Out and about in London

London is so much fun.  It's such an old and historic city, so there are these great old places everywhere, but being the bustling metropolis that it is, there are also plenty of incredible new places which seem to pop up all the time.  I didn't have too much time left, so I had arranged catch ups with friends at various locations.

I caught up with my old friend Cath in a gin bar she liked.  We had started our careers together, but she was now living in London.  It was a cool and modern place, full of hipsters with manicured beards and specialty gin cocktails.  I loved this sort of place.  It was full of the bizarre flavours I liked and the atmosphere felt cool enough to make you also feel cooler for being there without being out of place.

The great thing about London is again its history.  There are so many old pubs and bars which have been around for hundreds of years which continue to operate to this day.  Sure. there have been renovations and updates, but there's a nice feeling of continuity to be able to go to some of these old places to meet with friends and to drink a beer.

On the flip side of it all, was the hyper modern.  I was sitting inside Harrods one day just wandering around when I found a beautiful little modern Arabic cafe.  I sat down for some dates and some lovely Arabic coffee.  It was refreshing and light.  A nice way to pass an afternoon.

The variety of everything is such an incredible feature of this city.  I wondered whether I had made the right decision moving to Hong Kong when all of this had been on offer to me.  I was still of course looking at it all from the lens of a tourist.  The realities of immigration are often starkly different to the rose coloured view I have when just passing through.