Not exactly a compliment: "You look like a thug!"

14.01.2008

Chatted briefly with the old timer before having breakfast. Had some peach melba yogurt - I can't say there was any melba in the yogurt, only tiny little bits of unidentifiable matter. Perhaps in the UK, melba means "little bits of insects". Had a bun instead of toast today - a little stale. It was the same breakfast crap as yesterday, yet I somehow managed to overeat again, and felt like crap once more ... As I finished up breakfast, I glanced down at my watch - 9:30 AM ... my plane home would be taking off in exactly 24 hours ... sigh ... Off to the train station - I was a little disappointed that I never actually got to say goodbye to the old timer. It was raining hard outside - my strategy of hanging my towel on the exterior of my backpack to dry only works in warm, sunny countries. When I arrived at the train station, my towel was wetter than it was after I had dried myself after showering. And like my towel, I was soaked when I arrived. There is some pretty poor signage at the station - I couldn't find the WC for a while and almost soaked myself once again ... It's a good thing that the UK train system isn't as efficient as its French or German counterparts. I thought I had just missed the train, but it ended up being late, giving me just enough time to hop onboard. I noticed a very cute and proper British girl sitting across the way. Who knew that a beautiful girl eating a crappy pre-packaged sandwich could be so mesmerizing? Probably only to a guy that is easily mesmerized by the now-famous "Toledo Spanish Hottie Lookaway Maneuver" (I named that myself - you like?). Such a tiny girl ... so how could she eat such a big sandwich? "Home" by Michael Buble started playing on my iPod and for a moment, I actually felt homesick. That feeling soon went away after I started bashing my head against the chair in front of me to regain my senses. The cute sandwich girl looked a little bit concerned for me until she realized "At least that creepy guy is no longer staring at me while I eat my sandwich." Manchester - I wasn't sure what to expect because not many good things are said about this city. It didn't help after talking to those two Manchester students yesterday - "What's there to see and do in Manchester?" "Uh ... nothing?" The hostel was closer to the train station than I expected, even though I went to the sister hostel first, by accident. I was able to check-in early and then go sightseeing. The Northern Quarter near the hostel is pretty interesting, with a funky, alternative vibe to it.

The Manchester Art Gallery had an interesting piece entitled "Wish you were here". Visitors are encouraged to fill out luggage tags with a destination of their choice, and attach them to some old suitcases that were stacked up against a wall. The more interesting tags were "Robin Hood is gay" and "Her bottom is itchy because she didn't wipe it properly". On my tag, I wrote "Anywhere but home!!!" There were some neat paintings at the gallery - check out the pics for details. Manchester is a gritty-feeling city. My only previous experience here was a long layover two summers ago (see Euro 2006 blog entitled "6 hours of hell" http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pwong/europe_2006/1153134000/tpod.html) - my experience this time was far better. I went for a nice stroll - Manchester's library is located in a very cool building, and the Urbis is a very modern-looking building. That particular area is mostly steel and glass, and looks more like Berlin than the UK. The Urbis turned out to be one of the best things I have seen or done in a while. It had a cool elevator that was half-elevator and half-funicular. The top gallery showcased works by some art students - that was only OK. The gallery devoted to the best in advertising and design was pretty amazing. I found the exhibit pretty engrossing and ended up staying far longer than I had originally planned - check out the pics for commentary. The final exhibit was devoted to the "Hacienda", a famous Manchester club. It wasn't a big deal to me, but I'm sure it was a pretty special exhibit for people that were into the music scene back in the day. I skipped the Gallery of Arts and Crafts because the guidebook description didn't sound all that great. Did some shopping at the Arndale Centre, a large and modern mall. They had some pretty big sales, but I couldn't find anything that I liked - it was mostly sport and street wear. I did find a good deal on a pair of sneakers - the salesgirl asked to see my driver's licence because my name had rubbed off of the back of my credit card. Her reaction upon seeing my photo was immediate and priceless - "You look like a thug!" Granted that the photo was taken during my shaved head/goatee days, but it was still far from a compliment! I finally caved in and went to Subway. Their big advertising blitz in the UK is their "Sub of the Day" - a different 6" sub everyday for only 1.99 GBP. Today's selection was a meat ball sub - it was actually pretty good and a decent value, but I regretted it later on when I had a stomach ache. There were a few Asian places I could have tried instead - I was tempted earlier by some roasted duck. I also noticed an Asian girl eating a bowl of soup noodles that was almost as tempting (both the bowl of noodles and the girl ...). Back to the hostel to drop off my newly-purchased shoes and daypack. I left for a walk and forgot my umbrella - that was a bad mistake as it poured later on. I was completely soaked, but I guess I deserved it for my stupidity! Manchester has been way better than I expected, but it's still only worth a short daytrip or a stop en route to elsewhere because it's a working city, and not a tourist city. It wasn't a great way to end the trip (kind of like Frankfurt this past summer), but necessary to get home. Chatted with a Japanese bunkmate - he's been studying English in nearby Hattersfield for the past 16 months. It was company-sponsored because they are trying to expand into the UK from Japan. Apparently, Hattersfield is total crap. Though I had Subway at 17:00, I still needed a light meal to finish off the night, but nothing too heavy since it was 21:30. Well, it turned out to be a big meal anyway - I went for a kebab. This time, I asked for a knife and fork because I knew it wouldn't be the kind you could eat with your hands. Given the price (much less than in York), I thought it would be a smaller one - wrong! I took it across the street to the hostel and when I opened it, I actually said aloud "Holy sh*t!" It was at least 25% bigger than York's already massive kebab! They didn't give me a knife and I didn't want to use one of the hostel's and have to wash it after, so I went back to the room - I usually keep a few plastic ones in my daypack. As I walked into the room, I immediately noticed a cute brunette right in front of me. I said "Hi" and looked to her left and saw her tall blonde friend, partially unclothed - I got a free show! Tri would've liked this girl ... I apologized and offered to leave, but they declined. I'm not really sure why I said sorry - because they only thing I was sorry about was that it wasn't the cute brunette that was partially unclothed! I went back to the TV lounge and choked down the kebab - I left half of the kebab's pita behind and felt sick after. There was WAY too much food for me, even if I had skipped the earlier meatball sub. It was brutal - I had to alternate bites of kebab with sips of the 1 L orange juice I picked up earlier at a grocery store. There was too much meat and not enough garlic sauce. This episode reminded me of the time I was in Columbus, Ohio and ate at Chipotle, a Tex-Mex type of fast food joint. The food is actually good there, but I ordered this giant burrito that I couldn't finish. The thing was the size of a small football and even larger than tonight's kebab. Anyway, even at 3.40 GBP, the kebab was a pretty good value because it probably could feed two people. But I'm not digging the wraps they are using - bad taste and texture. I ate as I watched "Dave" again - I think it's the UK equivalent of the "Spike" channel in North America, though it's not quite as geared towards men as "Spike" is. I watched some more of those improv shows. It's a quiet hostel, which is good since I need to wake up very early for my flight home tomorrow. I tried to sleep at 11:00, but couldn't fall asleep until well after midnight. The guy above me had a strange odour ...