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Name: PY.L
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Birthday: 11/6/1988
Gender: Female


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Member Since: 3/16/2004

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Monday, July 04, 2011

Paris - City of Light (II)

Another bored-to-death day so I thought I should continue blogging about Paris. FYI this post will be super long with many photos as I am trying to blog everything about my last two days in Paris my second day in Paris. (It was too long to squeeze two days in a post, so I had to stop silly) 


 We woke up very early this morning, in fact I woke up before my alarm buzzes. I had no idea why I did not sleep longer cause I remembered I was very tired last night.

Anyways, since we plan to visit Musee du Louvre, we needed to be early to avoid the queue at museum as we did not buy the Paris Museum Pass cause we were not planning to see Versailles.

Our petit dejeuner, which included croissant, baguette with jam and butter, apple juice and also a hot beverage of our choice. 

I chose chaud chocolat every morning throughout my stay in Paris instead of coffee, tea and milk. I don't know why but I just think that chaud chocolat suits my holiday mood the most happy

We had the same  petit dejeuner for all three mornings in Paris, which went from 'hmm...yums!' on the first day, to 'nom...nom...good' on the second day, and to 'hmmph...I start to miss nasi lemak bummed' on the last day.

Nevertheless, I love the croissants, the buttery flavour as well as the soft and tender texture that makes it so nice when chewing on it. I ate my croissants happily all three mornings but did not finished the baguette on the second day and decided to ditch it on the last day laughing Anyway, the apple juice was good too, the taste is so natural and I did not feel like drinking sugar syrup cause it's '100% natural'! Everything served in the breakfast were organic food or made of organic ingredients. It is stated in the hotel's official website. I highly recommend this hotel as it is clean and comfortable but is no longer budget as I heard from a friend that the double room rate has increased from €59 to €69 per night from September this year onwards.

Croissant heart

After breakfast, we went to Musee du Louvre by metro. There was already a queue for baggage scans at the entrance of the musuem from the metro station but it didn't take us very long to pass it and get to the ticketing counter. We bought the cheapest ticket, €10, which only entitled us to visit the Permanent Collections. A combined ticket that includes the Hall Napolean costs €14 but we figured we would not have much time to visit the entire museum. Some said you need at least a week if you were to see every master piece in Louvre shocked

Some famous collections in Musee du Louvre.

Top left: The Slaves by Michelangelo
Top right: The Wedding Feast by Veronese
Bottom left:  Winged Victory of Samothrace
Bottom middle: Mona Lisa by Da Vinci
Bottom right: Venus de Milo

Spotted these on-the-making sculptures on the way searching for Venus de Milo.
 

Our reflection in the mirror at the corridor of Denon mezzanine, near the room where The Wedding Feast and Mona Lisa were located.

We were in the musuem for about 3 hours only and we decided to leave. 

We walked to La Madaleine from Louvre which was not a very wise choice cause the roads were rather busy and there were so much dust in the air that day. It was a little disappointing because the exterior of La Madaleine was under refurbishment where some of the scaffoldings had prevented us from taking good pictures of the church and when we got near to the place, there were so many pigeons around and we could see droppings everywhere. So unhygienic. 


Me and La Madaleine, a Roman Catholic church.

View of Rue Royale (where the boutiques of haute coutures like Dior, Cerrutti and Chanel are located) and the look-so-tiny Obelisque of Place de la Concorde in the middle of the picture. We did not go to Place de la Concorde cause we were searching for free WC after leaving La Madaleine. We could have gone to Place de la Concorde if we did not walk to La Madaleine sad 

I WANT TO GO TO PLACE DE LA CONCORDE TO TAKE THAT NICE PICTURE OF THE ROAD OF CHAMPS-ELYSEE WITH MY FAVOURITE ARC DE TRIOMPHE AT THE END sadsadsadsadsad

We walked down some random streets and passed Palais de l'Elysee, the official residence of the France's President, when searching for free WC. Security was rather tight that day probably because there was some official ceremony from Champs-Elysees to Arc de Triomphe. Saw a lot of polices and soldiers patrolling nearby and also a lot of police patrol cars driving in and out of the buildings nearby.

Palais de l'Elysee

We finally found free WC in a fast food restaurant on Avenue des Champs Élysée blush Then, we walked to Brioche Dorée for food. I've seen pictures posted by a friend who was in Paris last year and gave good comments on this French fast food chain store. But I was not quite happy with the sandwich as it was just mediocre. The strawberry pastry looked very inviting but the taste was 'comme ci comme ça' *together with that hand gesture laughing('so-so' in French).

Then, we continued walking down the famous street of Paris, where Louis-Vuitton boutique was located.

We went in, made a tour and walked out of the shop, empty handed laughing There were so many Chinese tourists who were literally shopping inside. Asians are so crazy about LVs. I met a Chinese girl in Venice and she studies in Paris. She told me that LVs to Parisians are just very ordinary brands, probably like Polo in Malaysia LOL Parisians are more after brands like Chanel and Hermès. But who cares when there are ppl who are willing to take about 14-hour flight all the way from Asia to give them money?

We finally reached Arc de Triomphe! It is my best memory in Paris! I had been doing so much research about Paris and have seen a lot of pictures of Arc de Triomphe before I go there but I did not feel the greatness and beauty of it. Not until I landed my feet there. This monument that stands beautifully in the centre of Place Charles de Gauille, was built to honour those who fought and died for the country during the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic wars.

The weather was perfect, some calm breezes with just a hint of sunlight. We sat in front of the bench facing the monument and enjoyed seeing the people walking down Avenue des Champs Élysée and cars driving round the busy and chaotic junctions of the roundabout at the arch. If I counted correctly, the roundabout has about 12 junctions! I can't imagine how I am going to cross the junctions if I were to drive there! It's just so crazyyy!

Photoshooting in front of Arc de Triomphe. I'm sure the results are deeply satisfying!

We sat in front of Arc de Triomphe for about an hour. I wish I had seen the night view of Arc de Triomphe. I would definitely do so if I have a chance to come to Paris again. Would probably climb up to the top of Arc de Triomphe as well though some said there's nothing special about it.

After that, we walked back to the LV boutique, not to splurge on bags blush, but to the the metro station in front of it to take a metro to Eiffel tower!heart

Unlike other attraction sites in Paris where you will immediately see them as soon as you exit the metro station that stops there, to get to Eiffel Tower, you need to walk a little bit, approx. 5 minutes but there's always clear signs around to show the directions. There's also a lot of black people selling souvenirs, toys and fake bags all along the way and below Eiffel Tower itself. It is usually more expensive at and near the metro station and gets cheaper when you're nearer to the tower.

Some ppl thinks Eiffel Tower is overrated and some even said 'the more you get near to it, the uglier it looks'.

To me, it was not as bad. It's definitely not the most beautiful but it still looks good to me.

Walking up the stairs to the tower is cheaper but it's over 300 steps to the 1st floor and about 670 steps to the 2nd floor. So we decided to buy a ticket up to the top of the tower via the elevator. It was €11,80, a reduced price for 12-24 years compared to the full price €13.

My 'passport' to the top of the icon of Paris!

Finally up there! heart

I love the view of the city of Paris and River Seine!



Palais de Chaillot! 

Most of the buildings in the city of Paris are not more than 5-storey high, probably to protect the view of Eiffel Tower. The skyscapers of La Defense (behind Palais de Chaillot in the picture above), a suburb of Paris, are the rare group of tall buildings at the business district.

At the top of Eiffel Tower! The wind was so strong and it was getting colder when the sun was about the set.

Sunset viewed from the Eiffel Tower. It was a wonderful experience.

By the time we got down from the tower, the lights of Eiffel Tower had already been illuminated. We didn't get to see the sparkly Eiffel Tower at 10pmbummed

Bonne nuit, Paris!


Tuesday, June 28, 2011

My cooking ♔

Had been having heavy meals the pass few days and i thought i should have something light for lunch today. So, i cooked porridge for myself. Plain porridge sounds really unappetizing so i thought i should add some other ingredients. Found some fishcakes, crabsticks, dried shrimps and eggs from the fridge.
Voila!

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I sautéed some onions first cause i want them to be golden brown, then added chopped garlics, dried shrimps and also salt and sugar for taste. After frying for about 2 minutes, I poured all the sliced fishcakes plus crabsticks into the pan and keep frying. Egg was added at the end when all were well-cooked and i just goreng until i'm satisfied with it. Finally i poured my pre-cook porridge into my pan, stirred everything together and it's pretty much ready for eat!

Yes i'm bored to death and suddenly i find cooking quite fun haha


Thursday, June 23, 2011

Paris - City of Light (I)

After about 2.5 hours of journey from London, we finally landed our feet on Paris! Paris is one hour ahead of London. I've heard so much about Paris. From my French teachers. From friends who had travelled there. I was excited, so excited that i left my little notebook at Paris Gare du Nord which contains all the info for Paris that i've collected for a few months *sobs* I only realized about that when i got to our hotel. But since i am the one who was planning for Paris and had gone through the itinerary for more than a zillion times, i can still remember very clearly about the must-sees and things-to-do in Paris. So i got my Paris map and started re-writing the itinerary. Thank goodness i was able to list out all the things . We struggled a little to look for the location of our hotel cause i initially planned to get there via metro but changed my mind and took RER instead cause it directly stops at the station that we need to get down (Metro: Denfert Rochereau). Luckily my sense of direction is still quite good *cough cough* and i've googled that area for many times so i was able to get all of us there *proud*

Paris Metro Map

They've got 14 metro lines and 5 RER lines. Their metro lines are sorta like our LRT and RER runs longer distance like our KTM. But both are very efficient. No worries for missing trains as the next train will be like in less than 3 to 4 minutes. We're very lucky as there were no Metro strike during our stay in Paris. They have very clear signs on where to interchange between lines but sometimes it's far to walk between metro/RER lines. Anyway, it's all underground so you're protected from sun and rain.

After taking a short rest in the hotel, we got to Musee du Louvre cause I planned to get our tickets for tmr to avoid the long queue at the counter.
We entered via the entrance from the Louvre metro stop (Metro: Palais Royal Musee du Louvre), which the queue is much shorter compared to the main entrance as told by some forumers.
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Me and the inverted Pyramide before entering the Louvre musuem.

Unfortunately, the ticketing counter was closed when we got there, about 5.30pm and i've no idea why it's closed so early as it's stated in their website that the counter closes at 6pm. So we decided to walk around, take some pictures and wait to see the night view of Louvre.
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Moi outside the Louvre museum.

It was very cold outside, about 13degreesC and the wind was blowing strong. We got so freaking cold. You see my hands are always stuffed inside the pocket of my jacket, not because i purposely posed like that, it was really too cold! For me

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Love this pic of mine cos it's got so many likes in fb

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Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, built to celebrate military victories.

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One of the statues in Jardin des Tuileries, located opposite Louvre Musuem. I put my right hand on her waist but it can't be seen clearly in this picta . It was about half past seven but the sky was still very bright! We were wondering what time will we have to wait up to to see the night view of the beautiful Louvre Museum.

Not wanting to wait outside at such cold weather, we decided to walk from Jardin des Tuileries to Rue de Rivoli, one of the famous streets in Paris. The weather was still quite cold so we randomly entered some souvenir shops (which were the only shops open cause it was Sunday) down the streets to get some warmth.

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The statue of Joan of Arc, with a couple hugging in front of it. Love her boots!

We were tired walking around and gave up on waiting for the night view of Louvre, we decided to return to the hotel. And before getting to the metro at Tuileries, the sun had finally start to set. It was about 8pm.
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On the way walking back to our hotel from the metro station, we stopped at the McD nearby and had a cup of Chocolat Chaud (Hot chocolate, €2). I had my second attempt to speak in French when buying my drink. My first was at Paris Gare du Nord to purchase metro billets. I know i could be grammatically incorrect but i enjoyed attempting to speak the language. Muahaha. And i love that encouraging smiles (but some, sarcastic ) that the French gave me when they hear me speak their language.

In some McDs, a passcode, which is stated down at the McD receipt of your purchase, is needed to use their toilet. I rather buy a cup of Chocolat Chaud with €2 (or €1,50 for hot milk) to use the toilet than paying €1 to use a public toilet. Anyway u can still find free automated public toilets around the city but there's always a queue. Four of us spent like 30mins queuing to use the free toilet as there was only one toilet for use and it automatically washes and cleans the toilet after every use.

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Moi avec le chocolat chaud

That was my first day in Paris ♥


Thursday, June 16, 2011

Less than 24hrs in London

London was not one of our destination and but we decided to stop there because of the cheap AA tickets. So i won't consider London as a place the I've traveled to haha. Anyways, still wanna share what i had done in such a short time.

After checking in at Malaysia Hall, we had dinner at my relative's restaurant. Chinese food we had, bearing in mind that we would be having Western food for the next 2 weeks. My relatives were so nice that they cooked us so many dishes and the most 'paiseh' thing was that we couldn't finish all the food! I felt that that was rather impolite but I swear i had tried my best to eat as much as i could.

A group photo after the sumptuous meal.
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After meal, my relative drove us around London central. We passed by Marble Arch, Westminster Abbey and drove across London Bridge (not Tower Bridge). We stopped at Westminster Bridge and took some pics around the place.

London Eye across River Thames
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The Palace of Westminster and the famous Big Ben
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I failed to take good pics that night because i didnt bring a tripod as i was too lazy to carry an extra item with me, bearing in mind that i'll be travelling to so many places (excuses, i know) and also because of the weather! It was so cold, well at least for me. The surrounding temperature was about 13degrees celcius and my hands got so shaky and most pictures taken on that night was very very blurry. I was really thankful that I bought myself a thick jacket with me! I started shivering after like 5 minutes outdoor and i had to constantly stuff my hands into my pockets to keep them warm.

After walking around Westminster Bridge, my relative drove us back to our hostel and that's all for the first day of our trip. My first day was both cold and warm. Cold because the freaking weather, warm because of the people (so thankful to have free lift in London cos not all Tube line was running due to refurbishment).

I woke up quite early on the next morning, at about 7pm (i slept at about 12am the previous night) and i think it's because my body is so sensitive to natural sunlight. Ah yes, i realize that the sun rises very early in the morning.

And i saw this when i opened the window! Rotflmao

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It's a hall opposite and i believe it's illegal cooking in the room and whoever who did this thought no one would see this when he/she hides these cooking equipments outside the window...that's so hilarious!

After having breakfast, a friend took us to Hyde Park, which is just walking distance from our hostel. But Hyde Park is so huge and we didn't have time to explore the whole place. The part where we visited, near Queensway Tube Station, is not the beautiful part, according to my friends who both have seen the beautiful part. So I don't have nice pictures of Hyde Park to share. This is one of the ordinary pics that i have here.

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After that, my friend took us to St. Pauls Cathedral.

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We didn't enter the church. So we just took some pictures outside. Since it was only my second day, i was so busy admiring the buildings and the streets cause they are so different from Malaysia.

Then? We had to leave already cause our train to Paris was at 1pm and we needed to reach St Pancras International an hour before departure.
IMG_7176

We waited here for our platform number to be announced.

My lunch in the train, Eurostar. I bought them in Sainsburry's Local. It was pork ham sandwich, orange juice
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and yogurt.
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Pork ham sandwich was cold and i'm that kind of person who loves warm food...err...no choice le. But i love the orange juice cause it's sour and the taste is so natural. Now i know how much sugar they have added to the orange juice in Malaysia that they taste sooo sweet! Yogurt was so creamy <3 and the berries taste nice too. I had a lot of yogurt throughout this trip cause i was so afraid to get constipation. Haha!

So that's what i did in London. Nothing much i know so i'll have another rendezvous with London in future LOL!


Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Curi-curi $ Malaysia

Since our government announced that they will be spending RM1.8 million to create a facebook page to promote our Malaysian Tourism, many voices esp from the people are against this idea.
They now have a facebook page here Curi-curi $ Malaysia which number of 'Like' increases incredibly fast. Like 1-2 likes every second.
It had 19,699 likes when i started writing this post and now, it has hit up to 19, 868, just within a few minutes. It could be one of the most fast-growing page in Facebook history...haha. And it'll probably make it to headlines tmr.
See, all also really beh tahan our 'smart' leaders...cut budget for scholarships on one side, then spend $$ on such thing on the other side. 俗语说:“ 穷吃就是不能穷教育 。” so simple pun tak paham ke? ish!



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