Easter Trip 2009: Day one
Friday morning was the start of the trip that Asri and I had planned. Asri picked me up at home on the Chevrolet Matiz that we rented out from Enterprise the evening before. Our first destination was Oxford.
The drive to Oxford was nothing to shout about. It was cloudy, and rainy here and there. If anything, the trip TO Oxford seemed uneventful as the trip IN Oxford. We spent, or rather wasted, a lot of time trying to find a parking bay. As a city, Oxford is charming. In comparison, Cambridge is more charming. But perhaps the gloomy weather contributed to the negative assessment.
From Oxford, we drove to Salisbury, hoping to see Stonehenge in all its ancient glory. This time, the drive was pretty bad. The heavy aster traffic materialsed. About 4 miles from destination, we were held back by a slow moving traffic. We covered the final 4 miles in more than 4o minutes. It was pretty bad on fuel consumption, as we later realised. Without the crawling speed, we would had spent less than GMP80 for our five days journey.
Stonehenge itself was a bit of a disappointment. Asri was hoping for something more than a collection of arranged stone. No garden, no flower, no nothing. Felt a bit like people were circumumbulating an ancient site. Much like making tawaf around Kaabah, except without the religious connotation. In fact, the term 'tawaf' and 'rukun' became the catchphrases for this journey.
From Stonehenge, we drove straight to Cardiff, albeit with a 10 miles 'detour' thanks to the very insightful satnav. It was good for telling you the destination, but not the first few yards of the trip. Making a u-turn was rendered an impossibility due to the lingering heavy traffic. I managed to catch 40 winks on the leg to Cardiff. By then, the sun was out, and the warmth of the air was clearly felt.
Upon entering Cardiff, we went on a beautiful bridge. But the beauty, and its corresponding shorter trip time, came at a price. For the first time in the UK, I had to pay road toll. Fortunately, there wasn't many road tolls in the UK. In fact, the other toll that we had to pay was for using the tunnel into Liverpool.
Before going to the YHA, our overnight accomodation, we walked around Cardiff to take a view of the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Castle, and the surrounding garding. After checking in and performing our solah, we went out again. We headed to Cardiff Bay upon the recommendation of out fellow YHA dorm mate, a guy originally from Cardiff.
The Bay is breathtaking. The developer managed to make the most of nature. It looked like a great combination of natural and commercial co-existence. It felt really 'happening'. But, of course, we could not partake in many of the offerings because they are not halal. The best bit on the visit to the Bay was perhaps the sunset. Simply magnificent.
We had dinner at a restaurant on City Road. There were a few halal restaurant. We chose the one that had the most customers. The portion of rice was too much. We should have shared. I did not managed to finish my lamb briyani.
On the way back to the YHA, we stopped by at a big masjid. It could have been a converted church. A few people were still in the masjid when we entered. It felt good to stop and pray at a masjid. It looked very much like a masjid, eventhough it was probably originally built as a church. To me, praying at the masjid made the perfect end for day one.
The drive to Oxford was nothing to shout about. It was cloudy, and rainy here and there. If anything, the trip TO Oxford seemed uneventful as the trip IN Oxford. We spent, or rather wasted, a lot of time trying to find a parking bay. As a city, Oxford is charming. In comparison, Cambridge is more charming. But perhaps the gloomy weather contributed to the negative assessment.
From Oxford, we drove to Salisbury, hoping to see Stonehenge in all its ancient glory. This time, the drive was pretty bad. The heavy aster traffic materialsed. About 4 miles from destination, we were held back by a slow moving traffic. We covered the final 4 miles in more than 4o minutes. It was pretty bad on fuel consumption, as we later realised. Without the crawling speed, we would had spent less than GMP80 for our five days journey.
Stonehenge itself was a bit of a disappointment. Asri was hoping for something more than a collection of arranged stone. No garden, no flower, no nothing. Felt a bit like people were circumumbulating an ancient site. Much like making tawaf around Kaabah, except without the religious connotation. In fact, the term 'tawaf' and 'rukun' became the catchphrases for this journey.
From Stonehenge, we drove straight to Cardiff, albeit with a 10 miles 'detour' thanks to the very insightful satnav. It was good for telling you the destination, but not the first few yards of the trip. Making a u-turn was rendered an impossibility due to the lingering heavy traffic. I managed to catch 40 winks on the leg to Cardiff. By then, the sun was out, and the warmth of the air was clearly felt.
Upon entering Cardiff, we went on a beautiful bridge. But the beauty, and its corresponding shorter trip time, came at a price. For the first time in the UK, I had to pay road toll. Fortunately, there wasn't many road tolls in the UK. In fact, the other toll that we had to pay was for using the tunnel into Liverpool.
Before going to the YHA, our overnight accomodation, we walked around Cardiff to take a view of the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Castle, and the surrounding garding. After checking in and performing our solah, we went out again. We headed to Cardiff Bay upon the recommendation of out fellow YHA dorm mate, a guy originally from Cardiff.
The Bay is breathtaking. The developer managed to make the most of nature. It looked like a great combination of natural and commercial co-existence. It felt really 'happening'. But, of course, we could not partake in many of the offerings because they are not halal. The best bit on the visit to the Bay was perhaps the sunset. Simply magnificent.
We had dinner at a restaurant on City Road. There were a few halal restaurant. We chose the one that had the most customers. The portion of rice was too much. We should have shared. I did not managed to finish my lamb briyani.
On the way back to the YHA, we stopped by at a big masjid. It could have been a converted church. A few people were still in the masjid when we entered. It felt good to stop and pray at a masjid. It looked very much like a masjid, eventhough it was probably originally built as a church. To me, praying at the masjid made the perfect end for day one.
Comments
ooo... kome ngutuk oxford yer. sampei ati kome. terase teman. tu tempat teman main2 dulu2 tu.
perhaps the weather & no tourist guide kut...