Baked potatoes @ Covent Garden London

I found Covent Garden an amazing place to be in London. It was like a little twon on its own with a variety of shops and a market which sells interesting accessories. This place felt very artsy too. When we first stepped into Covent Garden, we could not help but compare the atmosphere to that of Quincy Market in Boston. The place was packed with street performers, entertaining the crowd with rupturous laughters all around. At times it felt surreal as everyone was relaxed, having a good time exploring.

For dinner, the three of us had jacket potatoes while one had belgium waffles. I had the chilli con carne jacket potatoes which were served piping hot, suitable for the cold. Christel had her jacket potato with a generous amount of cottage cheese, while Ericka had the american ham and cheese potato. EJ had her Belgian waffle which was soaked in shrup. I preferred crispy crunchy waffles compared to soggy ones.

We had a good time.

Snow in Glasgow

This year's snowfall in Glasgow was inpredictable. The forecast would show it would snow, but in then end it was only rain. Finally, when people stopped expecting snow anymore, we woke up to a blanket of white snow few days ago. That was the heaviest snow we saw in central glasgow for thos winter. It only lasted one day and it was all melted away by the rain.

Come to think of it, the weather all year round in Glasgow has been not normal. There were weeks when it was really sunny. Just like this week, after the snow, it will be sunny for the next few days. There were a fee windy days and plenty of rainy days. But, I think we had more sunny days than rainy days this year. This makes Glasgow the perfect place to stay, not too hot and not too cold.

My housemate and I built a few snowmen behind the halls. Good thing we were early risers. While everyone else were sleeping, we used up most of the snow to make the snowmen :)

Note that the huge snowman buttons and mouth were made of Burger King's ketcup :p One snowman's eyes were capsules.

Suffering on the bus

So, i am finally in Bournemouth with my awesome host, Alex. It was a long journey, 13 hours bus ride to be exact.
I know, I am crazy to do that.

But, I really did not think it would have been that bad at first.

When I was looking at megabus back in October, I was pretty ecstatic to know there were 1 pound buses available from Glasgow to London. I did not think about the travel duration. All I wanted was a cheap mode of transport. At the same time, I contacted Alex and we always wanted to meet up after so long. Therefore, I decided to go to Bournemouth from London. I also thought Bournemouth was only one hour away from London. But it was actually two and a half hours.

Sitting in Megabus for 7hours from Glasgow to London was torture. The bus was so bumpy. The seats were bumpy and shaky. I felt like my brain and other organs were really being shaked and moved. No matter where I lay, I was still shaking. Ended up with a terrible headache which lasted till the next day.

The only good thing about the trip was that I manage to see Manchester as the bus picked up some people from Manchester. Manchester looks like just another city with the same shops.

I do not look forward to my journey back to glasgow. I tried searching for flights or trains to go back, but it was too expensive :(:(

From london, I had to take another bus by National Express to head to Bournemout. I can see why people would rather pay more to ride on National Express. It was still bumpy but I guess my head was still aching from Megabus so the journey to Bournemouth was horrid too for me.

I did feel like puking but luckily I had ginger biscuits to keep the nausea away.

I am enjoying Bournemouth and the company.

Scones

I made scones today. I had it with the extra cream cheese I had left after baking cheesecake for christmas. The combination of fresh scones with cream cheese was amazingly divine.

I like making things in the kitchen and giving it to a few of my friends to eat too.
Unfortunately, one of my friend has never heard of scones and therefore did not know how to spell it. He posted on facebook a picture of me, mispelt scones and I laughed so hard till I teared. At least he did not think it was called Stones!

Scottish Highland Cows (Cattle) @ Pollock Country Park

This trip was perfect because the temperature was 7 degree Celcius and it did not rain. After experiencing minus 6 degrees for two days, 7 degrees felt like nothing. We walked so much in the park till halfway through I was walking without my jacket on.

This trip was perfect ALSO because I had the chance to see Highland Cows! First of all, I would like to say that if I did not follow the tour, I would think that I will just be in Pollock Country House visiting the museums and the famous maze. I would not have found the Highland cattle because we needed to walk further up to see it. There were two museums in this park which I did not visit.

The first farmland we walked by had Highland cows but the cows were really far away. The tour guide thought this would be the only chance we would get to see the cows, hence he directed us to trudge through some muddy undeveloped farmland near to where the cows were, in hopes of us getting a closer look at the cows. There were plenty of thin branches with sharp tiny torns. Thank god for jackets and long pants. I could hear the torns scratching (or maybe tearing) my pants as I walked through the path. I think someone once came to this place to poop a I saw a pile of it.

We could go no further as there was a river between us and the farm. We took shots of the cows from where we were. Very tiny shots.

When we were back on the main road of the park, we walked further up and lol behold, we saw another farmland with Highland cows right in front of our face. We spent a good 30 minutes or so just looking and snapping pictures of the cows.

The Highland cows looked so peaceful with no worries in the world. They did not moo at all. They hardly budge from their spot except one which came closer to us. The horns on them makes them look fierce like bulls, but they were really gentle. They have cool hairstyles too :P

Besides the cows, we also saw this huge tree believed to look like that due to a witch curse.

On the way back to the train station, I saw a set of teeth (i an guessing false teeth) in front of the Pollock Park sign board. It was intriguing but disgusting at the same time. Anything other than that, the park was fantastic.

I met some elves and horses wearing Santa hats too.

Everything is fine

Maybe there was a reason for me to be here, at this time, this year.
I am happier this time... That is all that matters :)

Updates on Stirling, Loch Awe and Oban soon... lol.. maybe

Bukit tabur hiking trip

A bunch of us went for a hike at Bukit Tabur located at Taman Melawati. We started out hike at around 7.30am. We hiked about three hours. It was definitely not an easy hike for me. It was fun and it was a good workout. Imagine doing lunges more than the usual sets of 25 in the gym. We parked the car and then took a few steps towards a trackless slope and Jo Lene said "Ok, start climbing" I was like huh climb??!! lol

The first five minutes of the hike made me pant so much already and my thighs were burning. I wanted to stop already but then I was the one who organised the trip. So, basically that was my motivation to move forward ;) Surprisingly the first part of the hike was really tiring but after that it was just more about finding the right parts of the rocks to climb. I did bang my knees on the rocks, bled under my thumb nail because the rocks were sharp and banged my head on a huge rock lol.

-our rocky hiking trail-

-one of out few rest stops-

Aside from my injuries, I loved the hike and i know it would get easier with more experience. It was just my first time afterall. All the panting and sweating was worth it when we were able to enjoy the breathtaking view of the city. On one side it was all green while on the other side was the concrete jungle.

Walking down for me was much more difficult than going up. This was because it could be slippery when stepping on tiny rocks. Also, I think I had to use my brains more while getting down as I needed to watch and choose where to step so I that I didn't trip and fall. I did fall at one time anyway XD Thanks to Jo Lene and her Boyfriend for being awesome guides. I don't think I would have had the guts to hike up without them. I would probably stop hiking after the first five minutes..... Or if I made it up to the peak, I would probably be lost at how to hike back down....

 After the hike, we had rojak mamak. We all wanted cendol but it was too early for the stall to be opened. So, we headed to my house for some mooncakes and chocolate cupcakes while waiting for the cendol stall to open.

Hiking should be the new trend to hang out with friends! It was nice catching up :)

Hiking

I was invited to go hiking at Gunung Nuang on this friday (Merdeka Holiday).... Ar first I agreed to go.

But then...

I read blog reviews that it was a 12 hour hike and there were plenty of leeches....

So, I chickened out.
As much as I want to hike, I have never hiked before in my life. I am telling myself I should not be too adventurous. The Gunung Nuang hike was a prep for them before hiking Gunung Kinabalu in September. Sooo nice!! I want, but can't.

Start small aye.. Bukit Tabur hike on Monday will test my stamina.

Maybe I should walk up and down my hill ten times and see how breathless I get as a test.