London, here we come!

i finally made my way from Manchester to London via the railways. I only spent about 2 days in London itself and it's definitely not enough!

What i did in London

Visit the Big Ben, take a peek at Thames River, went to Westminister Abbey
These are within walking distance so you can just go to these location together, and if you are not planning to go up to the London Eye, you can satisfy yourself with a photo across the Thames from where Big Ben is. : )

Visit Buckingham Palace, take a walk through Hyde Park

Catch a halfprice musical!
For me, I chose to watch a classic - Les miserables! It is money very well spent! We were about 8 rows away and we paid only 30 pounds or so. The set was fantastic, the cast was fantastic, it was a truly worldclass experience. and strangely, if u want to catch other broadway shows like Jersey boys or Avenue Q, you wont be able to get halfprice tickets though.

To purchase tickets, go to the official ticket booth (TKTS) at Leceister square on the same day u want to catch the show. Reach there before 2pm and you will get a good enough seat.



Image from flickr

Visit Harrods! One of the world's grandest shopping place, touted to have everything u want. It's quite amazing and big.

Shopping at Marble Arch
Primark primark primark... we visited one in Manchester, and we can't help spending another 3 hours inside the store. A nice suit costs only 25 pounds, leather gloves from 4 pounds onwards.. It is really a shopping haven i swear!

Things i missed out on
Camden Market
Portobello market
and a lot more...

not that it's not worth going, i simply don't have the time. Hopefully i will be able to come back to London one day......

One more thing, i know it sounds strange but please please please go try the chinese duck rice at Bayswater, just walk around the street after exiting from Bayswater. (think there are 2 chinese stores serving and i heard both are as good, the Singapore Airlines Crew swear by this). The duck meat are succulent, tender, the most wonderful duck meat i ever tasted. Ok, only Beijing's Quan Ji De's peking duck surpass this. And i'm not even a duck meat lover!

I just googled and found that there's like 4 chinese restaurant selling this along the street. If i remember correctly, it's the 2nd store u see after alighting from Bayswater.

Liverpool...

Liverpool - Home of the beatles yeah and of course Liverpool Football Club...
That's what i went there for, a football match at the Liverpool FC... LFC versus Wigan on the 18th of Oct 2008! I know this post is a bit late, ok ok, it's very late. But i still remember the atmosphere, the singing, and the excitement! Gosh it's fun but the tickets were quite expensive, we bought it at 70pounds. But still it's really worth it even though i' m not a liverpool fan!

Liverpool!



Look at the crowd outside the store. The match starts at about3pm, we reached there about 12pm and there's people queuing to go into the store!


The team going in at halftime


Steven Gerrad!


And we went over Merseyside for a short walk, it was about 8pm but the place was quite deserted. Think it will look beautiful in the day. : )

From Manchester to Liverpool

Travelling between these 2 cities are easy, it's 1 hour away via National Rail trains. It costs about 19 pounds for a round trip (as of Nov 08), for updated price, check out nationalrail.co.uk. For those using the Britrail pass, that can be used on these trains, just show your validated tickets to the staff on duty. No point reserving the seats cuz there's simply too many pple commuting. The train is packed with hardly any space to stand.




Board at Piccadilly Station and alight at Liverpool Lime street. Easy...

Travelling around Manchester

Travelling within the city central is fairly easy and is walking distance from our hostel.

Food
If you are travelling on a budget like me but have a big appetite, seems like the value for $$ Chinese buffet at Manchester Chinatown can satisfy you.


Lunch goes for £5.5 (weekday) and you enjoy a decent range of food...

and of course there's the usual fastfood all around which goes for around the same price, subway and burger king and other delis.

Metro
The city of Manchester does not have a underground train system, instead they used trams which are called Metro. Detailed information about the stops and the map can be found here.
Tickets have to be bought at the tram stops before you board the tram, if not you face a hefty fine.

Old Trafford
I'm sure that those who travel to Manchester will want to have a look at this great football club's homeground - Old Trafford. It's really easy to get there via Metro. Just board the Altrincham line (meaning travelling towards Altrincham) and get off at Old Trafford. Easy right? It takes about 20minutes to reach but you have to factor in waiting time.

and one more thing! Email Manchester United on their homepage to make a reservation for the Stadium and Museum Tour, they will reply with an email confirmation with a code. It's highly popular and are booked real fast.

Prices for a stadium tour is £8.32 and £11.74 for a Stadium + Museum Tour (information correct as of 2 January 2009). There are group rates as well, so do check out Man U's homepage for more info. The stadium tour is well worth the price for any football fans or even non-football fans cuz it's really impressive, so go for it if you are in the vicinity. The museum tour will give u a glimpse of the club's history, particularly about the Munich Air disaster, so it's really quite interesting too.

Some pictures to share:

The Old Trafford Building


The magnificent stadium





For more general information on Manchester, visit www.visitmanchester.com