A post from the past.... UK...

... the one that started it all!

This whole travel blog idea actually started more than a year back. But with the usual starting troubles I have, it took me this long to start writing! ZhongGuo (China) was a big factor in motivating me to start. And a shuttle ride of 90+ minutes everyday gives me a lot of time to find ways to harass people with my blogging! :)

So here are some notes about my UK trip that I should have written a year back!

The places…
UK was awesome. It’s the perfect example of East meets West. It has the historical charm of the east and the lifestyle of the west. London was great. Thames was bit of a disappointment with little water in it, though I did take the boat ride! Ohh, I never knew till I actually went to the Big Eye that it goes around really slow! Sorry about the spoiler, just wanted to save you some heartache if you plan to go there expecting the usual speed of a Ferris wheel! I was walking along Thames and saw the Big Eye from a distance. I saw it wasn’t moving around fast and started to panic that it was an off day. It took me a while to peer at it closely to realize that it was indeed moving but really slow! But still the view from the Big Eye is worth the ride, though I would have preferred it to be faster!

Ahh, and the London Bridge! You wont believe me. All these years I thought the Tower bridge was called the London bridge(incase you are like me, tower bridge is the elegant one with the towers and a prominent fixture in photos about London! See link below.). I didn’t realize my ignorance even when I was standing under London bridge and reading the name on the bridge! Don’t ask me why! I went to the extent of thinking that something bad happened to the towers and the British have rebuilt the Tower bridge as this current dumb looking bridge without telling me or the world! So I was cursing everyone in the world and myself, for not coming to London before whatever happened to Tower bridge. And guess what, I turn a corner and see the Tower bridge in front of me. Note that previously I was standing on the north bank of Thames under the London bridge. Tower bridge is less than a mile away to the East but I couldn’t see it yet since the Thames bank curves a little bit in between these two bridges. And there it was, the most stupid moment of my life! Hmm, one of the most stupid moments of my life, to be honest!! But to my defense, why would you name the landmark bridge of your city Tower bridge (actual reason is in the link at the end of this post) and why make the namesake bridge look like any usual bridge! Weird, the British!! :)

So two lessons learnt in one evening on my first ever travel trip. Big eye doesn’t go around fast! London bridge and Tower bridge are different. So they are indeed right, Travel makes you wiser . Or as I have started realizing these days, Travel makes you realize how dumb you really are!

The accent…
I thought after watching BBC for so long, British accent shouldn’t be a big deal. Guess what, British English in London is way different from what you hear in BBC. But here is the kicker. Two days later I find myself in Scotland and London accent started to feel very easy compared to Scottish accent. And yes, it doesn’t stop there… Two days later I am in Belfast and Irish accent made Scottish and London accent sound so easy. Infact to me Irish accent sounded like some other language. I think I used "Pardon me" and "Sorry, can you please repeat that?" a zillion times in that one week!

The fun moments…
Someone scared me before my trip that racism is a bit more obvious in northern UK. But based on my experience I didn’t feel it that much. Actually I believe I was the one who scared people when I was there. I would attribute those instances to the way I looked - a scruffy, unshaved, backpack lugging, typical hobo style look!

So I get off the train in Edinburgh at 5am. I get out of the train station with a map in my hand and blood shot eyes from overnight travel. I had the map and the address of my hostel, but I didn’t know where I was standing. So the roads are deserted, its partially dark, the wind is howling… yes, I am trying to build up a horror movie like scene! :) But you get the picture, right? Then I see a woman walking towards me and I decide to ask for direction. I think by now you know what is going to happen. You should have seen the look in her face. I scared the hell out of her, the blood in her face drained and she hurriedly crossed the road and started walking in the other direction as if she had seen a ghost! As if I wouldn’t follow her and harass her if I had wanted to!

Then there was this overnight stay at the ferry terminal to catch a ferry from Scotland to Ireland. Dont ask me why! My amazing planning skills put me in a small, deserted town in Scotland in the middle of the night and nowhere to spend the night but the ferry terminal!! There were these 2 drunk Irish guys and we started talking. As I said earlier, Irish accent was like a different language to me. Still I manage to catch a few words and we ended up discussing sports scores. Only after a while did I realize I was talking about cricket and he was talking about soccer!!

Ohh, and never, repeat, never ever order the local popular beer in London. I made that mistake and ended up getting a warm beer! Though they called it warm it was actually hot!! I have never spent 30 minutes drinking a glass of beer! Ofcourse after 30 minutes of torture I had to wash down the after-taste with a shot of Baileys! Even after more than a year, I still cringe when I think of the taste of warm beer! :) For all the warm beer lovers out there, I salute your quite unique and interesting taste for warm beers!!

The amazing sights…
The giant causeway, the coastal drive north of Belfast, The Royal Mile in Edinburgh and London in general. Ohh I was disappointed at the Highlands of Scotland. Expected something like in Braveheart. But the only interesting sight in the Highlands trip was the Scottish cow. Wow, they look so different from the usual cows you see!

The people…
Travel is especially fun since you get to meet new people! There were these Australian girls in the Belfast hostel, whose name I never quite caught but I do remember they were pretty! The manger in the Edinburgh hostel was a sweet Italian girl, whom I wowed by guessing her nationality from her accent, thanks to my Italian friends at work! Don’t worry, I know what you are thinking! I am getting to the guys!! On the bus ride to Giant Causeway and back in Ireland, I met this Indian guy - tamil speaking Indian guy - who for some weird reason started advising me to get married!! Small, weird world! Small for meeting a tamil speaking Indian guy in the northern Irish coast and definitely weird considering the fact that he started advising me about wedding after knowing me for just over 3 hours!!!

PS: I did some background search on London bridge and Tower bridge online before publishing this post. Now I am even more intrigued why they rebuilt London bridge (one of the oldest bridges in London) into this this bland looking structure!
Links:
London bridge
Tower bridge
You can see that the misconception I had is actually common! Its so satisfying to know that you are not the only dumb person in the classroom!!