Monday, 13 June 2011

The picture up there is me testing the spaghetti =_=

Week 2 is quite an improved method, we don't go out to get our ingredients everyday..haha, we discussed the menu for the whole week and try to do all the shopping on Monday.

Monday:

 Peanut Soup, Brocolli with Oyster Sauce, Carrot Egg

Tuesday:

 Western Food! Fish Fillet, Fries, Egg, Hash Brown, Baked Beans

Wednesday:

 The Sweet & Sour Chicken I cooked! Taste and Look so great! :D

 
Vegetable soup, Fried Egg with Long Bean, Sweet & Sour Chicken


Thursday:
We have class from 9am to 6pm every Thursday, what an exhausting day, luckily its only once a week :( So we try to keep it simple. The original plan was to cook spaghetti, but the others wanted to have Shin instant noodle, so..

 Shin Kimchi Instant Noodle with Iceberg

Friday:
 Fried Vege, ABC Soup, Steamed Egg

Saturday:

Went for Manchester trip, so prepared something simple, just throw everything in and ta-da!

 Chicken BahKutTeh

P/S: Normally I eat instant noodle / rice for breakfast and lunch, on schooling days I prepare my own sandwich, Egg mayo & ham, Strawberry jam & Peanut butter sandwich are my favourites! Just bought a quarter pounder burger steak, so I'm gonna try something new tomorrow :D
 
Sunday, 19 June 2011

Same as the week before, same old crowded place at the meet up spot. However we manage to grab a minibus this time. Arrived in Manchester City about 1 and a half hours after departure, that is when nightmare starts.

We arrived at about 10.30am, we are required to leave at 1.40pm. We thought we would've gone to Old Trafford before going to the city centre, turns out that 3 coaches went to the city first while the others went to Old Trafford, the main point is, we only have 3 hours, they recommended 6 spots. WTH.

We walked right to the town hall, wasn't too interested, just a beautiful building. But its not even close to York Minster. We saw something quite interesting though on our way there!

 
Interesting isn't it? :D

Then we went to John Rylands Library. The guide told us that its similar to Hogwarts, I was then abit excited about that when I heard that, and as I went in the library, I see nothing but disappointment. Well..it is a beautiful library with beautiful books and art, they even have the pieces of the first Bible. However, the interior is incomparable with Hogwarts.

 
The logo feels Hogwart-ish though!

Knowing that we don't have enough time, we decided to skip the other spots and head to the main point, SHOPPING! Went in to quite a few shops like Burberry, LV, Gucci, Sports Direct, Esprit, Fred Perry, too bad that either theres nothing special or its too expensive or I don't have enough time to get what I want.

After a rush evening, we continued on to Old Trafford, the home of MUFC. I'm not a football fan, I don't even like Manchester United, but still, it feels special to be there.

Our guide from MUFC

Old Trafford, The Theater of Dreams

Tickets!

The player's lounge, where David Beckham met his wife Victoria


P/S: Still, I did not spend a single penny, I thought I would spend quite abit in Manchester so I brought alot of money (Ok, not alot, like £120). This is a really poorly organised trip, we don't have enough time to enjoy Manchester, even the York trip was way better than this, sigh. Might visit Manchester again one day, maybe just me myself :D
Sunday, 19 June 2011

I'm going to be really honest. I didn't plan to join this trip. I joined it because it was the first trip organised. It feels boring as a city itself, yet their own citizens are really proud of York city, and I know why after I went there. I've been to a few cities in the UK now (Ok, just three - Manchester, Sheffield and York), and York is like 3 times more beautiful than Manchester & Sheffield.

Its a historical city by itself, quite interesting that it is once ruled by the vikings, and was their capital city named Jorvik (pronounced "Yorvik"), don't ask me why. It is quite crowded at the assembly point, before 8am the Hubs were packed with students, there were 9 coaches, each filling about 45 of us, do the math. Feels like York will be flooded with Msians.

Very Crowded

At arrival after 1 hour+, we were greeted by the Clifford's Tower. Nothing much, basically a tower approximately 3 storey tall, and its really really small, its a shame that they charge entrance fee to enter the really small space and to climb up the tower, and we as poor Malaysians that are very very good in maths, especially money did not pay any shit. Some of them climbed all the way up from the cliff bank so that they can take picture up high without paying.

Clifford's Tower

Then we entered the shopping streets, the shops are nothing too special, road are very pack during the weekends, luckily no vehicles are allowed to enter the inner city during morning and noon, making York a perfect tourist spot. One thing that bothered me is my temptation for coffee. Everytime I pass by Costa and Starbucks my hands feel like grabbing my wallet out and get a coffee. Self-Control won though!

Streets

Something that is worth paying attention in York is the York Minster. It is a really really old and beautiful church (and also one of the largest in Europe), or more like a cathedral, beautifully constructed with awesome architecture, however they too, charge a fee of £8 to enter the inner part, but nevermind, the exterior itself is so beautiful that we don't actually need to go in. Let the picture do the talking:

 
In front of the York Minster

Dean Park, located right next to the York Minster, nothing special itself, however, it is really special on that really special day. There's a couple getting married! They are Chinese couple from HK/China, beautifully dressed.

Flower banquet up high!

Before we left York, we went for a 3.5miles walk on the city wall, basically its a mini version of the great wall of China, dubbed the not-so-great wall of York.

P/S: I did not spent a single penny at York, Bravo for that! Ate own made egg mayo sandwich. If feels really bad having my egg mayo sandwich while watching some people having their cheese sausages or fish and chips..oh well.
 
Wednesday, 16 June 2011

Have you ever wonder what is life outside Malaysia? Going into 2nd week in the UK I realise how good is UK to work and live in compared to Malaysia. Yeah it is cold, might not have that much food like what we used to enjoy back in Malaysia, but the life here is so easy that you people from KL can never imagine.

A typical fresh graduate in Malaysia will at most, and in super rare occasions, get about RM3000 salary per month. Is that enough? Many struggles to even live, not to mention if they can really afford cars and houses. In the UK, fresh graduate earn an average of £1700 per month, that is about RM8500. You might say that the living expenses here is way way higher than Malaysia. Well, guess what, that's not so true.

£200 is more than enough to feed one person, alot more than enough indeed. The market I used to go, Sainsbury's has a meal plan to feed your whole family, for £50 per week, that is £200 for one family for one month, 3 meals a day. The plans include shopping lists, menu and recipes (don't expect steak and seafood of course). The whole point is, a fresh graduate here in the UK can easily feed one or two families without difficulties, while the same person might suffer to survive in Malaysia.

Lets compare:

You can get a T shirt in the UK, cheapest at £2 at Primark, famous chain clothing store.
A low quality T shirt cost about RM10 in Malaysia's pasar malam.

If you cook your own food, I would say it will be 0-20% more expensive here in the UK, depending on what you cook. However, chain outlets outside such as subway, starbucks cost just as much, or lower than what we see back in Malaysia (Restaurant here are pretty expensive though, if you do not consider how much the people here earn). Anyway, £3 - £5 is more than enough for a really decent meal here (eating out).

One of the meals (actually the only meal I ate outside), Kebab. Theres fried chicken, mutton and chicken kebab, fries and salad in there, cost only £2.50.

  
A cup of latte in Starbucks cost £2.30 in the UK, which is cheaper than Malaysia after conversion. However, people here don't really fancy Starbucks, any cafe's coffee is as good as theirs.

Accomodation however is uncomparable. Hotels and rentals are really expensive here in the UK, again, if you earn British pound here, you wouldn't give  a damn anyway (because everything is cheap to you if you earn here). Same case to transportation.

What a dream place to live in eh? I actually enjoy the weather here alot more than the sunny and hot weather back in Malaysia, if only my dear is with me here, I would've wish that I can live here forever. Who knows, maybe I can have such a chance in the future. I recall once my father told me, if I have any chance to work overseas, especially western countries e.g. UK, I can then pick my parents over and enjoy life. What a nice dream.

P/S: To Malaysians working in the UK, I envy you!
 
Sunday, 12 June 2011

Things are not always like people always dreamed, we don't really pay our attention on enjoying in the UK, yet. The first task to achieve in the UK is, to survive e.g. eat. Eating at the cafes and restaurants outside is so pricey here that it is practically impossible for us Malaysian students to eat outside everyday, so we had to cook.

Surprisingly most of my friends don't really know how to cook, and most of them are girls..haha, how to find husband har? Nevermind, I'm an expert chef! Long word short say, stuff that we actually cooked!

Day 1:

Already missing Malaysian food?

Rice, Chicken Bah Kut Teh 

Day 2:
 Porridge, Fried Egg, Potatoes and Iceberg

Day 3:

 Rice, Steamed Egg, Pan Fried Chicken and Egg, ABC Soup (with and without chicken)

Day 4:

 Rice, Soy Sauce Chicken, Boiled Iceberg with Oyster Sauce & Fried Garlic, Baked Beans with Egg

Day 5:

Busy day! Not much time to cook, bought 3 £1 Pizzas, tasted okay though! Still experiencing with the oven :D

Pork Pepperoni and Grilled Veg

Day 6:

Went to the Market, something like the pasar we see in Malaysia, bought some marinated chicken drumsticks to be cooked in the oven. It wasn't too successful though, we took it out and in out and in and in the end its still not fully cooked.

Rice, Fried Potatoes, Boiled Broccoli with Oyster Sauce, Egg & Veg Soup

 Hot & Spicy Chicken Drumstick

Day 7:

I cooked curry chicken myself! wahahaha, I think I can cook better than my mum :D

 Rice, Fried Egg, Boiled Iceberg with Oyster Sauce & Fried Garlic, CURRY CHICKEN!

 Looked great and taste awesome!

P/S: I tried to avoid spending money on food outside though, even during the trips we ate our own made egg mayo sandwiches, craving for coffee badly in the cold weather ~~

So far I only ate 1 meal outside, its a supper, Turkish food - Kebab!

 Fried Chicken, Lamb & Chicken Kebab with Fries and Salad

Relatively cheap in the UK, this large meal cost about £2.50. Not too great if you ask me, but its a good choice if there is no choice but to eat outside, kebab won't fail in keeping your stomach full for an affordable price!

Friday, 10 June 2011

It has been a week away from Malaysia now, I think I am actually adapting quite well, however there are really some significant differences between Malaysia and here in the UK.

Apart from the sunrise and sunset time mentioned in earlier posts, one thing that is quite interesting is the weather. Normally, it would be pretty cold in the morning and night with really strong wind, nothing too fancy. The tricky part is at noon. The weather is so weird, this minute the rain starts pouring down, the next minute the rain stops, sun comes out and its as hot as hell. Yes, the key word is NEXT MINUTE, I did not exaggerate it. This minute its raining, the next minute a hot and sunny one, the then suddenly the rain comes again. Imagine just taking out my umbrella and the rain stops, just when im about to keep it it starts raining again, CRAP.

While being a little fed up with the neverending weather activity, I actually loved the weather here. Most of the time its cold and windy, close to 10 degree celcius in the morning and night.

In average, we walk at least 1 hour non-stop everyday, my legs are so tired every night, still cant resist it, gonna head out and feel the breeze of the cool air before we got too busy with the assignments.

Crossing lots of streets everyday

One more obvious differences is that the people here are so friendly to us, theres endless examples and scenarios that I could write a whole page of blog. The drivers will let you pass the road even the traffic light is on green, the drivers behind would not even honk, they are so patient! I came out with a conclusion why is that so. They does not work too hard, and they do party hard! Shops are closed so early that we struggle  to buy stuff after class. After 7pm the streets starts to be empty, save the pub and club street of course.

P/S: I actually love this place and hope that I would be able to come back for longer studies with my dear Chaoe for our MSc next time, maybe not in Sheffield, experience something different again!

PP/S: Although it seems like my dear doesn't want to come back and stay for a year, she wants to come back to have a trip..haha, UK for me is more like a good place to live rather than a travel destination :|
Monday, 6 June 2011

After the flight, we made our first step on the land of United Kingdom entering the Manchester International Airport. And we were greeted with...a loooooooooooooooooooooong queue to proceed through the custom. Took us about 1 hour plus just to wait for our turn, to my surprise the officer just checked my offer letter and passport, nothing else. I was worried that they might check my laptop or phone.

What a long queue at Manchester Airport!

We then met the university staff and brought to the coach after reclaiming our luggage. We waiting for more than 1 hour on the bus before it started moving. The bus is so packed and the seats are so small compared to the buses in Malaysia, when it is filled with people and the air con is not on, I can barely breath.

Basically the room is quite spacious, more than enough for a single room, feels like a master room back in Malaysian condo. Did some shopping in the first two days, of course mainly food and also some living essentials.

Laptop

Food!!

Bed

P/S: It feels really weird that the sky is still bright at 9.30pm, the same feeling I got when I went to China and the sky became dark at 4.30pm. Miss everyone in Msia !
Monday, 6 June 2011


After a rush preparation and a not-so-wonderful flight journey, im now sitting in my own room in Sheffield, United Kingdom. Summer has never been so different in my life, afterall we never had any seasons other than summer in Malaysia.

Lets talk about the not-so-wonderful flight. It was separated into 2 parts. My journey started from KLIA to Abu Dhabi, then from Abu Dhabi to Manchester. People are excited boarding the plane, well, I was greeting by a cacat-ed monitor and I was thinking "How am I going to survive 7 hours flight without the monitor?", come on I need movies!! Somehow it became normal again after the flight took off, I watched some movies, namely I am Number Four, Rango, and I Love Hong Kong. Yes, I Love Hong Kong, I watched it before but the movie list is so boring that I had to watch it again, and the worst thing is I am still flying with the same airway on the next flight, so still same shit.

Flight meals, nothing much to expect. Thats exactly what you should be expecting. When you expect nothing, things will somehow turn out to be great, and my first flight meal was quite good. And when you start expecting more because of a good first meal, your nightmare comes after. Heard anything about Hardrock Cafe? I suppose they dont serve Hardrock breads, because the Hardrock breads are on the flights, they can easily kill someone if the bread hit their head from a distance.

I know it doesnt look very nice, but its the first and best meal I had on the flight, beef curry with sambal

After the first part, we basically sat down and wait for about 3 hours before we board our next flight to Manchester, it is so tiring and boring to wait for transit. The second part of the flight is kinda straight forward, I did not get any sleep during the first flight so I kinda slept.

Chilling at Abu Dhabi waiting for transit

I wanted to sleep, but she wants autograph

The good thing was however, many people came to sent me off at KLIA, felt pretty good, ahem. Miss my dear, and hopefully she will be able to survive without me, hopefully she don't get any food poisoning from my mum's cooking.

P/S: I flew on Etihad Airways, if you plan to fly with one of those middle east airline, try to bare with the Arabian subtitles of the movies. Seriously, fuck that shit.