My good friend, Kisya, from my younger/"rebellious" (haha yeah right) high school days came to visit me last week, all the way from Germany! It was lovely seeing her again. It reminded me of the days in high school -- where we bonded on the basis of our hatred for some of the shallowness we faced during that time. We shared new stories and were also somehow nostalgic as we shared a lot of those "Hey, do you remember that time..." moments. She also told me a lot about her new life in Germany, which seems very exciting, happy and lovely. Which makes me very very happy for her. And I hope that one day I can visit her Darmstadt.
I showed her around Bournemouth and took her to the places I normally hang out and where I normally don't hang out. She also met some of my friends which was cool. We also decided to go and stay in London for the last two days of her visit. It was one of the most adventurous things I have done. For reals. I should do these things more often.... *looks at Ria* HINT HINT.
We left from Bournemouth on Monday noon, with Ria. She was supposed to stay with us but had other plans *sad face* so we had to separate when we reached London. I realize that I actually have separation anxiety when it comes to being with Ria because it seems like everywhere I go, I want her to be with me. All the time. Anyhoo, we arrived in London at half 3 in the afternoon. At first, we were kind of confused on what to do but we kind of got the hang of it. We rushed to our ho(s)tel, checked in, dumped our bags, bought a map (because I love maps and I take pride in being able to read them... kind of) and power walked to the nearest bus stop! We were so excited.
We did most of the tourist-y things that day. Went to Oxford Street, Covent Garden, passed by Soho I think, Trafalgar Square, saw Big Ben and the Parliament (this could be a band name), walked by the River Thames, went into a pub called Sherlock Holmes because of the name but then had to go out of the pub because they ran out of toilet paper and a certain someone needed the toilet badly (ahem), Piccadily Circus, etc. We did a lot of walking which was really cool. I was quite surprised at the end of the day because I thought my feet would fall off, but my Docs took good care of them.
The next day, we woke up super early (8:15am. Haha. Yes, that is early), freshened up, packed our bags and headed to Hyde Park, initially. But both of us decided to get some breakfast so we went to the nearest cafe. Kisya had the full English Breakfast and I had the chicken soup. After looking at Kisya's breakfast, I regretted getting the soup and wished that I had the scrambled eggs on toast instead. OH WELL!
After breakfast, we went back to our ho(s)tel, took our bags and checked out. We decided to leave our bags in the luggage room so then before we get to the coach station, we can just grab our bags and leave. We went to Buckingham Palace first and tried to pester the mans ins thes reds coats.
We then left for Camden! The place where my materialistic heart lies in! Oh Camden, how I love you.
It took us a while to find a bus to go there though.... was definitely worth it. I made a new friend called Julia, who works in one of the shops. She was super nice and lovely and asked me if I was trying out dreads. She told me that she believes that hair has memories as she once had a dreadlock in her hair and that part of her hair that used to have a dreadlock keeps dreading. We talked for a little while and before we said our goodbyes she wished me luck with my dreads and told me to hang in there and keep going! I thanked her and told her that I'll definitely come back and visit the shop... and probably buy one of her bags. So Kisya and I walked and looked and looked and walked and walked but we only had a couple of hours to spend because we had to be at our ho(s)tel by 3.30pm so that we won't miss our coaches (Kisya to Heathrow, me back to Bournemouth) so it felt kind of rushed.
I managed to buy a few things but I couldn't find anything that I initially wanted to get, which were dread beads and a bucket bag. Wait, that's a lie, I did get two pairs of sunglasses that I wanted.
In the end, I got myself a Strokes top and a leather jacket.
Funny story though with the leather jacket.
Kisya and I were planning to go back to our hostel but I decided to stop by a store that we passed by because I wanted to ASK how much was the cool leather jacket that I saw outside the store.
When we went inside, it was really..... cramped. There were two people, one large man and a steam-punk goth woman at the end of the room. Since the man was busy attending a customer, I decided to ask the goth lady about the leather jackets outside -- she says she has no idea and called the large man. The man then said to me, "Oh! You go with him, he knows all about the leather jackets! Go downstairs!" With his finger pointing to my left. I turned my head and saw this guy with bright orange hair, with eyeliner and piercings, wearing a long leather coat. He said to follow him and went downstairs. I have to admit I was quite suspicious and scared but I had my Docs on so if anything happened, I know I can just be violent a la the Driver from the film Drive and Kisya was with me so it was okay. Haha. But it was all fine. The guy looked through some leather jackets and we picked one. He asked if I wanted to buy it and I told him it depends on the price. So we went upstairs and asked for the price of the jacket.
Large Man: This.... is nice lamb leather jacket.
Me: Oh... lamb eh?
Large Man: Yes, usually lamb leather jacket like this will cost... say £200. But you nice girl, I give you only £80.
Large Man: Yes, usually lamb leather jacket like this will cost... say £200. But you nice girl, I give you only £80.
THE HELL!? After hearing that, my heart stopped. No way am I buying a leather jacket that I'm not THAT crazy about for that kind of money. I said thanks but no thanks. But this guy was REALLY insistent. So I bargained and got it down to £60. So now I own a £60 leather jacket.... I'm still trying to justify myself about it. I mean, I really like it. But... I wasn't planning on buying one that day so it feels really strange. I might learn to fall in love with it. If not, I can sell it or exchange it at some vintage store. One thing's for sure, I'm NEVER going to step in to that store ever again.
We then left Camden and struggled to find our way back to our hostel. But we got there eventually and on time. We picked up our bags and hopped on the bus to Victoria Coach Station. We hugged and said our goodbyes and went to our coaches.
Thank you, Kisya, for visiting! I really hope you had as much fun as I did and I can't wait to visit you next time! xx
