I'VE BEEN TO PLATFORM 9 3/4!!!
Platform 9 3/4. It is a crime for a Harry Potter fan to not visit it when in London. Just in case you have never of platform 9 3/4, it a platform in King's Cross where the Hogwarts Express leaves for Hogwarts. Just in case you have never heard of Hogwarts, it is the school which Harry Potter goes to. And if you really had never ever heard of Harry Potter...........well, it is just too bad then... =P
I was over in the UK over the weekend for Nottingham Game which is an annual sports event organised by the Malaysian students studying all over UK. So each year, thousands of Malaysian students will be gathered there. It was such a big event that some minister for sports came and TV3!!! Haha. I know its for UK students but five of us here in Cork decided to 'sibuk' as well. It was a rather last-minute decision but we made it anyway. Did all our bookings and plans with friends there just two weeks ago. I was really excited about the trip because i wanted to meet up with some old friends really badly.
So on Friday, we flew from Cork to Liverpool (other airports nearer to Nottingham were expensive) on Ryanair. From Liverpool, we took a coach to Nottingham. And thus begins the extremely tiring journey with three nights of barely any sleep. First, the only option left for us was a 7-hour-long coach with two hours stop in Leeds. Then, due to traffic jam out of Liverpool, the coach was delayed and we had to wait at the bus station for another hour. At last, when we arrived in Nottingham, it was already past 2 am and by the time we were ready for bed, it was already 4 am! By 9am, we were already in the campus hunting around, not for the games but for signs of people we might know. And the very first people that i met:
I was over in the UK over the weekend for Nottingham Game which is an annual sports event organised by the Malaysian students studying all over UK. So each year, thousands of Malaysian students will be gathered there. It was such a big event that some minister for sports came and TV3!!! Haha. I know its for UK students but five of us here in Cork decided to 'sibuk' as well. It was a rather last-minute decision but we made it anyway. Did all our bookings and plans with friends there just two weeks ago. I was really excited about the trip because i wanted to meet up with some old friends really badly.
So on Friday, we flew from Cork to Liverpool (other airports nearer to Nottingham were expensive) on Ryanair. From Liverpool, we took a coach to Nottingham. And thus begins the extremely tiring journey with three nights of barely any sleep. First, the only option left for us was a 7-hour-long coach with two hours stop in Leeds. Then, due to traffic jam out of Liverpool, the coach was delayed and we had to wait at the bus station for another hour. At last, when we arrived in Nottingham, it was already past 2 am and by the time we were ready for bed, it was already 4 am! By 9am, we were already in the campus hunting around, not for the games but for signs of people we might know. And the very first people that i met:
Julian and Mei Ling!! Both of them were my primary school classmates and Mei Ling is even my classmate until Form 5. Can't believe i actually met them here after so many yearss! Gosh, we must be really 有缘 to be able to meet in the midst of thousands of other Malaysians!! Wowww!!!
Haha. Actually we arranged to meet up in Nottingham before hand la. Well, all thanks to... Facebook. Who say Facebook is bad? It is good for keeping old friends in contact. Me and the both of them are real good examples man. =P Well, i haven't seen Julian ever since primary school until last year when i was doing medical check up at the clinic but surprisingly i can still recognise him. I wonder if any of St Anne people still remember him but he still remember mostly everyone. He even remembers TIONG HWA HUONG. Hahahaha. For Mei Ling i don't think i've met her ever since Form 5 which was like 3/4 years ago (gosh, we're getting old) but she's still the same ol' same ol'. Except that she was wearing BOOTS! Gosh, so fashionable liao lo. I've been here for a year but i'd never worn boots before. Seriously. =P
Also met up with AUDREYYY!!
This girl i haven't met since INTEC which was like a year ago. And to think that now she's here too! How time flies. FYI, she's different now oso lo. With boots. I think the one missing here in the picture is none other than our 'ah mah' Vero who's in India lo. Eh, u save money then come here la. =P
The whole Saturday was spent in the campus meeting acquantainces here and there, hanging around with old pals and stuff. And they also have a Malaysian Food Festival where there were stalls selling Malaysian food. There were cendol, nasi lemak etc. and I spent 10 pounds on the food there! Bought rojak, cucur and nasi ayam Hainan. Really greedy and i'll tell you HOW SERIOUSLY I REGRETTED THAT later in the post.
Nottingham University grounds is really really big and beautiful. It is so big that you need to get a bus to get from one place to another IN the campus. Compared to that, UCC is seriously a dwarf. Boohoo~
After Nottingham, we decided to go to London for a day since our flight on Monday back to Cork will be from Stanted Airport. Took the East Midlands train on Saturday night for only 12.50GBP.
15 minutes prior to reaching London St Pancras station, i felt a sudden pang of pain in the abdomen which i shrugged off as nothing serious. Little did i know it was the start of a whole night of torture and nightmare...... DIARRHEA. I think i'd made at least 10 visits to the toilet throughout the night till the next morning. Each time i was cursing at the food at the event and swearing that i will never ever buy food from stalls. And i seriously mean it!! Luckily the next morning Belinda whose house i was crashing at found some medicine in her house. If not, i think i would be spending my very first day in London in her toilet.
Thanks to the medicine, i was able to spend the whole Sunday touring London for the very first time in my life. The very first place that i went to was none other than King's Cross to look for Platform 9 3/4. It was a different from the movie because if i'm not mistaken, it was not the exact location that they use for shooting the movie. Still, i was happy enough for being at the very place which had been in my imagination for years ever since i picked up my very first Harry Potter book. In a way it was like a 'dream come true', no? Hehe.
After King's Cross, went with Bel to a church for service and after that, Chinatown!! It wasn't a really big place actually, only a few blocks of shops, but believe me, that is seriously enough to make anyone happy. You should see their Asian groceries stores which are all well stocked up with Asian food. Also the restaurants there are selling real Asian food, unlike the ones over here which sell 骗洋人 kind of food. If there's a Chinatown half that size here in Ireland i seriously will stop complaining once and for all. Unfortunately, there's NONE anyway so i will proceed with my complaints.
The rest of Sunday evening was spent on Oxford Streetwindow SHOPPING!!! London is such a shopping haven - endless shops with all the big brand names. Lucky my financial condition was so bad that i was still in my 'frugal' mode. So didn't spend a pence there. Hihi.
So that was basically my first visit to London. Didn't have the time to go to the more iconic places such as the bridge, the castle and the tower. But i'll definitely go to those places during my next visit to London which is in DECEMBER!!! I will most certainly not miss the Boxing Day sale there this year.
And that was my whole weekend in UK for the Nottingham Games. What a tiring trip that was, with three sleepless nights. We went to Stansted Airport at 2.00am on Monday and we thought we could catch some sleep in the taxi on the way there. But the whole journey only took around 45 minutes and that was about the amount of sleep that we managed to get that night, plus the one hour on the flight. Reached Cork around 7.30 am and there was a lecture at 10.00am. So you can imagine how we were nodding our head off during the lectures. Still, for me it was well worth the energy and money. I am still very glad that we decided to go this year. Think i'll go again next year if everyone else is going too.
Also met up with AUDREYYY!!
This girl i haven't met since INTEC which was like a year ago. And to think that now she's here too! How time flies. FYI, she's different now oso lo. With boots. I think the one missing here in the picture is none other than our 'ah mah' Vero who's in India lo. Eh, u save money then come here la. =PThe whole Saturday was spent in the campus meeting acquantainces here and there, hanging around with old pals and stuff. And they also have a Malaysian Food Festival where there were stalls selling Malaysian food. There were cendol, nasi lemak etc. and I spent 10 pounds on the food there! Bought rojak, cucur and nasi ayam Hainan. Really greedy and i'll tell you HOW SERIOUSLY I REGRETTED THAT later in the post.
Nottingham University grounds is really really big and beautiful. It is so big that you need to get a bus to get from one place to another IN the campus. Compared to that, UCC is seriously a dwarf. Boohoo~
After Nottingham, we decided to go to London for a day since our flight on Monday back to Cork will be from Stanted Airport. Took the East Midlands train on Saturday night for only 12.50GBP.
15 minutes prior to reaching London St Pancras station, i felt a sudden pang of pain in the abdomen which i shrugged off as nothing serious. Little did i know it was the start of a whole night of torture and nightmare...... DIARRHEA. I think i'd made at least 10 visits to the toilet throughout the night till the next morning. Each time i was cursing at the food at the event and swearing that i will never ever buy food from stalls. And i seriously mean it!! Luckily the next morning Belinda whose house i was crashing at found some medicine in her house. If not, i think i would be spending my very first day in London in her toilet.Thanks to the medicine, i was able to spend the whole Sunday touring London for the very first time in my life. The very first place that i went to was none other than King's Cross to look for Platform 9 3/4. It was a different from the movie because if i'm not mistaken, it was not the exact location that they use for shooting the movie. Still, i was happy enough for being at the very place which had been in my imagination for years ever since i picked up my very first Harry Potter book. In a way it was like a 'dream come true', no? Hehe.
After King's Cross, went with Bel to a church for service and after that, Chinatown!! It wasn't a really big place actually, only a few blocks of shops, but believe me, that is seriously enough to make anyone happy. You should see their Asian groceries stores which are all well stocked up with Asian food. Also the restaurants there are selling real Asian food, unlike the ones over here which sell 骗洋人 kind of food. If there's a Chinatown half that size here in Ireland i seriously will stop complaining once and for all. Unfortunately, there's NONE anyway so i will proceed with my complaints.
The rest of Sunday evening was spent on Oxford Street
So that was basically my first visit to London. Didn't have the time to go to the more iconic places such as the bridge, the castle and the tower. But i'll definitely go to those places during my next visit to London which is in DECEMBER!!! I will most certainly not miss the Boxing Day sale there this year.And that was my whole weekend in UK for the Nottingham Games. What a tiring trip that was, with three sleepless nights. We went to Stansted Airport at 2.00am on Monday and we thought we could catch some sleep in the taxi on the way there. But the whole journey only took around 45 minutes and that was about the amount of sleep that we managed to get that night, plus the one hour on the flight. Reached Cork around 7.30 am and there was a lecture at 10.00am. So you can imagine how we were nodding our head off during the lectures. Still, for me it was well worth the energy and money. I am still very glad that we decided to go this year. Think i'll go again next year if everyone else is going too.
=P
2 comments:
thaanx for tagging me T_T
eh..ive been to king cross...n i know its place of harry potter train station...but i didnt know bout tat platform..
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