YeinJee's Travel Journal

I had been wandering on foot in London for more than 6 hours; travelling on foot in London is not a bad option, that is if you have a strong pair of legs.

It was getting dark, time to end my London foot tour. I boarded on the Underground with one last thing in mind… I dropped by the station near Big Ben to have a glimpse of the night view of the clock tower and House of Parliament before heading back to Chiswick.

Big Ben and House of Parliament at night

I have wonderful memories of the night view of Big Ben and House of Parliament during my visit in 2002… it didn’t disappoint me this time again. The buildings were splendid at night, a recommended visit for all.

Shopping at Sainsbury

My sister lived in a convenient location; supermarkets like Mark & Spencer, Sainsbury and Tesco were all nearby. Later at night my sister brought me for some grocery shopping at Sainsbury which doesn’t have any outlets in Malaysia. We bought lots of ‘fast food’ like ham, sausage, cheese and fruit juice.

Tower Bridge is one of the major landmark of London, and perhaps one of the world’s most famous mistaken identities as people tend to mistaken it as the London Bridge.

Tower Bridge was opened since 1894 after 8 years of construction; it got its name from the nearby Tower of London.

Photo of the Tower Bridge

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I was walking to Tower Bridge from Big Ben; it had been more than 3 hours since I started walking from Victoria Station, and fatigue had started to take its toll. Luckily, there were benches on the promenade along River Thames, allowing me to stretch my legs a bit.

Good thing about travelling by foot is that we might stumble across some interesting places that are not famous tourist spots…

Somewhere along River Thames; a small but beautiful park, and an elegant building; sort of like a college or library… not really sure about the name and purpose of the building though

The Clock Tower, famously known as Big Ben, is the name of the tower at Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London. Big Ben is actually the nickname of the clock’s main bell; and the official name of the main bell should be the Grand Bell instead.

Regardless, everyone is calling the clock tower as Big Ben these days.

Photo of Big Ben

‘Culture Shock’ at Big Ben

I encountered some annoying people around Big Ben… they were handling ribbons and little paper-souvenirs and then asked for money saying that it was for charity.

‘Handling’ is actually an understatement… they basically forced those stuffs into my palm and pocket, and demanded money for it…

I spent a few pounds just to get out of trouble; I was not sure if the money would be channeled into charities… regardless, I felt like daylight robbery honestly; or perhaps I should call it a culture shock instead.

(Later at night my sister told me that it’s pretty common stuff in London; what I could do was to hand back the thing to them… let’s just hope that my money was getting into the right hands at the end of the day)

Btw, Big Ben wouldn’t have existed if it wasn’t for the fire in 1834 that destroyed most of the Parliament building. A commission was set up to choose a new building design, and Charles Barry’s plan (with the clock tower obviously), was the eventual winner. The clock swung into action in July 1859.

Arrived at Kuala Lumpur Int’l Airport (KLIA) in early morning; my brother gave me a ride as he was working nearby.

KLIA was more crowded then a few years ago; reminded me that besides neighbouring Singapore, I hadn’t been travelling overseas for almost 5 years… quite a long period for a self-proclaimed travel enthusiast.

My plane departed at around 11am. I don’t really like flying, I always felt uncomfortable on planes. Anyhow, after 11 hours of movies, sleep, food and toilet business… the plane touch-down nicely at the Heathrow Airport in the evening.

The custom officer gave me some rough time, asking all the stupid and irrelevant stuff. I was questioned for 25 minutes before I was allowed to go… I could understand their cautiousness because of the London a few months prior to my visit, but no thanks for that.
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