Natural History & British Museum

30/Dec

After putting it off for many many days, (which i must confess was never my fault!! ) we finally went to the Natural History Museum and the British Museum. We or shall i say I, decided to go to the Natural History Museum (NHM for short) first in the morning because i read somewhere that they were having this lovely ice-skating rink with some kind of shopping bazaar going on or what not. And never to miss any kind of shopping life-changing experience, we decided that we should go there first in case there is something extra special that we might want to buy see.

The Natural History Museum is this (almost) 130 years old Victorian building that houses among other things, amazing dinosaur bones and a model of a blue whale.

The ice-skating rink built just for christmas. It was so popular that you can only buy the tommorrows ticket today! I think the guy in the pic was just about to fall down.

To be honest, the christmas bazaar was a real disappointment. There were only a few shops open and the stuff they were selling were nothing special. Stuff you can get back home.

Never mind, moving on.

When you first enter the Museum, you are greeted by an amazing Replica of a Dinosaur skeleton affectionately known as Dippy.

Apparently Dippy is replicated in most museums of the major European capitals and in Latin and South America, making it the most-seen dinosaur skeleton in the world. Anyway, Dippy is not the only dino (albeit replica) that is in the NHM.

These are the ones that interest us the most.

James and i in front of Mr Triceratops. Pic is quite blur though.

OMG this is totally me!

This kinda reminded me of one of the animals in the ice-age animation.

Dead as a dodo.

This used to be part of a 1000-odd year old tree. It was HUGE!

Just to emphasize how big the tree was. The cross-section of the tree is at the top part of the pic with all that people crowding around it.

A Big Fat Ass. Hehe

The NHS is also famous for housing the real skeleton of a blue whale that was stranded on the sandbanks at Wexford Bay, Ireland.

Just to show how long the Blue whale really is.

We went to the British Museum after buying some subway and eating while walking to the British museum.
They were currently having a temporary exhibition on the Chinese Teracotta Army. But £12 a pop was too much for us so we didnt go.
Anyway, we took a pic outside the exhibition with a poster Teracotta.

Just random pictures from the British Museum. We only had 1.50hours to look at everything because we got the timing wrong. They closed at 5.30pm and not 9.30pm as we had originally thought. It was quiet sad to rush through all the galleries and glancing at all that history for just a few seconds and having to force yourself to move on.

I was very Excited to go to the Egyptian gallery to see the mummies but was quickly disappointed when they didn't show any one without their wrappings. I mean who's to say that there really is a real mummy underneath those linen? It might just be some bubble wrap for all you know.

James when he came to know that there was still yet another mall to visit after following chye hoong around for 3 hours.

At first i thought that this was from Angkor Wat. But the description says that it is from Gujarat India.

We stayed in the Museum for as long as we could. And finally after they were starting to close the doors and shooing us out, we made out way to starbucks for a Caramel Macchiato that i have been depriving myself for months. Starbucks was just outside the gates of the Museum so it was well crowded. We ventured downstair to sit and was suprised that no one was there. It turned out that downstairs was closed. So we had to leave.

Merry Christmas!!!

25/Dec

Finally its here!! Chrismas is here!

That will probably what i would have said if i was like 4. Know why? I dont want to sound like a grump, but it was really the most boring christmas i EVER had. Seriously. know what i did?

I woke up at 11am and found out that my sister was waiting for me on gmail chat for an hour! I said hi but she had to go cuz someone else needed to use the comp. hmmp. But she said she'll be back after few mins or something. So after washing up and without breakfast, i rushed to chat with her cuz there wasnt any internet connection back home and she was staying at a church member's place in Singapore and they were going off to a camp the next day. We chatted until about 2pm and then i had to go and eat this traditional christmas 'dinner' my fiancee's aunts husband cooked.

You know its really funny why they call anything that is major, 'dinner'. Major like alot of food?

If its just a sandwich, its lunch. But if there was pork, and chicken, and bread and carrots and brussel sprout and peas, then its dinner. Even though its eaten during lunch time.

Anyway, At about 4pm, i head upstairs and started chating with chye leng again for about 6 hours. And then she had to go. Then what do i do? I finished reading my pride and prejudice sequel book for another 4 hours. And then i went to sleep.

The End. Merry Christmas to me.

Presents you ask? well, we didnt get any cuz we were waiting for the christmas sale to start and then get it for 75% off.

Uncle pete's christmas dinner. The turkey was already carved up. See the white stuff at the end of the table with the 2 forks sticking out? thats the good stuff.

I was bored. So i made a little christmas tree out from the fridge. Can you guess what it is made of? The tree itself is actually the top part of a pineapple which i fished out of the garbage. I saw it peeking out and i had to salvage it.

The star was cut out of some root vegetable. Im not entirely sure what it was. White carrots maybe?

The red stuff are pomegranate seeds and the yellow stuff are lemon peelings!

And i dusted it with flour to give it the snow effect and voila, a genius masterpiece! hehe

Since im in a christmas-y mood, i'll put up some pics i took before we came here.

Dont really know what was doing. Look at james's expression! hehe

Visiting Auntie Geok Lin

23/Dec

We visited an old friend of my mom's in Surrey and it was particularly foggy that morning. This was taken while walking to the tube station from our place.

Auntie Geok Lin and her family took us to this Dim Sum place called Wing Yip and the restaurant was called tai tung chinese restaurant! I wonder whether its just a coincidence or that the tai tong back home has a share.

Auntie Geok Lin and her Husband.



After lunch, auntie Geok Lin took us back to her cosy house and there was this little rose bush that was just barely thriving in winter.

This was taken while walking to the shopping mall near auntie Geok Lins place.



Auntie Geok Lin and her children Daniel and Deborah were very kind to walk us all the way to the mall which in my opinion was at least 30 mins away, but they insisted that it was only 10mins.



We stayed at the mall until it closed at 4pm and walked back to their home again. And just before thinking we would never arrive, we finally did. Uncle was busy preparing roast beef and dinner was ready in minutes.





At 9pm, it was time to go. So after feeling thoroughly pai seh because not only we were exceedingly late that morning, auntie Geok lin insisted that she bought us something as a wedding gift. After threathening with money if i didnt choose anything, i finally picked out a jewellery box. And while walking back home, it just dawned to me that no one bought anything! They came all the way out here and walked everywhere just to search for a gift for us! And they cooked us dinner and bought us lunch!
So while pretending to lace up my shoes, i hid a pyrex dish (which i originally bought for myself at the mall) under a cushion, knowing that if i tried to give it to them outright, it would be completely futile.
After that, they took us directly to the tube station this time, so that we didnt have to take the train and then connect back to the tube.
Then on christmas, which was 2 days after that, i called her to wish her merry christmas. And then immediately, she started 'scolding' me by saying that i shouldnt have done that (hid the pyrex dish under her cushion). After repeating it many times, she finally insisted that daniel will pass it to us when we eventually meet him on the 31st of Dec to see the fireworks.

Well, i cant say that i didnt try.

i'm dreaming of a white christmas

Hi ya! James and i have been in london for exactly a week now. We havent done any touristy things yet but we will. soon.
Anyway, here are some interesting pictures i managed to take for the past 7 days.

15/Dec
We stopped half way at Bahrain for a connection flight (it was a matta fair promo what do you expect?) and i noticed that the terrain looks really flat and the houses look rather squarish.
We arrived in London at about 9pm and Uncle Pete picked us up.



17/Dec
I woke this morning, opened the window, and guess what i saw?! A Furry FAT Squirrel! He seemed to be eating some berries or some sort. He's quite tubby isn't he? Someone need to go on a D-i-e-t.





18/Dec
We went to this supermarket called Asda and Auntie Li Tian bought some lamb to roast. Its a Lamb leg i think. Or maybe Thigh or something. Now James and I know a new dish! Lets see now, that would bring us to a total of hmm...3 dishes. yay!



19/Dec
#Warning: The pictures below are not for the faint hearted. If you are a member of PETA or thinks that all animals should be loved and embraced, then read no further. Quietly close this window and nobody gets upset. Viewer Discretion is Advised.

Okay, so we went to this place called Oriental City, which should not be mistaken for China Town, and james came across the seafood section. And then he suddenly points out excitedly to the live lobsters sitting or shall i say, curling on a pile of chipped ice. Auntie Li Tian and uncle Leu comes along and decide that we shall have one for dinner.

So we took one home and Auntie Li Tian managed to snuff its life out and grill it in the oven. I was of course to traumatised to witness how it was done. Anyway, much trauma and praying, we all took a little bite and, well, it was GOOD. Its quite different from crab. The texture is a bit chewy i suppose because they are alot more aggresive than crabs.





20/Dec
Its quite amazing what you can get here. Recognise any of these? Look at their prices!







21/Dec
Random pics.





Its was really cold that night. James seems to think that its frost and not mist as i originally suggested.



Anyway, thats all for now. I'll update again soon.