Cambridge & Brighton

It has been a wonderful weekend.

I met up with Kit & Daniel in Cambridge on Wed. With a unique system of 31 colleges, it is essentially a university town. Dan stays at Girton college, the furthest college from the train station! He stays in a really beautiful place though. I love his room, the carpet is so soft, that sleeping on the floor is actually comfortable!

Kit & I enjoyed a punting tour along the Backs. - a Venetian like boat tour through the little canals of Cambridge. On a better day we would have tried punting ourselves, but with strong currents & bad weather, we decided that the tour was a better option. (We managed to bargain the price down from 12 pounds to 7 pounds anyway!) Our boatman was this French guy from London, who despite his 1.5 years experience, seemed to have quite a hard time maneuvering the punt with 8 tourists on board! It was quite a no frills kinda tour, which was nice. we caught a glimpse of the Bridge of Sighs, & the 'more famous' colleges; Trinity, King's & St John's.

Over a romantic Italian dinner at Strada's. Kim, Daniel Chen & I plotted a special birthday surprise with cake & customised candles for our dear host. Blessed 22nd birthday to you Daniel!
Brighton is a town that never fails to surprise you. It is no exaggeration that you can experience the world in one day here. Its streets & shops boast architecture of international design; a walk through the town takes you from the domes of Saudi Arabia, to the harbour of Santa Monica. Mediterranean-inspired houses of Italy & Spain line the coast, with an occasional monument & Anglican chapel in between. Finding food here is quite an adventure. A single street can boast food from India, Greece, Mexico, Japan, China, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand & Turkey! It's a perfect place for tourists to visit. In fact I suspect that very nature of this town is attributed to the immigration of tourists themselves! Whilst enjoying my roast lamb, I had a interesting chat with the cafe owner of "Breakfast at Tiffany's", a Kurd who migrated from the Middle East 30 years ago.

If you're looking for a lovely seaside town to spend your vacation, Brighton is the place to go. The wind at the coast is SO STRONG, it literally blows you away. The seagulls were having a fantastic time flying SIDEWAYS, without even flapping their wings. It was a sight to behold.

I enjoyed the sunshine in Brighton. It truly Brightons up your day :)
My only grouse (and main one!) of the UK is that the weather is so unpredictable, that you hardly ever get to enjoy a full hour of sunshine. It is possible to enjoy all 4 seasons in a day, from heavy snow to happy sun to gloomy rain all in a matter of hours. Many people here actually think of Singapore as a wonderful place. Having sun the whole year round sounds like heaven to them. Then again, this part of the world probably never experiences humidity. Kit officially concludes that Britain has the most ridiculous and worst weather on the planet. No wonder the Brits love to talk & complain about it all the time.