Two Years of Our Lives

Reminiscence

2010-09-04T23:23:00.003+08:00

Was just sending our friends the itinerary for our '40-days Great Backpacking Adventure' and realised that we never posted it on here so in case you didn't catch where we were when backpacking, here it is... Pretty amazing looking at it again after more than a year. Good memories...

June 1 - 4 Zakopane and Krakow (Poland)
June 5 - 7 Overnight train to Prague (side trip to Karlovy Vary)
June 8 - 10 Bus to Budapest (side trip to Bratislava, Slovakia)
June 11-13 Train to Slovenia (side trip to Bled & white water rafting)
June 14 -15 Train to Vienna (side trip to Salzburg)
June 16 - 22 Flight to Greece (Athens and Santorini)
June 23 On the ferry from Greece - Venice
June 24-25 Venice
June 26-27 Train to Florence and Pisa
June 28-29 Train to Cinque Terre
Jun 30 - Jul 1 Train to Nice (side trip to Monaco and Cannes)
Jul 2 - 3 Train to Barcelona
Jul 4 - 6 Train to Seville
Jul 7 - 9 Bus to Lisbon

p.s. Just in case you're wondering, we spent a total of 1 week traveling in a bus, train, ferry or catching a plane! :)

Memoirs

2010-03-21T17:20:00.002+08:00

We’ve been back for more than 6 months now and already our time in the UK seems like a distant memory. But before we truly put it away in our treasure box full of memories, let me reminisce on some of the most memorable moments of our time in the UK.

Firsts
Meal – Pub food at the pub by Liverpool St Station
Purchase – Puffy jacket for Gabe from Asda and a 50p top from Primark in Romford
London sight we visited – Chinatown! :P
Jobs – Gabe at Field & Trek and Wens at Dorothy Perkins
Paycheck – Spent ourselves a meal at Garfunkel’s, Oxford Street
UK trip – Norwich, to spend New Year’s with Mun Wai at a quaint little cottage, eating chicken rice, drinking wine and watching Take That on TV. :)
Europe trip – Rome and Vatican City with Benny and Lareina. Viva la Gelato!
Summer BBQ – With CS & Jay Vian at our backyard with the not-so-hot disposable BBQ set
Sight of snow for Gabriel – April 2008 – freak snow day!
Sight of England’s royalty – Prince William and Prince Harry at the Bond premiere. *drool*
Brush with celebrities – Gabe saw Uma Thurman and Colin Firth at the Kill Bill premiere while I saw George Clooney and Renee Zellweger at the Leatherheads premiere.
‘Cruise’ – 34 hour ferry ride from Patras, Greece to Venice, Italy.
Hike/Camping Trip – Ambleside, Lake District
Outdoor Concert – Hard Rock Calling @ Hyde Park with Police and Eric Clapton as headliners.
Ski trip – Zurich, Switzerland with CS & Jay Vian... One word: Expensive!

Favourites…
Campsite – St Ives, Cornwall (5* toilet facilities man!)
British food – Fish & Chips, Cheapo Fried Chicken, Pub grub
Hiking trip - Conquering Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in UK.
Road trip - Touring the Scottish Highlands with Colin and Devon & Cornwall with Marie. Amazing places!
Tea place – Patisserie Valerie
Seaside town - Hastings
Musical – Lion King for costume/set, Les Mis & Wicked for songs, Zorro for special effects and Never Forget for laughter!
Hiking trip - Conquering Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in UK.

Best of Europe
Outdoor haven – Lake Bled, Slovenia and Tatras Mountain, Poland
Most delicious food – Italy
Most quaint town – Lubeck, Germany
Most happening at night – Madrid and Barcelona, Spain
Most amazing architecture – Barcelona, Spain
Most romantic and amazing sunsets – Santorini, Greece
Most historic – Rome, Italy & Vatican City
Hottest city – Sevilla, Spain
Cheapest city – Krakow, Poland
Most expensive country – Switzerland
Fun Amusement Centres – Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen and Skansen, Stockholm
Best desserts – Brugge and Brussels, Belgium
Most scenic city – Prague, Czech Republic
I-can’t-believe-I’m-here feeling – Paris, France
Best for shopping – Definitely Spain!

When all is said and done, it’s been such an amazing experience and probably one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. I guess it’s just nice to be able to say, ‘Been there, Done That’.

We are truly blessed.

Thank you Lord for this amazing opportunity.

Tays at Home

2009-09-14T16:09:00.002+08:00

There are still one or two more posts about our 2 years adventure which I'd like to add to this blog before officially putting it to sleep but in the meantime, while I gather my thoughts, you can check out this brand new blog where we'll try to update snippets of our lives back home in KL. It probably won't be as often, considering that 'real' life will probably not be so exciting, but it'll still be an avenue for us to jot down significant events in our lives. So, see you there!! :)

Tays @ Home

Adventure ends....

2009-08-15T14:03:00.000+08:00

Pack, pack, pack
Stuff, stuff, stuff
Eat, eat, eat
Walk, walk, walk
Saying hello again and farewell
Shopping for last minute items
Pack, pack, pack
Scratching head seeing the amount of things left to pack
Clean, clean, clean
Scrub, scrub, scrub
Cook, cook, cook
ENJOY!

That pretty much summarises our last few weeks in London. We were trying to do everything we have yet to do, eat all our favourite food and shop for things we needed to get. 3 large boxes, 3 suitcases and 2+ handcarry luggages later, we were all packed and ready to say goodbye to London. We leave with heavy hearts but we also bring with us a heart and mind-full of lovely memories and amazing experience from our 2 years adventure in the UK. The things we have seen and experienced, the people we've met, the places we've been to.... it has all been one huge rollercoaster ride but oh-so-worth-it!

It's back to motherland Malaysia for us and though we are sad to leave London, we are happy to be going back to family and friends (and our home!) in KL.

The plane that bringeth us hometh!

Conquering Ben Nevis

2009-08-04T14:38:00.001+08:00

Gabe & I at the peak of Ben Nevis! Yes, it was so misty up there, very poor visibility!

We decided to forego our tickets to Norway and went up to visit our friends in Livingston instead. Also, took the opportunity to camp one last time as well as climb Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK.

We had a lovely time with our friends and the weather was absolutely gorgeous (especially by Scottish standards!) We managed to climb Ben Nevis and it was truly quite an achievement considering we didn't have any prior training at all. It took us 9 hours altogether but it was truly worth the hike. We couldn't see much of the view from the peak as it was super misty but the clouds parted on our way down to some magnificent views of the Scottish Highlands. We were dead tired when we got down and all of us ached everywhere but still the feeling of accomplishment made it all ok. The climb was pretty gradual but most parts were pretty rocky especially when you reach Ben Nevis proper, so that made it a little tougher to walk, especially during the descent. That combined with wanting to pee made the walk down much, much worse compared to the ascent. :)

It was also a trip of good food as we had yummy homecooked food by Jay Vian as well as steamboat with Dr Timmy at Edinburgh and also fish & chips in Tyndrum on the way back from Fort William. We also managed to see Oban and Stalker Castle which we didn't see the last time we were at that corner of the world. Throw in a bit of shopping at the outlet malls in Livingston and you get two happy people and one amazing trip! :) What a lovely trip to end our travels in the UK.

Yummy food in Scotland...

Our lovely campsite at the foothills of Ben Nevis

On the way up...

Our host and fellow climbers with our certificate of achievement. We had to pay for it but at least they required proof of climbing before selling it to us :)

The lovely view of Scottish Highlands after the dark clouds parted on our way down from Ben Nevis.

Sightseeing round the Scottish Highlands

By Loch Morar, the deepest loch in Scotland.

Living London

2009-07-30T22:16:00.001+08:00

This being the last few weeks of our time in the UK (sob!sob! yes, we are headed home!), we decided to visit some sights that were new or haven't had the chance to visit. You could say, we are trying to absorb all the London sights, air and atmosphere to store up in our 'memory chest'. Our time here has been amazing and can't believe it's time to go! :( Here are some pix of what we've been up to in the past few weeks...

Visited the newly launched 7th July Bombing Memorial at Hyde Park

Then we went to see the Diana, Pricess of Wales memorial which was a lovely fountain/water path where they allowed you to dip your legs in and walk around.

Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall (we didn't get a chance to see a show here unfortunately!)

The beautiful Kensington Palace and the gardens in bloom. Gorgeous!

Random curios around town - the giant plugpoint and tinkling about the street piano at Carnaby Street.

And of course, lots of eating things we will miss - HK dim sum and UK Indian food

Crepes and English breakfast (Yum!)

Happy Birthday Gabriel! :)

2009-07-30T01:32:00.001+08:00

My dearest husband turned 28 and we just had a simple pre-birthday celebration at home and followed by a day out for dim sum and a visit to the Science Museum on the actual day. The reason we went to the museum was because it was an adults only opening at night and they had some interesting programme that night. So it was a first, celebrating birthday in a museum. :) Never thought we'd do that eh, considering how much we love museums! :) It was pretty fun and we also learned a little about the constellations so it was also very educational.

Hope you enjoyed your birthday dear and I thank our Lord each day for you! :) Love you lots!

Birthday dinner at home :)

Home made birthday cake!

Birthday boy at the Science Museum! :)

Dinner at the Creperie :)

Last stop - Lisbon

2009-07-27T23:21:00.001+08:00

This post is way overdue but yes, we're finally on our last leg to Lisbon. We took a bus to Lisbon and passed by the Algarve on the way. It looked absolutely lovely and hope we can go there some other time in future. We also passed by a lovely sunflower field but unfortunately it wasn't in bloom. Can imagine how gorgeous it would have been!

By the time we got to Lisbon, we were very tired and a little sick of travelling if we could be honest. Thankfully we got a great deal for a hotel there so we had a nice room. We pretty much spent lots of time just chilling and enjoying the room, aircond and TV!! Haha.. We also managed to catch the live screening of MJ's memorial thanks to our nice plasma TV in the room. So spent that afternoon in tears, listening to his songs. He truly was a great musical legend!

The weather in Lisbon was thankfully much cooler than Sevilla so that was a welcomed relief. Lisbon is a city full of hills so you can imagine how much walking we had to do. We walked up to the castle area and then down to the main Baixa-Chiado area and then walked all the way up to Marques Pombal and back up to our hotel. Man, did we have a good workout.

Gabriel was especially happy in Lisbon as he got to indulge in his favourite Portuguese Egg Tarts and it really was quite yummy especially when it's warm. They eat it sprinkled with some cinnamon and it was pretty good!

We also went to Belem (we tried walking the 7km there but gave up half way!) to admire the Discoveries Monument and saw the Jesus statue from afar. We also tried the famous pastel de Belem (egg tart). The recipe is kept behind locked doors and it is said to have originated from the nearby Jeronimos Monastery. It was pretty yum!

But yeah, at the end of the trip, we were pretty relaxed and I was looking forward to going back to London and not being a nomad anymore. :) I was practically smiling ear to ear at the airport waiting in anticipation to go home and once at home, we both happily cooked maggi mee for our supper. :)

The view of the viaduct and bridge from our hotel room on the 22nd floor!

At the Castel St Jorge/Alfama area

By the Marques Pombal and the huge park behind it

Baixa-Chiado area - the main square and the Elevador de Santa Justa

Discoveries Monument in Belem and the Jesus statue across the river

Jeronimos Monastery (where Vasco de Gama is buried!) and Belem Tower

Gabe's highlight - Portugues Egg Tarts!

Our last dinner on our trip - we had a grill dinner. Yum!

Waiting for the bus to the airport!

Sevilla

2009-07-24T05:19:00.003+08:00

This was definitely the HOTTEST place we've been to in our entire lives. It was 46 celcius and 43 celcius respectively on both days we were there and that, together with the gum pain and fever I was having, was not a good combination. We downed liong cha and water like crazy, hoping to cool from the heat and at the end, we just stayed in the hotel during the afternoons where it was crazy hot. We got to watch Federer beat Roddick in what must be the best Wimbledon men's final though so it was all good! :)

We also travelled in style to Sevilla as there wasn't any 2nd class tix left from Barcelona, so we took the 1st class seats, complete with breakfast so we ended our Interrail pass in style. It was great- spacious seats, yummy breakfast, real cutlery, free drinks and the cutest salt and pepper shakers! :) We could get used to that anytime.. Hehe..

Despite the crazy heat, Sevilla is a very beautiful place - almost desert-like in landscape and because of its Moorish influence, the city is peppered with beautiful tile-work and my current favourite yellow, earthy toned coloured buildings. The heat did make it a bit hard to walk around but that aside, it was still worth a visit there. We didn't get to see a bullfight unfortunately or the flamenco (it was too late and a tad bit expensive for our budget) so that was a bit disappointing but a lovely Spanish meal of paella, calamari and sangria on the last night made up for it. What a lovely way to end our Spanish adventure.

Enjoying our first class seats and our yummy breakfast

Beautiful scenery

Plaza de Toros - the bullfighting ring

We weren't exaggerating.. it really was 46 celcius!

The most beautiful part of Sevilla to us - Plaza de Espana. The detail tile work was amazing!

Tile work

Torre de Toros and the Giralda by the cathedral

And finally, nothing finishes off the night better than good food and some tipple :P Cheers!

Barcelona

2009-07-24T01:24:00.000+08:00

Barcelona was amazing. Possibly the most interesting city architecturally all thanks to the visionary and magnificent architect Gaudi. His works are really one of a kind and makes you look at it and wonder where on earth did he get his ideas from? Due to our crazy schedule and lack of train availability to our next stop, we had only one full day in Barcelona and people who have been there will tell you that one day is not enough and honestly, it wasn't enough but we did the best with our time there.

We walked like there was no tomorrow, leaving the hotel at 9 sth in the morning and returning after midnight! :) We managed to visit the main sights and saw enough of Gaudi's work to last us a lifetime. From the 'forever-under-construction' Sagrada Familia, to the amazing Parc Guell and Casa Blanco, from the Barri Gothic area and amazing cathedral to the bustling La Ramblas, from the Boqueira Market to the shopping promenade by the port, and from the Christopher Columbus statue to the magical singing fountain, we walked and conquered them all!

Yes, so we were a bit kiasu but hey, it's such an amazing city and makes you just want to see everything. We had some amazing Spanish food in a tiny tapas restaurant off the market and it was yummylicious. Spanish food is great! So yeah, if you're planning to visit Barcelona, you need at least 3 days!! Don't be hero like us.. the city will just leave you wanting for more.. :)

The very impressive and grand Sagrada Familia

At Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell

Parc Guell and it's famous lizard sculpture

:)

Gaudi's mosaic work and Mr Christopher Columbus pointing to America

More of Gaudi's work and the group on the left are the Institute of Gospel Barcelona. They kept us rooted to our spot for more than an hour listening to their very animated performance of secular and christian pieces. Amazing talent!

The magical singing fountain by Plaza de Espana. A lovely, relaxing end to the day.

The longest train ride

2009-07-23T00:31:00.000+08:00

The longest train ride we had to take took us 12.5 hours from Nice to Barcelona with 3 changes!

It was however, an interesting journey as the landscape really changes from place to place. From Nice - Marseille, we saw the beauty and grandeur of the French Riviera with bikini-clad people sunning themselves on every available space on the beaches. Then from Marseille - Avignon, we entered desert land where there wasn't any wind as you could see still tree leaves and even the wind turbines were all standing still plus the fact that we were literally melting in the train.

From Avignon-Montpellier and then further on to Barcelona, the terrain remained pretty desert-like and wasn't all that interesting. We were sure glad when we reached Barcelona at 8 something in the evening, having started our journey some 12+ hours before! :)

The beautiful Cathedral Notre Dame de la Garde at Marseille

Avignon was a really beautiful medieval town with their city walls intact and they were having a huge Avignon theatre festival in July, hence all the posters hanging from every available space!

We were happy when we saw destination Barcelona! And doing what we do best on train journeys, SLEEP!!! :)

Monte Carlo and Cannes

2009-07-22T23:55:00.000+08:00

We sneaked in two more destinations into our already tight schedule and thus, travelled east and west of Nice in a day to the other two famed towns of Monte Carlo and Cannes.

Monte Carlo was every bit as posh and grand with all the trappings of wealth being displayed especially at the marina! Yachts of every shape and sizes were docked there and people were decked in designer goods from head to toe. We also lucked out as they were setting up the stage for the Tour de France which was supposed to kick off from Monte Carlo the next day. So we caught a little of the cycling vibe around town. Saw the simple guard changing ceremony at the castle and also visited the cathedral where the beautiful Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier some decades ago. The overall impression was of grandeur and everything just looked well-kept, beautifully preserved and clean. We also admired the famed Monte Carlo casino from afar as we weren't dressed for the occasion and everything just looked seriously expensive. Hehe..

Tour de France cycling fever

The cathedral by the castle and the changing of guards

Display of wealth and a picture of the 'backpacking paupers' :)

The obscenely grand-looking Monte Carlo casino

Cannes on the other hand, was a disappointment. Besides the very old-looking convention centre where the film festival is held and the tiny celebrities walk of fame, there is really nothing else to see. You can imagine how unimpressive it is when Gabriel took all but 3 pictures in Cannes with his camera. We should have skipped this and spent some time lying on the beach in Nice. But oh well, at least we can say, been there, done that I suppose! :)

George Clooney's new sidekick - GT and a mangled up camera

This is about how interesting Cannes is... :)

Turning three in Nice

2009-07-20T23:05:00.000+08:00

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary at the playground of the rich and famous, Nice. It was truly quite marvelous to be walking down the beautiful promenade des Anglais, overlooking the French Riviera and we were greeted with a spectacular sunset on our first night in Nice.

Due to our hectic travel schedule, we didn't have much time to explore and enjoy Nice (i.e. we didn't get to relax by the beach!) as we wanted to fit a visit to Monte Carlo and Cannes in as well so we explored what we could and would love to return to just do what you're supposed to in Nice, sunbathe! :)

We had a lovely al-fresco dinner at the old town in one of the bustling restaurants on a very happening street (forgot the name!) and it was nice to just sit, enjoy the breeze and smell of the sea, talk and reminisce of how much we have experienced in the last two years and feeling very blessed for the opportunity. So, nothing fancy, just a lovely night out together. :)

Place Massena

Sunset by the French Riviera

Lovely!

Yummy anniversary dinner... and those were only the starters :)

Happy 3rd Anniversary Mr & Mrs Gabriel Tay!

Cinque Terre

2009-07-18T17:54:00.000+08:00

Cinque Terre or 5 lands was made up of 5 beautiful villages round the northern coast of Italy- Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. We really loved this place as it was all very rustic, relaxed and very beautiful. Even though it is overrun by American tourists but still the place is not too developed and still has the small town feel.

Each village is linked by train or a hiking path and we managed to see all 5 villages in our time there. We visited Monterosso on the day we had the train pass and it was probably the biggest village (at least with the most beach space!) and we had a very delish tuna pizza by the marina.

The next day, we did the hike from Vernazza (where we stayed) to Riomaggiore. The hike itself would have taken about 4+ hours solid but we took a break to explore each of the village. Corniglia is the highest village, perched ontop a cliff and it has quite a stunning view. The hiking trail was by the cliff so lots of ups and down but the views and trail itself was lovely. Thankfully it was quite a cloudy day so it wasn't too hot. The best part of the hike is really the view of the villages before you reach it. The colours of the buildings and its locations were amazing.

We broke for lunch at Manarola and treated ourselves to some yummy seafood spaghetti. The seafood was really so fresh and it was just so yummy and satisfying after a long hike. The last leg of the hike from Manarola to Riomaggiore was really a stroll as the path were cemented and it was called the Via dell'Amore (Lover's Lane) and you can see lots of padlocks around the path with couples' names on them. Story is that if the locks is placed there, your love will last forever. We didn't have a lock but we don't need it as well because we have Jesus :)

We're happy we made the trip here and would have loved to stay longer to actually have time to laze by the beach but it was great nonetheless. We stayed at a room by the main street of Vernazza and it had a clothes line outside so like the Italians, I carefully pegged our clothes outside and our clothes dried beautifully.. :)

Colourful Monterosso

Vernazza - our favourite village.

Corniglia - the one ontop the cliff. If you hike the other way from Manarola - Corniglia, you have to climb up these 300+ steps to reach Corniglia!! Thankfully, we just had to skip down :)

Manarola and Riomaggiore

The locks on Via Dell'Amore and even the cactus were not spared on the path!

Ligurian seafood pasta - yummy!

For more pictures on the trip, look here

Florence and Pisa

2009-07-16T18:14:00.003+08:00

We woke up to the news that Micheal Jackson had passed away (June 25th) and couldn't believe it. We didn't have much time to look at the news as we had to catch the train to Florence so the MJ updates had to wait till we got to somewhere with a TV (and that wasn't till a week later!! At least we caught the memorial!). Can't believe such a great musical legend has passed but happy that he is finally at peace.

Anyway, moving on to Florence and Pisa... We checked into our hostel in Florence and then proceeded to Pisa for the afternoon. Honestly, there really isn't anything much to see in Pisa except for the Leaning Tower of Pisa :) The town itself was pretty small and easily walkable but really ALL the tourists were only at the Leaning Tower of Pisa which I suppose, is quite interesting to see as it is really senget... Of course, we took all the usual shots of trying to hold it up, blow it down and anything funny-like. It's quite amusing to see a whole 'field' of people trying to hold up the tower and of course some of them were a lot more creative, doing back flips and gymnastic-like poses with the tower. Hilarious!

On the way back to the train station, we passed by a bridge where a concert was going to take place that night by Luca. He was doing a sound check so we spent some time just listening to him and watching the sun set. He really was very good and handsome too (think Jason Mraz cool type). Funny thing was he has been performing in Covent Garden for the past few years and to think we saw him back in Italy where he came from... He was really good! Check out his myspace. Loved his voice..

We spent the next day walking around Florence and this city is amazing! The architecture are beautifully preserved, the Duomo was huge and we were even treated to an impromptu acapella prayer from a men choir that was visiting the cathedral. Beautiful. Of course, the Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi Gallery and the Ponte Vecchio were equally gorgeous. We didn't go into the Uffizi Gallery (surprise...surprise.. :P) but I'm sure the paintings were nice from the guide book I looked at. Hehe.. We had an amazing mandarin flavoured gelato somewhere near the bridge. Absolutely delicious! Also had a stand up lunch in the market where the locals go to so that was a great experience too. Overall, a lovely place and I know we've said it before, but we really do like Italy... :)

The famed Leaning Tower of Pisa

The back side of the tower

Luca's concert on the bridge

Ponte Vecchio by day and by night, Florence

Plaza Vecchio and Duomo Cathedral

Having lunch at the market and me touching a lucky pig

Gabe's fave part of Italy - Gelato!!!

We're back

2009-07-11T18:58:00.002+08:00

We're back in London!

Can't believe our trip is now over and it really flew by. We really had such an amazing time and will jot down some thoughts in later posts. We didn't really have internet connection towards the second half of the trip hence the lack of posts but I will continue updating where we left off over the next few days and hopefully put more pictures up once we sort through our thousands of pictures! :)

It's been an amazing time for Gabe and I but for now, the Tay's are signing back in from London.

Cheers!

Venice

2009-06-28T07:39:00.002+08:00

Grand Canal

Some alley behind St Mark´s Square

Venice is the first city we've ever been to that doesn't have cars in the city. They have boats instead! Seriously, everyone owns a boat or at least a sampan! :-)

It was also full of bridges and little alleys which adds to the character of the city and its many canals. We really enjoyed Venice. Though it was a little touristy at the main bits, it was pretty quiet in the back alleys and we caught glimpses of the Venetian lifestyle (did you know their laundry are all colour coordinated!). Our butts also got a good workout by climbing up and down the bridges. :-)

It was also fun exploring the city with our friends the first day as it was nice to have lunch with other people besides each other. Haha!

We saw all the main sites but man, was it a pain to walk through all the little alleys as it goes round and round before reaching a place. It was pretty quiet at night too so can be a bit scary as most parts aren't that well lit. And no, we didn't sit the gondola or waterbus even for the matter. Firstly, it was expensive and we've just spent 34 hours on water so it's pretty understandable if we prefer solid ground. :-)

Overall, we loved being back in Italy. The land of good food, gelato and normal toilets. :-) The Greeks had something about not throwing toilet paper into their toilets so we were happy to revert back to our norm when we reached Venice! Hehe. OK maybe that was too much info here! :-)

p.s. The photos uploaded on the blog so far are taken from Gabe´s phone so not very good quality. We´ll upload some nicer ones once we get back to London... :P

All aboard

2009-06-28T07:16:00.001+08:00

So we travelled by ferry from Greece to Venice. It wasn't 29 hours as claimed, it was 34 hours altogether! :-)

It started with a journey to Patra where the ferry was. Patra was a small port city so we didn't see much since we were lugging our bags around. We did however see the St. Andrew's church which was supposedly the biggest orthodox church in the Balkan region. It was quite grand and the interior was pretty amazing esp the ceiling frescoes!

So how was the journey?

It was pretty good surprisingly. Firstly they allowed us to board early and we managed to get a seat even though technically we were supposed to seat in the deck!

Then we met some new friends on board, fellow travelers from Sweden and California so we hung out together the times we weren't asleep (we all slept quite a bit!) and that was fun coz we learned to play a few card games like Plume/Blotch, Durnia and a rather violent slapping game! :-)

The ferry was impressive as well as it was one of those huge cruise liners and it had restaurants, shops, pool n jacuzzi (though it was too cold to use!), card rooms and even a disco!

So with all those distractions, time passed by quickly and before we knew it, we were sailing into Venice and the books were right, there's nothing quite like arriving in Venice by the sea as you just fit right in to the Venetian lifestyle and we got a free tour too. Hehe!

I was quite lucky the travel pills worked and the sea wasn't too rough so it was a comfortable journey. :-)

Would we do it again? Most probably if we ever have the luxury of time again! Oh, did I mention that it only cost us 16 euros per person? :-)

Half way point

2009-06-22T22:21:00.002+08:00

Gosh how time flies. Can't believe we're already half way through our trip. Guess the old adage rings true - Time flies when you're having fun.

We sure are having the time of our lives. Wearing the same clothes over and over and the travelling can be quite tiring at times and sometimes we long for a lazy day but all in all, it has been a great experience and we are so, so lucky to be able to do this. Seeing all these places we've only read in books and just experiencing the different cultures and lifestyles, it has been very enriching. We've also got to meet different people from all over the world by staying in hostels so that has also coloured our trip a little.

We're off to Venice tonight on a 29hours ferry ride and we will then be commencing the second half of our journey through Italy, France, Spain and Portugal a.k.a the more expensive cities... Here's hoping everything goes as well as the first half!!

Cheers everyone!

Athens

2009-06-22T14:39:00.002+08:00

The mighty Athens and her wonderful ruins. After Santorini, we were feeling a little too laid back so wasn't quite in the mood for sight-seeing and the heat has been quite extreme, combined with being in the city so we were quite sluggish! :-)

Decided to take it easy and just walked around Athens and of course tried to see as much as we could. We couldn't visit the Acropolis as they were closed early the day we went. So we just admired from afar and used the money budgeted for the entry for a yummy Greek dinner of souvlaki and moussaka. :-) It wasn't such a loss really as there were major reno (again!) works going on at the Parthenon so it was covered with cranes and more scaffolding. Yes, the new Acropolis Museum opened while we were there but unfortunately the entrance was by purchasing online tix only so we couldn't get one in time so no go for us either.

We visited the 2004 Olympic stadium and it was pretty big but looked a bit deserted and not well cared for. We also tried going to the beaches near Athens but what do you know, the whole of Athens was there as well so we decided not to fight for a spot with them. Besides we didn't have an umbrella of our own so we would have baked under the scorching sun!

The main port Pireaus was huge and quite intimidating with all the gigantic ocean liners around us but thankfully they had shuttle buses so we didn't have to figure out how to get out. :-)

Overall, our Greek experience has been wonderful though the island definitely won over the city on this one. We're also going to stay off kebabs and gyros for a bit since that's what we ate most this week with it being cheapest food we can find! :-) Although I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed that the Greek men were not as handsome as described in my romance novels. Hahaha.... Now maybe I'll have better eye candy in Italy :) :)

Tripod Wives

2009-06-21T05:28:00.000+08:00

I'm sure you've heard of the term trophy wives but how about tripod wives? :-)

Part of my job description as wife is to be a human tripod for Gabe's arm to rest when taking night shots without his proper tripod. It does not always work out well since I'm obviously not as steady as an actual tripod but hey it works.

My post today was actually inspired by what I saw tonight while Gabe was taking night shots of the Acropolis and you know how long they take with their shots. So I was standing around and happened to observe this guy who was trying to take a shot. He then called out to his wife and ask her to stand in front of him and to stay still. He then placed the camera on her HEAD and took the shot!

I was so tickled by the fact that we women with shutterbug hubbies all share the same fate. I told Gabe about it and he laughed at the camera on head part and said he can't wait to try. Me and my big mouth! :-)

Santorini

2009-06-20T00:36:00.001+08:00

After spending more than 13 hours at the Athens airport (we were trying to save hence not going into the city. Besides our flight arrived late from Vienna), we were whisked away on the shortest flight ever, only 25 mins and we were transported to what is prob the most beautiful and picture perfect island we've ever been to!

Santorini surpassed our expectations and the layers of white washed buildings with blue roofs and window panes amidst the deep blue Aegean sea truly is something quite magnificent. Our splurge for the trip was a room facing the caldera/volcano and man, was it worth it! Seeing the sunset (truly one of a kind!) from the comforts of our balcony was so romantic and they didn't lie abt the sunsets in Santorini! :-)

We really had an amazing time here coz we were just relaxing and enjoying the island rather than rushing about sight seeing. We rented an ATV and had fun zoom-zooming around the island. After our long cliff walk from Imerogivli to Oia, I couldn't imagine walking about all the hills! Besides it works out better than the bus and Gabe fulfilled his dream of driving an ATV so it's all good! :-)

We're still in the island as I type but we will be leaving on the overnight ferry back to Athens! So sad but it has been a good holiday from a holiday. Know what I mean? :-) Anyway, we're off to secure a spot for our last sunset in Santorini! Ta for now! :-)

Vienna and Salzburg

2009-06-20T00:20:00.004+08:00

Vienna, vienna, vienna. What can we say except that it was oh-so-expensive! Sure we are on a ridiculous budget but still! 4 euros for a lousy magnet? Sigh!

Having said that, the city itself is very grand! The architecture is amazingly intricate even the museums look like palaces. It supposedly houses some of the most famous museums but don't ask us about it coz we just have no interests in museums. :-) Gabe was happy to eat his currywurst and I had my schnitzel-like fried chic so we were quite happy. :-)

Since we had an extra travel day for not going to Zagreb, we decided to visit another famous Austrian town, Salzburg. Home to the famed Von Trapp family, we only got to see Mirabell gardens as the rest of the sights were out of the city. Salzburg was pretty small and it was quite easy to cover in a day.

And yes, we took pictures of Austria's most celebrated composer, Mozart. That guy has buildings, squares, memorials and even chocolates and cakes named after him. We tried a slice of Mozarttorte which was basically a choc cake with a layer of green praline and marzipan. The verdict-OK only la. :-)

We're off to Greece next! Woo hoo!

Slovenia

2009-06-20T00:03:00.003+08:00

Slovenia was by far our fave country thus far! Ljubljana had beautiful town squares and architecture as per other European countries and they also had free ballet performances at the main sq when we were there. So cultured! :-)

We made a day trip to the picture perfect Lake Bled and though it was every bit as touristy as warned by the guide book, still the place was utterly gorgeous! Pictures doesn't do it justice! We rented a bike (good investment i tell ya!) and cycled around the 6.5 km lake and also to the not-so-nearby Vintgar gorge which was set in the Triglav National Park. Though I nearly died cycling uphill almost all the way, the view and the bridge footpath round the gorge made it all worthwhile! :) Needless to say, I enjoyed the ride back into town. Whee! :-)

In fact, we loved the Slovenian countryside so much, we decided to forego our day trip to Zagreb and returned the next day to white water raft in their pristine clear rivers and it was prob one of the highlights in our trip thus far! The scenery was great, we bodysurfed in freezing waters from nearby glaciers and Gabe even conquered his fear of heights and jumped from a 6m foot bridge! I was too chicken and was fearful not so much the height but the swift currents of the river. We had such a rush that day! :-) We also managed to visit the nearby Lake Bohinj which was recommended by some Slovenians we met at our previous hostels. It was the largest lake in Slovenia and the water was so still. Beautiful! Reminded us somewhat of the lochs in Scotland.

So yes, Slovenia is truly a gem and we would like to return some day! :-)

Budapest & Bratislava

2009-06-17T09:41:00.010+08:00

Budapest was quite magnificent. Not only did we get lovely albeit a little scorching weather, but the two sides couldn't be more different. Buda was hilly and filled with marvellous architecture - Castle, Fishersman's bastion and the amazing rock church and view from the cittadella. Pest on the other hand was flatter and housed the regular city sights tho it also had the famous baths which we didn't try and also an impressive Heroes Sq, which reminded us of Trafalgar Sq.

We enjoyed exploring Budapest and the view of the castle and Chain Bridge at night by the Danube River was just amazing! The hills were quite a workout esp when we climbed 2 hills all in 1 day but the views of the city from the top was definitely worth it esp since we had a clear day. :-)

Bratislava on the other hand merits probably only a half day trip. We managed to cover the city, walked up again to the castle (which was under renovation!) and all the major sights in less than 4 hours. I even had time to try clothes at Tesco to kill time! :-) The most interesting feature were prob the funny sculptures dotting the towns. Very cute and something a little different from your usual sights. It was just an OK city for us.

One of the things we've noticed in all the cities were that there were reno works going on in all their main sights and it's such a pity since it's peak period and we have pics of scaffoldings and ugly plastic covers. hehe. Oh well, what can we do except try and take the pix from the best angle? :-)

Prague and Karlovy Vary

2009-06-08T03:56:00.001+08:00

It's been good to be back in Prague and to be able to recognise places and signs. :-) It's Gabe's first trip here so we're doing the touristy bits and taking lots of photos. Prague is ever so beautiful! Every spot you visit is picture postcard material!

We managed to cover Prague city in two days and since we had an extra day today, we decided to venture out to Karlovy Vary, a beautiful spa town bordering to Germany. They are well known for their thermal springs and the place was full of 'posh' tourists as the guide book says. :-) Needless to say, we tried to blend in as well as we could. :-) We also saw a gorgeous Russian Orthodox Church, complete with the colourful domes ala Moscow. I was so happy to be able to see some Russian bits as I really wanted to go to Moscow and St Petersburg but it was just too much hassle so this will have to do for now. :-)

We had a bit of problem coming back to Prague as all the buses were full! So we had to take a slower and more expensive option of the train but we got back ok so that's all that matters right? :-) We'll be heading to Budapest tomorrow morning and hopefully the hostel will have a computer so we can upload some pictures! :-)

From Krakow - Prague

2009-06-05T21:08:00.001+08:00

We are now sitting in a cafe by the Prague Castle having a cup of coffee while resting our legs from the long walk up the hill. :-)

The last few days in Krakow was very packed with visits to Auschwitz and Wieliczka Salt Mines. The trip to Auschwitz was very enlightening and sobering, to think of the atrocities commited there. scary! The salt mines in our opinion was slightly overrated n just a whole lot of walking underground although seeing sculptures n chandeliers made of salt was pretty amazing! :) Our only disappointment was that the Krakow castle was closed when we wanted to visit because of some anniversary function! :-( Oh well! Can't have everything can you? :-)

We were a little apprehensive taking the overnight train to Prague yesterday night as we've heard many horror stories of people being robbed but thankfully it was unfounded! Gabe and I were lucky enough to have the compartment to ourselves and we could lock it so we got here safely without any incident! :-)

Anyway, just a little update that we are ok and now we need to go work those leg muscles again! :-)

Checking in...

2009-06-02T20:13:00.004+08:00

Just a quick post to say that we've arrived safely in Poland. We're in Zakopane now, a small resort town near the majestic Tatras Mountain where we went for a lovely 4hrs hike this morning. It was absolutely beautiful! :)

Will be heading back up to Krakow this afternoon where we have a packed schedule too since we want to visit both Auschwitz and Wieliczka Salt Mine. Absolutely love our hostel in Zakopane. Hope the rest of the hostels are just as nice :)

Signing off for now...

More photos here...

We are going!!!

2009-05-29T05:06:00.000+08:00

In 3 days, we'll be embarking on our backpack-round-Europe trip!

Yippee!!

There are still so many little details to think about but I'm so sick of reading guide books, surfing the internet, researching train connections etc etc so I think it's time we just go with the flow and hopefully everything will work out. After all, we will be gone 39 days and going to 22 places, there's no way we can be 100% prepared right? :P

Do keep us in your prayers and we'll be sure to update when we can. :)

Adios!

Cuti-Cuti England

2009-05-28T07:49:00.003+08:00

In Oxford.
Pix courtesy of Marie's camera.

We recently went on a road trip to Manchester via Oxford with Adrian, Marie and Penny. We also made a side trip to market town Chester which was very quaint and beautiful. Our trip was also to celebrate with Andrew and Jeen on the arrival of their son, David. It was great to meet up with Aunty Ah Eng and Uncle Kim Shah. Adrian was on a mission to eat Fish & Chips so we ate more Fish & Chips in a week than the whole time we've been here. Hehe..

By rapeseed fields on the way to the Norfolk Coast.

After Adrian left, Marie, Gabe and I went to Peterborough on our second round of cuti-cuti and stayed with the Lau's. We had a lovely time playing with the girls and catching up with James and Cheng Yi at their home. We also took side trips to the beautiful Norfolk Coast (beautiful beach huts at Wells-next-the-sea) and Northampton (nothing much really!).

More pics here...

What's up?

2009-05-26T00:10:00.002+08:00

Well, here's a short update on what we're up to at the moment.

Gabe and I have officially finished work at our respective places and are now officially bumming.

We have just came back from a road trip up to Manchester with Adrian, Marie and Penny. Thereafter Marie, Gabe and I went up to visit the Lau's in Peterborough. More details on that later.

The most exciting thing we're looking forward to at the moment is our 39-days backpack trip round Europe starting June 1st. So we've (or rather, Wens) been busy researching and planning and now we can't believe we're going next week! There's still quite a lot to be done before we leave but we should be all set by the end of the week (well, we kinda have no choice! :) We bought the interrail pass which offers 10 days travel in 22 days period in over 30 countries so we'll be using it to the max :) So we'll leave you with that while we go look up more train schedules!! Adios for now!

Cooking Crabs

2009-04-30T23:10:00.001+08:00

So Vian had a craving for crabs and we saw some really cheap crab on sale at the Chinese supermarket so we decided to get some to cook although we both have never cooked a crab in our lives. Thankfully, there’s this thing called the Internet and YouTube and with their help, we cooked the crab alright and it was quite an amusing experience. If you ever want to attempt to clean and cook crab, check this video out. P/S, thankfully our crab was already dead (hence why it was cheap!) so it didn’t make all the torturous sounds you hear in the video!!!

I can't remember which video I watched on youtube but you seriously can find everything and anything in YouTube! :)

Easter Holidays

2009-04-30T23:03:00.000+08:00

CS and Jay Vian visited from Livingston over the Easter weekend and joined them for some sightseeing. Marie and I tagged along to Windsor one day before Marie headed to join the Tan’s in Manchester. Gabe and I then watched Wicked with them (highly recommended!) and we also made a day trip to Brighton and Seven Sisters Country Park with them. Overall, quite a relaxing time together and poor CS was the official driver. Dunno how many miles the poor guy clocked up considering he still had to drive to and from Livingston!

Here are some pictures from our Easter weekend.

The models and the photographers :)

More photos here.

More musicals

2009-04-11T17:18:00.001+08:00

We caught another three musicals recently and they couldn't have been more different. The first one entitled 'Spring Awakening' was a thought-provoking coming of age musical with interesting stage seats. A little too new-age (even though it was set in 1890s) and risque for our liking really but it was different from the usual musicals so it was a good experience. The free dinner before was really good though (we bought the tix+dinner package!) Haha...

The other two were more up our alley. We caught Hairspray and Wicked (just yesterday night!) at very good prices. Hairspray was a little over-rated. We expected more from all the amazing reviews we'd heard about it. It was entertaining and the set was lovely but yeah, it was a feel-good show but sadly, over-rated.

Wicked on the other hand was awesome! Having heard mixed reviews (though mostly good!) and seeing that it was a prequel to Wizard of Oz which neither Gabe or I had ever watched, we went without expecting much (just hoping that we won't feel lost in the story!) but it was great. If there was one word to describe the whole experience though, the word would be GREEN. Everything was green, from the interior lighting to the staff wearing green shirts and of course, the wicked witch herself is green. So yeah, very green. :) The theatre was one of the largest we've been to and the set was amazing so overall, very enjoyable and the songs were great too. Thumbs up from us! Our next mission is to watch The Wizard of Oz so waiting for Gabe to download it. Haha..

All pictures courtesy of Google images or the official websites.

Swiss-capades

2009-04-07T00:35:00.006+08:00

Luzern

Yes yes, we are guilty of neglecting this lovely blog. But we've both been busy running around for work and counting the days till we are actually free and easy again. Well, we went to Switzerland (11th-15th March) for our last escapade with Chee Seong and Jay Vian for some time on the ski slopes and also to gawk at that Swiss Alps. Well, the Alps did not disappoint.

Zurich was our base but we also travelled to the ski resort Flumserberg and lovely medieval Luzern which were about 2 hours train ride away. Zurich itself was pretty but honestly, kinda boring so we were glad that we only really spent 2 days there. Skiing was interesting, Gabriel was such a natural at it, much to the envy of his ever-so-clumsy-wife who is pretty certain she will never go skiing again for the rest of her life! But the experience of skiing in a proper ski resort on the Swiss Alps no less made up for the pains and aches that followed.

Luzern was a really pretty town and personally, the best part of the trip. The whole place was just so picturesque with the Alps as their background. We had a little picnic by the lake and was just so relaxed and in awe of the beauty that surrounded us. Of course, we also had our fill of chocolates and some Swiss delicacies such as the cheese fondue, raclette and rosti.

Overall, it was a lovely trip and it was fun having company. Of course, we also managed to get a superb deal with a 4-star hotel complete with jacuzzi (best invention for sore muscles after a day on the slopes!) complete with a view of Zurich skyline so no doubt, that played a big part in our enjoyment. Haha... On the flip side of it, Switzerland is very, very, very expensive and we had to literally count our pennies and make it last. And yes, don't bother staying over Sunday if you're planning to visit as everything shuts and people just wonder round the streets or parks!

Skiing at Flumserberg. We took an hour lesson from Alex.

More pics here and here.

Exploring South-West England

2009-02-21T04:32:00.005+08:00

We took a couple days off last week and rented a car to explore the south-west part of England and man, was it beautiful! To break the drive, we first headed to Bournemouth as we got a super cheap deal at a hotel by the cliffs (think £10!!). There we finally saw our first sandy beach as all those that we've been to so far were all pebbled beaches. We took an evening drive to Southampton in search for dinner and the next morning, headed to Weymouth and Portland on the way to Cornwall. Our highlight this time was really the seaside as every town we went to was by the sea and if there's one thing you can never get enough of, is the sound of waves crashing to the shore. So relaxing and lovely.

After taking in the sights in Weymouth & Dorset, we headed to our main agenda - Devon & Cornwall. We managed to reach our campsite right before night time so we just had enough time to set up our tent. This was the BEST campsite ever... the view was fabulous and the toilet, oh wow! I could sleep in it (Marie almost thought about it as she was so cold the second night!) as it was so clean, airy and absolutely 5-stars. So much so that we decided to stay another night rather than moving to another campsite in Devon as originally planned. See the power of lovely toilets? :)

The next few days were spent exploring beautiful seaside towns in Cornwall and Devon and man, we just loved it there. It would be much nicer if it was a bit warmer but it was still gorgeous nonetheless. We also visited the most southerly and southwesterly part of England namely Lizard Point and Land's End. Now we just have to visit the northern tip of Scotland and we'll be happy :)

All in all, it was a fabulous trip and poor Gabriel did all the driving as we rented a cute manual car :-) We managed to visit 10 places altogether - Bournemouth, Southampton, Weymouth, Portland, St Ives, Newquay, The Lizard, Land's End, Torquay and Exeter. All in the span of 4days/3nights. Not bad eh?

More pics here

Roomie...

2009-02-21T01:58:00.000+08:00

We've got a new roomie (US style) or more politically correct, new housemate. Marie arrived a couple weeks back to further her studies and she will be staying with us. :) :) It was lovely to catch up and also have another person in the house as it can get a bit lonely when it's just one of us at home and not to mention, it's just been the two of us for so long so company is good!

We've had fun bringing her around, introducing her to our fave places (more often than not, it's our fave restaurants/places to eat). Slightly more than 2 weeks and she's already craving Malaysian/Chinese food... Ahh... a woman after my own heart! :) Gabriel used to complain that I was a real cina-woman (always want to eat Chinese food) but he's the one now initiating going yum-cha (dim sum). I guess, after a while, there's only so much bread, pasta and fish&chips you can stuff your face with.

Another benefit of having a roomie is getting time off from cooking (woo hoo!) and someone to share the chores with (double woo hoo!) so yes, we are happily settled in. Ahh...can't wait to go home to BKT waiting for me (Gabe's cooking today as he's on holiday!) ;P

More pics here and here

Brazil vs Italy

2009-02-11T07:20:00.000+08:00

Gabe's dream of watching these two football giants play came true. It was a really interesting match seeing all these famous names up close and personal. This was the first time the fans were all seated together and not segregated so it was quite fun to see the fans reactions when one team scores. Thankfully no fights broke out and everyone left in one piece. One funny thing was that you could almost believe you were not in London as there was hardly any English spoken. :)

More pics here

Heaviest snowfall in 18 years...

2009-02-03T03:46:00.000+08:00

....right here in London...crippling the whole London transportation. I was one of the (un)lucky few who actually made it to work but came back early for some snow fun with Mary... She really came when we had adverse weather conditions. Poor thing but it was sure fun :) Here are some pictures we took. FYI, the snow and ice lasted a whole week and it was super hard to walk. Thankfully no falls or broken bones and bruised bums. *phew*

More pics here and here

Musicals Galore

2009-01-31T05:01:00.001+08:00

Over the last couple months, we've had the luxury of watching a few musicals and some at really good prices (think £10-£15)! If you're looking for cheap tickets, January is really the month to catch these musicals as most theatre offer discounts/cheap tickets due to the low demand after Christmas, not peak tourist time etc... so we've happily ticked some musicals off our never-ending list!

Here are our views on the shows...

Joseph

Gabe and I watched this separately as I had went for it when Gabe & family were in Paris and they went to watch it later that month. I really enjoyed the musical though Gabriel thought the music was drowning out the singing and thus it was quite hard to follow but all in all, it was very entertaining. It was quite similar to the bible story but of course with lots of dramatisation and no God mention at all. Thankful for that or if not, it might have been a bit blesphemous. I think they had the most genre of music represented in a musical and a lot of it was unexpected so to me, that made it all the more enjoyable. I was chuckling away most times. I don't want to put any spoilers but suffice to say, you'll get some rap, folksong and even Elvis besides the famous 'Any Dream Will Do'!

Grease

This was a lot of fun. As I've never really watched the movie (though I vaguely knew the storyline and the songs!), it was quite refreshing not having to compare it to the movie version. The set was great and the songs was also very sing-a-long-able and the cast was very energetic. Got tired looking at them jump and dance about the stage. :-) We also tried the dinner + theatre package for this and it was a lovely dinner (though a bit early as we had to eat at 6pm!) It wasn't a splurge. It literally cost the same thing for the tix itself so being kiasu, of course we took the dinner package as well. We Malaysians never say no to free food!

Zorro

Having visited the theatre some time back during Open Day, we have been wanting to watch Zorro The Musical to see the actual stage in action and to see if the theatre manager was fibbing when he said there was fire and flying scenes. Well, he didn't lie and we really enjoyed ourselves. Having had the privilege of standing on the stage and looking at the backstage, I was quite amazed at how much movement and well choreographed the musical was considering they had so little space to play with. Seriously, the backstage was super tiny with lots of wires and stuff milling about.

How was the show? It was very entertaining and yes, it was fun to see Zorro flying across the theatre from the circle seats. Lots of sword fighting and funny quips as per the movie so all in all, we really enjoyed ourselves! And all this for £10! What a treat!

All pics courtesy of the musical's websites or Google Images.

Year of the Ox

2009-01-27T04:12:00.000+08:00

It was a simple celebration this year. We went to a friend's pot luck dinner and the next night, I decided to invite 2 friends - Angie & Jacqui over so I could cook my 'reunion' dinner. CNY doesn't really feel like CNY without family, friends and an abundance of food. Nonetheless, we tried to make it as 'real' as possible :)

Menu for the night...

Steamed Fish.... too bad no head and tail, but hopefully we will still have things in abundance...

Mushroom & Chicken... er... again, chicken is a must during CNY..

Har Lok Prawns.... so that we will have continuous laughter throughout the year.

Lion Head Meatballs... supposedly a famous Shanghainese dish during CNY... symbolises the Lion which I suppose is good? :)

Jacqui, Angie, Gabriel & Wen Sze

Marvellous Madrid

2009-01-19T07:13:00.000+08:00

Gabe got an unexpected weekend off and so we did what we love - travel! We managed to book a last minute deal to Madrid and it was quite affordable. Well, we hardly get the weekend off anyway so it was worth every penny.

We had hoped for good weather as the weather forecast was cloudy/rainy and we hoped it won't snow as just a few days prior to us going, the airports in Madrid were shut due to heavy snow! Well, God is great and gracious and granted us lovely weather, blue skies and it was perfect!

As it was an overnight trip, I did my research and compiled a list of 'must-sees'. When we reached there, we began our tour immediately after dropping our bags at the hotel. We also picked up a Madrid photography competition which outlined their best tourists attraction so we decided to do it for the fun of it. We really made use of our metro ticket. ;)

We took a short nap in the evening as we were super tired having left early in the morning and so we headed out again around 10pm as my guide book said that Madrid-ians only start having dinner around 10! They were right. The streets were still buzzing at that time and we had fun walking around and ending the night like a local, having churros dipped in thick hot chocolate at a local chocolateria.

Overall, we did managed to cover all the places we wanted to see, we completed the photography competition and received our Madrid tourism goodies (t-shirts and stationeries) and above all, we really really enjoyed the food in Madrid especially the tapas. It wasn't very cheap but it tasted oh-so-good! We loved Madrid and currently it's at our top 3 list among the places we've visited.

Some snapshots:

Plaza Mayor and Palace Royal

Egyptian Temple and lovely road signs

Plaza Cibeles and Plaza Del Toro

Behind us is the Apollo Fountain and we also got to see a cute moo-moo parade with lots of differently 'dressed' cows. I think it was part of the celebration in their bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

The highlight! Yummy food!

Tapas and Churros&Chocolate

They are also famous for their hams but too bad we couldn't bring any back.

More pics here and here

The Tay's New Year Updates

2009-01-15T07:26:00.002+08:00

From L-R: Gabriel’s family in town, In Bruges on our anniversary, Trip to Dublin with Wenz’s mom and friends.

Happy New Year!

Since we never make it to the Christmas deadline, we have decided to rename our letters ‘New Year Updates’ so that it’ll give us more time to write this and it’ll be still valid after Christmas.

Anyway, Gabriel and I are still living in London and the past year has been amazing to say the least. We’ve travelled to many places and have covered most of the main areas in the UK. We were also very blessed to have many visiting friends and family which made our travels all the more exciting.

One of the best trips personally for Wen Sze was probably when Gabe whisked her away to Brussels and Bruges for their anniversary and it was then that it hit her, “Wow, we are really here doing this” as it was only a year back when the idea formed to apply for the working holiday. We are really enjoying ourselves and have no regrets making this decision to pack up and go.

Being over here has also helped us trust more in God and trusting Him to lead the way for us and He hasn’t disappoint. Don’t get us wrong, it’s not all fun and games here all the time as there are many practical issues we still have to deal with i.e. work, paying the bills and saving money to travel. This was very different from when we were back home having steady jobs and it took a lot of getting used to. Wen Sze found it quite trying not having the security of a full-time job. Nonetheless, we’re happy to report that we are still alive and kicking and having the time of our lives.

On the work front, Gabriel is now the Assistant Manager of the outdoor store he has been working in and they have even sent in an application for a work permit for him, much to our surprise especially at this economic climate.

After a few months temping, Wen Sze was offered a job in Clarins (where she temped previously) as their Marketing Co-ordinator and is on a contract till March when her working time ends. She is extremely happy not to have to look for work or worry whether any temp assignments will come in and is enjoying her stint in Clarins, getting a feel for marketing which may come in handy in the future.

Church-wise, we have decided to attend Holy Trinity Brompton in Knightsbridge as their sermons are more varied (since they have a larger pastoral staff) and we really enjoy their worship. We still go to St James once in a while when we are not in town on Sunday.
Due to the nature of our jobs and our constant traveling, we found it hard to get involved with church ministries and that to a certain extent, also prompted the decision to return back to Holy Trinity Brompton, which we initially felt was too big to get involved in.

Aside from that, we were also very blessed as both our families were able to visit us this year which helped to alleviate the ‘missing home’ syndrome. It was certainly nice to be able to share our lives here and our view of London with them. By now, we truly feel like a true Londoner, complaining about the erratic weather, eating tonnes of sandwiches and getting angry at the problematic Underground transport. Ahh, good times.

So, what lies ahead for us in 2009? Honestly, your guess is as good as ours. We don’t really know where we will be headed in 2009 as it all really depends on whether Gabriel’s visa gets accepted or not and as of today, we haven’t yet heard from his company.

We are pretty open to either scenario – staying on for a further 1 or 2 years or heading home in the summer. If we are headed home, we will be travelling for a bit in the early summer before packing and heading back. There are still quite a few countries we would like to see (cue: backpacking trip!) and a few more campsites that Gabriel would like to try out before we bid farewell to our lives here in the UK. If we are staying on, we will then have the luxury of splitting up the trips.

It is quite an uncertain time for us, especially with the British economy taking quite a bad hit and unemployment figures skyrocketing so do pray for us as we wait to hear about the visa, for wisdom to make the right decisions and also for us to be happy and content whichever way God leads us.

We are still keeping our blog http://twoyearsofourlives.blogspot.com where you can find out the latest on what we’ve been up to. We hope this letter finds you and your family well and we would love to hear what’s happening in your lives as well so do drop us a line or two when you can.

Till next year, we wish you all a Happy New Year and we hope that 2009 will be a good one for all of you. Take care and God Bless.

Cheers,
Gabriel & Wen Sze
January 2009

December came and gone...

2009-01-05T03:23:00.000+08:00

Movie premiere.....check

Changing of guards......check
Exploring London......check
Exploring out of London.....check
Exploring Europe....check

Gabriel's family came and managed to cover lots of places and events that took us months to cover. That's of course possible with our good planning and research skills ;P But seriously, I was so jealous they saw Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman (and got their autograph to boot!) at the Australia premiere while I was unfortunately stuck at work...

Gorgeous people!!!

We got to travel some with them and here are some brief recap of our December trips with the family.

Paris

It was Gabriel's turn to head to Paris (yes, a bit funny we both went to the city of lovers separately!) and they managed to capture most of the Parisian sights. They even experienced snow while exploring the Eiffel Tower and that must have been so beautiful. While they were 'bonjour' and 'au revoir'-ing, I found myself home alone for the very first time. But not to worry, I kept myself occupied and the days passed quickly.

Stockholm and Copenhagen

It is true what they said about it being expensive in the Scandinavian countries although I have to admit, it wasn't as ridiculous as I'd expected it to be. Copenhagen was probably the more expensive of the two especially considering their exchange rate is lower too.

Stockholm was very stylish. I loved the 'IKEA'-ness lines and designs which seems to dominate the city, right from when we landed in the airport. And speaking of IKEA, we of course visited the flagship store of IKEA and wondered about 4 stories of IKEA bliss. Too bad we didn't buy anything. Another highlight was definitely Skansen, an outdoor park with displays of olden-times Swedish houses and traditions. Very nice.

Best thing about Copenhagen was definitely Tivoli Gardens, an amazing amusement park which was superbly decorated and just very enjoyable. Germaine probably enjoyed herself the most here as she got the rides pass while the rest of us walked around and waited for the princess ;P, OK, OK, so Gwyn and I did go on one ride too.... but exhilarating rides were not Gabe's cup of tea so he kept himself busy by taking marvelous pictures such as the ones you see above.

Although we spent 5 days in total in both places, it felt quite short as we spent almost a day travelling between both places. We were still excited to get to cover both places at one go and saw some really pretty snowy sights on board the train to Copenhagen.

For more Stockholm/Copenhagen pics, go here and here.

Road Trip

We also rented a car for the Christmas period though we left it a bit too late, so Gabe had to make a trip with the family to Brighton to collect the car while I was at work. It was so convenient with the car and we managed to drive them to places around London and beyond. On one of our trips, we went to 5 diff places on an overnight trip. So overall, we brought them to Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, Oxford, Stonehenge, Salisbury and Windsor. All in the span of a week! How's that for a tour out of London?

For more pics of the road trip and the family in London, go here and here.

So all in all, it was an eventful month the family around but it sure was fun!

Christmas at the Tay's

2008-12-30T07:24:00.002+08:00

It was a simple affair at home this year….but it felt extra warm, as we had our family with us. We didn’t have much time to prepare much as we were busy working and travelling. Nonetheless, we’ve got all our presents wrapped up and Wen Sze had her Christmas Menu planned which was as follows:

Stuffing wrapped in bacon
~~~~~
Roast Turkey Joint with Plum and Sage Stuffing Balls Roasted Duck with Pork, Apricot, Apple and Armagnac Stuffing Assorted Roast Vegetables Crispy Roast Potatoes Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta Cheesy Potatoes
~~~~~
Minced Pie with Brandy Cream Christmas Cake Assorted Cheese and Crackers Board

However, as Germaine fell ill to a horrible stomach bug that has been going around, we had to forego the cheeses (since she was the cheese lover) and we waited for her to open presents and cut the Christmas Cake when she felt better in the evening. We didn’t get a “White Christmas” this year but at least we could identify with “I’ll be home for Christmas!”

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

More pics here

Another year older...

2008-12-06T07:36:00.000+08:00

This year... I had a lovely celebration in the office and also a lovely dinner with the family... My darling Gabriel cycled (in the cold) all the way to Tesco to get me the cake that I had mentioned in passing sometime back and he also bought me such a gorgeous handbag... I have to admit, my hubby's taste is not bad! :) Having the family around was really nice and all in all, it was a simple but meaningful birthday and yes, I'm another year older.

I also got to experience a 'British' company birthday which involved pizza lunch, flowers and gift from the company (the company gives a contribution and the colleagues chip in for a gift too!) I got myself a lovely DKNY watch as my present. :) :)

Some photos from the lovely day:

Cutting my beautiful Me To You cake with hubby dear...

Up close and personal with my cake and my pressies!!

Looking forward to Christmas...

2008-11-30T20:06:00.004+08:00

We've been pretty tied up with work the last couple of weeks thus the shortage of posts combined with the fact that we haven't really been anywhere interesting. Hehe.. But I thought it'd be nice to give a short update on Christmas preparations as we approach the start of Advent.

Church wise, we have decided to go back to Holy Trinity Brompton which is located in Knightbridge, a bit further off from us and is home to the Alpha course as well as worship leaders Tim Hughes and Al Gordon. One of the reason we decided to change is because we realised that we really couldn't get involved in church ministries due to our erratic schedules and the fact that getting to church can be quite a pain sometimes since we are dependant on public transportation. While St James is a perfectly fine church which we may still go from time to time, we find the sermons in Holy Trinity much more varied (since they have a bigger pastorate) and we absolutely enjoy the worship in HTB especially with Tim or Al leading us most weeks. So must as well enjoy it while we are here right?

As for Christmas prep, everything is in full swing now in London. Shopping malls are heavily discounting their wares to encourage spending (temptation, temptation esp since I work next to Oxford Street!), christmas lights are up on most of the main streets and my favourite part of them all is the christmas markets that are opening throughout London. We plan on visiting one before church later this evening after Gabe finishes work and we'll probably try some German brats and mulled apple cider. *Yum*

We are also looking forward to Gabe's family's visit this coming Thursday! Woo hoo! Our house will be alive again with people and chatter. I'm also suppose to be cooking this year's Christmas lunch but I still haven't decided my menu. Got to get a head start on that already as the preps need to be done. So yeah, it will be a fun time with the family this year.

Here are some shots of Christmas in London:

More photos here

Never Forget

2008-11-13T07:57:00.001+08:00

Being quite an avid Take That fan in my teens, I dragged hubby (he's a closet fan too!) along to watch Never Forget -The Musical before the show ended its run in the West End on Friday. As it was the last week of the show, we managed to get fantastic tickets (sixth row from front) for less than half price! :)

It is a musical based on Take That songs depicting the formation of a Take That tribute band. The musical was truly, truly enjoyable and we never laughed so hard in a musical. It was truly funny and the cast was awesome! They were super energetic, full of antics and really entertaining (maybe it had to do with it being their last few shows so they gave it their all and more!) The audience was also full of Take That fans as at some point, it ended up being a sing-along.

Truly enjoyed ourselves and too bad, the show has now ended due to the credit crunch. Do give it a go if it shows again in future. A must for any Take That fans. :)

Some pictures courtesy of Google and their official website.

Complete with the rain scene from 'Back For Good' music video...

Arsenal vs Manchester United

2008-11-09T06:47:00.005+08:00

We first visited the Emirates Stadium around a year ago during their match against MU and wished that we would one day be able to watch both teams in action.

Well today our dream came true.

After waiting (im)patiently in front of the computer a month ago, Gabriel managed to bag us tix to this fabulous game and man, was it worth every penny. Chee Seong and Jay Vian also came along with us. Poor CS has to suppress his feelings as he was an MU fan and was sitting with us on the Arsenal side with very, very serious (read: scary) supporters. Thankfully we got out in one piece. :)

It was an fabulous game and we (make that Gabe&I) were so excited that Arsenal was performing well after some disappointing results in their last 3 games. Arsenal won 2-1 and it was so surreal to see all these football stars in person. The people you refer to only by their last names. Now if only we could see Beckham too... Hehe...

Warming up

Starting point

With Gunnersaurus and our footie watching buddies.

More pics here...

Mamma Mia

2008-11-07T07:59:00.000+08:00

Ooh la la. This lighthearted musical is becoming one of our favourites thus far. Gabe and I were lucky enough to watch it once before a couple years back in The Esplanade in Singapore and we enjoyed it thoroughly then though we were seated so far up that the cast looked so tiny.

Well, when mom and gang was here, they wanted to catch a musical and what better than Mamma Mia - one they could probably enjoy since they know Abba's songs and so we booked the tix and man, the show was always sold out that we had to get tix for 2 weeks later.

Again, we enjoyed it tremendously and kudos to the cast for such a great job. If I had to recommend one, this will be it (Lion King is a close fave!). We also recently watched the movie version and though Meryl Streep was very good, I still prefer the musical version. :)

Pictures courtesy of Mamma Mia's website and Google.

Royal dream come true

2008-10-31T07:39:00.000+08:00

Wen Sze's dream of seeing Prince William came true today at the Bond premiere in Leicester Square. Despite having to wait in the cold, Wen Sze was in high spirits after seeing her princes (she got to see Prince Harry too!) What a treat!

Her personal ranting and the video of the princes here.

Pictures courtesy of The London Paper.

Glitz and glamour

Ahhh....my dream came true!

An additional treat!

Drool-worthy!

Meeting Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko.

In summary

2008-10-30T08:28:00.001+08:00

The last month just flew by and I had to say goodbye to mom at the airport before I knew it. :( But it was an eventful month and here are the highlights:

Paris

Paris was a lovely city but the Parisian were a bit crap, unfriendly and to some extent quite rude. That kinda spoiled the visit for me. But nonetheless, we did maximise our trip there by leaving the hotel at 9 am and returning only past midnight. :) Highlight of the trip was definitely seeing the Eiffel Tower at night. In the morn, it's just a mass of steel but at night, it was simply breathtaking! The Versailles Palace was also huge but we didn't get to go in as we didn't really have enough time as mom had to go shopping. Haha..

More pics of Paris here

Dublin

Now after seeing Paris, Dublin was kinda boring compared to it. The highlights of that trip was our lovely apartment and visiting the Guinness Storehouse no doubt! The Guinness storehouse was so worth the visit as it was laid out superbly and it was very informative. Hehe.. The weather was rainy and gloomy so maybe that also affected our trip a little.

More pics of Dublin here

Prague

Now this was our favourite trip of all as the weather was gorgeous and the city, oh my, words don't do it justice. The whole town is so picturesque that everywhere you turn, the place is just so full of character. I hope to be able to go back again with Gabriel someday as he didn't get to join us this time.

More pics of Prague here

Road trip to Edinburgh

This was a 1000+ miles trip up north and back and it was my first time driving after a year so it was quite challenging especially driving in the rain (which was 75% of the time) although poor Gabriel was the one who did 95% of the driving :) We made pit stops in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Shakespeare town as well as Lake District where it rained cats, dogs and every animal under the sun. And to top it off, a naughty bunny made a hole in our tent (yes, we were crazy enough to camp in 70mph winds and storming rain).

Edinburgh was quite pretty too with more character in their buildings than in London. We managed to visit the castle and walked the Royal Mile. It was nice when the sun shined but miserable when it rained. So yeah, it was a visit with mixed feelings for us. But we did get to see our friends in Livingston so that was really nice to catch up.

More pics of our road trip here

So that in a nutshell encapsulates our one very exciting month with mom.

London Snowing in October..

2008-10-30T07:30:00.003+08:00

the last time it snowed in October was like more than 70 years ago. This year we actually get to experience snow in London twice which is a very rare ocassion.. The weather here is getting crazy. It's gonna be a very cold winter!

365 days and counting...

2008-10-22T06:30:00.000+08:00

We've been here officially a year today and the adventure continues :) I drove for the first time today in a year (I'm usually the navigator with the big atlas) and man was I kinda scared although the fear was unfounded as the speed limit here is quite low on normal town roads. *yawn*. Nonetheless thanks to Gabriel's new toy which tells me where to go, I survived driving mom and gang to Windsor and back with only two short detours which were quite tricky turnings I have to add. Woo hoo *pat-on-the-back*

Well, just a note to mark our first year 'anniversary' in London and we're off on a road trip to Lake District and Scotland in a few hours! Call us crazy but we'll be camping a night in Lake District while mom experiences the B&B. Hopefully we won't freeze :P

Still alive :)

2008-10-21T06:51:00.000+08:00

Just a quick note to say that we're still alive and kicking. We have been pretty busy with our visitors and I've had the pleasure of jetsetting about with my mom and friends. So far we've been to Paris, Dublin and just got back from Prague today and we're off to Windsor tomorrow and to the Lake District and Scotland the day after! Talk about packing it in man... Of all the places we've been to so far, my favourite is Prague and will post more about the places later. Gabe was working hard to support me so he could only join us for Dublin and our road trip! He'll get his chance to jet-set about when his family comes in December since we would have switched roles then ;P

Speaking of jobs and switching roles, I've been extremely blessed recently when Clarins called me back to work for them (even working around my traveling schedule this month!) and I'm happy to say that I'm once again gainfully employed and I no longer have to do reception work for the time being :) Woo hoo! So happens the girl I was working with is leaving and they have asked me to step in her place for the moment while they sort things out so I'll have the job till at least the end of the year and for that, I'm truly grateful coz at least I get to do something productive so yeah, all is well on the job front too... thanks to those who have been keeping us in your prayers. It means so very much to us.

Anyway, gotta go and recharge my human batteries on my comfy bed! Toodles!

My mommy's coming....

2008-10-02T06:12:00.002+08:00

My mom's arriving tomorrow and I can't wait for the home cooked food, goodies from home, traveling, shopping, having tea and scones and hanging out that we'll get to do! Woo hoo! I can't wait.... :)

We love freebies! :-)

2008-10-01T05:12:00.000+08:00

There's always something to do in London and if you look hard enough, there's always something FREE to do in London :) And that's what Gabe and I have been up to the last 2 weeks - going for free stuff. From philharmonia orchestra to ballet rehearsals, touring the Westminster Hall to Garrick Theatre, we got to do it all without touching our wallets :) We'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Open House @ Westminster Hall

Got to visit the inside of Westminster Hall

Floor plaques on important occasions that was held at the hall

How do you like my picture with 10 Downing Street? :P

You only get to see this fountain if you're inside. The gates are usually heavily guarded and very hard to peek inside from the main road ;P

Open Rehearsal @ Garrick Theatre

Free tour of the Garrick Theatre - Home to the Zorro musical

Yupp, we even got to walk on the stage, snoop around the backstage (which was TINY!) and even got to go to the sub stage where all these fun stuff takes place...

The star of the show and entrance to the dressing rooms

Open Rehearsal @ Royal Festival Hall

Free rehearsal by the Philharmonia Orchestra

Open Rehearsal @ Central School of Ballet & Harrod's 'That's Entertainment'

Attended the ballet rehearsal at the Central School of Ballet and Wens attended the Bobbi Brown make-up masterclass at Harrods with Penny.

Worship with Tim Hughes

2008-09-18T06:29:00.004+08:00

OK so this wasn't the first time we were lead in worship by Tim Hughes as we've attended a few services at Holy Trinity Brompton when he is the music minister. But this was the first live concert and CD/DVD recording for his new album that we've attended and it was rockin'. A lot of his new songs are fast and catchy so it was like a real worship party, complete with break dancers for a new song aptly named 'Dance'.

There was also a guest appearance by Martin Smith of Delirious during 'Here I Am to Worship' and there's just something very special about listening to the composer sing their songs. Felt the same way when hearing Paul Baloche singing 'Above All' at the Hillsongs conference many years back and more recently listening to Stuart Townend sing 'In Christ Alone' and 'The Power of the Cross'.

There was also a short talk by Mike Pilavachi and man was he hilarious :) But his message on God's second commandment to love others hit home to remind us of our responsibility as Christians. Overall it was an awesome night and can't wait to see the CD in 2009. Woo hoo!

Here are a few pics that I curi-curi took :)

London - Land of Festivals

2008-09-16T06:10:00.001+08:00

There seem to be a festival held in London almost every weekend and over the last two weeks, I checked out the Regent Street Festival, where they closed the whole Regent Street (a major shopping road near Oxford Street) to celebrate all things British and Gabe and I went to the much talked about Mayor's Thames Festival last weekend. That was a big do by the Thames river, complete with a parade and the much-awaited 15 minutes fireworks display.

I'll let the pics do the talking :)

Regent Street Festival

Fairground atmosphere

Scottish dances and British bands

Mayor's Thames Festival

Giant artwork by primary school students on ways to save energy and a giant sand sculpture of Albert Einstein

Parade

Colourful

Boisterous

The much awaited fireworks

There's something about fireworks that just makes you speechless.

The crazies went camping

2008-09-05T06:56:00.001+08:00

We went camping again in windy, wet Wales and this time we had company too. Chee Seong and Jay Vian decided to join us on this adventure and we probably scared the poor dears as it was super windy, cold and wet throughout. :(

We rented a car to get around and the highlight of the trip was probably the hike up to Pen y Fan, the highest peak in Wales. However, we only made it to almost the summit of Corn Du, the peak next to Pen y Fan and we had to turn back as the weather turned for the worst, with strong winds, low visibility due to the mist and worst of all was being hit by hail when we were already so cold. We were so disappointed as it was generally quite an ok hike (even for me the lembaper!) and the view was suppose to be amazing but the weather just did not cooperate and we didn't want to take the risk as we weren't in the proper clothing as well. :( I seriously thought I was going to get hypothermia on the way down as my teeth were chattering!!! Yikes!

Other than that, it was nice to have company on this trip and hope we'll get to repeat it sometime in the future as CS and wife has since moved to Scotland.

Three Cliffs Bay Campsite

Our tents and the view of the sea from our tents

Rain and wind were the frequent visitors :(

Camping with company

Our set of holiday wheels

Attempting to climb Corn Du (l) and Pen y Fan (r)

Look at the mist

Up and down, up and down and the pix on the right is the last ascent where we had to turn back :( Can you see the summit?

Mumbles and Bracelet Bay

Lots of posing :)

More pics here...

Viva la sports!

2008-09-01T06:09:00.000+08:00

It was a sports-filled weekend for us while Malaysia celebrated its 51st birthday.

As new Arsenal supporters (ahem!), Gabe managed to get tickets to the Arsenal vs. Newcastle game and it was a superb game which Arsenal dominated of course. :P We were excited to go for our first live EPL game and man it was electric in the stadium. It was a far cry from the few Team Malaysia games we went to back home with BK & LO which we ended up being stared at for being the minority race (duh!). You can feel the energy of the supporters, the chants, songs, collective oohs! when the players missed and jubilant cheers when they scored. A kindred spirit from right when you step into the tube to the stadium, all because you're wearing the same red jersey. We can't wait for our next game! Woo hoo!

The stunning Emirates Stadium

Pix on the left is courtesy of CS and on the right is none other than Arsenal's manager, Arsene Wenger.

Newcastle and Arsenal during warm-ups

During the game

Arsenal 3 - Newcastle 0

More pics here...

The next day, merdeka day, we headed to Wembley Stadium for the Nike Human Race which Gabe and 20,000+ other Londoners participated in hope to be the fastest nation amongst all who raced that day. London ended up second after Madrid. It was a rainy day so the poor runners had to endure the cold and rain as the race only started at 7.40 pm. It was quite a sight to see all the runners in their red jerseys streaming out from the stadium onto the roads in the pouring rain no less. Gabe finished his 10km race in 50:18 which was an excellent time considering he didn't really train for it :) What can I say? My husband - the Mr Super Stamina :P

Wembley Stadium

Pre-race performance by Pendulum and Moby - not our cup of tea! :(

Lord Sebastian Coe and Paula Radcliffe flagging off the sea of runners...

My hubby still looking as fresh as a daisy :)

More pics here...

A visit to the royal town

2008-08-27T06:16:00.001+08:00

We made a day trip to the royal town of Windsor and also neighbouring Eton where Prince William went to school :). The trip was dominated by the visit to the Windsor Castle and it was indeed very much worth its ticket price. The rooms were well-maintained and Queen's Mary Dollhouse, a giant size miniature castle was amazing! We also managed to catch the changing of guard ceremony which was quite elaborate. There wasn't much to see in Eton as it's just known for Eton College, the prestigious school for the royals and upper echelon of society. It was only about 40 minutes away so we managed to get there and back to London quite easily.

Windsor Castle

Changing of guards in action

Love the fluffy hat!

Old guards leaving

Customary picture with the guard

Lovely flowers...

Told you I liked the hat! :)

By the Thames

Eton College

More pics here

Of Olympics and the Notting Hill Festival

2008-08-25T06:58:00.000+08:00

It was an exciting time in London during the whole Olympics as London is the next host city. The city set up a huge viewing screen at Trafalgar Square with weekend performances throughout the Olympics culminating with a live screening of the handover ceremony. There was also a celebration party at The Mall but it was a ticketed event and I didn't manage to get picked for it so I had to settle with watching it at Trafalgar Square.

Viewing at Trafalgar Sq with Penny

For you anime fans...

Made the most out of my day out with a visit to the famed Notting Hill Festival as well, one of the largest festival in Europe. Honestly, it wasn't that great as it was pretty rowdy and I think it's just a big excuse for people to drink and party on the streets. There were large speakers placed on streets and man, the amount of people there were crazy! We also had to walk more than an hour to an open tube station to make our way back... nothing much to shout about really.

Caribbean food

Floats and samba teams

Big party and the amount of trash everywhere! Poor residents!

Day-tripping

2008-08-22T06:07:00.002+08:00

Penny stayed with us a couple days over the bank holiday weekend and it was fun to catch up and do stuff together. We went on another of our value-for-money day trips in which we managed to cover 3 towns in one day. It was really supposed to only be 2 towns but we kinda took the train in the wrong direction en route to the 2nd town so we just decided to visit that stop as well :).

Here's our day told in pictures:

Town #1 - Chichester

Famed for its cathedral and that cool looking statue is the church saint - Saint Robert.

Town #2 - Bognor Regis

This was where we ended up taking the wrong train....

Not such a wrong decision after all :)

Colourful and happy

Yumm...

Town #3 - Arundel

Famed for its Arundel Castle which was unfortunately closed by the time we went there.

(L) Let us in, please mr castle guard! (R) Penny found her perfect door! :)

More pictures here.

A day at the museum

2008-08-21T05:56:00.001+08:00

And so Gabriel finally visited the British Museum. :) After much persuasion that it was a lot of fun, I managed to drag Gabriel to visit the British Museum. Inevitably, we both whizzed through the exhibits, only stopping to take funny pictures of the exhibits. Don't get us wrong, it's actually a very, very good museum considering that it was free but we're just no museum buffs. Nonetheless, we had a nice time. :) Seeing a real mummy was kinda spooky. Hehe..

The impressive British Museum

Interesting exhibits

Malaysia's great contribution to the museum ;P

Hehehe...

More pics here.

A windy holiday...

2008-08-14T05:46:00.005+08:00

Having resumed tai-tai status for a while, we took advantage of Gabe's days off and indulged in Gabriel's favourite pastime - camping! :) He found this lovely spot in the seaside town of Folkestone by the cliffs and it was bliss, listening to the waves crashing in as you go to sleep.

Since we were so near the Dover port, we also decided to take the ferry across the English Channel to a little town in France called Calais for a day trip. We were impressed at the size of the ferry (having only been on a ferry to Penang!) It was like a cruise ship, complete with restaurants, duty-free shopping and amusement centre for the kids. The ride was pretty bumpy as the seas were rough and we also had gale-force winds. So I was trying to sleep most way through to avoid being seasick :(

Calais was a tiny town and I think we went in the middle of their summer holiday so the town was very dead. Thankfully there wasn't too much to see so we managed to cover it within a couple hours and had a nice lunch. Still, it was exciting for us to go on a day trip to France (and adding another stamp to our passports!) :)

We walked around Folkestone the next day and checked out what this quaint seaside village had to offer. The locals are so friendly. One shop owner even allowed us to store our huge camping bags at her place while we looked around the town. We of course kindly bought some stuff from her shop and it wasn't hard as it was a sweet shop so Gabe was happily shopping :)

Overall, I think it was the best camping trip we've had thus far as we both like being by the sea. A lot of my friends are surprised that Wen Sze gladly goes camping and actually look forward to it (This is the same girl whose idea of a holiday involves nice hotels and comfy bedding!). The reasons are simple - the campsites here are properly equipped with CLEAN toilets, there are no leeches or mosquitoes hounding me and it's actually quite fun. Of course, seeing my husband so happy and temaning him makes it all the more worth while :)

Lovely view from the campsite and we woke up to the picture on the right.

Our spot :)

Aboard Pride of Dover to Calais, France.

Ahoy Calais!

Remembrance Monument and Lighthouse in Calais

Municipal Theatre and Notre Dame Church

Six Burghers statue and the impressive Town Hall

Seaside by Folkestone. Even the strong winds didn't stop parents from bringing their kids to the beach. First sandy beach we've seen. :P

Lovely seaside!

Best part of being by the sea - seafood! :)

I told you we had gale-force winds!

trip to Folkestone/Calais Photo Album

Festivals

2008-08-04T06:35:00.001+08:00

Had a day full of Latin and Malaysian culture after visiting Carnaval Del Pueblo (the largest latin festival in Europe) and Malaysia Week with Chee Seong, Jay Vian and their housemates, Ricardo & Christiane (coincidentally, we were a bunch of Malaysians + Brazilians, so we were visiting our own culture for the day!). We first headed to Carnaval as we wanted to catch the parade and man, do they go all out. Was lovely to see so many latin costumes and the carnival grounds was filled with food stalls and performances of the different cultures. The weather wasn't that great as it rained most time but we still managed to catch a good part of the parade.

Next, we headed to Potters Field Park where Malaysia Week was held (on a much smaller scale!) but we still got to see some traditional music, had some Malaysian food (finally tasted a decent teh tarik!) and most impressive part was the fashion show. The clothes paraded were so nice.... I think it's export market coz I don't see them at home....or maybe coz I don't shop in Karyaneka etc. ;)

A chocolatey 27th

2008-07-30T06:01:00.000+08:00

And so Gabriel turned 27th on the 29th of July. We didn't have a big celebration but we definitely had good food! :) In fact, we technically had 2 yummy birthday dinners and 2 desserts since my hubby has a real sweet tooth! Our first dinner was thai food after church on Sunday, followed by homemade birthday cake by mua on Monday night and finally dinner at Chinatown and birthday dessert at Haagen-Daz on the actual day. Hope you had a happy birthday darling! :)

My last-minute-after-work attempt of a chocolate cake :) and I loved Gabe's making-a-wish expression!

Opening presents and lo and behold, yes, we are officially Arsenal supporters now :) Gabe has enrolled us as members of the club since it's virtually impossible to get match tickets otherwise.... Errr...yeah, go Arsenal! :)

Treats at Haagen-Daz. Gabe had brownie explosion and I had the layered hot chocolate. Yummy!

Scottish Tales

2008-07-23T20:46:00.004+08:00

Wheeee....we are back from Scenic Scotland (okay, so we've been back a long time now!) This was another totally unplanned trip (on our part!) and thanks to an email from Colin one fine day, we found ourselves taking a long 13hrs+ train ride to meet him in Mallaig, the opposite end of the peninsula from London. Truly it was such an amazing journey with little planning on our side except getting there and getting back (thanks Colin for planning the rest!) and the Scottish highlands are truly, truly beautiful. The weather wasn't that great throughout (I still had to wear my fleece jacket and it's mid-July for crying out loud!) but we got some bouts of beautiful sunshine so we can't complain much.

Overall the trip was awesome, we really got to see the scenic sights of Scotland highlands and took in lots of culture and history as well. Having our very own '(half)Scotsman' being our tour guide, complete with how to pronounce Scottish words, we had such a great time :)

Our itinerary was pretty much as follows:

1st Day - We took the overnight train to Glasgow and from Glasgow, we continued our journey aboard the West Highland train line which is one of the most scenic train rides in the world. Aside from the little bits of rain here and there, we were not disappointed. If we had a little bit more to splurge, we would have taken the old steam train (think Harry Potter!) but it went through the same line so it's ok la... It was truly breathtaking, taking us through the valleys, crossing barren moors and climbing mountains and speaking of Harry Potter, the train ride in the movie (not that I've seen it!) was filmed on that very same line too! :) Once at Mallaig, we met up with the Scotsman and it was nice to see a familiar face from home. We then drove back to Fort William and it was nice to see some sights first hand after the glimpses we got on the train. This trip was also the first time we stayed in youth hostels/backpacker places and it was really fun. Cooking our meals there too was quite interesting - everything was very communal. Reminded me of going to youth camps really.

Day 2 & 3 - Travelled around the Highlands part of Scotland, driving up along Loch Ness to Inverness and down the other side of Loch Ness back to Fort Augustus. We also had time to stop along the way and marvel at God's wonderful creations and did some short walks. Gabe was disappointed that he couldn't climb any of the mountains but the weather wasn't that conducive for climbing either.

Day 4&5 - Was spent travelling around Argyll&Bute where we went to lovely village of Luss where Uncle Eric (Colin's father) lived for a while and we were also at Glen Coe and The Trossachs where we got lots of beautiful sights as well. We also stayed at an old manor house which was converted into a YH.

Day 6 - After recuperating from all the travelling and sitting in the car, we decided to travel round Glasgow city on foot and caught all the popular sights. By this time, we were quite tired ady so we just took it easy. Caught the flight back to London and it was back to work the next day.

Here's a selection of pix for your viewing:

Beautiful sights

Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle

By Glen Coe

The picture on the left was our 'magical place' in Glen Affrich. We just stood in awe and it was glorious. Thank you Lord for the pocket of sunshine that day. On the right, just evidence that we did go for some walks. Hehe..

Another lovely place - Luss on the left and I was by Loch Ness on the right

Glen Coe Massacre Monument and the mountain itself at the back of us.

Lovely deer and Scottish sheeps...

The thistle is Scotland's national flower and the picture on the right is the Glenfinnan Monument, in remembrance of Bonnie Prince Charlie.

By Inverness River

Glasgow sights

Cathedral and Necropolis in Glasgow

Scottish culture

We were at the Highland Games in one small town where they had a bagpipe band and Highland dancers

Funny Scotsman

Another bagpiper and I'm enjoying the homemade burgers at the Highland games.

What's Scotland without its kilts? :)

Living

We're in the car most times as we covered about 700 miles I think. And the picture on the right is our typical chocolate break. With Gabriel and Colin, I think they devoured quite a bit of choccies!

Youth Hostel... the manor house on the left is the most popular youth hostel in Scotland... and they say it is haunted!

Self catering kitchens and our lovely meals :)

trip to Scotland Photo Album

A Prayer of Bishop Lancelot Andrews

2008-07-15T20:14:00.000+08:00

Copied this prayer at Southwark Cathedral sometime back and thought that it was a lovely prayer.

Thou, O Lord, art the Helper of the helpless,
the Hope of the hopeless,
the Saviour of them who are tossed with the tempests,
the Haven of them who sail,
be Thou all to all
the glorious majesty of the Lord our God be upon us,
prosper Thou the work of our hands upon us,
oh! prosper Thou our handiwork.

Lord, be Thou within us, to strengthen us,
without us to keep us,
above us to protect us,
beneath us to uphold us,
before us to direct us,
behind us to keep us from straying,
round about us to defend us,
Blessed be Thou, O Lord our Father
Forever and ever

Amen.