Chekie PaMa Fabulous Holiday 2011: Paris (21 - 24 July)

Our last stop is Paris, a very cosmopolitan place. I feel like I am in London, apart from all signs are in French.

Paris welcomed me with rain. Ha! We spent three days two nights there, all we got is rain, rain and more rain…but more fun too…

Metro is pretty convenient, just like the London Underground. However, mind your personal belongings. My dad suspected his bag was being opened by ‘someone’ again…

People think about Eiffel Tower when we speak about Paris. Yes indeed. See how happy my dad is! Haha! This is where we spent our first day in Paris..

The view from the top of Eiffel Tower where you can see the whole Paris. Awesome view.

Quoting from dad ‘我从来没有想到吃到那么老可以来看这个巴黎铁塔’ (he said it in Hokkien..hehe.) means ‘I never thought I can have a chance to see Eiffel Tower in my age’

Mom invented a new quote as well ‘那个la rambla 那么ba ba bai bai’ ..well without being disrespectful, we bumped into a Malaysian family in a queue waiting to get to the top of Eiffel Tower. Mom was being friendly talking to them. They were being a bit snobbish (maybe they have the superior feeling over us as they were rich and from Kuala Lumpur, and consider us as a bunch of country monkeys who are from a small town Alor Star, lol) and used Manglish (with loads of la la la sound in speaking English) when talking to us. Lol.. I couldn’t be much bother. That’s why mom nicknamed them the La Rambla family. Mom, you are ‘si beh’ (means ‘very’ in Malaysian Hokkien language’ ) creative !! lol…

When we were coming down using the elevator from the top .. well, you can choose to climb the stairs if you want to…which costs you less…hehe..but this option is defo out for us

We then went to see the sights around Eiffel Tower, chillaxing then the rain came…grrr…and we had to hid in a museum café and as usual, I need to take a few dose of caffeine…coffee time…lol…

Then we walked to the Arc de Triomphe

I wasn’t really feeling that well that day, therefore we left early back to the hotel. Of course not forgetting to take my dad to a Chinese shop for his dinner. He spotted one Chinese takeaways / restaurant near Riquet station and kept nagging me afterwards.

The rain stopped after dinner. We then took a walk around the hotel..

See what he did this time again..haha .. Dad was happily dancing along the street, check out the last bit, he gained a thumb up from the strangers.. lol..

We were staying in Holiday Inn Express Paris-Canal de la Villette . Absolutely worth for money. This holiday Inn Express is 100 times better than the one I was staying for work at Burton on Trent..

The view from our room…

It changes color in the evening…haha

In the second day, we went to places around musée du Louvre

And again dad was showing off his kung fu in Paris…-.-‘’’

We then walked around the parks nearby and went to see Notre-Dame de Paris

Around this area, I got my red French hat too..haha

Then rain came again…we were sheltered under a bridge…lol..

It was quite a while we were waiting until the rain stopped… I had nothing better to do that time… I think there is no one understand what I was doing…lol

Finally the rain stopped and I forced my dad to take a music video of me…lol…have a guess what I was singing… One thing I like travelling at the westerners world is no one will really bother what on earth you are doing… I guess if I did the same back home, probably people will shout ‘xiao zha boh’ (crazy girl in Hokkien language)

While we were on our way to see Opéra national de Paris , we bumped into a acoustic performance on the street

Looked at the theatre…

Lastly, we had delicate French seafood for dinner. The restaurant is just next to the hotel..

Au revoir Paris!!

We arrived at London on the 24^th July late afternoon and stayed a night at The Great Expectation in Reading.

Au revior , lovely parents on the 25^th July at Heathrow…

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Uncle Seng and Aunt Jean for housing my parents in the first week of our holiday, taking us to and from the airport…much appreciated…

It is not an easy task taking parents for a trip, I have to be honest. I apologise for the time when I lost my temper occasionally. Thanks dad, it was all triggered by your rant.. haha.. lol..

In fact, I quite proud of myself…I am not good in reading maps..but in this trip, at least I manage to lead my parents to the right destination most times…hehe..

I think I will be a better family trip planner next time..stock up the pot noodles, and always go for buffet breakfast inclusive hotels…lol…

I still have a wide smile on my face every time thinking about this trip… - Chekie PaMa Holiday 2011..

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Chekie PaMa Fabulous Holiday 2011: Barcelona (19 - 21 July) - Part Two

The next morning, first mission for my lovely parents was to go down stair to get some hot water, so we can have it to make the pot noodle. I felt lucky enough to have my parents making the pot noodles for me. I have been on my own most of the time in UK. I felt loved when the breakfast was ready for me when I woke up :)

Still, I had to stop my dad from ranting too much when I was trying to get a new memory card for my camera. The lady in the He used to be over nervous about things sometimes. It was enough driving me crazy. Good that mom was there to stop him and try to resolve the ‘conflict’. Eventually I got the 4gB for around €10.

Our first stop was Casa Batlló

Opposite Case Batlló, you can see Casa Milà

We continued walking until we arrived at Sagrada Familia

We didn't went in to the above places as there was a huge queue, and we had very limited time to see places in Barcelona. Also, my parents weren't keen in seeing these places. They would prefer to take some pictures, relaxed and moved on…lol..

We took our quick lunch at Sagrada Familia, then we moved on to Barcelona FC. It wasn’t too nice when we bumped into a pick pocket who was trying to steal stuff from my dad’s rucksack. This happened in the metro station. So, please beware of your stuff especially when you are in the metro station. We found the rucksack was opened, and my dad suspected a chap in the metro. That chap straight away left the metro in the next station. Anyway, it was lucky that we didn’t lost anything. Both mom and myself applauded dad being such a detective :)

We finally arrived at Barcelona FC, where my dad was asking me for a blue icy drink. I felt like taking my children travelling. Haha. It costed more than €20 for a stadium tour. Therefore, we ditched that idea, and chillax again outside the stadium.

We then headed to Plaça d'Espanya

Venetian Towers

Heading to Palau Nacional, the Montjuïc area..We didn’t see the Magic Fountain as it is only displayed at night.

It was such a huge place to explore. And again, I had made my parents hiking so much. Haha. We walked around the national place then heading to the place where they held Olympic 1992

We spent the whole afternoon there. Lastly I convinced my mom that we would pay €1 each to take the elevators to the top of Arenas de Barcelona. So that we could have the panoramic view of the city..

Parc de Joan Miró

Also, we saw people demonstrating on the street. I didn’t quite sure what happened. However, I saw the policemen were trying to give way to them. That is a shame compare to the peaceful demonstration back home. It reminded me how the policemen back home treating the citizens in the 709 Bersih 2.0 peaceful protest, using water canyon, tear gas etc.. sigh, they just wanted to express their feeling towards the unsatisfactory towards the government. This was nothing wrong as we a democracy country. Anyway, this feeling hit me very much.

And again, dad was asking for KFC for dinner. Hmm. I took him to the KFC near Plaça de Catalunya. Then both mom and myself had tapas in a restaurant at La Rambla .. :)

Barcelona, love the weather, love the people (not those pick pockets), love everything about this city. I have thought about living here though… :) One thing I have to mention here is the culture shock my parents have had. Ha! They witnessed a couple passionate kisses from gay couples in the city. They chatted to me after that. Well, all I can say it is an open society, people are free to do what they like. In fact, even though they are gay couples, still as long as they have found their love, I will feel happy for them :) I am straight, and I am still struggling to find the right one .. : ))

Next stop - Paris

Mom and dad at Barcelona Airport, waiting to check in..

Click here for Part One..

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Have I been taking it for granted?

This is indeed my second week of my PhD journey. As I am a fully sponsored student, I have to pick up the responsibilities as a teaching assistant. Oh dear, I can’t imagine I am helping in delivering lecture, neither because I am low self esteem nor no confident, it is just not me…

Anyway, ditch that… What I want to say is the MSc students, their passion on conducting research did inspired me a lot. Some of them came out with ambitious ideas, well, I did when I was doing my MSc. Some came out with the idea as they hope the research outcome will help developing their country. Perhaps I am being a bit emo here, however, I did a little reflection on myself, the one and only question I asked myself was – have I been taking everything for granted?

Hmm.. I don’t know. My ethos remains unchanged – work hard, play hard.

Chekie PaMa Fabulous Holiday 2011: Barcelona (19 - 21 July)

The flight from Berlin to Barcelona was 8.55am, therefore we ordered a taxi to take us from the hotel to Barcelona. Stunning enough it was a lady taxi driver who came picking up at 5ish in the morning. Although she couldn’t speak much English, I felt that she is a nice lady.

After checking in, first thing first was to let my parents ‘eat’, especially my dad. As usual, mom was good enough in helping me to save money, they both had the pot noodles (mom brought them from Malaysia), and I was just having a very thick espresso. I was knackered as not sleeping that well in the Berlin hotel.

We arrived in Barcelona at late morning. And yet again, we took cab from Barcelona airport to Hotel Evenia Rocafort. It was a lovely hotel. Click here for my review to the hotel. I specially giving my appreciation to one of the receptionist, unfortunately I don’t know his name. He was giving me a great hand in helping me to transfer my pictures from my memory stick to the external HD. Most probably there was an issue with my old HD, the transfer just won’t work. Still, big thanks to him. He then directed me to one of the gadget shop just down the road so I can get a new memory stick. Still I didn’t get one until the next day in another shop. Lol.

Caught mom was sleeping while I was busy doing my transfer..

The receptionist reckoned us to walk to the sights instead of taking public transport. Dad was first opened his mouth and told the receptionist that he is old and couldn’t walk that much. The receptionist then asked how old is my dad. My dad said he is 56, and the receptionist said, you don’t consider yourself old in mid fifties. It is like a slap on my dad’s face, then he stopped to complain so much about walking. Of course, both my parents are physically fit.

Stopping for some cakes

Somewhere near the university

Stopping at the Plaça de Catalunya, which is one of the busiest square in Barcelona

Me chasing the pigeons, but the pigeons seemed like very calm..Maybe I am over reacted…lol

La Ramble street.. busiest street in Barcelona, selling all sorts..

Quite a nice art piece

Somewhere near Santa Maria del Mar

A bloke was showing his balloon tricks to the kids near Santa Maria del Mar

Then we stopped by some shops and did some shopping. I got a sling bag in only 4 euros..haha..although it is a ‘Made in China’

After all, we decided to keep walking around, looking at the city and people, with no clear direction in mind. We didn’t have GPS, all we had is a paper map we took from the hotel. As we walked along, we realised that we were not long to Port Vell area. So we kept walking…

Arriving at Port Vell

Me and my dad jiggling

One of my favourite picture near Port Vell


Walking towards the Columbus Monument

Wondering what mom and dad were watching…

Time for some dinner and heading back to La Ramble street..Absolutely love the art piece

Dad wanted Chinese food again…grrr…

One of the famous fruit market in Barcelona

There is a Carrefour supermarket in La Rambla street. So if you are in a budget trip, you can get food and necessities there. We bought some bread, buns and of course still water. Not sure why, I felt that the still water tasted better than the tap water.

Found a Chinese shop in our way back to the hotel. Dad bought some pot noodles for our breakfast next morning. Please note that you have to pay extra for breakfast in most of the hotels in Barcelona..

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To be continued..

Chekie PaMa Fabulous Holiday 2011: Berlin (17 - 19 July)

Daa..lah..After spending four days three nights in the lovely Athens, we moved to our next destination - Berlin.

We arrived there in mid-afternoon. It was raining. I could tell from my dad’s face how happy he was with the weather, at least it was chilling and not as that hot compared to our first two destinations, Rome and Athens.

Again, we took cab from the airport to Hotel Bogota Berlin . Read my review in Trip Advisor here. We couldn't bother to work out the underground route to the hotel for a simple reason, the underground in Berlin was too complicated for us! I could only recognise the U-Bahn and S-Bahn :)

Taxi Rate
Berlin Underground, quite like it though..

After we dropped our stuff in the hotel, we walked around Kurfürstendamm area. First thing first, we were looking for a internet café, so that I could transfer my pictures from the memory stick to the hard drive. As usual, most of the internet cafés blocked massive storage device. I was lucky enough to have the lovely local waitress to help me with her personal laptop. She gave me a hug after helping me without wanting my tip. She was just wondering why we were visiting Berlin.

We took snaps with the United Buddy Bears along the street in Berlin. Look at my dad and mom!

We walked pass by Zoologischer Garten . We didn't get in as the ticket sounded deary for us, plus my parents weren t really interested in animals. Haha!


Anyway, my lovely dad always wanted for either KFC or Chinese food for dinner& grrr& In order to shut his mouth up, haha, I brought him to KFC for dinner. He was delighted!
Look at the KFC behind this picture!


While walking back to hotel, we dropped by to see the Story of Berlin. Basically it was an exhibition hall introducing the Berlin the city.

Before we got back to our room, we took a picture with the reception. He studied mandarin in a school in Beijing before. He spoke better mandarin than I do! Blimey!

As there was no telly nor any type of entertainment in our small room, we trio just sat down and chit chat. Anyway, mom and dad seemed like enjoying themselves : )

After having our breakfast in the hotel, we departed early to see some of the Berlin attractions. Taking the underground was definitely a nightmare for us. I guess we were just not smart enough. We wanted to get to the Brandenburg Gate. Luckily we met with a man in his fifties, probably sixties, err, I don't know..who lead us the way as he was going in the same direction. He spoke very good English and has his own business, pretty tall and with white hair. This is the only details I can remember for now. When we passed by the border, he explained us which site belongs to east, and which site belongs to west by jumping around. It was quite interesting to know& and also, after I got to know more about the city, I felt a bit sad about the history of this city.

We passed by Holocaust Memorial , which is the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. I could feel my excitement went down a bit, however, I felt like wanting to know more about the city.

Then we took some snaps at Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag. We would like to get to the dorm, unfortunately we hadn't prebook the ticket.


Me sitting on the torn down Berlin Wall

We bumped into a Berlin free tour . Basically the tour guide is working on tips. It is your choice whether or not to tip after the tour finishes, still this is not nice people will do. The one that we bumped into was about 4 hours tour. Started at 11ish and finished at about 3ish. The tour guide was Sam from Bournemouth, UK. Apparently he is doing his PhD in History in Berlin. I thought he is a very good story teller. I have enjoyed every single bit of his tour. Although I have to translate what he said to my parents afterwards. Lol.

Sam

This is the area where Hitler killed himself. Now it is only a car park

This is the building where used to be Nazis operation centre. After the WW2, it became East German operation centre, and if am not mistaken, it is now a tax building for the Germans. Also, Sam told us that the film Valkyrie was taking most of the scenes here.

The remaining Berlin Wall

You can easily recognise the area if it is East German before the unification, by the traffic light

Trabis the East German car..Imagine how people can squeeze under the small trabis cushion just for the sake to get transported safely to West German..

Charlie Checkpoint, one of the famous checkpoint across the east-west German border

Walked pass by some magnificent buildings and memorial..

This is where Nazis had the book burning ceremony

University of Hamburg

One of the building that East German government proud of

I tipped Sam twenty euros for a wonderful tour. Then we headed to Hackescher Markt.

After that, we went back home resting then having our dinner in a local German pub as my dad was prohibited from having anything Chinese or KFC. He accidentally ordered some cold dish and he said ‘我本来是可以吃到很开心的‘ which means he could have something better but I forced him to try local cuisine..lol.. anyway, mom was happily finishing up his left over!

Me and my dinner

The German government is spending loads every year trying to replenish their historical buildings so they have something for the younger generation to see. This city has been though loads of wars and most of the historical buildings are ruined. Started before the first world war, then world war one and two, followed by the East-West German split. Anyway, what we are seeing now, is a strong German.

We have had a wonderful time in Berlin.

Next stop -Barcelona..

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