still enamoured by london, edinburgh and dublin
dinner? check.
laundry? check.
uploaded photos? check.
started on backload of readings? errrrrm. that can wait for a while longer. :)
right now i just want to revisit those last 10days that i spent in london, edinburgh and dublin on my blog for the benefit of my memories and whoever still reads this blog.
so here we go!
LONDON: arrived 24thfeb, left 1stmarch
gee. ive never wanted so much to live in any other city besides good old singapore until i came to london. its truly cosmopolitan, there's a sense of whirrr and rush and excitement in the air, and i want very much to be apart of it. then again, im looking at it from a touristy point of view, where everything's novel, new and nice, so take my gushing with a huge bag of salt. anyway in london, i met jas and steven on the first day, checked out the awesome tate modern and took my turn at the slides. being the chicken that i am, i did the lowest slide and that was scary enough. but it was very embarassing to see a small girl in front of me do the slide very nonchalantly. hmmph! we saw the london eye and evening views of the thames too. i felt terribly suakoo in london that i kept on exclaiming that i didnt believe i was in london because i mean ive heard soooo much about it and played english monopoly ( i grew up on old kent road and mayfair and picadilly circus OKAY! until i bought the singapore version that is) that being physically in london was quite a dream come true. truth be told, i didnt really believe i was in london until i saw a postcard with 2 very sweaty looking princes and the union jack. anyway, i spent the day with the church folks until zhongjie came to pick me up from gloucester (thats gloss-ter. not glow-chester. hurhur) road tube station to meet rosh in max's home for singaporean asylum seekers. it truly is as i described! it houses all singaporeans (7 of them) studying engineering in imperial and then me and rosh had to bunk in, so it was pretty crowded. but crowded fun! and it was also amazing to see other singaporeans totally unrelated to my friends shopping in tesco's down the road. told you i was suakoo. seeing so many singaporeans in another place (besides sg and oz) is very new to me. so me and rosh had a pretty cheerful reunion (i hadnt seen her since a yr back!) and then max came bk from his dancing competition. nifty shoes! the next day we headed to meet rosh's friends, kelvin, evelyn and charles and lo and behold jon yap (all the way from -30deg michigan) came along to camden market as well. and met with our first tube congestion. northern line got closed so we had to get out and figure out how to get to camden to meet the rest. little obstacles like these dont stop us.
camden market's very pasam malam-ish! and there's stuff you can find at bugis/far east plaza for 3times the price (because of the pounds), so it didnt hold too much attraction for me. but i did get an art print by lichtenstein though. anyway, kelvin and evelyn brought us down to regent, oxford and bond street and the words monopoly were ringing in my ears over and over again. then we had krispy kremes in selfridges (yes, the selfridges) and i was looking very much pathetic coz i was gaping at the foodhall and the m&s foodhall opposite. charles then took us for another tour at leicester sq, picadilly circus, trafalga sq, soho and gerrad streef (chinatown), mayfair and grosvenor place and leicester sq and i know im in love with london already. and he also showed us fortnum and mason (THE FORTUM AND MASON). to which we headed promptly over for breakfast the next day and spent quite a bit (i wont say how much) on seemingly normal sounding ham and eggs on toast, cheese omelette, tea, cappo and scones.
BUT IT WASNT NORMAL TASTING. it was mindblowingly good. the tea especially. something's very delightful about that tea and the milk. perhaps it was psychological, but rosh and i were fully convinced we were paying for very good quality stuff. and the whole building itself reminds me of a big wedding cake because its so prettily decorated. after getting ourselves poorer, we headed to covent garden's apple and jubilee market and i went nuts checking out antiques and other random stuff to stuff my already crowded room with. from there we made our way to the tate modern again coz rosh wanted to do the slides pretty badly. and she did the highest level one too! im really a big fat chicken. and we also went to the globe theatre next door where we caught some of the actors practising too. and then it was off to the tower bridge and the tower of london, where rosh and i did a rendition of 'london bridge is falling down' at the tower bridge because the real london bridge really isnt much to look at. the tower of london was closed by the time we reached it, so we just hovered around and look photos of the outside. and then was my four seasons bayswater dinner! its somewhat an institution for roast duck, and seeing that i didnt have anything to compare it with, it was pretty good. chinese food in london is just shiok lah! and it was so good to see andrea, ian tan and ian cheng after such a long time too. jon and ian didnt let the evening end without a round of terri-teasing and showing the terri-finger either. those jc days!
the next morning we did harrods and checked out the luxury bathroom which didnt live up to expectations and used the free perfume haha. the cleaning lady was very amused at us really. the foodhall was also amazing, goodness! there was like a jellybelly shrine next to the ladure and krispy kremes corner and the supermarket looked like the it was airbrushed because the veggies, mushrooms and potatoes looked too clean and neatly stacked to be true. we also ran to catch the changing of the guards and we were almost late so we kept shouting 'dont change dont change!' and 'change back change back!' to the far distance. but because it was raining, we didnt get to see the guards in their full uniform. it was just too bad. we also did st james park, which was very very picturesque. and then it was off to westminster abbey (where we stepped all over dead people buried within the abbey grounds), downing street, bussed to british museum where i couldnt stop enthusing over the mummies. we also took a walk around the bloomsbury district and it was marvellous (im running out of vocab) because there were so many nice little bookstores! aaahhhhhhhh. and then we tried yakisoba takeout for dinner at the london victoria station because we were going to see wicked the musical. takeout was not too bad, musical was more than excellent. it was WICKED beyond words! im listening to the soundtrack now and it evokes the bestest memories of a great night. (please go and watch it if you can!). its not very literary or cheem but its great entertainment. good music, good sets, good costumes, good plot, i couldnt ask for much more. i almost cried, if you need more validity.
tuesday morning saw us at the natural history museum and i went trigger happy at the dinosaur bones. but there were too many kids and it gave me a headache. we also did hyde park and when i can, i think i want to go swimming in the serpentine. it looks very welcoming, the ducks and all. it also rained while we were at the park, so we ended up lunching and shivering at the park cafe. afterwhich, we took the DLR allllllltthheeewaaaayyyyy to greenwich to get to the greenwich meridian line. we reached the station at 4.45pm. the royal observatory where the line is drawn was going to close at 5pm. so? we RAN and ranandranandrand. and had to run up a freaking steep hill just to get to the place. and then we did reach it at 5pm. but it was closed tmd. because last entrance was at 4.30pm lah! nabeh! but greenwich was also quite nice, what with the park and all. and we also found a 2pound bookshop! and taking the DLR allowed me to pass through the infamous canary wharf (all those tort cases in yr1) too. i had my fish and chips for dinner at rock and sole plaice at covent garden, so that was mighty lovely too.
now, im really tired and i really dont think i did my trip justice by blogging so fast and skimpily! and im only at london still! aaaghhhhh. and how to post all those pictures??!! and because i did london and every inch and ounce of it, we didnt manage to fufil our big plans to head to oxford, stratford-upon-avon and stonehenge or bath (dont flip weiyee). buuuut. i can really say ive seen 70% of london which is a feat. everyday was jampacked like crazy lah. i will post about edinburgh very soon i hope.
(collapses on her laptop)
laundry? check.
uploaded photos? check.
started on backload of readings? errrrrm. that can wait for a while longer. :)
right now i just want to revisit those last 10days that i spent in london, edinburgh and dublin on my blog for the benefit of my memories and whoever still reads this blog.
so here we go!
LONDON: arrived 24thfeb, left 1stmarch
gee. ive never wanted so much to live in any other city besides good old singapore until i came to london. its truly cosmopolitan, there's a sense of whirrr and rush and excitement in the air, and i want very much to be apart of it. then again, im looking at it from a touristy point of view, where everything's novel, new and nice, so take my gushing with a huge bag of salt. anyway in london, i met jas and steven on the first day, checked out the awesome tate modern and took my turn at the slides. being the chicken that i am, i did the lowest slide and that was scary enough. but it was very embarassing to see a small girl in front of me do the slide very nonchalantly. hmmph! we saw the london eye and evening views of the thames too. i felt terribly suakoo in london that i kept on exclaiming that i didnt believe i was in london because i mean ive heard soooo much about it and played english monopoly ( i grew up on old kent road and mayfair and picadilly circus OKAY! until i bought the singapore version that is) that being physically in london was quite a dream come true. truth be told, i didnt really believe i was in london until i saw a postcard with 2 very sweaty looking princes and the union jack. anyway, i spent the day with the church folks until zhongjie came to pick me up from gloucester (thats gloss-ter. not glow-chester. hurhur) road tube station to meet rosh in max's home for singaporean asylum seekers. it truly is as i described! it houses all singaporeans (7 of them) studying engineering in imperial and then me and rosh had to bunk in, so it was pretty crowded. but crowded fun! and it was also amazing to see other singaporeans totally unrelated to my friends shopping in tesco's down the road. told you i was suakoo. seeing so many singaporeans in another place (besides sg and oz) is very new to me. so me and rosh had a pretty cheerful reunion (i hadnt seen her since a yr back!) and then max came bk from his dancing competition. nifty shoes! the next day we headed to meet rosh's friends, kelvin, evelyn and charles and lo and behold jon yap (all the way from -30deg michigan) came along to camden market as well. and met with our first tube congestion. northern line got closed so we had to get out and figure out how to get to camden to meet the rest. little obstacles like these dont stop us.
camden market's very pasam malam-ish! and there's stuff you can find at bugis/far east plaza for 3times the price (because of the pounds), so it didnt hold too much attraction for me. but i did get an art print by lichtenstein though. anyway, kelvin and evelyn brought us down to regent, oxford and bond street and the words monopoly were ringing in my ears over and over again. then we had krispy kremes in selfridges (yes, the selfridges) and i was looking very much pathetic coz i was gaping at the foodhall and the m&s foodhall opposite. charles then took us for another tour at leicester sq, picadilly circus, trafalga sq, soho and gerrad streef (chinatown), mayfair and grosvenor place and leicester sq and i know im in love with london already. and he also showed us fortnum and mason (THE FORTUM AND MASON). to which we headed promptly over for breakfast the next day and spent quite a bit (i wont say how much) on seemingly normal sounding ham and eggs on toast, cheese omelette, tea, cappo and scones.
BUT IT WASNT NORMAL TASTING. it was mindblowingly good. the tea especially. something's very delightful about that tea and the milk. perhaps it was psychological, but rosh and i were fully convinced we were paying for very good quality stuff. and the whole building itself reminds me of a big wedding cake because its so prettily decorated. after getting ourselves poorer, we headed to covent garden's apple and jubilee market and i went nuts checking out antiques and other random stuff to stuff my already crowded room with. from there we made our way to the tate modern again coz rosh wanted to do the slides pretty badly. and she did the highest level one too! im really a big fat chicken. and we also went to the globe theatre next door where we caught some of the actors practising too. and then it was off to the tower bridge and the tower of london, where rosh and i did a rendition of 'london bridge is falling down' at the tower bridge because the real london bridge really isnt much to look at. the tower of london was closed by the time we reached it, so we just hovered around and look photos of the outside. and then was my four seasons bayswater dinner! its somewhat an institution for roast duck, and seeing that i didnt have anything to compare it with, it was pretty good. chinese food in london is just shiok lah! and it was so good to see andrea, ian tan and ian cheng after such a long time too. jon and ian didnt let the evening end without a round of terri-teasing and showing the terri-finger either. those jc days!
the next morning we did harrods and checked out the luxury bathroom which didnt live up to expectations and used the free perfume haha. the cleaning lady was very amused at us really. the foodhall was also amazing, goodness! there was like a jellybelly shrine next to the ladure and krispy kremes corner and the supermarket looked like the it was airbrushed because the veggies, mushrooms and potatoes looked too clean and neatly stacked to be true. we also ran to catch the changing of the guards and we were almost late so we kept shouting 'dont change dont change!' and 'change back change back!' to the far distance. but because it was raining, we didnt get to see the guards in their full uniform. it was just too bad. we also did st james park, which was very very picturesque. and then it was off to westminster abbey (where we stepped all over dead people buried within the abbey grounds), downing street, bussed to british museum where i couldnt stop enthusing over the mummies. we also took a walk around the bloomsbury district and it was marvellous (im running out of vocab) because there were so many nice little bookstores! aaahhhhhhhh. and then we tried yakisoba takeout for dinner at the london victoria station because we were going to see wicked the musical. takeout was not too bad, musical was more than excellent. it was WICKED beyond words! im listening to the soundtrack now and it evokes the bestest memories of a great night. (please go and watch it if you can!). its not very literary or cheem but its great entertainment. good music, good sets, good costumes, good plot, i couldnt ask for much more. i almost cried, if you need more validity.
tuesday morning saw us at the natural history museum and i went trigger happy at the dinosaur bones. but there were too many kids and it gave me a headache. we also did hyde park and when i can, i think i want to go swimming in the serpentine. it looks very welcoming, the ducks and all. it also rained while we were at the park, so we ended up lunching and shivering at the park cafe. afterwhich, we took the DLR allllllltthheeewaaaayyyyy to greenwich to get to the greenwich meridian line. we reached the station at 4.45pm. the royal observatory where the line is drawn was going to close at 5pm. so? we RAN and ranandranandrand. and had to run up a freaking steep hill just to get to the place. and then we did reach it at 5pm. but it was closed tmd. because last entrance was at 4.30pm lah! nabeh! but greenwich was also quite nice, what with the park and all. and we also found a 2pound bookshop! and taking the DLR allowed me to pass through the infamous canary wharf (all those tort cases in yr1) too. i had my fish and chips for dinner at rock and sole plaice at covent garden, so that was mighty lovely too.
now, im really tired and i really dont think i did my trip justice by blogging so fast and skimpily! and im only at london still! aaaghhhhh. and how to post all those pictures??!! and because i did london and every inch and ounce of it, we didnt manage to fufil our big plans to head to oxford, stratford-upon-avon and stonehenge or bath (dont flip weiyee). buuuut. i can really say ive seen 70% of london which is a feat. everyday was jampacked like crazy lah. i will post about edinburgh very soon i hope.
(collapses on her laptop)
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