Fieldwork at CEH, Edinburgh

A few days after raya, we headed off to Peebles, Scotland for my fieldwork. The driving took us 8 hours and we arrived at the B&B around 10pm. Tired and hungry, we were aghast to be welcomed by a very old lady. Really old....dah bongkok tiga! She owns and runs the place all by herself! Tabik spring betul. Bila aku siasat2 (biasa la...aku kan inspektor sahab), rupanya umur dia dah 81 tahun! Larat dia runs the 2-storey B&B sorang2.....

The room was masssive, with high ceiling (ala2 Edwardian/Victorian style?) and full of character. The furnitures were large to compensate for the big room. Terasa lavish pun ye jugak. We had full English breakfast (minus the sausages), cereals and puddings, in the morning. Not bad la. Cumanya puddings tu aku rasa from the tinned one so memang agak kureng le.

Welcome to Scotland!

English border

Rest area at the Scottish Border

Northumberland, among the most beautiful in England

Alia got her own bed at the B&B - not 1 but 2 ! White and fluffy.

English style B&B. Antique furniture and lace everywhere. Yang tak best, katilnya kecik sebab we got 3 single bed...so mama and ayah share the same bed, Alia got 2 to choose from!

Posing depan B&B tue....

Backyard garden at the B&B. Full of roses of different varieties.

White bench for a relaxing afternoon....
The view was spectacular

Here we are...in Peebles

Old town of Peebles

After having our breakfast we drove off to the Whim bog. Researchers from Centre of Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) have been conducting the research since 2000. So I will utilize the ready-made respond of algae towards diferent treatments of wet and dry nitrogen deposition. Senang sebab tak payah tunggu bertahun-tahun untuk tengok result, susah sebab kena datang lagi next year for the transect study and kena kira algae tu individually under the microscope. The next day, we went to CEH head office in Edinburgh for data analysing tapi malangnya they were reluctant to let me anywhere near their hi-tech microscope 'cos their technician was off sick that day. Abis camno? Makcik pun blah le....pegi duduk kat Travelodge and berkurung kat situ, siapkan report. Even so, sempat le jugak jalan2 sikit.

Lady at work...sejuk giler ni!

Me and my acting supervisor.......

Tengah mengorek algae off the peat bog. Yang macam rumput tu ialah Calluna vulgaris, common species in heathland ecosystem.

Ibunya tertonggeng2 bekerja, anaknya sibuk berposing.

One for the album

Sempat le kami jenguk Royal Botanic Garden kejap....siangnya berkurung in the hotel room je...buat keja.

Taman oh taman

This part of the garden, bau wangi......

Impressive! Mesti susah nak maintain kan..tingggiii

Tropical glass house kat belakang nun tapi dah tutup so bergambo je le....

Alia the butterfly

Penat berjalan, bertenggek plak.

Then esoknya sempat gak kami pegi Heriot-Watt university, tempat hubby blaja dulu. Hajat di hati nak gi jumpa his ex-supervisor...saja la nak say hello but (as expected), he was not in. So kami melilau in the area je.....

School lama hubby

Tasik kat depan school

Anak daraku yang suka berposing






With one of the co-founder, Mr Watt.

Sepanjang kat Scotland, kami makan kebab and masak nasi kat hotel. We brought along our old rice cooker since my hubby cannot live without rice. Berasap2 bilik hotel tu....takpe la, janji kenyang perut suka hati. Oh, for those yang nak tour Edinburgh, dengan 3 pounds bus ticket you have unlimited ride around Edinburgh for the whole day. Parking space was a nightmare so baik naik bas. We all hari tu tak sempat sebab last day baru perasan offer ni.


Jumpa lagi!