my long long over due post on my wonderful uk trip. here goes.

day 1: 30th May
our day started (not so) bright and (very) early at 0030 hours. we took from Changi airport for Dubai. oh my. long flight. love emirates. they rock. big time. touchscreen entertainment, great shows. couldn't really sleep though.
transit in Dubai at 3am. and it was like 31 degrees! like. urg. i have a feeling air- con must be the most price inelastic good around there. the airport was... weirdly decorated, spaceship looking like things and palm trees.
caught second flight, longer, slept.
coach ride of Stratford. Dan was being super irritating, slept a while and i was getting super tired.
Shakespeare birthplace museum: the most famous playwright to ever live. it was interesting. so many other tourists there- his influence really extends beyond the English speaking world.
dinner at Encore.
The seagull: very humiliating experience. i mean, i read it. and i so fully intended on watching the damn thing. but clearly the 2 flights and having to deal with dan was taking a toll on me. apparently i slept and even snored during the quiet parts no matter how vigorously nick and gwen tried to shake me up.
back to our hostel where i had to lug my very big luggage up steps. yep.

day 2:31 May
Bath is beautiful! (or at least i thought so)...changed my mind. shall retire in Bath. not Australia.
The Roman Baths: cool to visit. sacred place, long and quite disgusting bath procedures, very intricate and symbolic architecture, some parts were eerie. made me feel like i was on the set of The Mummy. oh yea. and we touched the spring water. even tough we weren't supposed to. and its warm.
the Jane Austen Centre: learnt about her life. apparently she lived in Bath and hated it so Bath is not portrayed favourably in her novels.
lunch in Bath: 1.5 hours to discover Bath. had icecream. yay. oh yes. and i love the Bath Sweet Shop with sweets in glass jars and people behind the counter having to weigh it out.
stonehenges: very very very wet and windy when we got out of the bus to see it.
YHA hostel: i think our room rocks. and i wanna sleep in a bunk bed for the rest of my life.
walking on the streets of london: a walk to remember. hahaha. no lah. saw the Big Ben though. unexpected.

day 3: 1 June
Imperial War Museum: very cool. really interesting to see all the artefacts and learn about the wars. but we didnt have enough time to explore the whole place.
Globe Theatre Workshop: fun! i enjoyed the acting exercies, way fun. social norm, hints in script, time, place.
Tate Modern: with the dan, audrey and yvonne. felt super uncultured there. because frankly, i didnt quite get a lot of the art. and there was our hilrious encounter with Turbine Hall.
my favourite thought: The Whole World + Work= The Whole World
just printed there in white neon lights. i think it means work is nothing. or no work. or don't work. i like the message.
had a fun time stumbling around with the 3 of them, eventually just coming up with cheem sounding explanations for the exhibits when we ran out of time.
Othello at the Globe: i was a groundling. which means i stood for 3.5 hours. the good thing was, i couldnt fall asleep standing up and hence was wide awake for this play.

Day 4: 2 June
Westminster Abbey: one of the grandest buildings i will ever see i believe. Architecture was breath-taking, arches, stained glass windows, carvings in stone, just the sheer height of the place. felt quite unwell though, terrible headache. coronation place, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, poets, writers, physicians.
Charles Dickens Museum: boring. very small font on articles didnt attract me to read and learn. oooh. but he had a woman's room. goodness. artists have.... frustration and energy i suppose. sat down in garden and stoned.
free time in LONDON!: me, dan, audrey and yvonne hung out till 9.40. thats 8 plus hours. went shopping, eating. chicago! which i fell asleep in. altogether, a very enjoyable day.
cup noodle night: cup noodles on a london night is good!

day 5: 3 June
moving out of hostel: saying goodbye to nice hostel was hard because fivesome was awesome! dan, gwen, yvonne, audrey rock. ahaha. yes they do.
RochesterL setting of many Dickens stories. Dickens fair: watching people dressed like Dickens' characters. he is a very influential and weird writer. 13 tombstones, chapel, Satis House and so forth.
Canterbury: lively touristy place. Burito for lunch. and we bought a present for the class! a real big one. that was followed by a mad hunt for a toilet with my mad a11ers. we're really crazy. and the signage needs to be improved. seriously. it just points in some vague direction.
Eurostar ride to france. sad to leave England. but i looked forward to France. City of Love. (and the Liberal)