One of those mood swing...

At times like this when I'm in a 'don't give a damn' mood, I really miss the gym. It really makes me want to return a lot sooner than I intended. I wish I'm ready but I'm not. Even though my ankle injury has improved, I'm still getting occasional discomfort. The worst physical injury I had to go thru in my life to date.

And bad mood days don't help.

Inked again!

To ink or not to ink? I asked that question few years ago, not long after getting my first tattoo.  That phase went away shortly after that...then last year I started thinking of getting another tattoo.  I pretty much knew what design I wanted --> the meaning of my name.  It was just a matter of when would I get it.... 

Finally, after contacting a few tattoo artists, I settled on MaoTattoo Studio located at Sunway Metro, just next to Sunway Pyramid on Saturday.  I had liaised with the owner, Kelly, a week before going in and had shown her several font designs that I was interested in.

Kelly was busy on that day but she had asked that I dropped in for further discussion and to make appointment to get the tattoo.  After a short discussion with her, I decide to go ahead and get inked from her partner Irwin on that same day.  Why wait??!

The whole process took 30-45 mins with hardly any pain at all.  With my first tattoo, I had at least felt some pain towards the end.  In fact, this was such a breeze that I got sleepy waiting for Irwin to finish....ahaks.

Day 1 - still fresh from the 'oven' :-)

Every customer gets a small container of lotion and an aftercare instruction.  I was impressed.  

Day 2 - looking good.  No pain, no soreness.

Free advertisement for the shop..haha.  

Overall damage was RM250.  It would have been much cheaper had I done it in Sarawak but this kind of rate was expected in KL and I didn't want to wait much longer anyway.   

Travel Recap - Paris (Dec 2011)

After a month in Egham, I was so looking forward to a week's holiday backpacking in Europe.  My first stop was to be Paris.  I had purchased my Eurostar ticket through the website at 80 euro.  It was expensive no doubt as I should have booked much much earlier.  As I no longer have free accommodation in UK, I booked myself a place in a 6-bed female dorm at Clink78 hostel for one night at £28. It's located at Kings Cross so it was walking distance to London Pancras where I need to catch the Eurostar train. 

A view of my bed.  I was glad that each bed has its own socket for charging electronic gadgets and I love that each bunk bed has a side cover for privacy. Each bed  also has a bed lamp but mine wasn't working.  The room was very clean and breakfast was good as well.  

The train ride from London Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord station was 2.5 hours.  It was comfortable but scenery wise, wasn't as spectacular as how some people had described it.  Upon arrival in Gare du Nord, I proceeded to check in at Vintage Hostel at Montmatre arrondissement. It was about 15mins walk from the train station to the hostel.  I had booked a bed in a 4-bed female dorm ensuite but to my surprise, I was given a 2-bed ensuite instead.  Must be low season at the hotel...lucky me.  Since I couldn't really checked in yet, I had to leave my baggage at the hostel's storage room. The front desk guy was kind enough to show me places of interest in the map.  Since I only have 2 days in Paris, I had to squeeze in as many major attractions as possible. Thank god it was very convenient to use Paris' metro. 

Sacre Couer

A stroll along Tuileries Garden

A walk along Champs Elysees.  

Arc de Tromphe - admission fee applies if you want to climb to the top  for a good Paris view.  I didn't have enough time so I skipped this one. 

By the time I had reached Paris' most famous landmark,  the Eiffel Tower, it was starting to get dark.   There was a long queue to climb to the top so I skipped this one as well.  

Another view of Eiffel Tower from Palais de Chariot.  The nearest metro station is Trocadero.   

On the second day, I decided to pay Eiffel Tower another visit for a closer look.  I just have to touch this infamous landmark. It felt so surreal being there.

Love this shot of Eiffel Tower.  Didn't go up either since it was too early and the Tower wasn't open  yet.

A must stop to grab my shotglass collection.

Popped into Galeries Lafayette for a little window shopping. I managed to enter the Longchamp boutique before the crowd built up.  The bags were really nice but so were the price tags.  I only spent 5 mins in there.  

The Notre Dame Cathedral.  Didn't enter inside  either as I was racing against time.  The cathedral was spectacular from the outside.  Next time I shall be back to visit the gargoyles on top :-)

The Pyramid at Louvre.  The only museum I visited while in Paris. Entrance fee was 10 euro and if you are interested, you can get an audio tour guide of 6 euro.  The most famous painting in here??

Louvre's most famous resident - the Mona Lisa!

I ended my last night in Paris with a visit to Moulin Rouge located at the  red light district of Pigalle for a quick must have photo snap.  Not a good idea to hang around here if you are travelling alone. 

The next morning I took a train from Gare du Nord to Orly Airport for my Easy Jet flight out to Rome, Italy. Train fare was 10.75 euro with a train change at Anthony station. 

Travel Recap - London (Dec 2011)

When I was in Egham, I had the chance to spend a total of 4 days in London. The train fare to London Waterloo cost £9.40 return. I went to the usual touristy places, of course.  Travelling on the the underground tube was very easy. There are maps available in each station to check which correct lines to take. I have an Oyster card with me so each tube ride cost me £1.90 instead of £4.  I just have to top up the value either at the counter or any of the machines at the station.  I must say London underground was extremely crowded.  Trains are usually full of people and everyone seemed to be in a rush to get somewhere.  I had planned out my trip beforehand so I knew exactly where I wanted to go. Here are some of the places that I visited.

Buckingham Palace during changing of the guards.  Waited for almost 2 hours for this event and there were so many tourists that gathered there.  For me, watching this one time is good enough.  

Big Ben and Westminster Abbey

A stroll on the way to around St. James Park on the way to Buckingham Palace.

Tower of London.  

St.Paul's Cathedral.  Adult admission fee was £14.50. I took the challenge of climbing up 530 steps to the top of the Dome.  It was easy....but then again, I was really fit then :-)

After hearing so much about Harrods, I definitely had to go see for myself this infamous shopping place.  It was impressive alright especially the Food Hall but overall,  I only spent about 2 hours in Harrods because nothing was cheap here and I wasn't keen to window shop here anyway.  I must say though, the window displays impressed me more than the store itself. 

I love Covent Market.  There are lots of shops here and plenty of street performances to keep one entertained. Had my first taste of paella rice here too. 

British Museum - awesome museum with many great displays.  Best of all, entry is FREE!

As it was December when I was visiting London, the streets in London in particular, Oxford Street and Picadilly Circus were brightly lit with Christmas lights.  Tons of people along this shopping area. Too crowded for my liking. 

 

When in London, going to a theatre show is simply a must!  I was considering between either Chicago, Priscilla or Mamma Mia but I told myself I really have to watch the latter in London.  

Prince of Wales Theatre - easily accessible by tube.

I had an awesome evening watching Mamma Mia.  Love ABBA songs...

Next time when I return to London, I would definitely catch another musical. 

Travel Recap - Here & There in UK (Nov/Dec 2011)

I took the opportunity to travel a bit around London and parts of UK when I was there for work in December 2011.  Here is a  short recap of all the interesting places that I've been to.



Windsor Castle - largest & oldest occupied castle in the world


Windsor & Eton - Took an early morning train to Windsor & Eton Riverside train station. A combined rail + entry ticket cost me £18.  It was a very misty and cold day.  Windsor town itself was easily walkable with shops nearby. The audio guided tour in the Castle itself was informative.  No photography was allowed inside though.

At the next town is Eton where the great Eton College is.  I wanted to have a look at the school that Princes William and Harry went to..ahaks. It was quite big school.  I was hoping to catch a glimpse of students in their infamous tailcoat uniforms but no luck. School was closed for the holidays.

City of Bath - a city in south west of England famous for its Roman Bath. The return train ticket to Bath Spa train station cost me an expensive £39 with a train change at Reading.  The First Great Western train was packed when I got onboard! The train ride back from Bath Spa was equally packed, if not worse.  Just like in Windsor, it was easy to walk to places of attraction in Bath from the station.

Bath Abbey - no entrance fee required but donation is voluntary.

The Roman Great Bath - entrance fee cost £12 with free admission to the museum and the Pump Room.  Free spa water is also available with this ticket.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to taste the water.

View from the Pulteney Bridge.  It was really beautiful and peaceful just walking birds flying around. 

Since it was December, there were Christmas Markets at the Abbey/Roman Bath area.  There were tons of people visiting as well.  I had my first taste of Hot Chocolate with Bailey's Irish Cream.  Cost me £3. Just perfect for a cold winter day.

Stonehenge - a prehistoric megalith monument located in Wiltshire county.  I took the train to Salisbury at a pricey return fare of £25.60.  There are tour buses departing from Salisbury train station and bus station.  I paid £18 for the bus tour to Stonehenge which also  included access to Old Sarum. Recommended to sit on the top deck of the bus for better view of the town.  The bus picked up a few more visitors from the bus station before proceeding to Stonehenge.  The whole journey, if I recalled correctly, took about 30 minutes - 45 minutes.  From the entrance gates, visitors have to walk a few metres to the Stones. The Stonehenge was roped off so no one could actually walked too close to the stones.  It was a shame.  I would have loved touching the Stones.

Before I made the decision to visit Stonehenge, I had read in travel forums that it was not worth coming here because there was nothing to see except a bunch of stones. In fact, a colleague had also told me the same. I was very glad that I had followed my instinct to visit this historical place. 

It was surreal standing in front of Stonehenge.  After walking one round past the Stone, I walked back and stood there in awe for a good 15 mins just soaking in the experience. It was a very cold day and the dark clouds made the whole place seemed really mysterious.

Old Sarum - from Stonehenge, one can also visit Old Sarum, site of the original Salisbury. The tour bus will drop anyone visiting Old Sarum at the road site.  A short walk inside will find one among a huge area of ruins. 
Salisbury - a cathedral city in Wiltshire, sometimes called New Sarum to differentiate from the old settlement site. The main attraction here is the Salisbury Cathedral.  There is no entrance fee required to visit the cathedral. 
This 13th century cathedral with the tallest spire in England was indeed spectacular from inside and outside.

Oxford - home to University of Oxford. I found out later that U of Oxford is actually not one university but is made up of 38 colleges in Oxford. Return train fare from Egham to Oxford was £16.90. 

Bodleian Library - a working library that forms part of the University of Oxford. Admisison fee applies.

Radcliffe Camera - a reading room as part of the Bodleian Library.  Not accessible unless part of library tour.

Carfax Tower - remains from the St. Martins Church.  Admission fee of £2.20 for adults. 

Hertford Bridge - connecting Hertford college.

There are so many colleges in Oxford that it was impossible to finish visiting all in a day. I dropped by the Blackwell bookshop as well. The bookshop is well know for its academic books but there are lots of other titles as well, not to mention posters, calendars, etc etc.

A glimpse inside the bookshop. It was huge with tons of titles available.
I bought a guide book on Rome :)

Some people are just so stupid - Part I

Stupid Incident 1
Scenario: Couldn't use my ATM card at Bank ABC despite numerous attempts. Received a sms from the bank later asking me to drop by to have my card checked out. So, the next day, I went to the bank.

Bank Staff 1: Morning Miss, how can I help you?
Me: I can't use my ATM card
Bank Staff 1: So, you want to replace your card?
Me: Ya...I think so.
Bank Staff 1: (issued me a Queue ticket)

At the counter,
Bank Staff 2: Morning, what can I do for you?
Me:  I cannot use my ATM card.
Bank Staff 2: So, you want to replace your card?
Me: Errr...I dunno.  You tell me...
Bank Staff 2:  Excuse me for awhile (she walked to another bank teller to inquire about my card).
Bank Staff 2: Sorry Miss, your card is old card, cannot be used already.
Me: (silently thinking..hmm, I just used this 1 month ago..)
Bank Staff 2: So, you want to replace your card?
Me: (silently saying Oh My God!!).  Might as well la...already cannot used anyway! (silently saying Oh My God!! again)

Stupid Incident 2
Scenario: I wanted to upgrade my broadband to the new high speed package but wasn't sure if my area has coverage. So, I decided to drop in to the nearest TM Point outlet today to ask.

Girl at info counter: Yes?
Me: I want to find out more info about Unifi.
Girl at info counter:Why?
Me: (silently saying Oh My God!!)
Girl at info counter: (gave me queue ticket without waiting for my response)
Me: (silently saying..You are So Stupid!!)