The London Jungle: A Photowalk

London to many is about the Big Ben, the London Tower Bridge, the West End, red phone booth and perhaps the high street shops. Basically the pretty things that can be placed on postcards.

But for a Londoner, it is a jungle. It can be wild. 

Rather, it IS wild for the weak of heart. 

It is not all glitz and glamour: it is the jam-packed tubes; it’s the walkathoners trying to beat the pedestrian traffic light; it’s where people try to weave through human cones while keeping their coffee cups steady. 

You can enjoy the ‘classic London tour’ in a day or two, but it takes a lifetime to digest what it has to offer: all the good, the bad and the ugly. I have lived and worked here in this city for over a year now, and what appeals to me the most are not the Buckingham Palaces, nor the Thames River. 

It’s the experience of various cuisine, the street culture, the modern art and architecture, and the organised chaos of it all. 

This photowalk is a glimpse of the urban jungle that is not usually seen on postcards.

I had this impromptu photowalk after sending of the wife to her destination to the airport for a quick family visit. And instead of going home early (and do some chores), off I went from Liverpool Street Station and wandered off to the towers, skyscrapers and the streets of Central London.

Using my Samsung S6’s camera and gopro3+, I snapped away like an annoying tourist. It was freezing cold as my hands went numb, but I could not resist capturing the beauty of London's grit and gloom.

An accidental selfie as I was calibrating my gopro app in my phone.

The weather forecast was SUNNY.

Streets were busy on a Thursday 2 PM.

Nice to see some taxis, bikes and scooters.
(Thankfully no 'hoverboards.')

The Gherkin is 1 of the many love-hate symbolisms in the city of London.

A beautiful haunting tree in a paved jungle.

The shoes on the foreground is part of an art installation project 'Sculpture in the City'

Title: 'O My Friends, There Are No Friends.'

Resting outside on the cold is not a great idea.

The 'Cheesegrater', or the Leadenhall Building.

The Leadenhall Market opened on the 14th century.

The Lloyd's Building is my unofficial top favourite London skyscraper.
It brought out the supposed interior functional services such as lifts and ducts at the exterior.
It appears like a futuristic utopia of a mini-city that can blast off to space at any time.
It is shiny, heavy-looking, steam-punk of a beauty.
And that to me, is way better than a shiny 'clean-looking' structure.

Ai Wei Wei's 'Forever', another Sculpture in the City in front of the Gherkin.

'Strings at Stratford.'
A violinist busking on a train station.

That's just some of the snaps that I managed to take. Hopefully I can get the chance to join the Open House London this year. In order for me to enjoy the innards of this beautiful and wild urban jungles of London.