Sir David Attenborough
After our ecological biogeography class today, ives, melissa and I made our way down to the natural history museum to see our 'idol' Sir David Attenborough. We reached the museum at 1400 only to find out that he will only be there at 1615. So we took some time to explore. As Mel and I have visited the place before, we found ourselves a cosy little corner to chill till ives came to join us after his little exploration of the place.
At around 3pm, we spotted a long queue at the square.. and being kiasu singaporean, we joined in the queue. After a wait of nearly 40 minutes or so, Sir David Attenborough arrived on scene half an hour earlier than expected timing. Two thumbs up for punctuality. =)
That's his latest book 'Life in Cold Blood' which made me 20 pounds poorer
Waiting patiently in the queue
Finally its my turn. I was joking to mel saying that i will not wash my hands after i shook my hands with him. Hahaha
The ecological fanclub!
A prized possession =P
ORGAN-ic food
Its always a funny sight to see the faces of my dormmates when they see what i cook. I've cooked pig kidneys, pig livers and pig heart for my meals and it was always funny to see that look of disgust on their faces. hahaha. But seriously.... they taste really good. I'm cooking pig's stomach and pig's heart soup for dinner tonight... i wonder what will be their reaction this time... hee hee. I',m having true blue organ-ic food. Hee hee
Random Post
I was passing by St Paul's on my way to STA Travel to book a trip when something interesting caught my eye.
Policewoman on a horse riding around.
How cool was that.... riding a horse in the midst of a busy street.
It has been pretty foggy on some days for the past week. Sometimes it gets so bad that i couldn't even see the 2 tall buildings opposite my hall.
And last but not least, HUISHI THIS IS FOR YOU!! Homemade turkish delights bought fresh from Borough Market. It's so goooooooood. yum yum... too bad you can't taste it... HAHAHAHA
Greetings from Coventry (700th post)
After being cooped up in the urban clutches of London for so long, it was a long awaited breather for me to come up to Coventry to visit Bryan at University of Warwick. I fell in love with the school campus immediately, with the expanse of green fields, fresh air, serene soundscape etc etc. It just drove me to think of why did i choose London of all places in the first place. Oh gee, the thought of returning to London tomorrow makes my heart sank.
Hong Cheong and i visited Warwick Uni this afternoon. After Bryan's last lecture on econometrics (which i couldn't understand a single stuff throughout the lecture), the three of us left for Noodle Hut at the city centre for dinner. The food was good and the serving was...oh my gosh huge. Was pleased to be able to meet up with guofeng. Alright, am getting pretty tired. Will blog more with lots of photos next time. More explorations tomorrow. =)
Hong Cheong and I on board the Virgin train towards Coventry
It happened that i took Bryan accidentally while trying to take the Coventry sign. hahaha.
On board the bus
In Uni of Warwick
I really love the campus... as compared to KCL *groan*
the student union
oh... we found a nice japanese garden in the school compound
Noodle bar was the big event of the night. A recommendation by Alex apparently.
The noodles was not bad... and the quantity was like... let's just say that i was really filled after the meal.
Chinese food... yum yum
This is the apartment where Bryan stays...
The street
The greenery
On our way to the teahouse, we passed by the abbey of St Mary. A really nice 'park' to sit down and chill (literally hahaha).
Bryan and I. Oh i kept telling them i so wanted to roll on the grass. hahaha
But of cos i fear i might be allergic to them
I love the cemetery here.
A nice little lake.... its just so english
Can you spot the cottage at the end of the path?
This was the teahouse that Bryan brought us to. Apparently there were many English old women inside drinking tea at that time. Oh gosh... this was so english lah.
As the place was pretty filled, we went to the castle nearby for some shots before we went back to the teahouse once more.
Hot chocolate with marshmellows.... yum yum
The scones were yummilicious
Our spread...
My jacket potato... i was bursting at the end of the meal. But it was so so so good.
Try your brakes... hmmm...
At Jephson Garden
Wah... got win prize one leh...dun puay puay
British Humour
I was on the tube home last night via the Jubilee line when the tube operator made the following announcement.
''I'm sorry that we have to make a stop as we are catching up with the tube in front of us. Don't worry, all the tubes behind us will have to stop from here to Stratford so we are not alone. I'm afraid the journey will be slow from now. This is the jubilee line for you.''
The tone in which he said it was so funny. Everyone in the cabin was giggling to themselves. Oh well, something i love about London - the British humour even in underground. =)
1st Day of CNY
Woke up feeling pretty unwell. It's this feeling of an impending illness. Didn't really want to get out of bed at all... but have to go to Melissa's place for CNY lunch with the others. So i reluctantly pulled myself out of bed to go to Stamford apts.
All of us whipped up dishes after dishes for this meal. I cooked the lettuce with shitake mushrooms and french beans. Ives did the chicken and the mushroom soup. Melissa did the rice and helped out with some of the other dishes. Sok Ee was the fishy girl.
And after the meal, we had ah-balling. Hahaha.
So man zu!!
Was not in any mood for an afternoon lecture. Oh gosh... but i still went in the end. However, i had to tell the lecturer to release me halfway cos i really was not feeling well. Apparently Dr Ticciati was sick too and she was telling me she'd rather be in my place and go home for some rest. Oh well... that's about for my first day of CNY.
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR
Let's see what did i do on my chinese new year's eve. Frankly speaking, i did not plan the day beforehand. I was thinking it would be just another ordinary day...but it did not turned out that way.
Started off with a lecture in the morning which was pretty cool albeit draggy. And of cos clumsy me kept dripping my hot tea all over my pants during the lecture. Oh gosh... i just washed my pants the previous night...sigh. This was followed by lunch (we packed lunch to eat in school) and then project research in PAWS room in the afternoon. Got a bit bored... so Ives, Mel and i decided to go to Chinatown to buy stuff for tmr's lunch. Pics will be up soon.
THen Mel and I attended The Cities Group Annual Lecture at Edmond J. Safra Lecture Theatre by Professor Robert A. Beauregard. I repeat again... its BEAUREGARD!!! WOOHOO!!! IDOL IDOL!! He spoke on the spaces of urban theory from Chicago to Johannesburg and beyond. Basically he used the 1st chicago school and LA school as well as contemporary chicago school to bring out the continuous tension between truth and reality. As for those who knows nuts about beauregard, he writes on urban theory (especially on urban redevelopment) and planning theory especially towards post-war urbanization in the United States and the fate of old industrial cities.
Rushed off to Minshu and Mabel's house for dinner after the lecture. Was pretty touched to be invited for a reunion dinner. I had a feast (i'm still pretty bloated from the food) with Mabel's mon and dad, minshu, mabel, ya lan and huang sheng.
The dinner consisted of 'abalone', prawns, braised chicken, asparagus with beef and some dim sum.
Dessert is white fungus with longan and red dates...yum
Candid shot
What is Mabel doing with her laptop?
Ohhhh... that's a really ugly (and cute) pic of minshu, me and huangsheng.. i think she failed her art class back during the schooldays.
Returned back to my hall pretty late at night. See... i was the only one in the cabin.
LONELY... I M SO LONELY...
Hahaha... will update more soon... lots of exciting stuff coming up in the months to come.
Portabello and Birthday
As i have promised, i did stop posting photographs of food. Haha. Despite having a 'pancake day' today, i chose NOT to talk about it to fulfil my promise. Hee hee. Met up with Melissa, Sok Ee, Benjamin (on his way to loughborough), Ives and A-shak to take a bus from Strands to Portabello market. The buss passed by oxford street on the way and it was really flooded with people. As the Chinese saying go, people mountain people sea.
I have been trying to find this statue for a long time and i was just telling Melissa a few moments ago that it could have been just an insignificant small little teeny weeny statue of a small teeny weeny fountain in a super ulu-ated part of London. (forgive me for my use of Singlish) I was partly right... it was pretty small... but it was at a so not ulu-ated part of London though.
We passed by the Marble Arch. According to Ives, this used to be the gate of Buckingham Palace. However, Queen Victoria didn't really like the design of it, so she 'disposed' it to its present location.
Portabello market was extremely crowded during the weekend. I was really astounded by the sheer size of the market. You could find antiques, crafts, books, food, groceries, clothes etc selling at pretty reasonable price. I was drawn to these 2 african women who were evangelising in the market with a loud hailer singing hymns. More photos will be put up when i get them.
As Ladbroke Grove tube station was just nearby, i decided to leave the market at 330pm to meet Minshu at Hammersmith at 4pm via Hammersmith and City Line. Apparently when i got to the tube station, the whole H n C Line was closed for the weekend. So i have no choice but to take Bus 7 to East Acton hope i could take the train, transfer at Notting Hill for District Line towards Hammersmith.
A pretty nice sunset at East Acton. Sorry for the shabby shot cos i took it in a hurry before the trained zoomed past few seconds later.
No goodies for guessing it correctly. When i arrived at Notting Hill tube station, i realised that District and Circle line were closed for the weekend. So i had no choice but to take the replacement buses available. According to the map on the tube board, i could take Bus 27 from Bus Stop C towards Hammersmith. So i left the station in search of the busstop.
I finally found the busstop opposite the exit and i heaved a sigh of relief that i could finally reach my destination. To my horror, i could not find Bus 27 on the signboard of the stop. During then, a sign drew my notice and i realised that because of some route works at Thames, the route of Bus 27 has been changed. I had totally no idea where the nearest stop for the bus was. In the end i have to take Bus 28 and change to Bus 10 at Kensington High Street (according to the sign) to reach Hammersmith. I was 1 hour late...
After this incident, i have an utter distaste for the transport in London. Totally disgusting...
That being said, i still thank God for it cos i did learn valuable lessons from this experience. =)
It's Minshu's birthday today and we celebrated for him after lubiao and dinner.
Happy 33rd Birthday Minshu!!
A video footage of the birthday surprise
It's pretty anti-climax when he had to clear up the kitchen right after blowing off the candles.. hahaha.
That's Minshu, Mabel and Wenhua Chuandao
Mabel and I
A sneak shot of xingfa uncle and wife with mabel
I think i need to work off the chocolate cake, choco n vanilla icecream and koniyaku jelly tmr.
Oh by the way, do anyone of you find this cap familiar??
Imperial War Museum
After reading Tim's blog entry on his visit to Pearl Harbour Museum, it sparked off an innate desire in me to visit Imperial War Museum near Lambeth North. The desire to go has been etched into my mind ever since i came to London but i never did put my desire into action. So yesterday, i met up with Sok Ee and her hong kong friend to go to the museum. The following photographs are taken at the entrance of the IWM.
Browsing through the exhibitions in the museum cast a somber shadow upon my soul. Reading the lives and thoughts of the people who has fought in wars in history ignited a lot of questions in my mind. It really pushed me to think about war... about human... about life... about justice... about peace... about God...
The words which hit me most:
As the museum was pretty humongous and there were many exhibitions going on at the same time, i chose to visit the Holocaust Exhibition on the top floor. It was one of the best exhibition i have ever been in my life. To look through the life stories of the Jews before the Holocaust, during the event, and the aftermath brought tears into my eyes and pain into my heart. The video footage of the Holocaust survivors witnessing their life stories with pain and anguish, the photographs of the atrocities committed during that time, the artifacts left behind, one could not help but ask ourselves how could human do such a thing? I remembered there was an exhibit on the gas chambers used during the Holocaust and there were hundreds of shoes (worn by the persecuted Jews) placed in a cabinet... i could not describe the exact emotions and feelings i had at that time.
i only did managed to cover a part of the exhibition in 2 hours. I will definitely go back again to continue the rest of it. I believe that everyone should go through this exhibition and realise that life is a serious thing, it is no play. Why could people be so naive to think and presume this event will never happen again and that world peace will finally come? How could people be so naive to believe that history will not repeat itself with world government reforms and creation of "New World Order"? History has told us very plainly that it always repeats itself in different forms. Look at the genocide in Rwanda, look at the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia look at the situation in Kenya today, isn't it happening around us at this present hour? Haven't told us clearly enough that the cause of war is not because of ideologies nor physicalities, but that of the condition of the human heart. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can understand it? Dare we say that we will be able to live a 'moral' life without the existence of Law in the society to constrain us?
A prized possession =P
