Arriving there, Ai Woon picked us up rather than Voon Yuan (his place is further and he is having class then). Her place turned out to be quite near to the station. About 20 minutes walk. So while waiting for Vy to finish his class and cook the dinner for us (Bak Kut Teh), we walked over to rest.
First image of London...its full of cars and people. Just like KL. Nottingham seems to be very quiet and serene now. Haha. After the excellent dinner (kind of miss Malaysia food after 1 month =/ ), we travelled down to Westminster area using the excellent Tube (subway train of London). I still think its the best public transport albeit a bit pricey for us Malaysians. We then have plenty of photoshots of the night view of the area. For your information, Westminter area houses London's most famous clock tower, the Big Ben and as well as the Parliament, London Eye and so on. We arrived home that night quite late, which all of us went to sleep straightaway so to conserve energy for tomorrow's journey.
The Big Ben
The Parliament & River Thames
London Eye
Night Skyline of the two icons
We went to Madame Tussaud's first thing in the morning. Tickets costs 22.50 pounds if I didn't recall wrongly. But then, it was worth it because you get to pat Spiderman's head, touch Nicole Kidman, give the Hulk a low-blow, see Hitler & Saddam Hussein, scold Simon Cowell and even punch Muhammad Ali. Its not bad finally seeing those wax figurines with my own eyes. Exciting adventure. =D
Then we head on to Chinatown of London (finally a Chinatown!!!), which Nottingham fails to possess of one, to have our lunch. Roasted duck rice, Kailan and Ma Po tofu, is the meal we ate. Succulent meat with crispy outer skin, the duck was absolutely fabulous. Only the duck is the real deal. The others were OK only. We then went to buy food from the Chinese shop in Chinatown. Absolutely fantastic. I sweeped the shop of practically anything I can. At one point I even wanted to buy a lotus root to make good soup, but then its too hard to transport, leaving me no choice but to leave it out of my list. I bought 7 packs of fresh Udon, black pepper and char siew sauce, 2 bottles of sesame seed oil, a bottle of rice wine and a bottle of Kaya (a must have!). These stuffs might not be rare elsewhere, but it is rare, extremely supremo rare in Nottingham, all because Nottingham DOES NOT have a Chinatown. Sad...
Four Seasons, the Restaurant that serves excellent duck rice
Next we went to Covent Garden, which is a must go in London in my personal Opinion. Its equivalent our Petaling Street, with more shows than sales. And boy, the people here are really into acting. Some come with full body paint, clothings and things you really can't imagine. They are really good too. There quite a lot of little stalls selling food around, one which sells Paella, a Spanish rice which I bought out of curiosity. First spoon and I have to say, its Godly!!! Its really one of the best rice I've eaten. Simple, delicious, beautiful. =)
Covent Garden!
The Paella
Next we cover the Oxford Street or the shopping street or the ladies' heaven, which is again a must go for London, especially on Boxing Day (Big Discount Day). If you go then, you'll be terrified by how many Londoners there is, especially the foreigners like myself. Hahaha.
Next day, we went back again to Oxford Street for the girls' second round shopping. Unfortunately...I have neither the passion nor the money to do a second round. Girls can get very unhappy when they fail to shop a single thing, I learned this that day. Girls can browse a long time, up to one hour in a shop of a brand, with only 2 floors for them. I learned this rule that day too. Unbelievable.
Oxford almost made us late for our train back to Nottingham. I left with Ai Woon to take our luggages (which we left at her place prior to shopping second round at Oxford St) at 2pm, we arrived at the train station at 2.45pm (the train's scheduled to leave at 3pm sharp!) after a great deal of running up the stairs at tube stations, walking with extremely big strides, and rushing. We made it!
6 comments:
Ohhh, wish I'm there.. XD
Lol, yeah, if got chance, just come for a visit. Its really not bad. =D
haha..ur last part is funny! it's not that bad..that's what i scheduled for u all..reach the station just on time wat..though tiring..
anyway, glad that u like covent garden..i thought nobody liked it..then i will feel quite bad for wasting ur time there..
i already liked it on my first visit. hahaha. its a great place. i'll recommend to my frens if i bring them to london. its a good place. =D
nice parliment photo!
wil, dun just recommmend, belanja me ther!
hahahaha...do i need to? u can fly here next time, n u get paid for it wo. i think i shud ask u tat very question instead. hahahaha