Journey Around the World: April 2009

The English are really strict with foreigners from non-EU countries entering the UK. They kept asking me and checking with colleagues if i need a visa for entering the country and scrutinizing my residence permit which i got for Germany. Jane says that she gets that also when she enters the country and she is always prepared to reiterate, " I am from Singapore and I am studying Geography in UCL and I was back in Singapore for CNY etc...".I experience a terrible jam along the main shopping street in London along Oxford Street and the flow of traffic remained stagnant and i had to get off the bus and walk =l I think a guy got crashed by a bus or sth. Jay walking is not a crime/offence in London. It comes at a price of course. Rules are in place for a reason in Singapore. Learn to appreciate and lament less.

London is indeed a happening place.. There is always something to do.. like watching musicals, many free and good museums... Even a person like me who doesnt like going to museums, manage to find some interesting museums that manage to sweep me off my feet.... I met some really nice people in this hostel and kept in contact with Julien, a french who is working in London.

There are heaps of parks in London. Nice, especially amidst the bustling city!

Typical London:
1)London Taxis2)Red Postboxs
3)Red phone booths
4)Jay walking (it is not against the law). It gets so chaotic sometimes that i feel that it is good we have fines against Jay walking.
5)Road junctions without traffic lights for pedestrian6)Cross at your own risk
7)Free Museums8)Good Shopping
9)Bad Weather-cloudy and gloomy(I was lucky to have sunshine on ALL the days that i was there)

Highlights of my 1st trip:
1) Met shimin, Jasmine, for roasted duck rice dinner. The company was good and we had a nice time catching up. We walked up and down a street, talking non-stop, oblivious to what was happening around us.

2)Met Jane for lunch and it was nice to see her and feel her "jane aura" again. Apparently nic was in the same kindergarden as her! I din know that.

3)Watch STOMP with Zec and it was more of a performance than a musical.Stomp stages an aural assault on your senses. There is no plot, no dialogue and nobody speaks a word. Instead a group of rhythmically gifted, extremely coordinated bodies find beauty and music in the mundane junk of everyday life. Music, dance, theatre, mime and performance art blend together in this unique theatrical phenomenon. Anything and everything is drawn into this high energy performance. Dustbin lids become drums, Zippo lighters click hypnotically and rubber hoses hiss menacingly. The performers move as a tribe, clashing their bin lid shields like urban warriors.

Stomp is a highly addictive slice of 21st century pop culture.Instruments included: wooden rods,

brooms, chairs, pots and pans, newspapers, SMITHS sweet container, rubber tubes, cigarette lighter, metal pipes, sink, paint tins, phlegm etc....
http://www.stomponline.com/

The new musical tells the hilarious and heart-warming story of three friends who hop aboard a battered old bus (namedPriscilla) and take their show to the middle of the Australian outback. These larger-than-life characters go in search of love and friendship, but end up finding more than they could ever have dreamed! The guys were dressed as women. They sang and performed. Quite amazing...

Bought a dinner+ musical deal for 25pounds which was a steal.. Dinner at an Indian Restaurant was fabulous.. amazing classic food! I found chicago boring... Fell aslp a few times... ;l

The Camdem Market is a more CHAOTIC version of bugis junction... Tourists flooded the streets!

Cool buildings at Camden....

The legendary Harrods shopping centre... Alot more "Ahtas" (expensive) than Taka in Singapore... The decor and interior design is breath-taking... A 10 min stroll around was enough for me.. coz it was a crazy and rip off place!

How a musical concert hall looked like... Feels good!

The London Eye from an interesting view.. Photo stolen from Julien :)

Other 2 French people whom I met at the hostel..

Nice picture of Julien!!

Reminded me of the Sakura flowers that Nic folded me... =) I treasure them! Hopefully they are not covered with 1m thick dust when i get back!

What pretty gardens and parks they've got!

I finally know why such taxis are called "London cabs" in Singapore... Abit slow.. but late is better than never!

London Bus!

Under utilized. Why? Coz ppl just Jay walk!

Nice view eh...

Tower Bridge....

Fish and Chips with Green peas... Typical English apparently... Sinful!

My 2nd trip to London was relaxing.. No touristy stuff.. I watched 2 musicals, walked around, shopped abit and visited Saatchi Gallery which were displaying Middle Eastern Art works... I learnt alot... Here are some of my favourite pieces...

Theis painting displayed supressed, sad looking women contrasting men who were topless... A very gloomy feeling..

Women and men are separated during weddings...

Submissive wives waiting on their husbands, covered from head to toe while the men basked naked and freely in the sun! I am glad that I am not born in a society like this!

This one was good.. It consisted of 9 wax figures which were wheelchair bounded, rolling around freely in a room at low spped, colliding occasionally into one another.. It is suppose to depict how the future leaders of the world will look like.. The wax figures looked so real!

A HUGE artwork made of paper. The Bed was as tall as me! It is suppose to depict a guy trying to find himself, his identity.

These 260 aluminium women figures filled a whole room, taking after a typical praying session in a mosque. It looked so real! Was amazed at this idea! My favourite piece! I relate better to such art works as compared to abstract art works! Thanks Julien for the company and introducing this Gallery to me. One can indeed find treasures and learn alot in there. It was nice catching up with you!

Stockholm now reminds me of Erik Aberg, a good friend of Hans and I whom we got to know during Orientation at TUM. He did a semester of exchange at NUS last semester and he is indeed very open to new cultures and he thinks that Singlish is cool =)

Stockholm is very pretty and somehow i get a little confused between Stockholm and Copenhagen due to slight similarity in the architectures and the huge amounts of water bodies surrounding the cities=)

Thanks Arif for your warm hospitality when we were in Stockholm. What a small world. His sister, Faharnah, used to be my classmate in TKGS and apparently she told Arif that I was very annoying! Haha... oh well...

Another of Yihan's freind and gf...

The old town of Stockholm with 2 pretty houses that stood out from the rest.

The Town Hall of Stockholm. We did a tour of the interior and got a better picture of the ideas and ideals of the architect when he was designing the Town hall. The Nobel Prize dinner is held in this town hall in Sweden every year.

Where parliment talks take place. Outsiders are welcomed for all sessions, promoting transparency etc...

The two pillars, one round and smooth and the other with angulared edges, represents both sexes Male and Female. I reckon that the one with angulared edges represents women while we are more fussy and sophisticated while the man are usually easy going, hence explaining the smooth character ;)

The golden hall. The walls are made of glass, coated with a thin layer of gold.

Sushi + Asian food buffet...

It was quite disturbing seeing so many of such people carrying advertising boards for discounted meals everywhere. They merely stood there, listening to music or reading a boo. What a waste of human resources. It is a sad job!

More of the old town....

We were at the Nobel Museum and they had a cloak hanger which allowed us to lock up out coats. String the wire through the sleeves of your coat and finally locking it up on the hanger. What a smart innovation! It is not too sophisticated an innovation but has certainly brought heaps of convenience.

A theme park which is only opened in summer.

The Nordic Museum if i din remember wrongly...

Isnt this just pretty.. Blue sky, White cotton-like clouds, blue sea and picture perfect boats!

We also visited the Vasa Museum. The first swedish built ship sank after 20 minutes on its first voyage...

A cute 3-D Map of Germany... This part of Germany, HH is dedicated to Simon=)

This part of Germany, Frankfurt, reminded me of the times spent there, my internship and my dear friends in FFM.

Vasa which was dugged up after a few humdred years...

I learnt alot about photography and explored my own digital camera for the first under the guidiance of Hans! Steady hands is not a forte of Hans! This picture was the best after a million attempt.

At the Nordik Museum, we visited a "Fashion" exihibition. Cotton takes up a lot of land area which could be used for crops cultivation to feed the world population.