Category: Going Places

“We’re going to the museum, we’re going to the museum, we’re not scare of museum, we’re not scare…”

Hahaha… My niece sang this when we told her that we will bring her to the National Railway Museum. The museum is located in York. We spent 2 hours there. I would say 3 hours would be just nice so that you won’t rush tru’ things. We left after 2 hours because they’re closing.

Entrance is free but if you would like to donate, you are welcome to do so. They have demonstrations and talks related to the rail transport in Britain and its impact on the society. It is part of the British Science Museum Group of National Museums.

We were in time to catch the turntable demo, here’s the video of it.

It’s a device for turning railway rolling stock, usually locomotives, so that they can be moved back in the direction from which they came..

There are many locomotives on display from old to new and from major cities in the world. Also houses old trains of the royal family.

The miniature is pretty interesting too.

If you like museum and would love to know more about train, this is a must-visit. Very educational and family friendly.

Back to England. The Deep in Hull is one of the UK’s biggest and and best aquariums (this is claimed by the official website itself :P).

This is the biggest aquarium I’ve ever visited. I think I only visited two till date *LOL* One in Langkawi and now this one.

Glass corals and 3D screens once we got in. Can you see the shark rammed the glass? Hehehe… You will start the tour at the Awakening Seas where you will get to explore over 4 billion years of ocean history from giant fossils to Megalodon shark teeth.

Then, you will go into the Lagoon of Light where you can see many tropical fish, corals and mangrove trees.

What’s under the water? So many colourful fish and corals.

After that, you will come into Endless Ocean, display home to some of the most incredible animals in the sea. It has 2.5 million litres of water and 87 tonnes of salt.

Next, the Slime where the bright and interactive area allow visitors to learn about some of the animals who use slime to move around, catch their prey or create a poisonous mucus.

There’s also penguins and you get to catch penguin feeding at Kingdom of Ice too. The video below will show some snippets of the Endless Ocean and Penguin Feeding.

Here’s the Amazon Flooded Forest where you will see the tropical freshwater habitats while at the Cool Seas is where all the jelly fish are.

Very mesmerizing. I didn’t take any video of it.

Not to forget some creatures such as frogs and bugs are also there.

There is so much to see here. Can’t cover everything. It’s fun and educational not only for children but adults too. We spent over 4 hours there! It’s a great place for family to go.

Here’s the entrance ticket when you purchase at the door:
Adult – £13.50
Child (aged 3 to 15) must be accompanied by an adult – £11.50
Children under 3 must be accompanied by an adult – FREE
Senior (60+) – £12.50

If you need more details, please check out their official website https://www.thedeep.co.uk

Before we head to the next destination, we did a quick stop at Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site which is a riverside location in the city centre of Liverpool, England. We all know Liverpool when mention football, this time I had the opportunity to visit Liverpool not for the football though.

Source of Wikipedia:

It is part of the Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was inscribed in 2004. As well as a collection of landmark buildings, recreational open space, and a number of memorials, the Pier Head was (and for some traffic still is) the landing site for passenger ships traveling to and from the city.

It’s definitely a must-visit for tourists, so many of them! Even coming in bus load of them.

Left: Royal Liver Building, the most recognizable landmark in Liverpool. It was the tallest in the United Kingdom from 1911 to 1961. Truth to be told, I didn’t even know all these landmarks until I’m doing this blog post hahaha!! You can imagine how carefree I was, didn’t even care where we visit and what’s around. No prior research was done too. Was just tagging along.

Right: When you’re there, you will see the The Wheel of Liverpool with the height of 60m. It is also known as the Echo Wheel of Liverpool due to its close proximity to the Echo Arena Liverpool.

The Royal Albert Dock Liverpool is a complex of dock buildings and warehouses. This is the first structure in Britain to be built from cast iron, brick and stone, with no structural wood.

In other words, it was the first non-combustible warehouse system in the world. WOW! Ok… WOW! Now I know… I didn’t know at all when I was there. Hahaha… Look what we found?!?! The portrait of The Beatles made with jellybeans!

This is parts of the surroundings. No idea what are those buildings LOL!!

Left: Love The Beatles, then you should visit The Beatles Story where you can learn all about the Beatles and their history.

Right: The Beatles Statue is surely one of the most photographed statue in Liverpool hahaha… So many people! I didn’t take a photo with them, just too many people waiting for their turn.

Look! A huge cat! You will surely spot this sculpture there. It’s known as the Ship’s Cat. It is entirely made out of milk bottles by Faith Bebbington. Actually there’s also Super Rat sculpture nearby too but I didn’t take the photo because of the angle and people around blocking it too.

Lastly, Museum of Liverpool can be seen on the left of this photo. Didn’t visit though, just quick stop for toilet break at one of the nearest buildings and take photos of The Beatles statue.

In fact there’s a lot more to see in this area but we do not have the luxury of time for that. Would recommend you to stay nearby if you do not drive. Many accommodations around the area too.

Still a long way to go to complete my July trip… Guess it will stretch till 2019 hahaha… Osaka trip in August still in queue…

If you are in Liverpool, you can visit Knowsley Safari Park which is 26 minutes away(If you are using a Sat Nav, enter the postcode L34 4AN). It’s my first time visiting a safari park. After over 3 decades, I finally visited one!! Hahaha… Sounds so suaku…

It’s a great place for family trip. How often can you be so up-close with wildlife? It’s a 5-mile wild animal safari drive and it is the longest in the UK. It’s currently home to over 750 fascinating animals. It was drizzling when we were there. Luckily I had my new camera with me otherwise I couldn’t take good photos of the animals.

You have to drive very slowly in there and do not open your window! Don’t ever ever provoke or feed the animals. This is how up close it can get! The monkeys are all over the car! Ours too! We had to wait for it jumped off from the car to continue driving. The park rangers will be around to help if it’s not getting off your car.

The gate price is £17.50 for adult(16 years old and above), child(3 years old and above) ticket is priced at £13.50. Children below 3 years old is FOC while 60 years old and above is £13.50. You can even get 10% off if you purchase your tickets online.

Due to the rain, many animals didn’t come out. When the rain got smaller, more came out. We just drove slowly and enjoyed the view.

We were lucky the lion and the lioness were out from the bushes and took a stroll. Oh my… I really love the photo… They’re dating. So sweet… Aw… The photo would look better if not because of the rain. How often can you take a photo like this?!?!

Look at them! Never been so close to these animals.

If you don’t want to drive, you can also take the Baboon Bus which will be another charge.

After the drive, we went to the other section of the Safari Park. There’s Sea Lion Display, Animal Talks, and Flight of the Talons around the park.

Here’s a short video that I took of the Sea Lion Display.

Walked around the Wild Trail to look and learn about various animals. First time seeing a real giraffe. Wow… They’re indeed tall!!

There’s also Tiger Trail! When we were there, we didn’t get to see the tiger, it’s hiding somewhere. Many people had given up spotting the tigers. Then suddenly, at the corner of my eye, there it was!! I zoomed in to take that photo. They were in the middle of the enclosure, partially hidden by the grass. They were relaxing under the tree.

There’s a lot to see. We spent at least 5 hours there! If you happened to be around Liverpool or Manchester(45 minutes drive), you can include this as one of the places to visit, not only it’s fun for children but also adults.