I love Knut!!!

That's K-noot to you.

I've decided that for my next pet, I want a baby polar bear. One that will refrain from becoming adult-sized and not rip my head off, thank you very much.

Who can resist Knut? He's so adorable! A big bundle of fluffy white joy with paws too large for his developing body. A cross between a hairy white baby and a puppy. Errrrm not the best of descriptions. He even has his own Wiki entry! (That's cos I wrote it) For those who are lucky enough to understand German, check out the this page. I now wish I could read German :(

He's the epitome of what a stuffed teddy bear should look like. I want to take him home.

Oh look! He's even on the cover of Vanity Fair! Awwwww.....

Acts of Random Silliness

Not much to harp on about this week.

In an act of pure silliness, Smee's shoe flew off his foot as he attempted to kick a stone from the ground. *Don't ask, I think it's a 'boy' thing.*

Shoes parting ways with feet is nothing too silly.

Shoes parting ways with feet as a result of a kicking action is quite silly and deserves a giggle.

Shoes flying off feet (he was wearing casual loafers), rising about 15 metres into the air and then landing inside a construction site is pure slapstick. Tee hee!

There were two choices really. Either hop back home and put on some new shoes OR climb over a rusty gate, injure your groin, trespass into private (and dangerous) property, navigate your way through a large ditch and find your dirt-covered shoe without wearing your spectacles. I would've taken the first option, Smee of course, opted for the latter. Here's the evidence:

I couldn't stop laughing.

All this trouble for a trip to Selfridges and some creme brulee. Mmm mmm mmmm. The reusable ceramic dishes will come in handy for chilli and soy. So asian.

From top to bottom: Raspberry, vanilla and cinnamon. The reverse on the next tray.... duh.

Madame Tussauds (London Version)

I have a bit of a 'thing' for Madame Tussauds. This London visit is my third time to the museum after two visits to the Hong Kong one. I guess this is as close I get to being a celebrity. Here are a few happy snaps:

Spot the Supermodel.

With the hometown hero, Kylie.


Me trying with look tough with Samuel L but instead looking retarded.


Smee doing a better job.


Posh and Becks.


Christina Aguilera is really small! Nice, pert buns.


Brad Pitt looked really gross and leathery. Some other sneaky tourist's hand around Angelina.


I can't stand Tom Cruise. What I really wanted to do here was punch the air, a la Oprah-style but that would've been a bit too embarrassing.


Johnny Depp's wax figure looked very realistic!


Smee-spidey.


Smee-hulky.


Yes, I can be THE Asian Buffy. I soooo want to be so. I think Buffy and I are the same dress size!


Smee giving Robin Williams a tip.


Eww, what is that ferret doing on Queen Elizabeth's arm?


Me and two princes. They're tall but not that tall (I'm not that short) but their wax figures were slightly elevated.


Smee demonstrating freedom of political opinion.


And now declaring his support for Nazi's.

Smee and I also took the 'Chamber Live' option whereby 'wax' figures come to life and scare the shit out of you. It did tweak the adrenaline strings but my lack of screaming was well-compensated for by Smee's yelps.

Madame Tussaud's real name.


How Madame began her work - making death masks of guillotine victims. Hmmmm savoury.


Death masks of Louis XVI on the far left and Marie Antoinette on the far right.

Even though the London wax museum was far better than the Hong Kong exhibition, we surprisingly we didn't stay longer than 1.5 hours. After wandering through the indoor maze, the exhibition ended with a lame planetarium animation about celebrities. Judging from the lack of photos, I guess this means I wont be heading back to the wax museum for a while.

Another thing that needed a big tick on the tourist list was a visit to Buckingham Palace. Well, I expected it to be not-so-big and yep, that was the case. It was a Sunday, so no changing of the guard and the weather was starting to turn windy and cold. Brrrrrr....

A Palace Guard.

Outside the palace.

Smee and I then had a wander through St. James Park (I love the Wiki!) where we felt at one with squirrels and ducks.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.... roast duck.

Here's my poo bum face after being forced to pose in the cold on the way home.

Never one to miss a food photo opportunity, here's our post Madame Tussaud's 'snack'.

Always room for dessert, here are some yummy mochi balls. Mochi balls are so nice to touch, just like a boob. Is £1.50 per mochi ball expensive? It sure doesn't sound cheap especially after it's converted to AU$3.75. Anyway whenever I get another mochi ball craving I will be returning to this store.

The Day Before Madame Tussauds

Smee promised to take me on date to Madame Tussauds and so the day prior to our planned venture, we took a trip to Leicester Square to pre-purchase our tickets. Hence the creatively titled blog entry.

Smee at a phone box. Dr Whoooo-oooh!

Me doing an excellent job of selling tickets.

Who's a happy ticket buyer?

A stop by Marks and Spencer brought us to the chocolate section where we were attacked by Easter-themed chocolates.

As a treat to finish the day, I gave myself a chocolate pudding. I felt sick after eating it.

Angelina's Latest Addition

How come I didn't know about this? Angelina Jolie adopted my cousin!!!

*sigh* All asians look the same.

Nacho Night

I'm a Nacho Bitch. We had a hankering for nachos. It doesn't look all that appetising but that's not the point. Nacho craving - over.

Camden and Portobello Markets

To market, to market to buy a fat pig.... well not really, but there was a market (or two) involved. Not of the pig selling variety though. Baoey, Mona and I decided that yesterday was THE day to go to the Camden and Portobello markets.

If anyone wants to kill a food craving, just ask Bao. She will make sure you never crave it again. Her specialties include nutella and banana crepes, rice paper rolls and sushi rolls.

Here's Baoey cooking up a crepe storm in her kitchen


Bananas and nutella up close.


And now a not so close up shot.

I ate two and felt sick. Not to say they didn't taste nice, but it was far too much for breakfast. Bao insisted she would have three but forced Mona to finish her food instead. Hehehe

Ummm, I did say we went to the Camden market but there is no photographic evidence. Camden is a bit of an alternative area, with many pierced punks and goths wandering the streets. A lot of character here. I should've taken some photos but didn't feel like the touristy bit today. Whether this is true or not, I was told that it is common for ppl to come up and offer to take your photo (with your own camera of course) and once they are about to hand back your camera, they'll ask for money. No doubt I will risk this when I return for more visits.

Market-wise, it was full of knick knacks, but after a while all the shops looked the same - either that or I wasn't looking hard enough. Plenty of cheap food too in the most unhygienic open air conditions. Given the relative difficulty of finding a toilet in London, we wisely stayed clear of any tidbits.

Next was the famous Portobello Markets, nestled in Notting Hill, a lovely area with *charming* pastel coloured townhouses. I wanna live in one!!!

Some of the townhouses.


Oh look, George Orwell lived here - author of "Nineteen-Eighty-Four". The copy of Animal Farm I read was illustrated :D


More townhouses. How quaint.


The beginning of the markets.


Who's a happy tourist???


Bao and I are the co-founders for the North Face Puffa Jackets Club. Anyone want to join? Membership is free. Genuine friendship appreciated.


Hai Mooey, I took this photo for you. I don't know what they sold inside.

After bypassing all the antiques, we found all the funky clothes stores and tried on a few bits and pieces here and there. No purchases worth mentioning here though. I do have to keep an eye on my quids. Anyway, we ended up back on Oxford st of all places and making purchases in Zara instead.

Oh yes, and the sun is finally shining in London. No more darkness at 3-4pm - the sun doesn't set until 5-6ish now!! Yay! Blue skies!!! It was 16 degrees the other day. I nearly broke out in a tshirt.

Friday Night at the Big Chill

No photos for tonight. Poo bum.

Smee, Bao, Mona and I brought our ABC magic to a BBC gathering. That's the lame-o acronym for Australian Born Chinese (ok so technically we're not all Chinese but we look it, ok?) and British Born Chinese for the unaquainted.

Drinks were for some BBC guy's 30th (at the Big Chill House near King's Cross. While I was mildly impressed with the 'cool' font they used on their website, the actual place was nothing particularly special. I guess it is a bit silly to set one's expectation on the basis of a font anyway. Why does everything seem to remind me of Bimbo Deluxe? I think it's the couches.

Anyway, I was not going to blog about this uneventful event, except that it was slightly eventful. But I won't bother to go into details in case someone gets embarrassed. Aaaaah so mysterious, I am.

Oh and yes, we finally found some passable Viet food. The reviews aren't all that convincing and deservedly so, but I haven't had pho in so long that I was willing to overlook the rehydrated-almost-stiff rice noodles. For some reason they didn't have the Special Beef I wanted so dearly, thus I settled for the rare beef, flank and tripe instead. Brisket, beef balls, tendons and extra onion helpings would've been a lovely addition. I do give them credit for having proper thai basil and fresh beanshoots. Baoey had the Bun Bo Hue and I have to say, her dish was much better than mine. She was so happy to have Cha Lua!!! Next time I go back, I'm gonna have her noodles.

Two Lonely Circle Girls

Wow... the Circle girls population in London has HALVED with the departure of Lil Miss J back home and Leesh over to Malaysia. Maybe we should become more social and get some British friends?? Our lack of company did not deter Bao and I from having a girls night out, albeit just the two of us and that we were meeting up with Bao's friend, K from Melbourne.

Our original plan of having tapas near Bao's place was destroyed when we saw how crowded the restaurant was and given that we didn't have a reservation, tried our luck at an underground wine bar near Charing Cross. Well that was over crowded too and so off we trotted to a bar (can't recall the name - abakech? atlasech? I dunno) for a few glasses of red.

The wine induced some pidgin Vietnamese amongst us and even K's housemate, despite being Caucasian joined in. It helps to have Nip friends in high school. Hardy ha ha, happy giggles all around. Poor Mona, who joined us later was unable to appreciate the silly Viet jokes. Obviously we were all starving and hamburgers were on our brains.

A few shots from Gourmet Burger Kitchen, a chain started by a Kiwi. No complaints (their chips with the smoked chili mayo is yum!!) but I do long for a souvlaki sometimes......

Yeah, everyone has seen one of these before but I had to take a photo anyway.


Mona's Kiwiburger. Very Aussie Burger actually.


Oh here's the drunk (alright just tipsy) punk Bao.


Bao eating her Bao. How cannibalistic.


My Han Bao Bao. In hindsight, the fatty bacon makes it looks quite gross. But after having a few glasses of wine, this certainly tastes great.


Bao Bao - Supermodel

Yep, she's got the bulimia trick down pat.

No night out is complete without a boob grope.