Covent Garden

For the first couple of days in London, I had been trying to convince the others in my group to give Covent Garden a visit. Yes, some of them did ask if there was a garden there. Resisting to laugh, I explained to them that it was an old market, smack in the middle of town, right next to Chinatown. But on the first day, we were too tired to venture out, and on the third day, we went towards Bayswater instead. Finally, on the sunny Saturday afternoon, I got my wish.

I set out from Oxford Circus, taking on the crowd, walked through Carnaby Street and Soho towards Chinatown. I then took one of the back alley to the Cath Kidston Store - more on that later. Another turn, and I was right into the market. The bright sunny afternoon really lifted my mood - unfortunately the mood included shopping, after which I was broke. I spend a good couple of hours sat at the cafe, enjoying the scene as well as mingling with the crowd. There were many open cafes and beer gardens round there, and also street performers aplenty. On one side of the market, they had rows of stalls selling high quality artwork, which unfortunately did not come cheap. But if you actually have some extra cash, it was definitely worth spending there. I bought a few shirts for my boys at David and Goliath.

I topped off the afternoon by having some halal ramen at Chinatown. At the time, the West End crowd were building up for the evening show at the theaters. It was getting dark when I finally left. A nice day out indeed.

Day 3

The business part of Day 3 ended pretty early today. I actually enjoyed the first couple of session this morning, but the plenary lecture was a stop start affair. Some of the bits were really interesting but I left without being able to take much in. This was followed by a lunch debate, lunch being prawn sandwich and a banana, plus yoghurt.

The afternoon session would pretty much be the review of the posters, with prize giving at the end. The bulk of the Malaysian delegate decided to venture out to town. After the debate, I decided to do the same although much if my shopping list has already been sorted, well at least until I told Anita that I would be going out. Destination - Covent Garden, but first, lunch.