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...