Orkney
Wow the moment I got off the plane at Orkney, I felt SO ALONE. Here I was, one tiny Asian girl, all alone in a place I've never been before, with literally no one whom I knew in the entire island, and my friends were at least 2 flights away. Everyone who got off the place had family to welcome them and I just felt so lost. Managed to catch the public bus to Balfour Hospital, the only hospital on Orkney, and the bus driver kindly directed me to the entrance where I picked up my keys for my accom from Switchboard. My accommodation was at Graham House, which houses all the staff and students posted to Balfour Hospital. It's 4 rooms to a flat, sharing 1 toilet and kitchen. But I was lucky because I never saw a soul in my flat the entire time I was there so I had the whole place to myself, essentially. My room was the corner one so it was the largest as well. Kirkwall is really small, and my place was walkable to practically anywhere in town, including the 2 supermarkets, Tesco and Lidl. I LOVE Tesco and all its prepped ingredients so I could just throw all of them in a pot and get a decent meal.
My schedule was 1 week in acute medicine (rounds in the morning, ED in the afternoon), 1 week in OT (officially in anaesthesia, but I could assist in surgeries as well), and 1 week at the GP in Shapinsay. I was at the old hospital, while there was a new building getting built.
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| Old Balfour Hospital |
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| New Balfour Hospital |
Over the weekends, I went to explore the island. First Saturday, I planned to follow the bus tour round the main sites. I think it leaves the Kirkwall station at 10am. Luckily, I managed to catch it because it doesn't even wait at any of the normal stops.
The bus brought me to Skara Brae, a village from the stone age. We had about 1.5h to explore it and the Skaill House, which is the house of the person who discovered Skara Brae. Skara Brae was so so so cold and windy, I thought my ear drum burst or smth. It's situated next to the sea (logically, since people would have arrived by sea and settled at the nearest available place), so it's very scenic!
Hopped back on the bus to go to Ring of Brodgar. Amazing.
Then back to Kirkwall. Grabbed a quick lunch of a muffin and hot choc at Kirkwall, then caught another bus to Italian chapel. Which was surprisingly tiny, but the story was amazing.
Back to Kirkwall, went into St Magnus cathedral, and around the Earl and Bishop's palaces.
Walked around the streets of Kirkwall.
Finally had my first Asian dinner in 3 weeks because I missed it so much. So comforting to see all the Chinese decor and the fellow Chinese faces haha.
On one of the days when I ended early, I visited the Orkney museum.
On my second Saturday, I decided to head to Maeshowe, the stones of Stenness and Stromness town. Unfortunately, I missed the stop while going from Kirkwall to Stenness so I ended up in Stromness and explored the tiny little town, including the arts centre and the museum.
Caught the 140pm bus to Stenness and didn't miss the stop this time (cos luckily a couple were waiting to board. Otherwise usually the bus just goes past) and managed to buy a ticket for the 2pm tour to Maeshowe with minutes to spare. Yay! The Maeshowe tour lasted from 2-3pm. Its an ancient tomb from the neolithic times, then the vikings came and robbed it and left graffiti.
I was walking from the Maeshowe visitor center to the standing stones of Stenness (about 15min) and cos there's no footpath, I walked on the side of the road and all the cars really changed lanes to avoid me lol. And then one guy even asked if i needed a lift. But I managed to get to the stones and the Barnhouse Village, which is another neolithic stone age settlement like Skara Brae. And then...it started raining and there was a van here and the lady asked me to go in so I hitchhiked back to Kirkwall. Turns out the lady was previously a nurse at Balfour hospital and their daughter is a medical student at Aberdeen! All in the name of adventure.
Saturday treat was once again, dinner from the Chinese restaurant. It's SO expensive, but the portions are huge as well. Takeaway this time as it's cheaper.
On Sunday, I went to Judith's cafe to try some food but couldn't quite understand what all the food on the menu actually was, so just got a cake and ice cream.
On Monday, the weather was good so I felt like I just had to go out. Went to Judith's cafe again, this time after googling the menu. Bought a peedie orkney bite of crab pot, scottish oatcakes and salad.
Then went to check out the ferry terminal, and decided to go to the Wireless Museum. It's TINY but i spent more than an hour there and couldn't finish cos the guy tending it had to go for his doctor's appointment at 4pm lol.
I went to Shapinsay on Tuesday and Thursday of my final week. The ferry terminal is a 20min walk from my place and I could just get tickets on the spot.
The walk was super scenic too.
On the first day, the nurse who was supposed to pick me up from the ferry was a bit late so I was just walking in the general direction and luckily he saw me and we were right there. There were no patients that morning though haha. The population is only 300! Managed to go for house visits and really see how vastly different some houses can be.
Also, there's really nothing at Shapinsay haha. Even the cafe is closed. And the wind is crazy!
On my second trip, I had a most difficult 20min walk to the terminal because wow the wind and rain together is madness. The GP and his student were here this time so I went with them to walk to the Balfour Castle, with the GP serving as our guide - Balfour castle is a calendar castle cos it has 12 towers and 365 windows.
On my final night in Orkney, I'd made a reservation at The Shore, one of the best restaurants on the island. Before you're led into the dining area, they make you order a drink at a lounge bar and order your main, and THEN you're showed to the main area and the food is served pretty quickly. I mainly came because I wanted to try the scallops on crab linguine, which was VERY good. Was super full, but I need to eat dessert hah.
On my final day, I headed to the main street to get some souvenirs and food, and some teacakes from the Strynd, which was fully booked so I had to takeaway. And then managed to lug my crazily heavy suitcase down the stairs and to Balfour to return the keys, then take the bus back to the airport.
I left Orkney, knowing this tiny land of rainbows will always have a place in my heart.
Aberdeen
28 Sep 2018
The flight from Orkney to Aberdeen was only 40min, and I reached around 5pm. Took the bus from the airport to the city center, then managed to get to the Skene House Rosemount Aparthotel after an arduous 15min walk, because Europe pavements are never even. There was no elevator so the poor porter carried my overweight luggage up 4 flights of stairs lol.
Decided to have dinner at Granite Park, not too far from my accom. Another fine dining place since I had so many pounds to spare after I cooked most of my meals in Orkney. Ordered a risotto and was surprised with a bread and some salmon and cheese thing for starters. The risotto was AMAZING. Also tried the tiramisu which was not what I was expecting. And the service is amazing.
29 Sep 2018
Went out super early and it was freezing!! Walked 30min to Duthie park, then realised the Winter Gardens only open at 930. I didn't wanna wait 30min in the cold so I headed back to the center for breakfast at Books and Beans. They forgot my hot chocolate and gave me a card to have a free hot drink the next time I go there lol. Had waffles and pancakes, cos I haven't had them in a long while.
Next stop was Aberdeen maritime museum then Tolbooth museum. Tolbooth was an ordeal cos it was a former jail so the stairs are super narrow.
Then walked through a very dubious route to Footdee, which is a small little settlement near the beach. The beach was beautiful.
Followed by an hour walk to old Aberdeen for the cathedral, passing a leisure park and a hill.
Walked past U of Aberdeen to get to Sainsburys to buy stuff.
And then walked 30min back to the city center to have dinner at Howie's. It's 2 courses for 14.95 before 6.30pm! Also got the affogatto for dessert.
Gorgeous sky.
30 Sep 2018
Woke up early to check out and walk to the bus station (near Union Square) to catch bus 727 to the airport.
Breakfast at the airport. Pancakes AGAIN.
This time, I booked Hotel Moonlight, which is just a 3min walk from Earl's Court. The single room is teeny but well equipped.
Wanted to go to Westfield to buy baby clothes for my nephew, but I forgot that it's weekend with line closures and the exact same line I wanted to take a month ago was once again, closed!!! So I ended up at High St Kensington. Originally wanted to walk to Notting Hill to take central line to Shepherd's Bush, but got distracted by the M&S at Kensington and bought like 50 pounds worth of stuff. So I went straight to Picadilly to meet a friend for dinner at Kanada-ya, followed by ice cream after.
1 Oct 2018
Went to Notting Hill to get brunch at Eggbreak, wanting to try the crab cake but they ran out of it, so I had eggs ben instead. AND they didn't have ham so I had smoked salmon instead.
Finally got to Westfield, and spent forever in mothercare trying to choose the designs my sister wanted for her kid lol. And did some shopping myself!
Then headed to Lambert North for the Imperial War Museum. The WW1 and Holocaust exhibitions were super good, but I was pretty disappointed by the WW2 exhibition. I guess they were more affected by the Europe side of the war, but obviously as a Singaporean, I am more interested in the Asian side of the war, which they hardly touched on.
Needed to buy stuff from Charbonnel at Walker and their store was closed by this time, so I headed to Harrods. And somehow found my way to the chocs and confectionery place. Went to the food hall and got attracted to the food, but the dining in options were ridiculously expensive, so I got a takeout salmon with crab and potato salad, a choc and salted caramel tart for dessert, and a choc muffin for breakfast since my hotel room came with a microwave.
Severely underestimated my travel time to Heathrow airport, so I was nearly late for my flight. But luckily I made it. My luggage didn't though, so it arrived on the next plane to Sg, 12h after me, and I got to claim insurance!
That concludes my 1 month adventure in UK! Whew the trip (and recapping everything with pics) was SO tiring. I don't know if I would ever travel solo again because it's incredibly stressful with no one to share the stress!