after thrice missing the train to Nottingham (consequence of the lethal combination of oversleeping, taking way too long in the shower and the conniving machinations of Fate – he deliberately left me in darkness), i successfully cried my way to a free ticket onto the 11.15 Nottingham-bound train today. not bad eh? so i’m now lying on my stomach in songjun’s house in Dunkirk drinking perfectly-made hot honey with lemon, happy and contented while songjun snores away on the futon. Dunkirk is a little suburb in Nottingham that i recently learned is dubbed Taman Dunkirk Jaya because of its principally Malaysian population. i am jealous; how nice it must be to be constantly surrounded by lahs, yau mou!s and cibais. and the promise of marmite chicken…
anyway, because i am deathly afraid of missing my train back to London, i have vowed to not fall asleep tonight. so in the extra time that has newly been opened up to me, i have somewhat learned how to use iPhoto, and therefore finally have some photos of London to show! happy day! folks who have been emailing me about the dearth of photos in my blog, may you now be appeased!
#1 london suburbia
#2 a small toy store somewhere in south kensington. sigh <3 london is full of adorable shops like this one
#3 a toy sink from the shop. the 6-year-old me would have loved one of these. actually.. so would the 20-year-old me
#4 mince pies! in my younger days when i devoured enid blyton books like no other, i imagined the delightful mince pies of enid blyton’s world to be these robust, savoury pies stuffed with scrumptious minced pork and piquant herbs. alas, this sublime image has been destroyed! mince pies are actually sweet; in fact, they are awfully reminiscent of pineapple tarts. not that pineapple tarts are awful, it’s just that mince pies were a lot more delectable in my imagination…
#5 Tamtim and a mince pie. haha! he liked them a lot more than i did
#6 more cute London shops. this one is a baking utensils + cake deco shop. sigh! i was too afraid to go in, lest i feel like i must own everything in there. ginny, you understand me right.
#7 me and the famed Four Seasons roast duck restaurant in chinatown. verdict: VERY good duck. i think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that it’s the ‘best duck in the world’, because it’s really of a different category from the roast duck of malaysia and hong kong (the Four Seasons duck sits in an absolutely yummy dark sauce whereas the roast duck we’re used to back home is usually drier), but it’s so good that i could eat it every day. actually, i kind of did for the first week i was in london.
i also went to Gold Mine in Bayswater, where the renowned chef of Four Seasons supposedly ran to, and i do actually think the duck there is yummier, though marginally so. the sauces are different, i believe, but Gold Mine has the one-up of this tofu dish called pei pa tofu. it is to die for!
#8 the Tube. i like it SO much more than NYC’s subway — faster, cleaner, and less sketch. i definitely do not miss the drunk and violent bums nor the smells of eau de dog pee in the New York subway stations…
#9 punctuality, as they say, is the thief of time
#10 making friends with the lions of Chinatown.
#11 Gloucester Road station, the tube station i see every day!
#12 outside the Adelphi Theater, where i watched Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. it was the first West End musical i watched upon arriving in London. i dont know… it’s just not the kind of musical i like. it was campy, tacky and i could not appreciate the music at all :\
#13 voon emerging from the tandas! this picture is just too cute
#14 Tower Bridge in the night, en route to Valerie’s apartment, which is fast gaining the reputation of Malaysia Hall #2!
#15 andrew, emily and the glenister bros. look at andrew’s big happy smile!
#16 cute teapot i totally wanted
#17 calling home from the steps of a hotel near Bond Street. i was shocked to find that a mere 3 minute call cost me something like 8 pounds. T____T le sigh. never again.
#18 obligatory tourist photo with a london phone booth. i think i was making a face cos i couldnt open the door. mou sik fan!
#19 tamtim and i – partners in crime!
#20 tamtim acting fierce
#21 i also watched Les Miserables! which i loved to bits. officially my favorite musical now.
#22 the staff at Odeon Cinemas have their favorite movie printed on their nametags! this guy misspelled Memento, but he knew a lot about movies, which made for good conversation as i was getting popcorn
#23 at the Hummingbird Bakery, where i had the best red velvet cupcake ever. ever. ever. ever. more pictures another day!
#24 at a secondhand bookshop in Portobello Market
#25 another secondhand bookshop, but this one is in Camden. secondhand bookshops are without a question the one thing i like most about London. i think i’ve bought something like 15 books since i got here, and for under 30 pounds. /smug. some gems: Vita Brevis by Jostein Gaarder, a collection of letters by D.H Lawrence, a critical analysis on Virgil’s Aeneid, and a book of Oscar Wilde short stories for 20 pence. happiness :)
ah, london. i cant quite get enough of you.
