The Journey Begins

2006-10-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

Blackpool

Went to Blackpool with International Society. Hongyi, Shufen, Huili and Desmond went as well. Blackpool is this seaside town which survives totally on tourism. The whole town is like a theme park with loads of hotels, hostels and Fish-n-Chips shops. We went around the whole town, check out the rides, explore the beach and ate the best Fish-n-Chips I have ever tasted. I also took the Pepsi-Max ride - this is the famous, mad and most expensive ride in the town and I chose to sit all the way in the front. It was great fun but very very rocky! We ended the day with the Blackpool illumination - streets and streets of decorated lights. =)

Entrance of the Main Rides
Skeleton Face
Hongyi, Shufen and Me

Me and Huili

Me and Sammy - the name of the donkey beside me

At the Beach - Enjoying the Breeze

At Peace with Nature

Shan Hu Hai

Funland

Street Artiste

The PEPSI MAX CHALLENGE - the most famous ride in Blackpool.

On the PEPSI MAX - That's me at the front.

Playing the Clown

Blackpool's Famous Fish and Chips

Rocket

The below photographs are all from the Blackpool Illumination. I still have some more photos but not very nice as the coach was moving. Hard to take a good picture. Enjoy and Cheers!!

2006-10-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

Fire Garden

Just a short entry on the Fire Garden held near my hostel. I can't celebrate Mooncake Festival, so have to make do with this. Haha. Photos and photos.

Balls of Fire

Me with the Ball of Fire

My Friends and Me

The 'Fireman' at Work

Pole of Fire with Engraving

Human-controlled Pole of Fire

Fire in Water

2006-10-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

Manchester City VS Sheffield

Watch the match live at the City Stadium with my neighbour andy - my first premiership game. I will also try to catch a Manchester United one before I go back in January. I sat at the second row in the stadium, so the players were really near to see especially when they ran on the flanks. Below are some photos.

City Stadium

M.C.F.C. - Andy and Me

Security At Work

City Stadium in Full Glory

Within the Stadium - Me and Andy

Chance Meeting with James and Eric

Start of Match - Players shaking hands

Match In Progress

ME!

The Famous Spiky Structure outside the City Stadium

End of Match When Everyone Leave

It was an eye-opener because of the atmosphere but too bad the match ended with 0-0 scoreline and I so wanted to see a goal. Never mind, another time! =)

2006-10-22T05:28:00.000-07:00

My Ireland Trip

Sorry about this lag, will try to fill in all the missing gaps till now.

The Dublin story begins like this. James and Claudia booked the budget flight earlier than me by 15 min. We were suppsoed to go on a Sat morning. When I tried to book it, the fare has risen by 20 pounds so in the end I chose to go on my own first on Fri night. After that, James and Claudia gang of international students also join us. All 10 of us.

I arrive in Dublin at around 12 midnight because the flight was delayed. After that, I had to make my way to the hostel and there was no bus already. Took a special coach to the city centre. I stupidly ask some drunkards for directions and they brought me to all the way far far from my hostel. In the end, I decide to find it on my own on the map. The journey seems a bit dangerous though because some of the streets were dimly lit. At one point, a man started running towards me. Was on heightened alert but he ran past me. Hahaha. At last manage to find my hostel at 2 plus morning before going for a supper. Was way hungry. Anyway, this was my first ever night in a budget hostel if you minus the youth hostel in Sentosa. Hhaha

The next day, I had breakfast at the hostel before going for a short tour of the main street while waiting for the rest to come.

Some photos:

A Statue in Dublin

Another Statue in Dublin

The rest arrived at around 11am. After putting our bags in the lockers (new hostel from the previous night), we set off to explore Dublin.

Along the River

Hana and me

Super-big Needle - They have this landmark. Just a pole that extends all the way high up there. It really looks like the monkey god's pole. Hahaha

Street of Dublin - See the needle behind me

Street Market in Dublin

James and Me - Along Temple Bar Street

Eric (from Germany), James, Me and Pedro (from Chile)

Claudia, Camila (from Italy) and Hana (from Germany)

Street Artist

Street Performer

After a walk, the international students decided to go back to the hostel to sleep. So i decide to explore the city by myself. However, Claudia came to join me because she did not want me to go alone. I was quite touched because she was quite tired. Felt a bit bad to make her walk around with me.

Claudia and Me at Trinity College, Dublin

Another Street Performance

A Candid Shot

Christ Church Cathedral - Look really nice

Dublin Castle

A night, we went pubbing and clubbing in Dublin. The night life in Dublin is madness. Along Temple Bar Street, there were so many people that almost every pub and club was fully filled. There were so many group of people dressed up in themes with so many hen's party. hahaha. Truely amazing the nightlife here. Much more than in Manchester and definitely Singapore. Too bad I never brought my camera out for the night.

Dublin At night

I had a traditional Irish Breakfast the next day before going to the St Patrick's Cathedral and the famous Guiness Storehouse.

St Patrick's Cathedral

Horse-cart

Me at Guiness Storehouse

The Guiness Storehouse - See the tanks where they store the guiness. The top of the tower at the back is the highlight of the tour. Suppose to go up slowly. Got 7 flours of exhibition before reaching the top where they will give you a complimentary pint of Guiness.

Inside the Storehouse - Saw everything about Guiness. How it was invented, how the process go, the main ingredients etc. Interesting. Took almost 3 hours to complete the tour.

Inside the Guiness Storehouse - 2 nice Scotish girls I got to know at the exhibition, Alice and Candy.

The Guiness Bartender at the Top of the Storehouse

My Complimentary Pint of Guiness - Cheers!!!

Filled

Half-filled

Gone

View from the Top

Had Irish Stew for dinner at an Irish pub before catching a show. Slept at the airport before taking the early plane back to manchester. It was a nice trip.

2006-10-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

OLD TRAFFORD

To all those Man United fans out there. Went to Old Trafford on the 24th September.

The Beginning of the Stadium Tour

Overall View of the Stadium

Me and my friends went for the Museum and Stadium tour.

Daniel, me and Kok Yew

The stadium was very impressive. Huge capacity. Overwhelmed by the size of the place. Grass pitch and everything else look solid. Photos below.

Old Trafford Stadium

Me at The Stadium

Tour Guide Explaining About the Stadium

Threatre of Dreams

Nike

Super Nice Pitch

Betting Area in the Stadium

Bars in the Stadium

Press Conference Area

Jaccuzi for the Players

Changing Room with Tactics Board

Changing Room - Each player has his allocated seat

The Tunnel

In the Tunnel

Me and the Big Red Book

Teckie and Me

I shall not bored you guys with the photos of the Museum but the Museum sure have everything you need to know about Man United. Was supposed to catch a match Man United vs Copenhagen tmr but my neighbour could not get tickets at the last minute. Another time perhaps then =) Will have chance to catch one before I leave UK.

Next up in sequence

1. Dublin Trip

2. Man City vs Shelfield

3. Blackpool

Going hiking at Lake District this coming Saturday as well.

Cheers

2006-10-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

MY FIRST EVER BLOG!!!

Heya

My first entry of my first ever blog!!!
Been almost a month since I have reach manchester. Below is the list of events that have happened. This is going to be brief. One whole month of events is a bit hard to recap =P

1) First 2 days in Manchester was spend exploring the city. Me and Claudia walked all the way from our campus to the city which took us around 2 hours plus a bit of look look see see along the way.

My New University - University of Manchester

Palace Threatre - where plays and musicals are staged

Me and James at the Lowry - Analogous to our esplanade

2) The following week was fresher week - basically it's orientation week. A lot of administration work to do as well as talks to attend. There were also guided tours to show us around the places. I caught a glimpse of Old Trafford when I was at the Lowry during the guided tour.

Whole group of us - At Old Trafford

The Bricks on the Ground along the Pavement - Madness!!!

More on Old Trafford later.

3) Spend the whole week of Fresher Week clubbing with my flagmates. 8 people in the flag, 4 guys and 4 girls. Almost every night for the first week was clubbing. Manchester clubbing scene was definitely so much more happening than in Singapore. Anyway, I showcased to them Singapore Icon on the first night of clubbing =) - Merlion in the pub. HAha oh well that was because I did not have my dinner before all the drinks. Anyway, drinks here are cheap. Shots at 80 pence to 1 pound which is less than 3 dollars back home. Beers around 1plus pound to 2 pound, also much cheaper. Some clubbing photos.

Diana, Me, Helen and Karl

Helen and me!

Diana, Anna, Karl and Helen

Karl, Hana and Me!

4) Week 1 of School - School officially started but only lectures no tutorials. Found out that because the courses here are 3 years course and I am a year 3 student for a 4 year course, so way hard to map. Level 2 courses too simple, level 3 courses some got missing gap. Tried a level 4 course on Stochastic Calculus, that is a master course - way too hard. Free time was either spent drinking or going to pubs to watch soccer match. The friendly NTU gang also always ask me to go over for mahjong and cards. Haha.

Shufen, Hongyi and Huili - At Scream Pub watching soccer

Too Bored During Half Time

Anyway, the pubs here are very crowded during manchester soccer matches. Atmosphere is good.

5) Weekend of week 1 of school. Teck Yong came over from Leeds and bunk in with me. We went for AAAAA drink on Friday night. Ok only Teck Yong will get the joke haha. Then Sat night, we went down to Chester, the town centre of Cheshire - a county in UK. Chester is supposed to be this scenic, full of historical attraction place. The Romans once have it as one of their military base. There is also a roman aphithreatre there semi-uncovered from the earth. Photos and photos of chester!!!

The Walls of Chester - Mini version of Great Wall of China

This drawing by the artist on the street was great! - The Famous Clock for Queen Elizabeth

Teckie and Me - At the Drew Roma Experience

Impressive! I might be a Roman General in my previous life - At the Drew Roma Experience

Not very big but impressive at that time - The Roman Amphithreatre in Chester

There happens to be a horse racing carnival on that day - Horse Racing in Chester

We went back in the evening and I brought Teck Yong to the Chinatown in Manchester.

Chinatown in Manchester

Anyway, that's all for today. To be continued. Old Trafford trip and Ireland-Dublin trip next entry!!!