Weekend in London

I went down to London on Thursday initially planning to make my visa for Morocco on Friday, but unexpectedly, they were closed for Hari Raya Haji. It just occured to me how much it made sense that they celebrate their main festivals even overseas like how we still celebrate the festivals that are occuring in Malaysia.

Little Venice, just 3 minutes walk from Paddington Tube Station. It reminded me more of Amsterdam actually.

Feeling disappointed and sleepy, M cheered me up with Beard Papa's cream puffs. That did the trick. The bun was crunchy on the outside and filled with lots of cream inside which wasn't too sweet. Yummy.

We went along Oxford Road and visited a few computer shops as M was planning to get a new laptop. The best offer so far is from Sony. They give a rebate of 100 pounds if you trade in your old laptop.

As I kept on complaining that I was hungry, M took me to Cafe de Hong Kong to have lunch. The cream puff didn't last that long.

I would say that the portion was quite small for the price that we were paying. Service is the typical service you get at Chinese Restaurants where they just collect your plates without first asking if you were done. I liked the Bubble Tea and even bought a packet home myself to make my own. Haven't attempted it but I hope that it's nice.

Covent Garden Market - I loved this place. There were so many stalls selling so many unique little things and impressive live string quartet. It does give me the feel that Christmas is just around the corner.

Benjamin Pollock's Toy Shop - M's favourite place in Convent Garden Market. I was suddenly brought back to my childhood. Loved those paper pop-up theatre and puppets. M seriously didn't want to leave her red dragon behind. She even went back to play with it. There were other street performers doing stunts which left the audience in awe.

The highlight of my trip - Chicago musical

M told me that we could get really good seats at student price depending on our luck, so, we went to Cambridge Theatre right after lunch. It was my first time watching a theatre in London and I was really excited. The seats that we got were stall seats, just 4 rows from the stage for just 28.25 pounds.

I would have to agree that it's the sexiest theatre in town. After getting past how sexy and fit the performers were (not to say that it's a liability), I was really impressed by the quality of singing, dancing, acting, and how the whole show kept me entertained throughout. There wasn't even a second when I felt bored. I really liked how the conductor of the band participated in parts of the act, how they depicted that Roxy Hart was mearly a puppet controlled by her lawyer whilst being interviewed by the reporters about her murder. I went home singing 'it's all....that....jazzzz'.

Being so nice and warm in the theatre, we didn't realise how cold the weather turned outside. My teeth were chattering all the way to Tomoko, a Korean restaurant where we had our dinner.

It was my first time trying Korean Tea and I liked the subtle taste and nice fragrant. The spicy rice cakes were named appropriately. They were spicy but I enjoyed it. M's spicy pork was not bad too. The thing I noticed about Korean food that we tried that day was that they were sweeter then most food I've tried and there were loads of onions.

Saturday:

M handed me over to my sifu, H, who was my weekend consultant for activities in London. As she has so many templates, she just fitted me into the Duck Rice at Four Seasons followed by desserts at Malaysian Students Department after.

The 3 classmates from college. M, my deskmate for 2 years and H, my sifu in makan but retired. We were supposed to meet up with A who came all the way down from Edinburgh, but he never appeared even after we've finished lunch till the moment they sent me to Bayswater tube station. Luckily he appeared later with proof of a phonecall and photos from H's blog, or else we'll call her scam!

At Four Seasons, we had boneless roast duck with char siew, and straw mushrooms with crab meat. Recommended. I had take-away sotong with fine beans from MSD as I had to make my way back to Liverpool by train that evening.

Thanks to M and H for making my weekend trip to London so memorable. Now to cultivate the motivation in me to complete my portfolio and face another exciting week of GP.