Eurotrip 2006

Day 3 - London

As we missed out many of the attractions on Day 2 because of my camera and getting tickets for Les Mis, our final day in London was reserved for the top few tourist attractions in London. We attempted to wake up early again to make it at Westminster Abbey at 8.30am which is the time it opens but of course, knowing Tian - who sleeps like a log and doesn’t wake up even though the sound from the alarm clock is so piercing, and me – who’s so good at turning off the alarm clock, oh and not forgetting the nice breakfast that my cousin makes us, together with tea and fruits! It’s no wonder why we are always behind schedule and ended up at Westminster at 9.30am. There was already a queue outside the Abbey but thankfully the queue moves quickly and we were in after snapping a few shots outside. Entrance tickets were at 6 pounds each, remember, always flash your international student card and ask for student discount! Not too useful in Italy but ohh..Tian and I marveled at how much we saved with our student card! You’ll see.



The Abbey is nothing like what I expected from a church, actually, I had no idea what to expect! I didn’t know what an abbey was, I only knew that I should look out for Sir Issac Newton’s memorial which was featured in The Da Vinci Code. And yes we saw it, the altar-like thing in this huge hall near the exit. But before that, we walked into so many tombs, stepped over many buried coffins perhaps, and with every step we take, there was just so much to see, it’s so overwhelming. And yes, many statues in white, many effigies of royalties like Elizabeth I and Henry VII. After a while, I had to admit that my eyes were rather tired because I was busy absorbing as much as I can see with my two little eyes. The pitiful thing is that I was not good with the history of kings and other famous poets and artists, nonetheless Tian and I did recognize some familiar names like Charles Darwin and Shakespeare. So I can only admire at how the whole church is done up, from each memorial to the next monument, then learnt a little more about coronations. All in all, we understand that this is the place where most of Britain’s rulers were crowned and where many lie buried.




The exit of Westminster Abbey. When we first reached there, I thought this was the entrance to the Abbey. Then I wondered where the queue was.


After snapping some pictures at the Big Ben, we walked over to the London Eye!! Along the way, Tian and I bought our very first panini for lunch! Oh it was so damn good I tell you, especially the melted cheese and crispy bread. Having a pipping hot panini in your hands when the weather is cold is a very good thing. This was the start on our hunt for paninis around Europe but hmm, we did not get to eat many in the end, the rest were just normal sandwiches. Anyway it cost us 3.35 pounds so as this was supposed to be a budget trip, Tian and I shard a panini. (Arghhh..we could easily gobble up one each =p)

The London Eye was gigantic. It was just so so hugeee, and of course, having to be motivated by the London Eye during the first few lectures in Engineering (not just by one lecturer), I took some time to marvel at the structure and how that heavy ferry’s wheel is able to stand over River Thames on basically two supports! Yea my lecturers said it is ingenious, and Singapore engineers should be inspired to work towards producing something of that scale.

Yes the tickets cost 13 pounds = S$39 but I didn’t care very much, I am in London and I have to fly on the London Eye! How could I have not! Tian nearly wanted to walk away, yea there was a queue again, but good thing I insisted as usual. Oh I’m sure he enjoyed the experience. The view was amazing. From the ground, it looks as if the wheel is not moving at all and upon a closer look, you see that it’s moving at a slow pace to pick up passengers but when I was in the capsule, I was so thankful it moves slowly, so that I can cope with the increase in height slowly. We were very high alright, overlooking London and we thought we saw Eiffel Tower. Haha that was nonsense of course. I heard some people pointing out the Shakespeare Globe Theatre but I’m still not sure how it looks like. Standing over the tip of the ground and leaning over the glass panel overlooking the River does make your legs shiver a little. And of course Tian was making fun of me.

Part of the structure of the famous ferry's wheel.

Beautiful view from the eye. I don't know the name of this bridge near the Eye.

Just one capsule of the London Eye. This capsule is right at the top of the Eye, the highest point.

Bird's eye view of the entire Big Ben. I wonder what the Big Ben is used for, think it's a parlimentary house or sth is it? The whole architecture is beautiful.

And now's our capsule's turn to be right at the top.

After the flight, Tian and I grabbed some McDonalds before rushing down to St Paul’s. Of course we’re not full after a panini. Why McDonalds? Because we realized that McDonalds is the cheapest thing you can get from London, something like a cheeseburger for 1 pound! Trust me, that’s freaking cheap so we spent 2 pounds at Macs and got ourselves a burger and a toast-like thing with melted cheese oozing out (again). So poor thing right, the next time we tour Europe again, we shall be working adults with loads of money so that we can have proper lunches!

There was a need to rush to St Paul’s Cathedral because we checked that it closes at 4.30pm. It is quite irritating that everything closes so early in London and that is why 2.5 days in London is not enough. You’ll find that your day-time is so short!



St Paul’s Cathedral is a gorgeous building, from the outside, to the inside and all around it. There are again, memorials, tombs and monuments, the interior is very beautiful, with the classical columns joined by arches with baroque decorations and adornments, the windows, the ceiling, many paintings illustrating scenes from the Bible, very very beautiful. And it makes me wonder what the cathedral is made up of, real gold somewhere? Precious stones? I really don’t know how to describe the place anymore, and you guys obviously can’t imagine a picture of it because it is magnificent beyond words. You’ll know what I mean when you’re seeing it for yourself.

After the tour around the cathedral, we made our way up the dome. The very first dome we conquered in Europe. Oh yes, we were not only on a panini quest, we were on a dome quest too! It was a good ascend, 530 steps up to the Golden Gallery, the highest gallery you can go up to. And on the way up there, you’ll first come to the Whispering Gallery, where Tian whistled a note and got scolded. Here, the faintest whisper can be heard clearly on the opposite side, too bad Tian and I didn’t try whispering to each other.

The metal steps near the top of the dome. This has got to be the scariest steps among all because you can look all the way down and it might be a bit intimidating if one is afraid of heights. Also, the metal structure can shake when you have a few big guys running and stomping their way down the stairs.

Not all the way up yet, this is at the Stone Gallery.

The highest point of the dome we could climb up to, the Golden Gallery. As you can see, it's very windy and sunny, I can't even open my eyes. Oh yes, I don't own a pair of good and pretty shades, how sad is that =(.

Thinking that it was still bright, we thought we had time for one more attraction on our last day in London, and that would be the Tower of London. We reached there at 5.30pm when it closes at 6pm, and we were told that the tour around the fortress would require about 3 hours. We were quite upset that we didn’t manage to go in. It is very cool, almost like a real fortress without a moat. And it looks like a castle too. Supposed to be a spooky place where legendary figures are imprisoned or executed here. I would have liked to see the headless bodies, phantom soldiers with clanking chains.

After taking a rest and reading up a little on the history of the Tower of London, we walked around it, admiring the vast fortress till we came to the Tower Bridge. Before this, I kept thinking that London Bridge was the famous bridge in London and thought it was a tourist attraction, but it turned out that Tower Bridge was the one with more history and beauty than the London Bridge. The Tower Bridge not only served to be an important route for transportation between the islands, it was designed in the style of the Tower of London.

My poseur boyfriend, the guy who makes me smile everyday.

Tower Bridge was pretty in blue, but when I went up close, I couldn’t figure out why the bridge was ornamented in things shaped like bolts. Then Tian and I paid 4.25 pounds each for the Tower Bridge Experience. Yea, a lot of money went to entrance fees. So then, we climbed some stairs again, came to a room where we viewed a short video on the history of Tower Bridge before heading to the viewing gallery, from which is yet another magnificent view of London, at a lower height as compared to The London Eye but from here, we could see the whole area that Tower of London covered, and then have a good view of River Thames.


We then proceed to the exhibition hall where things got technical and I was reminded of my engineering education. Basically what is fascinating about Tower Bridge is how the bridge can split into half to accommodate taller ships. So of course London has to show off their brilliant innovation and engineering knowledge which involves the use of hydraulics and weights to work the Tower Bridge. The exhibition hall was a cool place. Too bad my memory card ran out of space or else I would have taken pictures of the machinery.




Tower Bridge concluded our sightseeing experience in London. It was close to evening by the time I could bear to leave and we still had to grab dinner and rush back to my cousin’s place to do some last minute packing before we head for the bus station. This was the start to a very miserable night. To leave London after 3 days was a very sad thing because I really liked London. I did not have the time to finish sightseeing and also I would love to have more time to soak in the local culture and atmosphere, especially at night. Nonetheless, I guess I have to be reminded of how expensive everything is in London. Oh i forgot to mention our dinner, kick-ass kebab wraps from a small turkish restaurant near by cousin's place. I was so tempted to sit down for a proper dinner at the restaurant ok, seeing all the food on other tables which looked so damn good (though expensive). We walked into the restaurant because there was a queue for take-away kebabs. The size of the wrap and the tastiness of the kebabs easily win those that we have in Singapore, hands down. I'll definitely go back to the restaurant if I have the chance to visit London again.

My cousin bought Eurolines tickets for us, which is a coach from London to Paris. Tian and I had to settle for Eurolines because by the time we decided to buy Eurostar tickets from STA (NUS) which were on offer for students at S$95 (that’s very cheap for Eurostar tickets), there were no more tickets left. This caused us quite a bit of headache but thanks to my cousin, we found an alternative form of transport to Paris. Do I recommend Eurolines? I’m sorry I have to say no. My experience with Eurolines was bad. Firstly, it was really messy at the bus station. The queues were so long and hardly moving, there were people leaving for Amsterdam and other places who got mixed up in the queues for tickets. The whole place was so crowded, nobody knows where we should be queuing. In the end, we ended up being the last ones to get onto the coach and by that time, 2 Eurolines coaches had already left for Paris. The second dreadful thing is that there is no allocated seating on Eurolines. Like hello, even on local coaches like Grassland which travels to Malaysia, there is allocated seating though it is only a 6-hour journey to Kuala Lumpur. The journey on Eurolines from London to Paris is 9 hours and Tian and I obviously did not get to seat together, being the last ones to board the coach. I had to seat with a man for whole 9 hours, which I was supposed to have a good sleep but obviously I did not, and Tian was seating so far from me, in between 2 couples. Oh yea, beside me was another couple who was snuggling up to each other so comfortably, it only added to my misery. Say I’m childish or whatever, but I was so upset. Comparing Grassland to Eurolines, think our very own Grassland wins hands down. Seats are better cushioned and wider, hence more comfortable. And there is allocated seating and tickets are way cheaper! Haiz everything in Europe is expensive, period.

We were supposed to take a ferry over to Paris but halfway through the journey, the bus driver told us that because of our coach delays, we would be going under the tunnel instead as we had missed the ferry. But the next morning when we finally reached Paris, Tian said we actually went on a ferry because sometime during the journey, while I was fast asleep, he realized that the coach was stationary for quite a long time, so we most probably had gone onto a ferry but I missed it! I always thought vehicles going onto a ship or ferry to get across the sea is very cool. I shall leave you with our last photo from London, with River Thames and the Tower of London behind us. Gosh I miss London so much.

Woes

I think I'm destined to become a scientist. Scientist or researcher, all the same to me, all involve working in labs and doing experiments. And I was never crazy about practicals. I don't know much, but I have this feeling that most bioengineers work at Biopolis after graduation. And if I pursue a post-grad degree at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, they'll most probably nurture researchers rather than letting me see patients. That's it la, I'm destined to work all alone, stuck in a big white lab facing beakers and test tubes all day long. Pray that I'll have an interesting job that I love in the future. I once told Tian that since I'm not fated to be a medical doctor, I shall learn to live with my bioengineering degree and be someone useful. Maybe I can work on the idea of the magic bullets that we learnt in Biotechnology and create a cure for cancer. A lot of maybes. Sometimes I wonder if we can create our destinies, but I seem to have no control over the major things in my life. I want to embrace my future, I don't want to fear it. I'm just thinking about a lot of things now, and I've just decided not to work or travel during the coming December holidays, but to get a internship at the labs. For all I know, wearing lab coats all day might be fun.

For now, my work is ok, very easy job so no stress, now that I have mastered everything in my job scope. Plus point about working has got to be my very nice bosses and colleagues here who were so helpful and patient towards me for the past 4 days. The security guards delivered my lunch to me, the despatch uncle bought diet coke for me which I sadly had to throw away after taking 2 sips because it was too gross - so damn sweet and..I don't know, it's just so different from the original Coke. And I'm not even a Coke fan. I wonder why he bought me DIET Coke, maybe I look like I needed it =p. Oh also, the manager who interviewed me is so kind towards me and he will always ask if I'm doing ok everytime he walks past the reception. Almost everyone here is very courteous and smiley, oh and the ang moh bosses always greet and acknowledge me so that's nice too. Right now, I'm counting down to 5.30pm after which I can knock off and meet my darling again!

Welcome home, Ness!

hehe I am finally given a password to access the company's computer so I can use the Internet during work!

Back to Work


Sheesh tomorrow is my last day of freedom. I've got a job finally, I've been flipping through classified ads every morning and now someone calls me up and I'm not too excited. Hmm the excitment of finally earning some money is just not coming. Maybe it's because I don't seem to be spending much anyway, I WANT many things, but actually don't NEED them. So of course Tian tells me not to buy them. Basically, my money now only goes to food. Also, my life is really too good now, so good till I think the holidays are too long, so good till I forgot how to use my brain to think hard about maths questions when my sister asked for help - and then I realised, I want to go back to school soon if not I'll become lazy and lose my drive to study. Then suddenly, work calls, and I'd have to start the mundane 9am - 5pm thing all over again. I don't think a job as a receptionist is going to be as interesting as Michelle's, so I foresee a boring job, and I might get to read a book! It's an MNC however, Symrise Pte Ltd, which develops and manufactures flavours, frangrances etc so hopefully I can learn something from the company.


Tian's not too excited about it too, there's no me anymore to slack and go out with him on weekdays. Yea, I'm going to miss my life now, very much. Hope Tian gets a job too so that he's not alone. But haha, he's only interested in invigilating at RJ.

Finally met up with Jamie and Mich after I returned from Europe and Mich from Bangkok. Soon, it's Jamie's turn to fly off to New York, the longest one month trip. Shiok eh, when you have the money and time, just go man. It's a pity I couldn't make Europe a month-long affair unlike the other med people we met there, anyway perhaps a month is really too long, I'll become obese, broke and very homesick. But now that I'm back, I want to go back all over again, 16 days just ain't enough.



We all love Mich don't we. Perhaps the most down-to-earth person who's always advising me on the right things, to be more practical and grab every opportunity that comes by, my constant reminder to start running which I had not done so, and she always reminds me to be thankful for what I have. Anyway after that day, I had to agree with Mich, I look bad with eyeliner, which I'm so glad because then I don't have to spend money on buying eyeliners to doll up! To begin with, I don't even know how to apply it properly. I came to this conclusion after looking myself in the car mirror on my way home. Eww..I don't look very normal. But I still like eyeshadows haha, maybe just not aqua since Jamie said it has to go with eyeshadow to look good. Hehe I really don't look like myself that day I agree, but I do like my newly cut, blown-dry hair which cost me freaking $32 because I missed the student's deal by half an hour. I'm so so forgetful I tell you. That's like my most expensive haircut ever, and it's only supposed to cost $20!! I just wasted a whole $12. Nvm learnt my lesson, always before 5pm, but somehow when I was with Jamie, I happily forgot about such an important detail. Jamie's fault!! Haha because we just keep talking and walking and talking till I forgot about everything else. But this woman patiently accompanies me when I shop, and share Chippy's with me when I'm hungry so I love her still =). Anyway my hair is all messy again aka back to normal and sometimes I really hate it so much. Why can't it be long and flowy, like you know, so smooth and straight like some girls' hair such that when they walk and the wind blows, the hair sways so nicely in the wind. Haiz I want my hair to be like that, since long long ago but I guess hair texture is one thing you cannot change. Too bad it curls. And too bad I'm not into rebonding. So ok, I shall stop complaining hehe.


Anyway we went to the cheap Heeren meepok place again because Jamie and I were so full from Chippy's and Mich isn't interested in the Taka pasta place which Jamie recommended, so it's good that we saved money. I remembered feeling very bloated that day. So we walked and talked as usual, catching up on life and Mich's Bangkok trip, and Jamie and I each got a bangle from Bangkok! Yay!! I always wanted a 2nd bangle besides my green Topshop one. And there was no fight, I took the red and Jamie took the purple. Both were pretty colours. We walked till the shops closed and I had to head home to catch Lost. Somehow we always meet up on Thursdays which is not a good day because Lost is at 10pm. And this Thursday we're meeting up again with the other girls so yayy again, there'll definitely be lots to hear from Baorong's Cambodia trip! She got me the fake Lowe Alphine backpack I wanted! Thanks again, it was a heavy thing to carry back and I realised how much trouble I've caused her so I'm really grateful.


Oh today Tian and I took the MRT! After a very long time. It brought back fond memories, of how we used to take the public transport all the time, how I used to wait for him to come out of camp at Yew Tee at night, and how we are always disturbing each other on the train, can't stand still, and me hugging him while he holds onto the overhead hand grips. And in the early afternoon, we accompanied Tian's mum to the animal hospital for Nicky's checkup. Checkup only involved removing of Nicky's plaster to check on the recovery process of her limb, then the cast is placed back on again. But we were there for so so long, spent most of our time waiting for the vet. Yea maybe Singapore needs more vets. I should consider changing my major haha. Anyway the one suffering the most was Nicky, who was shaking so vigorously almost the whole time when we were in the hospital. And then the nurse/assistant had a difficult time removing Nicky's plaster which was stuck to her fur and looking at him twist Nicky's leg to get the plaster off, I wonder if Nicky was in pain. Well, she was moving quite a lot = struggling? but good thing she didn't scream in pain. Oh well, it was my first time to the vet and it was quite an experience. Not many animals there but we did see a fat pregnant cat. She's so big man, and she got an injection and she cried out a little, something like a little whine..poor thing.


Time for bed soon, it's interview tomorrow at 9.30am and then more precious slacking time with Tian.

Day 2 – London


Weather was much better this morning, at least there’s sun and it’s not raining! Since we only have 2 more days left in London, we purposely woke up early so that we can do some major sightseeing! First up was to Buckingham Palace since there’s Change Of Guards at about 10.30am I think. Again, with the help of the friendly locals, we realized we have to walk past St James Park to get to Buckingham Palace. And when Jess sees a park as beautiful and serene as St James Park, she will insist on going in for a walk! Good thing I forced Tian to take a walk around the park, little did I realise that it was the only park we had time for.


As I said, St James Park was so cool, way prettier than any parks I can find in Singapore. Why? First you have Buckingham Palace in the background which created a beautiful scenery over the lake which has so many residential duckies of all colours and elegant white swans.



Then as you walk along the pathway, you’ll spot little squirrels running around, especially near people who’re feeding them. When I saw the first squirrel I thought it’s just one, isolated squirrel which happened to be strolling in the park. Then I realized there are so many more running out in the open! Now where are the Singaporean squirrels? Haha maybe it’s because London’s good at wildlife conservation. I took so many pictures of the animals till I have to start deleting them when late afternoon came because I only had a 256KB SD card with me. (And now that I’m back, I realized I could have borrowed a 1GB SD card from Mich Loh..arghhhh. That would have been so useful.) Anyway we didn’t finish walking around the whole park because Tian was rushing me =p If we have such huge and pretty parks back home, I’d be more motivated to get my butt of my chair to do some exercise.


That's Tian who thinks the squirrels are so cute =) He's always trying to trick the animals into coming near us, by pretending that there's food on his hand. And you'll see that he brings this trick all the way to Venice to catch the pigeons haha.


So Buckingham Palace was crowded for good reasons. We had to wait quite a long while before the guards came strutting into the Palace. Before they came, we had fun looking at the London police on horses! How cool is that! Though the horses stink and they shit everywhere (the situation was worse in Italy).


Of course, no royalties came out to give a little wave despite the HUGE crowd outside the palace. The Change of Guard process was quite long and slow, and the military band even performed 2 songs, one of them from 007.



The fierce-looking horse guards in black.


The palace guards with the big beavers on their heads. Haha it really looks hilarious from the back. Does it help when they fight? Camouflage? Haha Tian said if enemies see a furry black thing they'll shoot it first.





After visiting the palace, we headed to Westminster Abbey which was only a walking distance away. Little did we know that we forgot to charge my 2nd camera battery and there was no way we could continue sightseeing without taking photos! So very sadly, we had to leave Westminster Abbey for day 3 and headed back to my cousin’s place, a detour. Quite a waste of precious sightseeing time there.


Tian said there was a scene in The Da Vinci Code where Tom Hanks was standing under this very sign post. This is at Westminster.


A typical telephone booth.


Headed for lunch during the small detour at a Chinese restaurant called Sticks and Bowl near my cousin’s place which she recommended because it was affordable. Eh..it wasn’t that affordable actually but we didn’t take long to realize that it’s almost impossible to find anything affordable for Singaporeans in London haha. I had fried rice and the serving was BIG ok, perhaps a little more than double of the serving you get in Singapore – think big plate and a mountain pile of rice. I had to delete the photos because my memory disk ran out of space. (sigh) Hehe but amazingly I finished up my plate without Tian’s help. (As I write about the later days, you’ll see how I grow rounder and rounder, especially my face. It was so obvious in the photos on the last few days =p)


After lunch, we took the underground to Leicester Square to check out tickets for musicals. Were eyeing for Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera for tonight. Had quite a bit of trouble getting tickets because although these musicals are performed EVERY night, they are always full house and people like us who try to buy tickets last minute to get cheaper deals would have to risk not being able to get seats. Stall and level 1 tickets for Phantom were too expensive for Tian and I, the cheap deals offered to us were on the 3rd level and they cost 25 pounds. Les Mis had only 2 single seats left, but good ones at only 32 pounds, which made me very disappointed for a while but I’m not going to let myself go home without watching it so we bought the tickets! Just because Tian and I still got to sit quite close to each other, I was a row behind him, and the price was good. With the tickets in hand, I was a very very happy girl already. Oh I shall talk about the ticketing for these musicals. We saw a booth when we exited from the underground, and we thought oh that’s it, that’s where we purchase our tickets. But when you walk up to Leicester Square, you’ll see so MANY more booths selling tickets to the same musicals, and the prices they offer to vary though the difference may be just 1-2 pounds. But hey, that’s S$3 ok haha. So do check out the different booths first before getting tickets. Other musicals which you can watch in London daily included Billy Elliot, Mary Poppins, Evita, Chicago and many more. Can you just imagine, here we are, waiting for so long for Phantom of the Opera to stage again in Singapore (ok that’s me..) when these musicals are being performed every evening in London! Unfair!


The performance was at 7.30pm and with only about 3 hours to spare, we strolled down to Trafalgar Square. Everything’s like nearby =) You can see the majestic National Gallery behind me, and the square was a nice chill out place under the sun! The people here just lie on the grass! Tian refused to do it haha. See how the weather got better such that I could remove my outer jacket. Nicee.


See the locals around me who're reading or sleeping or lying down on the grass beside their loved ones? So romantic! But my darling didn't want to lie down with me haha.



At the Horse Guards, this place really stinks with traces of horse pee and poo. There were this group of grown up 'boys' who were poking fun at the horse guards. But they were scolded eventually when they went overboard. Childish.


Nelson’s Column was under renovation when we were there. That’s supposed to be famous ok, but I didn’t get to see it, only a picture. Tsk. Quick walk to Downing Street to visit Tony Blair and it was from here that I caught my first glimpse of the London Eye. It looked so near that I told Tian hey we can walk there! But eh, it's quite far actually.


Dinner was a quick one at Chinatown aka Leicester Square. Tian’s parents recommended this Chinese restaurant called Wong Kei though my cousin preferred their next-door competitor Yong Cheng. We settled for Wong Kei and since we were so full from lunch, we shared a plate of hor fun, which Tian thought his dad recommended that dish but when we came back to Singapore, we realized it was another dish. Anyway the hor fun sucked big time. Not nice AT ALL. How much did it cost? 3.80 pounds which makes it about S$12. For a plate of HOR FUN. Your heart will hurt I tell you. We were struggling to finish it loh. Don’t know why there were so many hongkong people there. I was busy drinking up the Chinese tea to make my money’s worth. So I told Tian, that I want to set up a chain of Chinese restaurants in London and across Europe, to show the foreigners that they can get good hor fun, fried kway tiao, mee pok and fried rice at the same price haha.


Tian and I decided to splurge and treated ourselves to some Haagen Diaz chocolate icecream during the interval. Bye to 2.50 pounds. Oh look at my seat, I've learnt that for London theatres, stall seats are not necessary because the view from the first level is pretty good to me. But of course if you have the money and seats are available, go for stall seats! For Singapore, The Esplanade is bigger so there is no choice but to spend over a hundred bucks on stall seats. Wonder how the view from the upper level is.



Queen's Theatre.


Les Mis has got to be one of the best things that happened to me in London. I’m a total sucker for musicals, and though I was suffering a little from jetlag, I enjoyed it totally – loved the storyline (I did not read the book and when I came back, Mich Loh told me that the book is very good so I’m going to buy it tomorrow!), so crazy in love with all the songs (made Tian teach me how to sing, and after that I sang all the way to Italy) and basically the whole performance was too good. There’s no way I can describe how good it was, everyone just have to go down to see it! Thanks to Huifang who encouraged me to catch it in London. I’m coming back to get the official soundtrack because the price they offered at Queen’s theatre was insane. Oh Les Mis stayed with us all the way to Paris where the story was depicted in some of the paintings we saw in the Louvre.


Left Leicester Square at 10.30pm which was quite a pity because it was bustling with people but the constant reminder from parents and friends that these places are dangerous at night made Tian and I very cautious when we were walking back to the underground. You should see how I was grabbing tightly onto Tian and my bag. And William warned us about avoiding the blacks and I realized most of them only come out at night. I was trying hard to walk away from them and not make eye contact. Hmm, but maybe they don’t even bother about 2 young Asians on the street. Haha but the experience of being out late at night in London was exciting.