#X-Lab @ Singapore Discovery Centre

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Techpoint Ang Mo Kio Pitch @ The ARK

Standing within The ARK at Ang Mo Kio Technology point, the Techpoint Ang Mo Kio Pitch @ The ARK presents an innovative pitches and presenting hub. This venue is sited in the centered province of Ang Mo Kio with effective equipment that facilitate a successful event.

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Day 12: Cambridge

I set out on this quarter century trip of mine as a sort of Harry Potter pilgrimage - I mean, the whole reason why I even decided to come here was because of the HPatCC tickets that I'd bought way back in November last year. But today was a pilgrimage of a different sort: I went to Cambridge, the city in which the couple I revere most studied. Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mdm Kwa Geok Choo studied law here in the years after World War II, and I wanted in particular to see the Bridge of Sighs, because they took a photo on Kitchen Bridge with the BoS behind it. (Incidentally, they filmed the May Ball dance scene in The Theory of Everything on Kitchen Bridge too.) I reached Cambridge at about 9.10am, and I had no clue what to do or where to go. So got myself a cup of hazelnut hot chocolat from the Hotel Chocolat, which I've been meaning to try. The chocolate whipped cream is amazing. After that I went to have a poke around, and saw Great St Mary's Church, and then went back to the visitor's info centre when it opened to get an idea of what to do. I bought a ticket for punting because I wasn't about to miss it again after stupidly not doing it at Oxford. Luckily, it was cheaper to buy tickets at the centre, at least for the brand Spudwhateveritis. Yeah, I do so make a good travel blogger. Not. Then I considered going on a walking tour.there were two kinds, and I went with the one that included admission into King's College, which was the one with the famous chapel that was completed in the time space of 100 years. My tour guide was an elderly lady named Jane who is extremely well travelled and well-read, and lovely to boot. She'd been to Singapore four times already and said that she loved it. She even KNEW the fall of Singapore, and that's saying loads because I've told my friends, hey, today is Total Defence Day, and they're like, what, really? Anyway, so she brought us round to the Cavendish Laboratories, where she told us a story about a girl named Anne Bell who married a scientist as she'd promised when she was a little girl, and then their son and grandson discovered some x-ray crystallisation technique that advanced the discovery of the structure of DNA. She also told us about Corpus Christie and how the term nosey parker originated from that college because of an actual dude with the surname Parker who has a ginormous conk and went around eavesdropping on and interrupting others' conversation. Hilarious, that. And the Corpus Christie building opposite the Cavendish labs actually don't have toilets so the students living there have to go out to take their baths. And that the building is held together by mostly dirt. Then afterwards she brought us to the Eagle, which is the pub that Watson and Crick frequented. There's a window at a room at the top that's always opened, because legend has it that there was a fire and a young girl died in that room, and if the window was ever closed again the building would catch fire. It's open whatever the weather. Jane said there was once a new manager who didn't know of this practice and had shut the window. That night, the residents woke up in thick smoke - an ice machine was close to exploding. Afterwards they examined the machine and found nothing wrong with it, but the window was open. So now they've nailed it so that it can't ever shut. Then we went into the pub, where we could see the smoke and lipstick marks of the royal air force soldiers (the lipstick was contributed by their girlfriends), who'd mark the ceiling with their squadron numbers after a night of revelry and fun. Because these were men who didn't know whether they'd still be alive the next week. We saw a plaque stating Watson and Crick's achievement. Then we headed to King's College, which was founded by King Henry the VI, who intended it for the study of just 12 young men from Eton. Apparently these young men just drank and did archery practice and rode their horses on nice days and didn't have to sit for exams of any sort, and at the end of their terms they'd get a Gentleman's Degree (the king believed gentlemen shouldn't have to work). We went to the back, where we admired the river Cam and looked at the flowers. Then went into the chapel, where she told us the history of the place, built over a period of 100 years under the rein of 5 kings. Lady Margaret actually helped in it cos she asked for a service to be held in the chapel (apparently they examined her body and found her knees to be so severely damaged from all the praying she had done while alive - !!!) The ceiling was really gorgeous. And a stonemason left his face instead of a flower. Plus the Virgin Mary's face was older than it should have been. Apparently the organ had Anne Boleyn's initials cos that was back when she and the king were still matey. Jane also showed us a painting which was done only in 8 days and sold for £275K or more in the early 1900s - while another painting by the same artist went for £40+mil recently. Instead of a crucifix statue, there was a crucifiz on the painted glass. I'm ashamed to say that at that point, I was nodding off. It wasn't that she was boring, it was that I'd only slept for 6 hours and was really exhausted. She ended off, and some people asked questions, and then I went to show her LKY and KGC's photo at the BoS and she was said, "I have that photo at home!" She brought me to see it at St John's college, passing by a descendant of Sir Isaac Newton's apple tree on the way, and there she helped me take a picture of the bridge. I found out that apparently Singaporeans left the picture at the bridge and flowers, too, when LKY passed on. :'( he was never a member of St John's college, but the college choir sang at his funeral service (they happened to be in Singapore at that time). KGC was at Girton college. After I parted ways with Jane (she had to go to the bank and couldn't join me for a drink or a meal), I stumbled upon Heffers where I examined the HP merchandise they had available. But managed to restrain myself, ha! Then I got ice-cream at Jack's Gelato - per ice-cream and some strange spice flavour that I have no idea how to pronounce or spell. After that, I walked leisurely to Mill Lane, where I chatted with Winston. My punting tour would start at 3.30pm, and it was just me and a Taiwanese Canadian on the punt, as well as the punter. I feared awkwardness, but it was okay - restful silences. The punter told us about how the ducks always lose their ducklings, and he also told us how some baby swans were squashed and killed between two puns and the mother swan thereafter attacked all punts and had to be removed. :'( such a heartbreaking tale. We got to see the Wedding Cake, and the ivy that grew in abundance at the back. Boston ivy, if my memory doesn't fail me? Apparently it turns a glorious red in autumn, so I guess I'll just have to come back then. We also saw the Mathematical Bridge, where the legend is that Sir Newton constructed it purely of straight wood planks without the use of any nuts and bolts. Some Cambridge engineering students took it apart to see how it worked but couldn't put it back together again so now there're nuts and bolts. But as the punter said, if they couldn't put it back together how could they be in Cambridge? Oh - apparently Prince Charles was a student of Trinity college, and he declared that he didn't want to be treated any differently from the other students. Which was why he arrived at school in his private helicopter, and had an entire floor of the residences to himself. Apparently they had to create an agricultural course just for him; he did very poorly in his A Levels and only got in because of a letter of recommendation from his mum (the Queen). He had a batch mate who did better than him. I went to check out Peterhouse after the punting session, which is the oldest college in Cambridge, then I went to take in the lovely grounds of King's College again (the chapel was unfortunately closed for choir practice; there was to be a free service at 5.30pm which I couldn't attend cos I had to catch my train. I did hear snatches of music and singing though, which was nice. And I saw the slab of stone by the Chinese poet who attended King's College (our punter actually recited the first line of the poem Farewell to Cambridge in Chinese, which was great LOL - it went: 轻轻的我走了). I missed the bloody bus to the station and so power walked and ran back to Cambridge Station, and now I'm going to join Steph for dinner at Burger and Lobster - I CANNOT wait. All I've had today was half a Sally Lund bun, seven-eighths a packet of raspberries, a hazelnut hot chocolat, and two scoops of ice-cream. I need me some sustenance, pronto.