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January 07, 2006
Best birthday ever!
I was about to get a big bash in that photo taken 2 years ago. Chern Yih and gang organized a Christmas party (and secretly a birthday bash for me) in his house. It is one of the most memorable hatchday I can remember. 2005 is another one...
December 22, 2005
Took a late morning stroll in Kensington Gardens just a stone throw away. It's one of the 3 green lungs of London, covering a staggering area of 275 acres (about 1 km square!). One of the shooting scenes for 'Finding Neverland', the royal garden was filled with gigantic pine trees and lush verdant lawns, dotted sparsely by pigeons and canaries. On the contrary, numerous swans, ducks and migratory birds crowded in a serene lake in the middle of the garden. They are not afraid of humans at all. Habituation must have desensitized the defensive behavior so ardently shown by wild types.
Walked to Albert Memorial at the south end of Kensington Gardens. It's a huge monument erected by Queen Victoria in dedication to her beloved husband, who, in spite of being labelled a foreign rogue trying to corrupt the nation, brought science and art together in Britain's manufacturing industry. I thought the monument is cool as it depicts different people from all around the globe in each corner and around its base, and Prince Albert is sitting on a golden throne in the middle, overlooking the whole world.
Right across the road is the Royal Albert Hall, where Siti Nurhaliza had her first international concert. Wow.
Walked on a bit. Imperial College loomed right in front of us. THE college for best engineering students. Awestruck.
Walked a bit more. Entered Natural History Museum. Dumbfounded. It's a sanctuary for biologists, geologists, and plain earth lover. It's fantastically huge; we toured around for 2 hours but only managed to cover a third of the whole exhibition, that's how huge it is. I was quite disappointed we didn't manage to tour the Darwin Room in Life Gallery. Anyway, to be able to gape at dinosaur bones and scrutinize various rocks on earth was satisfying enough.
The walk back to our hotel was painstakingly slow as we were all tired from walking all day. Worse still, upon reaching the northern part of Kensington Gardens, which was fenced and gated, we found, to our horror, that all gates were locked. We had no choice but to climb over the fence in the least dense hedge. Lol...
After our little adventure, bro produced a walnut chocolate cake with 10 candles on top. It was a nice surprise. Everyone sang the good old song. It was a brief but touching moment. (note: I didn't spend the quid you gave me, bro. I'll keep it for you hehe :P)
Then, bro took us to a nice quaint Indian restaurant where we had the best nasi beriani ayam/kambing in London (of course, the best of the best is still beriani power! IMO). The rice was evenly cooked with cardamon, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and star anise; the meat was tender and juicy; the gravy was rich and fragrant. It was the nicest meal we had in London.
Then, we travelled to West End of London where we treated ourselves with 'The Phantom of the Opera' musical in Her Majesty Theatre. It was just superb. I enjoyed the whole show thoroughly. I particularly liked the part when Christine was kidnapped by the phantom and she sang the shrillest part of the song in the musical; it was an adrenaline-rushing, octane-pumping performance. Kudos the the West End cast of 'Phantom'!
This is my best birthday ever!
To be continued>>
Posted by peixin at January 7, 2006 10:59 AM