London 9 May 2009

So our second day in London saw us heading to Portobello Market at Notting Hill. London’s street markets are well known and this one didn’t disappoint. With a bit of good timing, we had the whole morning to explore the market and then catch the Thameslink rail to Luton airport for our easyjet flight to Paris CDG.

We got off at Notting Hill tube station and there were hordes of visitors on their way to the market too. We didn’t bother with checking the map or street signs and went straight with the direction the crowd was heading.

Following the crowds to the start of Portobello Road

The girls at a store selling quirky souvenirs and memorabilia.

Yuanting at Portobello Road

Gladys, Yuanting and Kenny veer off the beaten track.

The girls loved the "pretty houses".

Too much Red for the eyes to bear.

Portrait of a very entertaining street busker.

We didn’t manage to walk all of Portobello Road, keeping in mind that we had to head back to King’s Cross, grab our bags and catch the train to Luton. We would be returning to London after Florence before Gladys flies back on the 27th, and Yuanting and Kenny on the 29th. Pretty packed, our first two days in London but more relaxing days to come.

London

May 7-9, 2009

I arrived in London from Perth via HK, checked into The Clink Hostel on King’s Cross Road. I will not recommend it to anyone unless you don’t care about how small the room is. I waited for my three friends to arrive, and they did at about 9ish I think. After depositing the bags in the room and ranting about how claustrophobic the room made us feel, we left for Sainsbury at Angel to get supplies, i.e. water, and chocolates for the ladies, then decided to call it a night.

Observation of the day: London is dusty and really cold at night (from strong winds). All four of us had dust enter our eyes, or maybe pollen… We weren’t sure.

The next morning, we walked to the British Museum, it was Gladys’ and my second visit. She was there in 2005 while on a semester’s exchange at UCL, and I was there for Spring Break in 2007. The exhibits hadn’t changed much, probably some new exhibits here and there.

Yuanting and Gladys at the British Museum

We ambled around a little, visiting the Egyptian and Japanese galleries, as well as some others, Roman and Greek ones I believe. We were already pretty exhausted from walking (King’s Cross to the museum) and knew that we’ll see more history and art in Paris/Rome so decided to leave.

Thereafter, we strolled through Covent Garden, stopping for chocolates at Thorton’s and then to Leicester Square to buy tickets. Tickets to Les Mis were sold out so we chose Wicked, which I had watched in Chicago in 2007 but didn’t mind watching again.

We then took the underground to Oxford Street where the girls wanted to check out prices of bags and whatnot. Browsed at Zara, H&M and Topshop and some others before settling for coffee at Paul.

Kenny, Yuanting and Gladys at Paul on a coffee/tea break.

I can’t remember now what we had for meals and I’m not the type who snaps food but I will try to remember as best as I can in future cities.

The set of Wicked before showtime

Our first day in London, with many more to come at a second leg but for the next day, we were headed to Portobello Market at Notting Hill and then on a train to Luton for a flight to Paris….

Perth

My second day in Perth started late as I slept in, dashing plans to head to the beach. David and Estelle cooked lunch and we ate, after which they headed to classes while I left to explore the city. I took a bus and dropped at the Esplanade bus-port to check out the scenes by the Swan River.

The Swan Bell Tower

The bell tower and ferris wheel

Bank of the Swan River

Thereafter, I met David and Estelle again in the city to catch Fast & Furious. Then we had dinner at this Malaysian coffee shop and had delicious zi char dishes — butter chicken and this toufu dish that David recommended. Another recommendation of his was overpriced bubble tea! Haha, mine came up to almost $4 after adding pearls.

The next day, I walked along Eric Street to the beach, about half an hour from David’s place. The weather was ideal and approaching the beach was an experience in itself as the blue horizon came into view. The beach is really something Aussies have every right to boast about. It brought a rush of excitement.

On Eric St towards the beach

After the beach, we had lunch at Nando’s, a Portuguese flame-grilled chicken place. See, both David and Estelle love chicken thigh, and not the breast meat because it’s too dry. So they were more than happy to have me there to finish the breast meat because I prefer that to the juicy (fatty) thigh. And after lunch, we headed to King’s Park, which was nice and relaxing.

Group pic at King's Park

Life imitates art.

The sun was setting and after some funny moments like the one above, we headed home so I could pack for my flight to London. I was craving fish and chips so we tried to get some at Fremantle but it was closed already so we settled for Little Creatures again. This time, mussels, apple cider for me, and frites, not forgetting pizza.

After dinner, David dropped me off at the airport and I checked in at the Cathay Pacific desk for my flight to London, via HK.

Perth and London brief update

A quick update about Perth — Day 2, walked along Swan River and downtown while waiting for David and Estelle to finish their classes and then we went to watch a movie, followed by dinner at a Malaysian place and bubble tea. Day 3, I headed out to the beach near David’s place while he was at school and then we met up with his friend and had lunch at Nando’s and I came back to pack, and dinner was supposed to be fish and chips but most places were closed because we headed out after 8, so had dinner again at Little Creatures before David dropped me off at the airport.

Photos to come with the next post.

Now sitting at a cafe in King’s Cross, London, after a close-to-24-hours journey. The Perth-HK flight took seven hours plus. I can’t believe that Cathay Pacific entertainment runs on a schedule and you can’t start and stop as and when you want! I caught Milk and Bride Wars. An hour plus at HK airport where many Asians were wearing face masks. But surprisingly only one passenger on the HK-London flight was wearing a mask compared to quite a few from the Jetstar Singapore-Perth flight.

Anyway there was an empty seat next to me on the HK-London flight, which made it more bearable. Couldn’t really sleep more than half an hour each time and this time I was quite irritated with the entertainment onboard. The schedule said The Reader was showing and I was looking forward to catching that. But they showed other things instead. I was so bored during the 12 hour flight that I watched Benjamin Button twice, an episode of Friends and even Little Mermaid!! But anyway, Cathay Pac’s service standards are good. The cabin crew brought juice and water once every hour! They even offered apples, peanuts, muesli bars, cup noodles in addition to that. Northwest Airlines didn’t do that on my last long-haul flight.

Anyway the next three weeks will be jampacked with sightseeing in London, Paris, Rome and Florence, and London again so maybe more brief updates will follow. I start a Cambridge English Language Teaching to Adults course in June, and I will be living in Madrid for six weeks, so will have more time for longer posts then. Alright then, till the next post!

Send off and Perth Day One

Sunday May 3

An eventful day that passed pretty quickly. Most Sundays do. Had lunch in church and Janelyn dropped by with KM and Kaela to say bye. The poor girl, her voice is so raspy from coughing but it sounds really funny to hear it so low-pitched. Had to cajole her into taking a photo with me cos in her own words, she was shy. I wonder who she learned to say that from!

Elizabeth, Kaela and me in church

Arrived at the airport early, checked in two kilos over the limit but didn’t have to pay for extra – thank God. Had drinks over chats in the canteen and then hurriedly said goodbye. Note to self: should arrive at boarding gate at least 20 minutes in advance, if not half an hour. Apologies to those I didn’t get to speak to much, but thanks very much for coming to see me off.

Send-off party at airport

Send-off party again

Pretty uneventful flight. It took five hours and while Jetstar provided a complimentary bottle of water, it wasn’t enough and I left my wallet up in the cabin so didn’t buy anything. Had a long chat with the lady beside me about Singapore, Australia, journalism, media, politics… She’s in the publishing business herself and it was an interesting chat really!

David met me at the airport and we were off to his place, where I’m staying at for three nights. Nice place, walking distance to the beach, which I’ll check out tomorrow. The weather is chilly at night, about 10ºC when I arrived. Nice.

Late start to Monday. Decided to go to Whiteman Park where there’s a wildlife park. There were enclosures where visitors can get up close to the animals, there was an Australian farm show etc. The sun got really hot though the temperate is in the mid-20s in the daytime. Little cloud cover and the sun is as scorching as Cambodia’s, just not as warm when shaded.

Upclose with the kangaroos

Rolling in the damp soil

Do you know they sell emu burgers at the wildlife park cafe?

Kookaburra sits on the ol' gum tree...

Have you ever seen a koala bear on the ground?

With David and the koala bear named Dominic

Farm show - dog rounding up the herd

Only way to differentiate the sheep from a sweater is the legs that stick out

Bunnies for sale: A$20

Petals the buffalo

Estelle was fascinated by the ponies

Literally a chocolate factory

We had a late lunch at the Margaret River Chocolate Company, where they make their own chocolates (many types too!) on site. Wanted to visit a winery but most of them were closing already. It’s really slow, the life in Perth. Even tourist attractions close at 5pm and Mondays are kind of even slower. I hear Fridays are unofficial half-days. Really, how unproductive!

We headed back and then out again much later for a late dinner at Little Creatures, a brewery in Fremantle. The place is huge and really atmospheric, with cheerful and laidback waitstaff. We had frites, lamb pizza and mussels. We might come back again for fish and chips next door, I think.

Little Creatures

The plan tomorrow is to head out to the beach in the morning. And explore the city center while David and Estelle are at school. A slow and relaxing start to the seven months ahead so far.