Right here in Edinburgh!

Here I am, in Edinburgh, using the internet kiosk at the hostel to drop a note.

It's been a terrific 2 days! Good weather (though it got abit cold at times), plus it's a beautiful city here.

First time making a solo trip. Not too bad an experience so far. Good things bout travelling alone are that you can do, eat and go whatever/wherever you want. No need to think about others. Although can get abit bored at times, especially at night. Coz when you're alone, u will make an effort to go back to the hostel earlier instead of loitering on the streets. Also, there's really nothing to do at night. The galleries / museums close at 5pm, and the shops close at 6 or 7 pm..

Today was really fruitful. I did alot of things! Went to the Edinburgh Castle and spent the whole morning there. Then went to take the city tour bus around the city and dropped off at a few places to walk walk, see see and take pictures. Oh, worst thing bout travelling alone is no one to take photo for you!! :((

Yesterday was quite funny. I was up at Carlton Hill, and spotted a good spot with a nice background and with no one else around. So I decided to zi4 pai1 (take photo of myself). But my skills really very lousy. Took 2 photos which failed terribly. Then suddenly, someone said "Excuse me, would u like me to take a photo for you?" haha.. was very paiseh.. but heck lah.. so he took a pic for me! and when I asked him if he would like a photo too (coz he's also travelling alone), he said "this background? Nah, no need". DUH lorrr!!!

Anyways, I also did alot of shopping in between the closing time of the attractions and shops.. coz the shops close later than the attractions.. And some of the shops here are cheaper than their counterparts in London..

I think one of the reason why i enjoyed myself so much is also coz of the weather. Although it was abit cold, but it was still manageable coz wearing jackets or coats can keep you warm. At least it's not hot and humid. If it's hot and humid, i'll most prob be spending half the time cursing and swearing at the hot weather coz I perspire very easily. Haha...

Okie, photos will follow upon my return to london. Not sure what my next 2 weeks at work is going to be like.... Hope it's something exciting. There is already something in plan at the moment. But not sure if it's confirmed or not. So shan't say too much now.

I'm glad I made the trip. :)

Its been some time

Yeah, its been some time since I last posted. Hmm.. so what was i busy with? Work for the last 2 weeks was busy. This week is much better. Nothing much to do i should say. Sometimes feel like i'm degenerating in terms of work. Somehow I dont really seem to be moving forward, and instead, seems to be taking 2 steps back.

Anyways, last week we had department sports day! It was really fun! It was at the All England Club somewhere far in southwest london. It was pretty cool. We played dumb games like jumping in a sack, throwing things, skipping etc.. Though dumb, but it was actually quite fun! and surprisingly my department did very well against the other 2 departments. and there was also this human football table for the top 2 teams to fight out for the championship. i've never seen such human football table before! it's a massive air float thing and really, it's a table football, but played by real humans.. dinner was bbq food. I had 2 baked salmons! hee.. very delicious mah..

haha.... first time having such a sports day in my entire working life. Not bad!! And got to know more colleagues betta too..

Just made 2 bookings for trip to edinburgh this weekend, and also for trip with mum and bro to Barcelona in late Nov. Yeah Barcelona! For Edinburgh I'm going to stay at a 12-female room hostel coz single rooms are way way way tooo ex. Quite looking forward to it coz i have never stayed in such a hostel before! Hope it's a good experience!

It's turning cold

The days are turning short, and it's getting colder by the day.

Winter is coming.

U must see this!!!

This is really funny!!! Especially the comments!
A true classic of how our government work.. haha..


http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2007/09/stone-seats.html

Tower Bridge

Since back from Scotland, had not had anything interesting to put up..

Yesterday, went to attend the launch of my Firm's Audit Response Team (ART), which I have signed up for the coming year. It was held at Tower Hotel near Tower Bridge. It was my first time to that area of London, although it's really quite near to where i stay.

The event was very interesting. Besides the usual talks and presentations, we had to do some team items. There are basically 3 things to do. Radio ad, tv ad and print media. My table group kena the video item, so we had to come up with a 90sec clip to advertise the ART. It was really very fun.. haha.. coz it was really my first time doing something like that.. and I had to act in it! and the best thing was my group came in the top 3, and so the clip was broadcast to the whole audience of 300..

Super paiseh lor......
My lines were "Mobility!! Manchester, London, LA!!! YEAH!!!!" haha...

Anyways, after that, I crossed the Tower Bridge to get to the South Bank to catch a bus home. First time crossing the Tower Bridge on foot.


Tower Bridge


On my way to cross the Bridge.


View of Tower of London (the castle nex to River Thames). The tall, pointed building behind is the Gherkin. (not a very nice building in my opinion)


At the other end of the bridge.

Scotland trip

Finally I have some time to update my blog on scotland trip.. been so busy watching tv and US Open these days.. haha..

This is one of the most relaxing trips that I have done in some time. Although France was quite relaxing also..

We reached Glasgow and stayed 1 night there before going to Fort William at the Highlands.


At the Glasgow City Chambers at George Square

At the Glasgow Cathedral, which is situated in the oldest part of Glasgow.


Happened to chance upon a Scottish bag-pipers band playing. They did marching while playing too!


At the People's Palace

Nothing much to do in Glasgow really. Spent most of the time shopping at the High Street shops and walking around to the sightseeing spots.


Me and huili at Fort William, along Loch Linhe

The highlight of this trip was supposed to be the steam train journey which is the train that harry potter takes to hogwarts.. This is a train ride from Fort William to Mallaig, and is reputed to be one of the most scenic journeys in the world.. Sadly, due to inadequate planning, we didnt book the train in advance and it was already full by the time we arrived!! :(

So we went to the Nevis range instead and "climbed" a mountain! Haha.. we took the cable car up for most of the way.. hee..


At the Nevis range.. the wind was super strong at the top of the mountain. So strong that all our ears hurt so much..

View of the trekking track which we took to reach the top of the mountain.


Resting at halfway of the trek..


Finally we reached the top!! The wind was even stronger here!!


View from the top..

The next day, we rented a car to drive to Loch Ness.


Me and huili with the legendary Loch Ness monster, Nessie.


Visit to the Loch Ness Centre, where they showed the history of the legend, and the scientific evidence showing that it is just a legend.

So do you believe in the Loch Ness monster? It's really quite amazing how a legend like this can turn this place into a tourist spot.


The Urquhart Castle in the background where the Loch Ness Monster was first "spotted".


More of the Urquhart Castle


A series of water locks linking the Loch Ness and Caledonian Canal.


With the beautiful Loch Ness behind me.


Along Loch Ness somewhere when we stopped half way during our drive back to Fort William.


The Highland cow, which we called Shaggy cow.. We saw alot of postcards of this cow, and we found it very cute. So we went in a search for it! We asked a shop assistant where we can possibly find the cows and he was spot on! although we kept driving for quite a while before we found the cows!


Very cute right!?!?! haha...... I was so afraid the cows will charge at us. See the scared look on my face.. there was a black one which looked particularly unfriendly. We had to climb over the fence to get into the field, and to cross the entire field to reach this cow which was the nearest to us!


River view from the Inverlochy Castle. The castle is now a ruin..


Sunset taken from the plane, on the way back to London from Glasgow.

I'm quite sure I'll go back to Fort William again. Because I still wanna take the scenic steam train. I can imagine it to be an absolutely amazing view of the Scottish Highlands..

London Underground strike

Today is the 2nd day of the underground strike by the Tube workers. It had been reported to be the worst Underground strike in a decade.

I'm glad I'm not affected by the strike. Luckily I have a straight bus to office and there is also no strike on the Jubilee line which goes to my place.

I have got colleagues who paid 20pounds to get a cab from the train station to office, and another who took 2 hrs instead of the normal 1 hr to get to office.

Glad there are no strikes in Singapore.

6 months gone by..

6 months have passed since I first arrived in London. 3 March 2007 - 3 Sep 2007

Quite a lot of thoughts.. Although pretty similar to the post which I put up a month ago. Just that I've been to 2 more countries for travel, read about 4 more books and understood myself better.

I think humans are always very contradictory. Now I'm quite free at work. But I wish I can be busier. I wish to do more and take on more responsibilities so that I can learn more. But, when that is happening, you just wish to nuah ur time away. The ironies of life.

Oh, a colleague of mine who went to sg for holiday for 7 nights said that he likes the MRT a lot.. Said it's cheap, spacious, clean and new. Also commented that he doesn't understand how it can be so cheap since it must have cost a lot to build and maintain. Well, transport in london is not cheap. A peak hour travel on the tube costs me £2 (~ S$6). Really glad to hear that from a tourist. Makes me proud :) But he also said he is amazed at how much reliance we still place on using cash, particularly for supermarkets and buying food. Haha.. Seriously, it never occurred to me before. Supermarkets we use NETS, and ya, food, we use cash!!

I think to a certain extent, singaporeans like to complain about everything, especially hikes in transport fares, and takes everything for granted.. I guess we're ignorant to wat's happening in the world outside our little island. Just a little comment from a foreigner and it shows it all.

To be honest, although personally I do not like transport hikes either, I've never complained about it. That's because I have some little knowledge as to how they come up with the rationale behind the increase. It is not as easy as u think they just pluck a figure from the sky. Besides, there is always the increasing prices in electricity (as a result of oil price increases).

Anyways, happy 6 months, and may there be more happy 6 months to go..

Singapore chilli crab festival

Today, we went to the Singapore Chilli Crab Festival held in London, which was organised by the Singapore Tourism Board. Basically, they sold quite some local food such as Chilli crab, hainanese chicken rice, laksa, satay, char kway teow, chendol, teh tarik etc.

I must say that the food is not fantastic, nor are they authentic in my opinion. The crabs are particularly disappointing. I muz clarify to all Londoners who had the crabs today: The crabs we had today are not the authentic and famous Singapore Chilli Crabs!!!! It is nowhere comparable lor.. the crabs are the brown crabs which we tried to cook before (I posted a blog previously on our crab-cooking experience). It's quite disappointing because the food is really not reflective of the food back at home..



Anyways, we also had 1 round of tiger beer.



Over the last week, attended a training for in-charges to managers. It was a really good course. Some of the things which i need to improve on includes talking slower, with more pauses, and be more assertive, and not to be too flustered when I am nervous.

The instructor also gave a quote which I found quite meaningful:
"Success is getting what you want. Happiness is liking what you have."