Great British Adventure Trip – London, Manchester and Edinburgh

Oh gosh, now I’m so beyond thrilled to share this priceless experience with all of you. Let’s get into it!

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Now, let the journey begin! 

London

London was the first leg of this trip. After my previous visit to London last year, I’m so glad that this time around I get to explore here again (though I’ve been staying in London for almost three months).

The first stop was Twinings Museum, the oldest tea shop in the city that is located at 216 Strand (opposite of the Court of Justice). There are various Twinings teas from daily, to exclusive and rare ones available to purchase. Besides, they also host a tea sampling experience for visitors to taste and understand the origins of Twinings even more. We enjoyed the experience where Martha, the museum staff who is also a huge fan of teas, told us a lot of interesting stories about Twinings history. I highly recommend you to drop by here and experience this, whenever you’re in London.

A generous set of toothsome tea pastries served at The Georgian Restaurant, Harrods

A visit to London is never complete if you don’t go for an evening tea. How about sipping a cup of aromatic tea and a bite of delectable scone? We had it in The Georgian Restaurant, Harrods. I enjoyed their wide array of sandwiches, savories, and tea pastries. Their traditional baked scones were exceptionally good!

After the teas and pastries, we went on the iconic London Eye and witnessed the panoramic view of London city. Great experience and luckily the weather was just fine making most of the popular landmarks such as River Thames, Buckingham Palace, Palace of Westminster visible for us to view.

While in London, we met several successful and inspiring Malaysian-born individuals in the UK including Phil Wang, a well-known comedian who grew up in Kota Kinabalu and studied Engineering course at Cambridge University. He decided to venture into the art industry and chose comedian as his career. Another Engineering graduate was Ashly Nandong, who is a talented artist from Sarawak currently pursuing Masters of Arts at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts. Lastly, Rekha Kodikara, who currently holds a position as a barrister at Crown Prosecution Service in London. Glad that we gained a lot of fascinating insights from each one of them.

Through this journey, I learned that there are many major Malaysian business investments that took place in London and EcoWorld is one of them. EcoWorld is a property development company that is currently working on their major project called Embassy Gardens, which is a riverside district situated in the heart of the London city, specifically Nine Elms. We even got to visit their project site. Oh man, it was massive. Looking forward to seeing it when it is completed.

We then proceed to the Palace of Westminster to admire this historical architecture charmingly standing as one of London’s most iconic landmarks. I usually get to see only its exterior but this time around, we managed to explore inside it and in fact, we even got to meet Mr. Jon Davies, who is the Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) to talk about CPA roles for the community and the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that will be held in London, next year (2018).

Photos of me and Phoenix with the Number 10 door. Kudos Phoenix for that extraordinary pose!

Manchester

I visited Manchester earlier this year and sadly that was only a layover for my trip to Wales. I went to a lot of blog posts on Manchester and was enticed to visit this city every time I finished reading about it. We managed to explore several hot spots in this city during our 2-night stay here.

Art everywhere in Northern Quarter – the artists did such a great job making most of the unattractive spots look even appealing

We had a quick stroll around Northern Quarter, a hot spot in the Manchester center that is named as one of the best alternative tourist attractions in the UK. Similar to the area in London called Shoreditch, there are plenty of brilliant graffiti artworks that can be seen along the streets. We can’t help but to continue pressing our camera shutter and step forward to explore more and more artworks. Besides, there are myriad of trendy cafés and bars here – an ideal place for meet-ups, drink and enjoy some cool live music.

We were quite fortunate that during our trip to Manchester, apparently The Makers Market was held at the Eccles Market. It is only happening on the second Saturday of the month throughout the year which showcases a wonderful array of artworks, fashionable clothes, authentic culinary, home refurbishment, and vibrant music by the local artisans.

Last but not least, we made our way to the University of Manchester and met several Malaysian students from all kinds of disciplines – medic, engineering, and law. It was lovely to hear some amazing stories about their experience studying abroad and the things they love about studying in the UK. It inspires me, even more, to pursue my studies in the UK next year, InsyaAllah.

Anyway, thank you to Phoenix for tapau-ing (bringing) the super spicy yet delectable sambal all the way from Malaysia. We enjoyed it, A LOT!

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the city that marks the final leg of our Great British Adventure. Oh dear, I am deeply in love with this enchanting city. It has never been on my visiting-soon list because you know, we always take destinations nearby for granted. I am currently based in London so always look forward to some major destinations in Europe that are outside the UK more.

Through this trip, we were able to finally set our foot in this northern part of the UK – Edinburgh, Scotland. There will be a separate article for Edinburgh as I have more things to share that I’ve discovered when I extended my stay here for another 3 days after the trip has ended.

First of all, we felt truly honored to be able to stay at one of the coolest hotels in Edinburgh, The Glasshouse Hotel. Did you know that this hotel is owned by a Malaysian infrastructure conglomerate named YTL Corporation Berhad? It’s just amazing that many Malaysian businesses decided to invest somewhere outside the country, specifically the UK. The hotel possesses such a strategic location (just a few steps away from the city’s main attractions) and good-looking architectural charms (it used to be a church). I was appointed to stay at their Glenfiddich Suite equipped with complete amenities, a spacious area, and direct access to the rooftop garden from my room. Thanks to The Glasshouse Hotel for their wonderful service and hospitality.

We then proceed to the Edinburgh Zoo to see the Malayan Tapir. Sounds pretty exciting right? We got the chance to meet Maya, the newborn Malayan tapir (full story here) up close. Even fascinating to know that it was Maya’s one-month anniversary. I am pleased to know and see that they have been well fed and taken care of by the team. And yeah, people here will get to understand this endangered species that is on the brink of extinction.

As the sun was about to set, we drove up to Arthur’s Seat area to capture a stunning panoramic view of the city from above. It was super breathtaking. So glad that we made it right before it rained again. The pictures above will convince you how spectacular the view is.

What else? Of course, strolling around Edinburgh City. We explore the city center’s vicinity, admiring the classic buildings, dined at some restaurants (even got to taste Scotland’s national dish, haggis), and more. Thankfully, the weather been exceptionally great on the day we arrived. Sadly, it was raining and super gloomy during the last two days here but still, we had so much fun here.

Wait for my next blog post about Edinburgh soon. The end of Great British Adventure #MYUK60.