ICSS London Walkabout

even now i feel quite overwhelmed by just being in london. there are so many sights to see, so many nooks and crannies to explore, so much of the british way of life to experience. fortunately, the icss (imperial college singsoc) organised a london tour today to introduce us to some of the iconic places of london.

london eye

big ben

some street side protest (saw a marching demonstration as well)

statue of oliver cromwell, palace of westminster

westminster abbey

some swanky sundial that adjusts for the different days of the year (coz the sun will be at different positions)

the queue to get into westminster abbey (might be longer than the toto queue before chinese new year)

westminster abbey (again)

buckingham palace (hoisted flag means the queen is in)

some statue outside buckingham palace

sibeh shag guard duty (the rifle uses 7.62mm rounds)

some lady doing a painting outside the national gallery

£150 000 to advertise on the screen (one of the more extravagant way to propose to that special someone)

good food, bad service

london chinatown

one of the reasons why i'm partial towards leaving my hair long

hmmmm tongkat ali?

leicester square (metal plates around the statue show the direction and distance to the ex-british colonies)

straight ahead, 10 849 000, and we'll reach singapore

malaysia's plate (sadly stained with bird shit and mis-spelling of the capital)

covent garden

apart from taking the tube from school to our first station, the rest of the day was spent on foot. and i mean literally on foot. we didn't even sit down for lunch (got take-away sandwiches). walking around for 7 hours was definitely no joke man. good thing the weather was fine.

actually come to think of it, it is pretty ironic that i've been going around to see and take photos of all these places in london 7 days after arrival while i could hardly be bothered with their singaporeans counterparts after living in singapore for 22 years. i've never taken a photo of the singapore flyer, nor visited the istana, nor bothered exploring chinatown in singapore. in fact this is making me feel kind of guilty. i must make it a point to explore all these heritage/tourist sites in singapore when i get back next year.