St. Marks Church

Went to meet up with the priest we met at the church beside Hyde Park today. As promised, he was bringing us to a church which he claimed was closed to the public. (But he has the key for it)...Originally, I thought it was really a cool idea...thinking it might be some extremely old church with a super long history, where there might be some secrets or treasures within it to be discovered or something.

To my surprise, the church which the priest was refering to is the one right beside the place where I am currently living. Yah...I did know about this old castle-like building beside my residence, and always feel creepy by the cemetery that surrounds it (YAH!!! I live beside a cemetery!!! not the first time anyway...haha)...but didn't really think much about it.

According to the priest, St. Marks Church was build in the 1820s and in the later years, it was purely used for funeral purposes. It stop functioning only in the year 2002...so its still quite recent la...He actually brought us through some spiral stairway (which was totally covered by pigeon feathers with some dead pigeons lying around) to the second level of the church...can really get an impressive view from there :)

As usual, Jai do the talking while I do the exploring and photo taking...haha...

Main building of the church...the clock stopped at 9...Wonder if there is any significance to it...hmmm....(think i watch too much movie liao...haha)

Interior of the church...While walking around, I felt that some of the floor cement panels were hollow down there. We questioned the priest about this and indeed, there is about 7 feets of empty space between the cement floor and the land. Wonder what they hide down there...hmmmm....

Front of church: Looking at those random objects around...chair, broken bulbs etc...keeps me wondering who was the last person who uses these stuff and how was it really like in the 1820s...haha...Anyway...there was a small room located at the front of the church...its damn dark inside...seems like anything can jump out from there anytime...so ya...I didnt go inside...dammit...think I really watch much tv liao...:S

Royal Armouries Museum

The first weekend since school started...as usual...being the typical Singaporean...we scout for some FREE places of interest to visit :P

The first two places we tried to visit (Mill Hill Chapel and City Art Gallery) were close when we reached there. In fact, City Art Gallery is under renovation or something till May....arghhhh....

Since we were already in the city, we decided to head for the Royal Armouries Museum, a place which we always wanted to go but don't feel like going...haha...cos from the map, it seems that it is located at some "ulu" place which is damn inaccessible.

Luckily it was quite a nice place...manage to catch some performaces which is only shown during the weekends...and we reached there at a perfect timing that allowed us to catch two free performances...hahaha The red doted line shows the direct distance from St. Marks to the Royal Armouries Museum...we practically walk across the whole city...haha :) A sword fight performace...they actually explain how to use these weapons in different ways, and did an actual "sparring" session with sword...pretty cool!!! A funny mask i saw...damn wierd la...haha This piece of chinese armour looks like one being wore by Jay Chou in the movie: "Curse of the golden flower"...quite impressive... I like the expression of this guy here...just find it interesting...haha...Anyway, IIRC...this piece of work is about a tribal guy pointing his spear at an America soldier and the soldier pointing back with his rifle bayonet...something like that... This is a five storey chamber that display all sort of weapons and armours on the walls. A really cool view from the bottom :)

After the museum, I continued my walking session (trying to orientate myself to the city so can travel without the map next time, and maybe try to find some short cuts around...) while Jai rushed back for his "video conference" session with his mom.

I found out a sad fact that nothing in Leeds is cheaper than back Singapore. Even products from TopShop, supposed to be products of U.K., are slightly more expensive here...sigh...think I should get just try to get use to it and stop having the mindset of multiplying the cost of whatever items I see by 3 (thats the currency conversion rate from SGD to pounds)...that will make life easier :)

Anyway, I came across this wonderful shop in Merrion Centre, called the "Shared Earth". The first part of the shop is about recycling stuff which is normal...but the rest of the shop contain items from different part of the world...got some handicrafts from Kenya and Indonesia...some Buddha figurings from China...some Christian figurings...some Sun god figurings from Egypt...some tribal items from dunno which tribes...and some musical instruments from India etc...quite a lot of stuff to explore...and the shop was playing some traditional tribal music...cool right!!! Think I stayed there for about half an hour without buying anything...haha...was touching everything I can get my hands on...and reading through all the inspirational post cards...think I will visit this shop again :)

Oh ya...that reminds me i still need to hunt for some gift for my friends back in Sg...sigh...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Treat the earth well... It was not given to us by our parents... It was loaned to us by our children... -- Native India proverb

Bored...

In the school now...Have been sort of camping in the PC cluster to finish up my assignment so that i got the weekends to myself :)

Taking 4 lab modules is crazy (especially for an Exchange student), as that makes me attending project discussions and visiting labs almost everyday. Difference in technical softwares and programming languages used makes things more difficult...just have to go through a crash course for everything :)

Anyway few weeks back, Eliz (from NUS on an 1 yr Exchange) told me that she had to re-sit for one of her exams because the Uni. had actually "accidentally" used a previous year paper for this yr's examination.

And this morning at the Sch of Electric Engin. reception, I overheard 2 gals lodging a complaint. Apparently, the Uni. had "accidentally" posted the model solution for one of their modules online before the exam, and now is arranging for all student taking that module to re-sit for the paper.

Haha...welcome to Great Britain!!!

Snowing!!!

It was a night when it snowed for half an hour. Wasn't really snowing heavily but who cares...seeing snow for the first time in my life is enough to make me happy...haha :)

When I realized it was snowing, I woke Jai up (He was sleeping...and it was only 8:30pm!!!). He doubted that it was snowing, and claimed that it might be someone throwing dirt down from the upper level...Kaoz...But I managed to drag him down to take a look. So here we are, standing outside like two idiots...trying to figure out how a snowflake really looks like...haha :) After Jai went back to his dreamland, I actually stayed outdoor alone for about 15 minutes to enjoy the sight and the surrounding. Too excited to go back in anyway... My footprints on a thin layer of snow...haha...Decided to take this picture for memory sake before I return indoor. Not knowing when is the next time I will see such a sight again. (The weather forcast here is never accurate...Bleah...)

Everything ended in 30mins...Hope will get a chance to see it snowing heavily in a day...then can take better pictures...haha :)

The Black Prince

Just outside Mill Hill Chapel... This is a huge statue situated directly at the middle of the junction, in front of the railway station. It is really called the "Black Prince". (Being carve on the statues...funny name though)

Anyway, the temperature in Leeds dropped to zero degrees today. My fingers almost dropped when I changed into the tele lens to get this shot...Bleah...

Mill Hill Chapel

Next I followed Jai, the Mr Places-of-Worship guy, to visit this Unitarian chapel. According to him, there isn't any Unitarian chapel back in Singapore.

Too bad, the church was closed when we reached there. Only manage to explore its surrounding... Guardian of the door... According to the priest we met at the church beside Hyde park, all churches in England have some sort of a memorial thingy like this in them. Names of all the war time heroes are displayed on them. The sign that symbolises "free expression of philosophical, spiritual and religious beliefs, and acceptance of ourselves and others."

Finally found it!!!

On our way to the city centre, it actually rained "ice droplets" for about 5 minutes(not exactly snow or hailstones). Rain droplets fell as ice and melted once they contact our skin. A pretty cool experience.

After the rain, we actually saw this... Found the end of the rainbow...but where is the pot of gold???

Hyde Park

Went out for a walk with Jai (NUS, Che Eng), my Indian neighbour from Singapore, as we didn't want to waste the last weekend before school starts... A park beside the place where I'm staying, along the School of Business. Looks pretty peaceful in the morning. But I have heard of stories of robbery and gang rape cases happening here at night. Not a safe place to go after dark... A gathering area for all the youngsters around this area... A different statue at every entrance of the park. Looks pretty cool. Saw this Christian church beside Hyde Park. Such an old building in an urban city. Interesting architecture... Greeted by the kind of door from the Lord of the Rings era... While Jai spent most of the time here talking to the priest about religious stuff, I'm more interested in exploring this "old" place. Saw this mosaic of the "Last Supper" in one part of the church...a pretty dedicate piece of work...

St. Anne's RC Cathedral...

Chance upon this Catholic cathedral while seeking shelter from the chilly wind. Greeted by this grand sight as we enter... Candles of prayers...

City Tour organise for international students...

Commercial Street: The "Orchard Road" of Leeds. Almost anything can be found here, and most items cost NUMERICALLY the same as those back in Singapore. Typical shops along Commercial Streets...

My room in St. Marks Residences...

Though it's quite small and old as compared to those hostels on campus, it can be cosy at times :)