14 June 2009

Arrived at London Heathrow airport promptly at 6.20am. Got our car rental from Avis. Driving a manual car on the right hand side proves to be quite a challenge as Ed forgot to change to low gear on numerous occasions but finally got the hang of it eventually. We drove to Kay's brother's house at Warlingham which is about 44.3miles away and took us about an hour. Arrived in good time and was met by Kay who told us to follow her to her 2nd brother's house for breakfast. And so, we followed her and was greeted by her brother, his wife and 2 children and he cooked us a delicious and hearty breakfast. I especially enjoyed the fried eggs. Here's how the house looks like and here's our little blue rental car on the left hand side with yellow number plate.


After breakfast, we started on our journey. Took a tube from a nearby train station to downtown London Victoria Station.



And from there, we took a bus to Russell St where the British Museum was located. There was an exhibit on ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Middle East. As we enter the main entrance, we could see the Rosetta Stone which was found in Alexandria in 196BC. This was key to the decipherment of ancient Egyptian writing because its inscription is in ancient Greek as well Egyptian hieroglyphs.






And here's more pics of some familiar scenes of London, ie. the double decker bus and the stinking telephone booth (it smelt of urine and I was tempted to pinch my nose coz it was overbearing but I had to force a smile for this picture, hahaha).


After visiting the museum, we were all hungry and stopped for dim sum at Kay's eldest brother's restaurant which is a short walk from the museum. The egg tart and char siu sou was to die for. I had a picture to proof this (just don't salivate as you enjoy the pic).



After lunch, we went to Buckingham Palace. Here's an explanation with regards the changing of guards: "Changing the Guard or Guard Mounting is the process involving a new guard exchanging duty with the old guard.The Guard which mounts at Buckingham Palace is called The Queen’s Guard and is divided into two Detachments: the Buckingham Palace Detachment (which is responsible for guarding Buckingham Palace), and the St. James’s Palace Detachment, (which guards St. James’s Palace). These guard duties are normally provided by a battalion of the Household Division and occasionally by other infantry battalions or other units.When Guardsmen are on duty, the soldiers are drawn from one of the five regiments of Foot Guards in the British Army: the Scots Guards, the Irish Guards, the Welsh Guards, the Grenadier Guards and the Coldstream Guards." - http://www.royal.gov.uk/RoyalEventsandCeremonies/ChangingtheGuard/Overview.aspx

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the changing of the guards but the Buckingham Palace grounds was really pretty.


From Buckingham Palace, we went to Big Ben & The House of Parliament, saw the London Eye (nope, didn't have time to go on it. From far, it doesn't look like the ferris wheel is moving but on closer look, it actually does) and Tower of London (this is not the London Bridge as many would assume). The river that runs through this part of town is the famous River Thames, as can be seen in one of the pics below.




From the bridge on the Tower of London, we could see this building called The Gherkin which was completed in Dec 2003 and opened 28 April 2004. A very unique building indeed, looks like a cucumber, thus, the name Gherkin.



After visiting the Tower of London, we went to St Paul's Cathedral. This is the church where Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer. A very beautiful building indeed.


From there, we took a tube and went to Charing Cross station and headed towards Chinatown. As we walked through Chinatown and looked at all the delicious food, we decided to go to Kay's 3rd brother's restaurant located just round the corner from Odeon Theatre. Oh, and I had the best lobster noodles in my life. It was so yummy, I can't even describe it in words. It was the yummiest dinner thus far. After dinner, decided we have to walk some more to walk away all the excess weight we've just put on at dinner.


We passed by Odeon West End - that's the place where all the superstars gather to do their film premieres.


From there, we walked to Trafalgar Square and then wanted to visit 10 Downing Street but alas, it was not accessible to the public. But, we are all happy with the beautiful sights London has to offer. Here's the few last pictures taken of buildings all around beautiful Trafalgar Square. Did you know that no more pigeon feedings are allowed in the square that used to be so popular with the tourists? Smart action on their part coz pigeons can spread diseases and that's not so healthy is it? Did you notice the Malaysian embassy in one of the pictures? And then, there was I trying to climb up next to the lion to take a better picture but alas, forgot that I had short legs thus, making the climb up so much more difficult. Had to contend with just posing with the lion above me instead of next to me, argh!

13 June 2009

Woke up early this morning and we walked to Four Sisters Vietnamese Restaurant and had a pretty good and delicious Vietnamese lunch. One of the better Vietnamese food I've eaten as this restaurant is more upscale compared to the ones in the Bay Area like Pho Tau Bay. This restaurant has quite a variety of choices and definitely one of the better ones I've gone to.

After lunch, we checked out from Marriott's and took a taxi to Sheraton @ Tyson's Corner. Sam checked in and was assigned her room which she had to share with 2 other girls. Once we put her luggage away, we were asked to wait at the Hospitality Room for parents while the students all go for a debriefing in the conference room. Once we were sure she was settled in, we left her and headed off to the airport for our flight to London.

I redeemed my flight via SQ Redemption for tickets on UA. It was all self check-in which I find it troublesome and time consuming but, that's what it is with the airline industry. Trying to cut cost I suppose. Was asked to check my seat assignment at the UA lounge when the gate is opened 2 hours before our flight. Managed to get a good seat near the emergency exit with lots of legroom. Both Ed and me were given a brochure to read that we have a "job" to be done in case we are needed to assist with opening the emergency exit door. Was asked if we are willing to help by the stewardess and we nodded in agreement. Ed volunteered to do a demo with her but she declined and smiled. The flight took off on time and I watched Bride Wars and then tried to sleep but couldn't sleep too well. Just did some shut eye. I know I am going to regret coz we're going to arrive at London Heathrow at 6.20am on 14 June and if I don't sleep, it'll be a really loooonnnggggg..... day for me. But, my body refused to cooperate. Que Sera Sera!

12 June 20099

Woke up at 5.10am and Gina came as scheduled at 7am to fetch us to the airport. We reached SFO airport at about 8.15am and checked in our baggage which cost us $15 per bag, ouch! But no choice as my vanity bag is in there and there is a limit to the amount of lotions and creams one can carry on board. Sam also checked in her luggage so, that came to a total of $30.

Flight 1994 from SFO to DFW (Dallas Foxworth) left on time and we arrived as scheduled. Flight was pretty uneventful and managed to finish reading my tennis magazine and played Bookworm on my new iPod Touch. Took a little snooze too. Arrived at 2.45pm central time (2 hrs ahead of Pacific time). Went straight to our connecting terminal which is Terminal A10 and we had lunch there. I had McDonald's quarter pounder, Sam had fried chicken from Popeye's and Ed had frozen yogurt. Our transit in DFW is about 3 hours.

I found out that we were not seated together so, Ed went to check with the counter to see if they can seat us together as a family and we got changed from seat 26A to seat 7A, B and C. Am happy we got a good seat and flight left on time at 5.50pm. Thank goodness there was no flight delays as American Airlines is infamous for. We arrived at 9.45pm in Washington Dulles airport. By the time we wait for our luggage and took a taxi to our hotel (Marriott Courtyard Dunn Loring Fairfax), it was almost 10.50pm. We checked into our hotel. Am in room 1022. Put our belongings in the room and set out to look for dinner. Went to Arby's but they close at 11pm. Walked for about 1/2 a mile and saw this place called the Silver Diner and we're in luck as they are opened till 3am on Fridays and Saturdays. So, we sat down and ate a very late dinner. I had crab chowder soup, Ed had pomegranate shake and Sam had a sandwich and fries. Dare not eat too much, lest, I cannot sleep.

Came home and now it is 1.38am and am writing this post. Going to bed now. Tata... and sweet dreams.

11 June 2009

Ahhh...the pleasure of being able to hit some tennis balls on the ball machine with Emily this morning from 9am and then played 3 games of singles with her b4 I went out for my lessons with Larry at 10.30am. It's good to be back at the tennis court coz I've missed it the past 3 days. I'm never satisfied am I?

After tennis came home and packed for our trip tomorrow. Then, in the evening, we went out and watch Angels & Demons. It was a pretty good movie. The start was a little slow and I almost doze off but the plot quickly thickens and all of a sudden, I am biting all my fingernails off, hahaha. I enjoyed the movie but not the price I have to pay ie. $31.50, ouch! It was a very long movie, started at 7.20pm and ended at almost 9.40pm.

Now, gotta go and pack my toiletries bag, shower and go to bed. Sam's schoolmate's mom Jinah will be fetching us to airport tomorrow morning at 7.05am. Gotta get my beauty sleep now...

9 June 2009

Woke up early, had a nice breakfast and then off to Dept of Homeland Security to get our I-551 stamp on our passports. Arrived there at 10.30am and there was no queues whatsoever, praise God. They promptly stamped our passports and sent us on our way in about 30 mins. Then, went to Social Security to get Sam's SS number application done. Card won't come till about 2 weeks' time. Couldn't get DMV ID card done as no SS number given out. Gotta make another trip another day. Just glad that everything went without a glitch at the govt depts and the waiting time wasn't too bad.

Went to OSH to get 3 packs of potassium chloride for my water softener. Then, off to buy lunch at Subway and get my 5 gallon water bottle refilled. Rewarded ourselves with snow bubble from Tapioca Express. This place sure is earning lots of money from us as we're hooked on it esp the pearls, hahaha.

Came home and ate lunch, took a short nap and then woke up to prepare dinner. Cooked tomyam soup and fried chye sim for dinner. Ate dinner and folded my laundry. Called mom to find out dad's condition. He's no longer urinating blood, praise God. Went for xrays and doc found a mass on his top left kidney. Gave him medication for 2 weeks and after that, he's supposed to go back for an MRI to check if the mass is gone or further tests needs to be done. Hope it is nothing serious. Mom's down with flu and her voice is still hoarse from sore throat. I guess she's also not resting as much due to dad's condition and t4, healing process will take a longer time. Gotta pray pray pray....

8 June 2009

Am looking forward to going to Gilroy Outlet Mall with Sam today. She's got lots of attires to buy as she doesn't have anything in her wardrobe for "professional formal" as required by NYLC for 7 out of the 10 days of conference.

We went to Cha Cha Sushi for lunch, gotta feed the body with energy as there's lots of walking to do. Reached Gilroy about 1.30pm and started off with Nike. Very disappointing as there's nothing worth buying and no sale. Then, to Eddie Bauer. Sam found a nice white shirt and a pair of black pants there. Couldn't find any blazer or jacket so, asked the sales assistant who was very helpful. Referred us to Jones New York, Max Studio, BCBG or Liz Claiborne. Thanked her profusely. In Malaysia, the standard answer would probably be, "Aiyah, don't know or out of stock."

True enough, founds lots of clothes in Jones New York. Lots of jackets and even evening gowns. We were in that shop for at least 1 hour. In the end, Sam bought 3 shirts, 1 jacket, 1 skirt and the bill came to $351.69. Now that we've got formal attire done, gotta start looking for evening dress coz there's a formal dance at the end of the conference. So, it was to Max Studio, BCBG and finally, found one black and white dress at Liz Claiborne. It was on sale for $61.59 and we grabbed it coz it fit Sam so well, as if it was made specially for her. OK, now to look for professional dress shoes. Frankly, don't know what that means. My idea was to get her those pumps or court shoes. Unfortunately, the way Sam's foot is designed with low arch, she can't wear that kind of shoes as it will slip off the minute she starts walking. Also, we all have small feet and size 5.5 doesn't come easy. After looking in and out of several shoe stores, we were about to give up when we come across this store called SAS in Bldg D. Thought we'll just give it our best shot. Finally found a pair in there for $94, ouch! Well, we didn't finish till about 8.30pm. It's been a long day and my feet's tired. Never shopped for so long b4 in my whole life. But just glad that we managed to find everything at Gilroy, yay!

Didn't get home till past 10.30pm after dinner at Applebee's at Gilroy. I am dead tired now...

7 June 2009

Okay, I have finally gotten over my blunder yesterday. Went to bed with a less heavier heart for sure as I received many encouraging and supportive emails from all my teammates and friends. I know I have to put everything behind me. Just like what the bible says: Focus on what's ahead and run towards the finishing line.

I caught a glimpse of Federer's match today and watched the tail end of it when he was serving for championship point and Soderling netted that return. Federer was just too awesome today. I was glad he finally managed to win the French Open after so many tries. I just hope that he won't announce his retirement any time soon coz he now has a full collection of all the slams' trophies. Soderling didn't even get a snuff of hope as Federer played solid and didn't allow Soderling to play his game. Soderling was also probably overwhelmed by the atmosphere as this is his first ever final in a grand slam. I can see in his eyes he was hoping for a rain delay as he never got settled in his game at all. Definitely 100% credit to Federer for hanging in there and playing great tennis, as always. A well deserved victory for sure....

After that, I left and went to King's Eggroll and bought chow mien and eggrolls as I am in charge of main dish for our match today against Silver Creek Valley Country Club (SCVCC). My match is scheduled for 11.15am and I was there by 10am. Am playing #3D with Hanna. Am glad I was early as I could cheer my teammates on. Our #1S won her match but our #1D lost theirs. Thuy/Judy combination won their match and our #2S lost hers. It was up to Hanna and me to come up with a win for the team and am glad we managed to do that with a 6-1, 6-0 scoreline. It wasn't as easy as the score suggests but am glad that we managed to pull this out of the bag. As a result, our team won 3-2.

Came home about 1.45pm and was exhausted mentally and physically. Was supposed to go shopping with Sam but told her we'll do it tomorrow instead coz I wanted to rest and Sam was gracious and agreed. Thank goodness we stayed home coz later part of the evening, Sam had a terrible tummy ache due to "food poisoning". I think that was due to the fries from Burger King coz she ate it for lunch while I didn't. After purging it out, she was tired, took a short nap, ate some medication and we had soup and sandwich for dinner. Nothing oily to further exacerbate her condition and I think she's back to her rambunctions self again as we sit down together for another night of TV marathon.....