Birmingham
With a heavy heart, we arrived at our final destination before we would officially say goodbye to each other as we take on our individual path for our own exchange. This time, we are heading over to Xinyi’s university and to be honest, I am really dreading this stretch as much as I am excited for her to start her new journey. Its easy to say “Oh, I should be happy for her since shes really excited” but to feign that I am not sadden by the fact that our time seeing each other is numbered, I simply cannot do that. Naturally, the mood to travel around Birmingham isn’t strong and I just stayed in the city centre when I wasn’t with Xinyi.
Since I did not want to explore the city much, I would focus on what I have seen at the city centre and the university. The Central Birmingham is a paradise for shopping addicts and market hoppers. They have like everything, from Zara, H&M, Primark to bullring markets that actually sells a box of ready to cook bacons(still fresh) for £1. *Do watch out for the expiry date for such items because they are usually about to expire/ past the expiry date. Even so, it was a magical steal and we simply took the time to get what we needed for dinner. And Primark has the cheapest bedsheet and pillowcases you can get omg. When adelyn said you can get them for SGD$10, she is definitely right! Besides those shops, there are also many food stores like Burger King, Pizza Hut and Supermarkets like a gigantic Tesco nearby. In other words, city centre is a place you have to go in Birmingham. Well, all the trains stop there anyway hahaha!
Other than that, Birmingham is a subcity, much quieter than the biggest city of UK (London) despite being the second largest city. You can walk around when it rains with nothing on the streets except fallen leaves and occasional vehicles driving past. And travelling around is expensive unless you walk(40 mins walk to BMH uni), so expect yourself to walk alot if you are a student haha!
I stayed in a hostel called Birmingham Central Backpackers Hostel and other than being really cheap, its very cosy as well! There is a lounge on the ground floor that has multiple charging ports, free drinks and TV for guests to rest and mingle with the other guests. They even show movie in the night, wow! I do like the place a lot but I only stayed 1/4 of the nights cause I wanted to spend more time with Xinyi haha. Would otherwise recommend it to people who are going to BMH for a stay!
Moving on to Xinyi’s school, I kind of like it cause it feels very cosy. The accommodation was really comfortable, ensuite single and 6 flatmates sharing a communal panoramic kitchen. Pretty neat huh, its relieving seeing how Xinyi can get along well with her flatmates and even making friends with the other university mates. Loving the fact that Xinyi is following what she has set herself on before exchange: to make new friends and experience school life abroad!
Her accomodation is not the nearest to school and is quite noisy in the night as its near the party area of the school, but I would say that the facilities are very new and the friendly roommates make up for everything else. Happy that she is in good hands:)
On Wednesday, I went to her school with her and as she went to settle her modules stuff, I went to walk around the school. The highlight is the clock tower and yea I am quite obsessed with it. Went around shooting it with different angles and accidentally chanced upon a few hidden gems for photography. Check out my 500px will ya:)
I also took this time to Skype closer friends and its really good to catch up with them after one month:) Good to hear that everyone is busy with life but well and healthy😁
And finally it comes down to our day of parting, Thursday. As we walked towards New Street station heavily, the idea of separating into our individual school lives solemnly grew. A last cuddle with her and we agreed to turn back at the same time and walk away from each other. But as I cross the gantry, I saw this pig gazing at me from a corner, hahaha what a 傻瓜! I can’t wait to see her again for our anniversary:)
Salisbury
After leaving Birmingham, I began my solo adventure to Salisbury. Where is this town? It’s in Wiltshire, West of London and it is near to the ole famous Stonehenge. Expecting the town to be rather touristy like Rothenburg or Füssen, I did not really look forward much to the town life. Turned out, I am wrong again. This place is the kind of town we have always wanted to visit:
1. It doesn’t have too many tourists, yay to locals everywhere
2. It brews a town of life, has school and adults work on weekdays, families play on weekends
3. Everyone lives casually like they are retiring in it
4. About 20% own dogs
5. Everywhere in the town is walkable
6. There is something to see in the town, Salisbury Cathedral
7. It’s not too ulu and has Tesco and Saintsbury, that closes at Midnight (WOOHOO)
8. There is a weekend market!!!
And so, reaching the accom, I am greeted by Vicki and her two dogs (Pumpkin and Mathilda). Vicki is very nice to give me an overview of the town and introduced me some walking paths to the cathedral and Old Sarum. She even added that I could use her kitchen and amenities!
So after a short rest, I began to walk the Town Path as suggested by Vicki. The Town Path is the best place in Salisbury for a sunset view as it faces West and on the East of the path, you can see the cathedral bathing in the evening light. The view is pretty decent, made even better by the gloomy skies, like the cathedral glows in contrast to the dark clouds! Walked to the Old Mill, turned back and rushed to the Cathedral for a nice sun setting shots. On my way back, I saw a few groups of high school students playing soccer, goofing around. I thought why are they not going home yet and I realised they were waiting for the dismissal ceremony in their school, which was beside the cathedral haha! In fact the cathedral was not used for tourist purposes only, people do stream in to the cathedral to pray in the evenings! Its quite spectacular to see the cathedral view transit from evening to night!
Reaching back to the accom, I cooked Carbonara so yay to 1.50 pounds meal😁
Visited Mr Stonehenge on Day 2 and kinda expected it to be very touristy, with groups of Chinese tourists flocking the visitors centre in tens. Walking into the museum makes me understand more about the attraction, that it is built based on the alignment of the sun midsummer and midwinter. And that it is the predecessor of burial grounds! Interesting huh.
Walking out, I decided not to follow the bus into the henge, and instead I took the walker’s path and walked towards the attraction. While walking towards the road, I found an access gate that brought me into a grassy patch of green and unconventional route. And this route also made me stepped on cow dung 😞😞 however it was fun trying the less taken route because it is exciting and less touristy too:) Enroute, I actually walked past some circular fields, which are actually burial grounds that were inspired by the henge. And best of all, I came across a field of cows! They are so adorable and lazy and gluttony. I tried and approach one to take a photo but it turned away from me and went to pee instead🌚 Such manners, wonder who taught it that way.
Otherwise back to the stonehenge, its actually quite amazing when I reached it. Despite being a pile of stones, the stones look really beautiful when different amount of light are shone on it. It illuminates a different feel! And to preserve it, there are some barriers that prevent tourists from touching the stones. Means less tourists in your stonehenge only photo HAHA! For people who wants to go to the Stonehenge, I would recommend you to sign up at Stonehengetours.com and choose the package that says bus+Stonehenge+Old Sarum and time your journey wisely. The bus ticket is available for use all day!
On my way back, I went to try the Harbour Fish and Chips recommended by Vicki. It tasted FANTASTIC! Much better and bigger than Poppies in London and it cost less! Hahaha! Good deal, have to reccomend! It does reminds me of Fish and Co creamy cheesy texture and yet it is Cod fillet:) and the fries are naturally cut! Fresh!
Going on to Day 3, a Saturday, I went to the town centre where the Salisbury market. Compared to the other markets we have seen in London and Berlin, I would say it is much smaller, selling pretty normal stuffs. But at the same time, it’s very homely. A lot of townfolks visit the market over the Saturday and they would bring their family and dogs. In order words, the town comes alive on Saturday:) its quite therapeutic walking down the streets on a Saturday and seeing people laughing and chilling makes the day better:)
Tried the Salisbury Pork Roll which is legitly cool cause they were roasting a hog and they cut it on the spot for me! In addition to the tender meat, they top it off with pork sauce, apple sauce and a generous slice of roasted pork skin!!! The whole burger costed only £4.50 and is easily the best burger I have tasted so far:)
After lunch, I went over to Old Sarum via a route that Vicki suggested. Its the path she walked her dog occasionally, and I got to see many dogs and owners playing along the way:) i also walked past farms of sheep and horses that reminded me that I am in a countryside! Reaching Old Sarum actually required abit of uphill walking and you will get to see a Panoramic view of the town! Its actually quite beautiful with the skies and clouds haha!
The Old Sarum castle is just ruins so it may be quite boring for tourists. But its a photographer’s paradise if you like landscape shots and if there’s a good sky. I managed to capture a tail of the rainbow before it fades away:)
And so this marks the end of my solo trip to Salisbury. Heading over to London tomorrow and checking into accom on Thursday. In the meantime, there are some administrative to settle in school and I am gonna cut my hair for free. Can’t wait to settle down and plan my next trip though:) Excited!!
CinqeMinte 
