London is Shit Expensive

Even with our accomodation and half our meals settled by others, our little trip to the uk still amounted to 400 freaking quid for Princess and I. That's about 600 bucks a person godammit. And for 5 days mind you.

So, other than the missed flight and absurd cost of living in London, let me highlight quickly the more sterling moments of our trip. (pun fully intended.)

We reached Central London somewhere close to 2am after being stuck in a massive jam that lasted an hour on the M-whatever they name their highways by.

Scenes of Chaos on the M-Whatever

So, we finally ended up at King's Cross, a rather dodgy part of town with big black women running around in short mini-skirts and boarding random vehicles. Something like what one would see in Changi, only thing with bigger women. =) There in the freezing cold, we waited for my primary school classmate, Bob, to come pick us up as he had kindly invited us to stay with him for our duration London.

Let me give everyone a bit more insight on who Bob is. Bob was my primary school classmate in Primary 5 & 6. He was extremely shy and soft spoken but had a habit of pinching the gals he was made to sit with and driving some teachers up the wall with his behaviour. My form teacher kind of had enough after yet another female classmate burst into tears after having sat with him for a week or so (I exagerate) and decided to make a guy sit with him instead. that guy was me.

So, for the next few months or so, believing in the policing power to use violence whenever necessary (that was what i thought my form teacher was advocating), I basically pinched Bob whenever I thought he was over the line... which was quite often. No, he didn't cry (at least not in front of me).

Well, not exactly great grounds or reason to stay friends or in touch for that matter but I guess we've been assholes at one time or another in our life, myself included, as perfect as I may be now... dum dee dee dum...

So, back to King's Cross. Yes, Princess and I were suppposed to stay with Bob for our short trip. However, as we walked towards his hostel, he dropped a bomb on us, a pleasant one albeit. He said, "Erm, I didn't manage to get a spare mattress, so I booked you guys into a hotel that's really nearby..."

We made a game attempt to protest and tell him that we were fine sleeping on the floor and all but he insisted and at 230 in the middle of the morning, we were not prepared to go to war with him. So, sheepishly but very appreciatively, we dropped our tired carcasses into room 140 of the Jurys Inn Islington.

The next day, we woke up all fresh and ready to conquer London. We had breakfast at Pret-a-Manger, a small cafe chain which soon became Princess' favourite way to start the day. We had it everyday that we were in the UK, come to think of it. Anyways, straight after brunch, it was off to meet xiaolongnu at Trafalgar Square for some good old sightseeing.

First day sights at Trafalgar Square

Some tourists believe that if bird shit hits them while shooting a photo, they'll have good sex for as long as they live.

Entrance to a french cafe at Harrods

Princess in the Tube...

I guess our first day in London more or less gave us an idea of the absurd cost of living that defines the place. A simple Kebab off the street for instance cost Princess almost 10 sing.

A trip to the imperial war museum was the itinerary for our second day in London. Spent hours there just going through the war exhibits and the holocaust exhibit, parts of which were greatly disturbing... I know that the whole period was a rather dark display of sheer sadism but some revelations i was not quite ready for - I mean it was as though wiping the Jews off the face of the earth weren't enough, the Nazis actually made that whole racial extermination project a rather profitable one by using the hair of the Jews for pillow stuffings and their bodies for fertilizer... That really gave the word "sick" new meaning...

My second day in london was brought to a memorable end with a night out at Turnmills, one of London's Big 3 Clubs to visit. (The others being MOS & Fabric) Anyways, Ferry Corsten was spinning that night and his set has to go down as one of the best sets I've ever been to in my life, right up there with Sanchez at centro and Van Dyk at Zouk in 2002... wahaha unbelievable energy the crowd had... guess it helps that half of them were high on drugs lol...

Pre-clubbin dinner with Bob (on the left) and YanJin

My third day in London did not get off late even though i only went to bed at 6 in the morning. Princess dragged me out early in the morning and we headed to the Tower of London.

Someone looks awefully pleased with herself...grrr

One of those rare occasions where a passerby actually knew how to frame a photo...that's princess and I with the Tower Bridge in the background...notice my somewhat sleepy eyes.

Goofing off in the souvenir shop...

It was a saturday and Arsenal were playing at Highbury, so we decided to go down to the stadium to see if we could catch the game through some slim miracle. As you will see from the following pictures taken OUTSIDE the stadium, that miracle did not happen.

That's my middle finger btw. =P

So Long Gooners & yer Stupid Mini-Field!

Arsenal friends of mine, please place your orders for souvenirs here... really.

Bob called subsequently as we were making our way down to Stamford Bridge for fish & chips, so we headed to Picadilly for some good old fashioned English high tea at this really posh place called Fortnum & Masons. As we were starving by then, we decided to do dinner there as we sipped tea and boy was it yummy... not to mention expensive.

tea time at Fortnum!

That night, Princess & I paid a total of 120 sing as cover charge into some club on a roof where a bunch of Singaporeans were having a party. I was there more to see my good pal WSJ who had come down from Cambridge. So, basically that night, i spent 60 sing just to sip water and talk to my best friend against a backdrop of loud music and Singaporeans trying hard to be cool. Simply amazing. However, I guess my buddy's company made up for the hole in my pocket. Princess even managed to catch an old friend of hers from JC. Even more amazing, she actually knew the birthday gal...

Princess and her friend G from JC...

We only reached the hotel at around 5 plus in the morning, so it was no surprise that we only managed to get up at 1pm the next day. LOL. So much for sightseeing. In the end, we met up with Bob for a late lunch and some shopping. Lunch was at a cafe in Selfridges, super yummy and needless to say, rather exhorbitant.

Princess & I with our cold salmon starter. On the left is my seabass & on the right is her seared salmon.

hmmm....

Well, what was supposed to be an uneventful last day turned out to be pretty eventful and frustrating subsequently. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 715 in the morning, so we booked our bus service with London Hoppa (those bastards) for 335am so that we would be there early. For some unknown reason, those bastards didn't turn up as promised and so, we had to call a cab. 20 mins after calling the cab, the hotel made another call to confirm the status of the cab and they replied that it wouldbe there within 10 min.

As luck would have it, 10 min came and went and still no sign of the cab. Thus, our kind hotel manager made yet another call to find out what had happened. To our horror, the cab company informed us that they thought that the previous call our hotel had made to them was to CANCEL the cab. So, we waited yet again for a more expensive cab to come pick us.

20 min later, we were on our way but we only had 45 min to reach the airport counter before it closed. Our cab driver sped like a madman and just when it seemed we would make it, a massive traffic jam caused by an accident just 5 miles from the airport effectively checked our progress and caused us to miss our flight... (-_-)

Total cost of our delay? 7.5 pounds for the return leg of the bus that never was, the 20 pound cab ride and the 40 pound rebooking fee... that's like 200 sing for crying out loud... and no, insurance doesn't cover a single part of it.

If there was any silver lining behind this immensely dark cloud, it was that Princess and I got the chance to visit Cambridge where my best buddy WSJ was staying... but that's another story...