O’ London!

It seems like I got quite a number of hits on my blog today. I apologize for not being able to add a new post. I thought I could when Stuart (the guy I liaise with at our Vendor) lent me his 3G modem. I was pretty disheartened when I realized there isn’t any coverage at my hotel.

The trip so far has been a real treat really. The 14 hour flight (not including the transit at Changi Airport) was probably the most painful part of the trip thus far. I flew in the A380. I did get a eerie feeling; a ‘Final Destination’ vibe when I keep seeing/hearing news about the A380′s engines having problems. I even eyed a paper article (I spied the lady sitting next to me while she reading the papers) talking about the A380 problems Singapore Airlines was facing. But I did get to London safely so that’s 50% clear.

I arrived at a very busy London Heathrow. It was really buzzing like Isetan during the Isetan sale back in KL. I found my limo driver and we left for the hotel immediately. The ‘limo’ was actually a Toyota Prius. I want to note that the ‘seamless’ change between the petrol engine and the electric engine isn’t really seamless. So for those be-green-nuts are thinking of the Prius, think some more.

London is the only place where people park their Aston Martins on the roadside.

Arrived at the hotel and realized that the hotel isn’t clear on some of my earlier instructions. They wanted to block off some credit on my credit card since the instruction to them was that the Vendor was only paying for the ROOM only. This meant I had to spend 16 pounds on dinner. Pfftt…

The night here is really nice and cold.

The room I got at the Tower Hotel has an excellent view of the London Bridge. Wish I was higher up. Only issue was that I had to snake through approximately a hundred paces to get to my room meandering through the long corridors at the hotel.

Woke up early the next morning from a very excellent night’s sleep. No dreams, no sounds or noises (apart from the party that was happening downstairs). Left the room at half past 7 and headed down for breakfast. English breakfast is pretty awesome.

Sunday morning, met Stuart after breakfast and he picked me up from the hotel and we headed to the Vendor’s office. It’s only about 10 minutes ride away from the hotel. Work went flawlessly (as in, all the issue’s we’ve been anticipating did occur). I returned to the hotel a couple of hours later. It was a Sunday, so Stuart had to leave and return to his wife. The charboh beckons.

Gave Eng Han a call and planned to meet up for lunch. He brought me to a pub (can’t recall the name) and ordered a ‘bitter’ as Dad recommends. Tastes like, light ale. Nice. Wanted to order real British pub food so I asked for Steak and Ale pie. Eng Han and Valerie ordered Chicken and Mushroom pie and Lasagna respectively.

London is really cold now.

We continue on a walk around the city. We passed Leicester Square where there were at least 3 cineplexes there. Odeon is apparently famous. I have no idea. We then walked on to Piccadilly Circus where all the big shops are. The list goes on. I had duck rice at China town which in retrospect cost an arm and a leg. I halved the bill with Eng Han since he paid for lunch. Thanks a bunch mate. Thanks to Val for giving me the A+ tour too.

Here are some of the photos of the day. Not really taking photos since I come in to work at the office, not much to take.