Category Archives: travel
Minehead day trip
Yesterday, I went on a day trip, organised by the postgraduate association at university, to North Devon. It was nice to get out of Bath since for the last two weeks I had been on duty in university halls.
In the morning, the minibus stopped at Glastonbury, the home of the world-famous music festival. There were many small new age shops selling crystals, incense sticks and the like.
We spent the rest of the day in Minehead, a coastal town in South West England. One of the main attractions here was a working steam train, which we were lucky enough to be held up by as we arrived.
I spent the day with Bei and John. After walking along the seafront, we took a short cut across the beach (at low tide) to reach the harbour, which is just at the base of the hill in the photo below.
As you can see below, low tide revealed quite a lot of beach. In the background, you can just about make out Butlins, the holiday resort.
As is custom in this part of the country, we stopped at a small cafe to have cream tea. Well… Bei and John did… I had an ice cream!
In the time that was left before the minibus departed back to Bath, we walked up the hill. Whilst it looks quite small in the other photo, it took us about 45 minutes of walking (and scrambling up steep dirt banks) to reach the top. Unfortunately, the view from the top was somewhat obscured by the surrounding trees. However, we did meet these lovely friendly ponies!
Photos of Singapore (part 3)
This is the third and final part to my photos of Singapore series, a photo diary of the 10 days I spent there. The first part can be found here, the second part can be found here.
On my penultimate day, I took the opportunity to explore what was on my doorstep, Chinatown. China mostly consisted of narrow lines of streets, along which were dotted hundreds of tourist shops. Despite the obvious tourist centric nature of the area, there was still a definite traditional vibe to the place.
Indeed, many of the people here were locals, lots of whom could be found in one of the many wet markets in the area. In this photo, you can see stalls filled with a vast array of seafood including eels and live frogs (ok, maybe pondfood then).
In the heart of China town was this wonderfully ornate temple. After leaving my shoes and socks outside, I was able to have a look around inside the temple walls. As I walked around, many locals were in the process of worshiping.
My next stop was Kampong Glam, a small neighbourhood to the East of the city centre. The place consisted of a wonderful mix of Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, with many shops specialising in batik and carpets. I had an amazing meal in an Egyptian restaurant here that included a larger portion of humus (I do love a bit of humus!).
I enjoyed venturing down some of the lovely deserted side streets.
Here is an awesome piece of graffiti art I came across.
Being so distracted by both Chinatown and Kampong Glam, I nearly forgot about my main plan for the day, which was to take a trip to a small island just off the Eastern coast of Singapore. It took me a while to get there too, since I had to take a long MRT (underground) journey followed by an even longer bus ride just to get close to the ferry terminal. Indeed, it wasn’t until around 6pm that I actually got onto the boat. Given the modern looking ferry terminal (complete with airport style baggage scanners), the boats were quite basic. Once twelve people were onboard, the captain collected £1.25 from everyone and we were off …
Here is a video of the boat trip.
And here is a picture of the island of Pulau Ubin.
Once there, I rented a bike so that I could easily visit much of the island before it got dark.
Going to Pulau Ubin was an amazing experience. It was like stepping back in time. None of the homes had any mains electricity, so throughout the island you could hear the constant hum of the electricity generators. Going off-road, I came across isolated houses. Since there was often no one else around, it was easy to imagine that you were lost on a tropical island (like Lost!)
I loved this beautiful house, located amongst a clearing in the forest.
The Merlion, with the head of a lion and the tail of a fish (a bit like a rather dangerous mermaid) is the mascot of Singapore. This is the original statue located at Merlion park and the one that you will see on all the postcards.
On my final day, before catching my flight back to the UK, I went to the Botanic Gardens. A bit like a cross between a traditional botanic garden and a park, the Botanic Gardens in Singapore was a great place to relax, as anyone could just come and go as they pleased. Once inside, I spent a while just lying on the grass, giving my poor feet a rest from all the walking of the past week.
Here is an interesting plant, identified by my mum as a banana plant.
The day that I flew home was Singaporean National Day, probably the most celebrated day on the calendar. Here are people gathering to watch a big screen that is showing the parade.
Photos of Singapore (part 2)
Here is the second installment of my (thrilling!?) photos of Singapore series. The first part can be found here. The third part can be found here.
On the first day following the World Congress of Biomechanics, I met up with Sonal, a friend who I had met at the conference. One preconception I had about Singapore that certainly held true as I walked around, was how clean everything was. I was forever seeing people polishing things …
The first place we went on this day was Marina Bay Sands, a massive new resort that included a hotel, a shopping centre, museums and a casino. I have previously posted some panoramic photos I took from the top, but here is a photo taken from the inside.
Here is me and Sonal at the top. Just look how brave I’m being, standing so close to the edge!
From the other side of the observation platform, we got a good view of some of the Singapore F1 racetrack. This section is the end of the start/finish straight.
And the famous infinity swimming pool
I had to get someone to hold my feet as I dangled over the edge to take this photo … actually, I just stuck my camera through the fence. Still, quite a drop.
Fort Canning Park was a bit more down to earth and a good place to escape the hustle and bustle of Singaporean life.
At the end of the day, I went back to Chinatown where my hotel was located. In People’s Park Complex, one of the shopping complexes there, there was a singing contest going on. Whilst the singing may not have been amazing, everybody there seamed to be getting into the spirit of the event.
Here is a video of one of the groups performing.
After spending most of the day on my feet, I really needed a chance to relax. As luck would have it, in the shopping complex, was a number of fish foot spas. A fish foot spa evolves placing your hands and feet into tanks of fish. The fish would then proceed to swarm around and eat the dead skin off your extremities (it is nicer than it sounds … honest). At first it felt really weird and I had to keep checking I still had all ten fingers intact. But after a while, I settled into it and did indeed relax.
Here are the little Garra Rufa up close. Aren’t they cute?! It appears that dead skin is not enough for them, as just as I was leaving, the owner of the shop threw a couple of fish food pellets into the tank.
As I mentioned yesterday, one of the best things about Singapore was the food. Living, as I did, in Chinatown, I took full advantage of that. Just round the corner from my hotel was a large market complex. On the top floor were literally over a hundred food stalls. It was very easy to have a good meal for just £1.50 here!
My favourite dish was dumpling soup, delicious!
Photos of Singapore (part 1)
Its taken me a while to sort through my photos from Singapore, but I have finally found some time and here they are (the first lot anyway). The second part in this series of photos can be found here. The third part can be found here.
On my first day, I was lucky enough to meet up with a friend from Singapore. She took me to Little India, one of the many neighbourhoods.
Here is me with some coconuts.
Later we went to a Indonesian restaurant. Just look at this amazing drink!
Of course, the real reason I was in Singapore (officially) was to attend the conference, The World Congress of Biomechanics. When I first arrived at the venue, I found that the conference was not held in a formal series of lecture halls, as I had expected, but in part of a massive shopping complex! On the first few days we shared the conference facilities with a conference on harmonicas (seriously). Here are some of the harmonica conference delegates performing in Suntec City.
Every day, as well as hundreds of 15 minute presentations, there were a few plenary talks that everyone could attend.
And at the end of every day, a 1 hour poster session.
Here is my poster that I presented at the conference (on the right). During the poster session, I stood here and tried to look intelligent.
On a few of the evenings following the posters, I ventured into the city. One night I went to a restaurant with a few Japanese friends I had met the conference. Here is me partaking in the traditional Japanese custom of taking photos of the food.
I also went on the famous night safari with my supervisor. Can you spot the lions?
One of the best things about Singapore, in my opinion, was the delicious food. compared to the conference in Edinburgh I attended, where we were offered a paper bag of assorted snacks, in Singapore, lunch consisted of a massive buffet of Chinese food, Indian food and everything in-between. Here is me next to a friend I met on my trip to Taiwan last year.
Here is the hotel I stayed in for the 10 days I was in Singapore, Hotel 1929. Before travelling, I had spent quite a while looking for a cheep hotel (Singapore is expensive). Whilst this hotel was on the cheaper end of the scale, it was really nice and had an interesting obsession with chairs (there was a barber’s chair in the lobby and a giant poster of different chairs in the lift). I felt particularly glad when I met someone at the conference, staying in one of the other hotels that I had looked at, who complained about loud noises during the night. They later found out that the hotel booked out rooms by the hour!
On one of the evenings, due to a leak from the ceiling, I got moved to a room in another hotel. I just had to take a picture of this funky light there.
The conference closed on the final day with a banquet held on Sentosa island. Here is one of the acts that performed.
And here is another act, a belly dancer. For some reason, the male professors seamed particularly interested in this one.
Singapore skyline
Since getting back from Singapore last week, I haven’t had time to sort out all my photos. I felt it was time to post something new on my blog however, so here are a few of the panoramic photos I took from the top of the recently opened Marina Bay Sands SkyPark as well as a nighttime photo I took of the incredible building itself.
View of central Singapore from the top of the 340 metre long SkyPark.
The swimming pool which overlooks the city. unfortunately, only guests were allowed in.
The SkyPark stretched over three buildings and is nearly 200 metres high.
Panoramic photos of Edinburgh
As promised in my last post, here are a couple of photos I took whilst up the top of The Scott Monument in Edinburgh. The views from where I was were amazing. In these photos you can see much of the city, including the main train station, the Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle and Princes Street. Click on the images to open them.
European Society of Biomechanics conference photos
Recently, I presented at my first international conference, the 17th congress of the European Society of Biomechanics held in Edinburgh. Here are some of the photos I took while there.
The conference was held at the University of Edinburgh. The main lectures at the conference took place in the grand McEwan Hall (I think it is where graduations take place). After one of the lectures, I went up to the top-tier of the hall to take a few pictures (despite my aversion to heights). I decided to come down a different way than I went up. However, when I got down to ground level, I found that the exit was locked, requiring me to go all the way back to the top again and down the other way.
Lunch every day in Teviot House consisted of a paper bag containing crisps, a drink, a piece of fruit and a roll. Since these items was randomly inserted into each paper bag, every bag was different! Therefore, I am sure you can imagine the time it took to find the ideal lunch, if say you liked ready salted crisps and bananas but didn’t want an orange Fanta (this is not even taking into account the range of rolls that were available). On the final day, to much relief from all, delegates were allowed to choose the items that went into their own bags.
In the final 15 minutes of the final session of the final day, it was my turn to give a presentation. I think it went well overall. I got asked some interesting questions from the two chairs (the people who chaired the session that is) at the end.
After one of the sessions, I went round the city centre.
Edinburgh has many good street entertainers/artists, including this guy below who you can see getting pulled over by the police in the background. I don’t know what happened to him since he wasn’t there when I returned later. I guess he didn’t have a licence and just got asked to leave.
I also saw this amazing clock made from flowers…
… and took time to go to the top of The Scott Monument, further testing my fragile nerves. I will post some of the photos I took from the top on my blog later.
On the final evening of the conference, I went to the banquet held in the Dynamic Earth museum. Prior to the meal, we were allowed to wander around the museum exhibits.
Dolphins and scary steps
Here are some of the photos I took on my recent trip to Cornwall. Despite it being Easter (in the UK), the weather remained wonderful for the four days I was there.
I stayed in a place called Mawgan Porth, in a cottage overlooking the beach.
When the tide was out, I went down onto the beach. This photo shows one of the rocks completely covered in muscles.
Just along the coast there was a small cove. To get down to this however, you had to go down some rather scary steps!
This is one of the massive rock pools in Treyarnon bay
Just before going back to Bath, we went to a place called Fowey. On a little boat trip around the harbour, we were lucky enough to be chased by dolphins.
