great singaporean walk - part 2

Now its back to news update again! Hey, did I ever mention that I'm still on day 1 and its incomplete yet! At the same write up, the time at that point of memory is around 6pm and well, its still BRIGHT. YESH, ITS BRIGHT! Their evening takes eons to end before the night decided to wake up and come out.

After that, we decided to get down and continue our journey to Eiffel Tower. Our feet are sore, so we decided to take the Metro. Afterall, we bought the unlimited train ride for the day. We lugi on that! sighz, wanna be more adventurous and walk. Its really fun though. We even come across some kind of bread competition or fair before reaching Louve Museum.

Nothing much exciting after taking the view. Just waiting for nightfall coz I wanna shoot the nite view up in the Tower. Walking ard the base of the Tower, came across lotsa Red Beret. I wonder again .... I really wonder if there's some death note from some left side or right side ppl who go allah ard asking the yankee to leave the middle east country. Too bad, nothing happen again. If I get to shoot the falling tower, I wonder how much I can sell it.... hmm... thought for "that" day.

Looking for food ard the Tower area is not easy, especially if u dowan to over-spent your budget. But important citeria is that the restaurant MUST HAVE A TOILET! First time in my life, gotta check out the restaurant and see if it got a toilet before deciding if I wanna eat there. Well, frankly, I dun see it and I see my partners are hungry and tired, so decided to choose the only one we came across that serve escagot on their menu. But hey, they do have a toilet, somehow its hidden from view...underground is the word. Well, at least now I can tell people, I have escagot for side dish, and I had it in Paris. How lomantika!

Making our way up the tower is no easy choice. Gotta queue for the lift and it seems the whole world wanna rush up to the highest level, where u are suppose to have the most splendid view. Again, 2 descriptive nouns for u, frigging cold and big wind. Standing outside the chamber and waiting for the sky to turn total darkness is another chore. From 9.15 till 10.15, we waited and the damn sky doesn't seems to want to let go of its last bit of skylight. We gave up. With all those foreign students ard (some are drinking, talking loudly, running around, and I suspect one is singing some national anthem), we are having a headache and start to make our way down. I must say, the great singapore training of squeezing your way into the lift come in handy. Do not believe in lady first and "ya first"... else u can never reach ground floor.

Finally we decided to go on our last destination. The nightlife along Moulin Rouge. Now this is exciting and worrying, especially my dear good friend kept pumping me with horror stories of the european countries. But too bad for us, we din manage to get there. we are totally exhausted and someone in the group fall sick. He's saying abt the bad dessert. Trying to make him puke it out is not working. So we decided to call it a night, esp so that its almost midnight. Counting back how much distance I have walk, its probably up and down orchard road, from orchard mrt to cityhall mrt a couple of times.

So a rest is indeed what we need, especially so when we need to adjust to the jetlag and 6 hours time difference. The other thing we rush to so many places is that we are only in Paris for a night. The very next day, we are taking the Eurostar, leaving for London. Day 1 finally ended..........

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The beginning of Day 2 :-

Well, waking up and preparing for our last visitation to the Sacre Coeur in the Monmarte region. Thankfully we can leave our backpack in the hostel after checking out, else its 20kg on our back and walking ard.

Nothing much eventful till we reach the place. Its very near to our hostel, hence we just walk there, for about 15 mins. It has a nice view. The place has a very good view of one side of Paris. This church is situated at the high point of Paris, up in a hill(or do I call it a mountain?!?!? For sure its much higher than bukit timah mole).

I can't believe my luck. First day, we got 'conned' into paying more for our tickets. And what can I say, I got it from a counter at the airport. And now I got 'chopped' by some street artist. We have no idea what is going on. A friend and I was standing along the pavement, waiting for another friend to catch up, then some artists just approach us and pull us to one side and started draw portrait of us. For a moment, I thought they wanted us to practice their drawing on us. But I know I'm wrong. Frenchmen do nothing for us, or maybe I should say MOST instead of all. My reception did helpfully wrote me a very much appreciated note about me wanting to break my big note. Mentally I was doing some counting, how much should i pay... how much.. think think think. A friend finished first and when I ask him how much the guy is asking for.. my jaw dropped.. literally.... #£$^%%&*£$% I cannot believe it, we must be looking like robert to them. My friend pay his artist, and well, I got no choice but follow suit. My other friend tried to bargain but not successful. We are seriously be CHOPPED. There's goes my XXX number of wanton mee into that fella pocket.

I still remember his word clearly .... "singapore... very rich country"... damnit, now I know why he says that! I must be not looking poor enough. Now I just hope he dies soon and his work is worth a million, then I got a million dollar portrait in my hand.. I hope, I pray, I wish, I want....arghzzzzz

Inside Sacre Coeur, its pretty nice but not as grand as Notre Dame. After that not much eventful. Went walking around the neighbourhood, then went back to our hostel, pick up our backpack, and make our way to the station to take our Eurostar ride!

Good bye Paris ..... London here I come.....Damn, so tired that I'm sleeping on the train. Missed out the great view when the train travel from Paris to London.

One big mistake, meeting 2 other fellas at the Waterloo station. Its a BIG interchange station and there seems to be many arrival/departure halls. Spent over an hour searching for each other. Time wastage again! Finally found the other group, we make our way to the hostel. Nothing much eventful, other than the fact that we are staying above a pub. Gave a call to a friend(k) working in London to bring us out for dinner.

So he brought us to Arabian region and we had some Lebanese food. Hey, I'm not complaining. Was asking for something special, something that is not common in sg and great over in london. Ask another londoner friend on food and he told me, "Chinese and indian food". I tell you, I dunno how to react to that. I seriously dunno how to react to that. Maybe he doesn't know that I'm a chinese or I have more than enough chinese and indian food in sg.

Something interested during dinner. Its almost 9pm when we had our dinner. The food we ordered are kinda interesting. Something that I have yet to try in Singapore. Some raw meat, liver, and I can't remember what else. Each of us choose one side dish to share and then followed by 2 main course. Its filling for the 6 of us. At 10pm, there's a belly dance performanced by a fairly sexy asian looking exotic woman. Kool! My first live belly dancing performance. WAIT, thinking abt that, its ain't first anymore. I caught the first one in sg during some art street fest. Should have ask my friend with the video cam to shoot and maybe I can pass the clip to another friend who does belly dancing. hmmm.. i wonder does she shake like that as well?? Maybe I should ask her when I went back.. maybe, provided I dun get clobbered by the beau.

After that we just walk ard the area. Went to the Hardrock cafe since a friend is suppose to help a couple of his friends to get some t. Nothing eventful again, except for this limo that went past. So K mention that we can rent that and try it out. It ain't that expensive, and shared among the few of us. A good thought. Rent a limo and it comes with a driver that will fetch us around. Interesting. Will thinking abt it the next time I'm back there.

So again we end our night at ard midnight. Heading back to the hostel, we thought our night has ended. Nothing much is happening. The pub sure is rowdy, especially since its friday night already. So we thought that it might get too noisy for us to sleep. Well, we got an interesting quarrel going on downstair. So we just hang on by the windows and listen to it. I guess we are all tired, the ZzZz bugs settle in right after I closed my eyes.

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The beginning of Day 3 :-

Early morning wake up and try to had our breakfast. Well, it comes free with our hostel. Singaporean attitude, FREE MUST TAKE. Nothing much, just some bread and butter. Free flow though. After that, we head on down to Mdm Tussand, the famous wax Museum. Wah! I'm in awe. The entrance fee is not cheap. The website says students got discount, when we got there, no damn discount! sighz, 'conned' 3 days in a row. When I leave home, I must have forgotten to pray to god, whichever god that will help be avoid getting 'conned'.

Its awesome inside, they are done very well. Its almost real, almost. The most famous people comes with their own photographer to take 'professtional' pictures for u. The first room, its the world sexiest (or was it ex-sexiest) man, Brad Pitt and ...errr.. I can't remember which lady is sharing the room with him. Was it J Lo. For sure its not Britney. She's in some hanging position, doing some pole dancing. That's the celebrities room for u.

Next comes the room filled with movie characters. Personally I think the big green guy is the best of all. You got Bond, you the not-so-black Jackson, you got Indiana Jones, and of the very famous Charlie Chaplin. Some other that I never knew who they are. Famous before my time, might even before my father's time. Who cares anyway, they are history.

Sport room is interesting. I wonder what are all the world leader figurines doing inside the sports chamber. The most crowded area is the one with Bush and Blair on your sides with you giving a speech. Gandhi and Pope and Dalai Lama are in the same chamber as well. But I think the Pope is the most stylo. No one more stlyo than him liao, i say. Ok, definitely the scandal-filled Beckham is there, with a photographer for him. Owen is somewhere hidden in a corner. How sad. Oh, Queen E is there as well, together with another photographer. I guess this chamber shld be sports and history. Lotsa historical fellas there. Found Einstein, Mozart, Van Gough.

After that we started the Live Chamber. Its suppose to be some horror walk, with live actor coming out to scare you. Somehow I believe they only enjoy scaring people who wear skirts. I heard nothing but scream from the ladies. Not one of us has been scare-d. NOT ONE.

Then its followed by some ride to see the 'Spirit of London'. Just some history of London. Nothing much. And end of it u exit by the souvenir shop. We come at a bad time. The planeturim chamber is closed for maintenance. Wasted. It should look really kool, standing next to planet Venus. As they say, woman are from Venus... So many I can find lotsa nice nice women on Venus... maybe...

Din planned much for later part of the day. Went to a nearby supermarket and bought some food for lunch. K joined us. Make our way to Hyde Park and had our lunch under the sun, sitting in the park on the grass patch in the Speakers' Corner. Too bad no one is grumbling then. Its sunday that they grumbled, I heard. Its a nice feeling. Something none of us won't wanna do when back in sg. Probably when u suggest to your partner.... "dear ah, shall we go to the park, sit on the grass patch and eat our lunch there..."... its almost 100% chance that you will get...."u siao ah, tau pai ah?.. go park eat? under the hot sun? eat until underwear also wet? u must be siao".....

Finishes luch, we make our way to Kensington Palace. Along the way, we stop by an art museum. Its seriously is art. Trust me, if u guys are there wif them, u guys will probably go ⌐.⌐" .... K mention something like "the handwriting uglier than mine"... I think we are just not arty farty enough for that...none of us are. I think my drawing of 25 years ago will be just good enough to go into that museum. If my mom would have seen it, she will probably regret throwing away all the "treasures" that I used to scribbled when young.

We walk past the palace without realising it. That just show its not eye catching enough. Too lazy and tired to make a U turn. We head for dinner. Someone suggest buffet and K told us there's one chinese buffet nearby. So we say, why not? 5£ for chinese buffet, sound fair to me. When I go and try it out. I tell u, its one of eth worst chinese buffet I ever had. If this shop is in Singapore, it will close shopping within a month. I bet my arse on it.

After dinner, its The Eye and Big Ben. Both are in the same area. So we make our way there. Walking round the region taking photo from different angle and skylight. Once again, we are waiting for nightfall. We are at this bridge when I thought I saw some comet look alike thingy flying down. I was like...errr... It look like the same one in the movie "Armageddon". KOoooool. But wrong, its not. Just some plane doing some testing flying or playing with the engine.

While waiting for total darkness, I sat on one of the bench by the Thames river. So when someone called me to move on, I just go. Luckily, someone wanted hang ard and shoot hot babes pix. So the rest of us just stand around shooting other things. For a moment, I'm thinking..how come i feel so light.. then I realise, I LEFT MY BAG ON THE BENCH! I tell you, the first thing come to my mind is to pray hard to god and make a dash for the bench. Maybe I did left a trail of fire behind. All my money and tickets is in the bag. If I dun find it, they will probably throw me down the river. Luckily, its still there. Luck me. I really think my heart skip a beat then. At least I'm still alive now to type u this story.....hopefully i dun face it again. Even the Live Chamber at Mdm Tussand dun even scare me. Doubt my heart can take attack like this!

After that we went back to hostel to meet up with the last member of the group before heading down to Tower Bridge. Nothing much happened. Just walk and shoot and see. So we just walk and shoot and see. When at the bridge, and the clock strike 12, there's fireworks! We are surprised. Everyone wonders what celebriation is going on. Eveyone is tired, so we decided to take a bus back. OH NO! We missed the last bus! Damn, K still tell me bus is 24 hours (later I found out that it does service 24 hrs but somehow the night rider doesn't service the Tower Bridge after 12.. I wonder why). So we make a dash for the Tube Underground and we missed it! Now we gotta walk back! I won't mind walking back, if not all so many days of walking. My feet and ankles were totally sored. Thought they might give way anytime.

When we reach the hostel, we are totally worn out. But hey, 15 mins later, a fight break out at the pub below our hostel. Now that is live entertainment. Watching a fight from a safe distance. We are on the 2nd floor. I believe one of the staffs who tried to seperate the 2 group of ppl fighting. He got hit twice.

After the show, nothing much left. So we just snoozed. No one set the alarm. We are very tired. So we just rest well.

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The beginning of Day 4 :-

No one bothers with the free breakfast anymore. We prefer the sleep. So we just ended up lazing around. Some of us went out to try to look for food but most of the shops are closed. So ended up buying back something similar to KFC and had that in hostel. Someone getting fit soon for not having access to the Internet. So thinking of the going to the nearby internet cafe to surf and check some emails. WOW! Its expensive. £3 an hour? No way. Called K and he told me that is expensive. So make our way to Waterloo station and search for those £1 an hour internet. Found it. Dunno why its situation underground to another shop. Making use of bomb shelter like singapore ?????

Planning to go to St. Paul Catheral but ended up at in some museum. Think its some D-day anniversary, so some kind of exhibition going on. Went up and lotsa european war history. Singapore history exhibition is like a single floor. This one is like 6 floors! WOW! Give up half way. After that pizza buffet. Wow, we seems to be eating alot since we are there. I can feel my tummy growing! sighz

How nice of my group mates trying to find out where is that SOS place that one of my salsa kakis told me abt. A very happening salsa place in London on Sunday. Finally got there and its is really happening. Becoz there's cover charge, so only I went in while my travelmates went else where for kopi. Anyway, it stop at 11pm and its 10.15 when I'm there. Its really happening. I'm very impressed. Its kinda stressing to step into the dance floor. Too many too good dancers around. Too many. In singapore salsa scene, u see a few good ones. Over there, u see almost EVERYONE is good. sighz. That tells me, time to brush up my skill.......

Well, next day we had to wake up very early to take an early train to Aberystwyth. So we end the night early. Nothing much left. No more quarrels. No more fight. The pub is closed when we got back there. So I guess it will be a quiet nite. Its good. What more do I want other than some peaceful quiet nice sleep. Lotsa sleeping to catch up. Till then........


Now gotta brave the freezing cold weather again back to lab. gotta wake up early since planning to visit one place of interest. will update again when I got the time. At least im done wif travelling. Now its hostel and studies.....