I cannot believe I went to London a month ago and am now finally finalizing this post.
My apologies to the MASSIVE audience (aka three readers) of my blog!
I went to London from October 11th till the 13th.
London was not as hectic as I thought it was going to be but getting to London was definitely a bit stressful, to say the least.
The Megabus to London was supposed to leave my school at 7:15AM and I got to the bus stop around 7:07ish and the bus was not there. I thought that was a bit weird since coaches ('buses') are usually queuing ('waiting') before the actual departure time. It was around 7:14 and I had a feeling that I was at the wrong bus stop. That horrible feeling I had was right; I was indeed at the wrong bus stop. I ran as fast as I can to the correct bus stop and when I got there it was 7:18AM. I figured that three minutes was not too much of a tardy and figured the bus has to be late, or so I repeated to myself to make myself feel better. But, in fact, I was freaking out. A lot.
I wanted to call Megabus but where the bus stop is does not connect to my school's wifi (just perfect!), so there was no way I could get Megabus' number. The ticket did not have any number on it. I frantically ran to try and find a spot where my phone would catch the school's wifi without losing sight of the bus stop. No luck.
Then, I saw that the Megabus bus sign had a number on it. I called it. It was a ticketing number but the representative kindly transferred me to customer service. When I explained to the guy about the situation and how I wanted to check if my bus was late, he told me that the bus has to be 45 minutes late for him to mark it as a delay, which then would allow him to check upon the status of the bus. So, I waited for about 35 minutes and then called Megabus back. The same guy picked up and told me that he will call back after he finds out about the situation of the bus. Waited for another 30 minutes. Then, he finally called me and told me that the bus left at 7:17AM and 15 other people got on the bus. I felt so devastated; after waiting for so long, to only find out that the bus had left. I was a minute late. One freaking minute.
I could not believe it and kept asking the guy if there was anything he could do because I had to get to London. He said there was nothing.
I did not make it back to my room before bursting into tears and called my mom and my sister. My sister said that it was all good because now I have a story to write for my blog. She finally made me laugh. Reason #4850238234094 why she is my favorite person in the world.
I proceed to text Jayhee right away because I was supposed to meet her at Victoria Coach Station around 10:30AM but I was obviously not going to be there on time. I ended up wasting about 20 bucks on my phone calls to Megabus (since I have the "Pay-as-you-go" plan).
Then...when I got back to my room, I bought another Megabus ticket that leaves to London around 1:30PM. Thanks to my morning mistake, I knew which bus stop to wait for the bus. I safely got on the bus and arrived at London around 4:30PM. Meet with Jayhee, had dinner and headed to go see the London Eye.
The following morning started off with us missing the free breakfast the hostel was providing for us. I hate hostels. Let me rephrase: I hate the hostel I stayed at in London. I guess you get what you pay for. I usually don't complain about where I sleep, but I seriously felt like bed bugs were everywhere and did not even change into my pajamas in fear that a bedbug will feed on me while changing. Also, I felt like I would have felt dirtier to shower in the hostel than to not shower, so I just used my dry shampoo and decided to wash up when I got back to my dorm. Beautiful, I know.
Matilda is one of my favorite books/movies, so I was ecstatic when I found about Matilda the Musical since beginning of this year when I decided to go to England to "study." (More on stuDYING on a future post). I found out that the box office saves 16 tickets of each show for youth (ages 16-26) to get tickets for cheaper than the regular price. We stood in line and the tickets were all sold out when there were only two more people ahead of us. Disappointed but felt accomplished that we did a very non-touristy thing in London.
We started off our tiring and packed day at St. Paul's Cathedral.
Walked into Bea's of Bloomsbury for some scones with jam and clotted cream but found out that we needed to make reservations! And...their afternoon tea is super pricey, so I will be making my way over to Maids of Honour in December for their famous scones!
Next: Millennium Bridge. It is also known as the “Wobbly Bridge” because shortly after it opened, the bridge began to sway when people walked across it. They closed the bridge and it took longer to fix than to build. For all you Harry Potter fans, it is the bridge that was destroyed in the movie.
After you across the bridge, you will run across a modern art museum called Tate Modern. It actually used to be an old power station. We actually went into use the bathroom...Jayhee kept talking about how she wanted to leave her mark in London and we did at this museum. And, no, I am not talk about poop. We appeared all over the museum in different screens! It says, "Jayhee and Jackie from LA (west coast best coast!)"
Presenting Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. This building is an approximate reconstruction of what the theatre used to look like during Shakespeare’s time and currently shows plays by...wait for it...Shakespeare!
I wish I had more money because I would have bought and ate everything at Borough Market. The vibe of the market was so cool and lively. All the food they were selling were relatively cheap but it all adds up, yknow.
London Bridge! Made popular by this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_cVqYC-45Y or this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTvNwAT29Lo
We noticed how people were posing with this picture as if they were strong enough to tilt the statue, but I decided to be a little bit more creative!
Found Ryan Gosling in London...not!
Tower Bridge. The Tower Bridge is both a bascule (meaning it’s center parts move up and down to let large boats/barges through) and suspension (think Golden Gate) bridge. There's this story that one time, the bridge was being raised while a double decker bus was still crossing it...so, the driver ended up speeding like crazy and cleared the gap to make it to the other side. Crazy!
Now...Tower of London. I don't know if it is because I did not get to go inside but it was SO disappointing. There was nothing to it and the building/tower itself was very boring. But, some "cool" things about the Tower of London: it is a still-functioning historic palace and fortress (almost a thousand years old), this is where the crown jewels are kept and Yeomen Warders, or otherwise known as Beefeaters, still live in there.
I have only seen two and a half Harry Potter movies and only read a page or two from the first book (sorry not sorry) but had to visit King's Cross Station.
Off to Hogwarts!
Notting Hill / Portobello Road Market. It is a cool marketplace that sells mostly clothes and vintage items. We were there for only a little bit. I only went to purchase a Notting Hill Shopping Bag!
This is what mine looks like!
It is a bag that "features images designed by local schoolchildren and celebrities who live in Notting Hill, West London. The aims are to reduce plastic bag use in Notting Hill, to support local charities to whom 10 per cent of profits are donated, to promote Notting Hill and Portobello Road Market as a shopping destination." The shop owner told me not to wash it because it will significantly shrink. I knew this but my yellow peppers got squished and all the juice got onto the bag, so I had to wash it. Now, it is super tiny and the text as well as the picture is all faded :(
Our first night we arrived here a bit too late, so all the pictures came out too dark. But on the second and final night, we arrived just in time to get some good pictures with Big Ben!
Also, Big Ben actually refers to the bell inside the clock tower, not the clock tower itself!
We were both really craving Korean food and ended up coming to a restaurant called BiBimBap! It was pretty good but the portions are TINY compared to the US or maybe the portions here are normal and what we get in the US is just unhealthy. Probably the latter.
I pretty much saw "all" of London in a day and I felt so satisfied with how much I got done.
Additionally, Malaysian pancakes are DABOMB.COM. It tasted very similar to 붕어빵 (pictured below) but Malaysian pancakes has black glutinous rice and coconut. SO so so so SO good.
Found a picture of the Malaysian pancake on Google.
The taste, the texture, the warmth...perfect combination!
Note to self: wear comfortable shoes with nice soles. I wore shoes I got from a really cheap store with basically no sole and my feet hated me so much. I also brought sturdy wellies ('rainboots'), but did not wear them on the second day because it was not raining, I did not want to be sweating from all the walking and the boots are also a bit heavy to tour around London in. I was in a lot of pain for about a week or two after I came back from London.
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