CH175a: London Part 2

Following the entry CH175: London Part 1.

As was previously mentioned, London is a beautiful city. There's a lot of history in the place. It can take quite a bit of time though to go to all the castles - some of which are outside London like Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle. But a visit to London / the UK will not really be complete without seeing them.

To maximize on the travel and cost, CP and I bought the London Pass with travel included. We bought two sets for each of 3 days. The explanation is all in the link above if you're interested. Basically, we were able to go to all the sites already pre-paid for. Some attractions had a fast pass available so you don't have to go through all the queue. For some, audio guides (which can be a bit cumbersome having to lug it around) were provided which provided more interesting historical facts. It saves you time having to read through some of the notations provided in some.

Of note, I realize that for this travel, similar to New York, a visit to the museums is a must. I found that I appreciate architecture, the general space inside the structure, sculptures and modern art. (I didn't appreciate 100% the visit to the portrait gallery just having to look at paintings of people).

Also, of note, it's nice seeing the Changing of the Guards scheduled once a day i think usually around 1130 - which can change or whatnot depending if there's an occasion in Buckingham Palace.

Anyway, I'm boring you with the talk:

So, without further adieu, more pictures! :-)
Next up, Edinburg.

CH175: London Part 1

I have been meaning to write about my trip to the UK (London and Edinburgh) but got caught up in other things. One thing I was to lazy to do is have to sort through pictures upon countless pictures again (after I sorted through them for Facebook).

As I have written on my Facebook page:
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Suffice to say, London is a more beautiful city than New York. But New York, to be fair offers something entirely different - the "dirt", the massive almost endless lines of buildings towering and surrounding you, very American. Whereas London, is much more open, cleaner and surprisingly green and very English lol.
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There is a regality everywhere you go - or at least that's how it seemed to me considering how different the architecture and the general "air" and feel of the place is. Everywhere my head turned was worth a picture - which is probably why I accumulated so much!

London is a very progressive city. One of my basis for a progressive city is the ease of transportation (Singapore I would say is almost there but not there yet). Everywhere is accessible by train, but in some parts, it's generally easier to just walk the straight path rather than hop on and off the train.

It is a very lively city - although, I'd like to add that the bright lights of Time Square up until the wee hours of the morning was lacking. Piccadilly Circus could come close, but the immensity falls short. They also have "The Shard" which is the tallest building in all of Europe (as I heard) but it's not Empire State tall. We weren't able to go as I thought it would be a waste considering we went up to St Paul's Cathedral's peak as well as saw the surrounding metropolis via the London Eye.

And, yes, I understand the sentiments of a lot of English people with regards to the weather. Although London is very much enchanting as a city. Weather-wise, well...you may become DISenchanted with cloud cast skies.

As I don't want to overwhelm this entry with pictures, we have a part 2! :-))

Pictures!

[Random] After Vacation Updates

Feeling so exhausted now after almost 13 hours in transit from Heathrow London to Singapore. And not even a moment of rest accorded to myself as my parents are visiting Singapore.

Anyway, I just wanted to share some pictures I was able to take from my phone (panoramic shots). I took about 2000+ photos from my camera that I have yet to sort...but that may take a while....I have to unpack, wash my clothes, get my medical check for my new work on the 15th of July.

But, needless to say, London was amazing and beyond words beautiful. In short, a city worth an entry or two plus a few more for the attractions we went to. And of course, the magnificent Edinburgh, Scotland...

Photos taken from the London Eye

Photos from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral

Photos of Edinburgh (from Edinburgh Castle and Arthur's seat)

CH166: Surprises

I'm not really good at keeping surprises secret. It's hard to keep calm and not talk about it. The last surprise or secret I managed on keeping was my plans to take up my SAP Certification. I couldn't talk about taking the exam to anybody in case I failed and that would have between deathly embarrassing...

Holiday

Following my entry CH161: Excessive, I didn't get nor have any plans to travel out of Singapore for May. (CP and I have some vouchers to go to Thailand (Phuket) bought from Groupon but there are still no plans to use them) What I have been pretty quiet and nervous about are the airline tickets I bought to go to UK from June 8-21 (depart June 7, arrive June 22). What's to be nervous about? Well, the fact that I'm still waiting for my visa to be approved! Still can't go full on booking hotels and airfares (like from London to Edinburgh) because of this blockade. Such a hassle coming from a third world country that needs to apply for visa to go to places. How come Americans or Europeans don't get the same inconvenience? Anyway, still hoping the visa gets approved so I can finally relax and plan the vacation with CP full on!

Mother's Day
So, mother's day is coming soon around the corner. I figured, I owe a lot to my mum since I don't really send in remittances or what to help out. She did told me not to bother as she and my dad still works. So as a surprise, I bought her a cake and palabok to be delivered to her office tomorrow. I did a similar gesture for her last tiime on her birthday. When I asked her then what she thought about it, she hinted that the cake I ordered was not enough to share between all her officemates Hahaha! *hint hint* That's why this time around I ordered the palabok extra to be delivered around the time people have their merienda in the Philippines.

American Express
I was quite surprised to have gotten the new AMEX cc (Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Ascend) so quickly. It took 8 days since I expressed my interest in their pop-up booth in ION orchard for them to process the application and send me the new credit card. What's even more surprising was when I called to activate my credit card last night...the credit transfer from my old credit card to the new one happened instantly! And, to add candy sprinkles (lol) to the cupcake, they even gave me a complimentary hotel night voucher in any Millenium hotels and resorts chain and 4 vouchers for SATS premier lounges in Changi and other airports! (Free hotel stay to be used for my Mom and Dad when they visit on June 22-25)

Cooking
Being on a diet, I surprised myself with the idea of making stuffed bell peppers to get a protein style dinner. I hollowed some bell peppers and just stuffed it with tuna and cheese layered on. Would have been nice had there been an oven to experiment with. Putting it on microwave grill did not really cook through the cheese inside, but nevertheless, it did achieve the goal of having something filling and protein packed - minus the carbs.