Holiday Part III: Newcastle - Durham

Day 8:

We escape Edinburgh and make our way to our Major Destination – London, but before that, we decided to stop over at Newcastle to make a little detour to Durham.

It is Cui’s belief that every backpacker on their maiden journey should take a photo like that – to prove that they were indeed backpacking, to look back and remember that they were once young and silly adventurous, so that others can look at the photo and imagine them with a beer-belly (predominantly for the males) or pregnant (females, obviously). Whatever…

Interesting sculpture along the street…

Further evidence that we were REALLY in Newcastle...

Why, oh, why do we have people running in the background?!


Nice architecture in Newcastle!

And ahem, because it’s Newcastle that we were at, right… Newcastle. Let me repeat so that the implications for all the football mad people out there sink in. Newcastle. I was bestowed some classic one-liners:

1) We’re breathing in the same air as him, you know?

2) I’m going to look into every car as they drive pass, it might be him inside!

3) I’m actually at the train station where he takes the train!

One nice request later (favour = must be nice), I loaned my camera to her… The result?

*exasperated shrug*

After a construction crane came and finally lifted us out of Newcastle, we arrived in Durham to meet up with CJ (to refresh your memory of who he is, click here) who had agreed (after threats of violence) to put us up for a night. We had a pleasant Italian (on hindsight, Italian…haha) dinner. Matthew (who I will introduce later on) was supposed to join us but was not informed of the “gathering”. Because the arrangements were left to CJ. Naturally.

But I won’t go on about the multitude of ways that CJ failed us because he gave up his bed and spent a sleepless night in the lounge downstairs, keeping busy by studying and shivering.

Day 9:

Had breakfast and went for a long walk at the Cathedral. I saw loads more compared to the first time I was there…

A group photo later, we depart for London!

Thanx CJ! :)

On the train to London…

News Flash!

Apologies for interrupting the stream of steadily decreasing flow of posts but this is really quite unusual news. I promise, promise, promise that in my next post, I would resume the story-telling of my trip. But for now...

In today's Evening Express:

Tributes paid to 'quiet' family man Frank, 61

Body was found on river bank

-Moreen Simpson-

Tributes have been paid to 61-year-old Frank Innes who was found dead after going missing from his Bieldside home.

A massive air and ground search was called off after his body was discovered on the banks of the River Dee.

The grandfather left his home around 3:30am dressed only in pyjamas and barefoot.

His wife Valerie raised the alarm and police, RAF and Coastguards scoured the area from Bieldside to Bridge of Dee for more than three hours. A member of the public found the body on the edge of the Robert Gordon University campus yesterday.

Shocked neighbours in Earlspark - Crescent spoke of their sadness and sympathy for the family.

One said: "Frank was a very quiet, family-orientated man. I would never have expected anything like this to happen. I saw him on Sunday morning washing his car and he seemed his usual self. He loved spending time with his grandchildren. When I heard the helicopters I'd no idea what was happening. When I was told they were searching for Frank I was stunned. My heart goes out to Valerie and the family."

The search involved coastguard teams from Aberdeen, Portlethen and Stonehaven who searched the eight miles of river bank between Maryculter and Bridge of Dee.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution's all-weather boat and inshore lifeboat and the RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team were also involved.

------------------------------

Shocking! Steph, Julia and Elli all heard the helicopters because "it was very loud" and "they were practically on top of us". So it's very shocking that I managed to sleep through it... But then again, I've been up to all hours - read: 6am - working on my essays.

The news did creep me out a bit though... I'm not totally morbid, ya know? Yes, even though it was my childhood ambition to be a forensic pathologist, "Simpson's Forensic Medicine" is on my shelf for my leisure reading and I've spent a lot of Friday nights watching "The FBI files" and "The New Detectives" to catch scenes of gruesome crimes.

But still... my point is, I was creeped out. Do you know how freaking close that river is to my accommodation?! 2 mins walk away? I walk past it every time I go to Uni! My flatmates love taking walks along that river (I don't go on walks often but even then, I've walked along that path a couple of times).

I keep thinking it could have been any one of us that found the body...

Taking A Break From Blogging About My Break

Loading up all those photos of my 2-week break was starting to grate on my nerves, especially after my internet connection failed at the critical moment when I was trying to publish the post yesterday.

I was pretty sure the computer sniggered while it gleefully told me that there was no connection detected and when I clicked on "back", I was greeted with a b-l-a-n-k post. With that one operation, it managed to effectively convey the message that it didn't give two hoots that I spent 2 hours lovingly conceptualizing, writing and then formatting the entry.

I am convinced my computer hates me but I would like to officially state for the record (if someone is indeed recording) that the feeling is mutual. The fact that it is still working today attests my non-violent nature.

So I'm taking a break from blogging about my holiday.

This entry is targetted at fellow OTs...

I often think it would be nice to read unedited/uncensored/un-peer-reviewed OT's opinions and experiences so it was nice to discover a blog just like that! It's one that's written by an OT in the States and as far as I can tell, his entries are mainly related to 2 areas: paediatrics and occupational science.

I'm not particularly big on either paediatrics or occupational science but I like it that he shares vignettes and his opinion on certain topics (references included for some entries). He also includes clinical case studies which is great for me because I'm fascinated with the idea of gaining insight into someone else's clinical reasoning.

It's exactly the kind of entries I want to be writing (although not all the time for the entire blog) when I get some time on my hands i.e when I finally leave all these essays and deadlines behind... But until then, I'm perfectly happy reading someone else's take on the current issues in OT.

** One last utterly pointless observation: His blog template is exactly the same as mine except that mine is pink and his is blue. Like... Wow!

Holiday Part II: Edinburgh

Day 7:

Started the day early by getting up at 5am in order to catch the 6:30am bus to Edinburgh.

We had to leave so early in order to arrive in Edinburgh before 11am
to watch their annual "Kilt Walk"!

In case it's still not obvious, we were intriuged more by the "kilts" (ahem, and the people wearing it) and less by the "walk". In fact, we didn't even bother to catch up with the walk. We simply leisurely made our way to the end-point and waited for the "walkers" to arrive.

In the meantime, there was a band playing the bagpipes and traditional scottish music so there we sat listening to their music while waiting...

Personal comment: Seeing large numbers of Scots in their kilts is truly a sight to behold. If your impression of Scots in kilts = men in skirts = some girly connotation, you are so so wrong. They wear it with pride and...

They look as manly as any other guy wearing trousers, maybe even more so.

- - - * - - -

After the kilt walk, we made our way to the Edinburgh Castle. The owner of our hostel told us that this was one of two days in each year that visitors were given free admission to the castle. Admission is usually £9.80. Yipee! Lucky us!

Spent practically half the afternoon there walking the castle grounds and visiting the various exhibitions that were impossible to complete viewing in a day...

At the end, we even spent half an hour queuing
to get a glimpse of the Crown Jewels...

Queuing...

A familiar pastime...

- - - * - - -

Next stop was a kindda factory - kindda tourist-y shop cum exhibition.

First the tartan must be woven...

Next, select a tartan based on the clan you belong to...

Or, if you're not Scottish, just chose a design you like...

... and you're ready to have your own tartan

socks,

scarf,

kilt,

and tie!

- - - * - - -

Julia happened to have friends visiting her from Germany and they were in Edinburgh the same day too! So we arranged to meet up. In a pub. For a couple of drinks.

Actually, we each had only 1 drink...

- - - * - - -

End of day and time to go back to the hostel... Speaking of hostels, Cui and I rated our hostels at the end of the whole trip and we both agreed that the hostel in Glasgow was the best (I imagine it's almost impossible to beat that kindda value for money) while our hostel in Edinburgh was the worst...

6 beds haphazardly placed in a small room.

We shared the room with 2 Polish guys,

and a South African couple.

Cui was very disturbed by the underwear

that one of the guys hung in the middle of the room to dry...

The toilets were very cramped...
(even for petite little me!)

and was covered from floor to ceiling (door included)

with horrendous monkey wallpaper!

I would be sitting on the toilet and be

face-to-face with this huge gorilla.

A real pleasure...

The bathroom was not attractive enough to

entice us to take showers so we decided

to hold out till the next day...

Our male South African room-mate deserves a mention... While his girlfriend walked around looking permanently grumpy, he walked around in a perpetual state of cheeriness and was rather sociable throughout (we actually think he is the cause of his gf's grumpiness).

When we entered the room to sleep, we found him concentrating hard blowing into this long metal tube that was mostly straight except for a curve at the bottom. While it was obvious that he was trying to make "music", his "instrument" was a total mystery to us. So we asked. And we were told that the metal tube was a part of a vacuum cleaner. (u know the metal tube you hold while vacuuming?) *speechless*

And he was serious! He would huff and he would puff into the metal tube (I don't even know what the proper name is, if it does have a proper name in the first place), then take a couple of sips from the bottle of wine next to him, then continue huffing and puffing into the metal tube... Apparently he practised every night! It was a real toss up between feeling annoyed - because it was so damn noisy and we couldn't sleep, and wanting to laugh - because the noise he produced was so perculiar. His girlfriend slept with ear plugs, she was evidently used to his eccentricities...

It made me think... WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE I'M SHARING THE ROOM WITH?!!

- - - * - - -

Part II of the where-I-come-from game:

After a short conversation about what I'm studying...

Hostel owner: So which part of Glasgow are you from?

Me: I'm not from Glasgow. I'm not even Scottish.

Hostel owner: Really? If I spoke to you on the phone, I would be completely sure you were from Glasgow.

Me: No... I'm Singaporean. Really.

Hostel owner: So why do you sound Glaswegian?

Me: Maybe because I worked in Glasgow for a while... and I've been spending too much time with Glaswegian friends.

Hostel owner: Ah ok... yes, the Glaswegian accent is quite sing-song and easy to pick up...

Current score:
China: 1
Scotland: 1
Singapore: 0

I'm Asian, But...

Following my previous post, I remembered a conversation I had with someone while waiting for the lift at the hostel in Glasgow.

Man (from can't-remember-where): Hi, are you from China?

Me: *trying very hard to stop myself from rolling my eyes* No.

Man: Oh, where are you from then?

Me: Singapore *wan smile*

Man: Oh ok, I thought you were from China. Are you here alone?

Me: Nono... I'm here with friends.

Man: I see... I really like the Asian eyes. You know, slitty eyes? *tugs at the corner of his eyes*

Thankfully, the lift chose to come at that moment and fortunately he was going downstairs while I needed to go upstairs. God only knows where the conversation was proceeding...

I'm Asian, but I really don't think I've got slitty eyes.

Nor do I think it's a compliment to say I've got slitty eyes.

Holiday Part I

After an incredibly hectic 2 weeks, I'm back. Back in Aberdeen, back to Uni, back to assignments and back to blogging. I was away on holiday! I thought that much was clear from my last post but people kept asking me why I've stopped blogging. I've not stopped. I merely took a break.

Cui, my absolute best-est friend, came over for 2 weeks (she says it's to tour UK, I say she misses me!). Our friendship is one of those that does not require much time and contact (how lucky!). We're perfectly happy to meet up once a month and we rarely chat on the phone. Online chatting is kindda out as well because she's slightly techno-phobic (and now, I will get whacked for revealing that). But after 6 months, I was really glad to see her!

It's a little bit scary after a while though... We're pretty similar and after about 3 days (time taken to re-adjust to each other), we started saying the same things at the same time... started to complete each other's sentences... instinctively understand a glance or a look... anticipate each other's response... so much so that Steph said we were like "twins". And when we started "bickering" (I prefer the word "debating", actually) over small little things, Steph said we were behaving like "an old couple". Hahaha...

Anyway, she brought MORE FOOD for me!!! I've now got Khong Guan Lemon Puffs. How Singaporean is that?! Khong Guan leh... The last time I had Khong Guan biscuits (affectionately known as KGB) must have been 2 years ago during National Day rehearsals? More "oh-my-goodness" than the KGB is this small container of greenish paste... KAYA! Unbelievable!!! But yes, very much appreciated. =)

The next few blog posts will be on various stages of our "backpacking adventure" (I really never thought I would be a backpacker. Ever. Oh well, the mysteries of life). It will start sounding a bit like a travelogue but more than just describing the places, I will tell you about the ups and the downs (it's not all glamourous) of the trip, the people we met - some strange, some really nice *wink* and all (ok, maybe not all - some are not suitable to be told here) the fun we had!

Day 1:
Cui arrives in Aberdeen. I meet her practically as soon as she gets off the plane. It's such a small airport and there's really no "arrival" or "departure" hall etc and as soon as she gets her luggage, we sneak off. Sneaking is compulsory because the customs officers like to pick on Asians and at that point of time, I had no idea what contraband she brought in. I vaguely remember her talking about a pandan cake...

Spent the day unpacking and orientating her to my hostel. Ended the day with dinner with all my flatmates (she's very lucky because we're hardly all here at the same time!). It felt very strange to have an extra person in my room - I kindly told her that she takes up space, she very unkindly glared at me. Heh...

Day 2:
Gave Cui a map of Aberdeen and told her where the main shopping area was. Left her to her own devices for the rest of the day while I attended class (classes that were re-scheduled due to snow 2 weeks ago). Pretty much left her alone the whole day and whole night as I was rushing my assignment that was still not completed!

Day 3:
Travelling begins! Went to Glasgow on megabus...

Adventure began almost immediately as we realised on the way to the bus station that we forgot the bus ticket! Classic mistake! Equivalent to forgetting passport/air ticket! Panicked for a while, took 5 mins to get our act together, alighted from the bus we were on, waited for a bus to get back to the hostel, panicked some more when the bus took ages to come, arrived at hostel, grabbed tickets, took bus back to bus station again, arrived with 5 mins to spare.

The bus was late in setting off... but for once, we didn't complain and we were glad that the bus was running behind schedule.

Travelling on a budget.

3 hr 15min journey on megabus = £1

vs

2hr 45min journey on train = about £20

Arrived at the hostel that Steph has kindly booked for both of us. Steph and her friend, Keith, arrived later in the evening (they were there on a school trip). Steph's another careless one! She booked train tickets for the WRONG DAY!! Haha... Amazingly, she worked her charm and was allowed onto the train...

Our hostel...

Pretty impressive.

4 to a room.

Inclusive of linen, soap, lockers, en-suite shower and toilet.

And inclusive of breakfast.

£1 per person per night.

*Thanks Steph for sussing out this promo.*

Keith decided he needed some exercise...

And so he began performing...

As per animal-training protocol in the circus,

performers must be rewarded after a good session.

Banana for you, Keith!

Day 4:

Breakfast!

Continental spread.

2 types of cereal, 3 types of fruit juices, 2 types of yoghurts,

toast with butter and jam, coffee and tea.

Spent the morning visiting museums and galleries. I loved it. Cui was bored to tears. *I said we were pretty similar, I didn't say we were photocopies of each other*

My favourite art piece in the gallery!

KNITTED CACTUS!

I have no idea how the artist meant for it to be interpreted

but I enjoyed the irony of such a hard, prickly plant

being made with such soft cuddly material.

I went on to visit another museum (in the countryside! Had to take a bus and then walk half an hour from the bus stop!) in the afternoon while Cui stayed in the city to do some shopping. Took loads of pictures in the museum but my favourite photo is one that was taken outside the museum, when I was trekking back out to the bus stop again... I stopped for about 10mins just to enjoy the countryside *I think I really love the countryside! I'm remembering how much I enjoyed living next to the cows while I was on placement*.

It's spring (albeit a gloomy spring day)

and the daffodils were in bloom!

There was silence all around...

The road and the cars were far away...

Can you feel the serenity?

Had dinner in a Chinese restaurant. £10 for a set dinner. I had lemon chicken and yes, S$30 for lemon chicken is quite duh but hey, I haven't had a chinese dinner here for a long time... Cui obviously didn't enjoy the dinner as much as the 3 of us did... She remembers that as "the stupid Chinese dinner". Oh yah! Another good thing about eating in Chinese restaurants here is I get to practise speaking Cantonese! Spoke to my Grandma that day via Skype and she says my Cantonese going down the drain, need more practise. I'm perfectly happy to keep doing that at Chinese restaurants.

Keith learning to use chopsticks.

First time and doing it so well already!

He wasn't really sure what to do with the chopsticks,
the plate, the tea etc etc so he just watched
very carefully what Cui and I did and just followed.

Very clever!

Day 5:

Went on a guided tour around the City Chambers in Glasgow. Posh government office...

We were half-listening to the guided tour

and half-busy trying to discuss how our

future homes were going to be decorated.

100% marble stairs and pillars...

Gold-leaf surfaces...

I think there is a fine line between classy and vulgar.

The chambers balanced that really well and was

Posh, posh, posh!

Left Glasgow in the afternoon and arrived back in Aberdeen in the evening. Scrambled to the supermarket to buy some fresh food to cook dinner... Satisfied our grumbling stomachs with a simple home-cooked meal and promptly fell into bed. *Thanks Elli for lending us the extra bed!*

Day 6:

Slacked around Aberdeen - went to tour the beach but it wasn't Aberdeen at its best. Wet, gloomy day... At least it wasn't snowing. Rested and packed for the next leg of our adventure!

Told you she misses me!

She practically jumped on me and squashed me!