London part three

May 22-30, 2009

Finally satisfied my dim sum craving at Chinatown. Gladys and I met up with her friend Michelle and her German friend at Harbor City (I think that was what the restaurant was called) and had lunch there. Pretty decent and in my opinion, comparable to dim sum you get from Crystal Jade in Singapore. Three cheers for Cantonese chefs!

After lunch, we walked along Shaftesbury Ave towards Piccadilly and then I honestly cannot remember what we did for the rest of that day. I think we had dinner at Belgo’s, a German/Belgian pub near Covent Garden where you can pay according to the time you entered (5-6.30pm) and the food is really good there. Either that or we had fish and chips at Endell Street. My memory of dinners from six months ago fails me.

The next day however was pretty eventful. We made our way to Leicester Square and bought tickets for Les Miserables. It was a chilly morning and we took refuge at Pret and had breakfast there. I prefer the hot chocolate there to Paul’s because it is not too thick. And the jalapeno chicken wrap from Pret is fantastic. Eventually Dylan and Nat made it to Leicester Square and they were in the TKTS queue when we met up with them.

Next up was a walk to Trafalgar Square and into the National Gallery. I am now officially immune to art galleries, museums and such.

Nat, Dylan, Gladys and I at Trafalgar Square

Lunch was at St Martin's Cafe in the Crypt

And dinner was at Belgo's again.

Excellent excellent excellent musical.

Gladys’ last day

The next morning, Gladys and I were having breakfast at Paul’s while waiting for Yuanting and Kenny to arrive from San Francisco. They arrived at Gloucester just as we ordered our brekkie so I went to get them and walked with them to the hostel.

Gladys had the afternoon to walk around before getting to the airport in the evening. And it was her birthday on the 29th May so she chose to celebrate it over duck rice at Four Season’s in Chinatown. That done, the afternoon included braving the drizzle and winds at Trafalgar Square and the Westminster area.

We contemplated checking out 10 Downing Street and also perhaps getting to Oxford/Bond for a bit of shopping. Eventually though we headed back to the hostel so Gladys could get ready to leave for the airport. I accompanied her to the airport and said our goodbyes while she was at the tax rebate queue and went back to Gloucester for dinner with Yuanting and Kenny at Nando’s.

Borough Market

After hearing the rave reviews I had given to Borough Market, Yuanting and Kenny decided to pay it a visit and of course, I was going to join them. I was mildly disappointed though because there were less shops on a weekday and the atmosphere just wasn’t the same as Saturday but the main shops were there nonetheless.

Considerably less people on a weekday

Yuanting and Kenny had a wheat grass drink but no way was I going to have that

I opted for apple cider instead.

it didn't smell that bad really

freshly made sangria and pimms and fresh paella!

Now, I’ve been reading about the decline of the the wet market in Singapore. If the wet markets in Singapore were anything like Borough Market, I’m pretty sure they will do better than supermarket chains.

The three of us then made our way along the south bank of the river towards Tower Bridge and the Tower of London but by the time we got to the Tower of London, it was not far from the last entrance so we thought why rush it and decided to come back the next day and not go to Buckingham Palace as originally planned.

Yuanting and Kenny’s last day

May 29th, the day Yuanting and Kenny were flying back to Singapore and I would be alone again, for one night before leaving for Madrid the following day. We had originally decided to do Buckingham Palace but had to choose between that or Tower of London and it was the latter that won out.

There were little tents set up in the lawn and guides dressed in medieval costumes like there was a fair going on. It was pretty fun to hear them talk about the olden days but we were really there to join the tour given by the yeomen who protect the tower.

Tower of London

helmut looks ridiculous, i hope it works

totally in character now

our yeoman guide

The White Tower

So the funny thing is everyone on the little tour seemed more interested in Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn than anything else. I guess people always love a little scandal. Plus their story is currently making the rounds in movies and TV shows (The Other Boleyn Sister and The Tudors, etc).

I was more fascinated by the prospect of getting to see the crown jewels. Before that though, was an explanation of the ravens that live in the courtyard and how legend has it that if the ravens leave, the monarchy will tumble. I wonder what Queen E II really feels about that. Well, if I was a raven and I was getting fed chunks of red raw meat from the royal kitchen, of course I wouldn’t leave.

Tudor architecture and the ravens

Inside the White Tower, we got to see an exhibition about Henry VIII and his costumes, battle gear and all that, and even the royal latrine. And in the tower that houses the crown jewels, we were treated to footage of the jewels being used during ceremonies. Oh, of course we got to see the jewels too. And we were truly awestruck by the splendor and beauty of those jewels. No photos were allowed though. But the size of some of those diamonds… Wow.

OK, so for me, the Tower of London was one of the city’s top highlights. Incredible and definitely a must-do in London. That afternoon, we squeezed in a spot of shopping at Oxford Circus before Kenny and Yuanting packed up and left for the airport. I had been worrying about my suitcase all week because I wanted to leave it in London while I brought my backpack with me to Madrid. It finally worked out – I left it in the hostel and by God’s blessing, managed to find a kind couple (cousin’s friend’s in-laws) to pick it up and store it in their house for three months. More on that later.

So, I left London to spend the night at a hotel by London Gatwick airport, from where I would catch my early flight to Madrid…..

London part two

May 22-30, 2009

From Florence, we made our way to Pisa airport, where we caught a flight to London. Gladys was to fly back with Yuanting and Kenny after they returned from the US, but due to her company imposing a quarantine during the swine flu fiasco back in May, she had to bring her return flight forward by two days.

Back in London, this time we were staying at a hostel in Gloucester/Kensington, just a couple of blocks west of the Royal Albert Hall. Astor Hyde Park was pretty decent, relatively clean and  the rooms were sufficiently livable.

Borough Market

A visit to London is not complete without a visit to a local market. So Saturday we made our way south of the river to get to Borough Market. We had visited Portobello Market just before leaving for Paris but Borough Market was so much better. Part of it is situated under a railway track and the stalls sprawl out in a pretty orderly fashion.

I could not contain my excitement after seeing all the wonderful food that was being sold at the market. From raclette being prepared on the spot to cheese and leek quiches, and fresh scones with jam. Gladys and I immediately bemoaned our mistake of having breakfast before going to a market.

Not a fan of fresh tomatoes but these looked so amazing

gotta love the colors of the peppers

i wonder how many children in Africa can one egg feed?

legs of cured ham at a Spanish foods stall

I gotta add in retrospect that seeing the cured ham being sliced was a novelty for me. However, after my time in Spain, I realized that it really wasn’t a big deal because every bar has legs of ham hanging on the wall because they slice off the meat for ham sandwiches. It took some time for me to eventually get used to smelling and looking at the cured ham all around me in bars.

Gladys and I spent a fair bit of time at the stall pictured below. I would say that the picture explains everything. It doesn’t. Dried fruits and nuts covered not only in white, dark or milk chocolate, but yogurt too. And get this, the guys at the stall were extremely friendly too, shoving generous potions towards us to sample.

cheese mountain

i wonder how fresh these oysters really are

chocolate mountain...

...and brownie mountain

melting cheese before he scraped it over diced potatoes and voilà, you get raclette at a market

Sunday in London

Sunday started off with the 9.30am service at Holy Trinity Brompton before we made our way to Covent Garden. While there, we shopped a little bit, watched buskers… at a leisurely pace, like how Sundays are meant to be.

some people were awed by his body, some were just too scared of him

The buskers at Covent Garden were really great and we were thoroughly entertained by the string ensemble. I even bought their CD! The atmosphere at Covent Garden is lovely and it is one of my favorite places in London.

We headed to Oxford Street to window shop because we saw all these people with Primark bags. Almost every other person we saw on the street had come from Primark. We got there before it closed for the evening — not impressed. OK so the prices were really low but I didn’t see anything that I would wear so buying for the sake of buying would just mean a waste of money, and lesser luggage space.

On we walked till we got to Hyde Park. I love parks in temperate countries where you can stroll and actually enjoy the weather, as opposed to perspiring and wanting to find air-conditioning.

That evening, we met up with Dylan and Nat, friends from school. They waited for us at the Hyde Park Corner underground station and then we headed back in to Hyde Park while catching up and exchanging travel stories.

We decided to watch from Hyde Park corner towards Knightsbridge just to pass Harrods because it had already closed. We kept going and going, towards South Kensington where we had crepes for dinner. Dylan and Nat wanted to check out our hostel so we walked to Gloucester. I walked them to the underground station where they were going to catch the tube to Finchley, where their hostel was, and we agreed to meet up again.

to be continued…

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 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!