Harry Potter Studio Tour in London

Disclaimer: Some spoilers ahead if you haven't visited the studio. I have very selective pictures in this post so that I won't spoil the fun for you. :) 

I remember extending my trip for about 5 more days in London just so I can visit the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio.  As I only finalised details of my Cambridge study trip rather late, all the other dates and time were already sold out online!

The Harry Potter Studio Tour requires advance booking (up to 2 months) as no tickets will be sold at the door. There are basic tickets (£30) and package tickets (£39.95 for additional paperback souvenir guide and audio guide). This was a no-brainer for me, obviously I went to the Complete Studio Tour Package, and I wanted a tour slot as early as possible. I also booked a musical on the same day so I had to rush back into the city in the evening. 

Go to Watford station. 

Getting there wasn't as easy because I had to change trains, then take bus and then walk to the studio. Watford is sort of outside the city and I didn't plan enough time to reach there. There's a fast train from Euston, but I accidentally took the wrong one and ended up on a 1-hr ride. No complaints though because the view was nice and the train was quite empty.  :)

These people live next to the railway stations. 

Siriusly wait until a bit pek chek.

The special Harry Potter bus comes every 20-30 mins (feels like forever!) and costs £2 for a round trip (just retain the ticket stub). En route there, the bus was playing a video hosted by Warwick Davis about how exciting the studio tour is gonna be etc. Nice build up there. 

And then you see this - 

Entrance to the studio

:D :D :D I finally reached! 

I didn't have time to take nice pictures outside as I was running late. So a pretty ticketmaster scanned my e-ticket and I entered the lobby. 

(Click to enlarge) Panoramic shot of all the HP posters over the years.

Oh by the way, there's a cafe at the lobby if you're hungry or what. 

A HP fan in her Slytherin school uniform :) 

I quickly collected my audio guide and entered the queue line. Some lady was kind enough to help me snap a picture because I was struggling with failed selfies. :< 

The boy who lived (here)

The scene that began the entire book series is none other than The Cupboard Under The Stairs. Did you know that a cupboard was really built to film the scene? 

Next we entered a dark room with multiple screens with snippets from the movie (much like Singapore's exhibition) only this is WAY better, then the walls are lifted up to reveal The Great Hall entrance!!! 

The Great Hall Entrance

You cannot imagine my excitement. Hehehe.  I think it's stupid that Singapore's TINY exhibition didn't allow any pictures but the studio tour in London is okay to do so. I took pictures until 2 of my batteries went flat lol. 

Long dining table

Fireplace with school and house crests

The professors

The Great Hall is the first guided spot. All visitors will have to go through the Hall to reach other rooms. Can you believe they built an entire fake hall? The details of each prop are amazing. You can explore the costumes and sets, and the guide also explained a little bit about the floating candles above the hall. :) 

Who wore this, in which scene? ;) 

All the costumes displayed here are actual pieces worn by the actors/actresses during filming. 

The tour also showcased the many filming techniques and technology that went behind the scenes. For instance, can you recognise this place?

It's The Leaky Cauldron!

This was created using a visual technique called forced perspective, which makes it appear longer on screen. It's actually just a small box set/prop.

The studio is well organized, you go from "room" to "room" (Gryffindor Boys' Dorm to whoever's office etc) and the related costumes/props/technology used will be presented. Each stop has an information board that you read, and some even can interact with (more on that later).

Dumbledore's office. Lots of fun facts here.

Hagrid's Hut 

The Weasley's slanted house and dining room. I love this stop! 

More notable prop displays-

The full wand collection. 

I wish I had the money to buy them all!! They are all pieces of art in my opinion.

Mirror of Erised 

 See what you desire!

Goblet of Fire cup and the Golden Egg

Deluminator (I think so), Hermione's Time-Turner and The Golden Snitch

Entrance to the headmaster's office is guarded by a gargoyle, and for the films they actually built a real thing. It's fixed with all the mechanisms and will actually move, and not done by visual effects.  These are also applicable to -

Chamber of Secrets snake door

Philosopher Stone's door (can't remember this one :/)

Mrs Weasley's house clock

Check out Prof. Lupin's loots (hehehe):



There was also a section dedicated to the animal actors. From time to time, the studio actually invites them to the venue for performances and what not, very cool.

The last stop before you head outside (part 2) is the graphic design section where it showcases mostly Weasley's Wizards' Wheezes products, among others.

Once you're outside, you've completed part 1 of the studio tour. The outdoor compound isn't just empty though, it showcases mostly the bigger sets and outdoor scenes from the movies.

DRINK ALL THE BEER!!!

 Oh it's also where Butterbeer is for sale. HAHAHA. I had high expectations of it and it was a disappointment. :( The only good thing was that we get to keep the cup :D But I had to clean it with toilet paper like 3-4 times because it was so oily, don't know how to stuff inside my bag.

Tom Riddle's Grave, Hagrid's motorcar and the Knight Bus

Do you find this bridge familiar? Many wide angle shots of Harry & friends in the films were shot here... turns out only part of a bridge is needed to complete the picture.

Details, details

Oh just a funny story to share, because I intentionally dressed up like a Slytherin student, I was asked at least 4 times where the toilet is/ how to get to xxx exhibit/ where can they get the stamp booklet for their kid etc.  HAHAHAH people thought that I worked there wtf.  But I think I should be proud lol.  *pats self on back*

Life-size chess pieces

Who knew they actually built all these chess pieces??! I always thought they were just done by the computer.

"KNIGHT TO E5!" 

Enter part 2 of the tour and you will find yourself in all the 'dark' places. I'm talking about the Dark Arts.  I spent some time in knowing more about the Dementors and of course, he-who-must-not-be-named...


I thought these mechanisms were just too cool because they are so realistic!

There's also the famous a Monster Book of Monsters:



There are also many exhibits here that involves the making of the Goblins and magical creatures too. One of which including the famous Hippogriff.

Hello, Buckbeak! 

Due to lack of time, I cut my second part of the tour short and headed down to Diagon Alley! It's a pity this set only showcases the exterior facade, but I heard the theme park at Universal Orlando have all these shops in operation!!

My favourite happy lane. 

Next, I went to a hall that is very similar to a museum/art gallery. There were many sketches, paintings and even 3D models.

Creating Hogwarts

Super talented bunch of set designers. And all these hard work were translated into...

A HUGE HOGWARTS CASTLE!!! 
Please use the visitors on both sides of the castle for comparison of the size of the castle.

Lower ground of Hogwarts 

As you walk around Hogwarts, the lightings in this room changes as well. It goes from day to night and vice versa, pretty cool. We will also start from the top view, and make our way down the slope.

Individual  lightings of Hogwarts stairwells, hallways etc. 

 The details and work that goes into the making is unbelievable. Shut up and just take my money!

The tour ended in a room that is probably Ollivander's Shop:

Fake wand boxes lol 

 I made sure I had at least an hour for ...

Harry Potter merchandise shop 

I went CRAZY here. The range of products is so much bigger than what I saw in Singapore's exhibition. So I kinda bought those that I haven't seen before. I have collected many items over the years but have not started on the wands (no money and glass cabinet to store) nor the cloaks (when will I ever wear them?).  In the end, I bought a quaffle ball (lol, I'm serious), Felix Felicis T-shirt, Slytherin wool cardigan (mad expensive), Hogwarts keychain, some other nonsensical items and .... photographs of me flying on the broom. Heheheh.

And that sums up my VERY enjoyable Harry Potter Studio Tour! <3 nbsp="" p="">

To visit - 

Website: http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/

Opening hours: 9am - 10am and the last tour between 4pm - 6.30pm; closing time is 3 hours after the last time slot.
Address: Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, Aerodome Way, Watford, Hertfordshire WD25 7LS, United Kingdom

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Photolog Throwback: 台北 2012年3月 的 忍者主題餐廳

都快两年了，这 blogpost edit好的照片还在Desktop坐着摆美？ 太逊了吧。 就让我简介 this Ninja-themed restaurant in Taipei! Sometimes I am impressed by my memory capacity hahaha.

Whenever I travel I like to dine at interesting concept cafes and this was one of them. One of my Chinese friend whom I knew from my Berkeley art class happened to be in town so I had to meet up with her for a quick catch up! My sister tagged along and we arranged for a dinner.

Entering the restaurant was pretty fun because we had to shout out a "passcode" before the door would open for us as we enter through a smoke door.

The restaurant  stands alone along the main road and is highly visible with its "忍者" 标签。 The interior was dimly lit but well-decorated with ninja related props. This was kept rather consistent even with their dinnerware  as well (see below).

Oh did I not mention we were served by a cute waitress? Our menus were actually secret scrolls ( 武林密集）！

Dinner for three:

Love the cute Alien toilet signage, I followed it of course

We won 2 dozen test tubes of alcoholic drinks. How cool is that!  I think it was happy hour and we got to pick toy knifes from a container to win merchandise or free food and drinks.

The restaurant seems to have a low rating on Tripadvisor but honestly it wasn't bad at all. Us girls had a lot of fun and the food was good too! It may be a bit pricey as compared to food in Taipei but it in the range of SGD$20++.  No reservations needed, the environment was conducive for long conversations as well.

Oh good, I just Googled and they are still open! Hahaha.

Address: 台北市松山區市民大道四段129號, Taipei, Taiwan
(捷運:忠孝敦化站8號出口(往機場方向走約5分鐘)

我們在市民大道與敦化南路交叉口(合作金庫正對面)

Opening hours: 11:00am - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 11:00pm
Website: http://www.ninja-tw.com

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I'm Engaged!!!! The Full Proposal Story!

I know this is almost 6 months late, but yes, he proposed and I said "YES!"

To friends and family member who have asking about the proposal, I'm sorry I haven't been quick enough to update. So here's the full story (sort of) of how it happened! :)


THE TIOMAN TRIP 

It started with my usual bugging him to go overseas for a holiday together earlier this year. Of which, he disagreed. :(  I wanted to celebrate his birthday with him.  However, he told me that he had planned for a weekend trip to Sentosa instead.  We should have gone there during April, but it was one of my last few days of school so I couldn't afford to skip it.

We later settled on the first week of May.  He had managed to convince me that we were REALLY going to Sentosa (because he really love Singapore), and that we were gonna be heading to USS on Saturday.

Yet, a week before our trip something funny happened.  His parents, him and I were going for dinner at Nex as usual, and his mom suddenly mentioned,

"While we're away in Europe, please take care of the dog ah"

I looked at him and he looked constipated.  He stuttered,

"Err, we also going away for the weekend leh. Can we find a dog sitter?"

His mom:

" Oh. Cannot bring the dog to Sentosa meh?"

Alien:

"Cannot"

After we arrived at Nex, I noticed he behaved oddly. He pulled his parents aside (rather non-discreetly) and spoke softly. I pretended that I didn't see and checked on my phone.  I disregarded that, but halfway during dinner ...

His mom:

"You all going Tioman for how many days ah"

You should have seen Alien's face.  Lol. He was at a loss for words and looked pissed.  He immediately replied, quite forcefully:

"Sentosa. We're going SENTOSA."

The same night I asked him if we're really still going Sentosa... because there were too many loopholes already. He even said I need to bring passport to check-in at Sentosa hotel. Hahahaha.  I told him I know where we're going already la, no need to bluff me.

We broke into evil laughter coz' his surprise getaway was ruined... by his mom.  Lol.  He was a bit disappointed because he only told a handful of people about the Tioman trip. He wanted to minimize the chances of news being leaked.

So a few days later we packed for Tioman and left home bright and early!  :D

Note the cute caucasian baby in background! 

I would just like to add here that please DO NOT EVER TAKE A PLANE TO TIOMAN.  Because Alien like planes (understandably), he decided that we should fly to Tioman via the only flight provider -- Berjaya Air.

We had time to take pictures because we were already ON BOARD the plane, and Berjaya Air decided to refuel the plane.  This means the AC was off throughout this period, and we were all sweating like pigs inside.  I don't mean those stand-under-the-sun kinda perspiring, I mean we were sweating inside the cabin as if we had just ran 10km.  It was real stuffy and warm.

When they finally switched on the AC, it was NOT cool air!  The ventilators were dirty and out came a whirling fog of dust. I sat by the window and had water droplets drip on me every 3 minutes. :(

What is this shit.  Worse of all, Alien paid a lot more to take the plane than the boat.  We were pretty upset already.  We endured it all but the flight was unbearable (shall elaborate more at the end of this post). 

The happy stuff first.  The flight was a short one and here's the view of the island!!!

.... Welcome to Tioman!

This is Tioman "airport" in its entirety lol.  I didn't know Tioman was SO hot.

We put our stuff down in our resort room and went to the beach.  The beaches and clear waters are the redeeming factors to the bad start of our trip. 

Alien and I spent a few hours frolicking under the sun, finding fishes and watching the sunset.

Sunsets at Tioman is really BEAUTIFUL.

After dinner we stayed in to watch plastic surgery on TV (old liao) and discussed if I would ever go under the knife.  The girl in the documentary broke both her knees in the hope of growing 1-2 inches taller, wtf!

View from our room.  It was the 15th (Chinese Calendar) and so it was full moon.


The following day we went snorkeling (Alien's first) and returned to the resort mid-afternoon really exhausted.  But after a satisfying lunch we took a dip in the resort pool.


THE PROPOSAL 

We had to be dressed properly in order to enter the restaurant so we headed back to our room.  At this point of time I still didn't know he had anything in mind!  Apparently while we were heading out, he was so focused on hiding the ring that he locked us out of the room. 

At dinner, out of nowhere he suggested that we should go for a walk by the beach afterward.  I was doubtful because he HATES walking in the dark by the beach (for fear of sand flies and what not) and he actually WANTS to do that???

So after our buffet we went to the lobby to ask for a spare key but the concierge told us to go back to our room and wait for somebody to unlock it for us.   Since we wanted to go for a stroll by the beach first, he told her that we would come back later instead.  All these while with me asking him "Are you sure?? We don't have to walk by the beach one, it's okay".   But he insisted anyway.

As we walked towards the beach, he started behaving all weird.  We strolled and came to a quiet spot, so we stood and watched the distant ships ... and then he had to come and say,

"Eh look. I own that yacht over there leh." 

 --______--"

I immediately replied,

"Yah yah. (Me pointing at another random boat) And that's mine, the island's mine, the bar is mine." 

IT WAS AWKWARD AND ODD, I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE WAS DOING.

I wanted to walk on to find a spot to sit so I turned away and at this point, he grabbed my hand!  The next thing I knew was that he had led my hand towards his crotch area, and he said,

"Touch here!"

 I wasn't facing him so I didn't know exactly what that was.  It was something very hard that I touched  HAHAHAHAHAH DO YOU GEDDIT.  I panicked and my immediate reaction was to pull back my hand and exclaimed,

"WHAT?! HERE?!  ARE YOU CRAZY?  THERE ARE PEOPLE AROUND!!"

Then I turn to face him. LOL

It was a look a disbelief on his face and he said,

"Walao! What are you thinking?! It's this lah! (took out the hard object from his berm pocket)"

 It  turned out to be a blue box that he put inside his pocket!!!!  


The box was a bit too big for his pocket and that was how it ended up near his crotch.  0__0 


 LOLOLOL.  Thinking back, I will still laugh about this every time. SO EMBARRASSING on my part!!!

My memory of the proposal is henceforth blurry.  I remember being breathless and mumbling "OMG OMG OMG IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING" many times.

He handed me the gorgeous blue box and wanted me to open it.

!!!!!!

It's THE ring. The ring I liked and mentioned a year before when I first saw it on the T&C website.  He remembered and now IT IS BEFORE MY EYES.  WHAT????

If you know Alien, you would have know that he's not the romantic kind of person who remembers anniversaries, send flowers,  etc... and so to have him do all these (and a surprise!) was unexpected.  Some friend even asked me if he actually knelt down (ya he's really not romantic one!) to propose.

The answer is ... he did go down on one knee la.  And popped the question. :.)


It was simple like that.  No video crew, no long speech, no make up or fancy clothing (I haven't showered the whole day) ... and with that I said yes to him on the beach, under the galaxies of stars and moonlight (full moon!).

We laughed, walked back to room, and found out more about his original proposal plans.  He had hidden the box in a blue plastic bag along to avoid my detection!  The kind of blue plastic bag that you dabao lunch kind leh! So unclassy! LOL.  But he did succeed. I just assume that was to put his wet trunks.


Alien had to place an order for the ring at the shop because it was unavailable in Singapore. He had to get it imported and paid a lot more for that! :(

Because he had to untie the classic T&C bow to check that the ring design was correct, he told me he had no idea how to tie the ribbon back.  He learnt it from YouTube and here he's trying to show me how he did it. LOL. Hahaha okay lah give you effort point.

Tioman is a quite the sunny paradise; just make sure you go there by sea okay.

On the flight back to Singapore we thought we might die because the turbulence on Berjaya Air was very  bad  due to a heavy thunderstorm.  We "levitated" in mid-air and even hit the overhead compartment. There were screaming (I'm not exaggerating I swear) which came from the air stewardess coz' she wasn't wearing a seat belt, and she flew out of her seat.  -__-

We will NEVER fly Berjaya Air ever again.

---

THE RING

Here are closer pictures of my ring.

Didn't have to resize! He found out my ring size by playing around with my acrylic rings!

Yep, and I know it's not considered an "Engagement Ring" without the main diamond.   The salesperson at T&C told him that too.  I don't like a having a big diamond on my finger.  I will just lose it (if you know my history with safekeeping). 


Somebody told me this is called an Eternity Ring, what with gemstones lined all around the ring.  I love the tiny hearts in rose gold!  :3

----

For some bizarre reason, Alien has also became a little sweeter after he proposed.  He gave me a bouquet of roses when I came back from UK. :.)

The love(s) of my life.

Posted this picture on my instagram+FB last month, and some people thought it was our actual  pre-wedding studio shoot!  We were filming for a ChannelU reality TV show and this was part of the challenge for the program.  Alien had to choose the gown, decide on the makeup and hairstyle for me, and I had to do the same for him too.  It was fun!!!  :) But we had to kiss onscreen for more than 5 seconds. WEIRD.


---

THE WEDDING PLANS

Now that we're engaged, we have already started planning for the wedding. :) Thank you for all your well wishes on FB, instagram, Whatsapp :D

We have confirmed our banquet and theme for the wedding.  Will update more about our wedding gradually.  We are also in discussion with a photography company for our pre-wedding shoot + AD.

Thank you Adeline for agreeing to help us with the wedding invitation design!  Do check out her works and find out more about her quirky little world with Yellow!

Thank you Marriage Central for our upcoming Marriage Preparation Course!  Can't wait to learn about building a happy marriage. ^^

Currently looking for sponsors and seeking collaborations in preparation for our big day next year end.  Looking for hair, makeup/facial/beauty, fitness services;  gowns, dresses, 
suits, shoes/heels; decorations and flowers; car rental; wedding bands; food catering, cake/pastries/desserts; videography services, couple activities etc, please contact me HERE!

We would really appreciate it. :)   Also if you have anything/anyone to recommend,  please contact us too!  THANK YOU SO MUCH ! :)

XOXO,

Alien and Thiang

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