Plane journey and first day in London

This is the first post in my blog. I'm not sure how much detail to put in. Lots might be boring to some people. But this is also a bit of a record for myself, so it will probably lean toward lots. The first 9 days I am in London, so those will particularly have lots of detail.

The plane ride was pretty exciting. I got an awesome window seat for the first leg. There are some strange land formations in the outback of australia that go on for a great distance. I saw the very edge of australia as we flew over it. I saw a little of indonesia, except at that point it was sort of dusk and there was a bit of cloud. But I could make out a kind of river delta thing. This was a big deal for me since I've never been out of the country.

This is the edge of Australia somewhere in North WA

The food on the plane was mostly good. I got an awesome chicken curry for dinner. The 'supper', however, was pretty ordinary. Included was a big dry roll filled with weird meat that I think was tuna. I couldn't be sure. But I ate it all. I watched almost all the new charlie and the chocolate factory movie. I thought it was a bit awkward and tacked together with regard to the additions over the original.

We landed in Kuala Lumpar surrounded by a kind of lightning storm. There were regular lightning flashes, however they didn't seem very threatening for some reason. So it was pretty cool. After landing I managed to find my way to the terminal for the connecting flight without any hassles. It was all clear. I was really thirsty, so I exchanged £5 for 26RM (Malaysian currency). I think the prices were pretty much equivalent to what we pay here. But the prices did vary a lot, and since some prices weren't labelled, and my tired brain was coming up with strange theories, I wondered if the sales person inflated the price for personal gain. After waiting the three hours for the next plane I was really really tired. I must have been awake for quite a long time. I sat next to a really nice couple from Liverpool returning from a Vietnam holiday. But I was very delirious so I wasn't much good at socialising. I planned to go to sleep pretty much straight away, but they served us more food! So I commenced the sleeping a few hours into the flight. I was really cold (I forgot my jumper. The only ones I had were in checked luggage), so I didn't do too well. I got woken up every half an hour or so, and I think I got about 4 hours sleep in total. The meals on this flight were a bit average. They had good stuff, but I couldn't eat everything, like I did on the first flight. I skipped out on the raw salmon placed upon salad and the omelet with crunchy peas and horse meat sausage.

In the centre of Kuala Lumpar Airport they have a small bit of jungle you can walk around in.

We flew over india, pakistan, ukraine, poland, germany, netherlands, then into london. London had lots of cloud going on. So couldn't see much. Plus it was 5am, so it was dark. However after we got through some cloud, I saw some suburbs and stuff. Pretty exciting. But now I was worrying about my lack of visa.

After landing, I had a big line at immigration to get through. I was pretty nervous, but I think my deliriousness gave me some nice confidence (my ability to be socially nervous seems to malfunction when I'm tired). The guy asked me a couple of pointed questions, but I answered them okay, so he let me through. I was super excited after I got let through. That was the one thing I was worried about. My suitcase was right there in front of me as I stepped up to the carousel. Then there were doors saying "nothing to declare" (customs). I wasn't sure about the toothpaste, but I went through anyway. There was no one at all on the other side! I could have had anything with me. The only person was a nice man offering to sell me express bus tickets to Picadilly. When I said I wanted to get to Waterloo, he suggested I take the underground. The underground was just a few metres from where I emerged. So it was all pretty easy.

Train took quite a while. It stopped at every station. Finally got to Waterloo. I realised then that Waterloo is more for inter-city trips. So it wasn't all that easy to get to, and I wasn't at the cool victorian glass roofed terminal thing like I wanted to be. I was at the normal tube one. I went up to the street and found myself faced with all the crazy busses. There were lots of them. It was very surreal. This was my first view of England and everyone was walking around and doing their London things as if it was completely normal. I walked up a little way and happened to find the entrance to the section of Waterloo I originally had wanted to see. I headed in. I bought a cheese and onion pasty and ate that as I was surrounded by frantic people heading to work (it was 7 or 8am on friday morning). It was a big struggle to get into the station as they were all walking the opposite way to me and I had a big bag behind me. People here are very aggressive with their walking! Eventually I decided to head for the hostel. I was feeling really tired and felt like I could use a lie down and to get rid of my bags. I found my way to the river front. Saw the Eye and the parliament thing. It was very surreal again. I walked across the river and through some crazy streets trying to find my way. Lots of uneven pavements and crazy streets. Lots of people pushing past me.

First view of London. Everyone is freaking out trying to get to work. The busses are everywhere and it all looks pretty much like London.

Me eating a cheese and onion pastie with my awesome gloves inside Waterloo Station.

Seeing this contrived landmark for the first time.

Strange to see these things in the flesh. Also I look like I've been on a plane for 22 hours.

I finally made it to the hostel but I would have to wait until 2pm to check in. It was about 10am. Noooo! I left my suitcase in a dodgy room downstairs where everyone keeps their bags until they can check in, and so presumably anyone could also remove whichever bag they wanted. Didn't feel very safe but I didn't really have a choice. Then I went to the British Museum to kill some time, since it is literally on the other side of the street. British Museum was insane. So many egyptian things. Really old. I saw two little painting by Picasso (a bit strange since the exhibition was named after him). Lots of really cool Greek and Middle Eastern stuff too. (Greek statues, bits of the parthenon, or something. Carved wall reliefs showing battles in some Persian cities, and big statues) I was a little too tired to spend lots of time reading most of the things, but it was really cool. But the museum only killed about 2 hours of my time (will spend more time when I have more energy). So I decided to walk down to Trafalgar Square. I weaved my way through crazy streets. Along the way I found a kind of market, amongst a shopping district of some kind. A guy saw me looking at his leather jackets so he wanted to sell me one. Normally they sell for £150, he was saying. But he could sell it to me for £90. I said I wasn't really looking to buy. He tried so hard to get me interested though. Offering it for £70. But I insisted. I wasn't looking to buy a leather jacket. Plus I could tell he was trying to use the sales person tactics (though he was a jovial friendly guy, unlike some other sales people) and I hate impulse buys that I regret. So I jovially told him no. I was looking for a cheap watch. It seems that none exist in the entire city!! I can't find any cheap $2 stores. I suppose London is more about the expensive stuff. I saw lots of crazy stuff on my walk and then eventually made it back to the hostel. Checked in. At first it was just me, but now there are 7 others in the room. I got a microwave meal from sainsbury's for 2.25 pounds. Pasta and cheese and tomato bake. It was pretty good. Then I did some things on the internet for a few hours before getting to bed at 7pm or so.

This is the British Museum. Right across the road from the hostel.

The inside of the museum. Really cool architectural thing on the roof.

Lots of Egyptian statues. Very impressive collection.

Wall reliefs.

Some kind of Persian statue. Very big.

A tiny part of the Greek section

The Rosetta Stone.

A funny alleyway I found.

Some arches near Trafalgar Square.

Obligatory "I'm at Trafalgar Square" shot.

Every shop along this street is a music shop. I happen to go down it and thought it was pretty good. Notice the running man. He is running very enthusiastically.