Baby! I'm Back... (Isle of Man photos)
17 days of travelling and i'm finally back. Facing the reality of mountains of homework which are of high level of difficulty and requires tonnes of time to finish. HALLPPP!!!
That aside, the first year spending BOTH Christmas and New Year away from Family and Much missed Friends made me realize how I took things for granted in the past and instead of fully enjoying the occassion each time, lament about the countless events I have to attend this season. Eating a good christmas dinner is just not the same when it's not with your loved ones around. Even then, it was a really enriching experience to spend Christmas with my roomie's family :)
It all started on the 21st when we got a lift from L's friend N's parents to St Pancras International Station.
Happily pushing the trolley with all her luggage. Only the big red bag is mine, which weighs lighter than all her bags added together. >_<
The train we took to Chesterfield!
From chesterfield, her mother sponsored us a cab to Dronfield, which she stayed. Her house is fully carpeted (something that singaporeans, or perhaps, just my mother and I would NOT like to have due to the crazy amount of work needed to keep it clean) and cosy. There are like two conservatories(which are like fully glassed rooms to allow light to enter), one piano room, one lounge with an electrical fireplace, four bedrooms (one small guestroom where i slept in), one massive toilet with a bath and an ensuite masterbedroom. SWEET.
First thing i took a photo of upon entering her house:
fat cat who always comes into the guest room to warm up on my bed. lol. imagine the cat fur he leaves behind.
Here's some idea as to what Lizzie's house looks like :)
Taken from the lounge into the piano room. It's been a long time since i've seen christmas decorations..
ATAS toilet! It's fully carpeted and you can see at the right corner is the bath tub. Only thing lacking is a full length mirror. hahaha!
This is the room i slept in. Guest room.
Exterior of the house. No gates, unlike singapore. I asked about the crime rates and stuff. Her mum says that there are some cases of break ins but they always occur within a period of time. Like it suddenly becomes a craze to break into people's house in a particular targetted area. Theirs is apparently quite safe, so it's good. :) Singapore should have this too. Break down the "cold" and "hostile" feeling in the neighbourhood.
After having a simple lunch prepared by her mother, she drove me around together with her brother. Ford K8! right? Anyway, went to visit her grandma and her bestfriend to pass them gifts and such. Got back to change up for her combined birthday dinner celebration at Simply Chinese. Yes, as you've guessed, it's a chinese restaurant which is much more affordable than London's. Can't rmb the cost now.
Some singapore style prawn fried rice :D Havent had prawns at an affordable price in awhile...
biggie group photo without charis in it :(
If you didnt know, rightmost is my roomie.
Went to a PUB after that. And it felt soooo like those countryside pubs unlike the noisy happening ones. It's really classic. Those you see out of movies or even american dramas. Sweet.
They even have these classic old music players! with surprisingly new music :)
Dint stay really long because we had an early flight the next day. Got obsessed with her cat who invaded my bed. XD He's damn cute. Put a bag/box looking thing that clearly is too small for him and he'll walk straight into it and curl up. lol.
Liz tested it with a computer bag:
then, a SHOE BOX.
LOL. CHO kawaii.
Next day was a long taxi ride to East Midlands Airport for the flight to the Isle of Man. Didnt expect it but the plane ride was thrilling. It's a small Metro23 whateverthatisoops with only 20 passengers, 2 pilots. you can see the cockpit even from the furthest seat from the front, where i sat. lol!
the pilot couldnt even stand up straight whilst giving out safety instructions. lol!
and of course, her 1.8m tall brother cant stand straight either. hilarious!
random out of plane window shots..
Landing at the isle of man was smooth for a tiny plane like that. Headed off to her Aunt Verona's house which was recently turned into a BnB. They charge really cheaply per night and provide breakfast and food free for all to take whenever they like. Ask me for their contact if you want to go there next time ;)
Being cat lovers, too, they have 4 cats!
this is ERIC. He mews "HAM" which is so adorable. They always feed him ham because of that.
They call them the Gay couple. Freddy(naughty) and silo? cant rmb :/ GAYS on the left of the second pic.
On James, Liz's younger brother, is my favourite cat! Henry! He's really fat and nice and warm to play with. heh.
interesting xmas decor lol! santa climbing up the rope when there are stairs. how clever can he get. That's why he takes the chimney not the front door.
THis is the lounge where the whole family usually Slacks in. Watching tv and sitting by the fireplace. ITS REAL. you see them eating sweets and tossing the sweet wrappers in. Not to forget, even Charlie's Diapers. HA.
Toys all over! it stays like that until charlie goes to sleep around 9pm+.
They have a Indoor pool as well. Temperature in there is as warm as 21 degrees. reminds me of singapore, except, cooler. :P
Can't rmb which dinner/tea this is. (Oh they call dinner as "tea" sometimes. And on christmas, lunch became "dinner" in the sense that, it IS really dinner because some of them skipped dinner. Those who ate only had biscuits, cheese and bread. Only, i'd say, because i'm quite used to having a heavy dinner -- 三菜，一盘饭)
Mash potatoes, spaghetti, meat carosel?, some baked stuff etc. HOmemade apple crumble ftw dessert.
From left to right: James, her bro. Grandma. Aunt Verona, Main cook.
check out the massive pepper crusher. homemade by her Uncle Phillip.
On to the house i actually stayed in. It's her Cousin -- Catherine and her husband Philip -- 's place, a short drive from her Aunt's and about 20-25 minutes walk into the main town of Douglas, Isle of Man.
this is the main lounge! flat screen tv with PS3 console fireplace which is not used two sofas.
on the right picture you can see the entrance to the dining room. Fully carpeted, once again.
Kitchen! it feels weird not having to bring keys around unlocking everything when you want something. Have to do that in halls. NOt only that, all my crockeries in my room so i have to magically transport them whilst opening four doors to go to the kitchen, then find a clean spot on the table somewhere(which is usually nonexistent unless after the cleaner cleans up) before unlocking my compartment fridge to take what i need. TROUBLESOME.
On the right, is the exterior with Lizzie at the door struggling to lock up. lol..
random tee we saw in shops
On the way to town on the 23rd Dec we walked along the Promenade. Tide was reaaallly low if you can see because there was a hell lot of beach showing. Normally you'll only see rocks and sea like in Brighton.
We shopped for abit because she was looking for last minute xmas gifts for her relatives. HMV had a 20minutes queue. INSANE. Everything else was going for such a low low price, but NOOO. self-discipline :D Totally didnt spend much this Boxing day sale. thanks thanks~ Got treated to lunch at a cafe:
if you squint you can see lizzie in pink and her cousin beside her ordering.
we each had a bowl of really lovely tomato and basil soup which came together with warm bread roll powdered with flour. HEAVENLY. I got to order a drink as well - strawberry milkshake - which tasted like slurpee. They bought chips to share as well. Kettle chips YUM. Angmoh diet.
another dinner! Breadrolls, yorkshire puddings, random finger food, sausages and an entire box of CHEESE of all sorts. I have officially gotten sick of cheese already, or so i thought. The variety is godlike. Normal cheese, cheese spread, cheddar, isle of man cheddar with chilli O.o, cheese with orange marmalade etc. etc.
this is interesting. the isle of man not only has its own government, own telephone network, own laws etc. etc., it also has its own money, even though its in pounds. Cool huh. I was very tempted to take a design for each coin value but felt bad :P
Christmas eve lunch was spent outside at the Terminus Tavern. Its a family tradition for them to have a meal outside on christmas eve. Pretty interesting when we were finding seats because we had around 14 of us? and certain people had to sit beside certain others. haha. You can tell who's the boss who arranges us all. Kinda miss this chaotic orderedness which happens with my mum's side of the family when we go out for random dinners. Strike 4D ah~
Had a short tour of the isle of man thereafter..
Pixie cottage! small door small house? Er. dont know whats so cool about it but they seem to be really proud of it -- they stopped the car for me to take a photo see. hah.
Laxey beach. we made a stop here to see the caves.
Two crazy girls. one scaling the rock wall (trying to get to the cave opening), the other walking barefooted in the sea/beach IN WINTER.
this is the famous laxey wheel. biggest working wheel around.
Onto Christmas day! Even though it was spent mostly in the house since the outside world shuts down anyway, i like the idea/tradition to make an effort to dress up and look nice. :D Of course i was prepared for this with my one and only dress i brought over.
I've probably told my friends here alot about the widespread I got during the christmas dinner(lunchtime though). Filled table with no space for all the dishes to be touching the table surface. Massive passing the dishes around ritual and lots of people asking for things across the table. That's more like a fun and interactive christmas dinner! Unlike buffet style.
Dinner table! I helped to set it up by putting all the crackers on the mats. Before we start we'd pop em and all wear hats XD
side table for drinks! See alcohol? Yeaaahhh~
Small glimpse of food on table + her Cousin. Shuai not.
whilst waiting for dinner to be served! :D
Charlie! the youngest kid around. Complicated if you want me to explain the family tree. Lots of divorce here and there. >_< Culture la. Anyway, it's awesome to be a kid here because charlie got TWO BIG BAGS of presents not including about 10 others not in the bag including this dashing new red bike. you can see how happy he is :) And they tell him that its Santa who left the presents for him. Still in fairytale land, believing that Santa actually exist. I wish i believed that. Oh the innocence~
It got really cold whilst we were slacking in the lounge and we became balls! Indeed a cold christmas winter.
More on christmas !
delicious!
See kor, i didnt miss the xmas pudding this year! :P
drown it in custard. The brandy was really strong.
Even the oldies are ON about having fun. Party Hats! ^^
Then it was present time! Waa they created mountains of trash. dont think i took a photo of it. But its scary the amount of trash/wrapping they threw away after the close to about an hour ritual of exchanging gifts and ripping it open.
my presents!
Then when charlie went to sleep, the big kids played a board game called Cranium. It's a mixture of Pictionary, Charades, Spelling Bee, Fact or Truth altogether in one game. We played Girls vs Guys. For the first day the girls lost quite badly despite catching up really soon after. The next day the girls pwnz the guys 2-0! :O
four stacks of cards - yellow is spelling/meaning of words, blue is drawing/sculpting, green is acting, red is fact or truth aka datahead. There's a timer, and plasticine, pencils and sketchpads.
There's this thing in the blue stack called the sensosketch. Whereby the person has to sketch out the word to be guessed with eyes clothes. I am surprisingly powerful in that beacuse i draw without lifting the pencil up so i know where i to go next. haha. But i just cui diao in all the british facts/tv shows/actors. more exposed to hollywood la, cant help it.
girl team!
They were trying to show FLIGHT ATTENDANT. not titanic. hah.
On the day before we had to go back aka Boxing day, I had another round of sightseeing in the car. Travelled almost the WHOLE island! Some scenery.
To Top gear fans.. THIS. is the top gear track which appears alot. Wahaha.
Car sinking! first time seeing a road that passes through a shallow stream.
cant rmb what they are called but they have 4 horns and no tails. strange sheep.
Port st Mary i think!
And this is the KIPPER FARM! Kipper, is a type of Fish, which isle of man is famous for. Didnt get to try any this time, but tried some the other time her cousin brought over.
Went to see the waterfall in the MANX NATIONAL GLEN. According to my roomie, Glen is something like a reservoir?/foresty area.
Now u see her, Now u dont.
Had a mini lunch at a random cafe which was really nice. Soup bread chips tea <3
HAH.
Traditional cottages. roof is made of straw!
sunset from the jetty
Okay, there exist this fairy bridge where you have to say "Hello Fairies" when you drive past otherwise your car will break down and what not. It seems like EvERYONE will either say Hello or at least give a small wave when passing this bridge. strange tradition. lol.
and from the promenade, you can see this castle building on a tiny island -- tower of refuge. Its for sailors who cant make it back to land to stay over for the night. Not a fancy place to be says lizzie. filled with bird droppings.
Cant find this picture of the magnetic hill. Basically you off your car engine when you're on that particular section of the slope, push your car up, let it roll down the slope, and feel it automatically roll back up the slope. Explanation anyone? Geeks?
Flight back was veryvery delayed.. like 2 hours? which granted us free access to the VIP lounge in the airport. Of course i was happy. Nicked a few things such as Strawberry and Jam spread :P variety to my otherwise mundane bread spread such as BUTTER =/ I'm quite amazed that they let people drink alcohol free flow as well. I mean juices, coffee, tea yeah obviously, but ALCOHOL AS WELL? omg.. The west is just awesome. Not that i drink though. :P
Lizzie brought me to the biggest mall in Sheffield city when we got back to her place, MeadowHall. Its like 2 or 3 times of Westfields for those in London, and about the size of vivocity except 3 times more shops for those in Singapore. MASSIVE. There's even a main food area level 1 fastfood/affordable cafes and level 2 ATAS restaurants and cafes. There's even a humongous Nandos (for those in london)!
The next day her mum drove us to tour Derbyshire and Chatsworth estate before dropping me off at chesterfield train station for me to find my way to Paris.
Didnt get lost, sadly. Otherwise it'll be an adventure. Lol!
Met up with mh,anne,rk and wilb in paris without any gliches. Except that their flight delayed and I was cheated into taking out my very Expensive Macdonalds meal to eat infront of the arrival gate.
Paris was awfully unromantic. The lack of snow or greenery probably caused it. Along with the bad service and language barrier and horrifying queues. The only romantic part about it was river seine and the early morning walk down it. Backpacking is painfully tiring. Don't do it on your mooneyhon please. And not paris please.
Why not switzerland? :)
In comparison it was much more friendly and pretty. Snow fall everywhere was pretty but not old snow which we encountered in bern. Snow + Sand + sun = melting brown shit on ground. Did a epic fail snow angel infront of the Albert Einstein Museum (dont ask me why here.. lol) and we even had a random snow ball fight (scrapping snow off car tops) on the first night in Geneva. Every morning we had to rush our otherwise sumptous breakfast to catch early trains to the various cities -- Lucerne, Interlaken, Bern, Basel in that order.
After being really happy in Switzerland (and having a crappy New Year's countdown in our room with the girls and half the souls of the guys who were partially in La la land), we unwillingly flew into Marseille, France.
This place was CHEAP... but uncomparable to London. LONDON THE BEST! (accepting the fact that i cant and wont be back in Singapore for some time here.. ) We climbed up to the high point of the island with our backpacks and Man that was worth it. We got to see the panaromic view of Marseille. Kirei~
Oh forgot to mention that our flight to geneva from paris was delayed for 4 hours! we had to sit in the plane for 4 hours! through lunch! without compensation! because geneva airport was closed due to heavy snow storm. Sad that we missed the falling snow, all the action! :( and we had to spend it on board the plane playing bridge and eating 3.50Euros CHICKEN SOUP. Luffles. They think Cup Noodles CHicken Flavour is CHICKEN SOUP. *face palm*
So from this trip, i've learnt to appreciate london alot more. Dislike the french abit more. Love the Swiss and Germans a whole lot more. Learn to eat ATAS from time to time and especially DO NOT miss out on the specialty of particular places.
Not to forget, i've learnt plenty about the people I travelled with as well as my bad habits :P But that's for me to know and you all to never find out. :D
Long long entry but i hope u enjoyed it one way or another. time to sleep! waayyyy past bedtime.
That aside, the first year spending BOTH Christmas and New Year away from Family and Much missed Friends made me realize how I took things for granted in the past and instead of fully enjoying the occassion each time, lament about the countless events I have to attend this season. Eating a good christmas dinner is just not the same when it's not with your loved ones around. Even then, it was a really enriching experience to spend Christmas with my roomie's family :)
It all started on the 21st when we got a lift from L's friend N's parents to St Pancras International Station.
Happily pushing the trolley with all her luggage. Only the big red bag is mine, which weighs lighter than all her bags added together. >_<
The train we took to Chesterfield!
From chesterfield, her mother sponsored us a cab to Dronfield, which she stayed. Her house is fully carpeted (something that singaporeans, or perhaps, just my mother and I would NOT like to have due to the crazy amount of work needed to keep it clean) and cosy. There are like two conservatories(which are like fully glassed rooms to allow light to enter), one piano room, one lounge with an electrical fireplace, four bedrooms (one small guestroom where i slept in), one massive toilet with a bath and an ensuite masterbedroom. SWEET.
First thing i took a photo of upon entering her house:
fat cat who always comes into the guest room to warm up on my bed. lol. imagine the cat fur he leaves behind.
Here's some idea as to what Lizzie's house looks like :)
Taken from the lounge into the piano room. It's been a long time since i've seen christmas decorations..
ATAS toilet! It's fully carpeted and you can see at the right corner is the bath tub. Only thing lacking is a full length mirror. hahaha!
This is the room i slept in. Guest room.
Exterior of the house. No gates, unlike singapore. I asked about the crime rates and stuff. Her mum says that there are some cases of break ins but they always occur within a period of time. Like it suddenly becomes a craze to break into people's house in a particular targetted area. Theirs is apparently quite safe, so it's good. :) Singapore should have this too. Break down the "cold" and "hostile" feeling in the neighbourhood.
After having a simple lunch prepared by her mother, she drove me around together with her brother. Ford K8! right? Anyway, went to visit her grandma and her bestfriend to pass them gifts and such. Got back to change up for her combined birthday dinner celebration at Simply Chinese. Yes, as you've guessed, it's a chinese restaurant which is much more affordable than London's. Can't rmb the cost now.
Some singapore style prawn fried rice :D Havent had prawns at an affordable price in awhile...
biggie group photo without charis in it :(
If you didnt know, rightmost is my roomie.
Went to a PUB after that. And it felt soooo like those countryside pubs unlike the noisy happening ones. It's really classic. Those you see out of movies or even american dramas. Sweet.
They even have these classic old music players! with surprisingly new music :)
Dint stay really long because we had an early flight the next day. Got obsessed with her cat who invaded my bed. XD He's damn cute. Put a bag/box looking thing that clearly is too small for him and he'll walk straight into it and curl up. lol.
Liz tested it with a computer bag:
then, a SHOE BOX.
LOL. CHO kawaii.
Next day was a long taxi ride to East Midlands Airport for the flight to the Isle of Man. Didnt expect it but the plane ride was thrilling. It's a small Metro23 whateverthatisoops with only 20 passengers, 2 pilots. you can see the cockpit even from the furthest seat from the front, where i sat. lol!
the pilot couldnt even stand up straight whilst giving out safety instructions. lol!
and of course, her 1.8m tall brother cant stand straight either. hilarious!
random out of plane window shots..
Landing at the isle of man was smooth for a tiny plane like that. Headed off to her Aunt Verona's house which was recently turned into a BnB. They charge really cheaply per night and provide breakfast and food free for all to take whenever they like. Ask me for their contact if you want to go there next time ;)
Being cat lovers, too, they have 4 cats!
this is ERIC. He mews "HAM" which is so adorable. They always feed him ham because of that.
They call them the Gay couple. Freddy(naughty) and silo? cant rmb :/ GAYS on the left of the second pic.
On James, Liz's younger brother, is my favourite cat! Henry! He's really fat and nice and warm to play with. heh.
interesting xmas decor lol! santa climbing up the rope when there are stairs. how clever can he get. That's why he takes the chimney not the front door.
THis is the lounge where the whole family usually Slacks in. Watching tv and sitting by the fireplace. ITS REAL. you see them eating sweets and tossing the sweet wrappers in. Not to forget, even Charlie's Diapers. HA.
Toys all over! it stays like that until charlie goes to sleep around 9pm+.
They have a Indoor pool as well. Temperature in there is as warm as 21 degrees. reminds me of singapore, except, cooler. :P
Can't rmb which dinner/tea this is. (Oh they call dinner as "tea" sometimes. And on christmas, lunch became "dinner" in the sense that, it IS really dinner because some of them skipped dinner. Those who ate only had biscuits, cheese and bread. Only, i'd say, because i'm quite used to having a heavy dinner -- 三菜，一盘饭)
Mash potatoes, spaghetti, meat carosel?, some baked stuff etc. HOmemade apple crumble ftw dessert.
From left to right: James, her bro. Grandma. Aunt Verona, Main cook.
check out the massive pepper crusher. homemade by her Uncle Phillip.
On to the house i actually stayed in. It's her Cousin -- Catherine and her husband Philip -- 's place, a short drive from her Aunt's and about 20-25 minutes walk into the main town of Douglas, Isle of Man.
this is the main lounge! flat screen tv with PS3 console fireplace which is not used two sofas.
on the right picture you can see the entrance to the dining room. Fully carpeted, once again.
Kitchen! it feels weird not having to bring keys around unlocking everything when you want something. Have to do that in halls. NOt only that, all my crockeries in my room so i have to magically transport them whilst opening four doors to go to the kitchen, then find a clean spot on the table somewhere(which is usually nonexistent unless after the cleaner cleans up) before unlocking my compartment fridge to take what i need. TROUBLESOME.
On the right, is the exterior with Lizzie at the door struggling to lock up. lol..
random tee we saw in shops
On the way to town on the 23rd Dec we walked along the Promenade. Tide was reaaallly low if you can see because there was a hell lot of beach showing. Normally you'll only see rocks and sea like in Brighton.
We shopped for abit because she was looking for last minute xmas gifts for her relatives. HMV had a 20minutes queue. INSANE. Everything else was going for such a low low price, but NOOO. self-discipline :D Totally didnt spend much this Boxing day sale. thanks thanks~ Got treated to lunch at a cafe:
if you squint you can see lizzie in pink and her cousin beside her ordering.
we each had a bowl of really lovely tomato and basil soup which came together with warm bread roll powdered with flour. HEAVENLY. I got to order a drink as well - strawberry milkshake - which tasted like slurpee. They bought chips to share as well. Kettle chips YUM. Angmoh diet.
another dinner! Breadrolls, yorkshire puddings, random finger food, sausages and an entire box of CHEESE of all sorts. I have officially gotten sick of cheese already, or so i thought. The variety is godlike. Normal cheese, cheese spread, cheddar, isle of man cheddar with chilli O.o, cheese with orange marmalade etc. etc.
this is interesting. the isle of man not only has its own government, own telephone network, own laws etc. etc., it also has its own money, even though its in pounds. Cool huh. I was very tempted to take a design for each coin value but felt bad :P
Christmas eve lunch was spent outside at the Terminus Tavern. Its a family tradition for them to have a meal outside on christmas eve. Pretty interesting when we were finding seats because we had around 14 of us? and certain people had to sit beside certain others. haha. You can tell who's the boss who arranges us all. Kinda miss this chaotic orderedness which happens with my mum's side of the family when we go out for random dinners. Strike 4D ah~
Had a short tour of the isle of man thereafter..
Pixie cottage! small door small house? Er. dont know whats so cool about it but they seem to be really proud of it -- they stopped the car for me to take a photo see. hah.
Laxey beach. we made a stop here to see the caves.
Two crazy girls. one scaling the rock wall (trying to get to the cave opening), the other walking barefooted in the sea/beach IN WINTER.
this is the famous laxey wheel. biggest working wheel around.
Onto Christmas day! Even though it was spent mostly in the house since the outside world shuts down anyway, i like the idea/tradition to make an effort to dress up and look nice. :D Of course i was prepared for this with my one and only dress i brought over.
I've probably told my friends here alot about the widespread I got during the christmas dinner(lunchtime though). Filled table with no space for all the dishes to be touching the table surface. Massive passing the dishes around ritual and lots of people asking for things across the table. That's more like a fun and interactive christmas dinner! Unlike buffet style.
Dinner table! I helped to set it up by putting all the crackers on the mats. Before we start we'd pop em and all wear hats XD
side table for drinks! See alcohol? Yeaaahhh~
Small glimpse of food on table + her Cousin. Shuai not.
whilst waiting for dinner to be served! :D
Charlie! the youngest kid around. Complicated if you want me to explain the family tree. Lots of divorce here and there. >_< Culture la. Anyway, it's awesome to be a kid here because charlie got TWO BIG BAGS of presents not including about 10 others not in the bag including this dashing new red bike. you can see how happy he is :) And they tell him that its Santa who left the presents for him. Still in fairytale land, believing that Santa actually exist. I wish i believed that. Oh the innocence~
It got really cold whilst we were slacking in the lounge and we became balls! Indeed a cold christmas winter.
More on christmas !
delicious!
See kor, i didnt miss the xmas pudding this year! :P
drown it in custard. The brandy was really strong.
Even the oldies are ON about having fun. Party Hats! ^^
Then it was present time! Waa they created mountains of trash. dont think i took a photo of it. But its scary the amount of trash/wrapping they threw away after the close to about an hour ritual of exchanging gifts and ripping it open.
my presents!
Then when charlie went to sleep, the big kids played a board game called Cranium. It's a mixture of Pictionary, Charades, Spelling Bee, Fact or Truth altogether in one game. We played Girls vs Guys. For the first day the girls lost quite badly despite catching up really soon after. The next day the girls pwnz the guys 2-0! :O
four stacks of cards - yellow is spelling/meaning of words, blue is drawing/sculpting, green is acting, red is fact or truth aka datahead. There's a timer, and plasticine, pencils and sketchpads.
There's this thing in the blue stack called the sensosketch. Whereby the person has to sketch out the word to be guessed with eyes clothes. I am surprisingly powerful in that beacuse i draw without lifting the pencil up so i know where i to go next. haha. But i just cui diao in all the british facts/tv shows/actors. more exposed to hollywood la, cant help it.
girl team!
They were trying to show FLIGHT ATTENDANT. not titanic. hah.
On the day before we had to go back aka Boxing day, I had another round of sightseeing in the car. Travelled almost the WHOLE island! Some scenery.
To Top gear fans.. THIS. is the top gear track which appears alot. Wahaha.
Car sinking! first time seeing a road that passes through a shallow stream.
cant rmb what they are called but they have 4 horns and no tails. strange sheep.
Port st Mary i think!
And this is the KIPPER FARM! Kipper, is a type of Fish, which isle of man is famous for. Didnt get to try any this time, but tried some the other time her cousin brought over.
Went to see the waterfall in the MANX NATIONAL GLEN. According to my roomie, Glen is something like a reservoir?/foresty area.
Now u see her, Now u dont.
Had a mini lunch at a random cafe which was really nice. Soup bread chips tea <3
HAH.
Traditional cottages. roof is made of straw!
sunset from the jetty
Okay, there exist this fairy bridge where you have to say "Hello Fairies" when you drive past otherwise your car will break down and what not. It seems like EvERYONE will either say Hello or at least give a small wave when passing this bridge. strange tradition. lol.
and from the promenade, you can see this castle building on a tiny island -- tower of refuge. Its for sailors who cant make it back to land to stay over for the night. Not a fancy place to be says lizzie. filled with bird droppings.
Cant find this picture of the magnetic hill. Basically you off your car engine when you're on that particular section of the slope, push your car up, let it roll down the slope, and feel it automatically roll back up the slope. Explanation anyone? Geeks?
Flight back was veryvery delayed.. like 2 hours? which granted us free access to the VIP lounge in the airport. Of course i was happy. Nicked a few things such as Strawberry and Jam spread :P variety to my otherwise mundane bread spread such as BUTTER =/ I'm quite amazed that they let people drink alcohol free flow as well. I mean juices, coffee, tea yeah obviously, but ALCOHOL AS WELL? omg.. The west is just awesome. Not that i drink though. :P
Lizzie brought me to the biggest mall in Sheffield city when we got back to her place, MeadowHall. Its like 2 or 3 times of Westfields for those in London, and about the size of vivocity except 3 times more shops for those in Singapore. MASSIVE. There's even a main food area level 1 fastfood/affordable cafes and level 2 ATAS restaurants and cafes. There's even a humongous Nandos (for those in london)!
The next day her mum drove us to tour Derbyshire and Chatsworth estate before dropping me off at chesterfield train station for me to find my way to Paris.
Didnt get lost, sadly. Otherwise it'll be an adventure. Lol!
Met up with mh,anne,rk and wilb in paris without any gliches. Except that their flight delayed and I was cheated into taking out my very Expensive Macdonalds meal to eat infront of the arrival gate.
Paris was awfully unromantic. The lack of snow or greenery probably caused it. Along with the bad service and language barrier and horrifying queues. The only romantic part about it was river seine and the early morning walk down it. Backpacking is painfully tiring. Don't do it on your mooneyhon please. And not paris please.
Why not switzerland? :)
In comparison it was much more friendly and pretty. Snow fall everywhere was pretty but not old snow which we encountered in bern. Snow + Sand + sun = melting brown shit on ground. Did a epic fail snow angel infront of the Albert Einstein Museum (dont ask me why here.. lol) and we even had a random snow ball fight (scrapping snow off car tops) on the first night in Geneva. Every morning we had to rush our otherwise sumptous breakfast to catch early trains to the various cities -- Lucerne, Interlaken, Bern, Basel in that order.
After being really happy in Switzerland (and having a crappy New Year's countdown in our room with the girls and half the souls of the guys who were partially in La la land), we unwillingly flew into Marseille, France.
This place was CHEAP... but uncomparable to London. LONDON THE BEST! (accepting the fact that i cant and wont be back in Singapore for some time here.. ) We climbed up to the high point of the island with our backpacks and Man that was worth it. We got to see the panaromic view of Marseille. Kirei~
Oh forgot to mention that our flight to geneva from paris was delayed for 4 hours! we had to sit in the plane for 4 hours! through lunch! without compensation! because geneva airport was closed due to heavy snow storm. Sad that we missed the falling snow, all the action! :( and we had to spend it on board the plane playing bridge and eating 3.50Euros CHICKEN SOUP. Luffles. They think Cup Noodles CHicken Flavour is CHICKEN SOUP. *face palm*
So from this trip, i've learnt to appreciate london alot more. Dislike the french abit more. Love the Swiss and Germans a whole lot more. Learn to eat ATAS from time to time and especially DO NOT miss out on the specialty of particular places.
Not to forget, i've learnt plenty about the people I travelled with as well as my bad habits :P But that's for me to know and you all to never find out. :D
Long long entry but i hope u enjoyed it one way or another. time to sleep! waayyyy past bedtime.