edinbu-rrrrrrrrrr - gh

 me and the bagpipe man!!=)

okie dokies! why edinbu - rrrr-gh?? haha=D simply cuz this place is further up north and it feels like winter in notts!! haha=D anw this trip will mark the last weekend trip for me before i embark on my mega spring adventure start 1st apr and ending 3rd may... sounds alittle long huh, but i've got no choice lah... haha=P i've got no accommodation in hall so the only way would be to go travelling around!=D heehee

check out the really misty thursday edinburgh city!

so i started my edinburgh tour on thursday... reached at about noon, checked into the hostel (which was splendid cuz there was free wifi throughout the entire complex!! even in the rooms!! to keep me connected with the world) and i went out in search of authentic scottish food! =) and i hopped into this rather fancy looking pub near my hostel, and having that adventurous spirit, ordered a plate of haggis, neeps and tatties!=D haha=D it turned out to be 3 piles of mashed stuff in different colour.. brown (ewww!!) orange and white!=D haha... so here's a description of haggis from wikipedia (which i totally did not know before i ate the dish!=S)

my 1st dish of haggis: the traditional scottish dish=)

my 2nd dish of haggis at a different pub...

and of course with a pint of scottish beer! =D

Haggis is a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. Haggis is a kind of sausage, or savoury pudding cooked in a casing of sheep's intestine, as sausages are. As the 2001 English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique puts it, "Although its description is not immediately appealing, haggis has an excellent nutty texture and delicious savoury flavour".Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach. There are also meat-free recipes for vegetarians. The haggis is a traditional Scottish dish memorialised as the national dish of Scotland by Robert Burns' poem Address to a Haggis in 1787. Haggis is traditionally served with "neeps and tatties" (Scots: swede, yellow turnip or rutabaga and potatoes, boiled and mashed separately) and a "dram" (i.e. a glass of Scotch whisky), especially as the main course of a Burns supper. However it is also often eaten with other accompaniments, or served with a whisky-based sauce.

okay.. i know the dish don't sound really appetising but it really tasted good! haha=D its like eating kway chap in singapore lah... just western style... so.. on thursday edinburgh had this really thick mist.. visibility was barely 100m.. even worse at night.. this was due to a really light spray/ drizzle and the really strong gusts of wind! but it gave the city a really nice magical appearance, just like that of hogwarts - the land of harry potter=D like all other cities in uk, most of the shops here close really early, except for a few touristy shops, which sells really expensive traditional scottish outfits... about 100gbp for the kilt!! =O yups! so the night was spent in the hostel, on my laptop connecting with the rest of the world=) 

the peaceful loch lomond=)

the 2nd day was spent on a tour... to this place called loch lomond... loch is scottish for lake. yups! so what's so special about loch lomond.. loch lomond is the lake with the largest surface area in scotland!! it was a rather small group tour. only 5 people... so it kinda fell like a private tour... overall it was a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of the city to the peaceful, quiet and serene..

the loch ness cruise=)

spot monster nessie!! =P

the 3rd day was also spent on a tour, this time to the ever famous loch ness and the scottish highlands!=) yups! so did i spot loch ness on my tour? well, i'll leave u guys with a picture that i took while on the loch ness cruise and u judge for yourselves! =P this tour was even better than the tour on the 2nd day, probably cuz the tour guide was much better and had more stories to tell! haha=D me and jelvin got the cheap thrill of getting to sit right beside the driver on the front of the tour bus and so we've got the full front view of the scenery!! totally spectacular!! especially while touring the highlands on the bus!! the snow capped glens (scottish for mountains/ hills) were just awesome!! haha=D

edinburgh castle at night...

... and in the day

sandemans europe free walking tour! must go!!=D

the last day was spent in the city itself. visited edinburgh castle, which was just beside our hostel... for the entire morning, and then i went for a free walking tour in edinburgh... which was kinda interesting cuz it brought us to places where tourists usually will not go=) and was of course informative too! much better than exploring the city by myself!=)

yups! so this pretty much wraps up my 4 day edinburgh tour! not all 4 days were spent in the city of course! haha=D cuz after visiting so many uk cities, all of their city centres look and feel roughly the same... so the highlight of this edinburgh trip was actually the 2 tours which i went on - the loch lomond and the loch ness & highlands tour=) yups! 

stay tuned for updates on my easter trip!! will definitely find time to update my blog whenever i have wifi connection!=)

~hearts for my girlfriend!!~

<3<3<3

fee fi fo fum! Belfast here i come!=)

woots! its a belated post from notts! and tomorrow i'll be setting off for Edinburgh, Scotland already! haha=D how fast time flies... its March already and in less than a week's time, i'll be all over Europe for my Easter Break!!!=D

so anyway, Belfast is located in Northern Ireland, which is part of uk... took a budget flight from East Midlands Airport in Notts to Belfast... Ryanair was not too bad. seats were okay, flight was smooth, and it was on time! in fact earlier than expected! haha=D and when they touched down at the airport they played this cute victory song thingy (something which you will hear on computer games), followed by an annoucement that they have landed on time, self praising that they are the most punctual budget airlines in europe and blah blah blah...

a day view of city hall with the 'belfast eye' as the backdrop

 

here's a night view of the same place=)

us and the BIG fish

so, the first day in belfast was spent roaming around the city itself. first stop was City Hall! where we went on a free tour of the city hall, understood about its history and the things going on in city hall... very much like the istana in singapore where you have the top people of the city working in it... next, we visited the Big Fish (cuz we thought it was quite interesting and looked really BIG in the postcard)... but it turned out to be like about 2m tall only and maybe 5 - 6m wide?

imagine that its leaning!=D

haha=D then visited the Albert memorial clock tower, which was supposedly leaning to one side, like the leaning tower of pisa in italy... unfortunately, when we visited that clock tower, we could not find any description saying why it was leaning=S oh wells!

river lagan, peaceful and serene

the murals at the peace line=)

traditional irish food! yummy yum yum!=)

took a stroll down the main river in Belfast - the River Lagan, and we trekked all the way from the east to the west of Belfast to check out part of the Peace Line murals... supposedly drawn out on the brick walls to illustrate the troubles in Ireland (think Protestant vs Catholic conflict you've studied before in Social Studies!=)) and ended the day with a nice sumptuous meal of traditional Irish food at this place called Maggie Mays. i had beef stew, and the highlight of the meal was irish coffee!

the highlight of this weekend trip was of course the Giants Causeway! haha=D some of you all may be wondering why is it called the Giants Causeway...there is a legend that one day the giant of ireland wanted to fight the giant of scotland (ireland and scotland are actually seperated by a channel)... and so he built a causeway over to scotland to seek that giant out... upon arriving at scotland, he found out that the giant was much bigger than him! so he fled back to ireland, and pretended to be a baby while his wife pretended to be the mother... the giant of scotland, then came to ireland to look for his opponent... when he met the wife of the giant of ireland, she told him that her husband was away, and invited him to look at her baby. the giant of scotland was shocked to see such a huge baby and deduced thaif the baby was huge, the daddy must be gigantic!! so he fled back to scotland, destroying the causeway at the same time.hats how u end up with such funny rock formations on both sides of ireland and scotland...

well the truth is such formations were actually due to the lava cooling from millions of years ago, and the action of the extreme heat and cold in this region in the past, that made the formations look  like pillars... haha=D quite cool isn't it huh?

after visiting the causeway, we proceeded on to this famous rope bridge in belfast, called the carrick-upon-rede rope bridge (think it should be something like this!=P) well... there's nothing too fascinating about this bridge... its 20m long and 30m high only... yups and it cost 5gbp to cross it... so... haha=D luckily on that day i went, it was free... so we happily crossed it and took loads of pics and video with the bridge! haha=D

peacefull seaside towns...

watching the sun set...

the drive to and from the causeway is a scenic one. lots of nice seaside towns and countryside farms and houses. the area is scattered with lots of bed and breakfast houses.. looks very peaceful... just like the uk version of hawaii... haha=D

authentic irish brekkie! potato and soda bread!=D

the last day in belfast was spent doing a titanic tour... understanding the history of titanic, the shipyard where it was first designed and built, right up to the very day where it was launched to set sail in the seas... next we went on to hunt for more of the peace line murals. they are not exactly on a line... haha=D more like a treasure hunting session, looking for murals on the walls... but it was quite fun! haha=D

okie dokies! thats pretty much all for my irish experience!=) overall its a fun, relaxing trip... and i'm looking forward to my scotland trip tomorrow and hope that it'll be an equally relaxing experience!=)

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

oh! oxford!

oxford oxford oxford... the famous place where the famous oxford university is! and this was where i spent my last weekend in!=) so day 1 in oxford was spent in this outlet shopping place called bicester village... its quite a high end place, and has all the famous brands like FCUK, Gucci, Fred Perry, G-Star, Paul Smith, Ted Baker... and the list goes on... one good thing about this place is that the layout is simple and neat. the shops are lined on both sides of a long stretch of road, and you can easily walk down the road and alternate between the shops... see what you like and making a mental note of it... then after completing all the shops you can return and make your purchases!=) easy peasy! but beware! the stuff here might not be as cheap as you think! there are some really good deals in some of the shops but u really got to be quick and spot those stuff cuz they get snatched up really quickly! and

and fred perry has got 10% discount off the items in their store for students only!

haha=D be sure not to miss it cuz i missed that sign and paid like 8gbp more for my items! okay thats not alot of money but 8gbp could get u an advance train tix to london! haha=D in the end of the trip i made off with 2 fred perry polos, 1 for myself and 1 for my brother... and yups! figured that i would be coming back again during summer so i'll hold my purchases till then!=) it takes about 5 - 6 hours to walk the whole place, and we did it without having a proper lunch... we brought in snacks like muffins and biscuits in our backpacks so we took a really quick and short lunch break on one of the benches in the village... alternatively you could have lunch in the restaurants there (note they have less than 5 restaurants there) and i think they are pretty expensive so you'll be better off packing your lunch to bicester village! remember that your aim here is to shop! shop! and shop! haha=D

bicester closes at around 7pm... so by 6pm the crowd started to fade already... and so we made our way back to the train station - bicester town (its a 1.30gbp return day ticket from oxford station) and then took a ride back to oxford...

check out the funky walls of our hostel!=D

luckily our hostel is quite near the train station.. cuz the winds were so strong... it made us feel sooo cold! the hostel is quite nice and cosy... and we checked into a 12 man bunk... which seemed quite alright cuz everyone's kinda nice and courteous.. so no rowdy people in the room and hostel.. and there are strict rules in the hostel which everyone has to follow.. so its quite a nice environment there... and its good to have hostel that serves breakfast too! ours does! haha=D okay... don't hope for those kind of hotel syle hot breakfast.. but for the budget backpackers like us, the hostel provided sufficient to fill our stomach to last us thru the morning and probably into mid afternoon too!=) the hostel breakfast consisted of bread, jam, butter, peanut butter, cereals and milk... simple and easy... haha=D so at 16gbp per night its definitely worth the price!

christ church college=)

day 2 was spent touring around oxford city... we joined in a city tour which lasted for about 2 hours... and its highly reccommended that you join a city tour when you are in oxford cuz if not, probably you would be walking about just staring at the sights and not knowing any of its history or significance... so i gained alot of knowledge from the city tour, which mostly brought us thru the different parts of the university. went to jesus college, merton college, the christ church college meadows and stuff... quite an eye opener to see how oxford university is being divided into different colleges (or halls in the singapore context cuz the students in each colleges live in the rooms within the colleges), and the part they play in the university...

pies at pieminister! check out the really big pies! =O

lunch! was at this place called the pieminister... originally wanted to have pub lunch but everywhere was full! haha=D so we went to this cafe called pieminister at the oxford covered market... apparently pieminister had won numerous awards for their pies! and they do have a really wide variety of pies!!=O and there's student discount here too! 4.95gbp gets u a pie, mashed potato with gravy and minty mushy peas!=) yum yum! definitely fills your tummy!=)

after lunch we went in search of the authentic oxford university shop... there are so many shops selling university stuff there! from hoodies to t-shirts, key chains to postcards... haha... but dun worry! they are all roughly about the same price... about 10 - 50p difference only... so we went to this place called the varsity shop, which we thought was the authentic university shop cuz it seemed like one... and i bought a tea towel with all of the university colleges'crest as a souvenier... and guess what?! after we bought it, we walked down a few units and we saw the REAL university shops selling all the authentic university merchandise! heh!

check out the dining hall at christ church! where harry potter was filmed!=)

next stop: christ church! a must go and the most touristy spot of the oxford university! students pay only 4.50gbp to get in=) and why is this place so touristy? cuz its the place which dining hall was used for the great hall in Harry Potter's 1st film! haha=D and yup! you see the long rows of tables, the tall arches and the elevated platform where dumbledore and his other aides seat... haha=D

check out einstein's blackboard and the 1st 3 variants of bunsen burners! =O

okie dokies... after that we hopped over to the museum of the history of science, which tells you how science had evolved... and has exhibits like einstein's famous blackboard, the various apparatus chemists used before proper test tubes came about! haha=D

and that pretty much wraps up my oxford adventure... and as u can see... oxford is a pretty small town and 2 days would suffice!=)

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

london here i come AGAIN!!! =D

its my 2nd time in london!=D haha... and this time i conquered 4 markets, and partially conquered 3 museums, found my beer battered fish and chips, a replica of the arc de triumph - marble arch and visited 2 bridges in london!=)

thats the tower bridge and HMS Belfast parked in front of it=)

thats the london bridge, illuminated at night.

nothing special about this bridge... haha=D just a normal concrete bridge

uk is full of markets... flea markets, food markets, fresh produce markets, fashion markets, art markets... its everywhere! so far i've been to york and manchester and they all have markets! gosh! and the good thing about the markets here is that each market has its own unique focus... in london, i visited the spitalfields market, camden market, portobello and lastly the borough market. 

spitalfields market is located in a more upmarket area in london... sort of like their cbd area.. the things sold here are mainly fashion... and i bought a unique osford shirt! not cheap though at 40gbp but there are some very nice handmade details on the shirt and i thought it was worth it so haha=D i bought it! here's a picture of the owner and the shop! he's from thailand and had been living in the uk for 12 years!!

next i hopped over to camden market... this market is really HUGE!! about 10 times the size of your neighbourhood pasar malam. and it has loads of fashion products, and arty stuff too! so girls watch out! u are most likely to spend at least half a day here browsing thru all the dresses, bags and accessories!=D camden market is more focussed on the younger crowd, with lots of punk and hippie stuff... and i found loads of nus bazaar type shirt over here too! but they're really EXPENSIVE! in sg we complain that 1 shirt for S$10 is too expensive, but here they're selling 1 for 12gbp! if u convert it over to sgd that will be around S$25!!! =O

a picture of my mexican wrap lunch at camden market=)

 

the rows of shops at camden

portobello market's focus is mainly on antiques... u'll sure find a wide variety of antiques here... ranging from furnitures to books, art pieces to jewellery, silver ware to cameras... u name it they have it=) and portobello is kinda big too... haha... took me and jelvin about 2hrs to walk up and down.... yup... too bad it was raining when we went there so it was alittle inconvenient... haha... but otherwise it was good!

a veggie stall at portobello - check out the fully coloured hair people!=D

the crowd at portobello... all the stalls are lined along this street...

borough market, aka saturday market sells FOOD! ALL KINDS OF FOOD! haha... they have tarts, pies, cheese, juices, asian food, burgers, sausages, steaks, coffee, etc! but they are most famous for the organic produce... haha... fresh veggies and meat=) this market will really make u salivate! haha.. the food here smells too nice!

the burger i had at borough market!

as for museums, visited the natural history museum and the science museum this time.. and their museums are so huge and filled with so much exhibits that i only covered 1.5 out of 5 floors of the science museum, and scanned thru all the exhibits of the natural history museum... i'll definitely revisit them when i'm back in london at the end of my easter break!=)

finally! my beer battered fish and chips at a pub along River Thames!

yup! thats pretty much of what i had done during the last weekend of february! its been 5 weeks into my sep already and gosh! time really flies!!

hearts for my grilfriend!!<3<3<3