London!

London remains the best city I have ever visited. I heard some say New York gives good competition to the status. Everything about the city is just wonderful; the food, the people and the weather in contrast to ppl's usual complaints of gloominess. I have been to London 3 times now, and I enjoyed my last trip there the best when I spent 2 months living the life of a Londoner:)

Best things to do in London:- 

1. A night walk along River Thames from Big Ben/Westminster, passing by London Eye. I've never done this in winter, but on other times the breezy weather and the lights are just breathtaking. I could walk all the way to Tower Bridge passing by London Bridge but you could choose to take the tube from Embankment to Tower Hill as it is quite a distance unless you have the time. 

    Big Ben

   London Eye
    Tower Bridge
View from the Tower Bridge at dusk
2. A visit to the War Museum. It is definitely the best museum I've visited and was amazed to have spent more than 3 hours. It should keep you really occupied if you really go through everything. There was this section on Holocaust with a lot of videos which were really informative. It is located within walking distance from Elephants and Castle tube station and there are ample directions to get there.
3. Notting Hill. I have always been inspired by movie locations and love going to places where movie scenes were filmed. This is also where the Portobello road market is located. 

Hugh Grant's travel bookshop

The coffeeshop across Hugh Grant's house

4. Borough Market. It is both a wet and dry market but unlike the markets we have here, this was a pleasant change of sight:) Lots of interesting things to see and buy.

5. Tower Of London. This is where you'll be able to see the Crown Jewels and visit an authentic castle. Again, I was inspired by the other boleyn sisters movie where anne boleyn was prosecuted here.   

6. Trafalgar Square  - National Gallery where I spent only 10 minutes inside (inclusive of toilet break) as I'm a noob in art. This is like our Dataran Merdeka or Penang Esplanade where most major events are held.   

7. Chinatown - A place you would love coming to if you are in London for long periods. Some serve good food but the one thing in common is that they present you the bill as soon as you finish eating. That's their way of saying "please pay and bugger off!"   

8. Leicester Square - Lots of birds here to see while you feast on ben and jerry's ice cream! This is also a famous venue for movie premieres. Emma Watson flashed her undies here btw, lol.

9. Piccadilly Circus - About a few hundred metres away from Leicester Square. The last time I was there, they had this Mcdonald's interactive screen, interesting idea. It is also the place I found Lillywhites/SportsDirect store and fell in love instantly. Football jerseys and sports stuffs are all cheap bargains.  

 10. Regent Street, Oxford Street - Nice view of the buildings as well as a shopping street. It is also where the Ice Bar is located.   

11. St. Paul's Cathedral 

View of St.Paul's from the Millennium Bridge

12. Buckingham Palace - There is exchange of guards every morning. 

13. Covent Garden - a nice and famous area of pubs and street performances, my personal favourite place

Cruelty of Sports (Life)

Those who are close to me know I am a big fan of sports. I absolutely love the way I was raised ; outdoors! I was never really a homey person who plays computer/video games albeit a period of time when i was all crazy over fifa, prince of persia and the blue brothers to name a few:)

First and the only game I still play frequently these days is badminton. My dad drew a badminton court at the backlane of my home and I started playing with my brothers and dad since I was 3! Then we would cycle around the neighbourhood together with my cousins, even made new cycling friends:) When I moved to Pulau Tikus (where the all so good chiu chang ka char koay teow is btw), there was a nearby army training camp. We would go there on the weekends and play war games. It does sound pathetic now as the furthest we have gone was using gunpowder. It must have been great if paintball was already famous back then lol! Not to mention the frequent swimming sessions as well. Hiking up no.84 (halfway point of pg hill) was almost a weekly affair with my dad and siblings.

I think kids my time were pretty creative when it comes to the outdoor games. Kids these days I see are all computer/video gamers...boring. then again, i think it's a non-city kid thing too considering when I share my stories with my kl friends, they sounded pretty amazed. haha
badminton can be played over the house gate, ping pong using the dining table and tennis at home, how about that!:) I have to say we were pretty resouceful and we would settle for anything just to play. short dining table? extend with a platform supported by chairs!

My cousins, brothers and I would also gather for mini-futsal sessions as well at my cousin's pretty huge garden. Sadly, I have not played much football ever since I started wearing specs. No contact lens for me as my eyes are too sensitive:p I used to play tennis and squash too, basically i get interested in whatever is thrown at me, but the only game I really like was and is still badminton.

So now I have to settle at only watching football. A big fan of Man Utd, supported them since I was young. I remember those younger years when their style and never-say-die spirit really impressed me and got me following. great players have come and gone, yet the team's still at the top! 3 years running and they just thrashed arsenal 3-1 last night, totally outclassing Ars. Which was my point of the title having detoured quite a bit (lol), I am also a fan of Arsene Wenger's style; attacking football, a great scout and the ability to develop young players. If there had to be one opposing team to win the league, I would respectfully give it to Arsenal. I think they deserve it after all the hard work Arsene has put in. Sadly, football and sports generally are cruel. Winners will continue to win and losers will continue to lose most of the big competitions. I reckon it has got a lot to do with having a strong winning mentality.

It is something that great winners like Sir Fergie, Roger Federer and Lin Dan have that you can't take away from them too often. You can only give credit to these winners as they always seem to up their games in major competitions. More so when they are written off by the media critics. Just look at federer, he had a bad end to 2009 and most people thought he's off with a total of 15 grand slams. It was just amazing seeing him play yesterday, back to his best and adding to another grand slam. Nobody knows how much more will he go on to win!

I am also a big fan of Chong Wei as I think he has been the most consistent player Malaysia has ever seen since Rashid. I honestly think it's just too bad he is in the same era as Lin Dan. I feel people just got to understand that there are some natural talented winners like Lin Dan but at least Chong Wei makes it up by training hard. The coach has always been very proud of his training ethics and that alone earns my respect. I've always been very critical of Malaysians who criticised him for losing so badly in the olympics final. Yes I was disappointed too but I thought he lost most of the matches against Lin Dan only down to mental strength. These highly critical people did not even watch how he got to the final! Skill for skill, I think he's better but he just got to play the same attacking way against Lin Dan which he has failed to do so far. Hopefully he can get the better of him this year, especially it being a Thomas Cup year.

I sure hope most people understand the level of commitment sportsmen have to put to get to the winning level. It's obviously not as easy as people who sit at home munching on junk food highly criticising the players. As life has taught me, hard training/work does not guarantee you success, that's the cruelty of life! some people are just smarter or more talented in whatever they do. Don't know about you, but I prefer supporting someone who is down to earth and true worthy champions like fergie, federer and chong wei!

A Malaysian Weekend

I had a very good weekend although as always, I wished weekends were a day longer. In the midst of all the politicised racial issues in the country, the past weekend made me proud to be a malaysian.

On Friday night, I met up with Fahmy, Yasser, Saiful and Yam Meng at the Curve over drinks after 12 years since we last parted ways after Std 6. We had so much fun just by catching up on old times and I have no doubts at all, the malay friends I made in primary school are friends for life. There would have been a better attendance if not for the different places we are all spread about. probably something for the future but i thought it was really cool. how often do we see ppl of all races hanging out with fun?

Also over the weekend I watched the badminton Malaysian Open with my dad and Jiin. The Malaysian players were Chinese and the supporters were all races you can find in Malaysia (very few Indians though surprisingly). There was never a glimpse of what you would have heard from the media reporting on the racial issues in the country as I saw everyone out there so supportively cheering for the Malaysian players.

Whilst I am saddened by how the Allah issue was played out of proportion by certain parties, the past weekend showed me that on the grounds, we are indeed all Malaysians, unbinded by the colour of our skin. Well at least, I believe the majority are.

While we are this, let's talk about politics. I am not really a fan of the opposition but I always believe in balance of power. I wish we could change the government and whole cabinet including the PM every 5 years but we all know that is very unlikely to happen unless everyone put his/her electoral votes to good effect. Recently I have come to a point of being disgusted by the government and seriously pondering on migration. The only thing that is holding me back is the wonderful Malaysian lifestyle I have here. Having travelled to a few countries, I still love our lifestyle the best. I have a car that brings me places, I get to have supper anytime I want, get to savour good variety of food and the list goes on. What motivates me though is the strong currency in the other countries!

Eventhough I am a Malaysian Chinese, I am still malaysian and I wish the racial cards were not played out by the irresponsible parties. Recent happenings seem to suggest that I as a malaysian chinese need to be very afraid as a May 13 may happen again. It really saddens me that this would and have to be a factor in my migration decision. Whatever it may be, I will be sure to vote for a new government come the next election. If you know the current one sucks, why not give the other a chance although they have every possibility of being a flunk too, but at least we would have tried and done ourselves justice. Anyway, irregardless of who you vote for, be sure to exercise your rights!

By the way, I'm very proud that I'm a non-racist Malaysian!