2 months on

Funny, this thing they call time. I’ve been overseas for over 2 months now, it feels like it’s been a long long time since I left Sydney airport, yet I can remember V and I at the airport sharp and clear like it’s yesterday and yet it has only been 2 out of 9 months. I miss Sydney very much, I just really didn’t think I’d miss it as much as I do.

London on the other hand, I’m slowly discovering bit by bit and I’ll have to admit, I’m slowly falling in love with the place bit by bit. It’s sometimes chaotic, often eccentric, and always energetic, which makes the perfect brew for me. Just now I took a walk to Primrose Hill after dinner, a nice warm evening with a nice slow stroll, a few photos, a nice sunset, topped off with a cone of Italian toffee ice cream from a 75 years old shop How could I not enjoy the place.

I do often forget I’m in London though, I may have mentioned this before but the place is so damn similar to Sydney. However earlier in the week I couldn’t have had a stronger reminder. I’ve been working at a small digital agency in London Bridge, at lunch, I got my salad, was about to sit down and eat when a few colleagues spotted me asked me to join them to go and eat on the grass. It was a sunny hot day, we walked between 2 big office buildings and low and behold the grass looks right onto at the London Bridge. Sure I’d seen it from the distance before but I hadn’t seen it up close yet and there I am, eating my lunch while looking at London Bridge! I find myself having surreal moments like that.

Enough of that, let me give you a low down on some of my recent food adventures.

Photos by Yasinta

On my brithday, Jady, Yasinta and I descended onto Taste London Festival and gorged on many many things. It was a huge event for me as I had my first ever truffle and foie gras, unfortunately both were underwhelming. One of my highlights was a cold pea and broad bean soup with almond bread from Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester. Reading their menu, it sounds quite safe and lacklustre but since I can’t actually afford to eat at the Dorchester any time soon and that I can’t possibly pass on tasting an Alain Ducasse creation, I decided to try the soup. It was refreshing, summery, tasty and just simply great.

Another highlight was ash baked celeriac from I can’t remember where… but it was amazingly tasty! Who knew the humble celeriac could be so damn yummy. We also found out that 3 girls ordering 1 single portion meant we got extra large portions! hehehehehehehe muahahahahahahahaha

Last weekend I went to St John at Spitafields for dinner with Sissi and David. I honestly haven’t been this stuffed in a long time, except for the several occasions I at Norman and Joyce’s of course. The spitafield restaurant adopts the same nose to tail eating idea, but the menu had much more than pork. We ate venison, ox heart, lamb breast, quail, fish roe and pig skin, that’s just the meat stuff. It was all delicious. I could barely fit in some peach jelly as dessert, my dessert stomach had almost entirely been used by the savoury stuff. Those who know me will know, that almost never happens, there is always room for dessert. But nonetheless by the end it took us forever to eat our desserts and I had to sigh an awful lot, because I was so full, have to say, sighing doesn’t make room in the stomach.

Note: I just checked the Dorchester website, I can actually afford to eat a 3 course lunch there, hmm, now now, who wants to go with me?!

Turkey – Part 2

First of all I have to warn you that this is setting out to be the longest blog post of all human history, I have a whopping 40 photos to share with you, many stories and antidotes too. So go get yourselves a cup of tea, some cookies and settle down for a nice long scroll.

Previously Jady and I visited many strange landscapes in Cappadocia, tanned ourselves in Fethiye and after the last 1 of 3 overnight bus journeys, we made it back to Istanbul in 1 piece.

Day 6

We somehow arrived at our hostel, after getting a mini bus, a tram, walking and a map of Istanbul in German… We dropped off the bags and headed out to see some of the most famous sights of the city.

Lunch was kebaps with tea.

First stop is Aya Sofya, also spelt as Haiga Sophia, meaning holly wisdom. Aya Sofya was first a basilica, then a mosque and now a museum, there have been 3 Aya Sofya built, the current one standing is the 3rd one, finished around December 537. Excavations have revealed remains of the previous 2 Aya Sofya under the current one and since it was converted to a mosque, almost all of the interior had been plastered over several times during different periods. Much of what we see today were once under plaster. Aya Sofya had been and still is under much needed restoration, when we went, a few sections were covered with scaffolding.

Above the altar

The main dome, Jady counted about 17 stories of scaffolding! So much work just to get to the top and the work hasn’t even started yet.

Intricate details

Layers, plaster with mosaics poking out below

The most famous mosaics of Aya Sofya, much of the mosaics have now fallen off.

Exterior of Aya Sofya

After that stroll, I felt like I needed a good scrub, after much contemplation since this 300 years old Turkish bath isn’t cheap, I decided to take the plunge, while Jady headed back to the hostel for a nap. So I paid, I headed in, they handed me a towel, pointed me to an individual change room and told me to strip off and put on the towel. So I did but left on my undies, locked the door to my change room and walked out in my wooden clogs and was like “where do I go?” I was pointed into the hamam, an older lady told me to sit down at one of the wash stations, gave me to little metal bowl and motioned to me to pour water over myself. That I did for about 20 minutes in the hot sauna like room. Now the room is beautiful, the floor is all marble, the main dome contains many small skylights with more smaller domes around it above the many wash stations. In the middle is a big marble slab where you get scrubbed and massaged. So 20 minutes later, my older lady appeared again and led me to the center slab and scrubbed me! Gosh I never knew I had so much dead skin… Then was the oil massage, then back to the wash station where she wash my hair and generated mountains of foam in the process. When I was rinsed clean and told to sit there a while longer to enjoy my new cleanliness, Jady arrived! She couldn’t fall asleep and decided to have a proper scrub after all.

Obviously I couldn’t take photos inside the hamam, so here are some photos of semi naked Kate Moss in this very hamam.

After feeling so fresh and so clean we headed across the bridge to Beyoglu in search of dinner. Beyoglu is the modern trendy part of the town, clustered with Turkish style tapas restaurants, bars and clubs.

Main strip of Beyoglu

Day 7

In the morning we headed to the Topkapi Palace where many Sultans resided. It also contains many artefacts close to Muslims hearts, like the cane of Moses, beard of Prophet Muhammad, sections of Kabba’s door from Mecca etc. I found the palace a bit small and definitely not as grand as I had expected, comparing to Beijing’s Foridden Palace, but nontheless it is very different and very interesting.

The baroque styled decoration added on in later periods are quite curious

Inscriptions as you enter the Harem, the inner court where the sultan’s mother, wives and children resided

Harem courtyard

Palace entrance

After much sightseeing a nutrious lunch was needed, we had some very tasty Turkish meatballs (don’t ask me why they aren’t round), pickled peppers, beans salad, bread and ayran, a yoghurt drink that’s slighty savoury.

After lunch we visited the grand bazaar, I was expecting so much more but was very much let down in the end, I thought I’d be trigger snappy happy but it didn’t happen. The bazaar now is so geared towards tourists, selling most things that are made in china, hassling you in every language conceivable, it doesn’t have much charm for me.

After lots of walking in the bazaar what we needed is to sit down, have some tea and relax and we did just that. We tried a strawberry Turkish water pipe. Jady had tried it in Camden, but didn’t think much of it, but one of the guys we met in Goreme said the stuff in Istanbul is good. Indeed a few consecutive big puffs will get you positively mellow and light headed. This courtyard tea house is fantastic and gets quite busy at night, most customers are male with a sprinkle of women and a sprinkle of tourists. Waiters walk over and puts on fresh charcoal for the pipe, trays of tea, you just plop down on your seat and get comfortable, everything will come to you.

We were both amazed at how much smoke our lungs could handle

After much smoking, we felt a little peckish, so I went and hunted down a few pieces of baklava and turkish delights, since the tea house doesn’t serve anything other than none alcoholic drinks and water pipes. I believe at this stage, the turkish delights had already been demolished. The turks eat tons of baklava, while I can only eat 2 or 3 small pieces in 1 sitting washed down with plenty of tea, they will easily scoff down 4+ pieces in a few minutes flat. I got light heartedly made fun of while purchasing these baklava because I was buying so little, but I am little, I eat little… sometimes… u___u

After exiting the tea house because I wasn’t feeling so well, Jady and I got hit up by 2 Turkish guys. 1 said he lived and worked in Japan, doing exports, later on he said he lived in Istanbul. Shifty. Initially I adopted the don’t look, don’t answer approach, but Jady perhaps intrigued by the dude’s fluent Japanese asked him questions! Why Jady, why! Any man chatting you up on the street has only 1 intention, no matter where in the world… Anywho, we ended up walking with them to the Blue Mosque and sat out front chatting for a while. The dude’s friend’s name was apparently smile in Turkish and spoke not too bad Mandarin, including a bit of slang but maintains he’s never been to China and learnt by himself… When we refused their offer to go to Takism for a drink several times and got up to go into the mosque, we were given a quick wave and off they dissappeared into the crowd.

Inner courtyard of the Blue Mosque

By the time we entered the mosque it was about 8.30pm, in between pray sessions, we avoided the tourist groups, we almost had the space to ourselves, it was beautiful, peaceful and serene. We sat down on the carpet inside and just admired it for a while. Everyone has to removed their shoes and wear skirt or trousers covering their knees upon entering the mosque and women have to wear a headscarf, covering most of their hair and their neck. They have big pieces of fabric outside you can borrow for those skimpy dressed tourists.

And guess what when we left the mosque! Jady spotted Smile, one of the dudes that tried to pick us up, he was sporting 2 other Asian girls and was getting a photo take with one of them… Serial pick up!

Jady spotted this group of girls all wearing very colourful headscarves, she wanted a photo, so I suggested we sit down on the benches next to them so she can sneak a few shots in. After a little while, one of the girls in the group came over and offered us some sunflower seeds as they were all eating them and chatting away. Eventually we asked for a photo and they gladly obliged with the biggest smiles. They invited us to sit with them and we conversed in broken bits of English. They are all university students, meeting up for a prayer at the Blue Mosque. Bright, young and curious, they asked us where we are from, what we did and how we liked Istanbul. It was very lovely. Moments like this you realise what traveling is all about, seeing the place and meeting its genuine people, sharing some sunflower seeds, such a simple moment, yet one I hope to remember to tell my grandchildren about.

Blue Mosque at night

Aya Sofya at night

After a nap back at the hostel, we went to look for dinner. And look what we found, a boat on the side of the harbour next to the bridge, selling fish sandwhiches. Jady was sold the moment she saw those little plastic tables and stools, they reminded her of China. It was a balmy night and the smell of grilled fresh fish filled the air and we sat down to munch on our sandwhiches. At 7 lira for 2 sandwhiches it was one of the cheapest meals we had in Turkey.

A big family all sat down to eat at the table next to us, they were curious about us, we were curious about them, I took this photo of them where they happily posed. Then their dad said something to the girls we didn’t understand, but 1 by 1, 3 of the adorable girls came over and each gave Jady and I a hug. So sweet!

When we were done eating I gathered up the courage and asked the sandwhich seller for a photo, I was hesitant as he seemed grumpy, but a big cheesy grin broke out when I asked, he took the cigi out but I motioned for him to keep smoking. The guys on the boat spotted the photo taking and all of a sudden the serious mundaneness of flipping fish and filling sandwhiches stopped as they all bantered and laughed

Day 8

We explored the Spice Bazaar, also known as the Egyptian Bazaar, much like the Grand Bazaar, it is also very cleaned up, but since it’s mostly edible items, I have a higher tolerance level for all the hassling. I ended buying a big bag of sweets.

Accidently we stumbled into the maze like market streets between the Spice and the Grand Bazaar, where the Turks haggled and shopped. The stores sold anything from socks, to headscarves, genuine fake goods, crazy wedding dresses and anything in between. We spent a good few hours wondering up and down the little alleys. This was the most authentic part of Istanbul I saw, everything else to me were “meh”, not much special, but these streets where no one hassled us, I did get a little trigger snappy happy.

Guy selling mini hand held sewing machines

Jady contemplating her wedding outfit choices, will it be the green, purple, red, silver, pink or yellow? Oh lordy, choices!

After all that walking and sweets buying and trying to send them in the central post office, we felt we owe ourselves some tea and resting time. Guess what, our feet took us back to that tea house! Hohoho! This time we knew how it worked, we knew to change the coals regularly, to tap the top to get the dust off so you don’t inhale it, to order tea and water as the waiters come by. Though the effects this time round were much less than the day before, boo!

We killed so much charcoal

Day 9

Back on the plane to London.

Now now, it took me a whole day to write this post, I started around 11am and it’s now nearly 5pm… sure I did some scanning and had lunch inbetween, but still!

To end this crazy long post I’d like to share my favourite “Turglish” phrase that was said to me during my 9 days there, “Hello, hi, where are you going? Your shoes, they are walking!”

Turkey – Part 1

Turkey for me conjures up this exotic image, a diverse land with such diverse history, culture and people. Yet Jady and I became the exotic this vast land, we got stared at constantly… Never knew I had such people stopping star power!

Day 1

It took us a good few hours after we landed in Istanbul to get around, first we went to the train station, according to my research there’s an overnight train from there to Ankara, then a bus from there to Cappadocia, our destination. The information people at the station were quite confusing, then we found out there were no more trains to Ankara that day, or the tickets were sold out. So the next option is a direct bus, much less comfortable than a sleeper train, but it’ll get us there, which at that point, is all we wanted. We made our even more confusing way to the otogar (bus depot), the otogar at Istanbul is the mother of all bus depots, with a few hundred shops all hassling you, selling tickets and running buses nonestop, it’s a wonder how the place even stays organised. After asking 2 shops, we found there’s only 1 company in the whole depot that runs buses to Cappadocia, we headed there, got our tickets and had our first kebap while counting down the hours to our first of 3 overnight bus journeys. The kebap was crap, Sydney kebabs are much better…

Day 2

The bus surprisngly enough didn’t contain much tourists, the passengers were mostly Turks. After 11 hours of involuntary head bobbing and swaying we finally arrived in Cappadocia, changed to a mini bus and got to Goreme. The overnight buses in Turkey are mostly excellent, an attendant brings water ever few hours, tea, coffee and cake are offered either at the beginning of the trip or at the end, frequent toilet/smoke stops keeps the passengers sane through the night.

The strange landscapes at Cappadocia

After we decided on the hostel, we freshened up and headed to a tour of some of the local sights. For your information, Cappadocia means beautiful horse country, yes really. Cappadocia is surrounded by 3 mountains that were once upon a time active volcanos, each erupted at different times, thousands of years of rain washing away the different layers of rocks and made the landscape that we see today.

First stop on the tour is the Derinkuyu underground city, with 8 levels of nooks and crannies, how people carved these out is mind boggling. Derinkuyu was used by early Christains as a shelter during war and raids, with wells, air vents, horse stables, kitchenes, churches, school, graves and traps for enemies, it certainly is a city.

Next was the Ihlara Valley, cause by an earthquake, with a moutain water stream running the length of it, greenery all around and many cave churches to explore on the way, it was a pleasant 4km walk.

Last stop was the Selime Monastery, where one of the original star wars was filmed, it certainly felt like an alien landscape. There’s a shot of Jady for size comparison, the place is huge! 6 levels all up, we got to the 4th level, so many nooks and crannies to explore, you take a slightly different path and all of a sudden you pop out on a different level at a different side. There are not much stairs, most just curved paths, getting up is easy, getting down is the hard part. This place is one of my highlights of the whole trip, I wish I had more time to explore it.

Day 3

We explored the Goreme open air museum on day 3, pricey and over rated I’d say. Nonetheless, if you’ve already made your way here you might as well go and have a look. The open air museum have tourist groups by the bus load, thanks to it’s central location and having many stairs and railings put in for them boring middle aged tourists, it does lose its charm. Though the best frescos I saw were here, if you are into that kind of thing.

We then bumped into a few guys we met in the hostel in the morning and a few more from the Day 2 tour group, so we all had a nice walk in the Zemi Valley, much fun was had by all. Pictured are Bree, Max, Martin and moi.

And then we had to catch another overnight bus to the Mediteranean Coast, to Fethiye. Here’s Jady getting a bite of gozleme while waiting for the bus, somehow it didn’t occur to her to fold down the paper, perhaps she was just really hungry :p

This bus journey was crazy! These Turks are crazy I tell you! We booked our tickets through the hostel and there were stuff ups as the bus ended up being 1 seat short and we the only tourists on board copped it. We had to change seats 3 times during the night and when more people came on, we were 1 seat short, Jady and I took turns sitting in the attendant’s seat. Next to the attendant’s seat is a storage box right at my head’s height, when I’m alseep on the bus/train/car, my head sways in many directions, so sadly I konked my head on the box literally at least 5 times… My IQ has gone down by 10 points since… Pre seating and head konking saga, when the bus stopped at a servo for people to freshen up, we witnessed stories we’d only heard about. I was outside at the luggage compartment getting something from my bag when all of a sudden a guy ran across the servo with another guy in a black shirt chasing him, the black shirt guy even threw this mental thing at him. I got back on the bus as police cars turn up and all of a sudden, our attendant was getting hit by some guy, I didn’t see much, had no idea what’s going on, but heck, it was fun to speculate. About 30 minutes later, the bus rolled on as if nothing happened.

Day 4 & 5

Our umbrella is the one on the right, that’s Jady under it, correction, that’s me under it.

Day 4 and 5 were spent on the sunny and warm coast town of Fethiye taking on almost identical routines for both days. We would have breakfast at the hostel, grab our beach gears, go buy some bread, sardines, cucumbers, tomatoes and snacks for lunch, then hop on a bus to Oludeniz. Hire an umbrella, go for a dip and settle down to work on our tans. Unfortunate for Jady, I tan very easily and very fast, so on Day 5 I spent the whole day under the umbrella so she can catch up.

Oludeniz is a popular spot for paragliding, it’s very cool to see a sky full of them and some of them land right on the beach. After lunch, we’ll take another dip and when it gets a bit too hot, we’ll go and get some Turkish ice creams. Those Turkish ice cream! They are like mashmallow but in ice cream form, yummy!

Me posing with big fishes! Check out my DIY dress, it’s just a big square scarf tied at the back

On both days we had dinner at the Fethiye fish market. In the center are about 6 or 7 stalls selling fresh seafood, you buy what you like and take it to one of the restaurants in the market where they’ll cook everything for you, provide salad and bread for 5 lira a head. Tasty! Here’s Jady looking very happy with our spread of food.

Then onto our 3rd and final overnight bus journey back to Istanbul. Part 2 to come tomorrow.

00:16

I can’t sleep, so I lay in bed thinking, day dreaming, except it’s night dreaming, but it’s not night dreaming. Anyway, I think I come up with the best ideas in these delirious moments. So I have decided that I will continue with my photography portfolio while here in London, put something together and take it myself to Italy, to Fabrica.

I am here afterall, a train ride away to Venice, I will take my work there, I will sit and wait in the lobby til Enrico Bossan looks at my portfolio, even if it takes days of waiting. I think that’s a pretty Italian way of doing things, don’t you?

Yep, decided, done.

Now, better get my ass together and get the camera clicking.

What I’ve been upto recently

You know my week 5 in London is nearly over, incredible how fast time has gone by. It felt like yesterday when I got out of airport and straight onto the tube. And now I navigate the tube like it’s my second home. Buses are cheaper though and they have aircon! Such luxuries!

So what have I been upto lately? This is what:

I swang by Selfridges and checked out this thing they call consumerism. Good god things aren’t cheap there and people are buying them up! What recession?

I decided I like this particular bit in the Green Park tube station. It’s very matrix like.

I went to the British Museum, twice! And I still didn’t manage to see everything. It’s huge, it’s crammed full of things from all over the world. How many of them got to Britain is very questionable, but hmm, I get to see them for free, I suppose I should be grateful.

The great hall is very impressive, especially at first sight. Did you know it’s the largest covered outdoor space in the world… or something like that.

It was amazing to see ancient Egyptian with my own eyes, it’s something I’ve seen on TV so so many times, it’s used over and over in popular culture, yet this was the first time I saw the real things.

Not far from the British Museum in Soho is now my favourite place in London. It’s call Princi, it’s an Italian bakery/cafe that serves the most amazing cakes. I’ve been going back a few too many times, somehow I always make up excuses, “Oh I’m peckish, oh Soho is only 5 hours walk from here!” “If I walk all the way then I can eat a whole cake and have coffee too!” So the female logic goes.

This strawberry mille fuille was amazing! The cream fresh and light, the sponge fluffy, the filo layers crispy, the strawberries incredibly soft, as if they’ve been cooked. I can also state that the passionfruit cheesecake is delicious as if the cannonici.

I saw some random dude in a big plastic ball.

I finally went to the photographers gallery, it ain’t too bad.

I went to St Paul’s Cathedral, it’s big, it’s impressive from an architectual point of view, but those aren’t going to convert me from the cult of flickr.

You aren’t supposed to take photos inside, but what the heck, rules are meant to be broken. If I’ve paid bloody £11 to get in, I want to take photos! The whipsering gallery near the dome there is quite impressive. I sat there for a little while and the voices of other really gets carried across, but the sound gets distorted, so it does sound a bit ghostly and scary.

View from nearly the top of St Paul’s. That’s the Thames! And that’s Millenium Bridge across it, behind the bridge is Tate with the tall chimney.

I’ve walked across the once wobbly Millenium Bridge, actually when you stand very still on it you feel the strong vibrations, it was a windy day though.

That’s all for today. I’m going to stay with Sissi for a little while since Yasinta is coming back very soon. Then I’m off to the Turkey with Jady from the 9th June til about the 19th. I don’t think I’ll be updating the blog again til I’m back from Turkey. So please be patient with me. Because when I get back, not only will I have photos from Turkey, I’ll have access to Sissi’s scanner, which means I can finally show you all my photos from Portugal. Exciting!

Portugal

Apologies for the lack of updates. I told you this blogging thing is going to slow down, but mainly it’s because I’ve no photos to share with you. I shot Portugal entirely on film and all of it is still at the lab, well, I sure hope it’s not lost in transit or I’d be devastated! Anyhow so I’ll borrow some of Jady’s photos for now.

Porto was just lovely, hilly streets full of old houses, flower pots on the balconies, laundry hanging out to dry, full of charm this town. I went a little photo crazy, I was very snap happy, trigger finger, etc etc… You know it reminded me of studio ghibli movies, those perfect quaint European towns, reminded me of Porco Rosso or the town in the beginning of Howl’s Moving Castle. Aww I loved Porto!

We ate a sandwhich which was swimming in hot sauce, apparently a Porto specialty. It wasn’t so good, but maybe it’s an acquired taste. We ate tripe stew with beans, pigs ears with onion and coriander and chicken giblet stew. Those were just the weird things.

We also went port tasting!

Then we took a train and went to Lisbon! We took day trips to Sintra, Obidos and Evora, via buses. Where I rediscovered my talent for napping as soon as the bus pulls out the terminal and somehow waking up when the bus pulls into the destination… Jady was very jealous of my napping skills, yes sorry, I’m just talented, what can I say :p

Lisbon was ok… I liked Porto much much better, Porto was like the perfect concerntrated version of Portugal for me. Lisbon was big, commercial, more spread out, didn’t have the old town charm Porto did.

Sintra was nice and green, a little rainy on the day we went but the Moorish Castle and the Palace were both very pretty.

The Chapel of Bones was worth it alone for Evora in my opnion, it was very cool to see, chilling, gave me shivers at first and some deeper meaningful thoughts later, I’ll spare you those.

Obidos was our last day trip, it’s a very very small town. Touristy and pretty but a good trip nonetheless. It is completely walled in and Jady and I strolled from one end of the town to the other in about 15 – 20 minutes.

In Obidos we had the yummies liquor! It’s called Ginjinha, a sweet cherry liquor and Obidos is the highest quality producer of the stuff. We both got a shot of it in this tiny chocolate cup, too cute and Jady liked it so much she got a second one in a normal little glass.

That’s all for Portugal folks. Tune in soon about Turkey. Yes Turkey! Jady booked tickets for us already, we’ll be leaving on the 9th June, going for 9 or 10 days. But what do I wear? Women are supposed to cover the whole length of legs and uppder arms, hmm guess I’ll just have to go buy some suitable clothes huh!

LDN – Week 1 wrap up

1 week done, lots more to go.

Mixed feelings, hard to explain, just thoughts floating in my head unable to be organised. I think I came here subconsciously looking for something, what it is, I can’t explain. What I found so far is just a bigger, louder more populated version of Sydney, not that something I’m looking for. Yet I wonder why is it that I’m always subconsciously looking for something, something more, something missing, something that perhaps doesn’t even exist. Did someone say Gen Y? Hmm…

So while I try to figure this out, here are some previously unseen boring photos.

Me in the tube

Ferrari shop on Oxford

Laduree, I just walked past, someone go with me?

W+K

One for you advertising folks. I walked past there on Sat, spotted off Brick Lane somewhere. Don’t know who that guy is, he was just standing in front when I was taking a photo and looked happy to pose… One of these days I hope to go in there and get a job >___< I was tempted to get down and pray to the temple of W+K then and there.

Day 7

Photowalk with Kiem and the lovely Wendy whom I met for the first time. We mostly walked in circles round and round and round, big circles, small circles, maybe a few squares here and there, but mostly circles. Sorry I have no photos, but Kiem lent me his P6 so youse all have to wait for the film shots. We did have some 3 ways shoot outs! I also attempted some performance art on the floor of Tate Modern. Hahaha, it was fun day!

Day 8 + 9

I spent some quality time with my laptop, I’ve been staying home because I ain’t feeling so swell. (I’ve been watching Mad Men!) So conserve my energy, sleep, tea and water, get better for Wednesday. I’m feeling much better than yesterday already.

Now now, on Wednesday I am off to Portugal for 5 nights with Jady, woohoo! I think I need a fun break to revive my mental image of Europe and some peri peri chicken and porto wine should do the trick. So the big question, what photographic gear should I take? Right now I’m thinking the 5D, 1v and the 28mm, decisions decisions.

LDN – Day 4, 5 & 6

Coming upto a whole week now. I’m eating jelly bellies as I write this post, you know they sell them at Topshop here! Ok I’ll stop eating them now or I’ll be jumping up and down around bed time. The feeling of newness is starting to fade a little and the feeling of the distance is setting in. Today has been the worst so far, I was sitting in Hyde park eating lunch, a couple were also eating their lunch on a bench nearby, they were all lovey dovey. That kind of got to me and I really wished V was here with me. Seeing an old colleague yesterday probably didn’t help, we talked about Sydney, that conjured all sorts of memories that stuck with me today.

Anyhoo plenty more time for being sad. Now there’s reporting to do.

Day 4

V&A inner courtyard

What you looking at woman?! Never seen marble men before?

Shiny stuff on display

I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. That place is like a maze, with loads and loads of stuff to see. Most things are decorative arts with emphasis on the material and techniques of making the items. I spent a long looking at the jewllery gallery “Ooooh shiny, ooohhh look more shiny!”

Double deckers on Oxford St

After V&A I went Oxford St, I checked out some high street shops, overtook groups of girls and tourists and went into Topshop. Now this Topshop is the flagship store, meaning it’s HUGE! It has so much clothes, there’s no way you can go through all the items and there’s just as many girls to match. Seeing this Topshop has definitely given me some insights into why British girls dress the way they do, when given abundant choices of cheap clothes, well, you just put everything on, don’t you? Hah! Though I did see some Balenciaga rip offs that I liked very much o_O

After Topshop I went for an interview at a digital agency just off Oxford St. It’s a nice place. But alas my recruiter called me the next day and I didn’t get the gig. Reason being the project I interview for, the client has actually put a freeze on all advertising campaigns, so not only is the project on hold, they’ve had to let current freelancers go as well. I think I made a good impression and hope they’ll consider me if other projects come up.

28mm isn’t wide enough to contain everyone, a few more people at the meet but not in this

After all this I went to London Calling Photographers meetup. It was an evening of some serious discussions about photography, the theme was why we photograph, Eamon did a presentation on this, people agreed with him, disagreed with him, it sure was lively. I walked away with my mind boggling about photography, why I take photos, taking photos consciously or subconsicously. Head hurts!

As you can see, this day was full on. Hence the relatively quiet Day 5 and 6.

Day 5

I went back to the V&A to see the things I didn’t have time for on Day 4, I still didn’t get to see the Raphael cartoons, the section was closed off for maintenance, guess I’ll have to go again another time.

I was very stupid this day also! I forgot to bring a memory card with me and still had to carry around the camera all day. DOH!

After V&A, I went to Natural History Museum which was very close by. It’s a great place, though it seems the kids rush through exhibits uninterested while adults linger to take in all the facts and information, even though the whole place is designed with kids very much in mind. I didn’t get to see everything so I’ll be going back for sure.

Dinner was with an old colleague Sheloian, we worked together at RMG, he is now splitting his time between London and Munich working for Sony Ericsson. We met at Nordic Bakery in Golden Square, but it was 6, cake and coffee just wouldn’t do. So we got a cab to a trendy Asian eatery called Bambou. It was my first London cab ride!!! Being inside a London icon, so cool! Sheloian’s been there before and pointed out there’s a cocktail called “me love you long time”, how could I pass up on that, so I ordered one, it was yummy and lasted the whole dinner.

Day 6

Buckingham Palace

Pollen filled Green Park

Yes I went to see the Buckinham Palace, well, it’s just something to tick off the list, isn’t it. Green Park and Hyde Park are both very nice though. So green. But the bloody pollens were everywhere made me sneeze nonestop and snotty for a while. It was a nice change of pace to sit there and enjoy the sun, slowing down a bit. Consequently sitting there also made me miss V, very much.

It’s a fake, not the original curiousity shop, not even in the right place, but hmm

One of the courts many Dickens tales were set in

After a hot dog in the park I went to one of those London walks. You pay 7 pounds and hope to see a bit of London that a tourist wouldn’t usually see. I chose a Charles Dickens walk, it was alright. It’s good if you know all this novels and characters well, which I don’t. Not worth 7 pounds, I won’t be go to any of the other ones.

Then I had 2 minute noodle for dinner. I’m feeling the pinch a bit, the money just doesn’t stretch the way it does in Sydney. I’ll be making sandwhiches for lunch and bring them with me on my day excursions from now on. Helloo world, I’d like some work please.

LDN day 2 and 3

Trafalgar Square

Day 2

Called 3 recruiters. Called 1st contact. Went to 1st contact to collect my pack. Went in to see one of the recruiters at Hammersmith. Went to open my bank account at Edgware Rd. Came home had dinner. Went for a walk in the city.

I must’ve had this big grin on my face when I stepped out of the tube station and into Trafalgar Square. ‘Wow, I am really truly here, standing right on Trafalgar Square.’ Even though the fountains were all fenced up getting some maintenance done, the square is still a great sight. Then I turn around and look what I’ve found, the big Ben! So I started to walk down towards it.

Big Ben

Having only ever seen it in photos and on tv, I have to say none of those mediums have ever done it justice. The facade is so ornate and detailed, it’s absolutely incredible. It’s an impressive sight when you the see the whole side of the Palace of Westminster. Then I look to my left and this is what I found!

The London Eye

I walked around a bit more and tried shooting a little street, I may upload some of them, or not… During which I discovered my 50mm lens is fucked. It wouldn’t auto focus from 0.8m – 0.5m, manual works. More about that in Day 3.

Day 3

Looked through a whole bunch of umbrella agencies, signed up with one. Phoned to apply for a NI number (need it to work around this place, similar to a tax file number). Got a call from the Hammersmith recruiter about a potential job, but it’s 2 weeks which overlaps with the Portugal trip and I panic. Recruiter was awesome and managed to sawp me for a one week job with the same client. I’m going in for an interview with the client tomorrow, hope I get it!

Emailed Kiem. Emailed Sissi. Went to bank to get a certified copy of my passport, umbrella agency needs it. Took the 50mm lens to the repair shop to get a quote. The guy says it’s the focus ring thingyo, said it’s a common problem if the lens has been dropped or knocked and also because the lens is front heavy. To replace the ring it’ll cost £120, which isn’t cheap, but the guy said because the ring is unever inside if I keep using auto focus it’ll burn out the motor. Hmm, I don’t exactly have a spare £120, so I’ll see if I get the job, if I do then I’ll get it repaired.

Then I went vintage shopping. Oops. I bought a black velvet jacket that fits so well and a pair of purple suede ankle boots. All for £50, awesome! And the amount of choices, I could spend hours in each store!

Ceiling of tutus

I ate half a gross pastie today, ewww. Had a nice iced chai latte in Brick Lane, that’s where I went vintage shopping. At the Whitechapel end of Brick Lane I found some letters I was so super excited when I spotted the 1st one, I wonder if the whole alphabet is still all there?

Over and out.

Hello LDN!

I have touched down. Here I’ll share some photos from day 1, I’ll keep the writing concise-ish and try to not bore you all to death with too many details.

The flight was ok, bearable thanks to the short stop in HK. Heathrow is crap! None of the escalators were turned on and it took forever to walk to customs. I didn’t write down my address in UK and I couldn’t fill it out in the customs card and the guy asked me so many questions. I mean c’mon, do I look like I’m an illegal immigrant about to enter the black market?

Blue sky!

Inside Swiss Cottage station

Finally I get on the tube and guess what I see, the sky is blue! It’s sunny and warm (still feels cold for me, but I saw a few girls in short sleeves and skirts). I met Markus at Green Park and he showed me to Yasinta’s place, thanks Markus for carrying my big luggage! I had a quick shower, consultation with my guidebook, a little skype with V, downloaded tube map, looked at google maps and off I went to Brick Lane market. Arh! Brick Lane, the only Brick Lane I knew of were from Facehunter’s photos and alas here I am. The area around Brick Lane is mostly Muslim from many backgrounds, but as you head in further trendoids start to appear and by the end of Brick Lane the mix of people is quite interesting. I gave away all my xssat cards, you can see the results here.

Crowds at Brick Lane

My first blue plaque, on a lane off Brick Lane, I’ve no idea who she is though

I ate a strawberry jam crepe which was good, a lime sherbet which was not so good and a smoked salmon cream cheese bagel which was very delicious! After not looking at any of the goods for sale at any of the markets and stores I headed back to the tube, passed the Whitechapel gallery so I went in for a look. I saw an interesting collection of modern art, most of which I don’t understand and don’t like. One installation though, I liked very much. It was by a Polish artist whose name I can no longer remember, the installation was centered around Picasso’s Guernica.

Hot salt beef being sliced

Bagels in the making

I bought some fruits at the markets and went home. Then I went to O2 and the Sainsbury there, it’s so bloody big and everything is packaged here. EVERYTHING is properly packed with a box and label designed by someone, not just a tray, clingwrap and a barcode. I bought the necessities but I still need to find a good pocket sized map of central London.

Main strip of Swiss Cottage

Regency Lodge

So that is home for the next few weeks, not this exact building but close enough. I don’t think I can keep up this blogging, so enjoy it while it lasts and then see it gradually decline til I won’t even remember I had this blog. You know what, I’m too sleepy I can’t think straight. I’ll go to bed soon.