because i am here.

my 900th post is configured from a lovely little home, somewhere in Belfairs Drive, London. how dainty.
you call it coincidence,
i call it destiny. che waaahh~

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i was unknowingly awoken by the soft sound of chirping birds outside the framed window above my head. still a gloomy dark cloud, the sky was pierced with a hue of light blue. my eyes opened quickly as I gained full consciousness to the fact that I couldn't recognize the melody of the birds' song; the bed that i was sleeping on did not have the silhouette of my sister; the ceiling did not have the same square hints as the one in my bedroom.

I am in London.
or i shall now call it  Londie, as said by mr Nicholas Ng.

An adrenaline rush gushed through my cold body. Judging from the now, light grey sky, I had assumed it was already 7 in the morning. then i remembered when WyeYee showed me the sky outside her hostel in Hertfordshire had already lit up at 3:30 in the morning. i turned to my UK-timed handphone; it was only 4 in the morning.

i let out a giggle. 

I was too excited to go back to sleep, so I made my way down the unfamiliar house that belonged to my mother's long time friend. everyone was still asleep. I felt through the carpeted mahogany stairway, the vintage door knobs and to the kitchen. make yourself at home, dear- a voice rang in my head. i turned on the orange light and walked towards the kitchen window. 

i didn't know Aunt Sue had a garden with a patio. as I gazed a the lush greens outside, the shadow of a creature caught my eye. it wriggled through the ferns and little bushes, looking like it was searching for food. I couldn't make up what it was until it ran away; it was a red fox.

i turned my attention to the kitchen. 

its walls are decorated with vintage floral teapots and matching teacups. a vase of white orchids stands still by the window. my stomach was still queasy from the long flight and car ride to here so i made myself a hot cup of chocolate instead of tea because there are too many kinds of earl grey to choose from. there is leftover PB and J in a tupperware. next to it, there is a stack of pancakes, crumpets, bread of all types, cereal boxes, a silver tin of chocolates, shortbread biscuits and jam tarts, a jar of Nutella, blueberry jam, honey. i opened the fridge; boxes of frozen pizza, a box of juicy red cherries, pies and custards. 

and now I am here.

in front of the laptop, exhaling warm air into my cold hands as I enjoy my first morning in London alone, but not really alone. 

I am going back to sleep now as I still feel a bit lightheaded.

good morning and good night, beautiful people.

Fly- Nick Drake

because i really can't believe it.

hello from Johor Bahru! *waves franticly*


i realize i did not update at all while i was in Ipoh last week. man, would've been so much cooler if i were to write from each different place that i was at. coz then it'd be like time travel, but not really time travel either because Malaysia all over same time. a girl can pretend she's travelling all over the oceans, ok?


after all,
i am travelling overseas in less than two weeks.
i cannot wait for 7 weeks in UK and having one of my dreams come true;

watching Glee live. 

just the thought of it, the fact that i never even thought i'd be able to ever meet these people... and now, i'm going to watch it in the country that i'd never even dare dream of being in. i'm going to be living my dream. 

who would've thought that i'd be spending near half of this year travelling?

it may not mean much to many to be travelling all across the country; but to be in a new city every week is just such a new experience, whether or not both cities are close or far apart. yes it's always the same food, same people and same buildings, but no it's not. Penang might win hands down for best food overall but the Indian restaurant where i ate three bowls of rice at yesterday night was simply orgasmic. shoulda seen my face as i devoured the tandoori chicken and the mint yogurt. 

BEST TANDOORI CHICKEN + MINT YOGURT I'VE ATE IN MY LIFE. 

NO SRSLY.

there's also something that puts JB on a much higher standard as compared to the other states that i've been in. the people here are incredibly well mannered. they put even the best, most polite people that you randomly stumble upon at KL's sidewalks/lrts to shame. the people here smile, they nod, they say thank you, and not the pathetic thank-you-and-walk-away-fast-fast thank you but the bow-their-head lightly-and-smile-as-they-say-thank-you thank you, acknowledge your presence, say no politely when they don't want a  drink, and the most unbelievable part is they don't ask for more even when you offer them an extra can.

they make all the people i've met in KL, Kedah, Penang, Ipoh look like rude little bastards. 

and rude little bastards is not even enough to describe all the immensely uneducated people i have come across in the past month of working this job. 

even the kids here have better etiquette than them RLBs. 

8/10 of them say thank you when i give them a can. and not the thank-you-and-run-away-fast-fast thank you but the literally-bow-or-curtsy-and-pronounce-their-thank-yous-correctly thank you. 

and the hotel staff here are the most efficient and of best propriety.

they had to change our rooms for extra furnishing and we were working then. so what did they do? they transported all our luggage, food, toiletry and additional crap into a new room. and everything was in the exact.same.position as it was in our first room. toothbrushes and toothpastes separated, shampoo bottles aligned, snacks/hairbrush/hairdryer and etc arranged systematically on the mirror table. heck, it was even neater than how we left it.  

i'm sorry la.i'm just so blown away by how Johor Bahru is just so... amazing.

the warm atmosphere, the humility of its people. just outstanding.

i'd like to think that it's a Singaporean influence. 

but yeah i shall just leave it like that. 

i also won't talk much about how the diameter of my stomach has increased vastly.

yeah i'm just leaving it like that.

four more days until i'm back home for a good week,

 before i leave to the real city of my dreams :')

guys who wear tasteful kicks = YES.

Steak for Chicken- The Moldy Peaches