Travelogue (Scotland/ London) - Part 2

Day 3 – 27th April (Mon)

8.50am
Turned up at the doorsteps of Rabbies and got ready to start my 3-Day Isle of Skye Tour.

As described by Wikipedia:
“Skye or the Isle of Skye, is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides (an archipelago off the west coast) of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate out from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillin hills.

The island has been occupied since the Mesolithic and has a colourful history including a time of Norse rule and a long period of domination by clans Leod and Donald. The main industries are tourism, agriculture, fishing and whisky-distilling. The largest settlement is Portree, which is known for its picturesque harbour. Just over 30% of the residents on Skye speak Gaelic.”

Although there is no one definite definition to “Skye”, I was told by my guide, Karen, that they refer it as “mist” – i.e.: Isle of mist.

And here’s the route map for my tour:


After a few hours off Edinburgh, we made a quick stop over at Trossachs Wollen Mill (Kilmahog, Stirlingshire) for a wee toilet and tea break. And it was here that Karen introduced us to Hamish, the highland cow. In fact, his full name was Hamish McKay Denovan. I was pretty amused that he had a surname and middle name. Sounded kinda cute, right?



It was said that he came from England during the peak of mad cow disease some years ago. The original owner was ordered by court to give up Hamish and put him to sleep. But the Scottish protested and eventually got Hamish over to Scotland and settled him at this mill. But he never had any friends of his own kind at the mill, as part of the deal was to separate him from the rest to avoid any possibility of an outbreak, and stay within the mill for the rest of his life. He seemed contented though as humans came to be his friends over time. I was also told that he was a gentle creature and the only time he (or any of his kind) would attack, would be if he sensed that you were going to harm him or if you were to approach too close to a young (whereby the mom would get rather defensive). Otherwise, they would usually walk away and stay clear of trouble.

As we left Kilmahog and head up along Loch Lomond, I could sense the atmosphere getting colder and colder. Perhaps it was the increase in altitude. And it didn’t help that it continued to drizzle outside.

Soon after, Karen stopped by the Falls of Dochart (Kilin) for us to take a few photos and to enjoy the scenary. The falls’ beautiful and the small town gave you a sense of peace, a moment of “zen-ness” – though I was shivering and trying to steady my shots. So before long, I hopped back into the van.



And next up?
Glencoe and lunch!



Although I’m not that adventurous with food, I kinda decided that I should give the Scottish traditional dish, Haggis, a try. It was basically a mix of sheep's internal organs (i.e.: heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and usually boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. The output looked very much like sausages and was traditionally served with "neeps and tatties". The nice dining atmosphere kinda did its magic to calm my nerves and before I finally mastered enough guts (no pun intended) to gulp down the first bite, I made sure my glass of water was somewhere nearby.



Well, it tasted much like our mashed meat, but texture-wise, much more minced and slimy. Once you got over the inertia and shook off the “intestines” imagery in the mind, it tasted pretty good actually.

And oh! Back in decades ago, it was said that an animal or bird species called Haggis, used to exist – pretty much like a DoDo bird. Although it was a fast runner, it had a deadly weakness – it could only run in a single direction (i.e.: if they run in clockwise, they could never run in anti-clockwise) and had evolved to have one leg shorter than the other to help them increase their speed as they ran in that one direction. Before long, it was completely wiped out and no one really knew how it looked like today. People could only refer to documents that made brief mentions of this species and imagine.

Around 4pm
Just some pictures taken en route to Eilean Donan Castle.




Around 4.30pm
Pulling over for a wee toilet and tea break.




Around 6pm
Eilean Donan Castle (set of “Highlander”) – so near yet so far…
After a quick discussion with the group, we’d decided that we were rather tired and would visit the castle the next day or on the last day instead. So we took a quick breather and headed up for Portree to rest for the night.



En route to Portree…




Around 7pm
Portree, at last!
Checked into a backpackers’ inn called “Bayfield backpackers” with Emma and Emily, two of my fellow tour group mates.


Bayfield backpackers, Bayfield road, Portree. Tel: 01478 612 231
4-Bed female dorm available at £14 per person, per night.

Without a minute to lose (as shops in Scotland usually were closed by 5pm and eateries around 8pm), we freshened ourselves a little and headed straight out to the nearby supermarket to grab breakfast for tomorrow and hunted for dinner.

In the end, we decided to walk into “Café Arriba” for dinner. Aside from being recommended by Karen, it was also one of the eateries recommended by a guide book which Emily had brought. The place was really cozy, the service was great and more importantly, the food was delicious!



So after our dinner, all three of us were unanimous – we needed to have a taste of the local whisky. So we hopped by one of the local pubs called “The Isles” – a very decent and cozy pub-restaurant.



Imagine drinking or having dinner whilst listening to live music performances... what a joy! There was a guy playing the fiddle, another playing the bagpipe and a lady who played guitar. Very relaxing and cozy for talks with friends.

As I was not exactly a good drinker and I didn’t really know how to appreciate whiskey (I’m into sweet stuff), I ordered a Barcadi breezer instead. Both Emily and Emma ordered different shots of Whiskey (one of which was smoked whiskey) and I took a sip from theirs. Well, even though I didn’t finish it, I could at least say that I had tasted Whiskey when I was in Scotland before. :p

And Karen did mention that they (Scottish) were very proud of the whiskeys they made. So they couldn’t understand why people had to put ice into their whiskeys and ruin the authentic taste. The ice, as she had said, diluted the purity of whiskey. So from now on, if I was ever to drink whiskey again, I would take note this – not to add ice into it.


Around 11pm
Finally decided that we were really tired and retired back to the backpackers’ inn.
zzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ….

Travelogue (Scotland/ London) - Part 1

Day 1 – 25th April (Sat)

5.10am
Arrived at Heathrow (London) airport, Terminal 4, as per scheduled but none of us managed to get off the plane on time as there was an electrical problems with the door and it just simply refused to open. In the end, all the passengers and crew were stranded on board for more than half an hour, waiting for the manual stairway to arrive.




Around 6.20am
Finally! I landed on the grounds of Heathrow (London) airport, Terminal 4 - officially. Rushed to pick up my only piece of luggage (which is my backpack – see below) and was soon on my way to take the tube to Kennington (to meet Uma).



These were all I prepared for my 14-day trip. Hmmmm….


7.20am
Arrived at Uma’s doorsteps!



It took me close to an hour to arrive at Kennington station from Heathrow (London) airport, Terminal 4, via the tube. The journey cost £4 (approximately SGD 9, based on SGD2.25 = £1).



Throughout the entire ride, it kept drizzling with grey skies looming over our heads; making the city gloomy and the atmosphere chilling. But my day brightened up when I finally caught up with a familiar face in the midst of a gloomy weather and not to mention a tiring 13-hour flight.


11am
After a long, hearty chat with Uma in her kitchen, we decided it was time to show our support for Wanlin’s Singapore Day event at the Hampton Court. Whilst waiting for Uma to get ready, I snooped outside to observe the weather and captured a few snapshots too :)



We gradually made our way via the tube again to Waterloo station.


Around 11.30am
Gosh! We couldn’t believe it. We had to switch at least 3 queues before we got our tickets! The ticketing machines we queued at simply went on a strike and refused to work properly. Eventually, the queues which originally had 20 over people to start with, began getting longer and longer!

That aside, we also noticed that there were so many Singaporean-like faces that we came across at the Waterloo station. We kinda figured that they were trying to get their hands on the train tickets to Hampton Court for the event too.

At one point, we were soooo sick of queuing that we almost wanted to go up to a group of Asians (who looked like Singaporeans) who were way ahead of us and ask if they could buy tickets for us as well. But we decided to be gracious and killed our “evil” thought, as there were lots of people in front of us – lots with infants and toddlers in toll.


Around 12.30pm
Phew! Finally! We got our tickets and onto the trains! And here’s a peek of what I had for my first meal in London!



En route, we passed by a station known as “Berrylands” and Uma started badgering me to take a photo of it… a symbol of my (aka “Boberry”) land. Bleh!




Around 1pm
Hooray! Approached Hampton Court station after a 40-min train ride. Loads of people alighted at this station and were heading the same way as us – to the Singapore Day event venue! As we walked from the station towards the Hampton Court Palace (home to Henry VIII), there was this cute ice cream van that we came across. I was soooooooooooooo tempted to buy an ice cream from that person in that van (very retro, don’t you think?) but the bitter cold held me back.



Before long, we’d made our way to the much anticipated Singapore Day. And viola! We were greeted by none other than the GREAT ERP sign that actually beeped every time a person walked underneath it. Cute. :P



The weather had turned for the better by then too!

Apart from witnessing the transformation of my companion from a bo chap fella to a super kiasu auntie (think multiple goodie bags and queuing up for free t-shirts), we had lots of fun picnicking and listening to local comedians Jack Neo and Mark Ng rattling away in Singlish. And not to mention mingling with other fellow Singaporeans in a foreign land too. For a very brief moment, a strong sense of patriotism welled up within me and I was almost tempted to burst out singing “This is home… surely… where my senses tell me…”

Cliché. But hey, I guessed the organizers did somewhat achieve their objective in stirring up such emotions in fellow Singaporeans who had been away from home too long and made them wanna rush back to the little red dot.

Okay… technically, I was only away from Singapore for less than 48hrs. But the baits still did me in – the cha kway teow, roti prata, fried hokkien mee & etc. Yummy by the thought. Why?

‘Coz I only had hokkien mee as the food served was free and all you got to do was to queue and get ready to be served. So you could imagine all our long-time-never-been-home Singaporeans, rolling up their sleeves and revealing their true nature to stand against adversity (in this case the chilling wind under the red hot sun and long queue) and stood in queue for at least 40 mins (per dish) for a taste of Singapore…and there were lots of them. And I, who was away from ‘home’ for less than 48hrs, decided to take it easy and chill with my ONE plate of hokkien mee.




4pm
Before we even realized it, we’d already spent more than 3 hrs at the event. And it would come to a closing in about an hour’s time. Wanting to avoid the congestion, we swiftly made our way out of the venue, past the gardens of the Hampton Court Palace (but not without taking some photos before we left) and back onto the train heading towards Waterloo.



To our surprise, the train was packed! And we had to stand throughout the entire 40-min journey. What’s worse was that the both of us had sunburn and we didn’t know it until we were on the train. Well, the weather was cooling but super sunny. But we thought it was okay until both of us were itching away and trying really hard not to scratch ourselves throughout the journey. Oh man… it was soooooo “painful”.

By the time we got back to Waterloo, we decided that it was best to head back to Uma’s and chill, before I get on my 8-hr train ride to Edinburgh, Scotland.


10.30pm
Had a wonderful dinner with Uma, Joe and Joe’s family at an Italian restaurant nearby before making a mad dash for Victoria Coach Station to catch my 11pm, National Express Coach (service 591) bound for Edinburgh.

Had booked the cheaper FUNFARE ticket online (a ticket tier in which you need to stick to the exact timings that you had booked for and exchange for any other coach services was not allowed) earlier in the day for £28.

What’s interesting was that you could either print out your ticket or have it sent to your mobile phone. I decided to play it safe by going to the local library, paid 20 pence to have it printed.

Now back to the story. Needless to say, I boarded the bus safely and there was an in-coach toilet which was pretty clean and I was relieved to know that I need not abstain from food/ water during my 8-hr ride. Phew!

And apparently it’s stated by law that you need to buckle up even in coaches over in England (and Scotland). And the drivers would not start the journey unless he had ascertained all passengers had buckled up.

To think that I once thought Singapore was the only country to demand buckling up in vehicles. Hmmmm…..


Day 2 – 26th April (Sun)

Around 5.30am
As it was summer when I made this trip, the sun started to rise as early as 5.30pm and sets as late as around 9pm.

These were some sunrise shots taken en route to Edinburgh.




7.50am
Finally reached Edinburgh bus station! Gave my legs a good stretch, packed my bags and off I went to scout around the city for a decent hostel to stay in. Mind you, I made no advanced booking prior to this trip so I had to walk in and try my luck when I reached on the day itself.

And these were the sights that greeted me after I wandered off from the bus station and concrete landscapes.



Ain’t it fascinating? Almost fairy-tale-like I must say. Just imagine having castle, gothic-like buildings and modern landscape alongside as you strolled down the bridge. Not to mention seagulls flying above your head and every once in a while, touched down onto the pavement near you. :)

OK. Enough of the fantasy-turned-reality talk.

The city was going through some major road works to welcome the new tram system in near future so it took me quite a while, and asked a few locals for directions as well, before I got to the number 1 hostel I had in my little travel notebook – St Christopher’s Edinburgh, 9-13 Market Street. It was situated just right above a pub named “Belushi’s” , located just opposite one of the Waverly Station exits, with the Scott Monument on its left.



To be honest, this hostel cost a wee more than the nearby hostels (which you could possibly get a bed in a 10-bed mixed dorm from £15 onwards per night during off-peak season). But as I was travelling alone, and being a girl, I decided it was safer to pay slightly more for a 4-bed female dorm and a more reputable hostel (which I did some online research and the comments were fairly good). In addition, there were only a handful of hostels in Edinburgh that offered female dorms as well. Thus, explained the higher cost.

In the end, I paid £22.50 for one night (subsequently I got a discount but I will touch on that much later).


8.40am
After unpacking some of my stuff and freshened up, my walk around the city began. I could either take the flight of stairs from the Fleshmarket Close or an even longer flight of stairs leading to Warriston’s Close, to get to High Street/ Royal Mile (the main street where most of the attractions were located). And my aim for today was to loiter around High Street/ Royal Mile and focus on that alone. All the attractions that you would read below could be found on that one street. :)



As it was still early and most shops had yet to open for the day, i decided to head towards the direction of the Edinburgh castle from Warriston’s Close (which was situated at High Street/ Royal Mile).

These were some of the shots taken along the way as I walked up the slope, towards the Edinburgh Castle.






9am
Aaah~ the Edinburgh Castle...



Unveiling the past...







And the present Edinburgh city view from the castle...



After exploring for just slightly over an hour, I decided to head back down to modern civilization.





As I walked down the slopes from the Edinburgh Castle, I came across Camera Obscura – a gallery that was well known for its world of illusions. But as I wasn’t really a fan of illusions, I gave the gallery a miss (but for those of you out there who are interested, you should pop by to take a look) and hit for its shop instead. I got myself a cool A2-sized, 3D “The Nightmare before Christmas” poster – which I gave myself no choice but to carry it with me throughout my entire trip and I still haven’t had a clue where to place it in my home yet. Hmmmm…

There were also a lot of shops selling kilts and kilt-patterned souvenirs as well. But if your earnings were anything but in British pounds, I would urge you to think twice about buying them. For instance, a kilt-patterned scarf could easily cost you between £10 and £30 – and those weren’t exactly of the best quality. And for a normal kilt for souvenir keepsake, it could easily cost you £60.

I was told by a local that the REAL kilt usually cost around a few hundred pounds and real kilts should outlast you and not the other way round. Thus, have a think and decide if you really want to waste some money on some low or mid-quality kilt products or go the extra mile to get the real thing. And oh! I was told only a handful of shops (usually those who offer tailor-made) were selling the real stuff. So if you do want to get the real thing, perhaps it would be best to ask around for some names and do some researches before making an impulse buy. Surely you don’t want to part with hundreds only to find out that you got the fake.

And if you remain undeterred by the above reasons, then look out for the signage or smaller shops in the closes (back lanes) just further down Edinburgh Castle on High Street. There were about two or 3 shops that claimed to be wholesalers and were selling about the same things for £2 to £10 lesser.


Around 1pm
Time to grab some lunch! Went “menu-browsing” and concluded that an average meal which consisted of perhaps fish and chips and a bottle of soft drink cost about £7.50 (approximately SGD 17). GASP!

In the end, I settled for this which cost me about £7. And just look at the size of the fish! It’s about the height of my sprite bottle. I was also kinda amused that there weren’t any plastic forks. Instead, little plastic picks were given out. So there I was, munching away on my Fish & chips with this tiny plastic pick :P



The fish was ok but the chips weren’t great. I missed McDonald’s fries…

After a long lunch (‘coz I was a slow eater and I was battling with the ‘gigantic’ meal) I went in search of the so-called “backpackers” travel agencies that specialized in organizing one-day, three-day or five-day highland or island tours around Scotland. I went to Haggies (because there were rave reviews of it online) but it was closed. Undeterred, I strolled up and down along High Street to see what else I could find and I came across this other travel agent instead.



Since I didn’t have any luck with Haggis and I really didn’t want to turn up the next morning at 8am with my heavy backpack to find out there’s no slots for me, I decided to walk-in and ask the person at the desk more about their tours. The lady who had attended to me was really nice and patient in bringing me through the various options. In the end, I decided on the Isle of Skye and the Highlands 3-day tour that cost £109 – excluding meals and accommodation.

I was given a receipt and was reminded to turn up at the doorsteps at 9am the next day. :)

As I entered back onto the street, there was this guy dressed in traditional kilt, playing skillfully on his bagpipe.



And on the other end of the street, a crowd began to gather to watch a street busker perform stunts.



I was pretty impressed with this busker – not because he was performing ground breaking stunts, but because he actually managed to gather the attention of many passer-bys, built a crowd and retained the attention of the audiences and performed with a lot of humor and charm. By the end of his performance, many were giving him £5 or more for his act. It made me realized that whilst many Singaporean buskers complained about lack of audience and appreciation towards their effort, the fault actually laid in the fact that the performance simply wasn’t good or interactive enough. If only you had seen how this guy pulled his act together, you would know exactly what I meant.

One other thing that took me by pleasant surprise was that, people actually do give way to shorter people so that the shorter ones can move in front and enjoy the show as well. By Asian standards, I’m considered average at 1.61m. But in Scotland, I was instantly turned into a dwarf of sorts. A few guys in front of me happened to turn around and saw me. Before I knew it, I was ushered gently to the front. Hmmm… how come Singaporean guys don’t behave as gentlemanly… *Sigh*.

Next – Mary King’s Close (Admission fee: £10)



Headed back to Warriston’s Close where the attraction was located. The only way to visit the “underground city” was to join in the tour. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be allowed to go in at all. Reason being, the abandoned underground city still acted as the foundation to the government offices above and the court. Therefore, they couldn’t risk having tourists wandering off on their on nor taking photos of the city.

And a tip for first-timers out there – go get the ticket before setting off to explore the rest of the city. Throughout the year, you could expect loads of people visiting this attraction. So do not expect to go on the tour the minute you step in. During the ticket purchase, the staff would ask if you were touring alone or with a few others before advising on the next best possible timing for your tour. I was lucky. The next tour was in about an hour’s time and there was one last slot left. But the couple before me had to wait for another two hours for their turn.

When it was time for me to explore the attraction, a guy dressed as a merchant from centuries ago greeted me (and the rest in the small tour group). He was our tour guide and he was to bring us down into his world which he had lived centuries ago. He reminded us to be careful of the uneven and dark steps underneath. Phew! Lucky I wore my sneakers.

It was an eye-opener to see and know such a word truly existed. Such were the facts and tales that I was told:

- Centuries ago, people living in Edinburgh needed to stay close within the city centre where the Royals lived, so that they could depend on them for protection from the outlaws and invasions from outside. Thus, people started building homes vertically (tall buildings) instead of horizontally (to span out to the mountains).

- But they couldn’t afford to build really high houses too as danger still lurked. The intention wasn’t to create an underground city either. And because of active trading, they built two to three stories in the ground and above two stories above the ground – so that businesses could still be conducted between each floor (mainly on the first two to three stories in ground). Over time, when the city died off, the ground floors were used as foundation to support the construction of the new city (the present Edinburgh city that we see) above.

- As the old city was built in the ground, there were no windows to the houses and each house would only have one door, leading out to the main street or closes that were equally dark. Like what our tour guide aka merchant from centuries told us, you could barely see your fingers even with a dimly lit lamp. And these ground floors were where the poor and underprivileged lived. The richer you were, the higher you stayed.

- For the poor, each house was probably about 30 square metres or less and was usually packed with about twelve people. They did almost everything in the same room – shitting, eating, rearing stocks, sleeping and etc. Since there were no windows, all the smoke from the peat burnt was trapped within the room.

- And it was also uncommon for a close or street to be named after a woman in those days. Thus, we could imagine the power and influence that Mary King had in those days to have a close named after her.

- The widest street was barely a metre long in width – just about shoulders’ width. So you could start to imagine how suffocating and unbearable it was if you were living in that city centuries ago, and not to mention if you were unlucky enough to be living in even smaller lanes.

- Since the city was constructed centuries ago, there wasn’t a proper sanitary system in place. But there would be two times in a day (once in the morning and once in the evening) in which all occupants (both rich and poor) would open their windows or door (whichever was applicable), shout out in Scottish “watch over your heads” at the same time and emptied their buckets of human waste onto the streets. Just imagine… melted Cadbury coming out from all floors and openings at the same time….hmmmm. Or you could imagine being the unlucky chap who happened to be in the city at that point in time to witness this “spectacular” scene over your head. Not very pleasant I would say. After the mass dump, all they could do was to wait for the next big rain to come and wash all the dirt and waste from the streets and into the nearby loch (river). If it didn’t come, the residents would have to bear with the stench till who knew when.

- Now to the loch. There was only one loch that people in Edinburgh could rely on during that time. But as you could imagine, the water was polluted beyond words. Apart from the mass dump that went into the loch, criminal executions were carried out there as well. When illnesses broke out, it was attributed to the dogs and cats and many were slaughtered at that loch too. Needless to say, the locals had no choice but to turn to beer to quench their thirst instead. It was said that there were content in beer that helped killed off germs and since then, these were said to be the many reasons why people in Edinburgh loved drinking beer so much.

- Plague broke and it was said that doctors were soon known as “a quack” because of the queer appearance of a particular doctor who had saved the plague victims during then. His theory was that plague occurred because people were inhaling bad smells (from the waste and the peat burnt). And if bad smells had caused it, certainly fragrance would help cure it. So he started wearing a leather beak (which gave rise to the name “quack” because it resembled a bird’s beak) whilst covered in leather coats and jackets when he was visiting and saving the victims. In the beak, he stuffed lots of flowers and spices to keep him safe from the bad smells. What he didn’t know was that the plague had spread particularly due to the spread of fleas as well. And as he was covered in leather, the fleas couldn’t bite through the layers to get to him. For some reason, he managed to save and cure the victims and it was later lamented that he did the right thing but for the wrong reasons.

As we travelled from one room to another, our tour guide shared with us interesting tales from the past. And there was one bit that scared me and kinda created a light moment for the tour.

We were in this tiny dark room when suddenly, this girl dressed in costume from centuries ago emerged from nowhere and let out a shrill scream, dashed past me, and on towards our tour guide who was standing at the other end of the room. I jumped and yelped. So did a few others. But we soon broke into laughter at the same time ‘coz the guys in our group were amused by us and the rest of the girls and elderly soon realized it was just an act as well. It was especially funny because this other lady who was standing beside the tour guide literally screamed and reached out to pull his arm when it happened. Both our tour guide and the girl who scared us were almost laughing with tears in their eyes whilst saying that it was the best reaction that they had got for the day. Hahaha…

After that we got out of that room and into another even tinier room, which was rumored to be haunted with little Annie, who was left behind and died centuries ago when the plague broke. I was feeling the creeps when my tini fear turned to slight embarrassment when this guy beside me asked jokingly if I was the one who had screamed earlier. My reply? I probably was one of those who had yelped earlier. Sheeshhhh….

Next up - 3D Loch Ness Experience (Admission fee: £5.95)



Don’t be fooled by its name and get your expectations up too high, especially for Nessie fanatics like me. This discovery centre was very small with only one small corner to shop for Loch Ness monster aka Nessie-related souvenirs and a small screening room. There weren’t any exhibits to speak of. What you could expect to see here was a very short 3D film (probably about 15 mins or so) that documented interview excerpts of people who first spotted Nessie and reasons why nobody, including scientists, could uncover the mystery of Nessie to date.

Pop by if you have the time. Otherwise do your own reading online.

Next up – St Gile’s Cathedral



Based on its official website’s descriptions, St Gile’s Cathedral was also “known as the High Kirk of Edinburgh, it is the Mother Church of Presbyterianism and contains the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle (Scotland's chivalric company of knights headed by the Queen).”

“There is record of a parish church in Edinburgh by the year 854, served by a vicar from a monastic house, probably in England. It is possible that the first church, a modest affair, was in use for several centuries before it was formally dedicated by the bishop of St Andrews on 6 October 1243. The parish church of Edinburgh was subsequently reconsecrated and named in honour of the patron saint of the town, St Giles, whose feast day is celebrated on 1 September.”

It really was a beautiful building and its interior fascinating...




Around 7pm
The sun was still shining bright. After a whole day of walking, it was time to retire back to the hostel. After pondering for some time on whether I should venture out again to grab myself some dinner, I decided my aching legs deserved some decent rest. Thus I freshened up and headed down to the pub below to order some stuff to fuel me up.

It was strange how Jessie and I met. Strange but pleasant.

When I was down at the pub, all seats were full except those single seats near the counter. And there was an Asian girl sitting there alone. I thought to myself that “Hey, perhaps she was travelling alone too and we could be acquaintances or friends”.

So I plucked up some courage and asked her, “Excuse me. Is this seat taken?”

“Yes. My friend’s coming down.”

Oops. So I shifted my butt two seats away from her. We then moved towards the counter almost at the same time to order. She sounded like she had a cold as she asked for her cup of hot lemon tea and a basket of wedges. After her order was taken, I placed mine.

And back to my seat, two places away from her.

I was just looking through the photos I had taken for the day on my camera when she suddenly popped, “Actually, my friend’s not coming. You can take this seat.” And she pointed to the empty seat beside her.

So I shifted my butt once again. We started talking about what was there to see in Edinburgh and I even ran up to my room to grab the brochures I had collected earlier in the day to share with her.

Before we knew it, we were happily chatting away – like she was traveling with a friend initially from Paris but she came to Edinburgh alone and etc. And that she was actually staying in the room next to mine! And so we chatted on and on, until the pub was about to close (which was about 3 hrs later). :)

Before we went back to our respective rooms, we asked the staff to take a photo and exchanged email addresses. Too bad this turned out shaky :P



Alas, when I was just about to hit the pillows, there was a knock on my door. The shower in Jessie’s room had gone bonkers and she had to come into my room (which I happened to be alone as my other bunk mates weren’t back yet) to take a shower.

After she was done with it, we bade each other goodnight and went to bed… separately. Hahaha.