Parents' UK Trip Part 3 - Nostalgic Whirlwind Tour

I hired a car on a long weekend to take the parents around London - a) so we could cover more ground a lot quicker and b) so Mother doesn't have to walk and whinge hehe. First stop, Clapham Junction where they lived for most of the three years that they were in London. Clapham probably used to be a bit seedy and poor. It is now very trendy and popular with the young ones.

First up, Gilmore House where they lived. 

They lived in a 3 bedroom place for 80 pounds a month! So cheap. Dad was visibly excited to see this place again. Mum was actually mildly interested too bahah. Unfortunately it's now all fancy and shut off from the public so they couldn't go up close to have a look.

Me in front of the house where I spent my first 3 months' of existence. I don't know why I look so weird here.

Opposite the flat is this park where the parents used to take the two fat brats. Apaarently, Ah Here's favourite thing to do is to get an ice cream.

Another shot of the grand looking block of flats. Not so shabby afterall.

Next up, we went to the primary school where the two kids went to school. Mel played sleeping beauty in a school play. Apparently that was the only trick they could think of to keep her quiet heheheh.

It was lunchtime so we stopped at Clapham Junction and went to one of my haunts for lunch - Revolution. There was 50% off all food on Mondays so score!

Some sort of pasta.. the closest I could find to Mum's all-time favourite - chicken avocado linguine.

I love my pizza thin crispy and plain so the parents had to learn to love it plain too. Dad raved about this pizza.

The must-order dish for me - poultine with steak. Poultine is a Canadian dish - fries drizzled with gravy and cheese. Add meat and it borders on genius! Dad loved it too.

After lunch, we went in search of the hospital where I was born. Unfortunately the hospital has been dismantled and closed down. The only building left is the registry building and that is now a block of flats with quite unsavory tenants. Dad approached one and talked to him about the building. He was moh geh.

In the bottom right hand corner, you can just see the car I hired for the day.

After that, we headed back over the river and I decided to do another stop at St Thomas Hospital - it is right next to Big Ben and it's the hospital where Dad had to get his appendicitis out in an emergency. Mum took the bus with the 2 kids while heavily pregnant with me to go visit him.

It was really sunny so I didn't get a good shot of them at all. Annoying.

They looked the happiest here because it was the last photo of the day. They were thinking - Yay Finally 收工了!!!!!!!!!!!!

Parents' UK Trip Part 1 - Welcome Dinner @ Spice Market

I bought a dinner voucher in anticipation of the parents' visit and I booked it for the first few days after they arrived.. I got them to meet me in front of Eros in Picadilly Circus after work and we rocked up to the restaurant which is on the edge of Chinatown..

Dad studiously studying the wine list.

The restaurant is fusion Indian, or as I'd like to call it - white people Indian.

The deal is for a tapas style meal with desserts. First up, we had Charred Chilli Rubbed Beef Skewer with Thai Basil Dipping Sauce. The meat was tender and the sauce was zingy.

Spiced chicken samosas with coriander yoghurt. I loved this. Deep fried goodness.

Lobster summer roll, Sriracha Emulsion and Dill. This was a bit meh. I could have done without it.

Salmon sashimi with warm crunchy rice. This was yum but then again teriyaki salmon is always good no matter what.

For some reason, we got two dishes of this - Cod with Malaysian chilli sauce, thai basil and celery. Fish is fish. It's tender and good with the rice.

Char grilled chicken with kumquat lemongrass dressing. I can't remember if i liked this.

Last but not least, ginger fried rice with a fried egg on top. I love me some egg so this was tops for me.

Dessert was Thai jewels and fruits with crushed coconut ice. i LOVED this. It reminded me of the iced desserts we get in Sibu. So good.

Ovaltine Kulfi, Caramelised Banana and Spiced Milk Chocolate Sauce. This was the only thing that sounded Indian out of the whole menu and even then it;s a very Anglicized version. It was ok, a perfectly nice but forgettable white people dessert. Plus, we were stuffed. 

It randomly had a few bits of caramelised popcorn.

Welcome to London, parents.

Day 2 - Venice May 2013

I decided to do what the Italians do and have a standing breakfast at the bar the next day. It was something like EUR3 for a coffee and a croissant. 

Some random building next to the vaporetti station.

As I was too cheap to experience the gondolas, I decided to hop on the next best thing - the vaporetti which is the public bus-boat service. It didn't actually come cheap either at about EUR7 for a single trip. I jumped on line #1 which is the touristy line and snapped away.

Life in Venice is conducted on boats....

Skeleton! Me favourite.

Venice in colour mode.....

Pin hole mode

Black and white mode hehe...

The Rialto Markets in pastel colour mode....

Rialto Bridge with a vaporetto underneath it...

Doge's Palace and the Clock Tower

Last stop for the vaporetto so I got off and got back on again to get back to the town centre.

It looked warm but it was icy cold in the wind. I was shivering by the time I hopped off.

Time for a coffee and some cornetto (Italian for croissant) in the sun.

Did you know there are two types of gondoliers in Venice - the red tops and the black tops.

Time to get lost in the alleyways. My internet stopped working on the last day so I didn't have google map. It was liberating just wandering around without a map and seeing where I would end up.

No prizes for guessing which type of masks I prefer....

Another day, another gelato stop.

Can't remember what flavours I got now.

I was determined to not have lunch at a touristy restaurant so I deliberately took some random turns in the back alleys and finally ended up at the back of a restaurant. A waiter was walking past and let me through. It turned out to be the oldest restaurant in Venice, founded in the year 1500 and was the first place to cook with spices which the oriental merchants introduced to Venice... haha. Awesome.

Starter : Melon and prosciutto (ham, Ah Here)

Spaghetti vongole for main, obviously...

This was the main entrance to the restaurant and it was right next to the Rialto Market... not so off the beaten track afterall. Heaps of cheapskate tourists took photos of the entrance but not venture inside for a meal.

Last gelato of the trip and this nondescript place was mentioned in the guidebook.

I got ginger because that was mentioned in the book. It was alright. Cheapest too out of all the others I had.

Bart and Homer, Venetian style.

The guidebook called this the ugliest building (on the left) in Venice and it may well be haha... the railway station.

I had plenty of time to kill so I went off to have a look at the Jewish section.

Suburbia Venice with the clothes lines hanging between the buildings.

This looks like a painting on Chin Hwa's walls....hehe

I sat down at a sidewalk cafe to while away some time, people watching. This group of old Italian men walked past singing songs at the top of their voices. I smiled and caught the eye of one of them who broke away from the group and started serenading me! His mate joined him and the two of them stood in front of me for at least five minutes singing to me. I had no idea what they were singing about and people were beginning to stare! It got a tad awkward but they finally moved on after the song came to an end. Hehe charming.

Aboard the train back to Verona for my flight to London

What my money got me and what I missed out on for the leg from Verona to Venice.

I bought some oh so soft sandwiches for my journey... yum yum.

This was the regional train I caught accidentally.

... compared to this sleek thing.

Bye bye Venice. I shall be back with the parental units.