Saturday, April 25, 2009

inverness, finally something with "ness" XD - day 4

aiya... this month only 6 posts done and 5 of them are travel posts ah... tsk tsk tsk... XD

anyway, travel post still~~~ i will jia you to finish this soon~ inverness inverness~~

again, stunning view all the way from edin to the northern town.
on the 4th bridge. dunno where are the first 3s... :P

can see the greenish sea below :)

country side~~~ assorted pine XP

wonder wot those white dots on the hills are? sheeeeeeeeeeps! XD


the journey north, into the highlands, it was a game of spotting :D
red pheasants at the edge of the long-grassed fields, nimble deers hopping in the thinner woods, different species of sheeps, cows and horses,fluffy-feather-like snow caps, castles, scattered settlements, mountain ranges like the spine of the roof top, creeks running down their sides like creases draining rain to rivers that acts like gutters in turn... that the change of scenery as the lattitude increases.

most of the mountains are quite bare and rocky with only short greens carpeting them. sheeps were grazing at the edges of the clifts. i wondered if they will get hurt tumbling down with such thick shock absorbers wrapping them at this time of the year. 3 bags full of wools! one for the master, one for the dame, and one for the little boy who lives down the lane~~~ not quite spring yet they say. new borned lambs are seen, but certainly no wool cutting yet. but certainly, it made me wonder how did the english cross this terrain to threaten the highlanders back then?

rainbows can be seen almost everywhere. since most of the time the sky is sunnier than my brother 阳 on one side and rainier than that korean guy on entertainment news Rain on the otherside. creeks, originated from the melting snow, that runs parallel to the roads, or roads that are constructed parallel to the creeks nourishes the lands and fields and herds.

and we entered the region of the snowy mountains :)

like watching frames of movies ^^

the grazing ground

rich highlander's house~

classic highlander's house~ with 5 footballs scattered in the front yard! ^^

highland cows~

nessie in the sky~~~ aye~ cloud pattern ^^

up to this point, all photos posted up there were taken in the bus XD

but here we are! river ness~




glasgow was red, edin was yellow, inverness is brown, mainly because of the colour of the kind of stone available in the surrounding mountains to make bricks. aye, they dont paint so much. all three places dominated by gulls tho. many times, i've been just pointing my nose at the sky, gazing at their elegant wind gliding flights ^^

inverness castle~

the town~

the erm... graveyard again XD

the xxx canal~



signs for the great glen hikers ^^ which will be proved to be very useful in the coming story! ^^

we took a late bus thru the length of loch ness to fort augustus, a town lying at the south end of the loch, opposing inverness in the north. oh yeah! one thing i forgot to mention, de busses in scotland, if you dont wave, they wont stop!
we slept in "glamis castle" that 4th nite ^^ 一夜无话

coming up next is the much anticipated hike along loch ness! :D

Thursday, April 23, 2009

edin 走透透 - continue day 3

sweden is crazy
and the swedish spring is lagi crazy~
it's a time and place where u can find protected species (保育科植物, try to take picture nxt time~) in the 魔鬼森林 10mins walk away from your home (wot? din watch 王子变青蛙? XD), observe how deers eat tulips at de same time, see a herd of deers crossing de main road outside your school, and run 2k and still dont develope a drop of sweat~

anyway, we continue again with haggis land~ scotland have so many unique things i can name it a different name everytime ^^

lets start the "the legendary tour guide RUTH's tour"~~ a 3hrs+ walking tour, minus the two hogwartses, coz u've already seen them XP but we'll have more from JK Rowling, anticipate! ;P
we start from the Royal Mile, an almost mile long street :)



a symbol of love? nay! it's the tax tariff office symbol that all edinburghers love to hate!


scottish flag in the sky~






and then we went to the castle, and then to visit one of the most haunted ground in edin, with a famous little terrier keeping watch at the entrance ^^ sweet~ this time not my fault ah, ruth brought us there...




edin castle view from the graveyard


that "hogwarts" school just beside the graveyard

here!! the birthplace of fred and george and lee jordan and harry potter!!
the coffee shop where JK Rowling spent her time in the winter writing HP since it's cheaper that way than paying for heating in her house :)

back view of the coffee house, the floor same as the bridge. rowling probably sat beside one of those windows that overlooks both edin castle and that nobel school ^^

and finally~ that's ruth!! ^^ talking animatedly in princess st garden.

we met choylan and lily again after the walk. here's where we had lunch! everyone claims they have the best haggis, but this one is a bit creative ^^ oh i forgot to mention, we had dinner in a msian restaurant on de 2nd nite!! de owner came from seremban ^^

scottish coffee~ they mix whisky and coffee and cream~ yum~~~ yean having irish coffee, with coffee and bailey's O.O

lunch! starting from left, haggis fritters, goat cheese pastry topped with baked onion, fish from lily's fish and chips~ all of them were so yummy~~~~ probably because of my empty stomach. haggis is made of the internal organs of sheeps. it really heated us up, working better than the whisky coffee to shred the early spring chill from 3hrs walking. you can really feel the blood rushing after the first mouthful!! we din have the traditional way served with neeps(turnips ="=) and tatties(potatoes ="=) tho.

after the wonderful meal, we continued to lepak in edin~~







probably the best view of edin caslte~

花衬人美 :P

partial of our dinner ^^ doesnt look much but it tasted like german pork knuckle! yum~~

one a penny~ two a penny~ hot cross buns~~~ english easter~~^^


sunset lu~~



promised yean to make this one into a post card ^^

okej folks~ that's it from the photogenic edin ^^
coming up next - northern inverness and the highlands! remember "Brave Heart" by mel gibson? ^^