The United Kingdom part 2 | London and Hyde Park

The UK journey continues!

They have this outdoor platform which we definitely don't have in the strict Singapore. Their platform blends with the scenery! So cute and nice! And they have this logo for all their tube station (their train is called 'tube'), unlike our normal Singapore sign. It may look less modern compared to the Singapore ones, but definitely is more homey and less stern.

Singapore's train sign.

Another sign in an indoor platform.

This is what their platform looks like. I know it looks old and stuff, again, compared to Singapore, but it has that strong sense of culture and time and story and history.. It's just exciting! And here's their tube map.

It's like a million time more complicated than our Singapore MRT map.

Our MRT map looks like their baby.

If I'm not mistaken, the pic below is their Earl's Court station. It was an above ground station, so it was out first taste of the air in London. And it was COLD! I straight away put on my scarf and gloves. I grew up in Indonesia and Singapore and both countries are humid. I am so NOT used to this kind of weather!! Full gear protection. Scarf, glove, jacket, socks, hats, whatever.

They have 4 (if not more) platforms. And one thing that's a little confusing is, one platform could serve trains going to more than one direction. So, within the same platform, we still must wait for the correct train to come. Like our current Promenade station which serves trains that goes to both Dhoby and Marina Bay. But Earl's Court is completely on a different league. The signs you see on the pic above (Mansion House, Tower Hill, Upminster, etc), those are the directions. So 1 platform serves trains going to 5 different directions. Best.

More pics of Earl's Court.

The girls in the lift. It took us 2 trips since it only carries 4 person max.

 This is Paddington station, first stop of the day! Such a mighty dome.

Sunshine through the window. Like a naise!

We needed to walk to our hostel, but noone knew where we were supposed to go, which exit to take. I think someone went to ask the direction, and that settled it. So, we walked our socks off to our hostel. And Sinead's luggage is failing on her and it's causing a whole lot of trouble for her as well as all of us. It has no handle so she must literally bend down and push the thing.

The view of the streets. Took this on the way to our hostel.

So after like approximately half and hour walk, we reached our hostel. It's called Smart Hyde Park View. Costs us around 25 pounds per night. It has a bar on their ground floor, and it was quite clean. 7 out of 10.

Here's their staircase. Lift wasn't working. So we have to hand carry our luggages.

And here are our luggages.

One luggage takes 2 persons to carry, so we kind of worked together.. Some watched for the luggages (me), some carrying, some taking them to the room.. Yeah, teamwork bro.

Sinead's problematic luggage.

I can't believe I didn't take a pic of what the place looks like. Here's a few pics I grabbed from the internet. This is their hallway.

Our room looked exactly like this. Triple bunk beds.

We have two of these in the room. Just nice for 6 person. I slept at the second level. First level was too cramped with the ladders, and third level was wayyy too high, and I pee a lot so that would be a problem. So our sleeping arrangement was:

Bunk 1 level 1: Sinead
Bunk 1 level 2: Feli
Bunk 1 level 3: Zee
Bunk 2 level 1: Huyen
Bunk 2 level 2: Me
Bunk 2 level 3: Hao En

So after putting all our stuff down, we headed out straight away cos we have to follow our itinerary. We were supposed to go to V&A Museum. And according to the receptionist, the way to go there is through Hyde Park.

We had no internet yet, so using GPS is out of the question. We only had a map.

AND I WAS SO EXCITED!! Being in a new place with only a map, and you need to find your own way. Smells like adventure!!!!!! The navigation system in my brain lit up, and we searched our way through the map. Oh I enjoyed it. Map reading.

I remember I got 99 out of 99 for navigation during my psychotest in highschool. And I only scored 88 for arts. I should join The Amazing Race!! Who says woman can't read maps?? I just proved you WRONG.

On the way to Hyde Park. Actually to our left was Hyde park already, you see those bushes in the fence?
We just needed to find the gate.

Feeling London. Clear skies, it's just so pretty.

The iconic red bus!

Found the gate!

Me and the gate!

Hao En and the gate.

Feli and the gate.

...

Sinead and the gate.

Now, into Hyde Park! It was a huuuuuuge park. Very nice and peaceful. People were jogging with their dogs, skies are clear.. And we didn't sweat cos it was so cold!!! Best.

Can't cycle, bruh.

Their "main road"

Me on the "main road".

Sinead. Donno what she's doin.

Hao En.

Teehee

The pretty Feli! And you can see Zee and Sinead with the same leg and hand position in the background.
Backup dancers?

Hao En and Huyen and their (frikking heavy) DSLRs. Oh how I love my NEX.

Some monument. Who's Speke? Never heard of em.

Sinead.

This girl. People take photo she walk right in front of the lens. Clever.

Horizontal?

Or vertical?

There were a lot of dogs without their leash. I guess they have this sense of loyalty which make them not run away, and their masters also trust them enough not to leash them. Beautiful friendship ah.

Pretty ah!

Statue of some guy.

The explanation. But I dont think you can read it.

Suddenly this pops out at the end of the road.

A random group of people and a camel. I have no idea what it has to do with anything.
If I'm not lazy maybe will do some research about this.

I thought this was a monument of the pope or something, since it has that cross on the top.
But turned out it was Sir Albert Hall.

I don't know how long we spent in the park. An hour? The first thing we saw after we got out of the park was this building. 

Royal Albert Hall. Where Adele held her concert?
I have this building on the game Gardens of Time in facebook. There's how I recognized it.

A random pop up map. Helpful! Singapore should have more of these.
And let's not start on Indonesia.

The road is paved!!! How pretty!!!

See the car??? So cute!!!

And so this post comes to an abrupt end where I show a picture of a car. Cos I was too tired to edit the next picture. So see you in the next post!

Cheers! (they always say this in the end of something. From what I get, it means either "bye bye" or "thank you". Correct me if I'm wrong.)