i made it to portobello

yippee!! i finally made it to the world's famous portobello market!!!!

we had to take a bus from gloucester road underground station because of upgrading work to the line. a lot of upgrading work is done with the tube in the weekends in preparation for the olympics so if you are in london, you better check the train station noticeboards. fortunately, they have also placed assistants everywhere in the station whom you can ask for alternative routes. bless these helpers.

so it was on the saturday of 4 june that we made it to portobello. the rest just followed my lead as i insisted on going to this market. i am not sure whether they know anything about this market or not.

some people go to portobello because it was where the movie 'notting hill' was filmed. i went there because i was curious about the market and i wanted to feel the ambience and see for myself what made it so famous. i was not disappointed. my only regret was the short time spent there. gosh, i wished i was there earlier! blame that property agent for coming late to hand us the key.


belgian waffle. ok it was my first time actually tasting one. my question is, is it supposed to be hard or soft? if it is hard, then i don't like it and i dunno why so many ppl like them.



food is everywhere you go here!!! you are definitely spoilt for choice!!!! go with an empty stomach and you won't regret it. you will regret if you don't buy something that you see a lot of ppl going for when u are there. most of them are good. had this frosted red velvet cupcake from hummingbird. i think it is an american brand. delish!!!


if you are into all things floral, this is the shop to go to: cath kidston. click on the link and you can see the range of things they have. i love them all, but i dun really need any of them haha. i was only interested in looking for a nice foldable umbrella, but unfortunately they dun have one. they only have those big ones.
if you want to buy cheaper cath kidston stuff, go to bicester village factory outlet where they have a store there. the prices there are really cheap. then you can shop till you drop. i don't think they have seasonal goods and the prints will stand the test of time.


seafood wrap!!!! oh so-good!!!!

cheap fruits nearing closing time which is around 5 to 6p.m.

instant mi goreng from asian food section at tesco.

it was a sunny day. yeah! so with some beer and street performers, tourists and londoners could bask in the sun and enjoy their saturday.

oh how i wish for these carefree days.

sports day is this thursday and that means rehearsals and preparations these 3 days. have a good week.

one week at harcourt terrace

welcome to our humble abode in london for one week. haha...it is not really humble of course because it is in kensington/chelsea area. everyone was wondering whether the property agent would turn up at all after being MIA in answering our mails. hate it.

the property was good but not the person i dealt with. so in the end, he arrived 30 mins late and did not give us the login or password for the internet. internet is included in the package but damn him! so that was why i was MIA from the cyber world for one week.

see our bags outside??? that is number 63 and ours was 63a, the basement actually. but still as comfortable. just go down the stairs behind the rail and there we were.

the laundry room. the washing machine is of course very handy but we had a hard time figuring out how to use it. which button to push, why didn't it change when we pushed the button, how long would it take to rinse and wash, etc. so in the end, someone sat in front of the washing machine and washed the whole process before running through the instructions with the others. i only used it once to wash all jeans wear, then i chose to hand wash the rest as it was much faster.

the clean bathroom.

wall deco leading to the rooms.

the smaller room where i slept in. the bed was kinda small, queen i guess and the matress really soft. so if one was not careful with turning and tossing on bed, one would end up knocking the wall or rolling down to the floor, depending on which side of the bed you slept on.

the kitchen. i only used the microwave, fridge and the oven to heat the pastries i bought.
the rest made good use of the stove to cook instant noodles for their breakfast every morning. so i cooked one packet too.

the outdoor patio area which we hardly used. accessible from both the bedrooms. i hung clothes outside on the second day and it chose to rain. no more drying the clothes outside after that.

the living room.


there, go down the stairs and you reach the front door.

the bigger room. definitely not mine. next time, get really huge suitcases and you can use that as an excuse to get the bigger room. fair?

all things mulberry

ready for some shopping?? i was so so so ready for mulberry's factory outlet and came back a very satisfied fans. things were like 50% off normal retail price and some even go as far as 70% off especially clothing items. so i guess i cannot shop for bags anymore this year. this is what i told myself. really, i have to stop. and i do intent to keep the promise. so do not be a wet blanket. instead, you should encourage me to be strong!

i got many souvenirs from mulberry! love the pins and stickers. anybody want them? i have an extra set to giveaway.

the brand is celebrating its 40th anniversary! they only gave one set per customer but i got talking to the SA while waiting for the rest to finish shopping and exclaimed my surprise when i found the extra goodies in the bag, she went back to the store and put 3 more extra sets into my bag. yippee! i guess it was obvious that i am a big fan of the brand.

so here are the things i got:
i love my new belt. have always wanted one braided leather belt. was actually looking for a black one, but they did not have one. so i settled for a brown one.

here comes the big shopping bag for the big bag. ;)

nice kan...dup dup dup



i love grey! they called it pebbled though.

ta-da. my bayswater. the leather is really supple and the bag is oh-so roomy. it is bigger than the balenciaga i got. love it. i guess i am the sort who will always buy big bags. small bags are so not functional.

but....haha...i still got a small bag for myself because it was 70% off. just can't help it. but kinda regret getting such a light colour. it was the only colour anyway. no choice. the back of the bag is already stained because it brushed against my jeans.
i can always detact the strap and use it as a clutch too. not bad eh? this is lamb skin. so so so soft and light.

so....what do you think of my bags??

one day in bath on 3 june

ok. i am losing my voice but that does not mean i am losing interest to continue writing about my trip to england.
yesterday's tug-of-war was really the climax of all my four days on the field in the afternoon running around getting the kids ready for their events. the legs and hands are all dark and burnt. i even woke up in the middle of the night just to scratch the two itchy legs. well, this is one of the sacrifices i guess.

ok, let's go to bath for a one day trip now.

oink oink...

free-range pigs??? look at the space they have to roam around and they are big!

that morning, it was to stonehenge first, from bath and then back to bath at noon.

the narrow lanes we drove through before getting to the main road

quaint houses in the villages

and finally....stonehenge for the second time. now i regretted buying tickets to enter its ground and get the same audio guide which i hardly listened to. i could have just stood outside the fence and took a photo of stonehenge right? i could have save about 7 pounds if i remember correctly.

old school house aka mulberry's factory outlet at shepton mallet. die....all her cash is surely dumped here ;P hahah...is that what you think?? well, not entirely wrong lah. this is a must-go place in my list once i know i would be going to bath and i had jot down the address to key into the gps. hehehe

it is a big and spacious outlet and there are so many bags here!!!! woohoo!!! but i know what i wanted...so it was a breeze. haha.....yup. more bags!!! but let's leave them for the next post.

see that mulberry sign above kilver court? i think this is the place of mulberry's founder and this is where mulberry started. we had tea at its cafe.

sandwiches, cakes, apple juice and teas. yummy.

so after tea at 2p.m., we headed back to bath city centre. it took us about 45 minutes. the drive to stonehenge from bath was long!! aaahh!!! enduring the more than 90 minutes drive just to see stones!!! no more!!!!
bath abbey.

ring the wedding bells! the front door of the abbey opened and a happy couple emerged. haha...that took us by surprise as we were about to pose in front of the door. congrats to the happy couple and to be wedded in such a beautiful abbey.

side view of the abbey.

the group split after that. i alone went into roman bath and explored the town while the rest decided to do shopping at bath's high street. duh! all the way here in this historical and oh-so-beautiful town just to visit the shops? beats me.
well, i guess that is what happens when you have done your homework and know what to check-out. i am more interested in absorbing the vibes of the place. shopping can wait later in london.
so i bought my ticket and ventured alone into roman bath. it cost me 12 pounds.

temple ruins found in the area.

















one of the many small spring water baths in the complex. i guess it has become a wishing bath now with all the coins thrown in to make a wish come true. nope, i did not throw one in.













the original stone slabs placed around the main bath.















view of the abbey from the bath
















anyone care for a soak? the smell of sulphure is not that strong here and the water is not really that hot. haha..i did dip my toes in just to test the temperature of the water.

i had to take my dinner alone that day because i found another restaurant in my list while i was wandering the streets alone. they had 2-course meal promo which would end at 7p.m. and 7p.m. was the time i was supposed to meet the rest.

pock chop with mushroom sauce and sally lunn's bread.

this is the bun. yummy!!!

the kitchen at the cellar...naahh.. it is not real.


yupp, this is the oldest house in bath and i alone went there because i did my homework!

vegetable soup with more bread! well, that is what the place is famous for and it is really good. the bread was warm and the butter was warm. so imagine having that after walking on the streets for a few hours on a cool day. aaaahhh

i wonder whether i am taking the photo because of the car, tree or the building behind.....
not sure what that building is now. too lazy to check map.

pulteney bridge. a short bridge in bath which has shops on both sides. there are many such bridges in italy so i guess it is roman influenced?
bath river
so after exploring alone for the whole afternoon, i met the rest at high street and they got their dinner at mcdonalds.

it was time to pack that night as the next day (4/6), we would head for london for one week.