I have been wanting to blog about the city that I live in for quite some time, but somehow, never got to doing it. A recent enquiry from a blog reader and compliments from some friends who came visitting, however, have motivated me to finally post this.
Bristol is a city in the Southwest of England and is supposed to be one of the best city to live in England. Read it
here. But lest you think it's 'happening' like KL or Subang Jaya, it's not. Unlike that
Citibank slogan -
the city never sleeps - this one does. Shops close early and the only outlets to operate late into the night are the numerous pubs.
Mat Salleh lepak kat pub
macam orang Malaysia lepak kat restoren mamak. Only thing is they drink beer rather than
teh tarik :). That's their
lepak culture over here... day and night.
Based on my 2 years here, I would say that Bristol is a safe city with lots of friendly people and its own attractions.
Yup, safe is top of my list. I can walk alone in the streets without having to peer behind my back for
pencopets. I can cross the zebra-crossing with my eyes closed. I walk around in my brightly-coloured
tudung and nobody stares at me - they don't even blink an eye if a
jubah-clad woman passes by. Despite being different, no soul has uttered racist remarks to me. The only time I experienced unpleasantness was when some unknown hooligans dug out a few flower bulbs from my lawn. Not totally their fault, though... Perhaps we (my family) did cheer a wee bit too LOUD for GERMANY during World Cup 2010! Hehehe!
Marahlah orang England!
#2: Lots of friendly people who smile at you and ask how your day was. My favourite has got be Don, my washing machine 'engineer' (that's what they call 'tukang' here) who's
big, strong and friendly (just like that
Chartered Bank slogan during the 70s :)). The cashiers at
Giant, Carrefour and
Mydin can also learn a thing or two from their counterparts here. Loved the latters cheery disposition, "You alright there?" and "Cheers!".
#3: Places of attraction in Bristol:
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| Clifton Suspension Bridge |
The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a famous landmark of Bristol. It is one of the many works of Britains's "Father of Engineering",
Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The
SS Great Britain was also designed by him.
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| SS Great Great Britain - photo by Mattbuck (Wikipedia) |
This majestic ship is now permanently docked at the scenic
Bristol harbourside. You can take a tour of the ship with a small fee.
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| 4 tiang yang nampak tu tiang kapal SS Great Britain |
Another landmark of Bristol city is of course that tall building near my school, The
Wills Memorial. It's situated at the top of Parks Street. The
Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery is just next to the building. They've got a permanent Egyptology exhibition (I bet better than
Muzium Negara's Khazanah dari Kubur in the 90s:)). Admission is free.
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| The Wills Memorial Building |
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Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery
- photo from Wikipedia |
Another landmark near my school -
Cabot Tower - is currently undergoing restoration work.
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| Cabot Tower - Spring of 2010 |
But you might still want to take a stroll up
Brandon Hill (where it is situated). Nice place for summer picnics with squirrels. Don't forget to bring those nuts!
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| Picnic at Brandon Hill |
To be continued...
