glasgow!

i was in glasgow 2 weekends ago as i've promised amrita for ages that i'd visit, since my last trip did not actually happen. i was also keen on seeing the largest city in scotland. i absolutely loved edinburgh when i was there, but the scots i know hate edinburgh with a passion - they say that it's pretentious, "too english", and that glasgow is the true capital of scotland. *shrugs*

i've always heard the same things about glasgow prior to my visit: that it represents scotland more than edinburgh does (as said above), that the university of glasgow is gorgeous like hogwarts, that the city itself is ugly, and that there are a lot of orientals (chinese/koreans/japanese) and indians there. hahaha. well i've seen glasgow with my own eyes now.

i arrived on friday and was brought for dinner by dear amrita and her housemates. jap food at Nanakusa! nyumsters. we then headed to Hummingbird for after-dinner drinks. funky place with nice cocktails, some served in fishbowls for people to share.

we went to the outskirts of glasgow on saturday. would've been an excellent day if not for the weather. it rained the whole day! what a shame. oh well, welcome to the united kingdom. we went to a distillery called Auchentoshan (sounds so german). paid £5 for a 1-hour tour of the distillery, learned how whisky is made, and most importantly, whisky-tasting! not that i'm a fan of whisky, but hey i was in scotland.

it was still raining when we reached loch lomond, the largest lake in great britain which lies between central scotland and the scottish highlands. had lunch at this quaint pub and then went for a cruise on the lake. it was nice, although i'm sure i would've appreciated the scenery more if the weather didn't make everything seem depressing.

back in glasgow where we had korean dinner with the dundee people who were there for the day. and for the very first time, i introduce to you my DOCTOR friends, drs ben, michelle, huiling and yuen khai (who went all the way to glasgow just to cut his hair wtf lol).

sunday was a much, MUCH better day. very lovely. the sun was out with white fluffy clouds decorating the clear blue sky. amrita showed me what glasgow had to offer - starting with a relaxing walk from her place to the University. this is the Kelvingrove Art Museum in the background, on the way.

The University of Glasgow, which the glasgow students are so proud of. :p

who wouldn't be? what a gorgeous campus.

view from one of the sites on campus.

after a tour of the University, we went for ice-cream and took the subway to the city centre, only because amrita wanted me to see what a joke it is. it's so small it was like sitting in a toy train. i found it really cute though. hahaha. we had lunch at MUSSEL INN! i was so excited. loved the Mussel Inn in edinburgh.

some pictures of the glasgow city centre. you know what. i like Glasgow. it reminds me of Manchester - ugly but happening. good shopping, amazing food, interesting night life, cosy places to hang out and have cake and coffee. my kind of a city. i don't want to live in a city which is pretty but where everything closes by 5pm. i want to live in a city which is fast-paced (but not as fast as London) and has everything that i need.

as a response to what i've been told about glasgow:

• represents scotland more than edinburgh does - to be honest, i think edinburgh has a more scottish air to it. glasgow is much larger and is more of a modern city, but it doesn't really scream scotland, if not for the glaswegian accents heard at every corner.
• gorgeous uni - YES, definitely
• ugly - quite, but there are individual buildings which are nice.
• filled with orientals - YES, but doesn't beat manchester :p
• lots of indians - not really, in fact the only indians i remember seeing were amrita and her housemates. HAHAHA

thanks amrita for the lovely weekend. finally fulfilled my promise to you. now leave me alone! :p hehe just kidding, i had a fantastic time and i'd really love to go again.

star light, star bright

the starlight ball

4th june 2011

garstang country hotel & golf club

obviously very small scale compared to the grand balls for all manchester medics (which i suppose i should attend at some point) since this was only for those based in preston, but it was an intimate affair and quite enjoyable to be honest. well ceilidh was fun at the very least.




with eleanor and massywassy. i look funny here - think i was talking to whoever who took this picture. for the record i wasn't digging my nose.


mary, eleanor, neil, me, becky at our table.



my seat. had salad (spelled as sald on my place card), chicken and mousse. nothing fancy schmancy.



people! with eleanor, andy, jon, massy (extremely lousy picture but i kinda like it!)



more people! with diana, eleanor + wilfred, becky



my first ceilidh! loved it. sprained my neck and arm during (actually my neck was already sprained before the ball - while asleep); had a couple of bruises; had people step on my feet (took off my shoes cos it was just impossible to ceilidh in heels); swung 360 degrees in the air by some of the crazy guys - but very very fun!!



massy, me and eleanor with our complimentary cocktails



i realise i don't have a full length picture of me, but this is the closest one to a full length. aww :( at least you can see my shoes. by the way don't you love massy's princess-like dress?! so gorgeous ;)







for those who are curious: my dress was tailor-made back home which i wore to a wedding once. shoes were from aldo, which is my current favourite shoe brand. you should see my house - tr said it looks like an aldo shoe store with all the boxes stacked up at the front door. well what can i say. their shoes are pretty and VERY comfortable. clutch (not in the picture) was from french connection. ear-rings and necklace from swarovski. bracelet from korea. make-up by yours truly and hair was au naturale. hahaha.
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totally unrelated, but heartiest congratulations to my friends from dundee who've just passed their finals and will graduate as doctors in 2 weeks' time! ohmygod how exciting is this? the first among us imu peeps to hold the long-awaited D-R title. oh and not forgetting those from nottingham as well. all of you shall be my inspiration to pass MY finals in january. :)

24

tr: so how old are you this year?

me: err... the same as you?!

tr: how old are we again?

me: 24!

tr: oh. damn.

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24. geez. it seems like yesterday when i turned 21 and had that amazing night out with my IMU friends whom i love to bits. it's now been three years and although we've all embarked on different paths, we are still very closely in touch. and boy do i miss all of them.
three years down the road and here i am living a new life, with a whole new bunch of friends whom i cannot imagine going through my last years of med school without. what would manchester be like without all these people? i dare not think about it.
so thank you everyone for possibly one of the best nights i've had since coming here. and as sad as this may sound, it'll probably be the one and only birthday i can celebrate with all of them - last year we had exams in the way, this time next year i will be back in malaysia for electives (and celebrating my 25th at home!), and the years after we'll almost certainly be in different parts of the UK, or even the world, after graduation. so really, i'm very glad i could at least have one memorable birthday here in manchester.



all of us at Vermilion & Cinnabar, which is an impressive venue for lavish dining.



food was a fusion of thai and japanese which we complemented with good quality chilean cabernet savignon and australian shiraz. and when the restaurant heard that it was my birthday, they presented me with a chocolate souffle that came with a mango sorbet and strawberry ice-cream, which were ALL VERY GOOD and most importantly on the house! :D


pei hua - what would i do without you here? thank you for everything.



girls! vanessa, louisa, peihua, rong, me, eleanor, and massywassy ♥



boys! kheng (who looked very smart that night :p), teongrhen and daniel



after-dinner drinks at Cinnabar, which was on the floor above the Vermilion restaurant. really gorgeous and chic interior with good but rather expensive drinks (my cosmo was lovely!). oh and thanks Van for belanja-ing the cosmo hehe



the rest left after dinner to catch the second half of the man utd - barcelona match. we (+ kheng), on the other hand, could not care less.

:)







i've lived 24 good years with wonderful people around me, and i can only pray that the next decades of my life will be just as good or even better.