Hogmanay / First Day of 2009

We had the last supper of 2008 in the Elephant House...the panini tasted very good and the price was very reasonable!!!



Feet First Show's poster on Royal Mile - a mix of Scottish street performances...something like a mini-Edinburgh Art Festival...


We kicked off 2009 by paying a visit to Edinburgh Castle in the afternoon...perhaps the busiest time of the year...haven't seen so many people in a castle before...like the shopping malls in HK! :P We queued up for 30-45 minutes to get the tickets!

Overlooking the city of Edinburgh...Edinburgh Eye and Scott Monument in the middle...Calton Hill on your right...

Feet first performance...no idea what this drama in City Chambers is about...

A very random and "mo liu" 无聊 booth...a man putting up some Tibetan flags (I also have some in my souvenir cupboard at home! :)) and some colourful rubber bands...and two water buckets for the participants to sit on...and murmur some nonsense words...the most "mo liu" (i.e. nonsense...meaningless) show I've ever seen!!!

First footing supplies

A guy dressing up like this...playing a musical instrument...with toy rats on his carpet...another "show"! Perhaps I'm not that "artistic" at all!

Another booth...palm reading...tarot reading...fortune telling...

The most exciting show of the evening...a girl singing in the mid-air!

Three "mickey mouses"?!

A musical instrument powered by water/steam...

A drama performed inside someone's flat along Royal Mile...

The most "mo liu" device of the world...a MANual cashpoint...you need to get some tokens to participate in each booth...to get the FREE tokens, you need to queue up (for at least 10 minutes...there's a long queue) and fooled by the two guys (one inside, one standing next to the yellow machine)...by answering random questions or performaning random acts...e.g. standing on one foot and the guy next to you will try to push you...after being fooled for 2-3 minutes...they'll hand you a few tokens to participate in the shows shown above!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know I need to be more careful when choosing programmes to go during the Edinburgh Art/Fringe Festival this summer! Haha!

31 December 2008

HOGMANAY!!! The long-anticipated Hogmanay is great...but less great than expected...(interesting!) As we're very tired for the vibrant "night life" in the previous days...we decided to head out at 10ish to the street party on Princes street...which proved to be a wise choice!!! I couldn't imagine myself squeezing into the tightly-packed drunk and hyper crowds in the stage starring Glasvegas and some UK pop bands , listening to loud music with super heavy bass, standing in the cold, for 4 or 5 hours to wait for the 3-minute firework displays! :P well, a sign of getting older - and wiser - I suppose...We arrived at the venue at 11 am...and managed to secure a place near the entrance with some fresh air and more mature-looking SOBER people around us...(to avoid being hugged and kissed by drunk strangers when the first moment of the New Year comes! haha!)

The greatest moments were the 3-minute non-stop firework displays in front of Ediburgh Castle (not as good as the one on Calton Hill on the 29th...!) and singing Auld Lang Syne (a Scottish poem written by Robert Burns) together with 10,0000 people on Princes Street! :) I've learnt this song for sooo long...since primary school I think...and I'm happy and proud to sing it on the land of Scotland!!!!!

Should old acquaintance be forgot,and never brought to mind ?Should old acquaintance be forgot,and old times since ?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.


First Day of 2009

Happy new year! Wishing my family and all my friends a happy and healthy new year full of love and joy! :)


My New Year resoluations??? I've set a few goals which I want to achieve in this year...but I won't tell you! *secret* :P

Royal Mile was sooo busy and packed with tourists and locals alike. We wanted to have some nice pub meal in a pub...but was told "we don't take in more for tonight"...and even the cheaper burger shops were full...and asked us to return in half an hour...we ended up having our delicious dinner in a fish-and-chips shop along the road before the Feet First show started!

Achievements of this Christmas and New Year holiday:

1. Finished my semantics assignment which is due in mid-January

2. Been to London (visited Science Museum and British Museum, watched Billy Elliot...)

3. Celebrated Hogmanay in Edinburgh

4. Finished reading a few books: 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith, The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J K Rowling, The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester (a must-read for the OED fans! My Christmas present from down under!), now reading To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

5. Re-developed my film-watching habit: Dirty Dancing, High Fidelity, Lie With Me, The Sound of Music (first half only! haha!), Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (my Christmas present!), a Japanese animation recommended by Jen called "A chain of short stories about their distance"秒速5厘米 - a very good and inspiring film (I like the first part!), Australia (3.5 hours with an intermission!!!!!!!!!), The Reader

So much for now! Uni starts on the 12th again! :)

Loch Ness Revisited & The Dancin'

30 December 2008 (Tuesday)

My second time to Loch Ness and Urquart Castle - very beautiful!!! I went there during the ISC weekend trip in autumn...second time in winter...again in spring and summer maybe...then I can make an album of Loch Ness with four seasons! :)

Jen and I on top of the ruined Urquart Castle

Nessie with a bagpipe...!!!

One of my favourite photos...a bit of Provance in France...haha!

Snowing...

Highland Cow - so cute and a bit silly...how CAN it seeee?!

After more than 7-hour coach ride (3.5 hours from Edinburgh city to Loch Ness), we were exhausted...and bored...so we headed to the grassmarket for the dancin' - a FREE dancing event showcasing performances of Scottish Country dance, Highland dance, Ceilidh, Chinese's Lion Dance (haha!), Moulin Rouge-style Can-can dance, Bollywood dance, Tango (Tango is rather disappointing...I was expecting something like the sexy Tango shot in Step Up), Salsa, Cha Cha...etc etc

Official description: "A brand new free event celebrating dance in all its forms, The Dancin' is being programmed in collaboration with Dance Base. It will celebrate dance and joie-de-vivre as well as herald the arrival of the Year of Homecoming Scotland 2009. It also sees the new-look Grassmarket utilised for a major outdoor, public event."

Can-can dance on the big stage (too faraway...)

A very tiring but fulfilling day! :)

Edinburgh's Pre-Hogmanay - Torchlight Procession

Old College, Faculty of Law, The University of Edinburgh


My university...a bit of Rome! :)

Jen came up north to Edinburgh to spend New Year/Hogmanay with me! :) Being a professional trilingual tour guide of Edinburgh, I made our first stop at the Old College of my university, where the law school is situated!


Winter Wonderland at sunset - beautiful sky

I like this photo...(click at the photo to enlarge it) - Edinburgh Castle on your left, Scott Monument on your right with the Edinburgh Eye behind it and the amusement ride in front of it!

Torchlight Procession on the 29th of December (a Hogmanay warm-up): a wonderfully awesome evening...FREE of charge...highly recommended to everyone who wants to spend Hogmanay in Edinburgh in the coming years...setting off at Royal Mile by pipers and drummers...down to the Mound...with 20,000 (official figure...I didn't count!) people marching with some holding the 5-pound torchlight (quite heavy!)...walking by the Winter Wonderland on Princes Street...up to the very cold Calton Hill for the Viking's bonfire celebration...which ended by a breathtaking, spectacular(adjectives like that...) firework displays...I've never been sooo close to the fireworks...they're like sparkling right on my face...what an amazing experience!!!!!!!!!

Click here for details: http://www.edinburghshogmanay.org/whats-on/torchlight-procession

After the event, we headed home very quickly for a hot chocolate...my toes were freezingly cold...(strange...my body felt warm...not cold at all...but my TOES were very very cold...!)

Christmas Trip to London (Part 2)

24 January 2008 (Wednesday)

My first Christmas Eve in the UK (I spent my Christmas Eve on an overnight train from Beijing to Xi'an hehe!...) As usual, I woke up quite late...and wanted to go to St Paul's Cathedral for the Christmas carol at 4 pm...but due to the long ride on public transport...we didn't make it for the service when we arrived at 4 pm sharp...there's a huge disappointed crowd outside the cathedral...too bad we didn't manage to get in for a look either...should go there again next time! Jen took me to a stroll along River Thames with Tate Modern, London Eye, Big Ben and the Parliament...

Before our BIG Christmas Eve dinner, we went to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park...to my surprise, the London's Winter Wonderland is at least 10 times bigger than the Edinburgh one (our wonderland has the ferris wheel aka the Edinburgh Eye RIGHT next to the Scott Monument...a bit dangerous I think!), although they have more or less the same things e.g. ferris wheel, amusement rides, outdoor ice-skating rink (of course less windy in London!)...it has wonderfully festive atmosphere and is a great place to celebrate Christmas!!!


St Paul's Cathedral

Jen & I in front of a Christmas tree at St Paul's churchyard

Ferris Wheel in London's Winter Wonderland (not London Eye!)

Woohoo!

Jen invited me to her friends' place at Imperial College for a BIG Asian dinner...no turkey or ham or Christmas pudding...but instead we had CRAB in Asian style...spicy squids....fried tofu with veggies and fried rice noodles cooked by two of her GUY friends!!! Haha!

Jen: Thanks so much for your warm hospitality...as well as the hospitality of your friends! :)

A non-traditional Christmas Eve dinner! :P

The two cooks from Malaysia and Singapore

Wicked (on my list...I saw the short JAPANESE version in Tokyo's Disneyland...haha!)

MAMMA MIA...a musical I had been looking forward to seeing for SO long...but...a long story...*sigh*

25 December 2008 (Thursday)

CHRISMTAS DAY! :) Almost all London's public transport was suspended...meaning a super HEA day at Jen's comfy flat...got up after midday (haha!), reading books and watching DVDs, enjoying a home-cooked healthy and yummy dinner prepared by Jen...a relaxing day!

26 December 2008 (Friday)

Boxing day! The day for Mammia Mia...We double-checked if we had got the tickets with us before setting off. Some public transport resumed - we went to Covent Garden...hoping to do some "window"/booth shopping but found the garden almost empty...no booths...only a few shops opened...and a street performance...When Jen wanted to treat me some yummy cookies and got into her tote bag......there's NO wallet...at first...we thought perhaps she could have left the wallet home *VERY naive* when we left home in a bit of a hurry...so she went home to pick it up and I waited for her in the city......but after I did some real shopping at HMV...I got her call...BAD news...she got her wallet stolen....probably on the crowded tube in a dirty and "dangerous" tube station STRATFORD (so angry with the Jubliee line...) at the same moment, I thought why HADN'T I thought about the wallet being stolen when her small handbag's got unzipped???!!! So my poor Jen lost her cash (10 pounds I gave her back!), bank cards, ID documents, some precious family photos, some important notes and our two Mamma Mia tickets (worthing 30 pounds each!!!!!!!!) :(((

To describe our feelings in Cantonese: TEN GREY (one is not enough!) 十个灰

The following days...when we walked past the tube station, the city, and even in bookshops, we saw posters promoting the musical, the soundtrack or the DVD...I tried to cover Jen's eyes so as not to revoke her bad memories...:P So depressing!

Luckily we didn't lose the train tickets to Edinburgh and the young person railcard! EDINBURGH here we came! :)

The complicated and confusing London tube map

Stratford station...where the 2012 Olympics will be held!

Christmas Trip to London and Oxford (Part 1)

London, here I come again!!!
(Part 1)



21 December 2008 (Sunday)



Took a 4.5-hour train to London's King's Cross at Edinburgh Waverley station in the morning. The train ride was good - passing through Newcastle, Darlington and York before heading south. Jen, my friend in London, picked me up at the station and we had a Chinese meal with her Japanese friend in a Hong Kong-style restaurant in China Town. I missed HK food for so long - as far as I know, there are no good and cheap HK restaurants near my place in Edinburgh (except one called HK Yum Yum diner which I haven't tried!) I had fried rice noodles (ho fan) with prawns and eggs! :) Back to Jen's place in East London on the tube. One more thing: I bought OYSTER (something like Octopus in HK but less useful! :P)

Newcastle

22 December (Monday)

After living in Edinburgh for 3 months, I'm not very used to public transport (Don't laugh!). I haven't used much public transport in Edinburgh (no train, no MTR, no taxi, bus for a few times only!) I walk all around the city! The London underground map was sooo complicated for me...and as Jen said, I was so slow especially at finding exits or transit stations! We went to Science Museum (my first time! You can spend two or three days inside the museum exploring new and interesting things!), British Museum (managed to get in before it's closed! I love mummies!) and had a Chinese meal in a Shanghaiese noodle shop! :)

Christmas market near South Kensington tube station

Mummification at British Museum

Science Museum

GROMIT!!!

Entrance of British Museum

23 December (Tuesday)

My scholarly trip to Oxford to visit Tree!!! Setting off at Paddington (Paddington bear - Please take care of this bear! :P) for the one-hour train ride! Oxford was a bit gloomy and cold on that day - it looks more beautiful in the summer time! No picnic, no intruding a lovely tea party, unlike last time! Instead, we went to Jamie Oliver's Italian Restaurant ( http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/oxford : fresh, quality dishes that are quickly produced - from the website). I love Italian food (pasta, pizza and desserts!!!) I ordered a prawn linguine and it tasted good! But the two pasta dishes ordered by Jen and Tree - ravaoli and pesto tagliatelle - they looked good, but VERY salty (I tried the tagliatelle...and it was!)...although Jamie Oliver is promoting healthy food in the UK's schools....we're not sure if his chefs used too much of natural sea salt in the dishes!!! (Tree said "natural salt is still salt!!!) The pannacotta dessert was very good though! :)

After lunch, we paid a visit to Tree's humble residence in Kellogg's College (which is a rather new college, originally for part-time students only). Tree's house has 12 other housemates...and he told us a lot of racist & sexist jokes! Hahahahaha! Not very good to share the stories here! His room is much bigger than mine...and he has two beds (while I had to buy an airbed for my guests!)...and a nicer and bigger bathroom!

We caught a train back to London for the musical Billy Elliot...but then we might have caught the wrong one...it took us more than 2 hours to go back to the city...and we had to change once or twice to Victoria station...and we missed the first half hour of the musical...:( Speaking of the musical, it was brilliant!!! Billy was really so brilliant...I was totally impressed by his dance (especially tap dancing!) I like both the film and the musical, but they're quite different! (Well, I think I still like the film more - one of my favourite British films!)

Paddy

Outside Jamie's restaurant

My pasta

Me and Tree

Tree's bathroom

The Eagle and Child pub where Tolkien, Lewis Carroll and C.S.Lewis hung out

Night at the museum?! :P

(Oxford University Museum of Natural History)

A big cockroach model...horrible!

Keble College

Me wearing gown and holding Oxford publication! Haha! :)

Billy Elliot - I feel like tap dancing!

More adventures in London...to be continued! Stay tuned!!!

UoE's Pride

Edinburgh ranks among world’s best

The University has for the second year running been listed in the top 25 universities of the world.
The Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings place Edinburgh 23rd, the same position it achieved last year.
Now in their fifth year, the rankings list the top 200 universities in the world.
Edinburgh is the only Scottish University and one of only six British institutions to appear in the top 25.

The 2008 ranking of the universities I studied/am studying:

1. The University of Hong Kong (HKU): 26th

2. The University of Queensland (UQ): 43th

3. The University of Edinburgh (EU): 23rd!!! YAY!

4. Fudan University: 113th (Not bad for a university in China!)

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/hybrid.asp?typeCode=243&pubCode=1

Pasta Hut

http://www.pastahut.co.uk/Home

In case you don't know, Pizza Hut in the UK has changed its name to Pasta Hut to "encourage healthy eating".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3145545/Pizza-Hut-to-become-Pasta-Hut.html

The chain, which launched its first restaurant in Britain in 1973, is replacing its pizza-focused menu with a menu consisting mainly of pasta dishes.

This means that as well as the traditional deluxe pizzas, customers will also have the option of ordering more sophisticated dishes such as tomato and mozzarella mezzaluna and prawn and crayfish arrabiata.

The re-branding is part of an £18 million revamp package designed to attract new customers and move it into more upmarket terrain.

As part of the revamp, the chain is temporarily naming 30 of its branches Pasta Hut.