Day 4 - London

Day 4 - London. This is my final stop during my stay. Well, its fairly frequent that I commute to here as London is my stopover when I go back to KL from Trinidad and Tobago. Normally I would just spend few hours wandering around before taking my flight. This time however, I spent two days here. The other days were spent in Yong Fei Tour in previous posts.

I chose a small budget hotel to stay. Small room, small toilet, but clean and new. It's sort of like those budget boutique hotels in KL, but priced like 5 star hotels in KL. Travelling solo, needing a place to stay and store my things; the place was perfect.

I didnt take much photos this time. I was trying to enjoy the moment rather than trying to capture it. Not that we wont get the chance to travel right?
It was a nice stroll, taking the subways to the places I had in mind. The Chinatown, the red district, the shopping district. London is so congested, and modern but you wont feel suffocated or lost. Everything just fall nicely, and it feels like you can do anything without getting obstruction here. You can really take your own time, to do your own thing.

There are plentiful of parks and wide sidewalks you can lepak in.

Near some palace or somthing

So carefree

Jalan-jalan, cari makan

 The shopping here is GREAT!!! Much better and bigger than any of the sales I went. Even the Singapore Sales pale in comparison. The malls are much bigger, in quality and quantity. In Singapore you can at least use an evening or a day to finish the main shopping stretch. Here....you will need public transportation just to finish ONE of the stretch!!! And the price are dirt cheap too. Cheaper than Malaysia prices at least. The sales are like....80% 85% off. Gila!!! I dont think they are marked up either as the tags are quite old. Cilakak Malaysia prices always marked up then given discount.

As I said, not much pictorial involved. Too bzbzbzbz. Wakakakaka.
I managed to do some shopping as well. Souvenirs as well as some for my own. Considered expensive souvenirs in Malaysia, but like what I said, its cheap here. Even those jewelries, which I actually bought as souvenirs. One of the most expensive items I bought here was my Seba inline skate. Made me poor by the whole year!!!! Too bad Im noob, and it is WAYYYY underused now. le sigh.....

Till then, wait for the next post - Bath and Stonehenge

Cambridge

Day 3 - Cambridge!!! Rival of Oxford where Yong Fei was doing his law. A continuation from Stratford trip Day 2 of course. The environment here is quite different than both Oxford and Stratford. Its very erm.... medieval-like kinda city. All the grand buildings, with different kind of freshness in the atmosphere. Brilliant.


We met up with his friends there, 2 of them, also Malaysian. It seems that most popular conversation topic for Malaysian undergrads/grads there is - getting a permanent job in UK. Understandable. After all the years spent over there, even more understandable. The quality of life is just totally different. You pay taxes there, but you will feel that its money well-spent....unlike going back home, you know? But then, lets get back to the topic shall we? Cambridge!!! Most of the photos will be revolved around a river. Sort of like Oxford, but here we get others to "drive" for us. Many students here earn some pocket money by doing part-time jobs. Like erm..a river taxi.

These boats will use the streams running through the backyard of houses, shops and schools.

Where are the rubbish eh?

Beautiful architecture along the trip

Quite a popular past time here

A few of the faculties along the way

The one who was paddling our boat is a Cambridge undergrad, doing some part time job. Kinda superman lookalike. Tall, well-built, handsome, perfect hair, articulate. Quite strange though when he wet himself in the middle of the journey. Some sort of kidney disease he said.

After that we just jalan-jalan around the area visiting the bigger campuses. Apart from that, didnt really venture much. This is the last day I kept Yong Fei busy. The next day - London!!!

Lost bracelet

GG

Lost my bracelet. Not really lost it. I some sort of threw it away, not intentionally of course. GG.
I was throwing a rock, in the quarry, with my right hand.

I was wearing the bracelet on the right hand, and it was loose. GG.
It flew off, and can never be found again. It just assimilate itself with the surroundings. So gg.

There goes $$$.

Stratford-upon-Avon

So, from Day 1 - Oxford, I came to Stratford. The feel and environment here is very different from Oxford. The comfort is still there, just not as bustling as Oxford. Less people are walking around, less activities going on, wider streets, more distanced buildings. Kinda nice for a lazy soul. Maybe thats why this place is the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

One of the plays we get to watch there. Free for the public to watch. Not sure what it was about though. Not ngam me.

The architecture here is amazing too.See those wooden nails below. Well, there are many other places which uses wooden nails, but I am impressed nonetheless.

One of the olden painting method. Gave it a try and ended up having sore fingers for the day. Not very easy oooo. You will need to etch on a piece of paper over a copper block. To have a nice colour, you will need to apply significant pressure on the paper. Since its my 1st time, the result was not that good despite the chamness fingers.

In Startford, not only its filled with gardens like Oxford, but they are also filled with flowers, everywhere.
Very soothing to the eyes I must say.

 The Church where William Shakespeare is buried.

Alas, the final stop for Stratford - the train station again. On Day 3, we went to Cambridge to visit Yong Fei's friends and toured around the city.

Oh ya, before I left, I had to take the shots below.

A very comfy small city. Not hectic, refreshing, relaxing....ah...
Next up - Day 3 - Cambridge!!!!

UK with Yong Fei - Oxford

1st of all.....woah...wtf, it was 2008? Cant believe it is overdue for so so very long. It was some sort of impromptu trip as London was my stopover airport before going back to Malaysia, from Trinidad and Tobago (my workplace at that time). Yong Fei was my schoolmate back in VI. He was doing his law in University of Oxford, so I took the chance for free accommodation during that trip. And also a free tour guide!!! Heh, Thanks a bunch bro.

Naturally, my first stop was in Oxford. I took a bus from the airport to this place - my first stop in Oxford.

Nice weather heh? I thought summer will be the best season to fit in my plans - longer daylights, means more time to travel around. From here, I made my way to his hostel, a walking distance. I am not sure if I should post his room photo here, but since its so long ago, and he is taken anyway; I dont think it will do him a lot of harm..heh

It is small but very adequate in space. You even have your own toilet here. There is a common kitchen which we didnt really utilise. We only cooked a few meals as I wanted to try out local flavours. I slept on the floor with a mattress which is comfortable for me. I just hope I didnt really disturb him too much during my stay. I had a tour around the campus and was very impressed with the environment there. It was very relaxing and filled with activities, which can be very bad on your studies if you get to comfortable with it. I know I will be led astray. I will be too busy exploring and enjoying rather than keeping up with the academic competition here.

Almost every campus/schools have nice gardens, feels so...refreshing

The library I went to is quite small, but I'm not sure about the others.

I took a walk outside the campuses too, but this place is full of students, like some sort of University town, if you get what I mean. It is just like those ulu small town near ulu colleges/universities in Malaysia, but much bigger and livelier.

I even had a shot of a gondala here.

See how relaxed the students here are? Sitting n gathering by the riverbank.

The next day, we took a train to Stratford-upon-Avon.

Day 2 with Yong Fei