Tawau, London and Manchester: Part 7

The Capital, Again

So after spending like 6 days in Manchester, I finally have to depart back to London for my flight back to Malaysia.  However, sis has arranged for me to stay at least 1 day in my relative place, so that I could spend another day to visit London.  So my trip back down to London was my final visiting trip before departing back to Malaysia.

Manchester Piccadilly Train Station

 Mom and sis dropped me off at Manchester Picaddilly.  After seeing me off, they went back home to rest.  This time I was sitting in the normal economy coach, and this time I didn't get any motion sickness as compare to the first time, even though I was having my lunch at that time.  Strange...

Train leaving Manchester Piccadilly

Another view.  I'll be back!!!

The whole journey took another 2 hours to reach London Euston train station.  After I reached my destination, as suggested by sis, I could left my big back pack in the Left Luggage store and continue to explore London before going to my cousin's place.  I did just that, and because the left luggage were calculated per item at a fixed price, so I have to pay for the price of 2 items - 1 big back pack and 1 hand carry grocery bag.

After I left the luggage, then I started my random exploration again.  So I tried to study the available map nearby, and decided to walk down south towards the center of London.  Along the way however, I could see a lot of very old buildings, that are either office building or college building.  In fact, I did pass by the UCLA campus, which also like the University of Manchester, the campus itself is also like part of the city.

Random shot at a junction

So as I read the map provided at most of the junctions, I found out that I was actually very near to the British Museum.  So, I decided to visit that place.  Now, I was exploring without a map in my hand, and without any SmartPhone i.e. iPhone (because iPhone has a map/GPS type of app), purely by instinct and by any available resources i.e. directories provided along the road.  Therefore, it took me quite a while to find the museum.

Museum entrance

Museum entrance

Prehistoric Komon article from Japan

Katana - edge

Katana - bottom

Japan historical articles

Japan - Samurai armor

Samurai armor

Horse riding equipment

Various sword and katana

Olympic medals won by Japan

A medieval article from German

World oldest chess pieces & board

Inside the museum

The museum design is pretty roman like in my opinion.  This museum is free admission.  Inside the museum, they have a lot of donation boxes to ask for donation.  I was amazed by the size of this place because it is very big and it has a lot to offer.  They have a lot of historical articles from different nations, i.e. Egypt, Japan, China, and European nations.  As time was my limit, I could not afford to stay too long in this place.  So I decided to have a quick look around the place with a main focus to see the Japanese section because I was more interested in the Samurai armor.

The Japan section is located on the fifth floor.  As I was looking for my way out, I was able to explore other sections as well.  I hope that I could have a lot more time over here because there are just too many things to see.  Yet, due to time limit, I have to leave the museum.

Next, I tried to walk around the nearby area to see what else I could see.  It was drizzling at that time, which was not fun at all because I was frizzing cold and I didn't have an umbrella so my head was wet later near the end of my exploration.  I came across the China Town, Covent Garden, and the opera house as well.  However, I didn't snap a lot of pictures due to the weather, so I don't have much to show here.

China Town

Covent Garden

Covent Garden

Now, along the road I tried to see if there's any shopping complex similar places that I could go to, but I just couldn't find any of it.  It is either they don't have it, or they are located outside of central London.  Now the drizzling just didn't stop during the later day, so I have to walk back to the train station in the midst of the cold weather.  It was not a pleasant experience at all because not only my head was wet, my hand and my jeans was wet as well.  Since it was also cold weather, I was freezing and shaking along the way as I walked back to Euston Train Station.


The Thought - Part (Don't bother to count...)

Well, London as I said before, it has a lot of things to offer.  I hope that I'll be able to spend a lot more time here to see the places.  As for the weather, I must say that I respect the people who're staying in UK in general because although I don't mind cold weather, but this kind of freezing cold weather really get to my nerves.  Still, that would not hinder me from wanting to visit London again.