Together with a friend, Edward, and his brother, Edwin - I call them the Ed Brothers - we went to Scotland for 5 days from the 22nd August. It had been a pretty last minute holiday planning. This is my first backpacking experience ever. Living in a backpackers hostel, sleeping in a mixed dorm for my stay in Edinburgh. A pretty interesting experience, sharing a room with so many people from around the world. Managed to catch a little chat with one of them, a girl from California. Not much luck with the rest as they aren’t in the room most of the time, if not asleep (and vice versa).
On the 2nd day we took a day trip up to Glencoe, the Highlands and Loch Ness. It’s really very lovely with the mountains, castles and Lochs. So much greens about. Ah yesh! Pity I couldn’t spot Nessie, the Loch Ness monster. Oh well. On the forth day, we made a quick short trip to Glasgow, spending a couple of hours there. The Scottish accent was really strong in Glasgow. There’s wasn’t really much there, it felt more like London as compared to Edinbugrh. But I do love The Lighthouse, Glasgow, one of Europe's largest architecture, design centres and exhibition spaces. Makes me wanna design! Hahaha…Very inspirational indeed.
Edinburgh was lovely, but much much colder than in London, especially when the strong wind blows. The first day was lovely weather, the remaining were showery and grey, and occasionally sunny. We went there for the Edinburgh Festival, the buskering on the High Street drawing crowds all about. We hopped from one busker to the other. It really reminds me of the Buskers Festival we have back home every November. It’s very vibrant, with people on the streets trying to promote their plays and stuffs. We caught comedies, dance, theater play, and orchestra. Awesome! It’s really arty and cool, loved the festival! A must do for those who want to visit Scotland in August. The Scots have such great sense of humour too.
Then it was back to London once more. It was bank Holiday on 29th August, Monday. There’s a Notting Hill Carnival on the 28th and 29th. Lucky for me and Trixy, we have a friend, Nok, just living in Notting Hill area where her place overlooks part of the carnival. The sunny Notting Hill streets were packed with hot crowds, loads of people, Jamaican,/Brazilian food and music! Woah! People were dancing and eating and drinking in the streets. We have to push our way about the crowds. Pity I’d forgotten to bring my main memory card for my camera, if not I could have captured more of the festive carnival.
