Friday, 28th September, The 3rd Day in London
It was our last day in London, and we'll be leaving for Manchester by train in the afternoon. Since there were still time, we've decided to have a walk in the nearby park, which is the Kensington Garden.
Shamefully however, I pointed the wrong way so we ended up taking another route to reach the garden. Sister has her iPhone turned on to use the map to find the way to the garden. As mom can't really walk for too long, we decided to only stay and relax at the Italian Garden. We had coffee and cake/muffin at the nearby stall as well, and it's the first time I had an ice-cream in such a cold weather, which was an interesting experience.
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| Italina Garden |
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| Italian Garden |
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| Italian Garden |
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| Italian Garden |
As it's about time to leave, sister would like to check out a Malaysian cuisine restaurant in Paddington. The restaurant name is Bonda Cafe, and it is a restaurant certified by the Malaysia government that it served authentic Malaysia heritage food. We packed a Char Kuey Tiaw, Roti Canai, Sate, and Nasi Briyani with dishes to have for lunch while waiting for the train later at the train station. The food was not too bad, but of course don't be expecting it to be 100% similar taste with what we have in Malaysia.
The Station - London Euston Train Station
Sadly I didn't take any pictures at the station, otherwise would be able to show how it looks like. It is a very busy place, hardly able to find any space at all because people will be walking and rushing to their designated platform to catch the train.
We managed to find a place inside the food eating place (a food court) to sit down and have our lunch. Skeptical of what could be said by the personnel of the eating place, i.e. no outside food is allowed, I bought drinks just in case to use it as an excuse that I did buy something from the stall there (thinking too much probably...). It was here that a guy asked us where do we get our food from because the whole place is serving western food (yup, fish & chip again). It stirred me to think that Asian food must be quite popular in London, of which I always have a perception that majority of people in London would not fancy Asian food (reference: Richard Hammond of Top Gear).
So after our lunch, we just sit and waited for the announcement of which platform we should go to board our train. Everyone was rushing to the platform once the announcement was made. My seatt was in the first class coach, whereas mom and sister were in the normal coach. Sister bought the 1st class seat for me because the price was cheap at that time.
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| Single first class seat |
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| First class coach |
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| First class seats |
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| My table in 1st class coach |
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| Outside view |
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| Outside view while train is moving fast |
It was my first time traveling on a train to go from a city to another city. It was an interesting experience for me, where I was able to see the different landscapes, experiencing the motion sickness (not really pleasant), and also having difficulty to choose a snack that they provide because I have no idea what the name stands for. During the ride, I drank 2 cups of tea, 1 bottle of Pepsi and ate 1 snack, which was a cheese and vegie roll (it looks like a bun to me...).
The whole journey took 2 hours plus to reach Machester Picaddilly Station. After we reached there, we took a taxi to go to my sister's home, and rested.
The Next D and Next Next D in Manchester
Now on the next day, again I didn't took any pictures at all, so nothing to show on the places that I've visited. The first thing we did in the morning was taking my nephew to his tennis lesson in a sports club. While my nephew was having his lesson, we sat at the cafe to have coffee.
I must say that I'm very impressed with the facilities of the club, and the dedication of the coaches (some, not all) to teach the young children on how to play sports. The parents must be credited as well for making the effort to bring their children there for the sports.
After the tennis lesson, we went to The Trafford Centre, which is a shopping complex to buy groceries and also to walk around. We had our lunch there as well, at a sushi bar called Yo Sushi (which can be found in Malaysia too) because the little one wanted to eat sushi.
Then the next day, after church service, we went to have Dim Sum in a Chinese restaurant in China Town, inside the city of Manchester, together with a friend of mine whom I've not met for nearly 5 years. This friend purposely made the effort to come to Manchester from Leeds to meet up with me, which is very nice of him.
After dinner, my friend and I went to the Football Museum to check out the place. Inside the museum there are a lot of items on display that are related to football (of course...), i.e. clothing, shoe, arts, trophies, and also information on certain topics.
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| Early years of football & the rules |
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| Football related items |
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| Quotes made by a famous manager |
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| More items |
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| The trophies |
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| Football related art |
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| Football related art exhibition |
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| Football related art |
After the visit to the Football Museum, I said my farewell to my friend and went to explore the city. As my friend told me, most of the shops would close at 5pm on Sunday, so there weren't much for me to look at because it was almost 5pm. I thought maybe I could get a bus to go back home, but I have no idea where to wait for the bus even though sister has told me about it.
I do noticed as well that unlike London, it was very hard to walk around the city of Manchester because there aren't any comprehensive self-guide map that can be referred to, not even the one at the bus stop. The tourist information center was closed as well, so in the end I have to ask my sister to pick me up.
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| Manchester - city center |
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| Manchester - city center |
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| Manchester - city center |
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| Manchester - city center |
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| Manchester - city center |
The weather in UK in general is freezing cold, windy, cloudy, and rainy. I took the above pictures while waiting for me sister to pick me up. It was drizzling at that time, and my hand was really freezing. Even though under such condition, people would still walk around the city and continue their agenda for the day.
The Thougt - Part III
Alright, I must say that I do have a hard time to explore Manchester because there aren't much information and map being provided along the streets as compare to London. The city of Manchester itself does have a lot of places to visit, and the information can be found from the Manchester Information Centre, but only if you know how to get there first (this is where the i- and the -droid come in handy...).
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