An ending…A new beginning…

This blog will officially end here...
Gonna jump right back into the chaotic life back home...

Left England on a misty morning...

It’s sad to leave...
But it feels good to be back...

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We do the things we do...
Just to be a little happier...

Closure…

My last day in Leeds...Some random thoughts...

Originally wanna go around the city and university to take some pics...
Still haven’t taken some pics of the beautiful Business School converted from an old church...
Still haven’t taken some pics of the Harry-Potter-like library in the Parkinson building...
Still haven’t taken a pic of myself lying on the grass in Hyde park on a sunny day...
Still haven’t taken some pics of the lifestyle in the city of Leeds...
But it was raining today...

When you keep telling yourself you will do it “next time”, you'll never see when the last “next time” will come...

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Cleared my room in the morning...In fact, I did all the throwing and packing in one morning. That’s the good thing about being a guy, minimum belongings...Just pack and go whenever you wanted to...

Spend the rest of the day re-watching "Scrubs"...

Same jokes are still funny...
Lessons from each episode are still meaningful and touching...

Scrubs...My magical morphine...It really bring back memories with Hadi and my FPGA days...

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I’m not a “farewell” guy...
Leaving a place is always difficult for me...

A friend once told me he hated the last days of his Exchange programs...Cos’ he is kinda sure he will not be as close as those people he used to hang out with here when he return to Sg...

It’s kinda like a natural cycle ya...

First you arrive in England...Feeling all fresh to break out of the Sg education system for the first time, and getting excited about any trivial stuff...

Then you start your studies...Feeling blessed about the relax education system here and soon start cursing your project mates due to the difference in working habits...

Next you start traveling...Feeling invincible, visiting all the places you always wanted to go and doing all the things you once only dream of...

Last you end your Exchange program...Feeling sad that all this have to end...

But before you know it, you will be right back into the vicious cycle of a undergrad back home again...Fighting with deadlines, projects, reports and bell curves...

When all these end, you will be worrying for your future...Fighting with your peers for a job, repaying your education debts to the university, taking care of your family when your parents start to retire etc...

And very soon...you will forget how to dream again...

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Gonna pen my last post when I reach back Sg...
Till then, I just wanna grab hold of any lasting moments I can get over here...

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It is not about the flying in itself...
It is not about letting go...
It is not about the great expanse...
It is not about the calmness around and within you...
It is not about the sensation of sinking as part of the whole...

It is about something else...

One life...Live it...

[A back-post for my Interlaken, Switzerland trip...]

Main purpose to come here is for Skydiving. Always aim to jump out of an airplane brfore I'm 30, when my heart still can take it...haha

And why in Switzerland? Cos' you get to jump with the Alps in sight, and it's the only place in the world you can jump from a helicopter. (Other dropzones do skydives from airplanes) And trust me, jumping from a chopper is really much better...

Kara, from Canada, my skydiving butty!!! My honour to jump with a pretty lady...hah

Tony, my instructor!!!

Standing at the edge of the helicopter not holding on to anything, with the Alps in front of you...Believe me, this exact moment is perhaps better than the dive itself!!!

The dive itself. The freefall period...Simply awesome!!!

Smiling for the camera!!!

After the parachute was deployed, it was more like paragliding. Great that Tony allowed me to control the parachute for a while...haha

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Second objective in Switzerland is for Canyoning. Some said canyoning is only legal in Switzerland...Don't know how true is that. But only few know what canyoning really is...So here goes...

Self-portrait with full gear on!!!

Rappelling down cliffs and swinging across rock walls like a Tarzan when there are no other possible routes...

Jumping into water pools of unknown depth...Gotta trust our guides...haha

Walking through waterfalls to explore what's behind it...

Group pics!!!

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When signing the risk agreement, my skydive instructor actually grinned and said "Ok...Lets sign your life away!!!"

Glad I'm still alive...

What's next??? Bungee jumping before I reach 30...

Inverness, Scotland

People once told me if you are visiting Scotland, you should never leave without visiting the highlands. So here I am...

Inverness, the capital of Highlands of Scotland. It is just a small city, only made up of a few streets, located in northern Scotland. A local I met here told me cities in the highland areas are like that. Like Fort William, it's only made up of a street of buildings...that's all...

Inverness is actually my last stop before I end my whole Exchange program...Feeling kinda sad even when I'm on the train to my final destination...

A beautiful sunset on the day my arrival day...

Castle and Loch Ness: A must-visit place if you come to the Highland of Scotland. This castle has so many historical moments that it makes the whole visit feel so magical. The river behind it is the famous Loch Ness, where the Loch Ness Monster was last seen. Can you see anything??? Hmmm...

Interior of the castle...Some random shots...

On a Loch Ness river walk with a new friend I made...Amelie from Hong Kong, studying in France...It has been a long long time since I speak in Mandarin...Feels that now both my Mandarin and English suck...Sigh...

Amelie and I both left Inverness at 6+am the next morning. She's heading for train station to another city in Scotland, while I'm heading for the airport to catch my plane back to Leeds...

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Had the don't-know-when-we-will-meet-again feeling again...
Simply hate it...

Edinburgh, Scotland

While Ken went back to Leeds for his Graduation Ceremony, I made my way to Scotland...

Edinburgh Castle: The main attraction here...Went for the free guided tour...Discovered it was so full of history...

The oldest building in the castle and in the whole of Edinburgh...It's a small chapel build for a princess who spent a great portion of her life helping people...The king then actually forbidded anyone to destroy it, even during war time...

One O'clock Gun: Fired at 1pm each day...A tradition carried out till today...Purpose is to allow sailors to tune their clock to accurate time before they leave the harbour in the olden days.

Random shot of me in the castle...

Streets of Edinburgh: An old town with rich and interesting culture...

Bagpipe street artist: Wherever you go in Edinburgh, you can always hear bagpipe music...

Some monuments on a hill top...

Edinburgh: An overall view pic of the city...

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Okok...I know my hair is damn long...
Even I can't stand it myself...
Gonna go for a haircut the first thing I reach Sg...

Valencia, Spain

Valencia isn't really a "tourist-ic" city. But according to Gerardo, it got some of the best beach in Spain!!! So here we were, planned a trip here for some relaxing and slacking time...hah

Irish pub: With German and Irish beer!!!

Valencia beach: The beach here is simply amazing. Like those typical beach you see in movies, there are tonnes of beach umbrellas around, with sand so fine that you just feel like lying there for the whole day!!! Whatsmore, most of the gals here (Seriously from 5 to the 60s) go topless!!! And it isn't even a nude beach...(Okok...Relax now...it's pretty normal over here...Just too conservative back home that's all...)

Tried suntanning here without any lotion...Now my back is shedding skin like a snake...Arghhh...

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To all my "butt-ies" out there:

Ever been to a place...
Where you all are the only two Asian Chinese idiots strolling around...
On a nice sandy beach with clear blue water and nice sea breeze...
On a sunny day...
With tonnes of hot topless gals around???
Oh, and not forgetting...Also with 2 bottles of ice cold Heineken...

That's life!!!

Barcelona, Spain

Gaudi's Architecture: All the buildings by the architect, Antoni Gaudí, are must-visit attractions. Famous for the uniqueness of their designs...

Met this street artist at the Gaudi Park. She was singing some traditional music with that special instrument she was holding, that produce sound of falling water droplets. And her voice...it was simply beautiful...

Don't know why but this colourful chameleon is one of the symbol for Gaudi's buildings. At it's statue, you can see tonnes of people taking pics with it.

Just a pic at the top of the Gaudi's park...Quite a tedious climb due to the freaking hot weather!!!

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It's freaking hot here!!!

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The city of sin...where soft drugs are legal, where touring around the red light district for a family outing is perfectly normal, where great live music is!!! The place where we let our hair down, allow our horns and tails to grow and be crazy for a little while...

There are so many bicycle-users here that they actually got official multi-storey parking lots for bicycle...haha

Wind Mill Village: A must-visit place if you are visiting Holland...Too bad it was raining the day we went...Anyway, the guy here is my travelling-kaki for this time round. Ken from Malaysia, my Leeds coursemate...

A gift shop in the Wind Mill Village...Stuff in here are kinda interesting...As if you have step into a land of fairy tales...With nice musical boxs, puppets etc...The shop owner is rather nice to chat with while seeking shelter from the rain...hah

Amsterdam: Part of the city area...Nothing much...Just another city, with lots of rivers though...

My favourite pic taken here!!!

Anne Frank: The Anne Frank (Go read up about her if you still don't know who she is!!!) House is a popular attraction here with long queue of visitors throughout the day. But we didn't visit it, as we are sick and tired of museums...Sigh...

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Can't take pics in certain places...Damn...

London, England

Have been in England since January, but only get the chance to explore London now...haha

London: A must-vist city if you visit England...I'm sure most of you have seen tonnes of pics of London...So just post some random pics up...

Stonehenge: It is situated near Salisbury (an "ulu" town near London) and the actual spot itself is located on a field at the middle of no where, surrounded by some farmlands, with sheeps running around...Tempted to jump over the fence to grab hold of some baby sheeps...They are so cute!!! haha...Anyway, it was drizzling when I made my visit...Kinda like the atmosphere...the feeling of ancient, mystery and peace...

Greenwich Line: The line that defines the Greenwich Mean Time...The line that separates the day...

Big Ben: The famous clock tower...A must-see attractions!!!

London Eye: The famous observation wheel...Another must-see attraction!!! The largest observation wheel in the world for now, before Singapore Flyer is being build...Woohoo!!!

With all the artists performing their street art and night lightings around, the night scene of London is really superb. I actually stayed on the bridge for quite some time...Listening to my MP3, enjoying the chill wind and admiring this sight...Not wanting to leave...Sigh...

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A wonderful global city...

Paris, France

Main purpose of the visit is to visit Gerardo (my Spainish neighbour in Leeds) who is currently doing his PHD course here...

Eiffel Tower: Trademark of Paris...A must-visit attraction...I actually climbed this tower in my zombie-state physical self...Haha...Felt seriously tired but time isn't on my side these days to allow me to slack in the hostel...The view at the top is definitely worth it...Also, the tower is so nice at night with all the lightings...

An arch that is supposed to be a must-visit attraction according to some of my friends...Forgotten its name though...arghhh!!!

Lourve Museum: The famous museum shown in movie "Da Vinci Code"...The stuff inside are really amazing and the museum is freaking huge!!! Even saw the real "Mona Lisa" painting there!!! Actually spent the whole day there...But still, there isn't enough time to go through all the stuff they had...Argh!!!

Gerardo and Ana: Ana was in Paris for a 10-days visit too. Went to a Japanese restaurant to had a simple "reunion" dinner with them...They had fun trying to use sticks (Chopsticks) to eat...haha...

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The hardest part is not knowing when I will see you guys again...

Berlin, Germany

Went to Berlin with Ian and Grace...Since I'm a German-idiot, and most of the road signs and stuff are in German...I'm practically following them around...haha

Berlin: A place full of history...

Some parliament house...The top floor is freaking nice...Looks like a space craft landed on the building!!!

Checkpoint Charlie: A piece of Berlin Wall outside Checkpoint Charlie...Too much historical moments about it...Just look at all the graffiti on the wall...They kinda tell a lot about life back then...

A place where all the theatres and gallerys are...Love the atmosphere here at night...

Another cool place (Forgotten the name...Dammit)...Just look at the ceiling...Wow!!!

Bearhugging the international bear!!!

Clubbing: This pic was actually taken by some photographer there...Need to pay to get the actual pic...Damn...Luckily Grace found a copy online...Lower quality though...They said Berlin is a city that never sleep. Kinda true...There are tonnes of clubs there!!! Gays, lesbian, straight etc...Clubbing is a must if you visit Berlin, even if you are not a party animal (like me!!!)...And it's the first time I entered the club at night and exit when there's already daylight!!!

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Party till 5am...
Made my way back to the hostel...
Packed and headed straight for the airport for Paris...
Felt like a zombie for the whole of next day...
Sigh...