Category: Driving All the Way – England

1/7/2013, we drove to London, parked our car at the car park near the Underground station and took the Underground to the city. Not going to drive there, it’ll be a nightmare!

Left: Who doesn’t recognize this sign?

Right: I have no idea what’s this, some sort of memorial arch. There’s a lot in the area.

Left: The airspace in London is always busy and planes are flying low.

Right: A memorial of those who fought in the war during 1914-1919.

Another unknown structure *LOL*

When you see this, Victoria Memorial, you’re right opposite of Buckingham Palace.

People waiting for the parade.

This is the only photo I have for the parade, stood at the wrong place.

We then walked to the park while looking for the nearest Underground with the view of London Eye greeted us from afar.

View of I-don’t-know-what *LOL* Nevertheless, it was amazing.

We got off at St. James’s Park Station to have our lunch around the area.


We had our lunch at Nando’s, free flow of soft drink and frozen yoghurt. Funny how we never go to Nando’s in Malaysia but went to those in foreign countries (so far, let’s see… Singapore, Australia, and UK) hehehe…

After lunch, we took the bus to tour the city before alighted at Big Ben.

Left: Big Ben.

Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and often extended to refer to the clock and the clock tower – Wikipedia

Right: River Thames.

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom, behind the River Severn. – Wikipedia

Left: Tower Bridge.

Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London which crosses the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name, and has become an iconic symbol of London. – Wikipedia

Right: The skyline with modern buildings of London. Can you recognize some of the buildings? Spot the The Gherkin?

After going to the major attractions in London, we went shopping! No more shoes or clothes or bags but skincare and beauty products for those who ordered from my shopping spree project.

The last destination of the day was checking in Travelodge at Heathrow Heston M4 Westbound. We had our dinner at the Burger King nearby.

That’s the end of our second last day in England.

The next day will be the last few hours before boarding the plane back to Kuching.

30/6/2013, after checking out, we went straight to Bicester Village (50 Pingle Dr, Bicester OX26 6WD, United Kingdom)

I was extremely excited as I heard that things here are much cheaper than the market because it is an outlet shopping centre with luxury fashion shops, homeware boutiques & discounted designer stores. So many people and it’s one of the major tourist spots in the UK too.

Let the shopping begins! I have one aim here, to buy something branded here but no idea what. At the same time, also wanted to feel and see them. I know I can’t afford them but it’s interesting to see what’s the hooha all about with these branded stuff which you can’t really do with ease and feel awkward in their normal shops.

Managed to take some photos of myself with some well-known branded products.

Fendi, Michael Kors, and Coach. All way over my budget except Michael Kors. I ended up with a Michael Kors tote bag (about RM700, original price was almost RM1000, the one in the photo but not this colour, I know the photo is small, can’t see much hehehe… Will show you up close when I ran out of thing to blog hahaha…) ;p The most expensive accessory purchase in my entire life.

Frankly, I have no idea where to use it in Kuching or even Malaysia as I don’t like to carry a bag in Malaysia (troublesome and due to security issue), even if I have to, it won’t be the time when I can carry such expensive bag. At the same time, I also bought a bag from Scholl, blardy cheap! Only £9.99 after discount to replace my old bag.

Jimmy Choo (left and middle) and Salvatore Ferragamo, all in my size! Just can’t bring myself to spend so much on footwear. It’s all on sale but still cost a bomb! More expensive than my MK’s bag.

Just window shopping, it’s time for lunch. We split into 3 groups to get food.


We decided to try Jamie Oliver’s Fabulous Feasts. We had four types of the American-style hot dogs loaded with a variety of toppings. I wasn’t the one who bought them, so I have no idea the name and the price. I was queuing for Amorino.

Waffle with ice cream from Amorino. I forgot the price. Thick and creamy ice cream on hot waffle under the scorching sun. Heavenly!

We also tried crêpes from Crêperie Angélie, this is with chocolate and banana filling. Not really a fan of crêpes, it tasted as it should, nothing special.

After lunch, we continued shopping!

Bally and Prada (long queue that we had to take number to go in, the only one I managed to take photo with before getting told off ;p oppsss…). Do you notice my choice of bag? I love totes!

Our purchases, not just mine, there’s 5-6 bags all together, not really a lot actually. It’s scary to see the way some people shop -.-” Didn’t expect to spend 6 hours there! How crazy can that be? ;p It’s not a very big place but just too many to see and took a lot of time in making up mind on what to buy.

Off we went to our accommodation, Travelodge High Wycombe. Much cleaner and better than the one we checkout in the morning.

We walked to the Eden Shopping Centre not far from it for dinner. Shops were all closed except eateries.

Wagamama (Unit 4, Eden Shopping Centre, Denmark St, Eden, High Wycombe HP11 2HR, United Kingdom) it is. After seeing so many branches in UK, finally we got to try it out.

Left: Chicken katsu curry (£9.40), chicken breast deep-fried in panko breadcrumbs or grilled, served with a curry sauce and sticky white rice garnished with dressed mixed leaves and red pickles.

Right: Wagamama ramen (£9.50++, not sure of the exact price), noodles in a miso, ginger and chicken soup topped with grilled chicken, barbecued pork, prawns, mussels, a tea-stained egg, chikuwa and wakame garnished with menma and spring onions.

Left: Chicken tama rice (£8.45), grilled chicken breast stir-fried with courgettes, mushroom, red and spring onions in a oyster, ginger, garlic and wine sauce served on sticky white rice. We didn’t order this, it was sent wrongly to us so it’s on the house.

Right: Yasai cha han (£7.35), stir-fried rice with fried tofu, egg, mangetout, mushrooms, sweetcorn and spring onions served with a side portion of miso soup and pickles.

Really not up to our expectations and did not satisfy our taste buds even though we were stuffed! Can get better food elsewhere. I personally won’t go back anymore.

The dinner marked the end of our day. It’s time to drive to London the next day which means the trip was going to end in 2 days time.

Before we headed to our accommodation, we made one final stop at Birmingham. Supposed to join the late night shopping crowd but nothing to buy, nothing fancied us in this city.

Left: St Martin’s Church.
Middle: My sister called this Mentos hahaha… It’s actually Selfridges building.
Right: Part of the major shopping mall which also housed Debenhams.

The Bull Ring is a major commercial area of Birmingham.

Even the bull sculpture was made up of jellybeans in Selfridge! Impressive! After that, we went to Chinatown in Birmingham to hunt for dinner. It’s not far, only walking distant from Bull Ring.

We had Malaysian food at Malaysian Delight Restaurant (8 Ladywell Walk, Birmingham, West Midlands B5 4ST, United Kingdom).

I don’t remember the exact name and price because I didn’t bother anymore. Too lazy hahaha…

Left: Steamed chicken.
Right: Japanese tofu with vegetables.

Left: Buttered prawn.
Right: Beef with kailan.

Left: “Wat dan mai fun”.
Right: Fried rice.

Overall, the food was ok but nothing to rave about it. My favourite was the buttered prawn simply because I’m a fan of buttered prawn *LOL*.

After dinner, we went to check-in Travelodge at one of the highway, I don’t remember the location of it as the next day we were going to drive to London. That Travelodge was horrible -.-” Very dusty and old. The door handle came off at one of our rooms and they couldn’t fix it so they had to change a new room for us.

That’s the end of day.

29/6/2013, wow! More than two months ago, almost 3 months still haven’t complete my post ;p

The next day, it’s another road trip which also indicated that our trip is coming to an end real soon.

Scenery on the way to Bowness Bay where Windermere, England largest lake, can be found.

The lake… We are near to the town.

We’re here! See the lake behind?

Another kind of view.

We tried the ice cream there, heard it was good. No doubt, yes! It was good! Very rich and smooth. We tried the one at Windermere Ice Cream Co. (Chestnut Rd, Windermere LA23 2AL, United Kingdom). I don’t remember the flavours or even the price as I wasn’t the one buying it. I was too busy taking photos and enjoying the view. Lots of shops selling various types of candies along the street (pictures on the left).

Even shops selling soap, candles, all sort of aromatherapy products, spices, and various types of alcohol from the lake district can be found there. These are soaps! Goodness, looks yummy! Smells yummy too! ;p Thought of buying them but at the end I didn’t. Instead I bought 3 miniature bottles of Strawberry Bank Fruit Liqueurs hehehe… Not for drinking, just as souvenir.

It’s lunch time, we had our lunch at Hyltons Restaurant (Ash Street, Bowness-on-Windermere, LA23 3EB, England).

Left: Steak and Ale Pie (£9.75), succulent British beef in rich beer gravy topped with a short crust pastry lid and served with vegetables, and potatoes. Careful! The content is hot! Very rich and succulent indeed.

Right: Seafood Pasta (£12.95), Clams. Mussels, Prawns, Green lip Mussels, served in a Garlic & White Wine Sauce. Not bad! I like it. Not too much sauce, it was just right.

Left: Bangers & Mash (£9.75), local Cumberland sausage with creamy mashed potato and a rich onion gravy. Love the sausage.

Right: Pork belly (£11.95), slow roasted belly pork served with creamy mashed potato, and an apple cider sauce. I like this too, the pork belly just melted in the mouth. Combined with the apple cider sauce, it balanced out the oiliness.

Overall, the food was great, price was reasonable.

After lunch, we went to Pasty Presto (Royal Square, Lake Road, Bowness-on-Windermere LA23 3DB) to get some pies in case we need to eat something while driving for about 3 hours to our accommodation to call it a day. These are award winning pies but I’m really not a pie person especially pie with meat filling (except curry puff hehehe…) so I didn’t really enjoy them.

Not to forget, this shop, Peter Rabbit and Friends. Finally get to see it in real life after reading its storybooks and watching its cartoon when I was still a child. Didn’t buy any souvenir from here though. Didn’t really visit the actual site, no time at all. This is the gift shop but it’s good enough. If you are wondering what is the relationship between this place and this storybook? I’ll just tell you briefly. The Lake District’s natural beauty and abundant wildlife had inspired Beatrix Potter to come out with the characters and setting of the story.

That’s the end of our road trip for the day.

It’ll be just photos all the way, not much to talk about ;p Actually, I’m just feeling lazy. Anyway, the view was really nice, it’s just like in the storybook, never in my dream that I will be seeing such scenery with my own eyes.







We went up the staircase… 199 steps leading to St. Mary’s Church. Forgot to count on the way up ;p

Here’s the view from the top.




Goodbye Whitby!

The Teesquay Millennium Bridge at Thornaby.

That’s the end of day 9.