Exploring London

The cheapest and reputedly, the safest way in exploring London, is by bus. At 11 GBP, it covers 6 zones and unlimited transfers for 7 days. That's approximately S$34.40. Certainly more expensive than travelling about in Singapore (which for the same amount, would give me 2 weeks of bus AND train travel), but by far, the best option that I've got, with a shoestring budget. Right outside Kingsley's home there's a bus stop, so it's a lot easier on the legs on a cold evening to walk home from the bus stop than from the Tube stop.

With the elections looming up and a keen fight between Labour, Tories and Liberal Democrats for the seat of Government, bomb threats on the Tube are common, and especially so with the ante raised on the Molotov cocktail of hairy issues such as controlled immigration, healthcare and foreign policy with respect to Iraq.

Staying in East London allowed me to have a glimpse of how diversified London's population is now. Arabs, Somalians, blacks, Algerians, Turks and other ethnic groups tend to stay cheek-by-jowl in South and East London. There apparently is the largest mosque in UK only a few bus stops away from my place of residence. I note that immigrant-owned shops tend to open real late into the evenings. Perhaps, they were like the immigrants of my own country in the early 1900s. Eager to forge a new future for themselves, immigrants did not mind the long hours and low pay that their occupations demanded of them.

How does it feel then, as a minority amongst minorities, being female and Chinese?

I felt very much at home, though a little wary about coming home late in the evenings as these areas are known to be trouble hot spots and muggings and other crimes are rife. I am glad that I am able to claim the Lord's protection upon me, although it helps that you affect an attitude of knowing where you are going and sending a silent signal to others not to mess with you.

Indeed, living in a big city does have its problems. You have immigrants being absorbed all the time, with the local populace perhaps getting a bit nervous about jobs, supporting a swelling lower class and an emerging middle class of immigrants for those who have made it. Comfort zones are being challenged. As a colonial power, Britain is seeing the rise of another power on its very own shores... the power of immigrants changing the face of the UK. Even in far- flung quiet corners of the country, I can always find either a Chinese or Indian-Muslim eatery, which will close late (and often the only take-out food that you can find on Sundays).

Indeed the tide has turned.