Summer in Manchester - Day 6

 Just a short post about my transit at Manchester before heading south to London.


We arrived at Manchester International Airport around 6.30 pm and I called a private hire cab to go to Rusholme. We stopped at Kak Miah's house to drop our luggages for a while. Then we borak2 with her. Rajin Kak Miah buatkan air, lepas ni nak melantak kat Al-Jazeera. Haha..

Manchester Airport - Terminal 3

Calon menantu pilihan.. Rajin la Kak Miah hidang air.. hehe

Al-Jazeera Restaurant

This restaurant is quite famous among Malaysian who lived in UK. This is because the food portion was huge and the price is reasonable and affordable for students who regularly come here to eat. For a plate of pilau rice and half chicken the price is only £4.70. For lamb with rice, the price is a bit expensive but it is served with a bowl of curry. The mint tea was great as well.

The food

The Eaters

Travelodge Ancoats, Manchester

Travelodge is a big chain of budget hotel dispersed around UK and Ireland. On weekdays, the cheapest that I can get is around £26.50 per room (either double or triple room). Travelodge Ancoats is located near the Shudehill Interchange which is a bus station. We're going to take our bus to London tomorrow there.

We're gonna sleep tight tonight and had enough sleep as the journey tomorrow took 5 hours.

Magical Souvenirs from Harry Potter Studio Tour

Assalamualaikum and good day people!

As I am very lazy to write more travel posts, therefore this time I wanna write about what did I brought back from my tour in The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour. I spent more than £80 here (approximately RM400). Pengsannnnnn... hahaha..

Story about my magical tour in Harry Potter world:

Part 1 - The Great Hall & Interior Sets

Part 2 - Exterior Sets, Creatures Room, Diagon Alley & Model Room

Here are the photos of the mementos. Since I'm a big fan of HP, therefore I bought most of the things for myself.. Sorry friends~ XD

All of these cost £84.10

Harry Potter Brave Gryffindor/Red T-shirt - £17.95

Chocolate Frogs - £7.95 each

Opened chocolate frog with collectible card..

Gryffindor and Hogwarts Crest Rubber Magnets - £5.95 each

Slytherin Quidditch Banner Pin Badge & Ravenclaw Crest Pin Badge - £6.95 each

Gryffindor Crest Patch - £5.95

Postcards - £0.95 each

HP Guide Book - £9.95

No I didn't buy robes because I know I won't wear them. Plus, they are extremely extremely expensive. I think it cost around £90.

And I didn't buy wands either. That's because I already own 6 wands which I bought from Ebay. In the shop, each wand cost £29.90. However, I got them cheaper on Ebay. XD

I hope I can visit this place once more with my other friends as I still got lots of things to buy! 

=)

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good"

"Mischief managed"

Summer in Budapest - Day 5

Today we would be joining a bus tour for a city sightseeing. The meeting point was in front of Grand Continental Hotel. By the time we reached there, several tourists were already on the bus. The tour started at 11 am.  In addition, we got free tickets for boat tour on Danube River. Yeayyy!

Here are some places that we dropped by along the bus tour:

Millenium Square

This memorial square is also known as Heroes' Square or in Hungarian, Hosok tere. The Millenium Memorial is one of the important landmark in Budapest which is surrounded by several statues of the seven tribe leaders who founded Budapest in the past.

Kunsthalle Budapest - Palace of Arts

Millennium Square

Millennium Memorial

Buda side

The western part of the capital of Budapest which is located acroos the Danube River. Buda Castle is located in this area as well as the Fishermen's Bastion and Mathias Church.

Fishermen's Bastion

Danube River & Parliament Building

Mathias Church

Lace is quite popular in Budapest

Marzipan Shop & Museum

Marzipan is one of Budapest specialties. It's a sweet made from almond powder, egg and sugar. It's frequently made into models and figures like shown in the photos below. For example, Budapest Parliament Building, Harry Potter, The Little Mermaid and The Flintstones. They are very nicely designed and cute too!

Gellert Hill

It is a hill overlooking Danube River. From above, we could observe the river and several bridges that cross it. There are a few souvenir stalls, restaurant, museum and monuments around this hill.

Danube River- Sightseeing Boat Tour

After lunch, we continued our day with boat tour since it's complementary with the bus tour. We waited for the boat quite long, approximately 45 minutes under the hot sun. Today was very very hot and bright. I think it's hotter than Malaysia. The boat cruised along the Danube River passing through a lot of beautiful landmarks such as Elizabeth Bridge, Buda Castle, Parliament Building up to Margaret Island.

Parliament House

Buda Castle

 

We had our lunch at Al-Amir Restaurant again today but we tried different menu.

Today was our last day in Budapest and I was glad trip had come to an end. It was definitely fun but the weather was kinda rough. It was so hot and bright. I thought my skin would be getting darker there. Haha..

We're going to UK tomorrow. Our flight was at noon and bound to Manchester which means we got the chance to eat at Al-Jazeera Restaurant. Yipppeee! =)

Summer in Budapest - Day 4

Budapest is located in Hungary which is neighbouring to Austria. We arrived at Budapest Keleti station after a 3-hour journey by train from Wien Meidling, Vienna. Our first destination was of course our hotel which was Green Hotel. We had to dropped our luggage there as well had a little rest to refresh ourselves. This hotel is located near Puskas Ferenc metro station.

Budapest is a capital of Hungary. Being a capital city, it is indeed the largest one among the other cities in Hungary. The currency is Hungarian Forint (HUF). The name of Budapest derived from two different cities; Buda and Pest. Both cities are separated by Danube river. We stayed at the Pest side. Buda side is famous for its historical areas such as Buda Castle and the old town.

We bought 24-hour ticket but I forgot how much it cost us. From Puskas Ferenc, we took a metro to Deak Ferenc which is located in the city centre.

Vorosmarty Square

During my visit, this square had became a book festival as there were so many booths selling books. A lot of tourists gathered here and it was quite crowded. There was a stage but by the time I arrived there, the band was still setting up their instruments. There's a coupled of clowns and street painters as well.

Hard Rock Cafe Budapest

This newly opened HRC is located at Vorosmarty Square. Since it was Sunday, there were a lot of people in the Rock Shop hunting for HRC t-shirts and souvenirs. I grabbed a blue-coloured t-shirt and received a free HRC lanyard after I gave the coupon which I obtained from our hotel to the cashier. Since I already asked Wanji to buy me a HRC Budapest pin badge earlier this year, thus I only bought a t-shirt this time.

Danube River

We had a long walk along the Danube riverbank. We could see the beautiful Buda Castle which is located at the opposite side. As we walked along, we saw a lot of people gathered at a place. When I figured it out, there was actually a filming took place. It must be a local production since the actors were the locals.

Hungarian Shopping Market

This is an underground market which is accessible by using escalators. This market sells souvenirs ranging from t-shirts, magnets, key chains, lace and may others. The workers are mostly Muslim and they gave discount to us. I shopped quite a lot here. We also asked whether is there any halal restaurant nearby and he told us about Al-Amir Restaurant which serve Syrian cuisine. It is located just nearby.

Al-Amir Restaurant and Cafe

This restaurant looked very exclusive but surprisingly the food price was very okay. I had a plate of rice with chicken dish and a canned fruit drink. It only cost 1500 forints (approximately £5).

Tomorrow, we would be joining a bus tour for city sightseeing. This tour was already arranged by CIT Travel, so we had to join it.