to london with love

so, i made my annual pilgrimage to london once again, and returned with much ambivalence. definitely a heavy heart, because one can never get enough of this city...

madame tussauds- packed with tourists competing with each other to snap pictures with the wax figures. very vexing indeed. i only agreed to visit upon much persuasion from my mother and sister. i would personally not want to go because of the touristy factor and also because celebrities and popular public figures immortalised in wax aren't exactly my visual cup of tea.

covent garden- another one of london's many shopping havens. however, it has a character of its own, probably contributed by the cobblestone streets and older looking buildings.

the tate modern was a bit distressing to say the least, in my opinon. for instance, watching a very disturbing three minute clip of ana mendieta, the late cuban performance artist smother herself in blood and writhe on the ground in a bird-like motion and viewing several of Picasso's expression of female sexuality on canvas. the rest were also very confusing- piles of soap on a string, crushed silver objects on the floor and a room with every object in it splashed with red paint, to name a few.

but i enjoyed the still portraits of sitters posing for the artist, looking incredibly peaceful and calm.

carnaby street- a young, hip and contemporary shopping district nestled in the oxford and regent street area. i really like this place- it's not as busy as the bigger and more popular shopping areas such as oxford street and covent garden and it houses independent labels and quirky shops that you cannot find elsewhere such as this very cute pyjama shop called David and Goliath by the Stupid Factory.

borough market-london's oldest and most famous food market was quite enchanting. there's a huge array of food stalls purveying fine meats, cheeses, jams and preserves, cakes and sweets, you name it. the stall vendors are very friendly and give you samples to help you make the best choice. as we were in a rush having made a reservation at the Pearl for lunch, I didn't have a chance to buy anything to eat there. we did buy some jams and a chocolate chip cookie!

The Pearl Restaurant and Bar at High Holborn- what can i say? the best food i've ever tasted so far. you can taste the top quality ingredients, the mastery of the chef and the precision in the cooking. the pork cheeks with caramelised squid and polenta sauce i had was served in this very elegant dish, very artistically presented and decorated, i wished i had taken a photograph but resisted to avoid being impolite- i was after all in an establishment frequented by london high society. the pork cheeks were the most tender and juiciest meat i have ever had and the pan fried john dory fillets with artichoke gnocchi, caramelised chicken wings and baby artichoke that my mum had were simply amazing. the tasteful swishes of sauce on the white plate were a work of art themselves. dessert was poached prune and almond crumble with almond ice cream and it was simply divine. words just cannot describe the heavenly feeling you get eating this.

this is the best birthday present. i cannot wait to return- the day of which will be the day i receive my first paycheck!

camden town and market- this is london's answer to a mix of tokyo's harajuku district and malaysia's petaling street. that said, it's worth a visit because it just shows how london is so incredibly diverse, mysterious, playful and exciting. towards the food market section, desperate food stall workers cajole customers to partake of their hot noodles and variety of fried, sweet and sour chinese cooking. what i did enjoy was the antiques market where i almost got myself some vintage marilyn monroe photograph prints.

i never leave london without a visit to the west end for a theatre performance. this time, i deliberately chose not to go with a musical from the likes of les mis, mamma mia, we will rock you and so on. i'm a self-professed agatha christie fan and always will remain one. she is the ultimate queen of crime. so, no prizes for guessing, we watched the longest running theatre act in history- The Mousetrap at St Martin's Theatre. It was fantastic- the actors and actresses brilliant and the plot gripping with suspense. Enjoyed every bit of it and would have clapped louder if i could at the curtain call. they say, once you've watched 'the mousetrap', you are a 'partner in crime' so help keep the tradition running and don't reveal whodunnit.

so, london in a nutshell this time- a mix of good and bad. the good- my mission to explore some of london's best loved markets was partially accomplished and i satiated my appetite for luxury at the Pearl. oh, and stopping at Angel tube station to experience western Europe's highest escalator at 60 metres! not for the acrophobic.

the bad- being stuffed in sardine-packed trains in the london underground was quite unpleasant. a horrific stressful rush to euston to catch the train home, just 20 minutes to pull our luggage, fight the tube traffic and change two lines all the way from paddington. God saved us! We arrived on the dot at Euston but the train got delayed by 15 minutes so everything was fine in the end.

to go back to London or not to go back?

That is the question! :)

puffs.

Today, I braved the biting cold, gusty wind and rain to walk to an old gentleman's house to 'interview' or take a history from him. Prior to this, I was feeling abit giddy for some reason yet to be known- it felt frightening to see objects around me spin in circles. I felt like I might lose my balance and fall anytime.

Anyway, I rang the doorbell and opened the door to enter his house. Immediately, the acrid and detestable smell of cigarette smoke infiltrated my nostrils. I hesitantly entered his living room when he had just finished stubbing a cigarettte butt in the overflowing ashtray. I later learnt that he is a heavy smoker, smoking 40 cigarettes a day and he used to smoke 80 a day in the past. He was a nice old man, alright, and I enjoyed talking to him but as I left the house, I took a deep breath of cold air and thought to myself, ' I had risked my own health in there, breathing in all that putrid smoke'.

Every time I walk down a stretch of road with smoking passerbys walking alongside me, I will either hold my breath as I walk past or speed up my walking pace to 'overtake' them. While sitting in the bus, I look out of the window and see smokers lighting cigarettes and puffing away at the bus stops and wonder what in the world had possessed them to take up such a repulsive habit? While waiting for the bus at bus stops, I would walk far away, go up a small hill and rather wait in the rain than stand next to smokers in the sheltered bus stops.

What irks me is the fact that inhaling the unfiltered smoke produced by these smokers puts my lungs and whatnot at a greater risk than if I were to smoke a cigarette myself. As winter begins and the cold weather kicks in, smokers will be lighting up more frequently so it just gets worse from here. What will I do? Keep holding my breath.

This, ladies and gentlemen is my ramble of the week.