Day 16 (May 15)

At 10:00 we went to the Victoria Coach Station for our bus (an over two hours trip) to Brighton. The weather forecast for the week was really appalling ranging from light shower to heavy rain. Nevertheless besides a few showers and strong wind, our tour of the seaside town was not bad at all. We first visited the Brighton Pier and then lunch (the early bird lunch and I’d the original combo - quarter piece of roasted chicken plus a half slab of rib and self-serving salad bar for £6.50 plus a ½ pint draught beer whereas Maggie ordered fish & chips and lemon tea) at Harvester, a restaurant chain which we used to patronized back in the late ’90 and early ’00. Then we toured the Royal Pavilion*. Since no photo is allowed inside the palace museum all my pictures were taken in the garden area. And in front of the Museum and Art Gallery we came across a presentation of outback aborigines (probably part of the May Festivals). When I took the pictures of the aborigines, I was accost by a lady official asking whether they’re for own or commercial use. Perhaps my equipments (D3 + 70-200/f2.8) are seemingly more ‘serious’ than that of the official photographer ;). There also was an exhibition in the garden of the ‘Sky Mirror’ by Anish Kapoor (born in Bombay), one of the most influential sculptors of his generation. After the Royal Pavilion we walked towards the Town Centre and stayed sometimes in the Cultural Quarter. We returned to London at 17:00 and just made it (Michelle too and she went by Eurostar to Brussel overnight for seminar yesterday) to the dinner with my good golf buddy David and his wife at Royal China, Bayswater. We order quite a few dishes of appetizer (soup, soft-shell crab, chicken, jellyfish) and for main dish we had the chicken and Chilean sea bass (Maggie asked for it as Maria her friend said its special and one couldn’t find it outside of her favorite restaurant in Sutton, which apparently is not or no longer true). David and I had Tsing Dao beer. Unfortunately I couldn’t play golf with David this time as his club got tournaments on two weekends in a row. And I’d lunch appointment on May 8. ;(.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Pavilion