and I say...

Antwerp, and Bruges Part 1

2011-05-02T23:39:00.000+08:00

I left Amsterdam late yesterday morning and took a 2 hour train to Antwerp. I immediately didn't like the place, I don't know why. I checked into my hotel, Hotel Rubenshof, about 2.5 km away from the city centre. The hotel was great, very clean and had high speed Internet (very important to me hehe).

As soon as I put my stuff down, my brother called me to check my whereabouts. Turns out they decided to drive from their friend's house in Lommel to Antwerp, so yay! I met up with them, spent a few hours walking around until it was time for them to get back to Lommel. I went back to the hotel after that, but I couldn't still so I went back out. It was already night time, and there didn't seem to be anyone around in my part of the city, so I decided to take the tram to the station. There were people, but I didn't feel safe, so after wandering about for a half hour, I decided to head back to my hotel.

pics above are the interior of Antwerp Central Station. Grand, eh?

Since I didn't do much yesterday, I thought i'd wake up earlier today and take a couple of hours walking around the city. After 30 minutes of walking with my gps seeming to lie to me at every corner, I thought, screw it, I'm just going to go take the train to Bruges as soon as possible.

So that was my time in Antwerp. Maybe I ought to give it more time, but I am just too lazy today.

So I'm now in Bruges. Spent the day with my brother, took a horse carriage ride, climbed the 366 steps clock tower, ate some delicious waffles and ogled at the numerous chocolate shops. They went back to London around 4.30pm, I went back to the train station to get my luggage and checked into my hostel, the Lybeers Travellers Hostel. (I also managed to lose my locker ticket and had to pay a €12.50 penalty to have them open the locker hehe)

I went back out and wandered the streets until I got tired, had a whole pizza to myself and now i'm up in my room typing this out. Bruges is so darn pretty, I decided to skip the last night in Brussels and stay here instead.

Pictures below are taken in Bruges (first the view from the clock tower, second picture taken at one of the canals)

Location:Antwerp, Bruges

Amsterdam 2011

2011-04-30T07:33:00.000+08:00

Day 1
My flight landed at Schiphol at around 5.30am, so i lingered around Schiphol Plaza for about half an hour before taking the train to Amsterdam Centraal Station (€4.20). The sun was already out, and I felt quite energized as I slept for a good 9 hours on the plane. It was a short ride into Amsterdam, about 20 minutes or so, the train was just as dingy as the one I took 5 years ago.

When i got to the central station, i scrambled around for a few minutes to look for a place where i could get the city transport tickets. I found the GVB office opposite the train station that sold day passes for €7. In hindsight, i didn't really need the pass, since in Amsterdam you could easily walk everywhere. Plus it was easier finding my way around by walking with the help of my trusty GPS than trying to figure out the tram routes.

Amsterdam is really nice in the morning when it's quiet and there's only a few joggers running around. I checked into my hotel, Hotel Prinsenhof on the eastern canal belt. The lady was very nice to let me put my things in the room despite the check-in time being 2pm (it was 8.30am when i arrived!) The room was really clean and nice, but with a shared bathroom on the lower floor. It cost me €45 a night, and it was a steal considering that it was a really busy weekend for Amsterdam. A point to note is, if you're in Amsterdam and not staying at a hotel with elevators, forget about bringing the large suitcase. The steep staircases are tortorous! Luckily i only had a cabin size suitcase with me, but even with only the 9kg i had, every step i took to get to my room i questioned the need for everything that was in the bag; like do i really need 4 t-shirts and 2 pairs of trousers in there? Do i really need shampoo, shower gel, etc etc?

Anyway, enough about my room and hotel, after i settled in my room i set out for the day. First things first, i went to find a place where i could take a canal cruise. I found one along one of the canals, and bought a combi-ticket for the Van Gogh museum. The canal cruise was great, except i chose to sit outside so i can take pictures, so i didn't hear a single thing that was said by the tour guide. I took a lot of pictures, but don't ask me what those places or things were! :-)

After the canal cruise, i went to look for the Van Gogh museum. Now, if you're in Amsterdam, be honest with yourself; are you into art? Do you spend your free time at home googling paintings? Do you like museums with huge crowds? If your answer is No to all three questions, then don't bother. I spent 30 minutes in there trying to see and appreciate the paintings before deciding that my time is better spent somewhere else.

After the short stint at Van Gogh, i decided to go to Dam Square because i have some memory of it from 5 years ago. Dam square on that day has turned into a fun fair, complete with a ferris wheel and thrill rides. I stood around there for a few minutes, walked in and out of the shops in the back streets and decided to go look for the pancake shop i went to on my last visit. This city really gave me the munchies although i didn't smoke any pot or ingest any magic brownies! Mind you, before the pancake, i already had a brie and tomato sandwich and then some french fries. The pancake house is called Pannenkoekenhuis Upstairs, and yes, it's called that because of the crazy steep stairs you have to take to get some god awesome pancakes! Picture below is the lemon sugar pancake i ordered.

Next, i went to the foto museum, which was more within my area of interest, then i went to visit the Anne Frank House Museum which was interesting and sad at the same time. Must pick up her book when i get home from this trip.

By the time i got back to my hotel it was almost 9pm, and the bars outside my room were already partying like it's 2012. It all became background noise to me and i fell asleep as soon as the internet at the hotel suddenly stopped working.

All in all, i had a good first day in Amsterdam, and covered quite a lot of ground in 1 day thanks to my short attention span.

Day 2 sambung kemudian hari....

Location:Amsterdam, Netherlands

So begins another journey

2011-04-28T18:52:00.003+08:00

Amsterdam, 2006

Ah, the day is finally here. yay! Picture above was taken on my one night trip to amsterdam with my friends Lan and Phil. All i remember from the trip was that we had loads of fun roaming the streets of amsterdam and that we had some awesome pancake at some pancake place. The rest of the trip was a blur to me, not that i was too high on anything!

Well, here's to making new memories (sans SLR, so i'm hoping pictures will still turn out great hehe)

shiats, it's already april!

2011-04-10T11:47:00.003+08:00

ya ya, so much for doing a run journal and what not.

on 29th January I did a 11k loop around Putrajaya, took me two hours, and took about 2 months to recover. every thing became an excuse, too much work, too hot, too wet etc etc. Bottom line is, i got lazy.

Next week is the Energizer Night Marathon, i'm going for 11k, and all i've got to show for it is an 8k practice yesterday and about a 6k tryout last weekend. Whatever lah

So anyway, based on my sucky performance, i target to finish this Energizer 11K below 110 minutes. This goal will require me to run 25% of the time and walk the rest.

i want to get this thing over with, and take my vacation. This time i'm off to Amsterdam, then off to do some city-hopping in Belgium before taking the train from Brussels to London. I've already sent a big empty bag to my brother in London. That way, at the end of my break, i will still have space to bring home goodies, and not have to drag it around Amsterdam and Belgium.

i'm nervous, as i always am before any solo trip, but i can't wait!

Happy Monday and the week's run plan

2011-01-24T16:25:00.001+08:00

I can't wait for the my week-long break next week. Monday checkup, Tues and Wed cuti, then Thurs and Fri CNY. awesome.

I'm supposed to do a 5K test run last Sunday, but I ended up walking all the way. My whole body was aching (still is) from the session with my aunts on Saturday morning. For a total of 3 hours, we did a variation of crunches, squats, weights and finally some HIITs (High Intensity Interval Training). Felt OK the whole day after, but woke up on Sunday morning feeling stiff all over especially on the shoulders and upper leg area. So on Sunday I decided to take it easy and just walk to get the blood flowing.

The plan for this week:

Mon - REST
Tue - 5k easy
Wed - 7 x 400m intervals
Thu - 5k easy
Fri - REST
Sat - Join aunts or 6.4k fast
Sun - 10k easy

Happy Thaipusam

2011-01-20T17:31:00.000+08:00

Day spent lazing around the TV playing Need for Speed. Awesome.

So, last Sunday's 10km didn't happen. I didn't wake up in the morning, and the whole afternoon was filled with family related activity. Ah well, c'est la vie.

Tues : 5km + 30 push ups, 30 sit ups, 30 squats - Done. In fact, i ran the 5k in 45 minutes, thanks to an awesome podcast i was listening to during the run which powered me through. Can't remember what it's called now..will get the name later.

Supposed to do another 5k today. But it's too hot outside...!

6.4km done

2011-01-15T19:49:00.003+08:00

Righto.

Up until 4.30pm, i was psyched to run the 6.4km.

Then Junior Masterchef came on TV. dangit. anyway, after the first episode i just put on my gear, got out before the next one started.

Took me an hour, but i made it.

Need to do something about the mozzie bites though. Itching all over now. urgh.

Blog setahun sekali

2011-01-14T20:49:00.002+08:00

I find myself lazy to post entries because:

who needs a blog when u have facebook? With facebook, it's so much easier to flood your friends with every menial activity you are up to. I'm cooking this, i'm here, there, i'm having dinner with so and so, please come visit my new shop....honestly, who gives a crap?
I've ran out of things to write about - visits to the doctors have become less frequent
I want to write about my runs, but after my runs i am usually just too tired to bother.

Maybe i'll start again by recording my thoughts about my runs.

I'm running the Energizer Night Race in April. 11km. I'm hoping to be able to run it in 1 hour 40 minutes. Slow, you think? I'm just being realistic with my goals. My run results so far:
- 2010 Penang Bridge 10K - 1:36:34 (my watch recorded 1:30:00)
- Nike City Run 5K - 55:29

I attended a bootcamp session last saturday. My whole body ached for 3 days. There's another one tomorrow, but i decided to skip it and train on my own. Too much work to have to wake up at 6am lah.

Anyway, the plan from now to mid-feb is to build up my 5k endurance level, then i will start adding the mileage until the race day.

I'm nearing the end of my 3rd week of the 5K build up, so far i have given too much leeway to myself, skipping runs at any plausible excuse, e.g. Rain, weather too hot, dinner plans, broken computer, and a thousand and one other excuses.

So the plan for tomorrow is to cover 6.4km, and Sunday 10km. We'll see.

Finally, finally, finally!

2010-03-20T13:58:00.004+08:00

It was my birthday last week, and i couldn't have wished for anything more.

I'm alive, i'm healthy, i have enough time to do the things i like, and i love my job. but best of all, i finally completed my MBA! 6 birthdays ago, i wished for a completed MBA thesis to fall from the sky. Well, it didn't. I had to (somewhat) work my ass off on it, but late last year, the damned thing finally went to the printers and binders. Then on my birthday, i received a letter from the school.

how's that for a birthday, eh?

Spot the error!

2010-02-23T23:06:00.001+08:00

Funi @ Adelaide Zoo

2010-02-17T23:51:00.002+08:00

Funi @ Adelaide Zoo, originally uploaded by nadi0.

truly the highlight of my day.

Adelaide: 4 days on

2010-02-14T21:04:00.002+08:00

Ikea and Harbour Town (the factory outlets) day went well. We even went to Glenelg Beach first to have lunch, and then turned back to do our shopping, all on public transport, dragging the trolley bag around (well deli did). Things I'd never do at home - go to Ikea on public transport although it's quite convenient. hahaha.

The factory outlet was awesome, though I only had two hours to look around. I'll go again this week if i get the chance...Levi's had an offer for buy 2 and get the third one free. I bought 1 pair for $19.90. couldn't think of a reason why i'd need 3 more jeans. hehehe

We stayed in a hotel for the first two nights...since i've booked the room and fully paid for it anyway. The hotel sucked because the wi-fi doesn't reach the room they gave us the the very end of the hall on 3rd floor. The two beds where on wheels and they moved around the wood-floored room like nobody's business. I initially thought that it was an awesome value for $95 a night, but considering the option of staying in my brother's hostel for free, it wasn't. Well, to be fair, it WAS right smack in the middle of the city, 5 minutes walk to almost all the interesting places in the city. I would never stay there again though.

So, on Saturday we chilled out and looked for mobile plans, then went to the Central Market and Chinatown to see what Asian stuff we can find there, should my brother have cravings for Malay food in the near future. Central Market is awesome, with the cheeses, fresh looking fruits and veggies - one stall even had coffee from all over the world and it smelled delicious! After doing all that we went back to the hostel for a rest, and i went for a jog around the neighborhood. Jogging here isn't as tiring, the sun was shining so bright, but the wind cooled the sweat off..so that was nice.

Today is the last day before my brother starts his orientation at uni. We went back to ikea for more stuff, and dragged the stuff along with us to Glenelg Beach for the day. Chilling down by the beach was really nice, but it got windy so we decided to head back up to have a look around. Ended up in this really nice chocolate shop for some frappes, rushed to watch the sunset, but we missed it slightly...not that there was anything special with the sunset anyway, since there's nothing interesting on the horizon. I'm getting really lazy with lugging this D300 around lah. I think i will go back home and get me a smaller dslr body for my next holiday.

After the sunset we went to this Good Life Pizza as recommended by the Lonely Planet. We had the Spencer Gulf Monster Prawns pizza, which was really really good! It was the most expensive dinner we had so far for 38 bucks, but ok-lah, i thought i'd buy my brother a nice meal since he let me bunk in his room for the week.

I'm still not getting the bus fares in this city. I've been riding the bus and tram all weekend for $2.20 a pop, and suddenly tonight, the tram ticket man asked if we wanted normal tickets or student fares, i had to pay $4.20 for mine and my brother $2.20. I guess they just assumed i am a student all this time (woohoo!) But, serious tak paham.

Ok lah, I'm feeling tired from lazing on the beach today. hehe..i'm off.

Tired in Adelaide

2010-02-12T11:58:00.000+08:00

Man it's been one hell of a day yesterday. We arrived at 7.15 AM, and took us about an hour to get out of customs. As usual, Malaysian student off to study in foreign country, 1 bag full of clothes that you'll probably not even wear in the next year, and the other bag full of food that you probably won't eat until they're about to expire.

The flight was a short one, 6 hours and 30 minutes departing KLIA at 9.45pm. Of course i couldn't get enough sleep! first 2 hours spent watching the movies, then another 30 minutes eating, an hour of sleep and then they start serving more food and the hustle and bustle of landing started already.

It was tiring but i thought the whole morning was overall lucky for me. The driver who picks up first time students in Adelaide let me hitch a ride with my brother (they initially said that that's not allowed - guardians or travelling partners must travel separately). Then the guy at bro's hostel said i could bunk in with my brother for the length of my stay, if my brother is ok with it. Not having a proper plan pays off in the end. hahaha.

We spent the day doing all the necessary stuff, bank accounts, getting homewares etc. Adelaide city is a pretty small place, you could walk everywhere if you wanted to, which was what we ended up doing, since we only know the buses that go from the hostel into the city. hehee...by 12noon i started having a headache from the lack of sleep. but we pushed on to finish all those things. the sooner i get those things done, the sooner i get to start my holiday!

so far i haven't taken any pictures, gone for any trail walks or anything. and i can't wait! there seems to be a lot of things you could do here...one of which is swimming with dolphins, which i'm contemplating!

anyway, today we're off to the factory outlets and ikea. didn't get to finish shopping for stuff yesterday because shops here close at 5...ni yang boring kan negara2 macam ni. hehe. adios.

Week 9 Day 3

2010-01-09T21:42:00.003+08:00

I did it! Took me 10 weeks instead of 9, never thought i'd get here, but here i am. Still not fully covering 5km in 30 minutes, however, it's a hell lot better than sitting on my lazy ass throughout the most of last year. :-)

yay!

Couch to 5K: Week 5 Day 3

2009-12-11T19:30:00.002+08:00

Holy moly, i never thought i would get this far. I made it to the third run of Week 5, where i have to jog non-stop for 20 minutes. Only a couple of weeks ago, i hit a major wall trying to run for 5 minutes non-stop. To overcome that wall, i had to get off the treadmill and run at the park so i can make the minor adjustments to my pace. I also had to get a mate to run me through the 5 minutes. Then i started making adjustments to my food intake on my running days...hehe..over tak.

So anyway, today, in woman vs week 5 day 3, woman won! (sorry, i've been watching too much of Man vs. Food lately kekeke.)

Al-Fatihah for Harris...

2009-12-03T15:53:00.001+08:00

boner, originally uploaded by nadi0.

...who passed away this morning from a heart attack.

perbalahanku dengan pihak berkuasa - season finale

2009-11-23T23:26:00.000+08:00

after over a year, 4 days of wasted annual leave, 4 afternoons spent at the PJ Magistrate Court and several trips to the PJ Traffic Police HQ, my case is finally over today. It was about a traffic offense that became an arrest warrant that I supposedly committed back in August 2007. So today, the police attorney decided to cancel the ticket and warrant, due to the fact that they could not find the ticket in their archives, and also the 2nd police witness was not contactable (or not contacted at all, who cares).

what an absolutely fruitful way to waste time. muahaha.

i haven't been on the treadmill for 3 days now. went for a walk and run at the KJ park yesterday, and only lasted 1km before it started drizzling (the running bit was where i had to run back to the car to avoid getting soaked. hehe..) i'm in week 4 now, i had my 1st day of week 4 sometime mid last week, the drill was to Walk 5 minutes, 2 sets of (jog 3 mins, walk 1.5 min, jog 5 mins, walk 2.5 mins). I set the treadmill incline to 0.5, and cheated the last 5 minute run because it was too hard. I'll have to do it over, maybe slow down the pace so I can finish the whole thing. Feeling quite good since I started exercising regularly again. My usually low blood pressure went into the normal range (~95/70 to 112/72), and my usually high resting heart rate went down from 90 to 74. I'm quite happy about this particular achievement. I haven't lost any weight though, but I guess as long as I feel energetic and well, it doesn't really matter.

ciao.

disoriented

2009-11-07T02:17:00.002+08:00

after what i thought was the record breaking finishing work at 11pm on wednesday night, i broke another one by leaving at 4.30am on friday morning. lucky for me, my house is just a few minutes drive away. everytime i feel like complaining, i think about how lucky i've been, that i very rarely have to pull all-nighters for work purposes - although i probably spend 120 nights a year pulling all nighters for my own personal purposes, e.g. edit gambar, watching tv shows, etc etc. hehe.

i came back at 11 am to help them make some last minute changes, printed out the stuff and went home. then i slept. and now i'm wide awake, window shopping on walmart.com.

got a party photoshoot on a putrajaya cruise tomorrow night. should be interesting! just a bit worried that my photos will all be shakey from the boat movement. hmm.

nite

8 weeks to 2010

2009-11-04T23:59:00.000+08:00

dang, the older i get, the faster i feel time flies. scary shit.

i need another holiday, pronto. but can't do much with 0.5 day left from my annual leave. can't wait for the long weekends we'll get end of november up to end of the year. Raya Haji, Sultan Selangor's birthday, awal muharram, christmas and new year (awesome, eh?)

been staying late at work these days. tonight was the record, 11pm. and there were still people trying to finish up when i left. kasihan mereka. i want to say i'd like to break the record of coming early for once, but i think i broke that already one day when i arrived at 7.45am (because i didn't sleep the whole night). heheh.

I've also started going on the treadmill again. 3rd attempt at Couch to 5K in a year. My first attempt was late last year, which was interrupted by the Phi Phi island trip. hehe. Then it was interrupted by my apartment terbakar-europe trip-finishing mba paper hoo ha. I started again a couple of weeks ago, in a fitness paranoia streak. I went out and bought that Nike+ sport kit thing, hooked up the sensor on my shoe lace and started running. For some reason that little thing on my shoe is driving my motivation now, although not surprising since I'm a creature of graphs and data. I'm pretty sure that the sensor is clocking more mileage than what i actually cover, since the numbers were pretty off compared to the treadmill. But who cares, i'm just competing against myself, and if that illusion makes me want to do more, more power to me! hehehe..I'm now on week 2, so we'll see if i make it to week 9 this time round.

wokeys, need to try and sleep now for another long day tomorrow.

adios.

Geek Mode

2009-10-12T03:00:00.004+08:00

huiyo...3 months has passed by? I think there was a Miss M who dropped a comment a while ago asking why no updates. Busy lah. With work mostly. And sleeping in on the weekend, hence didn't do anything interesting which contributed to the lack of blog updates.

Anyway, today i bought myself a new monitor to replace the 4 year old 19-inch. After 3 hours of meddling around, i finally got the dvi display to work, and hooked up my lcd tv in extended display mode.

tada! now i can watch movies while doing work.

Happy 4th

2009-07-12T23:31:00.002+08:00

It was my 4th stem cell transplant anniversary yesterday. Alhamdulillah. I didn't do anything special, just finished some work in the office, and then went to hang out with friends for coffee later that night.

Recent bone marrow test results were good, and blood counts were excellent.

One more hurdle, and hopefully i'll be all set.

missing skopelos

2009-05-30T02:22:00.005+08:00

DSC_6339, originally uploaded by nadi0.

i finally got around to looking at my recent travel photos. i have been trying to delay this part where i go through the pictures, delete the really horrible ones, edit the nice ones, etc etc. Partly because work has consumed most of my after-trip life that my nights were mostly spent in a catatonic state in front of the TV, partly because i did not want to get into a state of post-holiday depression looking back at the photos.

i can't wait to get to do this again next year, god willing. with friends, i hope, but alone would also be OK. traveling alone is fun because you could really do whatever you like, arrange and rearrange your plans to your own liking. Of course, you get lonely once in a while, but that's why it's useful to have a friend in the form of a Wi-fi enabled gadget! :-P

One Geek Salad for me please! hahahah

I'm not sure what i really miss about Skopelos actually. Skopelos is undoubtedly beautiful. But I think it was mostly the tranquility, the week-long opportunity to behave like a lost soul with about 3 pairs of clothes and a camera, and only worry about what to eat and what to do, in addition to worrying about not falling off the cliffs.

wictor wictor

2009-05-21T00:43:00.002+08:00

Star Trek was awesome!!

among other pronunciations that made me think twice today:

in a conversation with a bank customer service agent:

Agent: can you tell me what 'kaunt-i' you use your card in?
Me: kaunt what?

in a radio ad:

something about the narrator's sister being so feminine, perhaps because she uses 'audipafum Secret' cheh. Maybe that's bahasa baku for Eau de Parfum.

i am home

2009-05-18T00:49:00.005+08:00

am home, after the stress of packing and unpacking in London to meet the baggage weight regulations, after the mix up at the check-in counter when i was checked in under a Mr Nadarajan and only realized the mistake at the gate (i got through security and immigration in Heathrow with the wrong boarding pass, mind you), after the 12 hours of darkness in the plane, out to the hot sticky weather of home sweet home.

back to reality.

Back in London

2009-05-12T03:09:00.000+08:00

After what felt like forever on the non-reclining seats of EasyJet, i finally arrived at my brother's place. It's nice and chilly, just the kind of weather i like.

And the speed of the Internet. Greece was fast, but not this fast. The song 'ooh baby do you know what that's worth..ooh heaven is a place on earth' is playing in my head right now. hehe.

speedwise, so far Malaysia is still the sayurest of them all.

nite nite!

The end of my greek adventure

2009-05-11T14:28:00.000+08:00

I'm back in Athens. Lounging around in the baggage storage area of this backpacker place, because the heat is just too much outside. At this rate, i might as well be back home, having banana leaf rice at Sri Paandi.

The ferry to Skiathos yesterday went smoothly. Skiathos is a quaint little island, busier with tourist activities despite being smaller than Skopelos. I whiled away the time by walking down the streets to see if there's any souvenirs i could bring home. But then again, all those things, bangles, handbags, scarves, i could get the exact same ones back home in Giant Mall. So at 7pm, i decided to go and wait for my flight at the airport, and guess what, there was no one there, and the guard said the check-in counters will open at 9.30pm, for the 10pm flight. heheh. The airport looks like a cowboy town airport. So i waited lah for 2.5 hours.

I arrived at Athens Backpackers at midnight and went straight to bed. I went for a last walk mid-morning, looking for souvenirs, but since i am running out of cash, i didn't get anything. haha. Then it got too hot, so i'm back here just whiling my time away.

Maybe i should just head to the airport and sit around there for the air-conditioning.

Last Day

2009-05-09T23:22:00.001+08:00

bugger. time flies eh? technically tomorrow is my last day, but my ferry leaves for Skiathos at 4.55pm tomorrow, and i'm catching a flight to Athens at 10pm. One more night in Athens, then i leave for London.

Skopelos Kids - seen fishing at Loutraki

I didn't do much today. I drove back to Agios Ioannis, and hiked down to the secluded beach for a swim. When i got hungry i packed up and drove to Agnontas Bay for lunch. Then i went back to Stafylos Beach, and sat there enjoying the end of the day. I wanted to wait for the moon to rise above the horizon, but i got lazy and there was nowhere to park on the narrow road, so i went back to the hotel.

Skopelos is awesome. It's one of my favourite places on earth now. I love the friendly, but non-intrusive people. I love the beauty of the terrain, with the pine trees growing right now to the beach. I love the cats. I love the fact that I chose the perfect time of year to come here. I wake up every morning with a body ache, maybe from trying to hike up and down to get to the beach with an additional 5 kilos on my back, carrying that fat-ass nikon.

I can't wait to get back to London though. I wish I could skip this one-night-in-Athens bit. My cash is also running low, and with two days left, i can't be arsed to go to the ATM for more money.

Skopelos Cat - seen basking in the setting sun at Milia Beach

Intimidated by nature.

2009-05-08T23:28:00.001+08:00

I drove on an empty winding road today, and worried that the pine trees might suddenly come alive and eat me up. Then i drove on a dusty winding road in a non-4x4 car, trying to find the highest point of the road, and worried that the car brakes might suddenly not work and i will slip down into oblivion. I finally went down again to Milia beach to watch the sun set, accompanied by a gang of cats who seem to be quite happy when i arrived. I got scared by the sound of the waves. The 1km beach was all mine (and the cats'), but at sunset the soft waves suddenly became harsh, so i quickly packed up my camera and went off (maybe i was imagining things haha). It reminded me of the day i went on the Great Ocean Road with my brother, when we stood on the beach down the cliff looking up at the first of the 12 Apostles.

The best part of my day was at Glysteri beach, where there were only a couple of old people (naked, eww) and myself (not naked). I took a dip in the pebbly Greek waters, but the water was still too cold. And the best view i had while driving was between Agnontas and Stafylos, when the moon was rising above the horizon. Subhan Allah.

No pictures postings today. Lazy lah. The tiredness i would have felt from walking has been replaced by mental fatigue from driving on the Skopelos roads. Heheh. 2 more days before i have to leave this beautiful island. In some ways I'm quite glad this adventure is about to end, because i don't think i will be able to cope with the daily adrenaline rush much longer. And I miss my nephew.

honey honey...

2009-05-07T23:15:00.000+08:00

...how he thrills me, a-ha, honey honey

honey honey, nearly killed me, a-ha, honey honey.

hehe...today i set off to Glossa, the other port town of Skopelos. It's actually not that far away, but since the speed limit is 50kmph, it did take me a good hour to get there. Plus it's hard to drive fast on a scenic drive. I stopped by Stafylos again, just to check for my lens cap one more time. I retraced my steps from yesterday, and i found it! There is was, under the bushes where i put my bag while i climbed around the rocks yesterday. heheh. happy!

I had lunch in Glossa, i was starving, but the taverna didn't serve anything nice, so i had some fries and a salad. After lunch i walked around Glossa...it was such a quaint little village! I then drove down to the port, which was much smaller than the Skopelos port and nothing really interesting.

Then i drove off to find The Church of Agios Ioannis, the church where the wedding scene in Mamma Mia! was filmed. They actually just used the view, i don't think they actually used the church since it was so small! It was a narrow, winding road to get there, and there was only one other car when i arrived.

Church of Agios Ioannis, Skopelos

Mamma Mia scene done, i went of to Kastani Beach to just chill out with my book. Again, just one other car there when i arrived, a group of friends just hanging out by the beach. So i sat down and read my book to the background sound of waves hitting the beach. It was very lovely until the group left, and i felt a bit worried that I'm the only one there and the sun is already setting. So i packed up and left. Damn! I wanted to get some sunset photos today. Tomorrow i'll find a beach with a bit more people, but at the rate this sleepy island is going, i don't think i will find any.

Penat

2009-05-06T23:31:00.001+08:00

I decided to check out the bus route today. These skopelos buses don't run as regular as i'd like though. After missing the 12.15pm bus, I hung around at a cafe reading my book, waiting for the 1.30pm bus. I knew the buses looked like school buses, but at 1.30pm, suddenly this huge coach started moving and i saw people climbing into it - no ferry in sight. So i ran to the bus and asked the driver where he was going. He said, "Stafylos, Agnontas, Limonari, Panormos...etc etc." damn, this is the town bus! So i paid to go to Stafylos. (mistake, should have gone the full route up to Glossa and see what's nice).

Skopelos Map, from SkopelosIsland.com

Anyway, I got off at Stafylos, and followed the road sign. Goddamn, the path was so steep, i knew i will be so lazy to make it back up. Stafylos is a beautiful quiet beach, or maybe it's just quiet because it is spring, and there were only me (climbing up and down the rocks for photos) and a small family that was having a picnic and a swim.

Stafylos

The thought of settling down at the beach, then having to climb back up was enough to put me off. So i started walking back up, determined to rent a car. Waited a few minutes at the bus stop, but no bus passed by, so i started walking back towards Skopelos Town. The map indicated that the road is about 6km away, and from my journey up, i knew that it wasn't going to be a flat road. But the next bus won't be coming until 2 hours later! Anyway, i thought the walk would be good for me, it will be my only walk on this island. Apparently the island walking thing is quite big. Check out Walking the Greek Islands. About 1.5 hours later, after many stops to take photos of this and that, i arrived in town starving and went into the first taverna that said hello to me.

A nice old man called Andreas served me some grilled sardines which were delicious, though i thought a bit too salty. He seems to think that Malaysia is a part of Africa, because he said to me, "ah, Malaysia, good country, not like Sudan, shooting everywhere." huh? hehe...suka hati lah. After i finished, he wanted to give me a bottle of i don't know what, but he claims that it is more powerful than ouzo, so i politely declined lah. Come to think of it, i should have taken it as a souvenier for friends back home.

The fullness from lunch increased the level of my laziness to do this whole island walking thing, so i stopped by a car rent shop to ask for the rental price. I initially planned to rent a car for one day only, and hike the rest of the days, but nahhhhh. Even better when the car rent lady said it is 50 euros for 3 days, unlimited mileage (not that the island is very big) , insurance included, and i just have to fill back the tank to what it was before. Done deal. Here's my driver's license, here's the 50 bucks. Gimme the keys. Awesome. I just got to remember not to overeat now that I won't be walking as much. hehehe.

Car in hand, i drove back to Stafylos right down to the front of the steps to go down the beach. I realized while starting the walk that i lost my lens cap...so i went into the bushes to look for it...but nope, it was gone. I'm not sure how i'm going to keep this lens safe now..urgh.

Sunset at Milia Beach, Skopelos

I then proceeded to drive from beach to beach, up to Milia. Apparently the next beach, Kastani was the main filming location for Mamma Mia! the movie, but i was tired, so i headed back home. Got 3 more days with the car, no worries. Didn't take that many nice pictures either, since the problem with driving is that you can't stop wherever you want for photos. The road was also too small and i was still getting used to the car and i don't want to fall into the many gaungs (somehow i thought the clutch position is also reversed on a left-hand drive car. hehe).

Ok i'm going to sleep early today since a whole new world just opened up for me with access to a car. hehe. Ciao ciao!

Lazy day in Skopelos

2009-05-05T20:25:00.001+08:00

Skopelos Town.

I didn't do anything much today. Woke up at noon and lazed about until 2pm. Attempted to find a laundry, but before i could, the hotel owner said she'll just put my clothes with their washing and hang them. Then i borrowed her bicycle and cycled to town for some lunch.

the grilled squid i had for lunch, with some greek salad.

After that i cycled back, and did nothing else until now, other than surfing the net to the sound of ocean waves and Greek pop music from the hotel next door. The temperature is still chilly and weather cloudy, and it's not good enough for photos, but i'd rather this than the scorching hot sun.

People on this island are so nice. I'm not sure whether it's because of tourism, but i don't think it's a very touristy island. People here are olive farmers and fishermen mostly. Just today, as i was having lunch, the order came for a couple sitting in front of me. She tasted it, and she said to the waiter, "i don't like the taste of it." The waiter, with a smile on his face, took the dish back, and brought her some fried fish. It's the kind of thing you never attempt to do in KL. You decided to order it, so you pay lah, whether it's good or not. hahaha. Unless it's real disgusting like the "Mango Sticky Rice" (lame yucky version) me, lan and daus once had at the Dessert Bar in Mont Kiara.

I'm getting hungry. Maybe i'll go off and see what's nice at the waterfront.

Mamma Mia!

2009-05-04T17:02:00.000+08:00

So i didn't sleep at all last night, chatted with friends in KL until it was time to go. Slept all the way in the bus, but did make some small talk with a couple of English ladies who have already been to Skopelos twice! The bus left precisely at 6.45 AM, and arrived at the port Agios Konstantinous at 9.30 AM. I went straight into the huge ferry, picked a seat, watched a documentary about ancient greek wonders, and fell asleep again. The ferry left at 10.30 AM, made stops at Skiathos, Glossa (the other side of Skopelos), and finally Skopelos Town. Just for records, this whole journey cost me about 63 Euros.

As soon as the plank was lowered, and I saw Skopelos, oooh....mamma mia!! I started devicing in my head how to stay here another day and skip that whole flight-from-Skiathos-to-Athens-the-day-before thing. I could see that it's a beautiful island, although the weather is very cold today, and so far it's been misty. The hills laced with the mist provided a somewhat dreamy backdrop to the densely populated white houses near the marina. (do i sound like a travel ad? sorry. hehe)

Suddenly I saw a lady holding a white card bearing my name. Damn, i get picked up at the port? wah. She's the owner of the hotel i booked, it's called DelSol or Takis-Sophie, i'm not sure which one is the real name. I got a little studio unit, with a kitchenette, bathroom, dining table and a bedroom, for the same price i paid for that one bed in Athens. Got wi-fi too, unfortunately no TV, but they're mostly in Greek anyway. I'm pretty sure i'll have a good time here.

It's 5pm, but i think i'm going to take a nap. The owner asked me to join a grill party at her restaurant later for a South African tour group she's hosting, so maybe I'll rest now and go see if there's anything nice i can eat. This feels so weird, I was kind of expecting a formal hotel, but it feels more like i've been invited to stay at someone's really house. Nice weird though. I'm pretty sure i'm the only one here right now. hehehe. ta.

Failed to get to Cape Sounio

2009-05-04T02:37:00.000+08:00

I woke up late, missed the change of the guards i wanted to see in front of the parliament, so i went straight to the bus-stop to get on the regional bus to Cape Sounio, where the coast is supposed to be dramatic and all. Maps and guidebooks said that the bus departs every hour, but of course, I waited for 1 1/2 hour and no described orange bus passed by. Newspaper kiosk man said yes, there are buses leaving for Sounio here everyday, so I waited a bit more and gave up soon after. I was just feeling tired of this whole greek timeliness thing, so i decided to take the metro to the National Archeological Museum, and try my luck to see if it was open.

Luckily, it was open, and it's apparently free on Sundays! I didn't read every single thing, but it was quite amazing to see things from thousands of years ago, created by civilizations that had a lot less than modern technology. The sculptures were so intricately done, the pottery painted with beautiful patterns, beautiful jewelry of all sorts. It's the kind of feeling where you suddenly realize that these people did exist, they're not just made up hollywood characters played by brad pitt and orlando bloom. heh.

Aphrodite

Aphrodite, Eros (middle) & Pan. The explanation said that in this carving, Pan si tuhan berkaki kambing nak mengorat goddess Aphrodite, but Aphrodite taknak, so she's holding her selipar in her right hand to slap the horny Pan, and Eros the flying baby god comes to help Aphrodite. Found in Beirut, believed to be from around 100 BC. I've seen a worse carving of Pan the goat-footed god in the ancient porn section of the Naples Archeological Museum, where he was trying to rape a really fat woman or something.

Then in contemplating my next move, i sat around in Omonia Square, had a cone of gelato while watching the Bangladeshis sell their goods on the square. It really reminds me of Central Market, where a blend of chinese, indians and some very asian looking people walking around. So, since my 24 hour travel pass was valid for another 4 hours, i decided to head to Pireas, a port town near Athens. I asked the bus kiosk which bus goes around the cape, and was told to get on bus No. 904. I hopped off at what i thought was the main waterfront, and walked a bit to take photos before hopping again on the next bus. The next journey took me to a bigger waterfront called Pasalimano, with yachts and expensive looking restaurants, and stylish people walking the esplanade. Lovely! I headed straight back to Athens after that.

men sitting at the smaller marinas, Pireas

view from the small marina in Pireas

Back in Athens, i sorted out my last night stay after my island trip at the hostel, and saw a notice on the whiteboard that said, "Acropolis is free today!" It was already almost 7pm, but i thought i should just walk that short distance to see if it's still open. Luckily it was open, i guess i was so tired that i misunderstood the closed signboard a few days ago. I think only the Museum is closed, not the whole site. Which is quite logical now that i think about it; how could they close their most important tourist attraction to the public, right? hehehe. The view from the Acropolis site is quite breathtaking as well, and i was able to see the whole Athens until it stretches out to the sea. I'll post some pictures later since we all now what the Parthenon looks like anyway. heheh...(feeling a bit lazy).

When i came back home, two more people had arrived, so we chatted and watched tv for a bit until it was time for dinner. I had a nice dinner with one of my studio mates at a cafe in Plaka, which was about 5 minutes walk away, and the area was so lively with music and chatter.

It's now 2.30 am and i'm too nervous to sleep in case i don't wake up to catch my 6.45am bus to the port tomorrow morning. Wish I was an heiress and i had a helicopter that would drop me off anytime i like. hehehe. Everyone's asleep already and we said our goodbyes, and i've taken all my stuff into the living room so i don't disturb anyone tomorrow morning when i leave. I'm going to sleep on the couch tonight, if i can sleep at all.

So, though i'm bummed out that i didn't get to go to Sounio, i guess i was also quite happy that everything else i did didn't cost me much. Otherwise it would have been 6 euros for the museum, and 12 euros for the Acropolis. Kira lah sendiri how much that would be in RM. boleh lunch for one week in KL. I'm being a bit cost-conscious now since i don't know if i will need to fork out any money for my apartment repairs back home (boohoo!!)

I'm quite excited to get to Skopelos. I'm imagining an idle week with not much touristy things to see. Might get a bit boring since i will be by myself, but i got my book, my gadgets, and my movies i can watch for the next 6 days. I will take the bus Agios Konstantinos tomorrow morning, and the connecting ferry will take me to Skopelos from there. Coming back, I will take a ferry a day earlier to the neighboring island Skiathos, and take an Olympic Airline flight back to Athens. It costs about the same, ferry + bus combo or flying, i decided to fly because i can't get a confirmation on the ferry schedules on the day i was supposed to leave for London. I've learned not to give all my trust to the Greek transportation system, and i don't really want to get stuck on an island, however lovelythe idea might sound to other people.

Don't know if i will have internet there. But i'll try my medium best to keep in touch. Adio!

I'm ok now

2009-05-03T03:20:00.000+08:00

After posting that depressing entry yesterday, i went out again, and made my way to Lykavitos Hill. I thought i'd take a stroll from the hostel to the funicolare, but what i found out later was that i should have saved the energy for the climb up to reach the funicolare station itself!! A steep climb uphill, then a few more steps, loads of huffing and puffing later, i reached the station only to find that you could actually take a bus or taxi to that point! Bugger, why do i always do this to myself? haha...anyway, the ride up cost me about 6 euros return, and the view was spectacular. I went near sunset, so there were plenty of people there, but not too many that it was uncomfortable. Regret a bit that i sent my tripod home from Munich, but i guess the Acropolis was a bit further than 200mm could reach anyway. I'll post more pictures soon, coz i'm too damn lazy right now.

Today i set out to sort my bus and ferry tickets for Monday, then went to find the recommended Indian food place down in the Omonia district. Down that street, was little India, and maybe little Africa, and as soon as i walked into the cafe, all the men in there waved to ask me to sit next to them. I'm not saying this coz i feel hot, i WAS the only girl in the cafe, and the chicken was halal. I had a huge serving of nasi beryani ayam, some chickpea curry, salad, fries and a pepsi, all for 2.50 Euros! I'd definitely go there again, but i'll be sure to bring some friends with me next time.

After lunch i idled around, sat at a cafe to read a book, while trying to decide whether or not to head for the coast. I somehow ended up in an archeological site near my hostel, where the Hadrian Arch and Temple of Olympian Zeus is while i was looking for the first ever Olympic Stadium. I then sat again at another cafe for a milkshake, and at 5pm finally decided that i would head to the coast and see what's there. I went to the end of the tram line, Volous, and headed back, stopping at Glyphada to catch the sunset. Glorious glorious sunset!

sunset @ Glyphada Beach, Athens.

Then i headed back to town, had a sandwich, and went back to the hostel. Nak buat laundry tak jadi, nak edit gambar tak jadi. It's 3.20 AM now, and 2 young ladies just walked in smelling of booze. Argh. Just as i was finally feeling settled in, having shared travel stories with an aussie and argentinian.

Lapar la pulak, better sleep. I'm heading to Cape Sounio tomorrow, wish me luck!

Bored in Athens

2009-05-01T17:01:00.000+08:00

guess what. it's Labor Day today, and everything is closed! Can't even get a tour outside of Athens for tomorrow because apparently everybody is going off on a long weekend.

Went for a walk up to the Acropolis, but guess what, it's apparently closed for archeologists to do their digging work. cheh. so i walked around the area, snapping photos, had some nice greek salad and walked to the National Archeological Museum, about 2 km north of the Acropolis area. Guess what, the museum was closed as well! bosan betul.

So here i am, at 4pm, back in my room. Tomorrow is only going to be Saturday, and then Sunday, then i gotta figure out a way to get to Skopelos, ferry schedules still not out yet, and i'm getting nervous by the hour. Apparently the bus leaves Athens for the port at 6.45am, so i guess one must really want to get to the Sporades Islands to want to wake up at this ungodly hour.

I'm hoping it will be better than Athens. Athens is nice and sunny, but the dust is getting to me. It's a lively, graffiti laden city, and it feels like you're walking through an archeological site every corner you turn. I don't know what i was expecting really. I enjoyed Italy a lot last year, maybe i was expecting a similar experience. Maybe i should read my guide book a bit more to see what else i could do here.

Jetlagged in Athens

2009-05-01T01:25:00.000+08:00

Left the house around 12 noon. Took the easyBus from Fulham Broadway to Gatwick for about 7 pounds, got my lotion confiscated at security because i was so kalut that i forgot i had the lotion in my handbag. Had a sandwich, and set out to look for another small bottle of lotion inside the airport. Didn't realize that the gate was quite a bit of a walk....!! i saw the departure monitors flashing "Flight Closing" for my flight, and walked as fast as i could to the gate. A couple of walkalators and a few escalators away, i arrived at gate 107, only to find that they haven't even boarded any passengers yet..chis...! Anyway the flight was smooth, except that i didn't realize when i decided to come to Athens, that the flight was going to be 3.5 hours long!

Arrival was smooth as well, and i took the X95 bus as instructed by the hostel to Syntagma Square, and the metro to the Acropolis. I booked this small apartment called Athens Studios where i have to share with 5 other people, and boy do they pack us up in here! It's quite nice though, except that I thought there was free wifi, but in fact there's free ADSL, but you need a LAN cable. And all my fellow travellers here are just like me, with our little netbooks and all, waiting our turn to use the LAN cable. Anyway, they're all asleep now, and I'm still wide awake since it's only 11pm in London.

Speaking of which, the last two days in London passed by so quickly, that by the time i had to leave London, i was regretting the decision to take this little break to Athens. I did go for Taza on tuesday, yummy yummy!!

Taza chicken shawarma, Queensway

After the kebab, i went to Whiteley's on a mission to find a nice backpack to put my camera gear + notebook in, since i've realized carrying the sling bag around is such a pain in the shoulder!! Found a good one for a reasonable price, and i started walking on Bayswater Road, down Notting Hill, down Holland Park Road, and the next thing i realized was that i was in front of that new gigantic shopping mall Westfield!! The thing i would never do back home: wander aimlessly for 4 kilometers, on foot. heheh. well to be fair, i knew i was heading west back to Ealing, so at least i had a goal in mind. hahaha...

Yesterday i took my nephew for a walk, he pushed his little trolley speaking gibberish while i pretended to understand what he was saying. Then i took off for some oxygen treatment at Kew Garden, and damn that place is lovely...! 13 pounds to get in though, a bit steep i must say. (jangan convert....) If only i was a bit more interested in plants...hahaha

Kew Palace

I got attacked by two ducks while i sat on the grass to have my sandwich. I wasn't sure if the duck would eat a chicken sandwich, so i threw some bread for them. Those ducks scared the hell out of me!

Quack Attack, Kew Garden

I also saw a giant petai at one of the exhibitions. Told the botanists that we have a similar plant back home, and one could eat it. She said this one came from South America, and they usually make jewelry out of the beans. Check out the picture!

Giant Petai, Kew Garden

Headed back to Ealing at the end of the day, had some yucky fish & chips near the train station. I had that about 3 years ago, i know the fish is no good at all, but i still went anyway. I don't know why i always do that to myself. heheheh.

It's 1.30 AM in Athens right now, and i'm not sleepy at all. I'm contemplating sleeping on the couch, since the thought of having to climb up the bunk bed is not tempting at all.

I miss my couch in London.

5th Day in London

2009-04-28T13:25:00.002+08:00

picture above from my first day, taken from the Tate Modern site, after my fish & chips lunch at the Borough market. There's this stall called Fish! Restaurants and the meal was delicious! Attempted to burn off the calories by taking the Thames Path all the way to Tate Modern. Tate Modern, is something i just don't get. Most of the art I don't understand but they were pretty, and a couple of them i just found pretentious. Like a rope sprawled over and around the floor, and a piece called "Mirror on Canvas," which is basically just a piece of rectangular mirror hung on the wall. Right-o! While looking at the artworks, i thought maybe i should just take a dump on the floor, and then call it, "Poo on the Floor - evocating the sense of disgust and shame within the cultured society." or whatever. hahaha.

Saturday was a good day, followed my brother and co to their friend's house near Portobello for a bbq. Yumsy! Took a little stroll down the market road, but it was the weekend, and the place was crowded as expected.

Sunday was quite exciting, i went out to see my friend Gemma (whom i met in Rome last year) and we walked through the huge crowds of the London Marathon. Respect to all those who ran, and the runners were of all ages and size too..! Gemma introduced me to the Gingerbread Latte at Costa Coffee...man it was so good!

The nice weekend weather ended, and Monday rained all day. So i thought it would be the best time to visit the Henry VIII exhibition at the British Library near King's Cross. I must have spent about 3 hours in there checking out all the historical artefacts and henry's personal belongings. I must say i was a bit disappointed that King Henry doesn't look like Jonathan Rhys-Myers at all, neither does Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Katharine of Aragorn, etc etc. The only person i thought looked quite close to his character in The Tudors was Cardinal Wolsey. heheh.

Then i stopped by Camden Town for some lunch at Camden Lock, and went back down to Tottenham Court Road to check out the bookstores and the gadget stores. Almost convinced myself that i needed a Lowepro Fastpack 250 when i actually just needed a cheap padded backpack since i didn't bring mine. It's really tough walking with a shoulder bag with loaded with camera stuff. heheh.

Today is cold as well, but at least there is sun. Went for a run to the post-office this morning and came back feeling nice and warm. I'm not sure yet what to do today. Maybe i'll take a book with me, have some Taza kebab and sit at the park.

Ciaos.

Taking Off

2009-04-23T16:42:00.001+08:00

Wish i had a bit more time here. There are supposed to be grand castles to visit just out of the city and all sorts of other things to see. 3 days worth of meetings, nothing else. Loving the sky, loving the cold, loving the doner kebabs. hahaha

Off to the airport in half an hour.

I learned a phrase: Soll Firefox dieses Passwort speichern? heheh. well, as well as ausgang, eingang (enter, exit), kopieren, einfügen (copy, paste hehehe) yet no idea how to pronounce them. Oh well.

Some pictures from my short stay in Munich.

Marienplatz and the Rathaus (Munich Town Hall)

Fürstenfeldbruck, 30 minutes away on the S-bahn from the Munich central station.

adios!!

Guten Tag!

2009-04-21T19:35:00.000+08:00

hallow, finally got a chance for a posting. this hotel has no wifi, so we have to wait for this single pc on the first floor to be available..i really miss home for these geeky needs. hehee..susah sangat ke nak pasang wifi kat sini? i really don't understand it.

yesterday i tried to beat my jetlag by walking around Munich city. Walked around Marienplatz which was lovely, that seems to be the very center of Munich. The weather is lovely...just the kind of cold that I like. Language seems to be a problem here, all i know to say is danke and no sprechen deutsche, even that i'm not sure if i'm saying correctly.

After lunch (kebab restaurants widely available within the hotel's vicinity) i took a break and set out to read the few pages of Lonely Planet i tore off my Europe book. Really wanted to see an overall view of Munich, and i was told that if i could get on a high viewpoint, i would be able to see the Alps as well. So me and colleague set off to St Peterskirche to go up the tower. Paid €1.50 to climb 13 floors worth of stairs!!! As usual, in climbing situations, i always tend to want to give up halfway, but i kept on going anyway yesterday. It felt like a big achievement to reach the top, and strangely on one of the doors, there was graffiti that said, "Nadia, Ti Amo 4ever." hahahah...and it goes without saying that the view was quite breathtaking. Sorry, no pictures as of yet since I left my thumbdrive up in the room.

Today was a full day of meetings in Buchenau, about 30 minutes by train from Munich. Lovely quiet place, and the office was awesome with a lovely canteen as well! On the way back we stopped by Furstenfeldbrucke for coffee and some snacks, a nice little quaint town where my colleague stayed at last time they were here.

someday i'll come back and visit Germany properly. I want to go to Dachau and visit all that Holocaust stuff. No time left now, since the next two days is full of meetings and i'll be off to London on Thursday night. London calling...more like little nephew calling and i can't bloody wait to see him. hahaha. lemah betul auntie nadio ni.

ok..i should be off now. need to get ready for dinner.

on the road again...

2009-04-19T18:05:00.003+08:00

am going travelling again. where? where else...to visit the little nephew at his home. bet he's not so little anymore!

but i gotta make a work-related pit stop in munich first. bak kata orang2 yang suka berlagak dalam facebook status, "gotta go to munich, then london...argh bosannya.." don't u just hate people like that?

i'm just glad to get the chance to step out of our scorching hot malaysian weather for a while.

will keep this blog posted. ta!

A day past April 15

2009-04-17T00:03:00.001+08:00

nope. i didn't make it. in fact i have known for a week that i wouldn't make it.

i sent in a request for extension anyway, just in case they find it in their hearts to give me some pity.

heh...

unrest

2009-04-06T06:35:00.005+08:00

at the time of writing this entry, i have sat in front of the TV in an attempt to fall asleep, i have lain in bed three times but end up wide awake, trying to sort my head out. I need to finish this paper, i need to sort out the contractor for apartment hangus, i need to sort things at work, and i have about less than 2 weeks to do 'em all.

suddenly all those hours spent at Lepaq, Rasta and all the mamak places, yak-yakking about nonsense seem so irrelevant. ni lah dia, orang tua-tua cakap, "masa itu emas." orang tua-tua also ada cakap, "sesal dahulu pendapatan, sesal kemudian tiada gunanya." note that this regret is directed mostly at the still-not-done yet paper. heh...ya, ya, i know that i said i won't be talking about it until 15 april, but this morning i just feel like whining (some more).

sometimes, in my weaker hours, i start thinking, what's the point of this paper after all? my heart's not in it, and who the hell would choose a really dry topic like process improvement and regret it later anyway? me, it seems. maybe this paper is irrelevant, not the rest of my life. but then another part of me tells me i don't want to be that person who says, "i almost finished my mba u know..." so here i am, unable to sleep, after writing another couple more pages to the document, whining.

maybe the problem is that i'm looking at it so negatively? ok let me try injecting some positive energy into it. Process improvement rocks! It is the most relevant topic in the world! Service desk is the center of the universe! argh..it's so hard to convince myself. hahahaha.

in some ways i am hoping for a miracle to happen. in another way, i feel, what the hell. i just want to be free, so it's do or die. if i manage, awesome. if i don't, i guess it's not the end of the world. i just need to remember never to say, "i almost finished my mba, u know..."

i suppose since it's 7am, it's probably best i get ready and take this opportunity to arrive at work earlier than usual and force myself to smile through the "eh, so early today? are u alright?" comments.

have a good week everyone.

hari yang drama

2009-03-31T22:09:00.003+08:00

With the looming MBA deadline, yesterday i discovered that my thesis supervisor has resigned and i have to find myself a new supervisor for my thesis submission. ouch. my fault.

Then i got splashed on the way to work this morning, had the window rolled down since the morning was so cool, and a lorry passed by a huge puddle of water, which got splashed at me like two buckets of water were thrown into the car. yucks.

And towards the end of the day, i received a call from my tenant, who told me that my apartment unit had caught fire, and it's badly damaged, along with their stuff. Argh!

timing for all these incidents are almost perfectly sync-ed with each other, aren't they?

sabar je lah. like bernard said, what to do, shit happens. and you always need to take a shit while hanging out with friends la, or walking happily in the mall...right?

a shot of the middle room, the most damaged. the rest of the unit is covered in ash.

churning bullshit at 1am

2009-03-25T01:02:00.002+08:00

I've been churning pages and pages of bull crap in the past week and the past few hours, with an hour of TV and dinner in between. 2 weeks left, and I'm still so far from done. There's so much crap, i'm starting to wonder, what's the point?

i really feel like giving up, so help me God.

chickpea salad

2009-03-23T00:35:00.000+08:00

chickpea salad, originally uploaded by nadi0.

Ingredients:
Sautee canned chickpeas with garlic and lemon zest
Mix together with halved cherry tomatoes and chopped red onions
Natural yoghurt, salt, curry powder, pepper for dressing.

toss, and garnish with feta cheese and chopped spring onions.

may be quite a bland dish for some people, but i love chick peas..and the cheese was salty enough, onions crunchy and the cherry tomatoes were fabulously sweet! enak dimakan begitu saja...!

Sunburst KL 2009

2009-03-23T00:21:00.000+08:00

DSC_5049, originally uploaded by nadi0.

What a night! I was a bit put off initially because of all the hoo-ha about not allowing people to bring in their DSLRs. But i went anyway (DSLR included, of course) and had an awesome time! It was so hot, the open space felt like a sauna.

Nidji was awesome. Another Indonesian band, Agrikulture, whom i only heard for the first time was superb. N.E.R.D. and KoRn were badass, although i don't know any of their songs! Unfortunately, Butterfingers was a bit of a let down.

in search of the best mango sticky rice in KL

2009-03-10T23:06:00.001+08:00

mango sticky rice, originally uploaded by nadi0.

I first saw this Thai dish on Jamie Oliver a few years ago on TV. Or was it Anthony Bourdain? Ah i can't exactly remember who now. So, on a work trip to Bangkok several years ago, I tried it for the first time at the Suan Lum Night Bazaar. Verdict: Absolutely delicious! especially when paired with some Thai iced tea.

So in my recent trip to Phi Phi last year, while on an overnight transit in Phuket, Lan and me walked the streets for some late supper (after the delayed Air Asia flight, of course..haha). There was a little stall on the main road that sells mango sticky rice, so we greedily grabbed the opportunity. It was only 50 bahts, but it tasted like heaven. Naturally, it became our obsession throughout the trip, but unfortunately you couldn't get any in Phi Phi.

The obsession continued long after our return from the trip. We googled to find Thai restaurants in KL and drooled over the pictures we found. Food-Porn! hahaha...! We tried:

1. Thai Express @ the Curve - ~RM10, green pandan sticky rice, mango tak sedap, and the portion was really really small. urgh.

2. Absolute Thai @ Ikano - ~RM10, ok-ok only. they tried their best, but still tak sedap.

3. Dessert Bar @ Mont Kiara - it was so horrible that we told them to take it out of the menu, so I won't bother with the price because we didn't even pay for it. kekekee...

Then came the Thai Food Festival at the Giant Mall in KJ. Woohooo!! Imagine the excitement when i saw them setting up the stall last week. As in the picture above, it's simple, cheap and delicious. I cannot understand why these restaurants need to put in too much creativity and end up spoiling the dish...there's no need! This is by far the best sticky mango rice i've ever had in KL.

I guess I'm good Thai-food wise up till the end of the month. yay! The kerabu mango is also very nice, as well as the tom yam. But there's rarely enough space in the stomach after you've downed a whole plate of the mango sticky rice. hehee.

Wakenabeb TV9

2009-03-08T12:44:00.002+08:00

I somehow came across Wakenabeb on TV9 a few minutes ago. The skit involves Farid Kamil and his friends getting caught by the police for some made up crime. this thing is bloody wrong in so many ways!

1. Poor farid Kamil has an exam the next day
2. they actually got REAL police involved, wtf? takde kerja lain ke?

the neverending story - my mba thesis.

2009-03-02T00:54:00.003+08:00

Have i been talking about this since 2004? Hahaha...yes I have.

This will probably the 2nd last time I will mention this bloody thing. Watch out for April 15th, I will either announce that my thesis is finally complete, or that I have decided to abandon it, thus throwing my excellent GPA and my 20 grand down the drain.

It's seriously difficult to focus on this thing. First I got ill, that put back the thesis for 2 years. Then i got busy with work, and it got put back for another 2 years. Then I started traveling; Bali, Italy, Thailand, 2008 passed by in a whiz, and I missed my December 2008 submission date.

I now have until April 15th, where if i don't submit it by then, I get thrown out of the program. My reward, Greece. So I better get down to it now.

....

Hmm, i'll get down to it tomorrow night. I'm going to watch Role Models first.

kah kah kah. wouldn't it be nice if there is such thing as a Professional Procrastinator? I'd be damn good at it, i guarantee.

chilli crabs

2009-02-18T07:15:00.002+08:00

chilli crabs, originally uploaded by nadi0.

the Japanese globetrotter friend i met in Florence is now in KL for a short stay. So we decided to take her for some Fatty Crab last night. yummy yummy! i'm still feeling bloated from all the food from last night's dinner.

My friend Sachiko has been all over since we parted ways in Florence in April 2008. Listening to her travel experiences, i envy her greatly. I wish i could muster the courage to just drop everything and be free, while also making just enough to allow myself to see the world.

But then again, i love this country, and I'm quite happy with my life here. i don't think i could leave it for too long. :-)

Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah (Hidupku)

2009-02-16T14:50:00.001+08:00

after five years, today i finally paid off my loan for banana boat. the car is now officially MINE.

yay! it feels good to have some degree of financial freedom.

Sangat Penat

2009-02-12T22:12:00.001+08:00

I'm not one to complain about work, but lemme tell you this; after a month of thinking about nothing else other than that thing i have to deliver, i now feel like i don't have a life, and i'm just freaking tired.

need a break (again). hhahaha

Cikgu Zul, the math rock star

2009-02-03T21:58:00.002+08:00

When I started high school some 15 years ago, I remember being pretty bad at math. I was averaging a C for the most part of Form 1, until one school holiday, my mom took me to this math tutor. Cikgu Zul, in Uptown. He had a rundown tuition center called Pusat Tuisyen Farabi, on the same row as where The Ship is (or was?). So i attended his sessions, and next thing i know, i was scoring above 95% in my tests. I don't really understand how his magic works, for all he did was tell us the exercises to work on, then he just sits there reading his newspaper, or sometimes, fixing his watches. We went up to him whenever we got stuck with a problem, and he showed us how it is done. So I continued seeing him for 5 years, and while most people find Additional Maths impossible, that subject sort of became a hobby for me. A hobby that i was really good at. When i felt unsettled or worried, I solved add maths problems. I say was, because i have no idea how to solve a differential problem if you give one to me right now, though i did get back into it while i was bored in the hospital a few years ago. hehe.

Because my mom saw results in me, she started sending my brothers to him. Then my aunties started to send my cousins to him, until all my cousins who were in KL/PJ had Cikgu Zul as their math tutor. Even the one in Penang joined the club. So, at my cousin's wedding last weekend, it was quite the sight to see 15 people, age ranging from 14 to 31, fussing over him as he walked the red carpet towards the hall. And then again, at the end of the wedding, when half of us ganged up on him to make sure he doesn't leave before we got a group photo, and the other half stopped the crowd for a bit while said photo was being taken.

Talk about red carpet treatment, eh?

The Office (US) - A Marathon

2009-01-21T23:50:00.003+08:00

I've been spending my nights watching The Office U.S. since last weekend. After covering almost 3 seasons, I've realized that...

My biggest work-related fear is to become like Michael Scott
if i talk and bitch too much about work-related-personal things, I will in about 5 years' time be exactly like Michael Scott. touch wood.
John Krasinski is hot
a Malaysian version of the show would be totally awesome! so many skits i could think of right now. muahahah.

Aight. back to the tv. ciao.

Phi Phi 2008 - food, water and tonnes of fun.

2009-01-18T18:28:00.007+08:00

I never did write about my holiday in Phi Phi, did i? It was almost 2 months ago, came back, got ill, went through a bout of post holiday blues, then it was Christmas and New Year holidays. Then I was ill again, and got totally consumed with work up to now. So today is Sunday, and as I was chilling out reading A Backpack and a Bit of Luck by Zhang Su Li, I thought about my trip to Phi Phi at the end of last November.

With Lan on the trip, half of our enjoyment came from trying out the various Thai food offered. We became the food testers for Gemma, trying out the food to see if it would be too spicy for her British tastebuds. hehe. I cannot forget the taste of the barbecued corn, loads of salt and butter rubbed on it. The 50 baht sticky mango rice we got on the streets of Patong was the best i've had ever - I don't understand why the Thai restaurants in KL need to be too creative with the bloody expensive sticky mango rice. Why can't they do it exactly like the Thai do? It's not very difficult, some sticky rice, coconut sauce concoction, and really good mango. I tell you it's very frustrating when you pay a premium and you don't even get close to the authentic thing.

Sticky mango rice in Phuket

See how juicy that prawn is? Seafood salad in Phuket

Lan and Gemma in conversation after dinner in Phi Phi

Phi Phi is awesome. Nice little village, but full of convenience. The locals were nice, except for the receptionist at the hotel we were staying at - she was just plain rude and lazy. hehe. There's free wi-fi if you know where to find it, cheap food and lovely beaches all round the island.

First day, Gemma and I decided to climb up the Phi Phi Viewpoint. It's actually the Tsunami escape route, but i don't know how many people would be able to make the climb if they had to. It starts of with some steps, then the steps got steeper and steeper. After the steps, we walked up a steep path to the first viewpoint. My mistake, i had my slr bag (with all the lenses) throughout the 186m climb. ugh. Gemma was a star, she encouraged me all the way up. And when we finally got there, wow...! The view was so beautiful, no wonder the place is called the Viewpoint. hehe...Lan came to join us about an hour later, and we sat there and enjoyed the view for as long as we could.

Phi Phi from the Viewpoint

Obviously, after that strenuous hike, the three of us were too tired to do anything else. So we packed our swimsuits and headed to the beach. Unfortunately the weather wasn't to kind on us that day, it started pouring shortly after we got into the water, forcing us to seek shelter at a resort restaurant nearby.

I can't really remember what we did all week. We rented a longtail boat one day, went to Phi Phi Lay (where they shot the Beach), then we headed off to Bamboo Island and spent most of the afternoon there. The water was choppy as hell, but the drama came as we were halfway back from Bamboo Island to Phi Phi Don, and suddenly the boat just died in the middle of the ocean. Kan, our boat guy did everything he could to start the boat. Another boat carrying some Spanish tourists stopped to see if they could help, but shortly after they went back on their way. I was hungry and scared, and the boat rocked as if it was going to turn over. After about 40 minutes (which felt like 3 hours to me), Kan managed to start the engine and we slowly treaded the water back to Phi Phi. Thank God.

I stopped carrying my SLR around, which was a huge relief. We spent two afternoons sleeping, snorkeling and swimming on Long Beach, a nice quiet beach on the south east side of the island. We took night strolls by the beach and watched the stars. One night Lan and Gemma had food poisoning, so we rented a DVD player, bought some DVDs and stayed in.

Sunset at Long Beach, Phi Phi

I didn't shop much. There's nothing there that you can't get in Krabi, Phuket, Bali or Bangkok, or even at the Flea Market at The Curve. The weather was mostly cloudy all week, bad for pictures, but absolutely perfect for swimming and snorkeling for someone who can't stand the hot sun like me.

The morning i was leaving back to Phuket, the weather turned out beautiful and sunny, as is always the case whenever i travel anywhere. I want to stay really badly, just one more day, but that was the end of my holiday, and i had to get back to work the next day. So i took whatever pictures I could from the ferry, took my shuttle to the airport, and flew home. :-(

The last and only beautiful morning in Phi Phi

Phi Phi is wonderful, and I will definitely come back here again whenever I need to chill out without losing the convenience of the city life when i need it (that means Internet to me, hehe).

Local Tourist in KL..my very first active Christmas

2008-12-25T23:58:00.006+08:00

I didn't think i would be doing so many physical activities in practically 8 hours!

Merry Christmas, by the way.

A college friend Suman is here in KL, from the States, as part of his Asian holiday tour for this long weekend. So, on his first day, we went to do touristy stuff in KL.

Started off with a late breakfast at Pelita Nasi Kandar in KL, introduction to the typical Malaysian breakfast, yes you guessed it, roti canai and teh tarik! haha. Well, by the time i arrived the only roti available was roti naan, so that's what i had. Serves me right for playing computer games until 7 am.

Next stop, the Malaysian Handicraft Complex on Jalan Conlay. Reez and me got some congkak action while Suman looked around for souvenirs. Didn't take any pictures here. I was going around taking pictures with my camera phone since i was too lazy to carry my DSLR around town, so please forgive me if the pictures are not as pretty. Plus this wasn't a photo outing for me. (alasan kena bagi dulu, heheh).

After that, off we went to Batu Caves. I just don't know why i decided to wear jeans today! So slowly we went up the 272 steps...stopping frequently along the way. Got to the top, dang, you have come down a set of steps, go through the main cave, and climb up yet another set of steps!

the temple at the top

Lord Murugan's backside

We stayed up there for a bit, Suman got obsessed taking photos of the monkeys, then we each lit a candle at the temple. The candles looked pretty delicious, more like an egg tart than a prayer candle i almost wanted to bite into it. hehe. The climb back down was less tiring, but my knees felt like they were going to fall apart as we got back at the bottom. The ice-lolly we had on the way down certainly contributed to the fun factor.

Right, so as if climbing the Batu Caves steps wasn't enough for us, we drove over to FRIM in Kepong. FRIM is awesome, man! It was my first time there, and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was in there. So close to town, yet i found myself immersed in such a different atmosphere - fresh air and all that. We first parked at the picnic area and asked around where the canopy walk is. The first bunch of people showed us to some steps (arghh) with a waterfall next to it, and up we went. It was quite a climb, considering we had just gone up Batu Caves a half hour earlier! And 10 minutes later, when we got to the top, there was no canopy walk. Only a couple of bridges that lead to the other side of the waterfall. We asked a dude up there, and he told us, "No this is not it, the canopy walk is nearer to the FRIM mosque, so you have to walk back down and drive to the mosque and park your car there."

Bugger. hahaha.

So we walked back down, and asked the ice cream man at the end of the stream. He said the canopy walk closes at 2.30PM, and we were too late since it was already 4.30pm by the time. We decided not to listen to him, found the entrance to the canopy walk, and started our hike up.

up to the canopy walk: the spot where i almost gave up

Goddamn, the hike to the canopy walk made the Batu Caves steps feel a whole lot easier!! I gave up at some point, while reez and suman carried on. I decided to text reez a few minutes later to ask how far more, he said 3 more minutes of climbing. So i decided to continue the climb. I noticed numbered poles going 7, 8...and i guessed that must be the marker to tell you how much further to the end. I pushed myself, thinking i've climbed 80% and it would be a waste to give up at that point. Reez was a total liar...! It took me a good 10-15 minutes to complete the last 20% of the climb...and quite embarassing as well as the elderly practically whizzed up and down past me while i very slowly forced myself up the trail.

Well, slow as i was, i completed my goal, and that felt pretty awesome! Arrived at the canopy walk, and true to the ice-cream man's words, the walk was already closed for the day. After chilling for about 10 minutes we heard thunder, so we started our hike back down. I haven't exercised for weeks, and that made me feel quite good, though my thighs and calves were already starting to feel sore.

Next stop, lunch! Right, lunch at 6pm. Wangsa Maju, Bangi Kopitiam. One of the best Nasi lemak rendang ayam i've had in a while! We cleaned our plates within 20 minutes, and ordered a couple of butter kaya buns to top it up. After our stomachs were happily filled, we went to the massage parlor next door, and i had my very first foot reflexology. It was good, but painful still, i don't know if i will engage in it as a regular thing to do. I just have a very low pain threshold, what can i say? :-(

An hour later, we were off to Thean Hou Temple in Seputeh. I lived in Taman Seputeh for 2 years and i only discovered the temple today, from Suman's Lonely Planet for KL, Malacca and Penang. An awesome book by the way. I didn't think i could climb another flight of stairs, but there they were at the temple, two more floors to the top, and the book promised a really nice view of the KL Tower and the Petronas Twin Towers. So up we went. The view was quite breathtaking, and the temple was beautiful! How i wish i had a proper camera on me at the time. but this was all i could manage on my phone camera. It's okay, at least the temple is more accessible than the canopy walk..i'll be back.

the temple's roof

lotus-shaped prayer candles

The three of us were pretty beat after the temple, so we went to Bangsar to find a place to drink. Bangsar was pretty dead tonight, so we headed back into town to Al-Rawsha for some Lebanese food to snack on to end the day. We didn't get to take Suman to Low Yatt, but we can always do that tomorrow. We all had great fun, and through Suman's appreciation of the city, i found that KL has a lot to offer, that i really can't get anywhere else in this world.

My legs are hurting now, and i have to work tomorrow. Ouch.

Gnite for now lah.

Blues Akhir Tahun

2008-12-12T16:07:00.002+08:00

Another 18 days to the end of the year now. Where oh where did all the time go?

My sense of time and space is all screwy now. My January trip to Bali seems like it was only a couple of months back, while my last conversation with the asshole who wasted my time feels like it was a million years ago. The memory of the cold April in London with my darling nephew and the taste of Italy still linger in my mind, while it felt like it was years ago that I left my previous workplace. I am still missing my ex-colleagues and the variety of lunch options, but i never once missed the traffic i had to endure while working in the city.

It's been a year of changes, new friends, travel and enjoyment. But somehow, right now all i feel is emptiness. All i want to do is laze in front of the TV and watch one travel show after another.

Maybe it's post-holiday depression...oh yeah. I haven't posted anything on the Phi Phi trip yet! Perhaps I'll do it this weekend. I can't even be bothered to take the pictures out of the camera.

Wouldn't it be nice if i could just fly and see places and not have to worry about money or the lack of vacation days?

on top of that, my thesis is still not yet done. urgh.

another holiday..yay!

2008-11-27T23:45:00.000+08:00

i'm a geek yes.can't live without the internet. but that's just how it is these days.

will be in thailand for a week..i'm in phuket now, which i don't really like. i wish i was in Phi Phi already.

Phuket is hot....!!! like KL hot...and sweaty. yucks.

It's felt like a long long journey, but i will get to my destination soon.

the only good thing about this place was the sticky rice with mango and the delicious steamed fish and seafood salad i had late last night. Yes, at 2AM malaysian time.

woohoo!

what did i do this entire month?

2008-11-18T13:25:00.001+08:00

Kuala Lumpur, originally uploaded by nadi0.

i just realized i haven't written anything in a very long time. time flies so fast these days, it only felt like yesterday that i posted my last entry.

i had a great weekend last week. went to the first Hematology Open Day in Ampang Hospital. Seeing my doctors and fellow survivors again was excellent! Though i went by myself, i felt absolutely at home. Dr Ong, if you're reading this, I will send you some photos soon yeah!

After the open day me and my buddy went off to the zoo, and drove around KL taking pictures of historical sites. This shot of the KL Railway Headquarters here was taken from the Majestic Hotel area, which is now closed as YTL has taken over the building to restore it into another hotel.

Sunday was a traumatizing day for me. I had a job to photograph the Sunathon Perdana 2008, where 300 kids participated in a circumcision ceremony. The event was easy peasy for me until i was asked to document the whole circumcision procedure. Ouch! Ouch! OUCH!!

I'm off to Phuket/Phi-Phi next week. I can't wait! ciao

sad day

2008-10-20T14:31:00.002+08:00

lots of work to do today.
mid morning, somebody said something to me that hit a sensitive nerve, made me cry.
maybe i'm overreacting, because i don't usually shed tears for something so small.
where is my sense of humor? i need you! it's monday and i need you!

buck up, me. i am stronger than this.

My few hours at the PJ Magistrate Court

2008-10-15T20:12:00.002+08:00

i think at some point i must have told the story about how i was accused of committing a traffic offense, the police tried to issue me a ticket which i didn't sign, they let me go, but the ticket somehow ended up in the traffic summons system, along with an arrest warrant. see here for the old posting.

so somewhere mid-year when i was renewing my road tax, i found that i had an arrest warrant for a crime i didn't commit, so i decided to take the matter to court. the first round was waiting for about 3 hours, then a five minute hearing where i said, "saya tidak mengaku bersalah" and they postponed the case to, yeap, u guessed it, today.

took a half day leave, waited around for another 3 hours, then stood in front of the judge for 5 friggin' minutes to hear the police telling the judge that their witness did not come today, and the officer who is in charge of case is still on holiday, and that he suggests the case to be postponed again until another date.

i said my piece of mind, about how the police has wasted my time over something i did not do. and if possible i'd like the case to be settled today. the judge, however, decided that she will give the police another chance, and my case is now postponed to April next year.

bosan betul. but i'll keep you posted. next post, April 2009. keep checking the blog! hahahaa

dreading the raya

2008-09-30T16:02:00.003+08:00

i hope this does not make me a lesser person, but throughout my entire life, i have always dreaded raya. the having to salam-salam, the food, the having to sleep with lots of other people in a tiny room, and especially, the ziarah-menziarahi. i just don't get why, when i have already met the relatives at my grandparents' home, i still have to go visit them at their homes. why?? hehe.

i remember as a kid, i would pretend to be sleeping so my parents would leave me in the car while they went visiting. hehehe..

selamat hari raya, maaf zahir batin, anyway. travel safely, and eat well.

i'm bitten by the travel bug...

2008-09-21T04:40:00.003+08:00

redang at night, originally uploaded by nadi0.

...yet again. argh!

so many places i want to see, too little money, too little time. i seem to be getting this itch to see the world a little too often these days.

must find way to resolve this.

nadio the apathetic...

2008-09-16T02:09:00.004+08:00

just came back from the assembly at the KJ Stadium. funny how meeting an interesting person made me interested in something i have widely claimed to be uninterested in. interesting, yes?

oh...i still am apathetic. i have progressed from fully ignorant apathetic to mildly knowledgeable apathetic. hahaha.

there's nothing wrong about having a reason to learn something new, i say.

as long as it doesn't consume you.

no pics as of yet. will post when i get my sd card back.

teh tarik & roti

2008-09-07T23:50:00.002+08:00

teh tarik & roti, originally uploaded by nadi0.

for your viewing pleasure, in case you get thirsty in the afternoons of Ramadan.

Scientists say that you should look at food before buka puasa. It will get your enzymes going, so your body doesn't go into a shock by suddenly stuffing food down your throat right after azan Maghrib.

hehe.

My Krabi Adventures

2008-09-01T02:56:00.005+08:00

I went to Krabi last wednesday, which started off smoothly, and ended up as a struggle to get back home, when all the Thai airports closed down as all the workers went on strike. They were protesting against police using force to control the protesters who were protesting against the government. it ended up being quite an enjoyable adventure in the end, however.

anyway, it was low season in Krabi this time of the year. things were reasonably priced, e.g. my snorkeling trip the first day only cost me 40 ringgit! since it was so cheap, i went and bought my own prescripted mask. hahaa. it rained the first day, so the water was a bit murky. though i must say, after having been to the Redang Marine Park, my snorkeling experience around the Krabi islands was a bit of a bore..lovely waters though!

on the second day, despite the news forecasting rain, i went on a day trip around phi phi island anyway. the weather turned out to be superb, and we went around on a speedboat to snorkel somemore and swim. best gila!

the hotel was one of the best hotels i've stayed in. It was called Pakasai Resort, and it claims to be environmentally friendly. The pool was lovely, the staff were helpful and friendly.

The drama started as i checked out on Saturday, and the receptionist said that all the Thai airports were not operating that day. Goddamnit. But where was Air Asia's notification sms? Decided to take the taxi to the airport to check it out anyway...but on the way, the sms finally came. The flight was cancelled, but there was no other information. So i headed to the bus station, met up with a couple of friends who were there as well, and we decided to take the bus to Hat Yai. Long story cut short, we then travelled from Hat Yai to Alor Setar by minivan, and then hopped on one of the express buses back to KL. I left my hotel at 12noon on Saturday, and arrived home at 7am on Sunday. Am tired as hell now.

more photos on my flickr.

Selamat berpuasa!

daus the hensem

2008-08-25T12:35:00.001+08:00

DSC_5797 copy, originally uploaded by nadi0.

my friend daus, braved the crowd at Lepaq, performed Across the Universe - made popular by The Beatles. I'm sure lots of girls in the crowd fell in love that night.

nothing much has been going on in life otherwise, i lepak and Lepaq too much, i went to Redang, i had a bone marrow biopsy and the results came back great, i'm going to Krabi this week, and i've gotten back my passion for photography (i think..haha..).

tata.

oh dear, it's 3.30AM

2008-08-13T03:35:00.003+08:00

...and i cannot sleep.

i read my book. i tossed and turned. i tried to imagine a peaceful beach, hot sun. i turned on the Playstation, thinking i'd play some guitar hero, but i turned it off again since i am pretty sure that it would be a bad idea. i am now back in front of my computer, and have nothing else to do.

i saw Smart People today, and i'm feeling nostalgic.
i had the sloppiest burger in town tonight, and i'm feeling terribly guilty.
i heard a name, and it made me just plain uneasy.

i'm in the state of unrest. i need this island trip a.s.a.p.
away from this routine i've slipped myself into.
yes. an adventure. that's what i need, again.

It feels like a day to blog about...

2008-07-22T22:28:00.002+08:00

after so many months of being patient with my tenant's inconsistent and late rentals, i finally decided to take some action. I bought a chain and padlock, and chained the grill.

apa lagi...marah lah diorang. they tried to turn things around to be my fault, but since none of this is my fault, i just tried to say as little as possible, and just watched the fool making a bigger fool of himself.

i got what i wanted in the end, for now at least.

we'll see about next month.

puas hati beb.

it felt like a long weekend...

2008-07-14T01:42:00.001+08:00

Audi A4, originally uploaded by nadi0.

...but suddenly it's monday again. boohoo...!

- i made chocolate cake
- i saw 4 movies in a row
- i played lego indiana jones until the sun came up
- i sorted my overstuffed wardrobe so i can give away the ones i don't wear anymore, and then stopped halfway because i got lazy
- i watched Azura
- i made banana bread
- i went out for a mcFlurry

i now need to sleep because tomorrow it's another week of work all over again. gnite.

Day +3 Years and counting

2008-07-11T22:30:00.001+08:00

my brother's stem cells (too bad i didn't have a proper camera back then, this was taken with my cellphone ...hehehe)

It was my 3rd anniversary for my stem-cell transplant today. I remembered yesterday, then today i was too busy going about my day and only thought about it a couple of hours ago. I made some cake and shared with nearby friends, but this wasn't the reason i made it. Ah anyway, it will be the reason now.

so here i go again: thanks to everyone who got me through it. From your relentless prayers and support, i found my strength. Cheers to that!

Thank you, thank you, thank You.

Jom Lepak at LEPAQ!

2008-07-06T22:44:00.003+08:00

one cool place to be at. check it out!

The Lady in the Palazzo

2008-06-27T01:54:00.004+08:00

I've been reading this book since the past few weeks, regretting that i didn't stop by Orvieto while i went on my Italian escape. Although there were no pictures in the book, the descriptions of the food the writer and her friends were eating made me drool. Although the book really wasn't all about food..hehe. No wonder I still can't fit into some of my clothes.

Ok, to tell you the truth, I signed up with Amazon Associates, and i really just want to see how it actually works. heheee. Hence the pathetic excuse of a book review in the paragraph above. I do apologize. hehe

let's see, shall we?

kerja dan orang hensem

2008-06-18T22:42:00.000+08:00

DSC_3221, originally uploaded by nadi0.

aiyoh, my stomach is so full. plus i think the rooibos tea i had a couple of days ago, is detoxing my body, so my stomach isn't doing so well lately.

today was a work day. interesting stuff in the day, but the night was much better. had dinner with a beautiful man, unfortunately with his parents, brother, my boss and a few other people. hahaha. i'm not joking, he was really really handsome ok, with his blue eyes, tanned skin, 6 feet tall frame, chiseled cheekbones...shit am i starting to sound like a cheesy romance novel? at first glance i thought he was ashton kutcher walking into the restaurant. yes, he was that beautiful. hahahahaa. as we were all chatting at the table, he mentioned something about the food at his dorm. dorm??? kuang kuang kuang...that was the end of my fantasy. kekeke

the meeting went on a bit too long today, that i missed an opportunity to shoot the sunset, which i believe must have been beautiful. as we drove out of the office building, i could see the moon rising, huge and low. and on the other side, the skyline was a gradient of orange and deep blue, a sight i rarely see back home nowadays.

damn i wish i was here on a holiday instead. hehe.

Soweto

2008-06-17T21:57:00.001+08:00

DSC_3184, originally uploaded by nadi0.

I had the afternoon off today, and took a guided tour to the Soweto Township. I was expecting coming out of the tour feeling depressed, but to be honest, i felt a bit sad, but not depressed. The township looked OK actually, although the old Soweto looked pretty rough. I'm not going to write about the details of what i learned today. Interesting as it was, it was a 5 hour tour, and i can't really remember every detail of it. hehe.

We went round the township, listening to the tourguide telling his stories. We ended up at a museum commemorating a 13 year old boy who was killed in the protest against Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in schools in 1976. The witness testimonials were very very sad, i thought. We then went round to checkout Mandela's house before we made our way back, in the after office rush hour.

I was freakin' hungry and thirsty when i arrived at the hotel. I hadn't eaten since 8am this morning, and all i had to drink was two cups of coffee. Wanted to walk to the mall, but it was already almost 7pm, and the receptionist said it was OK to go out, but i'd have to return before 9pm to be safe. takpe lah...makan kat hotel aja. After that trip to Soweto, I think i'll reserve another adventure for another day.

damn...Italy 1, France 0 so far. viva italia!!!! woohoo!

Jo'burg, Groceries & Sex & the City

2008-06-16T20:07:00.001+08:00

Nelson Mandela Statue, originally uploaded by nadi0.

right..i'm now in South Africa. for work. but the yesterday and today were just spent hanging out with my college friend Lisa. I'm now checked into my hotel in Centurion, which is halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria. There's supposed to be a lake somewhere, but honestly, I couldn't see it, and i'm not about to risk my safety by walking outside alone. This room i'm in is OK, but for ~RM400 a night, i know i could stay in better hotels in KL. hehehe.

i arrived at about 5am Sunday (yesterday), met up with Lisa at the airport and had breakfast while we wait for her mom to arrive from Hong Kong. We then spent the day with her dad, since it was father's day, and went back home to watch Taiwanese reality singing shows. haha. i was tired by 8pm, naturally, since South Africa is 6 hours behind Malaysia. So we had snacks for dinner, and i fell asleep watching Russell Peters on DVD.

I love the weather! It's about 18-20 degrees in the day, just nice enough not to have to put on a heavy winter jacket. Since the weather was so nice, we ended up spending the whole day today in a shopping mall. hahaha...first i went to the grocery store to buy grocery, for myself. heeheee..things like nando's peri-peri marinade, risotto rice, south african chocolates, rooibos tea, south african biscuits, etc. hehe..nice eh? after the lunch at nando's came the highlight of my trip. Sex & the City baybehhh!! Since it looks like the movie will never be shown in the theaters back home, i guess this is my only chance. The movie was as good as I expected..woohoo! There were some pretty annoying people around me who felt the need to make additional commentaries as the movie went on. Rasa macam nak tell them to shut up, but i was also worried i might get shot haha..so i kept my mouth shut and tried to enjoy the movie as best as i possibly could.

Need to text Mr Boss soon to tell him that I'm checked in at the hotel. We might go find a game drive tomorrow before our meetings start. I brought my SLR with me, but so far that damned camera hasn't come out of my bag yet. I need to take some photos soon, otherwise I'd have carried it halfway across the world for nothing. kekeke

I'm tired already now, it's only 8pm. Not sure if i want to go down for dinner. Maybe i'll just have the biscuits i bought from the supermarket today.

bye!

Have I died...

2008-06-10T23:15:00.001+08:00

...and gone to heaven?

hahaha.

Florence as i remember it

2008-06-07T02:19:00.004+08:00

Florence, originally uploaded by nadi0.

Davide
Satchiko
Creamy crab risotto
Vivo Gelataria
Archi Rossi
Antico Noe sandwich shop
That lovely long walk to get to Piazzale Michelangelo

konon2 nak try edit gambar kasi macam painting. this was what i ended up with. hehehehe

i think you have to view it large to appreciate it better.

ramblings

2008-06-05T00:41:00.002+08:00

the poor kittens died last weekend. perhaps from us not feeding them enough (susu Anlene low fat), perhaps they got suffocated by their mum in the cage. it was terrible, and i felt guilty as hell, but they're now in kitty heaven. :-(

went for my haemato checkup today. one of my doctors got a datukship. another one came back from his stay in germany. another is going to commence her stay in germany. all in all, things are looking pretty excellent, including my blood test results from today. i'm a month away from my 3 year transplant anniversary...alhamdulillah. i've been wanting to send a frame photo to each of them, but never got around to it. Maybe i'll do it soon, with the pictures i took from my recent travels. for without their help, i probably wouldn't even get to those places i went.

then at around 6, i was told that the petrol price is going to increase by 80 cents tomorrow. shite! apa lagi...gelabahly went out to find the least crowded petrol pump. gila betul. i didn't manage to fill up the tank on the banana boat, but since i don't really drive it that much these days, i wasn't too worried about it. i think since it last came out of the workshop earlier this year, i only filled up the petrol two or three times, even so i only filled up 20-30 bucks each time.

ok lah..sleep time. tomorrow got to work...goddamn, my home phone line is broken, so there's no streamyx connection. i'm "borrowing" my neighbour's wifi at the moment. Jiran sepakat membawa berkat, like they say. hehehee

ciao people!

Cek Tam

2008-05-27T08:54:00.000+08:00

That's my cat. Who had quite a hard life for a small cat. A few months ago it fractured its pelvic bone from I don't know what. The doctor suspects that it was beaten with a blunt object, since there was no open wound.

Then it got pregnant. And it couldn't give birth yesterday. We took it to the vet, the doctor induced it, but due to the bone fracture, it couldn't give birth naturally. The kittens were also bigger than average, said the doctor. So in the end he had to operate the cat.

But all is well, for it is a strong cat. It survived the operation, and so did the two remaining kittens. (the first one who got stuck didn't make it, unfortunately). Well done, Cek Tam!

Nubhan - Ada Untukmu

2008-05-26T14:12:00.001+08:00

i love his ala-ala indon pop rock voice.

According to Rachel Tidwell..

2008-05-23T09:14:00.003+08:00

..my life is crap. From a junk mail i received this morning. or is it? Siap kau Rachel Tidwell. Whoever you are. heheheee.

Happy friday!

Nespole

2008-05-22T09:56:00.004+08:00

Nespole, originally uploaded by Miss Laura M..

I wrote about a fruit i had in Italy, and I've finally found out what they're called - nespole! That's the italian name, no idea what it's called in English. Picture by Laura, the friend i met in Rome who was off to meet her cousins in Catania, Sicily.

delicious stuff.

hmmmm.....

2008-05-21T08:02:00.002+08:00

I was checking out tech specs for dell laptops this morning, and came across this:

Weight & Dimensions

Weight: Starting at 1.79 kg⁶

Width: 31.8cm

Height: 2.21cm – 3.38cm

Depth: 23.8cm

and at the footnote:
⁶ Preliminary target weight is based on 13.3" WLED display, Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium, Slot-load DVD burner and 4-cell battery. Weights vary depending on configurations and manufacturing variability.

i wonder, will the total weight become lighter if i downgrade to Windows XP? hahaha...

Selamat Hari Wesak

2008-05-19T11:30:00.002+08:00

Sungai Tua, originally uploaded by nadi0.

It's been a week, and i'm still jetlagged. Or am i? I shamefully admit that on both saturday and sunday, i slept at 6am, and woke up at 5pm, which was a major waste of time.

I blame saturday on The Tudors, catching up with all the episodes i missed while i was away. As for sunday, I don't have anymore excuses. I just couldn't sleep. So last night, i decided to not sleep, in hope that tonight, i'll retire early. This sometimes doesn't work, so i'm risking myself being extremely tired on my second day at work tomorrow. hehe..

So, i went out at 6.30am, hoping to catch the sunrise at Batu Dam. It turned out to be cloudy, so we (deli and me) decided to check out Sg Tua instead. Nice!! I wish i had brought extra clothes and a towel! Took some pictures, but the best part was just sitting on the rocks, with my feet in the water, listening to the quiet sound of the morning. bellissima!

happy wesak people!

Nursing my jetlag

2008-05-13T13:56:00.001+08:00

Grilled Cheese at the Borough Market, originally uploaded by nadi0.

oh man...i was browsing through hundreds of my photos and i found this picture of a grilled cheese sandwich I had at the London Borough Market. seriously sedap gila...i think they should add another variation with tuna in it. I love tuna melt!

thank goodness i'm back home, high possibility of me becoming a fat ass if i keep eating things like this everyday. that grilled cheese would be nice with some Coca-cola, or sparkling water. then for desert, an ice cream. perfetto!

Ooops...home sweet home

2008-05-12T18:08:00.002+08:00

what a waste! I woke up at 6pm today, just because i didn't feel like there's anything interesting to do. i start work on Friday, so i wasted today just sleeping around.

I'm finally home, as you can see, and i'm glad. I'll see nephew again in a week or so. but i'll sure miss the "hmm, where shall i go and shop today?" question. hehe..i will miss that couch at my brother's place too. I've decided to call it the Couch of Epiphanies, because on several occasions, sitting on that couch has made me realize quite a few non-important things in my life. As in, things that are not important, that i believe were important. hehe am i rambling? that's because i haven't got anymore stories to tell. i'm home. and it feels great!

ta!

I cannot wait to get home

2008-05-11T21:15:00.001+08:00

Dubai, 7AM
I'm in transit in Dubai at the moment. My luggage was in excess by 18kg at London last night, and I had to repack my luggage twice. I ended up having to check in my little backpack and now i'm dragging the smaller cabin size bag around, which is pretty heavy. Stupid gila in my opinion, because in the end, the total weight comes down to exactly the same, isn't it? I don't even know what I have in my bags, but at that moment in the airport yesterday, I just felt like throwing everything out. The stupid chocolates, the stupid clothes and the stupid everything. What's with the 20 kilo policy anyway? Don't they know that it's not enough? And I think I made a stupid mistake buying this particular cabin size bag. I just realized that the stupid bag is quite heavy as well. Bargh!

Obviously i'm a bit too cranky right now. Cranky that my vacation is over, and i'm messed up from the time difference.

Singapore, 9PM
And what feels like a million years later, I'm in Singapore pulak. The layover is almost 2 hours, so I decided to get off the plane to stretch my legs and get a bottle of water, since my ankles are already now swollen from sitting too long. I was told that I need to take all my carry on luggage with me. Guess what? I get back through security, and was forced to throw away my precious pesto sauce I bought from italy. Takde rezeki I guess, but I am really pissed off at the indifference that was shown. Some expression of regret while chucking the jar in the bin would probably have made me feel a teensy bit better. At this point I'm having really violent thoughts in my head. I bet they all take those things they confiscate and use them, especially after I told them that the item was expensive and rare..which I exaggerated a bit haha. Aku sumpah any airport security worker who takes it and uses it gets a bad reaction from it. I wonder, what is the total loss suffered per day at airports around the world by careless people like me? Ada ke bawak pesto sauce dalam hand luggage? Bodoh apa? Hehe..

Hope Monday will be a better day. Right now I just want to get myself somewhere familiar, and chill.

Bye.

Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie

2008-05-09T15:08:00.000+08:00

IMG_0078, originally uploaded by nadi0.

That's what we did the whole day on thursday. Ok, not the whole day then. We kind of woke up late, wanted to take the train to the countryside, but it didn't work out since we weren't sure of what to do, which train to take, etc etc.

So we went to the Science City instead. Awesome stuff! It's like a huge complex of science stuff, human genome, space, 3D things, simulators, environment, and many more. I wish i had more time there, but an afternoon was all i had. We also went to the Planetarium, and i honestly could not remember what was shown because i fell asleep. Then we went to the Géode, it's like an IMAX theatre, but better.

We chilled out by the park, watching people, then off i went to catch my train back to London.

Je suis en Parit(s)

2008-05-08T07:33:00.003+08:00

D'accord. Je suis arrive en Paris aujourd'hui a 4pm. French wa berabuk tak kekekee? First of all, let me explain, i've never really liked Paris that much. Maybe I never spent enough time here, I dunno. But I find the people unfriendly, unhelpful, and services (e.g. Restaurants) are in general, tres mal.

I didn't sleep very well last night..big mistake on that coffee with sam, and I was in a mildly bad mood throughout my journey. I bought some delicious hot chocolate at King's Cross, and they made me throw away the drink before checking in at the gate. And 2nd class eurostar seats aren't the most comfortable seats in the world. I'd rather go on the Italian Regionale trains because even the cheap trains in italy give you more space compared to Eurostar London-Paris.

So, I arrived and went to get my metro billets, and I suddenly realized that I was missing one of my credit cards. Argh!! So I stepped aside and rummaged through my handbag to look for it. I couldn't find it, so I guess I must have dropped it somewhere, or left it at one of the shops in London. Terpaksa la make a call to Citibank, right? Stupid Citibank put me on hold for 5 minutes to report a missing card!!!! Angin betul aku. Of course when I finally got connected, the agent yang tak bersalah kena marah baik punya. "Look miss, I'm calling from Paris to report a missing card, and you make me wait for 5 minutes listening to your bloody advertisements? Do you really think somebody who's reporting a lost card would be interested in hearing about your home loan offers????" I must have sounded like a total bitch, but at that point I think that call had cost me like RM50 already and she was asking all these procedural security questions before she could attend to my problem. Argghghgh..!! Anyway, after about 12 minutes card was cancelled and everything was well, until I realized I had chewing gum on my hair!! Fark betul!!! I don't know where that chewing gum came from, but it was freaking disgusting. I hated Paris more and more, although it was no fault of the city that I suddenly get chewing gum stuck in my hair out of nowhere. Kekeke...

When I got to my stop, I asked around how to get to the hotel. Of course everybody just shrugged and said "je ne sais pas." Luckily Lisa appeared a few moments later and took me back to her hotel. Cliff was hanging out at the lobby already. I was just so glad to see them!!

We walked out to get some snacks and pastries and chilled out on the grass near Eiffel Tower and waited for the sun to set. We went a bit crazy taking tacky photos, but the tower against the sky at that time was just beautiful. We went back to grab our sweaters and went out again for dinner. By then it was already 9.45pm, and it was still only like 6.45pm! Dinner wasn't very nice, but there was a nice crepes stall next to it that I will definitely try tomorrow.

I'm off now. Good night!

"Nothing" Hill, Primark & The Best Fish and Chips

2008-05-06T23:50:00.000+08:00

When I finally gathered enough will power to leave nephew, I set out for my day, first heading to King's Cross St. Pancras to sort my train tickets to Paris tomorrow. Yes, I'm going to Paris. It wasn't at all part of my plan, but my college friends Lisa (from Johannesburg) and Cliff (from NYC) are on vacation there, and of course I will go there and meet them! I haven't seen Cliff in 8 years, and Lisa since 2003 i think, when i went to visit her in South Africa. Well, it was either Paris or a nice pair of shoes from Selfridges, so Paris it is then. I'll just make do with those cheap cheap shoes from Primark or M&S. hehe..

Then I took the tube to Notting Hill Gate to check out the Portobello Market. Nothing much there of course, it's a weekday for god's sake! Just a few stalls selling fruit and souvenirs. Notting Hill is nice though, just like in the movie. I wouldn't mind living there. I bought this fruit, i still don't know what it is. I had some in Italy and they were really really good. It's small like an apricot, but the skin is like mango, and it's orange-ish/yellow-ish in color. It starts with an "N". will take a picture and post it up in case any of you know. I'm a bit lazy to upload pictures these days. hehe. On Portobello Road, I went to find a Sausage & Mash shop that was recommended in the Lonely Planet. Really good stuff, and I only had the vegetarian sausages! Next to it was a Malaysian Restaurant called "Makan," but i didn't stop for a teh tarik. I'll be home in a few days, I'll have my teh tarik then. I miss teh tarik...! hehe

After Notting Hill, I decided to go to Primark on Oxford Street. I see people carrying Primark shopping bags everywhere, and I was quite curious to find out what the place was. It turns out to be a really huge department store selling really cheap clothes!! My snob of a brother says he's never set foot in it. hehe...I went to get some stuff for people back home. I just kept putting things in my basket, and for 50 pounds, I walked out with 4 pairs of pants, 3 tops, 1 shirt, 1 necklace, 2 handbags (ok, most of the items were actually for myself, selfish tak? hehehe). I queued to get my VAT refund, but then I bailed, the queue was too long for just 5 quids, I think i'll come back and do the refunds another day.

Next, I met up with Sam at Covent Garden. He wanted to take me to what most people claim to be the best fish and chips in London. And indeed it was. My favorite is still Manhattan Fish Market's..kekee, but in London, yes, that is the best I've ever had. We later went for coffee around the Leicester Sq. area and watched the world go by. Those cafes remind me of Italy. We stayed until the waitress shoo-ed us off because they were closing, so we parted ways, me to the tube back to Ealing, and Sam back to his apartment to study for his upcoming finals. I'm now chilling on the sofa, sorting out things for my short trip tomorrow.

Methinks me better sleep now. Penat pulak. Nite nite!

Chillin in London

2008-05-06T12:21:00.000+08:00

Wah...i didn't realize that i was so tired until i sat on my seat in the airplane. I immediately fell asleep, and as soon as i arrived in London, I went to look for a coffee place so I could get my eyes to open up a bit. I went to Costa Coffee and ordered an Iced Latte. Then I asked for sugar syrup...and the shop dude said they don't have sugar syrup. I mentioned that I thought it was like Starbucks who have sugar syrup, and i got a stern warning not to mention that name in Costa Coffee ever again. hehehehe...oops!

I took the Stansted Express, and when I got to Liverpool Street Station, the Central Line had already closed. It was 1am. So I had to wait for ayol to come pick me up, and by the time we got home, it was already 2.30am. that's 3.30am in Italy. Penat gila ok!!! I think we all slept late the next day.

At almost noon, we all went out to Bicester, where the factory outlets are. It was a nice day, but since it was a Bank Holiday weekend, there was quite a big crowd there. I firstly looked for coffee (i was still tired, but that was my only chance to go to the factory outlet). After going in and out of a few shops, I ended up with a pair of Clark's sneakers, and some tshirts for ayah. I went into Tod's, Furla and Dior and tried to convince myself that I should get a designer handbag, but I just couldn't. The handbags were quite cheap compared to the prices in Malaysia. Say, 400 pounds, and they had a 20% discount, and then i get another 10% VAT refund. It comes down to about 280 pounds. RM1800 for a Tod's handbag? cheap right? still, I couldn't do it. My Kipling canvas bag works just fine, and so do my many RM60 handbags back home.

I chilled out most of Monday. The weather is really nice in London these days. I needed to return some stuff i bought at Muji (coz i found the same thing for a cheaper price), so i did just that, and went to shop for a bit. They asked me what was wrong with the item, and i told them honestly, "Nothing's wrong with it, i just found the same thing for a cheaper price." and they returned me my money. I totally love the customer service levels in countries like this.

I'm now sitting on the staircase, because Shazrai pantang nampak computer. I'm gonna have to go the St Pancras station in a short while to see if I could get Eurostar tickets to Paris. Then I'm off to dinner with Sam.

Toodles!

The end of la mia avventura d'Italia

2008-05-03T18:30:00.003+08:00

Ah...well. I'm now sitting at the airport waiting for my check-in lane to open. My flight is at 8.55PM and it's a half hour more before the counter opens. I didn't know that the airport was only a 20 minute bus ride away. Hehehe...ingat macam KLIA's distance, as airports normally are.

Ancient Roman Porn Artifact, found in Pompeii/Herculaneum, created between 1-50 AD

So, I didn't do much today. Went to the National Museum of Archeology and only larat to check out a few rooms, including the Secret Room, which contains ancient pornographic material kekekkeke. Those artifacts were found during the excavation of Pompeii and Herculaneum back in the 1800s, from the ruins caused by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The only difference between ancient porn and today's porn is that ancient porn was expressed in drawings, mosaics or sculptures. The artwork were definitely as graphic as we would see them today.

After the museum, I went to look for last night's pizza place for my last italian pizza. Being way too lazy to try anything else, I had the same item I had last night, the House Margherita. The place is called Trianon, should anyone who reads this happen to be in napoli at some point. Ask anyone where the famous da Michele's pizzeria is, and Trianon is on the building opposite. I don't think I will ever forget the taste of that pizza.

Then I thought I might do some souvenir shopping, but my feet hurt, so I decided to go back to the hostel. I bumped into this really old man who asked me where I was going. He didn't seem harmless until he started following me!! I have no idea what he was saying...I kept telling him 'non capisco signore, non capisco.' Then I think I started to get what he wanted. He made this hand movement..like Pian (or most guys) does when he brags about how big his 'tool' is. Get what I mean? Then I heard some words I recognize..I was trying hard to get what he was saying..it was quite difficult because he had no teeth. Anyway, I heard, 'fai' (you do) and 'con me, va bene?' (with me, ok?). Errr no thank you!!! I started walking faster, although I could totally beat that old man up if he tried anything nasty. He was a tiny old man. Hehe. I seeked refuge in a burger king, the cashier kindly let me hide until the old man was off the street. Well, the grandpa might have been on about something totally different after all, but he made me too uncomfortable. Kekekee. Strange that I only get these in Italy, and i've been to quite few places around the world.

DSC_2967, originally uploaded by nadi0.
sunbathers chilling in Napoli, Mt Vesuvius in the background

Then I went for a walk by the pier for about 2 hours before returning to the hostel again to get my bags. The day was hot, almost similar to Penang, and everyone was out on the 'beach.' There no actual beach with sand, but large rocks put together and people just lie down on the rocks to sunbathe.

So here I am now, having my gelato at the airport after my 3 week excellent adventure in italy. I will definitely come back here again when I can spare the time (and money). I've lost my sunnies, broken my d80 screen protector, gained a few pounds from the food, lost the pounds from the hikes and dragging my bag around, met some very interesing people and made quite a few friends.

I can't wait to get back to London now. I just want to lie down on the sofa with Shazrai on my lap.

Another day in Capri and and evening in Napoli

2008-05-02T22:58:00.001+08:00

Alright. Here was my initial plan before i went to bed last night.
- Wake up at 5.30am, go to the main piazza at Capri and take some sunrise photos
- Take a hike to about 5 places.
- finish before lunch time to meet up with Gemma for lunch.

Of course i didn't wake up at 5.30am. I heard the alarm going off, but i decided to just sleep the morning away. Left the hotel around 10.30am and walked to Arco Naturale, a rock formation shaped like an arc (duhhh). It was a fairly steep walk up the hill, but i dragged my leg up the hill anyway. The view was so beautiful there! So i decided to walk some more, found some caves here and there and gorgeous landscape along the way. It wasn't a very easy hike though. The distance was short, but i had to go down some stairs, and up some stairs, sakit sungguh kaki ku...! This past three weeks have been like an intensive stairmaster training program for me. My right heel actually hurts right now from all the walking. No wonder Italian women have such gorgeous legs. Anyway, halfway throughout the hike, i got a bit worried in case i got off track, but i kept going anyway, sticking to the paved little roads hoping to reach civilization soon. It was close to 2 hours since i started walking when i finally heard human voices. I finally reached the private beach, Faraglione. I wanted so much to go down the stairs, but i knew i will have to climb back up (there's no other way), so i just decided to keep on walking. Rugi betul...i could've bumped into Matt Damon or something down there, right? hehehe..i wish!

views from the hike

After that hike, i went to pick up my bag at the hotel. I looked like a homeless person, i wish i could take a picture with myself. Imagine me and my black backpack, bermuda shorts, a singlet, a hat, and a big supermarket plastic bag which contained my clothes. I weaved my way through the crowd on the streets of Capri, i think quite a few people looked at me quite strangely. Them rich peeps with their white linen pants, leather shoes, and cashmere sweaters over their shoulders. cheh! hehehe

that really delicious linguine con frutti di mare..yumm!

I met up with Gemma at this restaurant called Ristorante da Giorgio. It was recommended by the Rough Guides. The meal that was recommended was called Linguine con Frutti di Mare. I ordered that, and it was superb! Mussels, clams, cherry tomatoes...oooh sedap gila. Of course the book said that the linguine only costs 12 euros, but it turned out to be 17 euros today. Belasah lah. It was totally worth it though.

We didn't do much else after that. We went down to the marina, and sat for a long time while sipping our cappuccinos, people watching and talking. At around 4pm, Gemma decided that she would go to the jetty and wait for her boat so we said our goodbyes. I went to get my luggage at the storage shop and repacked my bag, and took the ferry to Napoli.

This hostel i'm staying in at Napoli is quite close to the jetty, so i didn't feel the fear i felt when i was at the train station the other day. Checked into my bed, took a shower, and went out to dinner with one of the girls in the dorm. The receptionist recommended a pizzeria about 15 minutes walk away from the hostel, and she was right...the pizza was delicious!! I just don't understand how anyone can eat a whole pizza on their own though. The pizzas are a little bit bigger than Pizza Hut's Large pizza ok... I ordered one for myself, got through half of it, and just scraped off the topping for the other half. I just couldn't do it! Yes, the crust is thinner, but it is still big! That was the best pizza i've ever had in my entire life - it was pizza with tomato sauce, basil, buffalo mozzarella, and cherry tomatoes. It's true what they say, the best pizzas are in Napoli.

OK, i'm off to bed. I'm not sure yet what to do tomorrow. I still have the whole day in this city before my plane back to London. Another pizza is a must in my itinerary, i guess. And a gelati. And a coffee. And this dessert called Baba, which my roommate tells me i must try.

I'm too lazy to upload photos right now. Maybe later. Ciao!!

Bella Capri

2008-05-01T10:30:00.001+08:00

I'm tired as hell, and I cannot wait to go back....although there's so much more I want to see. Lisa and me (Gemma decided to go to Vesuvius) dragged ourselves out of bed this morning at 7AM so we can beat the crowd to Capri Island, since everybody says it's going to be freaking crowded since it's the Labor Day weekend. And by god were those people right! Thank god we decided to bust our budget by taking the taxi, so in some ways, we got to cut the queue. I also didn't feel like dragging my luggage all the way to the marina from the hostel...i dunno what is in the bag, but it got so much heavier since i left london the other day. I didn't even buy anything throughout my Italian adventure. hehe..

We arrived in Capri, and it was madness!!!!! People shoving and pushing to go here and there. After a short coffee break, Lisa went to get the boat tickets to the Blue Grotto, and i went to sort out my luggage at the baggage deposit shop. Lisa's Rick Steve book gave specific instructions, but of course, i never follow instructions properly. I dragged my bag down the short steps, and later found out that the baggage storage shop was just next to the coffee shop! Taik betul..hehehe..

madness at the Blue Grotto entrance

The scenery throughout the boat ride to the Blue Grotto was quite beautiful...though i got lazy and decided not to take any pictures. From the big boat, we had to transfer to a smaller boat to get inside the cave. The book said that it costs 5 euros each, and then we need to tip the boatman about 2 euros. It turned out to be 10 euros each...and there were mafia-looking people in the boat that seems to be the Blue Grotto "ticket office", with their aviator sunnies and all. hehehe..we had to lie down to get into the cave, and when we got inside....waaaaah....the water was so blue from the sun's reflection!! i expected a lot more, but it wasn't much, other than the very beautiful water, and the boatman belting out O Sole Mio. thank god he had quite a good voice...i didn't take any pictures inside since it was so dark, you really need to get off and fix a tripod somewhere inside the cave. Sure must have special permission punya.

After the Blue Grotto thing, we went up the hill to take the bus to Anacapri, which is the other part of the island. We took some lunch, and then took a chairlift ride up to Monte Solaro...cun gila ok!! It was about a 12 minute ride, and when we got off, we explored the place a bit to get some photos. Then we hiked back down to Anacapri, which was quite a beautiful hike, but honestly, i didn't think i needed more walking. kekeke...After about 40 minutes, we finally reached the base and spent some time looking at the shops. Anacapri isn't as expensive as Capri, and i quite like that less crowded part of the island. Had some granite di limone (ice blended lemonade) which was very delicious, given the hot day. I didn't buy anything as usual, since it seemed like everything might have come from the part of the world where I come from. Plus i didn't think 40 euros for a pair of thin leather slipper was worthwhile at all. Hmm well, i might get a pair tomorrow, but i dunno, i just don't have any more space in my bag.

view from Monte Solaro

After dah puas lepaking at Anacapri, we took a bus back to Capri. Eh, silap. We wanted to take a bus, but the line was so long, so we took a taxi (convertible taxi!!) jakun gila...! taking a taxi is so much better than taking the bus...the bus makes me nauseous, with the sharp turns and all. At Capri, we first decided to go find my hotel, since both of us felt so tired trying to manouver ourselves through the crowd. It was quite a long walk, nasib baik the room was nice. A proper hotel room at last! Only, it came with a single bed, and there was no room to fit another person (I was going to sneak Lisa in for the night hehe). We rested for a bit before reluctantly making our way back down to the Marina...my luggage was still at the storage shop, remember?

Anyway, Capri town is like Rodeo Drive on steroids...too many rich people walking up and down, in and out of the shops. I feel quite underdressed to be honest, with my backpack, singlet and sneakers. Anacapri would be more suitable for me...note for next time (if there is one). The walk to the funicular station wasn't pleasant at all, kind of steep...and i still don't know how these Italian women can walk with their thin high heels in these streets!! I noted the steep walk on the way to the hotel, so i decided to leave my bag at the marina overnight and just take the necessities with me in my backpack. Thank goodness the shop lady allowed me to do that, with another charge of 3 euros. I'm quite happy about it, since i was ready to pay her 10 euros to keep my bag. hehe.

So, it was time for Lisa to leave for Sorrento. We had a snack at a pizzeria, and said our goodbyes. Quite sad actually, i came to rome thinking i would be doing things on my own, and suddenly i had friends, and it felt like we've known each other for a long time. hehe. I then went back to my hotel room to take a nap, penat gila! Then i went out to take some night shots of Capri..didn't walk far as i was too tired. Capri is so beautiful at night! It's still not as quiet as i thought it would be..i guess most people are staying since it's a holiday weekend. I roamed the streets a bit in hopes to find Mariah Carey or any Italian footballers...but naaah..i only saw photos of them partying in Capri at the camera shops. In the evenings, the photographers from the camera shops come out to photograph people on the streets. For some reason, none of them offered to photograph me. Why ah? Do I not look glamorous enough? Marah la niiii....! hahahaha..

night time in Capri - Piazza Umberto

okey dokes...my hour is up. I think i'm going to bed early tonight, while watching Italian Satellite tv. It sucks because everything is in Italian. The O.C. in italian, the Simpsons in Italian...argh! Gemma's coming to Capri tomorrow, so when she's done with the touristy bits that I've done today, I'm going to meet up with her and chill out before we part ways. So i think i should wake up early to get some morning shots of this island, need to study the map to find out where the lookout points are. tomorrow i head to napoli to catch my flight back to London.

tata!

Sorrento & The Amalfi Coast

2008-04-30T19:23:00.001+08:00

Sorry for the lack of photo updates, but i haven't found a computer that will allow me to upload photos, plus i really haven't had time for myself, which is really really nice in a way.

So, anyway, the train from Rome to Napoli was ok...but as soon as i set foot in Napoli, the environment got a lot more scary than the other places i've been at. The people seemed rougher, but i don't know, it's probably because i've heard a lot of bad things about the city.

I arrived in Sorrento, which is nice and quiet in sort of a touristy kind of way. There were orange trees lining the streets, and i wondered if they were free. suppose they're coated with quite a bit of carbon monoxide from the vehicles that runs through the roads..hehe. When i got to the hostel, Lisa had already arrived; she had had quite an adventure, but that's her story to tell. So we went out and chose a random restaurant, which turned out to be terrific! i can't remember what i ate actually, but there were some roast potatoes yang sedap gila..hehe. After that we just went back and slept, since both were so tired from our individual adventures trying to get to Sorrento.

We slept late the next day, and did absolutely nothing, except walking up and down the main street checking out things at the shop. Funny thing happened as we checked out this shoe shop, Lisa was trying out a pair of shoes, and when she decided not to buy them, the shopkeeper loudly said, in his italian accent, "pleeez-ah god-a, bless-a me....don't-ah give me people that-a waste-a my time-a.." kakkkakakaka..dunno la which business school he went to. we left the shop immediately after realizing that he was directing that comment at us. Gemma arrived later in the evening, and we all went to dinner together, but i don't think the food was any good at that place. oh well...u don't try, u won't know i suppose.

from the bus along the Amalfi Coast

We woke up early today to catch the bus that runs through the Amalfi Coast. The view was incredible!!!! Unfortunately, the bus ride made me feel queasy, the roads so small, the bus taking corners like a maniac, and i was quite glad to get off the bus at Amalfi. Amalfi is nice, but it is a very busy town. So Gemma and me decided to take a ferry to Positano, and Lisa stayed at Amalfi. Positano was a lot better, I thought, and the ferry ride was 200% better than the bus ride!!! People just hanging out at the beach, and it's also a quieter town with a better view than Amalfi. We stayed there for a bit before we walked up the cliff to catch the bus back to Sorrento. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, there were no ferries from Positano to Sorrento, which i think is a bit strange.

Positano

Ugh i really felt sick on the bus!! We got off as soon as we were within walking distance to the hostel. Thank god for a fruit shop, which smelled really nice and i immediately felt a lot better.

aiight..i'm off. gotta pack, i'm heading back to london in a few days..boohoo!

ciao!

Arrivederci Roma

2008-04-28T15:20:00.001+08:00

I'm off to Sorrento today. I can't believe it's been 2 weeks, and I've gotta go back to London in less than a week! Not that it's not great...i can't wait to see little nephew again. Rome is nice, i spent the whole day yesterday just walking around, from tourist point to tourist point, Palatine Hills and the Roman Forums (i spent almost 3 hours in there), Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Piazza del Popolo bla bla bla. The fountain was so crowded with people that i only spent 30 seconds there before i decided to look for some gelati. Lucky me, as I was checking my Lonely Planet Rome map, i noticed a gelati place in the map that Lonely Planet claims to be the best gelati in Rome. i went, and ordered the suggested flavour, Honey Sorbet, oh my god...yum!!!!!! sedap gila that I actually went back today to have some more.

After all that walking yesterday, i came back to my hostel room, put my stuff down, and went to join my dorm-mates for dinner somewhere near the colosseum. Great food, great company, 6 individual travelers walking around town at night (laura and lisa from the states, jane from australia, lena from norway, gemma from london, and myself), which i would definitely never do by myself. Rome is bellissima at night! the fountains, the monuments...too bad i didn't bring my D80 to dinner.

I woke up earlier than usual this morning so i could go do the touristy things at the Vatican. The line today wasn't any better than on Saturday, but i proclaimed a state of emergency for myself and cut the queue. hehehehe...not very nice, i know, but i think everybody else was cutting the queue as well! which was why the people at the back never move as fast as they should. Damn cun that basilica. Then i attempted to cut the queue to enter the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, but the line was too long that i decided to skip it. Ah well, i'll come back another day.

okay...gotta go repack my bag, and i'm off to catch my train. I'm actually staying with Gemma and Lisa in Sorrento, so that'll be another cool trip before i have to head back.

adios!

La Citta Eterna

2008-04-27T03:58:00.003+08:00

Rome, friends...i'm in rome!! I arrived at this hostel called the Beehive last night. I'm sharing a room with 7 other people this time. It's a nice quiet place and they've got a really fat cat called Ingmar. They serve organic food at the cafe downstairs. I was a bit hesitant at first, but i was too tired to go find other places last night, so i just belasah and had the lasagna with ricotta, spinach and asparagus. mak oiiiii sedapnye!!!! the organic peach juice was also delicious...yum yum!

madness at Piazza San Pietro, Vatican City

so today, i thought i would go and attempt to get inside st peter's basilica, but as soon as i got there, i bailed out. the line went round the piazza man! shite gila...so i went round, and tried to get into the vatican museums and sistine chapel, but the line was about 500 meters long. forget it...i'll attempt it another day, wake up at 6am and be in front of the basilica by 7am. hopefully i could make it on monday because tomorrow will be a lot worse with Mass going on.

somewhere in Appia Antica

anyway, after my attempts to enter the Vatican failed, i sat at the side cafes and ate a whole pizza myself. mampus aku gemuk! but that was counted as breakfast plus lunch, so i guess it was ok. then i went to get an all day bus pass and tried to figure out what i would do for the rest of the day. it was a beautiful day, so i decided to go to the roman catacombs, which was in the southeast of the city. the bus stopped at via Appia Antica, an ancient road built buy the romans that leads to napoli, i think. hehe..I love the gardens! it was quiet, away from the city noise, and of course, there were a lot less people there. so i visited the catacombs, first the San Sebastiano Catacomb, then the San Callisto Catacomb, where about 300,000 bodies were buried, including the popes of ancient times. eeeriee ok..! it was educational nevertheless. It was also my first time meeting an Indian priest, the guide who showed me around inside the catacomb.

the famous ancient roman building

After that i went back to the city, and decided to check out the Colloseum, which was already closed for entry, so i just took photos outside. then i went shopping at the train station. i found a Sephora shop there, and i haven't been inside Sephora for almost 8 years!! excited gila! heheee

I'm tired. need to rest. ciao!!

Assisux

2008-04-25T16:50:00.002+08:00

Assisi at night - Piazza del Comune

Let me clarify. Assisi is only really really nice when the daytrippers have gone, leaving the town quiet and empty. it is like disneyland at night, full of wonders as you step into the little alcoves. It is also like disneyland during the day, with loads and loads of people slowly walking up and down the steeply inclined roads, making me feel like i want to scream my head out and ask them to shut up. hehehehe...selfish tak.

Rocca Maggiore

I attempted to take a hike at the national park of Mount Subasio, but 20 minutes into it, i decided to turn back. knowing me, the estimated 3 hours would become 6 hours, and i'll never make it back to the train station. heheheee. so i climbed up the road to Rocca Maggiore which is within the walls of Assisi, and got a pretty nice view there as well.

Basilica di San Francesco and the mob scene at the entrance

Next i decided to follow the crowd to the Basilica of San Francesco to see what the big deal is. It looked like a pilgrimage from the hill at Rocca Maggiore. Okay....the inside of the basilica was quite beautiful, there was also an underground tomb where San Francesco was buried, but i let the believers go lah. It matters more to them to see the tomb than to me. The queue, masya-Allah!!

ok...i'm off to my train station..malas betul nak panjat bukit once again, with luggage oso this time. argh!! i asked the receptionist this morning whether there was an easier road to a bus station. she said to just take the steep path, it is only 300 meters away from the piazza. i told her nononono....that path is steep. she said defensively, "no it's not!!" hehe..to her of course la it's not..she walks up and down that road everyday. cheh! berlagak betul. hehehe

adioos!

okayy...i'm off. ciao!

Hari Menziarah Kubur - Firenze

2008-04-25T04:20:00.002+08:00

IMG_0735, originally uploaded by nadi0.

I woke up this morning and went to the market...got leather goods, but they were kind of expensive, at about 65 euros a handbag. Ada pulak this thai stall owner yang tried to sell me a handbag..his selling point was, "this bag, made in thailand, but i print Florence here. 20 euros for you mam." kapla otak dia. baik aku naik air asia gi chatuchak kalau camtu. kekekee

Since there was nothing much to buy, Satchiko and me decided to go visit the Basilica di Santa Croce, on the east side of the city, near the river. We tried to get in yesterday but the line was super long, luckily today there was no line at all. Perhaps it was because we came during lunch hour. Anyway, we got in...and again, I got goosebumps admiring the tombs of Donatello, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Galileo, Napoleons' family members and many more. Michelangelo and Galileo were actually buried there, but some of the others were just tombs, since apparently Napoleon came and told the church that it was unhygenic to bury corpes inside a church. yeah man!! gross!!

anyway...i left at 4 for assisi, and assisi is beautiful man!!!! this place is like a medieval disneyland, senza the crowd. i wish i had more days here. i guess i'll take the latest train possible to rome tomorrow then. but it's kind of hilly so i have to walk up and down the pavements, and i'm kind of still recovering from yesterday's walk.

ok lah. there's a lady outside this computer place who came in and said, "possiamo giocare?" hmm i suppose that means she wants to use it la kot....ciao! tak sempat nak upload gambar medieval disneyland ni...maybe next time! papai!

p.s. ooooo ok...she asked if i wanted to join her play cards at the tables..hehehe...tak perasan dia bawak playing cards. hehe