Cambridge: The Punting Experience

What do you see while punting? Buildings (some may prefer calling it architecture) and lots of bridges! I have arranged the pictures according to their nature ie buildings first and then bridges. Despite the vast amount of architecture and bridges, what I have compiled here is only 60% of what I've seen. It is best to check it out yourself!

Punting along River Cam in a not-so-sunny day

Trinity Hall: the first building I saw when we boarded from the Orgasmic bridge (it is known as such due to the steepness of the bridge with a "pleasurable" slide down)

King's College with the college chapel on the left

One of the old residential buildings

It is said that the curtains imitate leaves and the long-horizontal-ladder-like-thing on top of it are the branches. I say, it looks like a hospital, sorry.

Wren Library in Trinity College: Prince Charles studied here but his bodyguard, who followed him to every class, got better results than he did. Mind you, his bodyguard was not enrolled in the course. Oh, the original manuscript of Winnie-the-Pooh is kept here! :D

The famous St John's College. I was told that the building is symmetrical except for a few minor differences. It's very Harry-Potter-like.

I came here later on to take a self portrait with the best view of the court below. Perfect place to chill, quiet and serene.

Harry Potter flew past this building when he mounted his broom!

Clare Bridge: Lady of Clare, widow of 3 wealthy husbands, used her fortune to endow Clare College in 1338. One of the balls on the bridge has a missing wedge. It is said that the builder was not fully paid and, out of spite, removed the portion to even out the balance.

Mathematical Bridge: this is a reconstruction of the original one, which was said to be built without the using nails (reminds me of the Seri Menanti Royal Museum from home, which was a palace built without nails or screws.) The bridge's design is based on tangent and radial principles. On the left is President's Lodge: oldest building on the river in Cambridge.

Silver Street Bridge

Bridge of Sighs: Students of St John collect their exam results using this bridge and it is said that's how the bridge got its name :s It is, however, my favourite bridge.

Magdalene (pronounced as "mod-lin") Bridge / Great Bridge / Cam Bridge

Restaurants along River Cam

"Parking lot" for punts

I was told that if you unintentionally fall into the river while punting (it's got to be an accident), you'll get a first class honest. So what are you waiting for? Quick, go to Cambridge and start punting!

Cambridge: King's College

As you may have known, I went to Cambridge to attend WQ's graduation (congrats again!) in June. WQ has been (and will still be) a close friend and I was so very excited to be invited for her graduation. Not only I'm finally seeing a longtime friend, it was the first graduation ceremony I've ever attended and boy, it's Cambridge's graduation ceremony!

Being the big camwhore, I've accumulated too many pictures taken in Cambridge. After being there, I finally understood why tourist from all around the world swamp into the world famous city and why parents pay so much to send their kids to be educated there. It's just too beautiful a place to be missed. Being there made me feel like studying again. Anyways, back to the pictures, I've decided to split the Cambridge posts into various sections so that I can be lazy for now for the ease of reading. (It was a rainy day in Cambridge so excuse the pictures for gloomy skies).

First, we start with King's College (and no, it's not related to the one in London). It is one of the must-see colleges in Cambridge. Situated along the river and smacked in the middle of the town, King's College attract groups of tourists just taking pictures of the entrance.

Gothic style entrance to King's College, Cambridge

As you can see from the picture above, there are plenty of bicycles parked along the entrance to King's. Cycling is the most common method of transport for students in Cambridge. As a matter of fact, it's the commonest form of transport for students period.

The first building you see when you enter King's College

There's actually a statue right in the middle of the court but building on the right was under construction and the picture with the statue has its scaffoldings in it. So I've decided to crop it out and give you an excuse to go to Cambridge and see it for yourself. :D

The entrance from the inside

Heading to the deeper court towards the chapel and the river

King's College chapel on the left. It was said that some crazy adventurous students climbed to the very top of it and left some souvenirs on top. Eventually they were taken down.

I just had to put this picture up because this is the exact road that leads to WQ's blog theme. I've always been curious where it was and now I know :)

Heading down from the chapel, you'll see a bridge across the river. Yes, punting!! (next post on punting coming up)

The last picture for now: the road in front of King's College. I wished I had a cup of hot chocolate in one of these coffee shops. Do you know students receive supervisions (small group sessions) from lecturers in some of the rooms on top of these shops?

Birmingham

I went to Birmingham for a shopping expedition with friends. Birmingham is famous for the Bullring shopping centre. Blimey, even the train station we arrived at was situated just below the mall! You have no idea how excited I was when I saw this:

Civilisation! XD

Retail shops in England cities are mainly individual shops along the brick pedestrian streets instead of being packed in a mall. In London, most people shop at Piccadilly Street, Oxford Street or Regent Street. Of course, there's always Harrods but generally it's mainly the streets. It looks really nice in pictures and seeing these names shining brightly along the street is exciting (plus the summer sale!). But the disadvantage is that chairs and toilets are not as easily accessible as in a shopping mall. I had to look for Starbucks or McDs all the time! :/

Doing the touristy stuff: picture taken with the bull in front of Bullring Shopping Centre

The landmark Selfridges building (I admit not knowing anything about architecture, I just think this design looks extremely weird. Easily mistaken as a science centre instead.)

After 40 minutes of trying out more than 10 dresses in FCUK, I finally bought my pick. We then headed out from the Bullring shopping centre towards the city centre. Birmingham was rather windy (well generally speaking, England is windy).

Heading down to town. Behind me was St Martin's, it's right beside Bullring (or should I say it's actually on the outdoor grounds of Bullring? It's quite convenient to go for a confession if you "accidentally" splurged too much.)

St Martin's church. I went in for a peek, it's free anyway.

Inside St Martin. (I edited this photo, it's not as bright inside)

We went further down to a market

Double yolk especially for the yolk lovers, mind the cholesterol.

Very cheap for a big box of cherries :q We bought a box, split 3 portions and each of us still had more than enough to enjoy. The only problem is that some of it are overripe. But it's sweet~

On the left, there's an indoor wet market

Shuv's bf, Sek Hao, lead the way towards the indoor market. He was searching for fresh whelks and I was very curious to find out what it was. I was told that the whelks sold in the market here are comparatively cheaper.

Trying out the whelks

An array of fresh seafood

Oysters too!

Chewy yummy whelks eaten with vinegar and pepper

Eating whelks is like eating escargot. More chewy. It's quite nice. Taste like clams but sweeter (in a seafood kind of way). I was very tempted to buy the others and try but my stingy self stopped me. We went on our journey to the city centre.

Birmingham council house

This is a nice place for camwhoring (I'm not displaying them because this is not a photo album). It's situated at the end of the rows of shops in town. There's a beautiful library adjacent to it but I didn't go in. The city centre feels very much like London but less cars. I personally think that the major cities in England are similar in terms of shops and restaurants.

We went for some chinese food in Cafesoya. It's roughly a 15 minutes walk away from Bullring.

Interior setting looks like a restaurant back home

Soya milk

Coconut and soya milk. I highly recommend this drink. It's heavenly! I didn't expect these combinations to turn out so delicious. It's thick and fragrant.

Roast duck rice

Papaya salad vermicelli. This is very yummy. Generous servings of papayas. Large portion mind you.

Tomyam soup

Beef stew soup noodles. Beef is well marinated and juicy.

I had an enjoyable Birmingham shopping experience though I had some difficulty parting with the money. If you're here to visit, do try the food in Cafesoya. Definitely thumbs up! I can't say much about what else to see here in Birmingham because I didn't do the touristy stuff. Shopping was more fun. Heh!

BBQ @ Castle de Coombs

I've got tons of backdated posts to update, this is one of them. This took place last month when we decided to have a barbecue session at Chris' place in Loughborough. It wasn't the best day for a barbecue (the weather forecast said possible rain) but that was the only time we could make it for everyone. So, early in the morning, Nush, Shuv and I took the train to Loughborough.

Deciphering the crossword puzzle on the way

The typical England countryside view

Mariyam and Chris picked us up from the train station and we went shopping for food at Tesco's. It was a big Tesco, unlike the Tesco Metro in Nottingham. We then headed to Chris' home, which is near where I will be staying for the next 3 months.

See the white board leaning on the wall? The Wii and Guitar Hero!!! That's the real reason why we were there. (only joking Chris, we came for food you!)

The barbecue set ready to be utilised

Looks like good weather to me

The charcoal packet: I think it's a brilliant idea to burn the package with the charcoal. I remember the last time I had barbecue with the guys from ATC. It took ages just to get the fire going. This makes things so much easier.

Easy peasy

Small pieces of burning charcoal will fall under the tray once the paper bag turns into ashes

England residential area: look ma, no fences!

Barbecuing is hardwork

Digwig!! Amazing~

We helped preparing the food and messing up the kitchen (hehe)

Mariyam from Leicester (an update on my visit to Leicester coming soon!)

Nush from Mauritius

chicken, vege and corn

We had lamb too but we cheated because we decided to use the grill instead :p Hey, the food was great okay~ After food, we had some great Guitar Hero and Wii sessions. Woots!

The engaged couple: Estelle and Chris. They were good at the game!

Shuv looked so pro wei~

We each had our turns

Picture of the day: awwww... Digwig!!!!! xxx