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..

Click here for more pictures ..

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.