I was so excited on Tuesday! I left work exactly at 5:00pm and headed to Heathrow Terminal 3 via the tube, arriving at about 6:20pm. Sara’s flight was early, but it was still only going to land at 8:20pm. What to do with the time? I didn’t expect Heathrow Terminal 3 to be so boring! No fast food places, so few shops, so few facilities, but when your excited the time moves quickly. I called the Taxi company to inform them that the flight would be arriving earlier and my eyes were locked onto the screen. When it showed landed I was so excited! It took about 20 minutes for it to change status to “Luggage on belt” and then at 9:00pm, she was out and in my arms. We took the taxi back to Croydon and the taxi driver was a little scary! He kept texting while driving quickly on a rainy day not paying attention to the road. Finally I had enough and told him off for it. No tips for him man! Anyways, I am just glad baby is here She is not feeling so well today, and is in the apartment resting today. This weekend we shall go gallivanting

The Camden Markets are a number of adjoining large markets in Camden Town near the Hampstead Road Lock of the Regent’s Canal (which is usually called Camden Lock), often called collectively “Camden Market” or “Camden Lock”. The stalls sell crafts, clothing, bric-a-brac, fast food, and other things. It is the fourth most popular visitor attraction in London, attracting approximately 100,000 people each weekend. It began in its present form in 1974 when the Camden Lock crafts market was formed. There was a small local food market in Inverness Street long before that; as of 2008 this market retains only three fruit and vegetable stalls in addition to stalls like those in the other markets.

My guide book recommended two different markets besides Portobello market, the first was Camden town and the other was Brixton. We went to both on Saturday, but only one impressed us, the other was totally disappointing. Camden town market, obviously was the happening one. There was tons of great food places, and we even found a Malaysian family from Penang which had their own restaurant serving amazing Malaysian Chinese food! Yum. There were all kinds of unique clothing with stalls from all over the world. This place is a must, however forget about Brixton. Totally dodgy and not worth it at all.

I had such fun. I must admit I only saw a small fraction of what Scotland had to offer and there was so much more to see, but my main reason there was to spend some time with my brother and I am glad we did. We had a very good time of just talking and catching up. In this day and age where people live and work miles away from family, its nice to just see each other. I got my brother hooked up with skype and hopefully we will be able to chat more now :) 

On the Sunday, We didn’t really do anything. Joe and Allan had friends over for dinner and I met some of this friends, which was always fun. We talked and talked about all sorts of things, from Politics, Economy, Time Travel to Aliens, Ghosts and Religion.  

As the guest all left, I helped my brother do some internet stuff and then came the time to say goodbye. They dropped me off at the train station and I headed on the sleeper to London. I will see them next year for my wedding next

The train ride back to London was comfortable. I had gotten a sleeper and it was very different from the ones back in Malaysia. Even for normal economy, two passengers are given a room, and it was very comfy. I got the room to myself and fell asleep within minutes. I got up at 7:00am and was worried as the train was still moving! It was suppose to reach London at 6:45 and I thought I had missed the station. I quickly went outside and saw a fellow passanger to told me that the train would be delayed and only reach London at 10:00am! Wow, 4 hours delay. A train attended got all the passanger details and said they would issue a full refund Wow.. I was impressed. At 10am, reached and took a cab to the office End of Scotland journey, but I hope to return again.

Allan showed Joe and me this carving on the pavement in Edinburgh and it had our family name in it “Tay”. It was a quote by Voilet Jacob, a Scottish writer now known especially for her historical novel Flemington and her poetry. I was curious to know what she meant by Tay, and I found this on the web.

A river of central Scotland rising in the Grampian Mountains and flowing about 190 km (118 mi) through Loch Tay to the Firth of Tay, an inlet of the North Sea.

There is a river with my name Quite rare for a Chinese, in an Scotland eh?

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish city after Glasgow. Edinburgh is one of Scotland’s 32 local government council areas.

Located in the south-east of Scotland, Edinburgh lies on the east coast of the Central Belt, along the Firth of Forth, near the North Sea. Owing to its rugged setting and vast collection of Medieval and Georgian architecture, including numerous stone tenements, it is often considered one of the most picturesque cities in Europe.

It forms the City of Edinburgh council area; the city council area includes urban Edinburgh and a 30-square-mile (78 km²) rural area.

It has been capital of Scotland since 1437 (replacing Scone) and is the seat of the Scottish Parliament. The city was one of the major centres of the Enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh, earning it the nickname Athens of the North. The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city. In the census of 2001, Edinburgh had a total resident population of 448,625.

Edinburgh is well-known for the annual Edinburgh Festival, a collection of official and independent festivals held annually over about four weeks from early August. The number of visitors attracted to Edinburgh for the Festival is roughly equal to the settled population of the city. The most famous of these events are the Edinburgh Fringe (the largest performing arts festival in the world), the Edinburgh Comedy Festival (the largest comedy festival in the world), the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

After the Palace and the Scotish Parliment, we headed down town to see Edinburgh proper. Its a really beautiful city. Anywhere from the city you can see the beautiful castle up on the hill. There are tons of statues on almost every round about, loads of shops too. There is a nice park which used to be a moat, and every now and then you see somebody wearing a kilt playing the bagpipes. Its truly a beautiful city, but the lack of sunlight and showers during the day I was visiting made it rather hard to take photos that truly reflect its beauty. I will definitely come back to Edinburgh one day.