Good Morning, Rainy Dundee :)
October 19, 2016
Morning, Dundee :)
That morning, we didn't have any plan other than to have iftar with the other Malaysian students. It would be my first time to meet them, naah no worries, my principle is like this "your friends will be my friends and I will treat them as good as I treat you."
For iftar, Haziqah and I planned to prepare sushi and bread pudding.
So, off to Tesco, it was literally in front of Haziqah's hostel. :D This reminded me of my flat, I can see Tesco from my window as well.
 |
| Seabraes Bridge - to cross all railways. |
Basically, the arrangements in Tesco are similar in any countries. From the entrance, it would be the flowers and plants, stationeries yada yada. But, writing this post make me realised I was excited to be there, in Tesco. Haha. Maybe that was how my parents felt when they stepped into Tesco in Hradec Kralove last year.
Tesco je pun T___T
 |
| Kalau kat Malaysia banyak pokok-pokok kann, kat sini banyak bunga hidup macam ni. |
 |
| Kinda cheap. :p |
 |
| Satayyyyy. Haha, don't argue much about where satay actually originated. Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia dan Malaysia ni serumpun, okay. |
 |
| This was what really caught my attention. Fuh, I wish I have this in Czech! |
 |
| Self-service counter to pay your groceries. Scan your items, tap tap tap, scan some more items and just pay by card or cash. On your own. |
Done with grocery shopping.
Before going back to prepare the food, we walked along the river. Told ya it was raining slightly and you can see how gloomy the sky was. But, still it was nice to walk together while updating each other with stories.
There were lots of seagulls!
 |
| Model. |
 |
| See. Seagulls everywehere. |
 |
| School kids go to school. |
 |
| Rails. |
Not to forget, these containers building. :D My abangngah loves the ideas of containers a lot but I think I haven't show this to him though. T_T
 |
| Awesome kottt. |
 |
| The windows :D malam-malam pintu kontena boleh jadi grill. |
I will share the food in another posts. Haha
But, honestly I had so much fun in the kitchen with Haziqah. She is a talented baker and she loves K-pop much. Haha. I was once influenced into these K things so I know something to talk about. Not that into K-pop groups much as I prefer ballad songs. Surprisingly, we share the same favourite singers!
Kim Jong Kook. Yes, the muscle guy in Running Man. I was a huge fan of him, already told you before. I still remember how enthusiastic I was, to memorize his songs during A-Level exams period.
Next is Davichi. I just love their voices and songs :p
 |
| On the way to Haziqah's friends' house. That are the containers, with Tay River as background. |
 |
| Entah apa ntah statues ni :O |
We walked around University of Dundee, yeah it will be in another post as well. Haha. Nanti panjang sangat satu post ni.
 |
| Overgate - the mall. |
On our way, we dropped by at this mall - Overgate. And..... hahahah there's Primark over here! Ouch, if you have been to Primark, you will understand why people love this shop a lot. And I don't understand why Primark haven't reach Czech yet. It is all over Europe kan?
I was under control that day - just because I told myself I don't have any spaces in my backpack to buy many stuffs. Haha. I just bought few tote bags with the word Scotland on it - not for my own souvenirs but for my mum and aunts.
Now, thinking back about this....I have no idea what have I bought for myself.
Oh, postcards. Okay.
 |
| Caird Hall |
Caird Hall is actually a theater / auditorium something like that - where you can watch orchestra etc. I thought it is the town hall where the city mayor works in it.
 |
| These are some characters in comic magazine - The Dandy. The big guy is called Desperate Dan. No ideas about the contents of this comic. |
 |
| The monkey is actually trying to rearrange the alphabets. Guess what actually supposed to be written there? Comment your answer below. Haha. |
McManus Galleries is a museum / art gallery, not sure what's inside as it was closed when I get there. But, the building was lovely, with Gothic style :)
 |
| McManus Galleries. |
 |
| Positive energyyyyy. |
 |
| Haziqah and I :D |
Continue walking.
We passed by another education centers - High School of Dundee and Abertay University.
 |
| Abertay University. |
 |
| Arriving their house :D |
Apartments in Czech in slightly different than here. In Czech, the ground floor will always be the shops. But, in Dundee at least, houses can be on the ground floor as well. However, the arrangements inside the apartment are kinda the same. Once you step into the house, you will be in the common area (small one just enought to choose your coats & shoes), then you can see 2-3 rooms (one of them could be the living room) and a kitchen.
Small but I love this style as I think it is comfortable enough to live in.
HK, Czech
161015
My Journey to Dundee, Scotland
October 18, 2016
We took a bus from Edinburgh Bus Station to Dundee. Haziqah planned my trip well - bus ride from Edinburgh to Dundee and I will take a train ride for the return trip at the end of my journey in Scotland. She wanted me to experience both rides :)
So sweet of you, Ka.
 |
| Edinburgh to Dundee |
Dundee is located about 88km from Edinburgh, can be accessed by train and bus. There is an airport as well, but I am not sure which flights depart or land there. The city is at the side of Tay River connected to North Sea. It was really cold to walk along the river.
 |
| The bus schedule. |
The trip was with Megabus bound to Aberdeen, it will drop and take people in Dundee. Megabus is famous for its £1 ticket even to London! But, that time, mine was £12, of course not that cheap. If you buy earlier you can get a cheaper price. Megabus provides free WiFi as well.
 |
| Megabus |
I took few photographs before I landed to dreamland. Phewww, finally I managed to get some sleep. I was awake since the day before.
 |
| Edinburgh |
 |
| Edinburgh. |
That's all. Huuuu. Sorry Ka, I knew you wanted to show the countryside of Scotland to me. T___T
I was just too exhausted.
When I woke up, the bus already crossed Tay River. Haha.
From Dundee Bus Station, we walked for less than 2km to Haziqah's hostel. I must say I love her hostel - en-suite bedroom that share the common kitchen with the other rooms. The idea of private bathroom in her room is the best one. :D
Maybe because, in Hradec Kralove, the hostel provided is a flat with 2 rooms - each room with 2-3 students (you can be roommates with anyone you don't even know). That's the main reason why most international students don't stay at the hostel and prefer to find their own flat with similar prices. :p
 |
| Seabraes |
Most European universities provide free WiFi to the students - obviously. The WiFi network is called eduroam. Do you know that anyone with eduroam accounts can get access to Internet via eduroam anywhere? :D I was connected once on the road somewhere in Sofia, Bulgaria before. That's when I discovered this fact.
This is a thing I am going to miss when I return to Malaysia. Haha :)
Snippets of Dundee here.
I will continue in the next posts yep.
 |
| The tower is St. Pauls Episcopal Cathedral. |
 |
| The bus here but we have no reasons to take the bus. |
 |
| Somewhere near the city council. |
 |
| Not sure what exactly this building is about. |
 |
| This is actually tempat judi. Huhu. |
Okayyy, till we meet again insyAllah :)
HK, Czech
161012
Few Hours in Edinburgh, Scotland
October 17, 2016
Honestly, I don't remember how long does it take to get to the city center from the airport. :p
By tram, we stopped at Haymarket station and then we proceed walking to those attractions that I will share here. Buildings in Edinburgh look familiar if you have been to London, well they are together as Great Britain and United Kingdom, right?
It was a gloomy day and slightly raining. My friend told me that they cannot rely on weather forecast here. It can be raining everyday. :p The roads are similar to Malaysia, they also drive on the left side of the road with right-hand-side of cars. Most former British colonies are like this - Malaysia, India, Pakistan. This includes Australia and Japan as well.
 |
| Brown gold buildings everywhere. |
 |
| British style. |
 |
| Errr, I am not sure what is this. |
We walked in the direction of Edinburgh Castle and these were places we passed through. The first one was Princes Street Gardens. I've been told that Princes Street is the area where you can go shopping like the Oxford Street in London. I don't fancy shopping much so I skipped this one.
 |
| Look at the lovely green garden! |
 |
| That's the castle I think. |
 |
| This was just beside the bus stop. |
 |
| Cuci mata naaa :D |
On the way, we found The Ross Fountain, with the castle as the background. From the signboard there, the fountain was actually made in France over 150 years ago! And the sculptor responsible for this fountain was the one who made the Louvre in Paris.
How it finally brought to Edinburgh? There was a guy, named Daniel Ross who bought the fountain and gave it to Edinburgh in 1872.
Wowww, senangnya bagi hadiah kat bandar. :)
 |
| Constructed from 122 individual sections. |
The castle is located on top of the hill. So, expect some walking-hiking yea.
 |
| The castle, from bottom. |
 |
| The final stairs before you can stand in front of the gate of Edinburgh Castle. |
Yeah, finally!
Edinburgh Castle. There was a big square (Esplanade) in front of the castle with some constructions that we need to walk through. They were building lots of seats (just like the seats in the stadium) here.
So many people there and yeah, Asians everywhere. Haha
 |
| Why so excited? Errrr. |
We didn't buy any tickets so we just enjoyed the areas that were free to access. Similar to Prague Castle I guess where there is free area but you need to pay to see more areas in the castle.
There are many facts that make this place more stunning. Like, the castle was built on top of Castle Rock which is a hundred million years extinct volcano. It was also lived by many noble people like other castles that I've been to. Oh yea, I told you they were building many seats in front of the castle, now I understand why. There are a lot of performances being done there, so the seats are for the audiences.
 |
| Walking inside. |
 |
| I tried this, nice one! |
After buying few postcards, we continued to Calton Hill. The views along the way, as expected to be spectacular. We passed through a road called Ramsay Garden and the houses there were so beautiful! Look at this!
 |
| Ramsay Garden. |
 |
| We could see Scottish National Gallery on our way. |
 |
| Walk, walk, walk. |
 |
| General Assembly Hall - this is a part church, I think. I was just amazed with the age of the building. 1846 kot. Old enough but standing strong! |
 |
| Somewhere on our way. |
Finally, after about 30 minutes walk, we arrived at Calton Hill. There is another interesting viewpoint on the other hill - Arthur's Seat but we did not have that much time to go there as well. Basically from what I've read, Calton Hill and Arthur's Seat were formed by volcanic activity similar to Castle Rock. And Calton Hill is one of the first public parks in Britain!
 |
| Yeay. |
There are a lot of monuments in this hill. You can enter each of them if you want or simply watch from outside. The one below is Nelson Monument, built in early 1800 to commemorate a hero of some war, I just don't know...
 |
| Nelson Monument. |
Meanwhile, this one below is National Monument of Scotland - a memorial to Scottish sailors and soldiers who died in Napoleonic Wars. I am not sure if I learned anything about these wars before but I'm pretty sure Ottoman Empire kinda related to them as well. Napoleonic Wars were about French revolution that lead to the ending of Holy Roman Empire.
 |
| National Monument of Scotland. |
 |
| A view from National Monument of Scotland. |
 |
| Dugald Stewart Monument. |
Done with Calton Hill.
We walked down the hill and continued to Edinburgh Bus Station for Dundee. :)
 |
| National Archives of Scotland. |
I learned few interesting facts about pound sterling. Shops in England often refuse to accept Scottish banknotes even though pound sterling is used in both England and Scotland. Do you know that pound is the world's oldest currency that is still in use?
 |
| Royal Bank of Scotland. |
Kingdom of England (English) merged with Kingdom of Scotland (Scottish) in 1700+. So, you can expect English pound was originally NOT THE SAME as Scottish pound. They shared similar values before but Scottish pound dropped so it was pegged to English pound sterling. Dalam Melayu, kita panggil tambat nilai duit rasanya. What I understand here, both are similar but not the same. :p Haha.
Pound banknotes issued by Bank of England is 'more powerful' than the one issued by Bank of Scotland.
Interesting much!
:D
Okayyy, till next posts!
Salam.
HK, Czech
161012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
