Feruz in Cardiff

On Monday, which was a Bank holiday here, we went to a place called Big Pit with Auntie Carol and Uncle David, which is an old coal mine situated in Blanaefon. Me and my sis never knew of the existence of this place before Auntie Carol told us about it :P. Best thing of all, it's FREE! So anyway... we had to equip ourselves to go down the mine. We were given a safety helmet each, also a torchlight on the head with it's wet-cell battery, and also this thingamajig thats put on our belt along with the battery... and it weighs like 5 kg O_O. Kesian kat bebudak sebab kene bawak their own kit for an hour or so sendiri. We were made to take off all our watches and leave all the car keys and cellphones or anything that uses a normal dry-cell battery with the people there, coz they say that it the dry-cell battery may cause an exploxion underground.



We had to squeezeee into the lift, and we were brought about.. 300 feet underground. The tourguide briefed us about the pit then we made our way to a door. In the past, the doors are manned by little children aged from 6 to about 10 year old. Our guide made us switch off all our lights and imagine how it would be like for the poor kids who had to work in those days. With all the rats, roaches, bugs crawling at their feet, and the fact that they were bare footed. That was really a scary moment..really... it was pitch black and you can't even see your own hand in front of you even if you tried!

So, we went onwards and he told us about the types of dram and rails they used through out the mine. Women and teenagers used to transport the dram (which was filled with the coals and weighs to about 1 tonne each) in and out of the mines. Can you(ladies) imagine yourself pushing your car for 10 hours a day? I certainly can't...

As we went on, the guide pointed out to us what a dangerous place the mine was. 2 weeks before, a big rock fell through into the mines just as a group of tourists (like us) had turned a corner. Lucky for them no one was hurt. One of the lady with us kinda freaked out when she heard the story :P. Anyway, they had patched the place up and it's safe now (I think...)

We came to a stable area, and we were told about the horses which replaced the women and children transporting the dram. They worked all day, never saw sunlight, and when they were about 10 years old, they were brought up to the surface, for "retirement", which I have a feeling that they kill the horses and ate the meat O_O. Later on, the treatment towards the horses were better, as they were given 2 weeks at the surface to run and enjoy the sun before they were brought back down for work. Later on, the horses were replaced by the rails.We walked some more, and then we went back up to the surface and walked about the other buildings they had there.






Then we headed of to Caerphilly Castle coz both of our guests wanted to see the castle. We had a really hard time trying to find somewhere to eat! It seems that, during bank holidays, even the restaurants and shops are mostly closed... bodoh tak? Malaysia kalau time cuti lagi orang nak bukak kedai, bring in the customers, but noooo.. sini sometimes Sunday pun tanak bukak kedai... =_=

We first went to this Tavern, masuk je we were like... O_O, gelap, busuk bau asap, lantai kotor... and NO ONE MADE ANY EFFORT TO GREET US OR TAKE US TO A TABLE! We even had to take our own menus! We waited for a waiter and when they didn't come, we decided to go somewhere else instead. One of my nephew threw a big tantrum coz he was hungry and tired, but in the end we made a move and because most of the shops are closed, we had to go to Morrison's again, coz that's the only place we know that had food, and was open. I felt really bad for Auntie Carol and Uncle David...

After lunch, we split ways...My sis, the kids and myself made our way home, and Auntie Carol and Uncle David went exploring the castle.

more later!!