London in A Day

Etoile Isabel Marant Kady jacket (similar here), Uniqlo sweater (similar here), Uniqlo jeans (similar here), The Kooples wedge trainers (similar here and US here), Louis Vuitton stole (similar here or here) and Louis Vuitton Speedy 35cm

Cristobal Balenciaga polka dot cocktail dress 1962, Pierre Balmain (silk, ostrich, sequins and rhinestone) evening gown 1950 and Charles James printed dress 1938

There are days when I feel like a little hamster sprinting round and round inside a large wheel but going nowhere. I see friends in passing. Text messages or emails have become a norm. Life happens. Before you know it, you realize it has been 6 months since you last saw a good friend despite living just down the road from you. Sara and I have talked about ditching the husbands and kids for the day and letting them fend for themselves while we cavort around London. Two years later, we realized that we hadn't made good on our promise. It was a rather spontaneous decision and after a flurry of texts flying back and forth between two iPhones, we were on our way to London.

It was a day of window shopping, museum hopping and feasting. We walked along Brompton Road and peered through the windows of Harrods. We oohed and aahed over the exquisite designer dresses from Balenciaga, Balmain, Catherine Walker, Alexander McQueen and many others at Victoria and Albert museum. Lunch was at Oriental Canteen, just across the road from the museum where we scarfed down authentic Malaysian cuisine.

We strolled along the narrow sidewalks of Chelsea Kensington suburb to gawk at the imposing townhouses that lined the streets. We gasped and felt faint after seeing the number of zeros under every listing at the real estate agencies. £1.4 million for a 2 bedroom flat!! I silently squealed at the sight of the ubiquitous Chanel and Hermes bags swinging on the arms of many statuesque beauty queen lookalikes.

One of our favorite spots in London has got to be Liberty where clothes are carefully edited and beautifully displayed. We chatted over afternoon tea and re-fueled with a strong cup of latte. We wandered through the department store for hours. Thanks to DeadFleurette , I decided to check out Tonkotsu, a ramen restaurant near Chinatown. We nipped across Piccadilly Circus dodging young teens wearing impossibly short dresses while we shivered and huddled deeper into our coats. We slurped up fresh noodles and gulped down the thick and tasty broth. The chicken kaarage was one of the best I've ever had. By the time we staggered back to the train station, it was nearly 10.30pm. Our husbands and kids thought that we'd ditched them permanently. We vowed we'd do this again. Hopefully, while we're still young and not decrepit.



Liberty London
Great Marlborough Street
London W1B 5AH
Tel: 020 7734 1234
Tube: Oxford Circus

Oriental Canteen
2a Exhibition Road
South Kensington
London, SW7 2HF
Tel: 020 7581 8831
Tube: South Kensington

V and A Museum
Cromwell Road
London SW7 2RL
Tel: 020 7942 2000
Tube: South Kensington

Tonkotsu
63 Dean St
London W1D 4QG
Tel: 020 7437 0071
Tube: Leicester Square or Piccadilly Circus