16th Sept 2007 - Newcastle

Wow, it’s already 8.30pm here. I did my laundry for the 1st time and I’m pretty please with the results. Washing machines and dryers are pretty simple to operate, just need to know the amount of detergent to add in. Luckily I met this postgrad student, from Newcastle, at the laundry room. She showed me and another Indian postgrad student how much detergent to add. Haha, the Indian guy is also using the washing machine for the 1st time! Looks like I’m not the only one around who’s a mountain tortoise… Eventually we exchanged mobile numbers, I mean the Indian guy and myself, because we were chatting while waiting for our clothing to dry in the dryers. He was already inviting me to join him at the café/bar. Seems like he’s there nearly daily at night because there’s nothing to do at night. It’s quite a hassle to walk out to the town area.

Today, I did a lot of walking because they aren’t any bus service from the “park and ride” area. The only way to take a bus is from the main road but the bus had a frequency of ½ hr. The porter advised me to just walk to the town area since it would be faster. So I walked nearly 3km to the rail station because I decided to go on an “adventure”. I went to Newcastle today. Gosh, it’s so cool man. It reminded me of Hong Kong, albeit with wider streets, pavements and English architecture. I spent 8 hours out and I think I only sat for less than an hour the entire day. So bloody tired… but it was well worth the fatigue. I went into St Mary’s Church, and boy was it beautiful inside. I didn’t expect the interior to be so nice. This time round, I managed to take a few pictures inside the church. On my way out, I witnessed a baptism of a baby. An auspicious sign?

The highlight of my day was supposedly to be Chinatown in Newcastle. The PRCs told me that Newcastle had a Chinatown. However, all my hopes of having a Chinese meal was dashed when I went there. After walking past half a street or so, Chinatown was English again. I expected Chinatown to be significantly big but it was less than 1 street long. And the prices of the Chinese food were exorbitant! Why in the world would I pay more than 5 pounds for a plate of noodles? Also, what the hell is “Singapore noodles”? There’s no such thing man, all a scam to cheat Westerners… So I ended up having chicken again for lunch.

I visited St James Park as well, but I couldn’t look inside the stadium. What a pity, could only take pictures from outside. Sorry to disturb all the Newcastle fans out there, but I did take some nice pictures of the Newcastle stores and stadium. That aside, I went window shopping. Think I haven’t window shop for a long time and it was really fun. I was so tempted to spend money, but thinking that I haven’t settled into my permanent road, I decided not to buy clothing just yet. The prices are pretty reasonable and you can get decently cheap stuff if you’re a bargain hunter. Surprisingly, it’s easier to get cheaper clothing in Newcastle than in Durham, considering the fact that the shopping/banking area of Newcastle is at least 3 times that of Durham’s. This is because there’re several shopping malls and departmental stores, so you can really compare clothing and prices. It ranges from cheap to mid-range mostly. One more thing to add, Marks and Spencer really seems like it’s for old people! Saw so many nice clothing but didn’t buy any, hehe think I’m gonna do shopping this coming week.

The streets of Newcastle are generally nice, however I think the buildings are simpler than those in Vienna. Somehow, the carvings and structure of the buildings in Vienna seem more sophisticated than the ones I’ve seen in Newcastle. Not that Newcastle isn’t nice, but I feel it cannot be compared to places like Rome, Vienna etc. I think that the people in Durham are generally friendlier too, probably because it’s a much smaller town and there’re many tourist as well, both whites and others. Gosh, did I just brand myself as “others”? Haha, I am an alien here anyway but things appear to be brightening up. Hopefully, I am able to register myself as a student tomorrow and receive my userid and password to log online in my dorm. By the way, shops here close generally early which is quite irritating. After I arrived in Durham, I couldn’t get any dinner. Luckily I chanced upon Subway which was ½ hr from closing. Managed to get something decent for 1.99 pounds. Despite going to Newcastle, I spent only 9.30 pounds in all, inclusive of the train tickets. Anyway, I’m glad I decided to venture out of Durham and head for Newcastle. It’s really nice and interesting to explore, not to mention the shopping, especially without a map. The stupid tourist information centre is closed on Sundays, damn slack, and the only alternative is to purchase a map/guidebook of Newcastle for 1 pound at the train station. No way am I going to spend that pound on it… thankfully my sense of direction is pretty good, after all, I’m an army instructor, cannot teach my soldiers to get lost right?

Gonna stop writing for now because I’m tired already, did so much walking today. Thankfully I’m army trained! Well, it’s a good time for anime now =)