Round the world in 8 hours

My friend Lisa (starring in all the photos) and I had a crazy fun day a few weeks back - having no money to jump on a plane, we screamed around London to visit six countries in 8 hours - Russia, Arabia, India, the Amazon, Hawaii and China.

First stop was the Russian Orthodox Church in Gunnesbury which had priceless Russian icons smuggled out at the start of the Russian revolution.

Then it was off to Kensington High Street to visit Leighton House, once owned by an eccentric artist who turned it into an Arabian court. The mosaics were out of this world.








The trip to Neasden took a while, people usually go for the 24-hr open Ikea store. We, however, were heading for the largest Hindu temple outside of India. The carving was totally OTT but awe inspiring nevertheless.



Then down to the barbican in the center of old London City to visit the amazonian tropical forest tucked away in a conservatory at the heart of the complex.









Getting rather tired we decided to head for Hawaii and the beach shipped into an abandoned brewry in Brick Lane. Ahh, to sink one's tired feet into sand again....so relaxing.

But with only 45 mins to go till our 8 hrs was up, there was no rest and we made a dash for china town. We arrived with 3 mins to spare!
















We ended up the day in a grotty £4.50 all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet on the top floor of a rickety old shop, right in the heart of Chinatown. All in all great fun if slightly tiring!