Brian & Cherlyn in London

It was nearly a small meet up for Vialentino & Community members in London, but it was not to be.

Netcat & Meowsou was here on Thursday night, on their honeymoon to Europe. But we couldn't meet up as they only arrived late at their hotel which was only 2 miles away from my place.

But then, on the weekend we had Brian and Cherlyn a.k.a. BrianLulu over at our place. It was Cherlyn's first proper visit to London. Johanna and I took them to city centre first for some shopping. But before that we brought them to NCR restaurant - the only Malaysian restaurant in London Chinatown for lunch. The food there is really good and authentic. Never failed to make us feel more at home.

Prawn mee, better known as Hokkien mee in Penang

After lunch, Brian's sister Belle, joined us. She's in London on holiday working visa. We walked around Piccadilly and then towards Oxford Street via Regent Street. Plenty of shops but also a bit of rain. Johanna also spent some time at Laura Ashley checking out some clothes.

We proceed to Harrods after that, briefly walking through a few sections as the place is too big. We made our way to Westminster after that. It was too late to walk to Buckingham Palace and St. James's Park, so we gave it a miss. We decided to make our way to Tower Bridge instead. There was no District/Circle line running between Whitechapel and Earls Court so we had to take Jubilee line to Bermondsey and change to a bus from there. Unfortunately, I brought them onto the wrong bus and we ended up back in town. So I brought them for dinner at Jade Garden instead.

After dinner, I decided to bring them back to Tower Bridge. I know Brian is yearning for some good photography and he had not manage much on that cloudy and rainy day. At last we arrived at Tower Bridge on a bus from Liverpool Street. We walked across the bridge to the South bank. The night view of the bridge from there is splendid. We managed a few photos before calling it a day.


Tower Bridge @ night

The next day I made them English breakfast. We then proceed to Canary Wharf. The weather was equally as bad as the day before, cloudy and wet. I brought them to Lotus Floating restaurant for a late dim sum lunch before Brian & Cherlyn departed for Swindon, dropping off Belle in North East London on the way.




Outside Lotus Floating restaurant

Swordfish Steak Finally!

One thing I dearly missed in my stay in London this time is the great range of fresh seafood offered by the Angel Sainsbury's - e.g. baby octopus, squid, skate wings, salmon, cod, tuna, large prawns, oysters, mussels and swordfish!

I still remember my first visit to Browns in Angel during my previous stay in London, can't remember with who though. I chanced upon swordfish steak in the menu and decided to give it a go. Yummy! Ever since I've been buying swordfish from Sainsbury's in Angel and grill it the way Browns does it.

But that was when I live near to Angel. Not all Sainsbury's have such wide range of seafood.

This time around, my nearest supermarket is a huge Tesco, which is just opposite my flat. But it has a lousy range of seafood - only readily packaged or frozen ones, and there is not much of variety. Angel's Sainsbury's is too far away while the Sainsbury's in Stratford is small and lousy. Billingsgate market is only one mile away but I'm too lazy to wake up very early in the morning to get there.

Then came the Waitrose in Canary Wharf. Johanna and I walked into it on one lazy Sunday while we were at Canary Wharf, which is slightly more than one mile away from our flat. We were looking for a gift for Niki, who is having her early birthday celebration on Monday (25th June). It was then I discovered that this Waitrose has a great range of seafood just like the Sainsbury's in Angel. I immediately had something in mind.

Till now I have yet to introduce swordfish to Johanna. The last time when we were at Browns with Matthias and Lisi between London Bridge and Bermondsey, swordfish was not on the menu.

Since I would be attending Niki's birthday celebration at the Narrow - a gastropub owned by the 3-Michelin star Scottish chef Gordon Ramsey, Johanna would need to eat dinner on her own as she would only reach home around nine or ten. I quietly went back to the Waitrose in Canary Wharf and bought a piece of swordfish and other necessary ingredients to fix a dinner for her. I also bought some sushi for her. Since I wouldn't be there that often, I also bought a piece of skate wings for our dinner sometime that week.

Before I went out for Niki's birthday dinner, I quickly grill the swordfish the way I used to do it. I managed to nick a bit of the juicy flesh before going out. The cooking wasn't that good though. More practice needed after such a long absense of swordfish in my life.

Jo's dinner that night


Swordfish steak with grounded coriander seed and black pepper

Anyway, that was how happy I am to rediscover my long lost favourite fish. It is the same feeling I had in KL for cod. Despite the urge, the price has always put me off. But not so in London as cod is a frequent feature on our dinner table.

Anyway, before everything gets too fishy, I better stop writing about fish for now.

England - Scotland Trip (Day 6)

The final day of our trip.

We visited the city of York for a while before driving down South to Stratford.

The obvious place to visit in Stratford is Shakespear's house. Stratford is a very beautiful town.





We concluded our trip by visiting Oxford. We walked around Magdalene College for a while before I took my brother to Christ Church - where the dining hall in Harry Potter is filmed. Unfortunately it was too late and the place was already closed for viewing.





We finally reached Bow at 10pm. Jo and I were very exhausted after a gruelling 2,000-mile drive in 6 days. But it was definitely worth the effort!

More photos here, here and here.

England - Scotland Trip (Day 5)

This is my second time to Edinburgh. The first visit was quite brief.

Jo and I allowed ourselves some rest today as we would be staying at Edinburgh until evening.

Based on my limited knowledge of Edinburgh, I decided to bring everyone to Princes Street, where Scott Monument is. We were greeted by a kilt-wearing man blowing the bagpipe.

My parents were impressed with this city. It probably explained the huge number of pensioners in this town.

We went to the famous Edinburgh Castle after walking through a few streets in the town. Other than the castle, the High Street which leads to the castle was also quite interesting, with many shops and café around.



After few hours of sightseeing, we helped ourselves with a buffet lunch at Jimmy Chung's. My dad was extremely delighted to be able to eat Chinese food again.



After the late lunch I drove around the city before driving down to York.



By the time we reached there, it was already past 10pm.

More photos here.

England - Scotland Trip (Day 4)

We woke up to very lovely weather in Broadford.

Isle of Skye is the most important destination for me in this whole trip, and how great it was to finally enjoy a cloudless and sunny day.

The only unfortunate part is Johanna and me found out that we had quite a lot of itchy bite marks left by the notorious Scottish midges, which entered our room through the open window.

View outside our hostel

We set of to the biggest town on the island - Portree, immediately after lunch. On the way, we stopped at a few spots to enjoy the great sceneries.


Yet another pose by Jih Xian

We arrived at Portree around an hour later. After parking the Previa, we went to the port for some photos of the sea and the buildings along the coast.


By the port of Portree

We set off towards the Nothern part of the island after that. All the way we could see the breathtaking sceneries of the sea. It was my first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean. We stopped by at a small museum to take some photos before driving back to Portree again for lunch. We had decided to try out some Scottish seafood at a local fish and chip restaurant. However, most of us didn't quite like the food.


A very small museum

We left Isle of Skye after lunch to set off for Edinburgh. It was a long drive. We had to cancel our trip to Inverness due to time constraint.





On the way we went past Loch Ness and drove along it for quite some time. No sign of Nessie. Loch Ness is huge but we didn't come across any nice scenery all the way, quite a let down judging from the popularity of this huge lake.

By the time we reached our youth hostel accomodation it was already past 10pm.

Click here for more photos.

England - Scotland Trip (Day 3)

We were greeted by the lovely morning sun in Kendal. At last, some fine weather.

Johanna getting ready for the next destination

Our next destination is Isle of Skye. To get there we had to drive through Loch Lomond and the Scottish Highlands, including the famous Glen Coe.

Just as we thought we were going to get good weather, the clouds came back in numbers and very soon we had the same gloomy weather again. Well, it is difficult to get good weather in Scotland, so it was not really bad luck.

The best I could get out of Loch Lomond under the poor weather condition

By the time we reached Glen Coe, it was getting a bit misty. But the drive along the winding roads on the highlands are enjoyable, compared to the dull motorway. I could imagine how beautiful the highlands are if the weather were sunny. Will definitely want to visit this place again. Hopefully the weather will be great next time around.










Eilean Donan Castle
Perhaps the best shot from the whole trip

We finally arrived at a town called Broadford on Isle of Skye after a 7-hour drive.

England - Scotland Trip (Day 2)

The only reason we were at Manchester was to bring Jih Xian to Old Trafford. A United fan like me, he was very excited about the visit to OT. In fact, sad to say that, it was the only place that matter to him in the whole trip!

Some of the photos of Jih Xian in the Manchester United Museum. Jo and I bought him a jersey as his early birthday present.

We left Old Trafford at noon time to proceed our journey to the Lake District.

After locating our accomodation in Kendal, we drove to the scenic Windermere. Unfortunately it was a very cloudy day and we only managed to get gloomy views of the beautiful lake. We drove around the hilly roads later on for more countryside sceneries.

England - Scotland Trip (Day 1)

Day 1 of our 6-day trip to various parts of England and Scotland with my parents, my sister Jih Hoay and my 15-year-old brother Jih Xian.

We set off late from London as we need to source for a Tomtom, as Enterprise-Rent-A-Car has run out of it despite it being included in our reservation. We had to cancel our first destination - Stonehenge because of that, and headed straight to Bath.

It is my second time to Bath, the first time in winter 2002. All of us were amazed with the picturesque sceneries on the way into the city.

By the time we arrived at the city, the Roman Bath is already closed. Hence we could only take a few photos outside the famous tourist attraction. Johanna & I managed to track down Laura Ashley branch somewhere in the town before continuing our journey to Manchester.

Tea break

More photos at http://flickr.com/photos/jihying/sets/72157600337371503/detail/

Not So Bright Brighton

Perhaps one of the worst trip in my life.

Despite knowing the weather will not be great that weekend (May 27), I still went ahead with our trip to Brighton in order to maximise my parents' and brother's trip to UK.

And how wrong we were to go to Brighton on that day. It was chilly, windy and rainy. We had to endure walking in the rain for most part of our trip. In the end we decided to head home few hours earlier than scheduled.

As for Brighton, there was nothing much to see. The beach wasn't great either.

Had to convert most of my photos into black and white since the colours are dull anyway.

Royal Pavillion


Rain!

More photos at http://flickr.com/photos/jihying/sets/72157600286003615/detail/

Back from holiday

Just got back from a 6-day driving trip of England and Scotland. It's great to have my parents, sister and brother around, especially my 14-year-old brother - Jih Xian who is visiting London for the first time.

My parents and sister had left for Barcelona on Friday morning while Jih Xian will be flying back to Penang today. Wish he could stay on longer as we have yet to brought him to few places which he intends to visit. We managed to have an early birthday celebration for him yesterday at a BBQ with my coursemates and friends. Jih Xian is turning 15 on Monday and he'll be flying home alone as my parents won't be back home until mid June.

Will post some photos of the the England-Scotland trip as soon as Johanna and I got over our fatigue from the 2000-mile drive.