Travel Archives - Page 3 of 3

12Feb 2017 by Cotton's Mummy 1 Comment

Pure London Fashion Trade Show: what’s out there

Eat, Travel

Pure London With the London Fashion Week just around the corner (23rd to 26th Feb), Pure London hosted its own fashion gathering at the Kensington Olympia, where fashion buyers, sellers and influencers come together. This year's theme revolves around energy and vibrancy. Pure London is one of the biggest fashion trade shows, taking place bi-annually, with this one for the Autumn/Winter season of 2017/2018, also known as the AW2017. This trade show features a variety of products, ranging from women's fashion, to accessories and Men's. In addition, this year, Pure London added a section entirely devoted to athleisure. At the trade show, we came across designers from all across the world, including emerging and already established brands. Around the show rooms, several stages present seminars, discussion forums and catwalks. The…

28Dec 2016 by Cotton's Mummy No Comments

Christmas, Norwich and My Love Affair with Antiquity

Eat, Travel

If I call China as my motherland, then Norwich is my second hometown. From my memories, Norwich was not particularly very exciting. There was not much emotional attachment from me to this 'fine city'. In the contrary, I fell in love with London the first time I visited there, and now I have been a resident of London for nearly seven years. I know London more than any other places on the planet, which probably makes me more or less a Londoner. As a result, I hardly ever come to visit Norwich, only once a year during the festive season, mainly for my parents. Embracing the non-city life I thought I would still feel the same way about Norwich. Yet indeed, time passes, things change. It turned out, I rather enjoyed my…

24Dec 2016 by Cotton's Mummy 1 Comment

Christmas at South of Thames: SC Food Market and Winter Market

Eat, Street Food, Travel

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.." Is it lovely to be Christmas again! All the food to eat, mulled wine to drink, and gifts to shop. It is one of my favourite time of the year, an excuse for me to treat myself and people around me. Yet, the best parts are the Christmas markets. Last time, we talked about Christmas market at Leicester Square, here we move slightly south to the other side of the river to explore SC Food market and Southbank Centre Winter Market, which are right next to the Royal Festival Hall. Oh, all those beautiful lights, mouth drooling food, heart warming winter beverage... First Stop: SC Food Market This is by far one of my favourite food corners, with the other one being…

04Dec 2016 by Cotton's Mummy No Comments

Luminocity: ice skating at Canary Wharf

Eat, Travel

It is time of the year again. Outdoor rinks are all set up, so we better put our skates on and start sliding or falling... A dear friend's birthday. Happy birthday Aileen! Due to my schedule, I couldn't attend her birthday dinner and activities, and as I have mentioned I do not enjoy going to a club anymore, so we decided to ice skate this Saturday morning at Luminocity situated in Canada Square, Canary Wharf. Best decision ever! I had so much fun. It has been two years since I set a foot on ice. At one point I used to be able to do backwards crossover, followed by an outside edge slide on one leg. Nowadays, I would be lucky not to fall over. The morning session was relatively quiet,…

02Dec 2016 by Cotton's Mummy No Comments

Watching Jingju Behind the Stage Curtains

Art, Live, London, Travel

I am huge fan of Jingju, commonly known as the Beijing Opera, a type of performance art combining singing, dancing, martial art, visual art and literature. It first originated from North of China, then became popular all over the country. My motherland Tianjin, is the hometown of this art. I grew up with Jingju theatre right next to my door step. Watching Jingju with my granddad was one of the most memorable events of my life. Jingju was everywhere during my childhood. People would sing Jingju to the music of an Erhu (Chinese zither) in parks. Everyone in Tianjin knew something of Jingju and almost everyone can hum a little tune. This year China National Jingju Company came to Peacock Theatre, bringing the well-known The White Snake and The General…

17Nov 2016 by Cotton's Mummy No Comments

Habitat Day and How Much I Love Colours and Patterns

Travel

Serendipity has long been my favourite English word. Purely by chance, I happened to bump into a friend today, so we grabbed for a drink. Then purely by chance I walked into the Habitat Day Event, where I was served a glass of prosseco and there was DJ in the background. Habitat is one of my favourite furniture brands. The products are on the more affordable end of the spectrum, and I love the style. It is one of the few brands that dares to use colours and patterns. I am an addict for colour and patterns. You can never go wrong with black, grey and white, but to me they can be boring sometime. The British weather is gloomy enough, why shouldn't we make it better by having more colours?…

04Nov 2016 by Cotton's Mummy 1 Comment

MozFest: nerdification in progress…

Live, Travel

I wanted a lazy Sunday, but Cotton's daddy wanted to drag me to the Mozilla Festival. Not interested. Then he told me there would be around-the-clock flat white, I was sold. Fitting In Then the first problem came about. What do people wear at MozFest? I have no tech related clothes! Or, more correctly, what is tech related wardrobe?! In the end, I opted for smart casual. You can never go wrong wearing all black, right? Well, the all black ended up being the best choice I made, offering a blank canvas to stick all the stickers on myself. This is the first time I have been to a congress of technology. Previously all the conferences I have been to were biology related, which can be quite serious. I did…

17Oct 2016 by Cotton's Mummy No Comments

Handmade at Kew

Art, Travel

Quoting from Confucius, ‘isn’t it joyful having a friend coming from afar'. It has been such a long time, since I caught up with my high school friend. We used to do so many things together back then as a group of four, now facing the harsh reality, we all reside in different cities. So it was such a pleasure seeing Laura again. We decided to pay Kew gardens a little visit, whilst the craft fair-- Handmade at Kew was taking place. This is the London chapter of a series of craft exhibitions organised by Handmade in Britain. We were impressed by the beautifully crafted items, whilst joking about how the fair is a heaven for 'hipsters', and how we ‘fit right in’. As far as I am concerned, we…

02Oct 2016 by Cotton's Mummy No Comments

A Shakespearean Handan Dream: when the East meets the West

Art, Travel

This year is rather special for the literature world, as it marks the 400 years of anniversary for the deaths of two great playwrights. One lived in the Elizabethan England as the national poet who shaped our modern English, the other from the far east who was a government official but used his plays to reflect the corrupt and bureaucratic society. They are William Shakespeare of England and Tang Xianzu of China. Where one had the masterpiece Romeo and Juliet known by every household, the other had The Peony Pavillion that would bring anyone to tears. It would have been impossible for them to meet in those days, but who knew their legacy met on stage 400 years after their death in the heart of London: St Paul’s Church Covent…

26Sep 2016 by Cotton's Mummy No Comments

Phuket: a place of Muai Thai, food and tamed tigers

Travel

Written by Cotton's Daddy Phuket, the largest island in Thailand, positioned in the Southern province. It is a heaven for parties, but it is also a paradise for food. I signed up for two weeks of Muai Thai training and went on a solo journey. I got myself a little villa, away from my work in the UK, and my girlfriend. Nothing else but two weeks of blood, sweat and yummy food. As it is an island, the best has to be the seafood. Everything was so fresh. The crabs were probably still alive just before they entered into the frying wok. Fried soft shell crab was my favourite, crispy on the outside, yet succulent on the inside. It is something you can never find anywhere in the…