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Tag: Newcastle

  • Northumbria University x Wet & Crazy Foam Party

    Northumbria University x Wet & Crazy Foam Party

    Northumbria University x Wet & Crazy Foam Party – Having party in the university with DJ, alcohol and pumping music till 3am is something you can’t normally experience back in Malaysia. It’s quite common and in fact, it’s like part of the university life in the UK, drinking and party in the campus.

    Imagine, exam and submission are just over, a small hall in the Student Union building is turn to a wet dance floor, with DJ on stage, continuos foam dropping from the ceiling and spraying from all side. It’s just, wet and crazy, best of all, it’s free!

  • Jogging To The West By River Tyne During Sunset

    Jogging To The West By River Tyne During Sunset

    Jogging To The West By River Tyne During Sunset – All the while, it was just running on the treadmills at the gym here in Newcastle as the weather was quite cold previously, but as it’s getting warmer and my assignment is over right now, I can head out for a run. It was a late evening on Sunday that I went for a run by the River Tyne from Quayside. Windy, but quite fun, I ran in a direction to the west of the river, trying to chase the sunset. 4.5km down by the river side and I was at no where, very quiet on a sunday evening and only came across one of two individuals fishing by the river.

    It’s really peaceful out there like suddenly I was like so far away from the city, just like being in a ‘kampung’ (village)! Newcastle is really a kampung in my opinion. HAHA. The boardwalk by the river is like never-ending and I only stop at a place when I was exhausted. Not decided to run back, it took me an hour walk back to my place! But it was fun one, as the sun was still up at 8pm and I got to see a bit of the sunset skyline by the nature.

     

     

     

     

     

    Sunset, rocks!

  • Newcastle: Za Za Bazaar – World Buffet With An Asian Street Food Theme

    Newcastle: Za Za Bazaar – World Buffet With An Asian Street Food Theme

    Newcastle: Za Za Bazaar, World Food Banquet – Are you a fan of buffet? No, I am not, but then I still head to buffet some times, especially during any festivity, like friend’s birthday, or just a celebration of some events, like the very most recent one at Za Za Bazaar in Newcastle, sort of a little Chinese New Year meal with a few friends from Malaysia and Hong Kong.

    A little bit on why I am not a fan of buffet is I don’t enjoy the bloated feeling every time after a buffet meal. HAHA. Buffet is fun of course, with a plentiful choices of food to choose, but then some times it’s hard to try everything, moreover the heart is always thinking that, ‘I must eat the most out of the money I’ve paid’, which is a typical ‘kiam-siap (stingy)’ Malaysian attitude. That’s why, I rather pay the same amount for a decent few-course meals with people serving me. I am quite lazy.

    Talking back about this Za Za Bazaar that I’ve just visited recently, at The Gate, Newcastle,  I was quite amazed with the interior setup which have an Asian street food concept that feels very graphical, food stalls and Chinese. In compare with another buffet restaurant in Newcastle – Kingdom Buffet, I find Za Za has a better interior setup which somehow psychologically made my meal better (hey, I study interior design, so it’s the decor is very important to me). =D

    Food type ranges from oriental, Asian, Indian to British, American, Mexian, Italian and beyond. It’s not surprised though that most of the food served are oriental > western (local) as most buffet restaurants in the UK are operated/founded by Asians. Well, forgive me for not taking any photos of food as I was busy eating and enjoying the interior space, but I can share with you some food that I like. Japanese sushi, American and British section did not capture my taste buds, whereas Indian curry gave me the best sensation of all; Italian, Chinese on the other hand leaved an OK-good impression in my mouth and some of the fried noodles were rather salty. I encountered a few weird food too, but I think some would like it. For £13.99/person (dinner, weekday), I find it quite reasonable, but if really-really-really would like to compare, Momiji in Singapore and Jogoya in Kuala Lumpur are so much better.

    For pricing, contact details and opening hours, please visit Za Za Bazaar’s website for more.

  • Snow In Newcastle

    Snow In Newcastle

    Snow In Newcastle – I finally see the first snow of the season in Newcastle after like 2 months of Winter. I thought winter is skipped for this year as the temperature and weather seems pretty constant since Autumn, wet and windy and no sign of snow before this except 5 minutes of hailing back in November, and I also thought that I never get to see snow in my one year study in United Kingdom, and have to go to the SnowWorld @ Genting Highland to experience it, but oh yeah, it snowed just now, for like 10 minutes, stopped and snowed again!

    I was working on my assignment, only until my friend text me and told me that it’s snowing out there. I quickly popped my head out of the window with excitement, it’s dark out there, but yeah, it was snowing, heavily. Too bad it was dark, so I didn’t really bother to head out for some photos. Though, I did grab my camera and started shooting and flashing the sky from the bathroom window which has a better view of the bright highway. The road users must be feeling weird and ‘WTF is that’ that there’s flashlights flashing off the window.

    It snowed for like half an hour, not much, but hey, at least, I saw snow! I am anticipating Newcastle covered in white snow, hopefully, as it’s not really a common scene. The last time I saw snow was in Zakopane, Poland and Poprad, Slovakia, it was not snowing, but the street and railway tracks covered in snow. For a person like me who came from a tropical country, snowing is like alien thing to me. The Americans might be hating the snow now, but I am looking forward, by this month? =D By the way, do you like it when it snows?


    It does looks like rain. I captured this from the window at my bathroom.


    A little bit of snow, covering the bench.


    Not too white.

    Snowing In Newcastle
    A little bit of snow covering the bridge at Northumbria University.

    Snowing In Newcastle

    Snowing In Newcastle

    Snowing In Newcastle

    Snowing In Newcastle

  • Chinese New Year’s Celebration At Newcastle’s Chinatown

    Chinese New Year’s Celebration At Newcastle’s Chinatown

    Chinese New Year’s Celebration At Newcastle’s Chinatown – Following up the Chinese New Year’s celebration in London, the Chinatown in Newcastle also had its own Chinese New Year celebration on last Sunday. The  Chinatown in Newcastle covers the stretch of Stowell Street that filled up with Chinese restaurant mostly, and a few Chinese retails and hair salons.

    Unlike London’s CNY celebration where you can find a series of performance at a main stage and a small CNY parade, the celebration at Newcastle’s Chinatown was actually just the performances of Lion Dance & Dragon Dance. Local, Geordies and students, all flocked into the street of Chinatown – Stowell Street early on Sunday morning to experience the sound of live firecrackers and ‘dong dong qiang’ of lion & dragon dances. Me and friends went at noon to join the fun and feel the Chinese New Year’s atmosphere as it was the 10th day of Chinese New Year.

    Chinatown in Newcastle has been quiet all the while, and finally, the only day of the year that it’s very happenings. Lion dance went to each restaurants and retails on the street to perform a short dance to bring luck to their business. Funny is that most of the crowds followed the lion dance team all the way from beginning to the end. There’s also a very small fun fair at the end of the street which I think that day was the most crowded day of the year. Well, the celebration was quite interesting, with lion dance, fun fair, some Chinese performance that I’ve missed it and a sea of people. This gave me a different perception of the Chinatown in Newcastle instead of being a quiet street with no Chinatown’s feeling. Anyway, the food price at all restaurants remained the same on that day, which was a very good thing!


    The crowds in front of the Chinese arch near St. James Park.


    People watching the lion dance ‘performance’.


    Live fire crackers. This just spiced up everything to make the day more festive.


    A very small merry-go-round.


    Inflatable slides that made the kids went crazy. This reminds me when I was small that loved to get on these inflatable slides!


    Some little fun CNY thingy or souvenirs or toys for the locals, not for the Asian though.


    Genting, a very familiar name for Malaysian.


    Cute little girl with a small lion head.


  • How I Celebrated Chinese New Year In The UK

    How I Celebrated Chinese New Year In The UK

    How I Celebrated Chinese New Year In The UK – ‘There’s no such thing as Chinese New Year here in the UK’, some said to me; but the beautiful festive just went on as usual with good food, gambling & friends, minus the receiving of Ang Bao and the reunion with family & friends back in hometown. The feeling before Chinese New Year was quite depressing, especially a few days before, when you see people posting status about heading back hometown, posting photos of CNY decorations and the preparation for this festive.

    However, the festive feeling turned on when I changed up a set of clothing, and went for a good meal with a bunch of Malaysian-friends who were in the same situation of not getting to celebrate Chinese New Year. The family back in the hometown got to eat a good meal, so do we, far away from home. The most important thing is get-together, since it’s a tradition festive, getting-together for a little bit of time is good, it’s not just just spending the whole day at work and being alone.

    I shut myself from working on assignments, I stopped thinking about budget during the past CNY weekends and had a good time eating some really good meal. There’s the first ‘reunion’ dinner at a Malaysian restaurant then a KTV session on the CNY’s eve. Then I attended a Chinese New Year dinner organised by my university’s Malaysian Society and spend the night with many Malaysian on Chor 1. The celebration shifted from Newcastle to London where I had a good steamboat and drunk night, with again friends from Malaysia, but specifically, Penang. Lastly, a visit to the super-crowded Chinatown in London on Chor 3 had gave me a strong feel of the Chinese New Year atmosphere in a foreign land. A great weekend I had, and it’s time to get back to work. Happy Chinese New Year to all!

  • My Hostel Room In Newcastle @ Lovaine Flats

    My Hostel Room In Newcastle @ Lovaine Flats

    My Hostel Room In Newcastle @ Lovaine Flats – In Malaysia, flat is like low-cost flat where you it’s a place to stay with a small living room and perhaps 1/2 room. Sounds, low cost, but in the UK, flat actually means apartment and the hostel I am living right now is call the Lovaine Flats. Yeah. Guess what, it’s actually the cheapest hostel in Northumbria University at £85/week and I don’t get my own bathroom.
    Befre. Empty room, with no bedding.
    Room is quite OK, location-wise is very good too which is very near to the city, the library and the gym, what’s not OK is there’s only one shower, and one WC! Oh my god, there’s 5-7 rooms in a flat and imagine you are having a stomachache and he/she is having a stomachache at the same time. Die lo.
    Kitchen for 5.
    OK, that’s me, in a room with stuff now.
    My workstation in the UK. I miss my big monitor screen and an awesome sound system back home.
    I don’t mind the room being small, because it’s bigger than the one I stayed in Taylor’s University, I don’t mind the room is not beautifully decorated because I have my own way to make it comfortable. Kitchen is OK, just lack of a good common area. Well, the dining chairs and table are definitely the place for me and the rest of the flatmate to chill. I’ve seen nicer one here but they are way more than mine at over £100/week. So I was thinking, since it’s just a place to sleep, why not save the extra pounds for something else, travel, perhaps?
  • Angel of the North – A Huge Piece Of Steel Structure By A1 Road

    Angel of the North – A Huge Piece Of Steel Structure By A1 Road

    Angel of the North – A Huge Piece Of Steel Structure By A1 Road – Sometimes, my friend would ask me what to see in Newcastle, or is there anything that represent the Newcastle? Anything as in Big Ben, Tower Bridge for London, Petronas Twin Towers for Malaysia, and Newcastle? I would say the Angel of the North, and the Millennium Bridge. 😀
    Funny that my friend who went there and back told me, “It’s just a piece of useless steel standing by the major A1 road”. Haha. No matter it’s useful or useless, I still insisted to visit it to check it out. Indeed, it’s a huge piece of steel, doesn’t look like an angel (I don’t really know how an angel looks like, perhaps with a ring floating on top of the head, with feather wings.), I don’t really know the purpose, but it’s just an art installation to me, and I find it interesting!
    JUMP!
    It’s not easy to stick a huge piece of steel in the ground at North East where it often windy here. It’d been here for a long time since 1998, designed by artist Antony Gormley. It was a good, clear blue sky day and I just glad I visited it. Heading there is pretty easy, hop on the Angel 21 bus from Elton Square Bus Station or Durham and just alight when you see the angel. You can visit the angel when you are visiting Durham, it’s just in between the route from Newcastle to Durham. Cheers!
  • Sunset: Quayside, Newcastle Upon Tyne

    Sunset: Quayside, Newcastle Upon Tyne

    Sunset: Quayside, Newcastle Upon Tyne – Because the Quayside is rather far from where I stay, about 15 minutes walk, or shall say I am lazy to go there most of the time, so I hardly get my chance to shoot the sunset, or sunrise. Few weeks back, on a Sunday evening, I finally got my lazy ass off my room and head over to Quayside. It was late, about 3 something in the afternoon where the sun was starting to go low. Winter is coming yo, and my daylight is getting short. I see that it was a good clear sky there, I quickly walked to Quayside to chase the sun!
    It was almost there at the horizon, I couldn’t really get a glimpse of the beautiful egg yolk. Without any hesitation, I tried to head to the highest point that I can get to and that’s the Tyne’s Bridge. I ran and I walked fast and I reached Tyne’s Bridge. The sad thing was I was at the other side of the bridge, as in a wrong view. I couldn’t cross the road because the road is quite wide and many vehicles passing by.
    I guess, even if I get to cross the road, I couldn’t get a good view of it too because there’s the other bridge at far end blocking the view. Not really disappointed, at least, I had a good moment chasing the sun and I found a good spot for sunrise, that’s from Tyne’s Bridge! 😀
  • A Night Out At Habita – The Bar In Northumbria University

    A Night Out At Habita – The Bar In Northumbria University

    A Night Out At Habita – The Bar In Northumbria University – Perhaps Malaysia is an Islamic country where alcohol is a sensitive thing to the local Muslim, that why you will not see a bar or pub in a university. It’s not surprised to the Westerners that you can buy alcoholic drinks in campus. This is interesting to me, there’s 2 bars in Northumbria University, one is Habita, another is Red; one more is located at Domain, but only opens during event night, so no surprise that you can club in campus (But entrance is rather expensive, went in once at £10 per entry).
    All house in the Student Union building, something you normally see in Malaysia, the Habita sells food for lunch, and dinner, and later at night it’s just drinks. It gets more happenings during football match day where students will gather around in there to catch the match on the big screens. Some times, it’s also used as an event place too!
    My favourite drinks in Habita would either be a pint of Carling lager, or Strongbow cider (I know it’s girlish, but still great), because they are the cheapest @ £1.75/pint. 😀
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