Travel Series : Easter Holiday 2011 - London Day 2

Day 2 - 23rd April 2011

Day 2 was more relaxed and nature-like, I would say. We started quite late sbb semua orang bangun lambat akibat kepenatan hari pertama. As usual, breakfast was in bed. Luckily masih ada roti and cereal to isi perut. Plus I brought some 30 energy bars so that we would be energetic like the energizer bunny (how coincidental is that, energizer bunny, easter bunny.. heh). We went to Houses of Parliament and took the guided tour. It costed 15 pounds. Best. The only thing is that, during the tour we weren't allowed to sit down as our arses are not worthy enough hehehe.. but truly, memang kena berdiri and dengar the tour (60 mins). Kaki I dah terketar² and dah sakit belikat cause I sangkut my SLR tapi takleh amek gmbar. Damn. We can only sit at the Commoner's room (cause we have no Royal blood. Except for Putri, tapi mungkin Royal yang dimaksudkan mereka adalah macam set-set Prince William). But the cool part is that we got to learn about the Parliaments, get to see the rooms where the action takes place. Masuk bilik yang the Queen tukar baju and pakai her crown (and its a damn big room to tukar baju and pakai crown). Cuma, tak boleh ambil gambar :( But the tour guide, Joana was really funny. sempat dia masukkan unsur² lawak masa tengah semua orang muka serious dengar citer.

We headed for lunch dekat Nero Cafe opposite Big Ben. (semua ni dekat² je, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Houses of Parliaments and Eye of London.. (eh lupa nak add! on the first day pun we all naik Eye of London.. ok will edit the previous post) ). After that, Putri pergi lepak dengan kawan dia. So it was just me, Adina and Ana. We headed to Hard Rock Cafe! Memang itu must-go for me. Funny thing is, we got lost agak jauh jugak la nak ke destinasi. Turns out, it was only a few steps away from the Tube station. Mental note : When uncertain, ask for directions. (Gambar sesat and tensyen) As we reached HRC, ada dua tempat rupanya. Satu the cafe itself (for makan) and the other one is the souvenir shop. And get this, we had to QUE to get in to buy souvenirs. Rasa macam nak beratur masuk club je (not that I have ever done that. But it just felt like it). I thought macam nak beli benda² kecik je, but since kena beratur lama, campur the sesatness, my friend said, 'ko baik beli something dalam HRC nih..' . True enough. I bought a SpiceGirls HRC Tshirt, a rantai, a drumstick (for husband) and a shotglas. Tip : if you guys plan to claim VAT, ambil borang kat counter and suruh orang tu isikan as you pay. Ana only told us later (setelah dah sampai Hyde Park and macam malas nak jalan balik ke HRC) that we had to get the forms kat HRC itself, maka burnlah VAT claim saya. *FRUST!* Although it was like ala takat 8 pound je (as she said), it's still money (ye la, bagi orang yang tak bekerja macam saya, 1 pound pun saya kutip). With that money, I could buy another Victoria Secret EDT kat airport. Damn! (yup, memang murah kat airport. Will blog about this later). Oh well, takde rezeki namanya :(

 

                         Ketika sesat, terambil gambar nih                            Sebelum sesat

                          Richie Sambora babeh                                              Sampai juga

After berbeg - beg shopping di HRC (me only satu beg, kawan² lain berbeg - beg). We headed to Hyde Park. Cantik la. Kat sini, objective saya adalah nak tengok Princess Diana's Memorial Fountain. Memandangkan we all bawak banyak beg (they) and to the fountain is about 10 mins away from the entrance (katanya), we rented 3 bicycles and cycled through Hyde Park. Waaa bestnya! rasa macam citer The Sound of Music, with the wind blowing through my face, and I slowly sang, 'The hills are alive... with the sound of music.. aaaaAAaaaa' , didn't feel like I was 29 at all! After about 15 mins cycling, we finally reached the Memorial Fountain (tipu! katanya 10 mins je jalan). Best la tengok fountain dia. very unique. snapped some pics and menikmati keindahan kejap, then suddenly, dah start mendung and hujan. We headed back to the Tube station. Mula² undecided. But later we decided to balik hotel, sbb hujan. sayangnya. Sedih gak. Tp in a way, bagus gak, boleh letak barang² and lepak² jap. Malam sambung lagi. This time, it was already 530pm.

Maka pulanglah kami ke hotel and lepak. Me and Adina sembang sambil makan Maggi kari in a cup (just like the good ol days in Taiping) dengan rambut bergulung dgn tuala sbb baru lepas mandi, duduk bersila atas kerusi. Rasa macam kat Maktab cuma kalini perbualan bukan pasal Prep, Fizik, Addmaths atau Reymee from Innuendo. But about LIFE. Wow have we grown :) Rasa best la cause it's been a loong time that I didnt have those kinda talks. Slalu sembang dengan suami.. and dengan classmates kat sini. Bila borak dgn classmates sini, rase penat aa nak kena cakap German. It's not berborak. It's hard work! nak kena pikir grammar, translate bagai.. This was really relaxing to me.. Walaupun beribu² batu dari tanahair, felt just like in Mesia :)

After solat jama', we headed out nak makan dinner. Plannya, nak pekena Sup Tomato from Nero Caffee kat bawah hotel, which is SO SEDAP and murah. Tapi tengok² dah tutup (baru kol 8pm). Time² ni la rindu kat kedai mamak. So takpela, we ronda² kat hotel area and took pictures. Best la amek gmbar at night. Sbb jambatan² sume berlampu and it looks gorgeous. AFter that, singgah Marks and Spencer lagi skali, beli susu and Cheese for breakfast keesokan harinya. And then balik hotel.. That was it for day two.. Very relaxed. :)

Ada apa dengan designers?

I have this habit of buying books and then simpan sampai one time I will read semua sekaligus. Or when the time is right, I will khatamkan one by one. As I mentioned before, I just came back from my London trip. Ye, takut nak kecoh² sebelum pergi. There are reasons why I did that. Takut orang pesan. Takut evil eyes, etc. Anyway, alhamdulillah dah selamat sampai Mannheim balik now. It was a 5 day trip. I found a really good book at Heathrow Airport. It's called, 'The Rules of Life' by Richard Templar. Usually I would choose not to read British writer's books but this one is a bit different. I like the ideas and messages conveyed and the 'rules' are very realistic and motivating. I would recommend you guys to read it. Ataupun kalau nak pinjam nanti pun boleh :)

Since I was on a break, I was also on internet-break. Hence social networking break. A FB-free time. I disabled my wall cause I wanted to minimize my notifications supaya tak serabut bila balik nanti and have to read everything. So, now menghadap FB la sikit². I read a friend's status saying something about overseas people wearing designers from top to bottom and how Malaysians are far behind because tak pakai barang² branded. I do feel like I want to comment but tak apa lah. I will just write here instead.

Firstly, in Malaysia, if you walk anywhere in the city, I would say 6 out of 10 people pakai handbag branded. Lately Longchamp is the in-thing. Previously, LV and Coach.  I would say Malaysians are quite lavish in spending by buying designers. I have nothing against them. In fact, I feel that memang best la kalau I ada sebijik handbag designer. Tapi I don't own one. Ada satu je Braun Büffel yg tak glamour sangat, tu pun hantaran masa kawin. Sekarang ni hantaran kawin LC, LV, coach. Tapi Malaysians are very brand concious. To be honest, kadang² rasa peer pressure juga kalau all your friends pakai designers. But luckily my close circle of friends yg jenis sempoi² :)

Secondly, since staying here in Mannheim, I notice that the Germans tak pakai sangat barang branded even though they can afford it. Money is channeled to other things. Frankly, I dunno where. Probably electronical gadgets or cars. Kalau pergi bandar, sehari, nampak la sorang dua je pakai handbag Coach or LV. Tu pun yang memang kaya gila ataupun tourists. The Mannheimers pakai handbag biasa je gi kerja. So, I would say that Malaysians lagi pakai barang branded. But perhaps I could be wrong.

Me personally, I dont own any. Pakai handbag H & M (dia macam ala-ala Metrojaya) and paling hebat pun Esprit. Jam pun masih lagi pakai jam AVON. hehehehe..


Just to share with you, Rule No. 1 : Keep it under your hat. -RT