Edinburgh Part I - We've just got ourselves a 38-man platoon bunk for the night! (30 Apr 08)

To kick off the start of December, decided to slowly blog about our trip up to Scotland halfway throughout the semester in Loughborough. Remembered it was very rushed the day we left cos I had lessons in the morning and then I hopped over to the International Day carnival and our flight was 1625hrs in the afternoon! Eh....yeah..it's actually a Wednesday and all of us skipped school for this 5-day Scotland trip! :p

And that's why you can imagine how tired all of us were on the flight....eh...sorry guys...I know very unglam...keke

Now this is what I really mean by KO-ed


Wild Scottish highlands from the air...a taste of what to expect?



We've arrived!!

Upon exit out of the airport, this greeted us


We then waited for 2 of Weisiong's friends, Colin and Guoyuan, who were joining us for this Scotland trip at the bus stop. About half an hour's ride into the city centre from the airport. But before that, this caught my eye in our bus shelter. How eco-friendly!

We alighted at the New Town area in Edinburgh, which is the main commercial and shopping district. First thoughts: pretty quiet place but maybe it's due to the Wednesday evening. The buildings are from the Georgian period, but they just look really neat and ordered to me. We spent a bit of time hor-laning though, trying to find our hostel.

At last....a sign to guide us to our hostel?

Yep....the Caledonian Backpacker's Hostel...shelter for the night


OMW!! It's really a 38 bedroom dorm! Well, we booked it cos it was cheap and it was the only available accomodation at that time. This seriously reminds me of my BMT and SISPEC army days!! Heck even the table looks so familiar!

Wasn't too crowded in the room. Can't imagine what it would be like if it's gonna be full. Woah....even the locker looks familiar...

We then headed to a local pub where Colin and JY were keen to watch a soccer match in it. I stayed for awhile before deciding to head outside to go walk walk around abit..(Eh...actually Sista Pingz wanted to find her Hard Rock Cafe!!) FYI, our Sista has this hobby of collecting HR pins and so I can proudly say I've been to most of the HR places in Europe le!

Some sights along the way...the St John's Church, a very prominent church near the Princes Street Gardens....well it's actually a great landmark for us to identify our way back to the hostel! :p



From afar, can see the Edinburgh Castle...this is what we came for, a taste of what is to come...

The Edinburgh Castle, perched upon the hill, stands prominent in Edinburgh

Night falls quickly


And on our way to HR, chanced upon this shimmering light show that was rotating about, so I decided to be goofy abit and chased it around..hmm...ok...haven been getting enough sleep...getting cranky..keke

Night shot...the other ones were a little chui, especially that I tried to take for the Scottish Monument...bleagh.....

Finally arrived!

Took awhile to soak and walk in the night atmosphere of Edinburgh. Retired to our bunk early and eagerly anticipating whatever may come our way. Welcome to Edinburgh!