zuanqing extraordinaire: woggers

Friday, June 21, 2013

Rounding up London with woggers

Yes. I know I haven't been blogging in the longest time. Haiz it's really hard to upkeep a blog. Kudos to my sissy Yina . That's...

Yes. I know I haven't been blogging in the longest time. Haiz it's really hard to upkeep a blog. Kudos to my sissy Yina. That's why she is with Nuffnang and I am not. Hahaha.

Anyways, I actually have tonnes of things to blog about. Just no time and will power to do it!

I will try harder to blog more frequently. For now, just to round up my London trip with photos of the woggers! Everybody loves looking at photos right? :D

Fish & Chips before our musical

Jump shots as we were coming down from the observatory

Queueing up to see the Prime Meridien Line

At Harrods

Dwarfed by Harrods bears

Stupid bad that broke on me as I was making my way to the airport

At Portobello Market

Enjoying the most delish red velvet cupcakes in the cold!

Woggers go to Portobello

Lunch at Four Seasons

Okay. Promise to blog again soon! Prolly before the haze clears up HAHA.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

London: Westminster Abbey

True to my promise, I am back to blog! I hope my reward comes in the form of more viewership ahahaha. Anyways here's some on my ...

True to my promise, I am back to blog!

I hope my reward comes in the form of more viewership ahahaha.

Anyways here's some on my 4th day in London.

Grabbing brekkie on the way to meet Swi and Char for some morning shopping before they head back to Singapore later in the day. That is my salmon bagel and mocha to go. Super love it that I am free to eat and drink in the train.

So the plan was to meet at Primark straight and explore Oxford Street further.

But I got there late and I had no data plan to contact them. And they were using pre-paid sim cards so I had no way of contacting them also other than via whatsapp. No data/wifi = no whatsapp and hence I could not establish contact with them at all.

But being the shopaholic me of course shopping comes first right? Hahaha. So I went ahead to shop at Primark thinking that I would somehow bump into them in the two-storeys shop. But never. I jitao missed them and they jitao missed me and after paying for my (mutiple) purchases I started to worry.

So I tried walking down Oxford Street and glancing into the shops I pass by to see if they are inside. To no avail. So I tried searching for free wifi and finally found it at Marks & Spencer! (Thank you M&S!) Haha. So I stood in the shop whatsapping them and lo and behold, Char was in M&S. And that's the story of how we reunited again.

After finishing up our shopping, we met Mish for lunch at The Brass Rail at Selfridges which served salt beef sandwiches and they were pretty awesome! Now I am craving for some.

Departing shots before the woggers left for Singapore

So after lunch, Mish went back to work and I accompanied the woggers back to the hotel (where all my shopping bags were stashed haha). Sent them off in a cab and I lugged all my shopping back to Mish's apartment before I went off to do some sight-seeing by myself.

Most sightseeing places close quite early at like 4-ish 5 and I almost didn't make it! Was contemplating between St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey and decided on the latter as I think it was nearer. I did like a 200m dash to the ticket booth and managed to make it in the nick of time before it closed for the last batch of visitors for the day :D

Partial view of Westminster Abbey from inside the ground

Regretfully, no photography was allowed inside. An audio guide was provided and it was nice listening to the narratives while exploring the inside. It is a place rich with culture and history, and a burial site for many monarchs from the past. It was a pretty interesting tour but didn't really strike a chord with me. To me it's one of those "been there, done that" places!

But the architecture is rather nice and impressive, albeit a little dark and gloomy inside.

From the outside

When you have no tripod and no one to take photos for you

After the Westminster Abbey I roamed the streets nearby where Big Ben and River Thames were. It was so full of tourists and I witnessed tourists getting scammed by those gypsies who pose for photos with you and then extort money from you after that.

Ditzy me almost got conned that morning we were there and luckily Swi and Char were more well-travelled than I am and guided silly me to safety. I think I'm really stupid and blessed. Lotsa things could have happened to me but I emerged unscathed! More to be elaborated in upcoming posts.

After exploring enough, I proceeded back to Mish's apartment where she cooked risotto for dinner. Yumzzzz.

And I ended off my night with a mini magnum bought from our grocery trip 2 days ago.

That brings me to the end of my post for day 4.

Some random mobile snaps:

Can't believe my fingers worked fast enough and I managed to cart out this LB Glendale Dress which was sold out in seconds! \Y/

OTD for a Friday - Old Navy tank with LB Shelburne Skirt in Lime

Need to cover my tummy up.

Celebrated my p-buddy's birthday at Timbre (her fav place). Happy 28th you!!!!

After YAF in church on Sunday.

Left: my feet. Right: Swi's feet. This was totally not orchestrated! Do all girls do this?? Haha

Our fabulous spread at Fabulous Baker Boy. So glad we made it in time - I absolutely adore their cakes. Super good!

Coffee is a must.

LB Caitlin Cheongsam in Pink. Am glad the dress turned out less poufy than I thought it would be! Tho the side mandarin collar is a bitch to do up and down. Am gonna wear this for my company's LNY cocktail function tomorrow!

Chilling and breakfasting by myself at Paris Baguette after meeting up with the rep from UniMel. The food was pretty meh but the coffee was bleargh. Never again.

Helping Yina with some work in the office! All these stocks from CNY launches. Total war zone.

Welcoming Daniel into the barbarian family!!! Son of Jieying and Rayvin. Visited him on Tuesday and he is so super cute!!! Melts.

Love my new floral sheets from Ikea :) Goes so well with the fuchsia!

Am also glad the dresser came just in time before CNY! To scrimp on the $80 delivery fee I lugged it back from Nex with the help of Sarah and Jui. Haha

Ending off this post with Baby the fattie! Everyone loves her. Lol.

Ok thanks bye!

Thursday, January 31, 2013

London: Greenwich and Rock of Ages

So sorry for the delay! Have been feeling unmotivated to blog lately... due to some personal issues I have been troubling over :( Have to...

So sorry for the delay!
Have been feeling unmotivated to blog lately... due to some personal issues I have been troubling over :(

Have to constantly remind myself to stay positive no matter how tough things get, and not to be so whiny like a spoilt brat. Thank you for the lecture - I am learning.

So anyways, it's on to day 3 in London!

If you ever visit London for sightseeing, be sure to get yourself a London Pass! The Pass varies from 1-day to 6-days, so you can choose whichever suits your needs best. The best part is, there is also an option to add on a Travel pass so you get to take most modes of public transport for free. Usually the tube is sufficient to get you around conveniently - their tube network is like 5 times the size of Singapore's.

So how it works is that with the Pass, you get to go to lotsa different attractions for free (plus free transport if you add on the travel pass). You will receive a rather informative guidebook with the London Pass, which states how much entry to each attraction costs (which can be quite expensive) and which are the free ones your pass is entitled to :)

So for a flat fee, you get to visit as many attractions as you can go to which in my opinion is quite worth it. I got a 3-day pass and went on a cruise, St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abby. Had wanted to go to Tower of London but I didn't have enough time :(

You can find out more information on it here: http://www.londonpass.com/

So the day before we made sure to get our London Passes - you can either book online and collect it afterwards from the office or buy on the spot like I did :)

Early in the morning we met up and decided to start off with a cruise to Greenwich!

Getting our tix in the cold; spy the London eye behind!

Our cruise tix and London Passes

Hello Big Ben!

FYI if you didn't know, the tower itself is not called Big Ben! Big Ben is actually the name of the bell of the clock inside the tower, and this structure is officially called Elizabeth Tower. It's the largest four-faced chiming clock in the world and is the third tallest free-standing clock tower. (credit to Wikipedia! :P)

Woggers and Big Ben

A glimpse of the London Eye as we were queueing for the cruise

Before Singapore Flyer, the London Eye was actually the tallest ferris wheel in the world! Until 2008. Of course Singapore being the overachiever it was, it had to outdo it right. But it is still the tallest ferris wheel in Europe lah. Haha.

Settling into the cruise ship

Meet Tyce - Char's travel buddy given to her by her boyfriend... lol

While waiting for the cruise to set off

Along the way to Tower of London and Greenwich, there was a commentator onboard who acted as a guide to explain about significant landmarks we see along the river.

London Bridge!

After singing the nursery rhyme for years, I finally know now how London Bridge looks like!

Tower of London where the crown jewels are

The CBD of London

After 45 minutes, we arrived at Greenwich!

Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time. And we were there to check out the Prime Meridian Line!

The rather peaceful streets of Greenwich (in comparison to bustling Central London)

Going on an uphill trek to the Observatory

It was so cold Char was wrapped up like an eskimo!

Spotted this really nice looking building along the way... it houses the toilet sia. Why so nice one!?

Arrival at destination! *pant pant*

Paying $14 just to see the imaginary Prime Meridian Line

Lotsa tourists!

Char showing Tyce the Prime Meridian

Spotted Singapore!

We queued so long to take photo - but I don't even know what the structure behind represents. Hahaha

This guy was role-playing Ptolemy - a Greek astrologer, mathematician, astronomer and geographer

After this, we boarded the cruise to bring us back to Central London, where we headed to Leicester Square to get musical tix! There were not many available shows left and we decided to settle on Rock of Ages.

We had a recommendation for a fish & chips restaurant near Leicester Square and where all the musical theatres are. However, it took us such a long time hunting it down! And I guess we were cold and tired and hungry we were expecting so much out of it - when the food was served it was quite disappointing :( Think I still prefer Fish & Co anyway haha

One of many theatres nearby Leicester Square. Each theatre is dedicated to only running one musical!

Finally located the restaurant after a long time

Sitting out in the cold was a bad idea. Note to self: do not do that again unless you want to freeze!

Looks only slightly better than it tastes

Proceeding to our theatre for the musical

The theatres are usually very small and cramped, unlike the one we have at MBS or RWS. They look very worn as well, and not as grand as those we have in Singapore. It really disproved my idea of people dressing up to attend musicals - I guess that only happens if you go to places like the Royal Albert Hall probably? Binoculars were available via slotting a coin in to release it from its holder :) But actually you don't really need them cos the theatre as mentioned is not very big

Sneaked a few shots before I got a warning stare from an usher =P

Rock of Ages is a rock/jukebox musical, with a book by Chris D'Arienzo, built around classic rock hits from the 1980s, especially from the famous glam metal bands of the decade. The musical features songs from Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Steve Perry, Poison and Europe, among other well-known rock bands.

The musical was highly comical and entertaining. But I think I was still jetlagged so I actually dozed off for a while at some slow parts haha. Otherwise, the singing, acting, and music were all good.

And with that, I conclude day 3!

Some outfit posts and mobile snaps:

Had free tix to catch Incanto!

Invited Fel along to catch the show with me. Dress was from loveandbravery

OTD for a Friday - missypixie chiffon dress

Tried out Skirt at W Hotel but it was so disappointing! However, Sentosa Cove was really nice.

Outfit for a baby shower - Tube peplum top from Amber Avenue x Leather Panelled Skirt from TVD

OTD for Sunday - another Amber Avenue embellished neck top x Oxblood jeans my sissy bought from Taiwan

Birdie wants to go on a beach holiday haha

Remember the wall stickers I mentioned in my JB post? It finally came and I finally put it up! :) Super love it. My new pet owl.

OTD - super old top bought from Taiwan in 2009 x Ohvola skirt from its recent warehouse sale

Ending off with a photo of greedy QQ!

I should post up the video of her soon. I was being super mean to her by luring her with the pineapple tart and not giving it to her lol. She's so cute!

But so is Pancake!