Windmill, I was on my way to Bristol, from London.
Expensive trip, mostly because it is last minute. No plans, no prior experience in travelling in the United Kingdom. Just going there to meet my friend (ex-boss) Carmen.
She’s in University of Bristol for Student Exchange Programme for one semester, and I am in Imperial College London doing summer research. Due to the difference in the term timing in UK and Singapore, we can meet up, just before her finals.
The picture above seems… to have a poster effect, cause the camera is in that effect. Carmen immediately take the burden of teaching me how to use my (newly acquired) camera.
Testing out the Marco effect.
Well, anyway, even through we didn’t met for quite a long time (a few months), we keep on knowing what happened recently to each other. The wonders of facebook.
I knew she went for an Europe tour recently, she knew about my new camera… etc… still, there’s a lot to talk with your former boss… (ok seriously I don’t see her as my former boss, just a friend!)
First thing we went to is to visit the University, it is right in the heart of Bristol. And I couldn’t resist having a photo by the Physics Department.
It was a long walk (more than an hour) because we were talking and sightseeing and taking our time……… On the way, I was the Downs, a big grass field with a beautiful sunset.
I arrived around 8pm, it was about 9:30pm by then. Summer, still not used to the long day time…….
Generously, she let me stayed in her room, with meal tickets purchased too (I’ve paid for the meals), but she did treated me one dinner (later on)……
Ya, the first reaction is (if you’re used to staying in Singapore), “Your room is soooo big!!!!”. Got a sink in it too, and a previous fireplace. We had a late night discussions about many stuffs… talking about Bristol, and NUS…
Ok again…I don’t think I need to add this, but… oh right… I won’t add this in. Those of you who knows me, knows me.
The next day, Saturday. After a good brunch, we went out and explore the whole of Bristol city centre. Or at least it seems to be a lot of the city centre……
On the way, this is the Downs again! Beautiful big tree!
Nice sky, notice the flowers. Carmen said that when she came here (on Jan) there wasn’t the greenery to appreciate.
And so off we went…… from the day market of
which features:
To seeing various war monuments, churches, brands, statues and BBC…and a cool looking car.
Our first real stop was to see the Bristol Museum, lots of display up there to see and be awe in (I haven’t visited the Natural History Museum in London yet…)
Pictures of Natural scenes (and wild-life) competition…
Believe it or not, they are all real, even through they look like they were painted/computer generated cause it is wayyy too beautiful. Little wonder that Carmen spends all the time in the Museum reading the descriptions (lots more other categories there). I went on and see fossils:
Right, by now you guys are skipping the photos and looking for what will I write next, isn’t it? Haha…
Sorry, alright not too much photos now, you can see the whole deal in facebook at here.
I got to confess, I’ve been a bad guest… I got late to Bristol, missing a hunted tour on Friday night, missing a bus ride back to her room and back again (she borrowed her friend’s card for me). And I let her wait for me while I’m in the toilet… several times… (waste her time…) Because I didn’t bring my hand phone charger… It was a relieve to find her the day before, before my phone battery ran out…
Well, let’s get on to the fun part. We went down to the docks and saw many many ships. Did you know that Bristol had been a floating harbour until recently? We were exploring so much of Bristol on foot (oh the cold wind) and sharing so much stuffs that I kinda make the comparison that Bristol is a lot like Malacca. (Lazy to compare details) Well, the most important thing is, that I’m bringing people to visit Malacca on foot from now on! Carmen is amongst the list of people who wants to visit Malacca!
Why on foot? Cause, as Carmen said: you get to go to places unplanned. So after the museum, we saw went as marked in red.
In the floating harbour, we saw these:
A car with a Pirate in it!
Railroads…
And then we went off the trail and followed a river that eventually leads to a famous suspension bridge in Bristol.
We were so happy to found out that our hunch was true! The river did lead to the bridge and we were thinking of how to get there?
Carmen let me decide, and we went for the greener road there (from the left),
We soon got relieved that we had chosen this path because the other road is just beside a car road. This path we were walking on is a cycling/walking route. Due to negligence I didn’t bring my camera charger too, and the camera battery is starting to run low by now. So sorry, but for the really exciting part, there’s no picture from me.
We went on the road, 
Luckily, there was a couple walking in front of us, and we can always ask them for directions if we really get lost. (Amazing that I don’t write as much about the cold as I’ve complained to Carmen that day) Anyway, there was a jungle path leading left into the land that holds the bridge. We travelled on and did climb higher and higher. And eventually after going from the jungle path into the main road (which features this cool home:
It was a scared smile…… I kinda fear heights…
We went to both sides of the bridge, got cool photos, and then walked back to the city centre where we eat at “Start the Bus”. A pub’s name, don’t ask me why.
On the way, we talked about Pokemon and that we constantly amaze each other of the ability to walk this far (in the cold for me, Carmen got used to the cold, having gone through winter) and still have the energy to bounce about.
Carmen once again being the generous host, treated me to a hamburger. I tried on the various additives they had and indeed, it is nice (and filling too). Well, we bid our farewells to the city centre as Bristol (finally) gets dark and gone back to Carmen’s room and talk, again!
We talked about NUSBS, PhD or other alternatives and shared lots of stuffs and about this blog post (that’s long overdue, sorry!) and then we got tired and need some good night’s sleep.
Next morning, we had a good breakfast and visited the mall area of Bristol along with Castle Park, whereby I commented: “Malacca also has ancient ruins.” And this time, the exhaustion and cold get to me and I had to rest quite a few times… along the road.
We went back for lunch, and then I said I was too tired to go on for another trip outside. And so, we rested. I had a good afternoon nap, and about one hour before my bus arrives, we walked the half hour walk to the city and bid our “See ya later in Singapore…” Oh and here’s THANK YOU CARMEN! *virtual hug*
One last picture on the way back, cause I saw so many livestock and horses along the bus back to London, it was Sunday. And I cooked for dinner!
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