London, England IV: Borough Market and Camden Town

Borough Market, the place where delicious sight and smell mingle.The bubbling atmosphere engulfs you almost instantaneously. I was so excited! My eyes dashed around, not knowing what to focus on. I wanted to get my hands on everything but sadly my stomach disagree. I had fish and chips from Fish Kitchen, because after all I am in London. Then I had a grilled cheese bread which was so heavenly but so sinful. Then I washed everything down with coffee from Monmouth Coffee Company which boosts the best brew in town. Other recommended food here include duck sandwich, beef sandwich, paella, good old cheese and I'm thinking that if you have the chance, you should just try everything HA.











To digest all that food in my tummy, I decided to take a nice slow (but very long) walk to King's Cross where I finally pushed a cart into Platform 9 and 3/4!! There were two ladies stationed there providing scarves (I took Gryffindor's) and taking photographs. You can get the photographs printed from the Harry Potter shop next door for about 10 pounds? I can't remember. There are loads of other Harry Potter merchandise sold in the shop, like wands, pullovers in house colours, scarves and books. I was pretty thrilled to pick up a wand and wave it around, too bad no warm glow surrounded me. And I really wanted to see the platform itself and the Hogwarts Express!

















Camden Market was bursting with life. Lots of shoppers streaming in and out and there were people holding up signs directing you to their tattoo and piercing shops. I felt as if people might snigger behind my back for being so un-punkish. But still, look at buildings with their 3D designs! This is the place you can get cheap(er) goodies in London, accessories, clothes, shoes, bags, everything is here.













Stables Market is one enchanting place. You can find antiques, collectables, leather products, food, vintage clothing, the list goes on. If you imagine everyone wearing robs and sporting a wizard's hat, doesn't this place look like a market where Professor Sybill Trelawney shops at? Or is it just me? Haha.









I didn't have time to explore Camden Lock Village which is situated by the canal.  I did walk down the quieter side of the canal and there was a man shouting incomprehensible gibberish while waving at passers-by. Besides that, it felt like a hidden haven, where you can escape from the crowd of shoppers. I loved the boats parked at the side, wish I could go in and take a look but the owners weren't home so too bad. Then there was this open air place where people just sat down and ate! It was really great and lively and incredibly packed. But it was time for me to head back to the hostel, pack my things and leave for Amsterdam.

London, England III: Ally can(not) cook!

HI PADDINGTON! *hug hug kiss kiss* He's one of my childhood friends and I'm really glad to meet him in London! He's already 55 years old, but still looking as young as ever ;)

















The beautiful Hyde Park. As you walk deeper and deeper in, the sound of traffic gradually disappears and you're left with the sound of calm, peace and tranquillity. Close your eyes and tune in to Nature's own symphony - the rustle of the leaves and grass, the chirping of the birds and the swishing of the wind. I adore it here, a place where time seems to tick a second slower, a minute later. I sat down on the bench next to the lake and watched the ducks, swans flock towards the breadcrumbs. An Englishman and an old lady sat down next to me for a small chat. Then a Chinese man started talking to me because he was bored waiting for his friend and also because he missed speaking in Mandarin. HAH.



Met my new Korean friend in the hostel and we went grocery shopping! Oh how I love grocery shopping and pushing the cart around. It was a spontaneous idea to cook dinner. We bought a huge pack of mixed vegetables, canned beef and instant herb rice. I've never cooked in a hostel before, I found it quite fun! The fried vegetables became soup because there wasn't oil in the hostel so I thought "Never mind, I can put a little water and then simmer the vegetables!" But somehow, I poured in too much and the vegetables released their own water, then I put in too much salt so had to add even more water... So yes, I turned it into soup. I burst out laughing when my friend went "Is this how Singapore fried vegetables is like?" HAHAHA. And there's another story about the canned beef. The can opener was extremely old, it couldn't open the can properly, it only made a hole here and there. So we had to resort to using scissors to pry the can open. Not very successful, took us a longggg time to get it open. Then I pour it out and put it into the microwave. I followed the instructions and set it to the specified temperature and time (ok fine, I set it a little higher and a little longer). When I opened the microwave... the beef kind of 'exploded' in the microwave! It was splattered all over, looked really bad but smelled really good! Haha. By the time we finished cooking, we were famished. Gobbled up everything and were filled to the brim. Even though almost everything went wrong, it was really fun!

London, England II: Bridges, museums, musicals and free ice cream

Tower Bridge and Tower of London. Tower Bridge was beautiful but I still prefer the bridges in Paris. Maybe because bridges in Paris are mostly pedestrian while this one had cars zooming past, so you can't really explore every nook and cranny. Besides, I really liked how there were artists and street performers on the bridges in Paris. I didn't enter the Tower of London because it would blow my budget for the day (£21.45 for adults/£18.15 for students) and I doubt it would be more beautiful than Provins (OK OK, enough of Paris).







National History Museum (free entry!) which is just behind my hostel is  is incredible, a rock isn't just a rock there and an owl isn't just an owl.  The main hall with the dinosaur skeleton model reminded me so much of a movie but I can't quite put on my finger on it. Night at the Museum? Harry Potter? Anyway I met the Korean whom I saw in the hostel earlier at breakfast this morning. He thought I was Korean too and spoke to me in Korean. I was happily pretending to be one until he asked for my Korean name which was when I decided to come clean. Even though my replies were slow and sentences were a little grammatically wrong, I passed! Haha.





Just my luck! Passed by a free Ben & Jerry's truck!! And the best part was that there were only 10+ people in the queue. I've never queued up for the Free Cone Day back in Singapore, the queue is too crazy. While I was enjoying my free cup of ice cream, this girl asked jokingly one of the B&J organizer if there was any way to win a free tub. So he spontaneously held a 'challenge' for her! HOW NICE. If she could balance 6 tubs of ice cream on top of her head while holding onto the bottom tub, she could bring home a tub. Then another girl said she wanted to try as well, he said this time it had to be 8 tubs. When she was at her 6th tub, he tickled her or something and the tubs fell. She still got to take home a tub though. My friend suggested that I try too so I approached him. I balanced 8 tubs and he gave me 2 tubs of Blondie Brownie wheee. :d







Wicked. I had a hard time choosing between Lion King (my favourite Disney cartoon) and Wicked but decided on Wicked since a lot of people said that it was worth watching. I bought my tickets at tkts booth which apparently has the best musical prices if you are lucky. I wasn't so lucky so I got average priced tickets and middle row seats. Wicked was alright.. I wasn't blown away. I mean I did enjoy it, just not like WOAH *JAW DROP*. Perhaps I was too tired/sleepy after walking for the whole day non-stop. But you should definitely watch a musical or two if you're in London!