Crazy is what makes me interesting

P.S: This entry has been edited for a more informative read. Enjoy!!

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Hello! This is my holiday interval post. Do you know this little island we went to? Only the craziest people go in the winter. Label us crazy or siao char bors... we beat every young travellers hands down!

Let me do the usual routine once again, may i introduce my travelling companions:

Left: Japanese Girl - Rina Amano ; Right: Taiwanese Girl - Fion Huang

And alright, this is how they really look like:

3 pretty faces again...

And.. THIS IS WHERE WE WENT! Introducing... Isle Of Man!
So what did 3 crazy girls do on an island in the middle of Ireland, England and Scotland?

We saw castles... This is Peel Castle, situated on a small island off the coast, where the Kings of Mann resided in until 1220. We couldn't visit there because we ran out of bloody time! =(
However, Peel is a pretty interesting town! It's known as one of the most "Manx" of all the island's towns and i think so too... There's like this "Sailors Shelter" which was built a pretty long time ago, which gives a feel of antiquity of the town... Like we've really been transported back to the times when sailors had came to the island after thousands of miles of travel.



Waves crashing onto the land during high tide at 2pm.

Down the promanade of the town was the museum, aka House of Mannannan.. just some exceptional un-crazy stuff we did... It was great! I love the museum!!! (it was interactive and unlike some which has similar types of the different types of china plates in a display case, haha geddit?)

This is a life-sized Viking ship! How Cool!!! They had touch screens at the side where we could find out information about each and every item on the ship... Like that Viking flags consists of red and white alternate strips... and we could examine the contents on the ship too, such as the stolen jewellery, the types of weapons used and a captured celtic girl to be sent as a slave... It was a great visit...
They even have a life size mock-up of a wood-smoke-belching kipper factory! We just went "wah wah wah" all the way... although all the kippers were fake but they all look delicious!! mmmm!!! We were determined to find a place to have a taste of it... It's known to be the best in the world... how could we miss that out?

So along the promanade, was a REAL kipper curing factory... so along the same stretch, there was the factory, the quay (although the 'feel' was disrupted by some of the berthed luxurous yatchs) , the Sailor's Shelter, the castle, all these that manifests the 'Manx' character of the area. We dropped by a bar... and we had........

Traditional Manx Kippers!!! Crazy food we ate!!!... Boy boy it was SALTY. very very salty... maybe that's why it's the best... This dish awoke our sense of taste and the aftertaste would stay in our mouth for a pretty long time and made us crave for more in the mouth but we wouldn't want more than 2... on the scale of 10, it was 9.8 for its saltishness!!!!!! and we thought only chinese people like their food with lots of salt.. the Manx people probably have numbed taste buds then.

hehehe... We had a footbath in our accommodation dormitory at night... (Fwah) It was one of the most expensive schools on the Isle of Man.. 20,000 pounds a year for High School students... (!!!) For your info... There is a number of multi-millionaires on the island... 20Kpounds is probably what they earn in half a month. Maybe. *Starts dreaming*

The next day, we went to the south of the island... a miracle made true by Santa Claus Tom...

That's our Santa Claus in the middle!!! I will always remember what Sami (Saingaporean-Turkey travel companion) said... hitchhiking requires a great deal of gut feeling... I felt good about Tom and he could be trusted... true enough, he made our stay in IOM a super-duper, absolutely fabulous one... So we weren't the only crazy people around. Tom offered to bring us around the island in his Rover car... He wasn't as insane, but he was willing to try what it was like to be 3 crazy girls - He drove us through the whole TT race course around the island....

You see, Isle of Man is famous for its TT (Tourist Trophy) motorcycle race... but people like Valentino Rossi doesn't participate in such races because it TOOOOO DANGEROUS... They go around the island at an average 350km/h... every year, someone's life will be taken away and after the race, wraths can be seen displayed along the race track... Even on normal days, IOM doesn't have any speed limit!!! NO SPEED LIMIT!!! There's even a road sign that says NO SPEED LIMIT!!!

Anyway,

We went to this village called the Cregneash Village... There are many 19-century Manx thatched cottages, where the roof is made up of super dense hay/straws that are surprisingly water-tight... We had to hide in the cottages from the gale wind and rain... This used to be a real Gaelic-speaking village and now the last of its kind to be preserved in the world... A place we would probably never see again anywhere else.

I had my left thumb bitten quite badly by the horse... It's bruised now, the horse mistook my thumb for a carrot, athough i didn't think it tasted like one. He bit me REAL hard... =/


Soon later, Tom drove us to Sound... near to Calf of Man we found ourselves trapped in a gale.!!! All wet and being blown away. All ships and flights were cancelled but we ngeh ngeh want to go out to play.

I couldn't stand still to pose for a decent photo. The wind speed was 60km/h. gosh! no wonder everyone couldn't believe we were there!



We went to the biggest static attraction on the island - The "Lady Isabella" Great Laxey Wheel... It was humongous! It's the largest working waterwheel in the world!! IT'S REALLY HUGE.... It was used to keep water away from the quarries so that mining for silver-ore could take place... It was a great place to go too... the had explanatory notes on how the waterwheel worked,

I took a picture of the very front of the wheel (refer to the previous picture).. It was a picture no tourist can ever possess.

because i risked my life to stand on the edge of the wheel to have that picture taken. Well, I'm still safe though!

Just another nice picture =)

Isle of Man really has her (or 'his'?) very own dotty style too... fairy bridge? It was known to have spotted fairies here and kids come to make wishes on thie bridge, pining them up on a particular tree, where the fairies will come to grant them...

Just some nice pictures again, with my handy camera on 10 seconds timer.

Just for your information, Manx sheeps are believed to have 4 horns and Manx cats are believed to be tailess. Well, it could be just what people say....


so, seeing is believing.

Well! That's so much about the highlights of our short but looney getaway... Thank you to my travelling mates and special thanks to Tom, who unconditionally gave his time and energy for us. We are extremely grateful to Tom, who made our stay in IOM an exceptional one...

We had so much laughter, did so many crazy little things ( e.g. swearing at ducks) and having to climb through gates because all the places of interest were closed during winter (i.e. FOC). All these little memories i will cherish them... i really enjoyed EVERY SINGLE MOMENT, DAY AND NIGHT, of Isle of Man with both of you & with Tom. I hope you guys did too... It was a crazy little holiday... I guess we were the only tourists on the island... No one could be as crazy as us...so we were the only privilaged ones....

And for the first time, we saw snow... and for the first time, we felt seasick (like really queasy)... and for the first time, we were caught in gale winds...

This trip made me feel really fortunate, that my life is so well and perfect with few troubles... not from the fun we had but from all the conversations throughout the trip... It was quite alot of self-discovery and even if i don't ever know how to learn to love, I will still live my life the way i want it to be.

Like i said on the train... uncertainty excites me. That's why crazy is what makes me interesting. =p Thanks Nic G N.