[UK. Accommodation] Hostel in Scotland- St Christopher's Edinburgh

Let me share my FIRST with you all.

This was the FIRST TIME of me staying in a hostel ON MY OWN for a night.

I was a bit nervous to be honest.

But I knew I have experienced the worst in Florence and nothing could be worse since I was going for a SAME SEX 10-BED ROOM this time.

And I picked ST. CHRISTOPHER'S as my first, the one in the middle of the picture.

In fact I found out the bars to the left and to the right were belong to ST. CHRISTOPHER'S as well.

I love the location of this hostel!
It is right on the main road, on the busy and easy-to-find MARKET STREET!
It is only 3-4 minutes away from the railway station of Edinburgh!
In terms of location, I would say this hostel is definitely PERFECT!

Besides, I love that they got online check-in service!
Not like it's very helpful as I still had to show them my ID card when getting the key, but it just gave people an impression of COOL and PROFESSIONAL hahaa

This was how it look like when I first opened the door. A very nicely paint wall with a lot of posters.

It was very nice that they got 24-hr reception here and the check-in process was indeed quite efficient and timely (not sure if it is because I have checked-in online though).

They would give you your key, and a city map and a note on the hostel including the house rules, wifi information, a voucher to breakfast, and discount coupons on food and drinks at the bar.

HAVE I NOT MENTIONED I GOT FREE CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST?

This was indeed the reason I picked this hostel between a few other options hahaa

The room key was a electronic card and I was grateful for that as its easier to keep in the wallet.

Oh, I spotted that it has a LIFT but it was currently malfunctioning at the moment I stayed.

Luckily, as I did not have much things to carry, just my small bag pack and small bag, 

the THREE STAIRS walk did not bother me at all.

AND SO, this was my room for the night in EDINBURGH, the CAPITAL OF SCOTLAND!

I love it PINK and...

the wall paper was MATCHING and COLOURFUL!

Obviously it lighten my day and made my joy!

And talking about the room as a whole, 

the bed sheets and pillow seemed fine and clean, at least I didn't get bed bug bites,

and the ensuite bathroom was very clean and neat,

also the hot shower was alright.

BUT,

the room was a bit cold and chilly as not all the heaters were working as-a-matter-of-factly,

WIFI worked only in the CHILLING ROOM on the 1st floor,

there weren't enough electric plugs and obviously no plus for the ones sleeping on the upper bed,

and one last thing,

it was rather frustrating waiting for the toilet for more than 30 minutes in the next morning since I was sharing with 9  other people. 

And since this hostel was located at a quite decent location, the view outside of the window was quite nice! 

You could see the Monument and the New Town clearly!

So sad that I wasn't allocated a bed right next to the window though:(

And this was the bar that provided BREAKFAST on the next morning.

The breakfast wasn't much to choose from, but good enough to make my stomach smiled.

I think I had picked up an apple, a bowl of cereals, a cup of hot tea and two pieced of toasts.

SOUDNS HUNGRY HUH?!? 

I WAS STARVING INDEED HAHAA

And since I had to check out before 10am as required, I kept my a-bit-heavy bag pack in the storage locker, I was expecting free luggage storage actually,

 but the rent was still acceptable, just £2.5 for 12 hours for a small size locker and you could re-open it anytime in between(prepare some coins for this).

Overall, I had a rather pleasant stay in St Christopher's Edinburgh and it was definitely is a good value for money.

One night for only £7.24 including breakfast, which is even less than $90 HKD, was definitely worth the stay!

I would definitely recommend this to you all as if you are going to stay over in the beautiful city of Edinburgh!

Official Website:
http://www.st-christophers.co.uk/

[UK] Day trip to Chatsworth House, filming place of Pride and Prejudice

Have you watched or read PRIDE & PREJUDICE before?

It is a classic romantic English friction written by Jane Austen and it is reproduced into both drama and movie.

As a BIG FAN of PRIDE & PREJUDICE,of course I have read the book, seen the movie as well as the drama.

Finally, through going on exchange to the United Kingdom, I got to go to the place they said where Jane Austen got the inspiration to write about the HOUSE of MR DARCY,

also, the filming place of PRIDE & PREJUDICE,

the CHATSWORTH HOUSE in Peak District.

CHATSWORTH HOUSE is relatively close to Leeds, the place I am studying at the moment. 

It took me and my friend about 2 hours to get there.

The fastest method of course is to drive there directly, unfortunately we can't afford a car, so instead, we picked the second most convenient way to get there, took a train to Sheffield and then took a TM bus from Sheffield to Chatsworth House, each took us about 1 hour.

Taking the TM bus will give you a £2 discount!

After getting off from the bus, there was still anther 15 minutes walk till the House.

The picture above was Chatsworth Park, where we were on our way to the House.

After a long walk, we were finally able to see the HOUSE clearly!
And it came with a HUGE pitch with cute little lambs all over the place!

And after we crossed this bridge, we were finally there!

 This was the entrance to the HOUSE!
Such a beautiful backyard!
We got our tickets at the House with student discount plus the bus discount for £18 with access to both the HOUSE and the GARDEN.

It would be £2 cheaper if it's not Christmas season (from mid Nov onwards).

This year, they got the theme of ALICE IN THE WONDERLAND.

There were traces of ALICE everywhere.

It was cute, but to be honest, I would want to see the HOUSE without all those ALICE decoration.

Me and my friend were actually feeling upset about that quite a lot, we should have come earlier:(

This was the DINNING HALL, the place where they held PARTIES in the film, where LIZY AND DARCY danced!!!! 

Simply by envisioning the scene, we got so EXCITED already!

The staircase towards the upstairs!

The VERY GRAND STUDY!

T

The house was BIG, but sadly we did not have much access, so we spent less than an hour in the house and then headed out for the EVEN BIGGER garden.

Indeed the garden was HUGE!
Looking from the garden to the HOUSE was so BEAUTIFUL!
How I wish I was living here for my whole life!
Just kidding, I am afraid I would die of boredom as I have always been the CITY GIRL type hahaa

They even got a MAZE in the ENORMOUS garden!
We had so much fun there and was stuck for a while in fact!

But we did make it to the END!

I don't want to spoil your fun, so I won't tell you how to do that hahaa

This is the CHATSWORTH CHRISTMAS MARKET!
Free entry and there was a lot to see.

We were simply focusing on the FOOD though hahaa
BUT this was definitely worth visiting since we did pay more for the Christmas season!

Love it with the lights on and the sunset in behind!

We left at around 5:10pm and it was ALL DARK!

We have REGRETED leaving so late since there was no lights on the road at all.

AND no phone signal either.

We walked on the main road in the DARK all the way back to the bus stop in panic.

We were so afraid and using "ADVENTURE" to sum up our trip was definitely not kidding.

But this place is absolutely a MUST-GO for PRIDE & PREJUDICE fans!
And better go in non-Christmas season and leave before the sunset completely!

[香港 . 吃] 傳統茶樓之老字號蓮香樓

蓮香樓, 是我去過最懷舊, 最有特色的茶樓。

這次並不是我的第一次到訪, 之前已經到過蓮香吃了兩顿晚飯, 飲過兩餐茶。

晚飯來說, 我最念念不忘的是她的八寶鴨, 要提前訂才有的, 但一試我就愛上了。

飲茶來說, 我最喜歡的不單單是她的茶, 卻是她的傳統風味。

反正這裡就是有一種魔力吸引你去過一遍就想去第二遍！

難得走到那麼遠, 看到這幅遊客都愛去照相的牆，我又怎可以錯過呢？

這是蓮香樓的裏面，一進來就會感覺到這裡跟香港其他的茶樓的分別，老實說，分別還是蠻大的，第一次來還真的不習慣。

先先是看到風扇已經是很稀罕的事情，

然後看到沒有帶位的，這裡是要像在麥當勞找位子一樣自己找！

我第一次來的時候可是找位子找了45分鐘耶！

之後再來，有了實戰經驗，當然有進步，10分鐘就找到囉！

沒來過的人要有心理準備哦，週末的人超多，

不但位子難找，點心也難找的哦！

因為除了飯菜之外，這裡都不是在位子上點點心，

而是在點心車上點的，人多的時候還是要用搶的，

一看到有點心車的蹤影，就要趕過去搶，要不是當他慢慢的把車推到你面前的時候，

往往剩下的就只有無人問尊的點心囉。。。

在蓮香，會廣東話是有好處的，至少點心阿姨可以回答你她再賣甚麼點心，如果不會廣東話來這邊就只可以指手畫腳囉！（但我發現還是有找多遊客慕名而來的）

我可是在做導遊，帶這個沒來過蓮香吃點心的小朋友千里迢迢地來這邊噢，看我多好！

看到那些站著的人嗎？他們要不在等位子，要不就是在排點心！

因為這裡有很長的歷史，可是有一大批老顧客每天也來光顧，那些熟客都跟伙計弄得很熟，

上次跟我們搭檯的夫婦可是伙計不用問也知道他們要點甚麼茶耶！超厲害！

這個是豬肚燒賣，超好吃！

雞紮！

蒸蘿蔔糕，我覺得這個比煎的跟好吃！

一大堆包點，愛吃包的我的摯愛哦！

一定要試的傳統馬拉糕！超大！超鬆化！這可是我很努力地搶回來的！

好吃的蒸腸粉！

好不錯的叉燒飯！

                             
                    看我們兩個人也吃了那麼多就知道有多好吃吧！沒來過的人一定要來哦！




地址: 中環威靈頓街160-164號

[Singapore. Accommodation] Fragrance Hotel - Imperial

This is it, this is the place we stayed in Singapore for 3 nights.
This is under one of the chained budget hotel, the FRAGRANCE HOTEL.
Fragrance Hotel-Imperial located in the LAVENDER area,
3-5 mins walk from the Lavender MRT station.
The location is excellent, around 30 mins from the Airport and 5-20 mins to everywhere we went.
A convenient store is right outside of the hotel entrance, a supermarket is in 3 mins walk, and a cheap but nice food court is outside of the Lavender MRT station, which is a great place for breakfast.
And the picture below is how it looks like in the outside.

The outside of the hotel actually looks a bit different from the image on Air Asia Go as we believed that the surface of the building was repainted just before our visit. Indeed, we only realised that the hotel was under renovation at our time of visit when we asked about the swimming pool. 

ACTUALLY, we picked this particular hotel mainly because of its SWIMMING POOL, or else, we could have picked another cheaper hotel, YET, because of the unnoticed renovation, the SWIMMING POOL was closed on our entire period of stay. Even though the staffs there kept insisting the pool would be reopened ON THE NEXT DAY, but apparently they were just covering up the fact that the pool would not be reopened in any time. That actually PISSED me off. 

Another thing that I was not satisfied about this place was that their WIFI sucks. I was not certain is it a SAMSUNG thing or their POOR WIFI, both of our mobile could not connect to the WIFI at all and they said this was OUR OWN PROBLEM. TOTALLY NOT HELPFUL AT ALL. Besides, the ROOM was SMALL, we kind of expected rooms in Singapore should be small, but the room here was SO SMALL.

                                        

Even though the room was small, it was in pick and it was sort of cozy and romantic. But the view was not nice at all. Sadly, the only thing that was really nice about the hotel is that they got free luggage storage service and the great location. For your reference, we paid around $1980 HKD for three nights of a Superior Room with a queen size bed from 8/31 to 9/3, which is around $330 HKD for one person per night. 

Overall, I would say if you are going to pick this hotel, you better consult them about the renovation process and think twice before you pay for it. I would not recommend this particular hotel indeed.

Hotel Info:
28 Penhas Road Singapore 208187 
Hotel Area: Lavender
Telephone No.: +65 6297 9888
http://www.fragrancehotel.com/hotel/details/name/fragrance-hotel-imperial/id/121/n/1/type/online

[UK. FOOD] BEN & JERRY'S ICE CREAM

BEN & JERRY'S HERE WE GO!
It's COLD here in the United Kingdom.
Everyday is around 3-8 degrees right now.
And I am supposed to be on diet as I am getting FATTER every single day.
But....how could I resist BEN & JERRY'S?
The simple answer is NOPE, I COULD NOT!
EVEN THOUGH IT'S A US BRAND OBVIOUSLY,
BUT THEY SELL IT EXTENSIVELY IN THE UK TOO!
I AM SOOOOO GRATEFUL OF THAT!!!

This is my THIRD TIME eating BEN & JERRY'S since I got here in the UK,
can you imagine how I AM CRAZILY IN LOVE with this BRAND?
I tried MINT CHOCOLATE CHIPS & HALF BAKED already,
and this time I decided to go for something NEW,
the NEWLY launch flavour, GREEK STYLE FROZEN YOGHURT: STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE, and it tastes GREAT!!!
Love how there is actually SHORTCAKE chunks in there!!!
And you may possibly wondering where I got it and how much is it, aren't you?
I got it from the MORRISONS supermarket and it cost only £2.49, which is like $30 HKD!!!
It's SUPER CHEAP compare to the HONG KONG retail price and that it actually doesn't appear in many Hong Kong supermarkets.
BUT IT'S LITERALLY EVERYWHERE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM!!
If you are gonna VISIT the UK, this is a MUST TRY!!
THEY GOT SO MANY CREATIVE & NOVEL FLAVOURS!!!
I just love how INNOVATIVE this brand is!!
Can't wait to get a new one already!

P.S. I think the HALF BAKED tastes the best among the THREE I tried!

For those who are interested at it, check this out, the BEN & JERRY'S WEBSITE: http://www.benjerry.com/

Hi from the United Kingdom!

Hi there!
It has a been a while I last written anything here.
I have been a bit too lazy right here.
It's my 76th day in the United Kingdom right now.
56 days till my departure back to Hong Kong.

To be honest,
I am not feeling homesick at all.
I have been staying in the United Kingdom for more than 3 months right now,
and so far I have been enjoying myself very much.
It was very nice to be here, setting foot on a different planet other than Hong Kong.
University of Leeds, where I am studying abroad for one semester is an AWESOME place.
I love how big the campus is, how scattered one end of the campus from the other.
I love how modern and at the same time how historic it could be.
I realised how much I am into the mix of the modern and historic.
More to that, I enjoyed the British style of living, chill and elegant.

Why bother that much when you are young?
The truth is, even though I said so, I still care about the REAL LIFE
Even though I am supposed to sit back and relax, I still have to worry about summer internship and all that stuff.
How I wish I was someone else, someone that could leave all these behind and simply focus on the fun part.
Well, I could not, and that makes me "ME".

But still, I am having a great deal of fun here.
Eating the whole jar of Ben & Jerry on the bed while watching movie,
planning on all sorts of travel plans,
reading books online days and nights,
and for the reference,
I really enjoyed the DIVERGENT and FIFTY SHADES series.
Oh, and I love my ROOM and my friends here!

And all the TRAVELLING within and out of the United Kingdom!
I loved almost all the cities that I have been,
OLD or NEW town?
Could I say BOTH?
Can't wait till my SCOTLAND HIGHLAND ROAD TRIP!
And my EUROPE TRIP!

2 days in Edinburgh on my own!

High tea in Leeds.

How could you miss out the BRITISH AFTERNOON TEA?

TRY IT OUT

at the Vintage Tearoom in LEEDS!

Chatsworth House at the Peak District.

The filming place of the PRIDE AND PREJUDICE,

my all-time-favourite movie and book and drama.

How lovely is MR DARCY'S ESTATE!

I LOVE IT! 

Could n't have been BIGGER!

Durham Garden,

in love with the scent and sight of flowers,

so glad that they haven't withered because of the cold.

Glasgow, 

capital of Scotland,

the 2nd largest city in the United Kingdom.

Had a blast there with my old and new friends,

also with this DEEP-FRIED MARS BAR,

Travelling is all about cultural exposure right?

Cambridge,

one of the oldest town in the United Kingdom,

one of the most prestigious University of the world,

revisit this stunning place after 8 years was refreshing.

RIVER CAM is definitely the BEST PLACE of ALL since this is where the POEM came from!
EVEN the BRITISH guy who do the punting knew about MR. XU!!!

SO PROUD OF BEING A CHINESE!

P.S. This is just a snapshot of my LONG LONG chapters of writing possibly.
        Hopefully I could keep up with my laziness and at least write one post a day.
        Let's be HOPEFUL guys!

No longer 19.

OMG. I am literally a year older now today.
I am no longer 19, but 20 right now.
I felt like I am so much OLDER all of a sudden.

I am making a wish here:
1)stay healthy and fit
2)stay happy
3)all my love ones stay healthy and be happy

Just THREE right now, not too GREEDY here right?
Thank you so much for giving me the perfect birthdayxx
Love you, at the same time, HAPPY 2 YEARS ANNIVERSARY<3
Could we stay sweet FOREVER?
Thanks for EVERYTHING<3

First time getting flowers in my whole life!
What a pleasant surprise from my love one!
Thank you so much!<3
I LOVE RED ROSES!!!

Thank you for bringing me over to one of my favourite places in Hong Kong,

OCEAN PARK!!
Love how we were wearing WHITE coincidentally!!! 

Even we are just eating MADONALD'S,

I was feeling great right there!!

Thanks for bringing me to this lovely DINNER,

even though I felt guilty eating so much,

but I enjoyed it so much!!!

And I love your tiny SURPRISE over here,

I won't ever forgot this<3

[Singapore] Competitive Scoot Airline Package

I haven't heard of SCOOT AIRLINE until I came across this SUPER CHEAP DEAL.

It is only HKD $388 up (not including tax) for a round trip to Singapore!

 Apart from the PRICE, the TIME is another thing I love about SCOOT.

It includes a super early departure and a super late return flight,

despite it might be a bit "chur", it is perfect for me,

which we got to utilize every single minute of the whole trip!

This offer simply pop-up on that morning and I could not resist at all.

Bee and I were actually thinking of Thailand and Taiwan earlier, but since this ridiculously cheap package came up, we changed our mind and set upon SINGAPORE!

Wohooo, the CLEAN city we are coming soon!

After all, it's only HKD $824 (including tax) each!

I am super looking forward to our trip on Aug 31st!

It's gonna be a full 4 Days 4 Nights trip, coming back on Sep 4th!

Oh my god! I wished it's end of August already!:P

[Hong Kong. Travel] The Cable Car in Lantau, Ngong Ping 360

A long week has passed again, and it's SATURDAY!

Time for another local tour with the exchange students!

Our destination this time is LANTAU ISAND!

To reach Lantau, you could either take bus in Tung Chong or take the Cable Car.

This time, we picked the CABLE CAR!

And to be honest, even as a local, I have NEVER been on Ngong Ping 360 before!

So, this is my FIRST TIME there so as many others international students we went with!

See, the long long line!

Since it's weekend, loads of people were willing to leave their boring home and go for a short trip.

Lantau therefore is one good option for them.

That's why the cable car, Ngong Ping 360, was full of people out there!

Since we were going on a huge tour, we got to line up in the express fast line, the TOUR LINE!

Lucky us!

We just waited like 8 minutes to get on to the cable car where I was pretty sure the rest of the people would need to wait for at least 20 minutes to get in.

We were so excited for the CABLE RIDE already!

And finally we GOT ON THE CABLE CAR!!!

Even though we were not on the see through one, the view was amazing inside the car.

One thing that disappointed us was the weather wasn't so good that day and 

the glass in the cable car was full of raindrops.

So, it was just impossible for us to take a full glimpse of the view.

But still, it felt amazing up there!

ONE..TWO..THREE..SMILE!

                       

We were passing by the Hong Kong Airport, leaving for the LANTAU ISLAND!!!

We even saw the BIG BUDDHA up there on the ride!

And the ride was much shorter than I thought!

It took us less than 20 minutes to get there to the end point!

Ngong Ping 360 was known for being unstable and unsafe and all that,  

but we were lucky,

even with on-going lightning, 

the cable did not collapse nor stop at all.

So, I would say it's actually not that unsafe and the ride itself was very enjoyable and pleasant!

For those who have doubts about Ngong Ping 360 ,
I would say,
GIVE IT A GO!