Rainy London

And 25 days had passed, concludes my trip hopping around Spain and Portugal. Ending my trip in London, being the connection hub to everywhere. Initially it was only gonna be London, then Denmark.. but mate managed to persuade me to head to Liverpool again before going off.

It was 37 degree in Granada, and after 12 hours of travelling

it's 15 degree in London.

It was sunny for the pass 25 days in Spain and Portugal, 

just on my first day in London,

it has been raining cats and dogs,

heavy rains and drizzling,

you name it, they've got it.

It was really hard for me to communicate in Spain - language barrier,

and now in London, everything seems so familiar,

the signs i can read,

the conversation i could understand.

It was only us travelling in Spain and Portugal, 

the two of us,

and now it's a huge packed,

non stop chattering, give and take.

A huge different. Moments, where i thought, where am i ? Is this real or a dream?i can feel raindrops on my skin, the temporary cold sensory shock, reaching somewhere deep within, as if, "re-aliving" my body.

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow and as much as i love rain, it annoys me that it gets my cloths wet. Otherwise i would  get rained,let rain beat upon my head with silver liquid drops. I have to escape. This gets me back on track, reminding things are happening, i would need to get myself ready for studies in D.

Maybe this is why i like london a lot, still as a traveller's perspective still (not resident, only been there 3 times and 9 days in total), i like the rain + the gloominess of the city maybe not the busy side; the dark, grey, dull sky, the cobblestone walkways, the idea of taking "tube", black taxi, double decker bus are very appealing to me.

When you are in London no matter how tall or confident you are, you always feel like a little fish in a big pond because of its size. Its busy and anonymous. I always tell this to my peers, walking in london street (not oxford street per say), makes me feel self worthy, constantly mindful of the fact that life itself is a wonder; that it's wondrous and worth being thankful for . I know, it's wierd.. i guess this is what i've grown to this few years also putting my fingers towards architecture theories learnt.

It's probably a phase, im pretty sure i'll hate london one day too.

Thoughts on a bus

Its the 16th day I'd been travelling now, and 19 days away from home, 13 more days before my 2nd semester commence in Denmark .

I am on my way to Lagos , down south in portugal heading to the beach for real tanning session. It's quite a long ride from lisbon - 4 hours. It's dark on the outside with road lights and car lights flashing here and about . Rumbling noise of the bus engine and local portugese chattering away. My travel companion has taken one of my shoulder as a head rest, leaving me very much immobilize for her comfort.

Dream a little dream by Michael buble is playing on my playlist roll, pink's song is playing on the background in the bus. The perfect moment to fuel myself with thoughts. Thinking, and grateful for the chance presented, travel companion that i could share moments with, someone i could share my knowledge with especially when stumbling into buildings like sagrada familia. Telling her bits and pieces why is it done this way and avoided. As much as i deny being an archi student, im already married to it. The experience from this travel I'm soaking it up fully like a sponge .

Its so much different that my past, previous trip where I go solo and lone. Although from times to times there were always lots of nagging from me,for being quite particular about certain stuff and you know what i, surprisingly am very much responsible when I'm traveling. Scolding away whenever something is not right which usually end with loud and thundering laughter among both us. No matter in the room, busy street or even small alleyway. Pretty sure the loud laughing like no one business on the busy street, would easily attract the term "fucking asians" :) But I do appreciate the companion, and the extra eye.

Thanks.

Porto

No offence to any Portuguese out there. I’ve mention to a few of my mates that Portugal would be one of the place I’m heading this trip. The response I got is always a why.. It makes so much more sense, since I am traveling around Spain and Portugal stone throw away .. why not stop by then?

My impression on Portugal is pretty good, considering I got a good mate staying here… , the element of surprise and what is offered is very much anticipated. I guess a lot of times; Portugal would feel like an underdog to be set alongside Spain.

Porto, was my very first stop in Portugal. I intended to walk around the city for just 1 day, but after the first day, this stunning city just deserves another day. Hence, my plan visiting the winery, vineyard was canceled. ( Duoro Valley, Pinhao )

Porto’s dual nature presents travelers with rewarding opportunities to see both side of the coin… from walking around narrow medieval alleyways, looking up are residents hanging their laundry; extravagant baroque church with rococo style interior.. Exterior decorated with blue tiles drawing which are absolutely stunning to see. It’s a treat to the eye, wandering around the residential area and able to enjoy different tiles patterns and colour.

Porto’s old world river frontage district is a world heritage site, the picturesque Riberia district that lies along the waterfront are awesome hangouts, great bridges spanning across the Duoro river to Vila Nova de Gaia is the home to port wine lodges. Port wine lodges like Taylor’s and etc, offer free tours around and also free tasting. What could top that off? Definitely learn a lot more about wine, the process and the care of a wine . It’s my first time visiting, and leaving more knowledgeable.

Generally speaking, Porto city is small enough to be travel by foot and the lively citys clings to the north bank of the Duoro river, and the south bank is full off port wine lodges, as mentioned earlier.

To be honest, I never expected Porto to be that vibrant, assuming it’s just another metropolitan city.. My bad. It’s somewhat a nice city to do lazy walk around even though the city being rather hilly, still manage to stumble upon many many surprises, somewhat picturesque and friendly.. Compare Porto and Spain, i kinda think that their English language is much better than them, or maybe I was just lucky to always being able to talk with people who speak English.

Porto, is defintely a worthwhile place to visit, despite being a big city. A good 2 days for a relaxing walkabout, a tight one day tour would be fine. =)

Pastel de nata

Always embracing my sweet tooth, touching down in the first city in Portugal. The first thing that came up on my mind is EGG TART then the grapes. It was a 4 hr journey all the way from Santiago de compostela, ride was pleasant... and thank god there is air conditioning in the bus.

Porto, is the city which took up 2 days of my whole trip. Having all the luggage put in places, no problem in the checking in. The next Q i asked the reception was :" Any recommendation for good EGG TARTS??" yes my eyes came alive, almost shimmering like how anime characters' eye enlarged when they got excited.

R : air tuck?
Me : no Egg tart ( still slightly hopping around)
R: er.. huh??
Me : Yellow, EGGGG with black black burn bitssss (slightly annoyed)
R: Pastel de nata? (start googling image )
ME : YEAH! Thats it!
R: Why do u guys call it egg tart?

the pasty

Add caption

Now i've learned, they don't call it egg tart! A Pastel de nata is a Portuguese egg tart pastry. Something really close to my heart. Still remember the first time i tried it, when i was in primary school. Sold in Southern bakery , right beside the Gk supermarket by the roundabout. If you're not a Miri-an... u could just ignore this part.

from left to right, some bacon-cheese-bread layered stuff, strawberry cream tart, egg tart, nuts tart.

there u go, a cut up Pastel del nata

I remember the pastry flakes in my mouth, custards melt on my tongue, both texture mixed up in the mouth is amazing. So as you can see the expectation is really high especially coming from Portugal ! So we were lead to this pastry shop where we order quite a bunch of weird looking stuff to share. The first cut into the "egg tart" was a dismay... i don't recall the base pastry to be that thin.. and i don't see flakes flaking ... My first bite into it was another let down... overpoweringly sweet custard has ruining my palette ... =( had to wash it down with the watermelon tea i've ordered.... Very much disappointed and coming from Porto's pastry

4 side mirror  interior

Then i insisted, we order the wrong egg tart, the egg start aren't suppose to be that huge... tBought a smaller version one. As expected, another big disappointment. It's my first WTF moment in 10 days of travel and hopefully pastel de nata in Lisbon would do it justice.. otherwise it would be like a undone task that will haunt me for the rest of my life T_T and yes i am that big of a fan when it comes to egg tarts. 

#2 attempt ... still no good