Koh's visit to London

My colleague, Koh Kong Yong came to London the day my sister left (22 October). He was sent by Bank Negara to participate in a course on financial stability, organised by Bank of England.

It was his first visit to London.

Jo and I met up with him on his first night of arrival for a dinner in Chinatown.

In the next few days, I took him to Canary Wharf, Tower Bridge, Parliament Square, Greenwich, Portobello market, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Oxford Street, Regent Street and few other places, on weekday nights after his course and on Saturday morning. Due to work commitment, Johanna could not join us most of the time, except on Saturday, the last day of Koh's stay. I also invited him to our flat for a dinner.

Cambridge trip

Photos at http://jihying.com/photos/cambridge/

Last Friday morning, I took Johanna to Cambridge. Cambridge is one of my favourite cities in England. I love the peaceful scenery especially along river Cam on a punt, with Cambridege University colleges lining up on either side of the river.

We departed from Victoria Coach Station at 9.30am. The weather did not look good at all. The journey took us 2 hours. On the way we went past East London, came within 200 metres from our Bromley-by-Bow flat too.

Our arrival was greeted by drizzle which became heavier minutes later. We decided to have lunch in Burger King while waiting for the weather to improve. Johanna noticed that there are a lot of East Asians students and old English retirees in this town.

The rain finally cleared but still very cloudy. Not a good day for photography. We walked around the old town, passing through shops, including Laura Ashley, then St. John College, before arriving at King's College. King's is the biggest among all colleges. After taking some photos, we walked through Clare College to the other side of the river.

We took a punt later on, together with a couple from China, chauffeured by a 2nd year Cambridge student called David. Johanna love the ride a lot as it was so peaceful and scenic.

Our trip more or less came to an end after the 45-minute punting trip. We slowly walked to the coach station. I bought some strawberries on the way. 60p for one box, but I found out later on that many of them are already rotten. While waiting for the coach, we took a stroll in the park. I love this park a lot, but it was not at its best without the flowers.

We left at 3.45pm. Overall not a bad trip even though I failed to take enough good photos due to the poor weather.

More at http://jihying.com/photos/cambridge/