HYDE PARK, LONDON.
I have heard of Hyde Park in London since my school days. The knowledge about the speakers corner in Hyde Park kept me dreaming that one day I will get to witness it if not participate in the banter with the speaker. Unfortunately when we were in London recently, it was not a Sunday when the speakers corner was on.
On arrival in London our bus took us to our hotel in Bayswater area passing by Hyde Park. It was not far from the park.
The next morning I woke up early for the Subuh prayers. This is the view from my window with the sun rising.
Later I chance upon the sight of two hot air ballons and I photographed it against the sphire of a nearby church.
I can't be wasting time in the room and I need to use as much of my available time in London to see things. Getting out of the hotel, I felt the cool and fresh morning air outside. Moving towards Hyde park I saw this neighbouring hotel beside Holiday Villa being extensively renovated. It's The Blakemore.
The area where we stayed was known as Leinster Gardens. Walking on there was this restaurant being offered for sale. Business must have been bad for this restaurant that it had to close down. If you have the money you can buy over this restaurant to sell nasi lemak which will surely sell. A niche market can be secured when the wealthy will come to gamble their wealth away at a new casino being constructed less than 50 meters away will follow their nose at the smell of freshly cooked nasi lemak. All the more so if they are from Malaysia or Singapore. The casino is owned by a Malaysian company.

The building under renovation is a new Casino in London being built by a Malaysian Company. no prizes will be given for the correct guess as to which company is involved. They were allowed to renovate the building but on the condition that the facade of the old building is maintained. Only the inside of the building was torn down. It was definitely a great architectural and engineering feat.
A grand looking building
The local authorities had to take care of all people especially the mentally impaired person and so the roads had to be painted with the instruction to Look Right when crossing a road even at the traffic light. Note the color pencils being used to decorate the walls surrounding the building under renovation.
This man was out early on his bike to excercise.
The sight of this London bus showed how useful they are for advertisement. It moves around the city for all to see.
Entering Hyde Park via Lancaster Gate, I saw this map of the park.
It was around 6 AM and the park was quite deserted except for a few people jogging or walking their dogs.


The statue of a man riding a horse looks interesting. Made the mistake of not reading what was written on the placque.
Another angle with the rising sun behind it.
The dog's poo can be deposited here. Did see a man collecting his dog's poo and deposited them in this receptacle. No wonder their park is clean.
A dog on a long leash.
Now again the instruction to look left and right before crossing a road. Bicycles can only be rode in their designated lane in the park.
Walking across the park i reached the other side where the Royal Albert Hall was located. I was amazed by the sight of another structure at the fringe of the park. This structure as told by blogger Atok from Reading was the Prince Albert memorial.
For other ckluster of statues were constructed at the four corners of the fence depicting a certain story.
The intricate embossed murals and design on the Prince Albert Memorial.
The details.
Here is the famous Royal Albert Hall where our late Sudirman haji Arshad once performed and was crownd as Asia's best performer beating Anita Sarawak of Singapore and many other well known Asian performers. Dato' Siti Nurhaliza had performed here to a packed paying audience. Recently a play The King And I was staged here and in the play 2 children of blogger Atok from Reading, England acted. Read Kak Teh's take on it here.
Backtracking into the park i saw this juniper flower/fruit which I initially thought to be birds.
The igsignia on the ground indicating The South Flower Walk. All dogs muct be kept on lead when going inside the walk.
Lavenders were flowering when I walked along it.
A solitary dove perched on a branch.
A squirrel moved towards me expecting to be fed. I am sorry I brought only my camera with me.
He looked at me with one eye.
Spotted another one later at another side of the park.
Singnages aplenty to show you the way.
Suddenly i heard the sound of big birds flying. When I looked up I was just in time to record these four birdss flying. U Lee and Ee Lynn said they were the trans migratory Canadian Geese visiting London. U Lee should know as he lives in Canada. How did Ee Lyn knows? She lives in KL. I know she knows because Ee Lynn loves nature and she is a member of Malaysian Nature Society.
When I zoomed in only 3 came into the frame.
Later in the evening after our guided tour of London, we had time to revisit Hyde park. I wanted to share Hyde Park with my other half. now I have an assitant to record as to have been to leinster garden, london.

The other half wanted a picture of her too but right inside the park.
We reached Kensington Palace. I guess for a fee it is possible to tour the palace.
can you read what it says?We couldn't cover much of the park that afternoon as my wife was still feeling the pain from the broken toe nil as a result of runnning the 15 coaches length of ground in Brussels. So we headed home to the hotel.
On the way back we saw this solitary old gentleman sitting on a park bench with an Italian cap. He must be dreaming of how his life would be if he were to live in London and spend the rest of his life there in London. The weather maybe nice now that it was the beginning of summer. How will it be if the weather turns hot? Worse still is whether he can withstand the harsh cold winter? Will he have enough money to live in expensive London? Let us just leave him to himself to continue with his dreams. Afterall dreams are free.
















































































































