Gourock, Loch Loman and Glasgow

My friend Neil tearfully called me last weekend with some sad news, his beloved dog Tess, had to be put down due to a terminal illness in her spine.  He was so upset that I felt I needed to go up to Scotland as soon as possible to comfort him. Pete couldn’t leave London as he had an important assignment to hand in so I was going  alone. I was lucky enough to get a ticket that flew last Friday and I came back to London Monday night so it really was a fleeting visit.

The Late Beautiful Tess

Neil lives in a small town called Gourock just outside Glasgow and it was incredibly beautiful! I have never seen anything like it! It is banked by the river Clyde and the sights from the hills were inspiring. Neil took me down for a walk by the riverside and we talked about Tess. I met her only once and thought she was a lovely dog. It was hard for Neil and his parents losing such a beautiful creature, she brought a lot of joy in their lives. As we walked by the riverside, he would point put some of the places Tess would play and often bravely wade into the water regardless of the weather.

A baby Cygnet by the riverside in Gourock

The next day, Neil decided it would be fun to drive around LochLoman… an hour away from Gourock. The scenery was astounding, although I did feel a tiny bit car sick because of the tiny winding roads.  The mountains towered above our heads, some snow capped with beautiful waterfalls streaming down like crystal tears. The Loch itself was gorgeous and when the sun came out, rainbows rippled everywhere!

Grumpy Neil

Beautiful waterfalls

Kilin

Smiling but absolutely freezing!

My favourite shot!

We stopped by Fortingale where the oldest living tree in Europe was, an old yew tree that is estimated to be 5000 years old!! It was creepily situated in a church yard surrounded by grave stones… I certainly felt quite uneasy there!

Neil made a meal for me on Sunday and we spent my last day there walking around Glasgow. He showed me Glasgow university where he studied and it was such a gorgeous university! It was what I imagined Hogwarts would be like from Harry Potter with beautiful courtyards and awe inspiring architecture. I could imagine great minds being inspired there surrounded by so much beauty.

Much too soon, it was time to leave. I had a lot of fun in Scotland but I was anxious to get home as Pete was down with a cold.. typical! The first time I leave him by himself for a few days and he falls ill!! I hope I cheered Neil up a tiny bit and he promised to come down to London again very very soon.

Portebello, Lions and Snow!

Pete and I were out and about in London this weekend . We went to Portebello Market and Convent Garden on Saturday and saw the Lion dance in Trafalgar Square on Sunday.

Portebello Market was a lot more exciting then I expected. Portebello road itself was quite breathtaking, lined with antiques shops, cafes and houses painted in all colours of the rainbow.

I

The market was teeming with people and stalls. On weekend there are special antique stalls and if you walk further in, it will change to a regular produce market. The antique stalls were selling all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff! Pete bought a gorgeous ‘silver’ teapot for ten pounds!

On Sunday, we arranged to meet with a few friends for the China Town Gong Xi Fa Cai show. It was an incredibly cold day with really cold winds and short bursts of snow. I was glad I decided to wear my ‘duvet inspired’ coat for the day!

The show had special acts flown in from Beijing, the most exciting was the Lion Pole dance.

We were feeling quite frozen so we decided to leave the show to find a small cafe for some hot chocolate. (I was so cold, I forgot to take pictures of this bit) When we exited the cafe, more snow was falling ! Camille, my Taiwanese friend and I were so excited!!

We then decided to have an early dinner in China town. Camille took us to a Malaysian restaurant that sold most of my favourite dishes.. I had Hainanese chicken rice and Pete had Kway Teow (again sorry. no pictures..) After a short game of pool, it was time to go home. This time the snow was falling in earnest! I tried to take a few pictures of the snow falling in Picadilly circus but it didnt really show in the pictures.

Finally, on the train ride home the snow settled on the ground and I have never seen anything like it!

The snow flakes were big and fluffy, it was like walking through talcum powder. Everything was covered in the purest white and looked hauntingly beautiful. I hope the snow doesnt melt overnight so that we can take some more pictures during the day.

I could get use to this!

High Street Kensington ROCKS!!

Finally in the new apartment and it is the same size as our bedroom in Brunei!! We love the pull down bed except the mattress is a bit thin and the springs sticks in to your sides a bit..

And infront of the bed is the TINY sofa and a TINY tv! In the hallway is a tiny dining table with a tiny kitchen and a tiny bathroom!! Pete said its like we were playing house! The flat was in aterrible state when we moved in so we spent a whole day cleaning. Our landlady was kind enough to help and she had this amazing steamcleaner that cleaned EVERYTHING!! From floors to glass windows, from carpets to bathroom tiles-  I am determined to get one soon and will buy one for Babu too.

My TIny Kitchen!

The Front of Our Building!

The building itself is gorgeous! We have a very friendly porter who is ever so helpful and we also have these old fashion elevators all around the building. I haven’t been in them yet because we live on the ground floor but I will try them out one day.

We had a bit of time to explore High Street Kensington and I am so excited to live here. There are so many of my favourite shops here like Mark and Spencers, Waitrose, Waterstone, Topshop just to name a few. There is even a huge cinema literally minutes from our front door. There are several parks for Pete to jog in and we are also minutes away from Bayswater and Oxford street. This is why I wanted to study here, to live right in the heart of London and to enjoy every second of it!

High Street Kensington

I have enrolled at Kings College and attended the induction course last Thursday and Pete was kind enough to come with me so I don’t get lost on the underground trains. When we got to the Strand campus, we were an hour early so we decided to explore the area.

Strand Campus is the orange building

It was a wonderful surprise to find Somerset House right next to the Strand building. What an amazing sight! We didn’t have time to have a look at the exhibitions but we did take a few fun pictures of the beautiful carvings they had there. I don’t think the statues look very pleased to see us…

Somerset House

Saja posing!

Gorgeous water display!

Grumpy Statues

Another Grumpy Statue

A very happy Peter

So I enrolled at uni and met all of my classmates now! There are a few more induction courses this week and we start lectures next week. I really like my classmates and we are so multiculturally diverse. There are some students from America, Lithuania, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Iran just to name a few places. I am so impressed with the university, everything is so well organised and everyone is so helpful! I just know I am going to love studying at Kings!

So I am off now to make dinner in my tiny kitchen, I dont have any baking stuff so I cant bake anything yet. I will however leave you with this wonderful find I bought in the supermarket today… Have a look at this!

So what you say? It’s just a Kit Kat… Yes, but it is exactly that! Instead of the usual four bars of small kitkat… this is one mighty big bar of kitkat!! YUM!!

Just try and imagine how nice it taste!! Hehehe….