When I arrived at Gatwick yesterday evening, the immigration officer asked me when was the last time I was here? I replied, 1995. Yes, it has been that long. At that time, I flew in from US to attend my brother's graduation in Nottingham. I forgot whether we spent the night at Malaysian Hall or took the coach to go to Nottingham on the same day, but I remembered him taking me to Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square and Chinatown.
Anyways... back to the present time.
It was so nice of Azizul to take the day off today and show me around. I'd say we did a lot of the touristy bits today.
Azizul first showed me where Royal Albert hall and Hyde were. We even had a light breakfast at this Lido Café Bar by the Serpentine.
 |
| Royal Albert Hall |
We went to Harrod's food hall to gawk at the food. Good thing we weren't that hungry, or else our pockets would be few Pounds (as in GBP) lighter. We didn't just go to one food hall, but two! Our next stop was Selfbridges on Oxford Street. Hahaha.
Note: No photos were taken because we wouldn't want to give our identities as tourists away now, would we? ;)
 |
| At Piccadilly Circus |
We then walked to Piccadilly Circus & Hamley's (the toystore). Obviously we spent much longer time at Hamley's than Piccadilly Circus. Hehehe. Next, we grabbed some sandwiches and ate by the fountain in Trafalgar Square.
 |
| The sun is out! |
 |
| The sign on the double-decker bus says it all |
 |
| Not that long before the 2012 London Games |
 |
| Azizul refused to be photographed. :D |
 |
| The Big Ben is at the backdrop. |
There's still market place that Azizul brought me to, but it has escaped my mind. Anybody?
 |
| Some market |
After traversing through the streets of London (another way of saying that I have no idea where I was), we arrived at the River Thames near the Embankment Underground station. We saw the Westminster Abbey and Big Ben from where the London eye is situated.
 |
| Finally! I had Azizul in a picture, when I was snapping a couple of runners on the footpath |
 |
| Approaching the London Eye |
 |
| More runners |
 |
| Westminster Abbey and Big Ben |
 |
| The closest I got to the London Eye :D |
 |
| one of the capsule |
Then we hopped on another bus to Tower Bridge and Tower of London. Buses are clearly a better way of checking out the city than the Underground, especially when you're sitting in the front row of the top deck of a double-decker bus. It could even beat those city bus tours if you know which bus to take.
 |
| At Tower Bridge |
 |
| Another shot of Tower Bridge |
 |
| The side of Tower of London |
 |
| The London Shard will become the tallest building in the UK and EU when it's completed in May-2012 |
 |
| Tower of London. |
 |
| The statue of Trajan in front of the (Roman) London Wall |
 |
| Tower Bridge (left) and City Hall (right) |
From there, we rode the Tube to Bayswater where we had a late lunch at Malaysian Hall and performed our prayers. While waiting for Firouz to finish work, we walked in and out of the shops.
When Firouz finally arrived, we caught up over coffee. Well, I have hot choc. It was good to finally introduce Azizul and Firouz to each other. 2 great friends from different periods of my life.
It was then time for dinner and Azizul & Firouz took me to TukDin, a Malaysian restaurant. Wait, am I in Malaysia or London? :D But the food was pretty good. You can tell that business is great when the place is full and the locals outnumbered the Malaysians by a lot.
(Not a single picture was snapped among the 3 of us. We were clearly distracted by the food and chit-chats)
geez, my last there was 1997! all the names of places escaped me already... looking at your pics, rasa rindu pulak!
ReplyDeletetak lari kat London?
Bila dah rindu + tak ingat sgt tu, kena le gi balik :)
ReplyDeleteLari? Kena stay tuned... haha. But it's no biggie pun
hmm london last visit... 2006 i think? i tak naik pun the london eye but walked along the embankment and whatnot. we went to the Globe Theatre there. :)
ReplyDelete