In search of pigs, buskers and the Golden Ticket

If you liked our last post about London, there's more! In this post, we will share some of our other thrilling Poo-Poo Rocket experiences in this wondrous city! Scroll down for more!

West End Musicals
Anyone a fan of Roald Dahl books? Have you ever wished that his amazing stories would come to life? Well, look no further, because your wish is granted! Two of Roald Dahl’s beautifully-written stories have been transformed into musicals in London's West End, and they are Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda.

Matilda - the musical
Matilda was so popular that on the day we caught the show, all the tickets had been snapped up.

No room left in the house!

 And no wonder! Matilda is a compelling story about a little girl who grows up with her cunning and uncaring parents who abuse her but dote on her elder brother, Michael. Despite growing up in such tough circumstances, she is a child prodigy who can read books that are for much older kids. She is an adorable and clever little girl whom you will admire for her pluckiness and wit. In one memorable scene, she tricks her wicked father by squeezing glue into his hat, making it stick onto his head! That was simply hilarious!




We were lucky to get box seats, with Wyn and mum in one box, and Ryn and dad in the opposite box
Look at evil Miss Trunchbull glaring at us!

When Matilda enrols in school, she meets the despicable headmistress Miss Trunchbull, who loathes children and enjoys torturing them and their kind teacher Miss Honey. Will Miss Honey escape from the clutches of the evil Miss Trunchbull? Will Matilda be rid of her horrid parents? All these questions are answered by the musical through exciting scenes, brilliant choreography and catchy songs. We rate Matilda the musical 4 Poo-Poo Rockets

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - the musical

Another Roald Dahl musical that we caught was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Charlie is a poor boy who lives with his parents and grandparents in a tiny, run-down shack. His home is near the most famous chocolate factory in the world, owned by the enigmatic Mr Willy Wonka. Mr Wonka's chocolate recipes are top secret, and no one is ever allowed inside the factory.



Excited about catching Charlie!

One fine day, an article in the newspaper reports that Willy Wonka has hidden a Golden Ticket in five chocolate bars. If a child wins that Golden Ticket, he or she will win a majestic tour of the renowned factory. The moment the news is released, everyone hunts madly for those tickets. Meanwhile, Charlie longs to find a ticket himself, but his father has just lost his job, making his chances of affording chocolate very slim. But our hero triumphs nevertheless!

  

The entire theatre was decorated with news reports announcing the opening
of the Wonka chocolate factory

The musical takes you through Charlie's visit to the Wonka Chocolate Factory. There were some parts of the show that we really enjoyed, like when Veruca, a character in the show, was sucked into the incinerator by squirrels and the Oompa Loompas (factory workers) sang wacky songs about the spoilt and bratty children in the show.


The amazing cast who brought the musical to life

The animation, singing and music were fabulous and the actors were all incredibly talented. The sets were also breathtaking and the Wonka chocolate factory looked especially real. Mmm... we could almost taste the chocolate! We strongly recommend this musical for all children aged 7 to 77! So, we rate Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 5 Poo-Poo Rockets!

In our last post, we had promised you an epig adventure in a pig-turesque theme pork. Here's presenting...

Peppa Pig World!

Peppa Pig is a popular British cartoon that is broadcast in many different languages and is well-loved around the world. Peppa Pig World is a fun and exciting theme park based on this enjoyable series. This fabulous theme park is located in Paultons Park, a bigger theme park in Southampton. It is a two-hour train ride from London. We chose to go to Peppa Pig World because we love all the funny characters in Peppa Pig and watch it whenever we have a chance. It is a hilarious cartoon and each episode is amusing in its own way. It features Peppa, her little brother George, Daddy and Mummy Pig and their friends Danny Dog, Suzie Sheep, Pedro Pony, and many more. At the end of each episode, the characters never fail to fall to the ground and laugh uncontrollably, haha...oink!   

At Peppa Pig World, exploring the different rides and taking lots of pictures!

There are many fun rides in Peppa Pig World, all of which are based on the cartoon. In George's Dinosaur Adventure, you sit on dinosaurs that look just like George's favourite toy. In Grandpa Pig's Boat Trip, you ride in Peppa's Grandfather's boat. There are five other rides, namely, Peppa's Big Balloon ride, which gives you a magnificent view of the theme park; Daddy Pig's Car Ride, where you drive his car around town; Grandpa Pig's Little Train, which takes you around Peppa's home; the Windy Castle ride, which also gives you a bird's eye view of Peppa Pig World; and last but not least, Miss Rabbit's Helicopter Ride that will take you for a spin above everyone's heads!

 

Taking pictures with Peppa and the ducks

If you need to take a break, there's an indoor play area for parents to rest and grab a bite, and for children to jump around and have more fun! George's Spaceship Playzone has numerous play areas specially designed for kids of different age groups. There are small bricks for toddlers to build things, and George's Spaceship for older kids to explore! There are also tricky obstacle runs for all children. Don't forget to wear socks! If you would like to have a picture taken as a souvenir, there are various great locations! Peppa's cozy home and Madame Gazelle's school house are just some of the delightful spots. Life-sized models of Peppa and George sometimes appear in the theme park so find them quick and take a shot with them!

Even though Peppa Pig World is not the most famous theme park in the world, it's still well worth a visit! We rate Peppa Pig World 5 Poo-Poo Rockets!

Back to London



There are many modes of transport in London - red buses, cable cars, River Thames ferries, and the Underground! We took them all to get around London!

So many fun ways to get around London!

Getting around London quickly is really important because there are so many sights to catch! Besides the museums we introduced in our last post, we also visited the Tower of London, National Gallery, British Museum, Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Clockwise from left:
Wyn posing in front of an Henri Rousseau painting at the National Gallery, Tipu's tiger automaton at the Victoria and Albert museum, admiring the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, a life-size model of the blue whale at the Natural History Museum, and a guide at the Tower of London dressed as a Beefeater

Besides museums and musicals, London also offers lots more! Covent Garden is a really fun place where you will see many buskers performing cool tricks! The buskers dress up as knights, soldiers, jedis and many more! Some paint themselves from head to toe in green and golden paint! Some of them appear to sit for hours without any chair under them, or to levitate in mid-air! Is there some magic to it???

The Covent Garden buskers really draw a crowd!

With so much to explore and enjoy, we rate London an astounding 10 Poo-Poo Rockets!

We hope that you've enjoyed this Poo-Poo Rocket post. In our next few posts, we will share some tips about what to do on long flights and what to pack for your fun adventures!

Land of Tea and Royalty

From one part of the world to another …

In June this year, our Poo-Poo Rocket Adventure was to London, UK.

 

Red double deckers, the fast and furious Underground, charming old buildings, crimson phone booths and parks filled with squirrels are just some of the delights of London.

 

Checking out a squirrel in St James' Park with our Belgian friends Cedric and Maxime

 

In this post, we’ll share with you some of our favourite London attractions.

 

Waiting for our dim sum lunch at Royal China in Bayswater

Science Museum

If you’re keen on experiments and stuff that goes fizz, bang or pop, the Science Museum is the perfect place for you!

 

 

 

This enormous museum has a great number of fascinating exhibits about outer space, transportation, computing, medicine, and more!

It also conducts a wide range of experiments for everyone to enjoy, even some with explosions! We watched a grown man support himself on a tray of eggs without cracking a single one. How’s that for egg-citement?! There are also DIY experiments for everyone to roll up their sleeves and get involved.

 

This giant pulley allows you to load a mound of stones and
release them down a windy tube - FUN!

This place is highly recommended for science lovers and wannabe scientists!

We rate the Science Museum 5 Poo-Poo Rockets!

Bank of England Museum

Money, money, money! Can you imagine a world without money? We use money in so many ways, every single day of our lives. If you’re curious about how money makes the world go round, the Bank of England Museum will definitely be your cup of (English) tea.

It is a unique and fun place for you to find out about the history of money! This cool museum showcases various types of money from different periods in England's past. There is even a genuine 1-kilogram solid gold bar that we actually got to lift. Imagine holding a gold bar worth thousands of dollars in your hand! Gosh!

 

My bear with our Bank of England Museum badges and souvenir postcard

Spy the gold bars?

Kids, there are various activity sheets you can complete and I promise they’re lots of fun! If you complete the worksheet correctly, the nice people at the counter will give you some special souvenirs!

Calling all chrometophiles (people who looooove money), this is just the spot for you!

We rate the Bank of England Museum 5 Poo-Poo Rockets!

 

Buckingham Palace

Sadly, the Queen wasn't in and we could only peer through the gates...

 

Instead, we had to settle for the Lego Queen at Hamley's, London's finest toy store!

 

 

Still, we recommend the Changing of the Guard at 10 a.m. every morning. 

We rate Buckingham Palace 3 Poo-Poo Rockets

But if you manage to have tea with the Queen, we rate Buckingham Palace 5 Poo-Poo Rockets :)

 

 

London Transport Museum

Are you a budding Formula One racer keen on anything with wheels? Well, zoom into the London Transport Museum! This place will make you slow down instead of accelerate!

 

 

 

There are many exhibits that feature full-size vehicles from different generations, and you can even climb onto some of them!

 

 

There is also an enjoyable activity sheet with a trail to follow and "punch-hole" stamps to collect.

 

 

 

We rate the London Transport Museum  4 Poo-Poo Rockets

But that's not all that we did in London. In our next post, we'll talk about some wonderful musicals we caught in the West End, and a super special attraction in Southampton, south of London. Hint: - it's an epig and pigturesque theme pork! Oink !!! 

See you next time!

Beauty Queen Pilot

To kick off our first Poo-Poo Rocket adventure, we present an exciting interview with a pilot beauty queen! That's right, she's both a pilot and a beauty queen! Her name is Chananporn Rosjan, known fondly to her friends as Nod. She is a pilot with Thai AirAsia and was crowned Miss Thailand in 2005. She represented her country in the Miss Universe pageant that year and won the Best National Costume award! This is her story ...
 

Beauty Queen Pilot Chananporn Rosjan (Nod) standing proudly in front of her AirAsia jet!

 
Nod first started as a trainee pilot. After a period of training, she had three months off before her first pilot examination. During that time, she could do anything she wanted. Being a tomboy while growing up, she was curious about what it was like to take part in a beauty pageant. As a result, she signed up for the Miss Universe Thailand contest and won! She then represented Thailand in the Miss Universe beauty pageant held in Bangkok that year, winning a special prize, the Best National Costume award. We had the pleasure of meeting Nod during our recent trip to Bangkok and she met us for a teatime chat even though she had piloted four flights that day! We were first awestruck by her and to be honest, we were pretty nervous about meeting a real-life beauty-queen pilot! But she had no airs about her and quickly put us at ease with her sweet demeanour. She was incredibly friendly and answered all our questions with enthusiasm!

Nod and us at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand

Here's what we talked about:  
 
Ryn: Which city that you fly to is your favourite?  

Nod: My favourite city is Bangkok. I lived in New York for 4 years and always looked forward to coming home to see my parents. I was always very excited to be back in Bangkok.

Ryn: What do you enjoy about flying?

Nod: I love everything about flying! My mother was a stewardess, and I got to go on board the plane sometimes. I would explore the cockpit and fiddle with some of the buttons!

Ryn: Why did you want to take a break from being a pilot and join the Miss Thailand competition?

Nod: I took 6 months to prepare for the pilot exams, and there was a 3-month wait to start the actual training. As a tomboy while growing up, I never got a chance to dress up. So I thought I would try out something different. Also, that was the year when a tsunami had hit southern Thailand. The objective of the Miss Thailand competition that year was to help with reconstruction in places like Phuket. It was very meaningful to participate in the reconstruction effort and to bring relief supplies to victims in the affected areas.

 

 

Ryn: Which do you prefer - being a pilot or Miss Thailand?

Nod: I like both! There are different aspects to both jobs. As I said, I didn’t know anything about dressing up and thought the Miss Thailand competition would be fun, different and exciting. At the same time, I had always wanted to be a pilot when I was a child. Some people find waking up each day to get to work very tedious but I never have that feeling because I love going to work as a pilot!

Wyn: Did you have to go to pilot school to train?

Nod: Yes, you have to go to pilot school. I spent a year in the Bangkok Aviation Centre and learned how to be a pilot from scratch. I started flying a single-engine plane and moved on to the two-engine plane.
 

 

Ryn: What problems have you encountered as a pilot?

Nod: I have not encountered any major problems so far. Sometimes there are delays caused by weather conditions, such as heavy rain and storms. That causes us to be unable to land, and the plane will have to circle in the sky for a while. That can add to stress sometimes.

Wyn: When will you become a Captain?

Nod: I am taking the necessary tests and am hoping to qualify as a Captain by early 2014!

Ryn: Which part of Thailand was your favourite when you were a child?

Nod: I love Chiang Mai! Chiang Mai is in the north of Thailand and has lots of hills around it. It is cold there in winter, so there is a nice change from the plains of Bangkok to the beautiful hills. I also like the local dialects and the different types of food. The food there is different from in Bangkok because the people use different spices and ingredients.

Ryn: How did you feel when you were crowned Miss Thailand?

Nod: I felt extremely surprised! I didn’t think I would win, but I felt that my being a pilot was something different, and it did make a difference. When they asked me if I could take time off being a pilot to be Miss Thailand, I replied honestly “no”. Surprisingly, I still won! The airline was kind enough to let me juggle my time flexibly to perform my duties.

 


Nod in her winning national costume


Ryn: Do people recognise you in public?

Nod: Sometimes people do! I am told I look different now than from the time I joined the Miss Thailand competition. People ask to take photographs with me, and I oblige if I have time before flying.

Ryn: Besides speaking English and Thai, you speak German and Italian too! How did you learn to speak German and Italian?

Nod: Growing up in New York, I wanted to take a second language. However, the French classes were full! Most of the pupils took Spanish, so I thought it would be fun to take up something different. Plus, I loved singing opera parts, and most famous operas are sung in German and Italian.

 

 

 

Ryn: How many female pilots are there in AirAsia?

Nod: There are now around 18 female pilots. I wasn’t the first – there were around six when I signed up, but I was the youngest then.

Ryn: How do you feel about being a role model for women who want to be pilots?

Nod: I am honoured to be a role model for them. As I was always an average student, I had no special talent. I played the piano but was not very good at it, and I tried sports but was too short! So I thought I would pursue my dream to be a pilot. Actually, I wanted to be an astronaut, so a pilot's close enough! It is empowering that a normal girl can follow her dream to fly. It feels good to be looked up to by young women, so I don’t want to let them down.

And on that inspiring note, we ended our chat with Nod. The next time you take an AirAsia plane, who knows? Nod could be your pilot and the Captain too!

Fly high, Nod!

With thanks to Wow, Topaz & Desi, the fabulous team at AirAsia