Sunday, August 8, 2010

angel of the north.




on our way to newcastle, we visited angel of the north. a huge thanks to paran who made the effort for us to see such a beautiful sculpture.

from far away, Angel of the north's outstretched arms reminded me of Christ Redeemer Statue in Brazil that overlooks Rio de Janeiro from atop 2,343-foot Mount Corcovado. (this is another thing ai ling realli wanna see one day! who's in?)

yarm.





if its not bcos of little paran, i wouldnt know about this small village let alone visit it. but here we are, paran's tiny hometown! small but peaceful ^^ like wisteria lane in Desperate Housewive.









cardiff.

the night we arrived in cardiff, it was near midnight, so we decided to take a cab. the taxi driver told us the hotel was miles away from the city and advised us to book a nearer hotel; it may be more expensive but it saves the transport costs. i have to say, he was absolutely right.



though situated in an odd area which was pretty soulless, the hotel was pleasant. a big room with a nice bathroom. poor tourists like me havnt been indulging in such luxury for a long time.
















the next day, it was a good day with plenty of sunshine. we took a bus to the town centre, leaving the luggage with the hotel reception.

first destination, the cardiff castle. WELCOME!!!! it was a gorgeous castle i have to say, im not sure if its the sunshine, but it just looked magnificient. we paid 10pounds each to get it. expensive but to me its worth the visit. the first time i came to cardiff 3 years ago, i just looked at it from outside, i decided this time we just treat ourselves better.







































a lady was training a fatso owl in the castle garden. the owl was pretty lazy, it took the poor lady so long before the fat bird flew to her to grab the food in her hand. it enjoyed quite a lot of attentions form the visitors though.





on our way for a quick bite, we stopped at a second-hand bookshop to tru to hunt for some cheap travel guidebooks (ai ling wanna hav an adventure in the middle east!). outside the shop, we saw a HUGE DOG. im not even joking, tat was one of the very few big dogs i hav seen in my life. however, it looked adorable, even a dog-lover-not like me found it quite harmless and cute.


















if you come to the cardiff market, try out the welsh cakes! we were not big fans. it tasted like plenty of flour with sugar toppings. but, do wad the welsh do when u come to wales lol.






millenium stadium has always looked pretty damn cool to me. i have no idea wad the big welsh words mean but they just looked overwhelmingly wonderful.






the mermaid quay. walking along the quay and feeling the sea breeze under the sun was a blessing.


































after a big meal in wagamama, we caught the bus back to the hotel. the hotel would have been so perfect to me if it wasnt tat understaffed. we were waiting for ages before we could get our luggage from the staff. and guess wad, when we walked out to catch the bus, we freaking missed it and the next coming bus was an hour later. FRUSTRATED!!! we walked back to the hotel to ask the staff to call us a cab. feeling unsatisfied and ripped off, we tried our very best to reduce wadever fares the cab would cost. thus we asked the driver to stop us at the castle in he town, and we walked quite a long way to the train station--it saved us a few pounds, but compared to if we just tooked the bus, we wasted a few pounds.

HOWEVER, we said no complains bcos God loves us too much, the moment we were leaving cardiff it starting raining. we had a good day all in all ^^

Friday, August 6, 2010

llandudno (2)

after a night of good sleep, we met up noreen to head off to conwy castle.

we tried to kill some time at the second-hand shop near the bus stop as we were waiting for the bus to the conwy castle. got a travel book on Cyprus for only 29p!!!!! its great to recycle books, it especially benefits poor tourists like us. BUT i may just fly to Cyprus one day just bcos i read this book--not sure if i end up saving any money anyway.

conwy castle is not huge but to me it well preserved and beautiful. the whole town is full of ancient english scent. i came closer to think i actualli prefer to tour around small towns and villages in every country, it is how u can experience the lifestyle and culture of the people there.




































the british smallest house!!!!!!!!!!!!! for such a small house it managed to make quite a BIG money. it costs 1 pound for an adult to enter, for like less than a minute. it was realli quite small in there, but there wasnt a toilet nor a kitchen.















wonder why i had a sweet tooth during the whole trip, kept on hunting for desserts in every cake shop. brownies are always the best!












lunchtime we had fish and chips again. noreen was convinving us that this place had realli gret fish and chips so we thought ok, we would hav faith one more time. it turned out to be quite nice actualli.

as we were back to llandudno from conwy, we prepared to leave for the next destination-- cardiff. we got some chinese takeaway and walked to the train station. however we decided that the train station was a bit deserted and soulless, so we walked to a further park to kill some time. AND THIS IS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE TRIP. the journey to cardiff was llandudno- llandudno junction-cardiff. we were supposed to leave from llandudno at 6.04pm to llandudno junction, llandudno junction at 6.30pm to cardiff. when i bought the tickets in manchester, the staff somhow clipped the ticket at 6.30pm on the top. if it wasnt lim ai bee tat looked at the journey itinery at 6.01pm and we ran like idiots to the station, we would hav missed the train and the next train to cardiff. it was crazy and we could hav just missed the train but i think God loves us too much to leave us stranded. what a blessing!

safely reached the cardiff hotel, exhausted but grateful.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

llandudno (1)

finally find some time to sit down n blog about the trip with my sis. as i didnt book anby ticket before i left for msia, the whole trip was a bit unplanned. we decided to visit the north wales, llandudno as noreen was going there too with her parents. and since noreen is well known for her very organised personality, i decided she would have a wonderful itinerary that i could just follow.

just as we reached, i fell sick. we were having lunch at a chinese with noreen n her parents when i realli felt like puking the whole way. pale and scary.

the check-in time for the hostel was supposed to be at 3pm, but it was onli 1pm when we finished our meal, i decided we just had to go there n beg the staff to let me go in earlier to hav a rest cos i was realli feeling shit. the gal was nice enuf to let us in and i immediately collapsed for a few hours.



after a hot bath i felt a lot more refreshed and we started to explore the beautiful town. the pier was apparently a must-see. i didnt feel too much about the pier itself; but there was one scary encounter that would make me forever remember the place-- the horrifying seagulls. there was a cute little gal holding an icercream cone n the huge seagull just flew by and picked up the whole cone n swallowed the whole freaking icercream!!!!!

along the way we saw a stall where some ancient western or victorian style pictures can be taken. so we had this sudden crazy thought to have a victorian picture taken to have a laugh. n guess wad, it turned out we spent 15 pounds to hav 2 pretty stupid looking pictures and a helpless laugh.

afternoon tea, never miss the yummy english scone!!!!!

it was a pleasant walk around the town. it wasnt hectic and many of the inns and hostels were tiny but nicely decorated. i did realli like the place. one day when i retire i think this place will be a great spot to be in.

another thing. fish-and-chips. they were all over the place and we were trying to choose the best shop to go in to hav a try. it turned out, altho the shop was marked the best-fish-and-chips shop, it wasnt realli exciting for us and did no good in satisfying our malaysian taste buds.

and people, do not forget the welsh hand-made spoons of u step your foot in wales!




Sunday, August 1, 2010

not a dream anymore. graduated!


2 years of college. 5 years of uni. a lot of exams. numerous coursework. countless patients. many times, there were fear, stress, anxiety, uncertainty and frustrations. nevertheless, the many rewarding moments when u completed a case made it all worth it.

i am thrilled that today, my dream has been achieved.

papa, i am a dentist now!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

谢谢你


姐今晚飞回国了。 这两个多星期的廉价假期虽不豪华,而且还得处处节省,但是个很具意义的旅程。

谢谢你的照顾,谢谢你为我洗衣烧饭煮菜。你虽不多话,但却为我减轻了烦恼。

谢谢你姐。