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Published: June 12th 2011
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Another early flight, this time at 10am to LONDON!!! Getting to the airport is very convenient. My uncle drops me off at KL Sentral Station and there is a Malaysian Airlines check-in desk at the station for check-in and baggage drop off. From there the KLIA ekspress train takes just under an hour to get you to the airport without having to lug your pack around. Everything was on schedule until I board the plane where we find out that something is wrong with the plane. I didn't catch what was wrong but it was eventually fixed after an hour delay. It was announced that we were to be flying shortly but soon after that the fuel line to one of the engines wasn't flowing! We are now delayed 2 hours and have to change aircraft making it a total of 4 hours delay. I use that time to purchase chow kwey teow at one of the restaurants which really satisfied my cravings for it. Once I had finished the meal I felt that the delay really wasn't that bad after all (and one of the waiters was really cute!). We FINALLY get into the air and its approximately 13hrs flying
time. I always like Malaysian Airlines because you can choose the movies or TV shows you want to watch, and I always tell myself that I am going to spend the whole flight watching movies. I think it is the dry air that makes my eyes tired and pretty much makes it impossible not to feel sleepy. I only watch two movies (disappointing!), The A-team with Bradley Cooper and a romantic comedy with Audrey Tautou.
It seems that all large airports in Western Nations have really increased security measures. The line for immigration at Heathrow airport was really long like LAX and took me over an hour in the queue. However, Heathrow didn't have the fingerprint scanners like in KLIA and LAX.
In London I stay with my cousin, Jeff. The place is in a really convenient location, close to the major sites in central London but not too close to be always crowded with people. It is a nice area near to Chelsea. My first day there he takes me with a family which he is friends with to the Flower Market on Colombia Rd. People there come from all over London to sell flowers, plants and
Hepworth's Orpheus (Maquette 2) (Version III)
One of my all time favourites @ The Tate Modern herbs. There were heaps of flowers on sale in so many colours but I was more interested in the herbs. Everything there was so cheap, you could pick up a small herb plant for around £2! We head over to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant for pho and other dishes which was great as I had been wanting pho for a few days because a friend had told me he tried a new pho place in Sydney. They used slightly different noodles, a bit firmer and thinner than the ones I am used to but the broth was soooooo good! We bid Jeff's friends farewell as we head over to the Tate Modern. I quite enjoyed the pieces on exhibit, particularly one by Jackson Pollock which was about repetition in nature and "fractals". I really wanted this shirt that said "I like to arty hard" but I settle for a cool souvenir T-shirt and Miro tote bag. It was a bummer that it started raining after the museum as it would have been nice to walk around that area so we decided to grab some stuff at Chinatown before heading back to cook a late dinner.
Initially I was planning
to head off to Cardiff the next day but I decided to hang around for one more day. I take a nice leisurely walk to Saatchi Gallery at Sloane Square stopping at a few shops along the way. I find a shop called Anthropologie which a Canadian girl had mentioned to me in New Orleans. She told me if I ever saw it I should go in because it sells clothes similar to the style I was wearing when she met me. The shop was massive and had a nice range of clothes, books, homewares and other knick knacks but was quite expensive. Saatchi Gallery was like the MCA in Sydney. A small to medium sized gallery which contemporary art, the collection when I went was mainly installations and sculptures. There was an installation of a pool of black oil in a room which filled the room with that petroleum stench. The surface was clear and was like a black mirror. It was weird that something so dirty and disgusting could look so clear and perfect at the same time. I then take the tube to British Library and Museum. I check out the rare book collection at the Library
and only quickly go through the British Museum as it mainly had artefacts from various societies. I walk via Oxford Street (in London its a shopping area, not a red light district like in Sydney) to Chinatown before heading back. I take the bus back and one stop before my stop there is a massive bang. Thank god it was only a burst tire, not a collision!
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