Six dangerous words

Things will never be the same.

(Reference: Thomas L. Friedman, "China, Twitter and 20-year-olds vs. the Pyramids", International Herald Tribune, Feb 7th 2011)

Sweet escape

“I have learnt that travel broadens the waist.” 

-- My life in travel, Richard Herring, Saturday 22 January 2011, The Independent

This weekend:

An Indian learns how to handle chopsticks. A Bolivian falls in love with Vietnamese flower tea. A Chinese is made a happy bunny with sumptuous Spanish Tapas and Sangria. A black sock was hanging from the roof. And a random traveller wakes up in the dormitory where Team 11 sleeps on their weekend retreat in Brighton.

St Christopher’s Inn was the chosen one, which turned out to be an amazing hostel experience, with its bar and dance floor downstairs and its convenient location by the seafront. Friday afternoon, the team was chatting about the Masters course, the intense deadlines and thesis projects, not realizing that they’re getting closer and closer to their destination of the weekend retreat – Brighton. Windy, freezing cold, bit hilly. With copies of the city maps at hand, we walked down the main street towards the seafront, which is the very Southern coast of the UK, enjoying the seaside city most well-known for its gay community.

Dormitory was decorated with a sock hanging from the roof, covering the fire or smoke alarm. Surprise! “Girls, this room is haunted.” said Dev. The result was that he had to volunteer to sleep on the bunk bed next to the door. And the sock, of course.

Craving for a cuppa after the journey, we found ourselves at a bar at Queen’s Hotel. On one side of the banner, it reads “afternoon tea served everyday”, and on the other side, it was cocktail offers. Richly chocolaty cake, very berry cheesecake, English tea, peaceful ambience and seafront view, which one couldn’t enjoy very much due to the typical winter weather. That’s when I received an email asking me to arrange a telephone interview with dunnhumby. J

We walked around city centre and had a quick look at contemporary furniture, surrealist sofa and a brief history of the city, impressed by the artefacts exhibited at the museum and art gallery next to the Pavilion. As we were kicked out at 6pm, La Tasca was right outside the garden, where table has been booked with 50% off Tapas to Share Voucher. We wondered about in the pretty little stores on the street, feeling slightly guilty for being such a group of unprofitable customers. Every store has decorated their merchandise display in a love theme. Love is written everywhere. Love is everywhere.

La Tasca was amazing! I am not kidding. We shared a delightful dining experience at the restaurant. Tres romantique. After walking back to hostel, we grabbed a drink, played the tower game and “4 in a row”, very mature indeed lol but it was great fun and involved some pretty tough calculations I’d say! Then we danced our night away.

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