NICK CHAN DOT NET

Tag: Life In UK

  • When Malaysian Meets Malaysian Car

    When Malaysian Meets Malaysian Car

    When Malaysian Meets Malaysian Car – Just like people coming from the village to the city; when Malaysian meets a Malaysian’s Proton Gen 2 in a foreign land, United Kingdom to be specific, surprised, not ‘wow, walaoeh, wah piang’ but most importantly, a photo with it is a must!
    Chinatown, Newcastle Upon Tyne.
  • Laing Art Gallery & High Bridge Quarter Festival

    Laing Art Gallery & High Bridge Quarter Festival

    Laing Art Gallery & High Bridge Quarter Festival – I am now spamming my blog with all the lovely blue sky days that I had on last month in Newcastle. Feeling bad not updating my blog occasionally, which causes me to spam it all out. Haha. Nevertheless, I don’t care, I just like to share, and post, that’s it.
    This is Mr Laing.
    Forgotten on which day of last month, I went to the Laing Art Gallery in the city just for fun with a bunch of friends from my hometown, Penang! Great! Although I am an interior design student, art gallery with paintings still feels very boring to me. I prefer contemporary, modern, installation art. Full stop. The only thing that interests me is that all of the painting collections are dated back many years ago. That’s a wow, which the place is more like a museum for painting. Yawned all the way out and it’s time to walk around the city.
    KFC is better back in Malaysia in my opinion. There’s no Thai Chilli Sauce and you have to pay for ketchup. Sad.
    So relaxing ah!
    Hi Penang-lang.
    A friend brought us to High Bridge at Grainger Town where there was a festival going on – High Bridge Quarter Festival. Happily, it was happenings, filled with music and laughter, but sadly, it was almost the end of festival at 5pm where the stalls were starting to pack up. Too bad, but then I enjoyed the day with a good weather and a good time with people of Penang. It just feels home.
  • Beautiful Sunday At Tynemouth Beach

    Beautiful Sunday At Tynemouth Beach

    Beautiful Sunday At Tynemouth Beach – Throwing back some old stuff that happened a month ago where there was still plenty of beautiful sunny day, one of which, a good day out to the beach! Well, previously I talked about wandering around the weekend market at Tynemouth Station, this actually continues from there.
    Located on the far east end of Newcastle is the Tynemouth Longsands beach and shore. It was still early Autumn where the weather was still not at a freezing temperature, though it’s still chilly and cold at times, a day out to the beach was ideal. Tynemouth is a small little town by the sea, the main attraction of course is not the town, but the beach and the Tynemouth Priory and Castle. We didn’t go to the castle because we need to pay for it, so we spent most of the time by the shore, enjoying the chilly breeze, as well as fish & chips!
    You know, I just love sitting by the seaside, listening to the sound of wave hitting the shore. The beautiful sound just calms the mind a lot. Moreover it was a good blue sky day. At Tynemouth Longsands, I was surprised that there’s people playing in the water, and surfing too! I wonder what’s the coldness of the water and I took of my shoes, then went to put my feet into the North Sea. It’s cold! I just wonder how could they stand the cold in the water. Perhaps I’ve been living in the tropical country where the sea water is always warm.
    It was a good day. I want to come back here for a sunrise, but it’s super cold in the morning and I am not sure whether I can wake up or not. Ha.
  • Beautiful Sunday At Tynemouth Beach

    Beautiful Sunday At Tynemouth Beach

    Beautiful Sunday At Tynemouth Beach – Throwing back some old stuff that happened a month ago where there was still plenty of beautiful sunny day, one of which, a good day out to the beach! Well, previously I talked about wandering around the weekend market at Tynemouth Station, this actually continues from there.
    Located on the far east end of Newcastle is the Tynemouth Longsands beach and shore. It was still early Autumn where the weather was still not at a freezing temperature, though it’s still chilly and cold at times, a day out to the beach was ideal. Tynemouth is a small little town by the sea, the main attraction of course is not the town, but the beach and the Tynemouth Priory and Castle. We didn’t go to the castle because we need to pay for it, so we spent most of the time by the shore, enjoying the chilly breeze, as well as fish & chips!
    You know, I just love sitting by the seaside, listening to the sound of wave hitting the shore. The beautiful sound just calms the mind a lot. Moreover it was a good blue sky day. At Tynemouth Longsands, I was surprised that there’s people playing in the water, and surfing too! I wonder what’s the coldness of the water and I took of my shoes, then went to put my feet into the North Sea. It’s cold! I just wonder how could they stand the cold in the water. Perhaps I’ve been living in the tropical country where the sea water is always warm.
    It was a good day. I want to come back here for a sunrise, but it’s super cold in the morning and I am not sure whether I can wake up or not. Ha.
  • Morning Walk By Quayside & Sunday Market

    Morning Walk By Quayside & Sunday Market

    Magnificent panoramic view of Gateshead & Newcastle.
    Morning Walk By Quayside & Sunday Market – It’d been a while since I am writing about my life in the UK. Well, so far, so busy! Although it’s so far, so good, but it’d been very busy for me. Life of an interior design student – work! College back in Taylor’s was like more work, less fun, and now I am trying to balance up work and play and I am struggling on it, but am working towards it. 😉
    Baltic Contemporary Art Gallery on the left.
    Life in Newcastle is brilliant. Waking up early on a Sunday is good because you can always visit the Sunday Market by the Quayside, which starts early till sunset. But then waking up early is not an easy thing especially when you have a Saturday night out. Haha. Well, I managed to wake up early on a Sunday morning a few weeks back and it was on a lovely sunny Sunday!
    “What are you looking at dude?! Asian…” LOL
    A lovely couple. 😉
    Gateshead Millennium Bridge. It tilts for boat to pass through. A fun thing to see when you are at the Quayside.
    Chillax.
    The Sage, awesome music venue designed by Foster + Partners.
    The Tyne Bridge, part of the Great North Run’s route.
    Mr LC with a thumb up. =)
    A group photo of Asian. Nicholas, Charles, Zenny, En Yi, Ling Er, Wayne, Val, Jon, and LC.
    Quayside is a lovely place by the Tyne River, windy, yet beautiful with the magnificent Millennium Bridge and the Tyne Bridge. I have always wanted to go for a jog by the riverside, but still haven’t get the chance – lazy, and cold. Too much of lazy reason on that. LOL. Actually I like Newcastle because it’s close by to the sea and also there’s the river; being raised up in Penang Island, I am somehow connected to water nature. For the past 3 years in Kuala Lumpur, it was not perfect living because the sea is faraway, so do the river Klang is not well-maintained. That’s why I like Quayside.
    Alvin Yang.
    It’s quite fun strolling along the stalls selling street food, vintage CDs, second hand books and small little gift stuffs. Food is the main attraction because it reminds me of home where street food is a culture in Asia. Best food at the Quayside Sunday Market? I would say the German Wurst (German Sausage), although this is England, yet having a taste of German is good. I cannot be sure how good the wurst in Germany, but this is good enough! Plenty of sauce for you to top your sausage with and eating a fresh and hot wurst in by the chilly riverside is just bravo.
    Deutschland in England.
    Hell lots of sauce. I like!
    An Chyi art saucing with her wurst.
    Eat, or cheese?
    Add this into your Newcastle trip if you in case to drop by the small city at the North East!
    Random pose with random graffiti art. Cheers!
  • BUPA Great North Run Is A Fun Marathon!

    BUPA Great North Run Is A Fun Marathon!

    BUPA Great North Run Is A Fun Marathon! – Happened on the first weekend I arrived in Newcastle, I’ve got a chance to witness the Great North Run just right at the middle of Northumbria University campus. I actually knew about this quite some times already and initially thought of taking part too! But later then I thought of saving up the money and no one wanted to come with me, so ended being a spectator instead of the fun runners
    It was a chilly and wet Sunday morning and there’s a huge swamp of colourful runners running along the freeway at about 12 degree celcius temperature. The atmosphere was so happenings and you can hear cheers and laughters floating the air. The dull and cloudy Sunday morning became cheerful again. I was at the 1 miles point where the runner passed by the bridge at Northumbria University.
    The running trail was very long as tenth of thousands of runner passing by. I didn’t get a glimpse of the frontline, nor the end of the line because it’s just too long. Imaging 40k people passing through.
    The fun thing was the whole freeway was flooded with colourful and funny attire! Runners were having fun; Mickey Mouse, man in suit, Minions, Superman, Spiderman, cow, monkey suits were all around, making it a happy run!
    I was thinking, if there’s a group of people initiated this fun thing in the Penang Bridge International Marathon, I am pretty sure it’s gonna be happy and fun one and later turned into a human parade. LOL.
    I didn’t get to the finish line which is about 13 miles (20.9km) away at South Shields, but it was a good one being at one part of the marathon route, cheering for the runners!
  • Newcastle’s Chinatown Without The Feel Of Chinatown

    Newcastle’s Chinatown Without The Feel Of Chinatown

    Newcastle’s Chinatown Without The Feel Of Chinatown – There’s like approximately 300,000 population in Newcastle Upon Tyne and there’s 7.6% of Asian living in the city according to Wikipedia, I don’t know does it includes International student like me or not. Interestingly, there’s a Chinatown in the city. I was pretty excited cause I thought it would be like New York or San Francisco’s Chinatown where it really has a blend of East & West with Cantonese language flooding the air of Chinatown.
    This way to Chinatown!
    Here’s me and Alvin!
    Found a cemetery nearby, found it interesting and I took a photo of it. LOL.
    St James Park Stadium at background, home of Newcastle FC.
    Surprisingly, met a Chung Ling High School friend here – Matthias.
    He’s Wayne.
    Just love the post box.
    LOL. Bangkok’s Ladyboys comes to Newcastle!
    Well, it’s not what you think it is. Chinatown in Newcastle is small with mainly Chinese restaurants, 2 Asian grocery supermarkets and that’s all. The only Chinese-looking thing is the Chinese-style arch entrance near St James Stadium. Bahhh. You don’t really see many people here, people come here just for food, or just to buy Asian food.
    Siu Mei! 烧腊！
    Do you feel Chinatown? NO.
    A plate of saltish Chinese dish.
    Asian of the day, I would say, Malaysian. Kay, Eunice, Ling Er, Wayne, LC, me and Alvin.
    I went to tried out a Chinese buffet (Lau’s Buffet) here, which costs £6.75 per person and I thought it gonna be filled with good food. Oh no, it’s a place that I’m not coming back again, they are salty. Somehow, I saw a lot of local British came for their food, bring their kids and family here, maybe they like it the way it is and 70% of the dishes are chicken, fried chicken, Si Chuan chicken, sweet and sour chicken, kong pow chicken and more chicken. In short, Chinese buffet is just like mixed rice in Malaysia but it’s eat-all-you-can. Ang mo likes it, but not me.
    A1 Bak Kut Teh herbal pack. =)
    Oh MILO and it costs a bomb. Guess Cadbury Chocolate is a better choice here.
    Wing Hong Supermarket.
    After checking out the Chinese supermarket here (Wing Hong & Hiyou), I can tell you that you can find almost anything here. It’s like Cold Storage or B.I.G. (Big Independent Grocers) where you can find many imported food, just that they are imported from Asia. Spices, Asian’s vegetable, sauces, instant noodles and more are all available. It’s just that they are in £. If you happens to come to UK for study, don’t bother to bring food stuff if you have a limited luggage., you can find them all here.
  • Exciting First Day In Newcastle & Northumbria University

    Exciting First Day In Newcastle & Northumbria University

    Exciting First Day In Newcastle & Northumbria University – Being in a first world country is so much different, it’s cleaner, air is fresher and it just feels good, maybe it’s my first time heading to a better place. It doesn’t mean that my home is not good, just that it’s a different kind of experience and I like it. No more jet lag after a long sleep from the day before, and I believed that my body suits the British time zone very well.
    Crossing the bridge to City Campus East. What a lovely morning.
    My current university – Northumbria University. I’m liking it.
    It’s not as cold as I thought, weather was pretty fine, clear blue sky to welcome my first day in university and a new city. Although it’s not a metropolitan city, yet this little city of Newcastle Upon Tyne does give me a friendly feeling.
    International Students!
    Two ladies bring us around for campus tour.
    My companion and it’s my first time navigating on foot with GPS!
    First day in Newcastle was to attend a series of talks, campus tour, free bus tours and meeting new friends from all over the world as it was an induction day for International student.
    Monument Square.
    This makes me feel home! Penang has this.
    The dinner of the night, £1 burger from Poundland. LOL
    Did a lot of shopping and Tesco, Wilkinsons, Poundland and TJ Hughes were the favourite ones. Still didn’t have time to explore the city as there’s many to buy for my hostel. Mind became so active suddenly that the mind keep multiplying all the price tag by 5. Haha. Poundland is interesting as everything is in £1 and I’ll just call it Daiso of UK. Unfortunately, Daiso has better choices in my opinion.
    Alvin, Han, Beizy, Eunice, Esther, Sharon & Me!
    Say hi to all Penang-lang, and a Johor-lang and an Indonesian!
    First night was pretty interesting as well as it was not just spending time in the room sleeping again. A night out to the pub was fun as it was like 50% off all wine & champagne during the happy hour at Tiger Tiger. Well, Newcastle is famous for its nightlife, so pubs and clubs are something that must not be missed in this city. It was a good night as I met a bunch of friends from Penang surprisingly, it just made me not to miss home. HAHA. After all, yeah, first day was good and fun.
  • Hello UK: Kuala Lumpur – London – Newcastle Upon Tyne

    Hello UK: Kuala Lumpur – London – Newcastle Upon Tyne

    Hello UK: Kuala Lumpur – London – Newcastle Upon Tyne – Ladies and gentlemen, Nick Chan is now in the United Kingdom! I’ve been here for about 3 weeks and no, I am not here for travel, I am here to further my studies! It’s just a one year program for me to get a Bachelor Degree, like some sort of an advance entry into the final year program.

    Farewell Penang!
    Rainy night, I almost late for my connecting flight in KLIA, damn the delay,
    Farewell Kuala Lumpur from sky. I miss KL actually.
    London, here I come!
    It was my first time taking such a long flight trip from Kuala Lumpur direct to London Heathrow Airport. I was excited at first, you know, flying on A380, and travelling backwards in the timezone, but it’s not as fun as I thought. Trying hard to sleep in a 12 hours flight is a very difficult thing for me and A380 is just like no other flight when you are in economy zone. However, food was pretty good, nasi lemak and something chicken, mash potato thingy.

    My travel buddy – Alvin!
    Welcome to London Heathrow Airport!
    All the Penang-Lang at LHR!
    Oyster Card is a must for travelling in London.
    Tired face after 11 hours of flight.
    So, yeah, London, after 12 hours of direct flight from Kuala Lumpur, but I didn’t feel London actually because once arrived in London, I was stuck in the airport for about an hour to get through the immigration as there’s a bunch of international students like us. Then, I took the London Underground Tube to King’s Cross Station, I didn’t see Big Ben, nor the Tower Bridge, nor the city. The only London that I saw was King’s Cross Station and that’s it, and perhaps the surrounding. It’s just a transit for me to Newcastle Upon Tyne, the real current location of mine right now.

    First thing to do upon reaching King’s Cross Station is head to the ground and breath the London’s air. Oooo, just like this.
    King’s Cross Station! Modern shell on a classical terminal.
    Londeners, hello!
    Flying to Hogwarts at Platform 9 3/4.
    Bye London, time to head North to Newcastle!
    King’s Cross Station is not as huge as I thought, it’s just a train terminal connecting everywhere in the UK and the Harry Potter’s Platfrom 9 3/4 is just a fake prop at the station. First English breakfast in UK was quite pleasant, thinking of 5 times the currency rate, yet enjoyed the meal.

    The train ride was pretty smooth and fast; passed through vast green grasslands and farms and many horse and sheep, there’s nothing much to see out of the window actually and 3 hours later, I am in Newcastle. Wet, colder than London and still feeling energetic despite the long hour of journey.

    Newcastle Central Station. Checked!
    Welcome to Newcastle!
    Hailed for a cab, initially thought of Blue Line Taxi (a company), but I couldn’t find it so just simply hopped into one and it took us to my hostel. Checked in, and the rest and relax part haven’t started yet. I have to sort out the bedding thing as I have to sleep at night. Went for a small shopping at Primark (wow, everything is so cheap!), got back to hostel, no idea about what to eat for dinner, made an instant noodle, felt dizzy and floating, then fell into the bed of Newcastle and slept till the next day. Hello UK!
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