Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Glasgow and ICE!!!

These are some pictures I took in Glasgow:


Outside the Queen rail station in Glasgow...


The main shopping street of Glasgow... Buchanan street...

Now, I am back in school. And the weather is unbelievable. It's ice-cold outside. The dew on the grass has frozen into ice. I am basically shivering all the way to the classrooms and back... Aaaargh... hate it. I think the temperature is around 0 deg celsius now... and guess what!!! It's not even November. If this trend continues, I am pretty sure there will be snow in December. YAY and BOO... Yay to the snow... Boo to the cold...

Friday, October 24, 2008

Day out at Buckingham

Two more pictures I took (or rather my mum took of me while we were at Buckingham Palace, the residence of the Queen...)


Buckingham Palace...






The guards...

We went to witness the changing of guards at the Buckingham Palace. But unfortunately, we stood at a disadvantaged location and we couldn't see much. It was also raining at that time, but luckily it stopped halfway through the procession...

My London trip...

The weird thing is:
No matter how hard I tried, I could only upload TWO pictures per post... WTH!!!

Me, in front of the London Eye



Me, in front of the famed double-decker bus of London...

You could almost always see the monotonous me in the pictures. Needless to say, I lack facial expressions... On the way to Glasgow now... hehe... got free Internet connection onboard.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Photo 3

Half-term也快结束了,大概再5天吧。趁我人还在伦敦时,赶紧多上载一些图片:

男生宿舍;左为Ruthven;右为Nicol

Ruthven的出入口

Ruthven万岁!!!哈哈,我的house是最好的 =p

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Still Stranded in London...

Ok... Now I will alternate between using English and Chinese in my blog. One of the reasons for this is because now that I am taking A-Level Chinese, I will need to practice my writing skills a lot, and my blog is a good place to do so... For those of my friends who can't read Chinese... really sorry, maybe you can find a translator or go learn some... It's not hard actually, just a couple of strokes to make up a single character. =p


Another hectic day again. Went all the way to Barnet (1 hour by train from London city centre) to visit Uncle Michael and Aunt Anna. Had a pub lunch... huge portion of food and drank a bit of shandy (the shandy here is the real deal, unlike the canned one I have drunk in Brunei... it's more concentrated and really heats me up!) And then the long trip back to the hotel and then to Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, London Eye, House of Parliament... Done quite a lot of sightseeing this afternoon and my legs are exhausted. It sure feels good to be lying on my bed now...

And TOMORROW!!!

It's MUSEUM DAY... So which of the following should I go?:
1. London Science Museum
2. National Science Museum
3. London Aquarium
4. National Art Gallery
5. Madam Tussaud's
Most importantly, it's FREE admission!!! (except for Madam Tussaud's...) Or more precisely, it's sponsored by the tax-payers. It's SO nice of them... although I know some of them prefer to be mean...... but what to do???

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Cool Book...

..好累哦!早上得陪贵宾吃顿饭,因此浪费了一整个早晨。下午就一直逛呀逛、逛呀逛,从Totenham Court Road逛到Marble Arch,费时4个小时,花费大约GBP 100。那是3个地铁站的距离。酷吧?哈哈。

整晚几乎都没事干,所以就在Borders读了整晚的书,不要误会,我并不是开夜车赶功课什么的,只是到了一家不错的书店进行自我充实。其实也没什么大不了,看了一本历史书,蛮精彩的,是写关于郑和下西洋,和中国对于航海界的贡献。这本书反驳了考古学家的推理,说哥伦布其实是依照郑和所画的地图而“发现”了新大陆,而郑和所带领的那一班宝船还环游了全世界,包括欧洲、北南美洲、北极、俄国北部等等。虽然很不可思议,但确实有这个可能性,因为那本书里也提出很多强而有力的证据。那本书就是:

Gavin Menzies -
1434: How China Affects the Italian Renaissance

但在那只前,我建议你读读这本:

Gavin Menzies -
1421 - The Year China Discovers the World

更酷的是,那个作者还设立了一个网页专门让读者提出感言和意见。如果你认为他提供的证据不够完整,随时都可以放上去,让读者互相讨论一下。其实还蛮好玩的。哈哈!

我好期待去Glasgow的那一天哦... ...


国宏 上
PS:好睏!

Friday, October 17, 2008

LONDON!!!

YAY!

After 6.5 hours of backache and unease, here I am, in the cool breeze of London. Forced to stay in Brunei Hall because there's no other "money-friendly" accomodation around. It was 4-in-a-room last night, and tonight it's 5-in-a-room. Fortunately for me, the room is rather big, at least I don't feel that crowded here. And the shower here is scary... the handle is charged!!! Well... This morning I was standing in the shower cubicle and I want to turn the tap on, and I feel my hand go numb. The water did flow... but my hand just has that kind of weird feeling. At first, I have no idea what it is... but after "thorough investigation" by touching repeatedly (kind of stupid actually...) and "intense thinking", I figured out that the handle is charged... well... or more precisely... slightly charged... Enough to cause numbness but no casualties to-date (as far as I have known...). It would be ugly to get electricuted when showering...

Went to Chinatown, Picadilly Circus and Oxford Street with David and Peng today. David told me yesterday he will belanja the lunch today and I end up as the one paying... But he made it up to me by belanja-ing me dinner. Ate my char-siew rice as lunch and fried kuay tiew as dinner... OOOO... I miss those food... And the shop I went to eat my dinner even sell Nasi Lemak at a staggering GBP 6.50... WTH!! That gives around $18... How can a nasi lemak be so expensive... and roti canai costs more that GBP 2... Apakan?!

After Peng left us, we continue to wander to South Kensington... Nothing much there actually, but because David wants to go back to his previous school... so.. yea. Just a small and rather quiet neighbourhood.. but lots of restaurant, and of course, food. The two of us were like idiots going about the street asking every shop we can find about AAAA batteries for his bluetooth earphone. Mind you, not AAA but AAAA. After the survey:
50% says no stock
40% says never heard of those
10% says go to the shop next door.
And yea... after 2 hours combing the street... we returned empty-handed. So pity David... he will no longer be able to use his bluetooth earphone after his current battery runs out. One of the shopkeeper even went to the extent of calling up the supplier but even the supplier has no stock in hand pasal inda laku...

and TOMORROW!!!

Tomorrow there's a big event... having tea with Pehin... Yea... he's in London and he went to Strath. And my parents coming TOMORROW... along with my Kang Shi Fu noodles!!! Aaaahh... I can't wait for tomorrow...

By,
Kuo Hong
Stranded in a Strange Metropolis
London...

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Photo 2

And the continuation...:

Our common room.



Common room... yup... table tennis, and pool table.

Photo

Ahh... Finally I can upload pictures of the school... But it's going really slowly and I only managed to upload these. More to follow...


The entrance to the main building...



My room... Small but comfy

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

1/2 term

YAY!!! 2 more days to half-term. 10 days holidays!!! Going to LONDON... And hopefully I can upload pictures with the Internet connection there.

Nothing more to talk about these days. Still the usual thing, and the weather is getting really unpredictable. Last few days were extremely comfortably cool, but today is chilly and icy. Got my form order too... All A's... nothing special... the usual thing.... Esseh....

Hoping to see GLASGOW too. Staying one night before coming back to school.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Updates...

送走了9月,迎来了寒冷的10月。

寒冷?没错,就是寒冷!

一个月就这样过了,天气也渐渐转凉了。每天几乎都一样,上课、吃饭、运动、看戏、听歌、睡觉等等... 今天是星期天,下午可以去Perth闲逛,“觅食”。学校的食物我几乎都吃腻了,想要一些新花样就得去Perth或是half-term时去伦敦。麦当劳和汉堡王在Perth更本就找不着,所以我好期待去伦敦哦。除此之外,苏格兰的天气好恐怖,冬天来临之际,冷得要命,特别是早上~发抖~。

Yay! 10月16日就开始放假了。当天的House Music之后就搭火车往伦敦。大约晚上8点抵达。希望Brunei Hall有空的床位。这样一来就可以省很多不必要的开销。饮食方面难免要花费很多,但这也是无法避免的,因为人总是要吃,而伦敦的食物是出了名的贵!

在回Strathallan之前先在Glasgow住一晚吧。这样一来可以养精蓄锐,二来可以看看Glasgow的名胜地。26日晚上9点之前所有住校生必须到校,然后又要待上足足一个半月才会到圣诞假期。圣诞假期时不准回国,所以可能就在曼城(Manchester)租一间房子,以逃离苏格兰的寒风。

就这样。Cheers!

Translation:
September has left. Welcome to the chilly month of October.

Chilly? Yup, chilly!

Like a breeze, a month has gone by, and the weather has become more unbearably cold as winter approaches. Still sticking to the usual schedule every day: lessons, food, sports, movie, mp3, sleep and so on... Today is Sunday, and I can go to Perth this afternoon to loiter around, and “forage” for food. I’m kind of fed up of the food in the cafeteria, so for more varieties, I have to go to Perth, or even better London during the half-term. There’s no McDonald’s or Burger King in Perth, so I’m so looking forward to go to London. Apart from that, the weather is Scotland is scary, especially early in the morning, it’s cold like hell.

Yay! Our half-term starts October 16. Will leave by train to London after the house music on that day, arriving maybe around 8pm. Hopefully there’s a vacant room or bed in Brunei Hall, so I can save a lot on accomodation. Expenditure on food is expected to be high, and it’s quite inevitable because all of us have to eat, and the food in London is famous for its pricing.

Before returning to Strathallan, I am going to stay one night in Glasgow so that I could rest and explore Glasgow. All boarders have to be in the school by 9pm of 26th October, and then there goes another one and a half month before the next holiday... X’mas! But as the policies of Mindef go, all of the scholars are not allowed to return to Brunei except during summer holidays, so I may be renting a house with my friends in Manchester for the X’mas. No way I am going to stay in Scotland. It’s too damn cold...

Cheers!