Do your eyes deceive you, dear blog reader?
Are you looking at an optical illusion of sorts?
It doesn't seem possible, and yet, it's real...
That's right blogger. I'm blogging.
After my much yearned for blog posts, I, being the ever so generous soul that I am have decided to update this very dusty, very depressing, near-death blog of mine. Hmm...so many things to blog about and so very little time...And there is my remarkably short attention span to consider...
[Finds a comfortable chair before starting the tedious post]
My trip to London, Paris & Amsterdam spanned a short two weeks. Although, towards the end of it, I must admit I did feel a little homesick and eager to board the plane at Schipol Airport.
London, Day 1
The flight was frustrating because I drifted in and out of sleep for about 6 hours or so. After I couldn't sleep anymore, I spent the remainder of the journey watching movies and reluctantly eating. By the time we finally arrived, it was 5am. Yes, we arrived at Heathrow airport at 5 friggin am. Ofcourse, I was very wide awake as it was 12pm Malaysian time. So anyway, we took the Heathrow express to Paddington station where we a little trouble hailing a cab. Our hotel was at Inverness(?) Terrace called Berjaya Eden.
The hotel was crappy.
Like seriously, don't ever go there. Ever. The plumbing stinks, the elevator makes sounds when going up and jerks all the time. The staff is somewhat incompetent and the rooms are in need of a dire paint job. It's near Bayswater station and a short walk away from Queensway. Albeit, the location is rather convenient, [a short walk from Starbucks and surrounded by restaurants of many cuisines.] and is very close to Hyde Park [which is near Queensway btw] I would still not stay there.
Ever.
Moving on, the moment we arrived we couldn't get our rooms because we were early and they could only give us a single room which couldn't even fit our bags + the 5 of us. So, we went out to McD's for breakfast. I got a free coffee from the counter guy there ;) The morning weather there was lovely. When you exhaled you could see the vapor. It got really jakun over that. Haha
We bought our oyster cards and tickets for the tube and took the Circle line till South Kensington and swapped to the Picadilly line to Knightsbridge. Spent nearly the whole day at Harrods. Mum bought her Louis Vuitton bags there. Had Krispy Kreme donuts as well <3
We then ventured on a hike up Ham Hill. [yes, Ham as in turkey ham] The view up there was breathtaking. The wind made it kinda hard to talk and hear but it was alright. You could see the whole village and could even pinpoint Uncle Brandon's house! Anyhoo, went back to Hamstone House [yes, that's the name of their house] and just hung around with my copy and Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code' and my mum's laptop. Thank GOD for their wireless internet or I would have died! Haha, that's a bit of a stretch... Dear blog readers,
If you ever happen to venture to London as well, it is wise to spend a good few hours at Hyde Park because [on a good day, mind you] the wind is awesome, the sun isn't glaring at you because of the incredibly tall trees and the lake [with swans, geese, ducks and other birds!!!] is beautiful. Especially at sunset.
Ok, so around this time, most of us were dead tired because it would be around 12pm Malaysian time and we had a tiring day. Unfortunately, the rooms which were supposed to be ready by 3pm London time were still not ready at 5pm.
Like I said, the staff is incompetent.
So we finally got the room at 6-ish. Turns out, a couple of Malaysian women [lol] extended their check out time till 8pm because their flight was at 12am. Well too bad though, those suckers got booted out and we finally got our room. As soon as we were all settled in [actually, more of halfway settled in] I went to sleep.
London, Day 2
Woke up at 5am. Yes, 5am London time.
Had cup noodles.
Yes, I know it's very hypocritical of me to be eating cup noodles when I'm always reprimanding everyone around for eating them because they are
1) Unhealthy and full of MSG which will make your hair fall out
2) The cups are plastic so when you pour hot water into the cups, the plastic melts and you increase your chances of getting cancer
3) The noodles taste crappy
But those are the cup noodles you get around here. The cup noodles in London on the other hand are
1) Not completely healthy but they taste a world better
2) The cups are PAPER. Like, really thick paper so you know you wouldn't be drinking plastic
3) The cups say 100% recyclable on the back
Yes, I know it's very hypocritical of me to be eating cup noodles when I'm always reprimanding everyone around for eating them because they are
1) Unhealthy and full of MSG which will make your hair fall out
2) The cups are plastic so when you pour hot water into the cups, the plastic melts and you increase your chances of getting cancer
3) The noodles taste crappy
But those are the cup noodles you get around here. The cup noodles in London on the other hand are
1) Not completely healthy but they taste a world better
2) The cups are PAPER. Like, really thick paper so you know you wouldn't be drinking plastic
3) The cups say 100% recyclable on the back
Hmm...I can't seem to remember if I had these cup noodles he night before when we were all dead tired, or the next morning. Ah well.
At 9-ish, we all went and had an actual breakfast. Eggs, toast, juice. Your typical english continental breakfast. Took the tube to the Natural History Museum after that. I love that museum, seriously. Walked nearly the whole museum with my sister to get a look at all the exhibits. Spent the whole day there till we went for dinner.
I met up with Joanna on this day!!! :D It was great seeing her and catching up. :)
Ate dinner at a restaurant called Pizza on The Park at Hyde Park Corner. Also met one of my dad's colleagues I think, Mr. Philip Paton.
His son, Hugo, is two and adorable. Seriously.
Mr. Jetlag was catching up with me as well when we hailed a cab to go back to the hotel. Started packing because we were going down to Somerset the next day. FYI, Somerset is in the countryside. It is also where the Pang's happen to reside. :P
London, Day 3
Waking up early was obviously not a problem for someone who was still not used to the London time. Uncle Brandon's friend, [that's Alex & Chris' dad] this guy called Ray kindly gave us a lift to Somerset. Feel asleep at one point. Stopped at Stonehenge on the way. It's a really cool place albeit the wind was blowing like crazy and I felt like I was going to be knocked over or catch pneumonia or something... Seriously, I'm not stretching the taffy here. The only people who could brave the cold weather was my dad & I. My sister walked all the way up to where the stones were, looked at it and declared she was freezing her ass of so she ran back to the van. It was really cool. [pun not intended] I walked around it while listening to the audio tour. If it was like, a couple of years ago, I could have gone up and touched it but nooo, those stupid tourists from 'a couple of years ago' were stupid enough to chisel off pieces of the stone. So now, no one is allowed 10 feet near it. Pity.
After our short trip to Stonehenge, we continued our journey to Somerset. I took lots of pictures of the countryside. Also, did you know that there are an unbelievable amount of sheep and cows everywhere. Like you turn your head to look at a giant pasture or valley and you see it dotted by fluffly white sheep. When we got there, we were welcomes by Uncle Brandon & Aunty Karen. Alex & Chris were still at school so we went around their neighborhood which is basically this little town/village where everyone knows everyone. Quaint, no?
My sister actually went to pick Chris from school. I was supposed to go too but... I was too lazy :)
Had a chat with Alex when he got back. Talked about stuff and how gullible my sister is. :) Also, he's not a very good host. He had his friend, Jeffrey over and I was like, "Where's your friend?" and he was like, "[shrugs] Doesn't really matter" Haha. Also, he told me that in London, prepaid is called 'pay-as-you-go' and postpaid is called 'contract'. I learned a lot :P
Had dinner at this restaurant in the village called, "Fleur de Lis" which means "Lily". Dinner there was really, really good.
No, scratch that.
The food there in general was orgasmic. Seriously. Try scampi next time you happen to go there. It's heaven.
Heaven in a deep fried coat of flour.
Got back at..er 8-ish? Anyway, didn't go to sleep just yet. No siree, despite my lethargy and jetlag, I watched TV with them. Not TV actually, a movie. Not just any movie though.
American Pie.
I told my sister to look away during the obscene bits. Which was...80% of the movie. Hah.
Went to bed at around 11pm which would have been 6am Malaysian time. Lol, no?
Day 4 & others will be continued later, in another post. :)
Ciao4Now
