Paradise

We got on a boat ...

... and it brought us to Paradise.

It made sunburn so worth it!

Early Morning Kuching

A very popular early morning breakfast spot for Kuchingites. 

This stall in Bishop Gate sought after day in and day out. Famous for its long lines and table sharing with strangers.

Dry handmade noodles accompanied by a pork offal soup mixture. Something tou can't say no on a cold morning (besides my bed). This stall has been operating for more than 30 years.

It used to have two lots a few years back. How surprised was I when I saw a Madam Tang (a commercialized coffee shop franchise) replacing its corner lot. Now it occupying the second lot on the old row of shop houses.

Nevertheless, this shop never fail to attract its regulars who are patiently waiting for their seat, their drinks, and their long awaited bowl of noodles. Patience is indeed needed to have a meal here. No rushing the less than 5 family run members of the shop. You won't be entertained. 

Long story short, make sure you have all the time in the world to wait for your precious bowl of soup and noodles. *and the war of fighting for a place to seat*

Transit Journal : Dubai

It was close to 2300 hours as I stepped on the Middle Eastern Airport ground. Flying with Emirates is one of my favorite choices, since Malaysia Airlines does not have a Munich - Kuala Lumpur fleet and flying from Frankfurt requires me to take an early morning speed train ride, not forgetting the sky high prices. The trick to getting a cheap flight home is to stalk the web page exactly one month before your desired departure date. In about three days, the 700euros for two ways will turn to 500euros. A deal I learned.

Yes, after more than a year, I'm home for a special occasion. It's been a while.

Dubai Airport is home to many International travelers, especially those having connection flights from the east to the west and vice versa. As grand as it is, many shops and duty free deals are awaiting to entertain your transit hours. As for me, I was wondering around alone and somehow felt a little uncomfortable with people staring funnily at me. The trick is to just act cool. Everybody noes that. LOL

Going left after the escalator, I wondered around the shops. Trying to see if anything is out there searching for a master. Book shops, liquor shelves, cosmetics, I was hoping for delicious handbags. Not much choices. They do have Guess, C Audiger and Ferragamo.

Checking out on Gold prices. Counters are separated according to minerals and their percentage. People were buying off counter jewelery like a sale bargain due to the drop of the gold price recently. And talking about Gold prices, I've heard that they are cheaper in the Dubai terminals. At 188Euros for 5g, I think the prices does not vary much from anywhere else.

I walked the end of the rows of shops. Further down opens a food court. I turned my 180 and went the other direction. Something appeals to me. Mmm.. a yummy fruit smoothies stall. I can't avoid things fruity no matter how much I try. Especially if it has mangoes. Killer ones. A good thing is that it's healthy and yes, helps my digestion. I ordered a mango Smoothie and took a Strawberry and white chocolate muffin. maybe I'll have it for breakfast. It's actually only 1900 hrs back in Germany. Dinner maybe.

By the time I walked the other half of the shop rows, I'm down to half of my smoothie. Maybe I'll stop by at the MAC counter. My intention was to have them pluck my eyebrows for me. I ended up buying a eyebrow pencil and they don't do trimming at counters. 5 Dirham change. Maybe I'll buy date I thought. then I was too lazy to turn back.

I walked to the terminal gate waiting for my call. 3 more hours. A book for 20 minutes, Vampire Diaries for 10 and the rest, I spent it talking to the Aunty next to me who was transiting from New York to go back to KL. I spent quit a lot of time talking to random people recently.

Plane Boarding

I'm leaving in a short while.

A secret place.




I can't honestly say I hate this life.

New time zone coming up! Have a great week everyone =)

Paris : Esmeralda meets Quasimodo

The last time I was in Paris, I didn't have the time to step into this real life Disney cartoon architecture (boo me. I know Northe Dame from The Hunchback). One thing I remembered was the kids feeding birds outside, like a real Disney cartoon.

Norte Dame de Paris. Our Lady Peace of Paris which stands tall by the River Seine.
In the cold winter, there's no place better to go than to take shelter inside mystical buildings, walking the same trace as historians.

Too bad we couldn't go up to the belltower because of the weather. Nevertheless, stepping into this cathedral was magical. it was likea beautifully decorated cave with pretty windows. Everything seemed mystical and new wonders of how long things would survive lingers in my head. I felt like Nancy Drew.

Pretty glass stained windows aka Gothis Archi

The very place the Coronation of Napolean I took place. Picture form The Louvre.

There was a Christmas Carolling session up front. It was the 23rd of December.

The cross.

Overcoming death and the symbol of freedom in Christ.

Paris : Meeting Mona Lisa

We arrived Paris safely. But the next day was really horrible. We could have died frozen.

Fighting the cold

Our shelter in time of need. Good thing not all tourist sites are outdoor. That'll be very cruel in the winter.

I think I have posted on The Louvre during my Summer visit. At that time, we did'nt go in the museum because staying out was so much fun compared to being indoors in the summer. But hey, winter had to come. A good place to spend time when the weather outside is raging mad.

So, what's so special about The Louvre? If you watch Mr bean The Movie during your youngerdays, maybe you can guess it right. The Loure is the residing place for the famouse Mona Lisa painting.

The Mona Lisa painting is yet the most famous in the world. (Pray that your camwhore photos become one too). Do the Mona Lisa smile.

In the Mr Bean Movie, the painting was huge very poster like. In real life, it's just a small painting the size of two A4 papers put together.

Squeezing in to see Mona Lisa. I'm very short compared to every other people here (probably like Napolean).

Since 1503

And the crowd coming to see her.

Looks like a JB concert ey?

Basically The Louvre is an art museum with 35 thousand art collections from over centuries. This was the Palace during the Medieval, Renaissance and Bourbon period. The Museum is Divided into eight parts if I'm not mistaken. With three entrances.

Note : EU Students with Student Visa gets free entrance.

Painting Gallery

The Greek Sculptures

Another famous sculpture : The Winged Victory of Samothrace.

Its a sculpture of the Greek Goddess Nike which means Victory.

Nike means victory. Something new learned today.

Polaroid 0702 : Play Nice Aunty

Went to buy some goodies to bring home.

The weather has been quite feverish lately thus the muddy soil on the site of the new supermarket that I had to overcome.

My 2 year old Sneakers are already worn out.

Care to get me a new one?

Polaroid 0602 : Study Mode

What better way to spend your Sunday night productively.

(just because we're havings exams at 0830 hrs the next day).

Betriebswirtschafslehrer : doublechecked!!

Polaroid 0502 : Happy Birthday Fazrul!

My second Polaroid edited snap.

I just came back from celebrating Fazruls 23rd birthday.

Happy 23rd Birthday Fazrul!

Polaroid 0402 : Top the Cake

When I see a Plaroid Photo, it takes me to those days when I was still in primary school. Cameras at that time were expensive and there was this magical stuff called the Polariod. And instant film devoloping item. It always looked so fun especially when starred in music videos where people would play around with it taking shots of their friends.

One Polarid I certainly would never forget was this:

The Spice Girls Polaroid.

I doubt if it ever entered the Malaysian market. There was someone in primary school who had it. I think she got it from the US.

I saw a photoblog by Nono Fara and she's doing this Polaroid Project which I think is kinda fun to do. In other words, I want to do it too. =D

So for each day in the month of Febuary I'll take a photo of a subject that revolves around me and change it into Polaroid. Maybe a good way to see what are the small simple things that are a part of my life. Nostalgia

Here's my first. A Pandora Charm.



Febuary is a great month for Birthdays!!

From Italy to France

Hello, I'm just back from the exam hall. I had to feed my eyes to CNN to hit the reality button that I'm very blessed despite my exams being *two thumbs up*. Sarcasm.

Maybe just a little update on my family trip to Paris.

Arrived safely through a snow storm. Chunks of snow the size of marshmellows fall rapidly accompanied by the wind. That night, the night of our arrival, we were so tired. The bus ride from the Ryanair Paris Airport (Beauvais) is roughly two hours away from the town itself. Got our room in the Villa Fenelon around Cadet which is a (many pebbels to throw) stone throw away from the Gare du Nord. 30€ per person per night for a 3 person Private room. Very worth it!

Drenched due to the weather, my sister and I still went out to get food. We were soo hungry. Most places were closed but thankfully there was a Chinese Restaurant at the block behind. We 'tapau-ed' food like it was Siang-siang corner and had dinner in the room.

The morning after : The storm did'nt seem to want to stop. It just got worse. So we stayed in till almost noon. We had our complimentry breakfast sent to our room for free.

Scrambled eggs, a basket of rolls and your choice of morning beverage : Coffee Tea Milk or Chocolate.

It was more than fullfilling. I didn't remember having lunch.

Firenze : The sky was moody

We made a day trip to Florence. And the weather was far off. it was so not good. We were freezing cold. It was raining and wind was blowing so strongly. Anything beyond 100m from our sight was just plain misty. So we decided to take a tour bus.

We got to see Florence in one ride though, sparing the energy of our legs and frozen sweat.

Nothing is more Italian than Vespa scooters.

It was very misty. (and COLD!) Took this picture while the bus couldn't turn into the corner because there was a van blocking. It was like a very typical scene in Italy. *honking shouting in Italian and a handful of gestures*

The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge" in Italian)

This bridge has shops along it which was very common in the Medieval times. The sight of this brige reminds me of the movie : Perfume The Story of a Murderer. If you have not watched that movie yet, i reckon you do.

Firenze Duomo. Since 1436.

This amazing masterpiece took years to be done. Every single sculpture and design was made to perfection. It was like a puzzle put together. Everything to specification. Very intricate.

Inside the Duomo. Duomo means Cathedral in Italian. And this particular one is the biggest in Italy.

Duomo sounds like something Pitbull would say or sing. Como? (nvmd. different story)

The inside of the largest brick dome ever constructed.

Have fun painting with a stiff neck.

We were attracted to this candle stand.

While busy taking lots and lots of pictures, then my camera went SD card is full. 8GB isn't enough.
So we decided to copy the pictures into a DVD in a Photoshop by the Duomo. They sell items almost 3 times the regular price! A 16GB memory card was sold for 120€.

We had to wait about 20 minutes for the DVD to be burned. It was starting to rain. We went to take shelter in a cosy cafe in the alley.

to die for : at 45°

I almost died eating the pasta. It was the most delicious ever Fungi Pasta that ever melted in my mouth. The softness the creamy-ness. It was everything I could ever want in a pasta. Since I never say no to mushrooms. I'm not really a big fan of pastas. But this one.. *faints*

After having my sisters share of pasta, and another bowl for me alone, we went off to see David in the Galleria dell' Accademia. David and Goliath was one of my favourite Bible story. David, the youngest of this brothers killed the giant Goliath with a sligshot. But this David crafted by Michealangelo was many time bigger than Goliath. Pictures were not allowed in the Museum.

After th Arts center, we kind of got lost. We were desprate to go back to the train station but instead, went in a circle. Than we had our time walking through the Italian version of Petaling Street.

Designer Labels majority have their siblings born in Italy. But they do cater to normal people too aka replica items.