Summer Holidays

Nel and I are going to a slightly different type of holiday this time.

Since 2 years ago, we have been eyeing on the summer holidays packages offered by local travel agencies as they seem to be very cheap and affordable. It's just extremely irresistible.

There'd be no more churches nor cathedrals! No more European castles and palaces!

We are hitting the sunny and sandy beach!! Woohoo!!!


For a package price of €250 - €500 per person (depending on destination), you get to :

- returning flights from Dublin including land transfer to your resort
- 7 nights accommodation at a 3* or 4* hotel resort
- bathing under the sun in Tenerife
- or escape away from your normal rountine in Gran Canaria
- or the Spanish island of Majorca
- or the fabulous beaches in Algarve in Portugal
- or the Greek island of Crete
- or Cyprus
- or see the views on camelback in Egypt
- or hundreds more sun destinations!

There are so many options to choose from! Most Irish love to visit the beaches in Spain like Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Majorca and Costa del Sol. Perhaps it is because the Spain packages are among the cheapest and most reasonable, and the weather is excellent and it's also nearer to Ireland.

The price of the packages are cheaper than I thought.
I've just checked the prices from the agencies' website, and for a price of €335, I get to go Kusadasi in Turkey for 8-day-7-night!!! Including return flights and accomodation and breakfasts!

Great deal, isn't it?

Irish Greyhound

Some time ago, Nel and I went to watch greyhound racing at Shelbourne Park Greyhound Stadium.


We lost €10 per person even before starting to bet - entry fees! Upon buying the entrance tickets, we were given a betting guidebook each. The guidebook records past statistics and winning probabilities of every greyhound in every race, as well as some tips and the hot favourites.

Nel and Ta Wei betted for most favourable greyhounds on the first few faces. Winning some races and losing the rest, they lost on overall in the end. Haha.


Greyhound racing is definitely a fun game! I suppose it's due to the element of gambling
During some of the races, I overheard some women beside cheering the racing dog's name. She was really loud.

All the greyhounds were given a funny name such as Egg White, Credit Alert, Double Twiss etc etc etc

Imagine hearing someone shouting "Egg White! Egg White! Egg White!" enthusiastically beside.


Greyhound could run real fast! According to info obtained from internet, they could run to the speed of around 70 kilometre an hour.


I betted for fun too and went for greyhound no.5 aka Advantage Johnny. I lost €2 on that race. Johnny, you disappointed me!

Bak Kut Teh

Last Saturday, Alan invited us to have dinner at his apartment. He just moved in 2weeks ago. He cooked Bak Kut Teh!! Nel and I were so happy. You can't get the dish here in Ireland at all.

Yummy!

Working holiday visa

My colleague, Sinead asked me to meet Tanya this coming Thursday. I was surprised that she is back to Ireland. It seems like she just left. Tanya got an Australia working holiday visa a year ago. Since then, she has been travelling around in Australia.

Oh! And recently, I just got to know that Malaysian is allowed to apply too!! If I'm not mistaken, it was introduced to M'sian this year. The visa allows us to travel and work up to 6mths. If you are thinking to apply, make sure you're not over 30. Applicants must be aged between 18-30 lor.

Masterpieces in Louvre Paris

Lourve is indeed humongous. You gotta see to believe.

We knew beforehand that we won't be able to cover all of the galleries in the musuem. So instead of wandering around the musuem aimlessly, Nel downloaded a self-guided tour programme from Louvre's website which show us the top 10 masterpieces in Louvre.

We brought the programme along during our visit, searched the respective paintings and sculptures as suggested, read the stories behind every masterpieces and took some photos with them. It was like a treasure hunt in a huge art musuem.

Here we go - the Top 10 Masterpieces of Louvre!

1. Venus de Milo

2. Liberty leading the people

3. The Raft of the Medusa

Of all the masterpieces, I find this to be the most interesting one!

"Medusa sank because of the incompetence of a captain who had obtained his post through political relations. Due to a shortage of lifeboats, 149 people piled onto a raft that drifted for twelve days. Only fifteen survived the ensuing slaughter, madness, and cannibalism.

There are various psychological states of mind in the artpiece: the dejection of the bewildered man holding his dead son, the dying man rising up with a start, and the desperate hope of those waving to their potential rescuer. But at this point in time, nobody knew which way the scales of fortune would tip. The only hero in this poignant story is humanity, and that is what still moves us today" ~ quoted from Lourve website.


Look at the crowd!!! I think you could guess what were they looking at!

4. Mona Lisa

Yes, Mona Lisa. They were fighting for a space to peep at this artpiece.

I only got to know that Mona Lisa doesn't have eyelashes and eyebrows today.
Why did Leonardo Da Vinci not paint her the eyelashes and eyebrows?

5. The wedding feast at Cana

I swear I did read all the stories. However, by the time I finished reading the story of artpiece no.3, I forgot the story of artpiece No.1.

6. Odalisque

When I stumbled upon this artpiece, only one word came into my mind. Cacat!
Her body is retarded!!!

7. The Coronation of the Emperor Napoleon I and the Crowning of the Empress Joséphine in Notre-Dame Cathedral

8. Winged Victory of Samothrace

9. The Oath of the Horatii

I obtained this photo from website. I saw it but forgot taking a picture of it :p

10. Slave

We missed this. We couldn't figure out where this statue was located according to the map.
Come on! When you pass by hundreds of Greek statues, they all look the same!

In conclusion, our mission failed. We only found 9 out of 10.

Finally, I would like to share this.


Look at the reaction! He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself, didn't he? Macam syiok sendiri!

By the way, the name of the statue is known as "The Dying Slave"
Somehow his reaction seemed to contradict the title.


We spent quite a substantial time walking around in the Louvre for our little treasure hunt. Louvre is by all means, huge!
How huge it is? We spent 3 hours in there, and we only conquered, say 10%??

I miss roasted chestnut.

I fell in love with roasted chestnut on my last trip to Paris. We gave in to the temptation while passing by and bought a small packet of roasted chestnut from this stall.

It tasted extremely delicious, probably due to the freezing weather. It was a cold night - around 0-2 degree celsuis. The roasted chestnut was hot and smelt really good.

On a cold night in Paris, walking along the Boulevard de Rochechouart, and having my roasted chestnut with hubby was such a perfect way to end the day. I wish I could have that again :)

Home cook food

I did not cook for a month and Nel has started to complain.
Finally I did it today. Haha.

Billy Joel - Vienna

Listen to this song when you think life is tough!
It teaches us not to rush :p



Slow down, you can afford to lose a day or two :p