We arrived in London on my 29th Birthday (10/10) and by the time we got to our hostel it was late. By the time we all freshened up, it was later so in the end we ate a late dinner at this restaurant Punjabi @ Covent Garden. The food was excellent though and the bottle of white wine cheaper than an appetizer . How adult of us no? No crazy birthday antics though and no conversations with taxi drivers about Jupiter and all that. Pretty low key and I think everyone was tired anyway.

The next morning Cece & Carly were flying back home. After spending a week with those girls (and I mean almost every waking minute with eachother!) it was sad to see them go. Carly teared up and I did too..sigh. If all goes well I’ll be back in the US again next year “The seas parted ways and left em’ to be!” (Seas = C&C and EM’ = M&M) ha ha I know I’m so special. So yeah it was just Marie and I for the rest of the day. We were waiting for Aash to call me back so he could give us directions on how to get to his apt for us to store our shit for the rest of the day. In the meantime though we made friends with the tube guy at the Royal Oak station. I dunno what we talked about but he liked us enough to offer his office for us to leave our luggage in while we got breakfast and all. In return though we got him some breakfast and he gave us a surprise big bear hug as we made our way to Aldgate East/White Chappel to meet up with Aash.

Aash lives off Selby Street @ White Chappel. His living room view is a cemetary where people died of Bubonic Plague (refer to past reference of Bubonic Plague). White Chappel is also where the Jack the Ripper murders took place. Lots of awesome history if you ask me! We didn’t have time to have a personal tour of the area but he did take us to the only ‘farm’ in London town aka Spitalfields City Farm. Well, we actually just walked by it cause we were answering the call of hunger… LUNCHERS @ Casa Blue on Brick Lane. Casa Blue is a nice cozy… cafe (?) There aren’t really any proper tables to eat on. Lots of beat up couches and places to lounge. It’s a place to snack and drink basically. Food was good though! I think we ordered their special platter and this special cocktail mixed with energy drinks and other stuff…it was called thai something or other (not the actual name but it had the word ‘thai’ in it). It was really good and before you know it, a bunch of people I’ve met in various stages of my life grouped together drinking from a fishbowl, in harmony. Aww….  Eventually we moved from Casa Blue to the Vibe Bar (hazy recollection of events!) and then finally to this bar/club that was in a warehouse – right behind the RootMaster ‘bustaurant’. Finally about 10 p.m. or so I had to make my way to the airport to catch my flight back ‘home’ – beligerent, sad and a tad confused. It’s a good thing the airport officials a) allowed me to sneak in an extra 5KG for my check-in luggage b) allowed my overweight carry on luggage on board. All good in the hood. Stansted airport officials aren’t assholes after all…well when it’s close to midnight that is! (A reverse Mogwai!?)

So that concludes uSUK Tour 2009… “tour” because it was like going on tour. I was constantly with people and I imagine being in a band ur always around people and at times they get on ur nerves and also it’s hard to get some “alone” time etc..etc.. It was also very tiring but all worth it. It certainly did not SUK (as in uSUK – blah baadd wordplay sorry). Now that I’ve been “home” for nearly 2 weeks, I’m enjoying some time alone doing absolutely nothing. At the same time, I’m doing a lot of thinking which I did little of when travelling. Soooo.. you know how that goes.

Now for some pictures to accompany this post:

Cheers! And it’s back to ‘mai’ random ramblings whenever I feel like it!

11:51 a.m. – At the Stansted Airport in London waiting to board my flight to Denmark. I’ve either been eating Kebabs or sandwiches at PRET since I’ve been here. Despite my first impression of food in England being tasteless or whatever, I’ve been quite happy with my selection of culinary survival this time around. I am still waiting to try the Fish & Chips here – served in newspaper dripping with fishy goodness. Maybe when I come back en route back to Malaysia.

Yesterday I met with my sister’s dear friend Hash here. In the many years they’ve been friends and the many times I’ve gone to see her in New York, never once did I meet Hash. So finally we met up and had a drink at the Cittie of York – a bar with AIR CONDITIONING. I learned having airconditioning whether in your house or working establishment is a luxury in London. It was exceptionally hot yesterday but still quite acceptable and pleasant. The bar is located in “Holborn” and I assumed it was walking distance from the Holborn tube station. I walked ridiculously far to get there, and this wasn’t including the wrong turn I took before. When I finally did get there – turns out there’s another tube station only a block away.

Hash was there with another friend of his who was spending his last night in London before flying back to the US. He left a couple minutes after I got there but not after recommending I try the Samuel Smith lager – good choice too cause I found it very tasty and smooth!

After the Cittie of York pit stop we made our way to Aldgate where we walked to Brick Lane aka Bangla City!

We hit up a few places before settling at Vibe. They were having some street style hip hop launching or other so we went and sat outside and talked.

The night ended with more kebabs and a 10 pound taxi ride back to the Clink.

I would totally go back to that Brick Lane area. It’s also where Rough Trade is located and according to Hash, that area is the “real London” – a place bordering Zone 1 and 2. No visible tourists and a whole big melting pot of everything… Wonderful!

8:09 pm in Denmark now. Metro from the Kastrup Copenhagen airport broke down for nearly 45 minutes but it’s all good now and I’m at Aziza’s awesome pad a stones throw away from the Forum eating heavenly dip and chips and these flodeboler pastry things and they are just so …heavenly. Denmark, is just so…heavenly. If only I could speak Danish I would so live here.

Eating the floderboller thingies

Aziza with the waiter dude at Sushi & Sticks (OMG so good)

And last but not least – Denmark’s national bird  - The Swan

The sun sets at 10 p.m. during the summer time in Denmark. Beautiful innit? 

12:51 a.m. – I’m off to the Roskilde Music Festival tomorrow. The amount of luggage I am bringing (equipped with tent, sleeping bag and foam mattress) is not heavenly however.

More updates from the festival site! Radiohead will be performing tomorrow at 10 p.m. Ahh, it’s nearly been 15 years since I missed seeing them in Mexico. Long story but kids, don’t drink underage and act stupid. Cheers!