London 2010!

During our 2 hr delay in Marco Polo Airport, Aly & I were discussing on what to eat in London.

And from that moment on, all I can think of is lobster yee mee..... yuuuummmmm...

Lobster Yee Mee

Spicy deep fried eel. Surprisingly, Miss Sim can handle the spiciness...
Well because of the extreme delay, Pei Hua did managed to have lobster yee mee with us and then took the earliest train back to Manchester the next day.

This time, I managed to do a lot of more of the 'touristy' stuff. And within a week, I am in love with London!!! There are so much to do here!

The first few days I stayed at Miss Sim's apartment and it was warm and cosy. She even switches on the heater in the toilet. No wonder my flat is an igloo to her la... =P

Hiro made a new friend, Lumpy!

In this London trip, I ate a lot of Japanese food!!
Ebi tempura don in Misato~ The food quality and price is fairly good. However, the floor was very slippery =(
Tori karage rice =) yuummmm

Ebi tempura teishoku えびてんぷら定食 from Sakura. They have very good lunch set. A bit pricy for dinner.

Roast duck from Four Season and I ate it all by myself. Oink oink. I didn't take rice!! It's part of the no-carb diet!!! I highly recommend the one in Bayswater. It's less busy and friendlier.

Hoo, Sim & I decided to try out Ed's Diner (at Soho). A word of caution, please sit-in and share the milk shake. Take-away milk shakes are reallllly small! The burger was not bad and we even wasted 20p for a song in the jukebox. I thought it is only fair to pick a song that everyone in the diner can relate to, YMCA by Village People! Unfortunately, Chica (gay latino boy) kept wiping our table (the angmou-version of throwing the bill onto the table). Thus we got the cue and left.



BLT Chicken burger.

And what's with leather jacket and Old Compton St??!!! hmmmm...


I watched two musical this time; Wicked and Les Miserable.

Hiro in the Wicked Theatre. Wicked was extremely funny and entertaining. And thanks to Aly, we got cheap tickets £22 for students and it was stall seats!! The untold story of the witches of Oz is brilliant and somehow I don't think believe in Dorothy anymore!! haha

Les Miserable was very classic and touching story. IMO, the vocals were better in Les Mis but the story is very serious plot. So I think both musicals were very good and I highly recommend it!

Note to self, don't watch musical if you are staying in the Malaysian Hall. I barely made in back due to the curfew time!

Besides eating (which was a big part of London), I shopped a storm too!
The 1st shop that I went into was Abercrombie & Fitch. Man, that shop is definitely the most himbotic place ever.. All the salesperson are hot and pretty. The muscular black dude at the entrance was soooo ripped that it looks like a rubber suit!!! And everything in there was soo expensive.
I bought a new pair of Tiger, lime green Crocs, yoga mat, leather jacket, a few clothings from UniQlo. And thanks to my shopping spree, I can only afford £2 coffee for the rest of the month for lunch. =(



I love my black Tiger~ so sexy!!

The great thing about traveling alone with an iphone is GoogleMap.
I was never lost...unless of course when I am out of battery..

Antique shop in Portobello Market

Grass car?!

Samantha, you ARE famous! But you are probably not as famous as Hiro!!

Hiro at the Tower Bridge (Not LONDON Bridge....)

Hiro at the Monument (to commemorate the Great Fire of London). This was where 2 angmou girls came over and asked if they can take a picture with me and Hiro!!!

The Gherkin (the penis-looking building quote from Miss Hoo).
St Paul's Cathedral. £10 admission = siao.
Hiro and sakura tree in front of St Paul.
I love this shot!!

Pillow fight in front of St Paul. I could have joined in the fun but I didn't think Hiro would have enjoyed it.

Of all the galleries that I went to, I personally like Tate Britain the most and unfortunately, I spend the least time there.

The following are art pieces which I took in Tate Modern, that caught my attention.
Suggestive-nya~
I like this too!! Very industrial revolution!

1 week is definitely not enough. I will be back in July!!!
London~~

Special thanks to Hoo & Sim for accommodating me!! Already missing the late night-> early morning chats!! Come up to Kampung E often!!! I promise I will buy the portable heater!!

Venice trip

After months of planning and anticipation, I arrived in Venice, the city famous for its canals, gondolas, masks, Venetian merchants and of course, the sex god Casanova. Well that’s basically all I knew about Venice and this is my 1^st Euro trip, unlike Pei Hua whom conquered most of Europe by now….

A few of my friends already forewarned that Venice is cutthroat in their prices and the food quality is not the best of Italy. I was giving Venice’s the benefit of the doubt so I went there with an open mind… until I ate my 1^st pasta, pizza n risotto there… well I guess not all Italians are culinary-gifted!

From my observation, I noticed that restaurants with the BIG signs, pictures of food and waiters of non-Italian heritage (NOT A RASCIST REMARK, it’s like I would never trust Caucasian cooking Chinese food…) are not safe to go in. And the Venetians adopt BM diet (burung merpati), which is very small portion and that's why there isn't much fat people around.

There were 2 restaurants that served fairly nice food.

Our 1^st dinner was hilarious as the master of the restaurant thought that we were Japanese! I am happy that he could recognized me but just a tad disappointed that he thought the Korean Shing was Japanese too!!! =( haha.

So I talked to him in Japanese more than English… very friendly but maybe a bit hamsap uncle feel =P but I guess that is the Italian trait… the tiramisu was very nice =)

The other good restaurant, which I would recommend to visitor of Venice, is Osteria Ae Sconte. It is a bit hidden in the alley but it has good food for the price. The squid ink pasta was very nice. =)

This is the squid ink pasta.

Gelati was our favourite pastime too… twice a day!! And man, how I miss the gelati in Casa De Gelato on Lygon St, Melbourne T______________T

One restaurant in Murano (glass making island) that everyone should avoid is Restaurant B (no joke man… its not an A restaurant…) Not only was the food terrible, their cover change was more expensive than a plate of main course for the 5 of us!!! Outrageous!! So people PLEASE don’t go here…

The bird eye view from St Mark's Cathedral's balcony.

St Mark's Square (Piazza S. Marco)

As for the sightseeing, I must say Venice has its charm as an historical city. Especially at St Mark’s square and overlooking to the SS Giovanni. Truly amazing view when the sun is up and shining down on to the blue water (n no the water is not CLEAN but not smelly)

Hercules's stone cold butt in Doge's Palace

The church interior is ..old.. but one can always appreciate that as part of the historical site and because its UNESCO World Heritage, it must look old!! And the Doge Palace is pretty cool too but without a proper guide, its difficult to appreciate its history. For example, I only realized that the Venetians were the 1^st to have a Republic state (thank you Wiki). So maybe it’s a good idea to read up on the history prior to the visit!!! And everywhere u go, u need to pay to go in.. like going up the church, 4 Euro… going to the back of the church, another 4 Euro. No wonder the Venetians are famous for their business making skills!!!!

The gondola ride was fun and one of my best 20 Euro I spent there. Igor (gondola driver) was funny and I find him cute with his goatee~~ And thanks Pei Hua for trying to set us up!!! /slapyouinpublic!

Other than that, Venice is pretty same old same old everywhere. Bridges everywhere, alley here and there and canals and more canals!

Hiro enjoying the sun on a table in St Mark's Square before we decided to leave the cafe as 1 latte was 18 Euros!!! Really tourist slaughter at St Mark's Sq.

Hiro in front of St Mary's Cathedral where there was a woman whom begs for money and kept tugging on to my arm. After I gaze her my SGL glare, I saw the notice "No entrance fees!" which was well hidden INSIDE the church.. good job Venetians...

But the best part of the trip is definitely the crowd I went with!! It was fun meeting up wit LeeLee Sim!! Well I see Nick on a daily basis, so not much love there for him anymore! =P

The funniest parts were me and Pei Hua of being Mario and Maria in preparing breakfast for 小姐,小爷 和小奶 and watching WooHoo (Malaysian Movie) on the sofa bed!!!

The breakfast that we made that day.

Few things I learn from this trip are

a) Never go on trip with odd numbers... its inevitable that someone will be left out.

Thank goodness I had Hiro with me =)

b) Change your Euro anywhere but the airport and make sure u bring enough!!

c) Don’t travel with Easyjet.. bloody delays here and there!!! uurggggghhh