UK 2014 with Ernest (Part 3)
Friday, August 22, 2014
♥ 11:42 pm
Part 3 takes us to Aberdeen, Scotland.
It's pretty far north, and not a common destination for those visiting Scotland. Many choose to head to Edinburgh or Glasgow where it's nearer and perhaps more scenic. But Ernest and I decided on Aberdeen as Ernest had his friend Bosty and Bosty's girlfriend Hazel staying there. So why not?
We reached Aberdeen pretty late cos' we took an evening flight out of Manchester. But it didnt seem late at all cos' the summer sky only gets dark at 10pm. We retired for the night after a simple dinner that our hosts kindly prepared, and the next morning we headed to Isle of Skye.
We took a road trip to Isle of Skye, and the entire journey took us approximately 5-6 hours. I'm pretty used to it having gone on even longer road trips with my family growing up, but perhaps it's not having done a road trip in 6+ years that made me less able to adapt to one now- I was sitting in the backseat (since I can't drive a manual car), and I guess I'm older (and more mellow) now. We made a few stops along the way for pictures with the highlands, which is perhaps the main attraction of Scotland, and we reached Isle of Skye with time for further exploration of the island itself.
On the way to Isle of Skye
View from one of the hills in Isle of Skye
The waterfall at Kilt Rock in Skye
The view of rolling hills against a pond at Kilt Rock in Skye.
It was rolling hills on one side and the ocean on the other, the best of both worlds for the nature buff. We got back to our accommodation really late that night but thank goodness we did get back, but not without navigating through the pitch dark roads (often single-carriage and sometimes 'invaded' by sheep).
The morning was spent with tom yam noodles in the hostel. After that we headed to the fairy pools in Skye. We trekked for a distance before reaching the pools. The place was very much like the mermaid cave in Disney's Peter Pan. The waters were turquoise, and the rocks holding the pool were deep brown that complimented the waters. Lunch after was awesome- we tried some haggis (Tip: haggis is classic Scottish food made of minced inerts of a cow and well minced meat. It's usually deep fried like fish & chips. Do try it but be sure to share it with someone else cos' it can get pretty heavy on the palate.) at Bosty's and Hazel's recommendation. And scampi, which is essentially deep-fried prawn in batter. I had a huge slice of haddock (super awesome) and the most value-for-money carrot cake and lemon drizzle cake at £1.25 a generous slice.
Fairy Pools in Skye
Us at the Fairy Pools. One of the best photos of us together
AWESOME carrot cake
Lunch was haddock fish (so nice cos it's freshly deep-fried) and chips (not shown)
Glenfinnan Viaduct ie the bridge for Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter
Another good picture of us
View from the Corpach Sea Lock
Lovely beach homes at Corpach Sea Lock
We drove past the Loch Ness lake en route to the Glenfinnan viaduct (Tip: this is for Harry Potter fans. It's essentially the bridge for the train tracks that is shown in HP movies, where the HP and co. take the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts from Platform 9 3/4). We missed the daily train service that uses the viaduct, but on it's own, the viaduct was really rustic. We took a couple of detours to get back to Aberdeen, and we found a the Caledonian Canal/Corpach Sealock which had beach-front houses and a magnificent view across a gorgeous lake. After which we drove all the way back to Aberdeen, saw some highland cows, to Hazel's delight (Tip: highland cows are cows that look like they're wearing mops. They're not the black-white cows that we think of when we first think of cows, but highland cows are really cute cos their hair covers their eyes haha), and passed by lots of whiskey distilleries.
Before our evening flight to London the next day, Ernest and I headed out to explore Aberdeen. Before we headed to the town centre, we took a bus ride to a quaint little town called Oldmeldrum, where we went to the Glen Garioch (pronounced: Glen Geery) whiskey distillery. We were the only ones on the tour, but that made it a bit more personal and enjoyable, particularly for Ernest. We had a little whiskey tasting (in the morning OMG) and we bought lotsa souvenirs- whiskey glasses, whiskey fruit cake and keychains (: we walked around Oldmeldrum for a bit (there's really nothing much cos the town is VERY small) and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Aberdeen town centre and being blown away by the wind (:
Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire
At the Glen Garioch whiskey distillery
Aberdeen
Street art with sand at Aberdeen
We had a quick dinner, got to the airport only to face a 3 hour delay in our flight back to London due to technical problems and delays with the arrival of the plane which had been held up in Paris from airport strikes earlier in the day. We had a little compensation (£3 for 3 hours = not worth it, in Ernest's opinion haha) and managed to catch some World Cup action (S. Korea vs Belgium) while waiting. Ernest and I finially reached London at an ungodly 1+am, but it was too late for traveling back (train services stopped for the night while cabs were too expensive) so we spent another couple hours at Gatwick airport (constant flow of people made it quite safe as long as either of us kept awake). By morning we were super tired and almost missed out train stop at my aunt's town, but we were glad we got back anyways and took the next day to recover from a lack of sleep the last couple days.
A bit if dinner/supper and a bit of soccer at Aberdeen Airport
Part 4 is gonna be exciting cos' it's more London-bound! Stay tuned (:
UK 2014 with Ernest (Part 2)
Tuesday, August 05, 2014
♥ 11:43 pm
MANCHESTER.
The theatre of dreams.
No that's only at Old Trafford, where the Manchester United Football Club is. And, it was a dream come true for Ernest, not so much for me. Haha.
After a couple days in London, our first destination out of London was to Manchester. Ernest's and my friend, Samantha, has been studying there the past 2 years. So our trip there was dual-purpose, or triple-purpose- visiting our dear friend whom we haven't met in the last 5 years, staying with our dear friend as part of our trip up north, and heading to Old Trafford.
Meeting Sam again after eons was pretty surreal. I honestly wasn't sure how to act when I saw her again, but true friendships don't change with the number of years. It didn't take long to remember how JC days were like, and those times in school seemed to seamlessly translate into present time but a different setting. Now we were in UK- gone were the uniforms and teachers, it was a new city, a new country, a new setting altogether.
Sam brought us to some of her favourite parts of Manchester city. I can understand why- it's visibly less hectic than the larger London city, and the architecture of Manchester is a lot older, more Victorian-styled of sorts. Ernest seems to like Manchester more than London, but it's otherwise for me. Nonetheless, it took a while to absorb everything. The time finally came for dinner and we headed to Curry Mile for some middle eastern food at wallet friendly prices! After which, we headed to a branch of the popular Wetherspoon Pub, where 3 of us had some drinks over World Cup action (Germany vs Ghana, and Germany tied with Ghana 2-2). We retired for the day with a little p&w (Sam had a guitar lying around her shared apartment)
Manchester Town Hall with Ernest
Manchester Town Hall with Sam!
Wetherspoon Pub at Curry Mile
I started the next day with Sunday Mass at the beautiful St Mary Roman Catholic Church (The Hidden Gems) in town, while Ernest waited for me. It was a small church with a small congregation. There wasn't a choir/organ in the church, and neither was there helpers to the presiding priest celebrating mass that morning. It was 2 lectors for the readings, and a priest that handled basically everything else (songs, preparation of the altar, and actually celebrating mass with the homily and Eucharist). It was Corpus Christi Sunday, and the priest delivered a very lovely homily that was totally from the heart. I guess I've been caught up in the intellectual parts of my faith that all I really needed was a love-filled message- and I got that that morning. After mass, Ernest and I roamed around town, exploring Manchester, had lunch, and headed to Old Trafford for our tour.
Now, Old Trafford is a league of their own. It's pretty magnificent, due to the sheer size and grandeur of the stadium. I can understand why every Man Utd fan would wanna go there at least once in their life to visit the stadium, and more importantly, catch a match on home ground. Ernest and I went on the tour, which surprisingly had quite a few Singaporeans joining us. For myself, it was learning about the history of the club, and for Ernest, it was living one of his dreams. The megastore was the last stop, where we got some souvenirs (I got a pair of sterling silver Man Utd earrings!!!! :D) before heading back to Sam's for dinner.
Old Trafford
The pitch, facing Stretford End
Me!
The players' changing room with jerseys
Facing the Sir Alex Ferguson stand
The 'Holy Trinity' of Man Utd
Many thanks to Sam and her Singaporean friend Shiyan for making dinner. We were served great cottage pie (shepherd's pie, as we call it in Singapore), cheese tart and wine. We took a short stroll in the nearby park after dinner, and then retired for the night.
The following day, Ernest and I spent the morning at Slug and Lettuce with a hearty classic English Breakfast. (
Tip: Slug and Lettuce has 50% off all items on Mondays, and they have cafes all over UK, and many in London, so be sure to visit for a budget-friendly meal!) We headed to the National Football Museum for more football action! Lunch with Sam after, and then it was time to catch our flight to Aberdeen.
Back again!
