Free weekends...only for this week!

Gonna spend this weekend studying and resting after the sickness episode...

Had a really cultural enriching night yesterday after I went to the Celtic (pronounced with a K) Society's jamming session at a bar near city centre.

We followed my flatmate Isaac to the place on a whim and found this group of 10+ people squeezed in this small room in a bar. One by one everyone took a lead in playing or singing a song. The musical instruments that I saw in the room include guitar, harmonica, violin, viola (slightly bigger than violin but lower in pitch), bagpipe, recorder, accordion. Everyone seems so confident of their playing skills and could just pick up and follow the lead in accompaniment of the music piece. Definitely an experience hard to come by in Singapore where at most I see people jamming in a room. Over here we get to perform in a cosy setting with beer as well! Awesome!

I decided to cook tonight my favourite dish. Luncheon meat and potatoes in tomato sauce!!! Ma pride and joy!!!

Ski and whiSki

Had a little food poisoning scare yesterday after eating some bad soft boil eggs. x.x
Had to spent the entire day and night tuck in bed willing myself to recover asap and it worked!
Though I thought alot of my mom and home and how she would sayang me whenever I fell sick T_T.

Managed to rustle enough strength to travel to the Aberdeen Snowsports Centre the next day for my first ever skiing class!!! and Oh boy the weather conditions were terrible with this snow like rain and crazy wind! I learnt that my windbreaker wasn't waterproof but it was still great fun!!!

Our Skis! no poles yet!

Edwin going down the slope!

And back up again for another round!

Although it was a small beginner slope, it was great for learning the basics and we had a good teacher Eloise from the ABDN SNOW club from where we had a discounted price! One hour a week for 6 weeks for 36pounds. Cheap compared to going to the mountain to learn! We are intending to learn a bit first before going there haha.

After a hot shower after the ski lesson, we had a small dinner by my flatmate who made some veg stew and then went for our first malt whisky tasting! Apparently the malt whisky society was voted the best society last year. WOW!

For 4pounds (non-member price), we get to try 4 drams (25ml) of different types whisky but i donated some to Edwin so that my stomach wun complain too much

We could take these nice glasses home for 4 pounds! but we didn't haha

More whisky?

Tomorrow's valentine's day! so probably just gonna continue my bromance with Edwin planning for our next journey haha!

XOXO
Roy Coo (that's how the people at the ski centre spell my name LOL)

Edinburgh: Capital City of Scotland

IT IS CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!

Its my first time celebrating away from my family. Luckily I have no lack of activities to do so in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

On friday which was 2 days before cny, all the singaporeans and malaysians in Aberdeen and some other friends were invited to the Manchurian which was an authentic chinese restaurant for cny dinner. We had Lao Yusheng (brought in by the singapore society ppl:) and lots of yummy chinese food. 

Lao Yusheng! Yum!

The next day (Saturday) in the early morning, we (me Edwin and some of the SingSoc Ppl) walked (Yes walk) to the train station and embark on our trip to Edinburgh: the capital of Scotland.

Our purpose there was to join the Singapore Food Fest organised by the Edinburgh Singapore Society. At 7pound only, we got to eat a portion each of Chicken Rice, Chee Kueh, Tau Huay, Hoon Kueh, Popiah, Muah Chee, Kaya Toast, Laksa and drink some Milo. All were made by the Singaporean Students over there, so that was really impressive! The event had about estimated 400 ppl attending in 2 sessions and has been a tradition every year in Edinburgh! Wow!

Laksa!!!

Tauhuay that can fight with Laoban!

More Food at the Singapore Food Fest!

Anyway me and Edwin decided to stay one more day in Edinburgh so as to explore more of the city as one day wasn't enough (Of Course not enough!) Hence we went to book a bed in a 20 bed bunk dorm at the Caledonian Backpackers for 15 pound. Ha talk about being spontaneous after finding out that our ticket was open return!

We also booked for the night after the food fest a 'ghost' tour at The Real Mary King Close which was described as one of the better ones of the many ghost tour in Edinburgh. Edinburgh is supposedly one of the most haunted cities ever as many criminals were executed during the medieval times. 

Well the tour guide roleplayed as a maid from 500 years ago and brought us into the underground of Mary King's Close which was a real place that was used for living and working purposes in the past and has now been built over. She told us some of the stories of the incidents that happened like the plagued and murders. Haha I guessed as an Asian we have been accustomed to greater scares than some spooky telling of stories. I was constantly on the guard waiting for something to jump up to scare me but atlast none did. It was nonetheless an interesting tour to see what the old Edinburgh was like.

Then.....Happy Chinese New Year! What a drastic change in mood haha!!!!

The next morning at 6am we rose early and left for Arthur's Seat. The highest peak in Edinburgh I think at 250m (about bukit timah hill's height) we had a nice panoramic view of the city. Initially we wanted to get there for the sunrise but it was too cloudy :( It was really exhilarating (and windy) when I reached the top and saw the amazing scenery. Despite feeling cold, I felt really accomplished to reach the top of the world (in Edinburgh).

Early in the morning at 7am

Lonesome figure (me!) at the top of one of the hills.

Where King Arthur sat....or so they say 

Great view of Edinburgh!

Back at the bottom of Arthur's Seat! Can't believe we climbed so much in the early morning!

Then we went back to check out and then to join the Free Walking Tour by the same company in London. We walked for 3 hours around Edinburgh and heard more stories about how the buildings are built on a hill and can have 5 stories on one side and 12 stories on the other (kinda like NUS), stories about philosophers like David Hume, literary greats like Sir Walter Scott and  Robert Burns, as well as stories about the monarchy, freedom fighters, criminals, etc. It was a good tour and this time we tip her haha (even though it was 3 pound only for both of us!)

Edinburgh Castle! Too expensive to go in!

The guy in the centre looks like Jeremy Renner!!!

Walking around the Royal Mile from the Edinburgh Castle! Tourists everywhere!!!

Statue of David Hume. Do you see his right big toe? Its a good luck charm apparently and people rub it all the time!!!

The story of  the loyal Greyfriar Bobby who guarded his master's grave after he died.

After that we had a nice lunch of haggis with neeps and tatties and Fish & Chips.

Haggis!! with neeps and tatties!!!

<3 

We coincidentally saw Zhexi who came over from Dublin to visit Scotland during the weekend. Haha apparently my Singlish alerted them to our presence.

Before we went back to the train station we spent the remaining of our time finding Thomas Riddell's grave ( who inspired He-who-must-not-be-named real name) and exploring the huge and excellent National Museum of Scotland.

You Know Who!!!

Even the journey back was eventful as the train was overcrowded and we were standing initially before we found some seats and had to alight midway to change to a replacement bus as the track was undergoing some engineering work (DUN BLAME MY PROFESSION LOL)

We had shared some kebab near union street before sharing a cab with some strangers who lived in Hillhead also to get back home.(cheaper than bus!)

What an eventful weekend! :D

My first video!!!!!

Always wanted to try to make a nice video like what my very awesome and lovely friend Amanda Moey always do when she travel overseas!

My first video ever! Virgin effort! Let me know how I can improve haha!

Geography and bicycle!

Sometimes I wonder how do these huge caucasians grew to be so big despite eating only so little at dinner? I have seen them just eating a sandwich or a small bowl of pasta while me and edwin spent like an hour cooking and eating. LOL

Anyway had my first lesson at Petroleum Geology and Reservoir Characterization lesson today and it was the most fun lesson I ever had! We went out of class within the first half hour to visualize the immense scale of drilling by using a string to represent the drill string and how far and wide the range that the oil/gas reservoir can be and the difficulties geologist face in placing specifics in their findings. While it was HAILING! We looked at rocks (quite fun compared to just listening to the lecturer droning away like in Engineering) and there are gonna be 2 field trips! YAY!

Testing the porosity of the rocks by putting a drip of water on it!

Anyway after that, I went to this BECYCLE (Bicycle and Recycle get it?) place in school and got a BIKE! For Free!!!!! Well I had to pay a 40 pound deposit that I will get back when I returned it and also had to spent like a few hours oiling the chain to make it work again AND ride back to my place in the cold rain. (my fingers were so frozen x___x) But now i have a bicycle of my own for the next 6 months!!!!

In my toilet haha!

Well thats all folks! for now....

Laundry, Holiday Plans, Study

Laundry is freaking expensive over here at 2 pounds per wash and 1 pound to dry (3 times more than tembusu!) I guess im just gonna use them once in a while and handwash more often!


Have been making lots of holiday plans on Sunday for the Easter trip and weekend trips! There's so much to do to plan trips, accomodation, travel, booking of tours, weather, route, sightseeing destinations, etc. and I still have to study LOL

Finally cooked something decent tonight haha. Potato, carrot, tomato, onion and chicken soup with fried rice! First time dared to post some photos haha :P normally its like just hurry up and gobble it down before its cold.

My flatmates always amaze at how these 2 asians always eat so much. How did they grow so big anyway by eating so little?

EGGGGs!!!! everyday eat!

The first meal we dared to post hhaaha!

Decided to tie my room key around my neck so that I will never get locked out again!

In the middle of the night at 3am, I was locked out of my room again when I went to drink some water. Decided to test the security of my room by attempting to break in.....and it was a success! Which is a good and bad thing coz I got back in and also it proved my room wasn't secured enough. At least I was the one who broke in not someone else haha....kk gotta go for class!

Beach, Thai food and Stonehaven

After class on Friday, I had some extra time on my own as Edwin had another class, so I went wandering about Seaton Park which is quite big apparently and normally we just cut through it to reach our school. Apparently Seaton Park has this story which I just found out. Its about the Seaton Park Rapist(s) (who likes girls....and boys!) Once upon a time there were a group of drunk friends who were walking along Seaton Park at night. They decided to tie one of their friends at the tree. The next morning they found him there naked and shouting for help. Well I guess you all know what happened X_X

There is a path that follows the River Don just beside my hall of residences and it leads to the beach! Took me an hour to walk all the way there though haha....luckily its so cold over there so I hardly broke a sweat.

Utilizing my camwhoring abilities!

So many shoes on the tree!

Rainbow by the beach!

The beach board walk that leads all the way to the city centre

Seems like these seagulls have nested here!

Afterwards we went to union street for dinner with the Singapore Society people again at this Thai Restaurant. Recall that I just went to Bangkok where the food was SUPER CHEAP. Well we spent 20 pounds here for this meal which was good but really expensive! Took a couple of photos but forgot to take the rest after I started eating :P

Union Street at night!

Clockwise from bottom left: fried chicken, tomyum, king prawn (which was tiny but gd) and phad thai

The next day which is today, we went to a nearby town, STONEHAVEN by train! (It was just one stop!)

Stonehaven is famous for being the birthplace of fried mars bars, and Dunnottar Castle. The coastal walk was amazing but was actually closed due to some fear of landslide because of the weather. BUT it was quite sunny that day after a little snow the previous night and this morning, so like many fellow tourist we just climbed over the fences and went ahead. And wow what a view it was!

At Dunnottar Castle we met up with some fellow NUS exchange students from Glasgow who was there for a school organized trip and then saw them back in Aberdeen again!

Unfortunately, we didn't get to eat the fried mars bar as we wanted to hitch a ride from an Indian couple we met at the castle back to the train station at stonehaven but they misunderstood it for the city centre at Aberdeen. Oh wells we got to travel for the first time in Aberdeen by car! (and also prevent ourselves from gaining unwanted calories)

Damn sinful!

The boats at the harbour were all marooned due to the low tide!

The city of Stonehaven! (What is edwin trying to do?)

Reach out for the sky~

Dunnottar Castle!

With our fellow NUS engineering friends from glasgow!

Camwhoring skills again!

f***ing beautiful!

Well tomorrow will be Laundry day plus notes reading day, so probably gonna take a short break from blogging! Looking forward to more adventures next week!