Edinburgh - Day 2

I woke up by myself at around 06:15, and dozed until the alarm at 07h00. Took a breakfast and read a bit until 08:25. The breakfast at the hotel is a hot and a cold buffet. It was not like that every morning, but increasingly during my stay at this hotel, my breakfasts would be a toast, a bowl of fresh fruits, a yogourt, and usually a tiny chocolate muffin.

I asked the guy at the reception to call a taxi. £31.20 to go to Broxburn (about 16km away). At broxburn, the driver asks me if I know where the road is. I have no idea - I just have an address. He checks on his GPS, mumbling about the lack of a postal code. I don't know if the postal code plays a good part in their driving orientation, but he could not find Westerton Road. Neither could the mechanics we asked. He turned around and took the first road, decided to drive around, but lo and behold, we immediately see a sign with my company's name, and the road name.

I go in, and find the guy I'm supposed to follow for the rest of the week. I spend the day listening, taking notes, and surfing the web.

Chop Chop logo

We leave work at 16:30, and he gives me a lift, but he was concentrated in a conversation we had a missed the exit. It was a pretty long time until the next one (roughly 5 km), and he was not familiar with the area, but he finally found his way back and he dropped me off near my hotel. I try the Chop Chop, a traditional Chinese cuisine restaurant. I got many dumplings, and a dish that - as they put it - is only available in China, but I recognized the taste from somewhere. I walk to the nearest supermarket (about a kilometer from the hotel) and buy some rasors, hair gel, and stuff like that. Six small bottles of water, and a bottle of Stella Artois Cider.

During the evening, I ordered internet from the hotel's wi-fi - that's £10 a day, £20 a week, £30 a month. Since I need it for 1.5 weeks, I take a month, cost-wise. Since it's still raining outside because of the storm, I stay in and relax a bit. I reach for the cider bottle, suddenly wondering if it has a cap openable by hand, and remember "Stella Artois". No luck here, and I don't want to go down to the reception for that. I get creative and open the bottle with my belt buckle.

No jetlag, and went to bed at 22:30.

Edit: Added text and images.