Coventry)" or "Duduk rumah aje lah".

Since it was our 6th wedding anniversary, I thought may be it's fun to just have an adventure and drive to a place we have never been before (as a family).

This time I answered, "Pergi Cambridge, nak?"
And his answer was, "Jom".
Simple as that.

The truth was, I have been secretly visiting Cambridge the past week via internet. Trying to locate interesting places to visit on our special day. Also to find cheap suitable hotels or bed and breakfast. Actually the latter was planned as a surprise for the family. But I just had to ask permission from Babah first, in case he didn't approve to staying overnight in Cambridge. And in case Babah didn't want to go to Cambridge for reasons like bad weather or we could just go on a day trip.

When it comes to money matters, I'm the difficult one. It's not a nice feeling to spend freely on someone else's money. Unless if I earn the money, then I don't quite mind. Anyway, when Babah agreed to stay overnight, I planned to pay for the hotel. I already found a reasonable rate hotel during my search, about 5.6km from Cambridge. The nearer ones are mostly fully booked. We managed to make a last minute online booking before we left.


Getting to Cambridge was fine. But when we reached the city centre, we were quite confused by the signs. There were so many small lanes before we actually had to turn into the correct lane. We had to turn back a couple of times before we actually reached the Lion Yard's Carpark, the nearest, but the second most EXPENSIVE, cut-throat price we have ever experienced.

Finally, we got out of the car and got to breath the air in Cambridge. But sadly, it started to rain that very minute! So out came the brollies and raincoats.

Both Sarah and Amar were pretty well behaved. It was quite tricky to take photos that day. Not only challenged by the weather but there were also so many other tourists fighting for the best spot. Or people crossing infront of you when you have just pressed the button on your camera.


The weather was pretty moody. The rain suddenly stopped. Babah suggested for a river cruise. So we made our way to Quayside, near River Cam. There, we saw many different agents trying to find customers for their punts. Babah approached one agent and we were quoted £32 for the whole family. (To me it was sooooo EXPENSIVE!!!) At least we get a "chauffeur" driving us along the river ala the gondolas in Venice.

Sarah was the happiest person. Although she wasn't jumping up and down, but she was the first one to get on the punt. I was quite surprised Sarah didn't hesitate at all. Amar was excited too. He leaned on the side of the punt trying to reach the water. It was quite difficult to keep Amar still. We had to tame him with a bottle of milk.

We saw at least 7 different colleges along the river. Our kind chauffeur explained some of the interesting facts of the buildings. Some I remember, but most of them I have forgotten! (luckily there is always the internet to find an accurate information)

It was a 45 minutes cruise. The minute we stepped off the punt, it started to rain lightly again.

We went to a few other buildings and stopped by a souvenir shop. As usual we bought our usual dose of fridge magnets and a bag of crisps for peckish (hungry) Sarah.

I could definitely imagined Cambridge in bright and sunny weather. It would have been a fantastic tour. Still, even in such temperamental weather, we managed to take 400 plus photos! And both Sarah and Amar were very, very good. So why should I complain?

The hotel we stayed in was something like Seri Malaysia 10 years ago. One thing I like about this hotel is that it accommodates the whole family in one room at no extra charge. Something that I worry in the UK. Some hotels only allow 2 people for a double room. To bring extra 2 young children, they would ask you to take at least a triple room. Of course they have to abide with Fire Regulations and such.

With Travelodge, I had a piece of mind that the rate quoted was for the whole room suitable for upto 4 people. I don't mind settling in another Travelodge in the future, although just a no frills hotel providing minimum but they are standard facilities. There was an ample space for everyone to sleep and a kettle and a selection of teabags to keep Babah happy. So what more could one ask for?

p/s: Babah ended up paying for the hotel. He insisted!

The next day was another episode of perambulation. This time there was no hiccup at finding the carpark. We felt a slight relief when we saw the tariff for Sunday was cheaper at £1 per hour.

We paid a small amount of money to go into 3 colleges. They were all special in their own way. Separate entries about these places are on the way.

Four hours and another 400 plus photos later, we decided to call it a day. We had no more memory space on our camera! Our journey back was smooth with two very tired children sleeping the whole journey.

It was another momentous visit for us. Something that at least I, would remember and cherish for the rest of my life.

I end this entry with an excerpt from Babah's writing;

We had a wonderful, almost perfect weekend (minus the weather, of course). Yes, we're very tired and the piggy bank is slightly more vacuous but the experience was, as they say, priceless. Overall we took over 800 pictures and Puan Mama Sarah and I are having a headache (only slightly weather induced) trying to sort out which pictures to upload to our blogs.

Alhamdulillah, we thank god we have the means, the energy and the time to make such travels, something we couldn't have done several years back.

Truly, an anniversary to remember for years to come.

~Babah Sarah~

pps: Expect more photos in my next entries.