My disrupted 'holiday'

It's gonna be a hung parliament! That's the most talked about news in the UK today, after an exciting general election yesterday. In case you're wondering what a hung parliament is - I only just learned the term a few days ago - it means there is no party with majority seats. Only a marginal win. Sounds familiar? It's 308 all over again...

Not that I am familiar with the political scene here.... one of the reasons why I did not vote. Yes, I'm eligible to vote here because I'm considered a resident and I'm from a Commonwealth country. Upon learning that, a British labmate asked me if he could vote in the next Malaysian general election....haha I have no idea...

But the main reason I did not register to vote was that I was not supposed to be around! I was supposed to be holidaying somewhere in Europe! But as luck would have it, thanks to the Eyjafjallajökull - pronounced as “AY-yah-fyah-lah-YOH-kuul”- volcanic ash (or talcum powder from Iceland as someone put it), a friend's flight from Malaysia was cancelled and so we had to cancel all our plans! We had booked all the flights and accommodation..... and a 2-days-1-night Highland tour!

Luckily, I managed to find a labmate to go on the tour with me last minute.

It was an interesting, relaxing and informative trip. We travelled comfortably in a 16-seat coach with only 10 of us, while listening to the history and stories of the Highlands as told by our tour guide-cum-driver. Of course, the history of the Highlands could not run away from the name William Wallace, made famous world-wide by the movie 'Braveheart'. It's one of my favourite movies, if you still remember this. But I'd got it all wrong :p

While telling the story, our tour guide kept mentioning the movie, especially the incorrect parts which were only Hollywood's script to 'add to the flavour'.

For one, the real fact was not as romantic as the movie :p
The fight started because of some fish that he caught, not his fiancee.... though the English soldiers did capture his fiancee afterwards.

He did not have any affair with the princess before he died. He was not betrayed by Robert The Bruce, but by someone else.

Even the most dramatic part of the movie was not a fact. That he shouted the word FREEDOM before he died was impossible, because he was tortured and his mouth was stuffed with his you-know-what after he was castrated... our tour guide told us in detail how he was tortured, which was not shown in the movie... my friend was nauseated after listening to all the details.

Enough of all the facts.... kinda lazy to write... pictures say a thousand words.....

The graveyard where William Wallace's mother was buried

Doune Castle, as taken from the side....

Hamish and my friend...

The grave of Rob Roy (the Robin Hood of Scotland)

A mini waterfall

Glen Coe

Glen Coe

Uruquart Castle, taken while we were taking a cruise on Loch Ness in a boat equipped with an ultrasonic radar... but no sign of Nessie :p

Uruquart Castle

An old house from the 18th century... where we could see for ourselves how people lived in the 1700s....

We were allowed to go inside the house where we sat huddled in front of a burning fire to keep ourselves warm (just like how it was in the 1700s) while listening to stories from the past...

We also visited the Culloden Battlefield and many other interesting places. Unfortunately, my two batteries and my friend's ran low after a few hours on the first day even though we charged them the day before! Thus, we only managed to take a few pictures and nothing after that.

Just to compensate for not writing for so long, here are some old (well, only a few weeks' old) pictures:

A nice stroll in the hermitage one warm Saturday (the warmest since I arrived, so warm so that I had to remove my outer jacket!)

Saw a nice stream of water....



and saw something funny......

I would not dream of parking there :p

Felt like taking off my shoes and jumping into the water!

A walk in the woods

Passed by a sheep farm.... this one came near me when he saw me approaching! But after a while, and finally realizing I was not going to feed him anything, he ignored me and continued grazing hehe...

A stable

Went to the Royal Botanic Garden one week before that:

A Chinese-themed garden... there were many coins in the water! Make a wish! :p

A glasshouse with tropical garden inside

Chipmunk?

The male chasing after the female... or was it the other way round for these birds?