Thursday, August 25, 2011

Day Three - Brighton to Oostende!

*This is the phase where 6 foreigners move from one foreign country to the other foreign country!

Woke up again, early in the morning hehehehe. And then we took a walk around the housing area where my aunt and uncle lived in for more than 17 years ( I use 17 because they lived there even before I was born so... yeah. It's probably around 30 years or so =/)

The housing area there is, MASSIVE!! And the flowers there are so pretty and colourful. I got so caught up with all the flowers and trees and I was really far behind. Pa, ma, and sai kuma left me behind HAHAHA Didn't get to walk the whole housing area (trust me, it would take DAYS) but at least I managed to snap pictures of other people's flowers/gardens and their very vintage-looking houses!



So pretty kan?
AHHH I wanna go back I'm not done snapping!!


Love the houses there! They're like so old but still so pretty.
FULL OF CHARACTER!
If houses here get old they usually smash them into bits and build a new one ='((
Y U NO PRESERVE OLD HOUSE!!?


Poppy (:
You will be seeing a lot of this flower! It's actually used to make a type of drug, which I forgot the name. You cannot see it in Malaysia because it's banned (I think...)


See the snails there also so pretty! HAHA



I have no idea what these are but I think this is one of the pictures I liked most. So exotic eh!


One last picture before we leave. (:


So Uncle Dennis and Sai Kuma dropped us at a bus stop. We waited there for around half an hour for our coach to come. Again, it was freezing ( I have no idea how they survive! It's only summer and it's already so freezing cold )

After riding on the road for a few hours, we had packed lunch at a rest-stop. Didn't take any pictures there because we were rushing for time. Then, we changed into another coach. This time, it was a bigger one. And it's red. WHOOOO!


Oh yeah. I forgot to state that we were actually going to Belgium!!!! =___=
Sorry about that.

A lot of people asked me where is Belgium. I wouldn't know if you ask me before but I googled it after I came back. HAHA. Which means I didn't even know where was I while I was there!!

So here's a map.
It's just basically across the sea.
We rode a ferry from Dover to Calais.


Me on the ferry. The top deck.


The ferry was extremely big!!! And I don't know why I didn't bother to take the inside of the ferry. Probably because I preferred to be outside, looking at the sea. But again it was freezing cold + the wind was blowing very strongly!!

It's not like the ferry that we have here. The ones that we ride on to get to Labuan. This one is extremely huge, is fully air-conditioned, few decks for you to visit. Has yummy-looking but expensive (to us) food at the food court, arcades, coffee lounges and a duty free shop.

Trust me, I think it's bigger that the Star Cruise I went on when I was a twelve. You can lose 100 calories per deck if you run quick enough. XDD


The ferry ride was about 45 minutes. Took the time in the ferry to get some rest, nap and munched on some chips.

You can even sleep there because there are so many chairs at the waiting lounge =O


AND HERE WE ARE. ANOTHER PART OF THE WORLD (:

TADAH!!!
We haz arrived Belgium!!
*note the chalk wall (I think it's called a chalk wall. Please correct if wrong. It is chalk you know =P) behind...


After travelling for HOURS! On the road and across the sea. Across borders. We finally arrived at Oostende, Belgium. trees! How abnormal =O

OH another funny thing. When we hoped on to the bigger coach at the rest stop, the people in the coach asked me whether I got the right coach. HAHA. That's because the whole coach was filled with people over 40 years old, I think. Nick and I were the youngest ones there. HAHAHAHA

The uncle asked me, "Young lady did you get on the wrong coach? You should be going to Disneyland or something. We're going to Belgium, FYI"

HAHAHA. All I did was smile.


So we stayed in a hotel next to the beach. I loved Oostende. We stayed there throughout the trip. Usually the coach leaves early morning to other cities in Belgium and then we come back to Oostende in the evenings. Good right? I must say, one who loves nice places MUST visit Belgium. I WANNA GO BACK!!!


Belgium itself, made me want to study Architecture. Plainly because the buildings there are so tall and pretty and unusual. They look like houses and buildings from story books, those that you never imagine seeing in real life. The roofs were so unique in its own way and the structure of the buildings were so fantastic. It cannot be described, it was so pretty. I think I was culture shocked by the buildings, not the people. They were just so amazing.

But now the thought of being an architecture has vanished. HAHAHA. Just because.


So upon arrival we checked into the hotel, and had dinner at 8pm in the hotel restaurant. Yeah.

Our menu....
Bread & butter
Soup of the Day/salad, followed by
Meat, Vege, and potato (substitute for rice), and
Dessert!



Dinner wasn't really that extravagant, but it was yummy. We had the same thing over and over again but the way of cooking was different. We had beef on the first day, then chicken, the pork, then beef again. For potatoes it was first baked, salad, fried, mashed. Like that lah. It was the same thing but they cooked it different.

Our days usually ends early in Belgium because shops close at 5pm. Good thing is that you can walk along the beach, and the park. Bad thing is you might not stand the breeze and end up staying in your hotel room, waiting for dinner to be served.

After dinner there are no night markets for us to hang kai, so Nick and I usually watch Disney shows on Belgium's Disney Channel. HAHAHA. It's in English, chillax.


Uhm, so day 3 is basically travelling.

Up next is,
Belgium! Jaw-dropping churches and strawberries (:

P.S: Holidays next week!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Book, you made me cry

Right after trials, I've decided to kick back from my studies for a while and so, I picked this up.


Uhm well, I didn't exactly pick it up from a bookstore, Uncle Dennis and Sai Kuma borrowed it to me. YAY! I've never heard of the author before, nor the title of the book but right now, the author, the story, the characters, the settings are all stuck in my head and would stay there for a little while.

IT'S JUST SSSSOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD!

So here's the synopsis from the back of the book...

Eric Moro is a medical student eager to earn fast money modeling; Alexandra Taylor is an artist quite accustomed to drawing men's nude bodies. They fall deeply into a relationship astonishing in its intensity that transforms their lives. Then a foolish act from Eric's past rises to cast a devastating shadow over their idyllic relationship. But they will discover that within the very struggle to endure and to fight lie the seeds which can ensure love's survival.


Yeah.


I think if I tell you the whole story you'll probably get all excited and would be DYING to read the book. Then while reading you'll recap what I said and there! It's going to be boring and predictable. So I'll let you cry and sob and stay up late to read this yourself rather than spoil all the fun.


Whoever wants to borrow, line up! The book is with Marie.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Brighton Day Two- The day we froze

Hey! So here's day 2!! =D

We woke up early the morning the next day. Perhaps at around 5am. The sky was already bright then. The 6 of us were jet-lagged, waking up early in the morning, and did the lamest thing the world could ever think of. EAT LEFTOVER FISH & CHIPS!!!

hahaha

Well, we were a bit hungry and we shouldn't let good food go to waste, right??

After Uncle Dennis and Sai Kuma woke up we told them about our early 'breakfast' and they said we were supposed to feed the leftovers to the birds outside their house =O Or the foxes. HUH?!? Yeah they said that there were foxes around but we didn't see any. But po, ma, and I did feed the birds and they were very sneaky!!!


picture before leaving. Checked out all the sweet stuff that Sai Kuma stocked for us to being home. KIT KATTTTTT!!!

Headed out early for Sunday Mass in a Catholic Church. It was over at Hove, the other part of Sussex, correct me if I'm wrong. Uncle Dennis used to work there last time if I'm correct. Service was interesting. It was the shortest mass I've ever been to. Guess how long was it???


45 minutes!!!!


IKR!! It was fast and short and sweet. Whoo! The church was also pretty. All churches are pretty =)

Started to rain after that. Rushed to the car.


Next stop : Breakfast!


Went to a place called Wetherspoons. Cool place with a very warm vibe (:
There's something not right about this pic. Try spotting it =P

The menu. Uhm, looked through it but didn't order anything. Sai Kuma ordered for us newbies. hehehe


My drink. Hot chocolate. KICK LAH!!! My brother got jealous because he only had tea. HAHA


Sauces from the sauce table!! They just leave it there and let you guys take whatever you want. So good oh~ So uhm, we took one each as souvenirs =O


So here is breakfast!


The very famous Kidney Pie. I loved it. It was nice, and different. haha. Ma and po didn't like it because they said that the kidney pie smelt weird. Only pa seemed to enjoy. I think it's nice but my plate better!!!


English breakfast?? Hungry already?


Nick and I shared a portion. Baked beans (their beans are way smaller than what we have here!), sunny side up (the egg), tomato, mushroom, hash brown, sausage and bacon!!! It's more than enough for the both of us. hehehehe

Maybe only enough for me because Nick didn't want the mushroom and tomato so all I gave him was half of the sausage, some bacon, baked beans and half of the egg. HAHA. And I bet he didn't take a single bite of that kidney pie. Poor him.


BACON!


I took a picture with the waiter there. He's also a muscian, I heard. HAHA. Ma and the rest were daring me to take a picture with him, I don't know why. LOL


After breakfast, walked acrossed the street and found TESCO! A supermarket! WHOO!
Our family has some kind of craving about going in to supermarkets. Ma wants to look at stuff (maybe like what brand of soap they have), pa likes to look at yogurt and stuff, my grandpa took interest of bread and pastry, my po is always tempted by vege and fruits and cheese, nick likes to grab chips and sweet stuff. And me? CANDY!!!!

So yeah. If we have no idea where to go we'd probably end up in Tesco or Sainbury's or ASDA.



After that, we walked around Hove. Only for a while. I'm emphasizing on the A WHILE. Within that time, kung bought a lawnmower and po managed to purchase a food processor. I don't know how they did it. They just did. HAHAHAHA. I'm not going to comment on that!!!


Sai Kuma and Uncle Dennis dropped us at The Marina because they had to attend a tea party. It was the Duke & Duchess of Richmond's Wedding Anniversary. They're close friends of my uncle and aunt so they had to go wah. =D So cool they have these kind of tea party stuff. *jealous

*We also visited their house so stay tuned to the posts coming up!


The Marina.
It's like The Marina we have here in Sutera harbour, only bigger and it's open to public!!! Bad thing is that we froze to death here. I had my hands in my pocket the whole time and I bet po's toes were numb. Walked around a factory outlet, where Nick bought a jumper for only 5 pounds. Quite cheap lah but I didn't get anything. I was cold.


Had some donuts.
The only donuts we had for the whole trip and it was delish.


Saw a Ben & Jerry's vending machine!! Is it cool or what?!?!?!?!


So this is the front of the Marina, where we found this chinese ship thingy. I think it's a restaurant. The whole walk along The Marina was really nice, but it was REALLY COLD!!!! Not forgetting the wind! It blew, uhm, continuously and trust me, no one's hair was neatly combed that day.


Loved the sails (:


Saw a character from Toy's Story walking around =O




In the end, we couldn't stand the cold. Po and kung surrendered and decided to have lunch in Subway. Nick followed. I followed ma and pa who chose to dine at a small coffee house!

I had apple struddle.

After that, we walked for a bit. And entered another supermarket! Asda! But we ended up in George, the department in the supermarket where they sold clothes and shoes and socks and underwear. Trust me, George itself is bigger than the whole Parkson we have here! I think we spent about 2 hours there alone in George and by the time we were done, the supermarket was closing. SAD! We didn't even get to walk downstairs.

Stores closed early that day. At 5pm because it was a Sunday! Ended up sitting on the benches outside Asda. And then we went into McDonalds' to stay warm. Went back to the square of the Marina and you know where we hid?! Underneath the stairs of a hotel. SO KESIAN OH WE WERE LIKE HOMELESS KIDS COLD AND LOST!! And then we switched to the bowling alley, then cinema, then back to the bowling alley again. Gave up. Stayed there for a long time.

Trust me, it was the first time all of us felt really cold. HAHAHA

Luckily Sai Kuma and Uncle Dennis came to pick us up and we went back to their place. ALL OF US WERE SERIOUSLY FREEZING!!!!!

Just thinking about that day makes me cold.

Didn't go out that night. All of us were tired. Tried chinese takeaway for the first time. They really deliver it to your doorstep! And it tasted good!!!

Folded in early that day due to exhaustion!!

So that was how our day ended!!! hahaha. Stay tuned for day 3!! It's half a day in Brighton and we headed to Belgium!!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Buh bye Trial 1!

So we're done with trial one!
Happy!

Holidays are in a week.
HOORAY!

For only one week.
SAD.

I think I did pretty bad this time.
Devastated!