Dundee Exploration

Dundee, as I have heard from the security of University of Abertay, is the sunniest city in Scotland. Not sure if this is true, but the rain duration in this city seems unbelievably short. Sometimes it only lasts about three minutes. I somehow feel that my umbrella is useless here.

Since the weather is so nice, no raining and no sunshine, I walk all the time. This is not only because I enjoy walking, but also because I really enjoy the city. It looks like almost every family has their own garden, and the garden is just incredibly beautiful. Flowers of all kinds, in all colors. People here definitely have some secrets about planting and decorating. The flowers in the garden grow so well that I cannot help taking tons of photos.

Photo credited to Yi-Wei Lee

However, I still ride the bus sometimes and there is one thing I think it is important to mention. Dundee has two different bus companies, national express and stagecoach. Before riding the bus, I strongly recommend to figure out the route belongs to which bus company if you only hold one of the company’s bus pass. Try not to ride the other company’s buses will save some money. But if you do not have a bus pass, then just tell the bus driver which bus stop you want to hop off. The driver will let you know how much you have to pay and print you a receipt. Notes are accepted on the bus, so there is no need to worry if you don’t have enough coins.

Photo from Google Images

Buses are not the only transportation system you can see in Dundee. This city has so many cars that I actually worry about bumping into a car someday, especially some drivers always forget to use turn signals. Also, because of Dundee’s geographical position, sitting exactly on the bank, the scenery of its harbor is ineffably amazing. So unsurprisingly, Dundee has a well-developed fishing industry and people here also have significant contributions on the shipbuilding industry. The ship of great renown that everyone will first thinking of, must be RRS Discovery. This is one of the attractions that you would never want to miss. RRS, Royal Research Ship, was the last wooden ship built in Britain and made a successful journey to Antarctic.

Photo credited to Yi-Wei Lee

There was a small museum introduced the RRS journey and what was found in Antarctic. Then visitors would have a chance to get outdoors and to take a look of the ship. At the moment we actually got on board, our visit to RRS Discovery turned to be replete with nervousness and excitement, and that's where the story began. The ladder down inside the ship was so small and downstairs was so quiet that I believed we were the only people there. We first spent a few minutes looking for the propeller of the ship, but we couldn’t find anything. But we still found a lot of coals leaving on the floor, surely they were the power source. Then we kept walking down to the basement. I was terrified because I unexpectedly saw the waxworks of several sailor figures appeared at a few turning corners. Probably because of the darkness in the basement, those waxworks looked extremely gruesome, especially the imitated kerosene lamp were gleaming.

I told myself not to be scared by the wax figures because they weren’t real, and it works – when we walked down a corridor I saw another wax figure standing behind a guidepost, I didn’t get shocked. I felt relieved. Then the next second, I gasped because that figure suddenly started talking. “Hello,” he said. After a few seconds of pause, I realized he was a real person, may be the guide of the ship.

We said hi and turned left into a small room, I quickly talked to Ho-An in Chinese, telling her that old gentlemen totally scared me. She told me she got shocked too, because she saw that “wax figure” blinked. When I was still in such a tense condition, we already got ready to get to other rooms, so I turned around. This time, I almost screamed. The “wax figure” somehow managed to show up at the other door and he said “hello! Again!” He then introduced us a series of bedrooms and let us went upstairs, back to the sunlight.

Anyway, it was actually a very interesting visit to RRS discover, although I feel the ship is pretty much the same as a haunted house, but with more fun then what you could expect from the one in the park. I can still remember every details inside that ship, we carefully opened each food storage boxes and also looked at a lot of old stuffs. There were even a demonstration of knots. Plus the souvenir shop was really good, it sold so many whisky related products, even including whisky cakes! Since it does not require a ticket to shop there, we plan to go to the shop again before leaving Dundee, to buy some gifts for friends and families.