london: amazing weekend trip - day 2
second day started slow. we only woke up at 9 am and immediately have shower and packed our stuff. we have to get out as soon as possible since there are few places on our list need to be visited. all along the road from our hostel to the station, there were hell lot of souvenir shops there and yeah, we got crazy at baywaters. and, who can say no to some english breakfast? dont ask me what i have.
english breakfast tea
where to babe?
the escalator that bring you deeper underground
after some breakfast, we drag our feet to queensway station and bought another travelcard. we knew that we wont be travelling around so much since we have so limited time but who cares. the stairs that leading down to the platform was so steep. usually they have this kind of escalator but probably it was only small station so they only have elavator or stairs. and we stupidly choose to use the staircase. the first spot on our list was buckingham palace. yeah i know. typical eh? but hell care! we went for a walk at the park nearby the palace, enjoying the greeneries and the sunshine. killing times for sure. and the next thing we knew was we went rushing off to the tube station to get something for our friend somewhere in arsenal. and rushing back to st pancreas for our 4pm train and spending all our coins buying chocolates, water and magazines. we reached brussels at 7 and felt like want to tear off our feet and walk with our hands. by the way, i left you with some photos for you to envy with owkayyy! :)
the signs
memorials for those who died in the countries listed?
i totally dont know how to be photogenic, am i?
the trees without me? yeah...
the famous palace?
we missed this ceremony. but who cares, we have whole morning yesterday to watch some horse arses at whitehall
i am tired and i want to go home!
:)
london: amazing weekend trip - day 1
2 minggu sebelum gua sampai ke belgium, gua dah sound member gua si zul supaya grab mana-mana tiket eurostar yang paling murah untuk 2 orang ke london. sebabnya, untuk belgium's training trip kali ni gua dan brenda dah nekad untuk cuba menjelajah london berdua sebagai aktiviti hujung minggu kami.
pagi tu, kol 4.30 pagi gua dah ketuk pintu studio brenda. mana taknya, train pukul 6.59am and we have to reach brussels midi at least around 6.15am sebab takut terlewat jadi macam-macam hal pulak. better early la kan kalau tak biasa. lepas prepare bekalan makanan lebih kurang, pukul 5 kami naik train ke brussels midi. perjalanan dari guesthouse ke train station memang mencabar. sejuk, sleepy, ramai orang mabuk (saturday night beb, what do you expect?). nasib baik takde yang bertindak extreme. and seriously, in leuven you will feel totally safe even when you walk alone. sampai je brussels zuid, kami terus check in. we need to fill up some form and answers some random questions that the officers asked about our trip and thats it, off to london we go!
the journey took us exactly 2 hours to reach st pancreas international station. sampai-sampai je sana, terus melangak cari kaunter tiket untuk tube (ala menatang lrt atau metro tu le). kami beli daily travel card untuk zone 1 and 2. most of tourist attraction ada dalam kedua-dua zone tu dan hostel yang kami book pun ada dalam area tu. sangat convinient.
dapat travel card, terus pegi hostel and check in. hostel yang kami book ni, antara yang termurah dalam hostelworld.com. gua takut juga kalau-kalau jadi macam cerita hostel, tapi Alhamdulillah semuanya baik. lepas settlekan bil untuk one night accomodation, kami pun naik la tengok tempat tido kami dengan niat nak simpan barang-barang dulu. masuk-masuk je dalam dorm tu, pergh! sepah dia bukan main. ada 2 bunk bed, tapi 2 katil untuk kami tu penuh dengan baju. siapa tak mengamuk. lepas deal ngan budak yang punya baju, dia pun cakap la by the time kitowang balik nanti dia dah kemas bilik tu. kitowang pun dengan gembira letak barang dan memulakan penjelajahan kami.
big ben
nasib baik kitowang dah buat list malam semalamnya apa yang kitowang nak tengok hari ni. so, the list started with whatever spots that located near the westminster underground station. keluar-keluar dari perut bumi jer, big ben dah terpacak kat sebelah. for your information, Big Ben is part of the Palace of Westminster originally started in 1020. the palace was burnt down in 1834, so the Gothic architecture you see today is comparatively recent. the palace houses both of the the UK's ruling bodies, the Houses of Parliament and the House of Lords. dari westminster bridge tu, kita dah boleh tengok london eye. kami tak naik, tak mau buang masa.
view from the bridge
brenda main talipon, dia kata booth tu bau kencing
dari westminster bridge kami terus ke arah whitehall. dalam perjalanan tu, kami melalui Cenotaph, salah sebuah monumen perang yang terdapat di London. Di sebelah kiri kami pula adalah Downing Street. This is where Houses of Parliament with other government agencies are located and this is where the Prime Minister of Britain lives and works at number 10, with his chancellor responsible for finance next door in number 11.
gambar takde motif
cenotaph
monument for women of world war 2
as we past more government buildings including the Cabinet Office until we reached Horseguards. its so easy to spot because there will be invariably a crowd around the entrance, where two costumed soldiers on horseback offer a premier picture opportunity. hehe! according to our reading, many people find this location much more satisfying than the more famous Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. here crowds are much, much smaller and you are much closer and get uninterupted close up pictures. seriously, we can nearly kiss the horse's butts there!
the horseguard
the guard with horse?
the charade of horseguards
horse butts during changing guard ceremony
gua tengah mengopi
cam-whoring!
we then continued our journey after cuppa coffee to the famous Trafalgar Square. kat sini ada National Gallery. kami tak masuk pun, sekadar tumpang toilet je. lagipun, gua memang jahil seni. artwork project manager gua pun gua kata cantik walhal semua orang kata tah apa-apa je. mungkin kalau gua masuk gallery ni, gua boleh jadi gila.
this look so familiar, doesnt it look similar to a place near concorde in paris?
jom makan, meh!
mana semua merpati???
si gemuk di trafalgar square
bendera berkibar di angkasa!
the famous london cab!
nak dijadikan cerita, boleh pulak terserempak dengan budak sekolah lama aku. wah wah, dia dah kawin dan dah ada sowang baby. keciknya dunia...hehe! tapi gua rasa gua memang selalu kena macam tu. jumpa orang yang tak disangka-sangka di tempat yang juga tidak disangka-sangka.
sizuka dan anaknya, sizuki?
the picture above showing crowds waiting for the PM to go out. time tu escort dia semua dah ready. ado kami peduli? takdo.
next stop adalah The Tower of London dan Tower Bridge. keluar dari tube station tu je, dah ada banyak signboard dah yang menunjuk ke arah The Tower of London ni. for your info, The Tower of London is strategically placed to guard against possible enemies, most liable to approach London coming up the River Thames from the sea. kat sini juga anne boleyn kena pancung (kalau kowang tengok citer The Other Boleyn Girl la).
terowong ke arah tower of london
si anne yang cemburu
tower of london
bangunan yang macam telur kat belakang tu adalah bangunan The Gherkin owned by Swiss Re, second largest insurance company in the world. dan gambar kat bawah ni pula adalah garden yang mengelilingi Tower of London.
manakala Tower Bridge pula adalah jambatan yang dibina pada tahun 1894.we're not lucky i guesss, sebab during our visit bridge tu tak naik pun. bukan senang beb. kena tengok dia punya schedule juga. kat sini ada exhibition la. dia kasi kita jalan-jalan atas jambatan tu punya tower. tengok engine room. play with physics of the bridge dan macam-macam lagi. its worthy to go visit this exhibition sebab kalau compare pameran-pameran yang lain, boleh tahan juga mahalnya!
background: tower bridge
permandangan sungai thames yang keruh
dalam tower bridge
dari sini, kami buat handal jalan-jalan sendiri. konon-konon nak pegi london bridge by foot. actually memang boleh. tapi sebab map tu punya lah tak clear. kami pun sesat. mula-mula okay je. yelah petang sabtu kan. orang lain dok syiok tengok bola, kami macam orang gila cari jalan nak balik. lama-lama, tak jumpa juga masing-masing mula la nak marah je. kami amik keputusan untuk patah balik dan terus pegi picadilly circus. ah, tak payah cerita la apa kami buat kat sini. nak-nak lilywhite tengah sale, apa lagi. shopping le!
selesai, hari pun dah gelap. kaki dah kembang. perut dah lapar. sampai bayswater station, kami terus cari kedai makan orang morroco, belasah makan nasik lauk kari. bila balik hostel, bebudak dalam dorm takde (oh, ada coldplay dan elbow punya concert rupanya malam tu...) dan katil dah berkemas. lepas kemas lebih kurang, gua dan brenda pun dozed off. nyenyak betul tido ye.
pj: kaori
last week, we went to try this new japanese restaurant, kaori at phileo damansara 1 which is not so far from our office. the ambient of that restaurant is not so japanese and none of the waitress were actually wearing kimono. not to mention, there's no free flow of japanese tea accompanying our meal. err...i also wonder if japanese restaurant actually offer free flow of japanese tea. haha!
the door of this restaurant is one of the thing that make the place more or less like a secret hiding place for those who want to ran away from the typical environment of phileo damansara.
before serving you the meal that you order, they will also serve you some simple appetizer. ours was chicken dumpling that was so delicious with some mayonese. they have few lunch set that price is reasonable with the portion of food.
i order rice with japanese chicken curry. i was so anxious to know how the japanese curry would taste like. yeah, its not as spicy as ours but not bad at all. some colleagues ordered ramen and some other ordered sushi and most of them were satisfied with the portion and the taste.
Labels: food, phileo damansara, pj
brisik cafe - jaya one
few days back, i went out to berbuka with some collegues at brisik cafe (located at jaya one). i've been stalking this place since its opening day but never had a chance to try the food there. yeah, its because i live near jaya one (my new place to pig out!) so i think i need to try every place there! haha! so back to brisik cafe, it received pretty good review when i google it. most of the review is talking about their fruit juice that come together with asam boi as well some of items in their menu. they served not just local food but also pasta and grilled things. i have nasi goreng tom yam and its quite delicious too and it come with sambal goreng with minced anchovies as well as tapioca chips! i also tasted my friend's spaghetti seafood which is also nice with lots of seafood. but of course the portion cannot beat those at williams. :P other items that we tried were seafood 2 musim (plain rice that come with special sambal and bowl of seafood and veggies) and chicken black pepper. all of them are quite spicy but the taste is just nice. :) absolutely worth of trying. the place is also very cosy and you can come just to relax after a long tiring day.
brisik cafe waiting area
table decoration...quite nice!
our table..waiting for the food and the time..:)
s.e and a.e ladies from materialise software development division! two of us from 3-matic team while the rest are from CMF team. 
the ambience inside the cafe
the food: nasi goreng tom yam
the food: seafood 2 musimLabels: food, pj
