Getting around London

At first we were all about the underground. Tube ke sana sini. However, after a few days, we prefer the bus more.

Ya rabbi, the staircases around the underground station is BRUTAL! If you have luggage, it will be even tougher. We did come across a few that has escalators, but the rest....dream on. And sometimes, you feel like a rat goiing thru the maze of nook and corners to get to a different line. Bila dah penat, this is not exciting at all. My motto every time met with a staircase is DIG DEEP! Tah berapa kali la aku dig deep. Nasib tak patah kaki.

From the area that we stayed there's a lot of buses that goes to most of the London main attraction. I love it as we get to see the view and not stuck underground, and of course we can forgo the nasty staircases. However, unlike KL, the buses, though it's passing the whole stretch of the street, it will not stop at all the bus stops. So you will need to check one by one... which sometimes, before you know it you have trotted half a mile already!

A few tips though

1. We bought the daily pass after 8am, which is after peak hour. So it cost 6.60 rather than 8.20 during peak hour.

2. The daily pass works on the trains as well as the busses. Naik la sampai nak tergolek pun.

3. The cab is not that expensive, so if you have too much luggage, naik je la. Dari patah pinggang angkat bag naik tangga. The black cab may cost more, so you can also ask your hotel manager to call the local cab. Aka mcm taxi sapu. Just check the price first.

4. If there's any escalator, it's always hidden. If rasa nak cacat naik tangga tu, spend a few minutes looking around first.

Anyway, one of our memorable bus ride was from Stamford Bridge to Oxford Circus. We sat on the top deck and got a great view of everything. The bus went thru Chelsea and South Kensington area (kononnya apartments yang hip lagi happening). Dapat la berangan kejap.



The streets are packed with super cool cars such as this. Bila la nak drive kereta ni.



Then it passed the Victoria and Albert Museum (which I wanted to visit, but just didn't find the energy to..)and then it came to.. Harrods!



We didn't really plan this, so we just jumped down at the sight of the green (emerald) building. Harrods was every bit that people has been talking about. However, I suppose we were tired and the sight of thousands of people milling about in it, just don't do it for me. And we did went thru the food hall... there's a smell that just bothered me, so we skipped that as well. Note to travellers, never go here during weekends I suppose. It does have the same vibe as Sogo, during Aidilfitri sales.

We then, took the same numbered bus to continue our journey to Oxford Circus. Why are we looking so much forward to Oxford Circus? Well... it's not really about the lights and all... but we heard about this one shop called LilyWhites.

It's 6 stories of nothing but marked down sports item. Anything you want (well almost), they got it. Disebabkan nak separuh mati naik tangga kedai tu aje aku tak beli everything in sight. Is it really cheap? Boleh la... the main agenda was to look for running spike for my nephew. After the main agenda (which of course must be located on the 6th floor) is aquired, anything goes. Sudahnya... we ended up with a big bag of god knows what.

Opps sidetracked about shopping.

Right. Back on train and bus rides. Well, the train rides wasn't all that bad. One thing that I would tell anyone who would want to visit London, go and enjoy the architecture of the train stations. You know those 4 stations that is on the original Monopoly Board? Fenchurch Street, Liverpool Street, Marylebone and King’s Cross. Visit those if you have the chance and take a peek at how beautiful and quaint the buildings are. It's free and inspiring. Even some of the platforms inside the underground is pretty cool. Very Potteresque movie.

Unfortunately, I realized this all to late and only able to admire the view from far for a split second. Here's some of the shots that I managed to snap:

This one is taken while waiting for train at Paddington Underground.



This one is the outside of St Pancras Station. (The terminal for Eurostar).



Tapi I suppose, the one tube station that I really want to go was Warwick Avenue.



Why? Sebab saya suka lagu ini:

Warwick Avenue by Duffy

When I get to Warwick Avenue
Meet me by the entrance of the tube
We can talk things over a little time
Promise me you won't step out of line

When I get to Warwick Avenue
Please drop the past and be true
Don't think we're okay just because I'm here
You hurt me bad but I won't shed a tear

I'm leaving you for the last time, baby
You think you're loving but you don't love me
I've been confused, out of my mind lately
You think you're loving but I want to be free
Baby you've hurt me

When I get to Warwick Avenue
We'll spend an hour, but no more than two
Our only chance to speak once more
I showed you the answers, now here's the door

When I get to Warwick Avenue
I'll tell you baby that we're through

I'm leaving you for the last time, baby
You think you're loving but you don't love me
I've been confused, out of my mind lately
You think you're loving but you don't love me
I want to be free, baby, you've hurt me

All the days spent together, I wished for better
But I didn't want the train to come
Now it's departed, I'm broken-hearted
Seems like we never started

All those days spent together when I wished for better
And I didn't want the train to come! Oh, oh

You think you're loving but you don't love me
I want to be free, baby, you hurt me
You don't love me, I want to be free
Baby, you've hurt me

Trip of a lifetime (London, Paris, Amsterdam) - March 2011

After much deliberation, finally we decided to go for it and book ourselves to Europe. To date the logistics into this trip is the craziest I have ever done. Everyday ada je new information (sumbangan kakakku dan forum rempit semalaya) and changes to our 'itenaries'.

This is not a holiday! It's short of a military operation to bring back Dumbo ok! Unfortunately, though the logistic is of monumental military war fare, the execution is of course not with precision. Mother of all trip of course comes with a mother of all klutz cop moment. Sighhh... I'll get to that if I have the energy.

Our trip begin with a 16 hour flight from KL to London. We took Emirates. So there's a few hours of transit in Dubai. Dapat la strech your legs and take a breather. That's the only positive thing that I can say about the flight. The good thing was when we are on the ground. Hahahah.

Everyone say that their flight is better than MAS. I shall reserve my 4 letter word come back to that. All I can say is that, alhamdulillah selamat pergi and balik.

Our journey begin at 02:10 am on Friday from KL and arrive at Heathrow London on Friday at 11:00 am. We spent the next 5 days in London. Visited most of the must see place and managed to squeeze in a tour of Stamford Bridge (Wheee), Windsor Castle, Oxford and Stonehenge. We stayed in a storage room in Sussex Garden near Paddington. I would recommend the area to anyone... but if you could go to another hotel. Go for it.

On Wednesday, we managed to book the cheapest fare out of London on the Eurostar... heading to Paris. I lobes the train rides. Far more comfortable and a lot more exciting than naik flight. Fare murah, of course la naik 2nd class coach. Bukan la mcm dalam cerita Tourist tu.. yang JD and AJ boleh dating2 berdua je sambil makan-makan. But still 2nd class coach tu pun dah best. Statement mengada la kan. Cuba suruh naik KTM Sinaran Pagi pergi let say Penang ke... sumpah mati hidup balik aku tak nak. (actually tak pernah pun naik keretapi.. hmm)

We booked ourselves into Holiday Villa (as in Holiday Villa Subang tu) Lafayette in Paris. Kepada semua Malaysian, stay here. Seriously only Malaysian can run the hospitality business. Dari kapal terbang, hotel, hinggalah ke rumah urut ah tong. Malaysia Boleh! The hotel may not be a 6 star hotel, tapi the location, the service, the room.. memang puas ati. It's near Gare du Nord (the train station that you arrived from London) as well as Metro Cadet. And ada banyak halal food around and a McD and supermarket around the corner.

We were in Paris for the next 4 days. We went to Amsterdam for 1 day from Paris. Naik train lagi. Thalys pulak. Train ni lagi best dari Eurostar. Amsterdam is a bit chaotic to my taste. Paris is a bit more cheerful kot. My head sometimes still rings with Bonjour Madame... Bonjour Madame.. Bonsoir..Mercii Mercii... Au revoir. Ye statment mengada.

We flew back to KL, on Sunday night the following week. After 9 days in Europe, we have to say au revoir :( Again transit in Dubai.Sempat shopping lagi tu. Flight semuanya penuh aje. Suka betul orang naik airline ni.

Arrived savely in KL, on Monday at 9.00pm! With 4 circus troop equivalent luggage ... and more than 2000 photos in our camera (yang aku pun x larat nak tengok), coats that we have to send for dry cleaning and may not be used again (hopefully not ;P). The next two weeks, jetlag tak hengat. A few times, I sneak a few naps at the office sebab mata dah kalah mat gian, langsung tak boleh nak bukak. One time, I think I fell asleep behind the wheel at 4.30pm. Nasib selamat sampai rumah.

Hopefully, dimurahkan rezeki so that there will be another Europe excursion to come. Amin.

There's a lot of photos that I like from the trip. Almaklum sudah hangkut DSLR pergi sana. This one will always remind me of the nice train ride across Europe. Bebila rajin, I shall write about the places and things that we do while we are there.

Talented, gifted...(fulamak) Malaysian!

It started of one day, when I heard this catchy song on the radio. As usual, when we really wanted to know who sang the song, the program will cut into commercial. It happened again a few days after that.

Ini sudah tidak boleh jadi. I NEED TO KNOW WHO SANG THIS SONG. So begin my 3 day quest on the net. Usually G88gle is very kind to me. I could get all the info that I wanted within a few minutes. But this time, gagal. Ini menyebabkan saya menjadi lebih bersemangat lagi. All my lucky guesses, bombed. This is not D**fy, nor Ad3l3, nor P1x13 lott, nor Bey0nc3. No. No.

I can't remember exactly how I managed to track this down. But I suppose I poured every single inch of the radio's website to find their playlist for the month. All I can remember was that the trail brought me to a lot of blogs writing about this new Malaysian singer, who's name I have never heard before.

Malaysian. This song is barangan buatan Malaysia. OMG. I couldn't be more thrilled!

I spend the whole night reading about the singer. Downloading the songs. Watched all the video's of her on Utube. Added her on FB. Memang blown away! Rupanya she was all over the music circuit last year, in fact a whole lot years before. She had performed at F1 events, Sunbrust (that I actually went to), plenty of live gigs in KL (if they still call it that these days). She opened for Michael Buble and Babyface, for goodness sake! How could I miss all these before? (macam la aku Who cares. Good thing is, her first album is finally out. I will definitely get it (or adakah kawan-kawan saya yang baik ati nak ati nak belikan as a birthday present :P)

True that her songs may not be many Malaysian's cup of tea, tapi kata nak jadi world. And there were a lot of noise around who her father is, so that is why she could pull something like this. Whatever la. Ada ramai orang yang bapak dia have a lot of resources jugak, takde pulak anaknya produce something that I like. Ada jugak mangkuk ayun mana yang post a lot of negativities on the her first video clip. Bergaduh pulak berpage2.Sighh. Whatever lagi. I'm all about good music, especially if it's from a Malaysian.

Presenting Najwa - who I hope will keep on writing and performing crazy good songs like this one:



Got To Go – Najwa

This time I'm gonna live my life
I ain't no stepford wife
No I ain't perfect
Gonna find somebody who's worth it
And no you ain't that person
Coz i caught you constantly flirtin'
With my best friend

So I guess I'll say goodbye
I'll find me another guy

Why (why why why)
You always makin' me
Cry (cry cry cry)
No I can't stand it
No you can't be my man
It don't matter who you are,
Even if you were a star
You've got to go
(Go go go go go go)

Read my lips I'm leavin'
And no no I ain't teasin'
This time it's for real
Gotta find you another girl
Coz this one sure ain't stayin
By the time you finish what you're sayin'
I'll be gone

Me and Ms Jun

Hehehe... that's what I heard when Michael Buble performed his encore with Me and Mrs Jones.

To date, this is the most expensive concert tickets that I have ever seen in KL. Though that is the case, the place was packed. Kaya raya orang KL ni. By the time I wanted to purchase the tickets, tinggal tickets yang mahal gila. Itu pun selling fast! Nasib ada orang nak jual ticket. Dapat la tumpang sekaki pergi tengok with old classmates from Uni.

The evening was damped by a bit of rain, so that put a bit dent on all those yang kononnya nak dress up to the nine. I ditch my heels (as if..) and end up with rolled up jeans and selipar. Hahaha.

Arrived early, so managed to find a decent parking spot. Managed to brave the rain and climb the stairs and found our seats. Rupanya those that bought the tickets on the tier above us were having trouble because the roof was leaking! Tu dia, dah sessi bergaduh la pulak. Nasib our seats are not impacted.

I was looking forward to the opening act. Najwa! She was one of the reason that I got to go, go, go to the concert. Will blog separately about this :). And then right on the spot, out came Michael.

He is very talented and down right entertaining. Memang boleh cair la dengar suara dia. 2 hours went by without me realising it.

I was a bit disappointed when I saw his setlist. He's not going to sing Quando Quando Quando... but he made that up with Me and Mrs Jones. Adoiii.. tak dapek acik menolong do. Memang top notch bukak baju award moment! (Actually a lady somewhere in front row, did took off her blouse and threw it to him. Gila!). Here it is again.. Me and Ms Juuunnnn ... eh Mrs Jones :P

Me and Mrs Jones, we got a thing going on
We both know that it's wrong
But it's much too strong to let it go now

We meet ev'ry day at the same cafe
Six-thirty I know she'll be there
Holding hands, making all kinds of plans
While the jukebox plays our favorite song

Me and Mrs, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones
We got a thing going on
We both know that it's wrong
But it's much too strong to let it go now

We gotta be extra careful
That we don't build our hopes too high
Cause she's got her own obligations and so do I
Me, me and Mrs, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones

Well, it's time for us to be leaving
And it hurts so much, it hurts so much inside
And now she'll go her way, I'll go mine
But tomorrow we'll meet at the same place, the same time
Me and Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones

EB who was MB gf then, sang background vocal on this song. Sounds good actually.