Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery (BMAG) is the largest local authority museum service in England.

If you ever read the news, you should be aware that pieces of Anglo Saxon gold hoard were found in the field of Staffordshire and soon been kept and displayed in Birmingham Museum.

Initially, the treasures are to move to the London Museum, but after the councils received enough donations from the public, the UK's largest haul of Anglo-Saxon treasures are able to be remain in West Midlands region.

There are plenty of arts ranges from the 10th century up to 20th century. Picture above is an example of the 14th century art gallery.

This is a grand piano. My first time seeing such an old piano. At first I thought it was a table or something.

There are local histories of Birmingham city as well. It tells about how Bullring was earlier and how it leads to reformation.


p/s: Yes, there are mummies in the museum. A real mummy!

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A day before I left Birmingham to Nottingham, we had dinner in Frankie & Benny's.

I ordered a pork chop dish as I have never really try one before. Although I have seen many back then. :P It was pretty good and worth your penny.

A trip to Birmingham is never complete, unless a picture with my brother here.

Lastly, this is Henry. He is well-known vacuum cleaner here in England. Almost every household has a 'Henry'. =)

University of Birmingham

I went to look for Ernest last week in Birmingham as he had constantly asked me “when are you coming over to get your things?” Haha, I am sorry for the trouble.

I had Moon to bring over some food and few pieces of clothing from Malaysia when she came to UK in the early February. As I have been busy doing my project during the first half of the year, I did not make it to meet them.

Not really an ideal trip, but I had Ernest show me around his university, museum, play mah-jong, and watching movie while drinking some beer at home. We are not able to go any other places due to “particular” reason.

Birmingham University located in Birmingham, West Midlands of England. 35 minutes away from Staffordshire. It is indeed elegant and comfortable.

They have all these green grass land in the university itself, where we usually find in student’s hall of residence.

This is the well known Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, the tallest free-standing clock tower in the world.

Lastly, the Birmingham University’s land god. All the students pray to him before going for exam as he shall grant you the intelligence during the examination. I also paid some respect to him. *pray pray, money money*

p/s: Yeah, no more ponytail. ;)

Night in Birmingham

I went to Birmingham again for the second time during the Halloween last year. As I remember I did not talk much about Birmingham in the previous post due to insufficient of pictures. I will talk more about it here.

This is the Saint Martin's Church, Birmingham, located at the centre stage in St. Martin's Square and right beside the Bullring shopping centre. It is a neo-gothic architecture of the 18th century.

Well, the intention of going to Birmingham again it actually because we miss the roosted duck-pork rice there. It is so SPECTACULAR AND DELICIOUS !!

Something you simply cannot resist! Look at the 'char siu', 'siu yuk' and 'siu ngap'... OMG! £5.60 for each dish but it is definitely worth it.

This time we managed to stay until late evening to see the lights before heading back to Stafford.

Victoria Square, in my previous post, I took some pictures around there in the morning and this is during the night. =) As we walk further down the street, there are even more lovely places. Let the pictures do the talking.

And across the bridge...

Last but not least, a street full of bars and pubs. Nope, I did not go in. SERIOUS!!

All right, I WANTED to... but I did not. Cheers!

p/s: I will be heading down to Birmingham again soon. Haha! Ernest brought the "goods" for me from Msia. Tee-hee!

Poppy Appeal

When I first saw it was in Birmingham during the Halloween day and then I saw many lecturers were wearing it. It was definitely made me curious.

So I did some research and found out it is called the Poppy Appeal. It is The Royal British Legion (a charity organisation) that organises a fund-raising drive each year before the Remembrance Sunday, the anniversary of the end of the hostilities of the First World War.

Poppy are also used as emblems on tombstones to symbolise eternal sleep. Above is a picture taken in Birmingham that the people lay the wreath at the Cenotaph. 11th November will always be a memorable day.


p/s: For those who are still going to Poppy’s Garden, Malaysia, eternal sleep-lah! Haha... Alby Thum!!

First Visit to Birmingham

As mentioned previously, I travelled to Birmingham and meet up with Ernest there. It feels much more like city there. Well, it is a city to begin with.

We had this fantastic roasted duck, ‘char siu’ and ‘siu yuk’ rice which cost us 5 to 6 pounds in Chinatown. But it is awesomely delicious! And the portion is great.

After that we just walk around Victoria Square. Not many pictures were taken.

We saw a statue that looks like Ultraman and straight away remind us of 'Ah Fai'.

Does the building behind resemble Singapore's Esplanade?