My nightmare on Shaftesbury Avenue

Feeling super confident of the city of London as I have been there many times before, I let my guard down and carried a leather backpack on my back.. where else? We boarded the Eurostar train from Brussels Midi station (Zuid Station), leaving at noon and arriving in King Cross/ St. Pancras about 2hours later. Easy Peasy. I had booked us into the St Giles Hotel, just off Tottenham Court Road. An old hotel that has been around a long time with a fantastic location and newly refurbished. Location wise, this is tops. I would stay here again.

After settling in, we got into our rooms but the noise from the renovation works were unbearable, so we insisted on a change of rooms despite the front desk promising us that the work will stop at 3pm. Aaah, seasoned travelles we are, I was not falling for that ruse. We insisted and the duty manager put us in a spacious triple bedded room in the newly renovated wing. We walked down Tottenham Court Road, towards Charing Cross and past Shafestbury Avenue with its bright lights and giddy neon signs. Chinatown is always busy and crowded at anytime of the day. After whetting our appetite at the sight of roasted ducks and meats, we settled for restaurant "Four Seasons". This restaurant, together with "Gold Mine" are the two hot favourite restaurants of the Singapore Airlines cabin crew. As in any chinese eatery, service is rapid and loud.. we ordered 1/2 Peking Duck, Yang Chow Fried rice, Stir Fried Bean Sprouts with salted fish and Dumpling soup to share. Chinese food in the UK is the best outside of Hong Kong. Hands down!

After paying the bill, I deftly put my wallet back into my backpack and we exited the restaurant. Along the way to the hotel, we stopped to admire a gigantic moving exhibit and that was when my mum noticed that my bag was wide open. Wallet gone ! Phone and passport intact! In a flash, I rang the emergency numbers of my credit cards to block my cards. Then we trudged our way, in the pouring rain, back to the restaurant first and then to the Charing Cross police station. Between paying the bill and standing at the art installation was a span of 30 minutes, and in that time, the thief had dipped his hands into my backpack. I was devasted! Upon reaching our hotel, a chirpy fellow tourist enquired how our day went. I told her that I've been pick-pocketed and the kind woman asked if i would need some cash. What an angel! The next day, after breakfast, feeling utterly gutted and cashless.. we carried on with our trip for the day. Big Ben, Parliament House, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace in the morning, followed by Harrods on Knightsbridge in the evening. The following day, we visited Oxford Street, Regent Street, Picadilly Circus, Carnaby Street and ended up in Leicester Square for dinner. Shopping included Marks and Spencers' fruitcakes and scones, fruit jams, biscuits, tea leaves from Fortnum and Mason and a quick stop at Waterstones on Picadilly and Sports Direct for some football t-shirts for the nephew.

Dinner was the unmissable Fish and Chips... yep! Before leaving London, I made one last stop at the Chinese grocer for Laksa leaves. Out of the four supermarkets in Chinatown, there was only one who stocked this aromatic herb. Happy to be reunited with this hard to find herb, we collected our bags and headed back to St Pancras Station to board our train back to Brussels. Mission accomplished... minus wallet.