Since I have a 2-day break in between the football matches, I decided to travel to another city in the UK and this time round, I shortlisted Wales. I have heard about some nice stories about Cardiff Bay or Swansea Bay and of course would want to do some hiking or trekking in the mountains. Unfortunately, plans did not pan out. Cardiff was more like a rest stop for me since I have been travelling for close to a month and I have been walking so much my thighs and calfs visibly shrank. I got pretty sick of going to Castles so did not visit any and instead, I did my shopping in Cardiff since I hardly had any time to shop in London itself. The good thing was that things were much cheaper than in London itself.
I went to Cardiff Bay in the evening and what shocked me was that everything was closed! It is nothing like the Clarke Quay or Keppel Bay of Singapore neither was it like the marina at Nice, Marseille, or Monaco whereby you expect a bustling crowd. The number of people that you can see in the streets could be counted using two hands. haha! It is quite a nice and little cozy city but I doubt I will want to live in such a place. I also went to an open air museum and it was a fun experience looking at the Welsh way of life in olden times.
On hindsight, I should have just stayed in Manchester and spent time exploring the city itself. Sometimes it is better if you just take a day tour and let them bring you to the highlights of the country. Though you have to pay for these services, I feel that it does help you to understand their culture. Oh well, leave it to the next visit I guess.
And back to Manchester, I have been there 3 times and there are so many outlets there, good shopping places, museums but I have only been to ONE outlet and ONE museum i.e. the Manchester Megastore and the Museum of the Red Devils haha! Alright, on my next trip there, I must set aside time to explore the place itself. :)
[Top Left]: Cardiff City Centre; [Top Right]: Cardiff Bay - Ghost town!
[Bottom Left]: Main shopping street in Cardiff; [Bottom Left]: Tax rules in ancient times - tax on people who bring their bulls and carts across!
