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Category: Travel

  • Sunday Night At Canary Wharf

    Sunday Night At Canary Wharf

    London // Sunday Night At Canary Wharf – I wonder why on earth would anybody want to go to Canary Wharf on a Sunday night?! Yeah, that’s us, the siao-kia, the crazy bunch that had nothing to do in London, wandering around randomly and made an evening visit to Canary Wharf.
    Although it’s just located in Zone 2 of London, but the architecture and street at Canary Wharf would probably brings you ‘out of London’! Erm… You can call it the office area of London, sort-of CBD of London, or the International London, or not-London, or Singapore-in-London, or Sydney-in-London, or whatever. There’s no Victorian-style building, they all all just modern, International-style office blocks with big brands like JP Morgan, HSBC Citibank and blablabla.
    So, Sunday night, no working hours, no white collars, it’s literally a small dead city, except it’s quite windy, and security guards patrolling the office blocks. It’s good to see another side of London, modern, tall (still shorter than most buildings in Kuala Lumpur), and clean! (I have to say that Canary Wharf has the cleanest street in London, seriously, London is not that clean after all).
    Should’ve got over to Greenwich to view across the Thames for a better view of Canary Wharf, but nevermind, there’s still chance.
    Jubilee Line of London’s Underground, the only line that looks new, clean, and good, even with anti-jump-to-the-track-and-die-suicide platform screen doors too!
    Canary Wharf Underground Station.
    Interesting underground station full of exposed concrete.
    JP Morgan!
    HSBC.
    Cycle Hire @ Canary Wharf.
    The street that doesn’t looks London.
    A piece of… s…. superb art.
  • St. Paul Cathedral, Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern

    St. Paul Cathedral, Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern

    London // St. Paul Cathedral, Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern – This 3 places is actually a set of attractions that is close-by to each others in London. After having a good, and not full brunch at Duck & Waffle, we headed to the magnificent St Paul Cathedral to capture a few photographs then cross the famous Millennium Bridge, view the Tower Bridge from far and do a short tour of the Tate Modern Museum.
    I’ve got to know about the Millennium Bridge from Harry Potter’s film and, wow the pedestrian-only bridge, crossing the River Thames is just awesome in the way of great architectural design.
    Found about Tate Modern in top-10 free & must-visit in London and I’ve to say, that’s not my thing! Although it’s artistically cool, but it’s also artistically boring. Being an interior designer myself, I fascinate the minimalist interior, but not the art pieces, they are just so abstract and un-understandable. However, there were some times that we were creating fun ourselves, trying to figure out what is what. You will understand the feeling when you visit it.

    ST. PAUL CATHEDRAL

    St Paul Cathedral.
    Nicholas and St Paul.
    Ball and reflection.
    4 Penangites, 4 ex-Chung Ling Kias, in London.

    MILLENNIUM BRIDGE

    Notice anything about the sculpture? oOo
    Caramel Hazelnut vendors are everywhere around tourist area. £2/cup of hazelnuts.
    Panoramic view of everything. Tate Modern at 1-o-clock.
    Tower Bridge at far, with The Shard on the right. The Shard is known as the tallest building in EU. Wahahaha, KLCC is so much taller than this.
    A photo with The Shard.
    An awesome view of the dome of St Paul’s.

    TATE MODERN

    Stare.
    Splash of inks.
    A meaningful frame of black background.
    An unusual black glass that has its meaning.
    A piece of cloth that convey some message.
    Well? What can you understand from the abstract art pieces?
  • London: Sunday Brunch At Duck & Waffle, Heron Tower

    London: Sunday Brunch At Duck & Waffle, Heron Tower

    London // Sunday Brunch At Duck & Waffle, Heron Tower – It’s just amazing having a good brunch at 40th floor, overlooking the city of London. That was one of my Sunday, two months ago. I thought a trip to London would be a budget one, but I ended visiting some quality restaurant at one of the tallest building in London, the Heron Tower. It’s on the 40th floor and remember don’t go to other floor as you will ended heading back down and up again like what we did. Funny! The concierge down there must be laughing at us, heading up and down.
    Doesn’t looks like a grand entrance to Duck & Waffle.
    Duck & Waffle, the name of the restaurant has already describes their specialty – the combination of duck, and waffle. Of course they do serves other food, but their food is pretty creative too!
    The bar area.
    Interesting bar counter.
    Back to the restaurant experience, located on the 40th floor of Heron, you can get a very good view of London. The toilet greets you first, then only you will see a bar. Weird location of toilet which made us thought we were on the wrong floor. The bar has a very interesting concept design with typography and bottles hanging at the ceiling. Heading into the restaurant area will give you an amazing view of London. Unfortunately we were seated on the west side, the best view would be the east and it was not a clear sunny day for a good view. Another interesting thing about Duck & Waffle is that it operates 24/7, so you can head over here early for sunrise breakfast!
    Me & Jin.
    Chern & Alvin.
    Group photos of 4 guys with London as background.
    Food will be the main attraction of the restaurant of course. Price starting at about £10 and being cheapskate Malaysians, we ordered a few dishes and shared among 4 of us! To be honest, the portions were really small and the stomach was hardly full after the brunch. I guess it’s just a food tasting session for that morning. 5 food, and it costs each of us about £16. Yes, it’s rather expensive, but the taste was quite nice. =)
    Here comes the Duck & Waffle. A crispy duck drumstick, a fried duck sunny egg, a waffle and mustard maple syrup. Very weird combination, and trust me, it’s good. £17.
    Bacon Wrapped Dates. The blend of sweet and salty. Another fun combination. £9.
    Spicy Ox Cheek Doughnut, with apricot jam. The least interesting one, to me. £10
    Wild Cornish Pollock Meatballs. I like this one, but there’s just 3 small little meatballs, which I find it not enough for four of us. HAHA. £11.
    BBQ-Spiced Crispy Pig Ears. I’ve to tell you this is highly addictive and you can hardly stop eating this! £5.
    A picture of the 30 St Mary Axe designed by Foster + Partners before leaving.
    There’s the LOVE Sculpture located right across of Heron Tower.

    Duck & Waffle
    40th Floor, Heron Twower,
    110 Bishopgate, London EC2N 4AY,
    Telephone: +44-203-640-7310
    Business Hours: 24/7

  • Oxford Street, Bond Street, Chinatown, Covent Garden

    Oxford Street, Bond Street, Chinatown, Covent Garden

    London // Oxford Street, Bond Street, Chinatown, Covent Garden – The walk continues from the British Museum to Oxford Street and beyond. Walking in London can never be bored as you are just keep walking pass interesting retail and shopping street, accompany with extremely high traffic of human pedestrian.
    You need to have the skill and patience when you are walking at the heart of London because human traffic congestion is inevitable. It’s hard to get used to it at first, you may wanna throw out some four-letter words or sending regards to people’s mother at times because of the huge traffic of pedestrian, but as you walk along, you would just have to accept and embrace the human-jam. ^$&%(*&!@)&@
    That was fun, and happenings. At least it’s mind-refreshing, the rush of people just add a little bit of excitement to life. Unlike in Newcastle, it’s just so slow, so slow that everything’s got so bored here.
    Jin was the guide of the day, he brought me and another friend, Alvin on a walk to the famous and busy streets in London.
    Theater at West End, London, somewhere very near to Oxford Street and West End is the ‘Broadway’ of London.
    Oxford Street with Christmas lighting at night!
    Lots of Nike Shoes at Nike Town.
    Starting at Oxford Street & Regent Street, the famous shopping street in London which you can find 3 Zara outlets on the same street, several Uniqlo(s) and H&Ms and more! (I would call it a Singapore’s Orchard Road-equivalent, but longer and more crowded).
    Let’s get ready for the human-jam and scream (*^(%*^$&#.
    Apple Store on Regent Street.
    Late lunch of the day at Wasabi, the Japanese fast food that floods London.
    Bond Street, where you will find a row of exclusively high end designer’s labels from Prada to Hermes to labels that you’ve never heard of. A walk in this area will suddenly makes you feel high-end for a little while if you can’t afford it like me. That’s fine, and I enjoyed flipping the price tags of the items here.
    A photo with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Yo, what’s up.
    Bond Street of London.
    A stopover at Chinatown, Leicester Square for dinner to give the feet a rest. Had a sumptuous dinner at the famous Cantonese Roast Duck restaurant – Four Seasons and to be honest, the ducks were real darn good. Price was affordable but expect a little wait and staffs ‘chasing’ you to leave after finishing your meal. Never feel bored of Chinatown as I see it as the most happenings place in London, not because I am a Malaysian Chinese, but the place is really exciting with many nice eatery that provides a good taste of Asia. Seriously. The Chinatown just feels like Hong Kong to me, crowded, noisy and Cantonese!
    Chinese supermarket, New Loon Moon.
    Four Season – 文兴酒家. They claim they have the best Cantonese roast duck in the world.
    Cantonese Roast Duck!
    Stop-by at the M&M World. Always full of people.
    Covent Garden, the night ended here where the Apple Store caught my attention. The street performers, the Apple Market and the place where the TVB series, Triump In The Skies 2 filmed had just brought my excitement to another level. Cheers to London.
    On the way to Covent Garden.
    Covent Garden Underground Station.
    Since when Master Yoda grows to this height?
    Oh my Apple Store!
    Raw and rustic Apple Store at Covent Garden.
    As it says, Apple Market.
    Giant Christmas ornaments hanging in Covent Garden Market.
    To the fans of Chong Siong Wen Siu 冲上云霄2, Triumph In The Skies 2, you will recognise this place.
    Christmas Tree!
    Lego fun at Covent Garden.
    An outdoor cafe.
  • Very Short While At The British Musuem

    Very Short While At The British Musuem

    London // Very Short While At The British Musuem – After meeting up with the friend, we head over to some crowded street in London to get a glimpse of Londener’s lifestyle and activity – to Oxford Street and surrounding. While on the way, we passed by the British Museum, with a very interesting Greek Revival exterior and a modern interior.
    The best thing about this place is free. Free as in free of entrance which you could just hardly find elsewhere, but what you are seeing is not British history but artefacts from all over the world. Yes, story, history, artefacts of everywhere, from Roman to Egyptian to Asian to everywhere. No idea how did the British got them but it’s one huge historic museum which I spent less than half an hour in there! They steal? They borrow? They snatch? They discovered? They’ve got it as diplomatic gifts? I am not sure, I don’t know.
    Since it’s free to enter, so it’s not bad to take a very short walk. Perhaps I’ll come back again and do a longer walk!
    Greek Revival Architecture of British Museum. Interesting or not?
    The modern roof covering the open public space in the museum.
    Here is me and the roof.
    Egyptian hall.
    Greek hall.
  • Good Morning Buckingham Palace & London

    Good Morning Buckingham Palace & London

    London // Good Morning Buckingham Palace & London – Oh hello people, I am back, finally, after a long hiatus from the social network as I was so so so busy with travelling, and school’s assignment. Luckily, I was not killed by the deadlines and submissions. Thank god that I am so alive and sounding well right now.
    Oh London! I am missing the great city so much right now as I am flipping through the photos that I’ve taken. This series of photos were from the London weekend trip that I had back in November, more to come as London is getting to be my second home in the UK, since it’s so easy to get there and cheap! A return ticket of Newcastle – London costs at about £20-25 via Megabus. Although the journey is darn long at 7-hours per way, but it’s still cheap when comparing to Aeroline that I used to connect KL – Penang back in Malaysia.
    7-hours of journey was not that bad in a warm and stuffy bus, I slept all the way! Waking up in London was just so exciting and looking around just gave me a super different experience as compare to Newcastle. It’s a huge city, it’s metropolitan urban city!
    Without knowing where to go from Victoria Coach Station, I just tried to walk around to see if any attractions nearby while waiting a London friend to ring me and tell me where to go. Followed the Google Maps and the information board, and me and Alvin were leaded to the Buckingham Palace.
    Snap shot of the palace, couldn’t see any sign of Her Majesty Queen, or Prince, guard were just standing there, and cold, we walked away. Heading to some direction we didn’t know about, and ended at Piccadilly Circus! Phone rang and headed to my friend’s place at Euston and he was just shocked about how we made it to Piccadilly from Victoria. Quite a random walk, but the sunny morning did bring a good feeling to that morning. Too much to talk about London, in just simple word, good morning great London and let’s the pictures speak for now.
    London’s specialty, cab.
    Mounted police, or police who patrol on horseback, roaming the street nearby Buckingham Palace. Be prepared to smell some poo-poo.
    Good morning precious sunny London, where sun is so rare in the UK.
    A temporary bus stop.
    Reminds me of my childhood where I lived on a street named Buckingham Street in Penang, Malaysia.
    Selfy.
    Guard, not changing.
    Buckingham Palace. Where’s the queen now?
    Me and the Palace.
    Statue of I’ve-no-idea.
    Victoria Memorial.
    The Mall, which attracted me to go this way after checking out the palace.
    Dedicated bicycle lane which I always hope that Penang can have a network of it too.
    Sunny!
    Good morning.
    Some monument structure.
    Road construction.
    Wayfinding board. Very helpful for exploring London.
    Underground Tube entrance.
    On a very quiet Saturday morning. It’s just so not-London in this picture where the street is empty. I was too early!
    Interchanging at Leicester Square to Euston Station.
    Euston Railway & Tube Station.
    Passfield Hall, where the Londoner friend stays.
  • Eastern Europe Trip: A Very Short Update

    Eastern Europe Trip: A Very Short Update

    Eastern Europe Trip: A Very Short Update – Just a short update on my blog as it’s been a few weeks since I’ve written something here. The previous posts were adverts so you can just ignore it. Well, I am having my winter term break right now and I am on a 2 weeks getaway to Eastern Europe. I have done Warsaw and Krakow of Poland and currently in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, which is also a very weird and boring city. I have no idea why I am here now. Haha. I am more likely to look forward to my next stop, guess where it would be? 😀

    Not a perfect relaxing getaway as there’s many work to do after the holiday, but for the time being, let’s just put the mind of the assignment stress right now.
    Gonna share everything when I am back to the UK. Cheers! Follow me on Instagram for more updates! 🙂 @nicholaschan
  • A Good Day To Durham

    A Good Day To Durham

    Durham // A Good Day To Durham – Durham is a small town located just 45km from Newcastle upon Tyne and it’s a lovely place to visit as there’s a very beautiful Roman-style cathedral. The Durham Cathedral was also part of the film location for the first two Harry Potter films, so it’s a place must not be missed if you are visiting Newcastle, moreover the entrance to the cathedral is free!
    Last week, I’ve visited the Lumiere Festival at Durham, but this visit happened like 2 months ago when it was a very good day with beautiful clear blue sky and warm weather. We went to the bus station at Eldon Square to board the Angel 21 bus to Durham, it cost about £6.30 for a unlimited day trip ticket to Durham and back, so in between you can choose to stop by Angel Of The North for a little photoshoot, but we did after visiting Durham. Bus ride took about 45 minutes and it was pretty pleasant.
    I was like sticking my head out at the window, curiously looking out along the way as that time I was still very fresh to England, UK. 😀 Durham is small, everything is in walking distance, the town is small too, with a few retails outlet, and some eatery restaurants. There’s nothing much to do except chill walking in the peaceful UNESCO World Heritage Site, looking around and just relax. 🙂 It was really a good day, and I was so grateful for the sunshine. Well, it seems like visiting Durham during the winter might be interesting too, when there’s snow and the river Wear freezes. I shall plan another trip again, when it snows.
    On the bus Angel 21, heading to Durham..
    Wayne.
    Durham Cathedral and University of Durham on top.
    A group photo with Jon, Eunice, Yee Hua, Ling, Wayne & Alvin.
    Add caption
    Market Place, Durham.
    Sun bathing, embracing the sun.
    Standing by the grave.
    Harry Potter had his Quidditch practice here!
  • Angel of the North – A Huge Piece Of Steel Structure By A1 Road

    Angel of the North – A Huge Piece Of Steel Structure By A1 Road

    Angel of the North – A Huge Piece Of Steel Structure By A1 Road – Sometimes, my friend would ask me what to see in Newcastle, or is there anything that represent the Newcastle? Anything as in Big Ben, Tower Bridge for London, Petronas Twin Towers for Malaysia, and Newcastle? I would say the Angel of the North, and the Millennium Bridge. 😀
    Funny that my friend who went there and back told me, “It’s just a piece of useless steel standing by the major A1 road”. Haha. No matter it’s useful or useless, I still insisted to visit it to check it out. Indeed, it’s a huge piece of steel, doesn’t look like an angel (I don’t really know how an angel looks like, perhaps with a ring floating on top of the head, with feather wings.), I don’t really know the purpose, but it’s just an art installation to me, and I find it interesting!
    JUMP!
    It’s not easy to stick a huge piece of steel in the ground at North East where it often windy here. It’d been here for a long time since 1998, designed by artist Antony Gormley. It was a good, clear blue sky day and I just glad I visited it. Heading there is pretty easy, hop on the Angel 21 bus from Elton Square Bus Station or Durham and just alight when you see the angel. You can visit the angel when you are visiting Durham, it’s just in between the route from Newcastle to Durham. Cheers!
  • Durham Lumiere Festival 2013

    Durham Lumiere Festival 2013

    Durham Lumiere Festival 2013 – I find that I am quite lucky to visit the Durham Lumiere Festival last week because this beautiful light festival happens only once every two years. I am here in the UK for only a year, so I shall not skip this festival in Durham which is just so nearby to Newcastle.
    On the second week of arrival in Newcastle, I went to visit Durham and the Angel of the North, it was during the day time; visiting Durham after sun goes does gives a different feeling. The small little town with beautiful old cathedrals glows at night at this Durham Lumiere Festival. Instead of getting on the bus, we took the train to Durham and it takes about 15 minutes only! Train ticket was just £6.70 return (£4.45 with Rail Card), so that’s cheaper than the bus!
    Arriving at Durham at a different place (the train station) actually tried to test my way-finding skill, but luckily we met a friend who lives in Durham at the railway station who then brought us into town. A huge swamp of people was heading toward the town too, where the main venue for the light festival was. The light installations spread across various part of the town, first thing first we went to the information counter to get ourselves a guide-map.
    Best green curry I had in the UK
    We couldn’t really start the exploration then because we were hungry and we went to an Asian restaurant for dinner – Fat Buddha. Well, I guess that’s the best Asian food I’ve ever had since I came to the UK. Awesome green curry and awesome salad wasabi prawn. Energy recharged and we started following the guide map to the light installation.
    Music visualizer on a building!
    Water + Bleach = Light. Interesting.
    Desserted circus.
    The aquarium in a phone booth.
    The feeling of wandering the Durham town at night was pretty interesting. Light installation was somehow not as surprising as I thought, they were somehow smaller in scale, or simpler than I thought. However the image projection on Durham Cathedral was just uber cool, as well as the huge elephant projected at the castle gate. I like the light installation of plastic bag lanterns along the alley which is so colourful. The British-signature red telephone booth which turned into fish tank was interesting too!
    We didn’t really get to check out all the light installation as the time passes quite quickly, moreover we were like chit chatting and walking slowly. Haha. Nevertheless, it was a great night, not a large scale light festival, but I just enjoyed the evening with crowds and Durham. Lastly, we spent an hour at the rail at 3 degree celcius waiting for the next train! Oh my.
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