UK Trip Pt 7 -The Walima

The Walima (Marriage Banquet)

This is the end of the celebration. All the parties, preparation and stuff leads to this one big night. We were up pretty early (despite the crazy Malaysian themed party the night before) to get everything in order.

The hall was very well decorated. Ill let the pictures do the talking again:

The Pelamin.. Nice lighting!

White 'Red Carpet' to match the theme

The table deco.. Noticed whats in the bowl?

Goldfish! It was on every single table across the entire hall

Close up of the setting

The souvenir to guests.. All the way from Malaysia!

The opening show: Cheerleaders!

MJ!

10 Dhol players!

And of course bhangra!

I was a little frustrated that night coz instead of having fun at dance floor, i had to run to the toilet. I think the weather finally got me. I had sore throat since morning and after dinner, i started vomitting.

But I had so much fun

~Cheers!

UK Trip Pt 6 -Leiceister City

Leicester is a small beautiful community with a rural atmosphere that blends suburban living with highly respected schools and shopping. If you are a laid-back person with family, Leicester is a wonderful place to live, work and an alluring place to visit.

I love this town.

I asked my cousin to drop me off at the town. First i went to the infamous Primark and then just walkaround Highcross.

Highcross has a beautiful design.

Primark -Good stuff there!

Bridge to Highcross

The shopping part is OK. But what i like most about Leicester is:

The Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower

Thats me freezin

The Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower is a major landmark and popular meeting point in Leicester City Centre, Leicestershire, England. It is located roughly in the middle of the area inside the ring-road, and is at the point where five major streets (Gallowtree Gate, Humberstone Gate, Belgrave Gate, Church Gate and Eastgates) meet, and also close by to the junction with Cheapside.

Nice time

Leicester Market -This market might look ordinary but it is 'Britain's Favourite Market 2009'

It was located near the clock tower. I spent about 1.5 hours just walking around the town and enjoy the view. Found starbucks and had the best hot chocolate i've ever had... i think i love the heater there the most. I sat there for about an hour and it was nice. Just doing nothing but staring at people.

The evening ended with a funny story:

Being a tourist, i like to try the public transport so i took a bus home. The driver realised i was a tourist and gave me a free ride. People are generally nicer towards tourist huh? Cool!

~Cheers

UK Trip Pt 5 -Birmingham City

In between of the parties and wedding stuff, I had a chance to visit Birmingham. Initially I wanted to go for a day trip to London, but changed my mind. Buckingham, Trafalgar Square still look the same whereas Birmingham went through a major facelift since my last trip. So, i thought i might as well go check it out.

Birmingham is a city in the West Midlands county of England. According to wiki, it is the most populous British city outside London. It and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the United Kingdom's second most populous Urban Area.

From my observation, the fact is so true!

Half of my family in UK live in Birmingham so i had to do the visiting and walk around town within 1 day. To save time, i took a train from Leicester. I did the same thing 9 years ago and i must say the best way to see England is via train.

My eyes were hooked to the window throughout the 40mins journey as i enjoyed the postcard-alike view.

The station at Birmingham is right at their city centre. It was so convenient.

At the St Martin Church near the Bull Ring Centre. It is the original parish church of Birmingham. It stands between the Bull Ring shopping centre and the markets.

Bull Ring @ Birmingham

The Bull Ring is a major commercial area of Birmingham. It has been an important feature of Birmingham since the market was first held. It has been developed into a shopping centre twice; first in the 1960s, and then in the 2000s. the last time I came in 2001, the entire place was a major construction site.

Its been completed for about 7-8 years now but it looked brand new! Well, to me at least. If your trip is all about shopping, Bull Ring would be heaven.

The Bull Ring icon

The beautiful design of Bull Ring Centre. According to my dad, "Panadol Building"

~Cheers!

UK Trip Pt 4 -The Wedding

The parties went well and it was time for the main thing. I pulled out my brand new suit and got ready. (As i was getting ready, i quietly wondered how d hell do i go out with this thin layer of jacket?!)

Anyway, the wedding was truly one of a kind. Everything was well planned. I wouldn't say its very traditional as my cousin (the groom's dad) tastefully injected the modern element and made it a nice fusion of brit-paki wedding.

Noticed the bagpipe?

Check out the ride!

The bachelors in the limo

The other half

Noticed the sign? Gotta keep it clean..

The groom

They also have pelamin

Me & the cool musicians. One of them is planning to visit Malayssia soon.

This is one of my relative. The last time I saw her I was still in school! She is now the Operations Director for London Hilton

~Cheers!

UK Trip Pt 3 -Parties!

The wedding house aka my place for 10 days

I was pretty excited to be in Leicester again. Its been ages and i was really looking forward to revisit the little nice town and loads of families around.

Oh, i must say the weather was freezin cold! it was March and they were still in the last stage of winter. And for the record, they had a long and nasty winter. I was constantly shivering and had to limit my time out of the house.

I was watching the news and the newscaster said it might even snow. I was pretty excited for that but at the same time wishing the weather gets better.

Ok, enough of that..

The reason I went this time around is to attend a wedding. It was my nephew's and that dude is cool. I had to be there. We have been planning since last year and everyone was looking forward to it.

Due to an unforeseen circumstance, i arrived missed the stag night. When i arrived on Friday, 9pm the boys were already on their way to another city for the party. I was kinda bummed but it was ok coz we had like a whole week to party. LOL!

I know that weddings in my family are pretty crazy, but i must say weddings in my family in UK is a whole new level of craziness. Haha..

Different themes were set for different nights and it was awesome. Everyone came well dressed, good food, and party..! Uncles, aunties, cousins kids and everyone jumped on the dancefloor and enjoyed.

One of the theme was "Disco". I'll let the pictures do the talking now

Me & My cousin. She's the mother of the groom and thats their house in the background. Nice lights huh?

The boys in our shades.. lol

Well, i dont have any more pics of the parties coz i was busy partying.

~Cheers!

UK Trip Pt 2 -Stansted Airport

My 13 hours flight brought me to London Stansted Airport. It's the UK version of LCCT (lol). It is a passenger airport located at Stansted Mountfitchet in the district of Uttlesford in in Essex, 48 km (30 mi) north-east of central London.

I was rather excited to check it out because i know for a fact that Heathrow is huge and always busy. I remember taking a super long walk to get out of the gate and the queue was madness.

A quick check online, i found out that Stansted is a hub for a number of major European low-cost carriers. It is the 3rd busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third-largest airport serving the London area after Heathrow and Gatwick.

It was not as busy as I expected. Maybe coz of the time we landed (9pm). And the best part of landing at Stansted has to be the traffic. It was smooth all the way to Leicester.

According to my cousins, its about 100miles -which is about the same distance to go to Heathrow. So, i couldnt be happier. After 13 hours, i just want to get to the house as fast as i could.

So, if you are doubting about landing at Stansted, fear not.

~Cheers!

UK Trip -Pt 1

After 9 years, I finally got to go back to UK to visit my family. It was not a proper vacation trip, as the main objective of the visit was to attend a wedding (and wedding is a week long festival in my family!)

I've travelled to UK via Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines previously. So, i thought why not try AirAsia this time? Since I was really looking forward to this trip, i started my preparation in advance.

I got a very good deal with the ticket fare, so I took the opportunity to test their XL seat. It was about RM1K extra from the normal seat. I figured it's gonna be a good investment as 13 hours is a long journey. Good seat = less cranky.

I must say, it was one of the best travel decision I've ever made. I was just so happy with the seat i didn't even have a chance to complain about anything! Plenty of room to stretch out, it was almost flat.


It was a wide business class seat (not a skybed yet of course), with business class leg room, and great service. I was thinking of purchasing the portable media players to kill some time but didn't get it at the end because i was just too busy sleeping! haha..

I can't wait to try their new seat:

~Cheers!