Day 144 - Lake District II

the beautiful Lake Windermere in the morning

Lake-side dining room at YIH Hostel. Bunch of Cedar (or was it Crescent) girls having breakfast.

Orrest Head, 200+m in height. Recommended by Keng Rui. We were too tired to hike too much.

The view from Orrest Head.

you could see the whole extend of Lake Windermere. Breath taking.

Royce acting Ninja

Last look before we go back.

Sunday morning. Even the bus peng san.

Aren't a tourist booth, but the name of a Supermarket!

And that marks the end of our trip to Lake District. I must say we are really lucky to have such wonderful weather. I think I'm the only person among my friends to visit Lake District without any precipitation or presence of clouds.

Is it worth the hype? It's a little touristy, but I think it is beautiful.

Day 143 - Lake District I

Weekend trip with Royce and Yifan to Lake District. I wanna see it, as all those who have studied in UK says that it is "damn nice! must not miss". Royce wanted to see what's all the hype about before he returns to Singapore for good, while Yifan don't mind a weekend trip.

Anyway, both Yifan and I met Royce at Kings Cross after he came to London from Cambridge. From there, we took a 20mins stroll to Euston Station, which the rail website wanted to charge Royce £4 to transfer from Kings Cross to Euston via tube. Took a Virgin rail train, and finally changed to alight at Windermere.

Anyway, apa Lake District? It's a conserved area with lots of Lakes (hence the name), which many call it an area of outstanding beauty.

Windermere Lake, the largest and longest lake in England. ENGLAND, not UK.

Lunch. After which, we walked to Ambleside and began our hike. Couldn't check into our YIH hostel at Ambleside as they handle check in only from 2.30pm onwards.

We picked a route on the crest of a ridge. Technically we'll be walking on a watershed. That's Lake Windermere in the background

Yifan hiking for the first time, but he's always way ahead of us.

Taking a break. Weather's really hot, which is good, cause none of the people I know went to Lake District with clear blue sky. It is common in Lake District to have really bad weather.

Yifan is always way ahead.

Really hot and really thirsty. Royce wishing that he could drink up Lake Windermere.

Future Lesson Material.

Fake Wall of China. These are actually sheep wells.

Boulevard of broken bricks

We were exhausted after reaching about 670m in height and decided not to go on anymore.

Royce's Totoron as usual

Initial Plan is to loop around the crests, but looks like it aren't worth it to go up and down the crest. According to the map, we're going up and down about 200m.

the drainage basin whose watershed we were climbing on.

On the way back. It's 640pm

Dinner at YIH hostel. Vegetarian burger. When we were checking in, a lady heard us and said "Singaporeans right?" Turns out she's a tour guide taking a group of Crescent Girls (or was it Cedar Girls) for their overseas trip. Literature trip, visit the birthplace and graves of authors and watch a play in the reconstructed Shaksphere Globe Theatre. Someone please enlighten me how this help in the learning of literature. If you visit the place which the novels are based on, then I would understand. But birthplace and graves of the authors?

Chilling out at the lake. It's 9pm.

View from our room. We asked for a dorm room, but it has only 3 beds. Just nice for us. And the girls on the school trip were busy photo whoring next to the lake, giggling away.

Our 3 bed dorm room.

Day 142 - Docking at the east

Aim today: cover the east side of London, especially the Docklands area. Those who have heard of London would have heard East End, being a place that is poorer. Those who have done A'level geog would have studied about the Docklands.

Stop 1: East End for some East End food

If you have heard about East End, you would have heard about Jellied Eels, a dish that is unique to London's East End. Found out about Tubby Isaacs from an episode of Al Jazeera's "Street Food", apparently it is the establishment to go to for jellied eels.

But the problem is that Tubby Issacs is a stand, not a shop. Doesn't help that I can't find much from the net about its location. But a kind old man in Peticoat Lane Market directed met to Tubby Issacs.

"Why are you heading to Tubby Issacs?" the old man asked
"Oh, to try Jellied Eels."
"You like Jellied Eels?"
"No I'm just going to try."
"Tubby Issacs has really good Jellied eels. You should go for it!"

And the old man beamed. Ways to connect to a person - their language and their food.

finally found the place!

My Jellied Eels - £2.50. It is basically eels boiled with some spices. As the eels cook, it will sweat out gelatin that will form this jelly. Verdict? Has a slight fishy taste, but very much refreshing in this hot weather. It is cold by the way.

Cockles and other seafood, qutisensially East End.

The owner of the stand. "You either love or hate Jellied Eels". I agree.

I laughed at this ad so hard.

Stop 2: Docklands fieldtrip

Part of the East Ends. Called Docklands, as they were a cluster shipping docks in the past. As ships grew bigger, and load grew heavier, the Thames lost its status as a shipping port, and the Docklands lost its business in the 1960s onwards, making the area very deprived. In the 1980s, the area was rejuvenated with much controversy. Hence a classic case study for urban rejuvenation and gentrification.

Occupants of Docklands today - atas business district at Canary Wharf.

The DLR - Docklands Light Rail - to link up the whole Docklands business district area.

A relic of its shipping docks past.

Dockland museum. Free for students!

I took so many photos of all the panels on its urban rejuvenation for lesson purposes.

You might think you're at Shenton Way, don't you? This aren't a river. It's a former dock.

Stop 3: Greenwich

Greenwich(pronounced Green-niche) is the place where the Prime Meridian lies.

Greenwich Observatory on top of the hill in the park. That's where the Prime Meridan pass through.

The red ball on top of the observatory. It would be raised at 12.55 pm and drop to this position at 13.00pm.

View from the observatory - the Docklands business district

Many tourists took photo with this.

So popular right. It's 6pm already by the way.

Singapore!

The Prime Meridian.

Some standards to follow......

Length.

and Time.

Another part of Docklands. On the bus to my next stop. My timing so wonderful right. Most of the DLR is closed for engineering works today. So I have to take rail replacement buses to be jammed with peak hour traffic.

Stop 4: Thames Barrier Park

Located near Poole Docks DLR station, the Thames Barrier was built to protect London from floods. In the 1950s, there was a devastating flood that hit London. As a result, the Thames Barrier was planned and built to defend London from any floods. Studied this in A'level Geog too.

The barrier stations. They will lift up the barrier should there be any impending floods or storm surge, so that the water level of the Thames River in the rest of London would stabilise.

I suspect these were docks. Now landscaped with "waves"

Stop 5: Stratford - Site of the London 2012 Olympics Games

According to the London's pitch, they want to locate the Olympic Village in Stratford to rejuvenate a deprived area. So what are some of the changes it has done to Stratford?

The Stadium for the games.

Barrier. Everyone's London 2012?

A new transport interchange. Very swanky, unlike the buildings in this area.

I didn't like the vibe of the people around this area. It's like they are giving you menacing stares. Anyway, most of the village is blocked by the barrier, so there isn't much to see.

And so I went back to rest and pack. It was already near 8.30pm when I left Stratford, but it felt like 6pm. Summer days are just so long.

Boat party for Langton Close Residents. Drink and drink somemore? Sorry not my kind of party