Day 3: Back in Edinburgh
Thursday 16th June
I glanced at my handphone. Eight plus in the morning. I got up and headed for the toiled. Rather cold morning. Seeing both of them sound asleep, I climbed onto my upper deck and dozed off.
8.30am Alarm rang. Switch off!
~9.30am They were still not up!
I opened my eyes. 10:28AM. Arrgh! I jumped off my bed and promptly woke them up. "Wei!! Sup tim pun lor… hei san lah… ngo dei yiu check out at sup tim pun leh!! Fai dit fai dit…" *
So after I washed up I went downstairs and asked the girl at the counter, ”Hi.. is check-out at half ten?” “Yeah.” “Oh, then I’d better check out now.” “Thanks.” We brought our bags down at eleven, and had some breakfast in the kitchen while Tracy was busy putting on her make-up. (Aiyah very pretty already lah!!) What had been a plan to reach the castle at 9.30am when it opened its doors turned out to be so late after all.
Edinburgh Castle is pretty. Grand. Pretty grand. And we lightened the load of our wallets once again in the shop as we bought some key-chains and biscuits and what-not. Admission itself was 9 pounds fifty. And a comical thing happened here. The admission charges were written on a board and there were different rates for children and senior citizens. Now Tracy holds a British passport so she was wondering if she gets lower rates. I couldn’t stop her in time. She enquired, “Hi… what’s the meaning of senior citizen? Cos I’m a British citizen.”
I couldn’t help laughing! So did the lady at the counter. “Yeah, she’s very old already,” said I as the lady explained the age bracket required for the discounted rates to her, chuckling.
Auntie Tracy. And it rhymes too!!
It seems Edinburgh castle is rather steeped in Scottish history. Which is linked to Stirling** Castle too. There was something about how the Scottish Crown Jewels were safely kept and something about Mary, the Queen of Scots. Quite a few exhibitions here and there, and we snapped another round of pictures. Next up was Royal Mile for some souvenirs, and then we veered off back to our hostel to pick up our jackets cos it was starting to get windy again. Lunch was at a pub, where we finally found haggis, which is actually made of lamb insides (most of what u can think of hehe) and typically served with neeps (turnips) and tatties (potato, mashed). Not too bad actually but very high in cholesterol. I had some pasta.
It was a quick walk to the Scottish National Museum before it closed for the day. In the end we only had like half an hour to do a quick ride of the horse looking at flowers*** in the place before we were chased out. What was left was the prime shopping belt, Princes Street. So once again Joe and I left Auntie to her devices as we surveyed some clothes, books and gifts (me). When we met up not too long afterwards she had procured another top. And she was looking at a bag but decided against buying that in the end. Next up was dinner and then we had a bus to catch at 9.30pm.
As those from ACS say, “The best is yet to be.” So is the worse.
We gave our orders at Pizza Hut just after eight. As we sat there, I was calculating how much time we had to make our way back to the hostel, then to the coach station. Not enough time! So Joe and I went back to the hostel to collect our bags first as Pizza Hut was nearer to the coach station. Huah… I must say trying to make it back quickly with two traveling bags, each slung on one shoulder, isn’t exactly heaven-sent. We arrived to an empty table at 8.45pm, but the pasta and salad were already ready and we made a quick meal out of it, and even took the pizza away. With ‘quick’ steps (imagine that with two traveling bags once again) we bolted and arrived to a sleepy coach station. Our bus was nowhere to be found!! An enquiry with the officer at the station revealed that our coach had left, but I was adamant that we arrived before 9.30pm according to the station’s clock. Actually we had cut it very close… something like 9.29pm and the coach’s time may have been earlier. And I even thought the bus was delayed and finished some pizza in the meantime. It turned out that another woman had also missed the bus and she was one talkative lady. It really helps if you have a lady who talks a lot on your side. Who knows she could just piss someone off or just irritate him into action. Anyway, we took a bus to Glasgow (had to pay 4 pounds though) and he got the bus to wait for us there. It happened that our coach does stop at Glasgow so that’s why we could board it there. As we arrived we saw the coach reverse, but the woman rushed off and got an officer who called the bus back, and we were finally on our coach, one and a half hours behind schedule.
We were all stuck with sitting beside some stranger and I was constantly on the lookout for empty double-seaters. During further stops like Manchester and Manchester Airport, those nearest the empty seats moved so quickly that I had no chance to even get off my own seat. But at Stoke-on-Trent (one stop before Birmingham) the portly lady beside me got off and so at least I could sleep better with Tracy sitting beside. (Ok, but at least she’s slimmer than that woman and occupied less space!) <== Disclaimer: Tracy's a nice girl and she's NOT fat!!
We alighted at Birmingham and ventured to the city centre looking for breakfast. When we were first there to change buses that Monday night we had also taken Joe around Birmingham town centre as we had time to kill. McDonald’s answered our stomach’s call and we were finally on the way back at 8.30am. In the end it was a very fulfilling trip though some unexpected things happened along the way. I’ll definitely be back!!!
*Cantonese. “Hey! It’s half ten already! Get up.. we have to check out at ten thirty! Faster faster…”
** A place north of Glasgow and rather near here too
*** 走马看花 Chinese proverb. Means a very hasty look-around.
I glanced at my handphone. Eight plus in the morning. I got up and headed for the toiled. Rather cold morning. Seeing both of them sound asleep, I climbed onto my upper deck and dozed off.
8.30am Alarm rang. Switch off!
~9.30am They were still not up!
I opened my eyes. 10:28AM. Arrgh! I jumped off my bed and promptly woke them up. "Wei!! Sup tim pun lor… hei san lah… ngo dei yiu check out at sup tim pun leh!! Fai dit fai dit…" *
So after I washed up I went downstairs and asked the girl at the counter, ”Hi.. is check-out at half ten?” “Yeah.” “Oh, then I’d better check out now.” “Thanks.” We brought our bags down at eleven, and had some breakfast in the kitchen while Tracy was busy putting on her make-up. (Aiyah very pretty already lah!!) What had been a plan to reach the castle at 9.30am when it opened its doors turned out to be so late after all.
Edinburgh Castle is pretty. Grand. Pretty grand. And we lightened the load of our wallets once again in the shop as we bought some key-chains and biscuits and what-not. Admission itself was 9 pounds fifty. And a comical thing happened here. The admission charges were written on a board and there were different rates for children and senior citizens. Now Tracy holds a British passport so she was wondering if she gets lower rates. I couldn’t stop her in time. She enquired, “Hi… what’s the meaning of senior citizen? Cos I’m a British citizen.”
I couldn’t help laughing! So did the lady at the counter. “Yeah, she’s very old already,” said I as the lady explained the age bracket required for the discounted rates to her, chuckling.
Auntie Tracy. And it rhymes too!!
It seems Edinburgh castle is rather steeped in Scottish history. Which is linked to Stirling** Castle too. There was something about how the Scottish Crown Jewels were safely kept and something about Mary, the Queen of Scots. Quite a few exhibitions here and there, and we snapped another round of pictures. Next up was Royal Mile for some souvenirs, and then we veered off back to our hostel to pick up our jackets cos it was starting to get windy again. Lunch was at a pub, where we finally found haggis, which is actually made of lamb insides (most of what u can think of hehe) and typically served with neeps (turnips) and tatties (potato, mashed). Not too bad actually but very high in cholesterol. I had some pasta.
It was a quick walk to the Scottish National Museum before it closed for the day. In the end we only had like half an hour to do a quick ride of the horse looking at flowers*** in the place before we were chased out. What was left was the prime shopping belt, Princes Street. So once again Joe and I left Auntie to her devices as we surveyed some clothes, books and gifts (me). When we met up not too long afterwards she had procured another top. And she was looking at a bag but decided against buying that in the end. Next up was dinner and then we had a bus to catch at 9.30pm.
As those from ACS say, “The best is yet to be.” So is the worse.
We gave our orders at Pizza Hut just after eight. As we sat there, I was calculating how much time we had to make our way back to the hostel, then to the coach station. Not enough time! So Joe and I went back to the hostel to collect our bags first as Pizza Hut was nearer to the coach station. Huah… I must say trying to make it back quickly with two traveling bags, each slung on one shoulder, isn’t exactly heaven-sent. We arrived to an empty table at 8.45pm, but the pasta and salad were already ready and we made a quick meal out of it, and even took the pizza away. With ‘quick’ steps (imagine that with two traveling bags once again) we bolted and arrived to a sleepy coach station. Our bus was nowhere to be found!! An enquiry with the officer at the station revealed that our coach had left, but I was adamant that we arrived before 9.30pm according to the station’s clock. Actually we had cut it very close… something like 9.29pm and the coach’s time may have been earlier. And I even thought the bus was delayed and finished some pizza in the meantime. It turned out that another woman had also missed the bus and she was one talkative lady. It really helps if you have a lady who talks a lot on your side. Who knows she could just piss someone off or just irritate him into action. Anyway, we took a bus to Glasgow (had to pay 4 pounds though) and he got the bus to wait for us there. It happened that our coach does stop at Glasgow so that’s why we could board it there. As we arrived we saw the coach reverse, but the woman rushed off and got an officer who called the bus back, and we were finally on our coach, one and a half hours behind schedule.
We were all stuck with sitting beside some stranger and I was constantly on the lookout for empty double-seaters. During further stops like Manchester and Manchester Airport, those nearest the empty seats moved so quickly that I had no chance to even get off my own seat. But at Stoke-on-Trent (one stop before Birmingham) the portly lady beside me got off and so at least I could sleep better with Tracy sitting beside. (Ok, but at least she’s slimmer than that woman and occupied less space!) <== Disclaimer: Tracy's a nice girl and she's NOT fat!!
We alighted at Birmingham and ventured to the city centre looking for breakfast. When we were first there to change buses that Monday night we had also taken Joe around Birmingham town centre as we had time to kill. McDonald’s answered our stomach’s call and we were finally on the way back at 8.30am. In the end it was a very fulfilling trip though some unexpected things happened along the way. I’ll definitely be back!!!
*Cantonese. “Hey! It’s half ten already! Get up.. we have to check out at ten thirty! Faster faster…”
** A place north of Glasgow and rather near here too
*** 走马看花 Chinese proverb. Means a very hasty look-around.
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