UK Trip: Day 4-Newcastle

7Apr (Monday):Newcastle->London
Newcastle looks like Manchester to me. A typical English city, I may say.

Buildings with modern architecture, people with distinctive Geordie accent..
but they do have one thing that is different, the River Tyne where most of its beautiful buildings are situated and one of the best night streets with girls wearing mini skirts and skimpy clothings in the cold post-winter air...
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We walk down from Tess' place to the River Tyne.

The River Tyne is spanned by six bridges, which constitute the most famous view of the city. The Tyne Bridge is the best known, built in 1925-28.

Further up is the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, the first opening bridge to be built across the River Tyne for more than 100 years. It is a pedestrian and cyclist tilt bridge.
What's interesting is that it was completed in one piece before hand and lifted into place by the Asian Hercules II, one of the world's largest floating cranes, on 20 November 2000.
Another thing is that it has six Hydraulic rams that can rotate the bridge back on large bearings to allow small ships and boats (up to 25m tall) to pass underneath. Its appearance during this manoeuvre has led to it being nicknamed the Blinking Eye Bridge.
<extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateshead_Millennium_Bridge>
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On the other side or River Tyne stood the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and the Sage Gateshead.

The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The name explains itself.. It is a place where international centre for art with constantly changing exhibitions and events. I found this book on Elephants. Big & Small, Long & Short, Square & Round,..... all the way until Boy & Girl.
really kena 炸到by the author....

Next to the Baltic, is the Sage Gateshead. The Sage is like the Esplanade of Singapore. It is a centre for musical education, performance and conferences. This building of curvy glass and stainless steel contains three performance spaces, a 1,700-seater, a 400-seater and a smaller rehearsal and performance hall.

Together with the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, they form part of the Gateshead Quays development.
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After visiting River Tyne, we went to the High Street of Newcastle.

Like all High Streets around UK, here you see a lot of ppl.
We went into a few shops, most notably Primark, where they sell cheap but trendy clothes.

Tess introduce to Sausage Roll... I have been craving for pastries for months.. here i finally have a taste of one... and it was heavenly.....
nicely baked, layered flaky texture, airy and slightly fatty...
I miss tat a lot.....

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After the High Street, we went to visit Tess' university, Northumbria University.

It has nicely-designed and modern building, very unlike those in NUS.
It is also rather spacious, also very unlike NUS.
The art students here studies arts like arts and music, very very much unlike NUS where FASS students study mostly social sciences instead of arts.
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At the end of the day she treat our last dinner in Newcastle in Nando's Restaurant.

Really Really Really Thank you very muchie!!!
You guys make my trip to UK unforgettable, especially when I have my Norway Trip to compare to.. haha

From left: Me, Hiong, Kane, Tess, May (Tess' sister)

Hope to see you all during Chinese New Year next year in Kuching. then we can go out lim teh again. =)
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One last look at the house that hosted us for 2 days..

One last look at the station that brought us here and took us away... ---------------------------------------------------------------

It was a long ride from Newcastle down to London.
Luckily there are power plug and wireless in the train.

*KTM, you should really learn from them... It's time u upgrade your lousy trains...

London! London! Here I COME!!
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More photos at http://watergan.multiply.com/photos/album/49#

UK Trip: Day 3-Edinburgh

6Apr (Monday):Newcastle->Edinburgh->Newcastle
Rise and Shine..
After breakfast, we wave good-bye to Guan, cos he is leaving early tonight, and we wun b back til 9-10pm tonight..
Chiong ARrr.. off we go to the train station, to take a train to Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland...
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It was a very packed day in Edinburgh, since we only made it a day trip.
Walking up from Princes Mall, we were greeted with many Gothic and Scottish Baronial buildings interspersed between building of modern and postmodern architecture..

Walking along the streets somehow give me a feeling of being in Gotham City...
Batman!
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Following the City Tour map, we depart from Princes Steet towards Regent, to visit Calton Hill and the 3 monuments on the hill.

On the left is the Nelson Monument. If you look carefully you can see a ball at the bottom of the cross. According to the guides, the ball will drop on ONE O'clock, together with the one o'clock gun in the Edinburgh Castle, everyday except Sunday. Too bad we went on a Sunday... -_-||| so no dropping of ball, no one o'clock gun for us..
On the right is the National Monument. It commemorates the Scottish soldiers who died during the Napoleonic Wars, but was never completed because the funds went out... -_-|||

From the Calton Hill, we can have a bird's eye view of the City of Edinburgh...
A very nice city, facing the sea and backed by the hill.
In chinese, we call this good Feng Shui, 背山面海.
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After Calton Hill, we continue our walk down Regent Hill, make a turn into Abbeyhill to visit the Palace of Holyrood House, the Scottish Parliament Building, Our Dynamic Earth and Arthur's Seat.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence in Scotland of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth of Scots, who spends time at the Palace at the beginning of the summer.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Holyrood_House)

Our Dynamic Earth is a Scottish science centre and prominent conference venue and visitor attraction located in Holyrood, Edinburgh,The building's structure consists of a steel mast-supported membrane stretched over a steel skeleton. (so biology... membrane, skeleton..)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Dynamic_Earth)

Well... we din visit both of them, cos firstly we are running short of time. and secondly & most importantly, we r running low on $...
so.. like 走马看花, we take a photo of the things around...and off we go to the Edinburgh Castle.

The Scottish Parliament Building. Looks like some contemporary art gallery to me.

Arthur's Seat. At the height of 251m, I'm sure it will provide us a panoramic view of Edinburgh. but since we had climbed Calton Hill. So.. no point going there again.

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We continue our walk along CanonGate, through High Street, snapping photos of the buildings, the streets and of course, the Scottish Bagpiper.

Snap! Snap! Snap! all the way to Castle Rock...
Edinburgh Castle, the main attraction for our Edinburgh Trip this time..

There really is a lot to see in the Castle, and I kinda regret that we dun have enuh time for all the exhibition rooms. There are displays on the Cannons, the One O'clock Gun, the Royal Regiments, the war years, the honorable soldiers, a War Memorial, a Dog Cemetery (yes a DOG cemetery), the Royal rooms, and the prisons...

Here, there is also a souvenir machine that allows you to press your penny into some souvenir design.
too bad Malaysia no longer releases 1 cent coins. if not I'm sure we can do that as well.

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We had dinner at a reasonably-priced (to South-East Asians) restaurant for some good Scottish Food.

Yummy...
and not to forget the Scottish Whiskey we bought

=)
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That ends our trip to Edinburgh. Finished dinner at around 7.40pm we ran to the train station to catch the 8.10pm train back to Newcastle, back to Tess' house for another night.
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More photos at http://watergan.multiply.com/photos/album/49#

UK Trip: Day 2-Manchester

5Apr (Saturday):Kastrup Airport (Copenhagen)->Manchester->Newcastle
RINGGGG!!!
My phone wakes me up at 7am from a very short sleep..
Even at 7am, I see a lot of people walking around, queuing to check-in at the airport.
Good thing that SAS uses self check-in machine, so I dun have to wait for the long queue.

In the check-in lounge, I continue my game of chess with Datuk Chow, until the airport ground staff shout across the lounge to me. 'EXCUSE ME, ARE YOU GOING TO MANCHESTER!'
I wake up to see an empty lounge, feel so paisei..

Manchester Airport

The flight to Manchester took 2 hours. My impression of England is that it really is very strict, especially towards Asians, or mayb i should say non-Europeans. The queue for them was 3 times the length of ours, yet they finish way faster than us.. there're even a few ppl who got hold back for who-knows-what reason.
After the custom check-point, I went to the Baggage Reclaim, to find that the conveyor belt has stopped moving, with our luggages on top of it. something I will never experience in Kuching Airport.
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I meet Yeng Guan, my old secondary school classmate at Manchester Piccadilly Station.
Man! it's been so long since I last see him.
Chon Hiong and Kane who arrived early than me was waiting for me in his car.

Good Old Greenians Reunion...
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We went to Old Trafford Stadium, The Theatre of Dreams, home to the Manchester United Football Club.
As a football idiot, I shall not say anything bout football here, and let Wikipedia do the explaining.
"Old Trafford has the largest capacity of any English football stadium at just over 76,000, and is the only UEFA 5-star rated facility in England. The ground has been the club's permanent residence since 1910, with the exception of an eight year absence from 1941 to 1949 following the bombing of the stadium in the Second World War."

From the outside, it dun look that big, but from the inside...
POOFF! look at the number of tiers of seats..

We had a tour around the Stadium, guided by a very enthu auntie but somehow I dun really get her jokes.

Greenians Reunion

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Next, Guan brought us to have a walk around the city, to the Square, the Library, the Chinatown, and finally.. to LUNCH.

Compared to the bread and ham and hotdog I had in my Norway Trip, this meal is heaven...

Thanks, Guan! for the treat!
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After that, OFF we go to Newcastle, to Tess' place for the night.

Along the way from Manchester to Newcastle

We stop by a Chinese eatery, to buy some chinese food.
Guess what we got..
CHAR SIU!!!!!
I have not eated that in 4 months!!!!
MAN! I'm gonna miss this place when I go back....

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Thanks, Guan
Thanks, Tess
for hosting us, and treating us to so many good meals.
Hope to meet ya all more, in Kuching, or in Singapore..
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More photos at http://watergan.multiply.com/photos/album/49#

UK Trip: Day 1-Where it all started..

It all started when Chon Hiong found that there is a promotion from Ryanair from Skavsta (Stockholm) to Stansted (London). Imagine only SEK1 for a trip, SEK2 for a round trip.
SO DAMN CHEAP!!!

Although there are some cock-ups, forcing me to abandon my plan to visit Bristol and Stonehenge, it didn't stop me from visiting UK.

4 Apr (Friday):Lund->Kastrup Airport (Copenhagen)
I took Swebus from Lund to Copenhagen Kastrup Airpot, changing at Malmö.
Talk about Swebus, it always give me a feeling that no chinese will wanna work or at least drive that 衰bus, but what to do, it is the cheapest mean of transport for me.
My flight from CPH to Manchester is on 5Apr 8 morning, but tat 衰bus doesn't have such an early service, so I have to there a night earlier, and 'camp' in the airport.
luckily I brought my laptop with me...

There goes my Day 1...
Stoning and watching movie in the airport...

KE.. I'll be back..

有酱多这样'active'的人申请，我这只快退休的老鸟竟然还会中Master's List。
看来我与KE的缘份未尽。
NUS, OSA未来的走向，好像已不再注重宿舍精神。
唉…

好了，Master's List 中了，但我还在KE的时间最多也只有这最后的一年。

但我会尽力的…
尽力影响身边的老人
尽力塑造新人对宿舍的热诚

Long Live KE!

"Ken Lee" by Mariah Carey?

-_-|||
At first I still thought it is some other foreign language that I dunno..
but it turn out to be ENGLISH!!!

OH MY GOD!!!

"Ken LEEE
Tulibu dibu douchoo"

*faint* 炸到...

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I Can't Live, by Mariah Carey (Original Lyrics)
No, I cant forget this evening
Or your face as you were leaving
But I guess thats just the way this story goes,
You always smile....
But in you eyes your sorrow shows
Yes it shows

No I cant forget tomorrow
When I think of all my sorrows
When I had you there but then I let you go
And now its only fair that I should let you know
What you should know

I cant live
If living is without you
I cant live
I cant give anymore
Cant live
If living is without you
cant give,
I cant give anymore

Well, I cant forget this evening
Or your face as you were leaving
But I guess thats just the way this story goes,
You always smile
But in you eyes your sorrow shows
Yes it shows

cant live
If living is without you
I cant live
I cant give anymore
Cant live
If living is without you
I cant live,
I cant give anymore

Ohhhhhh(No cant live)
No no no (No I cant live)
I cant live (No cant live)
If living is without (No I cant live)
I cant live (No cant live)
I cant give anymore (No I cant live)