Europe Trip - Amsterdam Day 1

Has not update this blog for quite some time... let's continue with my Europe Tour diary...

After Paris, we were going to Amsterdam. The reason I choose Amsterdam is because, since young, I mean in my high school time, I was told, Amsterdam is the lowest city in the world, and, if global warming continue, this city will soon emerge in water. So, before this day happen, I always wanted to go there. Another reason is, I love tulip, but before we go, I have checked, tulip season has over, too bad...

Before leaving for Amsterdam, let's take a photo with the hotel that we stayed in Paris

Part of our luggage, some we left @ Glasgow

me @ Gare du Nord,
train station connecting London, Amsterdam, Belgium...

Train that we were taking to Amsterdam was booked from Rail Europe, if not mistaken the train is called Thalys.

Although Thalys is not as best as Eurostar (I think), but overall, the journey was still a pleasant one. The train stopped quite a number of time, for passenger to get down to various station, including couple of stations in Belgium.

Finally... finally, we touched down in Amsterdam... as I have limited information about Amsterdam, we didn't quite sure where were our hotel, and were not quite sure what are we going to do in Amsterdam, but, Amsterdam do have many ready-made day tour, so, we decided to book one for the next day, as that's the only full day we will be in Amsterdam, we couldn't afford to waste any minute :)

Our hotel is few roads from the train station, no public transportation needed, we just walked. Although all the street name are not easy to understand and remember, but the Dutch speak English very well... at least we still can ask...

We put down our luggage and that's time for lunch

My first lunch in Amsterdam - bacon burger

After lunch, we decided to walk around, Heineken factory & Hard Rock are in our list

The tram @ Amsterdam

Then we saw this shop... guess what is it?
It's burgers/ sandwishes dispensary machine!

Visited to the tourism centre to book our trip to see windmill the next day
Everything is online, actually we can also pre-book it in KL, because we already have some idea in mind, so, the process was very smooth and fast

Elmo... my favorite character in Sesame Street!

Street performer
what a strange instrument

Environmental friendly taxi
it's bicycle actually

Nice back street with graffifi

Bus stop... is the grey thing a chair for passenger?

Bicycle everywhere...
Next time, I mean if I got the chance again, will definately choose this as my transportation

Tourist bus

A lot of ppl chilling out by the canal

We too... chilled out there

Watching different boats (small, medium, big) passerby

Restaurant by the canal

Big one

Small one

This guy is good looking right?
He was browsing the old records @ this second hand shop (I think)

Not sure if this is the factory, but we were there, in a shop full of Heineken!

Camwhoring myself infront of a green mirror

Camwhoring in one of the gaming room in the shop

This wall is amazing...
It is using refrigerator concept, condense the vapor in the air and form this logo. The ice will only melt if they turn off the electricity... cool!

Agree!

Me & Liang's punya Heineken

Both of us like this pizza very much... value for money...

Wow... the strawberries are bigger than our noses

Something is on... we are not that busy body, so, we didn't go to find out what

While on the way to Hard Rock, we saw this - Public toilet for men ONLY.... in the middle of the road
guys, dare to try out?

photo with lizard...
not that daring la me, they are just cement statue

First dinner @ Amsterdam
Chinese food again

The restaurant was very nice to ladies, whoever walk out from the restaurant, ahem, ladies only, the waiter/ waitress will hand a rose to her... so sweet... at least from this gesture, I think, Amsterdam is more romantic than Paris...

After sending Qiaoyi & Liang's parents back to hotel, we, the young one, decided to explore the red-light district
A bit scary at the beginning, because I didn't know what will happen but after walking few streets in that area, it's actually quite interesting and safe... as long as you didn't do "funny" things or kacau them la.

Me @ one of the street in red light district

Me & Qiaoyi were quite tired after the visit to red light, so we decided to head back to hotel straight while the guys didn't want to miss any opportunity to get cheap beer

Heineken Extra Cold
The guys tried this, and I tried it the next day!

The beer was so cold until you see? a thin layer of ice form on top of the beer...

woo hoo... so looking forward to the next day... wind mill, here we come!

Europe Trip - Paris Day 3

Final day in Paris...

Actually the hotel that we stayed has cafeteria and their breakfast was only 5 euro per person (if I'm not mistaken). From the first day we stayed in, we already decided to have the breakfast there one of the morning. So, last day already, gotta be that morning.

Very simple breakfast... all sort of bread (free flow), all sort of jams, butters, cheese, chocolate and tea and coffee
compare to the breakfast that we normally take, ie nasi lemak, noodles, dim sum... obviously, our breakfast have more choices and more interesting!

Then, we decided to go up to Eiffel Tower. Actually the night before we (at least myself) were struggling shall we go to see the beautiful Eiffel Tower with light on again? But end up, we were too exhausted, we ended up in bed instead.

Before leaving this city, we gotta at least say a proper goodbye to Eiffel Tower

The legs of Eiffel Tower
That day was very windy and thick clouds in the sky
While queuing for ticket, I enjoyed seeing the movement of clouds, they were fast!

Although the queue was very long, but in short while, we already in the ticket counter. We were thinking, shall we told the cashier we were students? Ya, we looked young in their eyes.
When we were talking to the cashier, we forgot to mention, then when she collected the money from us, we were thinking, shall we cheat? But ended up, she didn't believe us, so, mission failed. hahaha
We are just not a professional liar...

I'm quite excited about going up and yea, quite scary too although I know the lift should be very very safe.

In seconds, we were already at the waist of the tower. Wow... what a magnificent view from there... Paris is so packed and congested, all the building, houses are very crowded, and I noticed that Paris does not has a lot of tall building and does not has a lot of greenery.

From there, I was trying to locate some famous attractions that we read from books.

A building with gold roof top... anyone know what's this building?
It's actually quite far away from the tower... just that my camera has great zoom power... hehe, so proud of it.

A cruise @ Seine River

Ha, finally found this...
Arc of Triomphe

Bottom: Pont de Lena (the bridge)
Middle: Palais de Chaillot (Trocadero)
Top: I called it another part of the world... with tall buildings
anyone know where's that place?

Me & Qiaoyi before going up to the top

My ticket

There's a chamber at the top of Eiffer Tower
and there are 2 wax figures inside... one of them is Mr. Eiffel and another one is the inventor Thomas Edison
This room was used to a meeting room for Mr. Eiffel to meet some famous people.
So, I was wondering... the lift was build since that time? or they have different way to reach the top?

Champ De Mars (Field of Mars)
A large green area in the city

Seine River
A few bridges linking both side of the city

Toilet up there!
Wonder how is the whole sewage system working?

Lunch time again... we went to Lafayette again because Qiaoyi found out that the Longchamps
that she bought still has the magnetic tag attached to it, so, she needs to go back to the shop to remove the tag.

When we were there the day before, we walked pass this restaurant, selling mixed rice (zhap fan)... So, we decided to bring the parents there and we ate Subways which was opposite this shop.

Variety of dishes, looked yummy, taste... erm, can't compare with what we have in Malaysia

After eating and settling the tag, we went to one of the famous churches in Paris
- Notre Dame Cathedral
Can never miss this...

Remember the cartoon "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame", the cartoon was drawn base on this church

It's Friday... and there were a "service" in the church
I'm not a Christian nor a Catholic... has no idea who are they and what were they doing

The interior of the church is beautiful

The exterior, with a lot of carvings

The statue outside the church

Chasing the pigeon

These 2 girls hugging each other and cry after coming out from the church...
why? felt touch gua...

A mother hanging out with her 2 handsome sons
see, one of them smile to me

There are a lot of ugly creatures on the wall

At the back of the church, there is a garden
A lot of big roses can be found there

The garden

Before leaving the place, we realized we haven't tried any dessert in Paris... how could that happen? So, we picked this which is just next to Notre Dame

Can't miss their Crepe
and this is Chocolate & banana crepe

I think the one that I took in Eurostar is nicer...

Creme brulee

one of the must try dessert in Paris
The burnt caramel top smell so good

Frankly speaking, I don't take strawberry product, for example, strawberry cake, strawberry ice-cream... but this strawberry ice-cream has changed my taste... it tasted so refreshing and cool!
Since then, when I came back to KL, I started trying strawberry cheesecake ice-cream and strawberry sorbet... never thought that I will like it.

A group photo in Paris
I like this photo, everybody looks so good

Love this pic too...
what a serene scenery

This day, we went back to Chinatown again... same restaurant for our dinner
Qiaoyi ordered this Vietnamese Pho Soup noodle the day before and she let use try and we think that the noodle and the soup was nice, so, this day, out of 7 of us, 4 ordered this without second thought. hehe

Have we left of any must-go attractions in Paris?
I told my friend, Paris isn't as romantic as I think, maybe I was there "alone", I mean I didn't go with my love one or what.
If there are really some places that I've missed during this trip... I think, I will be only going back after I've traveled to other countries/ cities of Europe, eg Spain, Protugal, Italy, Germany... or maybe when I have the significant other... :)

I was so looking forward to Amsterdam the next day...
stay tune... for more interesting travel dairies in Amsterdam

Europe Trip - Paris Day 2

2nd Day in Paris

Just as previous days, we have plan, flexi plan... Itinerary of the day will be visiting Lourve Museum... then... ar... plan later.

Cafe everywhere...
we just picked one to try the local breakfast

Baguette with cheese and ham
simple yet delicious
the bread was not as hard as I think... cheese and ham were fresh
of course, we ordered coffee too... very aromatic, unfortunately, I'm allergy to caffeine

A group of bicycle tour passed by when we were having our breakfast

Phone booth in Paris
reminded me of a friend, I received his called when he was traveling to Paris with his family. But we didn't get in touch with each other for a very long time, wonder how is he doing now, hope that this friend of Garfield is doing well.

While we were walking to Metro station, we saw this...
Flipping through our directory, oh... this is July Column
but what is it for? Donno...
if you are interested to know more, can click on the link above

This station is very unique... easy to guess where were we right?

This station is exceptional darker... create a misterious yet classical and artistic feel

The Lourve Museum

Chill out!

Yea, we decided to go in
Trying to be "atas" abit, long time didn't go to any museum, some more this is world class art museum... although might not (definitely not) understand or really know how to appreciate.
I'm so not a Libra

Will I get sue for doing this?

Ah... I saw this before... but don't know who is the artist and name of this art

Never saw this before... but love this at first sight
feel touch... in a way

Even the ceiling, it is piece of art too

Art corridor
Getting nearer... nearer...

Erm....
A little disappointed by the size
Some friends who have been there before were surprise when I showed them this picture, they said previously, photo taking was prohibited.

This is the painting opposite Mona Lisa, I'm sure it's a very famous painting too, something related to Jesus and dinner...
and I like this better

Another painting that I like... who can tell me who painted this and what's the meaning? I really want to know

I become so small with all the "heads"

Qiaoyi likes this scrulpture

We spent the whole morning there...
I think it will be more interesting if you can find somebody who love art and know some history about the arts.
I was just loitering around... like a "blind headed fly"... hehehe

What's next? Lunch la!

headache, headache... after a few "in-communicative" experiences with waiter, we decided to try something easier... FAST FOOD!

Various coffees served in McD

Tried this special burger - CBO
C-Chicken, B-Bacon, O-Onions

A huge burger... yummy

Fueled up after lunch... we were somewhere near Lafayette
aiyo... how can we miss this shopping paradise?

You know what? Travel to Europe in Summer isn't a bad choice... most of the shop were doing great sales!

I didn't plan to buy Longchamp actually, but... they were doing up to 50% of sales...
so tempting...

At the end? I bought one and Qiaoyi bought 2! hehehe
Believe me, 50% off... plus the VAT (value added tax) claim...
please do the calculation on your own.

The only moment that we have totally forgotten about the tireness of our legs

There are a lot of designer brands in Lafayette, LV, Gucci... you name it, they have it
Before going to this trip, I was thinking, should I get myself a LV? Will it be too extravegant? Anyway, I still go through LV website, shortlisted a few item that I like, but I still couldn't decided, shall or shall not get it.

When I was in Lafayette, we did went in to the LV shop, crowded with a lot of people, especially Asian... I couldn't explain the feeling when I stepped in, it's kind of nervous, erm no, scary, nope... erm... the feeling was very complicated. Finally, courage came out of noway, I asked a lady to show me the items which I have taken down the code in my note.
She explained in a polite manner, actually we should go to look for someone who has a red scarf on their shoulder, and that person will assign a sales person to serve us. We are Chinese, quite obvious from our appearance, so, the lady with red scarf assigned a Chinese to serve us too. However, the 2 modals that I have shortlisted was out of stock, she is kind enough to help us to check through their inventory system and said the modals are still available in their flagship and she even showed us the way to get there (somewhere at Champs-Elysees).

Flagship... omg... hearing so many story about "you gotta queue up early in the morning", "they limit the number of people get in", "sales person there were not patient, you better do some research before you get in"...
Well, just try our luck! We were planning to go to Champs-Elysees too anyway.

Surprising... when we got there, we didn't see any queue.
Doors are wide open, I still got to take a deep breath before going in... it's difficult to explain how I feel at that moment.
(ok, all I have to say, I don't used to buy or even use designer brand stuff)

aha, this time we have experience, we first looked for the person with red scarf... then she assigned a Chinese sales lady to serve us. The sales lady is very very pretty and she speaks English very well. (phew... finally...)
She was trying her very best to find the modals that I'm looking. But I think there's some problem with their inventory system, she couldn't find them.

You know, when come to that stage, you are not going to leave the store empty handed. So, I asked her to show me the purse that is very popular, because I saw a lot of people are using that, but I didn't know what's that modal, I described to her and yeah, finally, she got it to show me. Holding it on hand, my undecisive character came again... should I get it?

At the end, I bought it...
The sales lady is very helpful, she wrapped the purse nicely in box, like a present... at least made me feel better, I can tell myself, it's a present for my birthday this year! (although my birthday still has months to go)
While she walked me down to get my "present", she showed us how to do the VAT claim.
I was curious how could she speak English so well, so she explained a little bit about her background, she studied in UK before, then she is planning to further her studies in China, planning to take marketing... wow... this girl is so lovely... if I were a guy, will definitely fall to her already.

When we walked out, then we saw a lot of people crowded at the Cinema opposite... because Jonny Depp was there to promote his new movie - Public Enermy...
I love Jonny Depp too, but really, it was too crowded, can't squeeze myself in the crowd.

All the way down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, there stand the Arc de Triomphe in the middle of Charles de Gaulle - the famous "roundabout" in the world... haha
Charles de Gaulle is the meeting point (wikipedia used this phrase) of 12 straight avenues. Ken's father teased me, he said if I can go across all the avenues, I will be able to meet my prince charming... hahaha, of course I didn't do that... it's too dangerous
I will say, anybody who can drive skillfully in this roundabout, he/ she will have no problem to drive around the world. hehe

One of the avenues

Open Tour bus
25 Euro a trip...

Exhausted... exhausted...
I brought wrong pair of shoes to the trip... and that shoes give me a lot of pain
Moral of the story: never never bring new shoes to travel

Dinner, we had it at China Town @ Belleville.
When we reached there, some of the restaurant already closed, then instead of called it Chinatown, I think Vietnamtown suit better - a lot of Vietnamese restaurant there.

We picked one, the restaurant served both Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine.

Me and my char siew and roasted duck rice
Trying hard to squeeze a glimmer of smile on my tired face :)

Time to get good rest...
Must fully charging myself to enjoy the last day in Paris

Europe Trip - Paris Day 1

Back to my Europe trip dairy...

This day, we will be taking 9.00 am Eurostar to Paris from London - St. Pancras station. So, we couldn't enjoy the English breakfast in hotel. When we were in the station, Qiaoyi went to the E-ticket counter to print our pre-booked tickets, then we found this shop for breakfast - Crepe Affairs.

The girl making our crepes

I think they never expected that their crepe can be selling this fast... we altogether ordered 7 but they had enough material for only 6, then we weren't informed, I kept waiting for my crepe then we heard the annoucement that we need to check in. So, I told her just dump whatever they had, then I brought up to the train to eat.

Yeah, boarding d...

Enjoying my crepe... very delicious...

After breakfast... what can I do? Sleep lo... the train is very smooth and fast, when I'm sitting in, I can't feel it was moving until the train enter the tunnel, because I can feel my ears block.

How amazing, in just 2 hours, we already in PARIS!!!

Queing up for Paris Visite ticket - ticket valid for bus, coach, metro and etc.
Ticket that we bought was 3-day pass for Zones 1-3.
The tickets are very tiny... careless people like me, I got to use and keep it with extra care.

Then we took metro to our pre-booked hotel - Grand Hotel Amelot, crossing our fingers that this hotel will have a life (we were carrying our luggage up and down 4 floors in London).

The metro was very very pack... and the underground in Paris is even complicated than London. When we took the interchange at Republique, the rest had boarded to the train except me. haha... the problem is, I don't know which station to get down and which train to take? hhaah
Thanks to cellphone, in a minute, Qiao Yi called, directed me to get down at St. Sebastien Froissart station.

If you ask me whether I was scared at the moment, not at all... hehe

Grand Hotel Amelot is just a street away from the station, location wise is very strategic. Furthermore, along the street, there are bistro, restaurants, convenient shop... I like that place...

We were told (actually don't know told by who), language is a barrier travelling in France. When we arrived, I think that's true.

1st incident: In the hotel
We communicated with the PIC with English... I think he can understand, just that we replied us with Franch, either he doensn't want or doens't know how to speak English. Check in was easy, but we had problem to fix the air-con in our room.

It was funny, we were told the room that we stayed was air-conditioned, but we couldn't find where was the remote. Then, I found a stand-alone machine in the cupboard, I never seen this before but we believed it's an air-con. When turned it on, yes, got cool air coming out, but at the same time, hot air released at the back of the machine too, so, it's actually getting warmer in the room rather than getting cooler. Then we asked the house-keeping lady... thanks god, she knows how to speak English. She told us, we got to connect the "hot air releasing hole" to the wall, but due to the hotel has just undergone renovation, the hole on the wall was block.

Then we asked the reception guy for a room exchange. But he insisted to fix the wall. He was trying very hard, believe me, real hard, then suddenly, he came to us and shouted a few lines... as if we know Franch... we think, he either scolding us for finding out the problem, or scolding the contrator who has sealed the hole. To make us feel better, I take the later.

The air-con is real classic, not only has to connect with tube to the wall, there's water collector in the machine too, when the water is full, the machine will stop, then we got to drain the water in order to make the machine work again... normally, I got to wake up in the middle of the night to drain the water. What an experience!

Time for lunch...
(at 3pm something Paris time)

Incident 2: in the restaurant

Restaurant which still served lunch in late afternoon.
We asked few restaurant, some didn't have English menu, some waiters/ waitresses don't know how to explain in English and finally, we found this, and the waitresses claimed that she speaks little bit of English.

We were being cheated la... when we entered, the menu all in Franch, then she has no idea how to introduce the food for us too.
No choice, has to base on our luck d. We ordered a salad, a duck and fish dish as main course for sharing. It's not easy, we got to repeat and repeat mention "DUCK... DUCK... DUCK", "FISH... FISH... FISH"

The duck dish
Luckily, everything turned out to be very nice....

The fish dish

The salad

After lunch, we shoped for drinking water
wow, the vegetable in the convinient shop are all so fresh and huge.
5 tomotoes = size of my face

Statue of Liberty?!
I didn't know there's one in Paris too... although I knew the one in US is a present from France
But I think this statue is a little bit shorter and "fatter" then the one in US right?
Just merely what I think, because I never seen the one in US.

The purpose of the trip!!

I called them best of the best... or else they won't be asked to protect the Eiffel Tower right? hehe

You just can't not falling in love with it...

Police officers in shorts
Weather was too hot...

Right under Eiffel Tower

After lots of shooting... shooting photo of Eiffel Tower, it's time for dinner...
well, sky still very blue... because it's summer time, day was longer

Crossing River Seine by walking across Pont de Lena (the bridge)
Those are restaurant cruises

The reach the Palais de Chaillot (Trocadero)
no idea what's that, but it's a good place to see Eiffel Tower

Walked few streets down, we came to this Chinese restaurant
Ya, we were here for dinner
The owner is a Paris-born Chinese, but he never forget about his root, he said his father was from China, migrated to Paris and open this restaurant. Although he grow up and study in France, but he speak very fluent Chinese, because they speak Mandarin in the family.
Food vice... erm, so so only, not as authentic as the Mandarin that they speak

Golden statues @ Palais de Chaillot & Eiffel Tower

Program of the night - watching Eiffel Tower light on
We found a nice place, sitting on the grass, waiting patiently for the moment
The only thing that we can do was - posed and took photos with beautiful Eiffel

Around 10pm...

Eiffel shined like a diamond
If the sky was darker, the effect will be more significant and beautiful
Yet, we already felt touched seeing that moment
oh God, where's my lover? please let him come out from the jungle

Gradually, it turned gold

Wailoong said Eiffel Tower will shine like a diamond again... however, we didn't know when. Instead of waiting, Qiaoyi and I took a ride on the Mary-Go-Round there. Another kind of romantic, seeing Eiffel Tower and riding on a Mary-Go-Round with good friend :)

I love this photo of Mary-Go-Round, especially the colour
This is one of my favourite photos in this trip!
What do you think?

It's a long day, everybody were tired, sky was getting darker.
Qiaoyi and Ken's parents were urging us back, because it's not very secure in Paris at night, a lot of pick pocket.
But, Eiffel Tower has not shine again yet...

We got to pass by the base of Eiffel Tower to the nearest Metro station. Then the guys said they need to use the washroom.
When we girls were waiting...

Suddenly...

Both me and Qiaoyi shouted out loud!
Eiffel Tower shined again!
So gorgeous, so amazing, felt so touched again and again!

The moment has worth everything... everything...

Sanbanto

Got to stop blogging my Europe trip and slot this post in first.

This is a new restaurant, not solely a restaurant... but shop selling fresh pork too... opps, sorry for those muslim reading this... it's non-halal.

Been eating a lot of pork lately... ate 3 all-pork meals in 3 weeks... crazy or not? As if I'm a big fans to pork... but it's actually nothing wrong for saying so.

1st two times were birthday celebrations to my friends, @ El Cerdo and Sanbanto, then the 3rd time was bringing my colleague for a casual dinner after work @ Sanbanto.

Will blog about El Cerdo later. But I certainly would like to introduce to you this unique pork selling and eating shop - SANBANTO.

What will you relate when seeing this name - SANBANTO? I thought it's a Japanese name, but I was wrong.

It is a family business, according to the owner, to be specific the youngest son who is helping up in the shop, Sanbanto is a name of a place in Johor, somewhere in between Mersing and Kluang and they have their own ISO22000 certified pig farm there. That's the origin of the name. Oh... ic

The shop is located in SS2, same row as KTZ, the desserts house. The shop isn't very big, but 麻雀虽小五脏俱全, sales counter, kitchen, cold storage has already occupied half of the shop, so, space in the dining area is limited. I was lucky, 1st time when I was there, they still be able to spare a small table for 2 at a corner. Then 2nd time, I wouldn't want to take the risk, they are kind enough to let me book a table for 6 and allowed me to book some of their fast selling signatured dishes.

Pork Belly Salad...
doesn't has ** next to the name in the menu, but I find it taste really good, best salad of all

Sanbanto Bread Crumbed Pork ear salad
I think not everybody can accepted this, pork ear is deep fried, I only tried one piece
All salads are served with a small bowl of yellowish sauce, I think this sauce is a mixture of honey with "something"... but I don't know what is/ are the "something"

Pork Bolognese
The pasta is homemade... I tried this in my 1st visit, I think the dish is nice and fun! Because they put pork lard together with the minced meat, what a Spanish & Chinese fusion!

Pork Sphagetti
Actually same style of cooking as pork bolognese, but in my second visit, they said all homemade pasta has sold out, so, they suggested sphagetti, in fact, I like sphagetti more than bolognese, just a personal favourism to sphagetti.

Actually there was another pasta that was recommended by them, it is Cordon Bleu Pasta... but too busy eating... forgot to take picture. The meat roll has cheese wrapping inside, it was very very tasty too...

I like this the most... Sanbanto Bacon N Cheese Burger
The burger is so juicy and tasty... must try must try... highly recommended

BBQ Ribs
my friend said this remind her of Tony Roma's... I don't eat beef, so, I can't comment how true is that, but the pork is really very tender and even the fat layer on top of the meat can melt in mouth too... amazing...
Another friend commented that the sauce is a little bit too sweet, ya... maybe the chef has to do something to it.

Dessert time...
Hot Chocolate Brownie... oooo, the chocolate so rich... I presume, they are using good chocolate, because it has a taste of bitterness, very fine, very pampering.
The guy said it is best in town... well, no comment, you got to try it out first.

"if you wouldn't mind, you can also try another dessert, named Pistachio Pannacotta..." the guy continue selling his dessert to us.
Well, erm, it's an Italian dessert, the dessert tasted like creme brulee without the caramel topping... I can said, I'm still pretty conservative in dessert, I don't really know how to appreciate that, although the presentation is very attractive.

I had a litte chatting with the guy, I asked what make them think of doing this business? He said, they are trying to educate the consumer, what's the real organic pork, because there are too many people out there claimed that they sell organic pork but in fact they are not.

They has a tagline too "From Our Farm to Your Table". The pork products are claimed to be Beta Agonist Free; No Drug Residue and hygienically produced and prepared and they have the Moody Certification too. Well... I know nothing about that, I only know food is nice, price is reasonable... Go try it yourself!

Sanbanto
32, SS2/63,
Petaling Jaya,
47300 Selangor

Tel: +603 78761728

Business Hour
Fresh Pork: 7.00am - 8.00pm
Food: 11.30am - 3.00pm, 6.00pm - 10.00pm

Europe Trip - London Day 2

Maybe we had been getting enough of sleep for the past few days, on our 2nd day in London, Qiaoyi's mom woke up very early... (FYI, I'm sharing room with Qiaoyi's mom & brother). When she woke up, I woke up too. Initially I thought it's already maybe about 7am or so, but checked out my watch, it's only 5 something in the morning... and looked, I even can took a picture of this through the window of our room.

Beautiful sunrise between London Eye & Big Ben

The canteen in the hotel is homely type. The worker will ask for your choice, then they will prepare it in the kitchen rightaway.

Breakfast was included also... it's a traditional English breakfast - sausage, baked bean, ham and egg with orange juice and coffee or tea

Wailoong, me and Qiaoyi's mom @ Stanley House Hotel entrance

Queue up to buy tube ticket
If purchase ticket after peak hour, the ticket will be cheaper. Since we will not be spending many days in London, we decided to get the daily ticket - £5.60, unlimited ride

We actually had planned to visit s few places, but we were flexible too. 1st station, we planned to walk to Buckingham palace to watch the Changing the Guard.

Then on the way, we passed by this, a shop selling souvenir related to the royal family

The batch on the gate

One of the statues on the corner of the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace

Posing @ Buckingham Palace
They said when the Union Flag flies from the Palace means the Queen is not in residence

Statue of Queen Victoria

This is either the Angel of Justice/ Truth

This road is called The Mall

A cute little girl posing for her father

The carriage

Waiting for the Changing the Guard

At Buckingham Palace, Changing the Guard takes place at 11.30 am. It is held daily from May to July, and on alternate dates throughout the rest of the year.

Changing the Guard was lead by the band

It took about an hour for the event. And there are a lot of ppl, tourists waiting for the moment. We saw it half way and decided to leave earlier to avoid the jam.

When we went off, we saw these horse guard with silver hat and black horse

We then decided to go to Hard Rock to get the T-shirt. I have collected a few, e.g. Hongkong, Sydney, Bali; so I wanted to collect the London, Paris and Amsterdam too

On the way, we passed by Wellington Arch and a park
(I have no idea what's the name of this park)

Qiaoyi's mom & me @ Wellington Arch

Crosses in the park

Resting & fruit eating @ the park

Pigeons @ the park

It was about 12 something, so, we decided to have our lunch @ Hard Rock

Lunch @ Hard Rock Cafe

Qiaoyi's family & I

The merchant shop is next door...

Coming out from the England telephone booth (aka Superman's changing room) with my Hard Rock paper bag. hehe

Then we walked to the nearest tube station to visit the new stadium, on the way, we saw this

Yeah! our home brand... LIMKOKWING University

It's summer time, the local people enjoying the sun @ Green Park

Waiting for the tube

The new Emirates Stadium

The nearest station to Emirates Stadium - Arsenal

Half way walking, Qiaoyi's mom shoes have spoil, so, we went shopping!
That day was very hot, I mean the weather, shopping was a good idea to stay away from the sun.
But I have forgotten where was the place we went shopping d, if not mistaken, I think is Oxford Street.

After shopping, we were exhausted... but the day was still young, too early for dinner and we didn't want to go back to hotel yet, because once rest, you would not want to come out again. So, we continued our journey...

Next, we went to see the Big Ben & London Eye.

Frankly speaking, Big Ben had chased away my sleepiness and tireness.
When I walked out from the station, omg, I looked up and saw this huge and tall Big Ben standing in front of me... it was very soul-stiring and amazing, I don't know how to describe this feeling, but I felt so touched.

Kenleong shot me taking this picture

Big Ben standing tall near the exit of the subway

Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminter Bridge, River Thames and me

Under the Westminter Bridge
Big Ben as the background

Walking across the bridge, there are The London Aquarium and London Eye

A long-leg elephant statue in between The London Aquarium and London Eye

A gondola of London Eye

A Dali sculpture near London Eye
The human body sculpture separated into 2 with an egg in between...
Do you have any idea what's the meaning behind?

A street performer imitating Charlie Chaplin

@ The Golden Jubilee Bridge to take picture with London Eye & Big Ben

My body "battery" left about 20% after visiting to Big Ben & London Eye, but before we go to China Town again for dinner... how could we miss out Tower Bridge? Initially, we were thinking, shall we just skip Tower Bridge, anyhow, we will be back to London again after the tour to Paris and Amsterdam.
End up, we still managed to drag ourselves there... no regret tho, Tower Bridge is another amazing building in London.

The tiny yellow flower on the way to Tower Bridge... beautiful right?
I looked enjoy in the picture but the flower was really smelly...

LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN
FALLING DOWN, FALLING DOWN
LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN
MY FAIR LADY...
I know, this is not the London Bridge, but since young, when we sing this song, the image of Tower Bridge will appear in our mind.
Unfortunately, we didn't manage to see the bridge open up from the middle... no big boat passing by.
This is the last picture of the day, because both of my camera and Kenleong's camera batteries had died off...
Visited to so many places and took so many photos... must be la...

This photo was taken a day before, my friend said the roasted duck is famous in town. So, after the long day, we didn't want to explore anymore... we just took the recommendation and walked into this restaurant...
Ya, my friends are right... the food is really delicious

I felt a little excited going to bed, because the next day we will be in Paris d!! Yeah!!

p/s: some of the photos were taken from Kenleong's camera, same to the previous 2 blog entries and coming up blog entries about my Europe trip.

Europe Trip - London Day 1

After a good night rest... we woke up earlier to catch the Megabus to London. Besides, we got to leave some of our luggage with the concierge too, because we will be back to the same hotel in Glasgow after London, Paris and Amsterdam.

The breakfast was included, it was pretty simple but we enjoyed it. There are cheese, butter, croissant, bread, all sort of coffee, hot chocolate, milk, tea and cereal free flow. Had little surprise in the morning. Wailoong joined us for breakfast together with Chihmun, he just dropped by, said hi to everybody before he went to work. I thought I can only see him after traveling to those cities.

FYI, Megabus takes about 9 hours from Glasgow to London (8.30am - 5.30pm). Meaning which, we will be spending almost a day in the bus. So, Chihmun suggested us to take some bread from the hotel to eat in the bus, although the bus will stop few times in different stations, but it won't be stopping for long, probably just enough for you to buy some snacks or a toilet break.

On the way, we saw a lot of farms, which they use to keep sheeps, horses or cows; mountains too of course...
1st hour in bus, we think that's interesting, because if you have by chance took the long distance buses in Malaysia, we can saw only palm plantation, or rubber plantation.

But in 2nd hour, 3rd hour, 4th hour... zzzzzzz

The driver was driving carefully, not too fast, very stable, it's absolutely different compare to our country. Then they changed driver half way, which I think this is very responsible. If you really want me to complain something, I think the seats are a little bit small (it's just ok for me but I wonder, how those big size "ang mo" sit comfortably in the bus?).

Scenery on both sides of the highway

1st stop at Preston
I think this is the town area, buildings are very old but unique

If there's a reality show title "If you think you can sleep", then I think I will be the champaign. No la, I think everybody also can sleep. Because really has nothing to do in the bus unless sleeping, day dreaming, reading and thinking.

Reached London after about 9 hours in the bus

We reached Victoria Station at about 5pm something and our hotel was a road or 2 from the station, Qiaoyi had done a very good job in booking of this Hotel - Stanley House which the location of the hotel is absolutely very strategic, near to the tube station, bus station and etc.

When we were there, Diong already waited for us in the lobby! Yeah! He is a very good friend of us in high school and not only him, me too, looking forward to seeing him. Of course I did notify him before I go and we had already fixed that day to meet for dinner.

I asked Diong to invite Karchin too, Karchin is another high school friend of us working in London. When we were about to depart for dinner, Karchin greeted us at the entrance. Wow, how amazing... we never see each other for about 2 - 3 years and now we were seeing each other in a foreign land. The even amazing part is, these two friends, both were working in London for so many years, never see each other. I couldn't believe that.
So, that night was a little gathering for us - Qiaoyi, Kenleong (Qiaoyi's husband), Diong, Karchin and me.

@ Victoria Train Station
Our first group photo in London (in fact, in the trip too!)
Diong was helping us to take the photo.

Diong brought us to China Town for dinner, how to reach there? By tube la... tube in London is very convenient, it's connecting everywhere.

But the crowd scared me....

1st time taking the tube... looking at the map, it's very complicated... but no worries, we have good tour guides - Wailoong, Diong and Karchin

Street performer @ the tube station

The long elevator
There are few levels of tube rail underground, I have no idea how those genius engineers built that.

2nd group photo of us
@ China Town, London

The menu of the Chinese restaurant where we dined in

Below were the dishes that we ordered

Duck! one of my favourite

They fried the meat and teared into pieces, then wrap in the dumpling skin with special sauce
Yummy

Hongkong Gaile

Forgot the name of this dish, not very nice...

Steamed fish

Toufu

Eggplant with minced pork

This fruit platter was complimentary, the presentation can only impress those guai lou... hahaha, (dry ice in water)
According to my dear friends working in London, they said watermelon and some tropical fruits in London are very expensive, so, no matter how full we were, we got to finish that... hahaa

Diong and Karchin spent us that dinner... I asked them why? They said because we came all the way to London, that's why we have to be their guests. Then I laughed...
When Diong was back to KL, we all wanted him to pay for the bill, reason being he is earning pounds... this is so funny... no matter where, he always kena bullied. hahaha

The mini gathering dinner
Standing on left: Kenleong, Diong and Wailoong
Sitting from left: Karchin, Qiaoyi & Wailoong's mother, me, Kenleong's parents and next to Kenleong's mother is Qiaoyi

After dinner, we walked around...

Les Miserable
One of the famous play in London... unfortunately, out schedule all packed up, I didn't get to watch any

SOHO - red light district

Diong said the show is funny... I hope I can go back to London again to watch the play

The black cab

Street artist

Ripley's Believe It or Not ticket counter

Karchin & I @ Ripley's Believe It or Not
The other 2 "people" are fake one, but the texture of their skin are so close to a real human

begger? or he just felt asleep on the street?

Paddington bear... should have gotten it when I saw it...
I didn't bought any Paddington Bear throughout my trip in London... :(

The famous video display and neon signs mounted on the corner building, a landmark @ Piccadilly Circus
My friend said, McDonald and Coca-Cola advertisements are always up there

High school buddies...
from left: Kenleong, Qiaoyi, Karchin, me and Diong

Statue of an archer known as Eros standing tall in the middle of Shaftesbury memorial fountain

The fountain @ Trafalgar Square
From Piccadilly Circus, we walked aross some streets, and we came to Trafalgar Square, Diong and Karchin told us that, in day, Trafalgar has a lot of pigeon, so, they called it pigeon square too.

Then we took the bus back to our hotel.
Before we separated, I insisted to take this photo... dear friends, I'll always miss you... and thanks for everything you guys had arranged for us.