GARGANTUAN steps
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
as if singapore wasn't hot enough
I am back in Singapore but will be leaving for Cairo in a few hours time! Came back home last thursday after my flight was delayed by three hours, and the weather has been quite tolerable thus far. I know I am in for much worse when I touch down in Egypt! Twice as hot as London, something I'm definitely not looking forward to.
Meanwhile, I've met up with quite a few people back in Singapore. Old friends, some have changed and some haven't. Singapore feels much different from what it use to be, or perhaps its just me!
It's time to go now! See you all in slightly less than a fortnight's time. Fon should be back by then.
Meanwhile, I've met up with quite a few people back in Singapore. Old friends, some have changed and some haven't. Singapore feels much different from what it use to be, or perhaps its just me!
It's time to go now! See you all in slightly less than a fortnight's time. Fon should be back by then.
Labels: Singapore
Monday, June 16, 2008
bath and stonehenge
I went to Bath yesterday with my dear friend Raymond, and his friend, Daryll, who is also one year my senior, studying in NUS. He's on exchange in Germany and came over to London for a holiday. We were suppose to go to Amsterdam during this short break between the end of my exams and me leaving for home, but it didn't materialise. That didn't turn out too bad as I got to go to a rather nice town and also visited UK's representative for the New Seven Wonders of the World - the Stonehenge!
We took a train west to Bath and we decided to add in a trip to the Stonehenge which was an hour's drive away from Bath! Reaching the town, we booked our tour to the Stonehenge which was to start at 2pm (we arrived at quarter to eleven in Bath). Following that, we went to visit the main sites, which were the Bath Abbey, Roman Baths and the Royal Crescent.
First up was the Bath Abbey, which is apparently the last Gothic church to be built in England. Nothing too spectacular (compared to all the other churches that I've seen in my lifetime, and I must say, it really has been a lot) We felt it wasn't worth spending a single penny on going in to the church so we just left it as it is.
A fountain outside Bath Abbey
Raymond withdrawing money from a ridiculously short ATM
Going into the Roman Baths wasn't any much better though, but if we had come to Bath and not gone to see the Roman Baths, then we might as well not have bothered coming at all. Bath (the town) was conquered by the Romans way back in the first century, and here, they found a 'miraculous' hot spring and so they built a temple and a bath for the people. The hot spring still exists and visiting the Roman Baths proved to be quite a humid experience. Way back then, the Romans actually did go to public baths to get a clean scrub. Must be frightfully cold to do so during the winter. Before we entered the Roman Baths, there were two steet entertainers in nothing but their underwears prancing around playing with fire and doing acrobats. I must say they were really quite funny and I've posted a video of one of their gimmicks. We had an entertaining half an hour before we began our tour in the Roman Baths.
The Street Entertainers
Video of the Street Entertainers
Me, Raymond and Daryll in the Roman Baths
Raymond and me in the Roman Bath with Bath Abbey in the background
After touring the complex with our audioguide for about an hour an a half, we hurriedly bought our lunch and hopped onto our bus to the Stonehenge.
The Stonehenge is quite an enigma, firstly, because we stood nearly fifty metres away from the actual crop of stones and could hardly inspect anything close at hand, which proved to be slightly disappointing. They were built by the Celts (if I did pay proper attention to my handset) way back in 3000 B.C., which means that they were built earlier than the Pyramids of Giza! However, on further reading, it was only the other ditch that was built then, and the rest (meaning the rocks) were built much later, slightly just after the pyramids. The outer set of stones were carried from a nearby quarry but the inner round of stones were brought all the way from Wales, amazingly! These rocks were really huge (the largest weighing 45 tonnes, the weight of six elephants), and I'm quite amazed that people could actually built such a structure.
No one knows what the Stonehenge was built for, but apparently, it is an oversize calendar, with the sun rising from different arches in different months of the year. Other than that, there is apparently some energy source that brought the Celts here, and there were pictures of crop circles which I saw which appeared just a few hundreds of metres away from the Stonehenge just a few years back. Highly mysterious indeed.
Me and the Stonehenge
Me, Raymond and Daryll
The Stonehenge
We then headed back to Bath to finish seeing the sites before attending mass, having dinner and then heading back to London! We continued taking many pictures with pigs (Bath is filled with pig-models littered around the town) but after a while, it got really boring.
The Royal Crescent
apparently the most beautiful street in the whole of England
apparently the most beautiful street in the whole of England
It has been a good trip and I will most probably be back sometime with Fon to see the Stonehenge again. Perhaps a nice drive down through the country-side. Meanwhile, I leave London in less than 48 hours time! Packing hasn't been that tedious, just the tonnes of books I bought throughout the year proving to be quite an issue. Home sweet home!!!
Labels: Bath, England, Friends, Seven Wonders of the World, Stonehenge, Travel
Friday, June 06, 2008
the final leg
It is just a week to the final paper and I've got a week to get everything settled. Have managed to get the gears set in motion and I hope I will be prepared within the next six days! Just need to clear this final hurdle and then I'm home free! Good friend Alywin is coming up to London for a presentation next week, and I shall get to meet up with him for a good meal.
The trip to Egypt at the end of the month has been confirmed, and I am excitedly looking forward to it. Results will be released on the day that I fly back though, and that is pretty nerve-wrecking as it is.
Back to the books now to keep a clear head till the end of exams! And then I'll be back in no time.
The trip to Egypt at the end of the month has been confirmed, and I am excitedly looking forward to it. Results will be released on the day that I fly back though, and that is pretty nerve-wrecking as it is.
Back to the books now to keep a clear head till the end of exams! And then I'll be back in no time.
Labels: Examinations, Imperial College
