Manchester

Well.... the story did not exactly start off at Manchester... but we effectively spent our first 2 days of Easter hols in the city of Manchester. It's not exactly a highly sophisticated city, definitely not in the likes of London, but it has a unique feel to it, not to mention that it boasts one of the most celebrated football club in modern soccer.

At the beginning

First step into London (London Stansted Airport 2300).... My first time taking Easyjet flights... flight was delayed for 30 mins.... hmm... and we could hardly find any space on board the plane cos it goes by free seating and we were one of the later ones to check in... not exactly a gd first time experience with Ezy... but of cos this was the first time im taking a budget airline... not used to the system yet....

Met up wif our travelling buddies at Stansted... LC, Anqi, and Chris..... and they brought wif them not one but two pieces of cakes!! cakes for wat?? ha.... it was our dear SY's birthday... think he must be so touched to see a birthday cake in foreign lands.... tears drop? maybe....

Anyway, we proceeded to queue up for our rented Avis car... damn long queue... but it was definitely worth the wait... it turned out to be the highlight of our trip (after old trafford of cos)...

Our platinium card guy settlling all the admin stuff for the car... it's just so convenient... =p

first sight of our volkswagen golf.... brand new!!! oh my gosh... simply a beauty.... slurps....

Driving

I have to admit that before the trip, I had mixed feelings about driving.... On one hand, it would be a superb experience driving around in a foreign country, and its in England... and think of the benefits, we could sleep in it, throw our luggage inside and go walk walk outside, and go anywhere we want as long as we know the way!! On the other hand, the last time any of us had driven is probably 4 mths ago?? Rustiness is one problem... not knowing the roads, directions, driving culture is another major pull-back....

I have to admit I was a whee bit scared at first... but this was exactly the reason that prompted me to do some research on the UK roads... from London Stansted to Manchester in particular..... spent hrs cutting and pasting from the print screens on my lappie lor.... dammit.... its not an easy task... trust me.....

My part of the job is to get us from London Stansted to Manchester....after which our dear SY did his part by researching on the Manchester city map as well.... although dear LC thinks that we could just look at the road signs and such.... aha... which might have been true to a certain extent since the highways are rather user-friendly... hmm... any brave heros out there can try unprepared at your own costs... =p

So... as it turns out... we split up the work amongst the 3 guys.... SY was the navigator... LC and I took turns to drive.... we had slight problems engaging the reverse gear at first.... cos its not like the spore gear which is at the right bottom panel.... the reverse gear's at the top left... u've gotta press down hard before engaging it....

The gear was numbered up till gear 6..... 6!!!! OMG... Pardon me for being sua ku but I've only driven cars with gear 5.... not 6... haha... our confidence in driving grew with each passing hour on the road...

My research online says tt you need only 3.5 hrs to drive from London Stansted to Manchester... doubt doubt.... so fast meh?? even the coach takes 4 hrs loh..... anyway... we started off damn slowly... i was travelling like 80km/hr? cos i saw the "40miles/hr" speed limit signs all lined up along the rd.... and driving with no street lights did not help my cause at all too ya.... car after car zoomed past ours.... even trucks started overtaking me.... MANA EHLUN!!!

Haha... but we eventually gained speed.... think the fastest we clocked was 170km/hr...... song!!! even managed to overtake the local cars... feels damn shiok lar... majiam initial D liddat.... ahhahhah.... took close to 5 hrs to reach Manchester.... return was faster i think.... cos i was virtually travelling at 150km/hr for most parts of the journey.... drive for 4 hrs straight... sei.... no joke one.... luckily din fall asleep...

Our Beloved Volkswagen and us

Accomodation

After 5 hrs of driving... making numerous U-turns and such... we finally found our long-awaited hotel.... oooooooo... u guys must be thinking tt we are damn rich right.... stay in hotel....

Presenting the Elton Bank Hotel......

*elton bank pic*

Dear SY having his "regular" wash-ups....

funny seeing a "fu" on the wall.... but then the landlady is a hongkie.... which explains y?

consequences of waking up late... no more breakfast on the house...

Aha.... doesn't look that shiok afterall right.... but considering that my previous accom at amsterdam wasn't tt impressive... this one suits me well, ignoring the fact that we are supposedly staying in a "hotel".... hmm.... plus its 2 beds for 5 pple.... to be frank.. its actually damn squeezy lar.... SY and me had to take turns to slp on the floor.... kaoz....

All in all.... it was a rather satisfactory stay, tho the landlady charged us 10 pounds more when we were checking out cos she "caught" the extra 3 pple going up the stairs and not come down after midnight... zzz... damn geigao lei.....

City Centre

The city centre's kinda small.... real small actually.... took a walk down a few boutiques... where the gals went shopping.... its real scary how gals really adore shopping man.... one minute they look like they are going to fall asleep walking... the next minute their eyes were all glowing with delight at the sight of boutiques.... its amazing really...

Saw the Manchester Eye as well.... not as grand as London's one of cos... think its abt half the size?? haha... but i found it quite nice as well although the sky was kinda gloomy then.... rain rain rain.... that's UK for u...... such unpredictable weather.... one moment it's so sunny, the next it starts raining cats and dogs..... siao one.....

I personally like this view best.... the night just settling in....

Makan

we had plenty of buffets at Manchester..... international buffet, hong kong buffet, pizza hut buffet.... heh... basically eyeing for the cheapest deals that could make our INTESTINES BURST..... from now on.... you guys can start looking out for the red words on my entries.... they are famous phrases which were widely used throughout our entire easter trip.... damn imba one... i think can write a book abt them.... AHAHAHAHHAAHA

international buffet on first day

hk buffet on matchday..

Noticed the pics look very oriental.... Ha... the buffet restaurants were located along this small stretch of streets in a mini-chinatown area.... and somehow the 5 of us have cravings for chinese food....

Next up:: Old Trafford