Good Food in London

Other than the usual fish and chips and Italian food, I didn't really know what was good and inexpensive. But hailing from Singapore, a lot of people had told me about this place Burger and Lobster and so we dutifully found our way to out of its outlet one day.

Everyone was raving about this place and we were warned to go during off peak so that we didn't have to wait too long. So we went after 2 pm and still ended up waiting nearly 40 minutes for a seat. The joint only serves 3 items - a steak burger, a lobster roll or a whole baked lobster. All the items were priced at the same price of  £20 Since we can have burger everywhere, we went for the lobster. I had my steamed while M had hers grilled. The lobster comes with a side of fries and some salad.

Was it worth the wait and worthy of the hype? Hell, if I am going back there again, that will be my first stop for a meal! 

Another place that we were told is a must try was surprise surprise - Chinese food - roasted duck to be precise and at this outlet in Chinatown.

This photo was taken before dinner time but at dinner time, the queue was super long. Luckily our host for the evening had some "connection" and we managed to get in without waiting too long. We had a whole lot of Chinese food but the highlight of course was the roasted duck.

How good was it? Maybe to the English and the Chinese staying over there who do not see this dish being sold everywhere, this has to be good. The meat was tender enough without much fat. It was a bit too charred too. So nothing great there but not having had decent Chinese food for the past 3 weeks, this tasted real good. But frankly coming from Singapore, where there is a roasted meat stall at every other food centre, it wasn't spectacularly good. 

We went to 2 other Chinese food places over the course of the visit and they were mostly forgettable. So if you in London and wants good Chinese food, this is probably the best choice as long as you don't mind queuing up.

London

After a long haul in Scotland, we finally made it to London, the last stop before we fly back to Singapore. By then, I was tired and the glam of London wasn't really my thing. I wanted to go Stonehenge, Kew Garden but the schedule we had didn't permit us to go that far and we had already been to 2 gardens so another one seems a bit overkill. In the end, we did the tourisy thing and went on a open top bus ride taking in the sights of London. And I swear this is the best way to see everything at one go.

The bus route covered all the major tourist attractions and we could hop on and off wherever we choose but because the priority was shopping, we only gawked at most of these places from the outside. We also .took the Thames river cruise which comes with the bus trip so we covered all the places:

Trafalgar Square

The most famous of them all - the London Eye with the County Hall next to it.

The Tower Bridge which I think is the most magnificent bridge I ever seen. Much nicer than the Millennium Bridge which is a monstrosity next to all the historical bridges along the river.

The Tower of London

Another view of the Tower of London. They were planting the poppies at that time.

Buckingham Palace as seen from outside the fence

Of course there was the shopping but while everybody loves all the branded stuff, I went mad over this place.

This has got to be every M&M's fan idea of heaven!

But a visit to London would not be complete without going to the more traditional shops and this is another delicious find.

And of course it is not complete without a visit to the world famous Harrods

And last but not least, a makan session at Chinatown

We did squeeze in some time to make a pilgrim to the hallowed world of football. Emirates Stadium! Read more about that visit here.

Birds & Butterflies of Scotland

Beside the birds in the zoo and bird parks, we saw many wild birds on top of the countless sea gulls and ducks. Here are some of those that I managed to take a picture of.

A magpie. They are supposed to be pretty common but I only saw them in a few places.

 Another of the more commonly sighted bird which unfortunately like in Singapore has outlive its welcome

 And this is the famous Robin!

This was spotted in London all over the place outside the London Tower but I believe it is native to the whole of UK. I think it is a thrush. Somebody correct me if I am wrong.

And my one and only photograph of a butterfly - spotted right on top of Cow's Head Summit. This is a Red Admiral butterfly.

Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland

Our last main stop before we move over to London was to the Edinburgh Zoo. It seems we must make a pit stop at a zoo in every major place that we visit. There are quite of marine park and zoo in Scotland but Edinburgh is one of the bigger and better zoo in UK so we felt obliged to drop in.

Edinburgh Zoo is one of the few zoo in the world to have the Panda bear. But it is more famous for its Penguin Parade where the Penguin goes on a real march through the zoo, Unfortunately we were there at the wrong time so did not get to witness this spectacular sight.

But we did managed to catch the feeding of several of the animals like the Oriental Short Clawed Otter gobbling down the mouse.

And the Asiatic lion running away with a piece of meat.

We also saw up close the Amur Leopard

The very rare Scottish wild cat

And surprise surprise surprise the Koala bear. This is the first time I seen one outside of Australia.

And another import from another country, the Stellar Sea Eagle.

And last but not least, this beautiful snake aptly named Taiwan Beauty Snake.

But overall I was disappointed with the layout of the zoo. It was a bit messy and most of the primates were kept behind glass enclosures. Maybe it is to protect them from the cold but the view of them were spoilt by the glass which were badly scratched. The variety of animals were not as great as I had hopped as compared to say Ueno Zoo or the Shanghai Zoo. 

Edinburgh

Edinburgh has got to be the most boring place so far in our visit to Scotland. Other than Arthur's Seat, there wasn't really much to see. The famed Royal Mile is just a stretch of old restored buildings that caters mainly to tourist selling food and tourist trinkets much like our restored Chinatown back in Singapore.

Back view of the Royal Miles as seen from Princes Street

We skipped Edinburgh Castle and instead went to Holyrood Palace which is the quarters for the Queen of England when she visits.

One thing about European country is that there is always some sort of demonstration and protests going on. Like this one on Climate Change which we saw from our diner window.

And there are buskers a plenty. Practically one every 10 feet doing all sort of performance.

But at the end of the day, I was glad to be out of Edinburgh and on to London.

Camus House, Onich, Scotland

During our sojourn through Scotland, we stayed at quite a few places. Mostly bed and breakfast but the place that stand out the most was the Victorian style Camus House at Onich, Fort William run by Alastair and Louise.

Not only did these lovely couple made us feel welcome, they also gave us many tips on the best place to visit in the area, the best place to eat. It was from them that we managed to have the best time in Scotland, hiking through the Glens. Read the account of our visit to Glen Righ and Glen Nevis here.

The whole place is so beautiful and romantic. From the lovely cottage bedroom to the warm inviting living room to the countryside looking dining room and the view of the Loch.

Can you imagine a more beautiful bedroom than this? Possibly the most romantic bedroom one can get. Honeymooners, this will be the most perfect place to smooch around if you are not the sun and sand type.

The cosy looking living room. There is absolutely no hotel style lobby to spoil the whole setup.

And the beautiful dining room where breakfast is served with a gorgeous view of the Loch Linnhe

Lochside 

So if any of you reading this decides to go to Scotland and in particular the Highlands, this is the place to stay. You can make your reservation through their website here. And no, I am not paid to sing praises of this place. Just my way of saying thanks for the hospitality and the great stay.

Isle of Mull, Scotland

One of the thing that we decided to do before we go over was to go on a "wildlife expedition" trip. So after some research, we signed up for one on the Isle of Mull, a place that is renown for its wildlife.

The trip to the Isle of Mull was an adventure by itself with beautiful scenery. We had to drive a long distance from Glasgow after which we had to take a ferry across. Along the way, there are the usual beautiful landscapes both on land and in the sea. Unfortunately, the Isle of Mull by itself is quite a boring place with nothing much to do if you are not into nature. 

This is Tobermory, the main town of Isle of Mull. It is also a "ghost" town after 6 pm when all the shops closes. 

We drove 20 miles to this place to find everything closed. Our consolation was that the only remaining place still opens for business happens to serve the best seafood in the whole of Scotland!  More of the food in another blog post later.

Back to the wildlife expedition. We were picked up at our hotel the next morning and driven around together with some other nature lovers to look for porpoise, eagles, otters and deer. We drove all over the Isle stopping at strategic spots where everybody will rush to bring out their super binoculars and telescope and long lens. We had brought along a binoculars but soon put it aside after realising that what we had was totally inadequate for the task it was supposed to perform! We found this out when everybody was going gaga over a sighting of porpoise in the sea. Me with my 200mm camera and M, with the binocular saw nothing! We put aside our gear and borrowed the spare binoculars from the guide. And the whole world changed!

Here we are staring out to sea. What did they see?

This was what I captured on my camera's 200mm lens.

See anything? How about this cropped photo?

Yes seal. They were just a speck in the sea and the guide saw them while driving and stopped so that everybody can get a "closer" look. Its amazing how he navigates the small narrow road and yet see birds and all sort of animals.

What do you think this people are looking at here?

Inland and up in the sky. What I saw was this

A beautiful sky. But there was something there. Like this eagle soaring high up in the sky. 

Oh pardon me, did you say what eagle? There, that speck in the middle of the photo just between the 2 trees in the middle of the photo. And to be honest, almost all the sightings of wildlife were like this. The animals and birds were far far away and only visible via the powerful binoculars and telescope. Like this sighting here for otter.

See the otters? No? Neither did I until I borrowed some of the more powerful binoculars and telescope.

And with the powerful equipment it was like we were up next to the animals and birds! No wonder these people got so excited every time they spot something. 

About the only animal we can spot with our naked eyes other than the cows and sheep were this pair of Red Deer. Unfortunately we were in the van and could not get down to watch them close up. 

But overall, while we were disappointed that we did not get to see the animals closed up like what we imagined in an African safari, we were happy that we still managed to spot almost all the animals that were present on the Isle of Mull, although abide from a long long distance. Still, it was a great experience for newbie birdwatcher like us. The guide from Isle of Mull Wildlife Expeditions, David was warm and friendly and very knowledgeable. We enjoyed ourselves very much despite it being a long long day and counted this as one of the highlight of the trip to Scotland!

More photos on FB here.