Swansea...Reminiscing the good old days

 Swansea may not be a place where people are familiar with, but its the place where I grew up with my family..my dad took his masters degree and PHd here so practically its like 6 to 7 years I lived there...my mom told me that I flew there when I was just 1 month old just as she finished her confinement period..ayah had me at a very young age..two kids at the age of 26? and look at me 25 not even married yet haha..ok menyimpang cerita...

Me and aiman only managed to make a day trip there and luckily amira had a friend whose studying there and willing to play tour guide for us...so we bought the ticket earlier in London for about 6pounds return..when we first arrived at the bus station, we were greeted by Ruslan Aiman, third year student in Swansea University, our tour guide of the day...luckily he had no class on Thursday so he managed to take us through the small city, around campus and around our school that was nearby the campus...

the city town is very small since its population is not that large so its kinda like uxbridge (london) town divided by 4..

I don't quite recall the history of this old remaining piece of fortress but its located near the city town

swansea is really windy..so mind the messy scarf..nyesal tak pakai shawl

this is leisure centre..a place where ayah always brought us for swimming

sorry I can't recall the exact name of this place...ala2 puteri harbour kat JB tu... (tu la lambat2 sangat post kat blog tu dah berkarat memori)

I simply love this view!!

clean, cool, calm and breathtaking!!

Then after taking a stroll along the city we took a bus to Swansea University..Ruslan said that we were suppose to pay about 2pounds per ride but we got lucky because there was no one in charge that time...so  here's around campus... I really like the whole view of it...really reminiscing the old days where I would accompanied ayah at campus...I did not know a clue what ayah was doing that time but all I know is playing around the campus hallway heee...

this is building where the Malaysian students would take annual pictures for special occasions such as Eid.. penat aku scroll pics fb mama tapi tak jumpa gak pic lama tahun 1993 tak silap

this is the only picture that I managed to "steal" from mama's facebook...too easy to spot me kan ..yeap the same building 20 years ago...

the campus cafeteria..the best thing is its meat are halal!! untung student muslim kat sini...

the administration building

ha sebelah aiman ni lah ruslan aiman...tapi tak nak confuse punya pasal..kitorang panggilah dia lan...tourist guide yang penuh informasi heee

The park where most students would have picnics during summer 

around campus...

imagine waking up everyday with this kind of view from your room...subhanAllah indahnya kann..baru senang nak belajar...view from lan's room..yang skeptical tu jangan nak fikir bukan2 pulak..kitorang bertiga naik sebab diajak dan lan nak gi amek barang jap...

Then..from campus, just a five minute walk we reached our old rental house , Langland Terrace.. seriously, I didn't recall that the house was located in front of the beach..that explains the strong wind everytime we walk to school...

arghh!!this house brings back so much pleasant memories

see I tell ya our house is located right in front of the beach... and also explains the extreme slopes around here..

and then..just a two minute walk, we reached our old school here..Brynmill Primary School...yeay!! I think everything looks exactly the same from outside..we wanted to go for a tour inside but unfortunately  the staff in charge is only available at 5p.m and we have to catch our bus at 5.30pm..aww such a bummer...but being here only is just enough for me...alhamdulillah I can finally tick that to-go-list off... 

the place we stood is where the students have their daily assembly before entering their classes..also the same place where students would play everytime after lunch hour

 

 

yeah sorry about the whole  "I posted too many pics here thing"...I got too excited

And after a whole day walking..ruslan took us to a halal buffet lunch called "peach&keen" (I think I got that name wrong) and honestly there is so much choices of food you can choose from chinese to italian, indian and so much more..ini kalau 5 jam pon aku rasa lom tentu dapat rasa semua...as a token of gratitude, lan's bill was on us.. thank you for being our tour guide yea..oh and thank you jemput kami datang rumah makan2 masa hari raya ritu heee...budak melawati je pon kan haha...belum puas lagi nak round swansea tu...insyaAllah kalau ada rezeki memang nak kesana lagi...

So in short (short ke??) here's bits and pieces to end this post

what I managed to grab along the way..chocolates!! oh except for that shortcake I bought it at Bristol

the beach. right in front of langland terrace

macam biasa gambar acah2 candid harus ada

this thing is so cool because its a speaker where you can just place your cell phone on top of that thing..no wires needed..and the price...pehhh!! but I didn't bought it though :(

swansea is located in Wales so most of every signboards or announcements there will be two versions of it..english and welsh..so  yang korang nampak sebutan yang macam berbelit lidah nak sebut tu thats swansea university in welsh...believe it or not..I was once the best student in class for welsh language...sekarang? kejadah hape pon tak ingat..english pon grammar berterabur je...

Cardiff

Its kinda hard to write when you don't have internet access at the home I'm currently living that is near to work so whenever I had the chance to go online on my laptop especially in bangi where the little kids are not at home or sleeping so I better get my fingers back on the keyboard..

Speaking of Cardiff, this was our second time stepping our foot at cardiff. Our first time when we were invited in a Malaysian Night event held by the students society..oh man the show was really superb!! I don't know how the students can spare they time after class to present a good show like that.

Our second trip to cardiff was actually paying a visit to our childhood friend amira which aiman literally knows her since he was 5 years old to be exact since her mom and my dad works at the same department so we spent a night at cardiff..the night we arrived amira and his friend which we once met at the malaysian night event as well took us for dinner at a halal steak restaurant..the good thing is it even has a special space for muslims to perform solat..oh I think the owner is muslim..bagus kan diorang ni...after dinner we just took a stroll through the city...

yg baju kuning tu nama dia yusof ataupon orang panggil dia usop sontorian lol...both of these guys orang kuat cardiff..dalam event2 kehormat diorang ni la in charge..rasanya usop ni head of kelab umno cardiff

I don't know what it is but I think its great!!

meet amira..second year student at University of Cardiff taking biomedical engineering..adik beradik dia memang pandai2 belaka..kakak dia dulu degree kat jepun sekarang masters kat aussie,..adik dia lagi dua orang both SBP, mana tak nya..mak ngn ayah dia both dah pangkat professor..it runs in the blood katakan...

end of our jalan2 town...

and now we go back to the first day we were in cardiff for malaysian night..sebenarnya lupa nak cite masa awal2 tadi...

these guys (yang baju kuning and sebelah aiman tu) accompanied us to the hall..both are taking medicine and still can get active with these kind of events..rasanya ISMA kot..tapi diorang tak join masuk hall tu...ada aktiviti lain rasanya...along with the director of Malaysion student department 

ini baru yang first time aiman reunite dengan amira..

before the hall was full

the title of the show

end of the show

ok thats the end of our cardiff story....moving on next is our Swansea trip...

Bristol

At first we didn't planned  to visit Bristol as we had no friends there (and I think I didn't even know Bristol exists) haha..but then we met Hafeez, a masters degree student who studies at bristol..coincidently we met him at a Chinese New Year event held at London organized by the Malaysian Student Society.. we told him that we wanna visit manchester, cardiff and Swansea (tu memang wajib sebab tempat membesar kot) then he asked why not pay a visit at Bristol first as it is near Cardiff..so boleh pitt stop kat bristol dulu la before gerak gi cardiff..then he volunteerily willing to take us around bristol then...

So the thing is...we bought tickets earlier online because they say everything you bought online earlier is very cheap..indeed it was... usually one way bus ticket from london to bristol would take about 18pounds and guess what we bought it online one week earlier and got it for 6pounds!!murah kan...BUT...we did not know about the punctuality of transportation here in Britain...kalau pukul 10.30pagi lah katakan bus tu..pukul 10.31 dah gerak..gila lah..and we reached there I think was around 10.20a.m...so nak tak nak terpaksa beli gak la ticket baru on the spot..luckily it only costs us 9pounds..but it took us about 2 hours to wait for the next bus...so sedikit lari dari schedule tour with hafeez...

After three hours journey,alhamdulillah we arrived at Bristol...oh my jalan kat sana memang berbukit2 ala2 san francisco uolls.. So for day one at Bristol...

so basically macam ni la rupa bandar Bristol

Cabot Circus..one of the malls here..

lepak minum sini jap

ni dia our tourist guide yang sangat sempoi dan baik, Hafeez, currently pursuing his masters degree in Climate Change..course yang menarik kan..

ini laluan ke parking lot sebenarnya..tapi diorang gelar as the glass walk katanya..(kalau nak glass walk kasi la lantai tu kaca sekali kan.)

with the brother..bila aku tak pakai contact lens, memang nampak macam kembar habis kitorang..

muka bajet cute..

ni tetiba kena photobombed ngan locals kan..first time kena camni ngan stranger haha..

dekat sungai waktu2 nak senja..sangat cantik kawasan ni...

globe ni yang menjadi ikon untuk tanda "@bristol" kot...do correct me if I'm wrong Bristolians

ni pon area2 depan globe tu je...

this one I think cathedral kot..

ni jalan nak ke rumah sewa hafeez for dinner..time malam tak nampak sangat kecuraman jalan ni..tapi memang mendaki lah citanya

spotted  wartawan BBC News doing their live broadcast..jakun much?

So we went to Hafeez's rental house for dinner and met all of his housemates there..one of his housemates faiz cooked dinner as it was his turn of duty to do so..ala normal kan buat jadual2 ni..time aku kat rumah sewa camtu gak...then hafeez invited one of his female friends there too sebab nak menumpangkan saya ni di rumahnya..Hanim, also a masters degree student..I spent a night at her little cozy studio apartment which I think is quite cool

ha what did I tell ya? nice kan..tapi the rent fees are a little pricey for me..

Okay the next morning hafeez and aiman fetch me up at  hanim's place and we headed for breakfast..kat sini memang tak dapat lah kan nasi lemak so subway's egg and cheese breakfast deal was our choice...hafeez had class at 9.a.m so he did not get the chance to accompany us at clifton suspension bridge tapi dia sangatlah baik hantar kami naik bukit yang sangat curam ke bridge tu then patah balik masuk kelas...ya Allah thank you sangat hafeez..sebab nak kejar pergi kelas punya pasal, I heard you sakit kaki sikit..minta maaf sangat ea...

Oh lupa nak mention yang Clifton Suspension Bridge ni salah satu tarikan dekat bristol ni..I think the only attraction lah kot hehe..

sampai2 je sana the first thing I did was finishing my breakfast..kopi yang aku minum tu pon dah sejuk tahap baru keluar dari peti ais gamaknya...

masa kami datang ni baru lepas hujan so you can imagine kesejukan yang melanda tu kan...tapi kalau tak kabus ni the view memang sangat cantik

gedik much???

so basically ni la view bridge ni dari dekat..

view dari atas ni lagi terbaik!!!

attempt untuk wat pic lompat tak jadi

time ni dah turun bawah nak balik dah...belakang entrance ke clifton punya pekan kecil

over comel katanya :p

apa significantnya the flying right picture ni ialah kita berada di bristol national museum and art gallery..its free entrance so tak la menyesal kalau bayar tapi bosan kan...boleh lah sekadar nak kill time...

aiman biasalah kalau dah nampak perempuan cun mesti nak snap pic dengan dia..aku lah yang senyap2 snap pic ni..dah lah budak tu tengah korek2 beg cari lighter dia

jadilah kan depan signboard uni ni..tapi saya "bangga" belajar kat unversiti teknikal malaysia melaka OK...

ha ni view jalan yang aku kata  curam gila ni..time siang jelas sikit

Then after hafeez finished his class he brought us to lunch at a halal western food own by orang2 arab pakistan ni  and ate fried chicken with fries and "Dr Pepper" soda..serius tak sedap air ni..rasa macam ubat..tapi aku tak tahu napa ramai budak2 suka air ni....adakah parents ajar dengan minum air ni maka lebih mudah  nak makan ubat?? oh and then bila habis lunch he took us to the bus station for our next destination, Cardiff...thank you hafeez and hanim for the experience and the hospitality...




ok bye nak tido..esok KERJA!!! apa kerja???okay nanti that will be update soon