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Here’s Mud In Your Eye

The Big Smoke Calls… With empty rucksack on back I head into town and venture up the steps into the light of Tottenham Court Road. London Underground have demolished the corner of Charing X road and Oxford St. and the resulting crap is being swirled around in mini twisters all around the street. As my head appears from the darkest reaches of the subway my face in blasted with all sorts of debris from the building site.
My left eye cops most of it, and somehow some grit manages to get under my contact lens and produces the most excruciating pain I’ve felt, ever. I head straight for the nearest opticians for assistance …
After asking for a basin to wash my hands and a bit of liquid to was my lens and reseat it, the response I receive is, “We have this fluid, Bausch and Lomb, fifteen pounds…” I reassert that I only require a bit of help to wash the lens and put it back in but this gets the response along the lines of, “Try Boots…” If I could remember the name of the place I’d warn you against going…

I get to the British Museum vicinity a bit early so decide to head into Gosh! Comics to have a browse. I end up picking up some Manga and a few Marvel titles that I failed to get when ordering my monthly bundle.
One of the Manga titles is Tekkon Kinkreet – Black & White, All In One – The Will Eisner Award Winner from Taiyo Matsumoto.

TekkonKinkreet

I also grab a volume of Death Note and the first in the Old Boy Manga too. Unfortunately with a dodgy eye I can’t read them very well and will have to wait until later tonight when I get home.

Craig arrives at around 2:30 and we head into the museum to check out some of the exhibits.
We kick off at the Asian level where the Buddha Statues from all over the Far East sit, then head onwards and upwards into Korea, Chinese Pottery and finally the Japanese Exhibit which I love. A few pieces of Wood Block Art by Hiroshige are on display there and it doesn’t matter how many times I see them, I’m still in awe of the detail and craftsmanship.

Hoshino

We take a quick look at the Elgin Marble exhibits from the Parthenon, which I’ve never seen in all the visits I’ve made to the Museum.

James arrives just after 5 and we grab a quick coffee before we intend to hit more exhibits. However, it’s at this precise moment that he remembers that he’s forgotten to complete some work that has to be done before midnight, and he has to leave us pretty much as soon as he arrives.
So Craig and I head into the Hoshino Yukinobu Manga exhibit, showcasing the Professor Munakata series as the character explores the British Museum. It wasn’t as big as I’d hoped but it was still nice to see original Manga art on display.

We head to Chinatown, meeting Binna en route at TCR Station and as we walk along Gerrard St. looking for an authentic restaurant, Craig is asked by a tourist to take a picture of them. I’m then approached by an Italian tourist and her companion who ask I wouldn’t mind having my picture taken with her?!?!? I put it down to the fact that I’ve been winking at everyone since I arrived in the City, laughed and said “What the hell”.

We end up in Wardour St. at Hung’s. And I have to say this is probably one of the best Chinese Restaurants I’ve been to in Chinatown, if not the UK. One look in the window tells you that it’s going to be good, as every table seems to be taken by a Chinese person. We head in, are ushered to the top floor and given a nice large table, a beer and a menu with such delights as boiled cow tendon and hot pot with pig intestines. I have a hot pot which, although I did think about the pig intestine version – I ended up settling for the aubergine in chilli. Craig had the hot put with tofu and as both were vegetarian we were able to share. This was washed down with a large pot of tea and was bloody brilliant.

Afterwards we head to a small cafe that is the only place that I’ve found (outside of the sorely missed Oriental City) that sells Bubble Tea.
The Candy Cafe is just off Gerrard St. in Macclesfield St. on a 1st floor reached to from a doorway beside a cake shop.
I have a milk tea with bubble and a set milk jelly, Craig has a banana milk with bubble and a portion of dry dumplings with coconut, and Binna joins me in a milk tea.

All-in-all a quite excellent meal and dessert, shame I could only taste it and not see what it looked like…