London: 6 years later

It has been 6 years since I last visited, and the circumstances under I visited was totally different.

We got a hostel located at Turnpike Lane through airbnb, which although on the outskirts of the city is fairly convenient considering the connectivity in London.

Finding the hostel was a challenge, and unlike my previous encounters in Indonesia, this time I do not have the luxury of a driver. So we ended up travelling back and forth in the cold, trying to locate the hostel. 

After settling down, we went out to grab a quick dinner. While the English has never had a reputation for cuisine, they do feature some unique traditional dishes.

We noticed this pub and restaurant known as The Tollgate on our way to the hostel, featuring fish and chips at £6.25, together with an alcoholic drink. 

The fish was really good. The batter was fried to perfection and yet the fish within was flaky and soft. The butter pea paste did not look appealing initially, but was actually quite creamy and tasty.

The next day was spent touring King's Cross St. Pancras, where I had the chance to reminisce my younger days when I was an avid fan of Harry Potter.

After which we visited the Queen at the Buckingham Palace, hoping to get invited for tea.

As you can see, the Queen is at home! Sadly, she was busy and unable to host us for tea. In addition, we missed the changing of the guards, which was indeed unfortunate.

So thinking we might have better luck getting invited to tea at the Palace of Westminster, paying it a visit is in order. 

On the way there we happened to bump into a procession celebrating New Zealand Day.

After a quick tour around the Palace of Westminster and the Westminster Abbey, I parted with my friends and headed on a solo night tour of London.

Dinner was at a Chinese restaurant called the "Jade Palace", which claims to specialise in Cantonese and Pekinese cuisine. I had my reservations when I realised I was the only Asian sitting in the restaurant, but plucked up sufficient courage to order a wanton noodle and char siu nonetheless.

The wanton noodle was fairly good, so was the char siu, although it was an eye opener for me to see char siu stirred fried with baby corn, cabbage and other vegetable.