Simply Wales - Cardiff Day 2

Alright, for our second day in Cardiff, the itinerary was quite simple. Cardiff Bay. We had half day tour only since we need to go to the airport in the evening to catch our flight back to Glasgow. We walked from our hotel to Cardiff Bay, I thought it was quite near but actually it was not actually that near. After walking about 30-40 minutes we finally reached Cardiff Bay with the help of Google Map in my tablet. Thank you very much! :)

Cardiff Bay

We went there quite early in the morning, not so many people were there and the shops were just starting to open their business. Cardiff Bay is located in Butetown area. My mom bought some homemade souvenirs from the shop. We wandered around the bay taking photos like usual. The weather was quite gloomy with some light rain. The buildings around here are quite unique in their designs. Some memorial statues could also be found here along with some restaurants and bars. For tourist attraction, boats could also be hired. A lot of ducks were seen swimming on the water.

Wales Millennium Centre

This building has a modern structure and there is a souvenir shop at the ground floor. We entered the shop and I purchased some souvenirs for myself and my friends. The metal fridge magnet cost £1.50 and I bought about 10 of them. Besides that, postcards are also a must. After buying all the things needed, we headed back to city centre by taking a bus.

Cardiff Central Library & Alliance

When we walked around the city, we came across this piece of art called the Alliance. It is located just in front of the Cardiff Central Library. Quite nice to take photo with. :)

1 Malaysia Cuisine

It's already noon thus we need to find a restaurant to dine in. We discovered 1 Malaysia Cuisine restaurant when we walked around the city yesterday thus we wanted to try it today. Luckily it was open. This restaurant is located near St. John Church which is just a few minute walk from the Cardiff Tourist Information Centre. I had ayam masak merah with rice, my mom had ayam masak kicap with rice while my dad ordered a fried rice. The food was generally okay but I didn't enjoy the chicken very much because it was quite tough. Maybe because the chicken was over-fried?? Hmmm.. However, the fried rice was yummy.

After we filled our stomach, we headed back to our hotel and checked out at 2 pm. The we boarded the bus from Cardiff Bus Station to the Cardiff Airport. We waited at the airport for quite a long time since our flight departed about 4 hours later. This was because we had no place to stay in the city so it's better we arrived at the airport early.

So goodbye Cardiff! Hello Glasgow! I miss you so much! In fact, until now I still miss Glasgow although I have been back in Malaysia for 4 months now. :'(

Simply Wales - Cardiff Day 1

Right after completing our Italy-Swiss trip, my parents and I continued our journey to the west of United Kingdom which is Cardiff. Cardiff is the capital city of Wales. When we arrived in London Gatwick from Geneva, Switzerland, we stayed overnight in Travelodge Gatwick. We headed to Cardiff the day after by taking National Express bus from Gatwick Airport.

First, we took the bus from Gatwick to London Victoria which took about 2 hours of journey. We had lunch at London Victoria Station because there are a lot of halal restaurants there. I had a cheeseburger meal and my parents were having chicken nuggets and chips. After finishing our meal, we waited for our next bus there. The journey from London Victoria to Cardiff also took 2 hours. The bus stopped at Newport for a while before continuing to Cardiff.

We arrived at Cardiff quite late in the afternoon which was around 4 pm. Then, we checked in at Travelodge Cardiff Central. Travelodge is a budget hotel chain in UK & Ireland. The earlier you make reservation, the cheaper the price. For the triple room that we had, it only cost around £30. We had a rest for a while before heading outside searching for a place for dinner.

We found Wok to Walk, an oriental restaurant which is similar to one in Glasgow. The most important thing was this is a halal restaurant. Firstly, we chose the base which is either rice or noodles. Then we added some topping such as chicken, beef, mushroom, shrimps etc before choosing the sauce. Sauces include teriyaki, spicy, soy sauce and many others.

After that, we walked to the Cardiff Castle. We only managed to take photos at the exterior because the castle was already closed by the time we reached there. It closed at 5 pm if I'm not mistaken. The walls of the Cardiff castle are quite high. I wished we arrived early so that we could enter the castle. There is admission fee if you wanna enter the castle.

Next destination was Queen Street. This is a shopping area as there are many shops and retails located here. We passed by Cardiff Market as well but it was already closed.

Most of the signboards in Cardiff are bilingual, usually English and Welsh. In fact, Cardiff in Welsh is Caerdydd. So don't be strange if you encounter weird language there. :)

We went back to the hotel after buying some food from a grocery store. By the way, please bring along your plastic bags or any bags because they don't provide any. You have to buy your own bags if you don't own any. I think this is because Cardiff practices Go Green campaign.