Right, ready to start blabbering about the trip. I'm not putting these up in the Scotland blog, since someone (*cough* Dopey!! *cough*) apparently missed my tiny announcement that I'm starting on a new blog.
DAY 1Checked into Euro Hostel in the morning before taking a coach to receive them at the airport. Took the city tour bus to go round most of Glasgow's touristy areas - both the Old Town and New, then we stopped at the Glasgow Cathedral where their patron saint, St. Mungo (sounds familiar??), is supposed to be entombed. Took a short hike up into the Necropolis (cemetary) to get some lovely views of the city. Mom was enthralled by the wild flowers and picked some cemetry dandelion seeds home to grow! Went back to George's Square in the evening, and took several photos of the lovely, imposing Victorian buildings there, including the City Council. Apparently, the insides are an exact replica of the Basilica in the Vatican City. And since no filming's allowed in Vatican City, guess where all your Vatican City shots were filmed at?
Glasgow City Council at George's Square. 2 very silly women hiding from the camera in front of the stone lion on the left.DAY 2Took a cab from the Hostel to my Hall in the morning to show them the arduous task I face every single damned morning. They could hardly catch up =) Spent some time walking through the Rhododendron forests near Wolfson Hall, showed them the foxhole, and walked up Bearsden Road into Morrison's where we bought a load of microwave dinners. We then took a bus to Gartnavel Hospital, where the 2 of them had hell of a time hand-feeding the ducks, pigeons and swans at the pond. Loads of little ducklings have hatched already!
Nice foxhole in the woods near where I live. Managed to see the fox cubs while I was studying there, but when I brought yx and mom to the whole, all were camera-shy.In the afternoon, we took the city tour bus again and dropped off at the Barras Market - kind of like some pasar lambak, which totally thrilled the 2 women. It's like Camden Market in London, but smaller. They went wild at the cheap jeans and (unearthly) fashions, while I had my fair share of lovely whelks and cheap cherries too.
Bought this load of whelks for 1 quid at a local bric-brac market in Glasgow. The other 2 thought I was disgusting (why?!?) eating them using a hatpin.Afterwards, we took a 15-minute walk to reach the People's Palace & Winter Gardens. It's really like a huge greenhouse in the Gardens, and some Cactus Society was having a nice show there. Alas! Obviously I couldn't buy any of the stuff back.
Pot of very nice cacti - I was lucky enough to catch the Cactus and Succulent Club's show day at the Winter Palace.
DAY 3Packed everything up, and took a horrid, horrid, HORRID 40 minute walk (dragging all our luggages) to the care rental place to pick up our Ford Focus. It's in beautiful condition, and was as smooth a drive as I could wish for! Highly recommended. The boot seemed small, but oooh. It managed to take in 1 giant luggage and 3 standard ones, all in the boot!
Drove up the M8 towards Loch Lomond, reaching there in only 20 minutes (man at the car hire said 40. He obviously wildly under-estimated our enthusiasm). We took a pee-stop at the Trossachs National Park visitor centre, where mom went wild picking up these fantastic cones and lichen from the pine forest nearby. No idea what these cones were, but they looked like small roses arranged prettily along a branch. Moved on yet again, to reach Loch Lomond itself.
Grrr. We were totally clueless there, and spent 30 minutes walking along a wooded trail (the daisies and poppies!!!) and back again, till we asked a woman where we could take a cruise on the Loch. ALAS. We had to walk back along the trail. The cruise wasn't *that* fantastic, in retrospect - but maybe because we eventually saw even more breathtaking scenery on the Isle of Skye.
Mom posing with a Scottish guy wearing an ornamental kilt. Oh dear. He wasn't even local!
Happily picking up cones in a pine forest near Loch Lomond
In another 40 minutes, we were in the lovely, lovely, lovely town of Stirling. It's REALLY lovely. Neat little rows of stone houses, all beautifully-decorated with gardens to die for. ALL of them. Mom was a little grouchy about coming over, but Stirling convinced her that she had to get a house like that. =) We took an evening walk around the town centre, which surprisingly was filled with shops of all kinds. It's lovely, because the entire town of Stirling is centred around the Stirling Castle, which sits on a huge rock. And all the way down on the slopes of the rock were neat rows of cafes, pubs, eateries, small stores and churches. Yx and mom starting trespassing into church grounds to pose with rows of pansies there (mom claimed initially that they were plastic flowers).
Oh! And the B&B there was simply lovely. I gasped involuntarily when shown to our room. It's a huge suite, with soft beds and sheets on its 2 king-sized beds. Of course, the bathroom was amazing too, tastefully-decorated with shells and an assortment of bath bubbles - I ended up spending an hour in the bath alone. At only 80 pounds per room per night, I wish we had arranged for a longer stay there! For future reference, the place is called No. 10 B&B, look for Mrs. Carol Cameron who cooks the most fantastic full Scottish breakfasts. =) Now this is hospitality!
DAY 4We started off early by walking to the Stirling Castle - it was hell of a climb up that rock to reach the Castle itself. Our hostess did her thing again by filling us all in with devious tips on how to save $$$ on admissions. Beautiful views all round in the Castle, but the other 2 were so mean. They made me climb onto this platform that runs all round the Castle walls - and remember, the Castle's built on a huge rock. Very pretty views including the Wallace Monument far away, but nasty drop down. Trooped back to our car at the B&B, said our goodbyes, and drove up North to reach the Old Bridge in Stirling. It was here that William Wallace fought one of his famous strategic battles against the English. Then on towards the Wallace Monument. Yet another very nasty and very steep walk up the hill to reach the monument.
The National Wallace Monument in Stirling. Extremely high, at 260 steps to get all the way up. OBVIOUSLY I didn't go - the other 2 did. I gave up after 1 flight of precarious spiral stairs that were wide enough only for half a normal person. To the left of the pic is this row of pagoda-looking structures - THAT WAS THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE. Wouldn't have been so bad if there hadn't been slits along the stairs, with horrendous winds howling through them. 
Lovely view of Stirling taken from the top of the Wallace Monument.
We left Stirling in the afternoon and drove for another 45 minutes to reach Edinburgh, where we checked into this nastily expensive ($100 prpn) B&B that was SO HORRID. Never stay at Aarajura if you can help it. The toilet lights go off after 15 minutes, plunging you into total darkness, and the rooms aren't en-suite. Only good thing is that the staff were rather friendly, and breakfast was acceptable. Met up with Xiaoyan and Min'er in the evening for dinner, and after sending mom back to the B&B we went for the horrid 2 pub crawls. I don't really want to remember the post-drinking nastiness. 17 drinks!!
Mini JC gathering!
Our SECOND pub crawl for the night - total of 17 drinks! It was hell. First pub crawl brought us around the entire Edinburgh city, and we won a T-shirt after visiting all 10 pubs. Second pub crawl was at the Three Sisters where we downed these 10 potente-looking, venomous, lurid drinks. That did the trick. Was sober enough to get yx to xiaoyan's house for a rest and a cab back to our B&B, where I totally knocked out. Next day was hell.Some photos of Happy Hours by the Expert Self-Photographer, Xiaoyan!
Fisting a cow. No, I wasn't drunk. That was after only 5 drinks.
Milking a skeletal cow on Royal Mile
Xiaoyan looking all smug after I hoisted her onto the cow. Min'er took 3 tries (complete with loads of hilarious floundering and screaming) before she managed to stay up. We almost decided to let her stay UP through the night!
Edinburgh Pub Crawl - Pub #1: The Black Bull
Edinburgh Pub Crawl - Pub #2:Pivo
Edinburgh Pub Crawl - Pub #3:The Albanach
Edinburgh Pub Crawl - Pub #4:Henrich's Bar
Edinburgh Pub Crawl - Pub #5:Drouthy Neebors
Edinburgh Pub Crawl - Pub #6:Swany's
Edinburgh Pub Crawl - FINAL DESTINATION! Pub #9:World's End
All 4 of us proudly displaying the T-shirts we won from killing our hepatocytes.
And by 1am - YX and I ended up with TWO!
DAY 5The morning started with a visit to the Holyrood Palace, which is the official residence of the Queen when she visits Scotland. It's situated right beneath this small hill called Arthur's Seat, but mom and yx decided that we shouldn't climb it if we wanted to catch the 1 O'Clock Gun.
On to Edinburgh Castle, to catch the 1 O'Clock Gun. Wonder if I can post videos? The horrid canon scared the SHIT out of me. This gun blasts off at exactly 1pm each day except Sundays. Beautiful views across the Forth of Firth, Edinburgh's New Town and Arthur's Seat from here. Took a walk back down from the Castle, down the Royal Mile and shopped for a hell load of nice stuff! Yx was still feeling very ill from the drinking, and was complaining why I didn't puke and how come my liver has more cytochromes. Yes. A big liver comes with a rotund physique too.
Arthur's Seat (the hill behind) as seen from Edinburgh Castle.In the evening, we found ourselves at Mercat Cross in preparation for a night of frights. YESSSS. The Edinburgh ghost tours. A heavy mist was rolling in beautifully, the lonely chimes were singing in bass tones, a cold wind was whipping through the streets - PERFECT. Mom was cold, yx was cold, and I was excited. I'd highly recommend Mercat Tours for their ghost encounters. No dressed-up actors, only highly-trained historians and excellent story-tellers. You'd never believe the tension the guide could build up, using words alone! Our guide, Emma, was so enthusiastic and dramatic in her story-telling that I was inclined to believe she was somehow possessed. She started off the evening telling us about the history of Mercat Cross itself, and we proceeded to the underground vaults. These were originally the underside of an ancient stone bridge, but merchants soon vacated them due to water seepage and they became home to criminals and their crimes. We were barely 10 minutes into the vaults when a woman freaked out, said she was extremely uncomfortable, and had to be led out of the vaults with her husband. It was kinda creepy, really, inside there. Being a totally-sealed vault, there were odd drafts coming in from blind corners, and there was one particular room where my hair started standing on end. A few people somehow totally refused to enter this room, staring in with wide, wild eyes. Ewww. Quite a few people felt either a cold draught passing by their legs, or something cold touching them. Emma was extremely bad at the end!! She was telling us about the various ghosts in the vaults, when the candle she was holding extinguished, plunging the group into darkness. Gosh .. the screaming!
One of Edinburgh's underground vaults that were supposed to be severely haunted, according to a study done in 2001. Supposed to be a ghost in this corner (a cobbler, apparently), so I took this photo to test (push) my luck. After the vaults, we took a night-time stroll to a churchyard, where several prominent people were buried. Right at the end of the cemetary however, was the grave of a half-eaten boy. Eaten by a Duke or Earl or something like that, after being put on a spit and roasted over an open fire.
DAY 6Next morning, we drove South of Edinburgh to find the suddenly-famous Rosslyn Chapel. You'd never believe the place it's located in! A tiny village called Roslin, tucked into a tiny wooded lane near the ruins of Roslin Castle. I shan't spoil the sheer beauty of the Chapel by words. Un-mentioned by Mr. Brown, however, was a haunted corner and a ghostly monk that resides in the Chapel. Nice!
The mysterious engraved codes mentioned in Dan Brown's book. The codes are engraved singularly into each of the projecting cubes across the arches, and are believed to be musical notes that have to be played in the right order, at the right time, on the right instrument. In the room below, there's yet another code - not mentioned in his book - formed by various angels situated in the room, each facing a different direction. Apparently by following the different gazing directions, it leads to the direction where the Holy Grail is kept. Loads more interesting symbols all carved in the church, each of them unique except for the Cross of Saint-Claire (sounds familiar?). 
The set of 2 pillars also mentioned in the book. We left Rosslyn Chapel near noon, and took a quick visit past the graveyard to reach the ruins of Roslin Castle.
Hahaha .. Phase II of ghost-hunting! Mom took over the wheel in the 2-hour drive from Edinburgh to Inverness in the afternoon. We didn't actually stop in Inverness, but drove on North through the Black Isle to reach Dingwall, where we had a nice castle stay.
The Green Lady is supposedly a resident of Tulloch Castle, but even without the Green Lady the place is creepy enough. Barely 30 minutes after we moved into Room 4 (not even the most haunted room!), a lamp broke off from one of its 2 supports with a loud clang, and started oscillating slowly. Mom couldn't sleep the entire night because of odd noises emitted by the radiator (which yx later fixed, to stop the noise! haha .. false alarm). But honestly. The passages leading to our room were lit by torches - not flames, of course, but there's always this creepy feeling of being watched. It didn't help that after nightfall, the only way to enter the building was through this dark cellar at the side.
Tulloch Castle at Dingwall, about 15 miles north of Inverness - with her famous resident ghost, the Green Lady. We spent a night there (really an excuse for me to do some ghost-hunting), with some odd occurances which I lived to tell later. 
I actually liked the animal head better than the fire itself.
Lovely mauve lupins in front of Tulloch Castle. Mr. Ye, I agree - these are so much prettier than bluebells! Pity there weren't any wild ones in Glasgow. Perhaps it was too cold?DAY 7
Beautifully-foggy morning, with the poor sheep all huddling out in the cold! Taken fron our room window in Tulloch. 
Beautiful fireplace in the castle, with a hearty fire blazing away. After a splendid Scottish breakfast in the Castle, we drove on back down, right past Inverness and along the Northern Coast of Loch Ness. Took a photo stop at one of her most scenic points, had lunch at Tomnahurich. Obviously Nessie didn't make an appearance, or I'd be in the news right now. Nessie or not, Loch Ness is quite a scenic place.
In quiet contemplation along the banks of Loch Ness. Or were they secretly hoping to see Nessie? We proceeded Westwards to reach the ruined Urquhart Castle, and had fun watching movies on her history, taking some of the best shots of Loch Ness and also seeing a nice Scottich wedding!
Caught a glimpse of a traditional Scottish marriage at Urquhart Castle, which sits on one of the banks of Loch Ness. 
OOops. This came before reaching Inverness from Tulloch Castle. We made an unplanned detour to the Black Isle near Inverness, to let mom and yx see some interesting animals.
Are kangaroos normally this tame?
Hand-feeding some lovely lemurs. They're actually extremely gentle animals with really short nails, and with some of the most graceful table manners. No squabbling, snatching or pushing - they took turns, and each took a fistful of grains and let others have their turn. Just a note about an amusing incident. There were some
Feral Goats (fierce wild goats) that were behind an electric fence, and yanxian - despite my warnings - started feeding them. I walked towards the deer, and all of a sudden, she came sprinting up with a heart-stopping scream. One of the feral goats had escaped and started coming towards her for more food!
The most beautiful part of this trip ... and the scariest to drive! We drove up north from Urquhart Castle towards the Kyle of Lochalsh. Along the way, at around 6pm, we passed by the famous
Eilean Donan Castle and had a lovely time with photos. Then again on our way up, through the "road over the sea to Skye" - a bridge that joins mainland Scotland to the Isle of Skye. Our B&B there, Braeside, was bad for parking but our host Phillip was really friendly, hospitable and welcoming. Portree is the main town on Skye, but is SO SMALL!! We finished walking through the entire town centre in just 15 minutes. Eeeeks. Island as it may be, Skye is HUGE. It took almost an hour driving at 50 miles/hr just to reach Portree from Broadford, another small town near the Skye Bridge. Roads were small and treacherous too.
Mountain ranges flank all the roads. This road was pretty big at first, 1 lane on each side. But the bends!! Cars were scooting round them at 70 miles/hr, while I was precariously doing 50-55mph. 
View from the town of Portree, where we spent 2 nights at. 
Sunrise from The Lump, which is a small knoll rising above Portree, where the Skye Highland Games will be played in July. 
DAY 8The southern part of Skye, Sleat (pronounced as "Slate"), where we went to the seaside village of Armadale to get to see the whales. We first got to see a nice colony of seals, tonnes of seabirds and reached the awfully beautiful island of Eigg. The seawater was really clear, and there were gigantic seaweed in there. There's this one that looks like a huge leaf, each leaf spanning 1-2 metres across and several metres long. Could also see loads of crabs and some fish scurrying along the sea floor.
Powercraft to chase down some whales - we did see 2 eventually!
We landed on the isle of Eigg halfway through the whale-watching, where the seawater was ooh la lah! The dark stuff is a whole clump of seaweed, and seagrass too!! 
Looking very wind-swept.
We managed to see 2 minke whales on our return trip. These whales do not breach (jump totally out of the water), but they still do flips in the water when they come up to breathe. They were too quick to take photos of, but I managed to take a video of them .. it's in one of the memory cards .. somewhere.
After landing back on Armadale Pier, we had a lovely lunch of seafood at a small hut by the sea, and went further South to find the heavy horses. Fack. The map we had was WRONG! We went too far south, and I'll never forget that horrid drive. Ended up at the southernmost point of Skye, and the sheep were all staring at our car like they've never seen cars in the last 10 years.
Took a precarious U-turn (car almost slid backwards - it simply couldn't reverse against the steep slopes), both women were scared stiff. In retrospect, it was really exciting though! On the way back, I took a sudden stop and started climbing down slopes, to the bewilderment of the 2. Managed to find a whole population of Drosera rotundifolia and Pinguicula! Back to Portree, had a nasty time when I got back (remember my sms Mr Ye?). Spent the night being very upset, and was attached by a hordge of midges while sitting out in the garden. Narration to be continued ...
Lost on our way to ride some heavy horses, and ended up at the southern-most point of Skye. A drive that'll be the stuff of nightmares for decades to come. Precipitous drops and overhanging cliffs on the left, no space for U-turns (we were lost), single-track roads wide enough for only 1 car to pass, steep slopes that made the car groan even on first gear, blind summits and blind turns. Eeeep. 
Driver's solace on the way back to Portree - crazy CP guy scrambling down slopes.
Score! Drosera rotundifolia and Pinguicula lusitanicum were found at this locality. Brought back a sample of Sphagnum moss to try and grow. 
DAY 9Took a roundabout journey through the north of Skye to reach Uig, a small town on the western coast. The entire trip was impromptou, and we only decided to visit the Fairy Glen near Uig that very morning. The eastern route was shorter, but Phillip advised that the western roundabout route was much more picturesque. Indeed, it was sooo worth it!
The Old Man of Storr. Whoever that old man was, he sure took an overdose of Viagra!
Very nasty cows that hogged the road for 10 minutes!
Lealt Falls. We almost missed this one, since it was listed on our map but as you can see, it's not visible at all from the main road! I was driving along, and the other 2 pointed out that hey, loads of cars along that side, let's stop! Gosh, it was a horridly precarious journey to this side of the cliff, just to look at a waterfall! As an index of scale, those green bushes are trees, and that's a major expressway behind.
Kilt rock in the background, with a nice waterfall down a horrid cliff. It doesn't look all that scary on photo, but just use the fencing on the left as a gauge for size. People were all looking at Kilt Rock (so-named because the lower parts of the rock looks curiously like a pleated Scottish kilt), but the coast was really fascinating. Just off to the distance is the North Sea.
Yes, there's no need to look. That's a REALLY nasty drop down. The wind was so savage!
I only put this photo online because yx INSISTED that I do. I shall not explain; it's embarassing. Never again.
Ah, final destination at Fairy Glen, a little more inland from Uig. Loads of remarkable features in this deserted area. Yes, it's very non-touristy. Then again, Skye isn't touristy in the first place. Apparently, Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert de Niro had been seen filming at the Fairy Glen not long ago, so watch out for this area in any upcoming Holywood movie. Some visitors have also taken the liberty of forming beautiful structures using rocks, to form certain shapes and formations on the grass. It's a pity it was a hot day - Fairy Glen is said to be at its most mesmerizing on a misty day. Found yet more sphagnum and Pinguicula - but no Drosera - here.
From Fairy Glen, we drove back into Portree for lunch at an Oriental restaurant before heading back to the mainland. Once again, driving through mountain ranges was pure hell, but scenery was again breathtaking, with various awesome Lochs to view and get blown away by. We got past the Spean Bridge, and right past both the old and new Inverlochy Castles (the ladies were so sick of castles by now, they strictly forbidden me from going .. booohooooo!!! BTW, I originally wanted to stay at Inverlochy Castle - tariff however, totally turned me off. 400 pounds a night??).
Loch Lochy (cool name!) on our way to Fort William, before the town of Inverlochy. (Once again, Gaelic Made Easy!)
We finally got to the Alexandra Hotel, which was right smack in the middle of Fort William, the largest town in the highlands actually. I highly recommend this hotel, if not only solely for its unbelievable breakfast! Imagine a standard, full Scottish breakfast (found in all except Euro Hostel and Aarajura) - first course of fruit juice and various cereals and milk, or hot porridge with brown sugar; second course of coffee/tea, and toast with preserves; the hot course of sausages, fried egg, grilled tomato, back bacon, sauteed mushrooms and haggis and/or black pudding. This exceptional hotel offered all of these, of course - as a BUFFET! OOOOH! Went for eggs and more eggs, and tonnes of mushrooms. All at 70 per room per night, it was such a steal! And of course, the main shopping area, High Street, was right at the doorstep. Only complaint was the hotel's own restaurant - my medium-rare Aberdeen beef came in fit for Hannibal. At least the staff were nice about it, but keep your money and go for the Grog and Gruel just minutes away. Avoid the Fish n Chips shop too. Their potatoes ain't good. The hotel's barman was also excellent, he gave me free beer samples because he ran out - I just mentioned in passing that how come I never saw this Isle of Skye Beer when I was in Skye, and he just dished whatever remainder he had out for free! He deserved the nice tip later on. =)
Fort William's High Street.Day 10We started off the morning visiting the Ben Nevis Distillery, and bought a nice 20-year-old Scotch for my dad. It was in an ornate bottle, and I had 4 quid off its price from my entry ticket, so it was good! Free whisky sampling too, hah! Learnt quite a lot about the production process and appreciating whisky. For those whose fathers keep their whisky in bottles for years thinking it'll get better (mine)- tell them that whisky's at its best in the glass. It never gets any better after de-casking. The whole of Scotland is whisky, whisky and more whisky - whisky fudge, whisky honey, whisky condoms.
Went back to town for some excellent shopping along High Street, then a 10 mile drive down South to arrive at Glencoe, the site of the infamous massacre of the Glencoe MacDonalds. I was so thoroughly excited about climbing the range to find the falls, Witches' Cauldron and Hidden Valley, but ALAS! Road works. WTF, WTF, WTF!!!!!!! Appeased myself by having a nice Orkey Island ice cream (while mom was huddling in the car wearing 3 layers of clothes), and taking lovely shots of the Three Sisters range with Yx. Ooooh and also found loads of Drosera rotundifolia and Pinguicula!!! Very, very nice indeed, even though it was swampy.
To satisfy my urge to do some serious hill-walking, yx and mom agreed to have a walk in the Glencoe Lochand (small Loch - Gaelic Made Easy?). It was eerily beautiful, the pine forests, and although the ground and ditches were filled with lush carpets of sphagnum moss, no CPs were to be found!
One of my favourite photos! Sunlight breaking through a hole in stormclouds over Glen Coe.
Reeds at the Glencoe Lochand. Took a lovely walk through Sphagnum-filled ditches and pine forests here.
And also found loads of these HUGE, jet-black slugs all over.Day 11Had to return the car by noon, so we started off early. Stopped at a couple of places along the way (we were driving faster than we expected we would), including the lonely Rannoch Moor (where I found EVEN MORE CPs) and also at a caravan where we bought lovely souvenirs.
Rannoch Moor, a really desolate and lonely marsh area, a little off Glen Coe.Back to GlasgowI drove at an alarming 70mph on the way back, and ended up having 2 spare hours. Visited the Hunterian Museum (again) - mostly for the other 2 to visit, while I buy University souvenirs at the shop.
Right, London has been photographed ad-nauseum, so I'm just going to be quick here.
Amazonian water lilies in Kew Gardens. Loads of axolotyls in the water! Bought packets of seeds and smuggled back a pot of Utricularia sandersonii. =D
Very strange, purple-coloured cones in Kew Gardens.
Ah! The movie premiere of "The Break-up". Jennifer Aniston was such a snob! She didn't even make a full round, unlike her co-star who looked so cool.
Night shot of Piccadilly Circus, after watching Phantom at Her Majesty's.
Big Ben
Westminster Abbey. Almost perfect as postcard material? Haha.
Mom, come back!!
Our search for ballroom shoes brought us to The Factory, a dance studio specialising in Argentine Tango. The community in this area (near Finsbury Park tube) is quite dominated by blacks, but made for very, very, very cheap and good shopping in London (dresses for 5 pounds?!?). Took a pic of the studio owner's car - now, what did I expect eh.
"Get out of here, you silly woman!!" (a la Jack McFarland). Just outside Buckingham Palace, while waiting for the Changing of Guards.
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