I must say, that the sent off for me at Changi Airport was just brilliant. All my best buds were there, and the ang pao I received from my aunties and uncles were numerous. Some even in pounds.
The flight to London Heathrow was a smooth one. The Qantas had this inbuilt system that shows the passengers exactly where the plane is flying over at every minute. When it showed that it was flying close to the capital of Iran, which is Tehran, I rushed to the window to see if I could catch a gleams of the country's capital who is now in contention with regards to it's nuclear warheads. To my amazement, the brightly lighted streets managed to form the shape of the city in similarity to that of the one in Wikipedia. Although it was a night flight, it didn't stop me from viewing cities like Moscow, Berlin, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam from a bird's eye view.
At long last, after 13 hours of flight, we touched down at London Heathrow Airport. It was rather confusing to find my way to the other terminal as there were endless signs showing you to many other directories. Had an egg and bacon bagel with my dad for breakfast, before the long wait of 6 hours before our domestic flight to Newcastle. We had to check in another hand carry luggage, as the restrictions were strict. We then took off with British Airways, and within 50 minutes, we landed in Newcastle. At the baggage collection point, I was taken aback when my luggage didn't turn up, and had to file for a lost and found. It was one of my more important luggages, as it contained my clothes, and different chargers for my laptop, MP3 player, and mobile phone. I wasn't able to have a new set of clothes for at least 2 days, and deprived of internet connection as well. The insurance claim for the luggage only amounted to a few hundred Singapore Dollars, and was too little to make up for the lost I was about to incur.
I spent the next 2 days exploring the city, finding out the cheapest place to shop for certain groceries, and getting myself accustom to the culture and way of life here. The locals are generally friendly, except for a few black sheeps.
Surviving on the same jeans and polo shirt for 2 days straight was no joke. It didn't exactly put me on a good mood. Forgetting to bring my camera USB was another issue, and worst of all, my external hard drive didn't survive the flight, not to forget that my speaker was damaged at the side due to the heavy shuffling of luggages at Heathrow Airport.
Walking for hours never became an issue when I first arrived at Newcastle. The weather was not as cold as I expected it to be, but the chills from the wind now and then can be rather cold, especially during the early mornings and late nights. Its just into autumn now, but I'm already experiencing the worst to come, and that's winter. My sleep is always shortened by the early morning chills. Glad that I'm in the momentum of making 2 meals a day for myself, and mostly lunch is sandwich, as it's one of the cheaper food you can find in shopping malls or stalls along the street. I haven't really miss the local food back home as yet, as I've always fancy western delights. Given more time, I definitely will.
The buildings in Newcastle are of a mixture of the old and new. Its like old buildings that have their interior totally refurblished for the purpose of offices, banks, and shopping malls. The architecture of the old churches and buildings were on of a kind. The locals are generally peaceful folks who are just going about their everyday life and will always stop to help if you happen to ask for directions. Almost got knocked down by a public bus just yesterday as the road it was traveling on looked like a normal pathway for shoppers. They have firmiliar brands like Zara and Top Shop here as this is where it originated in the UK. The Top Shop here sells its stuff a little more expensive then compared to Singapore outlets, but Zara sells it's stuff cheaper than the ones you find in Singapore. The western food here is rather blend in it's taste. Had the chance to try the local Fish & Chips. You can hardly taste anything if you don't add vinegar to it, which has every bottle placed on every dinner's table. The fast food here like McDonald's and KFC is about 3.40 Pounds per set meal, which is about 9.20 Singapore dollars after conversion.
The food at China Town was good, but still incomparable to the fried rice, hokkien mee, and roasted duck noodle that we have back home.
that's all for now, and there's so much more, but my eyes are getting heavy.
