The Price of Mangosteen

1kg of Mangosteen in:

Australia ≈ $18 AUD (Woolworths)

Malaysia = RM 8 ≈ $3 AUD (Street Market)

London = £22 ≈ $45 AUD (Harrods)

Of Rasperries and Dresses

Spent a lovely sunny day wandering around Covent Garden today. Lots of great shopping around there. 

2 things that caught my eye -

A spilt punnet of raspberries on the pavement..

(am sure I looked mental kneeling down in the middle of covent garden market to take these photos)

and my new dress.

Bought at:

Tzar

15 King Street

Covent Garden

London

The Argos Way

Within the first few days of being in London, one thing became very clear: I needed a hair dryer. Hair washing days are potentially fatal, due to hypothermia, without one. So where does one turn to when there's no Harvey Norman? According to Francis - Argos.

So we googled the closest one, which turned out to be just down the street, and set out on foot. We get there expecting a big electrical department store but instead find a shop as big as your average living room. Where's all the stuff?! After observing the locals, here's what we discovered -

Pick up one of the millions of Argos catalogues they have in the shop

Flip through and find what you want (Ad went straight to the flat screen panels section)

Once you've found what you're looking for, punch the code into that blue calculator looking thing to see if they have it in stock. If they do, you can write the details down on the bits of paper provided and take it to the counter where they fetch it from the warehouse behind the shop front and then pay for it. As long as you've done your research on the product you want to purchase, Argos is a cheap and easy way to get it.

(edit: Anh sent me this awesome youtube link of Billy Bailey's take on Argos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXniiLN0OPo

Check it out, it's spot on!)

3 Wheeled Car!

Spotted as we were walking down Graham Rd, Hackney.

I wonder if we walked back there now we'd find Mr Bean parked there instead..

I Heart Cupcakes

Went to Notting Hill yesterday and visited Portobello Market. It was packed. So much so that taking a decent photo of it was impossible for a short person like me. 

Instead, let me share something else I found on Portobello Road..

from the hummingbird bakery. Here you see a vanilla cup cake and a carrot cupcake in the background. The red velvet cupcake and nutella cupcake were also very good.

The Hummingbird Bakery

133 Portobello Rd

Notting Hill

London W11 2DY

020 7229 6446

Hello Hackney.. and the Pub on the Corner

Finally have made it to the UK after months of talking about the move and have settled in the London Borough of Hackney. Despite having a bit of a rough reputation, we're on beautiful street with buses at the front door, shops a short walk away and of course, a cosy little pub on every other corner.

Last night we didn't set out with the intention of eating out. In fact, we were on our way to the convenience store for a bag of jasmine rice when we met Spurstowe. So strong was our intention NOT to eat that we challenged Spurstowe to a game of Rock, Scissors, Paper for our prerogative to dine in.. and lost..

And had to deal with this instead..

Razor Clams w/ chorizo, green beans and wild garlic - £5

Rabbit Pie w/ red cabbage

Seriously good tucker. 2 desserts on the menu that I didn't try but will definitely be back for: Apple and Pear Crumble & Vanilla and Orange Creme Brulee.

Spurstowe - 1, Us - 0

The Spurstowe Arms

68 Greenwood Rd

Hackney

London E81AB

020 7219 2500

Malaysia in a Nutshell

Hello and welcome back! The fact that I'm typing and you're reading is a sure sign that I'm not in Australia anymore, so I hope you enjoy these ramblings and the new look, new titled blog. 

1st stop from here - Malaysia.

KLCC - Huge shopping centre. Has high end fashion right down to casual wear. Patronas Twin Towers looks very impressive lit up at night / against massive grey tropical storm clouds.

Bukit Bintang -  Definately our favourite destination in KL. There's a big shopping centre there called The Pavillion and it's pretty highbrow. If KLCC is Chatswood Westfield then the Pavillion is Chatswood Chase. 

Jalan Alor - Also in Bukit Bintang, this street is where you go for traditional hawker food. Lots of makeshift restaurants on the street complete with fruit carts on the corners. Mangosteen is my favourite fruit and rumour was that it's dirt cheap in Malaysia (as opposed to the $2.50 per fruit we get it for in Australia only when it's in season). However, it wasn't in season while we were there but still available though seemed costly for Malaysia at around $0.50AUD per fruit. 

Genting - This "City of Entertainment" consists of theme parks and a casino though nowadays it's quite run down. The one cool thing we did do there was the Genting Sky Venture. We dressed up in jump suits and jumped into a chamber with a huge fan underneath it and flew around!

I assume the water wasn't always brown..

Oh yeah, it gets REALLY foggy at night. And cold.

To sum up, KL is a great city to eat and shop in. A plate of something for lunch at the food court is around 7 ringgit (around $3AUD). A trip to the movies was also cheap, RM 6 for the ticket and RM 3 for a caramel popcorn and soft drink. (That's right, caramel popcorn, they don't seem to believe in buttered popcorn.) 

Shopping unfortunately isn't any cheaper, but it is all in the one huge spot. It is hot and humid outside and cold in shopping centres which made a cold inevitable for me, would advise keeping a cardi in your tote for such indoor shopping adventures.