The Crystal Maze Experience- London

Last Christmas, my Stepmum and Dad bought CBC and I a really cool present together with my sister and her boyfriend. A voucher for us to visit the Crystal Maze Experience in London.

For a child of the 80's/90's, this is the ultimate excitement!

In case you don't know what I am talking about, the Crystal Maze was a game show which began in 1990.  The premise of the game was that a team of 6 were quickly hurried through four adventure zones by a Maze-master.  The four zones were The Medieval zone, the Industrial zone, the Futuristic zone and the Aztec zone. In Later series, the Oceanic zone replaced the Industrial Zone.  

In each zone,the team's elected captain was asked to select the type of game they wanted to play:

Physical, Mental,Skill or Mystery.

They then selected one of their team to play it.  The team member was then grasped by the host/Maze Master and then taken to a closed door. They were told they had either 2minutes, 2 and a half minutes or  3 minutes and thrust through the door whilst the rest of the team watched through a window or a screen.

The selected team member then had to figure out how to solve the puzzle/challenge with help from the rest of the team shouting out.  

If they were successful, they would win a crystal which would be grabbed and the team member would then bang on the door to be let out.

Beware though, if you didn't get out in time, you will get locked in!!!

The only way you could escape from the locked room would be if the team sacrificed one of their precious crystals.

The first host of the game was the wonderful mercurial Richard O'Brien, Creator of the Rocky Horror Picture Show!  He was wonderfully eccentric and really created a brilliant atmosphere.  After several series, Richard O'Brien left and was replaced by Ed Tudor-Pole.

The game was revived a few years ago with Richard Ayoade as host.

Back to the present, finally, it was hugely exciting to know it had been made into an experience that everyone could have a go at but I'd never got around to investigating it!

It was so exciting when we received it as a present but we didn't really get around to booking it.

We finally booked a date for last Sunday but sadly, last minute, my sister's boyfriend couldn't make it as he had a job interview about 4 hours drive away. Luckily, my stepmum came in his place.

So...what was it like?

We arrived and were sent to wait in Figaro's bar upstairs, a really pretty and attractive place to wait. You can just go there for drinks if you want.

Teams were fetched and asked to leave their belongings in a locker. You aren't allowed to take phones or cameras with you, to keep the maze secret.

We were then ushered into a vestibule where they played the theme music and credits on a screen and our maze master appeared through a door!

Our host was called Byron and he was really sweet and fun and had all the energy necessary for a Maze Master.

We went into the Medieval zone first.

We'd selected my sister as Team Captain and me as Vice Captain.

The first game was a mystery and I offered to go first.

Before we'd gone in, they all knew I didn't want to do a physical if possible as I am very clumsy and uncoordinated!

When I ran into my first game, I was DELIGHTED as it featured a set of different sized bells on the wall, all tuned to a different pitch with colours. Those colours were the same as my glockenspiels as my school instruments!! I took one look at the first set of colours and named the tune without playing it as it was one I actually taught to my kids this week (and I use the colours on my work sheets!). The third one I just sang to check what it was. The second tune was a little harder to know without playing it so I played it on the bells and my Stepmum named it! I won my crystal!

Next, CBC played a Skill- which was IMPOSSIBLE! No crystal!  My sister followed with a Physical- also hard- no crystal! My stepmum played a Mystery and won her crystal!

There are always new teams going through the maze behind you so they move you on quickly. You get 4 games in each zone, the zone is subdivided into two parts so they can move another team in.  There are lots of rooms- I was itching to know what was behind all the other doors!

The Medieval zone had really cool decor and I really did feel nervous and scared like it was the real TV show!!!

Going between each zone was really fun with some active crawling or climbing, sometimes in the dark!!

Next, we went to the Futuristic zone where we had 4 games- each of us had one. I had a Skill which was sooooo close- I ALMOST completed it but for dropping a kidney at the last minute!  CBC won a crystal with his mental- we helped alot! My stepmum did well again! My sister did a skill one and hit all the targets - we all helped with morse code but we couldn't work out the anagram!!! My sister did another physical which was an automatic lock-in- she aced it!!!

The futuristic zone was really cool and modern with and lots of space themed games!  We had to crawl through

In the industrial zone, I had a mental game- AHGH!!! It was a mental game where you had to press buttons to light up a board. BUT, some of the buttons switched off the lights and you had to begin over and over again!   I had a terrified feeling about getting locked in but didn't!!!

Frustratingly, I  got down to ONE LIGHT!!! No crystal! My stepmum did amazingly with a mental game and skill game as did my sister- another physical!

Our final zone was the Aztec zone. You had to go down an incredibly cool slide to get to it!!

We all played a game there except my stepmum- my sister played her one instead, as the last game!

CBC did a mental game but we didn't get the crystal. My sister did a physical again (oops, we made her do them all except one!) - I managed to guess exactly what the game was before they opened the door! She got her crystal!

My game was a skill featuring a prop from the original series! It was IMPOSSIBLE!!!! No crystal!

Luckily, I managed to help answers to 2 riddles which helped my sister win the final game which was a mystery!

Our stats were:

Sister: 3 physicals, 1 skill, 1 mystery= 3 crystals

Stepmum: 2 mystery, 2 mental = 3 crystals

CBC: 1 physical, 2 skill, 1 mental= 2 crystals

Me: 1 mystery, 1 mental, 2 skill =  1 crystal.

Total:9 crystals = 45 seconds in the Crystal Dome! 7 is the average apparently!

I could have predicted that outcome. My skill and coordination skills are very lacking. Mental and Mystery were my only hope for getting a crystal. However, I helped with other games, so I helped in some useful way!

The final stage was going to the Crystal dome!

It was very cool to get in there! It was bigger than I thought and it was really hard to catch the tickets! You aren't allowed to pick up any from the floor!

We managed to collect 129 gold tokens! Sadly, not a record, but considering we were only a team of 4, this was good apparently!

It was actually much better being a small team because we all got to play 4 games (stepmum gave one of hers to sis) rather than just 2! They really have done a good job on the experience and I DEFINITELY want to go again!!

It is located on Shaftesbury Avenue in Piccadilly and costs anywhere between £60-100 per person. A lot but it really was fantastic!

I found this wonderful documentary on Youtube you can watch about the show and below, I have linked to the very first full episode of the show!

After that, my stepmum and sister had to get home sadly, but CBC and I went to Bali Bali, also on Shaftesbury avenue for dinner. I'd remembered it was there. Bali Bali serves Indonesian cuisine

We ordered the Indonesian platter:Lumpia- Spring rolls, crab claws, breaded prawn, chicken wing and sate on a bed of prawn crackers- scrummy but v filling!

For mains, CBC ordered Nasi Lemak which is boiled rice with a lovely coconut- based sauce and sea food bits with picked veg on the side.

My mains were Cap Tjai- a dish of vegetables in a sauce and Tahu Goreng- fried tofu in peanut sauce and crackers on a bed of pickled vegetables.  They were pleasant BUT I was a bit disappointed with them as Cap Tjai was my favourite dish in Bali and it wasn't the same at all. I am used to it in more sauce, much spicier, the vegetables cut much smaller and with egg in it.

There were so many more amazing dishes on the menu I wanted to try- but I hope to go back another time!

The Tofu was in peanut sauce which I didn't realise and I'd already eaten lots of it for my starter so it was a bit too rich and sweet for me at the time. I definitely had food regrets!! Luckily, I had brought containers with me and I took lots of my two dishes home- CBC and I appreciated them for dinner the next night!

My Sunday was really lovely!!

xx

BEDM: Indonesian Pamper nostalgia

Image borrowed from Jakarta city life

I'm not really a pamperer in the traditional sense of beauty treatments and the suchlike. I'll have a pedicure every once in a while, usually one in the summer and I'll have my hair cut.  I'm definitely not adverse to the idea of a massage, pedicure, facial etc- I love them in fact, but I rarely have them. But, my idea of a pampering often includes lying in bed late on a Saturday morning, large mug of tea by bed, book to read, curtains shut but with a little light. This is my idea of bliss.

But when I lived in Indonesia, I was introduced to a wonderful form of pampering and how I long to experience it again.
It is called a 'Creambath' and that's what it is called in Indonesian too!
I was introduced to it by my private Gamelan teacher.  He was teaching me and our Thai friend Waewdao and the three of us went to a salon to try a Creambath.  We even used to nickname him Pak Creambath because he LOVED having a Creambath treatment.

You would take your top off  (with underwear) and wear a towel- velcroed or buttoned towel round your top.  You would sit in the chair and what happens is, they wash your hair and then after a little towel pat dry.
Then, they take a pot of rich, nourishing conditioning cream (based on your hairtype).  This is a thick mixture usually with some natural ingredients- there was one that involved avocado, coconut or milk, carrot also.   The beautician would then apply it to your hair along form the scalp to the full length and massage it into your head. It was incredibly relaxing. The massage was quite firm but felt like it was doing your head great good as well as your hair.  When they had applied it to the full length, they would then put you under one of those head steamers (you know one of those head-dryer things that senior ladies who were having a hairstyle set would be put under.  You would steam for some 10-15 minutes. Whilst that was happening, the beautician would massage your neck, upper back, arms and hands with moisturiser. It was very nice and they were very good at massaging those awkward knots!

Finally, they would wash your hair and then then dry it (I think- it is 9 years since I last had one).  Your hair would feel incredibly  soft, nourished and smell absolutely amazing after the treatment.
My favourite salon was one in Penatih where my teacher lived.  The treatment was very reasonable and cost me about 20,000Rp from that place (around about £1.60!) some 12 years ago.  It was also very important for me when I was there as I was using a traditional Kamar Mandi (bathroom) in the Kos (room) where I lived and only had cold water and a scoop to wash my hair- I wasn't so good at using the Kamar mandi for washing my hair effectively!

I think longingly of going back to Bali and a Creambath would be one of my first treats when I was there!

Have you ever heard of a Creambath or something similar and would you like one?
I'd also love a great big long foot massage!!! Do they do such things in the UK?

xxx


For a little more info, you can look at Jakarta Citylife article about it

The incredibly sad tale of the Indonesian Big Feast

Image taken with thanks from here

I love a good bit of childhood nostalgia! Who's ever eaten a Big Feast ice-lolly?   Hands up?
They've always been my favourite ice-lolly all my life and I can bet you know why.  The big chocolate chunk in the middle of course!  My preferred method of eating them is the following:

1. Carefully nibble around the perimeter (from bottom by the stick, up over the top and back down the other side)
2.  Now, carefully break off the front and back panels of nutty chocolate leaf with your two front teeth and crunch joyfully. You should be left with an ice-cream covered chocolate block.
3.  Lick off the ice-cream from the front and back (if it's a hot day and you fear droppage, then you might have to nibble to do this faster)
4.  You should be left with a clean chocolate block.  Slowly nibble around the edge and downwards until you are just left with the chocolate parallel to the stick.
5.  Finito.

As usual, of course, I have digressed from the original point I came here to make.  Well, you can understand my love of the Big Feast.   When I first moved to Indonesia to study Gamelan on the Scholarship programme, it was August and I was very homesick.  I adored the food in Java and Bali, it was wonderful, but after two weeks, I was craving proper chocolate.  In Bali/Java, it's not proper chocolate- it taste cheap, waxy and odd (or at least what I could buy for my budget in local shops was.  Couldn't afford foreign imports) and I hadn't seen any proper actual blocks of solid chocolate.

Well, fast forward 3 weeks and I was in Yogyakarta, a city in Central  Java for the week-long Foreign student Orientation Programme where we learnt to speak Indonesian better, got to know each other and found out about our courses.  There was one day mid-week where we had the chance to leave our campus for the afternoon to explore/relax/do things by ourselves. I set off with a small group of Europeans (Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Poland) and we went into town and went to get our hair cut etc and buy cheap Indonesian dictionaries.  On our return journey, we were all talking intently of our craving for real chocolate, chocolate in blocks and we saw a small shock with a sign advertising ice-creams including the holy grail of ice-lollies, the BIG FEAST!!! Excitedly, I pointed it out and told everyone that at the centre, there was a big block of chocolate!  We stampeded into the shop and each purchased our Big Feast.  The exterior was delicious, the ice-cream in the middle, creamy and delightful as it should be but as we ate the ice-cream, something was amiss.  The ice-cream kept going and we reached the middle without finding the treasure.

Yes, woefully, devastatingly, guttingly, it transpired that Indonesian Big Feasts do not have a chocolate block in the centre, but just consist of the ice-cream!!!!   It was a sad moment for all of us.  Yes, we enjoyed the crunchy exterior and smooth ice-cream but to miss the key USP (unique selling point) of the Big Feast was a pretty bitter pill to swallow (first world problems eh?)

Over to you:  How would you have felt in this situation?  What's your feeling about Big Feasts?  Have you ever experienced a similar 'foreign equivalents' tale of disappointment?

...but you welcomed me

This is the second part of my account of my first days in Indonesia where I was a stranger.
****

I boarded the Night bus to Bali at around 3pm having sat in a cramped office waiting room for about 3 hours with my year's belongings.  Remember the Knight bus in Harry Potter?  Well, when I was ushered onto the bus, I discovered that my coach/bus driver was a complete pyscho!  In my diary I wrote:

Indonesians are crazy drivers!  They swap onto the wrong side of the road, constantly overtake people, speed manically ALL the time, hoot their horns 10 times a second and, for not very good roads, this was scary! 

Bearing in mind this was supposed to be a 23 hour coach journey (which ended up being about 18 hours), you can imagine how hair-raising it was! If they did that in England, the Police would be after them!
When we made our first stop, at a Ruman Makan (eating house)- where I nervously allighted along with my fellow passangers - I experienced my first sense of welcome.  A young guy (around 20) called Andikan and his student friends introduced themselves to me.  They were all 19-21 and were students originally from Sumatra, studying in Jakarta who were headed towards the Hard Rock Hotel in Kuta, Bali to watch an American band.  They kindly took me under their wing, letting me test my Indonesian on them, helping me with pronunciation and vocabulary, letting me talk Englush when I wanted, translating them and generally being kind about things.  It was so so nice to have friendly faces and it was the first glimpse of welcome in this strange (to me) country.  More empathy came in the form of their acknowledging that they had never taken this coach before and they too were terrified! About five times a minute, we felt that death was imminent!

We travelled through the night, jolted here there and everywhere, blasted with horns.  I attempted to seat in my otherwise comfortable seat, desperate to visit the facilities but not daring to attempt the journey to the back of the coach as I was likely to be buffeted into a stranger by the maniacal lurking driving.

The next morning, rather bedraggled and bereft of sleep, we reached the coast at Surabaya to get the boat across to Bali.  Andikan, his friends and I stood on board deck enjoying the breeze, the glorious young sun and the glistening waters and reached Denpasar at the Terminal Bis.  I suddenly thought, that I had no idea what to do.  Did I go to STSI, the arts college I was going to be studying at? Where on earth would I stay?  I didn't know.  I knew my Balinese gamelan teacher was coming to Bali on holiday in 3 days and would be arriving at the airport near Kuta, but in the meantime, where would I go? Stay in dusty old Denpasar?  Andikan and co said that they were going to Kuta and would I like to go with them where they would help me find a hotel.  They were very kind and they chartered a 5-seater taxi to the hotel they had booked to stay in.  All were apologetic, saying was I sure I didn't want to stay somewhere nicer but despite it apparently only being a '1-star hotel', Hotel Ratna was really lovely!   Andikan spoke to the reception, bartering and got me a room for 175,000 Rp per night (around £13. My rent when I eventually found my place to stay would end up being 300,000Rp per month, just under double that but it was a start).   It was clean, air-conditioned, , big white and wooden with drinking water provided, table, chairs, TV, A TOILET, A REAL TOILET, TOILET ROLL, OH TOILET ROLL, A SHOWER!  My words at the time were: "I am in heaven!"  I suddenly felt like I was in a safe place. (despite the fact the bomb happened there, during my year, a few months later)

I changed into my swimming costume and sarong with a top and met the uys to walk down to Kuta Beach, stopping at the amazing Hard Rock Hotel for the boys to pick up their tickets and arrived for sunset.  It was wonderful!  I do think my love of sunsets stems from that day, seeing for the first time, that beauty and majesty of creation, with fresh eyes!  We had great fun swimming and throwing ourselves at the surf waves before we got ready and went to a lovely restaurant for dinner where I ate my first proper meal I could actually stomach since arriving in Indonesia: Gado-gado and Nasi goreng with a chocolate milkshake for (43,000Rp- £3.  Again, in future, my daily budget would end up being 13,000Rp for food but I had just arrived).

We walked back along a vast array of shops selling a variety of goods and it also felt normal (shopping, Kezzie was home!).  I didn't mention that when I was on my way to Java, I was still recovering from a really nasty cold, so after wandering, I felt really tired and was coughing a lot, still jet-lagged so the boys walked me back to the hotel and then went out again to wander.  As I returned, my phone joyfully registered a confirmation message of timings of my Gamelan teacher arriving and texts back from my sister and Mum.  As I prepared to go to sleep, I wrote the words in my diary.  Hope being happier continues.  Thank you God for my Sumatran friends.  It's funny to read that back now, as  a Christian and see that even then, I was thanking God for that.

The next couple of days with Andikan, Marm and co was lovely.  The uncertainty would continue for they were only there for 2 days before having to return to Java, my Gamelan teacher would want to move onto his village to study, and my money was limited- I couldn't stay in Kuta for long, paying hotel rates- I had saved hard from my part-time job and gigs but it wouldn't last long. BUT, those 5 guys had made me feel welcomed and safe.

I was extraordinarily lucky.  Many people who have taken these night buses have been robbed or had people being a bit slimy towards them.  Andikan and his friends were like angels in disguise- they were kind and welcoming but not too much so, they had just the right balance to make me feel safe and trusting of them.   (I exchanged numbers with Andikan but strangely, when I tried to text some time later, the number didn't register.  I wonder where they are now?)

And I did trust them.  I am usually very discerning of characters of people and am not overly trusting, despite my family having the impression of me being a bit naive.  But out of the 100 hundred scholarship students who went to study there that year, I was one of the few who didn't experience some sort of robbing or illness.  I experienced further welcome and aid in the form of the English students over in Solo, Java which might perhaps some day form another story of post, so the story doesn't end. Many difficulties would ensue during my year but there, for those few days, I felt that perhaps it wouldn't be quite so difficult as it had first felt and perhaps I wouldn't remain a stranger. 



*****

This is the second half of the story I shared during the International World Women's day of prayer on the 6th of March.

I was a stranger...

I arrived in Jakarta, jet-lagged and sleep-deprived after almost 24 hours on planes and stop overs.  The stiffling heat hit me.  I gazed, uncertainly at the sea of unfamiliar faces at the arrivals, hounded by cries of, "Hotel," and "Taxi!".  What should I do?  Then a short lady in a suit greeted me- she was the rep, Enny from the Jakarta Education Office.  She led me out into a smoggy exterior and we climbed on a bus.  It dropped us off onto a busy dual carriageway and then she hailed a taxi (she said to only take a Bluebird taxi as they were the safest).   She didn't say much to me.

We arrived at a dingy building called a Wisma Tirta where she left me saying I needed to call a taxi to take me to the Education Office tomorrow and she departed.  I was panicked. The woman at the desk took me to a sparsely-furnished, grotty-looking room with a bed and a blanket and left me.

I let out the breath I seemed to have been holding since I left the plane.  I tried to turn my phone on, desperate to see if my English sim would work here.  There didn't seem to be a signal at first.  I decided that after 24 hours without a shower, that that would be the thing to wash away the day of travel and fear of uncertainty.  In the bathroom, I found squat toilet in the corner and a sink with a tap that didn't work.  That seemed to be it until I noticed a small tap near the floor- I would just have to try and use water from that: even the bathroom made me feel like a stranger: I didn't even know how to use the toilet! (no flush, no toilet roll, just a little scoop.)

Perplexedly, I returned to the room and checked my phone and tried to send a message to my Mum, Step-Mum, Dad and boyfriend, hoping, praying it would send.

I needed some water but you can't drink the tap water in Indonesia.  I wearily crept to the front desk where I tried to use the Indonesian I'd learnt before coming in order to purchase some water but it's very different using language cassettes on your own compared to speaking to a live person.  We couldn't understand each other.  I grew more and more upset and worreid as the 'exchange' continued but finally managed to buy a bottle.  Shaken by this difficult exchange and the feeling of being a foreigner, I returned to my room and gave way to tears of pen-up misery.  Why had I come?  Why, why, why?  What would happen to me?  What was I thinking of, travelling to the other side of the world.  I, who'd never been outside Europe and had never travelled alone, coming out to Indonesia of where I'd live, what I'd do, knowing nobody for a whole year of study in an alien country.  For the first time in a long time, years, I prayed to God to keep me safe and sound, I wrote it in my diary too.  I locked my door and curled up in my sheet sleeping bag from home trying to bear the heat and the 3 mosquitoes who plagued me.   Thank God sleep overcame me.

When I woke, it was light, the next day.  I turned on my phone to have received a mesage from my step-mum and boyfriend- It made me cry once more.
Somehow, with difficulty, I managed to get the still unfriendly front desk to call me a Bluebird taxi.  Fumbling with unfamiliar money, I paid and went into the government building where I had my passport copied. The lady explained that I'd have to catch a night bus to reach Bali which would take 24 hours.  She took me to buy some fruit and took some money to pay for my bus to Bali.  Not knowing what to do or where to go, I returned in a taxi to my accommodation where I tried best to read.

The government lady told me that R, the other English student (who was studying in Java rather than Bali) would be arriving that evening. With hope in my heart, I sat on that humid veranda, reading a book with a heart pounding in anticipation, sitting there being bitten by mosquitoes.  Finally, in the evening, Enny arrived with the English guy. As he came over to say Hello, to my mortification, I burst into tears.  Poor guy, he was jet-lagged and there I was!  He talked for a little while, he was really kind, and then went to his room to sleep.

The next morning, Enny arrived to give me my bus ticket and to take me to the bus station where I had to wait for 3 hours.  It was busy and confusing and I sat there worrying, wishing, oh wishing, that I was back home!  Here, more than anywhere in my life, I felt a complete stranger.  All was alien, unfamiliar, loud, noisy, confusing and I felt wretched.  What would happen to me?


*      *     *      *     *     *     *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

You may be wondering what this is all about.

It was Women's world day of prayer on Friday, and the theme was I was a stranger and you welcomed me.  I attended a wonderful service, hosted by one of the local Baptist churches.  The service was devised by Christian women in France and women in churches across the whole world would be sharing in this same service.  We didn't have a guest speaker to give a talk like the service planned so they had the idea that instead, we would use the time to turn to the people on either side of us and share a time when we were made to feel like a stranger and a time we felt welcomed.  We each had a ribbon in the French flag colours which we tied together once we'd talked and then we'd end up with a church all connected up by beautiful ribbons so we weren't strangers any more.  It was a beautiful idea and really made me think of this time in my life that I hadn't thought about in a while.

It's getting late and it has taken me a time to write this so I will share how I felt welcomed, maybe tomorrow or very soon.

When have you felt a stranger?