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Published: October 16th 2007
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As a budget-conscious traveller, I'm always on a lookout for cheap bargains. This time, I managed to find coach tickets between Slough and Birmingham for £1 one-way (thanks to National Express' funfares). After booking a return ticket (total £2) for myself, I asked my friends to see who wanted to join me. However, when my friends go into the National Express website, there were no more £1 tickets, and the price had increased to £4 one-way. In the end, only 2 friends, Wanqin and Yanping, were interested.
The 3 of us decided to make the trip to Birmingham a day-trip (meaning we went to Birmingham in the morning and returned to Slough in the evening on the same day.) We chose to go on 6th Oct, as it's a Saturday and most shops and markets in Birmingham would be open. (Actually, our main aim of this trip was shopping rather than sightseeing.... Haha.)
We met at Slough Bus Station at 07:15, and catch the 07:30 National Express coach to Birmingham. The journey took 2 and a half hours, and we slept all the way (because we slept late last night and woke up early this morning). Arriving at Digbeth
Coach Station and walking out onto the street, our first impression of Birmingham was a grim industrial city... The buildings around the coach station were dull, and some buildings were dilapidated and old. Walking along the streets, we felt that the Birmingham's glory during the Industrial Revolution had long faded into oblivion. However, once we approached the Bullring, our impression of Birmingham improved drastically. The Bullring (a big shopping mall) is the most cheerful building that I have seen ever since I set foot in the UK. It's new, it's BIG, and it's COOL. The exterior wall facing St Martin Church and Park Street was a visual surprise as the curvy wall was covered with thousands of circular metallic discs that set an interesting contrast with the Gothic-style St Martin church opposite. The interior was equally impressive, with a dynamic and fluid interior design (reminds me of Singapore's Vivocity), plenty of natural lighting on the top floor, and an impressive number of shops offering a great variety of items and services. In the middle of the mall there's a giant bronze sculpture of a bull (because long long ago the area was used for bull-baiting, hence the name of the
Our first glimpse of Bullring
The curvy exterior is COOL... place is "Bullring").
Below Bullring and beside St Martin Church, there were several markets - an outdoor fruits & vegetable market, an indoor market, and a large covered market known as the famous Rag Market. We walked through the markets, only to be amazed by the sheer variety of items sold and the incredibly low prices of the items. After a quick walk through the markets, we decided to go to Victoria Square first for some sightseeing before returning to the markets for our heavy retail therapy. (We definitely wouldn't want to carry all our purchases to Victoria Square and back...)
Before we go to Victoria Square, we went to the tourism centre below the Rotunda (a tall cylindrical building) to get maps and brochures. On our way to Victoria Square, we walked past the small Chinatown. We explored The Arcadian Centre, a entertainment complex with eateries, shops, cinema, and a dedicated Chinese shopping street. We also passed by a Chinese restaurant which offered cheap lunch buffets. (The queue outside the restaurant was unbelievably long.) When we arrived at Victoria Square, we were awed. The square was gorgeous and it was a total contrast from the grim region
around Digbeth coach station. Flanked by the majestic Council House, Town Hall, Old Post Office and other historical buildings, Victoria Square boasts a wonderful fountain, and some impressive statues and sculptures. Behind the Town Hall is Chamberlain Square, another spacious plaza flanked by the Museum & Art Gallery and the Central Library.
After a crazy round of photo-taking, we decided to go back to the Bullring. On the way we walked along New Street (one of the main shopping streets in Birmingham) and we explored some of the shops. While my friends Wanqin & Yanping were looking at clothes in H&M, I went to explore Pallasades (a shopping mall on top of New Street Station) and bought some cheap books. Back at Bullring, we embarked on our heavy retail therapy. We went to the outdoor fruits and vegetable market, and bought as many fruits and vegetables that we could carry. (Fruits and vegetables were dirt cheap in that market. 10 apples for 50p! 3 big bunches of banana for £1! One box of blueberries for 30p!) Later, Wanqin & Yanping went to look at clothes, while I went to another market and bought lots of cheap chocolates.
We
met again at 17:30, and we made our way to Digbeth coach station to catch our bus back to Slough. Along the way, we went into a Chinese supermarket and bought some Chinese groceries. (However the stuffs here were more expensive than London Chinatown or Wing Yip Superstore.)
Our coach departed Birmingham at 18:45 and we slept throughout the 2.5 hour journey back to Slough... (We were indeed tired after a heavy dose of sightseeing cum retail therapy.)
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