little miss may

Today’s weather was kinda dreary – drizzled for most part till evening when it finally stopped and a little sunshine peeked through the thick clouds. I bought myself an Oyster (travel card) for the week, and hopped onto bus 266 with Cheryl early in the morning. Her stop was only a few minutes from home, and I had a longer way to go to Hammersmith to take the tube. Another 40 minutes of bus & train rides, I reached the London Bridge station, only to realise that my walk should have started back at Pimlico instead. Underground I went again till I reached Pimlico, and headed towards Tate Britain.

I’ll have to confess up front that I’m not a great Art fan, modern or otherwise. Having said that, the collection in Tate Britain was still interesting enough to keep me there for an hour, going from room to room and looking at all the different styles and periods of British Art history. I know I’m not supposed to take photos in the gallery, but I couldn’t help sneaking 3 shots, one of which was this sculpture called “The Kiss”. Enchanting.

My walk continued towards Westminster in the wet weather. Reaching St. Margaret’s church, I only took a couple of quick shots from the outside, an decided not to join the very, very long queue going inside. Another day perhaps. Turning towards Big Ben, I headed in the London Eye direction. I had intended to go up the Eye and have a good view as far as I could see, but postponed it till weather was a little better.

Continued along the Thames and passed South Bank Centre. By that time I was hungry, tired, and enjoying the sights despite the constant drizzle. My ears were constantly entertained with sounds of Coldplay which kept the mood upbeat enough as I went to my next destination. Bought a sandwich from Eat and went to a spot somewhere (shows that I really didn’t know where I was!) to munch. Funnily enough as I observed the name carved at the bridge next to where I was… A-ha. Found the original “London Bridge”.

My feet were aching after that long trek, so a quick stop at HMS Belfast and a shot of the Tower Bridge in the distance, I decided to head back to Acton and rest before dinner. Ooh, did some grocery shopping at Tesco too, to stock up on grub for the next few days. (By the way, there’s this brand of yoghurt called Müller, and it has this absolutely divine flavour called Lemon Cheesecake which tastes exactly like lemon cheesecake! Yummmm! Why don’t we ever have these in KL?)The day hasn’t ended yet though – Cheryl and I met up with another friend of ours, Kim-Mi who brought us to this Spanish restaurant that served really good tapas. Forgot the name of the place, but it’s around Soho. Had lovely ice-cream and coffee too, at Amalfi’s after dinner.

First day out, and I’m already pooped by the time we reached home. I guess I’m still a wee bit jet lagged, but with all the walking I’m doing, I think I’ll be sleeping well tonight…

It’s 5:01AM in London, but already 1:01PM in KL. Woke up about half an hour ago and felt totally wide awake. Oh no… the first of my jet lag?

I’m typing this in the dark – didn’t want to turn on any lights in case I wake my friend Cheryl who’s still in dreamland. I can’t even see the keyboard, and typing this almost totally based on familiarity of where the keys are, ha-ha!

Ok, how is it so far? Well, it wasn’t all that cold to begin with when we landed. In fact we were able to walk around town with just a long-sleeved t-shirt and no jacket. Of course, it got colder at night, and it’s a little chilly outside right now I’m sure, but nice and toasty inside the unit.

I’m sure those who have been here would agree with me when I say… man, that was one long walk from Terminal 3 to baggage reclaim, and then to Underground! Quite a bit of crowd, but quickly dispersed after all luggage was collected.

At the immigration counter there was this young Indian chap who asked me the usual questions –
“Where are you from?”
“How long are you staying for?”
“Where are you visiting?”
“What nationality are your friends?”

He asked it in a polite tone so I didn’t feel like I was interrogated, which was a little different as to what my friend had experienced (the rude version). Then he went on to say that the shops are closed early these days, the Tower’s closed, I came in the wrong season, etc. And I went like “Huh? Really? That’s just my bad luck!”

Then came the half grin on his face… “I was only joking. Have a nice stay…”

Ahhh… was that the first Brit humour encounter? Heh. Not that funny, really. He got me, though.

Got to Cheryl’s place close to 6:00PM local time. Off-loaded all her stuff, rearranged some of the other things for friends, got mine sorted out a little as well. I still wasn’t feeling that tired despite it being 2:00AM in KL. Stayed up a bit more, ate a light dinner (by the way, plane food wasn’t too bad, had Crunch ice-cream!), had a shower…

Then 9:30PM rolled around, my eyelids started closing. I hit the sack a little after that.

Now I’m awake lah… Heheh. Checked who’s online but didn’t want to chat just yet. The KL gang’s all awake but out for lunch. Maybe will say hello a bit later.

Ok… time to check my mail…

5:25AM London local time

“Malaysia Airlines flight MH4 to London is now ready for boarding…“

Did I say something wrong?
I’m sorry. It’s hard to know what to say sometimes when you don’t say anything in return. I didn’t mean to sound patronizing. Only wanted to help where I could, to give suggestions or to seek ways in cheering you up and making you feel better.

Did I do something bad?
I’m sorry. I didn’t realise my actions would’ve made you turn the other way or made you annoyed. I apologise for giving you reasons to avoid me. I had no intention of trying to run your life or fix your problems. Just wanted to be there for you.

Am I being paranoid?
I’m sorry. I could only do so much to control my emotions based on guesswork. I can’t read minds, much as I’d like to so I won’t fumble and say or do the wrong things. Forgive me if I seemed a little off when I felt emotionally drained and worried, wondering if you’re ok.

Was I meant to be your chew toy?
I’m sorry. It didn’t dawn on me that I was only there to help pass the time away when you needed a distraction. Thought I’d mattered a little in your life no matter when, even on your busiest of days. My fault for letting my hopes and assumptions cause me this misfortune.

It takes 2 to communicate.
To bond.
To share.

I’m sorry, I didn’t realise I was doing it alone.

Our boss had graciously treated us to dinner last night at a Shanghainese restaurant, called “Xin Shanghai Jiu Jia” (“新上海酒家”) on Jalan Sultan Ismail, KL. The food was absolutely delicious, very unique as you don’t get it in a typical Chinese restaurant around town which serves predominantly Cantonese-style cooking.

You could guess the feeling after eating to the heart’s (and stomach’s) content – overfed, bloated, and if I were a stuffed toy I’d be bursting at my seams. Felt guilty and decided to wake up a little earlier this morning and hit the gym, since I’d already missed yesterday morning’s run.

But oh… the agony of it… I could hardly do any more than 20 minutes on the mill. Usually I’d run 2km at a pretty fast pace before I feel a slight tug to slow down, but today even reaching 1.5km was a killer. Shites. Gotta take it easy on the wine the next time.

Which comes to one of the things I’d intended to write on this post. What not to do when on holiday in the next couple of weeks? There are lots of no-no’s I can think of, but these are the (almost) ridiculous ones which I need to refrain from doing:

No-No #1: I will not go to the gym.
I know, it’s such a lame thing to do, but I usually have this urge to exercise at least once a week otherwise I’d feel like such a pig. It’s like a weekly does of adrenaline to keep the batteries charged. Makes it even more tempting to check out the gyms since I do have quite a number of days there, and it’s hard not to want to check out the local gym scene in hopes of seeing some toned, good-looking dudes (hmmm… it’ll just be my (bad) luck if they’re gay…). Ok, ok… maybe a passing visit to check out the blokes…

No-No #2: I will not watch re-runs on TV when jet-lagged at night.
It would be morning here when it’s past midnight there. I’ve been told that X-Files (ah, Mulder… long time no see) is on when most of the nation’s in a comatose state. Appealing as that might be, I will have to find other means of entertainment and not lie in bed in hopes that my eyes would close and my brain switches to hibernation mode. In fact… make that “I will not watch re-runs on TV”, period. There’s gotta be something better for me to do than to sit at home and sulk in rainy weather.

No-no #3: I will not speak with a fake accent to my Malaysian friends who are there.
Gawd, slap me if I do, pleeeeaaase!!! However, I do ask for forgiveness in advance for having to speak the English “tone” when asking for directions, ordering food, etc for fear of them not understanding what lah means. I’ll take Hobo’s advice on Travel & Health, and try not to contract the Exaggerated English Pronunciation Disorder.

To off-set the no-no list, here’s my other “will (try to) do” list:

#1: Again referring to Hobo’s guide on Travel & Romance, I’ll attempt to speak to strangers. Or rather… I’ll try not to be afraid to engage in conversation with a cute dude if he decides to strike a conversation. How else am I going to find holiday romance while travelling, right? And I promise I won’t come home speaking with a fake accent (see above no-no #3).

#2: I’ll cover all the places based on the Monopoly game board (except Jail, for obvious reasons). Shouldn’t be too hard, eh? And I’ll take photos of it as proof! If my camera’s battery doesn’t die on me first, that is… or worse, run out of memory card space.

#3: Catch Stomp at the Vaudeville Theatre while I’m there. I missed it when they were touring here a month back, and hey it’s only £10 for the cheapest ticket. And not forgetting the chance of meeting another cute dude along the way…

So… any other suggestions for “no-no’s” or “should do’s”?