Europe (Paris) (3rd day)

It was Sunday. It was also my dad's birthday! x)

In the morning, we planned to visit 2 morning markets we saw over in the internet. Wanted to know the lifestyle of the people in France. But when we stepped out from our hotel, we were surprised to find that right in front of it was a huge market! What a waste of time thinking of how to go to the other markets when it was in front of the hotel all the while! The morning market was really interesting.

the market.



There were a wide varieties of things sold there. There were the normal ones and there were also some stalls i don't see in Malaysia like cheese, wine, honey, secondhand french books, oysters, chocolates, olives etc. Lots of food stalls too! Ahmaaaazing!



droooools!



Am not sure what are those. Anyone know? Lol.

so tempted to buy but afraid of diarrhea.

In the end, one of the things we bought are a box of strawberries as they were so cheap and huge! I ate till i think i can stand not eating any for the next 5 years. xD

Its about 3 kg i think!

In the afternoon, we went to Louvre Museum. As it was the first Sunday of the month, we got free admissions into the museum! Good timing! The museum was really fascinating! At first i didnt know that Louvre Museum was that huge! VERY huge indeed! I guess my imagination of the museum was just limited to what i'd seen in the Da Vinci movie.

The center of the museum which is under one of the pyramids.

Later on, i found out that the museum is actually housed in a palace itself! I can't imagine how the king and queen could live in such big place. Must be tiring to walk from one room to another. Hehe. 

one of the corridors. this one leads to Mona Lisa.

In the museum, i viewed of course the famous Mona Lisa, Aphrodite aka 'Venus de Milo', Colossal Statue of Ramesses II, Medieval Moat, Winged Victory of Samothrace and other more paintings and sculptures.

room with paintings.

beautiful sculpture of a woman. looks like mattress was invented way back!

For the Mona Lisa, i guess i'm quite a noob in viewing paintings because i don't know why that painting received the most visitors. I know it was something about her being enigmatic but still, to me, its just a woman smiling. But seeing this particular painting is so popular and a not-to-be-missed painting, me being kiasu actually squeezed through crowds in other to see it! Hehe.

the crazy crowd. it was more than these!

The courtyard outside the buildings of the palace is beautiful. Saw the inverted pyramids.

beautiful architectures.

i wonder what's the use of this pyramid. is there any?

Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris was the next destination. It is a Gothic, Catholic cathedral. Said to have the finest example of French Gothic architecture in Europe. The interior was pretty superb.

the exterior of the cathedral.

the interior.

When we went there, a service was being conducted since it was Sunday. My first time s

eeing how Catholic church conducts service. I wonder how the church members can concentrate since there was always a constant stream of visitors entering the church even on Sundays. So i couldn't really take nice pictures as flash was not allowed in service. 

the preacher.

Before going to the church, we passed by this bird market and we saw this!

Hello!

It is the same species as my bird! Had been searching out for this!

some of the great architectures around paris~

serene :)

Wanted to go to Versailles Palace but didn't as time was limited. At night, we went to the Eiffel Tower again to view it at night. Pictures taken are not nice though but the scenary was still breathtaking. So that was the 3rd day and also the last day in Paris!







Europe (Paris) (2nd part of 2nd day)

We searched for our hotel which was located at Saint-Mande. We took a really long time to get use to the train system as it was pretty different and very complicated. Plus the difficulty in communication, a lot of patience were needed! Was so relieved to see our hotel.

The better Metro station in Paris.

My first hotel in Europe.

Later on, we went to the long awaited destination in Paris that is Eiffel Tower! The first glance i saw of it was at the train and it simply stole my heart! It was amazing and i felt unbelievable to see it. Eiffel Tower was actually built as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair marking the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. Went down at Bir-Hakeim station and walked towards the tower.

its right behind of me!!

awesome!

We walked through the parks. Saw quite some couples there but mostly everyone was in groups. Actually i don't really get why Eiffel Tower is an icon of romance. But i guess its the area around it. I could see many nice old buildings. Fascinated by them. x)

Enjoying the tower from the base. x)

Saw many couples and groups of friends here hanging around.

At the base.

After that, we toured around Seine River.

Walked to the Arc de Triomphe. A little bit about this arc. It was built to honour those who fought and died for France in the French Revolution and Napoleionic Wars. You can see the names of French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Even beneath its vault, there lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. Amazing.

Anyway, it was already dusk when i reached there. So, we had dinner and walked along Champs Elysées, the world's most famous street.

So, this was my second part of my second day!

Europe (London-Paris) (1st and 2nd half day)

Hey! I've chosen to update here in my blog instead of in youtube. Parents said i was weird talking to a netbook and so i feel shy now to record myself! =P Well, besides, there'll be a lot of updates to be updated once am back, so i figure why not update my journey while i'm still here? It'll be fresh. :)

For those of you who don't know, i'm currently backpacking in a small part of Europe for 15 days with my family. I guess i'll start jotting down here what's happened from the start.

I departed from LCCT airport at 3pm on April Fool's Day. Had a 13 hours flight!  At first, the journey was still alright. After the first 3 hours, i started to constantly ask my dad for the time and counting down till the landing. Thank God for my Kindle. If not, it'll be even torturing.

The torture chamber behind us

It was night at around 9pm London time when i reached London-Stansted Airport.
I stayed over in the airport till 6.30am the next day to catch the first bus to London. There were a lot of people sleeping at the benches and even on the floors in the airport. Quite a sight to see.

People sleeping on benches

After a one-hour journey from the airport, we reached Liverpool street and took a train to King's Cross St. Pancras station. Thrilled to see the buildings in London on the way there.The train stations are also amazing. Couldn't believe myself that i was actually in London. Anyway, when i reached the station, i only remembered that King's Cross station was where they filmed Harry Potter! It was the station where every September the first, he took the train to Hogwarts. Too bad, half of the station was under renovation.




The King's Cross Station



St. Pancras Station

We boarded Eurostar to Paris in St. Pancras station. Usually to go to Paris from London by bus, you need at least 8 hours. But by this train, we reached in 2 hours time. It was really fast. But very dizzying for me. Anyway, guess what. I saw Brooke Fraser while waiting for the train! At first when i saw her, i suspected it was her but wasn't that sure till i saw her name on the musical instrument box she was carrying and her hooked-nose. She was just 2 steps away from me but i didnt say hi though. Later on, i found out she sat at the same couch as mine! Just a few seats away. Well, wonder why was she heading to Paris. :)

In the Eurostar train. Notice the two heads in front? The right one is Brooke Fraser. Haha!

Along the journey to Paris, witnessed pasture of green grass with cows, horses and sheep. It was really a sight to remember. My first time seeing such scenes real life instead of in pictures. Kinda envy those people who stay there. I've always dreamt that i can stay on those green hills with farms at the side.

Reached Paris at 11.30am. My first impression of Paris when i was viewing it from the window of the train was the bandit area in Maple Story. Haha. That was because i saw many graffitis on the walls. It was quite creative. We arrived at Gare du Nord station. One thing we realised after a few visits around Paris. They have a lot of huge HUGE train stations. And all of them have marvellous designs and architectures. We went out from the station to search for food. Now, my first impression of the people there. Creepy. I could see many people hanging around outside the station flirting at girls, and eyeing people. One of them even called out to us in Japanese language. Well, maybe they were just trying to be friendly. This impression got worse after lunch when we headed back to the station to take the Metro. We saw many rude, mischievous-looking, raucous people. Most of them don't know how to speak in English but French. Fortunately we also met really helpful and friendly French people. They used sign language with us.

in the Gare du Nord station

exterior of the station. Get what i mean by huge? lol

The first train we took was a nightmare especially to my dad. Haha. It was because he expected the trains to be cleaner, brighter and more modern looking since its Paris. But this first train was very interesting (to me) yet in the same time creepy looking. It looks quite old like it was already there for 50 years back. It has 3 levels. Lower, middle and upper level. Felt bit regret for not taking picture there because was carrying luggages and also was afraid the people might not like it. After that, the rest of the journeys the trains are all alright. They have a lot of lines and we had to walk along tunnels to reach to another station line. Pretty interesting. I guess the underground of Paris is practically full of underground tracks and trains.

The Transition

Awesome! Great! Amazing! Superb! Wonderful! Surprising! LOL! Words to describe the training period in Kampar from my team!

I just came back from the Session Two of Empower programme in Kampar organized by my church. Was really blessed there. I think i'll update about the trip when i come back from Kuching which i'll be off to this coming Tuesday morning for the Session Three of Empower!

Tomorrow will be my STPM result day! It was so fast! I've no feeling at all for tomorrow, to be frank. Previously i was pretty worried on what i'll get, but i guess i surrendered to God whatever that will be. So now i'm in peace. If the result is bad, it's all my fault as i was pretty last minute in studying for it. He had provided easy exam questions for me yet i did not get ready for it. If i did better than i expected, it is really a miracle! But no matter what, i'm assured that God is there with me and i shall not be afraid. No matter what result i get, i know that God has a plan to prosper me, not to harm me, plan to give me hope and a future.

Will update more when i got back! Lots of things to pack for! Am excited! Pray for us! =D

Working Life

A week has passed. A week of working life in fact. Now i understand a little of what a life a working person goes through. And i can say that it is not easy! It is tiring. Every moment of your life is somehow directed to your working life.

This week, most of the time i spent awake is in the office, which is from 8am to 6pm. I can barely see the sun except a few rays from the windows to indicate whether it's cloudy or not, and the roof to tell me whether it's raining. Only one hour of lunch break. Well, for me, it is not as tiring as my colleagues' because i'm just an intern which not much responsibility is placed upon me. Now i know that office life is truly not my thing. I can do the things in the office, effective (=P) and all, but i don't think i want to spend my life working in an office, dealing with products, and facing the computer all the time. I love a work that can interact and impact people's lives. Office work is too vain for me i guess (apology to office workers if any are here).

Now i'm starting to appreciate Labour's Day. To understand why they need a day for workers. Well, workers who are hardworking. Truly respect those people who can stand through these their whole life. Sometimes i feel why can't they take a work which is more meaningful than office works. But i guess i can't judge them. Sometimes there are simply no choice for them to choose and also perhaps many mouths are waiting to be fed at home thus they can't be too picky about jobs.

Anyway, truly learnt a lot of things. And ahh, i guess i need to learn some office exercise too to ease my back and shoulder pain. I'm getting hunched after such long hours of sitting!

All in all, i thank God for bringing me through this. Even though this will just be a one month of working life, i pray that it will not go in vain in terms of understanding certain things in life, and perhaps i don't have to use the Microsoft Excel again, but then again, i might!

Singapore

Yikes! It's been some time since im here. I've some things to update about but got deterred by busyness, brother using internet soooooo long, laziness and so on.Well, before this, i've planned to update in my blog the places i've visited from the start of this blog or rather from my previous travel blog which had been terminated (hehe). So, last year in the end of December, i went to Singapore for a few short days and i'm going to update about it.

I guess Singapore to many here is like a second home and that they've been there countless times. Yet, i've only been there twice including the trip last year. I'll try to write down some of the things i thought about when i was there for a record.

I wasn't really excited about this trip as i know Singapore is not a really interesting place to be in especially if i'm not entering Universal Studio. I only went there for 3 days 1 night. Even upon reaching there, i had to wait for my family as they're in the casino, redeeming back the rm200 by playing inside (just some type of a package). Waited for about 4 hours from 3am, sleeping at one of the many benches with some of my other relatives. There were many other people who slept there too. First time of such experience. Maybe its a good thing to try sleeping outdoor like this. I'm going to have to do that again some near future.

Some people. Some relatives.

I went to Orchard Road first in the morning to find for the hotel i'll be staying in. It was on Christmas, so it was quite deserted except for some cleaners cleaning some leftovers of Christmas Eve.

deserted street. quite serene.

Didn't really walk along the road as was planning to go at night instead to see the lights but too bad, it rained that night.

Love this!

The biggest Christmas tree in sight.. and my sleepy face.

Hehe.

Some of these along the road. I wonder whats the function of these. For kids?

Later on, we found out that our hotel was not as near to the Orchard station but Little India station. We didn't have a clue as to what awaits us in Little India as the hotel was booked by my cousin in the internet.

With tired feet and drowsiness, i trudged to the station, used multiple maps to locate the hotel, hoping for a steamy bath and a short nap on the wide hotel bed. We were actually looking out for a medium sized decent hotel building but we couldn't see any along the way to the road where the hotel is said to be in. Until we found out that our hotel is not a tall building but a row of shop houses catered especially for Indians. Even the whole Little India town was full of Indians! I thought the name is just a name, but no, the place is the name. Except i don't know why they call it Little. Sounds cute though when said in Mandarin.

One of the streets in Little India.

Some pasar.

The little hotel entrance with many rooms on top.

Well, looking at the little entrance, i should have known that the room must also be a small one! But i was shocked, indeed my whole family and my aunt and uncle too. Lol. It was totally the opposite of the picture in the internet!

Looks clean and roomy from here but its not.

Four of us crammed into this little space. Quite an achievement.

After some nap, we went to Chinatown. I'll just show some of the pictures from now on. It's easier to describe with pictures.

one of the streets. love the reds.

One of my lunch from a China restaurant. Not that special. Tasted something like sugared roti canai.

This was delicious. Not that special la but definitely tasty!

China street

One of the shops that gives the olden China days feeling. Like it. There were a lot of ang mo sitting around of these shops too. I think they enjoy this kind of settings more than the Chinese do!

Went to a big mall right beside of China Street. It was very much like Low Yat Plaza except Low Yat has more things and more people. So, we hunt for food instead. This food up there was good! Just a little salty though.

Chinatown station. Most of the stations have their own creative designs to suit the towns culture.

Talking about stations, i really admire the train system in Singapore. I'd never waited long for a train there! It was so free to move around Singapore even by public transports. Besides, one thing i realised and i guess many malaysians will realise is that their escalators are fast! Its like you have to think and count before you jump on it. Well, for the start la and if your brain is too slow and sleepy at the moment.

Went to Marina Bay next. Walked like mad.

The boat on three buildings.

Something like The Mines.

Again waited for the adults to check out the new built in casino. Saw quite some kids sat on the floor outside of the casino too. Kesian. Lol. After that went to another part of Singapore for a shopping mall. Forgot whats the name of the place.

Some bobbing mascots. Must be hot in there.

At night, it was raining. And when we walked back to our hotel, there were a lot of Indians surrounding us. We were the only Chinese around walking in town. Quite a sight huh. They seemed like really enjoying themselves, sharing food while lepaking around.

The next day, went to some random sightseeing. Took an FOC bus around the town to see different places before deciding where to drop off. Some Singaporeans recommended this makan place in Redhill. Glad at least we found a famous hawker place.

In Redhill, tried this!

White Carrot Cake. Quite nice. Sorry picture is sideways. Rotate your head 90 degree to the left to get the best view!

Taufu, dried squid rojak

Also tried their durian ice kacang. It was good. But not as good as Malacca's!

Sentosa Island was our last destination. There was a lot of people of course. Didn't enter to any parks or anything. Just went to sightsee. I was keen on going to the beach. So, we went there first!

Look at the light! ahh..and the sea....

It wasn't a long beach, but it sufficed to delight me until my hopefully soon trip to real beaches. Too bad didn't get to stay longer.

My first living memory and picture with the replica of the famous Singa.

One of THE globe in the world. Lol. Wrong angle though.

After some couple more minutes of walking, i was so dead tired due to really lack of sleep previous night. So, when some of the adults had to go to casino to redeem some other things and to wait for the night bus, i went again to those benches and slept. Lol. Waited for about 3 to 4 hours again. Slept, people watched, read Bible, planned upcoming trip, memorised verses, stared on the floor, stared at people's feet until it got blur, watched people watched me, got asked by a guy whether i was sick because i was staring too long, hummed, peeked on my neighbour's PSP until he realised it, viewed the pattern of the marble walls and tried to figure what images it can be, watched people's clothes, talked to an Indon family, laughed at little children who ran by, etc etc. Yeah, you got that picture.

Gladly, night came and so did the bus, and so did everyone! Thus, that was my Singapore trip. Overall, it was not that bad la, even the waiting part. But most probably i will choose not to go to Singapore in at least the next 5 years. Not really an ideal tourist site for me. :)

2011!

Happy two-o-one-one! :)

Well, i'm actually not sure of what i'm feeling right now about having a new year and all. I did squeal yay a few minutes after 12. I did enjoy the sound of fireworks. I did wish my family, friends and my dog happy new year. I can't say that i'm not thrilled at all that it's a new year, new resolutions etc. But I guess a part of me is holding back from being too excited about this new year? Perhaps i'm just a bit bewildered that another year has gone, a little scared also. Had i treated 2010 well? I think some parts i did, some parts i didn't. Of course it was not perfect. But what i think i can say about 2010 is that despite of everything, i will miss 2010. The many dramas in that year and the friends..... :)

Anyway, i think im just a little slow in accepting that its 2011. I guess i'll be jumping up and down when i wake up tomorrow.

So, again, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011! May the failures and successes of the yesteryear not be a blocking stone but a stepping one! Cheers~ ;)