UK Day 3: Stratford-upon Avon

Day 3
30th July 2014

Rise and shine!!  Today we depart via Chiltern Railways to Stratford-upon-Avon where we will spend 2 days there, and the 3rd day in quaint, old Cotswolds.  From our apartment, we took the DLR and transferred to the underground tube stopping at Marylebone station where we purchased our train tickets.  Again, dad had done the homework on prices and travel duration.

Our breakfast:  Bread with cold ham, ginseng tea (yes! all the way from Malaysia... mom has instructed me to boil for dad), fresh blueberries and raspberries with Muller yogurt, orange juice

... and we polished off the other half the pizza

The reason for this picture because it brought back fragrant memories of hubby (then-boyfriend) would occasionally buy flowers for me if he has some spare change in his pocket ;P

Top:  the train we took, Bottom:  no we did not cycle to SuA

Top right:  Familiar snacks for the road, and Bottom Left:  Our lunch when we changed trains at XXX station.  Bottom Right:  this little cafe was where we had our lunch, and where I bought the cola bottles with our children's names.  The lady was so kind to search her refrigerator for me

I'd like to note that the trains were all clean and pleasantly equipped with tables either mini foldable ones or sharing ones for 4 pax, as well as charging points for electrical gadgets.  It was not crowded though the seats are filled to almost 60% of the coach.  

Stratford-upon-Avon greeted us with warm sunshine and clear blue skies.  Dad took only a backpack, whilst I had my trolley bag and backpack on top of my handbag.  Glad I took an extra bag, because later I discovered Morrisons was along the way from our B&B to town.  

From the train station, we took the right turn and walked along Alcester Road, looking for Mil-Mar Bed and Breakfast where dad has booked us in for the next two nights.  It was quite a long walk as we walked facing the afternoon sunshine and admiring the local houses at the same time.  

Pleasantly surprised when we arrived at No.96... FLOWERS!!!  

Captured this... beautiful pink roses against a local house

Flowers and more flowers decorate the compound of Mil-Mar B&B

Our room

Sandra, the host at Mil-Mar, greeted us and showed us our room with two single beds on the ground floor.  Our view was the front, and we had an en-suite bathroom.  The dining room was conveniently located just opposite our room, where we will have breakfast the next morning at 9am.

After checking in and quickly connecting to their free wifi (because we realized the night before that our usage has been overly fast and may not be able to last throughout the 10 days if we were to continue at this rate), we rested awhile.  Dad wanted to stay in to continue his afternoon siesta, and although I was not keen to get baked in the summer sun, I wasn't keen to hibernate indoors as well. So, we decided that I will go gallivanting myself for the next 2 hours, meeting back in the B&B.

I headed towards town, but along the way discovered this building with trolleys and open car park, and some people walking out of it with shopping bags.  *Ding ding*... do I smell something?? RETAIL!!!  It's Morrisons, which honestly I was not familiar with this chain as I don't recall seeing it in Sheffield during uni days.  Oh well... does it matter anyway??

Grocery shopping is a bliss whenever in a western country.  I could get lost in the aisle and occupy myself reading labels, comparing prices, admiring the assortment of cheese and ham, tempting myself at the liquor section, rummaging through BARGAIN items at the children's rack, and lots more!  Now it's really bad if the prices are always single digit, because it gives you the false impression that it's really cheap, right?  And believe me, I'm so bad at maths when it comes to multiplication of 5.5

Anyway, half way through I reminded myself that I have limited baggage space, but that's after I've painstakingly picked what I wanted, so I consoled myself that I will just handcarry the items in plastic bags all the way back to London!  So what did I buy?  Well... clothes, scones, wine, biscuits, fruits (GBP3 for 2 big 500g boxes of any berries - blue, straw or rasp and cherries!), chocolate powder, detergent for the apartment and baking flour even!  That's probably not my full declaration *innocent eyes* and did I mention that I bought cheese and ham in Melbourne to tapau back to KL?  I attempted the same here, only their cheese (glorious, glorious cheese flavours) all have very close expiry dates.

500gm of blueberries and 500gm of cherries... back in Malaysia, the blueberries itself would cost RM20 but I'm paying RM8 here, and the cherries... don't even say!  In case you may be wondering, these are amazingly fresh ok.  

Different parts of town...

Flowers are aplentiful... hanging from window sills and above doorways, and pubs are normally decorated with big colorful petunias, which happen to be one of my favourite flowers

This is the Shrieves House, which is the oldest lived-in house in Stratford.  Now a privately run museum. Can you imagine squeaking doors? 

Fancy a coat, anyone?

We did a preliminary discovery of the town, walking along only a couple of main streets and leaving the rest for tomorrow.  Our mission now was mainly to look for dinner at this specific pub called the Dirty Duck along the Waterside or the Black Swan.

Spent some time soaking in the atmosphere along River Avon that runs through town, where there's a park next to it. I recall being here albeit shortly in 2010 feeding swans and ducks.  

River Avon in the evening. 

Dirty Duck pub was highly recommended by Sandra and Jim, our hosts, so we went in search.  Got lost a bit (but how lost can one get in a small town like SuA, right) and a kind, homeless guy offered directions, in return dad placed some spare change in his hat.  

Top Left:  Dad's 8oz grilled gammon steak with chips and peas and fried free range eggs, Top Bottom:  my smoked haddock, spinach, West Country cheddar Florentine bake and on the Right:  TO DIE FOR - clotted cream ice cream!!  Three scoops EACH and not enough!  I can eat a tub, and bring home 10 tubs if I could.  Yes, that great!

Price for any 2 course meal from a selection of choices - only GBP7.99 and for Dad's gammon steak, additional GBP1.  Reasonable, no?  We had red and white wine to go with.

The walk back was unexpectedly colder but bearable.  Not sure if dad in his knee-length shorts felt the same.  I randomly flipped through the local channels back in our room, but nothing interest me.  Thank God for free wifi... haha!  

London Day 2: Oxford Street, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, etc...

Day 2
29th July 2014

The early morning sunlight shone through our winter garden which is like an indoor balcony with full glass enclosure and the windows just beside the glass dining table.  I can't recall the exact day weather forecast but some rain or thunder was to be expected in some of the days we were there.

Today we have a simple breakfast - half a pizza, some toasted bread, orange juice and hot Milo.  I think that was good enough until our first proper meal in London.

The nearest train station was a DLR that took us about 10-15 minutes walk through some houses.

I must applaud my Dad for being such a magnificent planner.  Besides preparing the itinerary, purchasing the train and Oyster tickets online, budgeting, tonnes of researching, checking and rechecking the weather forecasts, planning the short trip away in Stratford-upon-Avon and Cotsword, he has also planned out the best route, right down to the details of which station to embark and change trains.  I half joke with him that he can part time as a London or UK tour guide, but sadly, long tedious walking is not for him these days.

Dad had pre-ordered our Visitor Oyster Cards prior to this trip which are also preloaded.

We didn't feel like staying home today and for me, I'm just eager to hit the streets and soak in the summer sunshine and be part of the hustle and bustle of London.  So first stop... Oxford Street!

Things we saw along the way to our DLR station - a beautiful gate, sunflowers that greeted us and houses in the neighborhood.

Oxford Street was very different from the way I remember it to be.  It's probably just too early for tourist and shoppers at 9am-ish, or that it was a weekday, or maybe... just maybe the economy of London has really taken a slight downturn.  Whatever it is, it did not dampen my excitement.

Walking down the streets, dad and I took our time savouring the different architecture, and striding by most shops. I had a mission and a destination in mind, but being loose in one of the famous shopping haven in London should not stop me from wondering into other shops, should it?  Especially ones with BIG display of the magic word, "SALE!"

But it's good that Dad was with me, so we save time in no deviation, except for a few irresistible brands that I'm familiar with.  Still, the deals were not great as compared to what we have back in Kuala Lumpur, and this is mainly because of the high exchange rate now.

We reached Primark, a reasonably priced departmental store that sells everything from children to home to adults clothings... all except for electrical appliances and homeware.  As usual, I end up buying more for the children than for myself.

All the different British departmental chains along the same street most of which brings back memories of my student days in Sheffield when I used to just "hang out" 

The famous double decker red buses that rule the streets of London

This Marble Arch station brings back memories too... back in Feb/March 2010 when we first brought the children to the United Kingdom, we stayed at Hyatt Regency - The Churchill along Portman Square which was just a stone's throw away from Marble Arch.  Like majority of underground stations in London, there is no escalator or elevator linking us from ground level to rail level, so hubby and I each carried one side of William's stroller with him inside like a maharaja.  Victoria would walk ahead of us first.

We had our lunch after 2.5hours shopping in Primark.  Actually I didn't even keep track of time, because there was just so much to see.  It's good that we went in the morning before the crowd swelled and made shopping rather unpleasant.  It's the queues that test one's level of patience, but the management are sensible to put up more than 40 cashier counters in the 2 floors of retail.  The queue for the tax refund is a different story, with only a sad 2 counters open and hidden in a corner of the children's section upstairs.

We ate just around the corner at Ask Italian.  Food was alright but the wait was rather long.

Our first proper meal in London

We visited Green Park too.  We saw many tourist and locals alike sunbathing and just relaxing on the ground and green deck chairs under the afternoon sunshine, like there is no care and no worries in this world.  After snapping some pictures, dad and I spotted a couple of unoccupied chairs and decided to laze around too, afterall... we were not rushing for anything and it's lazing around in the parks that we did joked about when we decided on this trip.

Can you believe how gullible we were that we thought the chairs were free, until we were approached by a guy with a portable machine asking for GBP3.3 for the usage of the two chairs for 1 hour?  So we paid.  I mean, if we were in Malaysia I'd have jump up from the chair and just said I'm not interested anymore, because that's a freaking RM20 for just sitting around.

The ground is free by the way...

We paid a visit to the Queen too at Buckingham Palace, who unfortunately was away in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games.  

A 15 minutes walk brought us to St James' Park...

... where we saw ducks!  Now ducks are one of the must-see when in the UK.  I mean, I have never recalled a single trip to this country without seeing ducks.  ;P

Here's a handsome fella

And my love for flowers... every size, every color, every shape!   Is it too crazy to say that these flowers bloomed this summer because of me?  *perasan betul*

I love this picture of the London Eye in the background and the serene reflection over the lake

More flowers!  Different species found in the SJP

During summer, we benefit from the long daylight hours, so it doesn't feel like the day is ending when it is still beautifully bright even at 6pm or 7pm!  We walked down to Westminster and found a pub just round the corner, St Stephen Tavern where we had our first taste of fish and chips.  On our mental checklist of to-dos, this is a strike off!

Big Ben whose real name is really the Elizabeth Tower, at different times

Big Ben after dinner.  Still bright even at 8:30pm

Dad enjoys his cold beer on a hot summer day.  I'm the good little girl who orders juice or cider ; ) yes, believe me!  Everytime we eat at a bar, we'd choose our food and I'd head over to the bar to place our orders, pay and carry back our drinks.

There was a short wait for our table but no complains.  The waitress who attended to us was pleasant, and no tips was expected.

This dinner marks the end of our outing for today.  We headed to Tesco Extra just at the next block to pick up some breakfast items - assortment of yogurt, strawberrys, blueberries and ham.

Canary Wharf around 9pm at night when we arrived.  Surrounding this place are big MNCs like Thomson Reuters, HSBC, Barclays, JP Morgan and Citibank.  

London Day 1

Helloooo!  I have been back for a week now!  The very next day after I arrived home, it was back to my routine of sending kids to school, and running around completing errands.  It's a great jetlag-killer (if I had any in the first place) and I must say, the first time I got back behind the wheels, it sure feels great!  I could switch radio channels, turn on the USB or CD player and control the coolness of the air conditioning... all small luxuries that we sometimes take for granted!

So anyways, here's my usual travel log on my time away... I'd like to title it Home Away From Home.

Day 1
28th July 2014

As early as 630am in the morning, dad and I left in our taxi from dad's house to the airport.  A few nights before, I found out that my dear hubby was already having trouble sleeping at night, and he would keep awake just because he's already started to miss me even a week before!  Almost hourly, he'd plant little kisses on my drooling unconscious self and I'd only know about it the next day.

So the night before my flight was to depart, I knew hubby would not be able to rest well.  It's hard to say good bye for this long a separation.  With the recent tragic events in the air, we're constantly reminded not to take our loved ones for granted.

10 days back in the land that we fell in love.  10 days in the land that my heart misses so much.  10 days away without my honey and my sweet, darling kids... it's definitely a first for all of us.  We have reminded both Vic and Will that mummy won't be around for a while, and they were so cool about it.  I planned out the work books for them to complete during my absence (mean ol' mummy going for a holiday and giving her kids work to complete, huh), stocked up the refrigerator, drafted out a food menu list and given instructions to my helper.  Despite a written routine handover and emergency numbers to hubby, I was worried if he could juggle his busy workload and home at the same time although he's assured me a thousand times over that he'll manage.

Back to the taxi.  I hugged Mom, Vic and honey, and kissed my sleeping boy goodbye.

My dad has checked us in earlier so we only needed to do a baggage drop at the counter.  Much to our surprise and dismay, the queue at the check in counters were all very long.  Apparently this is normal due to the "peak hour" at KLIA and of all times, the system went down so after a good 30-45 minutes wait, we were told to move to other counters.

We had only time for a quick bite before the flight, so we ate along the way to the Gate.  Dad and I shared a sandwich that cost nearly RM20.  A 500ml mineral water bottle cost RM7.50 before tax and I ain't gonna fall for such absurd price!

Flight departed at 1010am as scheduled and was uneventful.  It was hard to sleep because it was a day flight, so I watched 3 movies I believe, and snoozed in between.

From Top:  Selfie the two of us, Bottom Left:  How cool, we can see our own flight from outside, and Bottom Right:  I love airline food!  

We sat in the spanking new A380-800 which I learnt had three levels and had a maximum passenger capacity of 494 pax.  I know it's common for the Western airlines, but this was my first time seeing flight crew on an Asian airline who were so old and less good looking.  So where have all the young, good looking ones gone to?

We arrived on time at 1620 local time.  The weather was not too cold nor hot, something around 25deg C?  I can't recall.

Dad did an online purchase for a return trip on the Heaththrow Express, which takes us to Paddington Rail Station that connects to Paddington Underground.

Just before entering the underground station, we saw a Lebara kiosk.  Again, dad had researched earlier that Lebara offered the best data plan.  For only GBP5, we get 500mb data plan, and free calls from Lebara to Lebara numbers.  I wasn't going to make any calls anyway, but at least I had a local number for anyone in London to contact me, and the data kept us sane and in touch with friends and loved ones.  So, you can guess who I messaged first?

We met up with a contact who brought us to our "home."  Lovely place located in a quiet neighborhood with only one convenient store within walking distance.  That was good enough for us to get breakfast supply for the next day though.

Dad rested, whilst I unpacked, bathed and meddled with my new dataplan.  Praise God for a safe flight and smooth check-in into our place.

London Here I Come!

I'm leaving for London for 10 days away, with my Dad.  As you can see, we've been to a few holidays lately and hubby and I agreed earlier on that he will stay back as his workload at monthends are always very hectic.  I cannot say enough how great a guy my hubby is (ahem! I'm bias, you might think), and I thank him for releasing me for this break.

In fact, hubby encouraged me to spend time with my dad, and I really appreciate that.  It's a rare opportunity to go travelling and sightseeing for just the two of us, a passion that both dad and I have in common.  My love for London and her country is undoubted.   When dad had his sabbatical in 1985, it was my first time stepping foot in this beautiful country.  I feel in love with it at 7.

Our last first trip back to the United Kingdom was our children's first...  in February 2010 for 18 days.  That is still the BEST holiday I ever had.  If you read about them from my archive, you will see why.

Going away now, I have mixed feelings.  It's hard to feel excited with all the recent tragedies in the air.  Even when we booked our tickets, we contemplated other airlines and still preferred Malaysia Airlines because of the direct route and time of arrival.  At that time, I thought that such "bad luck" will not strike twice, but MH17 compounded my fear.

Still, we decide to proceed, despite the prospect of getting a full refund.  Everyday I ask God to watch over my family and my trip.  I'm placing my trust in God, that ask if you could, please pray along with me for journey mercies to and fro.

We've been married 10 years this year, and it's the first time we are away from each other for so long.  To say we will miss each other will be a gross understatement.

We will be together again very soon... I love you all always!

Bangkok Holiday Day 2 & 3: Shopping and more shopping!

Day 2
14th July 2014

One of the best things about being on a holiday is waking up late (if you are on a free and easy program) and not having to worry about meals and what to cook.  The only question is, "What to do?  Where to go?"

But as it is, our hotel provides complimentary breakfast and believe this, they serve pork!  How lovely!  Selection was satisfactory and food quality could be better, but overall nothing to complain. Service was good and we enjoyed our rounds of continental and asian fare.

Travelling with hubby, whether alone or with the children, is always great because he is like a local tour guide, guiding us through the maze of shops and leading us back and forth so we don't get lost. I merely had to say, "Honeeeyyy, I wanna go MBK..." and he'd be ever ready.  The best part?  This man I married doesn't complain or grumble about shopping.  So imagine how fun it is!

We spent the whole day in one mall.  In the evening, we headed back to our hotel to clean up and then have dinner at a local kopitiam a few metres away.  Nothing grand, nothing fanciful.  Just plain local Thai food.  As we walked in a group of Westerners were occupying one table and another group of Thai boys formed another table half way through our dinner.  We ordered a rice dish, a noodle dish and a centre dish... total damage was only THB180 (equivalent to RM18).

I mean, I like it.  Coz with the kids, we'd probably head somewhere nicer and pricier.  The kopitiam was farely clean and the chefs and kitchen helpers all wear caps and face masks.

After dinner, we headed for another round of massage at the same place.  This time my masseur is called Apple and she's a petite sized lady but with strong arms.  I chose the Thai massage for 1 hour, whilst hubby went for the foot massage again.

That 1 hour... WAS. TOTAL. BLISS.  I wish I can bundle Apple up and bring her back to Malaysia with me.  But then, that'd be human trafficking is it?  So I did not.  But I vouched that if I ever go back to Prathumwan area I will look for Apple.


Day 3
15th July 2014

After breakfast today, we decided to walk around Siam Discovery, Siam Centre and Siam Paragon.  There is an overhead bridge link from the BTS station in front of our hotel that leads us to MBK and Siam Discovery (I hope I got this right... hubby please correct me).  Now you see, my memory of directions is very poor.  Hubby would tease me and say it's easy to bring me somewhere and sell me, hahaha... but my standard reply is I have no market value now, and he won't get a good deal from all the outlay he poured on me.  Haha...

Jokes aside, Siam Discovery is nothing much.  It's a typical mall, similar to what we can find back home, but with less offerings and no crowd.  Honestly, place looks a bit pathetic.

Siam Centre has a different outlook and feel, catering more for the youths and young adults.  The interior decoration is mostly black, and the shops are more funky and young-ish.  Not for us oldies.  Haha.

Next stop, Siam Paragon.  A high end place.  But their food floor offers many selection, so long as you are willing to pay.  We hopped into MNG which was having sale, but they didn't have my size for the pieces that I wanted.  : (  Zara was not having sale, so we decided to pass.

Fooling around

Today's activity was less interesting, and more of killing time.  By 11am, we headed back to the hotel to pack up and check out at 12noon.

The cab from the airport to the hotel cost us THB700 for a Camry.  The trip from the hotel to the airport, by just radioing a cab (the bellman did this for us) cost only a fraction, THB300.

Flight was slightly delayed and departed at 1530, arriving KLIA2 at 1830.

Kids and Joanne were already home with Mama Yeh Yeh waiting for us!  After a fun and relaxing 3D2N away, it's great to be home with the family.

Bangkok Holiday Day 1: Hello Chatuchak!

Day 1
13th July 2014

The night before we bade our children goodbye because our flight departed early at 8:25am, which means we needed to be at the airport by 6:25am, and arranged for our trusty cab driver to pick us up at 5:15am.  We set our phone alarms to wake us at 4:45am.

Vic wanted to wake at the same time as us to see us before we left.  Of course we objected as we didn't want her to lose any sleep but finally we came to a common ground that I will nudge her.  If she wakes, she wakes, if she doesn't then no unhappiness, ok?  Deal!  In the morning, I kept my part and she opened her eyes a little and mumbled good bye to us.

We had porridge breakfast in KFC, KLIA2 then proceeded to our gate.  You know since the last time we missed our flight to Hanoi was because we engaged in an interesting chat over porridge as well, so this time we consciously kept watch of time.

Upon arrival at the rather quiet airport, we took a cab to our hotel, Mercure Bangkok Siam Hotel along the busy Rama 1 road.  Surprisingly the cab driver did not know where our hotel was, despite us showing him the address (in English, which he did not understand nor speak) and the map.  He didn't carry a phone either, so there was no way for him to contact the hotel for directions.  We kept our eyes on signboards just to make sure he's not bringing two foreigners to sell, haha... and secretly my heart was already travelling to our next destination, Chatuchak Market.

Finally found our hotel, and all he could say is, "Ohhh, Ibis!!"  That's because the two hotels share the same location.  We are just diagonally opposite MBK Shopping Mall, and a stone's throw away from Siam Discovery, Siam Centre and Siam Paragon.

The bathroom is modern and sleek.  I like it that the toiletries are kept to a minimal and extras like toothbrush, cotton buds, etc are provided upon request.  

Our room is smaller than the standard hotel room size, but spacious enough for two of us, and can still put in two kids in the future.  The sofa at the end of the room is big enough for one person to sleep.  

Chatuchak Market

Our first trip to Bangkok was before William came along, possibly in the year 2006.  That trip, we intentionally chose a hotel near Chatuchak Market but ended up shopping in downtown instead. Our second trip was in December 2011 with Mama Yeh Yeh, Yee Sok See Sam, Theodore and friends for 4D3N and it was during this trip that I had my first experience of Chatuchak.  I was impressed and amazed at so much selection at unbelievable prices.

Our last attempt to Bangkok last year was cancelled last minute.  We burned our air tickets and hotel accommodation which was paid in full.  Naturally this trip we learnt not to book our hotel too early, and waited till the last two weeks.

The BTS was just at our hotel doorstep (see, this hotel is really a gem!) and we did only one change of train to Mo Chit stop, which is outside Chatuchak.  The whole journey took no longer than 30 minutes, and cost us only THB42 per person (Equivalent to RM4.2)

Waiting for our train... we are entertained by TV ads on the platform and in the train

Our lunch venue

Pork noodle soup - yummy and wholesome!

Snacks that we ate along the way

Art and craft materials

Clothes, shoes and accessories

Lights and decorations

Potteries 

Decorative birds

Magnets

Plastic flowers and bangles

Shoes

Dinner at MBK.  We were recommended a shop called Nova Kitchen from the information counter that serves Thai-Chinese cuisine.  Food was good, and as a tourist we get a tourist discount card for selected shops in MBK.  For above THB350 in Nova Kitchen, we are entitled for 10% discount.  Not bad eh?

Our dinner:  Pineapple fried rice, green curry with roti, mixed seafood tom yam soup and prawn in egg puree

Walking to / fro hotel and MBK.  See how safe the road is?  Exposed cables and uneven pavements.  

After dinner, we headed for massage.  There is a place just within 3 minutes walking distance from our hotel that charges very very reasonable price.  So reasonable, I couldn't help laughing just thinking about it!  Hahaha... At first hubby was hesitant as he is not keen on massage, but after a tiring day out and prospect of waiting 1 hour for me to finish mine, changed his mind!  And what a great decision it was!  He fell asleep next to me, snoring!  : )

Thai massage is always best!  A million times better than Indonesian!

Happiness.  Sleep.... zzzzzzz