Tower Hamlet, London


So what´s new lately? not a whole lot i´m afraid. Apart from busy planning my autumn travel and arranging logistics where it sees fit, i have been lying pretty low, only a selected few know that i´m currently lurking around in London, as i havent been exactly publicizing my return. Reason? I´m hoping to be a little frugle this month and hence cant really socialize and pubcrawl with mates. Money is needed when i next travel in september.

Got back to London Victoria from Plymouth in time for the Summer Cruise Party hosted by the RSA. It was a good reunion with all my ex colleagues as i really did enjoy working and boozing with them. And having lived so close to River Thames all this time im in London, i havent actually gone on a cruise on it. So free cruise plus free food means no chance im missing it.

And it couldnt be happening at a better time. Summer is at its best with temperature soaring as high as 30 degrees and the whole city has gone lunatic about it. Everyone walks on the street with little or nothing on them and Ice cream Giant - Ben & Jerry´s has been offering unlimited free ice cream at the park.

London is also celebrating the handover of the Olympic torch later this month and there is a good lineup of gigs and parties and carnivals taking place every single weekend. Summer also means everyone´s traveling and everyone´s coming over here and they are gonna wanna bunk with me in my room which means i´m not gonna have any peace. Well, i guess i shouldnt complain.

but you know what, the heat is somewhat killing me, if i´ve wanted to live in a hot country, i would have gone back home already. Autumn is beckoning and i´m going to paris! then on to Belgium and Holland before hitting scandinavia and the baltic countries.

so let´s have a quiet august and enjoy the Olympic games. I have a feeling China is on the upper hand though im not sure if im supporting them given their lousy humanrights record, but it´s time to send a message to the whites that the yellowskins are a force to be reckoned with, dont you think?

Lympstone, Devon


Ever heard of the term 'avoiding cities like a plaque'? that's pretty much what we did.

It hasn't gone down that well when Suya and I started out cross-country camping trip two weeks ago. She picked me up at Bristol and we headed straight on the motorway and got out of the city within minutes, our goal was to camp at the Forest of Dean in Wales. It didnt happen. It rained on us alot. It was cold.

blame it on summer, everyone who has a life is out on camping trips too! families, school kids, teenagers, couples, loners, the whole lot is out there occupying every camp sites and holiday parks. Caravans and campervans are on the road hogging the single carriageway. It amazes me how outdoorsy the british are, apparently you havent had a childhood if you havent gone camping with your families every summer. We malaysians really needa learn a thing or two from them.

On our first night, we camped behind a pub for only 5 quid, it was getting late as we had a late headstart and we pitched our tent in minutes just so that we can catch the lastcall at the pub before the barmen closes it at 10pm. We ended up having such a good time with the locals and didnt get kicked out until 2am! It feels good when everyone insisted on buying you real ales and southern comforts even after you say no (halfheartedly, :p).

from then on we avoided motorways altogether and got on the A roads and B roads, ie Scenic routes. Driving through english countriside is a beautiful experience, moorlands and national parks aplenty, and the coastline is to die for, albeit being too cold to swim in the sea even in the midst of summer. We gone past manchester and leeds and liverpool and blackpool and every english cities that you can name, without even considering going in and get caught in the mess. I've had enough of city sightseeing in London.

It was indeed a good camping trip, we drove some 1700 miles in total and unfortunately, that costs us a fortune. It's by far my most expensive trip yet but im not complaining, what's better to see the country than to travel with the local. Suya knows everything there is to know about England and she's eager to transfer that knowledge to me, and we've gone all the way up to scotland, back down to england, crossed over to Wales twice, and visited castles and mansions and monuments and stone circles.

It's also a gastronomic trip for me too. Every town has something special to offer and we've been feeding ourselves really well. Went to torquay yesterday and met up with Suya's mom, got treated to a very nice meal and beer at the pub and we participated in the bingo quiz! 25 questions altogether and i somehow managed to contribute 2 answers. The Japanese word for Japan (Nihon) and Jesus's age when He died (33). We didnt win but it was good fun.

will be going back to London next week...

I´ve been a very, very bad boy...

i´ve done something that i´m not proud of (alright, maybe im that little bit proud of it) and i feel ashamed of my actions (or at least i feel that i should be ashamed). It´s that bad...

So it was just an ordinary day out, i´m saying ordinary because it was raining, or rather, drizzling, which is quite common here, sometimes you just wish that it either rains, or it doesnt, but not something in between, it´s hard to make up your mind whether to stay in or out when it´s like that, you know.

Because it was raining, i thought i should go to the cinema, it´s been a while since i last saw a film in the big screen and i didnt exactly have company, so i was just kinda dating myself. I got myself a standard price ticket for EUR 5.75, opted to watch ´Wanted´ because the trailer was good, and it was actually pretty good. Angie Jolie being as stunning as always but gosh isnt she getting really thin? i feel like i can break her arms by just looking at it, so it isnt that convincing that she´s swinging machine guns effortlessly and kicking asses, but anyway. There were lotsa actions and the special effects entertaining, everyone was just flying and jumping around in slo-mo as though they were in a dream.

but i digress...

So i bought a standard price seat and guess what, i took the premiere seat! There were like 10 of us in the hall, a far cry from the movie goers in KL, and i was at liberty to choose any seats i like. And as everyone went for the Eur 9.50 seats, i thought: hey, you´re not leaving me behind! and so i did the same.

but that wasnt the crime.

After the show, upon coming out from the gents, i was kinda lingering at the cinema checking out new summer films. And then i saw some people coming into the foyer and headed to one of the cineplexes. So out of curiosity i followed them in. And then it just happened. I sat down. On the premiere seat again. Without a ticket. If i told you the whole act wasnt premeditated, would you believe me? probably not.

It was all very nonchalant on my part. I didnt feel as though im doing anything wrong, it just felt so right! Seating there, minding my own business, as if i have every right to be there. And the brilliant part is, i didnt even know what film that i would be watching. It´s like a box of chocolates, you dont know what you´re getting every single time.

So i checked out the trailers - Hancock, KungFuPanda, Mummy, MammaMia, DarkKnight...all pretty impressive and made me wanna watch it, perhaps except for Hancock and MammaMia if i had to pay for them. No chance in the world am i paying to watch Will Smith flying like a lunatic, and seriously, Meryl singing? I love the woman but that´s just a tad too much.

When i heard that famous catchy tune of SATC, i thought i´ve gone to heaven and back. I´ve been wanting to watch that film! Been following the series and been dying to know what happened between SJP and mr.big. Now i know! The film is as good as the TV show, and of course Samantha´s hilarious one-line punch never failed to put a smile on my face. She´s good, or rather, the writer is.

And after show #2. Because it´s still raining, because im all alone, because im homesick and hence felt like paying the price of a movie ticket in KL, because im all smug the first time i committed the act, because once isnt good enough and because im a bad, bad person, I did it again.

This time i kinda know what´s gonna be showing, the kids gave the game away. So Narnia it is. Well why not? i like C.S.Lewis and i dont have problems with talking animals, if anything, a fantasy film would make a fine ending to the day. If only the kids in the film were americans though.

So there you go, three films for 5.75! go ahead then, tell me im a loser, but hell, im feeling bloody good about myself. God will understand.

On another matter, i´m flying to Bristol tomorrow.

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Pancho and I at Newgrange


Tram ran over a bike


Breakfast


Lake@Blessington


11pm