A Day in Chester

(6th day)

Weather was darn so good in the morning that we were so tempted to drive north, back to the Lake District again. After all, it's just a 1.5 hours drive !

Anyway, it was just a thought. We didn't change our mind to let the boys to decide where they want to go this time. Initially, there were 4 choices. But after some consideration, we have short listed to 1 for them, i.e. Chester Zoo (what kind of choice is that? hehe...). We was so confident that's going to be the best choice for them.

As for the other 3, it's Cadbury Chocolate Factory, Manchester United Football Club and Blackpool seaside resort. Personally, I prefer the Cadbury Chocolate Factory tour (not that I love to eat chocolate). I think KS would prefer to visit the Manchester United Football Club though (not that he is the MU die-hard fans). But for the boys, we are so sure they would pick zoo, be whatever zoo is that. So, zoo we went...

It only took about 45 min from Manchester Novotel to Chester Zoo. At around 10.30 am, we arrived there safe and sound. The admission ticket is quite expensive, £14.95 (adult); £10.95 (children age 3-15). But seeing the boys' sunny happy face, we felt it's worth every pence that we've spent.

Chester Zoo is a zoological garden located in Cheshire in north west England. It was opened in 1931 by George Mottershead and his family, and it's the most-visited wildlife attraction in Britain with more than 1.3 million visitors in year 2007. In the same year, Forbes described it as one of the best fifteen zoos in the world.

To us, Chester Zoo is such an old design zoo. It seems to me that most of its settings are still remain in the year when it was first built. Perhaps it is a great zoo back to 30-40 years ago, but not now. Most of the modern zoos, like Singapore Zoo, is far better than it.

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Many of the animals are kept in the indoor enclosure, and the maintenance seems very minimum. The flying dust, the soggy mud and the stinking smell...Sigh, I just couldn't help but to hold my breathe when walked through it. And then, want to get the hell out from there as faster as possible.

This is not a real turtle, maybe they put it there to fool the kids around?

The so-call aquarium is so small that it contains no special fish species in there.




The reflection of the glass make it difficult for the visitors to look in it with ease.

The monkeys were sitting in there motionless. Who would want to be watched like this, huh?

After walking for just 15 min, I have lost my interest to take photos anymore. Anyway, the boys were not feeling the same, they invited me to take a photo here, in front of a card-board rhino.

The zoo area is very big. It's really tiring to walk from one place to another just to look at one kind of the animal, and that's with no guarantee some more. This is because the zoo simply have too many bushes and trees for them to hide around.

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Whenever KS and I didn't get to see the animals in their designated enclosure, we would crack nasty jokes, like : Look, the zoo-keeper didn't know the lions had made their escape since 6 months ago ! (Seriously, I think there is this possibility lo)

Thank god there was a very little play house somewhere in the middle of no where, that we could stop for a while and catch some fresh air. There was a small ball-ball pool inside there. We thought the boys would have done in 10 min or so. Very wrong...they won't want to leave after 20 min. I really didn't know why the boys felt so much fun playing in it, not that they never play in a bigger pool before. So, I guess size is not a matter to them.

While waiting for them, KS and I sat on the bench out there, shook our legs involuntary and cracked the most silly jokes to kill time. Boy, I started to feel that this would be the most boring day for the both of us.

I had put the camera back to the bag for quite a long time already, until they suddenly show up from there and asked me to take some pictures for them.


Another 5 min later, we got to made them to leave that little place and continue the walk to the other part of the zoo. Then,

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1. We took a boat ride, just back-and-fro a small muddy channel, nothing too fascinating about.

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2. We took a simple lunch in a kiosk, foods are sucks.

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3. After lunch, we let the boys played another 30 min in an outdoor playground.

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Actually, we wanted to leave as soon as possible. But the boys were still in such a high mood status. They held the map in hands, studied it seriously then told us they still haven't covered this place and that place. They actually directed us to walk to the place where they thought they could see tigers, cheetah, sea lions, rhinos etc. Again, seeing their full-of-anticipation face, we would only obliged dutifully. Sigh, I really felt breathless to follow the boys who are so energetic and curious about everything.

At around 4 pm, we'd finally made them believe they had indeed covered all of the places stated in the map. But then, they saw the flying-balloons that were sold near the exit / entrance. They kept bugging us to buy one for them. But we really had no energy to entertain them. We just wanted to leave, though tears started to roll in William's eyes.

Before driving back to our hotel in Manchester, we detoured to Chester town cause this town is said to be : A place to experience the old time New England.

Chester is the country town of Cheshire, lying on the Reiver Dee, close to the border with Wales. This was one of the last towns in England to fall to the Normans in the Norman conquest of England.

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Chester has the reputation of being the "English medieval city par excellence", but many of its buildings are from the Victorian era. It has the most complete city walls in Britain, and most sections of the walls are listed Grade 1.

The town of Chester has a picturesque Main Street lined with shops and restaurants.

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The boys were still not very happy, still obsessed for the balloons that can fly up to the sky. Sigh. My heart become soften when William kept asking me to go back to Chester Zoo to buy him one. He said he really really really so want it. Told him the zoo was closed at that time, he asked me what time it was instead. When I told him it was 5 pm, he was so certain the zoo hasn't been closed yet, cause he saw from the banner outside the zoo that : Zoo will be closed at 6 pm. He can read this no problem, can't bluff him.

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In order to cheer them up, we said we would buy them the flying-balloons if we happen to see it in the Chester town. That has helped to motivate them to walk around. Unfortunately, we didn't see such balloons. End up, we bought them some ice cream.

Although tired and warm, we continued to walk a bit further to the end of the main street.

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People are allowed to walk up to the overhead bridge there.

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The Eastgate Clock is a turret clock built above the Eastgate of the ancient walls of Chester. The clock is considered a landmark of Chester, and is the second most photographed timepiece in the United Kingdom after the Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster, popularly known as Big Ben.

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See their not-so-happy face, sigh. I felt guilty for being so mean to them in the zoo, should have just bought them the flying-balloons.

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Looking down the down from the overhead bridge.

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HSBC can be seen in every town we go. I think it must be a very popular bank in England.

Wonder what the building is it? We made a left turn to check it out.

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OK, apparently, it is a Cathedral church.

Unlike the Chester's commercial street, this place is quiet and peaceful. We took some rest here, then left the town at 6 pm.

Just when we were about to reach Manchester, the overhead LED signboard along the highway warned the driver that there was a serious car accident ahead us, and the estimated delay might take 1-2 hours time. We moved like a turtle in the long queue for 20 min, then KS decided to leave the highway when we approached the nearest exit junction.

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Without a detail map on hand, he just drove based on his instinct. He think it's better to drive blindly than waiting in the line. Fine, I have no objection. He asked around, made many turns before we entered the highway again about 1 hour later. Although not a very successful attempt, he managed to cut the queue by a few junctions ahead. By then, the congestion had started to clear, and we finally made our way back to our hotel at around 8 pm.

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We all felt very exhausted that day.

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Same as previous night, I checked the camera before I went to sleep. Aha, this was the day I only took 36 photos, a record low. So, I want to put some hotel's picture in this slot.

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Every Novotel's room has the more or less same design, like this one. A king size bed, and a couch that can be extended into a double bed.

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Bathroom and the toiletry supplement, more or less the same too.

Get so familiar with the setting that we gradually didn't feel we were actually moving from this Novotel to that Novotel.

No need to mention about the complimentary coffee mix, tea bag, fresh milk and shortbread, they are all the same.

The boys get so acquainted to the TV programes as well, they knew which one is their favourite channel.

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Boy, after several days, I even felt that the way they sat on the bed and focused on the TV is look the same too...

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Lake District

(5th day)

KS planned to drive through 3 of the most famous summits in the Lake District region on that day. We have been to many summits before. So when he said 'summits', instantly I knew what to expect over there. He could save his breathes to brief me. At the same time, this has brought back many long-buried memories for both of us, some of the old good days...

The Lake District, also known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a rural area in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, its mountains and its fells. This place is one of England's few mountainous regions. All the land in England higher than three thousand feet above sea level lies within the National Park.

Tourism has now become the park's major industry, with about 14 million visitors each year, mainly from the UK's larger settlements, China, Japan, Spain, Germany and the USA. This place is also highly associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth and the Lake Poets. Besides, it also become famous with writer Beatrix Potter. A number of tourists visit to see her family home, with particularly large numbers coming from Japan. I don't know why she is so famous to the Japanese though?

The lush greenery forest with running stream and fells mark the entrance to our 1st summit pass.

The road that leads us to the higher elevations is narrow, definitely not good for the heavy vehicle.

Coupled with its mountainous geography, Lake District is the dampest part of England, with average annual precipitation of more than 2,000 millimetres (80 in), but with very large local variation.

The weather can change suddenly, and even if it looks fine at lower elevations, the peaks may be subject to unpleasant conditions. Always check the weather forecast before setting out.

The rain was on and off the whole morning on that day. When it rained, we just got to drive through. When it stopped, we would pull the car over for a short break.

As usual, the boys love to pick stones and throw them back to the water. They can play that for a very long time.

The panoramic view at the beginning of the pass.

At some areas, tones of black color stones scatter all around the hill side.

So much so big that they seem may slide down anytime, with a gentle shake. How it was formed is a mystery.

We've forgotten what this summit is called. Anyway, this one is not a very tough one. Our car could handle the elevation good enough.

I like this shot very much. Everything is in their position so perfectly.

Rain stopped, the boy asked for pick-and-throw session again.

They are so willing to co-operate in my photo session as long as we would let them play their favorite game afterwards.

They gave me 3 beautiful shots instead. Not bad.

Since Roman times, farming, in particular of sheep, was the major industry in the region. The breed most closely associated with the area is the tough Herdwick, with Rough Fell and Swaledale sheep also common. Sheep farming remains important both for the economy of the region and for preserving the landscape which visitors want to see.

The sheep here are braver. They don't afraid of humans. Even we stopped our car right besides them won't agitate them a bit. Really some tough breed.

Features such as dry stone walls, for example, are there as a result of sheep farming.

Those stone walls are usually remarkable long and they can be seen everywhere. Boy, the farmers here are really so free to build it stone by stone, amazing works.

The 1st lake we saw in the Lake District. Its size is not too big.

The fells.

When the mist was clear, we could see the true color of the Lake District. The colors are indeed blended beautifully.

The mountains are like covered by beautiful carpet with various patterns...

Emm...this piece looks very familiar. Let me zoom in...

Does it look like the carpets we saw in the Burleigh Mead B&B in Keswick town?

Despite of the unstable weather, some people do choose to tour the Lake District by bicycles. I believe their experiences will very different from us who sit in the cozy car.

Luck didn't embrace us that morning. Most of the time, we just got to remain in car without many breaks. The boys felt bored and restless sitting inside the car for long.

In order to entertain them, I got to play silly games with them. For example, we played "bao-zhin-tabb". Counting 1-2-3, then we all have to show off our hand with that 3 different signals (cloth, scissors, stone). Whoever that win can spank the buttock or pinch the cheek of the loser.

William is usually the restless one, that I need to take more time to divert his attention. The less tiring game is to play sing-along with him. He sing, I follow. He taught me his school theme on that day, and I pretended I couldn't catch it after a long time. However, he was very determined to MUST make me sing correctly. So, how could I not to learn it seriously? Until today, I can still remember the lyrics in my dream : Little children all are we, learning everyday to be, good and lovely, strong and free, building a society. Yes, we are growing. Yes, we are growing. Yes, we are learning. Wellborn children all to be.

Driving on the mountain road is very fuel consuming. We had stopped twice for refill. The fuel price varied quite differently from one place to another place. The lowest is 111.1 pence, the highest is 119.9 pence. And the further the station away from the town center, the more expensive the fuel price. The difference is significant enough when to make a full tank refill.

By then, we have completed the 1st summit drive. After the fuel refill, we headed straight to the 2nd summit. Out of KS expectation, the road to the next summit is quite difficult. It's not because of the elevation, but extremely narrow mud road. Specifically, when we saw a car came from the opposite direction, either we or that driver got to stop aside to give way to the other to pass first. And this also very depends on the competency of the driver.

Sigh, it's a long way to go. I think it took us 1 hour to finally end that difficult part. After that, the road is easier to handle.

It's rare to see any cottage in the mountain area. I guess not many people stay here.

A typical Lake District scene.

Hardknott Pass is a pass that carries a road between Eskdale and the Duddon Valley in the Lake District National Park. The road approaching the pass is eligibled for the title of steepest road in England with both achieving a gradient of 1 in 3 (about 33%).

The road snakes its way up the Duddon Valley side of the pass. That make the ascend very difficult. I could hear KS pressed the accerelator to its fullest as the steep is getting tough.

Before our car could reach the top, KS announced we need to dump some loading to lighten the car. Frankly speaking, there is nothing much to dump, since we always carry minimum personal belongings for trips. We checked through everything, the only stuffs we could dump was the water. End up, we had dumped 3 big bottles of mineral water to the road side. This has probably cut some pathetic 6-7 kg from the total weight? We just kept our fingers crossed when we started up the engine to continue the ascent. I don't know about KS, but I was pretty scared at that time.

These damn sheeps were just sitting there and relax, watching everthing we did to try to ascend. Not something new to them, I guess.

The boys are still small to aware of the potential danger, they were thrilled about the exciting steep-ascending and descending though.

Actually, I was prepared to walk up to the top if our car couldn't make it. If still couldn't, then the boys would need to walk up with me too...Thank God we finally reached the top all together, safe and sound, in one piece.

The pass itself has a series of hairpin bends that can be unnerving for drivers of cars and minibuses (heavier vehicles are not allowed to use the pass), especially as the tarmac has become quite smooth in places. Drivers are expected to give way to oncoming traffic that is ascending the pass. The pass can be closed for long periods in the winter months as ice makes the bends treacherous.

The Romans called this road the Tenth Highway and it reaches a height of 393 m (1289 ft) at the top of the Hardknott Pass before descending steeply to the Duddon Valley and then ascending and descending the Wrynose Pass (also 393 m) on its way to Ambleside. The road fell into disrepair after the Romans left Britain in the early part of the 5th century AD, but it remained as an unpaved packhorse route throughout the centuries.

The Ministry of Defence used the area for tank training during the Second World War and this completely destroyed the ancient track. After the War, a decision was made to repair the damage and rebuild the road with a tarmac surface to give a direct motor route between Ambleside and Eskdale for the first time. However, the Roman route and the modern road do not generally coincide, the Roman route lying generally to the north of the modern road west of the summit, and to the south on the other side.

Due to raining reason, the road ascending the valley was quite slippery. KS said he got to grabbed the steering wheel very hard to prevent sway. Boy, we felt that we've made such a right decision to buy the full coverage insurance on the rented car. Thank God nothing bad happened on that day.

Hill fog is common at any time of year, and the fells average only around 2.5 hours of sunshine per day, increasing to around 4.1 hours per day on the coastal plains.

This man probably has no idea what's the road condition ahead of him? We could only wish him all the best.

Didn't remember how many ascending and descending we've made, finally we landed on a relatively flat surface.

By the time we crossed this bridge, the long-winded rain had stopped. It's so good to take a rest here to stretch our tension muscles and catch some fresh air.

The scenery here is totally breathe taking. All of my weary had gone when I stood there and admired the natural beauty of the surrounding.

Pick-and-throw session for the boys again.

Should we have stayed here any longer, I wonder if half of the stones will be thrown into the stream by them? Anyway, as usual, I asked them to pay attention if they happen to pick any sparkling stone that is potentially diamond or gem stone.

KS wanted to cross the stream, but he gave it up very fast after I warned him about the only shoes he'd brought, haha...

Just wanted to take a picture with this beautiful place.

He felt the same too...

The enchanted wild orchid.

After 20 min or so, we continued the up-and-down drive some more.

The view is basically the same as before...

We saw more sheep than human in this place.

We stopped at every top and look down the way we were going to. It's getting easier then.

Another typical scene of Lake District.

It's good to see some man made structures after traveling long enough in the remote mountain area.

Look at the house, they even built the house by using the same stones and same techniques, just like the stones walls we saw everywhere. Amazing.

The area was badly affected by the foot-and-mouth outbreak across the United Kingdom in 2001. Thousands of sheep, grazing on the fellsides across the District, were destroyed. In replacing the sheep, one problem to overcome was that many of the lost sheep were heafed, that is, they knew their part of the unfenced fell and did not stray, with this knowledge being passed between generations. With all the sheep lost at once, this knowledge has to be re-learnt and some of the fells have had discreet electric fences strung across them for a period of five years, to allow the sheep to "re-heaf".

Ah yes, this place is called Little Langdale...

and they are the villagers here...

Basically, we just drove on a straight road, not knowing where we were. This is the 2nd lake we saw in the Lake District. Again, I didn't know what this lake is called. Anyway, we parked the car and walked over to the lake side.

The size of this lake is rather small, maybe should call it a pond?

There is a hiking trail along the lake side till unknown end. If the weather was stable, we would like to take a walk on that trail.

Isn't this look familiar, like the one in movie "Sound of the Music"? Haha...

They were hoping the sheep would play with them. But sheep are just cool animals.

No matter how the boys chased after them, they just walked away, totally ignored them.

After some time, the boys got bored already. So, they just stood there to watch them from far. Moral behind this : if you want to get rid of annoying buggers, try ignoring them.

Soon, they find that it's better to play with the human who is more responsive to them. .

And the brothers went back to their usual rough tumble game, till we pulled them away before they got wild.


A little bit more drive, we have get through the 2nd pass. The time by then was around 2.30 pm. We have been driving in the mountain areas for more than 4 hours already.

This is Windermere town center. It's one of the largest town in the Lake District. We wanted to take our lunch here though we were not hungry. But no luck, it's raining outside. Furthermore, the boys had fell asleep in the car. Didn't want to wake them up, KS went out to find foods, while I waited for him inside the car.

This town is like a black-and-white town. The distinct characteristic about the houses here is the the stones and the method they used to make the wall. It's same like the stone walls we saw in the mountain area. Probably all of the stones are come from there too?

KS didn't brought back any food. He said the Chinese restaurant will only open from 5.30 pm and onwards. Since we were not hungry at all (thanks to the English breakfast we had had on that morning), that's fine. We wanted to let the boys slept some more time, so we decided to drive to the next town.

Another 30 min time, we reached another town, Ullswater. This is the second largest lake in the Lake District region. Many regard Ullswater as the most beautiful of the English lakes.

Ullswater's attractions include the Ullswater 'Steamers' which offer trips around the lake calling at Pooley Bridge, Glenridding, and Howtown. This place is also very popular as a sailing location.

We parked our car somewhere nearby the lake and walked to the town center. Same like Windermere town, this town looks so much like a black-and-white town. In cloudy day, the town looks gloomy.

The town was crowded with tourists. We thought we would have seen many Asian tourists here, especially the Japanese, but we didn't.

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There are many swans and ducks walked on the streets like nobody business.

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Feeling a bit hungry, we ordered some fish and chips and burgers at the pier side. Worried the swans would came and grabbed our foods anytime, we quickly finished the foods and left the place.

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The boys wanted to feed the swans and ducks. We bought them some corn flakes, and instantly, we had become the most welcome VIP to those ducks. That made the boys very very happy, since they had been ignored by the sheeps all day.

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The smell at this place was awful. Seeing the droppings and feathers everywhere, we just pestered the boys to feed the ducks as quickly as possible and then, get out from there. Although I hadn't heard any avian flu outbreak in England, it's better be safe than sorry, right? After that, I insisted the boys must wash their hand thoroughly.

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Sigh, since when the elegant, beautiful swans have become a bunch of hungry ducks?

The time was almost 5 pm. We had to make a quick decision for our next stop, Manchester or the Lake District (cause we still haven't covered the 3rd summit)? However, forecast said the weather won't be any better than the day we were there. After a short discussion, we'd decided to leave the Lake District, for the sake of the boys.

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The journey to Manchester was a smooth one. We arrived at Novotel Hotel around 6.30 pm. We also found a take-away Chinese restaurant nearby the hotel, save our energy to find foods (we had had enough of the 'unhealthy' foods)

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