Back from Bradford away job

Just got back from away job to Bradford. Bradford is a small town 20min train ride from Leeds. Leeds is about 2.5hr away from London by train. First time on an away job.

Not too bad a job i must say. 好吃好住.. cannot hiam too much. haha.. Stayed at Hilton hotel and had a budget of £25 for dinner every night. So every night eat 好料 until very bloated. too much of eating outside also can get quite sian. so my dinner tonight of plain porridge with peanuts and an egg was quite a delicacy. :)

Bradford is really quite a small town. and there are many Asians there (ie. indians, pakistanis etc). All the taxi drivers who picked me to/fro hotel and client's place are all pakistanis. And the taxi operators also spoke in their own languages. I actually didn't feel like I was in England for some moments.

There are not many restaurants there actually. But luckily, there is an entertainment centre near my hotel. There's a cinema, bowling alley, pizza hut, nandos and frankie & benny's. Dinner on Tues was at Nando's. Wed was at this Chino-Thai restaurant which 1 of the drivers recommended to me, when I asked him if he knows of any japanese restaurants in bradford. Apparently, i think there is no jap restaurant here. And Thurs was roast turkey at hotel restaurant. 3-course dinner, but the waiter accidentally charged me for 2-course only! I was honest and told him. But he said nevermind! :) hee..

Prob next week i'll visit Chino-Thai more.. the food there is good and the servings are huge. I actually didn't manage to finish the food i ordered!! And if u know me, I am the type who doesn't waste food. but i really couldn't finish it alread.

Oh and i lost my yellow waterbottle on wed! Boo hoo....... i believe it dropped out of my bag into the cab when my bag toppled over in the cab. only realised when I got to the client's place :( the bottle which followed me for the last 2-3 years.

Going to Manchester tomorrow! Yay! Quite dumb actually. Coz Manchester is only 1 hour away from Leeds. So I'm spending alot of time travelling on the train. But no choice since I don't wanna fork out my own money to book accoms for fri and sat nights. and also no one to do my laundry for me if I don't go back to London to get clean clothes for work next week.

Hope Man Urd will win. 加油加油加油!!

Rugby world cup

Saturday was the rugby world cup between England and South Africa. Me, liping, huili and melvin went to O2 arena (aka Millenium Dome) to catch the live screening!

True-blue england fans...

Think the screening was to the biggest crowd outside of Paris. The atmosphere there was really good. Especially when england scored...

Enjoying a bottle of beer in a plastic bottle.

Although England lost, the crowd wasn't rowdy at all.. Maybe coz we left super fast like 5min before the game ended. Although we didn't quite understand the game and its rules, it was still an enjoyable night for me. Watching it with many many people certainly adds to the atmosphere. :)

Man Utd ticket!

Finally I received my long-awaited ticket to Old Trafford to watch Manchester United against Middlesbrough on 27 Oct! I was so worried that the ticket may get lost, after strikes by Royal Mail staff which seems to be never-ending...



The ticket came in this small envelope which really looks quite cute..

And for the next 2 weeks, i'll be going on my first away job to Bradford, near Leeds. Hope there is internet connection there..... yay!

Para-gliding in Chamonix, France

Oh.. rem i mentioned in my France trip that I went para-gliding in Chamonix? the pilot actually took some photos when we were up there.. and just got from my cousin some time ago.. hee.. now then remembered to post it up!

Singapore Food Festival and house warming at May and June's place

Yesterday was quite eventful. Had the singapore food festival buffet at Royal Garden Hotel, followed by a walk through Kensington Park all the way to Oxford Street to digest all that food from the buffet. Went shopping at Primark and bought my first pair of boots for £12 only.


Kensington Palace


Me and Peifen at a lake in Kensington Park. There are many swans and geese at the lake.


Nice tree.


More nice trees... I really like Autumn when the leaves change colour and drop...

Then it was housewarming party at May and June's place. They are 2 KPMG HK secondees whom I got to know through shuwen, jac etc etc.... It was the biggest ever gathering that I have attended since arrival in London!


Steamboat dinner.. with 4 rice cookers!

There were mostly KPMG pple.. from SG, HK and sydney.. and there were some friends' friends etc...


With Vani, May, June, Shuwen, Irene, Ee Lynn and Siew Yin




The Singapore group (with a few others excluded coz they were at the balcony)


Singaporeans plus Hong Kongers plus syndey guy


Everyone in!!

The talented Jay Chou playing the piano..

OMG.. u must see this.



He is so absolutely talented!! and i miss playing the piano and my trumpet....

Autumn in London

You know the autumn is here when leaves start to turn yellow/red and fall off the tree.


This is the view of the driveway from the main road to my flat. I think it looks beautiful. My favourite colour, yellow. Hmm.. but it sure looks better in real than on the photo..

And this morning, when I took a walk to the tube station to get to work, I was surprised at the scene which greeted me:


I couldn't see a thing across the dock! It was so foggy... and it was cold.



And u know it's Autumn, when the sun starts to set at only 550pm.


View from Blackfriars Bridge on my way to catch a bus home.

You prob need to click on the photos to see a bigger pic, else u won't see the sun set.. haha..

Edinburgh photos

Woo.... I've finally uploaded the pictures I took on my recent Edinburgh trip!

Took train at 10am from Kings' Cross Station. It was a very crowded train. And it was stressful coz I was afraid I won't get a seat as most seats were reserved... But i was lucky enough to find 2 seats all to myself! :)

Finally arrived at 2pm..


Walking along Lawnmarket street to get to my hostel.


Walking along High Street in the Old Town. Also visited the St Giles Cathedral which was situated along the High Street.


Crossing the North Bridge to get over to the New Town.


Having my picture taken from Calton Hill. The one which the lone tourist offered to take for me, after seeing me struggling to zi4 pai1! haha..


View of the Old Town from Calton Hill.


On the left is the National Monument, and on the right is the Nelson Monument which is shaped like a telescope.

Dinner was at a Thai restaurant near the hostel. First time eating in a restaurant all by myself. Felt proud of myself :) The food there was really good. No wonder it was fully booked. I got in at 7.15pm, and was requested to finish eating by 8pm because they were fully booked!

It was also my first time staying in a hostel. A 12-bed female room. The toilets and showers were unisex. But at least it's clean. And the room was also clean. There were 6 bunk beds, and i took the top of one of the bunks. My bed was called Mr. Tickle! haha..

On the second day, I started my day with a visit to Edinburgh Castle.

Queues to get into the castle had already formed since early in the morning.


View from the castle was breathtaking! This is the view of the New Town in the background, and the Princes Street Garden in the foreground.


View of Calton hill (see the Nelson and national monuments)


Me at Edinburgh Castle


St. Mary's Cathedral to the west of the castle.




View of the castle itself from a higher ground.


The 1 o'clock cannon. Check out the clip below for the cannon which i took.



It was so loud!! And I'm not the person who screamed!

After Edinburgh Castle, I went to take the open-top city tour bus. It's the closest I can get to an open-top convertible! haha... The tour bus drove to all the tourist attractions in the city, and I can drop off and get on whenever i want, during a period of 24hrs.


This is the latest attraction in Edinburgh - Dynamic Earth.


This is the new Scottish Parliament. A building which is the recipient for numerous architectural awards.


Holyrood park in the background.


More of the Scottish Parliament.


Palace of Holyroodhouse. It costs £9.50 to go into the palace! So I didn't go in. Managed to take a picture of the palace from a side gate.. haha..


Nelson Monument on a clear blue sky day.


A statue of the Duke of Wellington infront of the Register House.


Statue of Queen Victoria on the roof of the Royal Scottish Academy.


View of the Edinburgh Castle from Princes Street (the shopping street of Edinburgh).

After having done 1 round of the city tour bus, I dropped off at Grassmarket street and bought a panini and walked around the city. It's such a pretty city to walk around. I just walked and walked and tried to get myself lost. haha..

Walked from grassmarket to the Greyfriars Kirk. Then went into the Museum of Scotland and Royal Museum. i went into the Museum of Scotland first. Walked 1 round and came out. Then went further down to Royal Museum and went in. Only to realise that I'd already been there! Coz the 2 museums were actually connected! Faint....


Standing outside the National Gallery which is on the left. On the right is the Royal Academy of Scotland.

Dinner was at the gourmet Burger place at High Street, just 1 street away from my hostel.

On Sun morning, i left hostel super early and walked to Princes Street to buy McD breakfast and had breakfast in the Princes Street Garden while waiting for the National Gallery to open at 10am. The garden is really beautiful.. it's such a bliss to have breakfast in a quiet, peaceful and beautiful garden.


A sweet little house in the garden.


Beautiful flowers!!


Edinburgh castle standing high on top of the big rock.


Big fountain in the Princes Street Garden.


My favourite is the tree with the red leaves.. very beautiful............


The National Gallery of Scotland - my last stop in Edinburgh. The collection is not very big. But it's considered very good for a country the size of Scotland.

I did alot of walking in Edinburgh because it's simply a nice town to just walk around and get lost. :) And thankfully, the weather was good. No rain, just abit of gloominess at times..

I hope I'll go on more trips by myself in future!