Rome Trip 23-26 February 07

It's been one unforgettable trip to Rome, in every sense. All the greek-influenced roman structures, cathedrals and ruins are so impressive and captivating. The colosseum, st peter's basillica, sistine chapel, palatine hill, roman forum etc., just to name a few. There are so many attractions in Rome that I think one will need at least 5 days to truly see everything.

The hostel we stayed in this time was not too bad either. Called the Legends Hostel. It's the really hostel kind of hostel. Rather hidden from sight, not that easy to find and located on a single floor of a dull average building. But it's rather clean and the staff are friendly. Facilities are not bad too, plus free dvd to watch, simple breakfast and free hot chocolate/coffee. Free internet too! but that's because hostelz.com screwed up the allocation of rooms, so 4 bed dorm became 6 bed dorm and they compensated us with unlimited internet. Quite shiok actually haha.

Rome is also about pizzas, pasta and gelato. They're just everywhere, no matter which degree your head turns to, u'll find one of these. All restaurants are just pizzerias.. not that i'm complaining, but they serve really GOOD pizzas and pastas. Makes pastamania look like a joke. Too bad didnt have more gelatos though. They're just damn delicious. Oh the wine's good too and sangria's good as well. And we managed to see damn pro bladers in a nice scenic park on a hill in rome.. impressive stuff i tell u.

Shall upload pics soon!

Been an enjoyable trip nonetheless. It's quite fortunate too that the trip went rather smoothly since everyone has pretty much the same interests. Like all the impromptu planning and stuff ended up pretty ok.

Well from now on, I'll need to find things to keep myself occupied.. before the next trip to Oslo!

On sat, cny's eve, we joined the International Society's trip to York. The society must be gleaming with the turnout of interested people.. easily close to a 100 of us; 3 tour buses full. But transport and a few pieces of activity guide were as much as the society provided. The rest of the day was up to us to spend. It was a trip of many familiar faces too - students we acquainted during the orientation.

I've been to York before, so there were some vague recollections when i saw a few of the more famous attractions again after 7 years(?). Can't really remember when I went, but tours as we all know, don't really leave us with much impression of a place except for some picturesque photos at popular tourist stops. So i managed to see more of this heritage city this time round. Saw lots of vikings and saxons, peasants and cute children. The costume preparation at museum gardens, the battle at clifford's tower, the city wall trail and micklegate bar were some of the attractions. Fun trip.. Just a pity that cny's eve was kind of neglected heh.

On chu yi, a few of us went to visit Chinatown in Manchester. Wasn't really interesting except for some firecrackers and a slow-paced small-scale fireworks display. Except that the fireworks was close-range so it's something different from those i've seen in singapore. It was very crowded though, and people started disappearing and some went their own ways. Wanted to have a gathering of some sort but unfortunately wasn't receptive enough. In the end, adrian and i spent the evening with the chinese gang in St. Anselm's. Cooked dishes to share and had fun playing some dumb games hahaha.

Gong xi fa cai, luck and prosperity to all! I wonder if people make wishes on cny; but if i were to come up with one, that'll be : for everyone to be Happy. Naive maybe?

Happy valentine's day to all! Ok i'm not used to writing any emo entries but i just thought i can write something random about this since i've nothing else better to do other than to take a nap. Looking at all the 'Happy v day' nicks on msn and vday promotions on practically every shop in Manchester sort of got me started on this. In manchester, it's impossible not to be reminded of v day because u really just cant miss it. Well, valentine's day was never much a concern to me in my life actually, not that I get plenty of dates but conversely, i never really placed much attention to this day. I realise that on every v day, it was always a case of my friends trying to find something to do to keep ourselves occupied haha. Like actually trying to do tutorials and all those crap bachelor nights. As I've told yk, haha seems like like-fated people and myself have been chalking up a lot of savings these years by boycotting the v day shopping scene. Hmm may be a good thing after all, considering all the price hikes on gifts for v day. Nevertheless, i'm puzzled how some of my friends and i can feel increasingly indifferent to this day everytime it arrives. I guess it's just some sort of short-term reminder for just one day. On the superstitious side, as i've mentioned to others, maybe v day will be different after i've cleared my debt of sins haha. And my debts are really not that easy to clear.

London Trip 0902 - 1202

In all, it was a nice trip with lots of sights to visit, things to do and memories to keep. Like what wen says, I agree it's a very tourist-y place, packed with people from all around the world. Practically everyone seems to speak a language other than english with the british slang. Souvenir shops and restaurants also open till past 10+, which is considered really late back here in Manchester.

As time was short, we didn't manage to appreciate everything in detail so it was more like a touch and go kind of visiting. The Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, British Museum, Harrods, Buckingham Palace, London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Tower of London are places that we passed by together with wen's sis and buddy. Lots of fun just taking photos most of the time and jumping like siao kias.

The London tube to me was really impressive; such a vast and complicated network concealed under the city is quite a feat. The frequency of the trains was also short and trains were efficient most of the time. Except that it's the most expensive train system around. A standard single fare costs 4 quid, and to cross over each zone, it gets more costly. Thankfully they had a day ticket which was around 5 quid for unlimited train, bus and tram the whole day, if not we'd have walked till our legs gave way or end up with gastritis.

The hostel we stayed in for a night was also surprisingly as good as its review on the net. Clean, cosy, comfortable and convenient. Toilets don't smell, staff were friendly and there was a lounge for tv, games, etc. Only for 17 quid per person! That's considered cheap for such a nice hostel. I particularly like the hostel stay on the first day. Subsequently, I thick-skinnedly went to bunk in the hotel for the next 2 nights. I know it's damn super extra.

It's just a pity that there was time constraints so we didnt really visit every attraction and understand why it's an attraction in the first place. We ended up blending in with the tourists from all over the world. And the duck rice at Four Seasons restaurant near Bayswater Stn was good! The meat was tender and the sauce was good and we had 'free flow' of lotus soup courtesy of the sia stewardesses. Incoherent but worth a mention because it's so well-known that we had to wait ard 30 - 40 min for a place. Yea that's about it for the trip, though it was really not what I'd expected.

Miscellaneous pics (28 - 29 Jan)

Arrival at Manchester 18 Jan 07

'Warm' wishes from Manchester!

It's been 2 weeks and haha this is my first entry so far. The reason is that there's so much to talk about and as each day passes by, you know the procrastination also increases. Like don't know when to start now. HAha anyway I finally found time to blog. These 2 weeks i've been quite busy with settling administrative stuff (modules, accommodation, bank account etc), travelling, and doing nonsense outside. And lots of planning to do as well - for travelling of course.

SO much to mention; i really dont know how to summarise. Its all in the pics i've uploaded. Still got plenty not uploaded. Haha it shows how disorganised this system of uploading pics and blogging is for me. My other sep friends are doing it pretty well though.

Ermm ok some of the more unforgettable experiences then.

For the flight into manchester, there was some 'monster storm' across manchester just as we were about to land, which made us experience the longest period of turbulence on a plane. People were puking and looking really worried until we finally landed, which sent everyone into pure relief. Applause and all. The almost 1 hour delay wasnt all. While all of us were eagerly waiting for our luggage, we found out that the luggage cant be unloaded due to bad weather and had to leave empty handed. Then there was a massive jam on the road which resulted in us being late for checking into our halls. I ended up stranded outside my hall under a drizzle on a cold windy evening for 20 min. No shelter and simply pathetic. But luckily i managed to contact somebody who finally saved my day haha. Not a fantastic room I'm staying in though. Old, regimental and overpriced. Ha ok i think my first day sounds really bad.. but so far every other day was good! so it's good to start off in a pathetic state and everything else will seem to be good.

And one of my luggage bag went missing too during the delivery process due to some cock up by the baggage company. But ok I received it after 6 days. 6 days!

Anyway, after that fateful day and the missing baggage, everything else was fun. Exploring parts of the city each day, eating out, travelling out to old trafford, bolton, liverpool etc., grocery shopping. Snowed twice too! as far as i can remember. Ah i think i'm lazy to type out every single thing. So i hope the pics i've posted can do the talking instead.

Today was an extremely FOGGy day though. Was at liverpool touring the city the whole day and everywhere was just foggy. If you think genting is misty, today was 3 times worse. Can't see a thing after 20 metres at most. Turned out we had fun trying to take shots with a mystical feel. The Beatles' Story museum was probably one of the highlights of today. Nicely decorated and it's really a tribute to the beatles. Liverpool's cathedral was majestic too, its towering presence only clouded by the thick fog. Found a medieval graveyard below it too, which we only ventured to a limited extent as darkness loomed. And while we were eating our 'lobster pot' dinner before we went back, we happened to be at a scene of a fight near the train station. Maybe its due to the derby match. But I must say the police in liverpool is super efficient. Police cars and police on horses can appear within 3 to 5 minutes out of nowhere. And 'Lobster pot' was this takeaway restaurant selling huge portions of chips, fish, chicken, pies, ribs, burgers, curries, 'chinese chicken wings', bbq chicken, sweet n sour chicken for around 2 to 3 pounds. Think it's easily every liverpudlian favourite restaurant looking at the constantly long queue. Ok shall post pics soon...