Confidence Makes Awesomeness

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Though I guess it is also Awesomeness that makes Confidence.

I don't claim to be a fan, neither am I an avid follower of the Chinese music scene.

Heck, I don't even though half the songs he's singing *hides* but they're definitely super memorable hits since I vaguely remember most of the chorus and melodies. 'Most' being the keyword here. Hehe. But everything I see and hear him sing, my head just go "Awesome. Awesome. Awesome." until the performance ends. I mean, look at those faces of other celebrities watching him. They read "Awesome. Awesome. Awesome." too! Hahaha.

*in a small voice*

Though I did kinda cringed at his 'corny' antics at the end of the performance. 

Hahaha. I guess he's totally 'feeling' it. =P Who cares? It's still awesome!

The one Video Contest that You and I have a Better Chance of Winning than Mr Spielberg himself

Remember how I won myself some (seven) session of Free Antioxidant Hot Bed Therapy at Ecoparadise (which I have yet to use *sigh*) by doing what I love… BLOG! Well, the kool people at Koolred are having a contest once again. Although this time it’s not one of my many fortes but it’s definitely something some of you guys love to do. I personally know a handful of people who seem to live, eat and sleep camera. *eyeing PSP-san and Mr IdunTalkMuch* Okay, okay, it’s not exactly photography but it’s one of the many functions in the camera anyway.

VIDEO SHOOTING!

It’s a natural thing that we do when we travel aside from taking thousands of photos. There are just some things that a still photo can never capture, like the smiles and waves from the locals or the silly shrieks of excitement whenever we land at a foreign place. Come to think of it, I have a bunch of those in my folders. Maybe I should dig them out and join the contest myself. Hmm…

After all, the prizes are FREE HOTEL STAYS!

It’s like you take one holiday to earn yourself another.
How awesome is that?

If you have yet to discover this little growing community, well, I say it's a pretty kool 'place' to 'hang out' since there's members from all over the world who share their travel experiences well, all over the world.

The Koolred Team is also sneaky enough to keep us members excited by having random big and small contests from time to time. I'm not crazy enough to join every single one of them but that doesn't mean I can't share it with those who I believe will be more interested than me. Hmm… however, all these “Come on, let’s join and win this contest” talk are making me have second thoughts on this matter. I might just join the contest myself. After all I do have my travel videos sitting readily in my folders. Tempting. Very tempting.

Not to mention, I've done the necessary competitor analysis too
and my favourite entry at the moment would have to be this.

I just think it has truly captured the essence of what this contest is about which is to share a video that will make a tourist want to visit that destination. Winning entries are based on two main criteria, one is creativity and the second one is how 'Kool' is the video. Basically there's a 'Kool' button that works very much like the Facebook 'Like' button and the more 'Kool' your video is the better your chance of winning.

Anyway, will I be one of the competitors to beat is besides the point. Check out the contest and prizes here (you gotta hurry though since the contest ends in about a week's time, 17 November 2011 to be exact) or even if you’re not into the contest, check out Koolred’s website. It's a travel website after all, so you can roll around in lots of pretty pictures from all over the world and read up on useful information that can help you plan for your next travel, wherever that may be. ;)

[L.E.P.A.K series: Edinburgh] Chap 7: Up the Royal Mile

Seeing the number of times we literally went up and down the Royal Mile, the more befitting title would be “Up and Down the Royal Mile” but ... oh well. :)


Anyway, continuing on from the castle. We came down to Edinburgh’s Camera Obscura and World of Illusions where we surprisingly had a really fun and educational time. Hahaha. Sounds so much like a school’s field trip.

Now if you’re wondering what’s a camera obscura…

This is a Camera Obscura!

It sure looks very simple don’t you think? Well, of course it does. This ‘technology’ goes all the way back to the 10th century. The one here in Edinburgh had arrived around the 18th century, which still gives it over 300 years ahead of us, no? So for something so old, we really weren’t expecting it to be all kinds of amazing but it turned out to be more delightful than expected.

It’s like owning the biggest spying camera and using it
to spy on people out on the streets.


Our host was a pleasant lady who kept telling us how lucky we were to arrive on such a sunny day. Edinburgh haven’t seen sun for quite some time now and today just so happened to be all bright and cheery. It was then that Nana and I started to believe that we brought the sun with us from home, especially after my dad told us that it had been raining back home while we were away for the entire week.

At the end of the commentary, our host even let us ‘play’ with the passer-by reflected on the projection dish. Using a simple folded card we can actually ‘pick’ a passer-by up and ‘place’ him or her back into the scene. It’s hard to explain but it sure makes one feel
very god-like ‘powerful’ to be in control of this ‘little people’. Though there’s also the thought of us being ‘picked up’ by other visitors later on while we’re strolling outside.

The Camera Obscura was located at the very top floor of the building. After the show, we headed on down floor by floor where various illusions were exhibited. The best thing about illusions is that they’re interactive and you get to play along and experience them.


The best and probably the most famous one of them all was…

...the Ames Room.

Or more commonly known as the Shrink and Grow room whereby two persons step in,
stand at each corner of the room and from the outside appears to be…



SO MUCH DIFFERENT IN SIZE!

Pretty nifty huh? Too bad my modest camera could only capture that much but still, sooooo cute and cool at the same time. *grins*

There’s a whole lot more stuff going on in this place.


Like the funny mirrors. :P

And scary head on a platter. Hahaha.

Even the toilets make you think twice before actually using them.

There was also this crazy maze filled with mirrors where you see reflection upon reflection of yourself until you don't really know which is real.




Don’t believe me? Watch this video I took where I went after Nana.

In all that craziness, I actually banged into one of my own reflections. Malunya. I might not be as smart as I thought I was after all. Hahaha. OMG! Half a post later and we’ll still at Camera Obscura? Okay, okay. Let’s head out to the streets now.

The thing about a place being that old is how much history there is in every
building and monument you see. *sigh*

Not to mention, the people there sure are an expressive bunch too.

This was our next pit stop.

We went on one of the Historic Walks organized by Mercats Tours. For your information, there are a few tour companies organizing similar types of walks and tours in Edinburgh. So, do your research and find one that suits your taste and well… time. :)

St Giles Cathedral.

One of the many closes along the Royal Mile which
looks out to the newer part of town.

There you can see the Scott Monument too.
So you can imagine how much walking we did for that day.

Hume. Smart man, interesting story, couldn't remember it in detail.
LOL. Fail memory.

Down the Grassmarket.

And up the stairs back to the Royal Mile again. The Edinburgh Castle was a pretty sight from this angle, especially since the sun has begun to set.

Finally we reached the top of the stairs and the sign mocked us.

GRANNY’S GREEN STEPS!!

Go figure.

Our first McDonald’s meal in the UK. Hahaha.

It’s a shame we didn’t get to try any of Edinburgh’s local food. I really wanted to
try Haggis but we couldn’t decide on the many cafes down the street. Not to mention
we were too poof from all that walking that all we wanted was to spend the next
hour or so sitting down, resting our poor feet. That’s when we decided McD’s was
the best choice since we can order our burgers and just hang-out as long as we want
without having a waiter glaring at us.

McDonald's Chicken Legend with Salsa sauce.

I always make sure to try flavours that are not available at home whenever I travel.
Chicken Legend with its awesome name turned out to be a disappointment though.
I know the picture I took makes it look reaaaally good. But it was a little bit too dry,
a little bit too bland and not the least memorable. Till today, I still talked about how
awesome the Ebi (Prawn) Burger was in Japan and how satisfying to have McBreakfast
come with bacon and latte. Even the unique mince meat rice burger in Taiwan gets
a point if not in taste, at least in creativity.

After a somewhat good rest, we head out again for our last itinerary for the day.
The Murder and Mystery Tour. *shivers*

On our way, we met Mr Bagpipe! Finally. I mean how can you be in Scotland
and not see a man in a Scottish kilt and a bagpipe?! *grins*

The now much deserted Royal Mile.

And finally our guide, Adam Lyal (Deceased) arrived.

Yes. He’s dead and now he’s back to share his tales and those of others. A funny guy
he is but not a very punctual one, too. He came later than scheduled because of the delay
of an earlier group. So Nana and I ended up leaving half way through the tour to catch
our bus back to London.

That marks the end of our one day tour to Edinburgh. A lot was done in that little time
we had. I need to come back to Edinburgh again one day, some day. To finish the tour,
to eat haggis and to venture out of the city and to the countryside, to see lochness,
the lake and all things pretty. Edinburgh is loved and I’ll leave you this time with
another video. Do turn your volume down a bit before you hit the play button. Till then!

Because He is Too Cute for Words

Therefore, I shall just leave this here so that I can play and play and play the video again and again and again whenever I want to. His expressions are just so cute and he is enjoying himself so so much. It just sooo... squashable, if that's even a word. LOL.

[L.E.P.A.K series: Edinburgh] Chap 6: Mesmerising Vistas

After dinner and some rest, we headed out again at around 9.30pm to catch the night bus up to Edinburgh. Crazy schedule huh?

Here's something even more crazy.

Our return trip bus tickets cost a mere £6.50. That's about RM32. Dirt cheap no? Even a return trip to Kuala Lumpur cost more than that. So I guess its time for...

Hiyashibeeps' L.E.P.A.K Travel Tips No.6:
Check out megabus.com for cheap bus tickets to anywhere in the UK. Be warned though, google for a review and you'll most likely stumble upon a bad one. Old bus, stinky smell, lateness, etc. My take on this? They're probably true. Our experience with Megabus wasn't a pleasant one but more of that later. But on another note, the buses were still full with passengers. So people still ride it nonetheless. Why? Price is definitely the factor here.

You see, Megabus price ticketing system works similar to that of AirAsia. The first released tickets are the cheapest of the bunch, and can be as low as £1. So you have to be on the look-out for ticket release which is about 2 - 3 months prior to your travelling date. The ticket price goes up a notch after the first set of tickets are sold and continues to rise thereafter.

Now, back to the ride. The bus was in fact quite punctual. However the bus that came was not a coach bus but a regular bus, like the ones that are travelling within the city. *shocking* It turns out our actual coach bus couldn't make it to the station and so we had to sit this regular bus for the first half of the journey until god knows where to switch to our actual coach bus. So you can imagine the discomfort sitting for a few hours in a regular bus with regular seats. Urgh.

So you can also imagine the contentment and comfort we felt when we finally switched to our actual coach bus. And if you thought coach buses in the UK and Europe are big and comfy because, well, maybe because the people there are generally bigger in size compared to Asians, :P then boy are you wrong! I can assure you that this is not just because it was Megabus that we're talking about, we took another coach operator later in our trip, one that is priced much higher and the bus condition is pretty much the same, making me feel the Megabus ride was not that bad after all, especially when it's three times cheaper. *nods*

OMG! We haven't even got to Edinburgh and the post is already so loooong.

Here's the advantage of taking the night bus. You'll wake up to the beautiful sunrise as you slowly reach Scotland. Now a normal sunrise would be comparable to any other sunrises from anywhere in the world. What made this sunrise so much more special was this...




*click to view video*

Yes. You see the full moon on one side of the bus as the sun begun to rise on the other side. Amazing huh? Like whuuaah! It's a wonderful moment indeed. *hearts* Suddenly you feel you're in the most amazing bus ride ever. *grins* And as the sun begun to shine upon the entire countryside. We saw sheeeeeps. Hehe.. cute fluffy whites with little blacks grazing the fields.

What's more, we even arrived Edinburgh earlier than expected. We walked out of St Andrew Bus Station and was instantly greeted by a strong gust of cold wind. The sky was clear and blue but the wind was oh so cold.


Down the road, the Scott Monument stood tall and eery.
It's beautiful yet so haunting in its design.

We bought our Edinburgh Pass from the Tourist Information Centre at Princes Street for £26.50, which brings us to...

Hiyashibeeps' L.E.P.A.K Travel Tips No.7:
The Edinburgh Pass is available in the form of 1-day, 2-day and 3-day passes. However, it is not necessary a must-buy item for your travels. You have to consider what you are planning to do during your trip. In general, the cost of 3 activities is probably the equivalent of a 1-day pass. If you manage a fourth, that's when you start to save but your schedule will be very tight and tiring.

We did explore three of the items included in the pass which actually if paid individually would have cost us £26.50 exactly. So no great savings whatsoever but the pass did came in the form of a magnetic card plus a booklet, both were great memento for the trip.

You can actually purchase the pass online and have it sent to you or collect on the spot upon arrival. The advantage? They do have online promotions that enable you to save more. BUT. Yes, there's a but here. Last I've checked, the price for a 1-day pass is now £29. So I'm not sure if it's that value-for-money anymore. You be your own judge. :)

Wow! This post is filled with way too much information.

*yawns*

Let's get the pictures to do the talking now, shall we?

Me in front of the Scott Monument.
It's a great day for photography isn't it?

The view from the walking path right beside the Scott Monument.
You can see Edinburgh Castle far ahead.

Edinburgh Castle is perched on a hill and thus it's up, up...

...and up we walked. *phew*

The Writer's Museum. We gave this one a miss (yes yes, I know I'm a writer) but a museum is just not as appealing as the many other attractions in town. Besides, time is not on our side remember? :)

The Hub. Hahaha.
A pretty modern name for such an old looking building don't you think? Well, don't be fooled. The interior of this building is quite modern I must say. After all, The Hub is not only a restaurant, a cafe and a wedding venue but also the grand location for the annual Edinburgh International Festival.

And finally Edinburgh Castle!
Look at me holding onto my dear hat so tightly.
The wind I tell you. The wind! Brrr....

Finally got rid of all the cars and got myself
a proper shot of me and the castle. :D

Nana finally broke down after the long climb.
*so dramatic wei*

Scottish kids!
Cik Datang commented that the kids must have took Scott Emulsion *rolls eyes*, that's why they're so fit at climbing up the slopes. Unlike some people... *sheepish smile*

Mr Tour Guide manually adjusting the time for the next tour to begin. LOL.

Mr Tour Guide in a kilt :P or what we more fondly call a Scottish Skirt. Hehe.

The view from the first level of the castle.
Now imagine you're here during the war and ready to fire the cannon. FIRE!

These kids didn't even bother to imagine as they attempt to lift the 'cannon ball'. Hahaha. Silly but so cute.

The breathtaking view from the very top of the castle.
You can even look out to the sea at the far end. I didn't realised Edinburgh was so close to the coast. I simply love Edinburgh and would definitely want to come back again if I ever have the chance in the future.

And finally, another shot together!

I promise this is the last shot of the castle. :P

Our last stop was the Royal Scots Military Museum where we got to remould a penny into a small souvenir token...

...using this machine and for an affordable price of 50 pence. :D

*phew*

What a long post. Next up! The Royal Mile.
Eeek! No video to end the post this time. Hehe.

[L.E.P.A.K series: London] Chap 5: HeART of London

We’re just one chapter away to Edinburgh! *excited much* I guess I should just get right on it then.

Next up is Covent Garden! This is truly a place of art where street performers are seen at every nook and corner. These street performers are licensed to perform and boy do they come in all arts and forms.


This warrior is awesome in so many ways. His expressions are simply hilarious. See him with a cute gal and he goes all shy like that.


See a little boy and he goes all cheeky with him.

You see, Mr Warrior will randomly throw his sword out to catch passerby’s attention. If you’re 'lucky', you’ll be the one to pick it up, return it and be caught along in his act. If you noticed, there’s another young boy looking eagerly at the scene. Mr Warrior noticed him as well. Called him over and waaa-laaah!


Happy boy is happy to be caught. Hahaha.


Dog-Man! He’s amazing and has quite the dirty mouth. Parents just can’t help giving their kids some money to be placed in the dish for Mr Dog-Man.

And here at Covent Garden age doesn’t matter! There were also magic acts and acrobatic shows going on all over the place. How awesome is that?

The building might read ‘Covent Garden Market’ but it’s not your usual market selling fruits and vegetables. It used to be back in the days, but now it’s more of an art market where stalls sell arts and crafts of all kinds.

But then there’s always food! *grins*

And this stall here had a crazy long queue going on. Seriously long. Whatever they’re cooking must taste really good especially since it cost a whooping £7 for a pretty modest serving. We did not try it because (1) the line was endless and (2) RM35 for a plate of rice is just not for us. :P

Be amazed! We were.

Told you it’s all about ART over here!

From Covent Garden, we made our way to Piccadilly Circus, where the famous statue of an archer, Eros stood in the middle of the busy junction.

Piccadilly Circus is also known for its neon signs and video displays mounted on the surrounding buildings. The trademark "SANYO" sign is one that you'll see in every picture of Piccadilly Circus. I like this shot because it looks as if the man in glasses is thinking about having some fries. *snickers*

Me with the standard "I was here!" shot. :P

Nana commented that there were more humans than pigeons on the memorial. Sad but true. Poor pigeons are loosing out their territory. Here's a little tip for ya all. Make sure to come back here during the night to catch some awesome night shots of the place when the neon signs are all lit up. Be warned though, the crowd is just as crazy if not worst than the afternoon crowd.

Our initial plan was to visit Oxford Street and Regent Street, both are upmarket shopping avenues that do not fit our interest nor budget. Hehe. So after awhile, we decided to change our plans and hunt down China Town instead.

When we finally saw the lion and Chinese words on the street signs, we knew we have found the place. Indeed within the China Town area, all street signs have Chinese words on them. And then there were also the rows and rows of Chinese restaurants that offer all-you-can-eat buffets, a true testament to our typical Chinese nature of squeezing every penny worth for the value we pay. *sigh*

Nana's "I was here!" shot,
in front of the arch that reads 'London's China Town'.

It is here that we had our ultimate "Shock of the Day".

Wait for it.

Wait for it.

.

.

.

TADAAA!

Thai durian selling at £6.99 per kilogram. That's RM35 for one kg. -.-;; I can buy a few good durians with that amount of money. What's more, there's only one miserable durian for sale. Don't get to choose, yet still have to pay so much. *shakes head* Poor durian lovers in London. Kasihan.

We went back to our hotel to rest our tired feet for one short hour before heading out again to catch the sunset view of London from sky high.

That’s right, it’s London Eye time once again.

Remember I mentioned about getting a travel card from the rail station to enjoy 2for1 offers? London Eye is one of the many attractions you get to enjoy such offer. From £18 for a ride, we now get to go on for only £9 each. The ticket is inclusive of a short 4D experience of the London Eye.

My “I was on the London Eye” shot.
Not as smiley as I was in the morning I guess. Hehe. It’s been a long day after all.

The ride up is a nice way to end the day. After a day’s walk, all you want to do is slowly take it all in and on the London Eye, you get to do precisely that.

Take pictures of every possible angle, with views stretching out as far… well as far as the fog and clouds allow us to see.

Watching the sun slowly set in. *content sigh*

Oh soooo pretty.

*content sigh x2*

Next is confession time.

Yes, I caved in on the second night of my trip and went back to my Oriental roots.
Not quite Chinese but close enough. *grins*

A whole big bucket full of Chicken Yakisoba for under £5.
I don’t care because I loved it. *hearts*

Phew. This is really a long post isn’t it? We’re heading off to Edinburgh next.
Till then, here’s a little entertainment from the Covent Garden band.
Jolly group of people.