Girly talk at Boat Quay

Singaporeans I met today

A nurse at the hospital, who proudly told me that her son is studying in London too. "Imperial College," she beams.

A blind man selling tissue, who probably has been standing for hours. He greeted me cheerfully and just before I left, said: "It's raining you know. You have umbrella?"

A Malay taxi driver, who told about his family history as we crawled through a jammed CTE. "My grandfather was Chinese also. Guangdong Province, he was a Muslim from Guangdong Province."

Our lives, our history, our dreams.

Sculpture at Raffles Place

I'm fascinated by veins and sinews.  My favourite ones are »here.

《马说》

世有伯乐然后有千里马。千里马常有，而伯乐不常有；故虽有名马，只辱于奴隶人之手，骈死于槽枥之间，不以千里称也。

马之千里者，一食或尽粟一石。食马者，不知其能千里而食也；是马也，虽有千里之能，食不饱，力不足，才美不外见，且欲与常马等，不可得，安求其能千里也！

策之不以其道，食之不能尽其材，鸣之而不能通其意，执策而临之曰：“天下无马。”呜呼！其真无马邪？其真不知马也！ 

A deadly observation

The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose.

- Match Point (2005)

London according to talljoanne

Prompted by Mr T and Ms C.  Here we go:

Walking, eating and doing

• Borough Market (Thursdays through Saturdays) - Try Monmouth coffee there and you might even have Steven Lim (David in Growing Up series) as your barrista!
• Camden market - for grunge, tattoos and crazy hair. Oh, and the Aldo outlet.
• Shoreditch / Old Street - Indie in the very hip east end. Combine with Brick Lane on a Sunday. At Brick Lane, go have a beef baigel at the oldest Jewish bakery. You can also go to Song Que at the edge of Hackney for good Vietnamese pho then walk into the Shoreditch area.  (BTW, the no. 1 pho place - courtesy of Ms  L - is in Canada Water, too much of a trek for tourists.)
• Of course there's also Portobello market but I find it too institutionalised now.
• Covent Garden - Be sure to explore not just the main street (Long Acre) and the market area, but also the Seven Dial part for cool indie stores (walk down Neal's Street) . Not everything is affordable (esp now that summer sale is over), but it's what makes London London. 
• Get away from the cookie-cutter madness called Oxford Street and wander into Marylebone High Street and old Marylebone Lane for fancy indie stores.  Wallace Collection (in the area) is a gorgeous place to get away for some culture and lunch under skylight.  Alternatively, La Fromagerie and Providores.
• Saville Row - To reignite materialistic desires.  Look at the flagship stores, take a polaroid photo with the hunks at Abercrombie & Fitch.  Go into Burlington Arcade.
• Soho - A walk is in order.  Get a bite at Princi (I like the savouries) or Flat White (uber rich scrambled eggs and coffee) or Hummingbird Bakery (cupcakes).  I like Berwick Street.
• Afternoon tea - Bea's of Bloomsbury.  Fun and local.  I like their cupcakes best, and I'm not even a cupcake person.  Must reserve in advance.
• Theatre tickets: Leicester Square.  TKTS seems to offer the best price for the more expensive seats.  If you don't care about sitting in the circles, try any of the dozen half-price shops nearby whose queues are usually shorter.  War Horse is outstanding and seems to be a London-only performance.  The open-air Shakespeare Globe is a very nice alternative to West End, but it's more of a summer thing: you'd probably be frozen in winter.
• Pre-theatre dinners: Quo Vadis for the crispy pork thing and O Sheeky Oyster Bar for oysters and nibbles. 
• Museums: Free entry.  Yes, free entry (save for special exhibitions).  So no need to be greedy.  Just choose a section, spend 2 hours, have a coffee and off you go.  British Museum and Tate Modern are my favourite.  If you go to Tate Modern, get out at St Paul's tube and walk over the Millenium Bridge to arrive in style.  

Greens

• Best thing about London as a city.  Hampstead Heath is by far my favourite (Richmond Park comes a close second), but it is slightly far out for tourists.  On the other side of Hampstead is Highgate Cemetery where you can see Marx's grave.
• I haven't been to Kew Gardens yet, but it's supposed to be nice.  
• At the very least, sit in one of the many city gardens or squares and talk about the weather with the chappie beside you.

Tours, guidebooks, addresses

• Sandesman free walking tour - works on a tips basis
• Timeout and Londonist for addresses and latest updates.  I prefer Londonist, but Timeout is handy as a directory.
• Superfuture guide (thanks cousin N!) - Haven't seen it but looks promising
• Luxe guide - Enough said. 

Day trips

• Greenwich - go by the public ferry from Westminster. You can use your oyster. There seems to be tourist ferries too but they would be more expensive. Ask, it should only cost around £5 or £6.
• Bath - by train. www.thetrainline.com is a good train site. If you can, stay overnight and do a day tour of the Cotswolds for a taste of posh English countryside.

I've deliberately left out hyperlinks.  Google is king.  Just type the keywords.

[Version Sep 2010]

Probably the first tattoo design I'm enamoured by

Credits: »Wellcome Collection

Let's see if I change my mind five years down the road.  (My problem with getting a tattoo!)

The »Skin exhibition at the Wellcome Collection is very good by the way.  It's not necessarily pretty though, so go with a strong stomach.  It is, as the Collection bills itself, a 'destination for the incurably curious'.  Thanks Ms K!

Not talking

Hidden Salzburg

After you are done with the heaving poshness of the Salzburg Festival, go seek out these two hidden gems. Don't forget to share tables with locals at the lovely »Zum Fidelen Affen.

A.E.I.O.U. by Walter Smerling

For another layer of meaning to A.E.I.O.U., see »here.  (No prizes for guessing where this installation was found.)

Sunday in Munich

Good old fun. No malls required.

The Kruetzer Quartet

Playing Charles Ives' Piano Trio (1911): Moderato - TSIAJ (This Scherzo is a Joke) - Moderato con moto.

Everyone goes banging mad after a while in the TSIAJ.  I like!

More Wilton's

The »Kruetzer Quartet is the focus of their attention.

Crazy about this music hall

Been there twice this month.

»Wilton’s is the oldest surviving Grand Music Hall in the world. It belongs to the first generation of public house music halls that appeared in London during the 1850s and which, only fifty years later, had all but disappeared. Now owned by the Wilton's Music Hall Trust and run by a very small and dedicated team of people, it is once again becoming a centre for innovation and excellence, both locally and internationally. Originally 5 terraced houses, John Wilton opened Wilton's Music Hall in 1858. Since then it has been home to the missionaries, survived two world wars, been a rag warehouse and unfortunately become derelict.