Back from Turkey

37 °C is no fun at all. HOT and DRY.

My first impression towards Istanbul is Turkish men are very BUSUK!

Not all of them but most of them. Or maybe I am the unlucky one.

Everywhere I go, I can only smell some BUSUK smell of armpit

I guess it's too hot and they sweat a lot. But why can't they use deodorant!

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?

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%??

Paris Oh Paris

It's sunny on our first day to Paris. Excited, we strolled along the banks of River Seine in the morning and crisscrossed several historic bridges along the way. It's really soothing and relaxing when cool breeze bashed onto our faces.

I never understand why is Paris being touted as one of the most romantic cities on planet earth? Ladies especially would not hesitate to rank Paris as the city which they wish to visit most. Paris is a lovely place, indeed. As for me, it's probably not my cup of tea for romantic trip :)

I suppose it depends very much on who you're travelling with. It's always romantic if you're spending quality time with your loved one!

Our first attraction was Saint Chapelle - another gothic chapel with high stained glass windows. It was Nel who plan the itinerary.

Okay, call me bitchy. I've had enough of visiting cathedrals, chapels, monasteries or churches. All of them look identical to me.

Since Nel wanted to go, so go lor... it costed us €7 per person for entrance ler :(


After visiting Saint Chapelle, we headed straight to another church! I thought what a great itinerary. Fortunately this is a famous one - Notre Dame.

"The Hunchback of the Notre Dame" is a renowned novel written in 19th century. 'Luck' was on our side, we encountered the Hunchback at cathedral entrance. T-hee. Smart chap trying to earn himself a living! Be prepared to pay if you want to take picture with him.


Although it's another church but I had not complaint on Notre Dame. Contradictory, ain't I?

Let me explain. First of all, Notre Dame is a must visit to Paris and it's one of the top tourist attractions in Paris. Secondly, it's free to enter the cathedral. Yes, no entrance fee except if you want to climb to the top for a bird's eye of Paris skyline!!! Saint Chapelle charged me €7.

The rear of Notre Dame :)

A trip to Paris would not be complete if your itinerary doesn't include the ever famous Eiffel Tower. We went to base of the tower but decided not to ascend to the top viewing platform as it was freezing cold that night. We were longing to get indoor and had a warm dinner. Besides we were thinking to get to the top of Eiffel when my in-laws visit us hopefully this coming summer. So that we could get up there together, saving the best for the next trip

My friend said Paris is a place she would wants to visit and visit and visit and visit and visit again!


I certainly would love to visit Paris again if given a chance.

Paris Disneyland

During the last Christmas season, we went to Paris for holiday. We were mindful that a lot of tourist spots would be closed on Christmas and St Stephen Days. As such, we planned our trip to visit Disneyland on the 25th. The entrance tickets alone costed us €100 (€50 per person).

Paris Disneyland is extensive! There are so many parks and playground areas until I could barely remember the layout! Walt Disney Studio, Disney Village and Disneyland Park which consists Fantasyland, Adventureland, etc.

We've anticipated that we won't be able to finish visiting all of the parks in one day! So we're only visiting Disneyland Park only during our visit.

Disneyland Park is a great place to have fun. Despite of the architecture grandeur and joyful atmosphere, I still wanna to complain about a few experiences which pissed me off.

1. I hate Mickey because he did not chose me for the private photo session! Mickey is immensely popular. There were only a handful of the crowd who had got the privilege to take photo with him and they were handpicked by Mickey.

2. I hate Mr Donald Duck as well because he didn't avail himself 5sec for a one-to-one photo with me. Instead he's enjoying himself taking photos with a whole bunch of girls! I want private picture with Donald; not group photos like this. By the way, the girl on the other side of him is not my friend. I don't know her -_-

Alright, enough of complaining.

Since we paid to come here, we might as well enjoy the day and be like a KID! We went for the ever popular Disney classics like Merry-go-round, roller coaster, etc.

We were there for the whole day - played like kids and snapped photos like no tomorrow.

One of the highlights was definitely the classic Disney parade which was scheduled during the evening. Various Disney characters such as Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the beast, bla bla bla, marched down the boulevard.

When attending pop concerts, you'd hear enthusiastic fans shouting "Britney," "Madonna," "Justin,"

At the parade, all I heard was "Mickey! Mickey!" and "Oh Goofy! Goofy!" All the kids around were so ecstatic and crazy of their heros! Even Nel joint in the fun and chanted "Mickey!" What a big kid!

Judging from the photos posted, Nel's friend commented that she has been to Hong Kong's, LA's, Florida's and Japan's Disneylands and yet none of them looks as gorgeous as Paris'!

I don't know

I doubt that I will ever go to another Disneyland again; unless when I have kids later :)

I think it'd be more fun if we could overnight at one of the hotels in the Disneyland. 3D2N would be just nice. You would have ample time to truly treasure the parks and not rushing yourself to one game and the next most of the time. But the hotels rate are relatively expensive though :(

Czech Cuisine

This is the most romantic restaurant I've ever gone to-date.

The restaurant is located in Prague, Czech Republic. The atmosphere of the lower ground section resembles dungeon. Haha. It's actually converted underground vaults built during the medieval period.

I had to whisper while speaking to Nel because the restaurant was just too quiet and peaceful. No music; nothing! The other patronages around you could easily overhear our conversation otherwise. Fortunately, most of them won't understand our languages.


Anyway, you won't want to spoil the ambience by speaking loudly in a cosy restaurant like this :)

Nel ordered a roast wild boar with potato and vege. Haha, wild boar sounds so exotic in a city restaurant but that was the words writen in the menu.

I ordered a roast duck with dumplings and cabbage. I didn't know what those dumplings are until I read it from a travel book. It is a dumpling made of either wheat or potato flour that is boiled. By the way, it's tasteless :(

I don't particularly fond of the dishes. I don't know, perhaps I don't know how to appreciate Czech Cuisine.

Nevertheless, I will give it a second try if I ever go to Czech Republic again :)

Best Espresso

I am craving for a cuppa and some cookies now.

It reminds me of the alfresco cafe in Florence.

We were starving after a long walk in the morning so we just simply chose a restaurant for our lunch. 

It's cold and probably around 3 - 5C.  We had to put on winter jacket while having lunch! See how clumsy we were...

The meals were mediocre. You could guess how tasty it was by looking at the photo of carbonara spaghetti above; obviously it didn't look tasty at all.

Nevertheless, they served the great espresso! It's the best espresso we've ever had thus far! Its aroma alone would be good enough to kill you. Mmmmm~~~~~~

I miss it so much!