The London Travel Photojournal

everyday is a day of dérive

This is prolly the trip of a lifetime, up to this point in my (close-to) 21 years of existence on this Earth. I can't count how many blessings I've received on this trip but I shall share them in the form of photos with you guys! :)

Nobody actually knows how much I love London ever since I set foot on this amazing land in December 2012, as part of a 15/16D package tour to Central Europe after my A Levels. I really enjoyed the company I had on that trip but I did not get to enjoy London at all. I told myself, "One day, just one day, I'll travel to this faraway land all by myself and experience life there."

And bam! This trip happened. I wasn't even sure that it is even going to be confirmed up till the moment I booked my flight tickets to London (the whole airtickets/fly by SQ thing is another story on its own all thanks to my very amusing mum) Up till the moment I landed in Singapore, I still felt a strong sense of uncertainty whether my trip would work out well... and damn it did... well sort of. At least I didn't get pickpocketed (well almost)/raped/mugged/attacked by balaclava men (hehe inside joke).

I really want to thank all my friends that I met up with in the UK for the good fellowship and conversations we had over afternoon tea/pizza/corona/snakebites/beer/wine/weird food from the supermarket. It was extremely nice to catch up with you guys after such a long time (well except for Yan Han and Hazel, it hasn't been very long but hope you all are enjoying yourself in Iceland with all the funny funny names of places I can't pronounce :P)

Special special thanks to Jackie and Mao. Thank you, thank you, and thank you for letting me hobo at your place(s) and cooking so much good food while I'm here. Esp esp esp esp esp Mao, thanks for taking me to so many places and your favourite haunts in London, and sorry I made you suffer for a week (fyi, apparently I laugh in my sleep) D:

Thank you Valerieeeeeee for coming with me up North, with misadventures happening Every. Single. Day. on the rail trip. It was great catching up with you after so long... like 2010??? Thanks for going through all the shit with me (L I T E R A L L Y) and introducing me to my new secret hideout in London the next time I return and the goodness of Paperchase (!!!!!!!!!!! PLS DON'T ENTER THIS PLACE IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS RESTRAINING SPENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!)

There's something about solo trips that makes it so therapeutic, as you're hanging out with yourself most of the time and you can get to have uninterrupted thought chains and unlimited me-time. There's also something about Londoners that really make my day, as it is totally normal to say hi and smile at random strangers you meet. The men there are so gentlemanly, I never expected anyone to help me with my luggage at the tube stations but there were people who actually did.

I'll live to tell the tales that happened during this trip to all the people I meet in the future (eg husband and kids) and I dare say that this is the most legitimate holiday I've ever taken in my entire life. I literally woke up anytime I wanted on most days, ate good food, indulged myself in good art at the museums and gorgeous sights by the Thames, fell asleep on grass patches (and DID NOT GET PICKPOCKETED), had the most meaningful conversations with my best friend I haven't seen in a year and most importantly, living the life of a Londoner.

In the upcoming posts, I'll be introducing some various things you can do in London and some of my favourite places I discovered on this trip in the UK! BUT MEANWHILE I'm happy to announce that....

I'm flying off again tomorrow to another country HAHAHA(been seriously under the weather these days) so I'll be blogging simultaneously along with that! Hehe see you guys soon~

xx,
Ming.

Hong Kong - Australia Dairy Co.

How can simple fare taste so good?????????????????? YOU WILL FIND YOUR ANSWER AT AUSTRALIA DAIRY CO. The four ratchets went to have it on a weekday at around 9.45 am? We did not have to wake up too early for it as we lived a station away, and the diner was really near to the MTR!

It would be more worth it to have the “早餐“ than the “快餐” as it is just HKD6 (~ SGD 1) more for a plate of toast and scrambled eggs. I was pretty dumb to give that a miss >.> Both the Macaroni and Ham Soup and the Scrambled Eggs + Toast are incredibly good for an uncostly price of HKD38 (bit more than SGD 6) where tea or coffee is also included in the package!

While you are there, do also try the Milk Custard steamed with Egg White (蛋白炖鲜奶). We had the cold one for HKD 26 (~ SGD 4). Pretty decent but you might want to just order one to share as the breakfast set is extremely filling.

When we left at close to 11am, there was a really long queue that went 3-4 shopfronts down the street, so do come early! And btw, Australia Dairy Co. does not really have a clean restroom so if you want a clean one, do visit the restroom in Macdonalds around 5-7 minutes walk from the diner! (no other blogger will be so kind to tell you where is the nearest cleanest toilet)

Australia Dairy Company
澳洲牛奶公司
47 Parkes St
Jordan
Hong Kong

0730 - 2330 from Mon-Wed, Fri-Sun, closed on Thursdays.

*exit at C2 from Jordan MTR

Hong Kong - Dim Dim Sum (點點心）

As some of you would've known, I visited HK with my fellow ratchet friends from University a week after our exams ended to chiongsua all the food and shopping there (bankai x10000). Our first meal in HK happens to be at Dim Dim Sum (點點心) at Mong Kok, since it is around 10-15 minutes walk from our Airbnb apartment!

We ordered the Chee Cheong Fun with bbq pork in it and I must say, that this place serves the best Chee Cheong Fun I ever had in my ENTIRE life. No joke. The soya sauce really binds the entire dish together.

Pighead Egg Custard Buns (Liu Sha Bao) is alright, I would not say it's the best I've ever had. But it is one of those foods like the panda buns at River Safari back in Singapore or your llaollao froyo, which I call "Instagram Food" = Presentable but not really that impressive by taste. 

I still find the idea of eating Chicken feet gross, like imagine all the chicken poop, worms and dirt that this Chicken had trampled on before it died and got served as a dish on your table. #justsaying But my friends who ate it said it was not bad, so if you're a fan of it.... you can try the chicken feet here!

Crystal buns and Fried Wasabi Prawn Balls (below) were pretty decent and worth every cent. But the best dimsum I had that day apart from the Chee Cheong Fun was the Har Kau. I think only my mum knows, that my favourite dimsum is the Har Kau. I can eat like an entire meal of just harkau and still feel happy. According to the pros, what makes a good har kau is not only just the freshness of the prawns, but also the thickness of the translucent skin. The skin of the Har Kau must not break after steaming and when you lift it up from the steaming baskets. The Har Kau at Dim Dim Sum was not those cheapo har kau that uses pathetic small prawns, but big, sweet and juicy prawns with a skin that had adequate thickness that did not tear when I lifted it up. Thumbs up to the chef!

Give this coconut and corn dessert a miss. Though it was an interesting mix, we were not really impressed by it.

It is always good to go to Hong Kong with a group of friends, I would suggest 3-4 friends as it really comes in helpful when you want to sample lots of food at an eatery. The bill for this meal came up to around SGD8 per person and for the portion each of us ate, it was really worth it and much cheaper than what we have to usually pay for dimsum back home in Singapore. Each steamed basket's price range went from less than SGD 1 to around SGD 2.

Dim Dim Sum is a good place to have lunch at if you are in the vicinity of Mong Kok, and here's how to get there!

Dim Dim Sum
112 Tung Choi Street

Mong Kok

Hong Kong

11:00 to 02:00 daily.

*it is a really small shop, hence its hard to miss so do look very carefully for it!

Still Alive

Yes, I'm still alive and almost done with freshman year in University!