First time in Vietnam

I decided to go to Vietnam with my sister during the five days in a row holiday last week. Without any money, we had to fly with a low cost airline. The appearance of the plane reminded me of Air Crash Investigation programme on National Geographic Channel. However, we arrived at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi safely. The airport is 45 km away from the city centre. The local bus did not seem to be frequent, thus, we decided to took a minibus to town[2USD plus 1USD from the bus terminal to a specific hotel]. Vietnam currency is "DONG". It contains many zeroes, however the US dollar is widely accepted.

Day 1
The day after our arrival, we went to Ho Chi Minh Museum, which dedicates to the former Vietnamese leader, Ho Chi Minh or uncle Ho, and the Vietnamese revolution against foreigners. Ho Chi Minh body is located in a grey building in the front of the museum and could be visited without any fee. Any image recorders were not allowed. After this, you could visit Ho Chi Minh residence and the main museum. The fee was applied for foreigners.

In a walking distance, It was the first university of Vietnam known as the Temple of Literature. The temple is established in 1076 and had educated Vietnamese for 700 years. Those who had graduated would be named on steel turtles in the temple.

By walking back to the hotel, I passed Ho Hoan Kiem lake, which was a place to chill out. It was surrounded by tourism shops and cafes.

In the evening, my sister and I booked a tour to Ha Long Bay [40USD each] before having dinner at a restaurant near by, where pho and fresh spring rolls were superb.

Day 2
We presented at the tour agency early in the morning for the minibus before joining another 14 foreigners to Halong Bay. The minibus took 3.30 hours to cover just 173 km because of the traffic and the road condition.

The shore at Halong was full of foreigners waiting to board the boats. Our boat's name is "Emerald Junk". She had 3 storeys; the deck, the restaurant and the hotel-like rooms on the bottom. The boats no longer used sails any more. The smell of fossil fuel burning was strong at the shore. After the welcome drink, We had 40 mins to rest while the boat was departing.

The first stop was "Hang Dau Go" cave [Wooden Stakes Cave], which was full of limestone. The artificial light in the cave was quite unpleasant for me though. Not far from this cave there was a smaller cave to visit. I like the last, which was left decorated by nature.

From the cave, it took one hour and a half to reach the kayak site. It was time to exercise back muscles. One kayak was for two people, thus, having a lazy partner might be frustrated :). All kayaks were guided to a closed sea by going underneath a tunnel. I was warned not to bring my camera because it could be wet, but actually it was not that wet. Putting the camera in a plastic bag should should be o.k.

The boat anchored not far from the kayak site and now it was time to show-off your diving skill. Jumping from the restaurant roof to the sea was challenging, but if you are looking for more, go to the deck, where I was standing for more than 20 mins with shaking legs before I jumped :). An american guy could even run, stamped his feet on a sun bed and jump with his head down :o . 2 thumbs up for him. After dinner a chilled out time on the deck is recommended.


Day 3
The boat traveled back to the shore and we had to be ready to get back to Hanoi. In Hanoi, we stayed near St. Joseph Cathedral, in a franchised hotel. There was a very good pho restaurant near by. A cafe' near the cathedral also served a really good set of fresh spring rolls.

Day 4
We had to leave the hotel early morning. It was quite frustrated that the hotel did not have change and when I used my card they had not yet even plugged the machine. It took us a while before we could pay the bill. We took the 2USD minibus back to Noi Bai Airport. The passport control in Vietnam did not take the immigration card [so why did we have to fill it at the first place?]. A few hours later, we arrived in Bangkok safely.

Pere Lachaise Cemetery

No one could escape the death. That is the truth, the fact, the thing we are afraid of. Pere Lachaise Cemetery is located in the 20th district of Paris. I got off the metro line 3 at Pere Lachaise station. Even the cemetery map boards are distributed over the place, however if you have got it in your hand, that would be very useful. There are several shops near by selling this map cost about 2 euros. The map could be printed out from the cemetery official website itself.

A number of famous people are buried here. Math students might have heard of Joseph Fourier while the physic ones might have heard of Joseph Louise Gay-Lussac. For those who like classical music might know Chopin, while a number of book worms might be inspired by Oscar Wilde, the novelist, poet and play writer. They and a lot more famous people are all buried here in the cemetery.

The benefits they have brought into this world might be the point of attraction, not that the characteristic of unavoidable truth of nature itself.


The map of the cemetery


Frederic Chopin


Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac


Oscar Wilde

Musee du Louvre

Glass Pyramid, the main entrance of the museum

Musee du Louvre is one of the most world's visited museum. It is huge that people have to spend a day or more to walk all around and maybe a life time to read every description of every objects. The main entrance of the museum is under a huge pyramid glass. The queue was very long this day as it was the 1st Sunday of the month, which the entrance ticket is not needed. I walked a little bit farther at the end of the museum on the Seine side. Another entrance (Porte des Lions) is here and normally the queue is shorter. I had been waiting for about 20 minutes to enter. If you enter to the museum through this door, the first room should be Arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. Museum leaflets could be obtained at the main entrance. Consisting of four huge floors full of objects from Pharaonic Egypt to Mesopotamia, from Napoleon's apartment to the arts of Islam and etc.


The museum is full of people, the 1st Sunday of the month is free

The Mona Lisa by Leonado Da Vinci is also here. Apart from international airports, the space in front of Mona Lisa may be the place, which gather this various nationalies of people. With summer heat and packs of people caused odor pollution. The staffs in front of the picture kept shouting "Move...Move...Move". The situation were around all the master pieces in the museum.
I had lunch in the museum. French style baguette sandwiches seemed to be very popular in cafes as they were not enough even the staffs kept refilling. I continued visiting the museum in the afternoon. The first time I was here was in 2001. At that time I did not pay attention much here, but now I am proud that I had visited every halls in the museum, read and studied almost all the master pieces. I walked out under the glass pyramid, looked back to where the museum stood, having no doubt why it is one of the most visited museums in the world.


Ramses II, an Egyptian Pharaoh


Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci


Venus de Milo


Musee du Louvre, your heart will be there...

Paris (again!)

This was not my first time in Paris at all. Actually it was the fifth time! However, I had not been there for fully five years. I decided to fly Air France as the price of low cost airlines were not different in August. The cheapest prices are usually either very early in the morning or very late at night. AF flight 1169 departed from Manchester 40 minutes later than scheduled. This was good as the security checked point queue was too long for me to arrive at the gate on time. An hour and a half later, I arrived at Paris CDG and one more hour on RER, I was at the centre of Paris. Coming up from the RER to the street level, I could smell the breeze I have smelled years ago. People were riding bicycles. The green RATP buses passed by. The trees on the pavements I was standing were green as it was summer. The sky was dark blue as the sun had gone down. When bus line 95 was approaching, Pascal handed me a ticket, we rode the bus and dropped off at Avenue Les Goblins. Pascal's apartment looked exactly the same. Plates and cutlery I have ever used were still there. None of them seemed to be lost nor broken. I felt the time was stopped when I left this place and it resumed again when I was back. I went to bed early and could not wait for the next morning.

Some people might have thought it was a bit crazy that the first thing I did here in Paris was swimming. Swimming pool or "Piscine" in French could be found around the city. They are also cheap and clean. After the swimmin, it was time to have a snack and a cup of coffee. The French seem to be able to preserve their brasseries even some major cafe like Starbucks are spreading. After the morning cofee, we went to Porte d'Italie to see the new tram line "T3" services from Porte d'Ivry to Porte du Garigliano. Unlike most of metro lines, tram services are on street levels, therefore passengers might not be bored looking around. We continued our journey with RER to Tour de Eiffel, one of the world most famous landmark. She was standing tall welcoming all tourists from all around the world. From Eiffel Tower, we ended our today trip at Avenue des Champs Elesee, one of the most famous and expensive street in the world. Just window shopping is worth coming here.

We went to Minako's picnic at Canal St.Martin that evening. Both sides of the canal were full of restaurants, cinemas, people, musics and dance floors. Minako was an incredible japanese woman, speaking fluently in 5 languages (or more), holding postgrad-degrees in Physics and Maths from many countries as well. She also has got various type of friends. Holding camera at 45 degree is her character that I really like. We left the picnic late at night. I prepared myself for Musee du Louvre the next day.


The sunset on the plane after passing the channel between the UK and France


French styled buildings, this picture was taken out of Starbucks at the end of Avenue Les Goblins.

The Eiffel Tower still standing tall and proud


Paris metro, wherever you want to go, it will bring you there

Canal St.Martin is full of love

Zurich, Luzern, Interlaken and back to Geneva

The night at the hostel was great. We shared the room with a japanese guy, who work for japanese railway. As we talked, he was there for the glacier express as well. Breakfast in the hostel was perfect. Various type of mussli and corn flakes, breads, biscuits, yogurt and juice. We checked out directly after breakfast, went to the train station and took a regional train from St. Moritz to Chur and got on another mainline train to Zurich.

Due to the football euro event, we could not find a room in any hostels for a night. Therefore, we had to pay a bit more expensive than usual to stay in a hotel. Zurich is a very big city . German is the main language speaking here. Trams were widely used here in the city. I do agree with this transportation system due to it is low in pollution , cheap and convenient. We did nothing much as my partner want it to be our rest day today. The weather was very nice, sunny and warm. The lake was brightly blue and reflected the sunlight. The city was noisy because of the football fan. We ended up sitting in a coffee shop facing out to a street and enjoyed watching people in their various football team uniforms.

The morning after, we packed and left Zurich to Luzern by train. There are a lot of trains from Zurich to Luzerne, probably at almost every hour. We arrived in Luzern and put our big suit case in a locker at the station. On the right of the station, the Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge) could be seen (if you are lost, just follow the crowd). The bridge is the landmark of the town crossing Reuss River. This beautiful ancient town is also worth walking around. We left Luzern in the afternoon and headed to Interlaken.

There is an hourly train from Luzern to Interlaken. The trip took about two hours and the train went into mountains, passed fields and a few lakes. Arriving at Interlaken late cut the chance to visit Jungfrau, the top of Europe. I will not miss this next time visiting Switzerland.

We directly took another train back to Geneva via Bern, the captital of the country. We arrived in Geneva late that day. Our ears had to switch back to get used to french. The day after, we took a train to the airport. Our flight was cancelled. We had to wait the other two hours for another flight back to London.

The Glacier Express

The Glacier Express tickets were reserved on the first day we had arrived with additional cost of 15 franc each from the swiss pass. The train consisted six coaches (the locomotive is not counted), three were the 2nd class, 1 bar and the other 2 were 1st class, which were at the back. The panoramic windows to the roof allowed all the passengers to see to the top of mountains. A guide book of 6 languages was at every seat beside a free headphone. Passengers were mostly located on the window side. Two seats on the aisle side were normally left empty unless there were four people in a group. The train departed Zermatt early morning ( There are roughly about six trains from Zermatt to St. Moritz and Davos every day, check before travel). The food and drink menus were handed. The monitor at the end of each coach showed a number of information point. The number could be found on the map in the guide book as well. As a number was shown, the information was going to be announced through the headphone at each specific location along the route.

The train brought us down to Visp first, then went along the route to St. Moritz. The route was likely to follow a river in a valley and went up to the mountains. At some point the train went through a tunnel to the other side of a mountain and back to the same side. The Glacier Express is also the slowest express train in the world. The distance from Zermatt to St. Moritz is about 270 kms, but a train takes about 7 hour and a half to cover the route. It was a beautiful day this day. The sun was shining through the panoramic windows, mountains were green and lakes, rivers were blue. Villages were beautiful and quiet, cyclists and motorists were travelling on the roads, which curved left and right randomly in a valley. The green of the mountains changed gradually to white because of the snow as the train climbed up higher. We reached the highest point of the route at Oberalppass (2033 m). No more green glass, the dark rocks of the mountain is everywhere and mostly were covered with snow. Thick layers of ice were floating in the lake. Every people were looking outside to enjoy the beautiful scenery, those who were not, might have been only the staffs, who were busy serving lunch.

The train took several hours later climbed down the mountains and arrived at Chur. The locomotive was replaced and travelled into the other direction heading to St. Moritz. Some new passengers boarded the train. Green grass and flowers decorated the scene. This might have been one of the most beautiful place on earth. The train again was going into a valley and climbed up. Now everyone seemed to get ready for the most particular scene, the Landwasserviadukt. No one was seating, everyone was taking at least a photo of this particular view as it was not just a via duct around the corner of their houses. The train went on. I looked at the map and surprisingly found a chaos rail route between Bergun and Preda. It was some sort of engineer works to allow trains to climb up a very high mountains. Less than an hour later, we arrived at St. Moritz, a small town on the hill with a lake in the middle.

Continued with a local bus, we arrived at Youth Hostel on the foot of a mountain. The hostel was big and seemed to be a school in the past. The food was great and refillable. The shadows of the mountain again dim the sunlight. I took a walk along the lake in the evening, smelled the breeze of air. People were fishing beside. I looked across the lake to the station. The Glacier Express was seen in red at the station resting after a long journey.

Zermatt

June 7th, 2008

There are trains to Zermatt almost every hour, but you have to change from the main line to the regional train at Visp. My Swiss Rail Pass was activated today, the tickets were likely to be free (actually I have already paid) from now on. There are several day amounts of rail pass and I believe that one will suite you. After you have got one, write your name on and get on the trains, no reservation is needed except the Glacier Express. The price for the Glacier Express reservation is about 15 franc. Even the rail pass let you get on trains for free, however the pass does not apply to all routes, for some routes you may have to pay half and etc.

About two ours later from Geneva we arrived at Visp, changed the platform and waited for 13 mins for a regional train. The tracks of the regional trains were obviously smaller than the main line ones. The train took us up into the mountain, went along the left and the right of the cliffs randomly. Villages, water falls and a river were beautifully located in the scene as they decorated the valley. I hardly stop looking out of the window.

The train stopped at several stations before terminated at Zermatt. Petrol cars were not allowed to be used here. Small electric cars were replaced instead. At the station, several small electric cars from the hotels in the area were waiting to carry their guests. Even the police cars were small as if they did not have to chase anyone. Walking to the accommodation, I had to walk pass the town centre and crossed a river with very very clear water in it. My accommodation was located up on a hill. It was an old wooden building, but the staffs were friendly.

After leaving all the belongings locked in the provided locker, we rushed to the Gornergrat train station in the town centre. The train took us almost 45 degree up to the mountains. Zermatt looked smaller and smaller, the air was cool and could be felt when the train stopped and the doors were opened by the driver. I could even feel the change of air pressure in my ears. As the train went up higher, the visibility was lower due to the fog. At the top, the station was fully white with snow as high as my knees and I could not even look farther than 10 metres because of the fog. Matterhorn was supposed to be seen at this point but the weather did not provide. By walking up a slope a little church, a mall and a restaurant could be found, but they would be opened in summer.

We were back in the town centre in the evening. The town looked pretty much quieter. People packed in bars and restaurants. Japanese menu could be surprisingly found in restaurants here as they are one of the major tourists.

The shadow of the mountains dim the light from the sun very quickly. The sky is very blue. I could smell the breeze and hear the river flow below my room. Warm lights from street lamps and houses glittered the town. Time seemed to be stopped here in the valley where Zermatt is located.

We had free breakfast from the hostel then we checked out and went to the train station. The red train was waiting on platform 4. With panoramic windows, the white crosses as on the swiss flag between coaches, here the standing of the Glacier Express.

CERN and Musee d'Art et d'Histoire

June 6th, 2008

There were three beds in the bedroom. Another guest was a polish guy from Canada. We chatted a bit, but even though the conversation has inspired me of being a world traveller. This day I woke up early and got myself ready to explore Geneva. First stop is CERN, the european organization for nuclear research. We had been waiting for the bus No. 9 marked "CERN", and yes that was the bus No. 9, but it was not going to CERN. How come? and what went wrong? I asked around and found out that buses No. 9 do not go to CERN any more. Instead, I took a bus No. 56 because it was going to the area near CERN. I tried to look at the information boards at every stop, suddenly in the middle of no where I had found the sign of a bus marked "CERN". We rushed down the bus and wait for the another, which came about five minutes later.

A quarter of an hour later, we arrived at CERN with some students and two teachers. Of course we all were not allowed to enter to the laboratory itself (doing so, the reservation must be booked at least a month in advance!!!). However, a small museum called Microcosm was available with admission free. There were two big rooms in the museum and that was it. I did enjoy it really.

Taking trams with a connection, we were back into the city centre. Walking down along Boulevard Jaques Dalcroze, the Musee d'Art et d'Histoire was on our left handside. The museum had paintings, sculpture, room interiors and weapons. Such a pity that we did not have time for the UN and the red cross. We went back to our hostel in the evening packed and get ready for the trip to Zermatt the day after.

Landing in Geneva

June 5th, 2008

After a few night with fever because my partner had unsensibly purchased about 80 pounds for each train ticket to London, the day had arrived. We caught the train at 5.20 am from Manchester Piccadilly and about two hours and a half later we had arrived in London. With several underground connections, we were in London City Airport much earlier then the plane schedule. Having a few hours to spare led to exaggerated expensive breakfast. Without tight securities and document check ceremony, everything was quick and we were checked through and waiting for the plane to Geneva in the terminal.

One hour and a half on Swiss air flight LX435, we had arrived in Geneva safely. I had read on a website that all the tourists could have free tickets to get into the city for free. Without carefully looks, We went out from the arrival hall and went directly to the swiss railway office near by and noticed that to get free tickets we had to ask inside after claiming our baggages, which it was too late now. Therefore, we paid about 3 franc (1.5 pound) to the city.

As the train had arrive at Geneva (as the signs showed on platforms), I looked down on my guide book and thought we might have to get on another train to Gare Cornavin. We walked around and I decided to ask a security staff.

me: "Excuse me, do you know how to get to Gare Geneva?"
The Staff:"What are you going to do there"
me:"Well, our hostel is close to that station"
The Staff:"It is here. This is Gare Cornavin, Geneva train station" (pointing down with her index finger to the floor)
me:"???"

How come the name of the station and the city it is located were different? Anyway, with the help of the map, we had found the hostel in fifteen minutes. The City Hostel is located not far from the city centre. There is a tram route on the main street about 20 metres from the hostel. The rooms were new, the toilets and the showers were clean. The kitchen was opposite to my room. There were lockers for every guests both in the cupboard and fridge. It is 10 franc deposit for the key.

We walked calmly around Lake Geneva today, bought some food from a supermarket and went back to cook at the hostel. I planned the trip for the next day this night.

Two Days in London

Day 1

After arriving at London Euston, my sister and I bought Oyster cards, which is underground tickets. The advantage of this card is that if a traveller spend more than 5 pound, the card will automatically be changed into a day pass, which means the card does not need to be topped up for a whole day. Therefore, we both put 5 pound each on our cards. The tube (or underground or metro, whatever you want to call) is just right under the station. We took the northern line tube for one stop, changed to the central line and got off at Queensway. The hostel was not far from this station and it cost us 15 pound each for a night. Our room was on the sixth floor. I was surprised because the building did not look that tall. After all the paper works at the hostel, we took the tube and headed for Trafalgar Square.

My sister and I split up here. She wanted to go to Portrait Museum, while I was enjoying the National Gallery. The master pieces such as "Sunflowers" of Van Gogh or "Water Lilies" of Claude Monet are here. We met up again and took some photos then headed for Harrods. We did not buy anything here apart from sandwiches for our dinner. Half and hour later, we were at Piccadilly Circus Square. I went to the ticket office of the theatre to take the tickets. We called at St. James park for our dinner; the sandwiches from Harrods before going back to the theatre at sometime a bit earlier than half pass seven.

Inside the theatre, it looked smaller than I had thought. It was not too crowded that night. The light was dimming and the show started. "The Phantom of the Opera" is one of the world famous story. In 2004, this musical play also became a cinema. The show that night had been playing in my dream all night long. The musics, lyrics, acting, screens and all components in the theatre and on stage were more than perfect. It impressed me a lot and my eyes were full of tears at the sad ending.

Day 2

Cristine Daae and the phantom sang to me all night long and made me a bit dizzy the later morning. I went down to the underground of the building to have breakfast there. In Europe, the free breakfast could not be something else apart from 1. cereal 2.bread and 3. milk, coffee and tea. We had a chance to meet a canadian polish-born guy who shared the room with us in the morning. We had a chat before leaving the hostel.

The first stop of the day was Hyde Park and as usual, my sister had ice-cream on her hand, while I was having a cup of espresso. The day was quite nice with sunshine. Travelling by tube to Covent Garden, we arrived at the Museum of Transport. The entrance fee was 7 pounds. I had thought it was free, so I felt like walking somewhere else. My sister convinced me to go to Greenwich (it is pronounced Green-itch, ask the british for more info). The longitude 0 is here. The longitude lines separate the world into time zone. At the Greenwich itself is the GMT + 0 , while in Bankok, it is GMT+7 and in the US must be GMT- something. The museum of time is free of charge and it was impressive. This place was the Royal Observatory. A lot of the ancient star observed equipments are in this museum. We sat in the Greenwich Park, where the observatory located, before going back to London.

We killed time by walking up and down Oxford Street. As time passed by, we collected our belongings from the hostel and took the tube to London Euston. The train departed at 9-ish pm, but with an electrical problem, it arrived about 20 mins late at Manchester Piccadilly. I love London very much according to my experience on this trip.

Getting On The Train to London

After the gym in the morning, I did not pay attention much about the time, so I spent almost half an hour to enjoy my breakfast. By looking at my watch, I knew that I had to rush to the train station. Some of my clothes were still wet, which took time to dry by ironing. I decided to catch a bus from All Saint Garden to Piccadilly Garden in the city centre. The train was going to depart at 9.15 am. Now, it was 8.55 am while I was travelling in the bus. I felt like kicking the driver away and drove that bus myself, but my morality said "NO". I was the first passenger standing at the bus door while it was about to stop. My heart was pounding, waiting for the bus door to open. The bus stopped, the sound of the air pressure from the bus breaking system warned me to get ready, the door swung open like it was shouting "GO!".

Every second counted, I ran across the tram tracks pass Piccadilly Garden, looked around and predicted the shortest way to get to the train station. My legs did not stop running, neither did the time. The man traffic light on Portland Street was green, I move a bit to the left hand side to avoid the jam of people, turn right and ran along Piccadilly Street. Luckily that all the man street lights were green. Might it have been the micro-controllers that helped me so. I ran up the slope, deciding either to kill the fat guy in front of me or just waited a millisecond to let him passed through the small (relatively compare to his body size). By informing me earlier by my chill out sister, I ran directly to platform 8. The digital clock above the platform changed from 9.14 to 9.15. I ran pass a virgin staff, heard the door closing noise signal. I jumped into the train by the nearest door, while the door was closing. The only two noises I could hear now were my heart beats and the door closing signal. I moved to the carriage E to join my sister there.

London Trip

Kevin had asked me several time if I was free from 13 to 15 February as he invited me to go to London with him. I hardly ensured him about this because my tutor had not yet told me when was the literature review presentation. Kevin seemed to be angry because of this and thought that the trip had to be cancelled. However, I later arranged things up and booked a cheap hostel in London. We met at Manchester Picadilly Station and waited for the train at 12.15 pm.

The train took about 2 hours and 15 mins from Manchester to London Euston Station. We continued our journey in London with the tube. The tube was smaller than what I had thought. Six stops from the train station (cost 3 pound!), we arrived at Borough, walking down the street and turned right, we were at the hostel already.

I had not have my passport with me because I thought Kevin, the British born, might have some identification. For security reasons an identity card must be shown. Luckily, the scholarship student card from the Royal Thai Embassy was accepted. Thus, we had a place to sleep tonight. That day we did nothing much, just walked around the area we had stayed, took some pictures at the Tower Bridge and the London Eye.

The day after, we started with Tate Art Gallery, Kevin's favourite must see place. The arts there were errrrhhh!!!! well!!! not really my type. Some artist just made a cut (honestly it was just a cut) on a canvas and frame it. Then it was hanged in the Art Gallery (for Buddha sake!). We continued our emotion in art at Tate Classic Gallery. I like the last one with all classic master pieces. We passed the Big Ben on the way.

Without paying a penny to the tube we walked to Trafalgar Square and Picadilly Circus. Both places can be seen in many films. Oxford Street was very crowed with people shopping. The pavement looked very small compare to the amount of people. We got back to the hostel at about half past eight. I fell asleep very quickly.

The last day in London, I noticed that whole grained bread could be provided by asking (eating white bread the day before had made me sick). We checked out and dropped our belongings at the hostel before heading for the Science Museum. Kevin seemed to hate this museum a lot while I was enjoying it. The museum has got them all from the science in hundred years ago to the theory of relativity. From Science Museum we took a tube to Buckingham Palace ( the tube day pass cost 5.30 pound).

The time was running out, so we went back to pick up our belongings at the hostel and went to St. Pancras and King's Cross Station. The St. Pancras is a new station for Eurostar, while the King's Cross is famous with the platform 9 3/4 (those who love Harry Potter should know why). After the visit of these stations, we arrived at London Euston and had waited for 2 hours for the train back to Manchester.

London has a lot more to see but what is needed is time. The crowd and the pollution in this capital (and the same as any big cityies in the world) had made me a bit dizzy. I felt like it was Bangkok in a freezer with more organize system. I don't know why I feel I love Manchester more and more after visiting London.

The Lake District

The city and the university have made me very stress. In the middle of last week I have got a phone call from my sister, asking me to go to the Lake District with her on Saturday. I tried to manage my time with the university and Kevin and agreed with her. I woke up at 6.00 am on Saturday. The weather was not which the British would have got out of their bed. I grabbed my bag and left the dorm



It was freezing the night before as ice could be seen on the pavement and the car. I had stopped by Sainbery's shop to buy my lunch before I met my sister at Oxford Road train station. The return ticket cost 11.35 pound for each of us with young personal card. We caught the 7.48 am train to Oxenholm then continued the other train to Windermere, taking almost 2 hours in total. Along the sides of the railroad were full of snow, probably from the last freezing night.

We walked from the train station to the pier on a side of the lake. Caught a boat to Ambleside. The reture ticket cost 8 pound each. The lower deck of the boat was full with tourist, we had to sit on the roof, while it was snowing and cold. As we arrived, we climbed up to a peak directly, passed a small water fall. There was snow everywhere beside the way. At the top peak, all the tiredness had gone with beauty of the lake.

We had lunch on the way to the other peak passing Ambleside town. Asking several people, we notice the entrance, which was on the other side of the mountain. This peak exhausted all of our energy. The mountain was slippery with snow. The wind was not gentle and brought snow occasionally. At the peak, my eyes were open wide with the scenery. I feel like an hour is not enough staying there.

On the way back, we could not find a seat on the lower deck of the boat. It was raining this time and we were wet and we had to bend our body to our knees to avoid the wind. Back to Windermere town, we stopped at Costa Cafe'. A cup of hot chocolate, a croissant and looking at pictures on our camera ended this day beautifully before we took the train back to Manchester.

York

After taking a lot of time on Friday's night booking the tickets from Leeds to Sheffield and from Sheffield back to Manchester, I went to bed quite late and that made me tired the morning on the day after. I had a quick breakfast before rushing to Manchester Piccadilly Station to catch the train to York. The train was on time as ever, calling at Manchester Victoria and some stations on the way. It took two hours to call at York.

The York Station was an old style building and that was worth to stop and took some photos. I followed the direction on the notice board to the National Rail Museum, which has been boasted the biggest train museum in the world. In the great hall, there were a wide range of tains; from wooden steam locomotives to Shinkansen 0 seiries to Eurostar, from wooden carts to containers to queen's bogies. Then I walked up stair passed the train garage below to a hall consisted of train station's sign, badges, controller and etc. The frist track control equipments to the lastest ones were shown, real time train controlling board linking from the York Station could be seen.


After a long walk in the museum through all the halls, my body ran out of energy. An inexpensive coffee in the great hall had its chance to take away some of my money, changing with a cup of cappucino and a piece of fruit cake.

From the train museum, I headed to the city center of York, passed the river with a beautiful bank on each side. People were queueing to get into a bus, tourists holding their camera and took picutres of their family and friends. I checked the free map I had got two days before for York Minster. The big tall tower was very obvious and led me to the right direction. The cathedral had been building for almost two hundred years. 5 pounds to enter, errrrh!, I denied and went to the market near by.

Small streets in the market were packed with people everywhere, made me think of Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. A candy shop was on my right, the coffee shop was next just opposite the flower shop. International shop such as Levis, Gap, H&M and some more established themselves in between, not very contrast but weird to be there.


I called at Roman Bath, Merchant's Adventure House before arriving at Clifford Tower and York Museum. The latter two cost quite a lot to enter, so I decided to walk on the York Wall, the narrow long wall around the city. As time passed by, I went to York Art Galler, free to enter, enjoying the exhibition called "Time". I walked a bit around the city center, had a drink, sent a postcard to my family and went directly to York Station.


I took the train at about 8 pm, changed at Leeds to catch the other to Sheffield. Luckily all trains were on time, therefore my plan had never paused during this trip.