Well.. i guess it's time for me to feel homesick.. haha... as i've told some of my friends... i always thought i'll not get home sick at all.. but apparently it's kicking in a bit now.. not alot though... just that at times.. i will haev this feeling of nostalgia...
well.. so what do i miss?? 1stly of cos, family and friends.. quite miss the familiar faces that i get to see at home.. the familiar places, familiar routes, familiar voices...
2ndly... language... well, probably MOE wouldn't be happy to hear this.. but.. i miss SINGLISH... yeah i sure do speak singlish to my singapore friends here... but i guess it's just the common usage of it that i miss... everytime when u meet european friends (or other nationailty), we have to speak in English.. so yeah... it'll be great to be able to speak Singlish..(i was so happy when i realised there' other NTU ppl here.. haha)
and not to forget.. the foooooooood! haha... yes i miss all the unhealthy food in singapore! lol, seems like i'm having healthier food here(since brocoli etc is cheap)... but recently been cooking alone and.. quite a few unhealthy food i made... here's example.. :)
baked spaghetti... tasted quite nice to me actually..hehe :)
Fried rice~~ hehe... with vege ok!
Another fried rice.. with potato salad... and fruits!! healthy ok.. =X
It might be ironical to say this... but sometimes, i felt like i miss NUS... LOL it even feels weird to say that! haha.. ok.. that's all.. Berlin post will be up asap...
haha i know... but i'm just so hooked on Avenue Q that i have to make another post on it... did a search on you tube and got this hilarious video on an interview with Trekkie monster... :)
Hey guys.. sorry for the late update...(yeah.. very late...) been quite tired lately so kinda lazy to update... anyway... here's the updates for my UK trip... Berlin one coming right after~ :)
1st Nov 2007, Thursday, Cph -> London
Finally is the trip to London... well i guess London needs not much introduction, most people would know a fair bit about the City... But anyway, just in case.. London is the Capital of UK... LOL, for more information just click on this!
Took an easyjet flight over... Easyjet is a budget airline based in the UK... the air tics was quite cheap, cost less than S$150, quite a good bargain i would say... but unfortunately, unlike the UK, there are very limited budget airlines in Denmark or the Scandinavian region... so... flights around here are pretty expensive... sigh...
It was an ok flight, about 1 plus hours journey so nothing much for me to complain also... haha! Arrived at London Stanstead Airport and was supposed to take a bus into the Central London... but the bus was late... so waited for quite sometime...
Met up with Zico and Daryl for dinner after that... went to a place called "Hare and Tortoise" for dinner... Finally after so long.. some decent Asian Cuisine!! haha... it wasn't really cheap.. 5 pounds for a bowl of laksa, but i must say it tasted quite nice(after so many months of absence of good spicy food) and relatively cheap...
Due to the stupid bus delay, everything ended kinda late and i slept(after playing 2 rounds of 5v5 AI dota map) on the couch... :(
But anyway... long day tomorrow so better just have a good rest ba........
2nd Nov 2007, Friday, London
1st stop... Tower of London... well, one thing about this trip.. i didn't do much research about it... hehe... cos it's Anthony's turn to plan so i decided to just.. tag along~ :)
So, my 1st impression of Tower of London... yes, a Tower... so i was kinda surprised to find out that it's actually a Palace/Fortress/Prison! lol...
Tower of London Entrance
Tower of London from the Side...
Within the Tower of London, there are places like the Jewel House where the Crown Jewels are... The Queen's House, built by Henry VIII Ann Boleyn, who was soon afterwards beheaded.... =X The White Tower, a central tower at the Tower of London built by William the Conqueror. Also the most prominent and most commonly icon used to represent the Tower of London... There's also some interesting names of places like the Traitor's Gate and the Bloody Tower... It is also interesting to note that Tower of London is also a prison and hence, there are torturing chambers within this complex... in fact.. the old torturing chamber have been renovated and changed into the gift shop now... LOL =X
We followed the Yeoman Warden Guided Tour.. it wasn't a very long tour.. maybe 40mins to an hour? It was quite informative, however maybe it's due to my bad English, i find it hard to catch the UK accent... lol so in fact, i only maybe caught 60 to 70% of what the guide says........ =X
One of the special things about this Tower of London is that you can see Ravens there... The look very similar to a crow, just that they are much much much bigger... lol.. in fact when i 1st saw it, i was in awe... wondering how come crows in London is SOOOOO BIG... lol
According to the Welsh Triads, Bran the Blessed (Welsh: Bendigeidfran, literally "Blessed Crow" head was buried in London where the White Tower now stands. As long as it remained there, Britain would be safe from invasion. It is usually linked to the still-current practice of keeping ravens at the Tower of London under the care of Yeomen Warder Ravenmaster, and with this story of Bran, whose name means Raven.
After the not too long visit to Tower of London, we met up with Kaiting as he said he will be bringing us around London today... Lunch was at a Korean Restaurant which he had reserved seats at... food isn't too bad, quite nice but it cost quite a bit.. but ok la.. at least you are paying for decent food.. not like Norway... =X
After Lunch, we made a short visit to the British Museum... and i really mean short... haha... didn't really have the time to go through any of the exhibit... so.. all i can say... the interior looks nice... LOL =X
Due to the lack of time... most of the places we went are kinda touch and go.. LOL... anyway, we visited places like......
Piccadily Circus...
Trafalgar's Square... (Feel like you are playing Monopoly?!?! lol)
Nelson Column in Trafalgar's square... there's 4 lions guarding it... and erm... can't see the whole column... hehe
Here's the Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square..
British Museum... didn't really get to visit the exhibit... it's more like a touch and go here... =X
Me and Ant at China town!! see the gate behind? good place to eat Asian food and get all the chinese condiments u need!!! damn... why don't they have one in Copenhagen.. :(
Red telephone booth..(standard London icon.. lol)
Me at Kaiting with London Eye behind... Didn't go sit on it though... one full ride think will take 30 mins.. dun have the time la...
Tube station in London... The call it the Underground.... I find that it is very similar to what we have in SG... i guess we kinda take London as a model...Since we have so many scholars going to London to study every year...... well for instance... they have a very much developed CIRCLE LINE... =X
And of course... not forgetting, London's House of Parliament..
The tall tower by the side is the Famous Big Ben....
After walking around London, 'touching and go' the various famous landmarks of London.... we hurried on to The Noël Coward Theatre to catch the Musicial, "Avenue Q"..
THE AVENUE Q STORY.
LIFE MAY SUCK ON AVENUE Q, but for a bright-eyed college graduate called Princeton, this is his new neighbourhood. A tiny bank balance and a variety of weird and wonderful friends and neighbours lead Princeton on a hilarious journey of self-discovery. Performed by an unholy comedic alliance of humans and puppets(!), AVENUE Q was the winner of the 2004 TONY AWARD® for BEST NEW MUSICAL, BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL and BEST ORIGINAL SCORE!.
Well, the description was quite true... it's really a hilarious Comedy and the story line i thought, was quite nice... well it's quite a provocative Musical... with topics like racial discrimination and sexuality(gay)... with taglines like.. "it sucks to be me", "everyone's a little racist" and "If you were gay"... well, take it as a light hearted comedy and it really makes u laugh your guts out... lol
Oh, and not to forget... it has sexual explicit scenes.... imagine... sex on the stage... BUT... it's puppet sex... =X
so here's a few clip i manage to find on youtube... quite like the song "for now" haha... funny and comforting... =X Have fun~
Inside the Theater... with the large background...
The seating... we are on the 2nd floor...
Video : It Sucks to be Me...
Video: Everyone's a little bit racist
Video: The internet is for porn... (Yes, alot of you should have seen the popular Youtube cartoon video.. yes it's from this Musical..)
Video: If you were gay
Video: For now...
ok... so that's alot of video... haha... sorry but i liked it alot la.. =X
Anyway, after the Musical...(i just can't get enough of it!) we went to eat the famous four seasons duck...
Well.. it is not bad... but maybe my taste buds aren't that sensitive... didn't feel that it is really THAT incredible... =X
well.. after this long day... we went back pack our things and head for Cambridge... taking a night train over and will be staying with Kaiting for the stay...
3rd Nov 2007, Saturday, Cambridge Cambridge train station... hehe...
Well.. Why are we here? needless to say... to tour the world famous Cambridge University... since Kaiting is studying here.. we got free lodging!! and free tour guide of course! haha... :)
I must say... Cambridge is a very beautiful town... with very old and nice looking buildings around..(check out the colleges!! haha) well, we stayed for 1 day.. which i thought is a good choice cos 2 or more days would make it seem boring...hehe
Well, Kaiting planned the itenary.. and we just followed him... he gave us a short tour around his college(Homerton College) and we attended a Maths lecture... well, i concussed maybe about... 15 mins into the lecture? haha.. =X it was an interesting experience though...
After that he brought us on a tour to the various colleges of Cambridge... more famous are the King's College, Trinity College (Where our PM is from) and St John's College...
A punt is a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. Punting refers to boating in a punt. The punter generally propels the punt by pushing against the river bed with a pole.
It was quite fun... since it's my 1st time.. haha.. Kaiting Punted 1st and after that we took turns to try... it's quite tiring!!though it does seems easy...
Some interesting things along Cambridge River.... The Bridge of Sighs... it got its name as this is used to be the bridge the students would take to receive their results... how apt! haha
King's College
King's College Entrance
St John's College
Trinity College
Trinity College Courtyard
I must say... The colleges are really very impressive... it's really beautiful and the structures are very amazing... When Bingjia said he went to Cambridge when he went London, i asked him why... now i know why... haha!
After the tour around Cambridge... we hurried back to Kaiting's place where we get dressed up for the Formal... It's a traditional meal held at some of the older universities in the United Kingdom at which students dress in formal attire and often gowns to dine... well... i seldom dress up so formally so it's quite a nice experience... though i do prefer to have casual dinners... LOL
Well as tradition.. we had wine...(damn cheap!!) and as usual.. i turned red... sigh... :(
Had quite alot of fun there... it was indeed a good experience... dining at the harry Potter like style table... haha... oh and also wearing the Cambridge gown... and taking photos as if it was ours... =X
Well.. the night ended with... DOTA... yeah... it's kinda lame i know.. but oh well.. it's been sometime and i guess i'm all high from the wine... hehe...
4th Nov 2007, Sunday, London
Well... after the night of DOTA... we deciding to take the 1st train back to London... as Kaiting had went to sleep... we left after leaving a note... i tot it was kinda rude... but well... i hope he doesn't mind..(i think he wont'...=x)
After one whole night of DOTA... i cannot tahan le.. so i slept thru the whole of Sunday... yes.. i'm seriously.. i wasted 1 day of my holidays sleeping!!! =/
but oh well.. went to meet Daryl for dinner at Covent garden..(i always tot it's Kovan garden... LOL) where we had Fish and Chips... how can come London never eat that right?!?! haha... well.. it's not bad... and for a very reasonable price too! :)
5th Nov 2007, Monday, London
Well.. not much plans today... but decided to go to watch the Change of Guards Parade at Buckingham Palace... another trademark of London.... It's damn crowded la... didn't really get to see much... mostly only see heads and more heads... LOL... so... i guess... it's ok loh... =X
After the COG... we had a little more time.. so we decided to walk to the Tower Bridge... since we only took photos of it from far.. now we shall step on it!! haha
Well, after that... we don't have much time left so we left for the airport to take the plane back... to Copenhagen...
It was a fun trip.. i've seen the beautiful buildings... seen the major landmarks of London... watched a very nice Musical..(which makes me want more!!!) Seen the Monopoly like places.... it was really a great experience... and someday.. i won't mind visiting England again.. maybe other city next time! :)
Was just watching a few documentaries... Fahrenheit 9/11... then this... Zeitgeist Movie... It presented some really interesting perspective of the 9/11 incident and various other issues... including religion... well i must say, it come with a very strong opinion... so if u guys decided to watch it, watch it with an open mind... and maybe... do some thinking after that to judge for yourself, which u think are acceptable and which aren't...
personally, i find it a bit too extreme towards the end... haha...
baked spaghetti... tasted quite nice to me actually..hehe :)
Fried rice~~ hehe... with vege ok!
Another fried rice.. with potato salad... and fruits!! healthy ok.. =X
