London & Portsmouth

It has been a rather busy and tiring week so far, and finally it is friday tomorrow! Time is flying by so quickly and soon it is going to be Christmas. And before I know it, I will be done with year 3 and be back home for holidays.(: Okay, so I happened to have some free time tonight and decided to edit my photos and blog though my eyelids are feeling so heavy and on the verge of closing anytime. I am actually waiting for a new episode of a drama to be out so I am persevering on through the night despite having been in hospital from 8am-6pm today. *yawns* 

Alright, back to the main topic of this post which is back dated 1 month. It is my second trip down to London mainly for spending time with my parents and winter shopping, not so much of sight seeing. And also visited Portsmouth while my parents were down in Southampton. 

Had dim sum at Dragon Castle in London on a Saturday afternoon. It was surprisingly good, probably better than some I have tried back home.

Definitely too much food. Ended up tapao-ing.

That afternoon was pretty much shopping, shopping and more shopping along oxford street and the weather was great then, not so much now.

Headed down to Burger & Lobster at Leicester Square for lunch on Sunday. Reached approximately at 12ish, one of the best times to go because when we left the restaurant around 2, there was a long queue outside. My reviews on it, definitely not one of those over-rated restaurants. Service was good and so was the food. Cost wise, it can be a little costly but considering the fact that it is seafood and lobster, it is inevitable. I wouldn't say that it is definitely worth the money but rather it is a mandatory dining spot when you visit London!

plastic bibs were provided...hahaha, first time seeing it in a seafood restaurant.

the sides that came with it: salad, fries and garlic-butter sauce which was so good.

there you go, huge lobster, it really was, the photo didn't do justice to it sadly. It weighed about 5pounds if I am not wrong. My dad decided to get the bigger ones instead of having 1 each since its more worth it and you get more flesh instead of shells.

this was taken along regent street, bro's favourite - NFL.

massive Burberry store on regent street, just had to make my rounds inside.

That summed up my weekend in London, short but sweet. The next weekend, my parents came over to soton and we headed down to Portsmouth on a not so weather friendly day. It was raining the entire day, sadly. Thankfully, I managed to snap quite a number of shots before the rain started to get heavy.

at the historic dockyard

mandatory travel tumbling shot!

this exhibition was quite interesting with a couple of hands on station like this one where you can learn how to tie various knots. So, I had my take on the spanish bowline.

ta-dah! Success!

Went to dine in for some fish and chips for lunch because my parents just had to find a restaurant serving good fish and chips. LOL. This wasn't that good but better than the one I previously had in Brighton. Can't recall the name of the shop :(

Since the rain didn't have mercy on us, we decided to head off to the outlets for some shopping, window shopping mostly even though they were outlet stores. The best buy was probably crabtree & evelyn handcream. Mandatory for healthcare workers who are constantly using hand sanitizers which dries up your skin badly.

It was home bound for my parents the next day :( but I am glad that they came and lugged my notes along all over europe and uk, LOVE YOU MUM AND DAD! ♥♥♥ Wish I could have spent more time with them here in uk but didn't have a choice since it was school term and I had to be in the hospital for sign off and teachings and all that.  

♥

Okay then, new episode is out, so its time to finish off this post, watch the new ep and head off to sleep, gonna be another long day tomorrow. Till then. ♥

Brighton in a day!

hello there! finally have the time to settle down and get back to blogging again. Currently posting this from my new place in soton, was previously camping out at senior's places. Moved in to this new place for more than a month now but been busy with day trips every other weekend and also with my parents down in the uk 2 weeks ago. Not forgetting assignments to be completed which I just did this afternoon, like finally. So cheers!

A while back, probably a month ago, a group of us headed down to brighton for a day trip. Mostly did sightseeing and eating of course. It is a rather beautiful place with a unique beach that of small rocks/pebbles rather than sand. 

walking down the streets

street market selling lots of vintage stuff

some Japanese fair was on at this area so we decided to walk in to have some jap food. As expected, there weren't that much variety of food and they were pretty pricey but its a fair after all, prices are bound to be increased..oh wells.

the beach/pier

first time seeing this, arcade and theme park at the pier just above the sea

headed to fishy fishy for lunch which was one of the recommended places

had fish and chips but they weren't that great. The fish was really oily and towards the end you will just end up feeling sick from all the oil.

semi-seafood platter that we all shared, not very spectacular. Personally, I don't think I will recommend the place. The food ain't that great, the service wasn't that good either and for the price you pay, I am sure you can get better food elsewhere.

Went back to the beach area to get some photos taken after lunch.

Honestly, this area where I was standing having this photo taken smelled terribly of pee.

mandatory pathway on pebbles shot.

and since we were getting a bit bored, I decided that we do some nonsense modelling shots. hahaha.

obviously not cut out for modelling. HAHA.

I see some potential, ah-ha!

you can always rely on dr martens. 3 years on and they are still great except for a few scratches and dirt. Wish I could get another pair!

now you get what I mean by the arcade and theme park is literally above the sea.

Yup, so that was about it from Brighton. Wish I got to take more photos though. Been getting a little lazy to take photos despite the new lens. Next up will probably be another set of photos from london. Didn't really get to take much this time because we were mostly shopping around since that was our main motive other then to visit my cousin and parents. Hopefully I can find time to edit my photos and blog them out though I seriously need to get some studying done now that my essay is done. 

On a side note, weather is getting a bit depressing lately with daylight saving ending just yesterday. Now it gets dark by 5pm which was the time my friend and I went out to head to the gym, seriously felt like it was 9pm...haha. This also means, by the time I get out of hospital, its dark...the sad truth but yeah. Surprisingly the trees are still very much full of leafs and pretty green in colour too. Yes, I know its soon to be november, the leafs should have at least all turned yellow-orange or have dropped by now. Then again, the news have reported that we are on for the worst winter in a decade, basically a long and cold winter. To top that up, the first predicted snowfall is in November. I know it has started to snow in cleveland, US already, pretty early uh? This is what you get with global warming...sigh.

Should head off now for some studying, gonna be a long day tomorrow. Till then!♥

Singapore >> Southampton

Yes, the title says it all, this post is basically going to be about my journey from Singapore to Southampton and what I have been doing in Soton as they call it so far. Took malaysian airlines with a transit in KL where I got out and managed to meet a couple of friends and then it was a direct flight to london heathrow which was approximately 13 hours. It wasn't exactly a smooth sailing journey here with obstacles along the way like how our arranged uni transport didn't turn up when we arrived at heathrow airport and all but I am glad everything is getting better as the weeks pass. :)

So the first week in Soton was alot on familiarizing ourselves with the place, visited the campus and hospital a couple of times to get some administrative matters settled. Also, visited the city almost everyday, from West Quay shopping mall (probably the only thing to do in soton...haha) to IKEA and all. It was a long weekend with bank holidays falling on Monday where we headed to London for a day trip which I will be doing a separate post on next time. Yes, so that is pretty much what we did in our first week.

A couple of farewell photos, so happy and grateful that my friends came all the way down to the airport at 5am when most of them had to work the next day. ♥♥♥♥♥

the ac peeps. fluffy unicorn was from celestine to bring to uk...hahah.

the secondary sch peeps. its been 10 years since we have known each other!

of cos, not forgetting, the choo family :)

at klia

at heathrow airport waiting for our cab

think this was in the unilink bus

best pasttime - grocery shopping at sainsbury's. Grocery shopping has never felt so awesome!

Portswood road where sainsbury's is located. Weather has been awesome since we have arrived actually, not particularly hot or cold.

Ikea! the meatballs here are so much better compared to those back in Singapore.

Ikea ice cream which comes with flakes chocolate and chocolate syrup.

with evon, was our junior, now batchmates..haha.

the street where all the shopping is in Soton.

Of course we did some shopping despite being tight on budget. Bought a pair of spike studded high tops from topshop for £20, it was on 70% sale?! Besides that, got a couple of tights from Primark, probably the cheapest place to get tights and basics or even shoes.

I guess thats about it about my journey to southampton, surely was a long and eventful one but the experience has been great thus far. Classes are officially starting next week and placements the week after. With so much work in for me, I hope I will still manage some travelling plans! After all, we still need to strike a balance between study/work and playing don't we? 

Ciao!

Joo Mak Korean Restaurant & Udders

hellooo there! Greetings from Southampton everybody! Its my 7th day since arriving in UK, weather has been great so far. Been held up by quite a few issues which have been resolved which is good and still trying to settle down though I guess it will be a little difficult to since we can only move into our permanent house for the next 1 year in mid sept. Hence, we are currently bunking around seniors place at the moment, so thankful for them! :) Will be posting up photos from around southampton soon, though I didn't really get much time to take any photos.

Alrights then, back to the topic. Headed down to Joo Mak korean restaurant at beauty world a few weeks back before flying off. Made a reservation the day before, I guess you have to especially if you are planning to go on public holidays or weekends cos it gets pretty crowded after 7pm. Ordered 4 dishes for 6 people and it was way sufficient, ended up filling really full and satisfied.

Part of the restaurant..

focusing was a bit off, still getting used to the new lens

this is budae jigae aka military stew which contains ramen, sausages, luncheon meat, pork belly, veggie, mushrooms, etc. Its a must try! How I wish I could have this now...

as usual..photo snapping of the food comes first!

ddukbokie aka spicy rice cakes with fish cake and raw cabbage. I wouldn't say its that nice but was just craving for it so we decide to order it. Otherwise you can cook this at home too, ntuc sells packs of rice cakes and sauces and its really easy to cook! Its a really good snack :)

the side dishes served. Especially loved the radish kimchi which had a tinge of sweet taste like pickles..tasted awesome.

jajangmyeon aka black bean paste noodles. Ordered the family size portion to share. This is actually my first time having jajangmyeon and the taste was superb, but then again, its my first attempt trying it so yeah, need to hunt for good jajangmyeon when I visit korea someday.

Kimchijeon aka kimchi pancake, it was good, not the best I have had though. Maybe I will try the seafood pancake the next time round..

yup, so basically that was my reviews on the food. One of the more authentic korean restaurants I have been to in Singapore so far. 

Headed down to udders thereafter for ice cream! Still one of the best places for ice cream no doubt. Can't really remembered what we ordered, only remembering taking home 1 pint of mao shan wang ice cream which I only managed one cup of it because was battling a sore throat after having mao shan wang durian. Oh wells, better than nothing I guess...needa wait 1 more year before I can feast on durians...roarrrr.

LOL. sorry yun. HAHAHA.

That is all at the moment, London bound tomorrow for the bank holidays! *excited* First time in london!

Ciao!