Before I know anything, I found myself sitting on a bus heading to Manchester in the dark.
I could’ve taken the train, but booking a train ticket on the same day cost me as much as a first-class ticket to Paris. And I like to experience things, thought a 4+ hour bus ride would be fun.
It was fun, actually.
Now I am here, writing on the kitchen floor from a house located in the suburb of Greater Manchester. Messages from my WeChat remind me that tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival and I am far far away from home. It all just feels a bit unreal.
But hey, what a wonderful journey it has been! I am still pretty much reliving the days I just spent on the island of Bali in early August, with my girls. And after a whirlwind of traveling from Shanghai to Paris (epic), London, now I’ve been in Manchester for almost two weeks! Where did the time go?
As industrial as it should be, I still find the soft spots of the city and the red brick walls, they get me every single time.
Weather in Manchester is strangely amazing. I don’t mind the cold and the rain, because I want to feel like I’m in the 19th-century English classic setting. But we are just being blessed with warm sunny days and breathtaking sunsets.
I take long walks along the river and park, write poems in my head and on the paper. Time has slow down here. Shops close at 4. I cook dinner and bake cake (things I can only imagine myself doing when I’m 37 and with my three children ). I often have trouble remembering where I was, and that’s okay too.
People call you love all the time, even with their thick accent, it felt lovely.
So there you go, love, enjoy the sunny Manchester!
Manchester made me realized that London is not the whole UK, just like how people always say Shanghai is not the real China. I was living in a bubble.
But that’s why we travel right? To see things, to experience the uncomfortableness, to seek the truth.
I may or may not return to this city in the future, because nobody knows what’s gonna happen tomorrow. But I will remember the smiley Ali from the Treehouse Cafe, who gave me a discount just because she thinks I am lovely(shy). All the people who gave me the way on the roundabout when I got so confused without any signal directions. The girl at the McDonald’s wants to know where I get my jumper, and the shop owner was wondering if I was having a study break while I was getting a bottle of chocolate milk.
All in all, I had a lovely time here and you should come and experience it too if you haven’t been!
Oh, if I have to give you one advice, or rather, a warning, beware of the city bus drivers, if you don’t know the rules, they might make you cry.
Just might.
All photos by me shot in Manchester, United Kingdom.