Two Days In and Still Beatles Deprived

WHAT?!?

That's my reaction right now that made me open my blog page again to make a second blog post in a night.

*sigh*

It all started yesterday at work when I suddenly had this lyrics in my head.

"I love you, yeah, yeah, yeah..."

Wait. Before you start telling me that's the wrong lyrics, I admit I'm a bad Beatles fan. Forgive me. :( but it was this one line that gave me the 'itch' I couldn't get rid off. And since I did not have my entire personal song collection with me, I went on the hunt via the internet. No no no. No illegal downloads in the office okay. I went searching for radio stations and ended up at jango.com. Click next, next, next and couldn't get the song. *sad face* Not to mention, Cik Datang and Mr Iduntalkmuch were probably thinking why was I listening to *ahem* 'the old stuff' all of the sudden.

So I gave up.

But still the itch didn't go away. So I took my entire personal song collection to the office, only to find out that I had seven miserable Beatles song in there. Like I said, I fail as a Beatles fan. Determined to find my song, I turned on Beatlesarama.com instead. This time with my earphones plugged in, I had it on almost the entire day. Though I was not at my desk most of the time and once again, NADAA!

Now before you come on to comment that there's this thing call youtube. Well, let's say my computer is just not youtube friendly enough. *double sad face*

So I came home, took my bath and finally grab the album off the CD rack and check the playlist for the song and couldn't find it. So naturely I asked my dad.

"Pa... what's the title for the song
"I love you, yeah, yeah, yeah" ah?"

"It's "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah" lah."

"Oh!"

So yeah. The song is in the album. Finally! I'm going to get to scratch that silly 'itch' away. I took the album upstairs and back to my room. I opened it...

... only to find an empty casing.

EMPTY!!!

EMPTY!!!

WHAT?!?

*sigh*

The Simple Truth

"Good, fast, cheap. Pick Two."

And it's not just for the advertising industry, I believe it's sort of the universal mantra of how things work. Try it yourself. Pick two and I'm sure the third one will not fit the equation.

Hmm... if only we let clients pick their 'two' before we actually start work.

Now that's a wishful thought. :P

[L.E.P.A.K series: London] Chap 5: HeART of London

We’re just one chapter away to Edinburgh! *excited much* I guess I should just get right on it then.

Next up is Covent Garden! This is truly a place of art where street performers are seen at every nook and corner. These street performers are licensed to perform and boy do they come in all arts and forms.


This warrior is awesome in so many ways. His expressions are simply hilarious. See him with a cute gal and he goes all shy like that.


See a little boy and he goes all cheeky with him.

You see, Mr Warrior will randomly throw his sword out to catch passerby’s attention. If you’re 'lucky', you’ll be the one to pick it up, return it and be caught along in his act. If you noticed, there’s another young boy looking eagerly at the scene. Mr Warrior noticed him as well. Called him over and waaa-laaah!


Happy boy is happy to be caught. Hahaha.


Dog-Man! He’s amazing and has quite the dirty mouth. Parents just can’t help giving their kids some money to be placed in the dish for Mr Dog-Man.

And here at Covent Garden age doesn’t matter! There were also magic acts and acrobatic shows going on all over the place. How awesome is that?

The building might read ‘Covent Garden Market’ but it’s not your usual market selling fruits and vegetables. It used to be back in the days, but now it’s more of an art market where stalls sell arts and crafts of all kinds.

But then there’s always food! *grins*

And this stall here had a crazy long queue going on. Seriously long. Whatever they’re cooking must taste really good especially since it cost a whooping £7 for a pretty modest serving. We did not try it because (1) the line was endless and (2) RM35 for a plate of rice is just not for us. :P

Be amazed! We were.

Told you it’s all about ART over here!

From Covent Garden, we made our way to Piccadilly Circus, where the famous statue of an archer, Eros stood in the middle of the busy junction.

Piccadilly Circus is also known for its neon signs and video displays mounted on the surrounding buildings. The trademark "SANYO" sign is one that you'll see in every picture of Piccadilly Circus. I like this shot because it looks as if the man in glasses is thinking about having some fries. *snickers*

Me with the standard "I was here!" shot. :P

Nana commented that there were more humans than pigeons on the memorial. Sad but true. Poor pigeons are loosing out their territory. Here's a little tip for ya all. Make sure to come back here during the night to catch some awesome night shots of the place when the neon signs are all lit up. Be warned though, the crowd is just as crazy if not worst than the afternoon crowd.

Our initial plan was to visit Oxford Street and Regent Street, both are upmarket shopping avenues that do not fit our interest nor budget. Hehe. So after awhile, we decided to change our plans and hunt down China Town instead.

When we finally saw the lion and Chinese words on the street signs, we knew we have found the place. Indeed within the China Town area, all street signs have Chinese words on them. And then there were also the rows and rows of Chinese restaurants that offer all-you-can-eat buffets, a true testament to our typical Chinese nature of squeezing every penny worth for the value we pay. *sigh*

Nana's "I was here!" shot,
in front of the arch that reads 'London's China Town'.

It is here that we had our ultimate "Shock of the Day".

Wait for it.

Wait for it.

.

.

.

TADAAA!

Thai durian selling at £6.99 per kilogram. That's RM35 for one kg. -.-;; I can buy a few good durians with that amount of money. What's more, there's only one miserable durian for sale. Don't get to choose, yet still have to pay so much. *shakes head* Poor durian lovers in London. Kasihan.

We went back to our hotel to rest our tired feet for one short hour before heading out again to catch the sunset view of London from sky high.

That’s right, it’s London Eye time once again.

Remember I mentioned about getting a travel card from the rail station to enjoy 2for1 offers? London Eye is one of the many attractions you get to enjoy such offer. From £18 for a ride, we now get to go on for only £9 each. The ticket is inclusive of a short 4D experience of the London Eye.

My “I was on the London Eye” shot.
Not as smiley as I was in the morning I guess. Hehe. It’s been a long day after all.

The ride up is a nice way to end the day. After a day’s walk, all you want to do is slowly take it all in and on the London Eye, you get to do precisely that.

Take pictures of every possible angle, with views stretching out as far… well as far as the fog and clouds allow us to see.

Watching the sun slowly set in. *content sigh*

Oh soooo pretty.

*content sigh x2*

Next is confession time.

Yes, I caved in on the second night of my trip and went back to my Oriental roots.
Not quite Chinese but close enough. *grins*

A whole big bucket full of Chicken Yakisoba for under £5.
I don’t care because I loved it. *hearts*

Phew. This is really a long post isn’t it? We’re heading off to Edinburgh next.
Till then, here’s a little entertainment from the Covent Garden band.
Jolly group of people.

[L.E.P.A.K series: London] Chapter 4: Camden Town

After taking pictures from all possible angle at Trafalgar Square, we head up towards Leicester Square to catch the tube to Camden Town.


That’s me riding the escalator down to the underground.
Seriously, it’s like another world down there, especially when you’re in one of the main stations. Levels over levels of different lines, taking you here, there and everywhere! Sometimes I feel like I’m in a movie when I’m down there. Hmm… action movie! Vaa vaa voom. Bing bang boom! :P



Taking a few minutes before the train arrived to camwhore around the platform.

And we didn’t stop even after boarding the train. We attempted to take self-portraits of us together, over and over again until someone finally offered to help us.



Our second photo together. *click*

25 minutes later, we reached Camden Town where markets, markets and more markets awaited us. From here on, I’ll let the photos do the ‘talking’.

The many ‘interesting’ shops along Camden Street.
*click to enlarge*

Think you’re seeing everything there is in this picture?

Think again.

Busy lady in front of the stall vs an equally busy man behind it.

I BUY vs I SELL.

Hehehe.

As we continued down, we reached Regents Park Canal,
also aptly named as Little Venice. Here is where we had our lunch for the day, where rows of ethnic food lined together.

Food. Glorious FOOOD!

Scooter seats! Sooo cute.

They lined along the entire riverbank, so you get to munch on your food while you enjoy the scenic view in front of you. How awesome is that?

My burger in the making for £2.50.

Nana’s slice of pizza for £2.00.

The view in front of us as we enjoyed our lunch.

Hiyashibeeps’ L.E.P.A.K Travel Tips No.5:
This is more of a personal recommendation than an advice. Indeed Camden Town is not somewhere your usual tour will take you. It’s truly a hidden gem in London. So make sure if you have the opportunity, do visit the place. Sure, lots of travelers make their way here but so do the locals. You’ll find the perfect combination between the two. After all, London itself is made of lots of people from all over the world. All living, working and calling this place their home. In fact, London might not even be the most ‘English’ part of England but that’s also what makes it special. Malaysia may be rich in cultures but London has its own swing of vibrancy as well. Love it, hate it. That’s London.

Alright. Let’s get back to the market, shall we? :)

One of the many shots Nana took in one of the markets. Gaya sungguh the man in glasses kan? Bag-bag semua juga cantik-cantik belaka. *grins*

The compulsory shot of the day to prove that we were here. Hehe.
Yes. I did took a similar picture as Nana.

My beautiful stallions. Muahahaha.

Obviously we’re at the Stables Market. :P

It’s the last market along Camden High Street. There are in fact quite a few markets along the main street. So do allocate at least 3 hours to half a day to do your shopping here. Things here are relatively cheaper than any where else in London. If you’re traveling at a very leisurely pace, you can even spend your entire day here!

Buy souvenirs for friends, buy clothes for yourself, buy food to fill yourself silly.

Don’t believe me?

See! Nana and donuts! DONUTS.

Okay. We’re off to Covent Garden next.

This time I’ll leave you with a more cherry sound of London. Enjoy! :)

PRIORITIES. Gotta Get Them Right!

I so wanted to blog tonight. See I even opened up a new post to do so. But there's this new episode of Glee. And for some reason, I've somehow managed to turn myself into a secret Gleek in the last few weeks. No. I still won't admit I'm a Glee fan. I simply enjoy watching the show. I'm a House fan. Even though I don't enjoy the show as much as I used to but I can proudly claim that I have never ever missed a single episode of that show since university days. That's a looooong seven years. I may be a Vampire Diaries fan. But that's because I've always been a fan of vampire tales since secondary school days. And that's even longer.

But tonight.

Glee vs Blog?

Hmm...

I'm going with Glee.
Gotta get my priorities right after all.

On contrary, I did blog. Just not the post I intended. Hmm...so I'm awesome enough to have both priorities done at the same time. Gotta love myself. :P

No Wonder Lah!

I click 'Publish Post'. I check my post. Edit, edit and edit until that stupid line spacing is perfect or until I give up, whichever comes first. I give one final read to my post and then I realised... No matter what I cooked, be it Japanese, Italian, Chinese, English, American, they all end up on that same flowerly cina-pek plate.
So tak cocok lah.

No wonder lah, they call those chinaware.

-___-

The Making of the L.E.P.A.K Sandwich

In conjunction with the on-going L.E.P.A.K series, I therefore name this sandwich the
L.E.P.A.K Sandwich.

For those who might have missed on the earlier intro bit of the series. L.E.P.A.K is the abbreviation of my recent adventure with Cik Anai to London, Edinburgh, Paris (I almost wanted to type Perak -.-;;), Amsterdam and K... (well, K is happening later in a few months). L.E.P.A.K would probably conclude my travelling tales for the year 2011 as I'm pretty sure I'll be broke to go anywhere else after that. XD

So what exactly makes a L.E.P.A.K Sandwich?

Representing London is Apply Chutney from Harrods.

Yum!

I know, I know. It says there the perfect accompaniment to roast pork but I'm the innovative chef here. My kitchen. My decision. Right? Besides, we don't really eat much roast pork to enjoy this.

Representing Edinburgh is Whisky Flavoured Coffee.

Mmmmm.... the aroma.

Representing Paris is of course French Bread.

Though obviously not bought from France nor is it as good as the real stuff...
but yea... still, it's French Bread.

And last but not least...

Representing Amsterdam is Cheeeese.

Smoked Cheese with Herbs. So stinkily goood.

And that's what makes a L.E.P.A.K Sandwich Meal.

YUUMMMieeeee!