16th June, 537am
Up early again. I think my body is too used to waking up at the sight of sunlight, just that here, sunlight comes at 5am or earlier. Damn.
The floors in our hostel are as creaky as an old man's joint. Just by walking to the door and opening it, I felt I made enuff noise to wake everyone up, down, left and right of me, but surprisingly, they still sleep on. Even Greg, whom I had to walk over. ( he's sharing with the girls, 'cos the guys' room was really too small )
Take a breather to describe the hostel and the room we're in. The name of the hostel is the Atlantic Paddington and it's in the Baywater area of London, near Paddington station. The room has 2 beds, a basin and a mini TV, on one of those little shelves you attach high up in the wall. Paint is cracking off the walls, bed is one of those old creaky things, like in old hospitals or military camps. At least our room is large enuff to house 4 people, 3 girls on the bed and 1 guy on the floor. The other room, occupied by Julian and Jordan, is the size of a single bed NUS hostel room.
So yesterday's events again. ( 15 June ) After breakfast, we took a bus again, ( In London, you can buy these day passes, UK$2.50, that lets you take as many bus rides as you want in a day. Cheaper than buying single trip tickets all the time. ) to Madame Tussaud's. Whoa. The wax statues are really lifelike, some of them, and you don't even know they're statues. We walked past some statues we thought were people, till somebody said, "Hey that guy hasn't moved in XX minutes" Lots of celebs too, but less than expected. Don't think they usually display all the statues at once.
Corny shots ahead:
The ( Actual ) Slayer and Me
Kylie shows off her most famous asset
Someone I met on Notting Hill
Steven and I consider the lighting on the set on his new movie
Alfred Hitchcock gives me a shoulder massage
I impress Bush and Blair with my strong grasp of Asian politics at the UN Conference
Me and Di
The Pope forgives me for not having gone to church since Easter
Then went into this Chamber of Horrors exhibit. The exhibit was supposed to showcase a famous serial killer, together with live actors. You walk through this dark, dungeon like place, and at various points, actors jump out of the darkness to scare you. Funnily enough, though I was leading the group, I didn't get picked on by any of them. They went right past me... for Wiki, who of course screamed her lungs out for Greg. ( Greg didn't wanna go in, 'cos he said it was too freaky for him, despite our persuasions and attacks on his manhood, so I had to hold Wiki's hand throughout ) One of the more freaky ones was the actor who played Jack the Ripper, and who brandished a ( fake ) knife at Wiki. Once again, straight past me, for her.
There was also a sort of ride, where you sit in a London cab and be taken through a display of London's history. This was a bit cheesy though. The wax statues were fine by themselves, but movement was not good for them. They looked stiff, jerky, and very fake. Oh well, maybe that was the motive all along.
Finally we end up at the gift shop. The tried a penny press machine, which is really unique. You drop a pound coin and a penny in the slot, and then turn the wheel, which turns a giant cog inside. Then it melts the penny, elongates it, and imprints the design of your choice on it. Cool! (This is probably only done in London, because of changes to their Currency Act. Don't expect to see this anytime in Singapore, or for that matter, probably any other country in the world.)
And they had a dance machine, of all things, there. This "ang moh ah lian" ( As Greg called her ) tried some basic stage, and of course, died horribly. She had another turn, but was too embarrassed to try, so I ended up going up instead. And got a *Perfect!* :p Nice to know my DDR skills haven't gone after all this while!
Then lunch at a roadside burger stall, and then to the Houses of Parliament. Walked along the Thames to get there and saw the London Eye. Bloody hell, it's huge and it's tall! Don't even wanna think about how much it takes to get up there. And had our first sight of Big Ben! The Houses of Parliament are really grand. You can see that Big Ben even has some gilded trimmings in it. ( I don't think it's really gold. That'll be too much ) The architectural design of the House is really intricate and old. A lot of fine details, all over, and its imposing really lends it an air of majesty, like a grand old dame. We got into the shorter queue for the House of Lords, and were ushered in, after all the usual security. ( who definitely looked askance at the no. of metallic items in me person, including my Swiss Army knife )
The main difference between the House of Lords and the House of Commons is as the names implies. The House of Lords descended from nobles, who were in charge of (dis)approving the decisions made in the House of Commons. This is pretty obvious in the decor. The House of Lords has a lot of gilded decorations, and fine paintings on the walls, while the House of Commons is pretty plain in comparison. Note also the colour of the Houses. Red for nobility, green for commoners. ( Perhaps indicative of the fields they had to work in? )
But in these days of democracy, it's not surprising that the more popular of the 2 Houses ( as tourist attractions ) is the House of Commons. ( Go Labour ) The queue stretched back for eons, but there was only 1 other person in the House of Lords queue. Hm. Though that didn't stop us, cos when we were done with the Lords and were about to leave, one of the policemen asked if we wanted to see the House of Commons as well, so ok! Off we went!
BTW, parliamentary debates are bloody boring. People take turns to stand up, and debate about stuff like whether to raise taxes on transport or something like that. Yawn. And even one of the guys in the opposition thought so. He was leaning back, apparently asleep (?) and later got up to ub his eyes. What does it say when even the guys in Parliament are bored themselves with the proceedings?
So after that, a quick look at Westminster Abbey, and off to Buckingham. Too bad we couldn't see the changing of the guard, so all we did was stand outside and look. It's not even as nice as Parliament, a very plain old building. Does this show the power of Parliament at the time? Because they are the ones who hold the purse strings anyway.
Finally we were done with the attractions for the day. Jordan and Sophia were to visit their cousins, so me, Greg and Wiki went down Oxford St ( again ) and visited Harrods. Bloody posh, bloody ex. I couldn't even bring my backpack in on my shoulders, they said we had to hold it in our hands. Good god. Talk about high and mighty. And everything there just looked... posh. Very upmarket, very high-class. An air of commercial nobility. Don't come in unless you have the ka-ching. But the decor inside is interesting. For eg, they had one called the Egyptian room, which housed cosmetics, and the whole room was done up with Egyptian motifs, including a giant Cleopatra head in the middle.
After that we simply walked down Oxford st, shopping as usual. Bought dinner at Benjy's for UK$2! Wiki likes it so much, she's determined to eat it every night we're here! have to say, it's a good deal. One baguette for UK$1, ( Discounted nearing to closing time ) and add UK$1 for a fruit, pack of chips, and a drink. Worth it man..
Finally back to the hostel to bathe and eat. Some French pple were shouting to each other from their windows, good god, and made me wanna shout something back in Hokkien back at them. Oh well. Eventually, someone got them to shut up.
Wiki now also has a blister on the sole of her foot about the size of a 20cent coin. Hope it doesn't burst while we're walking or Greg will have to carry her. :p She blames Greg's 2 hour "reflexology" walk in the forests of Stockholm. Haha... See how today goes...
Much later....
620pm: Today we saw St Paul's Cathedral, Fleet St, Church of St Mary Alderman, Tower of London, and the Tate Modern. too tired now. On Bus back . Will elaborate later.
Onwards to the 17th June
The floors in our hostel are as creaky as an old man's joint. Just by walking to the door and opening it, I felt I made enuff noise to wake everyone up, down, left and right of me, but surprisingly, they still sleep on. Even Greg, whom I had to walk over. ( he's sharing with the girls, 'cos the guys' room was really too small )
Take a breather to describe the hostel and the room we're in. The name of the hostel is the Atlantic Paddington and it's in the Baywater area of London, near Paddington station. The room has 2 beds, a basin and a mini TV, on one of those little shelves you attach high up in the wall. Paint is cracking off the walls, bed is one of those old creaky things, like in old hospitals or military camps. At least our room is large enuff to house 4 people, 3 girls on the bed and 1 guy on the floor. The other room, occupied by Julian and Jordan, is the size of a single bed NUS hostel room.
So yesterday's events again. ( 15 June ) After breakfast, we took a bus again, ( In London, you can buy these day passes, UK$2.50, that lets you take as many bus rides as you want in a day. Cheaper than buying single trip tickets all the time. ) to Madame Tussaud's. Whoa. The wax statues are really lifelike, some of them, and you don't even know they're statues. We walked past some statues we thought were people, till somebody said, "Hey that guy hasn't moved in XX minutes" Lots of celebs too, but less than expected. Don't think they usually display all the statues at once.
Corny shots ahead:
The ( Actual ) Slayer and Me
Kylie shows off her most famous asset
Someone I met on Notting Hill
Steven and I consider the lighting on the set on his new movie
Alfred Hitchcock gives me a shoulder massage
I impress Bush and Blair with my strong grasp of Asian politics at the UN Conference
Me and Di
The Pope forgives me for not having gone to church since Easter
Then went into this Chamber of Horrors exhibit. The exhibit was supposed to showcase a famous serial killer, together with live actors. You walk through this dark, dungeon like place, and at various points, actors jump out of the darkness to scare you. Funnily enough, though I was leading the group, I didn't get picked on by any of them. They went right past me... for Wiki, who of course screamed her lungs out for Greg. ( Greg didn't wanna go in, 'cos he said it was too freaky for him, despite our persuasions and attacks on his manhood, so I had to hold Wiki's hand throughout ) One of the more freaky ones was the actor who played Jack the Ripper, and who brandished a ( fake ) knife at Wiki. Once again, straight past me, for her.
There was also a sort of ride, where you sit in a London cab and be taken through a display of London's history. This was a bit cheesy though. The wax statues were fine by themselves, but movement was not good for them. They looked stiff, jerky, and very fake. Oh well, maybe that was the motive all along.
Finally we end up at the gift shop. The tried a penny press machine, which is really unique. You drop a pound coin and a penny in the slot, and then turn the wheel, which turns a giant cog inside. Then it melts the penny, elongates it, and imprints the design of your choice on it. Cool! (This is probably only done in London, because of changes to their Currency Act. Don't expect to see this anytime in Singapore, or for that matter, probably any other country in the world.)
And they had a dance machine, of all things, there. This "ang moh ah lian" ( As Greg called her ) tried some basic stage, and of course, died horribly. She had another turn, but was too embarrassed to try, so I ended up going up instead. And got a *Perfect!* :p Nice to know my DDR skills haven't gone after all this while!
Then lunch at a roadside burger stall, and then to the Houses of Parliament. Walked along the Thames to get there and saw the London Eye. Bloody hell, it's huge and it's tall! Don't even wanna think about how much it takes to get up there. And had our first sight of Big Ben! The Houses of Parliament are really grand. You can see that Big Ben even has some gilded trimmings in it. ( I don't think it's really gold. That'll be too much ) The architectural design of the House is really intricate and old. A lot of fine details, all over, and its imposing really lends it an air of majesty, like a grand old dame. We got into the shorter queue for the House of Lords, and were ushered in, after all the usual security. ( who definitely looked askance at the no. of metallic items in me person, including my Swiss Army knife )
The main difference between the House of Lords and the House of Commons is as the names implies. The House of Lords descended from nobles, who were in charge of (dis)approving the decisions made in the House of Commons. This is pretty obvious in the decor. The House of Lords has a lot of gilded decorations, and fine paintings on the walls, while the House of Commons is pretty plain in comparison. Note also the colour of the Houses. Red for nobility, green for commoners. ( Perhaps indicative of the fields they had to work in? )
But in these days of democracy, it's not surprising that the more popular of the 2 Houses ( as tourist attractions ) is the House of Commons. ( Go Labour ) The queue stretched back for eons, but there was only 1 other person in the House of Lords queue. Hm. Though that didn't stop us, cos when we were done with the Lords and were about to leave, one of the policemen asked if we wanted to see the House of Commons as well, so ok! Off we went!
BTW, parliamentary debates are bloody boring. People take turns to stand up, and debate about stuff like whether to raise taxes on transport or something like that. Yawn. And even one of the guys in the opposition thought so. He was leaning back, apparently asleep (?) and later got up to ub his eyes. What does it say when even the guys in Parliament are bored themselves with the proceedings?
So after that, a quick look at Westminster Abbey, and off to Buckingham. Too bad we couldn't see the changing of the guard, so all we did was stand outside and look. It's not even as nice as Parliament, a very plain old building. Does this show the power of Parliament at the time? Because they are the ones who hold the purse strings anyway.
Finally we were done with the attractions for the day. Jordan and Sophia were to visit their cousins, so me, Greg and Wiki went down Oxford St ( again ) and visited Harrods. Bloody posh, bloody ex. I couldn't even bring my backpack in on my shoulders, they said we had to hold it in our hands. Good god. Talk about high and mighty. And everything there just looked... posh. Very upmarket, very high-class. An air of commercial nobility. Don't come in unless you have the ka-ching. But the decor inside is interesting. For eg, they had one called the Egyptian room, which housed cosmetics, and the whole room was done up with Egyptian motifs, including a giant Cleopatra head in the middle.
After that we simply walked down Oxford st, shopping as usual. Bought dinner at Benjy's for UK$2! Wiki likes it so much, she's determined to eat it every night we're here! have to say, it's a good deal. One baguette for UK$1, ( Discounted nearing to closing time ) and add UK$1 for a fruit, pack of chips, and a drink. Worth it man..
Finally back to the hostel to bathe and eat. Some French pple were shouting to each other from their windows, good god, and made me wanna shout something back in Hokkien back at them. Oh well. Eventually, someone got them to shut up.
Wiki now also has a blister on the sole of her foot about the size of a 20cent coin. Hope it doesn't burst while we're walking or Greg will have to carry her. :p She blames Greg's 2 hour "reflexology" walk in the forests of Stockholm. Haha... See how today goes...
Much later....
620pm: Today we saw St Paul's Cathedral, Fleet St, Church of St Mary Alderman, Tower of London, and the Tate Modern. too tired now. On Bus back . Will elaborate later.
Onwards to the 17th June
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