[L.E.P.A.K series: London] Chapter Three: Good Morning London!

We learnt our lesson well from the night before and put on extra layers the next morning. Cik Anai even went all out and wore herself two jackets, all bundled up for the cold. We headed out as early as 6.30am and took a 10 to 15 minutes walk to Waterloo Station. The entire station was relatively empty because of two main reasons. One, it's a Sunday morning, so no morning crowd. Two, it's barely 7.00am, none of the shops were even opened yet.

Outside of the station. *click*

Here's something interesting we discovered.
This is the left pillar of the entrance. See the date. 1914. Yup.

And this is the right pillar of the entrance.
Now see the date. 1918. Were the two pillars built four years apart from each other? Hmm....

We were here not to ride the train nor the tube. We were actually here to buy our 7-day travel card. And now we shall go into an infomercial break. :P

Hiyashibeeps' L.E.P.A.K Travel Tips No.4:
Everyone who's going to London will ask this same question "Oyster Card or Travel Card?" My answer: Travel Card. But make sure you buy it from a train station and not a tube station. Why? A travel card bought from the train station gives you awesome 2for1 offers to lots of tourist attractions including London Eye, Madame Tussauds, Tower of London and many more. Imagine how much savings you'll enjoy!

Oh, both individuals must hold a valid travel card to be entitled for the offer though. You can either print the vouchers from home or filled in the vouchers attached to the 2for1 booklet available in any train station. Present your voucher during ticket purchase and enjoy two tickets for the price of one. :D

Okay end of infomercial. Now where were we. Umm.. oh yes.

Buying tickets! Ini ialah posing punya gambar. Our 7-day travel card cannot be purchased from the ticket machine but from the counter.

After that, our day official starts!

Just outside the train station was a parking lot. Not for cars but for bicycles. Well-stacked, well-organised. It reminded me so much of Japan, except Londoners still kinda lose in numbers.

If you’re a traveller like me (never like to consider myself a tourist), there’s rows of bikes for rent!

We were passing by an under-the-bridge walkway when Cik Anai suddenly asked me to stop and stand by the wall. Photographers’ view on the pretties. Never quite understand them. But always know when to appreciate them.

So by the wall I stood. *click*

Rasa macam model aje. Hehe.

We passed by London Eye again and got a morning shot of it.

Night view – Check!
Morning view – Check!
Sunset view – Soon enough!

Finally we reached Westminster Bridge and
the House of Parliament greeted us once more.

Me and my friend Big Ben. :P

Inside the grounds of the House of Parliament.

Outside of the House of Parliament.
There were protestors camped outside, protesting for the troops in Iraq.

Just down the road was the majestic Westminster Abbey which was closed for renovation. Probably for the upcoming Royal wedding. Oh boy, it’s this week!

Cik Anai’s signature pose that appears in lots of the photos we took. Hahaha. We later joked that it’s because every building here is so freaking tall and grand that that’s the best pose to express it.

The advantage of starting your journey early is that there’s no crowd around. You have the entire place to yourself. We took in every bits and details of the abbey. That is until a lady on her morning run stopped right on her tracks and offered to help take a photo of us.

TADAA!
Our very first photo together for the trip.

We were speechless over the entire 30 seconds encounter. Running lady was helpful yet very ‘kao-kei’. Umm… cincai cincai! It’s like she stop, offer, take and go! This is in fact a cropped-and-tilted photo of the original. Yet without her, we wouldn’t have had our first photo together. So to dear running lady, Thank YOU!

Right across Westminster Abbey was Speakers’ Square.

Why Mr Mandela, fancy seeing you in London. :P

Oh, I almost forgot. Guess what we had for breakfast! Overnight chips! Hahaha. Wait wait. Let me rephrase that. “Chilled Overnight Chips!” Yes, they were the chips from the night before. The amazing thing was, they still tasted awesome. Remember I mentioned how enormous the portion was. Well, let me tell you, we didn’t even finished our leftovers for breakfast. Crazy, right?

We walked and munched our way to a bus stop to catch the famous red London Bus to Trafalgar Square, all for nothing more than the experience. A ride on a London Bus is a must after all. And if you get a Travel Card like we did, you can hop on and off the bus anytime for free!

Me on the bus.

Turns out the interior of the bus is pretty much the same as every other bus. *disappointed* The grand scam of modernity. *sigh*

The ride was a very short one and we reached our destination within a few minutes. Hopped off the bus and Admiral Nelson greeted us.

Though we couldn’t really see him since he was standing waaay too high.
The four lion guardians on the foot of the column on the other hand were looking all fierce and mighty.

A pair of loveducks were swimming around the pond and upon close-up, we noticed there were ice on them. Makes you wonder if they actually feel cold under those beautiful feathers.

Gigantic ship in a bottle.

Right behind Trafalgar Square was the National Gallery. Too bad like everything else in London, it is opened from 10.00am and it was only about nine when we were there.

Next Stop: Camden Market at Camden Town

Till then, I’ll leave you guys with the frantic bells of St Paul’s Church.
(Note: Not to be confused with St Paul’s Cathedral)

Grandpa's Song

That's not the title of song but that's what I called it.

I remember living with my grandparents when I was doing my internship in Penang and one day while waving my goodbyes as I head off for work, my grandpa stood at the front door and sang this to me.

"Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye
Cheerio, here I go, on my way
Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye
Not a tear, but a cheer, make it gay"

I immediately fell in love with the song and went all out to search for it on the internet. I asked grandpa what's the title of the song but he couldn't named the exact title and therefore, I fondly called it "Grandpa's Song". It turned out to be a World War II song that was sang to the troops as they head off for war. Today I'll sing it back to my dearest grandpa as he ventures on his journey to the other side.

Full Lyrics of Wish Me Luck (As You Wave Me Goodbye)

a song by Harry Parr-Davies, made popular during WWII by Gracie Fields

Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye
Cheerio, here I go, on my way
Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye
Not a tear, but a cheer, make it gay
Give me a smile I can keep all the while
In my heart while I'm away
Till we meet once again, you and I
Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye

Though I've always listened to this version with a male lead
as it reminds me of the way grandpa sang it.
http://youtu.be/GQX-ZgUZGxI

:(

I don't know what to say. I don't know how to start.
For he has left us and I don't know how to react.
Because sometimes it's not about what you show on the outside,
but what you feel on the inside.
And nobody needs to know that except you.

[L.E.P.A.K series: London] Chapter 2: First Night Out

After figuring out how we're gonna place our luggage in our tiny miny room, we finally set off to hunt for our dinner. Master Superfish! Oh yes. Months of research have led us to one awesome must-try fish and chips joint in London. And the best thing was, it was only within 10 minutes walk from our hotel. Awesome + awesome.

What was not awesome was the weather. At 7.30pm, it was already dark outside and the streets were already pretty deserted. Let's not forget about the freaking cooooold weather. In fact, the entire place seemed shady and dangerous for two gals to be on the streets. Nevertheless, we were determined to get our fill of good ole' fish and chips.

Just as we were about to reach the restaurant, a group of men approached us and said something we didn't quite catch. We quickly entered the restaurant and instantly we were in happy land filled with warmth and great aroma. We knew immediately that we had made the right choice when we saw the crowd! We had to stand and wait for our table. In the end, we even shared ours with an elderly man.

Finally we placed our orders and were served with our starters – freshly boiled prawns and lots and lots of bread. The only word to describe the simple boiled prawns is SUCCULENT. Three tiny prawns won us over immediately. *sigh in content*

By the time we were done with our bread, we were already stuffed. So when the main dishes showed up, we were staring at them with a sense of disbelief.

See! See! Crazy right?!

I ordered myself cod fish while Cik Anai had herself some great calamari rings.
Both with a mountain worth of chips. We then made the decision to finish up my fish together along with some calamari rings and tabao the crazy load of chips back. Because seriously, how to finish that?

Cik Anai had her eyes on the calamari all along. :P

After dinner, our next mission was to hunt for water! Hahaha. Can you believe how expensive a bottle of water is in London? It's crazy that every other types of drink after either priced the same or may be even cheaper than water. Soft drink, milk, gas water, etc. And if you think it's expensive to input water, wait till you want to output water. Yes. Going to the looooo. Hahaha. £1.00 - 1.50 for a bottle of 1.5 litre water, that about RM5.00 - 7.50. Then 30 - 50p to go to the toilet, that's about RM1.50 - 2.50. A total osmosis experience for close to RM10. Imagine that!

Finally we found a convenience store selling water bottle by a few pence cheaper and bought us each a bottle. With that bottle we continue on our night walk around the neighbourhood.

Meet the London Eye!

Now meet House of Parliament and Big Ben!

Sakit hati tengok one part of the building not lighted up. :(
To make up for it, Cik Anai cleverly asked me to position myself to block off that 'unappealing part'.

TA-DAA! Perfect.

*grins*

And just so you know, we were freezing our asses off, shivering from head to toe. So after taking pictures of anything and everything around the area, we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel.

If you think that was the end of our night, wait till you see the next post! I’ll leave you guys now with the call of the great Big Ben. Till then.

[L.E.P.A.K series: London] Chapter 1: Getting There

And so it finally happened! From it's almost done to do, done, did! Cik Anai and I have flown and conquered London, Edinburgh, Paris and Amsterdam (L.E.P.A.+K), all within a week. Craazzzy schedule, dead tired but very very worth every penny.

The entire thing started out way back in May last year. Yup. 10 months ago, when we bought our flight + hotel from AirAsiaGo. A little trip advice for ya all out there.

Hiyashibeeps L.E.P.A.K Travel Tips No.1: Flight and accommodation purchased from AAG is pretty much fixed aka not flexible aka no change of dates. Unless the change is from their end, otherwise your trip is pretty much 'do or die' or in this case 'do or burn'. So yes, it's cheap and I still say go all out and grab any awesome deals on AAG but be reminded that your flight purchase is fixed on the days you choose unless you forfeit them. Boo.

We came across this problem because we thought of extending our travels afterwards and found out the only way to do that is to buy another ticket back home. Woot?!? :( Being budget travellers, we decided to make do with what we have and thus the crazy schedule.

Ahhh! This is gonna be a loooong post. Proceed with the interest to read.

So after all the excitement, this was our first shot of the entire trip. HAHAHA. Cik Anai made a boo boo while she was in the loo in the airport. The hose went berserk and attacked her. Kesian. This woman got waaaaay too excited already I tell you. 4.00am sudah pun bangun. Our flight was scheduled for 9.30am.

Me at the waiting lounge, receiving my 'enlightenment'. See those glowing lights coming out from my head? HAHAHA!

Finally on board! See that leg space.

Okay lah I admit I sat really really straight to take this picture but Cik Anai was in a pretty relax pose and that's the little space she has. Not too bad in my opinion. We've been hearing lots of 'stories' about AirAsia X and how uncomfortable the seatings were that it got us all worried. For nothing! Yeah it wasn't spacious and luxurious but so is any other normal airlines out there. I've sat Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines and oh god! China Airline and I think AirAsia X pawns the last one. Yeah luggage cost, food cost but show me another airline that gets you to the other side of the world for under 2k and I... I... *am so not good at threatening people at all*

Anyway, back to our journey. :P

See who we brought along! Hahaha... see how dedicated we are boss. We carried a piece of Ken Ray with us anywhere. Too much I tell you! Too much!!


Nasi Lemak. Yum! We pre-booked our meals for our journey to London. We figured RM20 is reasonable for two meals on board and to prevent us from feeling hungry and cold when we reach London. Not to mention, it's gonna be our last 'rice' meal for the week.

Cik Anai became an in-flight paparazzi and took passangers in umm... compromising positions. LOL. Seriously. Dude went right to bed after take-off. Cik Anai had to wait until everyone else began dozing off before she took the picture. Sorry dude.

3 hours later and this was the view from the window.

BREATHTAKING.

This picture does not do justice to what we saw with our own eyes. It was beautiful. Endless slopes covered with snow. Mr Man from the middle row stood up and asked us if it's the Himalayas. All we can offer was a very unconvincing "I think so."

And to prove how freezing cold it must be outside, the earlier water drops
had turned into ice.

And just like that, the landscape turned into a desert with lots of sand dunes. Again another breathtaking scene to behold. Luckily Mr Man did not come around this time and ask us if it was the Sahara. ^^;;

One more shot of the desert.

After that we tried to have some shut eye. 3 hours before landing, our second meal was served. Nasi Briyani. Cik Anai did not fancy the rich coconut of the curry but it was alright with me. I liked it better than the nasi lemak's curry which Cik Anai thought was good. Each to their own.

Are we there yet?

Is that Paris? :P

Finally! We're descending. We arrived Stansted Airport as scheduled even though we were late for take-off earlier. It was bright and sunny at 3.30pm but we had our jackets ready for the cold. Immigration was strict and time-consuming. We were worried we wouldn't make it for our bus out to London.

Hiyashibeeps L.E.P.A.K Travel Tips No.2:

Grab your cheap ride out to London with EasyBus (www.easybus.co.uk) with fare as low as £2. You choose your time of travel but your ticket is also valid for rides one hour before and after your designated time slot in case of delays and what not. That however depends on seat availability since priority will be given to ticket holders of the exact time slot. ;)

We booked ourselves the 5.00pm ride, hoping a one-and-a-half hour allowance was enough for immigration. So we got pretty agitated when the queue was moving oh soooo slowly. When it finally reached our turn, we somehow impressed the immigration officer with our crazy well-organised plan... hahaha... and was breezing our way through the gates.

Then we rode a very strange lift down to the umm... -1 floor and
search for our bus stop.

At 4.45pm the bus arrived. A very very small bus which arguably should be called a van. :P The bus that came however, was not the 5.00pm bus was actually the 4.40pm bus. There was this other Malaysian family that was scheduled for the 5.00pm ride and the mom kept telling the family "this is not our bus". Cik Anai and I, being two young shameless gals that we are, went up to the driver and asked if we could ride on this bus.

Me: Excuse me, we're actually scheduled for the 5.00pm bus.
*shows Mr Cool Driver the ticket* but we're wondering if we can...

Mr Cool Driver: *in a serious unmoving tone* Hop on.

Me: *blinks* Umm... thanks! *turns to Cik Anai* Let's go, let's go.

HAHAHA.

That's Mr Cool Driver and the people on the left was the Malaysian family who stayed and waited for the next bus. Sorry guys. That's the advantage of being two gals with only two luggage as opposed to a family with lots and lots of luggage. We're easier to be accommodated. LOL.

When we got on the bus, Mr Cool Driver told everyone to put on their seat belts. O_O Hahaha... and boy do they take safety seriously...

Even Mr Cool Driver's bag wears its seat belt. LOL.

The sun was beginning to set as we arrived into the city. It was also after-work hours and the traffic was crazy. And here comes travel tip no.3.

Hiyashibeeps L.E.P.A.K Travel Tips No.3:

Pedestrians rule the roads of London. Yes. There's traffic lights to guide you but vehicles generally stop for people to cross regardless of what the traffic light says. Cik Anai commented that that's probably one of the cause of the jam. Cars just kept on stopping for people. Hahaha. Also words like 'Look Left' are well-painted on the road to tell you which way to look but us being 'unguided kiasi Malaysians' that we are, can't stop our well-instilled 'Look Left-Look Right-Then Left Again' mentality but yeah, pedestrians rule!

We finally reached Baker Street at 6.30pm, dragged our luggage to the tube station and catch the tube to Lambeth North, the station right across the road from our hotel.

Gosh is this post long or what. I'll leave the rest of the night to another post. Till then here's a video of our tiny miny room at Tune Hotel Westminster.

Cik Anai was quite surprised by the size of it. Hahaha. It was okay for me since it's basically the same as the tiny rooms I had in Japan. That's what they call semi-budget travelling. At least you have a room and bath to your own. :D