Excursion to Surrey

Sunday had started off the usual way, sleep-in + late breakfast, when an eager and unrelenting Summer's day jumped the gun on Spring. Despite our best efforts to be lazy at home, we were too inspired by this glorious day and immediately called Dylan to plan a short road trip out of London Town. Destination: Surrey. We had no idea where exactly in Surrey we were going or what we were going to find even.. which made it all the more exciting. If we could just navigate out of London first..!

The streets of London are a little chaotic at the moment with many roads dug up due to Boris replacing old, leaky Victorian water pipes. But with Dylan's superior navigating skills and some help from iPhone Maps we eventually found ourselves cruising south west on the A3 out of London.

One hour later and a turn off the A3 found us in Cobham - light, leafy, green, meadow filled, prosperous Cobham - our first experience of non-city England.

Houses we saw were large and identified by estate name rather than number

And looked not too unlike something out of an Austin (minus the car of course)

Had to shoot these as we drove past hence the wonkiness.

The local pub

Enjoying a pint

Remember Fosters? I don't think they realise we don't even have it in Australia anymore

Street side window of the Pub

We asked the bar staff what attractions were worth seeing in Cobham. After conferring with a regular patron at the bar they concluded that anything worth seeing would be closed as it was Sunday. Instead, they suggested heading down to Guilford, which we did. There we visited another quaint pub before having dinner at Byron. The hamburgers we ate were very high quality but alas, starvation had driven me to forgetfulness and I have no photos to show for this fine meal.

Covent Garden, Again.

I picked up 2 very large punnets of strawberries for just £2 from the fruit seller in Covent Garden. Tonight we ate strawberries to our hearts' content and there's still a punnet left.

Also in Covent Garden today, we discovered the Real Food Market - a gourmet food market and taste tester heaven! After I was done dipping bits of bread into various pestos, balsamic vinegars, tahinis, sampling pastries, tortellinis, and smelling truffles (deep breath) Ad and I picked out a rather smelly, yellow and wrinkly cheese to bring home. It tasted very good however. 

The guy did tell us the name of the cheese but of course we don't remember what it was. Besides being smelly, yellow and wrinkly I can also tell you that it oozes when cut into. More oozy than Brie, that is until you get into the centre where it's firmer - not oozy at all in fact. I can also tell you that it's 6 weeks old. If anyone can identify it for me, please comment!

Those of you who know me well, know that I do not feel complete till I've had something sweet. I am very pleased to report that I feel very complete today.

Cupcake by Crumbs and Doilies

Natural History Museum

I really do love going to museums, aquariums, observatories and the like. I remember my dad taking me to the Power House Museum as a little kid and patiently waiting (only as a father could) while I played and examined every single little thing in sight. I'm sure he also has not forgotten times when I insisted that we go to the Sydney Observatory at some horridly late (or early) hour of the night (or morning) to see a passing comet. 

Nowadays I still love a trip to the museum (and the like), for all the same reasons as before and more. Every visit invokes sentiments which I find comforting when away from home. 

The National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno, Tokyo was a-maz-ing. I wish I had taken photos and blogged about it when we were there but better late than never. The exhibits were very well dressed and lit. The taxidermy so incredibly life like that I would freeze on the spot looking at a deer looking at me, afraid that if I moved, I would scare it away. As with just about everything in Tokyo, the museum was immaculate and technological. Kids (big and little) could use these cards in the museum to collect information about exhibits they visited. It worked by placing the card on a terminal next to exhibit which then saves the information to it. The info could then be accessed from a PC at home or school or where ever. Neat huh?!

The Natural History Museum of London didn't quite compare to the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo, but I never expected it to. It was however just as warm, inviting and nostalgic as I'd hoped.

A few snaps I took of our visit:

Dinosaurs are a necessity, naturally.

Grr there are 2 grizzlies in this photo, can you spot them?

This crazy prehistoric fish was thought to be extinct but has been found in schools deep in the pacific ocean. It's also pretty special as it's believed to be a link between fish and land animals. See those 2 horizontal fins above and below its tail? Possibly an early sign of 2 legs!

Sorry, I can't remember the names of any of these minerals..

they're just so pretty though..

Ad refuses to believe that this cubic shaped mineral forms naturally in nature. It IS amazing.

And a fossilized turtle/tortoise shell. I was just really impressed with how this photo came out so I had to post it.

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.