The Chill Factor
So the weather in Manchester is already cold, yet I still went for the ice related recreational activities. My sister booked for me and my brother in law for the luge. This is a luge for recreation purpose, not the kind of luge that you see in the Winter Olympic.
The place where we have the luge session is called ChillFactor, located near the Trafford Centre. Last time when I was in Manchester in 2007, the place was still under construction. It's an indoor skiing and snowboarding arena, where people could come here not only to learn, but to practice their skiing and snowboarding skill as well. The place also provides milder activities that suitable for recreational purpose, such as the luge and tubing. Tubing is where you sit on a tube, basically a tire tube, and then slide all the way down the slop, either with spinning motion or simply sliding.
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| Chill Factor |
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| Skiing (beginner), Luge & Tubing course |
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| Skiing and Snowboarding course |
The whole session took about 45 minutes. We were supposed to do the luge, but after a few runs, the person in charge of the luge gave us to try the tubing as well. Both were fun, but personally I'd prefer the tubing because it's fun and it stresses the body less. My right hand was cramped after the 3rd run on the luge. The fun part of the tubing is that you could have a spinning motion down the hill, and will find it hard to stand up because you'll be affected by the motion afterward.
Now, one must have the proper attire before engaged in the activities. The attire would include the windbreaker, trousers, gloves, boots and helmet. Some of them can be rent from the place, whereas some you may have to buy it, i.e. gloves for hygienic reason.
I did have a great time there as it was my first time experiencing ice related activities like this. Although it was only the luge and the tubing, yet both were like a workout for me, and even though in such a cold temperature, I could still sweat.
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| Tired face |
So next time, if I have a chance, I might want to try the skiing as well. Which mean I'll have to train up my body to have stronger limps, otherwise I'll be exposing myself to the danger of injuring myself.
The Museum, Library, and The Walk
After the activities and after our lunch in Chill Factor, I planned to have another sightseeing trip in Manchester itself. At first I thought that maybe I could try to visit the John Ryland library as introduced by my friend whom I met the last Sunday. So my brother in law took me to the city and dropped me off around Deansgate.
He told me the direction to go to the library, but as I explore the place, I could not find the library at all. Instead, I bounced into the Museum of Science and Industry. So I thought, maybe I could pay a visit to this place just for a short while. Alas, as I walk to the entrance, I saw a sample of real-life aeroplane from outside the building window, so I decided to thoroughly explore the place.
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| Museum of Science and Industry |
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| Museum of Science and Industry |
There are a few buildings for the museum. The building that I visited is the one that exhibits the machines i.e. cars, motorbikes, aeroplanes, and bicycles. The machines on display are real things, they are not model being made for exhibition purpose. Not only that, they also displaying the engine blocks used in different aeroplanes, with a cut-out to see what it's like inside the engine.
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| One of the first aeroplane |
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| Bike |
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| Hot Air Ballon |
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| Antique car |
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| Plane engine |
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| Plane engine - inside |
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| Plane engine - inside |
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| Antique car |
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| Kamikaze plane (didn't know it looks like this) |
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| Kamikaze plane explanation board |
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| Bike for handicap people |
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| Spitfire |
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| Jet engine |
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| Jet engine component |
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| Jet engine |
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| Military copter |
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| Bicyles |
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| Bicyles (?) |
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| An old bicycle |
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| Antique!!! |
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| Explanation board |
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| Weird bike (how to ride with that handle in odd position?) |
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| Antique three wheeler |
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| Antique racing bike |
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| Antique road bike with side car |
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| View from above |
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| The museum for the machines |
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| The military copter |
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| The big military propeller plane |
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| The cockpit area |
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| Consumer plane's cockpit |
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| Consumer plane's cockpit |
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| Fighter jet |
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| Ejection seat |
As shown in the above pictures, there are just too many things to see inside. I could spend the whole day in the museum itself just to study the displayed machines one by one. My sister and brother in law told me that the museum has a real-life steam train engine that has been cut out to see how it operates inside, which I didn't manage to see due to time constraint. So, that would be my next target next time should I visit Manchester again.
After the visit to the museum, I have a look around the area. Around the place where I was, there is a Hilton Hotel. This particular Hilton Hotel is built with a modern design, and could be easily recognized from afar.
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| Hilton Hotel |
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| Hilton Hotel |
Then, as I walk along the street of Deansgate, I was captivated by the buildings because it looks very unique. As I observe the area, I noticed that in Manchester, a lot of the buildings, residential or commercial, are built with clay bricks. According to my sister, the people in Manchester tried to construct the buildings using the materials that they could find in that place, and clay brick is one of them. Hence the reason why there are a lot of clay brick buildings.
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| Building along Deansgate street |
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| An old demolished fort around the museum |
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| Deansgate street |
As I walk along the Deansgate street, I managed to find the John Ryland libary. The building itself is also in gothic design. It was built by a lady to commemorate her husband, John Ryland. There are a lot of old books being preserved in the library, which mostly are keep within a glass bookshelves, of which I doubt that it can still be used for reading. There are historical articles being displayed. There's even a fragment of one of the earliest written Bible in Greek from the Gospel of John being kept in this library.
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| Inside John Ryland library, the corridor |
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| Some of the preserved books |
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| Fragment of Gospel of John from one of the earliest written Bible written in Greek |
This library has a lot of historical value. It used to be one of the center for biblical study. Even though the books inside the library (as I noticed, I might be wrong) may no longer be read, the place is still open for public to use the facilities inside for reading & study purpose. I was not able to take anymore pictures because my camera was out of battery as a result of me taking too many pictures in the museum earlier.
So after the visit to the library, I took a walk towards the city center because I wanted to get my hand on at least a map from the information center. Along the road I did came across the city hall building, which is also another old building from the medieval age (I think), but no picture show because camera has no more power. After I took a copy of a map from the information center, I walked to my brother in law office in Manchester University along Oxford Road. Unlike my university, University of Malaya (UM) which is a closed campus, the buildings of the University of Manchester are located along the road, it's like being integrated as part of the city of Manchester.
After I reach there, then I met up with my brother in law, then he drove us home, then it was considered as my final day that I could walk around Manchester for this trip.
The Thought - Part... (lost count...)
Sports in the late morning and walk around in Manchester in the afternoon, which basically sums up my last day in Manchester. It was a good trip, again, that I was able to see the life inside the cities, the interesting histories that can be studied from the museum and the library, and also the atmosphere in the city itself.
As I chat with my brother in law during our way home, he told me that Manchester was the place where the industrial revolution took place. As he said that, I remember that during that period of time, the first rail road (in UK) was built between Manchester and Liverpool. So I thought that Manchester and Liverpool (will need to do more study on this...) play important role in human history by first the industrial revolution, then in football. Why football? Because of Manchester United and Liverpool FC that have a lot of fans around the globe.
So after this trip, I told myself that next time, I shall stay a while longer to explore further.
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