Central London Adventure Series: Part 1- The Awesome & The Shady

Wow. Awesome, eh?

<GONG> Central London Adventures: Part 1- the Awesome & The Shady:

Central London has a bit of everything, doesn’t it? The colours of Central London seem to range from the vibrant hues within the glorious British Museum to the strangely fluorescent shady red/pink stairways at the “Shaolin Way” store beside the Chinese masseuse.

Odd. Quirky.  London.

Love it.  I’ll go through just a few things in today’s blog.  Check out the gallery link up there to see some pics, and I’ll write a bit more tmrw.  Any requests or ques. about any of the places in my gallery, lemme know!

THE AWESOME

British Museum (pic above): What an awesomely awesome place this Museum is!  I’m sure most of you who’ve been to London have gone here, but this is just crazy crazy awesome awesome awesome.  No other words except awesome awesome!  I could be here for a whole week! Will need to make repeat visits.  Awesome awesome!  Did I say, Awesome?

The British Film Institute (BFI)

Wow.

Woa. Also awesome, eh? haha

Anyway, BFI Southbank.  They had this awesome room where you could check out all sorts of indie English films from the past century for free!  Pretty neat.  Their main, free exhibit was closed to prep for the new good stuff, but yah.  Awesome.  (I’d offer new adjectives, but using the word, “Awesome” just seems to capture the feeling!).

THE SHADY

Dang. Shady, ain't it?!?

Randomly, around the corner and outskirts of a very rich, and posh Chinatown was a shady pink stairway in the Shaolin Way store (sells Shaolin equipment and books, it looked like).  Why was this shady?

Well, apparently this stairway led to a young model.

“YOUNG MODEL”. Wait, not just young.  A BEAUTIFUL, YOUNG ORIENTAL model (‘NEW’! says the pic).  And all one had to do was enter the shady, pink, stairway, walk up, ring the doorbell, and “DING”, a “Beautiful Young Oriental Model”, just for you. Nice post-it notes, with fresh orange paper to make it clear…That you could not only get Shaolin equipment, but also find a nice young oriental model too!

The doorbell

~Actually, I was busy taking pictures of this place when a guy walked right up the stairs and rang the bell.  I was curious who would answer. And I was shocked to find a mid-aged Caucasian lady open the door!  She didn’t look shady, but looked like one of my elementary school teachers or something.

Hey, maybe it’s just an apartment.  Then again………

Oh pink light...where do thou go to? Oh, and Young Oriental Model is on Sale! haha

I don’t know why I found this unique & hilarious yet disturbing.

But perhaps the hilarity sparked from the context of the location (housed in a Shaolin Way store, beside a Chinese masseuse, who actually seemed legit), the cheap advertising, and the corny picture of some random Chinese model…and the fact that, somehow, the advertisers were relying on the “appeal” of the “oriental” (even using the term oriental, which apparently is not as much a stigma there).

But the disturbing was how this “oriental appeal” was being marketed (not just by Shaolin Way shadiness, but everywhere). And believe me, there’s a lot of “bloody marketable appeal” about the “Orient” to those who walk around Central London (maybe some locals, but I don’t know if they’re locals or just tourists sucked into the “yay chinese food” trap).  There were tonnes of Chinatown restaurants serving tonnes of “Chinese food” that you’d find in foodcourts in Vancouver (or actual restaurants in Langley..haha knock on Langley)…and they were even served in the same way like you’d see in Vancouver.  Popular places too.

Young Oriental Models!

Ok.  Rant over.

I haven’t had dinner (I need to be more cognizant of my timing of meals), and I’m realizing that my hunger is making me a tad grumpy and killing my grammar skills. Comments welcome!

<GONG> (“Yes, I am still ‘GONGING’ despite my critique of the stereotypical appeal of the so-called “Orient”, because a) I am proudly Chinese and b) I like GONGS, Darnednabit!)

**Also, check out some pics in the “GALLERY OF WONDER” Tab.

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