Dunnottar Castle, Stonehaven

Salam w.b.t and hello folks.

 

"How is your weekend?" is a typical question to be asked when we come to work on Monday.

My answers normally are, "Not much", "It was alright", and "A bit busy doing readings". Since then I realised, what a dull weekend I had so far.

So last Sunday, I decided to make a little trip to Stonehaven which is famous with Dunnotar Castle. I made a bit of research on the night before on how to reach there and other places can be visited in Stonehaven.

Below are the details.

Stonehaven Guide - http://www.dunnottarcastle.co.uk/

Address: Dunottar Mains Cottages, Dunottar Mains Cottages, Stonehaven AB39 2TL, UK

Bus X7 (1 hour)

• Day ticket - £10.00 (approx.)
• At 9.15 am
• From F6 Stop, Union Street
• Stop at Dunnottar Junction
• Postcode: AB39 2TL

Opening Hours & Prices

• The current opening hours are Daily between 10am and 3:30pm
• Prices - Adult £6
• Guide Books £3.50
• Postcard Set £2.00

Other interesting places

• Dunnotar Castle - Main
• Stonehaven War Memorial (22 minutes from the castle)
• Aunty Bettys (25 minutes from War Memorial)
• My Beautiful Caravan, at Barclay Street (11 minutes from Aunty Bettys)
• Tolbooth Museum - the museum is only open on a Saturday and Sunday from 12.30 to 3.30 pm

 

Back to Aberdeen

• 4.15 pm from Barclay Street, South bound
• Bus 7
• Arrive at Stop F1

I arrived at Dunnottar Junction Stop around 10.10 am. I did not go straight to the castle, I went to the bus stand to see the bus schedule to return to Aberdeen, just a precaution measure since this is not a busy area. 

Then I walked to the castle about 1 miles, which took me 10 minutes to see the ruined castle from distance.

The view along my walk to the castle

Welcome to the Dunnottar Castle

Behind this field is the North Sea, if you can see it

Pathway that leads to the castle

I was nearly dancing around when I saw the castle



The waterfall



The view is so magnificent

The entrance

In the parking lot got sign said the castle is close due to wind. I was a bit disappointed but I want to have a look, probably the sign was an old sign.

The view, I will never get boring see this





Halfway to the castle



Actually, this is the cliff but eroded due to seawater. The castle is at the top of it



Beach, it was windy, chilly, and started to rain



The gate at the side of the cliff, part of the castle





The stairway to the main gate of the castle. It was closed, affirmative.


I did not want to simply leave the place, so I decided to take a walk down to the beach. The route was treacherous, and dangerous. I saw several visitors just stand at the stairway and enjoyed the view, but none came down to the beach. I took the risk to go down, and if I slipped down the cliff, they will see me from where they stood.

While walking down the cliff, I stopped from time to time and enjoy the fantastic view. Throughout this little hiking, it was raining just so you know and I was carrying my backpack. It was not easy and risky. I was a bit scared, but keep praying all will go well.

 

In the meantime, I saw several people followed me. Huhuhu...but one man slipped, luckily nothing happened. I shouted to him to take the path with fresh grass, much safer.



Nearly there



Finally down at the beach. I did not touch the water as I knew it is so cold



Stopped for a while to read the sign here




Finally, made it to the beach safely

I spent around 10 minutes there, took pictures, enjoying the view. In the meantime, studying the route to get back up the cliff, either take the same route where I used to go down or climb another opposite cliff.

It started to raining heavily and strong wind, poor vision and the ground could be very, very slippery. Besides, the tide was starting to rise. With that, I decided to use the same route.

I walked back to the main road with myself drenching in rain water. I brought an umbrella but I knew it will be useless. As the wind blew so hard and it was so cold. I thought there was a coffee shop, so I could warm up my body while waiting for rain to stop, but nothing, it was a private property. No shelter or whatsoever, just a parking lot. I saw a Blue Bus there but it was a charter bus for tourist.

As a last resort, I decided, lets go to the bus stand. But first, I need to walked back about 1 mile to the bus stop. I walked slowly, and suddenly the Blue Bus I saw earlier stopped next to me. The driver was a man that slipped when he walked down the cliff previously.

He said, "Hop on to the bus".

He gave me a lift to the bus stand towards Aberdeen. He was actually a tourist guide from Edinburgh, brought a group of tourist visited Aberdeen. Now, he was on his way back to Edinburgh after dropping the tourists in Aberdeen. He wanted to visit the castle before going home, but a bit disappointed as it was close.

I said to him, "We should come visit again in summer. The chance will be higher".

He dropped me at the bus stand and off he went. It was around 11 am at that time, the next bus was around 12 pm. It was freezing cold and I hardly feel my fingers, and honestly I was a bit terrified thinking what if the bus does not turn up.

The view from the bus stop. The property there, I thought it was a coffee shop

Finally, the bus turned up and I went straight back to Aberdeen. I did not visit other places as the weather did not permitted. Next time...

Once I arrived at Union Square Bus Station, I went to have my lunch at Thaikun, a Thailand restaurant. A hot meal, after a freezing morning.

On Monday, my colleagues asked me, "How was your weekend?".

"It was great. I went to Stonehaven, see the castle".

Their reply, "You went there in this kind of season, you are out of your mind".

I giggled, "I don't regret it. The view was stunning".

##Extra - Preparation

1. Decent shoes
2. 4 layers of clothes + thermal shirt and pant
3. Waterproof winter jacket
4. Thick socks
5. Gloves
6. Food and water
7. Check the weather forecast

P/S - I was not stupid, I checked the weather forecast already, Allah knows. Anyway, this is Aberdeen.



Aberdeen through my S3 lense

Salam w.b.t and hello all.

 

How are you doing folks? In this entry, I would like to share a video I made. It shows the Aberdeen City. Actually, I took it on my way home from Portlethen and luckily at that time, it was a double-decker bus. I was on-leave on last Friday to take care of some stuffs. So, I took the opportunity to see Aberdeen in daylight.

I share the link here: Aberdeen City

I cannot upload it here since it exceeds the size allowed. Apology for the video quality, but I hope you are still enjoying it.


On the road

You know what, this is at noon in Aberdeen but the weather was like at dusk. Just so you know, this kind of weather considers to be the best weather.

This is the road I take everyday to go/back from work, usually sun already set.

This is at the Castle Street, the building on the left is where I live for now. I will need to find another place, soon.

Aberdeen City also known as Granite City, well you can see from the buildings here. Most of them are constructed from granite centuries ago. Basically, it is historical city and full of ancient elements.

I forgot what is the name of this building, I think it is the university

Normally, it will rain and windy. The wind here, I would be honest, it can blow you miles away. It can reach 55 - 60 mph, sometimes higher. I personally experienced it when I got back from shop. On one hand, I carried my doughnut boxes, and the other hand, I held the wall of the building to against myself and made my step slowly to go home. It was tiring as the wind gust keep pushing my body.

 

Insane!

I came across this fella last week when I randomly made myself lost in the city

My effects from Malaysia just arrived yesterday. It was great to see my stuffs, like jackets, t-shirts, pants, and others. My mother included foods in the shipment, like coffee, instant noodles, food paste, and other Asian foods. Unfortunately, the shipping company did not allow food to be shipped to UK. That’s ashamed. Otherwise, I will have dancing around the room like mad.

Like a coffin ayy

That’s fine, it is not a first world problem. 

 

About work, it is very tiring sometimes, especially when I am a woman, but work like man. Can you imagine the effort to do that, for instance to unscrew the bolt? I am not talking about the typical bolt you see at DIY shop, this is the bolt for tool that is used to make a hole in deep down in subsurface.

 

For female, the effort could be double, triple, or quadruple compared to male. I am not kidding.

 

Anyway, that’s is different story I will share later.

 

I just want to share what Aberdeen looks like. 

 

I think that’s it for now. Take care guys, and Assalamualaikum Dunia.

 

P/S - The people here is very helpful, they know I hardly understand Doric. So, they are helping me to learn Doric. For a start, they call me "Toon" :D

 

Quick Life Update 5

Salam w.b.t and hello folks.

 

How are you guys been doing? Alhamdulillah, I am doing fine. It is nearly end of January, and I haven't post anything new since early of this year. Thus, in this entry, I will make it short and sweet.

 

BOSIET, HUET, and other survival thingy

 

I have completed all the survival trainings last week. The course took 5 days, and it was great. I learned a lot of things, basically, like, "How to keep myself in one piece if something happen offshore?".

 

With the completion of the training, I officially can go work offshore, specifically North Sea (Yuhuu). On the last day of training, I had to escape from the helicopter that made water landing. There were several situations (7 or  8 simulations, I forgot), controlled and uncontrolled water ditching. In the uncontrolled water ditching, the helicopter completely capsized and we had to free ourselves (HUET).

For me, it was quite scary experience. I was struggling a bit. When that happened, you have to think and act fast as well as don’t panic. In the simulations, we had one instructor with us in the chopper and two divers standby in the pool.

 

I do ask myself, if in reality, can I manage to escape safely? I hope all will go well.

 

"When do you want to come home?"

 

That is the question I always get from people; colleague, friends, and my mother. Honestly, I don’t know. That’s the question which I don’t really have a definite answer.

 

I haven't got any plan when I want to come back to Malaysia, for holiday of course. For now, money limitation, as well as job. With the current downturn in oil and gas industry, it makes me a little bit nervous to take things for granted, when everybody else is fighting. Yeah, I think I will come back at some point, but not at the nearest time.

 

Miss

 

When you are far from family, you will miss a lot of family moments. I kinda feel left out sometimes, but I think it is normal. It is similar situation when you are studying at boarding school, the difference is this time, the distance is thousands of miles.

 

Worry

 

I do feel worry about the future, particularly Malaysian future. You can see, the leaders are fail to fulfill their responsibilities truthfully. A lot of issues rise here and there, crimes, unemployment level, cost of living getting pricey from day to day, more and more pampered new generations, ignorance people, and many more.

 

When scrolling down the Facebook, various aspects can be seen. We, Malaysian are easily sidetrack by many unimportant issues. Like, Dilwale, Qu Puteh sponsorship, entertainment, and other crappy things. And, we forgot to focus on more paramount things, for example, " what is the future look like for our next generation". I don’t say I am so responsible person, but if you can see, that we are so busy looking at bits and pieces of useless things.

Malaysia, tanah tumpahnya darahku

Even though I am not in Malaysia, I feel sorry and afraid for those who are struggling just to live in Malaysia. One day, I could be one of those who are struggling to live every day and I don’t fancy that idea.

 

I think that’s all for now folks. Take care and Salam w.b.t.

 

 

P/S - "Manusia terlalu perlu berkelompok, Kalau bersendiri serasa mati" ~ Levitasi

2015, In A Nutshell

Salam w.b.t and hi all.

How are you guys been doing? Alhamdulillah, I am doing fine here. As we all know, 2016 is just around the corner. Time flies fast, I mean, really fast.

Time is gold. En route to Aberdeen from Paris

I remember the time I happy, cried, disappointed for various of things. The memories are still fresh, like it just happened yesterday.

A lot of things have happened. A lot of things have changed. Well, we are not living in a static world, are we?

In my head, I have many things to share on this blog but as usual, I don’t know what to start with. Thus, I think I will just share the highlights of events happened in my 2015 calendar.

 

Start working with SLB

It was exhaustive wait. People might know I am working in Aberdeen, but not everyone knows, how? After Australia, they changed my posting to Indonesia. Unfortunately, my work Indonesia visa did not approve as I did not meet the age requirement. I was 23 at the time. Then, the recruiter made drastic changes, he changed my segment and the posting location. I need to go for all the interview processes, all over again. As they can't simply assign me without knowing my capabilities.

I went to Labuan, again. Hehehe…I took it as a vacation.

Sunset view from staff house in Labuan

Making new friends

I make new friends. I work at Sepen, I make new friends there. You know what, during my last day of employment I cried. A colleague said to me, "Chill man, you just work 6 months here. So, chillex". Hahaha…



My last meeting with Sepen folks

Also, I make new friends in Paris. All are SLB new hired, we met in Paris during OFS-1. I never be in one room with so many nationalities, around 20 nationalities from around the world. Only me from Malaysia. I was quite scare at first, like my English is not so fluent. But, things sorted out well.

The largest batch in 2015 for EAF geomarket, they said

I have new friend here, her name is Kanoon. We are based in Aberdeen but stay at different staff house. Despite of different segment, we contact each other as we are still trying to settle down in Aberdeen. Actually, got several other trainees posted to Aberdeen, but I don’t have the pictures with them.

Me and Kanoon, she is from Thailand

I am sure I will meet more people in the future. I need to improve my social skills and also English, seriously. Haish…I am so not good at mingling around with people.

Miss old friends

I miss my friends, all of my friends although I am not being nice to everyone. I did not have a chance to meet up before I depart to the UK. Seriously folks. I miss you guys. All of you. I don’t want to specify the names, because it will be a very, very long list.



Friends

Therefore, I am extremely grateful and over the moon when some old friends randomly PM on Facebook. I really mean it. You know, when you are far from home, and your friends message to say hi, it is a great feeling. The feelings are like, "Owh man, this person still remember me. What a surprise!", "I have someone to talk to. Yuhuu!!".

Hahaha

Well, I know it is from Facebook, but still it is a great thing when the person still has guts to say hi to others.

 

New place, new environment, and being far from home

Home is where the heart is.

I don’t know how to describe this. But my adapting skill are being test to a whole new level. Freezing cold weather, sunlight for less than 5 hours a day, cultures, job, Scottish accent, foods, and many more. It is not easy I am telling you.

Apart from weather, their Scottish accent is quite a challenge for me

I am still adapting and it is challenging.

Despite of all the challenges, I always pray that I will never forget my responsibilities as His servant, my responsibilities as a daughter of my mother, and always stay down to earth. If I am changing, I hope that I am changing in a good way to become a better person.

Feel a "little bit" homesick at the moment

Experienced various of feelings

 

2015 is quite emotional year for me. Hahaha…I experienced various of feelings and emotions throughout the year compared to years before. I learn from the experiences, which kind of helping me to become a mature adult. Wihihihihi

Smile, do and pray for the best

Resolutions

I am learning from the past. I am drafting my 2016 resolutions, in my head. Hahaha….I haven't make my resolutions for the next year. Aiyaa….

But I have a personal diary already. My sister, angah gave it to me as a present. Wahaha…I am sure having a diary is a good start, isn't?

One iron woman, three daughters



I think that’s all I have on my mind at the moment. I hope we all will be successful in everything we do, and achieve success in this world and hereafter, InsyaAllah.

 

So folks, that’s it for now. I will write again in the future. As usual, take a good care of yourself.

 

Salam w.b.t and chow!

 

P/S - Great things are not easy to achieve, need a special formula and most important thing is PATIENCE

 

Quick Life Update 4

Salam w.b.t and hi all.

I did not post anything in last month. A lot of things have happened since last month, and I confused and too busy to think on what topic I want to write.

Thus, I think in this entry I will make it simple and sweet. Just in case anyone unsure, I am in Melun, Paris. Some of you may already know from my Facebook. I am here for one week, and today is the second last day.

1. I left my position as Project Engineer at Sepen Engineering. My last day of employment was on November 28.


2. I received my passport with visa to work in my assignment country on November 30. It was really, really close as I was due to leave Malaysia on December 6.


3. On December 6, I spent most of my time in flight. It was the longest flights I ever taken yet in my life. From KL, it was nearly 8 hours and I transit in Dubai for 2 hours. Then, from Dubai I departed to Paris and it took 8 hours as well. It was supposed to be 7 hours, but got a drunk woman, sat in front row of me, and she was not fit to fly. The crews took time to bring her out and to remove her baggage from flight. The situation was insane, I thought I will only see it in the movies. Anyway, I used Emirates Airline throughout the journey.


4. The jetlag I experienced was quite bad. I felt dizzy, headache, difficulties to sleep, and blur for like the next two days. But it was fine then.


5. I will leave Paris on 12 December to depart to my assignment location. I will share my location, later. Hehehe…


6. Also, I have a new wisdom tooth. It was painful like mad last week, but this week it is getting better. Hopefully, the tooth will be well behave from now on. I think I need to take care my personal health really seriously from now. Yes, no more taking personal health for granted.



SLB ELC, Melun

What else…I think that’s all for now. Just so you know, I could not share too details on what I am doing and what I experienced as the company put some restrictions on the information that can be revealed to public. It is not I am stingy, it just that my responsibilities to obey the rules and I don’t feel like creating any troubles.

Besides, the IT people in the company can access my laptop remotely. It is crazy, right….Haha…

Yes, I am publishing this entry from my-brand-new-SLB-laptop :)

I think that’s all for now. If you want to ask anything, just drop me a line. Catch you later, folks. Take care and chow!

Salam w.b.t.

P/S - The food here is nice, got halal at the accommodation as well at ELC. I am well-fed, so no argument here why I don’t look thin. 

Personal Diary

Salam w.b.t and hi all.

It is Mid of November, then December will come. So how are you guys doing? Unrelated, right? Hahaha…I am doing fine, well, great actually. Early of this month, I was quite sick, after taking some medications, I am doing fine, still recovering though.  :)

Believe it or not, 2015 is nearly comes to its end and 2016 is approaching. Time flies fast. In 2015, I did not list any resolution. Why, you may ask. The sole reason is, I was dumb.

Therefore, to avoid my poorly unintelligent manner from continuing, I am planning to make some resolutions. Of course, I will not share it now. I will share it later (may subject to change), but first of all, I will need to buy a personal diary.

Yeah, a personal diary.

I did make several window shopping recently, I went to bookshops to find a diary. However, all the diaries sell at the stores does not meet my taste. Well, you know…they are all standard kind of diaries. Like page with lines, months, black/dark covers, and also pages with phone numbers etc. Also, their size sometimes are too big, too small, too thick, or too thin. Too many "too-s" here.

In short, I haven't found the diary I want.

What I want is quite simple actually, "friendly-diary". Of course the diary must be friendly, I want to bring it with me to everywhere I go at anytime. Apart from that, it can be trusted.

Physically, I want the diary to looks professional, not bulky, beautiful colour (esp. the cover), and handy. For the inside pages, got months and days planner. Also, enough space for me to add any additional information on the page at any pages.

The price of the diary shall be reasonable. Well, I have to see it first, then, determine whether it is worth it or not.

If you guys know any places or websites which sell good personal diary, please let me know. I need to find it fast! Time is running out as 2016 is around the corner. 

I think that’s it for now. Salam w.b.t and take care folks.

P/S - Don't ever suggest me to buy a Tablet. 

Another Year, Another Number

Salam w.b.t and hi all.

Reaching 24 years old on the last three days, I get to know myself better.

Trust

I trust people easily, new friends and even a stranger. Yes, I am an idiot for trusting people easily. Every time I meet a new friend, I would love to think they are like a baby. You know, they are ‘white’, pure, nice and no bad side. Yeah, too ambitious right? Anyhow, that is how I want people to think of me, positive. Treat others like how we want to be treated, shall we?

Unfortunately, too much trust I give to people has taken its toll on me. Many events, but it is better to keep it to myself. My mother always advised me to be careful, different people have different heart. However, with the increase of my age, I am learning about people and from my experience. Hopefully, I will be wiser each day.

Style, Fashion, and Me.

Goodbye fashion and style. I am a cave girl. Jajajaja…

When I am angry,

When I am angry, I will be quiet. It is not I don’t have anything to say, it is I am trying extremely hard to stop bad words which are racing hard to get out from my mouth. Otherwise, I will kill others with my words, which I don’t fancy to.

When I am envy,

When I am envy to a specific person, I would not talk to that person for a certain amount of time. I would say I am taking some time to persuade or "pujuk" my heart. Weird, right? That’s how woman deals with her broken heart, I guess.

When I am waiting,

I cannot deal with a lateness or waiting for someone/something that is late. My blood will be pumped very, very, very fast when this happen. Impatient, yes I am. But, when you said meeting at 3 pm, 3 pm it is. It is not that at 3 pm you just started moving your ass from your chair. Understand?

I am stubborn.

This is a fact. I can tolerate on certain things, and also got certain things which I could not tolerate. For example, when you force me to do something I don't want. Let me give you an example, a colleague asked me to go somewhere to monitor the project progress. This fella kept forcing me, I don’t want. When I said I don’t want, means I don’t want. Period.

Anyway, I don’t blame this fella, it is in my DNA to against when people pushing me. But, it takes some arts if you want me to do something which against my willingness. People who understands me know the arts I mentioned.

I am not good in terms of social life

I am not good at maintaining relationship with others. I don’t know why, but when I befriended with a similar person for a long time, I will get boring. Let say, I meet that person every single day for six months straight, I will be boring. Seriously dull. I need to meet people, meet new people. I still got friends, but not many. Anyway, based on an online personality test, I am an introvert kind of person.

I think that online test was a fake. So, dear my future husband if you are reading this, believe me, the test was not genuine.

Routine

Falling into same routine every single day will kill me slowly. Nevertheless, at the moment I am trying my best to make myself calm and composed. I would love to see and experience something extraordinary every single day. So that I can reflect what I have gone through before I go to sleep and think what can be done better next time.

I think that’s all I want to share about myself. Some may take this entry as a way to understand me better, like understanding the reasons why Atiqah is so annoying. Some others may take this as disadvantage to manipulate me. Yeah, whatever.

Either way, I hope you have fun reading this. Hehehe…

Salam w.b.t and chow!

P/S – Who got extra money and don’t know how to spend it? Please, bank it to my account. I need money. PM me for details J