New Year in Leicester & Birmingham (2013-2014)

My first new year in Great Britain

#THROWBACK

Yes, indeed. It was my first new year in GB.

By this time in Malaysia, I would be counting down with my buddies and family in Malaysia. I remembered I went to hills to count down with my buddies or get stucked in the jam nearby KLCC to watch the awesome fireworks when I was in Malaysia.

It was my first winter break. Everyone in my halls have left for winter holidays. I decided not to stay at my halls during that period because it was kinda creepy to stay alone in a floor of 12 rooms. Instead, I went to visit my cousin, G, in Leicester. Most people would pronounce Leicester as "lei-ces-ter" but the correct pronouciation is "les-ster". Just something you should take note of before going to Leicester. :)

My train reached rather early than expected so I waited for G to pick me up. To cease boredom, I took some pictures of the train station. 

 I was quite shocked to see a table tennis table at the train station. It is rare for me to see a table tennis table in public in my country. Normally table tennis tables are in schools, clubs or home.I love to play table tennis. That's why I am kind of sensitive to these tables. Perhaps a normal people would say it's just a table, WHY ARE YOU OVEREACTING !!!!

My cousin picked me up and we walked through the city centre of Leicester. I could say it is so much bigger than Cardiff! SO MUCH!!

On the way back to G's accommodation, I spotted another table tennis table and got extremely excited (I KNOW I AM OVERACTING AGAIN). It makes me wonder does the people in Leicester love to play table tennis more? or the government is promoting table tennis? If I would have my bat with me, I would play there the whole day.

FACTS ABOUT TABLE TENNIS: IT'S THE WORLD'S MOST PLAYED SPORTS :)

The university campus area

I like it when there's some water and building together. It makes me wanna stop by to snap a picture.

 Surprisingly to see my first swan in Leicester.

After we loaded my stuffs, we went to the market to buy some ingredients for dinner. G said she would make me a lovely dinner. How wonderful to have someone to cook for you and I could just chillax after my tired journey. 

This is where I chill. lol

G preparing our dinner :)

She would kill me for putting up her ulgy picture in public. so SHHHHHH... :p

Fish, glass noodles, eggs and vegetables. I can say it was a healthy meal. The noodles are seasoned with vinegar which I haven't had something like this before. From that meal onwards, I like vinegar so much.  Thanks G x

 Besides, we also went to Iceland to buy some desserts and our breakfast for the next day. Also, we planned to have a shopping trip at Birmingham the next day.

Blueberry Cheesecake from Iceland.

Look how she is anticipating the cheesecake. 

 In the end, the cheesecake turned out to be a bit sour and hard as we put it in the freezer. However, the base taste kinda good. Anyway, It was just a 2 pounds cake so we would not expect so much. I previously ate one from Marks and Spencer and it taste good. I would prefer the Blueberry Cheesecake from Marks and Spencer which costs 4.50 pounds.  

We also bought another cake from Iceland as well. It is Bailey's cake which consists of a bit alcohol. FYI, Bailey is an Irish made alcohol. It is famous for Baileys Irish Cream which is an Irish whiskey and cream based liqueur, made by Gilbeys of Ireland. 

Our selfie when enjoying our cakes

Bailey's cake worth 4 pounds in Iceland

Overall, the texture is awesome. It gives an ice-cream cake feel. The alcohol part is only in the middle (if you could see the darker part in the middle). G and I could not stand the alcohol as it was kinda strong for us. So we ate the surroundings but not the middle. Amusing right? lol

DAY 2...

G dripping her saliva on our breakfast

So this is it our breakfast which was the mini pizzas from Iceland. After having our breakfast, we took off to Birmingham which is only an hour from Leicester. 

A footprint of me reaching Birmingham. Behind me is the Bullring shopping Complex (Birmingham largest mall).

Inside Bullring it reminded me of One Utama or Midvalley (shopping malls)  in Malaysia

We also get a chance to walk outside the mall.

I remembered it was super chilly outside so we decided to go to Chinatown in Birmingham to have some delicious Chinese meal. Unfortunately, the Chinatown in Birmingham turned out to be not what we expected. It was kinda small and run down. Most shops were closed the time we went as it was the 31st of December. I think everyone went home to celebrate New Year's Eve.

Luckily, we found Malaysian Delight Restaurant and straight went in. 

To read more about the review for this restaurant, follow this link. I had written a blog post for the food here :)

Sneak Preview of the food. Asam Laksa and Char Kuey Teow :)

 After dinner, we went around the streets in Birmingham. We wanted to visit some landmarks of Birmingham before we leave.

It is undeniable that Birmingham has many shops. It is a wonderful place for shopping. 

We went to one of the landmarks in Birmingham, Victoria Square. It is the centre of Birmingham.

Victoria Square at night 

The town hall is just next to the Victoria Square. 

YES, behind G is the Town Hall.

Some random guy saw G and I was taking selfie with my camera and he offered to help us to take a photo. To who ever you are, thanks for taking this wonderful picture. :)

St. Martin in Bullring

St. Martin's is Birmingham's most ancient church. If you're interested in visiting, it's nearby the Bullring. It's just a few mins walk and you can see St. Martin. However, if you're interested in looking around inside, here are the details. They provide guided tours and some events to participate all year round. 

Night view of Bullring Shopping Mall on another side

We didn't go any further places in Birmingham as it is just a short day trip. We went home at 9pm and thought to have fireworks in Leicester but it was just some quiet streets. In the end, we went back to G's room to countdown. I remembered I was browsing Instagram where most of my friend's went to London's Embankment to see the magnificent fireworks which was accompanied by music. I even have video of it! Most shocking to hear that Cardiff has put up beautiful fireworks and some sort of Carnival to celebrate New Year. Geeezzz why did I chose the right time to leave Cardiff?  

DAY 3...

We slept rather late last night and woke up quite late. It was a rainny day which makes the sleep more comfortable! We had our lunch at Handmade Burger Co .

I had written a review of this restaurant in my previous blog post. Follow the link to read more. 

Food that looks nice can be deceiving. Well , read my review and you will know :)

Facts about burgers:To most of the people, okay maybe just a tiny bit of people (like me) who doesn't know that when someone mentions burger it means the meat inside is beef. Only when people say chicken burger or fish burger, etc the meat will be chicken or fish (the one that is named). So it is assume that when you say burger it should be beef. The traditional burgers are beef. Well, I just know this fact lately. Okay, you may allow to say "DUH LIKE THAT ALSO DON'T KNOW!" haha x

BACK TO THE MAIN POINT, 

As I mentioned above, it was a rainny day. My raincoat and boots are on to continue our journey. I wanted to go this Alexandra Park in Leicester as I saw pictures on google are kinda pretty. Guess I  chose the wrong time to come as everywhere is mucky and soaky. 

Some quality pictures we manage to take :)

After this, we went back to city. As it is still Christmas (perhaps?) , the decorations are still on :)

Town Hall in Leicester at night. 

It's amazing to see the lights everywhere during Christmas. I could say that Malaysia does not celebrate Christmas as hard as in Great Britain.

DAY 4...

So my 4 days journey just ended like this. I am happy to see G here in Leicester. This is what they said to make more friends so that you can have free stay all over the world. haha *jokes

Before I leave, I manage to take few snaps of the surroundings of the university. G is studying architecture in DeMontfort University. Just to let you know, DeMontfort University is famous for Architecture. *AHEM

The sun came out when I wanted to leave. How could you be like this? 

Bye to this place where I had my 3 nights stay. Guess which room I stayed at? HAHA

With this post I wanted to thank G for taking care of me throughout these days. I know I am a big baby. I really had an amazing time with you x. 

Hope you guys enjoy my post about Leicester and Birmingham. I will keep update soon when I am free (so please hope that I am free). haha x

Love,
Yan

Coventry, England

I have a grandaunt who lives in Coventry. Believe it or not, I haven't met her before in my life till this winter break. I paid a visit to her place. It's a 4 hours plus journey by bus. 

If you ever wonder where is Coventry, it is one of the busiest city in England. University of Warwick is in Coventry! For those who watched Hong Kong drama, Triumph in the Skies II, perhaps they will know that the casts did filming at Coventry. 

The surroundings of the residence area.

Nothing special. It's just me first taking a public bus in England. 

She was also kind enough to bring me to tour around Coventry.  I am quite excited as I think it was my first trip out of Cardiff. So what's next...Camera is up of course!

Whittle Arch

There's a saying that if you see Whittle Arch, people know that you're in Coventry. 

Okay, here's a nerd look of me...

Coventry Pool Meadow Bus Station

 Believe it or not, my grandaunt who is currently 70 years old took this picture for me. Imagine an old lady having herself holding such a high tech camera helping you to take this picture! I didn't expect much but the results turned out to be great! When my friends saw my solos pictures, they would tease me about bullying my grandaunt! Anyway, my grandaunt and I did burst out some laughters whenever the solo pictures were taken. 

Walking our way to the city centre. 

Coventry Cathedral since 1918 

Due to some reasons, I did not enter the Coventry Cathedral. It is said to be a very interesting historical place.

The magnificent night view of Coventry City Centre. Well I shouldn't say it is night. Probably is just about 5 in the afternoon. The sky gets dark quickly during winter time. 

A typical Asian pose. Peace sign :P

Statue of Lady Godiva
If I had known this statue earlier, I would have taken a closer picture with it 

Everyone is preparing for Christmas! You can see the crowds holding big and small shopping bags!

Another tourist attraction is this Coventry Transport Museum! Perhaps you can give it a visit!

Finally, my own selfie during my trip! Jeez, I look so young that time...

Overall, I think Coventry is much complicated as compared to Cardiff. No offence, I prefer to live in Cardiff as I can see much more greenness in my surroundings. To me, Coventry is not as convenient as Cardiff. For instance, I need to take a bus whenever I go to any places in Coventry. In Cardiff, I could just walk to the city centre or any places I want because everything is near and compact together. Another reason might be Coventry is larger than Cardiff so public transport is needed. 

By this blog post, I wanted to share my gratefulness with my grandaunt by taking care of me so well during my trip.  Probably you would be wondering how my grandaunt looks like. However, she doesn't like her face being posted on any public social media so I would respect her privacy. Anyway, I do have a great time in Coventry. It's great to have family bonding with my grandaunt who I had never met before.