Project Scotland

This post is called Project Scotland, as given by our organizer. JL had jio'd Cyn and me to join his group of friends (7 of them) for a road trip to the Scottish Highlands and it had been a really fun filled (lots of laughter) for a full 4 days. This trip was made up of two distinct groups- Auditors vs Clients (yes us altho outnumbered!) *should have cleared compliance for this trip eh? hehe* Altho' there were lots of conversations surrounding their company (esp on this notorious guy whom I shall keep mum) and the audit world, they did try making us feel comfortable by seeking the "client's point of view" once in a while. Anyways think I haven't laughed that much since I came to London :D

Duncan, Isa, Huimin, Jianliang, Shany, Shih Chien, me, Jingting and Cynthia

Day 1

Cynthia and I took the overnight train to Aberdeen for 11 hours can you believe it.. (I thought I'd have reached Singapore if I took a flight with that amt of time.) JL, Shany and our organizer Shih Chien (SC) kindly came to pick us up from the station. brrr it was cold! First stop *ahem* was Primark Aberdeen!! haha shopping at 10am in the morning. It was so nice coz store's empty and so orderly, unlike the London store, and they have size 8 avail for us! What a fulfilling Primark trip as we emerged from the store. Picked the rest of our entourage from Aberdeen airport, 4 more auditors :)

Getting ready for our overnight train.  Tip: Get a sleeper!  Makes it so much more worth it.

Self explanatory lol

After settling down, and led by our organiser, we drove to Stonehaven where we visited this castle (in ruins now), called Dunnattar Castle, which was covered in total fog and mist *the mystical feel* with the Scottish bagpipes playing in the background.

The misty and mysterious looking castle in the distance

In and around the deserted castle

Because of the sheer size of the group (9 people), there wasn't enough space in SC's apartment so he has arranged for the guys to stay over his place, and sent us 5 girls to stay with two of his friends (one Brazilian guy and another Chinese guy). Cynthia and I stayed over at his Brazilian friend Diago's place which was a very clean and nice bachelor pad.

Day 2

Morning- Top service rendered to us girls, really. SC n guys woke up at 7am to prepare breakfast for everyone (!!) and then SC came round to pick us girls back to his place. whoaa... we all felt so loved when we entered his place smelling of omelette, bacon, sausages.. and get this.. bak gua and home made bak chang (dumplings)! BEST!! And we got to eat bak chang on the actual day - yummy!

A twinkle in my eye looking at the dumpling

Hearty breakfast and our road trip started.  We stopped by Aberdeen Football Club to take some pics as requested by the guys and thereafter, first official stop on the itinerary - Dufftown's Glenfiddich Whisky Distillery. We had a tour round the distillery and ended off which some free sampling. Had quick lunch and then set off toward Inverness and tada! We finally reached Loch Ness (Loch in Gaelic means Lake). Unfortunately we didn't manage to catch a glimpse of Nessie, as they affectionately call it. Sun was out and pictures were superb. woohoo~

Thereafter visited Urquhart Castle, also in ruins.

Views along the way

Our distillery tour

Our guide

Finally, LOCH NESS!

Any sighting of Loch Ness?

Urquhart Castle

Loch in the evening

More pics of the loch after our dinner

Peaceful waters

Day 3

This was a gloomy day for us coz we planned to go Glen Coe, apparently the most famous valley (Glen means Valley in Gaelic) in Scotland but the rain came. SC and JL, our two most dedicated drivers drove for like 2h to reach Glen Coe which was rainy and foggy so our plan to hike in the area was disrupted. Well, we tried.. for a while.. like 20min? haha before people started saying "eh hungry lehhh.. go back la..."

Glen Coe area

Tried to do some hiking in the drizzle

Botany enthusiasts?  Looking for a four leave clover for good luck.

Photo stop in the midst of rain and howling winds..

The girls

The boys

So gloomy when the sun's not out

Another group shot

Had a few photo spots in between. Travelled so much along the highlands and it was really cold and windy today. Visited the Falls of Foyer (a waterfall) n thankfully rain has stopped by then.

Falls of Foyer

Falls of Foyer

Outside our hostel in Fort Augustus

Last dinner together before we split up; some back to London and some continuing on the trip

Spotted: Rabbit hole!

We saw this field with so many wild rabbits!  All were nibbling the grass and many hopped away when they saw us advancing towards them.  Made me miss my bunnies at home.

Day 4

Last few hours this morning before JL, Shany, Cyn & I fly back to London this afternoon. The plan was that we would drive with them to Isle of Skye, have lunch and then end our trip here (drive back to Inverness) whilst the rest continue with their Scotland tour, followed by Liverpool, Manchester, Paris, and eventually London leg of their long tour. So we will meet them for dinner pretty soon before they fly back to SGP.

Outside Eilean Donan Castle where we just took pictures outside

Last group shot before we split up

Typical Scottish Highlands view

Think in total we drove about 300miles which JL said he would not usually cover that back home in a year. Three cheers to our two drivers and especially to Shih Chien for his superb planning and entertainment thru'out the whole trip. We are looking forward to him visiting all of us in London :)