Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London. I'll show you something to make you change your mind

Today I got a much better feel for the city of London. After our class, we did a tour of the West Side with our guide, Sean. He is the same one from our bus tour on Saturday. Needless to say, we were all much more awake this time than we were the last time we saw him, as the last time we saw him was right after our flight over here, and we were falling asleep to the rhythmic intonations of his charming Irish accent.

The name of the tour was "2000 years in 2 hours". We walked in and out of alleys and relived years and years of London's history. We saw beautiful streets, buildings, churches, and monuments, and Sean had a witty joke or a story for each stop. I enjoyed lagging behind the group a bit, taking my time to shoot pictures of different things that I found interesting.

After the tour we had dinner on Brick Lane, a street that upon turning the corner made me feel as if I were right back in Kuala Lumpur. Brick Lane is lined with Indian, Thai, and Malaysian restaurants. The familiar scene of restaurant hosts standing outside their respective eateries inviting tourists in and offering discounts or a look at the menu had me remembering and almost reliving my experiences from this past summer.

In fact, many things about London remind me of my summer expedition. At first I found this odd...I would look at a building and its architecture and be reminded of one like it in Singapore. But I have it backwards; London does not look like Singapore...Singapore looks like London. The United Kingdom has had an incredible influence on the rest of the world, especially in its Commonwealth of Nations. Singapore, the hub of British power in southeast Asia, has clear similarities to the city of London in its architecture, the design of the city, and the type of English they use there. Looking back, Singapore reminded me, at the time, of Auckland and Sydney. But really, all of those places are reflections of my current city.

But not only has Great Britain had a large influence in its Commonwealth of Nations, the rest of the world has also put its mark here in England. Much to my pleasant surprise, London has to be the most multicultural city in the world. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was nervous to come here because I thought that everyone was going to be the same, that I would not have any exposure to people from different cultures, ethnicities, and walks of life. But wow, was I wrong! Just on the main street near our Hotel, I have found 2 Filipino restaurants, a handful of Indian places, Italian cafes, French and Thai restaurants, and of course, a few pubs. And this was all within a few blocks. As I continued to explore, I noticed that I was surrounded by so many different kinds of people, and that is my favorite part about London.