Magnificent trips!!

Had not updated my blog for quite some time... anyhow, updating now.. below are some pictures of the places i went before and after finals.. Waitnng for graduation now..


REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (Dublin)








GREECE (Athens & Santorini)














ITALY (Rome, Pisa, Florence, Venice & Milan)




















SPAIN & PORTUGAL (Seville, Madrid, Barcelona & Lisbon)

























NORTHERN IRELAND (Belfast)







BELGIUM (Brussels)






NETHERLANDS (Amsterdam)

Alexandria/ Loch lomond/ Snow

Its been 2 months since i last updated my blog... really very lazy and busy.... nothing much to blog also.. Everything i am writing is like 1 month ago events..

Anyhow, i went for a GP (Dr. Clarke) visit with PJ at a medical centre located at Alexandria. Alexandria is just North of Glasgow, near Loch Lomond... I took a 45 minutes ride by train to that medical centre.. and i have to wake up at 6 plus in the morning just to catch the second earliest train at 7.25am... I am still sleepy man!


Alexandria station



The medical centre
(I was expecting a much bigger centre than that actually)


Oh well, the GP visit was not too bad at the end.. Get to learn and see lots of stuff.. I think it was much better than the IPL thing i used to attend... I don't mind having more GP visits than IPL sessions... but everything is the past already...

Since we are at Alexandria, we decided to go to Loch Lomond since its just one stop away from Alexandria at Balloch stop (the last stop)... Dating with PJ at Loch Lomond.. haha


Can you see the rainbow?? touching the water...



A ship



Me with the ship


At Loch Lomond, there is an aquarium... the entrance is 10 pounds per adult...never go in.. too expensive man...


The aquarium


After snapping some pictures at the aquarium, we headed off to Balloch castle... We have to pass through a park...


The park that we went through...



Balloch castle



A closer view at the loch.. its kinda choppy as you can see..



its breezy too that place.. my hair is FLYING



the rocks around the loch


Below are a few pictures during the one last final snow we experienced in Glasgow.. i think it was last month..


The girls




JBC



Somebody made a snowman and s snowwoman...
the bikini is made out of plastic bags... haha



Snow!





-the end-

Stirling

Went to Stirling few weeks back.. I think its only 30 minutes from Glasgow by car... Spent around 5 hours at Stirling... Few places to visit include Stirling Castle, Bannockburn Monument and Wallace Monument..

Stirling Castle is one of the famous castle in Scotland which include Edinburgh and Urquhart Castle..

View outside Stirling Castle (Wallace Tower visible from here)



Stirling Castle at the back



Statue of Robert the Bruce



A part of Stirling Castle



Some odd looking garden designation outside the castle



Another view of the castle from a small garden



Cannon



Small opening for archers to shoot at enemies



Part of the castle



Nice wall sculpture



Nice paint glass



Tapestry



View of a cemetery and town from Stirling Castle



Stirling Castle



The brick wall of Stirling Castle



Soon after that, we went to Bannockburn Monument... This is the site where Robert the Bruce fought with English armies.. This was a crucial winning battle for Scotland independence.. The English lost badly in this battle while they were marching towards Stirling Castle in the quest of conquering the castle... The Stirling castle was clearly visible from Banncokburn...



Robert Bruce with his horse



With the statue of Bruce



Bannockburn Monument at dusk



The last place we went to is the Wallace monument... Unfortunately, it was close when we reach there.... So, we could only snap the picture from the bottom of the hill.. It was located on a hill... In this tower, Wallace sword and a claymore are on display... By the way, this was part of the place where Braveheart (1995) film was shot...



Wallace Monument


There was a lovely small town at Stirling... Sadly i have no time to walk... Oh well, overall quite a nice place to go... 6/10 ... 2 castles down... Next castle definitely would be Urquhart!


By the way, Stirling (place) is not Sterling (currency)... do not get confuse...

Wishing everybody

Cairngorm Mountain (Aviemore)

My past few posts were about snow and sleets... Yesterday early in the morning, it did really snow at JBC.. layers of snow formed on the ground, cars and everywhere... Manage to snap a few pictures of it with the snow still falling down... it was just lovely to see it with your own eyes.. Not gonna talk much bout it since most of my batchmates blogged about it.. Its gonna be boring if i do blog about it too.. its just some form of repetition only.. So, i will just blog about yesterday's trip instead...

Well, on Saturday (2nd of Feb), went to Aviemore with some of my batchmates.. This trip was a postponed trip as we could not go last week because Aviemore was flooded.. Due to melted snow?? i am not too sure... Anyhow, yesterday was really a nice day to go Aviemore.. The weather was great! Bright sunny day, cool breeze and not a single drop of rain.. Perfect!

So, where is Aviemore?? Well, its located at Inverness, North of Glasgow.. It was a 3 hours bus ride from Glasgow... Aviemore is part of the Highlands.. One of the top tourist spots in Scotland.. Aviemore is just the place we are heading too.. The real skiing place was at Cairngorm Mountain... This mountain was totally cover with snow.. totally white.. Never in my life i see so much snow.. Just imagine the whole Genting Highland forest back in Malaysia were cover with snow..something like that..

Oh well, guess so you guys will be thinking that i had exaggerated.. Here are the pictures taken..



The layer of snow on the road at JBC



The place to rent boots, skiing equipments, snowboard and suits..



Underwear too tight la...haha

(DUDE... You should wear L sizela.. not S sizela.. of course la tight)
Nanti burung kasi mati baru tau..


Me and Edmond



Trees with snow on it



Everything is covered with snow..



Outside view from the bus...



Messing with kim hoe's sunglasses



Another fantastic snowing view



Slopes with scattered pine trees



Downwards view from Cairngorm Mountain



Great landscape..



There is a lake in the middle...



Breath-taking scenery..


Finally, reached at Cairngorm Mountain... ready to go up to the mountains..



A stream



Another great view



T-bar lift for skiers..



Preparing to ski...



At the bottom of Cairngorm Mountain


To go up to the top, we have to take the Cairngorm Mountain Railway.. its a funicular railway... first time taking this kind of railway... around 6 minutes ride to the top...



Hk, Me, Kim at the funicular railway



At the top of Cairngorm Mountain...



The temperature at the top was crazy... it was -13 degree celcius yesterday... and the wind blow was 30mph...My face was really cold.. and my hands too.. really can feel the effect of it... I will say that it was some sort of blizzard I am experiencing...




Totally white at the top of the mountain...



Its a slope actually.. everywhere was white...



Me at the top



Me, Edmond and Kim at the top



Struggling under the windy condition..



This is what the wind done to me..



A last picture before leaving Cairngorm mountain


Great place to ski. sadly the time was a bit too short ... Not enough time to ski freely...skiing lessons was a bit too long... Overall, a great day... My rating : 6/10

Kiss goodbye to stains

As we know, recently VO decided to have a spot check on the cleanliness of the units in JBC. People will be spending at least one day to clean the whole unit... No doubt, the most difficult part to clean is the kitchen area, especially the stove.. Tough stains and dirts on the stove are particularly a nuisance.. Sick and tired of wiping off the crap?? I have found a way to tackle this problem...

As usual, almost every week, VO will put aluminium foils in our pigeon holes... Guess so some of you guys find it irritating to have so many aluminium foils around... Well, that's not the case anymore, its very useful in solving the staining problems on the stove..


Basically, the size of the aluminium foils given by VO was really nice. The foils fitted just nicely on the stove... The only thing you have to do is to cut out the circular shape of the heating rings...

After doing that, just tape it to the stove... The best is to put double layer of aluminium foils on the stove, just in case the foil breaks..

Look at the pictures below...




Aluminium foils



The taped aluminium foils




A closer look at the stove



The thin layer taped aluminium foils



Some questions that you might ask..

1. Will the foil burn due to the heat?
Aluminium foils basically are insulators.. they can take on heat... Of course the foil will burn if you put the foil on the heating rings..

2. How frequent do you have to change it?
You don't have to change it at all till inspection actually.. Of course you have to change it if there is a hole on the foil as the surface on the stove will be exposed to oil and dirt...

3. How long to do it?
It take a mere 20 minutes for 2 foils...

4. What are the benefits?
Simple. No need to waste time cleaning the stove over and over again and maximise the usage of the aluminium foils..



Don't be a slave to stains, be their conquerers.

Snowing

This happened on 24/01/2008 at 10.20am, JBC.. It lasted only 5 minutes... Pictures and video taken right from my room..



Clearly snowing..



A close shot of the falling snow