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.