London 2009!

Day 1
23rd March 2009
Flight was 12 hours long. Extremely long and boring! I think I only watched 3 movies-Changeling, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Twilight and even then I went back to sleep halfway through that one.. I really couldn’t wait to touch ground! God Bless sour plums hahaha

We had booked a London cab to pick us up. I had this feeling that they’d somehow misspell our names and whaddya know, they were waiting to pick up a DASMOND Wong lol! It was a really blustery night when we got out. When I said this trip would be a blast I didn’t really mean literally =P
Our hotel is one of the two that SQ use for their flight crew and it had a Singaporean restaurant in the lobby! Ho Fan for dinner, yum!

Day 2
24th March 2009
First day of the holiday! Today we went to visit Aunty Fenny (who is actually my grand aunt but since my mum calls her Aunty Fenny I guess the rest of us call her that too). She moved to London from Singapore in the 70’s and has lived there ever since. I think the last time we visited her in London was like 7 years ago?? But she comes down to Singapore for X’mas and CNY so it’s been a year since we saw her.


After catching up and looking around her new kitchen we decided to go to Harrods for lunch! Harrods in London is really quite huge. The decor is really ornate and the whole place looks quite quaint.


Lunch!


My mum bought Charbonnel et Walker pink champagne truffles which are basically little pink mouthfuls of sin =P


We went up to the pet shop on the top floor where there were puppies on display!! <3


And this cute little hamster we nicknamed Alcatraz- just watch the video, it explains all hahaha


We went shopping after lunch in Oxford Street and what amazed me was that all the shops were having huge sales! It’s even bigger then the GSS here! I think the stores here are really trying to encourage sales even in the face of the recession. I mean even the supermarkets are selling three trays of any cut of meat for 10 pounds. I’m wondering why Singapore isn’t really doing the same thing.
After a day of shopping around, we bought some groceries from Marks and Spencer and went back to Aunty Fenny’s house for lunch.
Watched the latest episode of East Enders while eating dinner which I haven’t seen since the last time I was in London! Oh and there was this was this really cute advert for the National Express! We were all laughing non-stop after we saw it!
National Express-Bagpipe Ad

And there was this really weird personal ad in the paper..


It was bitterly cold by the time we headed back to our hotel. We were all sleeping on the bus and nearly missed our stop!

Day 3
25th March 2009
Everyone slept in more or less this morning except my dear dad who’s more used to jet lag =P
It was a shame because by the time we got out of the hotel it was close to noon.
We bought tickets to the musical Wicked! I read a lot about it online some time back and I’m lucky I’m able to catch it in London.

We bought packed lunch from Marks and Spencer and sat in the square just around the corner of the theatre.



M&S has a pretty good selection that caters to the lunch office crowd. They sell bowls of pasta and salad or sandwich meals with chips and a drink for 2 pounds! I think if M&S was the same in Singapore there would be a market for this kind of takeaway lunch.

Random picture of a hat!


The wind was seriously strong today and we had to constantly make sure our food didn’t fly away! =D It was freezing but I loved it..


Wicked was quite fun and entertaining.



However the more popular songs aside, the other songs were unmemorable and not catchy. My brother however was laughing to no end! Because it was a matinee, there were students from different school attending as a field trip (jealous!!) and they made quite an interactive audience especially when the good looking hero appeared on stage hahaha! I’m lucky because this performance had Kerry Ellis was performing together with Sarah Earnshaw! My favourite pair!

By the time it ended, it was 5:30 so the matinee basically ate up the entire day since shops and museums close at 6! So we decided to call it a day and trooped off to Aunty Fenny’s for dinner. She made steak for us!! So yummy!!

Day 4
26th March 2009
Woke up early to go to the National Gallery today.



Its not very big but we could only cover most of it today. I saw a lot of familiar works from the Baroque and Rocco age. I love Turner paintings! I wanted to buy a poster but it would have been too cumbersome to lug around the rest of the day. We had lunch on the steps of St Martins-in-the-fields Church.


Windy like hell today! The weather so far has been around 11 degrees but because of the wind it’s much colder!

After lunch we walked to the Coliseum to meet Aunty Fenny as she had helped us get tickets to Swan Lake by the American Ballet Theatre Company!




I think behind the production by the Paris Opera Ballet which I saw on TV back in the 90’s, this production is the BEST I’ve seen yet. Unlike the half hearted productions that come to Singapore, this one spared no expense and did not stinge on the medieval costumes or the sets which were lavish and beautifully done! They even bothered to put together a complex set for the great hall during the ball in the second act!

After the performance, we took a bus to Bayswater to buy a whole roast duck for dinner.


The pro at work!! ;D



Day 5
27th March 2009
Today we split up- me and my mum went to Tate Britain while Jordan and my dad went to visit the army museums.
Tate Britain is in a really ulu place and we had to walk around for a while before we found it in the middle of nowhere =P


There are a lot of impressionist works housed there including the Clore Gallery which has most of Turner’s work <3 Only thing I could take a picture of was the scuplture in the atrium.. gah!


We took the ferry at Millbank Pier along the Thames to Tate Modern which was a pretty fun ride because I could take pictures of Westminster Abbey and the London Eye along the way =D






Tate Modern must have been a factory or something before because it looks like a prison!


Housed mostly modern work which I’m only slightly familiar with but it had Pollock’s No.94!! <33 I was going to get a print of it but it was way to expensive to be a sensible purchase. sigh..

Tate Modern also happens to be right next to Shakespeare’s Globe!


Unfortunately it couldn’t fit into our day so we didn’t take the tour =( The whole area seems to be like a kind of business district with mostly offices so we took a bus out to Regent’s Street after that.


Apparently, the Past Times in London all closed down! I was really looking forward to going back there =( However we did find Hamley’s Toy Store which is 5 stories full of toys!


I don’t really like soft toys but teddy bears are the one exception!


*snuggle!*


There was this section full of really cool wind ups, especially these two which do a boogie when wound up. Put them together and they looks really cute dancing!




They also put you in the spotlight and the whole store sings you a birthday song if it’s your birthday!


So after we met up with Jordan and Daddy, we went back to Aunty Fenny’s for fried rice! Mmmm!
But the weather today was super cold, and we eventually had to cab back to the hotel instead. I think it got down to -2 tonight..Brr!


Day 6
28th March 2009
Today we designated it market day! First we went to Covent Garden where Daddy bought a briefcase from Fossil. While browsing, I found one of the charms I was looking for!


In Covent Garden market itself, most of the familiar shops have moved out and are now replaced with shops selling mostly kitschy useless stuff =(
The buskers corner hasn’t changed though, although I think they have gotten a little more bold at asking for money o.0






Pearly King!


After Covent Garden we were wandering around trying to find our way to the Chelsea Antique Fair. Stopped to have Subway for lunch along the way.


The ingredients are fresher especially the vegetables, and they have corn! The price is a little more expensive then back home though.. There was a demonstration up the road regarding the upcoming G20 summit so the road was closed and we had to go by the underground instead.

The Chelsea Antique Fair showcased mostly antique furniture, china and paintings so after we browsed there was not much else to do.






We walked down to road to Antiquarius which had a cluster of antique shops and I bought a second charm of the London Bridge! On the way back, it started to hail! At first we thought it was snow but the white flakes became bigger and then sizeable ice chunks started falling.





Basically before hail, the temperature dips dramatically and the sky turns a uniform dark grey. It was really cool to finally see some hail!

Aunty Fenny made pork chops for dinner and she brought out two pints of Ben and Jerry’s which she got for 5 pounds altogether from Sainsbury!! (JEALOUS!) It costs nearly $15 one pint back home!!


Day 7
29th March 2009
Today we went to visit Burlington and Piccadilly Arcade. Unfortunately, since it’s Sunday, most of the shops were closed.



We went into Fortnum and Manson which is similar to Harrods. Mum bought more chocolates! Dad bought rum and cognac butter which were on sale so we could try.
I really like the way they display their dinner sets as it gives you an idea of how beautiful everything will look in place.








We went out to have lunch and there was this tree in bloom. I think it’s a cherry blossom but I’m not so sure..



Lunch was at Wasabi, a prime example of why the Brits are not the best people for Jap food XP




I had salmon teriyaki but the rest of my family were on a noodle craze, so poor me had to stomach all my TERIYUCKY sauce.. =(

London Eye! We had to enter the bubble while it was still moving up.. Yikes..Scary! Let the pictures speak for themselves ^^










It was interesting to see Dali sculptures along the walkway though..


Aunty Fenny made roast chicken for dinner! She’s been feeding us all the good stuff!!
Strawberries and Cream!


Day 8
30th March 2009
Today we went out with Aunty Fenny to Westfield mall. She went to Waitrose and got me vanilla bean which I wanted to buy for ice cream!


I find that the malls in London don’t really have the same kind of culture as we do. For us, the mall is like a self contained thing; we can go in, spend the whole day there and come out at the end of the day. In London, I find that Westfield tries to be like VivoCity but isn’t quite there yet. The malls no matter how big usually feel quite dead. The supermarkets are usually separate complexes, and the cinemas aren’t really in abundance because I think the theatre is the more favourable past time for them. So basically everyone has to be moving about outside and nobody really stays inside much..

Had lunch as Wagamama, a kind of fusion food place.. seems to be quite popular..



After lunch we took a short bus ride back to Aunty Fenny’s house for some quiet time. She and my mum were reminiscing about my great-grandmother and the collection of jewellery she left her. One of the other things she has is an old OXO stock tin that used to belong to her.


We headed down to Acton to do more shopping after that. My mum was looking at toiletries when we realised that everything we use is way cheaper in the UK! No fair!! Even Kinder Bueno was being sold for 99p for a pack of three! Suffice to say we did lots of buying ^^ Apparently, there is a brand of lipstick called.. you'll never guess.. "MOTHER PUCKER" hahaha! I'm serious!


Dinner was poached salmon which I helped to do =D We got hooked onto the local soaps like East Enders and Coronation Street since we watch them every night during dinner. The last episode was a cliff-hanger!! NO!

To thank Aunty Fenny, all of us contributed to her getting a new stove (and it’s her birthday soon anyway..) She took such good care of us while we’re here!

Day 9
31st March 2009
Today we packed up all our barang including the loads of stuff we bought yesterday >.<
We had barely enough space to fit everything back into out suitcase =P
Taken by my bro =D


Aunty Fenny came to spend the last day with us and brought us to Shepard’s Bush for a traditional pie and mash lunch at A. Cooke which has been around since 1899! I now know why the Brits don’t like their peas. They boil them to oblivion!




We made a shortcut through Shepard’s Bush Market which sells everything from fresh fish to bridal wear (at least its SUPPOSED to be hehe)


We came back to High Street Kensington and took a stroll around Hyde Park before we headed back to the hotel to join the crew bus to the airport.



The plane ride was surprisingly ok. All of us were so tired we practically slept through 3/4 of the flight! I didn’t even bother to watch any movies this time, just snoozed the whole time..

Day 10
1st April 2009
The airport lost one of our suitcases, a first! Never happened to us before.. It had all our toiletries and the chocolates my parents bought together with the stuff Aunty Fenny asked us to bring back for our relatives.. Gah! Not sure if I should just go out and replace all my stuff. My retainers were in there too, and they cost $300!!

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