27th Sept 2007 - Random Thoughts

Phew, I just returned from London yesterday and immediately I was busy into the night upon returning. The week in London was good. It wasn’t only because it was a much more interesting area with lots to explore but it was due to the company as well. Being with people you know and feel comfortable with attributes much to your well-being in a foreign land. That’s like pretty “duh” right? Haha, well on my journey back to Durham, which was a long one, I pondered upon many random thoughts, so this blog entry would be pretty disorganized I guess? Anyway this post is meant for “my cup of tea”, with sugar of course and a little milk. Hope this helps =)

I’m currently sipping the nicest milk tea I’ve had in Durham in my room now. See, I’m such a good son, didn’t disobey my parents and went to buy milk, NOT! Haha, I bought a MacDonald’s breakfast at the train station before going to the coach station and I did something a little mischievous i.e. taking like 4 additional mini-cups of fresh organic semi-skimmed milk from the counter when the cashier wasn’t looking. Boy, am I so desperate or cheappo now? Oh well, who cares, I’m having such a nice cup of milk tea now.

If you think that MacDonald’s breakfast in Singapore is not filling, try UK’s one. I think their cows or pigs etc. went on a diet, maybe they’re fed some organic food since UK’s hot on organic stuff. The sausage muffin with egg is so pathetically small, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but it really is small which is surprising. Thought it should be of the same size as that in Singapore or bigger. So to make up for the small muffin and the cost of it, I think taking additional milk is henceforth justified.

I reached the bus stand 1 hr earlier than the stipulated timing for my coach back to Durham. So I was just sitting there along with several others when this huge truck, as big as a container truck, stopped at the bus stand to unload the good. I was intrigued by how huge and new/clean the truck is, it’s unlike those we see in Singapore where they’re old and low tech, and I bet I wasn’t the only one that had my interest pricked. That’s because everyone else was watching the workers unload the goods as well. It sort of provided us entertainment for ½ hr. Then a thought came to my mind, all these workers that were unloading goods were all Englishmen. Anyway, here’s why UK is expensive. The people doing “3-D” jobs, i.e. dirty, demeaning & degrading, are their own countrymen. So they would get paid higher, if not who would want to do such jobs right, and the cost of living would rise. In Singapore, we have our infamous foreign contract workers i.e. the Bangalas. Our government purely uses them for their cheap labour in order to keep the cost of living in Singapore lower. So people, don’t complain or poke fun at them. Give them the respect they deserve or your next bowl of noodles would cost 8 bucks haha!

One thing I noticed in UK is that many people wear those yellow or orange luminous vests. These people range from cyclist to street cleaners to rubbish collectors to security guards to policemen. It’s kind of hard to know who is who at times. I think a parking warden would wear a uniform and the vest as well, so they look similar to being a policeman. Imagine if you get mugged on the street and you’re chasing after the thief… “Help! Somebody help me!” And you run towards the policeman at the corner… “Officer, I just got robbed by the guy running away in that direction.” The policeman looks stupefied and says “Sorry, I’m just a cleaner. I’m only equipped with a broom. I can lend it to you if you want, if not you gotta look for someone else.” Haha, think you guys should get my point.

Another thing I noticed was that the Englishmen aren’t really much bigger than us Asians. Perhaps on the whole their average height is taller than the average Asian but when you walk on the streets and look at majority of them, they aren’t pseudo-giants. I think the reason for their smaller physique now is indirectly due to globalization. In the past, all they had for meals were meat & chips and meat & chips and more meat & chips and more… Now, with globalization, UK has opened its door to the world. You can find various Asian food in UK and I think they like eating Asian food. I say this because I dined at a Chinese restaurant the day before and I was the only Chinese taking my meal there. The rest of the Chinese were waiting on me and the other westerners, which were of a sizable number, eating there. With a changing palate geared towards Asian cuisine, this has resulted in changes to their diet. I suspect this has led to a decrease in their physical size, leading them to become more Asian-like in terms of physique. Thus, I conclude from this observation that globalization has resulted in this latent unintended effect. Haha, now we know why some people are so against globalization!

Is Singapore a global city? Think most people would agree that it is, and even most ang mohs would say so as well, IF and only IF they have been to Singapore. The people I’ve came across would ask “Is Singapore part of China? Where is Singapore? What language do you speak there?” Even when I tell them English is our 1st language, several moments later, they would ask “What language do people from Singapore speak?” I feel that to rectify this alarming situation, the Singapore government should take a more active role to promote Singapore. Don’t just promote Singapore to the educated, promote Singapore to everyone worldwide. Maybe we can have advertisements on their local channels to show them what Singapore is like, how modern we are and that we DO speak English. I think NUS can attract more exchange students by this “Come to Singapore for exchange studies, we all speak English. If you must, approach the nearest friendly Singaporean located next to you and find out more for yourself. If you feel poor in UK or USA, fret not, for only the airfare’s expensive but food and transport are cheap. Want to experience living like a king? Come on over to Singapore and be one!”

When I reached back to my room yesterday, the President of my college was looking for me urgently. Gosh, it spoilt my day because he wanted me to do him a massive favour i.e. to shift to another room yet again! Seems like there was some administrative problem in the sorting or allocation of accommodation. He came to my room to speak to me and I found out this girl wanted to take my room. Didn’t know why she wanted my room so desperately, but I even met her father. Being Mr. Nice guy, I agreed to shift out though I was pek cek because I unpacked everything and even bought more stuff. It would be so troublesome to shift again, mind you, this would be the 2nd time they asked me to shift to another room. Am I doing backpacking around my hostel? However, the President was really apologetic about it and helped me to shift my stuff and he eventually bought me a drink. Perhaps it was worth the trouble? (Edit: I found out why she wanted my room so desperately. Her boyfriend is staying in one of the rooms on the same floor as my ex-room.)

I went pub crawling last night, though drinks were cheaper than in Singapore, I drank only 2 glasses, one complimentary of Mr. President. Didn’t want to spend much if not I cannot afford to even buy bread for my meals in the future haha. It was my first time doing pub crawling, went to 3 pubs and a club. It’s too expensive to do so in Singapore. Anyway the nightlife in Durham ends at 2am, so for people complaining that clubs in Singapore close too early, be thankful! Gosh, I’m left with only 10 minutes to change... gotta rush out for the mayor’s reception. I feel so important now! Muahaha, hope the food’s good. See you guys later!

23rd Sept 2007 - Healthy Coffee & Reading London

Many people pronounce Reading as reading. Haha, you guys must be wondering what I’m talking about right? Actually, I’m referring to the place called Reading which is pronounce as Redding. I went there today with my friend to do some shopping. It’s a simple place, much better than Slough though, but the shopping malls there are not bad. There’s this mall called “the Oracle” which is famous in the region, boasting of many shops as well as restaurants and cafes. I felt pretty much tired walking around today, but I don’t think it’s because the area is huge but rather the fatigue is cumulative over the days of traveling and much walking. I didn’t have the mood to shop initially because the atmosphere just wasn’t there. I would have preferred London or Newcastle to Reading. However, for a smaller town like Reading, the number of shops and stuff you can find in the main shopping area is kinda good as compared to Slough. I did manage to buy a jumper and a shirt. Quite happy with my purchases since I think the shirt is quite cheap and it looks great. Doesn’t everything look good on me?

Haha, however I had bad luck with my eating experience in Reading. I spent 4+ pounds on fish & chips and it was horrible. The portion of chips they served was large, but the fish sucks big time. It’s overly fried. Gosh, the fish that is served at western stalls in the hawker centres of Singapore would probably be better and at least ½ the price or cheaper! To further make things worse, I ordered an ice café latte at another café while waiting for the train back to Slough. Guess what, they didn’t have sugar syrup to go with the ice latte! They told me to use the granulated sugar. I was like “Is the latte sweetened? You don’t have sugar syrup? How do I dissolve the sugar in my drink?” The thought that was going through my mind was “what kind of lousy place is this?” Imagine not being able to add sugar for your ice coffee. It’s the healthiest coffee I ever drank in my entire existence…

My day yesterday was great though except for lunch. Food again spoilt the day. I went to London and it was fantastic. I visited the Buckingham palace and was really lucky. There was a change of guards parade going on and the entire area was so crowded. It’s really cool. The music being played by the marching band suited the grandeur of the parade and it is nicer than the music being used in Singapore Armed Forces parades. After the marching of the band and guards, there was a contingent of cavalry. And the crowd that gathered to view the change of command was crazy. There was a sea of people flooding the whole place. Besides visiting Buckingham palace, I visited Downing Street, National Gallery at Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben etc. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament are huge and the architecture of it will “wow” you. It’s splendid and definitely fitting for the British government. From there, I walked to several other places but the highlight wasn’t the majestic buildings but Regent Street. Girls, you will definitely love this street. Regent Street and Oxford Street combined is nearly 2km long if I’m not mistaken. Imagine 2km worth of shops and the amount of shopping you can do. It’s a shopper’s paradise, not to mention the other streets of London where you can shop as well. I was so engrossed in shopping till I didn’t have time to cover Oxford Street. Sigh, oh well, I’ll be going back to London tomorrow to cover the places which I didn’t manage to do so previously. It’s not possible to cover London in 1 day as the place is humongous.

Oh ya, as to why lunch was bad, I had to wait for more than ½ hr for my food which is only so so. The burger wasn’t worth the wait and money and the beer was ordinary, just nicer than Tiger beer but not by much. Erdinger still rocks man! I ate a donut from Krispy Kreme and it was nice. I think it’s nicer than what I tried from donut factory in Singapore. I still don’t understand the rationale of Singaporeans queuing 1 plus hr for donuts. For me, plain old sugar coated donuts will do and not those fancy designer donuts.

Tonight, I had my first cooking lesson and it turned out great. Cooked cream based pasta which is superb, I think it’s even nicer than some cafes in Singapore. What to do, my teacher is good in cooking. I told her to quit her job and go set up a café. I think she can probably cook better than those hoax Chinese takeaways in UK… maybe I’m exaggerating but she can really cook. It’s time for more cooking practices for me! Dinner, over these few days, has been nice because she’s cooking for me and my buddy. We’re crashing her place and she’s feeding us well. Guess when I go back to Durham, it’s back to bread and more bread. Need a girl who can really cook to be my flat mate and I’ll be redeemed! Hee, I supposed I've written quite a fair bit tonight but there’s so much more to describe and write about but I’m getting really tired now. After all, I’ll be heading back to London again tomorrow so have to conserve energy. Lastly, I won’t be uploading pictures of Windsor, London and Reading till I get back to Durham because my internet connection there is much faster than over at my friend’s place. Okay, my aching neck is a sign telling me I should end off now… London here I come again!

21st Sept 2007 - Windsor Castle

Today was fantastic for me although it was tiring. I traveled to Windsor & Eton to visit Windsor Castle. It’s one of the Queen's residences. It’s really a beautiful place with much to see and explore. One can easily spend 2 hours within the castle. Unfortunately, I wasn’t permitted to take pictures in the nicest places inside the castle which were St George’s Chapel and the State Rooms. I’m quite tired typing this now, so I shan’t elaborate much on them. Entrance admission was 12.70 pounds but I felt it was every bit worth it. What you see within the castle, especially the State Rooms were fantastic. Not only were they elaborately furnished, but you can see famous paintings by Michelangelo etc. Some rooms have painted ceilings, many paintings on the walls, some are fully furnished with arms and the list goes on. It’s really hard to describe what I had seen earlier on today, not to mention I’m too tired to describe them in detail. I shall let some of the pictures do the talking instead.

Besides entering the castle and walking along the streets of Windsor, I went to the River Thames. Goodness, it was so delightful being there. There’re so many swans and ducks in the river and it feels so tranquil looking at the birds swimming along the river. Crossing the bridge which led me to Eton, I went to Eton College which is famous, think you guys should know as well? It isn’t that spectacular to me, but what intrigued me was the attire of the students there. Wearing a tail coat, plus a vest and stripe pants, with white shirts neatly tucked in and buttoned to the collar, these student epitomized the meaning of an English gentleman. Hehe, I secretly took a snapshot of a few students so you peeps can have a clue as to what I’m talking about.

Lastly, every thing is pricey in Windsor, the cheapest food being Macs. So I ended up eating pastry again. I tried a new pasty though which was Cornish pasty. For a week, I thought Cornish pasty was a pastry filled with corns. Only upon stepping into this shop which I heard has one of the best Cornish pasty, I realized that it’s actually a pastry filled with meat and onions. It’s really quite nice, though pricey for a pasty. The origin of it came from Cornwell, that’s why it’s called Cornish pasty. Haha, not because it’s filled with corns… silly me! It’s time to hit the sack now, good night folks, or rather… good morning to you people in Singapore.

19th Sept 2007 - Shrinking Shirt

Today I tried something new, it's called regular bacon. I thought it was some unique bacon burger, but it's actually hot dog bun with lotsa bacon in it. Some of the bacon was fine, but the bigger ones were kinda tough. Not too bad overall, but kinda overwhelming for me. I added brown sauce to it, the first time I added it to my lakeside burger, couldn't really taste it. Today, the regular bacon had no other sauce except for the brown sauce, it's sour-ish, but not to the extreme.

The weather today was slightly erratic, though not as bad as in Singapore. It poured suddenly but the day was warmer than the previous few days. The rains here usually don't last that long. I ended up going for a jog because of the fine weather, didn't get my jaws numb this time round as the temperature wasn't as cold as yesterday.

Dinner was bacon again. Haha, it's bacon with egg mayo. It tasted good, better than lunch, but the portion's not filling. I'm now contemplating whether should I get a drink from my college's bar. It just opened today I think, didn't see it open on other days. Or maybe it opens on every Wednesday and Saturday, just that I didn't realise it. It's a nice place, with a big screen projector playing soccer matches etc. I met the girl who I mentioned was nice the other time, the one from my previous post about her changing my coins into 1 pound coin and 50 pence coin for laundry. Found out that she's from Taiwan, so that explains her accent.

Gosh, I'm feeling hungry as I'm typing this. And I'm stuck at the main college building since it's raining. Am unable to return to my room... I did my laundry earlier on, wanted to wash my clothing, bed sheet, duvet cover and pillow casing before I leave for London tomorrow. This PRC girl told me I added too much washing powder. Haha, I shall be more careful in future. But that's not the worst mishap that happened, I set the dryer temperature to near max. I thought that by doing so, my clothing and all the bed sheet etc. would then be dry. Sure, it all got dried, but 1 of my favourite t-shirts shrunk!!! Goodness, shall leave the dryer temperature at medium from now on. Think I'm gonna get a drink now...

18th Sept 2007 - English Breakfast

My day began early today, waking up at 6+ am for no apparent reason. Couldn’t get to sleep after that so I watched anime instead. I passed by a restaurant/café yesterday which serves English breakfast for 2.69 pounds. Was really tempted by it since I haven’t eaten any eggs when I left Singapore. It was a very filling meal, choosing 8 items + toast for 2.69 pounds. However, it was rather disappointing except for the egg. The bacon was near to being rock hard. The sausages were big, but after eating a portion of it, it didn’t taste as good as when you first eat it. The tomato however was good, it’s soaked in tomato puree and it’s a whole tomato which looks cucumber-ish in shape though it’s much smaller. Something like an egg shaped/sized tomato. I ended up not finishing my breakfast, with leftovers of sausages, potato and this potato pie with peas and some other veggie in it. I went there late, so the hash browns, mushrooms and perhaps some other items were already finished, thus limiting my selection of 8 items. I would say that my treat didn’t turn out well, wasted my money…

In the evening, I went for a jog. It’s my first jog over here and it was pretty tough on me. I haven’t run in 2 weeks or so, plus the climate is another factor. It was quite an experience because my throat was like numb, so it’s a little painful plus irritating. My jaws were numbed as well and after the run, my forearms were stiff and numbed. Don’t know why, but I did run under such conditions before in Austria. Think it’s the clothing? Was wearing 2 t-shirts and a track pants then, but only a t-shirt and shorts today. But the areas that were affected were my jaws and throat, which I presume have nothing to do with clothing? I may be wrong since I’m no doctor… wish I’m studying medicine instead haha.

This coming Thursday, I would be taking a long bus ride from Newcastle to London! Am pretty excited about it, because I’m not only meeting my good friend there but my best friend is going to be visiting his girlfriend, who was our good friend. She still is my good friend, mind you, just that she’s no longer his good friend though the abbreviation is still similar. Anyway he didn’t even bother to tell me he’s going down, so it came as a surprise when she broke the news to me. Bloody “zhong se qing you”, I’ve been telling him this since time immemorial… some best friend I have right? Gonna charge all my electronic devices now, and carrying on with packing tomorrow. Think I should make a cup of piping hot tea too since the weather’s cooooold. Till then, cheers.

17th Sept 2007 - Sweet Donuts

My day was rather mundane, did the usual stuff like going to the library to use the internet and a little window shopping. Realised there's a small department store which sells rather reasonable priced clothing, it's the same as one of those I've seen in Newcastle. My day begun with going to Old Shire Hall aka University Office. I wanted to try register for my course so I can get my internet access up asap, but looks like it isn't possible at the moment. Anyway it was quite frustrating to be directed to 3 different places, all on different levels and different corridors. Had to climb the stairs and walk to and fro the building, rather silly of them. The exchange coordinator knew who I was the moment I mentioned I'm from Singapore. Think I'm rather popular? Haha, I was told that I have to register with Durham police and when I saw the cost of it, I nearly fainted. You have to pay 34 pounds to register with the police! Gosh, that's bloody expensive... luckily the exchange student advisor saw my passport and my VISA didn't state that I have to register with the police, so she said I didn't have to do anything. Phew, if not I would have to make an appointment with the police at this funny far away place, I have no idea where that place is, and still have to foot a 34 pound bill. How ridiculous?

After that I went to get breakfast which was donuts. I wanted to try their donuts and boy were they superbly sweet. I had a fudge donut which consisted of a chocolate fudge layer on the top of the donut. The surprise was when you bite into it, there's actually custard. It's like a donut and custard puff merge into one. Buy 2 for the price of 1? However, after a while, it gets too sweet for my liking. My other donut was a sweet icing donut, I think that's what it's called, it's a donut with those rainbow bits that you see in ice cream. The sweetness of both donuts were overwhelming and I decided to peel off the top layer of rainbow bits and just eat the plain donut beneath. By the way, "normal" donuts coated with sugar above are called jam donuts over here (Edit: I found out that jam donuts are donuts with jam fillings inside, normal donuts are called sugar coated donuts, my bad). I got complimented during lunch by the burger shop uncle! His wife gave me an extra of 5 pence change and I told his wife her mistake. She thought I wanted to change 10 pence into 2x 5 pence coins... till I explained that she gave me extra change. "The boy's an honest lad" and smiles were the result of my honestly haha! Dinner was cheap, it was a 1 pound ready meal aka 7-11 meal. Guess what, I can't even prepare that properly, left it in the microwave for slightly too long and the edges were all burnt and harden. I really suck at cooking eh?

Oh ya, I had a funny conversation with my mom as well while I was at the public library earlier. Here’s short excerpt from my conversation with my mum which made me laugh! The way she emphasized drinking milk is quite comical, I think the man sitting opposite me at the library would think I’ve gone bonkers because I just burst out laughing. And I was trying hard to surpress my laughter, after all, no noise allowed in the library right?

rosalind says:
dad said he will get angry if you dont drink milk daily. whatever kind. not enuf $$$ draw from hsbc, ok?
rosalind says:
uk diff, cos u have cold weather. moreover uk food is not tt balanced.
rosalind says:
dad get angry then u know. cut yr $$$
rosalind says:
milk, milk, milk, and milk. YOU MUST DRINK
rosalind says:
daddy get angry, angry, angry !!!
rosalind says:
ok now. mum gotta catch the last TV series at 9pm. chat with u tomorrow. make sure u dont catch cold in this cold weather.

Finally in the evening, I shifted into my permanent room and spent quite some time arranging my stuff and cleaning up the place. The table and wardrobe were already clean, hardly any dirt when I wiped them. The cleaners are really on the ball, doing their job with pride. Haha, in fact, the admission officer for my college (hostel/hall) told me the cleaners are trustworthy and very friendly. They are the ones that take care of sick students since they would inform the office that a student is sick. Have I mentioned that the cleaners would enter the rooms once/twice a week to clean the place up including the toilet? After settling my room and dinner, I headed to the postgrad bar. I'm really glad I did, I made several more friends from India, Mauritius, Bangadesh etc. These people are all MBA students, most are around 28/29 years of age with work experience. One is even a businessman and talking to them is really great because they're insightful. It's a good networking opportunity as well - I love bars and pubs haha! I didn't drink though because they left early, didn't want to spend money on drinking yet. Things are finally brightening up for me? I managed to get internet access in my college as well, though not in my room. I'm currently typing this post in the college's IT suite. I like the way they name things here, the English way of calling stuff haha. Alright, my fingers are getting tired from typing this post. The keyboard buttons are kinda stiff, so it requires more force to depress them unlike my laptop keypad. Gonna head back to my room for a nice hot shower, signing off now.

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 =)