London: Singapore Day
4:08 AM
All right, after skyping with my parents for almost two hours today, the bulk of which was spent describing my adventures in the UK, I went back and looked at my photos and realized that eek... I actually have tons... and lots of things happened to me... despite travelling alone and staying on the more cautious side as a result. It's going to be really difficult to blog per city that I went, but I'll try my best. But first off... the event that sparked off the entire UK trip: Singapore day. To all those non-Singaporeans, Singapore Day is an event organized by the Singapore government for overseas singaporeans. It is held in a different country each year, and this year it so happened to be in London and I thought it would be to meet other locals, but more of to eat the local foods which I have been missing for so many months...
To be honest, the day didn't start of so well. First of all, i busted my ass, left a party early the night before so that I could wake up at 4am to catch my shuttle to the airport. Next, the plane was delayed so I got into London 40 mins past schedule. By the time I cleared immigration, changed money, got the train into the city centre, it was already part 11 in the morning. And the event started at 10 in the morning. I still had to find my way to the hostel and make my way through the underground to another train station where I had to take a train all the way to Hampton court where the event was. So it was only like 1pm when I finally plonked myself them on the final train taking me to my destination. All this while I was thinking, oh crap, by the time I get there, it's going to be like 2pm, all the food will be gone, and I will be loner singaporean walking into the grounds... However, as I was sitting down, suddenly I heard familiar accents drifting towards me, and before I knew it, 3 Singaporean men had sat down beside me. The accents were so obvious that I had to ask the obvious question of whether they were Singaporean. So of course they were, and turns out we were all going to the same event, so I chatted with them the entire train journey. Here's where it get's weirder... when I got there, I got separated from them, so I was basically wondering about myself for most part of the day... and here's some pics...
Hampton court grounds
Queueing up for carrot cake..
To be honest, the day didn't start of so well. First of all, i busted my ass, left a party early the night before so that I could wake up at 4am to catch my shuttle to the airport. Next, the plane was delayed so I got into London 40 mins past schedule. By the time I cleared immigration, changed money, got the train into the city centre, it was already part 11 in the morning. And the event started at 10 in the morning. I still had to find my way to the hostel and make my way through the underground to another train station where I had to take a train all the way to Hampton court where the event was. So it was only like 1pm when I finally plonked myself them on the final train taking me to my destination. All this while I was thinking, oh crap, by the time I get there, it's going to be like 2pm, all the food will be gone, and I will be loner singaporean walking into the grounds... However, as I was sitting down, suddenly I heard familiar accents drifting towards me, and before I knew it, 3 Singaporean men had sat down beside me. The accents were so obvious that I had to ask the obvious question of whether they were Singaporean. So of course they were, and turns out we were all going to the same event, so I chatted with them the entire train journey. Here's where it get's weirder... when I got there, I got separated from them, so I was basically wondering about myself for most part of the day... and here's some pics...
Hampton court grounds
Queueing up for carrot cake..
This is carrot cake... a savoury dish much much nicer than the western dessert.. best eaten with sambal chilli and spring onions... :P
Satay man!!!
Oh... was so delighted to be able to eat this: Kway Chap... miss it soooo mucccchhhhhhhhhhhh
Performances by our Singapore Idol, Dim Sum Dollies... many local acts..
This is the picture you get when you try to take a picture holding food in your hands and the wind is blowing in your face...
ERP gentries!!!!!!! Created and implemented by Singaporeans.... the British tried to copy this in London... but it failed... hahahahahaahahahaha.... ERP: Electronic Road pricing. All cars in Singapore have this electronic device stuck to their windscreen. Everytime they drive to the "city centre" in peak traffic, and gentry automatically deducts money will the card inserted in this electronic device....
Spring is here lah lah lah lah lah...
Really wierd looking tree
Ok, so this is where the story picks up again. So while the event was coming to a close, I spied the pple that I had met earlier on the train, so I decided to approach them and just see if they remembered me.... so I hung around them for the afternoon and before I knew it, had arranged to meet them for dinner. One of the people I was with offered to take me for walk around London city before going for dinner as we still had like a couple of hours to spare before the meeting time, so off we went! He basically took me for a stroll around the river and here's what I saw....
Famous London Eye... too bad I really had no time to take a ride on it during my stay in london, but will be definitely come back to do it!
Art exhibitions along the riverside
Wobbly millenium bridge
London bridge in the distance
In front of St Paul Cathedral! Which is incidentally the cathedral which Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married in... cool cool!!
Hehe... my highlight of the night!!! Dinner.... and REAL CHINESE FOOD at that.... basically.. I ate Asian food most of my time in London... crazy but I just had to, coz it was so good and I missed it so much...Check out the Roast duck in the middle... the moment that was set down on the table... my chopsticks immediately... hehe
The group of Singaporeans whom I truly randomy met that day and had only known for a couple of hours prior to dinner... weird and really random...
Asian desserts: glutinous rice balls with a sweet sticky syrup. I also had some oh ngee ( sp), but I gobbled it up before I remembered to take a picture of it :)
Performances by our Singapore Idol, Dim Sum Dollies... many local acts..
This is the picture you get when you try to take a picture holding food in your hands and the wind is blowing in your face...
ERP gentries!!!!!!! Created and implemented by Singaporeans.... the British tried to copy this in London... but it failed... hahahahahaahahahaha.... ERP: Electronic Road pricing. All cars in Singapore have this electronic device stuck to their windscreen. Everytime they drive to the "city centre" in peak traffic, and gentry automatically deducts money will the card inserted in this electronic device....
Spring is here lah lah lah lah lah...
Really wierd looking tree
Ok, so this is where the story picks up again. So while the event was coming to a close, I spied the pple that I had met earlier on the train, so I decided to approach them and just see if they remembered me.... so I hung around them for the afternoon and before I knew it, had arranged to meet them for dinner. One of the people I was with offered to take me for walk around London city before going for dinner as we still had like a couple of hours to spare before the meeting time, so off we went! He basically took me for a stroll around the river and here's what I saw....
Parliament buildings from the other side of the river...
Famous London Eye... too bad I really had no time to take a ride on it during my stay in london, but will be definitely come back to do it!
Art exhibitions along the riverside
Look hard and you may spot the "Gherkin" in the distance
Wobbly millenium bridge
London bridge in the distance
In front of St Paul Cathedral! Which is incidentally the cathedral which Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married in... cool cool!!
Hehe... my highlight of the night!!! Dinner.... and REAL CHINESE FOOD at that.... basically.. I ate Asian food most of my time in London... crazy but I just had to, coz it was so good and I missed it so much...Check out the Roast duck in the middle... the moment that was set down on the table... my chopsticks immediately... hehe
The group of Singaporeans whom I truly randomy met that day and had only known for a couple of hours prior to dinner... weird and really random...
