I don't really know what's the best way to present this, so I shall put it all as one post. If u feel bored, pls get back to it another day. London was fun!
Day 0 - Rude shock
I arrive at the hostel today and get the shock of my life. It looks terribly run down, steep stairs and no lifts. The booking system fucked up so instead of Mon-Fri, I am booked for Sun-Thur, which means I have to pay for a day for which I wasn't even here, and I have to look for another place for Friday (they're fully booked...according to the not so friendly receptionist). There was no way I could carry my bag up the stairs so I asked him if he could help. And for that he made me wait a full 10 minutes, while he was joking around with his buddy. There's about 12 beds in my room, luckily not all occupied. And I got the bottom bunk, phew. The strange Chinese guy above me is asleep at 9, and he asked if I could off the lights on my way out. Hmmm. We don't have any lockers so I hope everyone's honest. There's only one shower per floor (which has at least 20 ppl), so I guess I have to queue tmr morning for a bath. I go down to the kitchen to use the internet but the connection sucks so I only managed a few minutes. I hate this place. Reb hasn't answered my sms, I miss Stockholm, I'm thinking about my eye-candy. I feel miserable. I don't have stomach for dinner. Suddenly there's internet connection in my room. I chat with Steph for awhile and as always, she makes me smile again. I go to bed. Hoping tmr will be better. After this place, Jagargatan was luxury. Remind me never to book a backpacker's hostel ever again.
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Day 1 - Strikes and Tower of London
There are some strikes going on in London and because of that, some attractions are not open. WTF. First, HMS Belfast is closed. Then Tower Bridge is also closed. There's a bunch of people standing outside the admissions, campaigning for pensions to be paid out in full. Damn, get out of the way, I just wanna see the sights. I ask a fellow tourist to take a pic for me. He runs away after snapping it, and I realize he didn't even take a shot. Bleah. There are extremely strong winds. I'm walking along the bridge and it's a breeze to walk (sorry for the pun) cos the wind is pushing me from behind. I walk to Tower of London, not knowing what's in store for me. There's lots of people, and it looks open, so I buy a student ticket (luckily they believed my KI library card...) and am in time for the guided tour. Our guide Ray is very witty, telling us tales of who got beheaded where. It seems that beheading was a very common practice...and they called themselves a civilized nation. Hmmph! The interior of the Tower of London was beautiful. My exact idea of a castle, equipped with drawbridges and all. He showed us around the Whitehall, chapel and the places where the tour guides live even today. A bit of trivia: the beefeaters are named so b'cos long long time ago, while the commoners were eating bean sprouts and potatoes, the soldiers and royal guards were having a good time eating beef inside the castle. "Damn those bloody beefeaters", said the commoners, and there the name stuck. After the tour, we went on to see a couple of museums ourselves...like the Crown Jewels and the Bloody tower (where two young princes were murdered). My lunch was a couple of digestives...surprisingly I wasn't that hungry.
Finally left since I got bored of the museums. Walked along Thames, almost getting blown away by the strong winds again. The atmosphere was nice though. Took a train from The Monument (they definitely won't get awards for exciting names) to Piccadilly Circus to get my half-price tix for Phantom of the Opera. It wasn't exactly half, maybe three-quarter, but I got a pretty good deal...front row circle seats for category 3 price. Yay. It was an impromptu decision to watch the matinee but since I hadn't planned to do anything else, why not. Went to Mac's for lunch (decided to indulge a bit) and the McChicken was a disappointment. The banana milkshake was yummy though. Rushed back to Her Majesty's Theatre to catch the show. It was kinda small, but hey, a musical in West End, what more could I ask for! The show was naturally astounding. I got to see it again at last. The leads were awesome. Sing! Sing for me! I wished they'd done the main song as an encore. Now I'm in the mood for more musicals, perhaps tmr I should catch Mamma Mia or Whistle Down the Wind (only cos they have BZ's song :P and it will probably never make it to S'pore). Shall scout for more half-price tickets...but then again, if I get a good seat for three-qaurter of the price, it would be a good deal as well. Musicals musicals here I come!
Walked around Piccadilly after that. Headed to Soho to check out the pubs and discos. Interesting night life. Chinatown was a bit dead...same as last time. There were many bookshops which had sex shops downstairs. I would've gone down, but ppl were looking at me even as I wondered into the 'naked ladies' book section. Oh well. I went to a *ahem* bar after that. Was wondering whether I should go in since I was alone but the person at the door assured me it was fine. Fine yeah, but boring. (Oh btw for those of u who are shocked, here's a newsflash...I'm not that tame...haha. And anyway this is the first time I've ventured into a bar alone...wonder what got into me...I guess I didn't dare to go to one in Sweden so I was like...ok it's now or never...). Bought a coke and sat in one corner, staring at a couple of girls who were making out...heh. Was hoping to get chatted up lol but too bad that never happened. Instead I got really bored so I left after I finished reading some mag. The person at the front was pretty nice. I wasn't really sure abt the gender...she looked pretty manly...but with a touch of woman-ness...So anyway, he/she asked if I enjoyed myself. I said it was boring cos I was alone. And she asked if I made any friends. Haha. She was hoping I'd come back and have a better time. Perhaps I will, when I'm meeting Reb on Thur or Fri. She told me it was her fave bar..so yeah... I got home quite late and surfed on the net for awhile at the bar. The ppl there were like wondering why's this girl in here with her laptop. Haha. But since the kitchen was pretty crowded, I thought the bar would be better, but it was noisier (well I didn't know there would be ppl in the bar on a Tues night). Steph was online and as usual, she worked her miracle and made me feel better (I was missing my eye-candy...and err..Sthlm...). We chatted for some time till the guys were getting too drunk for my comfort. Then I went back up to my miserable room to dream about u know who.
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Day 2 - Beefeaters, Daffodils, Harrods and more
Things are heating up. Had a really tiring day today but it was worth the fun. Set out a little bit later today...wanted to leave at 9.30 but my laptop distracted me (tsk tsk) so I left around 10.30. Headed to Buckingham Palace to see the queen but she wasn't in. Instead, we got treated to the military band and the change of guards ceremony. I think the Swedish army has nicer uniforms (blue vs gray...too bad they didn't have their red summer uniforms on). It was pretty chaotic..there were loads of people there (tourists never seem to get tired of the place...I didn't wanna go either since I'd already been there...but who knows...Prince William cld've been there haha).
Walked around St James' Park after the ceremony. It was LOVELY. L.O.V.E.L.Y! Stark contrast from the snowy parks in Stockholm. The flowers were blooming and the birds were chirping. The perfect atmosphere for a picnic in the park, so I took out my tuna sandwich and had my lunch facing the pond. My camera was behaving itself throughout the change of guards ceremony but it started to go wanky. So I took out my disposable camera and snapped some photos.
Went to Westminster Abbey after that. Finally. I can't believe I left it out the last time. I thought it was just a look-see-take pictures monument. The interior of the cathedral was simply magnificent. Every corner, every ceiling, was so lavishly carved and decorated. There were too many tombs for my liking (I don't really care who died when and wasn't comfortable with the thought of walking above graves) so I looked at the architecture instead. If you go to London, you basically CANNOT skip this. I've seen lots of churches and cathedrals now tho...hope I can enter into a lavish looking mosque in Turkey or Egypt some day..soon.
Went on to see the Big Ben after that. It was another thing I just "saw" the last time I came. Too bad the tower was out-of-bounds cos it was still considered winter but there was a debate going on in the House of Parliaments so albeit the 40 min queue I decided to attend the session. Apparently I wasn't the only one interested cos the queue had at least 60 tourists in it. All that hoo-haa over nothing much really. The guard was right...sometimes the topic is so boring that you just need two minutes of it. Who needs to hear British MPs blabbering about immigration rights anyway. So after checking out the interior (which was very grand btw) and sitting for about 5 minutes (after queuing for 30 mins outside!) a number of us left. Didn't regret it tho. At least I got to see parliament in session.
Was wondering where to go next. I think I'm not that organized this time round b'cos I didn't have my trusted Lonely Planet travel guide (I'm not advertising for them but their books are pretty good since they have walking trails around particular areas). Here or there? Here or there? In the end I decided to try taking a red London bus to Trafalgar Square to see the pigeons (I've been traveling by the tube all this while. And I wanted to see the pigeons cos last time there were hardly any :P). Must've been my luck cos there were plenty of them today. Too bad my digicam was ku-ku so I didn't take many pics..just a couple with my disposable cam. It was almost a sin being there and not going into the National Gallery so since the observatory was about to close (I think I have a thing for observatories now...and since London is where the Greenwich Time is...) I decided to take a quick (not) look around. It was fun checking out the paintings of Da Vinci after reading the Da Vinci Code. Paid a little more attention to his paintings this time (tho I don't remember any of the conspiracies that were mentioned in the book haha). I was getting bored (museums ain't my thing...) so I skipped over to the more recent artists like van Gogh and Monet...my favourite artists (or at least I have SOME affection for them after our Sec 2 art project...). Kew Gardens was about to close too so I decided to head to Harrods instead for some (window) shopping. The place was very luxurious...all sorts of brand names, all sorts of things. They had hair clips which cost $50 to handkerchiefs which cost $150. Guess what I bought? A Harrods chocolate croissant. Haha. Well, it was only 1 pound so I was like yeah why not... branded pastry lol. I was looking through Harrods world wondering what to get (I fell in love with a couple of bags...as usual...) but it was closing time (it was only 7pm!). I hope I get to drop by again...to get my bag *winks*
Took another bus (I'm getting better at buses...) to Oxford St to check out Selfridges. The prices there were crazy..I guess that's what you get for high end shopping in London. The cheaper things (so called un-branded) cost 230 pounds so I decided to leave...since it was about to close anyway. Walked walked walked...Debenhams didn't look that interesting...and since Bond St tube was nearby I decided to go back.
I'm looking forward to tmr. Going to Stonehenge after a lot of scouting around for tours. It costs 10 pounds more than what I had planned for (cheap ones for backpackers) so I hope it's as 'luxurious' as the brochure described it to be. Right now, I'm getting pretty freaked out cos the irritating fellow is purposely picking on a fellow hostelite, and 'Dave' is smoking his joint. And Mr I-like-to-strip-into-my-underpants-to-sleep has just stripped so I think I should close my eyes and go to sleep. Remind me to tell u abt my adventure in this hostel.
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Day 3 - Was worth every penny
Started off a little late today. The tube is so screwed up that there's always jams here and there. I was 10 mins late for the coach and it didn't help that I didn't know where the Victoria Coach Station was. As I stepped onto the bus, I realized that everyone else was already there. Thankfully they were sorting out other matters so I wasn't the (sole) culprit for making them wait. I suppose they wanted us to come by 8.10 so that they could sort things out and leave by 8.30.
Our itinerary included Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. Actually I thought I'd only be interested in Stonehenge. But I think among the three, Windsor castle was the most beautiful. We got a touch of the English countryside, then walked around the castle, which the queen still lives in today. It's mighty big and the architecture was such a marvel, though the Brits weren't too happy with the cost of building it. Definitely quenched my thirst for wanting to see a "typical" looking castle. In fact, the king who built it wanted it to mimic medieval time castles he saw in a children's book, so yeah, I got what I wanted (the castles in Sthlm have their own Scandinavian touch...not the type we usually see). We also got to see Eton College (too bad Prince William is not there anymore :P) and the change of guards ceremony which takes place only on Thurday. Lucky eh? But then again, I think I've watched tons of such ceremonies...so I don't think I'll be missing them anytime soon. I walked into a shop which let u dress in Victorian costumes and take a photo. It was relatively cheap and very tempting, but I didn't want to risk running late (the tour guide was warning us how he wouldn'tt wait for latecomers) so sadly I had to skip that. I hope I bump into a similar shop in London!
Our second stop was Stonehenge. Yay! The monument was fantastic...such grandiose considering the fact that it was built out of sheer human strength, in times where there were no machines and hammers were wooden. The scenery in the background was another jaw dropper...fields and fields of grass, sheep nibbling on grass and the sky was such a beauty. I could've just sat there the whole day and soak in the atmosphere but unfortunately we only had an hour to spend there. And to my horror, the bus was waiting for me cos I had taken a long time at the souvenir shop. Tsk tsk. Luckily I don't blush easily or the whole bus would've seen me go crimson red.
We stopped by a cosy old pub for lunch. It's the second oldest in England, and they have documents to prove it. I had roast beef with new potatoes (any idea why they call it new potatoes??) and it was yum yum. The setting reminded my of a BZ video where they were sitting in a pub gulping down beer. Guess I don't need to go to Ireland now haha. I would've had dessert but lunch was already costing a bomb (11 pounds) so I stepped out early to admire the view. Lovely. I got a couple of "love's"...oh I just love the way them Brits talk. ("The toilet's just behind the courtyard love". And earlier on "The nearest tube is Green Park darling"). Ah I could just swoon lol.
Our final destination was Bath. I realized that my history totally sucks cos I didn't even know the Romans were in England at one point in time. We had one hour of free time which I totally wasted cos I didn't get to see much. I wanted to go to MicroWorld...where everything's so small u have to see things through a microscope. But I got lost and ended up in the bus station and by the time I decided to go to the Jane Austen Centre instead, it was almost time for us to assemble at the Roman Baths. So I bought a cone from Ben & Jerry's, sat on a bench and admired the town centre till 5.20. We not only had a personal guide inside, we also had a private tour of places usually restricted to the public. The place closed to public by 5 so we basically had the place to ourselves and that was really cool. I was more impressed by the town than the baths but it was informative anyway. The water was quite green and murky...but it was nice imagining what it would've been like thousands of years ago. It got a bit cold and since the water was abt 80 deg, there was steam above it, creating a pretty mysterious atmosphere. The idea of a spa, complete with exercise, sauna, massage were already existent at that time. But wait till I tell you the details, you'll be grossed out at certain parts!
That marked the end of our amazing journey through the countryside. It was a 2.5 hr journey back to London. The moment I reached the hostel, I packed my bags (like IMMEDIATELY) cos I was so eager to get out of that yucky place. I was lugging my heavy luggage and almost reached the first floor when a girl graciously offered to help. Thanks darling! Hehe. I took a cab down (yeah you can imagine how eager I was to move out) to Mowbray Court Hotel. The cab driver was very friendly. He asked me if I was crazy traveling to London alone all the way from sg but I told him it was just a stopover from Sweden. I was asking him abt more places to go and he seemed to think that I've already done it all (at least in London) so I felt pretty accomplished. Every other thing he mentioned thereon, I had already been to. So yeah...like he said, I think I don't have to return here for another decade or so. It was the most expensive taxi ride I've taken...18 pounds...but well worth it when I realized my room was a luxury compared to the hostel. They almost didn't wanna book me in cos I didn't have a hardcopy of my e-voucher but they gave in somehow. Now my room's in a mess cos the whole place is mine to litter!! And no one's gonna come in and snoop around. And I have my own toilet. Woohoo! So to take advantage of my new found privacy, I was walking around in my room rather scantily but I'll spare you the details.
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Day 4 - The reunion
I was half expecting Hiba not to turn up today, since it was already 10 and she hadn't sms-ed me yet. If there's one thing I've learnt, it's to not count on others and be independent. So I thought I'd go to Kew Gardens instead. But halfway there, she sent me a msg so I got onto another train to meet her at Shepherd's Bush. It was a sweet feeling, meeting her after 2 years. The same surreal feeling I had when I met Elin again, cos I never thought I'd be able to meet my friends again, especially so soon after I left Sweden the last time. We hugged for almost a minute then decided to go to the open market down the street. It wasn't very impressive - most of the merchants were Indians and I have something against buying things made in India or China in Europe (since I know how cheap you can get them in India and how they rip you off in here) so we didn't buy anything. We walked and walked and walked...Hiba wanted to go to a Lebanese restaurant which had authentic halal meat. In the end, we had walked for like 20 mins and decided to settle for one along Edgware Road. The food was yummy...I love Lebanese food! (the first time I fell in love with it was at the restaurant at the Stockholm mosque, *drools* even my family loved the food there) I had a funny feeling that the name of the road sounded familiar, and ironically enough, after lunch, I saw the Malaysian restaurant that sis Mariam brought me to last time I was here. Damn. Would've been nice to intro Hiba to some local food. If we meet tmr, we'll go there for lunch hehe.
We didn't really have any plans. I wanted to go to Kew Gardens but it was in a different zone as the one our travelcard permits so Hiba wasn't too keen on it (the problem when u're traveling with someone...unless u have a more accommodating partner like GH heh) so we went to Harrods. I indulged in a Harrods bag and got a souvenir for GH. Was feeling guilty buying it but it wasn't THAT expensive...considering it's Harrods...and anyway, how often do I go there? :P We walked through the different sections and kept wondering which stupid people would wanna spend hundreds of pounds on things which you can get at half price in a regular shopping centre. Oh well. Those who have too much money to waste.
We went to Baker St which I mixed up with Goodge St for having cheap shopping so we dropped by Sherlock Holmes museum instead. We looked through the souvenir shop (since we're bored of museums and didn't wanna waste 6 pounds on something we didn't really wanna see) then we just took a pic with the guard outside...he was cute...and we could pose in a hat and cigar haha. We went to Leicester Square to get tix to Mamma Mia but they were fully booked (needed to book 4 months in advance for weekends tix since it's a pretty new show... didn't realize that or I wouldn't have minded watching a second musical on Tues). Settled for Whistle down the Wind. Too bad Hiba couldn't join me cos she had to catch her train home early. We headed down to Oxford St then to do more shopping (I've become a dangerous shopper now that I have some spending power and my card as my weapon). Debenhams had lots of cute makeup sets which I didn't really need. But it was cheap and I really wanted the set with the mascara so I bought one anyway. Now I know why sis Mariam's friend (oops what's her name..) bought 3 boxes for her friends last time. We were pretty tired walking and walking but we went around a few other shops...must sees like Selfridges and Marks & Spencer for the sake of it.
I had a mad dash to Palace Theatre. I should've taken the tube instead of the bus b'cos I forgot there'd be a peak hour jam. And when I finally reached the stop, I didn't know where exactly the theatre was, and neither did the few people I asked. In the end I asked a rickshaw driver who knew the direction. He asked whether I wanted a ride there and since I was pretty flustered and didn't wanna risk getting locked out of the show in case I was late, I decided 3 pounds wasn't a big price to pay. I wished he could've gone faster tho, like the skilled drivers in India who can weave in and out of traffic like nothing, but I managed to get there on the dot. And I mean 7.30 sharp. Luckily they were only just calling ppl to take their seats so I managed to catch a breath before getting in.
Needless to say, the show was fantastic. I had no idea what it was about...I only knew abt it cos it had No Matter What in it and anything to do with BZ I know haha. The storyline was pretty touching. And the parts with No Matter What made me smile. I'm amazed hearing BZ songs can still make me excited. Once a fan always a fan eh? Which reminds me of something…apparently Take That are planning a reunion (I think) cos I saw several places selling tix for their concert in May 2006. I wonder if they'll do a world tour tho. Would be nice to see them in action again. I wanted to buy the show's soundtrack but I realized the version of No Matter What they had was BZ's version...they didn't have the stage version so I passed. I was pretty tired with the day's walking so here I am now, chilling out on my last day in London. I'll miss ya darling. ;)
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Day 5 - Toodles London
I was pretty disappointed last night cos Reb didn't reply my msg about meeting up. And since I didn't get any msgs this morning, I assume I'll be going home without meeting her. Sad. I missed my chance to go to Kew Gardens again cos Hiba wanted to meet. How could I say no. We walked along river Thames towards Tower Bridge. We got distracted by London Dungeon so we stopped there first instead. It was supposed to be a house of horror but it turned out to be more of a joke house. First of all, since the British love their language so much, they were telling us supposedly gory tales instead of scaring us. By the time they got to the gory bit, I already got bored...and I felt like going...ok get to the point already. Room after room...the only scary part was the corpse that jumped up from the autopsy table. There was a sign that said "pls alert staff if you are feeling faint or unwell". I felt like askign them to evacuate me cos I was getting bored. I think they need to learn a thing or two from Sthlm's ghost house or Bkk's Ripley's haunted house.
We walked to Tower Bridge after that and snapped some photos cos I wanted to finish up my disposable cams. Then we went to Edgware Rd for Malysian cuisine. The guy kinda pissed me off cos I was ordering food in Malay but he kept replying in English. And yet on my way out I heard him joking with his friends in Malay. Stayed too long in London to speak Malay? Show off! We did more shopping after that. Hiba wanted to buy more stuff for her family since she was going back to Sthlm for easter. I was quite bored cos I was pretty much done with shopping, and the shops didn't really interest me (middle eastern goods). A lot of walking again, then we went into the very famous shops which sold branded stuff at cheap prices. I gave in to temptation and bought a T-shirt for myself and Sakura. I went back to my hotel to get my bag then headed to Heathrow. Had to take a shuttle bus cos the terminal 4 tube station was closed. Luckily there were free porters there who helped me carry my luggage up the 33 steps.
There was another drama at the airport. There were so many queues open for British Airways but the area was totally jam-packed. Then as we were getting near the front, the officer asked us who was going to sg. They told us that the flight was over-booked so we had to wait to see if there were anymore seats for us. Crap. At that point in time, I just wanted to go home. But the idea of being driven in a limo to put up in a hotel for the night was tempting, and YK and I were like...hey then we get to claim insurance for flight delay haha. But nothing that exciting happened. Not even the coffee they said they were gonna get us. About 20 mins before our scheduled flight, they managed to find us seats so we checked in the express lane (they didn't even care that YK's bag was too heavy). And when I finally got onto the plane I was like...great...I'm going home. Enough adventures for now. :)
