london city

kicked off our day wiv FREE hearty breakfast at the hotel. the ho(s)tels we stayed so far came wiv complimentary breakfast. but i think pama were getting bored wiv those western meals.

heading to victoria station again for a city tour. planned to go buckingham palace for changing of the guard. but it is only on alternate days in winter months and it so happened that it was off on the day we went. so we hopped onto a red double-decker bus touring around london city. this red double-decker bus is a symbol of london. i din take any pic of it. but mind you, it exactly looks the same as the logo of double-decker prawn crackers.

victoria station as the starting point.

passing by this university.

the university of westminster was previously a polytechnic.

hav you ever received a forwarded mail explaining the reasons of horse statues with its legs are either up in the air or firm on the ground? it said, one leg off in the air was the warrior injured in the battle, two legs raised means the warrior was killed, while four legs on the ground was the warrior died of natural causes. as to how true this urban myth is, i hav no idea.

wellington arch.

trafalgar square.

if the myth is true, this warrior must hav died of natural causes.

national gallery. crowded.

tourism malaysia opposite trafalgar square. went inside. none layan-ed me. i should hav yelled at them, "eh, spot check!! budget officer on duty checking on you!!"

naah, at upper deck of double decker.

when the bus stopped at chinatown.

chinatown again.

dunno wth arch is this. marble?

limkokwing university in london. bus was moving.

guard in winter uniform. the summer one would be bright red.

at buckingham palace.

still at buckingham.

its just so our day. happened to see this changing of the guards. but i dunno what purposes its for.

bearbear posing wiv the guards.

westminster abbey.

westminster abbey.

big ben.

small ben.

silent protest infront of houses of parliament.

i told you, i would be a politician if i were not made to be a civil servant. or maybe bearbear would be a cabinet minister. who knows! in fact, i hav another name for this europe trip, it's gonna be called parliamentary trip. so after our visit to reichstag building in berlin, we went to the palace of westminster/houses of parliament in london. we even had the chance to listen live to the debates at house of common. i forgot to take a pic of its hansards. but seriously the seating arrangement and even the hansards were no different fr msia's. but on the debate part, msia's is more interesting even though it sounds like pasar, which i'd never doze off. good for me!!

houses of parliament or palace of westminster.

westminster palace complex.

london bridge is falling down, falling down. london eye at the back.

nite view of london city. taken fr the london eye's gondola.

inside the gondola.

tower bridge.

tower bridge.

the tower of london used to be a prison.

thats the end of london visit. we were flying to paris on easyjet. supposed to meet cousin, yuetchern in london. but we din make it cuz the schedule was critically tight. sorry dear!! btw, i asked directions fr a malaysian guy on how to get to luton airport. then i think he was somewhat out of his head and told me there are two luton airports, and both are very far fr london city! he was being very helpful, no doubt. but apparently he misled us. he told us to take this tube, transit here and there. but my internet resources was more useful and reliable. just get a tube to victoria station and take a transit bus to the airport. simple as that. some ppl like to make things complicated and make life difficult. ok!! but anyway, i appreciate everything he did.

london downtown

here goes a one-day tour in london downtown (is it a downtown? but it's quite far fr london ok. abt two to three hour drive). initial plan was to take up a tour to windsor castle, stonehenge and the roman baths. but only 3 seats available left for that coach while we hav 4 ppl. so we went for another option - still stonehenge and the roman baths, but windsor castle was replaced wiv winchester.

waited for the bus at victoria station. again, met quite a lot malaysians. the tour guide was a handsome englishman, you know that kind of man whose features like johnny depp. i had a lil chat wiv him and found that he had been to msia twice. he even claimed that msia has a lot nice food. ya meh?? the laksa and budu kah?

london is no different fr kuala lumpur. hazy, massive traffic jam, congested tube stations, ppl walking in a hurry... whatever you name it. i dun like london city, but i love pound sterlings. they call london a global village with no boundaries cuz it truly looks like a no englishman place. instead i found a lot asian faces. its like a proportion of 50:50 which i met 5 asians out of 10 ppl. maybe 60:40 or 70:30. yeah rite, im exaggerating. maybe 40:60 or 30:70 lah. but, earning pounds is pretty charming, isnt it?

so there we were at winchester castle. nothing special except the weather was sunny!! surprisingly good!! went to an early market of this town and bought a few packets of strawberry and grapes. felt energetic rightaway.

on the way to early market.

everything was on xmas sales excluded my pama - they are not for sale!!

cute lil gals at winchester.

winchester cathedral.

statue of king alfred the great.

bearbear makan-ing strawberries.

continued our journey to stonehenge which was a burial place in early years. the construction of its hanging stones is still a mystery until today.

here we were at stonehenge. it was gated so we couldnt get any closer.

just take a look at how beautiful the english village is. doing indian dance here must be nice.

this photo was taken by a penangite who came visit his daughter.

headed to the city of bath. this complex was previously used by the romans for public bathing.

english village, a place where i found my tranquility of life!!

getting nearer...

mama listening to audio guide which comes wiv several language options.

its a hot spring. see the steam coming out?

somewhere at the great bath or sacred spring.

at bath abbey.

somewhere near bath abbey.

going back soon.

papa took a sip of coffee. had pizza before back to london.

thats the end of this tour. back to london city and stuck in traffic jam for hours. had dinner near west kensington and the waitress who served us was a young pretty chinese lady, i tell you!!

hello londoners

we were reaching london at stansted airport and took a transit bus to victoria station. then again we were on a transit to barons court near west kensington. gonna stay at ace hotel. highly recommended to those who wanna go london. i took tonnes of pics, kinda lazy to blog, so i'll let the pics do the talking.

most london tube stations are kinda old. i guess so, fr its old-age architecture and structure. so mayb thats the reason they are not equipped wiv elevator. my luggage was heavy and a cute japanese guy offered to help me lift the bag. he din notice bearbear, i guess. or maybe, he thought im a japanese. you know, many ppl thought we were japanese when we abroad.

travel pass. supposed to get an oyster card, but dunno why we got this.

traveller reading map. thinking which package to take. cant make up my mind.

chinatown at piccadilly. hunting for food. met many malaysians here!!

wet london. on the way back to hotel. this photo worth 100-million dollar. i can never catch this scene of papa hugging mama at home.

but me and bearbear went out again after that. planned to watch musical theatre, the lion king. but we din make it though.