Showing posts with label Travels..... Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travels..... Show all posts

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

I missed the snow, Paris.

When i got in this morning, it was 1 degree Celsius.
Boy it sure feels like -2 though.

Daddy always tells me it's colder n coldest whenever the snow is receding..
Not when it's likely or going to or is snowing.
He calls it 退雪。

Not expecting to come to Paris at this time of the year, or ever for a long long time..
I was pleasantly surprised.
Yet.... with the whole quitting thing looming... not too excited either.

I came down with a killer sore throat.
A consequence of greed as i wolfed down ferrero rochers one after another, while having coffee, tea, Coke. but not enough water.

I slept thru lunch n tea but remembered that the French do late dinners.
So at 9pm I finally woke with renewed strength n walked out to the chains just outside Porte Maillot in search for food.

The warm goat's cheese salad at Leon's was good!
So was the pot of Adreienne style mussels which had slivers of bacon n button mushroom slices in it too.
And the 25cl. lil' jug of sauvignon i had.

Looking outta the window while eating alone at a French restaurant n jus thinking n chewing, i thought about what did the years of service in this company meant to me.....

a random old man walked past while I was licking the ketchup off my fingers n smiled at me thru the window


And i half smiled at him back with something in my mouth like the above pic.

I wondered come 2010 how often will i have time off alone to collect my thoughts like then.
How often will i get to wander strange streets on my own n b awed by the sight of people, buildings, things I'm not used to seeing.
How often will i have time to do the things im so used to doing when in hotel rooms alone outstation.
How often i run thru my head reminding myself to reply to the waitress in the foreign language, whatever little i've come to learn when she comes over to check how m i doing.
Random things....
You know??


Actually, u'll never know.


Being on your own outstation versus being on holiday with other people is such complete difference.
The senses r different. the responses n thoughts that go thru the head are different.
And that is the only thing i love bout my job.
The time i have to myself when im overseas.
And i truly enjoy being alone to enhance these senses too! without the mindless chatter of bimbos n ppl i dunno.

There is so much to love bout it.
But yet so little to give up when i do.
Tis is when i compare it to the many other things that will make me happy when i'm always at home.
I just hope that i've not made a wrong decision. or overlooked some things cos i've had too much of another.

I'm actually scared!!!! bleahg* ;b

Sunday, November 22, 2009

London

The streets, the air which makes my nose bleed, the Underground, the Maharishi, the Covent Garden.
The 97 restaurant along Chinatown, the Covent garden branch of H&M which is my favourite.
The houses in Victoria Street i walked past while getting lost from High Street Ken back to Gloucester.
The Ann Summers which have Rabbits n knick knacks i've bought notti gifts from.
The duck along Bayswater.
The musicals, the theaters.
The ones i've never watched.
The ones i've watched with company.
The ones i've watched alone.
The gloom.
The rain.
The accent, the grubby ppl, the stylish ppl.
The London Bridge i've still yet to see.
The London Eye i've yet ridden.
The hope to live here for 6 months at least just for the hell of it.
The Selfridges on Oxford St n luxury shops along Bond tt i've had gone outta my way to avoid.
The museums i've not yet found time to visit.
The jog in Hyde Park I've procrastinated everytime.
The tea n scones in Harrods I was brought to once.
The memories.....

The love-hate relationship I have with the flights up here.
I'll always love you London! This trip might be my last.
Or there could be another one b4 the end of my career.
But i just need to tell ya you will always have a piece of me.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

48 hrs in Paris

Fri morning touch down 7am
Check in 8.30 am.
Smoked.
showered. Crashed.
4pm woke up text girlfren.
Spoke to sweetest bf on phone.
5.17 pm Grilfren finished work n called.
Changed n went down lobby wait for gf at 6pm.

Walked to cafe n had aperitif(b4 dinner drinks) though i was starving.
Cos gf said its frenchy thing to do. n 7 pm too early on fri to have dinner anyways
Ordered salad n kir something, white wine with peach schnapps.
Damn scared to get drunk cos empty stomach.
Not to mention i wa jus dying to have a full satisfying meal, regardless of whether is it french proper dinner time or not.

Ate starter from 830 to 9.30 pm. Mix pot of meats was fantastic! nothing u can get at home.
Drank red wine even though i preferred white.
Had doggie food like lamb mealball. more like mushed up lamb which made me 'ge-lat'
Had fantastic apple crumble with tiramisu like tasting but hell lot better ice cream.
Swapped half with gf cos i think she liked my dessert better.
Gf paid for dinner.
prob 100 euros.

Went to English pub.
Had 2 jaeger bombs n 1 kilkenny n 1 1664 kronenburg which i so loved between us 2.
the djs here seemed to play alot of David Guetta remixes n oh yeah, Pitbull songs n recent Rnb stuff i like!
Went out for fresh air cos too stuffy in pub.
Outside is 5 degrees. of cos inside no aircon.
Took cab to another area with an aussie pub n irish pub opp each other.
Went inside Irish pub.
Dj played same music as the last.
Had 2 half pint Strongbows with cassis syrup, 2 vodka mint shots which tasted jus like Listerine, 2 vodka lime sodas which they dun use lime cordial at all (argh), 2 more jaeger bombs between us n another 1664 beer.
All paid by me.
To make up to gf for paid for dinner.

Gf gets picked up by 22 yr old cute boy.
Gf gets picked up by 60 yr old dancing man when salsa song played.
Gf gets picked up by 36 yr old nice man. she gives number.
I take pics.... ;D

Leaves pub at 5 am (11 am sg time) not drunk at all....
had hard time getting cab
walks for 15 mins.
Fianlly gets cab.
Gf crashes in my room cos dun wan her to drive.

Next day wakes up at 10am, 11am, 1230 am n finally 1pm.
cos i was hungry
Got showered n changed while gf snoozes more.
finally wakes her up at 2pm cos i think of how many things i wanted to do (check out price of non contract iphone; too expensive, buy sothys post wax cream, visit the eiffel tower n take pics)

Gf drove to her home n bought pastries for breakfast
yeah breakfast at 3pm.
had tea in her kitchen while waiting for her to shower n change.
4pm left her house but went to grocery shop cos she felt compelled to show me wat she eats
Stopped by at florist cos she likes to buy flowers.

is 5pm.
My only day in Paris is gone.
N pastries r too sweet for my savoury tongue as a breakfast.
I crave curry pok.
n i getting gastric cos no hot meal n all tt waiting around.

Parked at champs elysee.
Gf went w me to SFR (phone provider in France)
iphone without contract is 590 euros for 3Gs 16gb. need to crack somemore.
Checked with bf. too ex. hopingto find a deal at 400euros.
went to another phone provider.
They dun do iphones without contract.
stopped looking.
Am disappointed.

Walked n walked all the way to St honore to Sothys to buy post waxing cream.
Cost 27.90 euro here but approx 42 euros when bought back in Sg.
Only thing on my checklist done as i purchased 2 tubes.

Walked n walked as waiting for dinner time to meet Gf's other visiting frenz from amsterdam.
Hoping to catch a glimpse of eiffel tower but scared to ask.
Stopped at cafe n had coke n fries cos i so hungry for HOT food.
Gf says is not French to snack.
I dun care. m not French.
tt's why im fat. OK?
Why must i conform jus cos im there!??!?!

Had lotsa pork for dinner.
food was fantastic.
though the additional company of a baby-talking high flying Shell exec expatriated from Sg to Amsterdam who thinks tt stewardess get paid alot for doing nothing n her English bf who thinks tt we sit around so much onboard n get DVT pisses me off.

Gf ordered total 2 bottles of wine
i look at ticking clock.
i wanna come back n sleep
i dun wanna talk anymore.
i dun have anymore euros left for cab ride back. or to pay for dinner if need to split. i had to card it, defnitely.

Bill came. 208 euros was the damage.
Baby talking high flying Shell expat from sg n I split the bill, credit card.
Was hoping Gf will pay me back half since i already compensated for her dinner treat by getting ALL the drinks the night b4.
Wrong.

104 euros is 210 sg dollars.
dinner with pple who annoyed me.
Heart pain.

Except for the fantabulous French food experience i seriously wished i had my best friends n boyfriend with me instead.
210 sg dollar spent on dinner would not seem like such a waste then.

12am back in room.
Spied boyfriend whom i miss so much on Skype.
I love you dear bb.
have to wake 7 hrs later to fly back to SG
Full load.
Day flight.
Sure gonna die.

But i cant wait to come home .
Screw seeing the Eiffel Tower n frenchy food n frenchy pple.
Im sick of atas pretentious fly life.
I wanna stay at home n be grounded forever.

Oh n my leave for Zoukout was denied.
A-fucking-gain.

So i cannot attend wedding.
N maybe not Zoukout.
Wat the FucK.

P/S. after shower when back in room realised tt i left my Sothys cream worth 54 euros for 2 tubes at the restaurant.
So officially this trip i come home empty handed. with a lighter than started out with cargo bag.
So so stupid.
*bang head*

Thursday, July 30, 2009

gastroentritis.

doc dun let me go home.
say nausea n vomiting r some of the early signs of h1n1. ;(
the rest of the set have left last night. n no matter how much a pleaded with doc, he dun even let me passenger back. SobZ*

n i had to go thru so much trouble cos the idiot doc gave me a very vague medical advice.
esp when the company needed specifics like how many days mc he giving me n wat to do next.

his words were jus "advised not to work/fly til symptoms settle"

wtf!?

the best part? it was the 29jul when he saw me but he put 28jul on both letter n med report.

SMARTEST DOCTOR!!!

N he must insist tt i dun go onboard last night cos in case i do have the h1n1 virus i spread to others n his reputation kena.

wat reputation?!?!? ask u to fax me new report with amended date also refuse!
knn yr reputation is shit to me ready when u wrote the wrong date all over my prescriptions n report yo!!
Wat were u?? high on weed or something?????

%$&*&&%())()(%@###!

i jus wannnna go home... ;_(

dunno anyone here.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Hokkaido trip Day 6 & 7

We had lotsa ice cream on Day 6

Soda, melon, lavender, kiwi...
u can get up to SEVEN different swirls of flavours in one single cone!!

We went to the town of Otaru for coffee.
Where u paid a little more to keep the coffee cups as souvenirs
Of cos keep kitty cups la.
i like wat! ;p

Otaru also has alot of stores selling musical boxes!
N glass blowing.... n intricate stuffs..

Think our best lunch so far during the tour.

hugeass scallops.
BBQ-ing in their own juices n butter...

Big shell

Big shell!
If its as wide as my fat face, it's Big lar!

Big shell fan

big shell eyes...

Can't remember wat this place is in Otaru also..
jus stop to take photo only after lunch
some scenic canal with oil lamps on the sidewalk.

Went to temple of the Fox spirit..

Where u rinse before u pray..

Fortunately for us there was some kinda carnival (aka pasar malam) outside the temple.


It's children wonderland as even cotton candy is sold in a wide variety of cartoon/manga wrappers!

Those stick balloon thingys r like damn hot, everybody bought them!!

Little japanese girls playing tikam.
Just pay 400 yen n they get a spade to scoop up colourful balls from the water..

"like tt also fun meh?? -__-" i asked my sister..

More tikam games as the kids choose the balloon they want n r given a hooked stick n they fish it out from the water.

Expensive candies
3 for 1000yen. (SGD15)

..............................................

Sapporro Tower as we go back to Sapporo Town...

I chew on a Green tes mochi with red bean filling..
yum yum~

Dinner of kobe beef
i had a thin slice n its good!!!

6 groups from our tour ordered live abalones
they were cooked live in a hotpot in sake.
it's damn 'jek ark' la to see these dudes squirming around in the heat of the pan. ;(

i took a video on my dad's camcorder n mum was not amused n told me to imagine if one of my kids got pulled away to get cooked.

Hokkaido only camembert cheese flavoured Collons!
..................................................................

We had half a day before boarding the plane on Day 7 n so were brought to a outlet shopping place near Chitose airport.

Bought nothing cos was outta yen n dad specifically told me not to use my credit cards.

Try these fried potato chips!

Apparently they were released as limited edition the previous year n each buyer had to q damn long at the airport for it n were limited only to 3 boxes only.

This marks the end of my Hokkaido trip n i brought home a pretty chocolate brown Porter Japan bag for the boyfriend for his birthday n a 1.5 kg tube of spare lard coating my waist.
Argh*

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Hokkaido trip Day 4 & 5

Sorry i left off for so long but m here to continue with my Hokkaido trip entries!

Day 4 started with a trip to some boring fort in Hakodate.
The night before we went to see the top 3 night view thingy but weather was bad n it was so foggy we couldn't see past the ledge of the cliff.


Some really old cherry blossom tree.. which stills blossoms though it looks bloody rotten.

Family pic!

After tt it was a looong drive out to Izuya or something chocolate factory n we stopped at this place for lunch.

Fish. Sea urchins in the foreground.

Hugeass alaskan crabs... n expensive too

N 01 lonely pufferfish...
Think for display only la...
he looks sad n diseased...

More kitties!

N then positively our worst meal ever for the whole trip...

jus veg n cube of tofu n some measly prawns n 1 person gets some NOT very yummy half a hairy crab.

pfft* ;@

But we did buy a couple slices of their very premium rock melon to try.
Going at at least 3800 yen (approx 57 SGD) per whole melon, we got 2 slices of melon at 6SGD PER SLICE.

But quite power la. sweet n mega juicy lor.
definitely not worth 60 bucks per ball though.

To the famous choc wafer factory next.
not many photos taken of its palace like exterior cos i was grumpy n tired by the end of the day..
this is some room where ppl go in to learn to make choc confectionery or something.

The very pretty clock tower which puts on a really good show every hour!

Getting my lavender fix...
*oooosahhhh*

Flower power!!

..............................................................................................................

DAY 5


Cheese, pizza n iced milk factory..

Grape, sweet corn, pumpkin, Asparagus(?!?), cheese flavoured ice creams!

Cheese of the world!!
Tempted to buy the yummy creamy cheese cakes back but shelf life of only 3 days n expanding bellies kept us in check.

Weighing, packing, pressing, sealing freshly made butter into their individual cartons.

Next up
Farm Tomita in Furano
As if we haven't had enough ice cream to induce 'lao sai', we were brought to Farm Tomita for some lavender ice cream...
also got rock melon ice cream.
too full of ice cream to try le la.

Expensive rock melons.
it says "1 slice 300 yen, 2 slices 550 yen"

tt's approx S$4.50 to S$8.25 respectively...

Map of farm Tomita.
Note the rainbow parts!

Rainbow!

Unfortunately, lavender only harvests during the month of July n we were a month early...
There was a green house where we saw a patch of full grown lavender flowers though..

Nearly rainbow-ish?

Cutting, moulding, packing, sealing lavender soaps...

The stages of lavender flavoured soaps

Bottling lavender essential oil..


Check out my dad dad's tummy!! Whoop! ;D

Me n my first soda pop bottle
Happened to b lavender flavoured!

Everyday got scallops for meal.
Lunch!

Kitty break!!!!
*hugs*

We stopped at some cafe where they filmed some car commercial, GTO? GTR???
Dunno la.. i was so sleepy n can't really b bothered..
EVERYDAY wake up at 6 am SG time can!?!?
nothing like a holiday at all lor.

Check out the view of the mountains behind..
like the marbling of kobe beef my dad says..

Next to some ice palace place..

Where it's so cold, at least -20 degrees celsius , tt a wet towel goes in n comes out stiff as shit.

Some chamber tt measures at -41 degrees celsius when u push a button..

N picture gallery of those who survived the cold chamber....
half naked...

Another kitty break before the day ends!! ;D
....................................................................

Smoke n bed time for me in Milan, my current location.
Morrow gonna go to Fox town (some outlet mall) for the first time.
Ferregamo pumps! please dun b too expensive even though we r too early for summer sale which only starts 4jul!