Manchester: Home of The Red Devils

We took the 8:10AM train departing London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly. The plan was to take the Tube from Turnpike Lane to Euston. We almost had a shock when we realised that the Tube begins operation at a much later time on Sundays, though we managed to make it on time for the train.

Hopefully the Virgin train would as good as its airline sister, but nope it was mediocre. The train ride wasn't nearly as stable as the one we had in Switzerland, which was not a major issue with me but a big headache for my friends with motion sickness. The seats were stained and the hard plastic seat back scratched. I was initially pleased to find that wifi connection was available on board though was disappointed to find that it was no free of charge. Nevertheless it got us to Manchester on time.

Arriving at Manchester Piccadily, we were picked up by a friend of a friend, who brought us to a Chinese dim sum restaurant. The food was fairly authentic, and though certainly not comparable to Imperial Treasures or Crystal Jade, was a taste of Asia in a city thousands of miles from home. Thankfully, this is only my first week in Europe or I might seriously embarrass myself falling into tears.

The night was spent at a small bar known as "The Crafty Pig" trying out the Sunday roast. I actually liked the decor of the bar.

The seats also appear to be fairly cosy, so was the service. The servers had been friendly and helpful.

The actual Sunday roast itself, however, was downright disappointing. The meat was cold, so was the Yorkshire pudding and everything else on the plate, with the exception of the beetroot and the gravy.

I met my highschool friend the next day, and crashed one of his lectures on foreign direct investments. It actually felt good not having to take notes in lecture, for once.

Following the lecture, my friend guided me on a tour of the University of Manchester's campus, which was beautiful.

We also stopped by the Rutherford Building, which used to house Ernest Rutherford's nuclear lab.

Even the cafeteria was cosy and ornately decorated. 

After the tour, he brought me out for lunch at the Curry Mile, which is an unique congregation of Indian and Middle Eastern restaurants in Manchester. Unfortunately, the Indian restaurant we wanted to visit was closed, so we visited another one beside it. The food was reasonably good, though according to my friend was not as good as the one he recommended.

While I was never a soccer fan, coming to Manchester without visiting the Old Trafford Stadium is like going to New York without visiting Times Square or travelling to Beijing without visiting the Forbidden Palace (which I was once guilty of).

The view of the stadium was gorgeous, and our guide was extremely passionate, informative and entertaining. It was a great representation of British humour when she mentioned that there were three cells in the stadium to hold soccer hooligans, one for males, one for females, and one for Liverpool fans.

The tour included a visit to the press briefing room and the players' changing rooms, where people snapped photos of the players' jerseys. Most of the visitors had a favourite player they liked, while I wandered around before deciding to follow the crowd.

Despite not being a soccer fan (or a complete idiot to it, to be precise), I really enjoyed the tour and shared, even if only for that one hour, our guide passion for the sport and her love of the club. I also got a chance to pose at the seat of the manager and the coaches, though I could not decide if I should wave my fist in a standing or seated position.

Coming out, we headed back to town and had dinner at Jamie Oliver's restaurant and drinks at the Alchemist, both of which were fantastic. 

It was really nice to catch up with ya. And thanks 少爷 for your hospitality! Haha really appreciated that you could still host me despite such short notice on my part. By the way your taste for new food really hasn't changed since we last met.