The first day of touching down was...ok I could say. My head was spinning badly and the taxe driver that breaks so hard every 20metres doesn't help my body either.

We got through the customs ok, as I was surprise that I didn't see what I was told. Hustle and bustle, rudness, etc. It felt the same a any customs you go through. We had to do a health check up, and that the lady at the counter was very nice. They scanned my body to check for things, and after we got to our luggages, it was out and waiting :)

The interesting thing was, it was like Malaysia. There were indeed nobody at the customs, and that we did not even fill an in-depth declaration form, we walked straight through the green lane. And it was a good thing we rung the cab before hand. Cheaper, and he was waiting for an hour (silly guy, we told the people to send him in an hour later). Total cost on a van cab was
£41.

We were greated greatly by Joyce, Jason, his bestfriend and gf. We had a scrumptious meal, plus also manage to capture the men's tennis finals game. 4 hours!! I zonked out almost immediately when I fell onto their couch bed.

Weather: Half rain, half cloudy, half windy

07 Jul 08

Felt like my head was still spinning and that my body wasn't fully adjusing to the time as yet. Jason took us out to learn the bus route. The first and most common bus was number 17. Similar to NZ, we use the oyster card and it gets topped up at the subways and when you go into a bus, its like a touch-n-go process. Each bus stops at certain alphabetical sign, as there were so many of them on the streets. And the route from the start to the end on one numbered bus costs 90p.

I think London is like Malaysia and NZ. You behave like a Malaysian on the streets, and like a New Zealander at work. I was beginning to love this place as I didn't feel neither here nor there.

We traveled to a HSBC to sort out our stuff, only to find that we can do it at any branch. And since London is a new country, there were so many things to see in the bus. Oh, all day buses were double deckers, and the night ones are like caterpillars hehe. We saw lotsa 'Pret a Manger' cafes which was similar to Hollywood Bakery, there were heaps and heaps of HSBC branches. Thank goodness we've got an account with them. Rested more today as I still didn't feel too well.

Weather: Half rain, half shine

08 July 08

Sun was out today!! So I dashed out saying goodbye to D who had to wait for the FEDEX box to come. I shot straight to take the same route. Head was feeling better than yesterday. And here comes the pictures.....

General buildings (not much dirt as I thought, could be just this area only)

Zee buses you see everywhere...nice red colour to liven the place up

St. Paul's Cathedral, where Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married :)

Tourist buses,heh might take one when I settle down :)

Black taxi cabs (Expensive cabs, we were told to avoid them)

Almost every gap between each buildings, I stumble across small parks for people to read. London indeed do keep their greens well. And they fully maintain the plants and landscaping is really well done.

I was almost amazed that lots of buildings are literally made out of bricks. Just like Malaysia, but these are not covered by cement. I guess that is how you differentiate the old and new buildings...anyway, this is alley to where I temporarily stay...

More to come in the next post!