Universal Studios Hollywood

During the California trip, my sister and I went to Universal Studios Hollywood. Yes, just us since my parents aren't really a fan of theme parks and they didn't really know the characters there. As far as I can remember, this is the first time I've went to a theme park in another country without my parents so it was definitely a unique experience for me. 

We got the Front-of-the-line passes to make sure we could finish all the rides and shows. Thank god we did as it was Boxing Day and the place was extremely crowded. All the rides except for one kiddy ride had at least a 40 minute wait after 10 am so if you're planning to try out all the attractions in a day, buying the fast passes will be the smarter choice. 

I was really surprised when I saw the park map as I had no idea the park would be so small. I was so psyched for the Marvel rides as I didn't reach the height limits when I was younger. Little did I know that that was in Universal Studios Florida. Disappointing yes I know. 

We started out at the Minions area as we were looking for Starbucks. The only ride there was the 4D stimulator ride that Singapore doesn't have. It was still early when we got there so we barely had to queue. This was how we made our mistake... After the ride, we went around taking photos with mascots, drink coffee at a French Bistro near the Minion ride (don't buy the starbucks from here because they have really limited choices and the coffee wasn't that good either). The 20 minute wait time for the rides became over 40 minutes!

The second ride we went to was the Jurassic World Wet Ride which is located at the Lower Lot. I kinda hate how there's an Upper Lot and a Lower Lot because it takes 4 long escalators from one place to another. It was really inconvenient and a waste of time. Again we decided not to use our fast passes as the waiting time wasn't that long yet, which was pretty dumb of us because we didn't have time for a second round as planned. 

One of the rides was really enjoyable and special. The Studio Tour is a must to go as it is the main attraction of Universal Studios Hollywood. I think that because of their size constraints and the fact that Universal Studios movies are filmed there, the rides are mostly 4D simulators to show off how great their technology and stuff are. So yes, in exchange of exciting adrenaline pumping roller coaster rides, you get to ride on a tram around the sets of many universal studios movies. How exciting!!

I may sound sarcastic but the experience is a lot better than how I just described it. If you don't believe me you can always believe the waiting time of the attraction, which was 75 minutes. It was really an eye opener to learn that the same set could be remodeled to fit different locations in dozens of movies. We also got the chance to watch 360• 4D stimulators for King Kong and Fast and Furious 7. They really went overboard with the water effects because it felt like they dumped a whole pail of unknown liquid on my face. 

The other ride I enjoyed was the Mummy coaster. It is almost the same as the one in Singapore so you must be wondering why I had fun on it. So at the last part of the ride, it was really quite and dark. Just imagine the silent part before a jump scare in a horror movie and you'll get what I mean. During that part, I screamed at my sister and she got scared and what made it even funnier was that I did the same thing when we watched an Egyptian movie a few months back. We planned to ride the Mummy coaster again and I was really looking forward to it because I wanted to scare other people but the queue for the single riders was definitely more than 30 minutes in the evening when we got back to it. After wasting 15 minutes we decided to give up. 

There were other rides/shows that Singapore doesn't have such as the Simpson Ride, Animal Actors and the classic ones like the Transformer 4D Ride and Jurassic Park. 

I think that Animal Actors is a fantastic pet show. Usually pet shows have the usual animals: dogs, cats, pigeons and pigs for some others. I'm quite sure not many pet shows have owls in their cast list. The animals of the shows are actually the animals in Universal Studios movies, one of which is Harry Potter. It was really cool to see how animals are trained to act in movies. What made the show even better was the backstage passes we had due to the front-of-the-line card, allowing us to take pictures with the owl!

And now I shall end of this post with pictures :)

Top 5 Places to Visit in London

While I was planning the itinerary of this London trip in November, I realized how difficult and straining it was to do so. Finding the tourist attractions of a country was pretty easy. The difficult part was to figure out how much time I should spend in one. There was also the problem of budgeting for the trip which I was so bad at doing at over budgeted $1000 for this trip.

And so... 

Top 5 Places to Go in London


5) The London Dungeon

The targeted audience for this lovely attraction here is for the sad and masochistic souls who love being tortured, scared, treated like a slave (exaggerated). Well, this is the place to be. Entering Olden London as one of the traitors plotting to overthrow the great King James, you will be living the murky pasts of London a millennium ago, experiencing what the peasants of the past did. To be hung alive as entertainment for the civilians; to rebel with the infamous Guy Fawkes against the higher authorities of the country; to live in fear, not knowing when the notorious Jack the Ripper will strike again with you as the next target. 



With its 360 sets, great actors, screams and special effects, one might actually think that they really have been sent back to the past through a time machine. "Oh shit what am I doing here... oh yeah I paid to come in here." The duration of the attraction is 90 minutes which will fly quickly once you've immersed yourself into the theatrical storytelling by the guides. 





If you are interested in visiting this dungeon, do book online to save money. The prices start from £18.95 for adults and £16.50 for children. By purchasing tickets of other attractions in the vicinity such as The London Eye and Madaam Tussades Museum, you will receive a bundle offer which will save you money.


4) Central London

To be more accurate, it's this area.

Westminster neighbourhood+ area around Buckingham Palace. If you enjoy taking photos, this location must be included in your itinerary.

I started off at Buckingham Palace to watch Changing the Guards. The dates can be found in this website but just to be safe, you can also go the palace a day before to confirm with the workers there.

After a long hour of watching guards march around, we walked through St James Park which is the most beautiful park I've ever seen. Autumn colored leaves dotted the grassy fields; swans frolicking in the almost crystal clear lake. It is truly a refugee from the bustling city life. 

We walked towards Big Ben, right before crossing Westminster Bridge and then walked south-west towards Westminster Abbey for more photos.

3) Les Miserables

Firstly, it is pronounced as 'Lay Me-zeh-rab' (in English). So if you're planning to buy the tickets on the spot, learn how to pronounce this first. At first I didn't really know how it's pronounced and I was quite embarrassed that I had said it wrongly. To be honest, I'm still not sure if I'm pronouncing it correctly but well it's on the internet so it must be right, right?? :) (nervous smile)

Because it is such a popular show, the better seats are bound to be gone weeks before the show even started. I think I purchased mine online on 3 weeks before the play and 90% of the good seats were gone. Thank god I managed to get a hold of 2 3rd row seats in the Dress Circle.

Since The Queen's Theatre is an old theatre (more than a 100 years old), the theatre is quite small- cramped seats with little leg space. Imagine how inconvenient it'll be if the person sitting right in the middle came late. However, the tiny theatre had a spinning stage to make up for it's size. 

Great plot. Great lighting. Great actors and really amazing songs. I really recommend this to theatre lovers who haven't seen it yet.

2) The Slug and Lettuce

Looking for amazing food that comes with a cheap price? Look no further.

The Slug and Lettuce is a national pub that serves great food and alcohol. When I first saw this on TripAdvisor, I thought 'hmm it's a pub. It's probably going to be quite cramped and loud' but I stand corrected.

Because we went in the morning, we had the whole place to ourselves but it starts to get cramped during lunch hours. We were really lucky to go on a Monday as there is a promotion every Monday. Half price off food! There is also a buy 1 get 1 free sort of deal for desserts on other days too. 

Well I had to order 2 plates of dessert for myself since I am a glutton. I really recommend this one^ . I forgot what the name is but there's the word cookie in the menu. It's basically a brownie, baked in a cookie with nuts, finishing off with a scoop of icy cold vanilla ice cream. My mouth is already watering at the thought of it.


1) Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel

Lastly, my favourite location- Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel. 

I had a bit of trouble finding the location because my phone had a little glitch. Also, the tunnel is hidden in a car park beside a skyscraper. At first we found the closed end of the tunnel and I was really disappointed because I was really looking forward to it. Then there was this guy just walking there and that was when I realize that the tunnel isn't closed. After asking a few guys in the car park, I found the entrance to this insta-worthy background heaven!!

London is truly the perfect place for art, photography and to relax. I'd definitely come back to London as there are many interesting places to go to despite being a small country.  

Bangkok Trip Day #2 Chinatown | Terminal 21 | Asiatique The Riverfront | Calypso Show

So after a month of procrastinating I've finally decided to write about the rest of my bangkok trip

Since the vacation was all the way back to September I don't remember what we did in the morning and afternoon but if I don't it means there wasn't any thing that was really fun or memorable (or maybe it's just that I have the shittiest memory ever :3 )... but then I saw some photos and I remembered so yeah.

Chinatown

So that morning wasn't as enjoyable for me as that place wasn't air-conditioned and it was quite hot in there.  (i hate sweating) Since it was right beside our hotel we decided to go there first by foot and we stupidly walked a big round before reaching there when there was a passageway from our hotel *facepalm*

Well I guess this is considered a shopping paradise for people who're soccer fans and accept counterfeit. We weren't interested in the other apparels there so we went straight up to the second floor which only sold soccer stuff like jerseys. They only cost 150-250 Baht and of course nothing that cheap is authentic but they are cheaper than the ones sold in Singapore. 

Terminal 21

As I've said earlier it's been two months since the trip so I couldn't remember what was in that store but MK restaurant.

http://www.mkrestaurant.com/th

Honestly I didn't really enjoy this meal as there were many things that I didn't like that much but was forced to stuff myself. All, except this plate of roasted duck, was below average for me. The meat was really tender and the sauce was brilliantly concocted too. If I knew that this dish would taste so amazing I would've just ordered two plates of it and finish it all by myself :D

 

Asiatique The Riverfront

We went to Asiatique in the evening and there was some Muay Thai thing going on there when we were there but we didn't have time for it because the main reason we were there was for the lady-boy (trannie) show. I've never really watched legit Muay Thai before and the closest thing to it was watching this hong kong tvb drama called 拳王.

If you guys are going here, do not buy anything. I think that place used to sell cheap stuff but since it's quite a popular tourist attraction they increased the prices of everything. Ram, Monice and I bought three keychains thing for 200 Baht in total (i think) and we found one that costs a lot cheaper in a floating market two days later.

My eyes lit up when I saw this and knowing it was impossible to persuade my family. I told myself I would come back and get as many items as I can. I'm not even sure what I'm going to do with it. Maybe I'll be an assassin when I grow up *o*

Baan Khanita

I really love spicy food so there was no doubt I wouldn't enjoy that meal. My dad ordered three pots of spicy stuff, green curry, red curry and tom yam. 

So... as it was two months since my taste buds came in contact with these delicious stomach burning food here^ I forgot what they taste like. But just so you know it was so spicy and addictive at the same time which made me drink spoon after spoon of curry directly. The amount of curry I consumed was probably sufficient to burn a hole in my stomach even after I drinking a bottle of cold water and the Thai Milk Tea (which is a must to drink in Thailand). Surprisingly this isn't sold anywhere and it was the first time I drank it that night.

There was still time before the show started so we decided to take some pictures and I stupidly went for a green tea cone. Ice cream + curry = really bad diarrhoea but I had no regrets since my stomach stopped hurting afterwards.

Calypso Bangkok

The last event for the day is a transgender (boy-girl) show which I was looking forward even though it'll probably be the weirdest thing I've ever seen.

My dad booked the seats in advance and that explains how we got the second row from the stage. And we got a cup of free drink.

This part is the funniest and you would be tearing up in laughter if you were there. To make it even more hilarious then it already is, she went down to the first row and gave a Caucasian man a kiss on the cheeks, leaving her... or his lipstick stain on his cheeks.

 

Since this is a transgender show, my first thought when I saw this was, 'shit were they girls?' And my dad sarcastically told me yes and I didn't know he was joking so I was mind-blown until the end when he told me he was only kidding. 

On a scale from 1 to 10 how weird is this? I'd give it an 8.