Category: Going Places

Before we headed to our accommodation, we made one final stop at Birmingham. Supposed to join the late night shopping crowd but nothing to buy, nothing fancied us in this city.

Left: St Martin’s Church.
Middle: My sister called this Mentos hahaha… It’s actually Selfridges building.
Right: Part of the major shopping mall which also housed Debenhams.

The Bull Ring is a major commercial area of Birmingham.

Even the bull sculpture was made up of jellybeans in Selfridge! Impressive! After that, we went to Chinatown in Birmingham to hunt for dinner. It’s not far, only walking distant from Bull Ring.

We had Malaysian food at Malaysian Delight Restaurant (8 Ladywell Walk, Birmingham, West Midlands B5 4ST, United Kingdom).

I don’t remember the exact name and price because I didn’t bother anymore. Too lazy hahaha…

Left: Steamed chicken.
Right: Japanese tofu with vegetables.

Left: Buttered prawn.
Right: Beef with kailan.

Left: “Wat dan mai fun”.
Right: Fried rice.

Overall, the food was ok but nothing to rave about it. My favourite was the buttered prawn simply because I’m a fan of buttered prawn *LOL*.

After dinner, we went to check-in Travelodge at one of the highway, I don’t remember the location of it as the next day we were going to drive to London. That Travelodge was horrible -.-” Very dusty and old. The door handle came off at one of our rooms and they couldn’t fix it so they had to change a new room for us.

That’s the end of day.

29/6/2013, wow! More than two months ago, almost 3 months still haven’t complete my post ;p

The next day, it’s another road trip which also indicated that our trip is coming to an end real soon.

Scenery on the way to Bowness Bay where Windermere, England largest lake, can be found.

The lake… We are near to the town.

We’re here! See the lake behind?

Another kind of view.

We tried the ice cream there, heard it was good. No doubt, yes! It was good! Very rich and smooth. We tried the one at Windermere Ice Cream Co. (Chestnut Rd, Windermere LA23 2AL, United Kingdom). I don’t remember the flavours or even the price as I wasn’t the one buying it. I was too busy taking photos and enjoying the view. Lots of shops selling various types of candies along the street (pictures on the left).

Even shops selling soap, candles, all sort of aromatherapy products, spices, and various types of alcohol from the lake district can be found there. These are soaps! Goodness, looks yummy! Smells yummy too! ;p Thought of buying them but at the end I didn’t. Instead I bought 3 miniature bottles of Strawberry Bank Fruit Liqueurs hehehe… Not for drinking, just as souvenir.

It’s lunch time, we had our lunch at Hyltons Restaurant (Ash Street, Bowness-on-Windermere, LA23 3EB, England).

Left: Steak and Ale Pie (£9.75), succulent British beef in rich beer gravy topped with a short crust pastry lid and served with vegetables, and potatoes. Careful! The content is hot! Very rich and succulent indeed.

Right: Seafood Pasta (£12.95), Clams. Mussels, Prawns, Green lip Mussels, served in a Garlic & White Wine Sauce. Not bad! I like it. Not too much sauce, it was just right.

Left: Bangers & Mash (£9.75), local Cumberland sausage with creamy mashed potato and a rich onion gravy. Love the sausage.

Right: Pork belly (£11.95), slow roasted belly pork served with creamy mashed potato, and an apple cider sauce. I like this too, the pork belly just melted in the mouth. Combined with the apple cider sauce, it balanced out the oiliness.

Overall, the food was great, price was reasonable.

After lunch, we went to Pasty Presto (Royal Square, Lake Road, Bowness-on-Windermere LA23 3DB) to get some pies in case we need to eat something while driving for about 3 hours to our accommodation to call it a day. These are award winning pies but I’m really not a pie person especially pie with meat filling (except curry puff hehehe…) so I didn’t really enjoy them.

Not to forget, this shop, Peter Rabbit and Friends. Finally get to see it in real life after reading its storybooks and watching its cartoon when I was still a child. Didn’t buy any souvenir from here though. Didn’t really visit the actual site, no time at all. This is the gift shop but it’s good enough. If you are wondering what is the relationship between this place and this storybook? I’ll just tell you briefly. The Lake District’s natural beauty and abundant wildlife had inspired Beatrix Potter to come out with the characters and setting of the story.

That’s the end of our road trip for the day.

It’ll be just photos all the way, not much to talk about ;p Actually, I’m just feeling lazy. Anyway, the view was really nice, it’s just like in the storybook, never in my dream that I will be seeing such scenery with my own eyes.







We went up the staircase… 199 steps leading to St. Mary’s Church. Forgot to count on the way up ;p

Here’s the view from the top.




Goodbye Whitby!

The Teesquay Millennium Bridge at Thornaby.

That’s the end of day 9.

28/6/2013 can be said as another rest day. We only went out in late afternoon.

Left: A structure in Thornaby found along the road. Forgot what it was.

Right: Paint bucket structure built at one of the roundabouts.

Many roundabouts there and each of them have unique structure built on it.

The weather wasn’t sunny, no sun, rather cold. Drizzling along the way.

Up and down, winding road. Awesome views!

View of the sea from the mountainous road.

We’re finally in Whitby, a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Borough of Scarborough and English county of North Yorkshire. It was freezing due to the sea breeze and the rain. We wore so little -.-” At one point, the rain got a bit heavier and we took cover in a local hotel.

Left: Captain James Cook statue, seagulls love to perch on top of its head. This statue is facing the direction of Australia. He led a voyage to view the transit of Venus in 1769, mapped the coasts of New Zealand and Australia, and arguably introduced tattoos into the western world. Here’s an interesting fact, he was the one who named the eastern coast of Australia as New South Wales. WOW! Can imagine how far he sailed.

Right: Whalebone arch were donated by Alaska in April 2003. The original one was erected some time after 1853 and is now displayed in the Whitby Archives & Heritage Centre.

A view that is different from other places we’ve been to. Breathtaking.

We tried ginger ice cream from one of the shops there. Real ginger pieces in there. Yum! Thought it would taste rather odd but it was great! Warm you up from this cold, wet, and windy day.

The Magpie Cafe, where we had our dinner. Had to queue, the place was packed. One of the famous place to dine here.

Fresh Oyster! SLURP!!! No idea how much, can’t find it on the menu, it’s on the special of the day menu.

Fish and chips! A must to have when you are here.

Left: Cod & Chips (£9.95), this is small and it’s already big enough!

Right: Skate Wing & Chips (£12.95), this is standard size, 400g.

Left: Fresh Mussels (half kilo, £7.95), Steamed & served in a liquor of Wine, Cream and Garlic. Seems like we had lots of mussels this trip.

Right: You will end your meal with this mint to freshen up your fishy breath ;p

Overall, the portion and price were all good. Very friendly staff too. You are sure to get fresh seafood here! No wonder so many people queuing up to eat here. I’m sure other eateries here are as good. I guess it’s because it’s one of Yorkshire landmarks, that’s why it’s so popular.

After having our dinner, we continued to discover Whitby on foot. More to come…

Consider 27/6/2013 a rest day or shopping day!

We were at Thornaby. We took our time waking up and having breakfast before heading for a walk at the nearby shopping area. Bought quite a number of clothes there. Very happy with the purchase. Got myself 2 blouses, 2 skirts, and a dresses which total up to less than £60 from Debenhams and H&M.

We thought it would be a short walk but ended up it took us quite awhile there due to our shopping spree so we had our lunch at Marks & Spencer food court. We had wrap, carrot cake, some buns, and brunch set(chips, baked beans, sausages, ham, and egg). Don’t remember the total.

Around 4pm+, we drove to Newcastle for another shopping spree. Goodness! Never in my life shop like that, I just grabbed whatever fancied me in Primark and brought them all into the fitting room. The price was so cheap! Quality was great! What’s more, my size everywhere! Ended up only bought a dress, a blouse, and a pair of shoes ;p All these cost me less than £20, what a steal!?! Would want to buy more but spent quite a bit in the morning, if not because of that I would buy even more here. The shopping bags in the photo are the end result of our shopping spree for the day.

After shopping, we went to Palace Garden (45-51 Stowell St, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 4YB, United Kingdom) for dinner. It’s located at Newcastle Chinatown. They serve an array of Szechuan, Malaysian, Cantonese and Pekinese cuisine.

Left: The interior is rather grand, there’s even a pond in there. I wasn’t there when they made the order, was at the Chinatown’s arc, so I don’t really know what they ordered and even the price.
Right: Fried beef kueh tiaw.

Left: Kangkung belacan.
Right: A tofu dish served with rice.

Left: Salted fish bean curd soup. Very salty indeed, they didn’t skimp on the salted fish.

Overall, the food was good, portion and price were reasonable. Full! Satisfied!

That’s the end of our day. Gonna be another road trip the next day.