Rome - Vacation Part 2

The journey from Doha to Rome took about 6 hrs.
By now, I'm already sick or flying even for another hour, let alone another agonizing 6 hours.
Though I felt like a living dead, I can't sleep. And the economy class seat is not helping a bit.

So I decided to watch Hollywood Chihuahua, followed by The Duchess.

2 more hours to arrive Rome. Damn ! head spinning, butt aching, legs cramped, tired of my movie marathon by now.
I thought to myself, travelling to Europe is literally a pain in the ass.
I turned to hubby, and said "I don't want to travel like this anymore already."
What did he answered ? "Yes, that's the spirit."
I thought again, USA is definately not in my vacation list.

Arrived Rome Fiumicino Airport at about 6pm, and its already dark.
By now, I'm already a certified zombie.

The next morning, we were the 1st to arrive at the breasfast table. Everything was peaceful and calm till the arrival of a group of chinese tourist.
They are like "tornadoes" sweeping up food like there's no tomorrow and with no consideration to the people behind them.
Being a Malaysian Chinese, I felt embarassed for them.


VATICAN CITY



St. Peter's Basilica.
I did not know that Vatican City is a country. In fact, it is the smallest country in the world with population of only 900 people ! It's territory consist of walled enclaved within the city of Rome.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica. Huge and very unique collection of masterpieces.

ROME


The Roman Colosseum - used for gladiatorial games, contest and public spectacles.

Fountain Trevi - fountain at a junction of three roads ("tre vie")
Throw 1 coin - for good luck
Throw 2 coins - for new romance
Throw 3 coins - if you want a divorce
So, be careful how many coins you throw.

At the top of the Spanish Steps, the longest and widest staircase in all Europe.


Column of the Immacolata.

Rome as an astonighing Grafiti problem. You see them everywhere. On elegant buildings, trains, highway walls, car parks, shop houses walls, windows and even doors !
I also noticed that the Italians hardly (or never) wash their cars.
Dirt can be seen piled up at the bottom of their car doors.

A series of Unfortunate Incidents

Hubby went to Penang for a 2 days business trip today.
So I decided to take the public transport home instead of driving as I didn't want to wake up early to beat the jam.
Reached Kelana Jaya bus stop at 6.25pm.
20 minutes later the feeder bus to Bandar Utama arrived, but I decided to wait for the one to Kota Damansara instead.

Why?

Bandar Utama bus = 10 mins walking distance.
Kota Damansara Bus = 5 mins walking distance.

15 mins of waiting and the $%^# bus still haven't arrive.
It's actually 25 mins late already !
Malaysian public transportation sucks.
And it's started to drizzle a little bit and I ain't got an umbrella with me.

Regretted that I did't take the earlier bus, otherwise I would have had my shower already.

So I decided to take a cab instead of wasting anymore time waiting for the unreliable public transport.
Inside the taxi guy request to pay him in small notes cos he has used up his last small notes on his last passenger.
"Ada duit kecil? Tadi semua orang kasi I sepuluh ringgit, I sudah tak ade duit kecil?"
I dig my purse and only found 4 pieces of RM1 and some coins and the rest are RM10 and RM50.
so how? If he ain't got change, it's either he give me discount or he keep the change.
Of course, I prefer the former la. Not my fault, right.

Anyway, I just kept quiet.

When we're almost reaching my apartment, about 500m away, his taxi engine stopped.....

Holy Mother of $%@#%$# !!!!!!!

He switched off his aircon tried to restart his engine and failed.
Cars behind honking away, and his car engine was totally flat out, he can't even switch on the hazard light.
"Sori ah cik, you kena jalan kaki la"
This statement still haunts me till now.

wtf. We're right at the side of the LDP highway at peak hours and it's still drizzling.

I didn't have to pay him the 5 bucks, cos he didn't get me to my destination and worst I have to walk like 500m under the rain to my apartment !
But I paid him anyway, out of pity. Poor guy earning a living with his
"state of the art" taxi.

Tomorrow I'm driving to work !!!

Vacation (part I)

This is my 1st CNY I did not celebrate with my dear mom, dad and ah meng in Penang.
Instead, after reunion dinner at my in-law's house and we are on our way for our honeymoon !
In actual fact, I would not consider this as an ideal honeymoon trip.
As I proceed to explain further, you will understand why.
Nevertheless, its fun fun fun all the way........

My former college lecturer would classify this sorta trip as "chau lan" tour or "Refugee" tour in direct translation. She was an ex-tour leader and I do not quite understand her at that time, but now I do !

Journey to Doha was surprisingly long....about 7 hours. I barely slept through the entire 7 hours.
Arrived Doha at about 6am. Weather was rather chilly at about 16 degree celsius and I was still feelin' drowsy by the total lack of sleep and the still undigested breakfast.

Our transit time at Doha is about 8 hours and I was rather excited by the city tour, but our local tour guide will only come and pick us up at 7.30am.
1 1/2 hrs to explore the airport smaller than our Pg International Airport. Great !



When we arrived at the camel farm, I was overpowered by the pungent smell of urine.
Imagine, 10 people urinated in the toilet and the toilet is not flushed and cleaned for 2 days.
Stinks like shit. Yes, that's how it smelt.
I think this is my first time seeing a live camel. The camels over here only has 1 hump.

Camels for auction. This man saw a bus load of Malaysian tourist as potential buyers.


Roofless house along the main road.
We were lucky to arrive here during the cold season. Temperature can get very hot at almost 50 degree. That's why the people here usually start work early at 7am and finnish work early to avoid the heat.
Our local guide told us it rained yesterday. I wondered, "so?". Hehe.....it hardly rained over here.


All imported fruits and veggies. You can't grow your own cabbages and tomatoes, so you import them la. Very expensive.

Doha was the host for the 2006 Asian Games. Behind us is where the torch was lit and the main stadium.

Equestrian Park. Pampered horses inside their air-conditioned stables.

Pampered horses getting their early morning swim. Swimming pool specially designed for these horses.


Breathtaking view of Qatar skyline.


The world's biggest oyster. Why am I not excited?

My Market Outlook (very humble opinion nia...)

I don't usually blog about politics or the economic, but I'm gonna right now.

Our Central Bank cuts Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) by 75 basis point to 2.5%.
In my very humble opinion this is a HUGE cut !
Great news for people with borrowings cause Bank loan is gonna be cheap, and I mean dirt cheap.
Base Lending Rate (BLR) was adjusted to 6.5% on 1 Dec 2008 from 6.75%. Banks are currently lending at BLR - 2%, which means borrowers only pay 4.5% pa !!!
Back track, 15 years ago......Lending rate was like more than 10% !!!!!! insane.
With the further cut in OPR, we are gonna see further drop in lending rate.

Sad news for FD depositors, as the interest rate gonna be a real 'kacang putih'.
So kacang putih, your interest ain't getting you anywhere, you might as take put your cash and go for a holiday.

I'm happy that I bought my Euros and USD on time before the announcement.

Happy 2009 ! Gals day out

Last week, we start our new year with a HIGH NOTE at Red Box Gurney.





After our K-session, we had 6 hours to kill before our steamboat session.

So, what would 4 gals with a camera do in a big shopping mall ?

Think

Think

Think




What else....other than cam-whoring in a fitting room.

4 gals (including our cameragal, TBH) inside a fitting room. This is LCE at its best !!!!

At Cheryl's cozy apartment for some light snack before our steamboat. Stomach growling like crazy.....bought 1 french loaf and TBH, KPL and myself finnish half before Cheryl could finnish preparing her "tomato dip". But the hostess couldn't care less, as she seemed to be enjoying herself cutting the tomatoes and garlic.......

cut cut cut cut.........

TBH, so hungry....holding the loaf tightly to prevent KPL from finnishing the entire loaf.
ei, aye lian....can u please hurry up? hungry already.
No need to peel the garlic skin la.

Buffet steamboat.

Bon apetite ! We had 2 types of soup : chicken feet with dates and peanut soup & tom yam soup.
We all love the chicket feet soup and TBH loves her 'bebola'
(fish maw).


3 gals and 1 plate of fried something........

More cam-whore

We couldn't stand the untie who sat right behind me with BIG bushy hair. Like Alleycat.
I told KPL that if a mosquito accidently flew inside her hair, it would get lost and couldn't find his way out.

Our main focus is the auntie's hair.

TBH also join in the fun. This usually happen when you ate too full....make fun of people.


CHEERS AND HAVE A BLESSED 2009 !!!

Pokkai !

WARNING !!! If you have a faint heart, please skip this page right now.

I went back to Penang last wekeend to have a day out with the gals. Thousand apology gals as I have yet to find time to post some of our cam whores over here. I will soon, promise.

In the meantime, let me disgust you with these pictures I took when I got POKKAI in front of Ghee Hiang mansion on Sunday.
Yes, after buying few boxes of tau sar pneah to bring back home............
was chatting with mum, I tripped and landed on my shin at the tip of the concrete stairs !!!

The 2 Singaporean guys (by their car number plate) must have seen me fell down, stared at my direction did nothing. Maybe they're confuse, or don't know what happened.

Excrutiating pain la, bit didn't want to create a scene and I quickly got up and went inside the carr to check-out the damage................

Here goes.......
.
.
.
.
.
.
.



The last time I got this much damage to my leg is when I fell down from my bicycle while chased by a mad dog, like 15+ years ago????

Mamma Mia ! - Broadway from West End London

I have heard about broadway, but never imagine I would attend one.

Theatrical performance always reminds me of the clumsy Mahsuri stage performance during Teacher Day back in my primary school days where the "actors" lip-sync to pre-recorded dialogues and messy stage prop.

Last Saturday, I attended Mamma Mia ! the musical at Istana Budaya and I must say....
"holy @&%$^#$ !"
I will never looked at theatrical performances the same way again.

The performances are simply AWESOME !

When the curtain was raised I was already sitting up from my seat, impressed and mesmerized.

While waiting for the show to start earlier, hubby said that he does not like ABBA neither does he hate it.

10 mins into the performance, he is already a DIE-HARD ABBA fan. HAHAHA !
I hereyby quote him...."I have been ABBA-nised".

Finally, I have successfully bring him to the "dark-side".....

It is worth your every penny. No regrets at all.


Singing.....Super trouper.....beams are gonna blind me......

One of my fav: Dancing Queen...feel the beat from the tambourine, you can dance
you can jive..............


I have a dream... a song to sing, to help me cope with anything....................

By the encore, everyone was already on their feet singing and hands clapping to the infectious songs.

The fat uncle seated next to me was busy humming and tapping his feet all the way and the ladies on the other side dissapeard to the corner to sing and dance with the rest.

I must say that I went to see the performance with very high expectation after reading the rave reviews from the newspaper and people who have seen it.

And I'm glad that I was throughly impressed beyond my expectation.
I enjoyed it so much I didn't want it to end at one point !

Wedding Dinner @ Chyna, KL Hilton

Finally, more photos..............


You need a skilled master to handle this unconventional teapot. Everyone was in awe watching him pour tea with his acrobatic stunt. I was worried that the tea might landed on the wine glass instead. But, he's really good.

Starter: chilled lobster rolled with mango salad & three combination platter.


Double-boiled superior shark's fin consomme with sea treasure. But seriously, I have seen big piece of dried shark's fin on window display but bever eaten one as big as this one.

No need intro to this.

Abalone, sea susumber, mushroom and stuffed bean curd.

Deep fried live soon hockfish coated with assorted spice & braised eggplant and basil leaves.

My new baby

Maybe I'll post more wedding photos in my next entry.

I should, actually.....

And I would say that I was a tad (ok, maybe more than just that) traumatized by the photos.

First of all, my stupid 2 years old casio digital camera broke down 1 week before the big day and I didn't bother to go and fix it.

2nd, the photos taken by other camera were bad, bad bad....

3rd, some of the photos which I took with ah meng's camera....well, they were still inside the camera and his camera is still here and I did not bother to do anything about it.....

Oh, did I mentioned that it cost RM450 to fix the damn casio lense?????
I might as well, yes get a NEW ONE !!

Yes, let bygone be bygone...........


So I got this......
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Yes, this is my new baby ! Canon EOS 450D with 200mm lense !



And And And.........I bought the 5 Million Dollar Home for my baby at KLCC 2 days ago !

It's also called the Crumpler Bag, sold exclusively at KLCC. Comes in 4 colours (red, olive green, grey and black). Cost me RM259 bucks.
Mine is OLIVE GREEN.


Happy Happy Happy !

Just Married

So, I decided to pay a visit to my aunt and uncle in klang to tell them the good news as they are my closest relative here.

Mom played with Sasha, the miniature terrier while Bubble the moody mutt slept by the corner sulking away. Mom like Sasha so much she wanted to carry her home......

Like always, we went for BKT (bak kut teh). It is almost like a sin, if we didn't have BKT especially if dad is around. My eldest cousin joined us also.

I was pretty excited when Klang aunt offered to bring us to their new house or rather still under construction mansion at Eco Setia Park.
It's a very exclusive newly developed and gated community.
Can't wait to visit them when their houses are complete next year.

That night we had dinner at Oriental, Jaya33 to celebrate my wedding and uncle's 63rd bday.
Finally I got to see my niece and nephew aged 4 and 2.

I will publish some photos taken during the dinner (hopefully) and also those taken on the wedding day.

My camera broke down during the last day of my Bali trip 2 weeks ago and I still have not get repair yet. I have loose faith with Casio. Why did I bought casio digital camera in the very 1st place?

In major dilemma whether to get a DSLR or a canon powershot......decision decision decision

Anyway, I would like to pay a tribute to the shoe that never make it to the wedding.
I bought this black lewre with swarovski crystal to wear for the dinner but left it at PJ Hilton.
I couldn't believe that I actually lost it till the very last minutes when I was about to wear it.

The receptionist at KL Hilton helped us call back PJ Hilton and try to locate the missing shoe, but........its a sad ending to a pretty shoe.

Luckily, I got this picture to remind me of her.




This is the shoe which I ended up wearing that night. It's a gold coloured Nine West.
Nice to see, but my feet sored like crazy wearing this one