Plane Lagged

Of course it's Jet Lagged, but watch the Karate Kid and you'll get it. I finally have managed to take time to start working on my thesis again! The lecture in RMIT has been completed. Strangely, the very first lecture I've attended in Australia is the one where I was the lecturer! hahahaha. Anyway, it went pretty well I think, the students were very responsive and were very cooperative. Good bunch! I'm still sleeping in a lot, trying to adjust back to the Melbourne time zone. So, been waking up late these few days! Otherwise, all's good! Losing weight again, as usual! Hahaha. Jules and LanSin were here. But it's just a shame that I couldn't spend much time with them! Oh well, I think that they did enjoy their stay here! I believe it won't be their last!

My Engrand vely the powderful ah Day 8

Today Adrian Lee experienced his Renaissance. Today Adrian Lee has been civilised. Today Adrian Lee has been cultured. Today Adrian Lee has moved a class above. Or supposedly la to all the above. Hehehe. Why so? Today, Adrian Lee went to a museum, went to a church, went to Harrods, went to Oxford Street for shopping, went to New Regent Street for shopping, went to the National Gallery to see paintings from the 12 century onwards and also saw van Gogh's Sunflower, went to Royal Albert Hall and finally went to watch Oliver! So I shall now speaking my the Englrand with a Engrish Accent. Hehehe.

It has been raining the entire day. Really spoilt my mood and made my mood as foul as the weather. Otherwise, the visits were good, except that everywhere was damn packed and crowded with people! Oliver was fantastic! I feel that I have fell in love with theatre. When I go back to Melbourne, a group of us will be watching West End Story. Tomorrow's my last day in the England, UK and Europe. Seems so nice that so many good things seem to be happening at the same time. I guess all I can say is that, this is the best Birthday Blessing from God. AND, I also heard some good news from my best bud Adrian. I hope that it'll be a double blessing and birthday joy! There's been so many "unexpected" during this trip. Firstly, coming to London, UK and Europe was totally unexpected. Then there was Wembley, Oxford, Cambridge, Madame Tussauds, Oliver and the list goes on and on. But the best thing was actually catching up with Soon Lock, meeting his wife, Chia Ye, meeting Jye Horng and also meeting with Ping. I think I need to get a list of things I want to do before I turn 30. Right now I can just think of skydiving!

Oh well, it's been a drink a day. An ale a day, a beer a day and also I have to mention that London's full of sirens. Police, ambulance and fire engines. Whatever la, there'll be one for sure every hour. Cheers to good time! Oh yeah, my card reader has spoilt, so I won't be uploading any pics for the time being! I can't believe that it's around 9am in Malaysia as I'm writing this. I'm actually chatting with friends from Msia as I'm finishing my drink and preparing to sleep. Oh well, I think 3 drinks I(which is agak agak 5-6 servings for me) for tonight is more than enough d. Think I'd hope off to bed now. I'm not sure if I should greet my friends with good night then, OR good morning! Anyhow, Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeers from London!!

My Engrand vely the powerderful ah day 7

Yes I was part of history yesterday. Manchester United 3 Chelsea 1. It was really great being to Wembley. My initial plans were to actually visit Old Trafford and just to have a look see of the place. But then Adrian gave me the idea of catching the Community Shield and I thought well that's even a greater idea! So, with Soon Lock's help (which he has given tonnes of so far) we managed to get a couple of tix and off we went to Wembley! I've actually seen the Man Utd team last year when they were in Kuala Lumpur. But to watch an (almost) competitive match was even more exciting! Plus, watching 4 goals in one match and the full strength teams of both Chelsea and MU was just priceless. Jye Horng and I both cheered, scolded, laughed, and booed. Oh well, it was every penny well spent! At the end, when the trophy (or shield) was presented, I just sang my heart out, Glory Glory Man Unitedddddddddddddddd....until my throat hurt and I had no more voice! Hehehehe. Oh well, the only thing I failed to bring was my 200mm lenses, which would've captured even more better pics. Anyhow, I then managed to "appreciate" the match rather than kept focusing on taking pic! Plus as an added bonus, Tomorrow's my 2nd last day in London. I'm just going to walk around the city, do some last minute shopping and MAYBE watch Les Mis. Oh well, "we're the famous Man United and we're going to Wembley!"

"This picture says it all!"

"Here we are!"

My Engrand vely the powerderful ah Part 6

I've kind of lost count how long I've been here. I think today's either my 7th day I guess. Was awoken up by some bad news this morning, that a certain friend of mine had passed on. Well, I've not really met her for a good 10-15 years, but anyhow, I do hope that she's in a better place now. Hence, life's so short la. No time to waste on useless worries and hate. So just live life la. Will be off for mass in a while, there's a church just down the street from here. I've been praying for my family and friends and had some special intentions at churches all over Cambridge, Oxford and now in London. Of course I'd pray for the general wellbeing and health and happiness for all la. Just returned from mass. It's the most unique feature that struck me was that they had the Hail Mary at the end of Mass to give devotion to our mother. And they had 2 deacons too, who were very very young! Mass was very full of tradition, yet rather casual at the same time. The peace be with you session was a scatter of people everywhere, who went from front to back to greet each other!

Yesterday we "tried" to see the change of guards at Buckingham Palace. I couldn't really see much because of the "ocean" of people there! It was crazily madly packed! I can't imagine being a copper and having to direct and maintain the order of the place. So after catching glimpses of the event, we proceeded to London Bridge! More of that in the pics section la! And after that I proceeded to meet my cousin, Ping, whom I've not met for a good 5-10 years?! So, it was very much catching up and of course reminsicing about the good old times. It was really nice to remember and know that after all that we've been through, us cousins always have this special memory and bond of growing up together!

It then rained and rained and rained, and Les Miserables was sold out! Hence I shall be uncultured for yet another day! But, today, Jye Horng and I will be going to Wembley to watch Manchester United versus another team that I don't really recall its name. Hahaha. Yalar, Chelsea la. Speaking of Jye Horng and my former students in particular, they still call me Sir! So during dinner one day, he went SIR SIR! And I said, eh don't call me Sir here, not in this country! Get it?! Anyway, today's my chance to sream and shout but what I actually would really love to absorb the atmosphere in the stadium! Jerseys ready!

"Visiting the location of the childhood nursery rhyme...after almost 30 years!"


"On London Bridge, looking at that funny looking pedal powered machine that has a table in the centre, whereby you can have drinks! So how does London Bridge look like la?! Usually in pictures they look like this..."


"Right?! But then...that's TOWER BRIDGE!"

"London Bridge...ini macam je...biasa looking one! So for almost 30 years I've been conned into believing something else! Hehehe...Oh well, nothing beats the experience of being there!"


"And you can walk on top of the bridge as well!"

OFF TO WEMBLEY!

My Engrand vely powderful ah part 5

I can't imagine that it's 930am in Melbourne and 730am in Malaysian as I write this. I'm so used to being 2 hours ahead of Malaysian time. Plus, I'm not used to the thought that I'm kind of "behind" Malaysian time! It has been an awfully tiring day in London. The one thing that I've experienced the most here, is the hearing of sirens. Ambulances, fire engines, police cars. It's almost 1 siren every hour! Today I travelled to Buckinham Palace to have tea with Her Royal Highness. Hehehe. The place was packed and congested with people who had come from everywhere. It was nice to just stand in front on the palace gates and appreciate its beauty and to also appreciate the fact that I am actually standing at the gates of Buckingham Palace. It's really nice being here. After hearing so much about the UK, and about England (not Engrand, hehe) it's really nice to finally be here! As such, I always say, who knows what tomorrow brings?! In early July I never would've expected that I'd be here in August! I also got to see No. 10 Downing St. But there was no sight of David Cameron. I mean seriously, most of the time we see all these on TV or read about them in books and such. I was also the unofficial photographer for quite a number of people for I stood at the gates for a rather long time. So they went, excuse me, could you help me take a picture? Until the end I jokingly told a group of girls that I charge 5 pounds per pic! And of course I too needed some help from others! I then just walked around St. James Park. The highlight of the day was seeing the change of guards at of the imperial guards! And I got to see it twice! Really interesting to see these event live. Also, I seriously feel that London can be toured on foot, provided one likes to walk! I finally met Jye Horng today in London. It was nice meeting up. It's even nicer, the thought of him actually travelling all the way up to meet me. I finally met Soon Lock's wife, Chia Ye and I must say they make quite a great couple! Hehehe. Finally I had Chinese food, YES, I know, eating Chinese food in the UK. Well, we were in Chinatown, so what else to eat better than Chinese food. Not too bad I must add. Hehehe. Speaking about food, the best thing about living in his place is that he lives above a fried chicken shop. Literally! Seriously! And I go to bed smelling the delicious aroma of fried chicken, and I also awake smelling it! What else can you ask for?! Hahahaha. So what's on tomorrow? Seriously, I know I'm going to begin the tour with the changing of guards at Buckingham Palace. Then who knows what tomorrow brings eh?

My Engrand vely powder ah part 4

Although my Engrand is quite powderful, I still find it a bit difficult to understand the Brit accent. And I do know that there are also all sorts of different accents depending on which part of the UK you come from. I'm currently back in London, having brownies for breakfast. I actually bought them for dinner that I can have at the bus station in Oxford whilst awaiting for the bus. But, along the way I saw a shop selling pizzas for 4 pounds. So the brownies were forgotten! The pizza was good, I had one which was some African styled one, then name I had of course forgotten!

Oxford to me wasn't as nice as Cambridge. I just felt that the place was too congested and that there wasn't much space to move about. It was basically "Sydney" while Cambridge to me was "Melbourne"! Hope that sums it up! I just toured Oxford by foot. I took the map of the tour bus and followed the route by foot. Tagging along my luggages! I did manage to follow most of it, but was a bit disappointed for many colleges were actually closed. So in the end I decided to go on a walking tour that explored 2 colleges, Trinity and New Chapel College, where parts of the Harry Potter film was filmed. The tour was really good, informative and insightful. It costs around 7 pounds but we entered 2 colleges. Plus I got to visit the "old" site where Oxford was originally located. I'll be meeting up with Jye Horng today, who'll be making the trip up from Wolverhampton to see me! Woooohooooooo! I arrived in London last night at around 8pm. The bus ride wasn't so bad. I guess just passed out most of the way. I then met Soon Lock here. Of course there was so much confusion, cause there were 2 Marks and Spencer, which was our meetin point. I had 10 chicken wings for dinner. And after that I really just knocked off!

After breakfast, I'll be making my way to Buckingham Palace to see the change of guards. Might pay homage to the queen. Hehehe. I'm doing my own itinerary of where to go all la. No pressure tours. Just want to be free and easy and do whatever I can! OK, I shall be posting my pics on FB from now on.

My Engrand vely powderful ah Part 4

I woke up and went back to sleep numerous times today. The weather was just too conducive for sleeping. The keyword for today is, water. Most of everything I've done has something to do with water. When I woke up, it was raining. Then I went out in the rain. Or rather went back to sleep numerous times and awoke again and again. Finally, at 11ish I decided to get out of bed. Went to visit the conference location for a while before heading out to the city again. Rain. So I decided to drop by a gift shop to buy a cap, which was priced at 3.99P which someone else bought for 9.99. Of course I won't tell her la. Hehehe. And of course, after that, the rain stopped. So I proceeded to walk down the street and went to King's College. The place was simply magnificent. The pics I shall upload onto FB. I'm just too tired to describe each picture as it is! But seriously, it was one of the nicest places to be. It was very peaceful and serene. A good place for thinking and for ideas to develop. Then the rain came and went and came and went. Then I proceeded further down the street and went to a museum. Can't remember the name but it was incredible. I managed to see paintings from the 14th century onwards, a Bible from the 9th century, weapons from the 14th century onwards and a full metal iron casted Knight on a horse. Man, it certainly looked intimidating! The highlight of the day was ironically, meeting a former British soldier who said that he served in Malaya during the Communist Emergency. Ironically, in a museum! I managed to chat a while with him and shook his hand, telling him that it was an honour to meet him. 2 hours wasn't enough to cover the museum, so I then decided to make one last round in Cambridge city before leaving tomorrow. Finally went punting! It was nice and really relaxing. Would've appreciated the punter's commentary more, for there was a man who was speaking more about his experience in Cambridge, and was trying to challenge her knowledge on Cambridge! I was like, diam la woi! Bising je...But of course he wouldn't have understood so I also kept quiet la. Alas, I had fish and chips for dinner! With a pint of ale to wash it down. Top class! Tomorrow I shall be travelling to Oxford and then meeting Soon Lock, whom I've not met for a good 10 years in London! Need to catch the 7am bus tmrw to Oxford, so gonna crash now. Gd nite!

"Inside King's College"

"Outside King's College"

"In the courtyard"

"After punting"

"Finally, some original fish and chips"