They should have left me in London...

Gosh! It has been some time since i blogged. Hmmm. I guess I'll post my journal during the UK trip. It had been great! Loved it, had fun and I guess made new friends? =) I've posted some pictures of the trip and of course SOME of my shopping items. Hmm... I can't seem to get it on the blog. I'll post them another time then!

31st May 2006
I’m half way round the world (not really) blogging on the bus in the streets of London, with Haoren next to me. We just had a very long flight. 24 hours above the ground. Let’s see. We started off in Singapore, then we went to Brunei where we transited for about 4 hours, then it was to Dubai and finally we touched down at Heathrow. It was a relatively good flight, except that I found the seats a little too tight for my liking. It caused me to get up a few times cos I hit my ass on the arm rest when I was sleeping. Nevertheless, it was a fun time on board. We kept taking pictures throughout the flight. I hope we didn’t irritate any of the other passengers! Haha!

It’s a different feeling each time you touch down in London. In the last couple of times, I was with Mom and Dad where he had business conferences to attend. So Mom and I were just shopping and eating all day long. However, this time is a totally different feeling. I’m with a bunch of good friends and teachers where we are going to explore and learn about the economy of UK and of course, the geography of this wonderful land. The weather now is about 5 degree Celsius. I’m absolutely loving it. But I’m not sure whether I’ll be saying the same thing a few days from now. Haha!

Anyway, we are now on our way to Old Trafford right now. Yeah! I’m so looking forward to this. It’s definitely a dream come true for any Manchester United fan, like me! We’re taking the highway there, not sure which one is it, but the scenery is just fabulous - the lush green scenery, to the houses that look so cozy in this weather.

Here’s out itinerary for the day. As I’ve mentioned, it’s to Old Trafford first and then we’ll be heading to Lake District and check in to Ambleside YHA. I guess I’ll blog again later. We gonna play some games on the way to Manchester. See ya!
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Yup! So we are no on the way to Lake District. We are supposed to visit Rydal Mount. I hope it won’t be closed once we get there. It seems that we are now behind schedule.

The visit to Old Trafford (aka sacred ground) was fantastically wonderful. You just get a sense of bliss, especially it’s one day after the huge pre- World Cup friendly between England and Hungary (where England won 3-1). The stadium was decked in English colours, and the pitch looked so nice to roll on. Unfortunately, we were only confined to the North Stand. Nevertheless, it’s good enough for any Manchester United fan.

We then had to run to the other side of the stadium to the mega store. There are so many designs of jerseys to be bought there. I had wanted to get one for myself, Andy and Mr Chen. But after looking at the price tag, I changed my mind. I got myself a flag and the two of them alcohol shots glasses. Those were actually pretty cool in my opinion. But I don’t drink hard liquor (Haoren says drink Ribena shots! Or Qoo!), so no point getting that anyway.
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It’s about 9.30pm here at Ambleside YHA. Unfortunately, there is no internet connection here, so I’ll probably have to post this when I’m back in London or something. The sun is still shinning brightly outside the window. The lake looks so peaceful, that you just want to go for a swim or take a boat out in it. Lights out is at 10.30pm, so nope, no chance of getting out now.

After dinner, we had a very long walk round the shopping district of this town. We walked past houses that had very nice gardens. How I wish my garden can look like that too! But nah! It’s pretty impossible, as firstly, we can’t have such nice flowers back in Singapore. They were so colourful and bright. Just one look at it just makes you wanna smile even though you may have been dissed. Heck!

We’ll be having a full day trip to Lake District tomorrow, and have a picnic lunch at one of the hills. Then at about 4pm, we may be heading to Rydal Mount, which we weren’t able to today.

Ambleside Youth Hostel is actually pretty cozy. But I still miss my days at Homebush Bay. I miss the dorms, especially the toilets where the showers and toilets are all in the same room. Don’t get me wrong here. It’s not that I’m complaining about the conditions that we’re having right now, in fact, I’m thankful for we may have a worst place compared to this!

Okies, I guess I’ll proceed on to my readings now before heading to bed. It’s gonna be a long long day tomorrow, and I hope everything will turn out fine *fingers crossed*

1st June 2006
As you can see, there is some time lag since the last time I blogged. Here’s what happened yesterday. We were having a full day tutorial at Lake District yesterday. It was a breathtaking experience. Our group (Mark, Ren, Jeremy, Touty and myself) were busy measuring things like the channel width, the velocity of the river and how fast a dog biscuit took to move from one end to the other. The water was freexing cold, and we had to bear with the terrible temperatures will our feet went numb! However, I thought it was a really good experience – fun, interesting and great bonding.

We had lunch right beside the lake where the scenery was comforting. After that, we took a hike up one of the hills. It was very steep. Ms Lee would be proud. We were still doing PE even though it was the holidays. I think that hike made us very fit after that. Haha! I must admit that even though the hike wasn’t as arduous as the mountains in China, but it still beats those hands down. Why? It’s the scenery. In china, you get those that are mountainous cliffs, but here, there are grass patches everywhere. If you look at it at a snail’s eye view, you just feel want to roll down these hills...

Next up was William Worthsworth’s Rydal Mount. The poet lived here for 30 years. The house it’s a little cozy. Jeremy and Ahmad had a little ‘experience’ in one of the daughter’s room. Although I didn’t feel it as much as them, I did felt as thought someone was still there. The garden was beautiful. There were pretty flowers everywhere. We took a little walk around it, including past the summer house where he supposedly wrote his poems. I can really understand why we, the people living in the equatorial regions can never come up with anything creative.

2nd June 2006
We started off today pretty early as we had half a day of the Woodland Module. We met Jocelyn and another guide, Paula, at one of the car parks and we wasted no time in getting started. First up were the measurements of the oak trees. It was pretty interesting, especially when we had to do something like the Biology students did while in Tioman. The exercise gave us a pretty clear idea of the species that we living in the oak trees environment. In fact, according to Jocelyn, there are 274 species! That’s definitely a whole lot of them! Jeremy even found slugs living on one of the collapsed branches. Jocelyn also added that this shows that the woodland has been here since the 16th century or was in 16 BC? I can’t really remember, sorry to say.

Next up was the Lake Windermere Cruises, which I didn’t really found really exhilarating. I had wished it to be faster so that I can feel the wind in my face and enjoy the wonderful scenery at the same time. It is no doubt that the green pastures were pleasing to the eye. We took the cruise to Bowness, where Steve then picked us up. Bowness is a very different town compared to Windermere. It gave me an impression that Bowness is more of an upper class neighbourhood. The buildings are more contemporary, but I kind of like the nostalgic feeling that Windermere carries with it.

And we were off to visit the Bronte Parsonage. The journey there was pretty long. And along the way there, I realized something of significance importance to the difference in lifestyle in Singapore and in UK. Along the way, where we were pasting moorlands, Steve stopped to let us see 2 horse carriages past us, causing a hold up in traffic for one or 2 minutes. However, even though of the hold up, the cars behind did not horn and rushed us to move forward. Instead, they just waited patiently for the traffic to move on again. At another instance on the way to the Bronte village where the roads were really narrow and Steve had a hard time navigating the huge bus. I’m sure he was causing some inconvenience to some of the others cars as well. However, they cooperated and gave way to each other. In contrast, if any of these situations happened in Singapore, there will definitely be a loud sounding of the horn.

When we arrived at the Bronte Parsonage, the museum was already closed, so we could only wonder around the village. Honestly, I would have loved to visit the museum and learn more about how the depressing stories that the Bronte sisters came up with in that kind of environment, especially with their bedrooms facing the cemetery. The village is preserved of its original scene as pictured during the Bronte sisters’ time – cobblestone roads and the candy store that we used to picture in our Enid Blyton story books. There was even a lace shop where everything was so pretty and beautiful. I got myself a lace fan. I don’t know what possessed me to do that, but Mdm Mas said that I could use it for my wedding, to which Jeremy laughed at the idea of it. Come to think of it, I should have gotten something for Mom and Auntie Farita as well since both women love lace like me. Meanwhile, Jeremy got himself a leather jacket at one of the second hand shop. It was really nice and worth it especially when it only cost 15 pounds!

Dinner at Haworth Old House was a very cozy affair. We had a corner of the restaurant to ourselves. The food was not too bad, but definitely more appetizing compared to the Youth Hostel. Well, duh! There’s a difference in price too. I was really happy when the soup was vegetable soup. My favourite!

Right now we are staying at Travelodge Manchester Airport. We are all tired and we gotta get up early tomorrow morning. It’s gonna be another long day tomorrow. Day 4 just passed. I may not look as though I’m enjoying it, but I’m definitely loving every moment of it.

3rd June 2006
It started off as a gloomy morning for me. I get cranky in the mornings and today was no exception. I guess why it was so bad this morning was the fact that I got sick with some people who keeps complaining. I know I’m no exception, but I know there’s a limit, I think.

So we were off to Ironbridge right after breakfast. This is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Of course, the iconic symbol of this place was none other than the Iron Bridge itself. It was the first in the world. The place used to depend on the different industries for their revenue. However, right now, it depends on tourism with the various museums for visitors to learn more about the industrial revolution.

First up, we went to the Victorian Town museum. This was not the typical kind of museums where we just had to walk around and look at the artifact. This was way cooler. This museum is an open air one. As the name goes, it is really a Victorian town. The shops, the streets, the air, the houses and the people! Those people ‘living’ in there were acting out how each day in the Victorian town goes, at the same time, telling you more about it. There was the chemist, where I found out that they too used Vaselin and Zam Buk then! And there was the candy shop, the inn, the butcher, the baker’s, and the list goes on! When we went into the printer’s, the owner was teaching us how to print stuff. Indeed, it took a very long time and a lot of work just to get a couple of printing done. Imagine printing our Geography ‘man-killers’. It would take probably a few years! The owner also made an offer to Ahmad by asking him to be an apprentice and working for a pound a week, with free lodging and food! Haha! Jeremy, Haoren and I then went to the photographer’s. We took pictures wearing Victorian costumes. How I wished that I had taken out my lace fan that I had bought yesterday. It would have really gone nice with the dress.

After a really fun and enriching experience at the Victorian town museum, we were off to the Jackfield Tile Museum. Somehow, after the high that we had when we were at the previous museum, this doesn’t seem that interesting. So the 3 of us just hung around the shop where there were displays of tile designs. I really liked to one where a dog was lying down with his eyes looking at me. It is as though it was Ralph at the pet shop saying ‘Get me! Get me!’ But Jeremy and I made a pack that we should not buy anything here, for we had done too much spending at the Victorian town museum. So we ended up taking pictures in the shop. Touty was my dear photographer this time round. I was like an idiot posing around with lazy shots, and seductive shots, which brings me to another embarrassing situation. I was posing at the counter when one of the person-in-charge of the shop wanted to pass. But she caught us taking pictures, so stopped. Haoren, who was at the side, said that when she did that, she looked at me and started blushing. I wonder why. But I had a nightmare on the incident that night. It wasn’t exactly the same one, but somewhat along the same line.

We then visited the Iron Bridge where we were all awed at its majesty. Haoren and Mdm Mas then got musical carousels from this shop. They were imported from the Netherlands. I had wanted to get one for myself too. But I had to control as we are going to London soon, and I’m hoping that I can find my tennis shoes there.

Dinner time! We enjoyed our dinner at this jazz bar called the Malthouse. There was this tall and handsome waiter there. But, he had shaggy hair. Heck! I can cut it for him! Haha! Gosh! He was cute! Too bad, he didn’t really serve us that much. Moreover, Ricca said that he might be gay considering the fact that he worked in a place that had so many erotic pictures on the wall. Why! I hope he’s not! Or else, I’m screwed! I’ll never get married and be a tai-tai at the rate that I’m going!

4th June 2006
At the crack of dawn, we proceeded to Strafford upon Avon to visit the birthplace of the one and only William Shakespeare. This place is so commercialized now. There are like a souvenir shop every 10 steps. Compared to the Bronte Parsonage, i prefer the Bronte village a whole lot more. At least the essence and the sprit is still there, unlike in Strafford. We had a walk round the whole town and visited Avon, the church where he was buried in, and the Swan theatre. And then, we were off to London! Shopping - here I come!

The hotel that we are staying in is marvelous! It’s called the Ramada Hotel and Suites. It is located at the Docklands and right next to the London City Airport and ExCel. Why I love it here? It’s the bed, the bathroom and the company. I’m sharing it with Pris and it’s just the 2 of us. So there’s lots of space and luxury. The bed is real comfy. It’s not too hard or not too soft. The pillows are hard and give good support too! We had a fantastic dinner experience at the hotel restaurant tonight. The food is marvelous, although not as good as I had expected. But definitely no complains.

5th June 2006
Yeah! We managed to visit the London School of Economics and Political Science today. It’s such a great opportunity to visit one of the world’s most renowned institutions, even though I definitely can’t make it in. LSE really reminds me of SMU, or should I say the other way round? Haha! The international relations officer – Ian (can’t remember his last name) brought us around and told us many fascinating thins about the university. It is really expensive living in London. Tuition fees in LSE is like $11 000 a year and this does not include expenses like lodging, food and pocket money.

Here’s something I got from the undergraduate prospects hand book that I got from the school.

“LSE seeks to promote the impartial pursuit of knowledge and understanding about how people organize themselves into and interact within, social groupings. The social sciences offer a number of ways of investigating and thinking about these questions: they do not teach you a ‘right’ (or left, or centre!) way to solve the world’s problems. The focus of our teaching is on helping you to learn some of the different ways to test your – and other people’s – ideas: and, in other words of our motto, rerum cognoscere causas, ‘to understand the causes of things’.”

We went shopping next at Covent Garden. I didn’t really find anything today. I had actually wanted to get somethings for Kim, Cassie and Darce at this shop, but the lady said that we could find more stuff like that at Soho, and at cheaper prices. So that kinda held me back. That went on for the rest of the day. We even went to Canary Wharf, but somehow the spirit of shopping wasn’t there. There was the Math test in my head. I haven’t finished practicing all the sums yet! Sheesh!

6th June 2006
We had a tour of London this morning. For me, it wasn’t that thrilling as this wasn’t my first time. So I just let the tour guide do the talking and pretending to be listening enthusiastically. Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer and kinda dozed off for a bit. Haha! We went for lunch nearby the British Museum. Museum Street has this very nice pancakes place. It wasn’t the ones that you can find at some 5 or 6 star hotel, but nevertheless, it’s wonderful. Next up on the itinerary was the British Museum. This is way better than any of the Singapore’s Museum. The mummies were there and there was even a section about homosexuality in ancient Greeks, although it wasn’t termed as that then. It was pretty interesting in the sense that they were more open to the idea then.

It was off to Covent Garden once again. This time, not wanting to be constrained within the four walls of Covent Garden, I purchased a map of London so that I could navigate my way around by myself. In the end, instead of shopping at Covent Garden, I was a t Long Arke where there were shops like Marks and Spencer, Gap, Esprit. All except Nike. I want my new pair of tennis shoes! Today, somehow I was feeling better, so I went o get a new pair of jeans and some food stuff from Marks and Spencer to take home. We dined at Ponti for dinner. The food was remarkably good, including the chocolate fudge cake. In my opinion, it was good, but not fantastic.

Woman in Black! Awww. What can I say? It was definitely a darn good play. I’m very impressed at how the whole play just involves 2 and a half characters but there were a whole lot of roles. Kudos to the older actor. His acting didn’t make me feel as though it was the same person. In fact, I actually thought that it was another person altogether! The story line is a little scary due to the marvelous sound effects and of course the Woman in Black. On the way back to the hotel, we couldn’t help discussing the play and how we were so amused by the rocking chair.

7th June 2006
It’s our last day in UK. After breakfast, we checked out and proceeded to the National History Museum. On the way there, in the midst of the London congestion, our bus ran into some engine problems and we had to switch to another coach. Thank goodness, the rest of the bus ride went on smoothly.

The National history Museum was packed with school children. The BBC was also using the central hall to broadcast one of their children’s programme called the Blue Peter or something like that. I kinda enjoyed this museum better than the British Museum as this has many more interesting components, like the restless surface. It gave a lot of information on our Mother Earth. We even got to experience an earthquake in a Kobe Supermarket. Although it is supposedly a very violent quake, I found it a little too mild.

According to the itinerary, we were supposed to visit the Harrods store in Knightsbridge. But the Geography students stayed put longer in the Museum to explore in detail the exhibits that are closely related to our syllabus. So the rest went. A pity none of them bought anything. I have a whole lot of shopping list from there! So we headed down straight to Heathrow. At the airport, Ahmad almost lost Mdm Mas’s shopping and my math notes. He had forgotten to pick it back up after he went to the prayer room. I got so uptight and worried that I waited for him after the security checks when he went back to look for it. That totally busted my shopping time. There were shops like Harrods and Nike over there. But I didn’t manage to do any, except lunch.

So now we’re off on our journey back to Singapore. How I wish we could have taken a direct flight which would have been $400 more. It is 24 hours on board on the skies. Thankfully, the flight to Dubai is pretty empty so I got the whole row to myself. I’m going to take a good night’s rest. Nighty!

8th June 2006
We just touched down in Brunei like half an hours ago. It’s gonna be a 3 hours ong transit before we can finally take the flight back home. How I wish that I could have stayed on in London. This way, I don’t have to fuss about the weather, which I am feeling very humid right now. I just received 2 messages from Singapore - one regarding GP and the other is the Maths Camp which really pisses me off. Seriously, I don’t mind a day or 2 going back to school for a couple of hours. But it’s the whole day! I just had 2 weeks of study trip and I desperately need the rest of the holidays to buck up. I may consider taking MC next week. We’ll see. And who hasn’t heard of the Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns? Too much of math may not be that optimal after all.

Generally, I had really enjoyed myself throughout this trip. We got the opportunity to make friends and bond closer friendships with some others. Two thumbs up for Lake District, Ironbridge, Old Trafford and the Bronte Parsonage. =)