Guess what? We are right back to where we started – The British Museum.
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UK Trip Day 11
Category: Travel
UK Trip Day 10
It’s another down day as we spent another day at mom’s friends’ house. I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired, spending the day on the couch, cycling between editing pictures, blogging, and napping.
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UK Trip Day 9
UK Trip Day 8
UK Trip Day 7
The thing about Glasgow is the weather. We were there for three days and for three days, all we saw was clouds. It was like the first few days when I visited China in 2017. I kept expecting blue skies and sunshine but got none. So I decided to turn the photos into monochrome.
According to YouTube, there’s not much to see in Glasgow. It doesn’t seem to be a popular tourist destination. I tried to plan the trip for Glasgow the same way as Edinburgh and London but couldn’t. Most YouTuber talked about food, whiskey, and shopping when it comes to Glasgow but surprisingly, the city is chock full of history. There’s a story behind every building and street.
We decided to join a tour on our final day in Glasgow, one of those hop-on-hop-off sightseeing buses. We were tired of walking. According to my Fitbit, I walked about 50 miles last week. That’s a lot of miles.
We went around the city 4 times. We went around all 21 stops the first time listening to the audio commentary. Then mom got cold, so we made a pitstop back to the hotel to grab a coat before hopping back onto the bus. On the second go-around, we got off at the 12th stop for the Riverside Museum, which is a museum dedicated to the everyday life and transportation.
I was thoroughly intrigued and surprised at the advancement of transportation in the UK. For a moment there, it seemed like the US was a little behind at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.
After the Riverside Museum and seeing the “Tall Ship” Glenlee, we hopped back onto the bus and headed for the People’s Palace. This is the fountain outside of the People’s Palace. It’s said to be the largest terra cotta fountain in the world, according to the tour guide.
The People’s Palace is another fascinated place for history geeks like me. It detailed the everyday life of people of Glasgow in the late 19th and early 20th century. I particularly loved the photography exhibit. It was a project of 80+ photographs detailing a day of life in Glasgow in 1955.
These two places were definitely the highlights of Glasgow.
We hopped back onto the bus one last time before called it a day. This time, we encountered a live guide. It was super helpful to have someone point out each and every buildings and landmark instead of having to guess according to the recorded commentary as sometimes, we get stuck in traffic or if the driver was driving too fast.
Like I said, Glasgow is an absolute fascinating place for history geeks.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #250: Skyscape or Cloudscape
Happy Sunday! Amy from The World is a Book… is the hostess for this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge and what a great theme she’s chosen for this week – Cloudscape or Skyscape.
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#WeekendCoffeeShare – UK Trip Day 6
Good morning! Welcome to #WeekendCoffeeShare, thank you for joining me on this Saturday morning in the beautiful historic city of Glasgow, Scotland.
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UK Trip Day 5
I watched the sunrise from a train this morning as I headed to Scotland.
Before I left for the UK, I remember checking the weather daily only to feel disappointed because it would forecast rain but 4 days in London, there was mostly blue skies and sun with afternoon clouds and a few minutes of drizzle, that’s it. I was surprised by the weather and now I got to see a sunrise?
I arrived, at last, in Glasgow after a 5-and-a-half-hour train ride, well, 4-and-a-quarter with about a 30-minute layover in Edinburgh.
If there was a day to feel extremely overwhelmed, it was today.
Firstly, my alarm went off at 4 AM. Everything was going fine until mom and I got on the train. When I bought the tickets online the week before the trip, I had seats reserved for the train but mom decided she didn’t want to sit in our assigned seats. She put her coffee on the table but decided to sit in the row behind. So I decided to do her a favor and carried her coffee.
Who would’ve thought the moment I grabbed the coffee by the lid, the cup would fall beneath, spilling coffee everywhere. Mom was furious. “Why did you touch my coffee?” She growled.
“It’s an accident,” I told her. I was trying to be nice but she just made me feel bad as I stood there, paralyzed as she cleaned up the mess with napkins. I was afraid to move, paralyzed by anxiety and fear, afraid if I intervened, more would go wrong.
Was I wrong to stand there like a deer in the headlights?
Probably but didn’t I have the right to be afraid?
Fortunately, the train remained quiet until we reached Newcastle when 4 people came aboard and insisted in sitting in our seats, which meant we had to move. I took a row while mom took another.
To be honest, one of my fears on this trip was not being able to understand the Scottish accent but it wasn’t difficult at all. I knew exactly what the man said when he told me to pay at the “till” and exactly what it meant when the meat is labeled at “minced” (maybe it’s also an English thing, not a Scottish thing).
I actually think the Scottish accent is one of the most beautiful accent I’ve every heard. Of course, despite constantly bragging about learning to speak English by watching the BBC, mom hasn’t been able to understand a thing since we arrived in the UK.
At first, I thought it was the slangs that’s getting her but I’m starting to think she’s just like her family – lazy and just wanted to rely on me.
CFFC: Catching People Unaware
It’s easy to catch people unaware in a city of 9 million people (according to the internet), especially during rush hour.
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UK Trip Day 4
This is Day 4 and our final day in London.
Of course, what’s a trip to the UK without seeing the famous Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard. It was surprising underwhelming as it began and ended before I knew it. I couldn’t really see much of anything as there was a huge crowd. People was even sitting at the top of the fountain across from the palace.
As we were walking there, mom asked, “Do you think we’ll see King Charles?”
“I doubt it,” I told her. Buckingham Palace is currently being remodeled and not allow in. I doubt the King would work in an “under-construction” office.
After getting a glimpse of the Guard, we continued to St. James Park toward the underground station to Tower Hill for the Tower Bridge and Tower of London.
If there’s one thing I love, it’s listening to stories about imprisonment and beheading. Call me gruesome but these things fascinate me. Thankfully, there was a tour for that. We gathered at the moat where familiar herbs and wildflowers grew and someone called Yeoman Warder told stories about the place.
The tower had been so many things and it was absolutely fascinating to learn all those things.
As mom and I posted our trip on social media, mom’s friends thought we were weird that we went to the UK to go to museums unlike most people who travel to shop. Call us crazy but we hate shopping. It’s just one of those things I would rather do online on Amazon, not in person.
I am writing this on Day 5 – May 18 – on the train to Scotland, which I’m looking forward because we will be staying at a 4-Star hotel in Glasgow for the next 3 nights. After being in the smallest hotel room I’ve ever been in (beside Hong Kong), I’m looking forward to a room where I can turn without bumping elbows with Mom.
UK Trip Day 3
I have been trying to enjoy the city but inside, every second of everyday, I’ve been counting down the days until when I can get home.
London is not for me.
I have been dodging people left and right today. People here don’t seem to look where they walk or they are purposely walking into people or they are blind. I was standing outside the restaurant waiting for mom to get dinner when someone walk right into me and bumped my sore shoulder.
My sore shoulder from sleeping on the plane and walking around with a heavy backpack in the airport that day.
Turned out, the guy was looking down at his phone. Dude, looking down at a phone can’t be more important than watching out where you walk.
Anyway, I’m not sure I’m liking London – bicycles don’t stop for pedestrians, people crossing the streets wherever they want, and the stampede of zombie-like people rushing from the opposite direction. It added so much to my existing anxiety. Also, what’s up with shops closing at 6 PM on Sunday? Still, I’m quite impressed at the space utilization like dropping a library in the middle of the city and almost every building in the city has a rich history.
We went on a river cruise today and toured the River Thames, saw Big Ben, learned a bit of history of London’s bridges, and took a walk around Greenwich – Royal Maritime Museum, Old Naval College, etc. It turned out Big Ben is not the clock but the bell that goes off every 15 minutes and the Waterloo Bridge was built entirely by women and it’s the only bridge project to be completed on time and on budget. I didn’t know that.
This was the sky when we were returning to Westminster from Greenwich. I still can’t believe how the weather changes in London. Mom said the weather here is like an emotional child. It’s crazy that the day started out clear and blue but ended with dark clouds that threatened to rain. Talk about a dramatic sky, something I don’t really get to experience often at home. Thankfully, there was no rain.
We’ve been lucky that the worst weather we’ve experienced so far was a few minutes of mist. Hopefully, it will hold.
UK Trip Day 2
We visited the British Museum today and boy oh boy, did it feel like deja vu.
It felt exactly like day #2 of the trip last year. Mom seemed to want a million pictures taken of her and no matter how I took it, it’s never good enough. “There’s a pole shooting out of my head.” “I look so ugly.” “Don’t you know how to take good pictures?”
It just made me about to boil!
Anyway, I still saw a lot at the museum despite a majority of it didn’t interest me. I might be one of those weirdos who only likes US history. World history like looking at Egyptian mummies and trying to be amused by a tablet that’s thousands of years old and contain an ancient language absolutely bores me. I wasn’t interested when I was in 6th grade and certainly not interested in it now.
Everything somehow looked similar to me. Perhaps it’s because they are all the color but like I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I’m as tone-deaf about art as some people about music.
That is not to say I found nothing interesting about my visit. I thoroughly enjoyed the clocks and watches exhibit. I enjoyed looking at the evolution of these time-telling devices and as someone who likes to take things apart to find out how it works, I was fascinated by the mechanics behind these ancient times pieces.
I was also intrigued by things like this Japanese bowl, which took the artist 6 months to make. I think I found this intriguing because as someone who’s never satisfied with the ordinary, this is not anything that’s ordinary.
After the museum, we made our way to Chinatown and I must admit, London Chinatown is nothing like I’ve imagined and it’s one that’s different than all the other Chinatowns I’ve visited so far. The part I visited was a pedestrian promenade – foot traffic only.
Maybe I’ve watched too many TV shows and movies because London is nothing I thought it’d be or maybe I just haven’t visited the parts of London that hasn’t been in TV or movies yet.
UK Trip Day 1
This is the view from my hotel room near Kings Cross Station. It’s been a long day or rather, a long half-day.
I arrived in the UK at around 11:30 AM with 2 sore shoulders from carrying my heavy backpack through the Salt Lake Airport and LAX the day before. I’m still pissed at mom for making me walk from Terminal 7 to the International terminal and back. Our flight was out of Terminal 7 but because there was hardly anything good to eat there other than sandwiches and coffee, especially for someone like my mom.
When we arrived at the terminal after a 40-minute walk (through terminal 6, 5, and 4), mom threw a tantrum when I said I need a minute to get online and find a directory of the restaurants available. She stormed off at a speed I couldn’t keep up because of my already sore shoulders.
In my defense, I didn’t ask her to come along. It was why I dropped my backpack with her. I thought I would walk there, get her something, and walk back. I like walking, you see. My knees actually feel better when I’m not stationary but I don’t like walking when I’m carrying a heavy load on my problematic back.
Nope, she insisted she come along.
We ended up buying Starbucks at Terminal 6.
The 10-and-half-hour plane ride was, you know, a 10-and-half-hour plane ride. The Boeing 787 was exactly like any other planes I’ve been on other than a few advanced features like color-changing windows. Thankfully, I was able to sleep – my Fitbit clocked me sleeping for 4 hours – and I was able to eat unlike the past international flights I’ve been on.
Of course, the thing I was looking forward to – getting the stamp on my passport – was a disappointment. There was no stamp. They say I don’t need it carrying US passport. All I had to do was scan my passport into their system and I was good to go.
So then, I led the way to the Underground where we hopped on the Piccadilly Line and rode until we reached Kings Cross Station. Whoever said London is small is lying because for a small city, I don’t think I’ve ever walked so much in my life.
As I’m writing this, it’s 12:45 AM London time on May 15, 5:45 PM at home, still May 14 and I can’t sleep. I managed to sleep for two hours before mom woke me. Now, I’m wide awake, struggling to sleep because of the time difference. Ugh!
At least it’s finally quiet down out there. It’s been scary – loads of police sirens, loud bangs like fireworks or gun fire, and weird crazy people on the streets. I guess it’s just typical city life.
US-Canada Trip 2022 After Thoughts
As of Sunday evening, I was home again, in my own bed, enjoying a quiet night rest. No more sharing a bed with Mom, no more listening to her snoring, and no more having to listen to her loud YouTube playing all night long. The trip has ended at last.
Continue reading “US-Canada Trip 2022 After Thoughts”US-Canada Trip 2022 Day 11
For reference, day 11 is referring to September 30 2022.
Continue reading “US-Canada Trip 2022 Day 11”
US-Canada Trip 2022 Day 10
For reference, day 10 is referring to September 29, 2022.
2 more days until home…
I felt a bit better, not coughing as much, though my voice still sounded pretty bad. The tough part has been getting through the night because that’s when the stuffy nose comes and I begin to feel like I’m choking. I think it might be caused by the dust in the motels which exacerbated the problem.
We stopped by the New Jersey State House in the morning. It was sorta a drop-by since we were heading toward Trenton to avoid bridge tolls. In the west, we call this the Capitol Building. I’ve never heard of it referred to as “State House” before. I learned that when I couldn’t find “New Jersey Capitol” on Google Maps.
This is definitely by far the oldest Capitol building I’ve ever been to. It was originally built in the late 18th Century before it was burned, rebuilt, renovated, and added several more wings over the years to accommodate the growing state.
It was also the one with the tightest security measures. It was like going through the TSA checkpoint at an airport. I must empty my pockets, place everything in a bucket, and walk through the scanner. We were also not allowed to tour the building ourselves. We needed to call and schedule a tour. Thankfully, the people at the Capitol building were willing to do an impromptu tour.
I learned a lot about the state of New Jersey on this tour like how it’s blueberries and peaches are well-known. I find it so fascinated to learn fun facts like these. The tour ended after 20 minutes and our guide led us to the door.
The outside of the complex is just as interesting as the inside like this tree that was dedicated to George Washington who famously crossed the Delaware River nearby and this fountain, which makes a great photo opp.
After the State House, we headed to Chambersburg, PA, where we will spend the next 2 nights and we’re planning to tour Gettysburg the next day,
US-Canada Trip 2022 Day 9
For reference, day 9 is referring to September 28, 2022.
It’s day 2 in Philadelphia and I would say it felt more relaxed than normal. There wasn’t much rushing from place to place. I think the expectation has been lowered ever since we got sick, to not try to see the entire city but to focus on one place at a time. If there’s time, we’ll see more.
Mom seemed convinced she contracted COVID from the guy sitting next to her on the plane. He wore a mask and his wife next to him seemed to be on medication that made her sleepy and confused. She was listening to the symptoms of COVID all night long.
We stayed in a hotel in downtown Philadelphia the night after staying in the worst motel imaginable. The downtown hotel felt like heaven compare to the other motel. The first thing I did was take 2 showers to rid the smell of cigarettes from my body and hair. I washed and rinsed and washed and rinsed until I could no longer smell that dreadful scent.
We spent the morning visiting the National Constitution Center, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Once again, mom didn’t like it because of the so-called “skewed perspective.” I wanted to read every placard on display in that museum but each time I found something interesting, I’d get pulled away by mom.
The exhibits I enjoyed the most were the Civil War and Women’s suffrage exhibits. I find Civil War to be one of the most fascinating time in US history and I briefly listened to a podcast on women’s suffrage last month, so I was excited to learn more. Mom was uninterested to go to both exhibits but thankfully, she let me go alone while she waited outside.
I don’t know why I keep getting the feeling of being undermined. For example, I got hungry and wanted to make myself a bowl of noodle soup. Mom wanted me to wait until she got back but I figured I’m a grown-up and I can make it myself. I overheated the water and made a tiny mess in the microwave.
“I told you to wait for me.” She clicked her tongue. I hate it when she does that because that’s when I know I done something she thinks is wrong which has been often on this trip.
Anyway, it’s back to Jersey tonight because we couldn’t book an extra night in downtown Philly. We’re heading back to Trenton, NJ to see New Jersey State House before crossing over to Pennsylvania and head for Gettysburg where we’ll stay for the next 2 nights.
US-Canada Trip 2022 Day 8
For reference, day 8 is referring to September 27, 2022.
I have so many thoughts at the moment. I don’t know whether that’s due to sleep deprivation or the fact that I am now sick, too, caught whatever Mom got from sharing a bed and probably not covering her mouth when she coughed around me. I feel like shit. My nose is stuffy, my voice is hoarse and at times, gone, and I’m coughing like there’s no tomorrow.
I’ve also been getting next to no sleep with mom blasting YouTube all night long while unconsciously snatching the covers, leaving me with nothing, and snoring so loud and I mean loud. I think my sleep at night has been more like catnaps – waking up every so often like someone’s anticipating the alarm to ring.
This morning, I woke up in the worst motel room imaginable, my hair and body reek of cigarette smoke and marijuana. I felt a bit better, not coughing as much. Mom was quite the opposite. She looked like she’s going to cough out a lung. That’s the last time I will ever share a bed.
At 9:30 AM, we arrived in the heart of Philadelphia, PA – the city of Brotherly Love. The traffic felt absolutely chaotic. The moment we got off the Ben Franklin bridge, we saw people walking in the middle of the road, among cars!
Aren’t they afraid of being hit? It is a highway after all.
After parking the car in the lot next to the hotel, we made our way around the city – first to Chinatown and then to Independence Hall.
I have never been to Independence Hall nor seen the Liberty Bell in person, only in movies. So I was excited to expand my knowledge of U.S. History.
Or so I thought…
Mom rushed me from one display to the next without ever allowing me to read the text. I told her to hold on and wait for me a few times but her answer was always, “there’s nothing to see here.” She said Independence Hall has changed drastically since her last visit which was 24 years ago. She said the history placards have been rewritten by the recent presidents to make the history of the Founding Fathers skew toward the institution of slavery.
To be honest, from the texts I managed to read, I did not see any skewing and biases toward African American. Sure, history is always told from one perspective and that perspective isn’t always right but that’s just what history is, isn’t it?
US-Canada Trip 2022 Day 7
I’m writing this post on my phone as opposed to my laptop. I’m not sure how it’ll look, so bear with me.
I traveled to 3 states yesterday. That must be some kind of record or maybe that’s just me because I’m from Western U.S. and the states are huge compared to the east. Anyway, we crossed into the US early in the morning after we were grilled by the custom officer.
He asked why, of all the cities in the whole world, we chose to visit Toronto and Ottawa. I don’t remember being grilled like this when I returned to the US after visiting Canada 5 years ago or is that just typical manner of the people on the east coast? Mom said he was just doing his job but really?
It certainly left a sour taste in my mouth.
We drove through New York and Pennsylvania before getting to our destination – Washington Crossing State Park in New Jersey. It surprised me by how green it was. Perhaps, it’s because I’m from out west where there’s little to no rain.
I loved the greenery and seeing the autumn colors starting to peek through. It was one of my purposes of the trip.
I’ve always wanted to see the place where George Washington crossed the Delaware river as depicted by the famous painting but it turned out, the painting had exaggerated the event as often history does. It was certainly a good history lesson and I learned quite a bit from this little history tour.
Which brings me back to why I’m writing this post on my phone. I stayed at the worst motel in the history of worst motel last night in Bordentown, New Jersey. I requested for a non-smoking room and the moment I entered the room, the smell of pot and smoke hit me like a punch in the face. I told front desk and all he did was spritzed air freshener in the room.
After he left, I discovered not only could I not get wifi in the room but my cell signal was gone too. It was like being sucked into a black hole. Normally, I wouldn’t mind a night without internet but I happened to need to modify the itinerary which involved modifying a few hotel reservations and I can’t do that when I don’t have internet.
After complaining to the guy and showing him the room was a black hole, he switched me to another room. Still, the smell of pot and smoke hit me when I opened the door. I’ve stayed at plenty of bad motels before but this is by far the worst.
Well, I’ll reporting from Philadelphia for the next 2 days. Hopefully, my living accomodations improves.
US-Canada Trip 2022 Day 6
Between Mom’s snoring and feeling cold due to lack of covers, I got a very poor night sleep the night we arrived in Ottawa. The cons of sharing a bed with my mother – she wrapped the covers tight around her because she was cold while I just had the thin blanket sent up by request.
Anyway, the day forecasted rain so I wanted to see as much as I could of Ottawa before it starts to rain. We walked down to the Rideau Canal to see the canal locks. When I was studying for my Civil Engineering and we talked about the locks at Panama Canal, I couldn’t imagine what those locks looked like. Well, I have a pretty good idea now.
The picture above was one of my favorite pictures that day despite the gloomy sky. This is the Alexandria Bridge. On the other side is Gatineau – part of Quebec Province. I love the variety of foliage colors even though I am slightly disappointed that I haven’t seen much autumn colors yet despite the autumn equinox was a few days ago.
I almost forgot our surprise that day. We had planned to tour Parliament Hill but it was closed. As we continued to walk up the street, we found men and women dressed in kilts and were practicing their pipes. I tried to ask around to find out what was happening but just my luck, everyone I talked to was a tourist like me and they either didn’t speak English or they, too, were just as clueless as me.
I tried to Google it on my phone, too, but had no result.
Then the parade began. Men and women walked down Wellington Street in either a police uniform or in kilts.
In the meantime, mom has developed a dry hacking cough. She was cough every few seconds. At the same time, she was having leg pain. I told her a few times, “if you must rest, rest,” but she was adamant, saying she has traveled this far to see Ottawa, not to lie in a motel room.
I felt frustrated to had to stop every few minutes to look back to see her grimacing at the pain while hacking a cough or two. It made me feel hopeless because I couldn’t help her. It also made me feel frustrated because she was throwing tantrums as well.
By the end of the day, I am starting to feel an itch in my throat. I sure hope I haven’t caught whatever’s got mom because my swollen gums have just gotten better. I don’t want a hacking cough and who knows what else.
US-Canada Trip 2022 Day 4-5
For date reference, day 4 is referring to September 23 and day 5 is September 24. I think this is more for me than for anyone in particular.
As I wrote in this post, I felt like the trip had gone downhill after day 3. Even with the spectacular views from CN Tower on day 4, I can never compare those views to that of the Niagara Falls.
After CN Tower, we took the street car up to Toronto Chinatown. I have been to only two other well-known Chinatowns so far – Los Angeles and San Francisco – and I’ve come to expect rowdy behavior from the senior residents of Chinatown. Still, it was a bit disorienting and with Mom constantly wandering to God-knows-where, I had to be on my toes every second.
Can you tell my anxiety level has been pretty high during this trip?
After finally grabbing a bite, we walked a few blocks down to Toronto City Hall. It was my idea because I needed a photo of the Toronto sign in the Nathan Phillip Square to prove I’ve really been to Toronto. I don’t know about you but have you ever had to prove to someone that you’ve really been to a certain place?
I have. From then on, I’ve always photographed the sign of the place I’ve been to.
That afternoon, on the way back to the hotel, I received a call about my car. At first, I thought they were calling me to notify me my car was ready to pick up but it turned out they broke something while dismantling the car door. So now, new parts will need to be orders and who knows how long that’ll be. I became so anxious after the call. I know I should had been but I was.
Day 5 aka my birthday was spent driving from Toronto to Ottawa. Mom drove while I sat back and enjoyed my birthday drink from Starbucks – Iced Matcha Latte. I was thankful she allowed me to connect my phone to the rental car so I can play some music instead of listening to the hum of the road and our pathetic attempts of trying to make small talks with each other despite our small talks so far lasted less than a minute before Mom either got angry and started shouting or she got bored.
She also wasn’t feeling well that day and she had to exit in a random town and take a nap behind a Tim Horton (Canadian coffee franchise) while I just sat there, earbuds in, and listened to my music. I volunteered to drive but she wouldn’t let me, most likely still worried about my driving skills after my accident.
We finally arrived at the Ottawa motel at a little after 4 PM. As soon as we had a small meal, mom took some cough medication and went to bed.
This is Another Story 