LONDON!!!!
It's been a pretty eventful week and I've got more to update but I'll start with my London trip first! :) It was quite a last minute decision to travel down last weekend (July 23-26) coz our test on Monday was postponed to August. So I decided to go to London alone and meet up with my cousin before she go back to M'sia. It was a short but relaxing trip...not too much sightseeing (coz I'll be going again in Sept)...beautiful weather...had some good food...and best of all awesome hospitality! :) Thanks to Audrey for being such a great host!! :) Not many pics of me coz was exploring the city alone half of the time. :)
23 July 2010 (Fri): Sheffield-London
Bought my National Express return ticket for £10, could have been cheaper if I got it earlier but it's still pretty cheap I guess. The journey took about 4.5 hours coz of Fri evening traffic.
Arriving London!! So many people and cars...felt like I just got out of kampung!!
Yea I know I'm a bit 'sam pat' to get excited over crowd, people, and hecticness...but trust me it's normal to get this 'culture shock' after being stuck in a kampung for 6 weeks!
In the tube station...a.k.a. Underground. It's just like New York's subway...but the trains here are cleaner. Imagine the entire London built on these underground.
Around Bayswater station where my cousin live. Quite a lot of chinese restaurants around that area. Both Four Seasons and Gold Mine were packed with people so we decided to 'ta pao' our dinner from Gold Mine.
Duck rice...yummyyyyy!!
24 July 2010 (Sat): Strolling around central London
Guess where all these people are heading to??
Answer: To see the Queen!!! :) O-M-G...sooooo many people at Buckingham Palace!!!! Everyone wanted to catch the 'Changing Guards' at 11.30am...of course can't really see much coz 'people mountain people sea'! Look at the 2 adults in first pic...we thought only kids do this...wrong...this shows how desperate people can be to see the guards! :p I would definitely do this if I was at Beckingham Palace...haha! :)
It's so fascinating to see such huge crowd...oh yea...welcome to London!! These are all tourists from all over the world...it's summer break + Saturday...no wonder la!
Trying to crop out the people
Buckingham Palace!
The Red Guards with their 'mo mo' hat!! These guards' job is to 'perform' everyday at 11.30am...it's more like doing a show instead of for procedural purposes.
Along the way to Big Ben
Hey Ben!!
The Houses of Parliament
Thames river & London Eye
The 'original' Eye before all other Eyes popped up.
Had lunch at this noodle place. They serve asian food and it's interesting coz they used the US take-out box concept. That was my Singapore Seafood Noodles.
Trafalgar Square & The National Gallery
People here, people there, people everywhere! Quite a lot of Europeans I guess coz I didn't understand what the people around were talking most of the time.
Picadilly Circus. Big bro asked me to come to this Lilywhites store to get him some jerseys but my mission failed. ;p
Spent an entire afternoon walking along Oxford Street. The street is just like a mall...the busiest and the most dense shopping street in central London. You can find almost all the big brands here.
Summer sales was still on so it was definitely a good time to shop. Rachel would have spent a lot of moolah if she was here..hehe! As for me, I didn't shop much but instead was observing the what shopping bags people were carrying. ;)
Her Majesty Theatre where Phantom of the Opera was showing. As usual, many people queuing to watch. I may watch this when I go again in Sept.
Planning to watch these 2 musicals too in Sept...hope I'll have enough money for these.
Dinner at Gourmet Burger Kitchen...it was gooood! :)
25 July 2010 (Sun): Strolling around central London (cont)
The streets were already busy on Sunday morning. There were a lot of red buses everywhere. People were waiting outside Primark for the shop to open...crazy right?
Went to All Souls church with Audrey for Sunday service
Chinatown in London.
Dim Sum lunch at Imperial China, Chinatown. Another yummylicious meal!! :)
Thanks Audrey for hosting me over the weekend! :)
Visited Audrey's school...she's studying medicine in University College London (UCL).
Yay...my turn to be in the pic! :)
UCL hospital, biological sciences, and anatomy dept. Erm...these are for smart people...I only see 'stars and moons' if you tell me about science. =.=
Walked from UCL to the British Museum
The British Museum. They had this South Africa Landscape exhibit outside the museum...took some photos for flowers lovers.
Inside the museum...it was huge!
The museum was so big...and I'm not really a big fan of museum...so didn't walk much. If you want me to describe about this museum...I'll say it's a museum that exhibits random things 'stolen' from all over the world...haha! :p
26 July 2010 (Mon): Byebye London...I'll be back!! :)
Boarded the bus back to Sheffield from Victoria Coach Station at 8.30am
And what a coincidence...I bumped into ChinSuey at the bus station and he was also taking the same bus to Sheffield! I haven't met him since first year of diploma and he went on to study in north London...and of so many places to meet...we actually met in London..what a small world!
So this wraps up my London trip. Proud of myself coz I managed to survive exploring London alone with my hand-drawn map, tube map, backpack and the Oyster card (from Audrey). :) Overall this was a very nice trip...mainly due to the warm hospitality...hehe!!
To sum up, London is just like New York...metropolitan city with many many people from all over the world...sometimes you don't even feel like you're in UK...but the great mix of people is what makes London interesting! :)
