...London...

I just lurrrvvveeeee London! I always have a great time whenever I visit London! I guess it's either 'cos I was travelling with great company or that I was visiting great company! Makes sense?!?!?! hehe....

So after New York, we flew off to London for a week for both work and pleasure....well...ok ok...more pleasure than work... :P

After we touched down and settled our accomodation, we immediately went out for some Chinese food! Our food experiences was just sooooo bad in the States that we had to go get some decent food into our stomach! Even though it was past 12 midnight, we had the conceirge call a cab for us to go to Chinatown.

And boy did we whack the food! Phew.... just look at what we had!! And it was just for 2 persons! A lot huh!??! Hehehe...I guess we overdid it a little but then after being deprived of good food for 2 weeks, we went kinda bersek! :P And we still had dessert after this! The food sure tasted real good..... yumms....

We stayed in Bayswater area just off Queensway Road.....I really like this area 'cos there's lots of good food, shopping and it's really convenient as it has 2 tube stations just along this stretch of road.

Here's where we stayed....Vancouver Studios...

It's a serviced apartment that's really quaint and cozy...but then of course no lift and the room is really small....as you can tell, our room was quite messy (2 of us living in it) and we had things all over the place! hehe....but it was a really nice place....but small...all that you can't see in this photo is just a little walkway to the toilet and that toilet and that's it!

This was my main mode of transport...the Tube....

The station which I used the most....Bayswater of course....

For someone who's main mode of transport in Singapore is the taxi...I kinda like taking the tube in London....wierd isn't it? I guess it's cos it's probably the cheapest way to travel and also because I kinda like the stations and what I might find in there....such as the long long escalators....

And you also get to see some pretty hilarious ads, ads that don't make sense, ads on what's happening in the theatre scene and sometimes, you get to see some great ads too...like this one from Virgin Atlantic...

It doesn't just tell you where they fly, they also tell you what are the key things to do or see in these cities....I really like this ad...Cool!

One of the first things I did was walk around Covent Garden and Leicester Square....As it was the weekend, Covent Garden was just breeming with people! There were lots of performances going on and I guess everyone was just out on a fine day....

Here's a clown.....

Some children performing to raise money for charity....

People singing and performing opera....


After walking around a bit, we sat down at a nice cafe to have a drink and rest our feet...

It was bloody cold that day!!! Luckily they had some heaters all around if not I would have frozen my fingers off! But I was satisfied that I had my scones and latte....hhhmmm....nice....

Leicester Square was also full of people but then again I guess it's always crowded 'cos it's such a central area. Guess the theatre box offices were also out in full force to catch the crowd....look at how many signs there were for tickets!?!?!? Sheesh....

We also found this relatively new restaurant called 'Kiasu'! Yup, that's right...Kiasu....which serves mainly Singaporean food, so of course we had to try it! It was near where we stayed along Queensway Road across from the tube stations.....


It's wallpaper is really cute....it has all these 'Kia' phrases on it....like 'Kia Cheng Hu' which means scared of government, 'Kia Kwee' means scared of ghosts, 'Kia Pok Kai' means scared of being broke and 'Kia Kuah' means scared of the cold....there were a lot more others....quite hilarious!


I also found it's menu to be quite funny....with the way they spelt certain dishes....but then again, I guess there are just some things that you can't quite translate! Like 'Or Luak-oyster omelette', 'Kway Teow Thng - noodle soup', 'Lo Ark-braised duck' and 'Tau Yew Bak - dark soya sauce braised pork'. Hehe...cute huh?!

Then I caught sight of this sign that they pasted on a side door....No Durians Please! Hahaha... where to find durians in London?!?!? And the owner must hate durians...tsk tsk... :P

Another restaurant I went to was called 'Fish & Bones'...I think....serving mainly fish & chips. The fish was quite tasty and the chips really yummy but the portion was sooo huge! Couldn't finish...burp...

And do you see that green stuff in a bowl...it's actually mashed peas....But it is so flourescent in colour that I didn't dare to eat too much....here's a closer look...

Had space for dessert tho'...Banoffee pie...it was really quite good....


Had a couple of beers too....hehe...me becoming an alchie?!!? :P It was Cyprus beer....not too bad....not bad at all...hehe...

Ok....enough of fun....back to work.....So we visited the Dermalogica office in Leatherhead which was about 45mins by train from London. Toured their office and training school and had a couple of meetings with their marketing & sales departments. Thereafter, we went off to the flagship salon in Kensington. The salon was really quite pretty and attractive....

The chair you see is the only treatment room they have in the salon! It's basically more of a 'display' kinda salon to attract people and promote the brand....not really to do business.

I really like their wall paper (the blue & white background)....it's kinda like their centre attraction 'cos the salon is mainly white so this really stands out. And i found out that they regularly change this piece too....to promote certain artists or causes etc....an interesting concept...if only we had the money!

Here's my auntie and colleague getting some professional advice and going through a skin care routine at the 'Skin Bar'....

One interesting area in this salon was the restroom.... they listed out on the back of the door all the beauty awards that Dermalogica products had won so that while you're taking a leak, you can see how great the products are! :)

But the best part of my London trip was catching up with friends.....Met up Alistair & Simon....aren't they just gorgeous? :)

Here's Alistair and me....

And me and Simon....

Hung out quite a bit with them, went for a bbq at their place too....and what an adventure we had! Met Alistair earlier in the day to do some grocery shopping for the bbq.....and he drove this super old Volkswagen called 'Valerie' (which he got in on ebay for like a couple hundred quid!). Alistair told me that Valerie was quite cranky and has 'died' a couple of times on him already. But all was going well when we hopped into the car...she immediately started on ignition and was driving well... and after we stopped for groceries, she started immediately again on our drive back....So all was going well until she decided that she's had enough good behaviour! And promptly 'died' while we were in the middle of the road waiting for the traffic light! Wah lao eh....we had cars honking us from behind and Valerie just wouldn't start!

So Alistair had to get out of the car and spray something at the engine....but it still didn't work! So with all the cars honking, we had to move the car to the side....and as there are only 2 of us in the car...guess who had to drive!?!?!? ME! And I don't have a driver's licence! But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do! So while Alistair pushed, I steered the car and did a u-turn to the side of the road...where we tried to revive Valerie but she still didn't work....so Alistair had to push the car all the way to a side lane where we could park the car...and I steered it all the way! I was kinda proud of myself but felt bad for Alistair....He said that the car was probably done for and he'll call someone to come tow it away.

Luckily we weren't far from his place so we stopped by a pub to have a beer with his friend before carting all the groceries back for the bbq.

BBQ was a little different....not much cooking but lots of alcohol! hehe..tho' food was plenty. There were burger patties, salad, vegetable skewers (which I did!) and of course red, white & rose wine...

But it was freezing cold! I was soooo cold! Until Alistair had to give me his ski socks, wool jacket and a wool blanket to wrap around me! Quite embarrassing actually 'cos all of them were like just in their jackets...and here I was all wrapped up like mummy! :P

Also got to know Alistair's friends Alexa & Timmy better.....they are really great cooks! And they had this pair of really cute kitties.....still young and playful...tho' their nails are kinda sharp! hehe...

Met up with Simin, Adrian and Weilynn too...but totally forgot to take pictures with them! My bad...will do so when we next meet again...hopefully in London!

All in all...I had a FABULOUS time in London....Although the weather was quite cold, I still managed to shop a lot, eat a lot and met up with some great friends!

One other thing I loved about London....the milk! I can sooo totally drink the milk in London 'cos it's sooo fresh! Not like in Spore where I would have to go to the loo immediately after drinking milk! I had cereal with milk almost every morning and I love it! hehe.... here's to Marks & Spencers!

...New York...

After sending our dealers off to go back to Vietnam, my auntie, colleague and myself headed off to New York!

But as our flight was at night, we had a whole day to wander around LA just a little bit more....and we took a drive down to Long Beach...it was really pretty...

Drove past this road where they had these rainbow lamp post buntings....


On closer inspection....it says 'Long Beach Pride'.....Rainbow flags...Pride...hhmmm....Is Long Beach like San Francisco?


Arrived in New York and this was the first picture I took....


And the first signboard that caught my eye....H&M was in New York! And Madonna has her own line of clothing! Happening...


After checking into the hotel, we embarked on a journey to tour around Manhattan City... Here's me trying to navigate my auntie.... Didn't do too badly if I must say so myself.... hehe...


Caught some famous sites such as....The Empire State Building...


The World Trade Centre site.... lots of police hanging around, not sure what had happened tho'...



Went pass this super impressive buidling while driving along....Don't know what it's called but had to take a picture 'cos it looked so grand and imposing....Anyone any idea?


Here's Chinatown....looked really runned-down... think Singapore's Chinatown is sooo much prettier and attractive....


Passed by some interesting shops too.....like this one....Spy Shop! If only I went in and got some cool gadgets....

Saw this funny poster on a bus too.... GottahavaWAWA....hillarious!

We wanted to go see the Statue of Liberty but my auntie didn't want to take the ferry so we tried to get as near to the island as possible to see if we could see the statue from afar.... Can you see it?? hehe....

There was this other structure in the waters right by our viewing area....don't know what it's for...maybe some art installation?? Or something left over from the past?? Hmmm...

It was quite exciting walking around the city because we walked right into a protest! Yah, there were all these people waving flags and boards and so many policemen and cars surrounding them....

Was a little afraid that it may turn chaotic but it actually turned out to be a pretty peaceful demonstration....and we found out that they were demonstrating about immigrants' rights or lack thereof....


Headed to Times Square in the night to catch its beautiful lights and splendour....Don't know why but Times Square always left a deep impression on me whenever I watched any movies that had it as their location or when viewing photographs....I think the lights and screens just seem very attractive and exciting....



Went into the M&Ms flagship store....and boy was I in heaven!!! Chocolate!!! Yummsss.....



Soooooo many colours and variety.....how to choose lah? Headache....

And they had this display where they packed the chocolates by the colours of the countries! So cute...

They had some really nice installations such as the M&Ms race car and the M&Ms Statue of Liberty...

And of course we had to strike a pose with the Night Fever M&Ms! Hehe...

And it started to rain....so I could only look from across at the Hershey's flagship store...sigh...

There were some other interesting things which I did or saw....

Had Wendy's fast food....I remembered eating this when I was really young back in Singapore but it disappeared for many years.... Eating this kinda made me reminisced the past a little...

As we had to park our car to walk around, I thought that the parking meter machine was damn cool! You just have to choose how long you want to park, pay by credit card, get the receipt, place it in the car and you are set! Don't need all the parking coupons lah, make sure you have enough coins or notes lah...just a credit card and you are set! Can park liao!

This other billboard at Times Square also caught my attention...

I didn't quite get the message.... "Are you wondering what all the drama was about or...WHAT?". Is there supposed to be another 'akan datang' billboard?? What did you think they were trying to convey?

We had lunch at this Korean restaurant and I walked by their fish tank on the way out and asked "What the hell is that??!!" Looks like a human heart or something!! But I guess it has to be some underwater creature that the Koreans like to eat... Can anyone enlighted me on what that thing is??

All in all I had a nice time in New York but as I only had like one and a half days there, I didn't really get to do much...Would like to visit the city again sometime....