Woke up at 7.30am for breakfast. Supposed to have a long day ahead, especially after all the last minute changes to our schedule yesterday night. Went down for breakfast at 8. impressed with the YHA breakfast. Full English. Cereal and milk, juice, scambled eggs and sausage with hash browns and bread and croissant, not to mention cappuccino and hot chocolates. Simple incredible. Estimated worth of 4 quid. Wow. The breakfast is heavy. Very fulfilling meal no doubt. Jiaxuan did mention something funny. He noted that the people here multitasked like mad, because the man serving us breakfast is also the reception man last night and the repairman for our room lights. Ha. Clever observation.
Went to city centre at 9. Stepping out of the building, we noticed the fog at once. Maybe not yet a fog, more like a mist. Zhen Qiang needed to go Lime Street to get his new train ticket, while I had to check out the coach fares to Manchester. The girls followed Zhen Qiang, while Jiaxuan came with me. Along the way, we saw the World Museum and the library. Looks much like Roman buildings. Makes me anticipate the visit later. We asked a policeman about the directions to Norton Street. He showed us in a very gentlemanly manner. Kudos to Merseysiders. Reached the station, Jiaxuan had to visit the loo, and it cost 20p. Ouch. I queued up to the counter. The fares bought last minute cost 6 quid a person! WTF. Double the price we paid for online. But the frequency is not bad, every hour has a bus departing for Manchester. Soon Jiaxuan came out and complained that he wasted his 20p. He wanted to shit, but there was a gay fellow occupying the cubicle for ages, like he slept in there. Haha. In the end he just gave up waiting. Wow. Interesting introduction to the day. Called, Zhen Qiang, they agreed to wait for us at the World Museum.
As we approached the museum, we started snapping pictures of the buildings. Nice architecture. Ha. When we reached, Evelyn mentioned that they got chased out by the museum curators since its not opened yet. Had a couple take a group photo for us. Seems like we were intruding their privacy, but it’s alright: let Evelyn do the evil job. We went in, and agreed to go on our own, meeting downstairs at 11.30am. The guys went to the World Culture, simply because Zhen Qiang wanna see the cultures and I wanna see the ancient civilizations. When we reached the exhibition, the girls were also there! Ha. We cruised through the exhibits. Browsing the religious exhibits, particularly the Buddhist ones, Jiaxuan was questioning me about it and we had a good intellectual discussion on his religion and mine. Ha. Nice good feeling.
Almost noon but we were still suffering from the heavy breakfast. Maybe not suffering, but we just didn’t feel hungry. Went on to maritime museum. The fog is still there. And its getting worse. Can’t really see anything beyond 15 to 20 metres. As we neared Albert Dock, it got worse. Much worse. Went to Merseyside Maritime Museum, a world famous one. There are several sections, the ground level being the HM Excise and Customs. Had fun distinguishing the parcels and detecting the smuggles. More amazed with what kind of illegal stuff people tried to bring in. There’s an exhibit on the swallowed packets of heroin also. Absolutely disgusting. 1st floor starts maritime stuff. Nothing much interesting. We came to this exhibition called ‘Shipwrecked’. Supposedly for kids, there’s a trail and some chopping to be done to collect a souvenir. Ha. All of us acted like kids, going around to play the games and get the chops. Great fun. But the girls went a step further. They went around posing with the items, acting kawaii. Ha. Damn funny. Helped them take a couple of photos. We were finally getting hungry at around 1.45pm. Got out of the museum, thought maybe can stop by a café to have lunch. But seriously, this is not a tourist attraction for nothing. The cafés here had exorbitant prices, particularly true for poor students like us. We ended up walking around the entire dock and came to the Beatles Story instead. Paid 6 quid for a concession ticket to get in, accompanied with a audio guide. Jiaxuan got really funny with all his hilarious poses and he even got Evelyn to pose with him dancing at a Hamburg bar like background. Ha. The exhibit didn’t really leave too much of an impression though, but the significant part came when we reached the tributes to Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon for their contributions. It particularly focused on John Lennon and his passion for peace, as well a white room dedicated to his memory and his assassination. What’s more shocking is that his killer was a fan of his. Seems like politics can blind even the most hardcore fans.
By now, all of us were hungry like wolves. The heavy breakfast lasted till now. We went back to the city centre, looking for a place to eat. In the end, the place we chose was another branch of Wetherspoons, the same chain that we ate yesterday. But today got grill special. The guys ordered mixed grill and for me chicken melt, while the girls order burgers. The fog still hasn’t disappeared. By 6, we left Wetherspoons for Anfield. Got up the bus with a horde of Anfield fans. But that’s not the end. As we got nearer to Anfield, the road started to be jammed. There were more and more stalls selling Liverpool FC merchandise. Wow. When we reached, the crowd was amazing. Can’t believe it. It was almost like a sea of red, like what we would have seen on National Day. Started towards our turnstile, the one that’s supposed to lead us to where we sit. As we proceed, we saw more people moving out of the stadium. What happened? Then came the announcement: “To the supporters of Liverpool Football Club, this is an announcement that the 5th round Carling Cup match against Arsenal has been postponed. The referee deemed the adverse weather unsuitable. Please keep your tickets for the re-arranged match.” WTF!!! Our dreams burst. No match! Damnit. Gotta go back to city centre. Need to come back again for the match. Haiz. Back to the bus stop. There’s a stall providing the service of you taking a photo with a fake European Cup. What a laugh. There’s another stall selling a CD for Anfield songs, supposedly 56 tracks. They were playing songs that chant about Steven Gerrard. Ha. Further down another stall was selling LFC scarves, with some scarves being half LFC and half Celtic or half Rangers. How can they sell these half hearted scarves? Furthermore they look ugly.
On the bus, we had to stand at the back. There were no seats available. Next to where we were standing, there was a girl giggling. She kept squeaking about something red. The guy behind her started shouting curses at her. Because it was a cold day, the glass panels on the windows were filled with condensed mist. The guy started writing “Blue shit” and “EFC sucks”. Apparently the girl is a Evertonian supporter. She couldn’t stand LFC and start laughing at us. But the guy wouldn’t tolerate the girl dishing out such insults, even to the extent of saying “Have you ever see the real European Cup?” meant to hit the girl’s pride right in the ugly spot. Of course, more and more ‘shut up’s from the girl could be heard. In the end, she wanted to get off the bus full of the Kop. Another group cursed at her while she was alighting. What a scene. She could have kept her mouth shut, given that the streets were filled with red supporters. Moreover, all she had to do was to remain silent and no one would know she supports Everton. She simply deserved it. Meanwhile, Joanne and Evelyn were pleasantly surprised and smiling at the entire comical scene. Guess they don’t really know how much passion we have for the club.
We stopped in the city centre, entered St John’s building’s 99p shop. Had grabbed a few snacks and drinks. Then we made our way back to the hostel. The night is usual, Monopoly with snacks and drinks. I survived the 1st round, but died the 2nd. Ha.
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