A Very Enjoyable BUT Stressful Week (part 3)

Never thought I'll be able to write a triology of articles:P but this will be the last part of my travel log from Malaysia to Dubai to Manchester to Edinburgh. Read part 1 and part 2.

Friday 8th September 2006 (Manchester)

Woke up at 8.00am (GMT+1). Yup 48 hour non-stop action, supplemented by just 7 hours sleep. To be honest, I was pretty groggy for the next few days:P. Had breakfast and Jay brought me to my pilgrimage to Old Trafford (homeground for Manchester United, who just lost to Arsenal today in fact:P). Decided not to got for the silly stadium tour (£9.50) but will definitely go watch a match one day (Mr LC Lim, waiting for you). Some photos of Old Trafford:

Shawn forced to jalan around though he doesnt really fancy football:) He found the teddy more amusing than all the jerseys, I suppose:))

Very posh Megastore

Entrance to the entrance to the stadium:P

Then it was off to for some picnic lunch and golf at Jay's "home course":

St Andrews-ish building

Par-3 golf course

Posing sikit to "look" like a golfer. Can still get 2 pars and a few bogeys. Almost scored a birdie also. Golf is a game I have yet to master and probably never will.

Nice spot for a picnic lunch. Jay and Shawn, brothers from Kelantan. Guys who brought me to the dark side as well (world of Unix/Linux)

After golf, we went down to Manchester University where we visited a few places, one of them quite unexpected, Manchester Musuem. It's pretty nice actually

There's a botanical section with life animals in it:

Egyptian section with life mummies, erm, I mean real mummies. Lots of mummies, royalty, government officials, even child mummies, spooky.

Nice one was the pre-historic section, where they actually trace the mini-revolutions (sorry, to me, evolution is nothing but small revolutions initiated by the almighty God for His purposes and plans. Darwinism is as likely as 9 planets aligning themselves randomly so as to revolve around a particular star called the sun and out of these nine planets, it just so happens that the 3rd planet from the sun could support life in abundance) of earth. Do read "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. It's a really nice book that really tries to explain everything like the birth of the earth, all the pre-historic ages (Cambrian, Jurassic etc).

I sort of let myself indulged in a bit of B-grade Jurassic Park acting:)

Visited Manchester University's registry, which had a nice Mazda RX-8 parked there.

Visited Jay's office

Had some nice Arabic food for dinner. White Rice with stuffed chicken and lamb stew. Dessert in 2nd pic above. Forgot what it's called but it's really really sweet.

Went to kacau pigeons after dinner. My job is to feed them till they all start waddling all around on the pavement. Shawn's job? Need I say more?

Went home to play Texas Hold'Em poker again. Played till 1.00am again as well:)

Saturday 9th September 2006

Finally, time to go Edinburgh. Went with Shawn cause he needed to go back to pack and get ready for his job in Sungai Lembu (Oxford). Luckily got him around. Lots of luggage to carry. Kekeke. I helped him a week later to move also. Took the 11.00am train from Manchester to Edinburgh. Transit at a place called Lancaster. Interesting thing about the train ride was that the number of passengers were actually more than the number of seats available. So Shawn and I spent quite a considerable time standing or using my hard-case luggage as a seat. Not bad really.

The train station at Edinburgh is pretty modern:

But my God, the moment you walk out of the train station, you can never forget 2 things:

1. the freshness and coolness of the air you breathed in with your nose

2. the sharp, crisp and clear view you absorb in with your eyes

The combination of the two things really left a deep deep impression in me. Despite still tired, despite lugging lots of stuff, I still could feel this sense of joy and excitement. It's just so amazing. I mean just look at this:

Princes Street: the first street that greets you the moment you get out of the train station. The buildings all look rather old and quaint and yet so well maintained.

Then you can also see the Edinburgh castle from afar, up on a small hill. I dont really appreciate architectures and history but I could still sense the uniqueness and age of everything around me.

Just a stone's throw away from the station is a nice looking park. From the park, you can see this bridge called North Bridge. The Edinburgh Castle used to be surrounded by a moat for obvious security reasons. Now this moat has been converted into parks, residential areas and stations. The North Bridge goes over this former moat area.

Getting onto North Bridge, you can see spectular sights of Edinburgh city, left right centre.

Walk further and it's joined by South Bridge, the old part of Edinburgh city. I live further down this street, off a junction. With such sights, walking out really puts a smile on my face regardless of the weather. Really different from Malaysia.

From North Bridge, you can also catch a glimpse of the highest point in Edinburgh, Arthur's Seat, the knob at the middle and Salisbury Crags, the long sliced off hill, fronting Arthur's Seat. More stories about these 2 in the next article

I'm finally here. The experience is just so amazing. From Malaysia to Dubai to Manchester to Edinburgh. Miss home and all the warmth of family and good friends. Yet strangely, I'm really looking forward towards life here for the next few years.

What You Are and What You Become

Found this meaningful dictum:
"What you are is God’s gift to you; what you become is your gift to God."

Found it on an article on Maria Sharapova:)

How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria!

I know where I'll be this Christmas:) At London Palladium, watching Andrew Lloyd Webber's production of Sound of Music! Hopefully. Was at friend's place for dinner and saw this search for Maria on BBC. Just so happen, it was the final and the winner, Connie Fisher really looks like Julie Andrews in SoM. Must go watch! The fantastic YouTube already has most of the videos of the new Maria's performance. Best one was this one apparently:



And the winning performance, singing Lonely Goatherd live!! with all the yodeling as well...fantastic!

A Very Enjoyable BUT Stressful Week (part 2)

Ok, finally getting back to part 2 of my travel log. Part 1's here. Here goes:

Wednesday 6th September 2006

The day started bright and sunny (as usual) at 8.30am (GMT+8, timezone becomes important now). Kekeke. Apologies if the next few statements will sound a bit buaya. Breakfast was a bit special on my last morning in M'sia (for a while at least). First, Shell IT's Fair Lady, Ann passed by my house especially just to deliver dim sum for me:) So touched! Then, ahem, Shell's IT Miss Sunshine, Connie also dropped by to have McDonald's breakfast as well. For awhile, I felt like the luckiest guy in the world and to be honest, I might not be that far off the mark. Btw, the titles were given during Shell IT's annual dinner and these two ladies who won were nominated none other than me:P Need I repeat that I have pretty good taste:P I was so full that I didnt need to take lunch:P (David, LC, Ann and PP, now you all know la:P these were my lunch kakis for the day)

Hai, budak ni, ambil gambar tapi pakai seluar pendek:P Which was actually quite good because that's the last time I got to wear shorts and go out to anywhere. Doing that in Edinburgh is almost suicide. Even wearing slippers out is semi-suicide:))

After that, it was off to settle some nitty gritty stuff like exchanging currency and cut my hair (simple hair cut in Edinburgh costs at least £5 and that's student price). I also got worried that my luggage's weight was gonna go way beyond the 20kg they've given me. So I called Emirates and asked if they can give the extra 10kg which I can be entitled to as a student. Well, I rushed to KL to submit a letter to the manager (why last minute? My fault, too lazy before this..now I bore the consequences. It was also because I was receiving more and more nice gifts from people that I have to bring over. One can never be over-blessed:)). Manager was on leave. So couldnt get the confirmation. Lady there told just go earlier and hope for the best. I prayed really hard that all will be ok.

Though it was my mistake, guess what happened at the airport? When I reached the check-in counter, I found out that every passenger gets 30kg for luggage, regardless if they're student or not. Praise the Lord! What a relieve for me. Guess how much luggage I brought. 31kg:P I also had a hand-carried luggage, which was at first 2kg overweight (max is 7kg). Took out some stuff to reduce to 8kg. Because I checked in online earlier, I could queue at the business class counter. The lady at the counter was very friendly and helpful. So, tips for future travelers:

1. Fly Emirates (cheaper tickets, more luggage, good airplanes)
2. Check in online earlier (12 hours before is the earliest). You can set the seats you want (just like booking tickets for a show in cinema. Almost same system as TGV it seems:P) and you can get your boarding pass at the business class counter.

Of course before I reached the airport, I did the following:

Cleaned my room. Aircon still on sale for RM300 excluding de-installation. Room for rent as well. RM175 exclude electricity and water bills. Internet ready (got cable sambung masuk bilik). Exquisitely furnished (some place for you to hang clothes). Secure (Window got grill, door got lock). Good deal right?

Repacked all my stuff as well. Thanks my mum, aunt and sister, it was easier as they were more super-organized than me:P

Had dinner after that with my family and colleagues at my favourite chinese restaurant in Taman U:

Then it was off to the airport to do the usual stuff. I've sent so many people off that everything became so well-rehearsed:):

Check-in

Take a nice family photo:) Aunt, sis, dad and mum

Farewell card from some crazy folks in Shell. Of course, when you have to wait 2 hours for a friend to board a plane, you do have too much free time:
What the Luck??!!!

Some McDonalds moments

Some last minute photos before boarding:
Family, friends, complete set of memories

And some funny videos, so bored that we did some silly interview sessions (in mandarin and hokkien)

And I'm finally off. I treasured every step I took from the check-in counter to the boarding gate to the plane cause each step is the culmination of many many prayers from many many people for me. Of course before I got on the plane, got a bit of scare cause I accidentally put a scissors in my hand luggage. Created a small commotion at the scanning machine before entering the boarding gate:P Thanks goodness this is KLIA not Los Angeles International Airport.

Thursday 10th September 2006 (sort of)
Erm this is when it gets a bit confusing. Boarded the plane (Airbus A330). Plane was quite small, seats were pretty cramped. Thank God it was just a 6 hour flight. Slept a bit. Effects of the past few days of hectic schedule started to kick in. But in no time I landed in Dubai at 4.30 am (GMT+4). As expected, loads of sand everywhere:P I didnt go out of Dubai International Airport. Took a nap, which made things a bit better. Then started to jalan a bit around the airport:

Very modern-looking airport. Clean, professional.

The duty-free shopping area is like the size of a Tesco.

The airport offers a Luxury Car Lucky Draw all the time with different cars on offer. This time around, it's a new 2006 Mercedes S-Class. Sleek.

Smokers' area. Quite sad:P

Aaah...some sense of familiarity at last:)

The boarding area for each gate. Very comfortable chairs. Lots and lots of people just sleeping on the chair or even on the ground. Dubai airport is very busy indeed. I think it's a transit area for flights between Europe, Asia and Africa. Heard a lot of frantic last calls for boarding on the PA system for Mr Unga-unga flying Ethopian Airlines. Then it's Mr Wasoako! for Ethopian Airlines (again). Then it's Madam Dhu!riya for, you guessed it, Ethopian Airlines.

Finally it was my turn to board at 7.50am (GMT+4). This time around, the plane was a Boeing 777 and boy what a difference from the smaller Airbus A330. Seats were comfortable, more legroom and check this out, on-demand music, movies and TV programs. I wanted to sleep in during the 2nd flight so that I'll reach Manchester feeling fresh. I didnt do that. Instead I watched 3 movies in a row (Lucky Number Slevin (fantastic show, typical cool Bruce Willis genre), Fun with Dick and Jane, and Cassanova) and listened to 3/4 of a movie soundtrack (My Fair Lady's broadway version with Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison in it). Meals were good as well. They also now put cameras at the bottom and front of the plane. So when it lands, you can actually see what's going on. Pretty cool.

After a very quick 71/2 hours (where did all the time go?), I reached Manchester. Getting off was a breeze. No customs check. Just needed to wait 10 minutes for my luggage to come out. It should be way better than Heathrow. Quite a number of students in Edinburgh who took British Airways and transit at Heathrow towards Edinburgh lost their luggage. So it was good that Jay Sean and Ann Jee (husband and wife) is in Manchester.

First evening in Manchester and I had the pleasure of learning cooking from Jay, Shawn and Ann Jee. 30-minutes instant class:

Pasta with tomato-based sauce (sausages, onions, tomato). Some ready-made baked potatoes and Venetta ice-cream for dessert. Sorry, ini bukan professional cooking blog, want more details go here:P

After dinner, we played 5 hours of Texas Hold'Em poker. Dam addictive game. Nice for the coming winter days.

Then it was finally off to bed. Time was 1:00am GMT+1 Friday 11th September. Malaysian time ? Friday 8.00am. Just realised I have not had proper sleep for 48 hours. No wonder I had no problems adjusting the local time in UK. My body was so exhausted that it would accept any timezone as long as it could get some sleep. Another tip for travellers. If you wanna adjust to the local time fast, just dont sleep from the moment you start traveling to the night of your destination. Guaranteed to work.

Part 3: Manchester to Edinburgh:P

Maria, You're So Pretty

Spot the Difference

Taking a break from my travel log to post these photos:P It's courtesy of Handsome Devil, Lim Leng Chye: