manchester united versus west ham 23 Feb 2010

okay. not many people from asia would deliberately fly down to uk to watch the epl match... and since i'm in uk i might as well seize the chance to immerse myself inte soccer culture in uk by going for a soccer match! haha=D a friend's friend managed to get the man utd vs west ham tickets for us! and this marks my short 1 day escape to manchester...

the match was played at home for manchester united, at old trafford... and it was no surprise that man utd won! by 3-0 though! haha=D 2 by wanye rooney and the 3rd by michael owen.

okie dokies... shall leave u with some pictures of the match! toodles!!

the pasar malam outside old trafford. selling lots of soveniers, scarf, beanie, blankets, jackets. food too!=D

johnston, me and wan ling sitting in the 1st row of the upper tier=)

the 2 mascots of the red devils... so cute!=D

me and my man utd scarf!

match in action...

~ hearts for my girlfriend!<3<3<3

notty the snowman =P

mini snowman says 'hi!' to all friends in singapore reading this blog!=D

it snowed today!=D

well... at least it wasn't snowing when i got back to my room at about 12mn this morning... but when i woke up at 8.30am the morning, the entire ground was covered with a thick layer of snow and the roofs and trees and shrubs in my hall are all covered in white snow! haha=D its definitely an interesting sight for me especially when i have not experienced any snow before!=D okie dokes! here are some pictures from my hall!=)

check out the white rooftops and the white ground!

but they soon melted after i took this pic cuz probably the sun was up!

check out the clumps of snow on the shrubs!=) *beams*

more snow covered places outside my hall!=)

hullo york! my 3rd weekend escape=)

hullo york! bye notts! and this is my 3rd weekend escape - destination york.

the york minister. the most famous landmark in york.

woke up early in the morning at 5am to catch my cheap early train to york. well wasn't quite sure of whether the bus here will leave on time for the train station so decided to wake up early to catch the first bus anyway. but it seems like the transport system here is as efficient as those in sg! the bus arrived on time as mentioned in the bus timetable, and it took me to the train station in less than 20mins! whow! so i was left to stare into space at the train station... heh... cuz i was TOO early...

the national railway museum

welcome to harry potter platform 9 and 3/4!

anyway... a 2hour train ride to york... and 1st stop of the day was the national railway museum! the biggest railway museum in the UK! it has lots of trains on exhibition in it! life sized ones! and it has a warehouse stacked full with things that they had collected from over the years... stacked till almost the top of the warehouse. this definitely shows the rich rail history that uk has... right from the steam versions, to the modern electric trains like the eurostar...

the fight of the vikings vs the saxons

getting ready for their march to the city centre

the march to the city

next stop was the viking festival! we were lucky to be here in time for the last day of the viking festival. we managed to catch them do a mock up fight between the vikings and the saxons... it was quite interesting seeing these people in their costumes, doing war cries and then charging at each other! haha=D then there was a march of the 2 sides to the city centre... and we followed them along the way! haha...

me at fudge kitchen! home-made fudge! strawberry & cream + double choc trouble!

... until we reached the saturday market at the city centre where we did a short walk of the saturday market=) there seems to be saturday markets everywhere in the UK! beats our pasar malam for sure cuz everything is different everywhere! =D but definitely they don't have the cheap good ramly burger... haha...=D

next stop was clifford tower... its sort of like an observatory castle built on top of a mound.... haha... looks quite cute from afar... the entrance fee was 3gbp... so being cheepo cash strapped students from singapore... we decided not to go in and just took pictures from outside!=P

the more stylo milo vikings outside jorvik musem=)

then we headed back to the city centre where we went into the jorvik museum=) this museums showcased the activities of the vikings... from the time when they travelled by sea from norway and some scandinavian countries to the uk, where they invaded some parts of the uk... their activities in the uk, archeological findings by the archeologists... to the time where they were driven away by the english kings... interesting indeed! and this musem had a small ride in a open top cabin, where it brought us around their exhibits... somewhat like the madame tussaud's wax museum... where there are wax figurines and commentary telling us the life of the english people under the vikings... indeed an eye opener=)

of course no visit to york is complete without a ghost tour... haha... we took the 7pm ghost tour, led by a young man... of course he had the typical ghost tour guide costume... and we thought he was more hilarious than scary... haha... probably because the crowd was too big already... about 30 in size! haha=D and he was just too funny... =D okie dokies... and me and another friend left early to catch our train...

... and guess what! the train was cancelled! goodness gracious me! luckily ours was not the last train and we managed to catch another train 20mins later... of course i miss my connecting train which i was supposed to take... so i had to wait for 40mins for another connecting train, and by the time i got back to nottingham, it was 11.30pm already... so i flagged a cab back to my hall... haha... oh wells... treat it like an adventure=D

and that marks the end of my day trip to york!=D

<3 hearts for my girlfriend! <3

my great weekend at manchester!=)

this marks my 3rd weekend in notts and my 2nd weekend escape out of notts! and this time i visited manchester!=D just a 2hour train ride from notts, its situated slightly above notts... so when you get more north, the weather's gonna be colder cuz put it in simple terms... you're actually heading towards the north pole = ice =D so u'll definitely feel colder... BUT surprisingly manchester was not as cold as nottingham... and i figured probably because manchester is much more urbanised than notts, so there are more high rise building and apartments around to shield the wind... and so it does not feel as cold walking down the streets of manchester compared to walking down the streets of nottingham.

arrived at manchester piccadily station and gosh... this train station is huge! with 14 platforms compared to the 6 that is at the nottingham station! guess this reflects the population and the rate of urbanisation in both cities! the train station is very mordern... and this definitely reflects the rate at which manchester has industrialised and urbanised...

me and jelvin... and i had sg chow mien. not very nice and definitely not sg-ish!=D

1st stop at manchester was shopping!=D haha... not that i am a shopaholic or what.. but i arrived at 3 plus in the afternoon, by which time almost all of the attractions would have been going to close in an hour's time or so. yups... so headed down to the major shopping centres in the manchester city centre area. the shopping centres here are proper ones, like those that we have in singapore, but probably not as good... they have major brands in them, like river island, topshop/man, billabong, converse... etc... and SUPERDRY!! if you have a chance to go to manchester must drop by this shop! it is a jap store which sells nice clothes that are of a good cut (well at least for me) and it is of decent quality too! not cheap though... but it definitely beats uniqlo in terms of design and style... haha... what you pay is what u get! paid for a polo which costs about 35gbp, and a semi-formal shirt that costs 55gbp... well, this store is not yet in sg (when i left sg in end jan) so i guess its gonna be quite unique! and its asian cutting so definitely fits smaller sized asians like me!=D

then headed back to my friend - jelvin's room... he was kind enough to let me stay in his room for the weekend and to show me around the area!=) and thanks to another friend - jianyuan who lent me his sleeping bag! ahahaha=D ok... night time was spent planning our easter trip and booking of hostels for our upcoming oxford and edinburgh weekends=) currently these are the countries i intend to visit during easter: italy, czech republic, austria, germany, france, netherlands and back to uk (london). easter stretches from 1st apr to 3rd may so it should gimme sufficient time to cover most of the things i want to! =D haha...

a view of the inside of the stadium! its huge! with a 88k sitting capacity

2nd day morning was spent at old trafford... the home of manchester united! it was quite an eye opener visiting the museum and the highlight of old trafford was the stadium tour! which i highly reccomend you to part with your 8.50gbp (with student concession). for the amount you pay, u'll get a guided walking tour of the stadium, learn about it's history such as the munich tragedy... and the operations of the stadium... very nice, very interesting=) and the museum will probably appeal more to the fans of man utd, as it showcases many of their trophies, medals, jerseys, etc! can't wait for the man utd vs west ham match on 23rd feb! =D

visited the imperial war museum next, which showcased exhibits from wars that had occured around the world. they had this special exhibition by this photojournalist named don mccullin... it was really cool to see those photos that he had taken... and picture speaks a thousand words.. another highlight of the museum visit was a video screening, in which the video was projected onto all the walls of the main exhibition gallery... though a bit draggy, it was still nice... with all the sound effects and stuff...

the saturday market in manchester=)

then crossed over to salford quays where we walked around the Lowry outlet mall, which was abit disappointing (probably because my expectations were too high)... but hope bicester village would be better! went back to the city centre, where we spotted the saturday market in manchester! caught the food part of it... which was rather cool but did not get to try any food cuz there was gonna be cny dinner right after... haha=D sad thing is the market closes at 5pm, so by the time we discovered the fashion market it was all closed already =( haha...

we headed down to chinatown where we attended the cny reunion dinner organised by the manchester singapore society! dinner was excellent with loads of games in between to keep diners entertained. and the food was decent too! with a 9 course dinner... it definitely will fill your stomach!=D

the chugging steam train ride at the museum... one loop costs 1gbp and take 8 mins! haha=D

3rd day started off with a visit to a traditional church which jelvin went with his friends... followed by a visit to the museum of science and industry.. this museum, like all other museums in uk, is HUGE! we spent only 2+ hours in the museum and barely covered all the exhibits... okay.. this museum is split into 5 different buildings, each revolving around a different theme.. 1st building showcased textiles, and the scientific achievements of the many scientists based in manchester! think rutherford, dalton and joule! =D 2nd building showcased the evolution of communications, the 3rd was on how manchester coped with the swerage system and water system to meet the exponentially increasing population in manchester. the 4th featured on the evolution of trains, from steam to coal to the mordern ones we've got and the 5th was on aviation and space, with a special exhibit on the china space program... and this museum tour definitely appeals to everyone! not just the geeky people only! =D

next we popped by castlefield, which was just next to the museum.. initially thought it was something huge and grand, but it turned out only to be a replica of a castle wall and a few signboards telling the history of the roman ocuupation in manchester.. oh wells...

last stop of my manchester trip was at chinatown, where we walked about, soaked in the cny atmosphere and stayed till 6pm to watch the fireworks display! not as grand as those in sg but was decent enough and worth our 30+ min wait... haha=D

and this marks the end of my manchester weekend! another days of school!! yikes=S

<3 hearts for my girlfriend! <3

i'm back from my london weekend getaway!=D (part II)

day 2 of my london getaway! went to the Hillsongs London Church in the morning and i tell you this church service here is a blast! okay... i'm talking from a non-Christian point of view cuz i don't know what a modern church service would be like and i only know what a traditional church service was... this service was like a concert! with the Hillsong London bamd playing on stage, and then a pastor came out to preach for abit (he wasn't dressed in those traditional robes though) and then a video presentation of the vision of Hillsong church for 2010 (telecasted from their HQ church in Australia)! and the church service was held in the 'We Will Rock You' theatre!! haah... definitely an eye opener for someone like me! but i would also like to attend one of those traditional church service here in those big cathedrals! guess it would be a different experience too!

then we headed down to a nearby pub to have the traditional sunday roast. not very fantastic.. just normal stuff with yorkshire pudding... but it was all part of the english experience so yups... haha...

the rest of the afternoon was then spent in the British museum... which basically houses artefacts from all around the world! ranging from egypt to rome, greece to ancient europe, and stuff like clocks, the artic people... the entire museum would take you at least 2 days non stop to finish every exhibit! of course i could not finish every of the exhibit in the afternoon we spent there and so... i'll leave the rest of the museum for my next 4 day london escape during the end of the month!=D

headed back to covent garden again, where we queued up for the UK famous ben's cookies! its a must try too! it has a crunchy texture on the outside but once you bite into the cookie, its chewy! haha=D and the best thing is that it comes in loads of different flavours ranging from triple choc to ginger! haha=D and there's a buy 5 get 2 free promotion now so its totally worth it for 6.50gbp! and they're huge in size! bigger than the subway cookies! haha=D

and our dinner was done at this Malaysian and Thai Kopitiam (yes that's the name)  at Chinatown! really authentic chinese kopitiam food.. and finally spicy curry! haha... i had a plate of malaysian fried hokkien mee! hmmm hmmm... asian food!=)

and this marks the end of my london weekend... and the beginning of many more weekend escapes=)

i'm back from my london weekend getaway!=D (part I)

my 1st weekend getaway from notts... and here i come london!=D

the london trip was terrific. first of all i have to thank my friend jian yuan for letting me and my friends stay at his place! haha... and his apartment was in an u;tra prime location! just opposite Harrods... how cool can that be?! anyway it was quite a comfy stay... haha.. with 4 guys sharing the living room,  with my friend and 6 others living in their respective rooms in the apartment who are all studying in imperial college.

took a train down to st pancras international station. then we roamed about the streets while waiting for jelvin to reach. london is still very much alive during the dark, unlike nottingham which effectively goes into resting mode after 4.30pm cuz all the shops will shut down and people will go back to their homes... and the good thing about london is that its temperature is much warmer... probably about 5 degrees? so i don't have to freeze!=D

anyway much of our london trip was on foot! cuz the places of attractions in central london were rather close to each other and walking london on foot got me closer to the life of the londoners too!=)

So on our first night there (we arrived at night time=)), we went to this singaporean restaurant called Rasa Sayang to have our supper there! haha... ok... the price is exorbitant.. at 6.60gbp for a plate of hor fun. BUT! if i were to continue converting each and every one of my purchase back to sgd i would die starving! haha=D the plate of hor fun was kinda large in portion, and it really tasted good! with loads of seafood in it!

a good english breakfast - really greasy though!

Day 1 of london kicked off with a morning english breakfast at Covent Garden, this touristy flea market place. Then went for a walk along River Thames... just a really short portion of it. Managed to catch some sights of the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament House, and the Westminister Abbey, a church just behind the big ben=)

the House of Parliament and Big Ben

the Buckingham Palace

and off we go to St. James Park... a good park to go for a morning walk or jog, during summer and definitely not in this winter cold =S saw many big fat ducklings and pretty white swans swimming along the river in the park... and we walked through the park to the Buckingham Palace, the residence of the English royal family... and there's this poor guard standing outside the gates of the Palace, who attracted loads of tourists taking pic with him! he was not even in the ceremonial uniform! which made us quite tickled by the fact that people ran up to him to take pics with him... and if everyone were to tag him on facebook he would be the most tagged person on earth! we figured he took about 20 pics over a span of 10 mins there! and of course we couldn't resist it and johnston and daniel went to take a pic with him with funny poses! haha=D hilarious!

and every singaporean in london can never resist the temptation of the ever famous Four Seasons Duck Rice in Chinatown! it tasted like the authentic dish you would find on the streets of Hong Kong, perhaps even better! i had a 3 combination rice (char siew, crispy pork, roasted duck) and i give it 2 thumbs up!

and the rest of the day was spent around the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. Spent a couple of hours admiring the fantastic artwork housed in the National Gallery... haha... then we proceeded on to the shopping strip at Oxford Street, where the Topshop/ Topman HQ is located! 3 storeys high!! u'll never get this in Singapore! and H&M, which is way larger than the one in Notts... and many other shops, including those selling fantastic looking loafers, ted baker and fred perry shoes! haha... gonna get one for myself when i return in month end!=)

finally we ended the day at North Sea Restaurant where we had fish and chips! did a take away instead of dining in at the posh restaurant setting cuz the price difference is way too much! take away is only 4.80gbp whereas dining in costs 13+gbp! almost 3 times more!!!! so we stood around at the takeaway counter and tucked into our battered cod, grilled cod and haddock, and the huge heap of chips we have... yum yum...

and that marks the end of day 1 in london=)

my visit to the nottingham castle=)

oday was a cloudy day! bleah... no sun!=( haha... thought that there would at least be alittle bit of sun after the rain the whole of last night... oh wells... had my stats and chem lecture today.. and got my first assignment for stats, which would be worth 10% of my entire module score... haha... got 2 weeks to complete this so i'll see how things go! haha...

moving on to the more exciting part of the day... haha... i went on a visit to the nottingham castle today!=D the nottingham castle is just like any castle in uk, perhaps not as grand... but its a must visit if you come over to nottingham cuz by visiting it you will be able to discover the history of nottingham!=) so the name nottingham actually means the city of caves in some other language... and its true! nottingham has about 450 caves out of which 30 are medieval! haha... guess i'll leave you with some pictures of my visit!

the side steps leading to the castle

main entrance to the castle

the nottingham castle caves!

okie dokes... thats pretty much of the castle... the rest of the photos can be view on my facebook! haha=D here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=381579&id=725990220&l=880c759df6

thats all for the day!

hearts for my girlfriend!<3<3<3

grocery shopping at sainsbury's!!!

did not too much today except for 2 lectures... haha=D initially thought that there was gonna be an early 9am lecture so rushed off immediately after breakfast... only to discover that the lecture is tomorrow at 9am... =( rahhh... looks like the timetable that i had done last year in sg had been updated.. 2 out of my 5 modules had changed timing... and luckily they had not clashed with other modules. PHEW!~

lunch today was blackcurrant yoghurt, pizza and spicy chicken drumstick (which was not spicy at all)

had lunch over at the Coates cafe today... the cafe is housd within the Engineering building and is near the Maths/Physics building.. so naturally there was a huge congregation of China chinese there... haha=D and something to tell you about the uni food here... people in Singapore should be grateful that their university canteen has so much variety to offer and should stop complaining about having to eat the same food! here there is an University caterer which i think provides the food to all the halls, foodcourts and cafes! haha=D so all the cafes and foodcourt roughly have the same menu... only a little variation... and the same food item on the menu of the cafes and foodcourts taste the same! so singaporeans! be grateful that you have at least 10 different choices in your NUS faculty canteens! savour them for me!!!=D

went over to Beeston today to do some groceries and post some mail... the postal service people were really nice to help me do my mails... haha... and guess how they helped me paste the stamp onto the envelopes... you wouldn't guess it in such a developed country they are actually still using this! using theire saliva! YES! that's what the lady did! using her saliva to help me paste all the stamps onto all the envelopes!!! GOSH!!! i was staring at her in awe doing all my 5 envelopes... haha=D

spent 10 pounds shopping in sainsbury's... to stock up on nice stuff to cook with my maggie mee! bought mix seafood pack, bai cai, grapes and cherries! haha... maggie mee for breakfast on thursday and friday!

today was a rainy rainy wet wet day... haha... the walk back from beeston to hall was wet ... but luckily my jacket is waterproof and had a hoodie... so that kept my body dry for the entire walk back.. haha=D went thru some lecture notes just now... haha... but fell asleep in the end... ooops! haha... gotta get some of my studying genes back! must not be overwhelmed by all my travelling plans!

currently this are my plans:
this weekend: London 5 feb - 7 feb
next weekend: Manchester 12 feb - 14 feb
following weekend: York day trip 20 feb
last weekend of feb: London 25 feb - 28 feb
1st weekend of march: Oxford (TBC)

haha... busy busy weekends! but loving it!! woots!!

wafflehearts for my girlfriend!! <#<#<#