I’ve never felt this lost.

The very awesome kitchen. I’m actually quite surprised that I don’t miss the place as much as I thought I would. I’m also surprised that I only had char kuay teow once since I got back. It’s never really my fav hawker food to begin with. I’m very surprised at how much I have missed my friends here. I’m not the sort of person that will actually miss their friends. Perhaps age plays a part. In fact when someone asked me why am I going back, I actually said I miss my friends. I came back at the right time. CNY. Everyone is back.

Sparkles at the “snow-covered-backyard”! NYE was spent having probably the best lasagna in this city. Found out the city had its fireworks at 6pm and of course I missed it because I was still half-awake then. But I still went to possibly my favorite-st part of the city hoping to catch some fireworks. Well, we saw a few and some even light up wish lanterns. One didn’t make it though and hit the freezing water. My 2009 was arguably slightly better than 2008. I moved to a foreign country, lost both my granddads, lived and still am living on my own, able to cook a simple meal, traveled…. The only time I was hit with homesickness was in early April, before the Easter Break and I was this close to booking my flight back for the break but instead I went to Amsterdam. I had a lovely time there though I think I never got around to blogging about it. I was sick of this country, sick of the bland tasteless food (seriously wtf), sick of the general politeness here and I missed home. But somehow, I got over it and that was pretty much the only time I felt homesick. If I don’t take into account all those cravings for my asam laksa, chicken rice, hokkien mee, the list goes on. I think one of the main reasons I actually survived this long is that I have a great bunch of friends here. All of us are from different countries but somehow we get along great. I remembered I was on the phone with my mum once and she asked if I have any Malaysian friends here. Before I came here, I have about two malaysian friends here. I was and still am very close to one of them but he left in July. I think I know why some of the students overseas stick to the people from the same country as them. The familiarity of home, food, manglish etc but I will never see the point of students coming here and preferring to speak in their mother tongues instead of English. In case you are wondering, I can count the number of Malaysians I know here with one hand. Quality over quantity, I say. 2009 was also the year I got seriously drunk till I have no recollections whatsoever of the events that took place. I was feeling ill for a few days after that and the next day when I saw the wine list at some restaurant in Durham, I wanted to puke. I stopped drinking after that, well, till couple of days ago. It was a scary feeling, being not able to remember what happened. There is another thing that I learned in 2009 but since this is not a private blog, I shall not mention it. I wish I can say I did some growing up in 2009 but nah I don’t think I did, apart from the moving to another country. If all goes well, the reason I am here in the first place will be accomplished soon.

How I would grab the car keys and drive alllllllllll the way (about 5-10 minutes) to McDonalds (not a drive-tru) and get out of the car just to buy the sausage mcmuffin and drive back last time. But now. Now McD is just less than 5 minutes walk away (probably something like 3 minutes) but I’m so lazy to walk there to grab a double sausage mcmuffin.

Am considering going back to Aviemore during winter for some skiing. Switzerland is too expensive bleh.

Drove up to the skiing place - Caingorm Mountain

Took the tram up.

The tram coming down.

You can see a lake at the background. It was freezingggggg up there.

There’s a restaurant at the top.

View on the way down.

Stopped by this small town, Pitlochry for lunch.

Penang Bridge The Forth Road Bridge at Edinburgh. I swear it really looks like Penang Bridge. I showed a friend the picture and told him its Penang Bridge. He believed me haha.

I missssssssssssss Penang.

That’s The Forth Rail Bridge on the left.

Windmills

And of course, this trip is made possible by Google Maps.

Feeling soooo lazy to finish up the Scotland posts blah.

On the way to Inverness, we stopped by Urquhart Castle. Entrance fee was £7-8 I think.

Inverness.

The city centre.

Considered spending the night here but decided to continue driving after dinner and look for B & B along the way, which turned out to be a good decision coz we ended up in a town that has a ski resort.

The dining area of the B & B we stayed at Aviemore.

Full Scottish/English Breakfast. The black thing is the black pudding.

The other B&Bs along the road.

The B&B we stayed in. £30/night.

Went and explored the national park after breakfast.

I woke up today with half of my body aching and I thought I must have slept on the wrong side of the bed. Then I realised I played badminton for a measly 20 minutes the day before. ARGH.

Crossing the bridge to err somewhere

Old Inverlochy Castle. The first thought that came to mind when I saw the entrance was, no way I’m paying the entrance fee to this place. Turned out there are no entrance fees. Free!

On our way to Kyle of Lochalsh.

Eilean Donan Castle. It was closed by the time we got there.

Had dinner at this little restaurant at Broadford, Isle Of Skye. Apparently its an award winning restaurant.

View from outside the restaurant.

The B & B we stayed in at Portree. £35 a night. For some unknown reasons, almost all the B & B there were fully occupied.

Catching the ferry to Mallaig.

Fort Augustus. The Loch Ness. The monster’s name is Nessie haha. So girlish for a monster.

Loch Ness.