New Year, New Head with a theatre show

1 February 2013

I had wanted to cut my hair for a while now as I got sick of long hair. I am always the kind of person that would change dramatically because that would gives the freshest look. And since hair would grow back eventually, I wouldn't mind cutting my hair off just like that.

What makes this so special is, this is my first time cutting and dyeing my hair in London. Most people might find it a shock but I usually cut my hair for RM 12 (£2.5) and had been dyeing my hair for less than £20 professionally. Yes, it is that cheap. I had been to the salon 3 times in my life and this is the third.

Yes, so paying an amount above £25 would be consider expensive for me. Like all my haircuts, it was rather impromptu. I didn't want the time to think that what if I miss my long hair or I wanted something else. I like being "there, you are there, no turning back". Of course, getting a hair cut isn't that serious. I still could say no if I wanted. This salon I went to is an Asian salon, I have had haircuts by non-asian before, it just doesn't work for me. So, I am glad to say they did a good job. Anyway, here are some in progress and after picture.

I touched up my roots and cut off about 3 inches of layers, I wanted the haircut like my sister's. And so far, I am loving it. Under light, it looks like there are some purple (which is quite obvious in the picture below, though I did not have any purple from this time, only from 6 mths ago, I guess the new color brough the purple out under the right lighting), red and black.

Under sunlight, it looks quite red, not fiery red but quite a substantial amount of red.

This was from instagram if you haven't already know.

Just in time for CNY. Lol, I am never the person that cut my hair for CNY. I just need a change in my hair, thats it. Later that night, we went for a theatre show - The Shogun and the English Samurai at the Sadler's Wells Theatre, Islington, London. Its half Japanese, half English. So when the actors speak Japanese, I had to read the subtitles above.

This is the only few pictures I took as we are not allowed to take pictures. There are alot of people, mainly Japanese women with their non-Japanese partners.

A happy cousin after the show. It was better than I expected. Well, though I don't think I had the mind to watch theatre often. I had to prepare for it. Its quite an event for me, I can't just go spontaneously, it had a more serious tone compared to a movie. And I learnt something new, if the audience clapped long enough, the cast will come out again and again to thank (bow) you. It is an interesting yet goose bump inducing fact, don't you think? It was so grand, so "wow, I could never do that in my entire life". It is still on at Sadler's Wells, if you want some history, some humour and a very special theatre (English speaking and Japanese speaking), I am sure you will enjoy it.

This is part one of my "in London, nothing is too weird" collection.

I took this picture because the platform is double the size the usual platform, I think its because there usually are a lot of people travelling via this station.

This concludes my first and probably last haircut in London and my first non-english speaking (completely) and second experience watching theatre show. I am going to watch the famous 4/5 theatre show next, any companions?

Virgin Turkish Meal & Wanders of wondering

Holidays are over, although we Chinese have Chinese New Year coming up very soon. So, almost every month has some festive holiday coming up. After CNY is Valentine's Day then Easter following. After Easter, its summer, usually means holidays but after student life, summer is just another season, not a holiday. After summer, sound to be autumn then not long later its winter and Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas won't be far away.

Speaking of holidays, I am still in my holiday mood but is in my way of getting it out of it because I had to. =( Before officially getting out of holiday mood, my friends and I went for Turkish food. You know, usually I love going for new cuisine. But I have a condition, that is - going with friends that are equally as adventurous in terms of food as I am. I absolutely hate people that dare not try new food even though it looks disgusting. Just so you know, I tried lots of disgusting food. I've tried insects when I was travelling in China and remember how most people claimed that blue cheese stinks? Well, its one of the staple cheese in my fridge. My principal in life is, try everything before judging. So, if you are a food prude, I will mostly not dine with you or if you are the kind of person that stick to your own food (i.e. food from home), sorry, we can't really go try new things together.

Yes, I was slightly annoyed when people do that. You just live this once. Try all kinds of food. Of course sans the cruelty like eating a monkey brain when the monkey is alive. If its dead, no problem. Anyway, back to my virgin Turkish meal. Oh, how much I love lahmachun / lahmacun (a.k.a. Turkish pizza). I love it.

We went to a Turkish restaurant in Islington, called Antepliler.

They served us some kind of bread with olive and some spicy sauce. It is almost the equivalent of Italian bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I like it, reminds me of capati, the Indian flour bread that I eat with condensed milk when I was young.

We ordered 3 starters: Humus (mashed chick peas, i think the English equivalent is Hummus, Cacik (yogurt with cucumber) and Icli Kofte (basically something like a corn dog but instead of a sausage inside, there are minced meat). I love all of them, eat it with the bread they gave, I can make a meal out of it. =)

This is the Lahmachun / Lamacun (Turkish pizza), there are minced meat and some sauce on top of it and I was going to cut it like how we eat pizza with cutlery before my friend stop me and told me I am eating it wrong.

I was meant to roll it up to eat. Reminds me of Homer teaching Ned that if he rolls up his pizza before eating, all the toppings will not drop whilst consuming. Well, that was embarrassing, now I know the second time if I eat it. =)

The dish below is called Ali Nazik. Its basically meat with cheese, yogurt and egg plant. Its abit sour-ish and my friend barely eat because she thinks its too sour. Well, I thought people that love spicy food would like sour food too. Maybe that is just Thai, like tomyam. Hehe. Either way, all the dishes looks like you could just team it up with bread and make a good meal out of it.

This is what the bill comes in. How beautiful is it. I remembered that I've gotten similar trinket box from my uncle when he and my cousins went to Turkey for holiday. Perhaps the next time my friend goes home, I should ask her to get me one of these. Its so pretty and the inside is covered with turquoise velvet lining. I wish I could steal it. =)

I wish that we could end with some Turkish dessert but unfortunately, we are too full to had one. After the dinner, we decided to take a stroll along Upper Street, Islington. I vaguely remembered I went there once with my cousin, Soo, before many years ago. It looks better than it was, there are more shops and boutiques than I remembered such as a huge Jack Wills even Aesop boutique which I think there are only one in London and another counter in Selfridges. Perhaps the next time I should take a walk there. The only inconvenience is it took me at least 45 minutes by bus or by tube to get there while I have Stratford just 5 minutes tube away.

Here's my experience on my first Turkish meal. I had the idea that it might resemble Greek food but the Greek food I remembered are fairly dry as it was all grilled. Or perhaps I did not try the actual Greek food the last time. But I am glad to say that I enjoyed Turkish food, adding them into my list of favourite cuisines.