Swindon Trip - Part 2

Sambung sambung...

Ok tentatif program pada hari itu (10/6/2012) adalah utk menghabiskan duit masa di Swindon Designer Outlet. Ini adalah salah satu tarikan kenapa kitaorg pilih hotel dkt Swindon, dan bukan all the way masuk London (selain isu jimat sket jam perjalanan dan ongkos tiket tren) ... ye lah, kat Plymouth ni mana ada chance nak gi warehouse or outlet2 bagai, so kali ni jalan2 sambil menyelam minum air la kiranya..

Nak cari outlet from the hotel tu x la susah, in fact jalan kaki je, cuma pintu masuk dia kecik, dan mmg x de rupa designer outlet langsung dari luar! Cuma tgk gmbr2 kat bwh ni. Tembok tinggi2 mcm penjara, pastu lorong memanjang je, rasa mcm nak masuk stadium bola ada la, bkn tmpt bershopping2 kan? dah la sunyi. Kalo dtg sorg2 harus patah balik sbb ingat dah salah jalan.

Tgk plak ni, lps lalu tunnel td mmg tanah lapang semata2, kosong plak tu, org nampak sket2 je. Tgk la betapa deserted nya area tu. Berkali2 dah ni soal Hubs, 'betul ke ni? betul ke ni?'

Alhamdulillah, betul pon. Rupanya jalan kitaorg td jalan blkg. Org lain berduyun2 masuk ikut depan hehe. Ni analogi buat PhD gak ni, walau x tau landasan kita tu betul atau tidak utk ke destinasi kita, harus teruskan jua berjalan ke depan dan yakin pada Allah, pada supervisor dan pada diri sendiri jg bahawa ia landasan yg benar di depan sana, Allahu Akbar!

Asal bercakap psl PhD je emo terlebih. Ok2. Kita tgk gmbr2 je la ye. Nama pon designer outlet, byk kedai2 je la. Area dia aku rasa lg besar drpd yg kat Bridgend, Cardiff yg kitaorg pernah pergi dulu. Kalo nak link web site dia berserta brand directory, bole klik di sini.

Ni masa nak mkn tghari. Ada food court kat tgh2 tu. Very matured anak dara aku membaca menu. Tp x brp lama je kesopanan dan kesusilaan tu diprektikkan, sbb tiba2 terus panjat kerusi laung2 menu yg dia nak kat ayah dia plak yg tgh beratur nak bg order, hmmm... Sini ada Spud-U-Like, so Aisyah was a happy bunny.

Food court plak bersebelahan dgn bouncy castle ni. Hah, mmg kena pow la dgn Aisyah jawabnya kan. Lps dah naik bouncy castle siap pujuk ayah dia suh bg naik slides tu plak. Sbb mindset pon holiday, okay lah, ayah dia bg greenlight.

On a Sunday, kat area surrounding the outlet ni ada buat Farmer's Market. Memandangkan kitaorg duk dlm je, lmbt perasan kewujudan market ni kat luar, so dah nak tutup dah pon masa ni. But in case anyone else nak gi on a Sunday bole jenguk2 jg area ni.

Around 5 pm kitaorg balik hotel. Mlm tu mkn Indian food, mknan kat sini quite cheap from Plymouth, and menu halal pon byk, so fret not when you stay here. Diorg pon familiar sgt dgn Travelodge Hotel, so x de problem nak mintak deliver straight ke hotel.

Insya Allah next entry reunited dgn Nek Mi & Tok Ayah Aisyah :)

Swindon Trip - Part 1

Cerita ni sbnarnya dah berlaku sebulan yg lps, tp asyik bertangguh je entry nya. Pergi ke Swindon (a town on the way to London), sbb nak menjemput my parents yg akan sampai ke UK from Msia to visit us pada masa tu. Alang2 nak pegi jemput, terus la pegi awal sket2 and round2 mkn angin hehe.

Perjalanan bermula pada hari Sabtu, 9 Jun 2012 from Plymouth, berlepas menaiki tren seawal jam 8.50 pg. Perjalanan ke Swindon mengambil masa ~3 jam.

Sesampai di Swindon, terus checked in hotel. Kami duk Travelodge je pon, and the price per night was not bad. Kalo kitaorg went all the way to London, mmg tak akan dpt less than £100 (kitaorg dah check), sbb it was school holiday (half term), plus London tahun ni mimpi lah nak dpt bilik murah becoz of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebration, and of coz, Olympics 2012.

Lps dah solat dan makan bekal tghari, kitaorg pon pelan utk jalan2 sket. Pada masa ni my parents kat msia x bertolak pon lg ha, sbb kitaorg mmg turun awal hehe. Mmg gaya traveler sejati, kitaorg x de pelan sgt, ikut kaki saja nak gi mana, and since bandar Oxford was around an hour by train, we thought, 'why not?'.

So inilah dia gmbr2 di bandar Oxford. Mmg feeling2 ancient gitu. Bangunan2 mcm ni x akan jumpa di Plymouth sbb like I've told u guys before, Plymouth kena bombed teruk in WW1 and WW2 dulu, so kesan sejarah dia dah x de. Anyways, less talking and more pics je lah ye...

Celah2 kedai ada alleyway2 mcm ni (the Crown, the Cross). Kitaorg menyelinap masuk rupanya happening jg kat dalam tu, jumpa market, cafe2, semua quite klasik.

Ada free walking tour, tp terlepas lah plak. Last entrance is at 4 pm, so kalo nak join, make sure you arrive earlier.

Jalan2 kawasan kampus dia. Masa kecik2 suka baca series 'Malory Tower' by Enid Blyton. The bangunan in the background, with its huge field, and canals di tepi like the pics below, was not far from how I'd imagined Darrell's school was. Siap ada org 'punting' lg dkt dlm canal dia tu. Btw, gmbr romeo & juliet tu Aisyah yg snapped.

Pastu masuk balik area fakulti dan residential halls di Oxford ni. Mmg jalan dia mcm maze, byk betul tembok2 tinggi dan belok2. Bicycles are the main transporation here, mana2 pegi masa nmpk basikal tersandar. As I said earlier, kitaorg mmg jalan santai ikut where our feet took us ajo, and enjoy pemandangan early evening. The Uni atmosphere here was great and intense, rasa mcm betul2 scholar zaman dulu2 gitu (partly bcoz of the building kot. Tgk je la pintu kayu masuk ke fakulti dan tembok sekeliling nya, mcm menyimpan rahsia besar from the rest of the world). Nothing la compared to modern and town campus mcm Plymouth Uni. Serious rasa IQ bertambah bbrp puluh points just duduk di kalangan cendekiawan dunia. Hish, patut masa budak2 dulu ditunjukkan atau better yet, dibawa ke field trip tmpt2 mcm ni, baru la tertanam rasa ingin belajar bersungguh2 and be part of it all... fuh..

Since 9 June was also my BIRTHDAY, so we celebrated a bit. Mula nya nak mkn kat restoran, tp x tau mana yg halal, then Aisyah was starting to fret (lapar, ngantuk, letih), we thought mana yg cpt je lah, on the way nak ke tren stesen semula). But it was awesome nevertheless.

Alhamdulillah for the great day out with my family on my birthday :)

Insya Allah Part 2 cerita psl Swindon plak nanti...