London Trip #2: Picking UpWhere I Left Off.

due to my sudden comp failure,
i couldn't upload any pictures of London
after the first week, but here they are!
(:

*btw history REALLY repeats itself.
cassie is taking EXACT same subs
as me for ALvls and is in the same class!
(:


anyway, this is a waist high bar of Toblerone
which my aunt gave me for my birthday.
it's sorta fake la, since it's actually
3 bars in a long tube but still!!

remember Joey from Friends?
he was eating that giant bar from England
which i will try to find (:
anyway i gave away two bars in Heathrow
>.<

the plan was simple-
i was going to be there for three weeks
and i stayed with my aunt,uncle and cousin
in their apt 30 minutes away from CentralLondon.
i work at the weekends at my aunt's restaurant
making drinks to pay for shopping (:

i was very apprehensive at first since
i've only met her twice before my trip
so living with them may be a problem you know?

*one day i was walking then i whole bunch
of soldiers on their horses just walked by like that!
and the cars behind them had to drive slowly behind
and the horses are MASSIVE!*

at first i was really a bit disappointed
cause my cousin kept asking my questions
nonstop, like one after another nonstop
and you know how impatient i am right?
and i have to say their lifestyle took a bit
of getting used to, definitely.


*view from London Eye bridge.
there's BigBen and Westminster Abbey i think.
not sure also, it just looks pretty*

i mean, since she works in a restaurant right,
they sleep at 2, wake up at 12,
and mealtimes are 12pm, 4pm, and 12am.
so yeah, it was really weird for me.


*London Eye!
i didn't go on it though*

but after awhile i got used to it and
since my aunt was *super* like my mum
(which really made me miss her a lot more)
my whole time there was excellent.

so everyday i'd walk around/go to library
and then go over to the restaurant
at night to get free dinner, which was
always amazing chinese food (:


*London Eye bridge*

i didn't go down to Central London
as much as i wanted to due to the
constant guilt about studying and also
the travel expenses were a lot,
but i'm happy to say that i met up
with everyone i wanted to meet up with (:

i have to take the rail,
reach some station half an hour away
and change to Underground,
then from there change another line
to get to the amazing shopping area
so it was kinda a drag too.


*Ho and I in the elevator of her hotel*

and I have to say, shopping in London....
... is really really good la.
you know how shops always advertise
that they have branches in NY, London etc?

well it's really just a huge shopping place
with loads of beautiful architecture and
amazing amazing weather.

everyone says England is always dreary
and rainy all the time but it only rained
once in the 3 weeks i was there!
and then i come back to Belfast for two days
and it rained BOTH days >.<


*us at our best!*

the sales were already amazing and
on BoxingDay, all hell broke loose.
really.

masses and MASSES of people were about
and the stores were just jam-packed.
thank God for the cold weather,
if not people would be sweaty as well
and that's never very nice.


*inside Selfridges- which has nothing to do
with Miss Selfridge, which i didn't know.
it's a huge departmental store*

long lines were formed EVERYWHERE-
fitting room, payment counter, and
since it was Christmastime, all the Chinese
people weren't working and they were just
EVERYWHERE in Chinatown.
and all of them were standing around
on streets smoking, looking like VCD sellers
which i have to say, looks very intimidating.


*Carnaby street i think,
i was wandering around so i'm not sure*

i spent Christmasday on a drive around London
since the place was empty and the roads
were a dream to navigate through.

since London roads were all named right,
not like back home where the streets
are numerically named so you'd know
which direction you're headed most
cars here have a GPS navigation system
which was EXCELLENT, instructing
them exactly where to turn and
all the little details like speed and all.

i didn't do much for New Years' due to
the studying but i watched the fireworks
on TV and then wished i did something instead.


*a chinese supermarket that is really giant
with EVERYTHING chinese you can hope for*

i guess London is nice in the way that there
are SO many people from different backgrounds
there that you don't feel out of place so much.
in Belfast, i always feel very conspicuous
since there are hardly any international people.

i really enjoyed the pouring drinks part
and somehow, washing and cleaning glasses
really appeal to me (:
so i've learnt how to pour beers properly
(a challenge my dad always poses to
cas and i which she'd always win)
and mix alcoholic drinks, which i'm sure
is what every parent wants to hear.

and man, do British people love their Cokes.
everyday drink Coke and eat food
with black bean/sweet and sour sauce.
i really don't know how the whole
black bean business came about,
i mean back home the only black bean
you see is with the fish in the can right?

am i missing out on some amazing Chinese
dish involving the magical black bean
that i don't know about??


*view from my kitchen*

yeah, Belfast snowed for two days
before i came home, and i came back
to ice covered walkways and gray slush.

i haven't touched any of it cause it's
all really black by now but by looking
at the white parts in the untouched gardens,
it sorta looks to me like the ice in AisKacang.



see, right in the middle of the road
in front of my apt. is a giant ball of ice.
i thought it was all soft and all at first
but i kicked it and no, it's rock solid.

there are balls of ice like these all over
the place and cars have to navigate
around them, which is really funny (:

but seriously, the roads are scary to
walk on right now cause its all covered
in patches of ice so you have to jump
from one un-iced patch to another
'cause the iced parts are impossible to walk on.

and you know that's bad news for someone
like me who fell down twice a week
down the stairs in Taylor's last year.
*i'm not joking, as any of my classmates.

so far so good anyway.
i can't wait to leave for London
in a weeks' time for LT #3! (: