Day 48 Shows and Musicals in London

London is famous for its musicals and shows. And it is so true! Everywhere I go, there are posters of different kinds of musicals, Legally Blonde, Sister Act, Lion King etc etc. This shows how popular musicals and shows are here. I also did not expect that there are a lot of places in London where you can get musical and show tickets, I thought London will be like Hong Kong, where you can only get it in theatres and Tom Lee, but no, they actually make business out of selling musical tickets! It is much like Airline tickets, where you can book online through different agencies, which compete in offering the lowest price to customers!

(Photo: This is one of the places where I got the musical tickets.)

(Photo: YAY! tickets!)

During my stay in London, I saw a show and a musical: Thriller Live! and Sister Act (the musical). It is actually my first time seeing a show and a musical here. And my GOD, they were so unbelievably good!

First, the theatres. They are really grand and are very well-furnished. Gold pillars and giant chandeliers, it is almost like a scene out of the Phantom of the Opera.

Second, the audience. The audience cheered at the performers and really get me into the atmosphere of the musical and show. Also, there were minimal disturbances from the audience throughout the entire show, no crying and noisy kids or talking audience. I remember there were 2 musicals I watched in Hong Kong that there were kids crying and making annoying noises; nope, nothing like that here!

Third, the actors and actresses. It feels almost as if I see the talents pouring out of these actors' and actresses' bodies as they sing/ dance and act. I have to say, it is one time that I feel like you need to have the right kind of talent to be in their positions. Of course, they work hard as well, but I think, the hardworks are built upon the great talents they already possess. Everytime they step onto the stage, I can almost see their passion lightening up their eyes; I really admire their dedication to their jobs. I think they are really good at it, and no other person can or should replace what they are doing.

Thriller Live!


Thriller Live is a show with Michael Jackson's music. What I really like about it is that it involves audience participation throughout the show, it makes the show much more enjoyable and more lively. The singers sing MJ songs really really well. Especially the songs: The Man in the Mirror, Dangerous and Thriller. They are so awesome.

Sister Act


Technically, Sister Act is the first musical I see in London. And I love everything about it, the singing, the dancing, the acting. And even the organization of the stage, it was so wisely designed that it is never a boring set, I wonder how those people come up with it! I particularly love the song "Here within these walls" of this musical. It is about the head nun telling the "outsider" Delores why she likes the church so much and what she perceives of the lives outside of the church. She sings that here within these walls of the church, life is so good, peaceful and calm. When she was singing it, I had a strange feeling that she is singing to me about Helsinki: within the borders of Helsinki, life is so good. The melody of the song is also very peaceful and calm. it is now being sung repeatedly over my head.

I am so glad that I watched this musical. I think Sister Act has topped all of the musicals I have ever watched before in my life. It is so amazingly, unexpectedly and unbelievably good! And you wouldn't believe the talents they have and their passion for their work. I LOVE musicals in LONDON!

Day 47 Visiting the school I wasn't smart enough to get into.

Today we visited the school I wasn't smart enough to get into: Cambridge. We bought tickets at the King's Cross Station and traveled for about 1 hour to get to Cambridge.

(Photo: On the train.)

(Photo: the train. I think UK's trains are quite extensive. Almost everywhere you can go by trains. But it makes sense since UK is a big country.)

(Photo: Arriving at Cambridge. It was freezing cold and snowing when we got there, BUT still warmer than Helsinki!)


(Photo: All covered in snow. But at least we can still see some green under the thin blanket of snow!)



And then, we met up with Elita and Jennifer! Elita is a friend of Desiree's and Winky's, it was so nice meeting Elita! And Jennifer, it was so unreal meeting her in the United Kingdoms, and even better, in Cambridge!

(Photo: Jennifer dancing in the snow! Oh man, it is so nice seeing you here!!! thanks so much for taking us around and bearing with our gazillions photo-takings!)

(Photo: They say it's the must do thing in London to take photos at the phone booth.)

Cambridge is really pretty. But I think my impression of Cambridge before visiting is quite different. I have always thought that Cambridge would be really rural, like river, grass and mountains. But I was so wrong! I didn't realize that those postcard photographers were standing on a busy street and high-ways when taking photos of the mountains and grass. It is really quite a busy place. But there were a lot of people riding bicycles! Cycle safe Jennifer!



(Photo: they say we can't walk on the grass. but technically we will be walking on snow!)

(Photo: Jennifer and the snowy lawn! Hehe, even the Cambridge students are excited about the snow on the lawn!)

(Photo: The river.)

(Photo: Me sending postcards. It is my goal to send my parents and sister a postcards from different countries! So far so good, now they have one from Estonia, Levi and London.)

(Photo: And then we had afternoon tea at a shop called Auntie's tea shop. I had a coffee and an apple pie.)

(Photo: And then I began embarassing Elita by saying everything with a pretended British accent. "Fancy a pie? Cheers, mate!")

(Photo: After returning to London by train, I had a snog! Wooo... nah, it's actaully a frozen yogurt. I topped with mini oreos and brownies. It was sooo good, but I felt sick afterwards, too much sugar!)

The trio then decided that we should get a drink and talk (although Desiree has lost her voice), we randomly walked into a bar, and funny thing is, it has a tranvestite show! There was a drag queen hosting some singing performance and those performance are so good! Really high quality!





And then it was time to say goodbye to Delphine, I am going to miss you Delphine. Although I am really bad at keeping contact, I will really really try to keep in touch with you!

Day 46 The British Museum and Fish & Chips

Early in the morning of our second day in London, we took our luggage to Desiree's sister, Natasha's place to stay for the following two nights. I have to say, Natasha's place is REALLY REALLY nice! She has been here for almost 9 years, including attending university here, so she knows the city pretty well.

After putting our stuff to Natasha's place, we went to meet Desiree's friend, Smile, in the British Museum.
(Photo: The British Museum. The ceiling and the architecture are all nice, but there are just too many tourists there, probably because it was a Sunday afternoon.)

(Photo: Smile and Desiree. I guess I know why they are such good friends, look at their vertical distance from the ground! kidding kidding.)

(Photo: The museum is really big. But it is also crowded, at the end, we didn't see a lot from the museum, just the Egyptian, Greek and the Japanese sections.)

(Photo: This group of people is called the Bible study group. We bumped into them and listened to the man talking about the relationship of war, God and man.)

(Photo: And Oscar joined us too!)

Afterwards, we decided to taste the famous UK dish: Fish and Chips.
(Photo: Finally! Fish and Chips! But the UK people here, i.e. Delphine, Smile and Oscar, all said that this fish and chips wasn't good and was a total rip-off! The fish was supposed to be bigger!)

Later on, we had hot-pot at Natasha's place! It was delicious!


The Gu-cake for dessert is so good! it's like melting 1 kilo of chocolate bar into a cake. Thank you so much Natasha!
(Photo: The Gu-cake.)

Day 45 LONDON LONDON!

I had an amazing day in London today. I safely arrived at the Gatwick Airport at around mid-night on Thursday (i.e. Friday morning) by this budget airline called Easyjet, then successfully went on the last train from the Gatwick Airport Station to the London Bridge Station; Hopped off the train and looked for directions to Chancery Lane, where my friends Delphine and Desiree were.

(Photo: I was actually a bit worried because they said that they might be snow blizzard in Helsinki, and they delayed, but I guess it was fine!)

And guess what, I walked, yes, walked in the middle of the night from the Station to Chancery Lane, it took about one plus hour. PHEW. But I made it!

So then, we went back to Delphine's place which is in Southern London by the N155 night-bus. Delphine's place is AMAZING! It is what I always imagined people in London will live in- A little black gate, front-yard, a coloured front-door, a small and dimly-lit corridor, a narrow staircase. Woooo.... so British!

(Photo: The street where Delphine lives. It is how I have always imagined it!)

(Photo: Breakfast/ lunch at the dinning room! The trio reunite!)

Since we went back pretty late, we woke up pretty late, although we made a promise to ourselves that we would wake at around 9 am in the morning.

The first place we went in London was Camden Town! (Photo: We went by Underground, or what the British say, the Tube.)

(Photo: Camden Town is an inner city district in North London, it is sort of a higher-class Ladies market in Hong Kong. They sell all these weird stuff, some for tourists, and others, well, just for weird locals I think.)

Then we walked and walked and walked until it was time for the CIS gathering in ChinaTown! It was so nice to meet up with a bunch of friends from High School. AWWW.. SO many memories!



Afterwards, we decided to do go to J. Lee's place for a chat and drink.
(Photo: But we have to talk really quietly. Because J. Lee's neighbour, who has cancer, always theatened to tell her land-lord that she is noisy.)

Oh, by the way, desiree lost her voice, so she couldn't talk at all, I mean, she can only whisper. She also found out that she has a lump on her throat, which resembles Adam's Apple. I guess she was really freaked out that she is turning into a man, so she decided that she should see the doctor at the Emergency room, the whole group went with her.

(Photo: And wow, there were so many drunks with cuts and bruises in the emergency room waiting room. At the end, we decided that it took too long to wait, and Desiree calmed down a bit, so we decided that it might be just a sore throat, and we went home.)

And on our way home, we saw a traffic accident. There were, I think, Blood on the ground. Our buses got delayed. I hope that person is well.

What a day what a day!

Day 44 Downhill skiing and its dangers

I heard today from the Hong Kong newspapers that there was a Queen's College student who went downhill skiing in Korea, hit his head on a skiing post and died. News said that he knew how to ski, but probably not very good at it, he then tried out the advance course and that was when the accident happened.

As you know, from my previous posts, that I have recently grown in love with this sport. But I will have to admit, downhill skiing is actually quite dangerous and can be fatal when a beginner is 'too brave' and tries out the advanced course.



Having skiied only twice in my life, I have tried the advanced course in Lapland and as I was skiing down from that steep slope, I could think of multiple ways of getting myself injured or killed:

1. Other skiiers bump into you at a dangerously high speed.
2. you want to make a turn but lose control, your neck snaps or you crack your head.
3. you lose control of your skiis and bump into a tree, a block of ice or the ski lifts
4. you cannot get off the ski lift or the ski lift in front of you hit you on the head (I am not kidding, the ski lifts I am talking about are those that you wrap between your legs, not those that you sit on.)



So here is a little advice from a beginner like me, to all the beginners out there.

1. Stick to the beginner's course
2. If you really want to do a harder course, go with someone who skiis better than you and is willing to take care of you
3. If you are on a harder course, make sure that you are not going really fast.
4. If you feel like you are beginning to accelerate, intentionally make yourself fall down before it is too late (i.e. when you are at a dangerous speed).
5. Make snow plouge when you ski
6. Know that to be really good at skiing takes time. There was a Swiss exchange student who started skiing when she was 3 years old and probably go skiing every single day in Switzerland, she went crazy fast down the slopes. But beginners beware, don't try to follow the pros!

Well, that is all I have to say, skiing is fun, but sometimes you really have to watch it!

Happy skiing everyone!



By the way, I am heading to LONDON tonight! I am SUPER DUPER CUPER CHUPER EXCITED, WOOOHOOOO.
Oh, and I discovered that my 20-Euro universal adapter BROKE. =.=!
I think I will get an adapter in London.