I had my share of happiness and freak-out incidents in Manchester seriously. Putting aside that "I lost my way incident", my boots played a joke on me while I was there. They tore while I was in Manchester and because I had to catch the match, I didn't have time to buy them. Shops open at only 11am or 12pm on Sunday and they close by 4pm. So I had to bear with those torn boots (like beggar kind). On Monday, I had time to buy them finally when I was shopping in Manchester but the queue was too long and I ran out of time to queue for them. Just as I was about to catch the bus to the airport, the boots finally gave way! So what I did was to take out my M'phosis slippers from my bag and wear them. Imagine: Me wearing slippers at 3degrees! I wore the slippers to Hard rock cafe in Manchester, took a bus back to the Picadilly Station and walked to the bus stop to catch the airport shuttle. After I arrived at the airport, I continue to wear the slippers to the plane. When I finally reached Stockholm City, I realise the last train was gone and I had to walk back (about 1km) from the City terminalen to my Dorm which is about 20minutes at 1degrees at 1:10am!
Trust me, it was freaking COLD and my feet almost went numb. Furthermore, it was the first time I walked home alone in the middle of the night at Stockholm after being here for 1.5 months. But don't worry, people who know me well will know I am a tough girl! I can survive all these. Stockholm is really a very safe place to be honest. Along the way, as I was freezing, I just kept thinking of the chocolates that I can eat once I reach my dorm, reflect on the scenes at Manchester & time whiz past!
I also had a shocking experience on the bus in Manchester. It was Monday, peak hours and there were lots of cars on the road. Like London, cars parked by the roadside and you have to be extremely careful when it comes to corners and bends. At a particular traffic light junction, the bus was turning left and there was this black family crossing the road! The bus nearly hit the daughter, a teenager, but luckily the bus driver swerve away and hit another bus by the side. It wasn't a major knock but the bus driver simply opened the doors and scolded the BLACK guy! The black guy was so mad that he STOMPED up the bus and F***** the driver at least 20 times!! Fortunately, there's this safety feature on all buses in Manchester that I observe where there's a glass panel that protects the bus driver. Apparently, I guess this is to stop abuse at the driver. If not for that security feature, I guess that bus driver (a rather old man) would most probably have been beaten to death by that black guy! But he was kind of in the wrong too because he called the black guy Nigger which is super racist. I kind of freaked out when that happen because I was running late to catch the airport shuttle and if any fight were to take place, I might most probably miss my flight back to Stockholm.
Also, I went to the Chinatown in Manchester and it was really packed (just like Singapore) but there wasn't any Bak Kwa or whatsoever. Just those candies and nian gao so I was kind of disappointed and left.
Next to all people who have plans to visit MUFC-Stay near the club if you are just interested in watching football otherwise stay at the city centre if you want both soccer & shopping. Though there are trains to Old Trafford (only on Matchdays), it's in quite a suburb place and it isn't that easy to find seriously. So might as well stay near the city centre so you can shop at night or have some night activities in the city then take a cab straight to MUFC in the day.
Lastly, Manchester has the same flawed train system like Norway. Haha. You buy tickets on the platform and the train staff will conduct random checks. If they don't check, you can forget about buying a ticket and just travel for free. Ain't the Europeans the father of trains? Why are their train systems FLAWED?
Streets of Manchester
That's the Old Trafford Train Station that is only in operation on Matchdays
Manchester ChinaTown
Liverpool City from the plane!
The thing about airport security that pisses me! Alright, the standard regulation at airports is usually one hand carry bag but they don't take into account jackets & small plastic bags. At the liverpool airport, they insisted that I pack everything into ONE BAG-NO PLASTIC BAGS at all! I kind of oversized to be honest so what I did was to wear 5 layers of clothes (to reduce my baggage size) and carry 2 jackets on my hand. I bought a duffer bag from Manchester and it saved me as I managed to squeeze my backpack and all the items I bought and pass security using it! So before I pass security checkpoint, I repack everything into one bag. After I pass security, I repack everything into my backpack and one plastic bag. Reason: The Duffer Bag is super heavy and I don't want to carry it. Moral of the story: Always travel with BACKPACKS! They are the BEST!
As I boarded the plane, my 6-days HOLIDAYS were officially OVER! But the memories stay in my heart forever and whenever I miss them, I will look at the 700photos I took over the 6 days... When will be my Next Visit to Manchester again?!
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