Birmingham

I went to Birmingham for a shopping expedition with friends. Birmingham is famous for the Bullring shopping centre. Blimey, even the train station we arrived at was situated just below the mall! You have no idea how excited I was when I saw this:

Civilisation! XD

Retail shops in England cities are mainly individual shops along the brick pedestrian streets instead of being packed in a mall. In London, most people shop at Piccadilly Street, Oxford Street or Regent Street. Of course, there's always Harrods but generally it's mainly the streets. It looks really nice in pictures and seeing these names shining brightly along the street is exciting (plus the summer sale!). But the disadvantage is that chairs and toilets are not as easily accessible as in a shopping mall. I had to look for Starbucks or McDs all the time! :/

Doing the touristy stuff: picture taken with the bull in front of Bullring Shopping Centre

The landmark Selfridges building (I admit not knowing anything about architecture, I just think this design looks extremely weird. Easily mistaken as a science centre instead.)

After 40 minutes of trying out more than 10 dresses in FCUK, I finally bought my pick. We then headed out from the Bullring shopping centre towards the city centre. Birmingham was rather windy (well generally speaking, England is windy).

Heading down to town. Behind me was St Martin's, it's right beside Bullring (or should I say it's actually on the outdoor grounds of Bullring? It's quite convenient to go for a confession if you "accidentally" splurged too much.)

St Martin's church. I went in for a peek, it's free anyway.

Inside St Martin. (I edited this photo, it's not as bright inside)

We went further down to a market

Double yolk especially for the yolk lovers, mind the cholesterol.

Very cheap for a big box of cherries :q We bought a box, split 3 portions and each of us still had more than enough to enjoy. The only problem is that some of it are overripe. But it's sweet~

On the left, there's an indoor wet market

Shuv's bf, Sek Hao, lead the way towards the indoor market. He was searching for fresh whelks and I was very curious to find out what it was. I was told that the whelks sold in the market here are comparatively cheaper.

Trying out the whelks

An array of fresh seafood

Oysters too!

Chewy yummy whelks eaten with vinegar and pepper

Eating whelks is like eating escargot. More chewy. It's quite nice. Taste like clams but sweeter (in a seafood kind of way). I was very tempted to buy the others and try but my stingy self stopped me. We went on our journey to the city centre.

Birmingham council house

This is a nice place for camwhoring (I'm not displaying them because this is not a photo album). It's situated at the end of the rows of shops in town. There's a beautiful library adjacent to it but I didn't go in. The city centre feels very much like London but less cars. I personally think that the major cities in England are similar in terms of shops and restaurants.

We went for some chinese food in Cafesoya. It's roughly a 15 minutes walk away from Bullring.

Interior setting looks like a restaurant back home

Soya milk

Coconut and soya milk. I highly recommend this drink. It's heavenly! I didn't expect these combinations to turn out so delicious. It's thick and fragrant.

Roast duck rice

Papaya salad vermicelli. This is very yummy. Generous servings of papayas. Large portion mind you.

Tomyam soup

Beef stew soup noodles. Beef is well marinated and juicy.

I had an enjoyable Birmingham shopping experience though I had some difficulty parting with the money. If you're here to visit, do try the food in Cafesoya. Definitely thumbs up! I can't say much about what else to see here in Birmingham because I didn't do the touristy stuff. Shopping was more fun. Heh!