Monday, 31 August 2009

Matthew Street Festival 09

Y3 came on Sunday for the Matthew Street Festival, which was running over these 2 days. Of course, her main purpose was to visit me. Hahaha.

We visited the Walker Art Gallery and went for the concert at Tunnel stage. That day's selection of songs were from the older generation. We stayed for Santana and Pink Floyd but left for lunch shortly after.

I took Y3 to the Malaysian restaurant here and according to her facebook message, she strongly agrees that the ice Milo here is definitely better than Birmingham. Hahaha. I was too hungry, therefore no photos of the food.


Now this is what I consider hardcore photographer.

I was glad to say that I've achieved my main objective that day, which was to allow Y3 shop till she was content. Too bad the weather wasn't that great in the afternoon and we were drenched while waiting at the bus stop.

31st August 2009 - 52th Independence Day. Merdeka!

Each year, the numbers increase and the number of years I missed celebrating it back home increases too. I wonder how nice would it be to celebrate it with my family back home. Lucky for us Malaysians in Liverpool, we get to celebrate it Liverpool style by attending outdoor concerts in conjunction with Matthew Street Festival this Bank Holiday.

Met up for lunch at Kimos. We had lamb kebab, lamb curry and someone wanted to be different, so he ordered English breakfast. Later that afternoon while waiting for King of Leon performance, P and I went to Eddie Rockets to have milkshake.

The crowd was 5 times the size as compared to yesterday.

Tribute to The Killers


Williamson Square Stage just below the Radio City Tower.

Back to Tunnel Stage again to catch Kins of Leon

So many people!


Amy Wynehouse - tribute to the real singer.


Final act - Kins of Leon. P really enjoyed the show and so did I, even though I don't really know them.

A great end to the summer holidays. Tomorrow will be the start of 5th year. I know I kept on saying that I wished to be in 5th year while I was preparing for my finals and yet, when the moment arrives, I'm starting to miss the holidays so much that I want to turn back the time. I can never be contented!

Welcome back to whoever's back. Let's meet up for dinner or something.

Saturday, 29 August 2009

Birmingham and Cadbury Chocolate Factory

My second visit to Birmingham after 3 years and yet it seemed like just yesterday that I stepped foot here.

We stayed at this lovely hostel, quite a bit of a walk from the train station but since they offer all day unlimited free flow of breakfast i.e. tea, coffee and toast, we were really happy with the accommodation.
Breakfast at the lower ground. While going down the narrow stairs, I thought I was going into the underground dungeon if not for the bright lighting. Y2's toast that she prepared for me was toasted just nice.

We started our morning with intensive shopping at the bullring ....but I ended up empty handed. So sad. It's just too late into the sales and sizes were not available.

After lunch, we took the train to Bournville station. We had to walk quite a stretch to reach Cadbury Chocolate Factory. I have been yearning to visit this place since first year but nobody was interested and now my dream has come true.
Finally, we were there. We had 30% discount from London Midlands on top of our student discount. So, our ticket was really cheap. To my delight, chocolate was everywhere!!!!

As we had to wait for another hour before our admission time, we went to Essence first, which was at another building. Here, they told the story of how the delicious Cadbury chocolate was made. The secret was 1 and a half cup of fresh milk. I loved the visual and of course, the free chocolate treat we got at the end. I chose marshmallow and it was topped with this really rich liquid chocolate. Yummy!

Finally, the start of our chocolate filled journey. I was the only kid in the group, the other 2 are just too grown up. Hahaha. We started of with the Aztec jungle where the story of the origin of cocoa was told. Imagine, I could exchange a pumpkin with 2 cocoa beans, a rabbit for 10, and a servant for 100 beans. Maybe I should buy a butler to settle all my cooking, washing, ironing, etc.

Pocahontas? Maybe not. It depicts how cocoa beans were brought back to Europe but sadly, I can't remember the story behind it.

Chocolate drink was considered the drink of choice in high society. It was even the replacement of alcohol. Next time if my patient comes to see me with alcoholic problem, I'll ask him to drink hot chocolate instead. Hahaha. We were pampared with lots of free chocolate on the way too but I was just too full to eat anymore.

Other exhibition include documentary on how the cocoa beans were processed. There was one part where they showed how the cocoa beans were grilled and shelled, the seats started to sway side to side and it was so funny how they implied that the audience has turned into cocoa beans.

Next, we walked through the factory itself seeing how the chocolate were packed followed by the Cadabra ride which is similar to a Disneyland ride filled with cute little cocoa bean characters. We got to write our own name in chocolate too.

Advertising - I guess without advertisement, Cadbury wouldn't be that successful. It is an important factor affecting sales. Some of them are just so creative.

The baseball field right outside the factory. I was impressed at how much Cadbury value their workers, building sport facilities, club houses, implementing time off and pension. I guess happy workers do increase the production. The houses around Bourville were really cute as well, each having a sign with family name on it. Finally, we made our way back to Birmingham, overdosed with chocolate but happy.

There was this area in the city centre where they made it look like the beach with beach chairs and even a little bar in it. I think it was advertising some travel agency.
The town hall

Cute little mini cooper covered with plants.

I really like Yy's phototaking skills for this trip. Do you know why? Above was the example of the effect I wanted. The instructions given were, 'I want the flag and the stone sphere to be in....'

And this was the result of her shot. 10/10 marks. Hahaha.

That concludes my trip to Cadbury Chocolate Factory. Next will be Black Country Living Museum which is in my opinion, the best attraction in the UK so far. Even parents will enjoy visiting it. Till then.

Friday, 28 August 2009

Oslo Day 2 and 3

Apologies for the late entry. Got distracted by too many things including sales, shopping, celebrations and not forgetting to mention the free treat. Thanks again Ww.

Warning: long post ahead.

Oslo Day 2

Our first stop for the day was to Vigeland Sculpture Park. This cute little bear here was actually on the divider of the road and not part of the park. Saw him while making our way from the metro station.

Tadah! It's just weird how the scenery look nicer in photos. I think with all the heat and sun, I couldn't fully appreciate it till I looked back at the photos. This park has collection of bronze and granite sculptures by the famous Gustav Vigeland.

As the name suggests, there's sculptures everywhere. From bronze to marble, adults to children. There's various poses as well, from level of imitation of 1 till 10 (where you'll have to break a few bones or twist a few joints before you can achieve it). I stopped at level 1. Haha. I really liked the sculpture of the father holding his son's hand. Just warms your heart doesn't it?

The famous Angry Boy.

Groupie. The sculpture above is at imitation level 10. To decrease the level, the 2 person imitating can do it flat on the ground instead. Hahaha. Any takers? The reward is to get a nice photo shot.

There were more sculptures made from stone and marble further up. All of them were of naked humans. Some were just weird.

The Monolith - 14.12 metres high sculpture of 121 human bodies. It represents man's desire to become closer to spiritual and divine.

I love how green the grass was and how nice the photos turned out.

It's only in Europe that you can see people sunbathing, not at the beach, but at the parks. We tried to appreciate the experience, but concluded that it wasn't meant for us.

The Wheel of Life - the symbol of eternity. Man's journey from cradle to grave.

Next, we headed off to the Vigeland Museum dedicated to the sculptor and his works.

Inside, there were so many smaller versions of the sculptures seen at the park made from clay. There were other sculptures of heads made by Vigeland himself of people who were close to him. It was mentioned that initially he needed human models but as he got familiar with the structure of the human body, he started working without one.

Human model for the Angry Boy.....just trying to pull your leg.


The Nobel Peace Centre

It was a museum dedicated to all the Nobel Peace winners, chosen by the committee here in Oslo. We watched the screening of the life stories of previous winners, but somebody fell asleep. Hahaha. Got to write something on a leaf and hang it on the tree of life.

That's mine. Obviously. My deepest secret written on the back. So, if you want to find out what it is, visit the Nobel Peace Centre at Oslo. Hahahahaa.

When there's a mirror, there's always people who can't resist to take a few more photos. Haih...I think they should start charging. 1 shot, 100 kroners.

Island hopping!
We took the ferry to Bygdoy, which is another island to visit 2 other famous museums.

It was just a short ride, around 15 minutes.

Lunch for me was Norwegian sausage with prawn salad and pancake. AL had a really big ice cream coated with chocolate. No wonder it was called Lion.

Kon Tiki museum

Initially, I thought I wouldn't like this museum at all as I don't even know what was it about. Then, I found out it was about the famous Kon-Tiki Expedition which proved that the migration of human from South America to the island out in the Pacific ocean was possible. What really interest me was the exhibition on Easter island.

Geographically speaking, Easter Island is the most isolated place in the world. Yet, it is one of the 7 wonders of the world. The head and neck only statues are called Moai, which are used to worship ancestors by the people. If only I could visit the island myself one day.

Saw this shark below the musem as well.

FRAM museum
Just opposite was the FRAM museum, a museum dedicated to the polar ship FRAM. It was built in 1892 and is the world's strongest wooden ship which has sailed furthest to the North and South. We got to go into the ship itself to explore the interior. This was one of the time when I was glad that I am short as the ceilings were quite low.

I have no steering licence. Have you bought your life insurance? Wait a minute, this rhymes.

Back to mainland
The biggest Dalmation I've seen in my life. His owner was already big sized.

Dinner was at a restaurant around Johans gate. Y3 tried deer meat which she said was not bad but had quite a strong smell. It was served with red berries which were quite sour. Other food tried were salmon, seafood platter and prawns. Delicious!

The Parliament building - The lion above me was carved by prisoners.

The Grand Hotel - The balcony right above the Grand Hotel sign is where the winners of the Nobel Peace prize greet the public on the night of the award.

Since I can't afford to collect t-shirts from all Hardrock cafe I've come across, I'm collecting photos of them. They're everywhere! Frankly speaking, I've never found out what they offer in there.
The National Theatre


The Royal Palace - I was seriously hoping that it wouldn't disappoint me like what the palace up Akershus fortress did and it didn't. Too bad we were too tired by that time and didn't any nearer to it.

That concludes Day 2. Ready for more? Read on.

Oslo Day 3

I want to say that this 2.5 hours cruise with free traditional Norwegian prawn buffet which was included in my Oslo 72 hrs pass was the highlight of my trip.

Imagine, free flow of prawns and the cost of this cruise was even more expensive than the Oslo pass itself. If you could see the fresh red prawns and taste how sweet they were. There was live commentary on the attractions which we went past but being me, I was more interested in what I had for lunch in front of me. Hahahaha. So, I can't comment much.

Picture of the 2 of us before they started the buffet.

The first time I've tasted such sweet and fresh prawns with the eggs still intact. They tasted sweet too.

A long time ago, the government didn't allow people to build houses on these island, but as time went by, the temporary camps erected for fishing became wooden shades and slowly it transformed into houses. From that point onwards, the government revised their regulation provided that they adhere to the colour coding. I think it's something like one of the islands were only allowed yellow and red, and another green and red.

Private lighthouse. People do rent it to hold weddings and parties. Apparently it needs to be booked 10 years in advance. Anyone planning to get married in 10 years time? Book now.

Back to dry land
The National Museum - there are 4 versions of 'The Scream' by Edward Munch in Norway. One was kept here, another 2 at the Munch Museum and 1 more belongs to a private collector. We decided to come here as it was much nearer to where we were going next. I think this is the only museum where only 50% were paintings and the rest were sculptures.

Photos were not allowed so this was taken from wikipedia. I must say that the painting was about 55cm by 30 cm and the real thing was more impressive. Too bad I didn't get the chance to see the other 2 at the Munch Museum.

Holmenkollen - whoever has not attempt to ski jump at Holmenkollen will never consider his quest to jump the most challenging ski tower to be complete.

Too bad the ski museum and jump tower was closed and construction was going on to built the new higher jump tower in preparation for 2011 Nordic skiing World Championship. We went to the visitor centre and a really helpful staff spent a lot of time explaining how the place has evolved. I was amazed at how much improvement in the height and ski jumping technique been over the years. Out of all the jumping styles, I really liked the Telemarkstil as the landing is just so elegant and classy.

Back to Bygdoy island

I really wanted to visit the Viking Ship Museum and the Norwegian Folk Museum that I made a radical decision to catch the ferry at 3.40pm and the closing time for both museums was at 5pm. What a rush but it was worth it.

Viking Ship Museum - I was impressed by how well preserved the ships were, how funny looking the leather boots were, how big the combs were and how much the design reminds me of wood carvings from Thailand. We only had 20 minutes in there, but it was enough for us.

We then quickly made our way to the Norwegian Folk Museum. I didn't realise how big this museum was till I got there. There were so many indoor and outdoor things to see and I really regreted that we didn't have sufficient time there.
So many types of dolls on display. Couldn't find a Malaysian one though.

Waaah, reminds me so much of my childhood. I want to play with paper dolls again!

Tiny crockeries. Wonder who can use them and they look so fragile.

Such tiny dressed and I bet they're more expensive than mine.

That is a posh looking rocking horse. The one I use to own was just made from rattan.

From houses with grass on the roof to different types of piggy banks. Too bad we had limited time. I would love to spend my whole day here.

The Gol Stave Church from 1200 AD was shown on the map. Thinking it could be seen easily from outside as the museum was closed, we made our way around it. To our disappointment, we could only see the entrance....

And a glimps of it behind those trees. So sad!

Our last ferry ride back to mainland.

Dinner was at our favourite pub again! Had cod fish and salmon and both were still delicious! Food here is quite healthy and in big portion.

The last place we visited:
Opera House - it is the most expensive architecture in Oslo. What I can remember from the commentary while I was on the cruise was, if you were skate boarding, you could skate board all the way up from below the water to the top. That was very true as there were few steps and it was inclination all the way up and down. Quite dangerous to go at night as there were uneven grounds everywhere.

View from the top. So beautiful. It started drizzling so we decided to retire for the night.

Last photo of Oslo, right outside the main train station before we made our way home the next morning.

Oslo, such nice weather, so tourist friendly, so many different things to do and see, but all good things come to an end. Highly recommended to visit with parents as the transportation is really good and there is not much walking to do. Just bear in mind the higher cost of living and try not to go in winter.

Next post: Cadbury Chocolate Factory...yay!