Manchester Christmas Market

Went to Manchester last Saturday using "The Witch Way" , GBP 5.30 pp return and can just catch the bus right outside where we stay in Burnley here. The bus here is very very punctual and frequent too ( every 20 min there is a bus to Manchester)
Signs like this are found at the front part of the upper deck of the bus to remind people not to put their feet on the glass windows.
People here seldom have car porch in their houses so they all park their cars on the main streets.
This is how UK highway looks like. For your info, no need to pay toll here.

Manchester Christmas Market. Actually December is the best time to visit UK if you are into Christmas mood and Christmas shopping. Lots of these kinds of markets all over UK at this time of the year where you can find German , EU foods and products.

Performances like these are common sights too: They do play lovely music .

We visited this German market

and bought a super long German grilled sausage at GBP2.50

Nice Christmas stuffs:

cute babies too:
They also have those hot chestnuts like what we have at Petaling streets.
Stolons are nice to eat too, very fruity and soft.
Can't help to take these photos for I am a candle -lover...
German wine
Nicely wrapped Christmas candies
hello Santa...
Creativity with metals:
See how they dressed up the empty wine bottles:
Chocolates anyone?
We tried one of these marshmallows coated with rum, raisins and nuts @ GBP 1 each, very marshy of course but not that sweet.
Nice mugs yeah...for dog lovers
Creative and unique clocks are my favourites:

Look like magic lamps hor...if rubbed dunno got genie comes out or not??
Funny shaped hats..

St John The Baptist Church, Burnley

Went with hubby for a mass at St John the Baptist Church at Bracewell Street, Burnley, which is just 2 minutes walk from where we stay. Nice old church with lots of old people there. Very few youths there. No wonder people are telling me that in Malaysia we can still find lots of youths attending mass but not in other European countries!!


In UK during communion, we are all given wine to drink even for small kids:

See... I told you lots of old people attending the mass:


The mass is short and sweet, less than an hour. If only we can attend the Easter Vigil mass here...too bad we are leaving here on Christmas Eve to catch our flight home on Christmas Day...sigh

Food in UK

Food in UK is cheap if you do not convert to RM. There is a fierce competition among supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, Iceland and Somerfields. I love to go to those supermarkets and look and shop for foods. But need to remind myself not to go when I am hungry or else I will be bringing back lots and lots of food. Christmas is just round the corner and there is a lot of great offers for Christmas foods like minced pies, shepherd pies , Christmas puddings etc etc. We are enjoying UK food and stuffing ourselves with yummy yummmy food here. Nearly all the food pictured below costs GBP1 only !!








I even manage to buy these from Tesco and Sainsburys to cook Sarawak Laksa for son#2, since he loves Sarawak Laksa!!

Observations made while in UK

1. Everybody queues here, in supermarkets, at bakeries, at bus stops, everywhere. If you didn't queue, everybody will stare at you.

2. No motorbikes here, maybe it is winter. For the past week , I haven't seen a single motorbike on the road.

3. Pedestrians and disabled people are kings of the road. All drivers give way to pedestrians crossing the road. Drivers here seldom use their horns.

4. Nearly every Britons smoke except the kids of course. If you walk passed any college, you will see students puffing away outside the college gate before they enter for their classes.

5. Britons spit a lot....why ? don't know!!

6. Britons kiss a lot too, in train stations, on the streets, everywhere...some kiss until got sound some more!!

7. Britons has a lot of babies...blame it on the weather!!

8. Britons older generation are very loving and polite too, but not the younger generations talking loudly and with studs or rings on their lips and noses!!

9. Disabled people here are very independent. You see them by themselves on buses, on the streets , in supermarkets.

10. Britons love dogs, they bring their dogs everywhere they go.


The best thing about UK is..after being here for 1 week+ now, I haven't seen a single mosquito, a housefly or an ant yet so every night after eating it is very safe just to leave the left-over food lying on the table.... no need to keep them inside the fridge.

Blackpool - a town of hotels and amusement parks

Went to Blackpool on Thursday @ GBP11.30 pp return by train

If you want to experience the strong cold wind of UK then go to Blackpool at this time of the year.


That is Irish Sea.

Sights like this is very common in UK skies caused by the cold air and the aeroplanes burnt fuel:


Blackpool is basically hotels and amusement parks:

Hotel:

Hotel:
Amusement park:
Hotel:
Another hotel: Another hotel:
Amusement park:
Hotel:
Casino, nothing as compared to Genting casino:

Another hotel:

Exciting things found on our way there:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Sigh...alamak....all the parks not open when we were there....
This ferris wheel is built above the sea!!
This is Pleasure Pool famous one-mile long roller coaster.

Nice street lighting:
We were looking for a rubbish bin to throw away our rubbish but not one in sight even in the toilet. There is not a single dustbin in Blackpool train station for security reasons, so all the rubbish are hand-picked by 5 workers.

Price of petrol

When in Malaysia, an oil producing country, everytime there is an increase in oil price, the gaberman told us that oil in Malaysia is still one of the cheapest ...how true is it?

While in UK I saw the price of petrol sold here:

In Tesco:

UK Petrol Prices for Thursday 29th Nov 2007
Avg. Min. Max.
Unleaded: 102.8p, 98.9p, 113.9p
Diesel: 107.6p, 100.0p, 118.9p
LRP: 104.5p, 97.9p, 112.9p
Super: 109.5p, 101.9p, 117. 9p
LPG: 50.9p, 42.9p, 56.9p

You may say GBP is 7X RM , but remember that an engineer's starting pay in UK is GBP1800 while an engineer's starting pay is RM 1800 in Malaysia too!! So you tell me is petrol in Malaysia cheap?