Gong xi, gong xi, gong xi ni..

GONG XI FA CAI!!!!

Yes, it's finally here.. it's Chinese New Year! And not just any Chinese New Year, it's the year of the dog!! :) So to all who celebrate this joyous occasion, Happy New Year!!! Xin Nian Kuai Le, Wan Shi Ru Yi! May the year of the dog bring you and all around you joy, happiness and of course, prosperity!!!

I spent this weekend in London, with a good friend of mine, PY.. and we really had a fantabulastic time! I haven't had sooo much fun in such a long time! I went down cos' I haven't seen her in awhile so thought it'd be a good idea to go visit her, but also cos' it could get quite boring for CNY in Nottingham. I was all geared up for a very 'yit lao' celebration and the last thing I wanted was a low-key one! :)

PY and me enjoying our yoghurt in Leicester Square

Anyway, the main celebration took place in Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square.. (It's not my first time there so granted, I wasn't too crazily thrilled..) Nevertheless, it was certainly great to be immersed into the highly energized and happy Chinese crowd out there celebrating this special time of the year.. I certainly felt in-touch with my Chinese roots, alright!

See the crowd? It was fantastic!

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Somehow, as we were walking around Chinatown, we stumbled upon a heavily-human-congested area and before we even realised it, we were actually standing right next to the Lion Dance! It was so exciting - over the past 2 CNYs celebrated in London, I've never been so close to the lion in Chinatown before!

Anyway, it was really fun.. and we got to eat lots of yummy Chinese food, hear lots of fun CNY songs (which was quite nostalgic..), see lots of Chinese people and just generally have such a great time!

Having said that, it was actually a really really great weekend for me.. Like I've said, I haven't had so much fun in such a long time and it was a truly relaxing to let loose and enjoy myself fully. PY was a fantastic host, but more importantly, she was fabulous company, so I guess that kinda added up to the whole enjoying-myself thing.. It was really nice, sometimes we had stupid laughs, sometimes we had deep talks.. It was good to catch up with an old friend.. So anyway, here are the highlights of my trip:


Look! It's Platform 9 and three-quarters.. at King's Cross! For those of you non-Harry Potter fans out there, Platform 9 and three quarters is where the Hogwarts Express stands. It's the platform that all students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry need to be to be able to board the train that brings them to Hogwarts! Haha.. I was so thrilled to see it! (And yes, I did disappear behind the barrier.. it truly was amazing! ;) )

Being an avid fan of musicals, I also made it a point to catch one, since I was, after all in the capital of musicals. I initially wanted to catch Chicago, but since PY had watched it, and the tickets were exorbitantly priced, we settled for Saturday Night Fever instead. But absolutely no regrets.. the show was sensational! The dancing.. oh, the dancing... it was phenomenal! Absolutely phenomenal! And it's not just 70's hippie-kind.. no no, it was a really good mix between disco dancing, latin and ballroom dancing, ballet and just well, dancing! Gosh, I was thoroughly impressed and incredibly happy! And the cutest thing was, they were kind enough to give us an encore performance, of which they got the whole theatre audience to stand up and sort of dance along! It was sooo fun, I rode an adrenaline wave all the way out of the theatre!! (By the way, I absolutely love dancing, hence, the crazee enthusiasm.. I've done ballet, latin and ballroom, hip hop, traditional/cultural etc and I have always dreamed of being a professional dancer...) Anyway, it was certainly a great musical and I'm so glad that we caught it before it officially closes in London in 3 weeks!

Ooh, guess who I bumped into, walking along the streets of Chinatown?

It was LN and R!!

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I couldn't believe it either, but it was certainly a lovely surprise! Apparently, they had come down to spend CNY together with our old KMYS friends. So we went over on Saturday night to chit-chat, hang out and just basically, catch up! Oh, it was so good to catch up with them after so long.. haven't seen them in ages!! 'twas a mini-reunion alright!

This is what years of training at KMYS makes you - professional subjects in photos!! (Sitting fr L to R - CK, LN, A, DL, me; Standing fr L-R - JT, R, K, SN)

The rest of the weekend was spent walking around London, visiting pish-posh shops and oogling at things we couldn't afford.. It doesn't sound fun, but it truly was.. the experience was certainly one of a kind! And thankfully, I had a local Londoner to bring me around! ;)

This is the food hall at Fortnum & Masons, a posh departmental store in Central London. (Think Harrods!) All the food looked absolutely yummy and packaged oh-so-beautifully! And look at how elegantly decorated the actual hall is, with its glistening chandeliers and delicately-carved wooden finishing!

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I have been craving and craving for Japanese food ever since I got back to UK so I made darn sure that I ate lots and lots to my heart's content! We ate at Misato's on the first night and had a variety of food - sushi, sashimi, tempura, chicken katsu and calpico! Hehe.. Then on Saturday, PY brought me to the Japan Centre on Piccadilly Street and we picked out loads of sushi (it was really cheap!) and other little Japanese titbits/snacks to munch on.. Yum!

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We also stumbled upon Minamoto's Kitchen, a pretty little shop which sold purely Japanese sweets and desserts. I personally have never seen any Jap sweets before and it was certainly interesting to be there. Bought a few things so can't wait to try them! Ooh, this further convinces me that my next (well, not next next but future next) stop for travelling is gonna be Japan!!!

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Of course, a trip to London is never complete without stopping by my favourite doughnut store.. Krispy Kreme!!!! We took a special trip to Harrods' for some good ol' old-fashioned glazed and that really made the fat girl in me happy! Ok, so it also made the happy girl in me fat, but oh well.. live a little!

Would ya just look at those hot yummy doughnuts rolling past you?

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(L) Yumm.. look at the rows and rows of yummy-looking doughnuts! How can you possibly resist?

(R) My favourite.. old-fashioned glazed all for myself!!! Haha... (To be fair, I gave some away to PY, brought some for my old friends and brought a couple back for my housemates!)

Well, that's all from me this time.. I've got loads more pics so if you're interested, do let meknow! Hehe.. Anyway, have a very joyous New Year everyone and 'year year got fish'!

Ooh, almost forgot, it should be a time for double celebrations for i passed my driving test on Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!