London 2010: Borough Market and a ghost tour!

My good old friend and gracious host, Dav, have a soft spot for ferrets. They're this cat-like mouse-like looking creatures that can spray odors when startled, just like a skunk. He has been considering getting one but in the meantime, all he does is talk a lot about ferrets and visiting them at a nearby farm.


#1. Cute and lethal.

Then, I ran a lot. We ran after buses, after trains and more trains. Save for that exercise, we had a very relaxing Saturday. Thank goodness coz I was tired from all that walking in the last 2 days!

The Borough Market is a very interesting makan market. It's a mish mash of everything! You can get mediterranean stuff, chutneys and jams, fresh seafood, barbeque ostrich and kangaroo, chocolates, organic vege, etc. And cheeses, oh my the cheeses. There are cheese with names I've not heard of and one was even aged in a wine barrel (tellingly called drunk cheese, haha). Feel like buying some of them back. We tried a hot apple juice with cinnamon, wild mushroom soup and chocolate mousse, and they're all very good, especially in the cold weather. The market's not very big but it's big on food!


#2. An eclectic mix at the Borough Market.


#3. Halloween pumpkins! Not cheap at 45 pounds @_@

Since it's Halloween and all, we did a Ghost of the Old City Walk with London Walks. Our guide is Shaughan, made up to look pale, hunchback and dressed in a flowing black cape.


#4. Reminds me a bit of Emperor Palpatine.

The walk started at 7:30pm, by which then the sky was already pitch black. I don't think the walk was ever meant to be scary coz the guide was funny, cracking so many jokes here and there. Due to said funniness, the ghost walk is not spooky one bit but was in fact, very informative. Even Dav and Steph said they didn't know some of the places existed. There's a church behind the St Bart's Hospital, which I walked by the other day, that I didn't know was there and it sounded like a place worth checking out.

After that we went back and attempted to watch a scary movie, just to continue on with the theme. We saw Shutter Island...fail max.

London 2010: Greenwich to Westminster

"We are all made of star stuff."

- Carl Sagan


I almost wanted to stay indoors today but luckily I'm stubborn enough to persevere on with my plans to go to Greenwich, coz I had just the most beautiful day!


#1. One Canada Square, the tallest building in UK

It didn't start out that way though. When I got off at Canary Wharf, the wind was biting. My fingers and nose felt like thousands of pins were set upon them. For that few minutes while I was looking for the DLR, I regretted being outdoors.


#2. The Greenwich foot tunnel, linking Greenwich to the Isle of Dogs, crossing beneath the River Thames

I only know I wanted to see the Prime Meridian line and that I didn't mind poking around a bit at the planetarium, so it caught me by surprise when I walked into this huge field surrounded by ancient complexes with tall roman columns. It's the Old Royal Naval College (currently being used by the University of Greenwich) which was constructed by Sir Christopher Wren, the same dude who did St. Paul's.


#3. The Old Royal Naval College

So I was walking around and exploring, and I thought I heard music behind the wall. I turned the corner and saw that it was a chapel. As I went up the steps and came into full view of the chapel, I felt... overwhelmed. The ceiling was ornately decorated with delicate Greek motives. Warm light poured through the windows, turning everything it touches a golden hue. What made the whole experience even more magical was a fantastic flute and harp mini concert from the Trinity Laban, a music and dance university.

As I took a seat at the pew towards the back and flipped through the programme, I realised that the concert will be performed by professionals in their field of study - Anna Noakes, Professor of Flute, and Gabriella Dall'Olio, Head of Harp Studies. Such luck! Anna and Gabriella presented 3 sonatas, lasting about an hour altogether. It was truly an experience of a lifetime.

For that one hour, almost no thoughts went through my head. This is exactly what I need. The opportunity to be lost in a moment, completely and utterly absorbed by something so simple. Bliss.... the best one hour ever spent!


#4. The Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul (no photography is allowed in the chapel so I googled this for your visual pleasure)

Also on the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College is the Painted Hall, one of the western world's finest dining hall.


#5. The Painted Hall with its stunning paintings by Sir James Thornhill

Then it was the hunt for the Royal Observatory, the home of the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and Prime Meridian of the world, Longitude 0° 0' 0''. It was across a big park and up a hill.

The Prime Meridian divides the Earth into the eastern and western hemispheres. All the time zones in the world is measured from GMT, so you're either ahead of GMT or behind. Malaysia is ahead of GMT by 8 hours, which explains the jet lag I'm still experiencing.


#6. A green laser beam projects into the sky from the square opening up there, indicating the Prime Meridian line but it's only visible at night. The digital clock is an atomic clock which is phenomenally accurate to one second in one million years!


#7. Left foot on the Western Hemisphere, right foot on the Eastern Hemisphere


#8. Fish and chips, the quintessential British dish

After lunch, I took a river boat to Embankment. It's brr cold but no visit to London would be complete without a cruise on the River Thames.


#9. I nearly died from chill factor when taking this picture from the Golden Jubilee Bridge

South Bank is an area of London where the arts and culture converge. Here's where you can find the London Eye, Tate Modern, National Theatre...


#10. Street performers, all doing their statue thing (the Golden Jubilee Bridge's in the background)


#11. A room of lights that goes on and off to the beat of the music


#12. And if you walk all the way to Westminster Bridge, you'll get an awesome spot to photograph the Houses of Parliament and the Big Ben


#13. Portcullis House, just opposite the Houses of Parliament


#14. To cap off the day, I joined Dav and Steph for the screening of a horror movie. It was sponsored by Jameson whiskey so naturally we get free drinks and some popcorn too! The show's called Quatermass and the Pit, and involve a lot of grasshoppers, some hopping, some not. You just have to watch it!

London 2010: Tower Hill to Temple

It was an overcast day (boo for photography) and my old body that's not adjusting well to the time difference had me only leaving the house at 12pm. Since I'm not particularly in a thinking mood or art appreciation mood, I decided to go to Tower Hill and work my way from there.


#1. This is Tower Bridge. Many people get it wrong, including Fergie Ferg.


#2. Her London London Bridge that wanna go down everytime she came around, actually look like this. Not impressive looking compared to Tower Bridge but imagine her singing "My Tower Tower Bridge wanna go down"...don't think it's gonna work.

This is actually the New London Bridge. The Old London Bridge was located about 100m from this current bridge and used to have houses and shops built on it. The Old London Bridge was almost 600 years old when it was finally demolished in 1831.

It was a pleasant day to walk along the Thames River. Even though it wasn't very cold, the strong wind made my bones shiver. A windbreaker is very necessary and I'm glad I brought mine, as ugly as it is.


#3. St. Paul's Cathedral. Many important services were and are still being held at St. Paul's, including the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. There's a lot of benches within the church compound and it's nice to just sit around for a bit. Oh, I saw a big fat squirrel, almost the size of a cat!


#4. I decided to see the Temple Church made famous in The Da Vinci Code. It was bloody hard looking for this church and for a couple of times I suspected it doesn't really exist. But Lonely Planet said it does and after I circled the place a few times, found a small sign in an alley that lead to it. Now, I don't remember what was it Professor Langdon found in Temple Church and I didn't get a chance to find out coz it was closed by the time I got there (closes at 4pm)...bummer.


#5. Everyday can be a Friday!


#6. Stumbled upon this interesting building on Queen Victoria Street. It's an HSBC branch. Just love the modern architecture.

I capped off the day with a ducky dinner at Four Seasons (not the hotel chain I thought it was, haha) and a stroll in Soho. Good end to Day 1!

London 2010: the case of the missing hour

It's about 7:30am London time and I'm already up. Think I'm having a little wee bit jet-lagged. Got in at 7:30pm London time (2:30am Malaysian time), which works out to a 14-hour flight. I thought it was 13 hours? Where did that extra hour come from?

Neways, when Airasia launched it's London route, I said it was suicidal to take such a looong flight with narrow seats and no in-flight entertainment. Look what I did to myself....

3:33pm. Only 3 hours into the flight and 10 more hours to go...*sigh* *groan*. They served us lunch about an hour ago, late because there was a small turbulence... soooo hungry by then. I think I’m in love with Airasia’s in-flight meal. I had a lovely chicken spinach lasagna and it was piping hot and delicious! I’ll fly Airasia just for the plane food haha. Still, I can’t say I’m equally impressed with their plastic cutlery. The ends of my fork broke and even though I prodded and sifted through what remained of my lunch, I couldn’t find the other bit...ugh.



6:16pm. The sky is still so bright that it’s hard to tell what time it really is. Took a short nap earlier and found that the seat only reclined by 10 degrees or so. Good thing I’m not taking the red-eye. In fact, I should try to stay awake as much as I can because it’s only 11:16am in London and I wouldn’t want to get seriously jet-lagged when I get there. I’m beginning to feel bored and my bum hurts. I’m also stuck in my choice of window seat and the guy next to me seems to prefer to keep to himself. Oh well. I’ll go play with my pictures now.



9:41pm. I’ve been occupying myself with Solitaire for the past 2 hours or so and I’m awfully hungry right now. Where’s my food?? I’ve always said I cannot imagine sitting in a plane for more than 10 hours and especially in an Airasia flight but look at me now, taking a 13-hour flight to London. Actually it's better than I imagined. The seats are definitely more spacious (it’s an Airbus after all) and there's an entertainment module I can purchase for RM30 if I'm totally bored outta my wits. So far, I've read 3 chapters of A House for Mr Biswas (funny), played said Solitaire, slept, oh and I finally spoke to the guy next to me. He's from Scotland and he's been on holiday for 3 months...so nice.

Overall, the flight was pleasant, love love love the food, and it's on time. I haven't been on an Airasia flight that was delayed, ever. Touch wood. I'm thinking of doing more trips to Europe now. Spain next year, maybe?

portraits of Toby

Taken with the 50mm lens while hiding in the room from my mum's karaoke party.

my anchovy pasta

Ever since my acquaintance with Greyhound Cafe's Thai Anchovy Spaghetti some 2 years ago, I've been meaning to re-create it in my kitchen. Of course, procrastination got the better of me. However, since I've got so much time on my hands now (and I'm hungry and the household chef is out), I will now make this for lunch!

First, a little introduction to anchovy. From BigOven.com,

"Anchovies are very small, silver fish native to the Mediterranean Sea and the coastlines along southern Europe. Though their sharp taste has earned them a widely negative reputation, many people enjoy anchovies without even knowing it. Anchovies, used sparingly, are often that little, unrecognizable “something extra” behind favorite recipes."


Anchovies in olive oil

Anchovies are mostly used in Italian cooking and in Ceasar salad dressing. There's a distinctive taste to anchovies that is hard to put words to, and smelly is the other way I would describe it. You have to give it a taste to know what I mean. Used sparingly in cooking, it gives the dish a magnificent flavour that's hard to forget.

Anchovy Pasta



Some pasta
Chilli flakes (dried whole chilli preferable)
10-15 peppercorns, crushed
5-6 anchovy fillets
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ripe tomato, diced
A couple of thai basil leaves
Olive oil

1. Boil pasta in a pot of water with some oil and salt until al dente. Drain water and leave it aside to cool.

2. Heat some olive oil in a pan/wok and add chilli. If you like it spicy then just use more chilli.

3. When the oil mixture is slightly smoky, stir in the peppercorns. Fry for a minute or two until fragrant.

4. Lower the fire slightly and add garlic and anchovies, stirring until anchovies began to dissolve in the oil. Fry a little while and add thai basil, then diced tomatoes.

5. Stir fry the mixture until tomatoes turn soft and pulpy. You should have a sauce-like mixture.

6. Add pasta and stir fry well until the juices dry up.

7. Eat! I like mine with a little parmesan shavings.

Note: Recipe serves one.

Note 2: BTW, it doesn't taste like the real thing... dunno what's missing. Otherwise, it's very edible la.