Click for the previous story on day 1.
I actually couldn’t sleep much due to jet lag. Even though I went to bed at 3 or 4 in the morning, my eyes were still fresh. Do you know why? This is the day I had been looking forward to, hehe. After 2 years of researching about London, the result will be executed later today.
Since I went there in mid-October 2009, this month was the transition between autumn (fall) and winter. At that time, the sun rose at 5 am and set at 5:30 pm. Wow, early, right? Hehe, a new experience for me even though I used to go to Java, Indonesia where the sun rose at 6 am and set at 6 pm, but London is a bit different. How would you feel if Maghrib (sunset prayer time for Muslims) was at 4:50 pm and Isyak (night prayer) at 5:30 pm? 🙂
Because the sun rises early, that was the reason I woke up early, around 7-8 am. It was already bright outside the window. That day was a typical working day. You can see my face below just after waking up, showering, and everything. When I was going to shower, like usual, behaving like Malaysians taking long showers. After coming out of the bathroom, it was freezing even though I showered using a heater! I quickly got dressed.
I enjoyed the room Mr. Ahmad provided for me even though it was small and not very comfortable. What can I do, I have to admit everything in London is expensive. Be smart, and look for a cheap room or hotel. If it were like in Malaysia where I could sleep in a mosque, I would have done it. The cheaper, the better, the important thing is to see other places. What’s great about this cheap rented house is that I got to feel like staying in an English-style house! But when it comes to food, don’t save money until become starving, haha. Seriously, saving money on food is the main problem for Malaysians in London because while buying food, they convert currency in their heads. Once buying food for GBP5, it’s equivalent to MYR25 for a plate of rice. Don’t convert currency too much and be stingy with food, or you will suffer.
In the morning at Mr. Ahmad’s house, I rarely have breakfast. So, in the kitchen, there was Milo, I made myself a cup for breakfast. Suddenly Mr. Ahmad came and chatted with me. He looked very religious. As we talked, I found out he had been living in London for 25 years and was originally from Kelantan (Malaysia). He settled here right after finishing his studies. He said, in London, his area is 10 times safer than our country. Even if the house door is unlocked, no thief will enter. Thieves only enter after making sure the owner is not home. In the UK, most places are equipped with CCTV even in residential areas! Impressive, right? Malaysia is slowly moving towards becoming a developed country. Hopefully, our government can use the same concept in Malaysia. Most of the conversations with Mr. Ahmad were about interesting places in London. I noticed he spoke softly, perhaps not fluent or used to speaking Malay. It’s okay, I understand, living there for 25 years is not a short time!
By the way, I had a friend who studied in the UK in the 80s. I asked, is it true that Malays who have lived there for a long time can forget their own language? He said… “What language do you speak in your heart?” … Yeah, he’s right. I understood his point.
In the kitchen, I couldn’t stay long. In the picture above, I look like I’m wearing thick clothes, but still acting like a Malaysian with shorts up to the knees, haha. So, long conversations in the kitchen made my feet cold, especially in the morning. As soon as I went into the room, yeehaaa, it’s now the time to get ready to go out to the center of London. Coming alone, it’s really thrilling. If anything happened to me there, no one could help. I leave everything to Allah. I came with good intentions.
In the room, I got ready with what I needed. The backpack that I folded small in my Deuter bag, I took out. In it, I put a mini laptop, I separate my cash into three places and rolled it with rubber bands. That’s my way. I placed backup money of GBP100-200 in a separate place, just in case of emergency. DO NOT put all your cash in one place, this is my advice. Separate the money you need like paying for the room/hotel rent (for those who do not use credit cards or do not book online like Agoda). Only food, drink, and transport money should be in the wallet, and that is only a small amount.
Before going to London, I bought Long John clothes thinking it would be extremely cold there. In the end, I didn’t wear them because it didn’t seem necessary. Even winter gloves and all, I didn’t use them. A real waste because the winter clothes, gloves, and Long John cost me around MYR800. A big mistake indeed. My advice is…. for times other than winter, buy a regular cold jacket that you usually wear when going to Genting Highland (Malaysia), and when you get to London, try wearing 2-3 layers of T-shirts inside and the winter jacket outside. Sometimes, 2 layers of T-shirts and 1 winter jacket are enough. Gloves are not needed if the jacket has pockets to put your hands. Snow cap-style hats are encouraged.
Okay, time to start my journey to London. Mr. Ahmad’s house is in Willesden, but I need to take the Tube from Dollis Hill station (Dollis Hill). Please refer to my article about the Tube here. The distance from his house to the station is about 500 meters and the distance from the station to central London is estimated at 12km. But with the cold weather, walking doesn’t feel tiring, no sweat at all!
On this second day, I started by taking the bus first because I didn’t know the location of Dollis Hill station. If you want to know, Tube stations there are not like LRT stations in Kuala Lumpur that are built large and clearly visible from afar. In London, Tube stations sometimes look like ordinary houses or shophouses. I was observing the houses around me, how nice, knowing they were English architecture like we usually see in movies. Do you see the postbox in the picture above? I even observed the postbox. For your information, you don’t have to be shy if you look around at the scenery, architecture, or buildings there. Locals understand and are used to tourists’ behavior. So, enjoy it to the fullest! Next to the postbox, the fenced area is a private college, if I’m not mistaken. Sometimes college teenagers pass by. But thankfully, they didn’t disturb me. I think the image presented in movies, like punks burning barrels by the roadside and such, is far from reality. Maybe not in the UK but perhaps in the US.
See the weather and cloudy sky in the picture above? This is called gloomy. Such an atmosphere is not liked by people who have lived there for a long time because this cloudy weather is almost daily, hard to see the bright sun. Funny thing, I thought it was going to rain. So, I walked really fast from place to place worrying it would rain. Wrong assumption, it turns out that in four-season countries, especially Europe, it’s often gloomy like this. But have an umbrella ready, the weather is unpredictable, sometimes you enter a grocery store to buy a drink, and suddenly it rains when you come out.
I went to the grocery store to buy a Lyca prepaid card and an Oyster card to board the bus. I accidentally bought a pass for only one day, oh dear. The next day, I bought a pass for 4-5 days. More days mean the cheaper fares I got. As for the Lyca prepaid card, it was recommended by Mr. Ahmad because it’s cheap. I bought a pack with 5 pounds prepaid credit which allowed me to call family and friends in Malaysia for 30-40 minutes! Cheap, right? Only the 3G broadband features were not available (update 2013: I heard from some forums that Lyca Mobile now accepts 3G mobile internet at certain rates, suitable for those using Google Maps on their phones).
The bus arrived, and I got on. Unfortunately, I panicked a bit because when the bus stopped at some stops, I didn’t know my exact location. Oh no, a moment of panic. Then, I got off halfway at some random place I didn’t know. The picture below shows the place where I got off.
Above is a picture showing the bus stop where I stopped. I continued walking forward until I found another bus stop. From there, I learned to read the bus route map. Oh, this route goes to Oxford Street! So, I waited and got on the bus, this time more carefully by understanding the route.
As soon as I arrived at Oxford Street, I looked around and saw the place. Ohhhh, this is what Oxford Street look likes! Previosly I’ve seen it online.
The location for the picture above is on the map below:
GPS coordinates for the map above: 51.514965, -0.144604
If I were married at this time, surely I would spend a long time here due to my wife’s persuasion to shop, hehe. Actually, my wife wouldn’t mind. It’s me who likes to encourage and watch her shopping behavior. Since it was still early in the morning, I had no desire to shop, so I asked someone for directions to the nearest Tube station, which was Oxford Street station. That was the first time I took the Tube. Wow. It was so exciting! Like in a movie. This makes me want to go back there in the future. I took the route to Piccadilly Circus station. Oh, this place doesn’t have a circus but it does have the famous Sanyo billboard known worldwide!
GPS coordinates for the map above: 51.509911, -0.135132
I only managed to take a picture from this side. You should take a picture from the front for a better view. Don’t forget to take a picture from the front, okay? I walked further ahead. Then I saw the Anteros statue, the love god statue resembling Cupid with his bow and arrow.
I continued walking past the Lillywhites sports store. Unplanned, I stumbled upon the “Visit Britain” office. I went in. The officers seemed to ignore me, maybe they thought I was a legal immigrant working there. Only after I asked for a map did they attend to me. The map cost GBP1. I bought it because my phone wasn’t advanced with GPS, just a regular phone. Also, to get the real feel of being a traveler, buy a map. It’s worth it, and you get to see the full view of London!
GPS coordinates for Visit Britain on the map above: 51.508091, -0.133529
The picture above is Tesco. Yes, Tesco. Why so small? Turns out, Tesco here is not as big as in Malaysia, most are the size of 7-Eleven and are called Tesco-Metro. Hmm, maybe there are bigger ones but I didn’t see any. I suggest going in to get the feel of a British grocery store.
The journey continued. The picture above shows a low monument and another is a tall tower or pole. The low monument is the Crimean War Memorial and the tall tower is the Duke of York Memorial.
Other visible statues:
Duke of York Memorial tower:
Yeah… this is what I have been looking forward to since my initial planning in Malaysia—strolling in London parks! The first park I visited was St. James Park. It wasn’t planned because it happened to be near the Visit Britain office. The view at St. James Park was so peaceful. Some forums suggested listening to old, mellow songs on earphones while walking through the park. Hmmm… I think that’s unnecessary. It’s better to listen to the sound of the wind and the surroundings, to get the real feel of a four-season country! One downside is the lack of blooming flowers because I was in the wrong month which is October (autumn). For your trip, make sure to choose summer, which is between April and August (preferably between May and July), then you can take pictures with a sea of flowers!
GPS coordinates for the first path I entered St. James Park (map above): 51.505262, -0.131163
This is the lake in St. James Park. It’s different from lakes in Malaysia. The lake doesn’t have a musty smell like some lakes do. However, the lake at St. James Park seems unmanageable in my opinion compared to the lake in Hyde Park.
Next, I walked to Westminster, but the problem was I was completely lost! Yeah, no GPS. Ok… I started asking people around me. The first person I met, about my age, in their 30s. Turns out, they didn’t know the way either. Then I remembered a friend’s words, “In London…. 9 out of 10 people are foreigners, many migrants and expatriates including illegal immigrants”. Hmm… no wonder. Ok… I then walked further and met an elderly man sitting on a park bench. Thank God, he was willing to help. I really respect people there, even if they are foreigners. They are willing to help until you understand the map and stand long to educate you. Thanks, uncle! Oh no…. it seems going to Westminster will be delayed because I saw the House Guard Parade right next to me…. immediately diverted there …. hehe.
GPS coordinates for the map above: 51.503769, -0.129041
I used to watch Kate Middleton’s wedding ceremony with Prince William. It turns out, one of the places they paraded in a car was the House Guard Parade and the Royal Guard House as in the picture above. Maybe symbolically showing respect for the strength of their nation’s leaders. If you see the picture, the middle area is sandy. Yes, it is sandy for horse riding purposes. From where I took the picture, the middle of the building is about 150 meters away.
The picture above shows the building and there is a tunnel or small passage in the middle. It is through this passage that Kate Middleton and Prince William paraded. Beautiful building. I think there should be a horse guard changing ceremony here like the guard change at Buckingham Palace. But when I was at the Guard House, there was no change of guards. Maybe I missed the schedule. If you want to go there, please refer to their website for the horse-changing schedule.
I walked around but stopped to explore the outer left and right areas of the building first. There is an unusual statue, see below:
From outside the building, you can also see the tower with an interesting roof shape. I like towers with clocks and wind directions like this:
You can see the London Eye in the background. Looks like Parliament (Westminster) and Big Ben aren’t far away!
Ok, I went into the middle passage area of the building. Turns out, many people gathered at the back. That’s where the horse guards performed. They are just like the standing guards, even when teased, they completely ignore it. The difference is, they sit on horses. Once, I tested by sitting close to the horse and staring. The guard looked alert if anything might happen even though he pretended not to care, hehe. The guard was young, strong, and sturdy.
There are two mounted guards and one standing guard. The mounted guards are on the left and right. The standing guard is in the middle passage of the building. I wonder how they train the horses to stand still too? Strange…
The location of this place refers to the map below (GPS coordinates: 51.504754, -0.126946):
I intentionally took a close-up picture of the bag carried by the standing guard. Wanted to see their reaction, whether they were alert, responsive, or not. Hmm… still standing tall, hehe. Ok, I don’t know what’s inside the bag, just would like to show it to my loyal blog followers.
Day 2 continues in part 2 – Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, London Eye, and Southbank.
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