Back from Italy!

Finally on Sun morning at 00.30mn, i got home from my 9 days Italy trip. Oops, or should i say 01.30am? since the clock has changed from 30 Mar onwards. Now, UK is only 7 hours behind SG instead of 8 hours :)

It was quite nice to think of coming back home to my own bed. But, what greeted us the moment we stepped off the plane was strong winds and rain. The wind was so strong that I was so scared the steps for alighting the plane will get blown away and I'll fall down the plane!

The Italy trip had been quite eventful. The worst thing which happened to me was that the night before, I took out my bag of chargers from my backpack to charge my mp3 player. Then, I forgot to put my bag of chargers back into my backpack!!! So in the end, I survived the entire trip without any chargers for my phone, camera battery and mp3 player.

I guess it's not all that bad in the end. Coz Isabelle had her phone charger, so I could borrow it. And my mp3 was also quite trusty. Managed to survive some train rides without having the battery go flat.

The worst thing which could happen on a trip is having to survive without a camera! My dearest Ixus was really good. At least my 2 batteries hung on for a total period of 7 days! Before it finally gave up. But all's not gone. I have still have my 4 great pals who will give me whatever photos with me inside ;) But just that this will take time. So I wont be able to put everything up so soon.

I think the following 5 photos generally summarises the weather we had for the trip.


Grey skies in Venice


Grey and wet Florence, although there were tiny bits of sunny spells at times.


Super duper grey Pisa - We went on Sun, and Liping and Isabelle went on Mon, and they got bright sunshine! so unfair! but i got liping's photos. Maybe post hers instead! hee..


Bright and sunny Siena - It was soo good to have the sun out in full force. You can see everyone all enjoying baking under the sun. Yours truly included :) and enjoying an ice-cream at the same time.


Bright and sunny Rome on our very last day - There were some wet spells, but not enough to ruin our Rome trip. This photo doesn't look as nice as the Siena photo because this was taken with my Nokia hp. My Ixus had alread died by then... But take a good look. No clouds at all! It was the hottest day of the whole trip on Sat.

Think the worst was Florence. Super wet, and long queues everywhere to get into the museums. We actually queued in the rain for about 1 hour to get into the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David!

Off to Italy tomorrow!

Tomorrow is my embarkation on my first trip in 2008! To Italy from Fri to the next Sat!
Fri - Sat - Venice
Sat - Mon - Florence
Mon - Tues - Siena
Tues - Sat - Rome

I hope the weather is going to be good, although the forecast is that it's going to be quite a wet few days ahead.

So, I'll be back with photos. Till then :)

給未來的自己

Today i went to ktv, and i sang this song 3 times!! I really like it very much.


梁靜茹 Fish Leong - 給未來的自己

London 2012

Just bout 2 years and 9 mths back, I was like everyone else around the world. Eagerly awaiting the results of the announcement for the holding country for the Olympics 2012. And, the IOC meeting was held in Singapore in July 2005.

I could still remember reading all about it in the Straits Times. of how David Beckham is helping to promote London for its contention. And how Paris, and Champs Elysee was in grief as the announcement was made.

And to think that today, I'm actually sitting in the Olympics London 2012 office, doing my little bit to deliver the Olympics to the world. It's really just a little bit of work (and quite uninteresting work really) on my side, as compared to the massiveness of the project. But i feel happy anyways. :)

Visit the London 2012 website

Dinner at Wahaca

Today we had dinner at the Mexican food restaurant, Wahaca. I suggested it because i thought it was a random restaurant which was near my client's office at The Strand. Only later after some research that I realised its actually quite a famous mexican restaurant!


The bus which I took today. I've seen it many times on some major roads in London. But today was the first time I took it. Was quite an interesting experience :) It's pretty tiny on the inside. And the passengers get in from the back and not the front. And there is no door at the back!


See how the front is like. The driver is completely separated from the passengers. There is a bus conductor at the back of the bus where the passengers get on and off.

Dinner was pretty decent.


My char-grilled steak - cooked in the mexican style, with coriander rice. I like the rice very much!




Our Wahaca Selection - comprising of several different types of typical mexican side dishs.

Rainy morning

For the first time in many many days, it rained this morning. It had been so long since I can remember the last time I was out in the rain in London. Sunny spell again now. But we have been warned that the worst storm of the winter is going to arrive next week.

After 4 days of Diet coke (we don't call it coke light here) at 20p a can, I bought a can of the original Coke today. And to my horror, it doesn't taste good at all. Not as good as Diet coke in my opinion. Again, I cannot remember when was the last time I had original Coke. Shall stick to Diet coke from now on. hee..

1 year anniversary

10 more minutes to the end of 3 March 2008. It's been exactly a year since I last arrived in London.

So much had happened in this 1 year. Time really flies. I think I've grown up alot. Learned to be independent, and how to take care of myself. There are definitely some things lost, and some things gained.

Losses since I miss out on family gatherings, local food, watching my little nephew start to walk, the usual very 热闹 family reunion dinner on CNY eve, annual CNY visit to Ms Sam's place, endless KTV, Jay's concert etc etc.

Gains since I get to travel (Salzburg, Vienna, Dublin, Monaco, Nice, Provence, Barcelona, Seville and many many more), made new friends and nice colleagues, get to go on away jobs (although still in UK, but at least it's still considered away jobs), get to experience the 4 seasons.

Hope the year ahead is going to be an exciting, and eventful one :)

Stratford-upon-Avon

On Saturday, we went to Stratford-upon-Avon. This is Shakespeare's birthplace. We were so lucky to have very good weather for the trip.

It's a nice, quaint little house. All the Shakespeare-related houses had been kept pretty intact. The odd old house among the newer nicer ones.



View of the English countryside





Streets of Stratford-upon-Avon


Standing infront of the house where Shakespeare was born







Backview of Shakespeare's birthplace


The 5 of us! - Kian, liping, huili, isabelle and me


Side view of Nash's House / New Place - Shakespeare's home from 1597 until his death in 1616


Unique houses along the streets - We later found out that these were apartments for the elderly.


Queueing to get into Hall's Croft - here Shakespeare's eldest daughter (Susanna), lived with her husband, John Hall.





Garden in Hall's Croft


Me and huili


Basking in the sun





Back view of Hall's Croft


Holy Trinity Church - where Shakespeare was buried


Inside of the Holy Trinity Church





River Avon








Lots of birds in the background


Last picture before boarding the train behind me to get back to London.