I may be having my semester break when I flew over 10,000 kilometres to visit Shuyi, but she sure wasn’t having hers!

In fact, she had to go to class on Mondays and Tuesdays. Yup, just two days a week! What a wonderful privilege for those studying a degree in law!

While she stayed near the main university campus in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, her law school is actually located in a city approx. 10 miles east called St. Albans. 

So instead of sitting home and doing nothing while she goes for classes on Monday and Tuesday, I followed Shuyi to St. Albans and spent the time exploring this beautiful English suburb.

St. Albans is a refreshing breath of fresh air and presents an entirely different view of England from the bustling metropolis of central London. 

The serene, quiet environment, old buildings and cathedrals, cosy cottages, small footpaths with greenery in every direction…  To me, this is the the more England-ish part of England!

Everything, from this park…

… to this mossy-walled back alley…

 

… to this peaceful graveyard beside a church…

… simply look like scenes taken out from some old English drama!

Anyways, there is a huge cathedral, also named St. Albans, at the other side of town. This enormous structure is the second longest (of the many hundreds of cathedrals) in the entire United Kingdom!

Before entering the cathedral’s great wooden doors, I took a stroll around the building and found this HUGE park sort of place right beside the cathedral.

The field was SO incredibly huge that you couldn’t even see the end of it.

There were people there simply walking their dogs and playing frisbee. But what lies beyond the wide expanse is simply up to the imagination. (perhaps Hogwarts)

I had not really intended to enter the church but it was getting freezing outside. To defrost I slowly pushed open the grand doors and stepped into the a reception area. Apart from a few staff and a couple of visitors, the huge place was completely deserted.

A church staff member smiled to me and I took the liberty to assume that I was welcome to look around as a visitor.

I carefully looked around and found the history behind the name of the church. The story dates back in the 3rd century when England was part of the Roman Empire and Christianity was not allowed to be practised. St. Alban sheltered a Christian priest in his house and when the soldiers went to search his house, he exchanged cloaks with the priest to protect his visitor and was promptly arrested. The furious Roman courts then demanded that St. Alban declare that he was not a Christian but he staunchly refused, leading to his execution by beheading. Legend has it that after the executioner did his job, his eyes dropped out of his head. Eww…!

 

The cathedral is said to be founded on the very site of St. Alban’s beheading. It even has a shrine that contains a shoulder blade bone believed to belong to St. Alban himself!

 

The church is so huge that it had its own mini-museum detailing its over-1000 history throughout the ages!

There were also some nice exhibits like this replica of a 14th century mechanical clock, created by Richard of Wallingford, who was the head of the St. Albans Abbey back then.

 

The clock is said to be one of the earliest and most advanced mechanical clocks in that time.

Another fascinating thing that can generally be found in old cathedrals is the floor tomb.

I’m not sure if it is disrespectful to walk on top of these polished, human-sized tiles on the church floor with inscriptions of the person being buried underneath, but I avoided stepping on them nonetheless. Who knows, right?

Anyways, it was getting late when I got out of the cathedral (late as in 4.15PM late, it was already getting dark at 4.30PM in the afternoon in winter!), and I had to wait for Shuyi’s class to finish at 5PM, so I stopped by for some coffee at this very nicey coffee house.

It was kinda Starbucks-styled but with a cosier feeling in it… Well perhaps it was the warmth that I appreciated deeply after all the cold outside… And a MUCH larger building.

Before heading back to Hatfield, we had dinner at this very nice place called O’Neill’s pub and grill!

I’m sure that you guys studying in the UK see this like everyday but to me, this is special!

Dudes just sitting around with a beer, with soft music and smell of chips…

The English bar whose imitations can be widely seen everywhere in the world…

Nobody ever goes to England without eating fish and chips at least once!

The place also had these very cool gaming machines (I wish they had some vintage pinball machine too) and a cigarette vending machine in the middle!

After exiting the premises and as we were walking down the street, we discovered that the exterior view of the building looks like it’s been a school or library or something…

… and if you look closer at the space above the entrance, you can actually see faded engraved letters saying ‘PUBLIC LIBRARY’!

Englishman 1: Alas, the number of townsfolk visiting the public library is declining.

Mayor: Who needs a library? Let’s build a pub.

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… And so it came to be.

This is the second part of my two-part travel log. Click here for the first part.

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Nobody goes to London without posing with the Tower Bridge. So here’s mine.

The Tower bridge is often mistaken as the London Bridge (as in London Bridge is falling down…), but the truth is London Bridge is a relatively common-looking bridge upstream next to the Tower Bridge.

At night, the London Bridge has bright colours illuminating its body:

While beautiful, it is nowhere as alluring as its world-famous neighbour at night:

The Tower Bridge got its name from the nearby Tower of London, the ancient castle used by medieval kings of England to imprison, torture and execute traitors and heretics.

LOL I guess it was roughly an ancient equivalent to our Kamunting Dentention Centre in Taiping… Only that the medieval kings did not need to cook up legal excuses like the ISA to send prisoners there as our politicians do!

Today, the Tower of London has (as usual) become a major tourist attraction showcasing, among others, the Royal Crown Jewels and centuries of Royal Armour.

We had a relaxing stroll along the River Thames that late afternoon. As evening came and went, the lights along the river bank lit up and I realized that there was no better place to be in London at that moment!

Looking across the river were some of the most fantastic sights that you could see across a body of water.

London’s financial district (officially the City of London, also known as the Square Mile) resides within the the ancient boundaries of London and is now, along with New York City, the world’s leading global finance centres.

One of the iconic buildings in the Square Mile is the Swiss Re Building (a.k.a the Gherkin), the rocket-looking building across the river.

We took a water taxi on the River Thames from the London Bridge Pier heading west towards the Waterloo Pier, where the London Eye is.

Cruising on the River Thames at night was amazing! The cool late-winter breeze and dazzling night scenery on both sides made the ride absolutely unforgettable.

Although it was still quite cold (about 3 – 6°C), it felt good freezing myself in the evening river breeze. There were proper seats in the cabin for each passenger, but we simply couldn’t allow ourselves to sit still while cruising on one of the world’s most famous rivers!

Not that I’m advocating it, but it is interesting to learn that Tower Bridge was once a popular suicide site, and even now, once a week, a dead body is found washed ashore somewhere along the entire length of the River Thames^[1]! Creepy!

Haha but who cares about dead bodies in the river when you’ve arrived at the London Eye?

Probably the most famous Ferris wheel in the world, the London Eye is 135 metres tall. It was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world when it was first built, but the record is now held by the Singapore Flyer near Marina Bay.

The London Eye is an absolutely awesome sight to behold even from its base:

Malaysia had its own version of the London Eye – the Eye on Malaysia – which was opened in 2007 but later dismantled in 2010.

A standard adult ticket on the London Eye costs £18.60, which is around RM93. Haha frankly I think this is the kind of ride that you will only go on once in your life, and only when you’re with a partner.

I mean, while the sight from above was utterly spectacular, RM93 for a Ferris wheel ride is rather expensive LOL.

Each gondola looked like a medicine pill (above) and could fit a small group of people. There were seats in the centre of the gondola but with everybody standing in front of the glass walls, there was absolutely no point sitting down.

I heard that the London eye is a very popular place for guys to propose to their girlfriends. Apparently all you need to do is book an entire gondola, add some champagne and chocolates, and of course an engagement ring, and you’ve got it – the perfectly romantic proposal that your fiancée is gonna boast in their blogs and conversations for years to come.

And the duration on the London Eye is well suited for a proposal as well!

Let’s analyze: one ride takes about 60 minutes – 15 minutes for you to calm down and pretend to your girlfriend that nothing’s happening, 10 minutes to say sweet sweet words to build the atmosphere, 5 minutes (at the very top) to get down on your knees and say: “Will you marry me?”, 5 minutes of speechlessness on her part, 10 minutes for her to finally find the words to say “Yes I do” or whatever, and finally 15 minutes of quickly finishing the champagne and chocolates to avoid waste.

Perfect!

At the top of the wheel, we enjoyed a fantastic night view of the Thames and the surrounding bustling city from above. The Palace of Westminster, where the UK Houses of Parliament meet, had a very different look when viewed from above.

Of course, being a couple we cannot possibly not pose for a photo on this ride.

After getting down from the Ferris wheel, we crossed the Westminster bridge and took gazillions of pictures with the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. There is absolutely no reason for a tourist to not hang around the this building even in the freezing wind. Gosh, trust me, it was chilling to the bone standing on that bridge!

Something was odd, though. If you look at the brightly lit Houses of Parliament below, you’d clearly see that a portion of the right corner is not lit. One part of it is just much darker than the its neighbouring parts.

At that time, we assumed that it was probably due to some shorted fuse / snapped wire / forgot to pay electricity bill etc. but after I reached home, I googled for images of the Houses of Parliament and I realized that every single picture online, even those on travel websites and official London postcards, have got the same, exact part of the building unlit!

So this is no mistake! That part of the building is intentionally left darkened! Can anybody tell me why is that?

Or is that dark, inglorious part of parliament specially reserved for opposition MPs? LOL.

Anyways, we later walked on to the entrance of the Westminster Abbey.

This immense gothic church is definitely one of the most famous in the UK. Besides being the coronation site of kings and queens of England as well as the traditional wedding venue for the royal family since almost a millennium ago, the church is also the preferred-burial-site (if there is such a thing) for English kings and queens.

A significant number of hugely famous English people were buried – no, sorry… interred – in Westminster Abbey. These people include Charles Dickens, Ernst Rutherford, Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton… LOL didn’t you read The Da Vinci Code?

Perhaps it was a mistake that we visited the church at night. While the building looked absolutely majestic during daytime, it looked quite spooky at night! Like some giant haunted castle… but I like!

Earlier that morning, we visited the Natural History Museum, which we had been unable to visit the previous day due to the afternoon queue.

I am not an ardent museum-goer, but I had been looking forward to visiting the Natural History Museum even before I had plans to go to the UK. Many books and novels that I’ve read referred to the museum and it seemed to be an extremely exciting place!

And indeed it was!

Right inside the entrance was a giant Diplodocus, a late-Jurassic period plant eating dinosaur.

While dinosaur fossils are only like a small part of this gigantic museum, they are definitely its primary attractions!

The famous Triceratops!

A monstrous I-forgot-whazzit-called-saurus.

This looks like a mini T. Rex, but it isn’t.

A Stegosaurus, maybe?

Ah, I should have taken pictures of the signs next to the dinosaurs…

Look! Dinosaur eggs! A Maiasaura nest… this is a reconstruction, of course.

Apart from dinosaurs, there were still a whole bunch of other fossils and rare animals! Like the Dodo bird:

This weird, extinct mammal:

A live-size blue whale, alongside skeletons and remnants of other giants like the woolly mammoth, the sperm whale, gray whale, elephants and dolphins.

It’s gargantuan body looks like a submarine hull and makes even the largest elephant look miniscule. I think it’s mouth can comfortably fit two giant elephants…

Being the Natural History Museum, it covers not only the evolution of animals but also the evolution of the natural universe and planets as well. There is a special escalator that brings you straight up ‘into outer space’ where you learn about the birth and evolution of the universe and all the stars and planets inside.

This is absolutely one of the most amazing museums that I’ve ever been to and definitely my most favourite!

I think kids can gain more knowledge here than a whole year of elementary Biology + Cosmology class.

Lo and behold! The godfather of evolution himself was there too!

Sitting regally on his marble throne, Charles Darwin oversees the great Central Hall from the centre of the grand staircase. Like a god.

The next morning, we went to an attraction near the London Bridge called the London Dungeon.

If you are into English History, particularly the scariest and most terrible parts of it, this attraction is for you.

Using a combination of special effects, mazes, rides and live actors, the London Dungeon transports you back to the medieval age and relive the horrors of the most famous historical events!

For example, at the exhibit of the 1665 Great Plague of London, an ‘unlucky’ tourist among our group was strapped to an operation seat by a doctor and got his arm ‘operated’ upon. ‘Blood’ was sprinkled on our faces when lights suddenly went out the moment the doctor’s bloody knife hit the person.

Of course it was all fake! The tourist didn’t die and later rejoined our group in one piece!

After being ’sentenced to death’ by a live and humourous judge in a mock court, we were put on a boat ride with spooky sound effects and sent through a Traitors’ Gate replica into the Tower of London.

Later, among the many scenes, we ventured ‘unknowingly’ into Sweeney Todd’s barber shop and had him ‘cut’ our hair (we could actually feel it!); met the victims of Jack the Ripper and later becoming ‘victims’ ourselves when a terrible figure blasted in through a window with a knife; and had one of our fellow tourists arrested by Bloody Mary for heresy and burnt to death in front of our eyes. Of course he magically survived the fire.

The above is a poster for the Bloody Mary attraction. Not too scary, is it? It’s interesting to discover that earlier there was an advertisement in London Underground stations that featured a much more gruesome, zombie-like Bloody Mary. It was later deemed too scary for children and was banned.

Click here to see. (Warning. Image might shock some readers.)

In the end we were strapped and to be ‘hanged’ at Newgate Prison. After our charges were read against us, the hangman pulled the lever and we literally fell ‘through the gallows trapdoor to our death’! The ride was something like a mini-version of the Spaceshot ride in Genting where we sat on this row of seats that suddenly dropped towards the ground in total darkness.

The stunning visual effects of the displays and impressive showmanship of the actors made the London Dungeon extremely popular – check out the insane queue at the entrance!

You have no idea. The queue was like two hours long, and it was friggin’ freezing in the late-winter drizzling morning. But nobody seemed to care about the rain! People would just put on raincoats and carry umbrellas and queue on!

The tickets were not cheap either! An adult ticket is around £23 (RM115), but you could buy tickets to several attractions managed by the same company (London Eye, Madame Tussauds, Sea Life etc.) in a bundle for a cheaper price.

That morning was exceptionally cold (I think about 3-5°C), so we decided to combat the chilling rain with… ice cream!

Brrr… I feel cold writing this.

Later in the afternoon, we went to three of London’s most famous shopping streets – Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street.

These three streets are packed with branded retail stores and high-end restaurants and cafes – shops that average mortals like me have no business with. Yet, who cares? Window shopping was enough for us!

Regent Street is famous for its curved (not straight) design… or is it called layout? Whatever lah, here it is:

I simply adore looking at this street! For some reason, the curvature of the street gradually leading the shops out of sight gives it a mysterious yet charming feeling… Like in a strangely vivid dream!

We had some great afternoon tea at a nice cafe along the street.

Shuyi and I love toy stores. And there is one ultimate toy store in Regent Street that no Toys ‘R’ Us in Malaysia can beat – the Hamleys flagship store.

From Ben 10 to Teletubbies to Barbie to Disney characters, Hamleys has it all! There is even a special section where you could make your own custom-made teddy bear out of raw cotton, and a dedicated section for LEGO. Indeed, there is almost a dedicated section for every major toy brand!

But among the magic shows, clowns, TV show corners and race tracks, there was one single department that utterly blew me away – the fifth floor.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you would know that I am so totally a Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter fan, having written quite a few entries about the latter.

On the fifth floor was the greatest collection of LOTR and HP merchandizes I’ve ever seen!

You can literally buy the wands of Hermione, Harry, Lord Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy, Dumbledore or whichever HP character you like – along with descriptions on the type of wood and feather core!

They literally sell wands as though they are Ollivander’s! Check out their wand stockpile:

Now I don’t even know why Harry needed to search so hard in the wilderness for Godric Gryffindor’s Sword in Book 7 if he could have just bought it in Hamleys for £180.

And a Nimbus 2000 + Marauder’s Map (underneath the broom) just in case you missed the last train home.

The awesomeness of the Harry Potter merchandize collection was only outmatched by its Lord of the Rings stuff.

A replicate of the Evenstar, made of sterling silver, the jewel that Arwen gave Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings.

From left to right: Theoden King’s Herugrim, Frodo’s Sting, Arwen’s Hadhafang and of course, Aragorn’s Anduril.

Obviously, they aren’t real swords, just letter openers. But WHO IN THE WORLD opens letters using Anduril, the sword of kings, forged from the shards of Narsil, which destroyed the Dark Lord of Mordor by removing the One Ring from him? WHO DOES?

Ah please forgive me. When it comes to LOTR, I can be a bit… passionate.

Naturally, I almost wet my pants when I saw this:

What is it? You ask?

This, my friend, is the One Ring. Made of 24K pure gold and has the exact Elvish Tengwar inscription:

which, of course, translates to:

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

in the Black Speech, created and used by the dark lord Sauron.

I would have very irrationally bought the ring if it did not cost £280 (RM1400).

Anyway, back to reality, we moved on next to Oxford Street.

Oxford Street is the busiest street in Europe, with flagship stores of many major UK chain stores opened here. Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group and my entrepreneurial idol, opened his first  Virgin Records store on this very street when he was only 21.

Remember Harrods from part 1 of this travel log? That’s the UK’s largest department store. And here’s the UK’s second largest – Selfridges.

It was getting late when we were finished with Oxford Street. I have another elder cousin living in London so we had arranged for a dinner in her house.

She and her husband lives in Stratford, about thirty minutes from Oxford Street using the London underground.

We were greeted with an extraordinary, dearly-missed, home-cooked Chinese food!

We had a nice hearty time chatting and were so stuffed with wonderful food that when we were served ice-cream for dessert, we had to politely decline.

The next morning, we visited the one place that I could not have missed.

Being an Arsenal fan since I was in form three, I made a pilgrimage to the Emirates Stadium in London – the home ground of the Arsenal FC!

Being the second-largest football club stadium in England (only after you-know-which-stadium), it was absolutely breath-taking to finally behold the actual stadium in its full glory, after the many years of seeing it on television during live matches!

Unfortunately there were no matches going on in the stadium during the days that I was in London.

I have been staunchly supporting this club since the days of David Seaman in Highbury. In fact, it was Seaman himself that made me support the club in the first place.

There was an ultra awesome team line-up of every single Arsenal player and manager since 1913 – called The Spirit of Highbury.

No Malaysian who has visited his favourite football team’s stadium could return home without an original jersey to show off to his fellow fans at mamak stalls on match days.

I am, unfortunately, one of those sad souls.

Even before I went on this trip, I had been adamant to get myself an Arsenal Jersey from the Emirates Stadium. And now that I finally have the opportunity, the staff at The Armoury (the Arsenal official merchandize shop) told me that ALL ARSENAL HOME AND AWAY JERSEYS WERE SOLD OUT except for XL and XXL sizes!!!!!!

This is thanks to the fact that the Carling Cup final was on that evening at Wembley Stadium (no chance I could have got the tickets, so I didn’t bother) and the jerseys were swept clean by fans.

It was an utter disappointment as I had no idea when will I have the chance (if ever) to come back here again to get it!

Well, although I couldn’t get my jersey, I had to buy something right? So I bought this official Arsenal polo shirt and tie. Still uber awesome!

I should also mention that the Armoury sells everything – related and unrelated – to football in the name of Arsenal.

From Arsenal jerseys, scarfs, t-shirts, socks and underwear, to Arsenal coffee mugs, key chains, wallets…

… official Arsenal dog shirts and collars …

… official Arsenal dinosaur and teddy bear…

…all the way to official Arsenal bed sheet set and baby clothes!

Crazy variety, isn’t it? Haha you can fill your house will Arsenal stuff if you want to!

***** OMG THIS BLOG ENTRY IS GETTING INSANELY LONG!! *****

OK let’s cut things short!

In the afternoon we went to the Covent Garden Market.

Markets in England are very interesting as they have lots of ‘street performers’ –people doing random performances for the public in hopes of getting some public donation. It may sound shabby, but these performers are extremely talented and professional!

It’s located adjacent to my street LOL.

There were magicians performing and selling magic tricks…

Stand-up comedy / talk show…

Musicians playing in mini-orchestras…

… As well as acrobats doing special performances!

These performers gather huge crowds and sometimes earn quite a lot of money!

On our last night in London, we went to Chinatown. Well, as a Chinese I couldn’t really have skipped this place, could I?

London Chinatown is, from what I observed, dominated by Hong Kong nationals. Perhaps that’s because HK is the only part of China that was colonized by the British, so you know, like Malaysia, people tend to flock to where their masters come from.

They say that London Chinatown’s roasted duck is like, world-famous. So we tried it:

The roasted duck was not too bad, really! The down side was, of course, the price. We ordered half-a-duck and it cost us £30 (RM150)! ONE WHOLE roasted duck in Malaysia costs less than HALF of that! Haha but I guess we can’t compare it that way…

An interesting difference between the London roasted duck and our typical Asian roasted duck is the layer of fat. Roasted ducks in London categorically have a much thicker layer of fat compared to those that we find here in East Asia.

We theorized that it is possibly because it is colder in the UK compared to Malaysia, so ducks need more fat to keep warm…?

Ah now it sounds stupid, so let’s just forget it.

After checking out from our hotel the next morning, we visited our last destination in London – the British Museum.

Established more than 250 years ago, the British Museum houses some of the world’s most arcane artefacts, such as the original Rosetta Stone (dated 196 BC):

The Rosetta Stone is an ancient inscription of a decree in three different languages: Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Egyption Demotic (everyday language), and Ancient Greek. This stone allows modern researchers to better understand and decipher the ancient Hieroglyphic script, whose meaning would otherwise been lost forever.

Equally awesome were sculptures from the original, ancient Greek Parthenon, known as the Elgin Marbles (dated about 400 BC).

These sculptures are now being demanded by Greece to be returned to them, but so far the British Museum has been refusing to comply. Of course they’d refuse! I mean, if I had the sculptures in my house and ZEUS himself appeared from the skies and demanded that I return the stuff to Greece, I would probably refuse.

It is very interesting to note that the heads of the human sculptures were always chopped off, and so were their genitals, which were almost always missing, leaving behind a clearly severed rough spot… Can somebody enlighten me as to why this is so?

Check out this actual mummy (yes, actual!) of Cleopatra of Thebes. X-ray photos beside the mummy show that she is still inside, preserved, for almost two thousand years!

Perhaps one night, you know, after everybody has left… under the moonlight, the bandages will loosen and fall off… and … Aaaaaaarrrgghh…

To the history / archaeology uninitiated guy like me, the mummies section of the British Museum was totally the most fascinating. I mean, how can you resist the rows and rows of ancient mummies, sarcophagi, coffins and skulls around you?

There were even actual animal mummies! Inside their own sarcophagi! (See the x-ray photos on paper in the background)

Skulls that are over 4000 years old…

Cute figurines made of bone that were crafted by humans SIX THOUSANDS YEARS AGO! (about 4000 BC)

And… a skeleton and mummified body dating back to 3000 BC!

OMG the amount of creepy stuff in this section is both impressive and bloodcurdling. If a necromancer wanted to summon an undead army, this would probably be an ideal place to start… LOL.

Haha imagine you missed the museum’s closing announcement and were accidentally locked in this – very – section for the entire night… alone… in the dark… I mean, who knows what really happens on the museum floors in the dead, silent night, right?  Woah I would die and probably join ranks with the undead if I were locked in here!

Anyways, later that night we finally arrived at King’s Cross to board our train back to Hatfield.

I made it my final mission in London to search for platform 9¾ in King’s Cross – the famed magical gateway between our Muggle world to Harry Potter’s magical world!

I failed.

Apparently the entire King’s Cross station was under comprehensive renovation ahead of the 2012 Olympics and many, many parts of the station were boarded up and covered from public view..

Here’s platform 9:

And after a long search, we concluded that platform 9¾ was hiding behind these temporary construction walls:

Poor wizards.

Their luggage trolleys would be so stuck in the miniscule space within the walls when they return from Hogwarts for their summer holidays.

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Anyway, thus ended my trip to London and also this incrediextremelinsane long blog entry.

My trip to London was an extraordinarily lovely experience. The great places and wonderful people there (the British people that we met were generally very helpful and friendly) made me simply can’t wait to visit again. YAY!

Yay! Visited London much earlier than expected!

I’d always thought that I could only visit places like the UK or the US if I decided to do my masters degree over there or something… But nope! It seems that a cupid issue is sufficient cause.

Since Shuyi continued her studies in the UK last October, I have always pondered the prospect of making use of this perfect excuse to make a trip to the land of our former colonial bosses. Haha, it worked!

In 1954, Tunku Abdul Rahman led a delegation to London to seek independence for Malaysia for  the first time, but failed. Now I think it was probably because London is just such a wondrous place to visit that our then Prime Minister-to-be and his friends, err… got distracted, a bit.

LOL just kidding la! But anyways he made up with the ‘mistake’ with a second trip in 1956 and settled the independence deal. So no harm done.

This is by far the longest flight that I have travelled on – 13.5 hours! It was horrible, as I have a problem sleeping on planes, buses, trains etc. Listened to music for an hour, read a book for 3 hours, rested for 3 hours… done everything I could, and there were still some 6 hours left!

6 hours! That’s like two friggin’ engineering lab sessions back-to-back…

I made two friends Jonny and Paul on the plane. Jonny’s girlfriend is French so he had lots of very useful advice on tourists spots in Paris, and Paul had a deck of cards – a godsend to burn away time in the cabin!

Back in Malaysia, I was told that our citizens’ immigration records to the British weren’t that good – thanks to irresponsible idiots abusing their social visit passes and illegally staying to work…

And before my trip, LOADS of people warned me that a single 23-year-old Malaysian guy trying to enter the UK claiming for a ‘visit’ is sufficient reason for high suspicion. And the UK Border Agency (equivalent to our Immigration Dept) is apparently quite well known for sending people home straight away if they don’t feel that you’re trustworthy enough!

I was kinda super nervous when queuing at the UK Border after my flight landed. I knew it was unlikely but what if I was refused entry? I mean, after enduring 13 tormenting hours of flight from KL, only to be sent on a 13-hour return journey?! It was unthinkable.

Fortunately, I was greeted by a very friendly Border Agency officer who smiled broadly and bade me a warm ‘good morning’. I’m sorry to say this but our own immigration officers back home wouldn’t even contract their precious facial muscles if their lives depended on it. And now this lady was smiling as though me visiting her country was the most honourable thing that had ever happened to her (of course it wasn’t).

She politely asked me if I came alone, and what was the nature of my visit. I answered everything frankly and courteously, and provided my landing card which included my cousin’s home address in London. The cheerful lady inquired a little more about where I intend visit and stuff and that was it! I was in!

Although it wasn’t snowing, I had been constantly told by my mum and dad to wear more clothes and stuff cuz I was probably gonna freeze to death. I didn’t believe them. The temperature was around 1-4°C, which I thought was nothing since it was even hotter than my refrigerator – and I loved sticking my head into the freezer. Since I had not died in the freezer, I would not die in this weather too, I reasoned.

Wearing nothing more than the usual attire that I wear to Toastmasters meetings in MMU, I stepped out of the airport into the February weather.

I almost died.

I discovered that the chilly late-winter weather was not to be compared with an LG refrigerator – refrigerators cannot accommodate my whole body, and freezers don’t blast ferocious winds to your face. I quickly retreated back into the airport, and put on the huge balloon-like jacket that I had brought but sworn not to use.

Since Shuyi stayed in Hertfordshire, which is approximately 40KM north of London, we took a coach from the airport. The coach’s company name is National Express, and the driver treated us with utmost politeness. Checking our tickets, helping us with the luggage and stuff… all done cheerfully and happily! The coach seats were also in perfect condition (almost brand new), with security pamphlets just like those on airplanes! There was also a very friendly and funny security briefing to the passengers (although there were only 4 on board including us), and the smiles and jolliness that the driver exhibited would probably be ignored as insanity on any express buses back in Malaysia.

Hertfordshire’s county coat-of-arms has two cute Rudolfs!

After staying in Hatfield for two days and fully recovered from the exhaustion of having been deprived of any sleep for the past 36 hours, we headed to London. Actually the London-KL time difference wasn’t that bad. The good thing about living a student’s lifestyle, you know – sleeping at 5AM and waking up at 1PM – is that I was spared of any jet lag during the entire journey. (Coz 5AM in KL = 10PM in London = sleeping time)

When we arrived in London, we first checked into the place that we would be staying for the next five days.

Located in central London, our studio is just adjacent to Tottenham Court Road, and extremely close to the British Museum and the prestigious University College London.  It was a very nice and comfortable double room with its own bathroom and kitchen!

The kitchen was probably the best part of the deal.

With a fridge, oven, electric kettle, microwave oven and stoves, we could open a mini-restaurant here! Did I mention that pots, frying pans, plates, glasses and all kitchen utensils and eating cutlery were also provided?

My cousin David came to London from Oxford (the university! ) on the same day so we arranged a meet up.

Here’s David, Shuyi, me and Christina – a ‘friend’ and colleague of David’s at Oxford.

After lunch, we were brought on sort of a spontaneous tour along the River Thames. On the way we stopped by the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery, both of which are located at the iconic Trafalgar Square.

Strolling along the south bank of the River Thames, we reached the Shakespeare’s Globe, which is a faithful reconstruction of the original Globe Theatre built by William Shakespeare’s Playing Company back in the 16th century.

The original Globe Theatre, which was burnt down by an accident with a live cannon while performing Shakespeare’s Henry VIII in 1613, was located just several hundred meters from the new, reconstructed one.

I think William Shakespeare’s awesomeness doesn’t strike us typical Malaysians much because not even one Shakespearean play was taught in our national schools’ English Literature syllabus. As I recall, the only Shakespeare’s work included in our syllabus was Sonnet 18, you know, the “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” thingy? That was the only one! Or did I not pay attention in class?

I think the ultra-conservative Malaysian government would probably ban even Sonnet 18 if they found out that scholars now are suggesting that Shakespeare’s Sonnets may carry a hint of homosexuality… but ahhh yes, they are probably currently too preoccupied fussing over a certain politician’s sexual orientation.

Anyway, next up is the Millennium bridge.

Looks familiar? Yes it does. Because it is the bridge that was destroyed by the Death Eaters in the 6th Harry Potter movie.

Walking on the bridge made me feel that I might be attacked by Lucius Malfoy and a bunch of smoke-trailing death eaters coercing me to join their cause, which I would be more than glad to comply.

Crossing the Thames on the Millennium bridge led us straight to St. Paul’s Cathedral, one of the most iconic structures of London.

This cathedral was built in the 17th century but like many other really old cathedrals, several other St. Paul’s-es were built on the very same site and in this case, the first St. Paul’s was built back in the early 7th century – that’s a millennium before this one was built!

Awesomeness!

The next morning, we visited one of the most popular public places in London – Piccadilly Circus.

While there are absolutely no circus elephants and clowns in this area, Piccadilly Circus (‘circus’ meaning circle in Latin) is one of those places where locals lepak and tourists must drop by for a picture.

Adjacent to Piccadilly Circus is Leicester Square, where you can get great deals on tickets for West End theatre performances! London’s West End, along with New York’s Broadway, is generally accepted to be world’s highest standard of commercial theatre!

It would be an absolute shame to visit London and not watch one of West End’s theatre performances. Featuring extremely talented performers singing and acting to the music from a live orchestra in a beautiful old theatre building… Yay!

There were so many performances but we chose a classic one.

Our tickets cost £64 in total, about RM300. But this was already a bargain ticket, which was cheaper than the original price. Original-priced tickets can go up to £78 per ticket!

Theatre performances do not change as regularly as films in cinemas do. For example, this Phantom of the Opera performance has been performing at Her Majesty’s Theatre for 24 years.

Other performances like Mamma Mia! at the Prince of Wales Theatre has been on show for 11 years, and The Mousetrap at St. Martin’s Theatre has been on performance for 58 years! I mean, actors can spend their whole careers in one theatre!

We spent the afternoon walking along the streets and taking a lot of pictures. I cannot possibly put up pictures of every single place that we’ve visited but Harrods definitely deserves a mention!

Famous for once being the shopping place for the royal family, including the Queen, Harrods is also one of the few department stores in the world with a dress code.

Apparently, the royal family gradually stopped shopping at Harrods after Mohammad Al Fayed bought over the store in 1985. The royal family was also apparently furious at the owner after he accused the them of plotting a conspiracy that led to his son, Dodi Fayed’s death with Princess Diana in the infamous 1997 Paris car crash.

But enough history, this majestic structure itself deserves awe. Hehe although we didn’t bother to check out the price tags inside, at least we’ve been here!

I reckoned that having lunch in Harrods was probably a bad idea since I do not have a queen’s salary. So we had our lunch at a restaurant across the street.

The thing about British restaurants is that they always have this very wide smile on their waitresses’ face and almost suspiciously polite service. I guess this is what happens when there is no service charge unlike certain countries where tips are automatically counted and do not need to be earned.

The food was nice!

Even the prawn shell + other inedible rubbish could be made into another decorative dish!

In the afternoon we visited one of the most exclusively cultural parts of London, nicknamed Albertopolis, in South Kensington. This place is home to three of the most famous museums in England – Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Science Museum – as well other world-famous institutions like the Royal College of Music, Imperial College London, and Royal Albert Hall.

Although the Natural History Museum is probably the most famous of the three museums, and I had been longing to check out its dinosaur fossil collection, we did not visit it on the second day because of its preposterously long queue!

It was kinda unfortunate that my visit to London coincided with their national school holidays. So these attractions were understandably jam-packed by kids from family outings and school field trips!

Regardless, we visited the V&A museum:

Named after Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, the V&A is the largest museum of decorative arts and design in the world.

From colourful stained glass…

to towering sculptures…

to delicate glass ornaments…

I am no artistic man, and I have no special talent in spotting the intricate specialties in artwork, you know, stuff that will make your designer friend go ‘wooooooooooooooow’ and start rambling about the excellent tone and perfect texture etc, but I can tell that this is rare stuff – stuff that you can’t afford in your house.

Next, we proceeded to the Science Museum. My kind of stuff.

I’ve actually forgotten to take any photos inside the Science Museum. But I can clearly remember one of the exhibitions was a working example of Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine! Dunno what it is? Check back your Theory of Computing history textbook.

One thing odd that I’ve noticed though, compare, say, the grand entrance of the V&A museum:

… the ultra-majestic, palace-like entrance of the Natural History Museum:

… the classical Pantheon-like entrance of the British Museum…

aaaaaaand… the 7-eleven convenience-store-like, puny little entrance of the Science Museum:

Notice that there is actually a blurry sign on top saying ‘Science Museum’… Come on lah! While England is famous for its history and culture, the UK also has also produced the second greatest number of Nobel Prize Laureates in the world! Surely the Science Museum entrance deserves some renovation?

Hehe anyways, we arrived at Her Majesty’s Theatre at night for the show.

The exterior lighting makes the theatre building look either magnificently gothic or simply haunted-looking.

But the interior was pleasantly comfortable. There were three levels (or ‘circles’) in total and the stage was fantastically propped.

Maybe it is because this was the first time I watched a West End theatre performance, but I cannot adequately express how much in love I was with the skill, professionalism and showmanship of the performers! (Sorry no pictures!)

This Phantom of the Opera performance was extremely faithful to the novel and the music from the live orchestra was absolutely breath-taking. After a combination of heavenly singing, fancy costumes, fiery torches, magical illusions, and a gigantic chandelier hurtling towards the stage from above our heads… *gasps* Many of the audience were teary-eyed during the final standing ovation.

It was good. Damn good. This you have to take it from me.

This entry is getting way too long for a regular blog entry, so I’m splitting it into two parts. Part two of this travel log can be found here.