WH'S PLAYGROUND

Monday, 21 December 2009

WH Off Doon Geordie's Toon!

by weihee

Angel of the North, Gateshead

On December 13th, "I'm off doon toon." It's a phrase used by people from Newcastle in Geordie accent, means "I'm off down town" and the word "toon" is specifically refer to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. People from Newcastle also refer themselves as Geordie. One of the famous Geordies is Cheryl Cole who is one of the judges of X-factor, speaks strong Geordie accent. When I went shopping with my sis in a boot selling shop, I can't believe I heard many Cheryl Coles speaking inside the shop. They all speak in a same way.

A road sign near Newcastle City Centre...

Near Newcastle Quayside...

Near Newcastle Central Train Station...

That day I went to Newcastle to visit my sis who I didn't meet for almost 2 years. She's now studying in Northumbria University, Newcastle. I spent almost all my times in Newcastle doing my dissertation.(and some of it in sight-seeing)

Doing my research using

books from Northumbria University library.

Raining day at Northumbria Uni...

A local church near Northumbria Uni...

One of the monuments in city centre...

Grey's Monument, near the Monument Metro Station.

I got fined £20 here in this very station. :)

I got caught by a policeman in Newcastle of unable to show him my metro train ticket at that time. I'm so unlucky at that time. Newcastle has a railway system called "Metro" which is similar to London's "Underground". However Metro is a little bit different from London's Underground. Metro doesn't have any staff or machine checking passenger's ticket. This means that anyone would have a chance to get away with it if there's no one checking your train ticket. But unluckily things you think that would never happen, happen...!

My sis had been using Metro service for quite sometimes without buying any ticket and never got caught. Unfortunately I got caught in the first use of that service. That day I did bought a Metro ticket but I lost it in some way. I realised I lost my ticket when I was in a Metro station heading back to Northumbria Uni. Then I decided to risk not to buy a ticket from Central station to Monument station. Yup that day I should have bought lottery and I was fined £20 of couldn't show my bloody £1.40 ticket. :)

Part of the Metro Map...

Example of a Metro ticket.

£20 worthy small yellow paper. (if you lost it)

Stop rubbishing, the first place I've been in Newcastle is "Angel of the North" near Gateshead. At first, I thought I've seen this sculpture before inside British museum of London. But it was way too big from the version I saw from the British Museum. Well, it looks beautiful that time after the heavy rain, or else it really does not means anything special to me to be honest.

From Gateshead Metro station, taking a

public bus, bus 21 to "Angel of the North"

Yess! we made it... and there's no rain :)

It looks beautiful after the rainy day...

My and my lovely sis

at the "Angel of the North"...

Next stop- Millennium bridge! I always wanted to see this bridge since I watched a video showing its tilt at a night time which is beautiful. We went to the Newcastle Quayside to look the tilting of the bridge which is about 12 o' clock. However it didn't happened. One of the "bridge staff" changed the tilting time of the bridge and that particular the bridge would not tilt. The gloomy day, the rain; and the changing tilting time of the bridge just spoiled everything. :)

Millennium Bridge behind me

with my little umbrella...

A sculpture that I don't understand

near Newcastle Quayside... I hope he

can blow away the bloody rain...

A view of Newcastle's Tyne Bridge

from Newcastle Quayside...

Ever since I came to Newcastle, it rained 4 days in a row! Until that day I left Newcastle to Edinburgh, the rain finally stopped(how lucky I am) and I can see the bright sun coming out of nowhere (sh*t). Well it wasn't good for me sis either as her first snow suddenly appeared in front of her eyes. It was just an hour before our train to Edinburgh and we're unable to take any nice picture of snowing. So bloody good timing ain't it. :)

Raining days in Newcastle...

Hola Sunshine! Bright sun coming out right on the day

we leaving Newcastle to Edinburgh...

There's this place that I think serving delicious foods and drinks; and worth going for a dinner or lunch. It's called Nancy Bordello, recommended by my sis. The price of the foods and drinks is much more cheaper if you're a student. The environment is probably the best part, it's cosy and relaxing with lots of good musics being played. Sitting in a sofa and having mojito, fish and chips for dinner makes a wonderful treat.

Nancys Bordello,

a pub near my sis's campus...

Great environment and

nice music played in the pub...

I think this is something representing Newcastle, England.

A fish-and-chips made with a special batter

mixed with Newcastle Brown Ale (Newcastle's local beer) .

Well, that's it... there isn't much about my visit in Newcastle. Visiting my sis is the priority not the city. Maybe in future I'll come over here again and plan a better trip in Newcastle and also its neighbour, Sunderland. Sigh... Till then... tada~

Friday, 11 December 2009

Enchanted Venezia: Day 3

by wh,
Venezia, Italia

First of all, sorry for uploading this last Venetian trip that late. I finally post this post of my last day of Venezia trip with lots of pictures and not much words. :P

On day 2, the lady from the souvenir shop told us that tomorrow it's gonna rain a little bit in the morning, then stop again and then rain again in the afternoon... which I think she's talk big after me and sc realise Venice is all day sunshine, warmer than those 2 days we have in Venice... :)

Then we headed back to Piazza San Marco in the morning... we've an interesting breakfast, horse meat sandwich. There's actually too many sandwiches displayed on the counter and we obviously don't understand any of them in Italian. In the end, we realise that there's a horse meat sandwiches and we decided to try it, but it taste strange actually... not like chicken or anything, strange taste... =.= gosh, waste of money...

horse meat sandwiches...

By the time we reached Piazza San Marco, we were shocked by some of the places was flooded. Luckily we wore slippers that day, and everyone were having fun near the flooded side of the piazza. Piazza San Marco is the lowest point of Venice, means that whenever there's a heavy rain or storm Piazza will be the first place to have flood.

nice sunny weather and

our foot are "refreshing~"

hehe... our floating slippers....
having fun at the piazza...

A family having their time

with Venetian pigeons...

Unless you are barefoot, or else

you need to walk along the stand...

Then we got into St. Mark Basilica and reached to the top of the basilica. The basilica has four famous bronze horses and popular with its interior design. The ceiling of the basilica was filled with bright mosaics of gold or bronze. Me and sc were amazed of how they put on those mosaic on the ceiling and create such a great piece of art. You would need to experience yourself on that place and questions just came out of your head on how Venetian people so patiently build this beautiful ceiling with just mosaics... After that, of course we went on top of the basilica, there is a big balcony where you could see the whole Piazza San Marco and part of the beautiful sea view.

Interior of the basilica...

complicated mosaic mural...

the detail of the mosaic mural... it's just unbelievable
when you see this hand made masterpiece...

one of the four bronze horses on my right

and San Marco Campanile on my left...

SC and the lovely view of Piazza San Marco...

from Basilica, the view of Piazzetta San Marco and us!

Then the next stop, Rialto bridge. We've been here 2 days ago and haven't taken any picture during the day time. But I guess it's not a great time to take picture after all as there are too many people taking pictures or standing around the bridge. From the bridge, the view of the grand canal is just beautiful. The area near Rialto bridge is one of the most expensive place to buy souvenirs and having lunch or dinner. There's a market place near the bridge but we actually didn't buy anything. We just find ourself sitting down and relaxing near by the market place. :)

Rialto bridge, the oldest bridge across the grand canal...

The view of the grand canal from Rialto Bridge...

Clock tower near the Rialto Bridge...

Me sitting tiredly somewhere near the market...

After that we headed back to our hostel and prepare everything to go home... :( and on our way we have some pictures and saw all these...

A romantic place to have wedding...

Newly wed couple in Venezia...

SC with lots of moored gondolas...

A man singing "opera" style on one of the gondolas...

Oh it's hot... An old lady sitting outside under

the sun with a newspaper covering her head ...

Unicorn Maschera...

One of the maschera shops...

Froggie prince...

Colourful carousels...

Doggies' body made by pewter...

Yep, that's it! that is wh and sc's trip in Venezia... It's always never enough staying in this lovely place... We would love to stay longer but things here were expensive for us... well thanks for accompanying me along the trip in Venezia... having a wonderful time with lovely memories... For me, I will go back to Venezia again part of the Italian trip to celebrate new year eve... :p

Thursday, 3 December 2009

Getting into Xmas mood already???

by wh

German Xmas Market

Broadmead, Bristol

Christmas in England is just like celebrating Chinese New Year in Malaysia. Everything is big in England when it comes to Christmas. You will notice people in England start spending, spending, spending on unreasonable things. The fish and meat counter where I'm working now is gonna be busier than ever around December. It was exactly what happened last year, we will non-stop keep on serving customers and English people will start buying things they wanted to buy for a long time. I mean fresh foods like the Beef Fillet, the most expensive part of a beef start selling like hotcakes which is not suppose to. Vegetarians will also start to buy big whole salmon; as you know, English couldn't cook if the fish head is still hanging with its body or sometime they just couldn't eat fish if fish has bones with it. Therefore we need to fillet almost every single salmon they order. It's actually a waste throwing all the fish heads into the bin so that's why last year one of my Malaysian colleague brought back home a bag of unwanted Salmon fish heads for his lovely fish curry. Well, all these things will happen in just few days time... which is shit...

Well that's not the main reason I writing this post actually, I think Malaysian students who stay in Bristol 2 years or a year ago and gone back to their home country gonna be mad of what is happening now in the city centre. Bristol city centre suddenly transformed into a place filled with Christmas mood where decorations is around the Broadmead and Cabot Circus. German Christmas stalls are along the main street of Broadmead and around some places of Cabot Circus. Everything seems very Christmassy with the lights on, Christmas markets, Christmas songs in Broadmead and carol singers... Wohoo~~~!!!