Maximillian & Us

*Phew*

It has been a very very long 2 weeks. No matter, I’m back in London now. So, let me give you a brief update.

Business Trip to Madrid

I was working in Madrid for the past 2 weeks. It was a trip I was hoping not to make. However I couldn’t get out of it when I was back from holiday. I went alone and there was so much to do. I seriously have not work long hours for a very very long time. Everyday I would head back to the hotel around 8.30pm.. the latest was around 9.30pm. People in Madrid works very long hour during the winter. I was told this is to compensate for the short working hours in the summer. People stop working at 2pm in the summer!!

Anyhow I was enjoying the food and the people even though it was very busy until the very last day. My purse was stolen in a bar on my last night in Madrid. I found out when I wanted to check-out when I got back to the hotel. I had to call the senior manager to come and assist to pay for my hotel bill. Luckily he stays very near to the hotel. He was very kind and I was surprisingly very calm. After paying my bills, the hotel helped me call the police station to lodge a police report. After that, I spent another half hour calling all the banks to cancel my debit and credit cards.

So I got back to London with no cash and no credit cards. But there are kind people all around. I shared a taxi to the airport with a few colleagues so I dont have to pay for taxi, the local HR manager gave me Euro 20 for backup and Dav came to my rescue in Heathrow airport. So all well, ends well.

Hungarian Funky Nu-Jazz Band

We were invited by a Hungarian friend to see a band playing in Old Street 2 weeks ago. Her friend is a singer in the band and they are playing for the first time in London. Since we were feeling adventurous, we thought why not. The band’s name is Barabas Lorinc Eklektric. We truly enjoyed it, I even bought their first album. After the show, we were invited to an after party by some stranger who lives nearby the club. It was quite an odd experience but we didn’t stay long. We knew it was gonna take us ages to get home. So we left at about 2am and only got home after 2 hours. We would love to do this again but I think age is catching up with us.

Seng Fun’s Hens Nite

Seng Fun’s Hens Nite was the very next day after going to see the Hungarian band. So you can imagine the level of energy I have. Anyhow the plan was to get her doll up and head to Old Street (yes, almost the same location) to attend our Burlesque Class. It was great fun! All the girls ‘dressed up’ and was very sporting. Some of us are even thinking of taking of classes. After the class, we head to Soho for dinner at a Cuban restaurant. Seng Fun was very lucky none of us girls were forcing her to do funny stuff. We ended the night having girly chat till about 3.30am!

ATP World Tour Finals

After all the excitement throughout the week, it was quite sad to know that Federer didn’t make it to the Finals of the Finals! So I had to change strategy and choose a player to support. It was my first time going to the O2 main arena. It was HUGE!

I went with 4 colleagues. We were seating at level 4 and still managed to see the court quite well. The event started with Men’s Doubles Final, which lasted just under 1.5 hours. Then it was the finals. Most of us were supporting Davydenko.. he was definitely the more experienced player. Del Potro did not show much threat.

The World Tour Finals will be played in the O2 for the next 4 yours. Maybe for next year, I should consider going for the semifinals instead.

London Philharmonic Orchestra

I almost forgot I bought tickets to this event. Since we have never been to an orchestra in London, I thought it would be an experienced. The theme was ‘A Concert of Christmas Music’ and it was held in the Festival Hall. The concert was very impressive. We have always enjoy live music, what more a full orchestra. There was also a 2 groups of choir in the concert. Although we enjoy this concert, I think Dav will not come along to another one in the future.

People tend to walk in circles when they are lost.

Read on @ Wired online.

ok.. so, me gonna continue on the story of cambodia. Hmm.. not sure how i shld document it… shld it be just a summary of the experiences we had or shld it be more like a guide to all others out there who would like some pointers if they wan to go to cambodia??!!??!! *tick*tock*tick*tock

Dav says it shld be based on our experiences. Good… so here goes.

We booked our Air Asia tickets yonks ago (almost one yr ago), when they were giving out 2 millions free tickets. A friend took the opportunity and book all of us (3 ppl) onto the flight to Siem Reap. Although it’s free tickets, we still had to pay about RM 140 each for surcharges. So it wasnt really free was it? DAMN!

Anyway, nothing was done in terms of planning until the nite before we flew … usual lor… I was away until the weekend before we flew and Dav & the other friend was busy with work. Then suddenly our friend couldnt make it for the trip due to work commitment. So it’s down to 2 ppl. As david works towards the late nite (the day before our flight), I have to read the lonely planet and list out the places to see / things to do.

Before we even started on the trip I have a feeling we both may have different ‘views’ on where to stay, how to go about the places and where to eat. It’s down to the $$$ and the compromise. We came out with a ‘rough’ itinerary which looks like this:

Day 1 – arrive in siem reap (sp), walk ard town, visit local markets
Day 2 – full day tour of angkor kingdom
Day 3 – visit tonle sap lake & waterfall artisan d’angkor silk farm & workshop, more temples, chill out at a bar
Day 4 – take boat bus to phnom penh (pp) & visit local night club called Spark
Day 5 – visit royal palace, genocide museum, russian market central market, national museum
Day 6 – visit killing fields, old market russian market, genocide museum, independent monument, chilled out at bar
Day 7 – take bus back to siem reap
Day 8 – depart back to kl
(Additional places that we went to are captured in red bold fonts and those we didnt go/do is strike out)

In siem reap, we mainly move around in tuk-tuk (looks like a trishaw but pulled by a motorbike), while in pp, we mainly walked. you can imagine la.. my skin is quite tan now.. even both my legs got a tan line! (cos me wear quarter length pants).

We walked damn alot (by my standard la…). We covered almost 6km in 2 days in pp. Let me show u:

Those in red is the roads we walked. Those circled in blue are the places of interest we visited. It was a very relaxing trip cos we did wat we wanted and dont hv to follow any strict schedule… most of the days are ended with having a beer in the bar cos its very cheap to drink (average RM 1 per mug).

Ppl are generally quite nice except that we are constantly being ‘disturbed’ by beggars and tuk-tuk drivers. We have to constantly say ‘No thank you’ all the time! The worse was when we arrived at pp, a whole bunch of them was already waiting for us even before we get out of the bus. Then we were back in Siem Reap, we were sort of being cheated as well cos normally a ride back to town wld costs USD1. But they were offering 100 riel per ride. Then when we arrived, they asked to become our driver the next day to bring us ard. We were already leaving the next day.. so no chance to become our driver. Then the driver told us to pay USD 1!!! What a scam! Anyway being a tourist we know that they are just looking for money to survive. Already its such a poor country.. no point arguing or debating. Just pay.

In terms of accomodation, it quite funny how we started off stayin in quite a comfortable hotel which costs USD 25 per nite then as we travelled to pp, we decided to stay in guesthouse, which cost USD 10 per nite that is situated on top of a ‘dodgy’ bar (with no air-cond). By the time we were back in Siem Reap for one nite, we also stayed in guesthouse but this time we have chosen a place which cost only USD 8! I guess by the end of the trip we were tryin to save as must money as possible in view that the food n transportation has already costs us a bomb (everything is in USD)!

Please be patience with the photos. Will announce and post it in Flickr once its done.

one wk has come and gone! arrived in london last mon for meeting (lasted for a wk) and will be starting an audit this wk.

weather’s been great! not too hot and not too cold. surprisingly i was taken to various new places in london for dinner (part of the meeting) and even went on a wine tasting tour in the city by the river thames.

then on friday nite, i took the train up to liverpool and spent the weekend with my younger sis (jas), who’s working there now. it just occured to me we have been living apart since I went to oz for studies. That’s like 9 yrs ago! Initially I only see her once a year (when I was studying in Oz) and that suddenly it changed when she started coming home twice a year (from UK) and when I joined BAT (this is my third trip to london this yr!).

Jas is living alone in a one bedroom apartment in the city centre (literally, 10 mins walk to town centre) AND she has a car. She seldom uses it cos she walks to work. Her new apartment is very comfy and nice except that it has ALOT of things. Literally ALOT. Even her store room is full! Imagine this:

• there is no space to put my toiletries in the bathroom. Jas has conquer the bathroom with 3 types of shampoo, 2 types of body wash, various face cleanser and various toothbrushes.
• there is no space to keep her own clothes. her wardrobe is tooo small. so she has clothes kept in several boxes which is currently stored in her bedroom AND her living room.
• there is no space to keep her shoes. she has a shoe rack the height of about 2 1/2 ft in the store room which is already fully stored with her shoeS. Thus, some shoes are kept on the floor by the main door.
• half the floor of her bedroom is occupied by soft toys.

The question is, how can one person accumulate so MUCH things? AMAZING.. hahahaha

So I arrived on Friday nite, 9pm and my sis is already TIRED. she has only started work in July. For those who knows my family, can u imagine, Jas being tired on a friday nite at 9pm?!? she complains that her work is very tiring and needs alot of concentration (okla, i agree. she dispenses med to ppl, of course she has to concentrate. i wouldnt want to receive wrong prescribtion!). When she’s at home (in Msia), she normally would be out till 4am!!! What a change.. hahahah Anyway, we went to Chinatown (very quiet place) and had ‘not-so-nice’ porridge and fried udon and called it a day by watching 24 and s2 desperate housewives at home. Yes, she has the whole collection! and yes, I managed to finish watchin desperate housewives by sunday afternoon.. hahaha

Sat morning, woke up and JAS MAKES ME BREAKFAST! I even took pictures to proof it. What’s the breakfast?

• Egg
• Bacon
• Sausages
• Beans
• Potato cake
• Orange juice

Ahh… what a nice sister…. i mean come one.. this is the first time I tasted my sis own cooking! hahahaha I was amazed how determined she was at cooking. I didnt even asked her. I assume we would go out get Macca’s breakfast (which we always do when she comes to London). I will post the pic once I get my bum ard to attaching the wires from my camera to my laptop. And the best thing was I didnt even have to clean up after…. hahahaa (DOUBLE BONUS). I offered to clean up, but she claims that she likes to clean things up her way… so I hv cleaned up she wont be satisfied with my cleaning… fair enough… Its nice to be treated like a guest eventhough I’m family! hahahaha

So after a HUGE breakfast, we just laze ard the apartment until it was time to drive to manchester to meet up with her friends for lunch. her friends like herself are pharmacists. So conversation topic revolves around work, work and more work. Then after lunch we went apartment hunting by visiting show room. Her friend wanted to buy a place of her own, and of course my sis is thinking about it too… I have to say the apartment size is generally quite small for a hefty price. but apparently its normal according to my sis.

Next destination was Trafford Centre. A huge shopping complex in Manchester, the size of mid valley but with one floor only and much longer in length. only bought a sweater from MNG. then it was back to liverpool where we had take-away macca and i cooked instant noodle. Funny how i crave for instant noodle. and the nite ended with more desperate housewives DVDs…

Sunday morning.. breakfast was egg tart bought from Manchester Chinatown on Sat. Then we got ready to visit Liverpool Museum… which is ‘not very good’ compare to British Museum in London. But it was still very educational for the kids. Jas & I was quite impressed with the BUGS exhibition as they were very creative in displaying and educating the visitors. You’ll have to see it yourself to understand. Then we were off to hv lunch after which it was time to head back to London. The train ride was JAM PACKED. Luckily jas managed to reserve a seat for me, if not I’ll hv to stand for 4 1/2 hrs!

All in all, I had a great time (minus the train ride). Was good to see Jas and her new place.

When I moved back to KL from Australia, I remember bringing back a few small boxes containing Ozzie memories and experiences. Then over the years, I have added more boxes. I call them ‘Memories Boxes’.

Being the neat freak that I am, I took them out and started re-organising my stuff again. Then I realised I collected alot of things over the years:

1. Cards & letters. Majority of which was contributed by my good friends, Joyce & Eric.

2. Bookmarks

3. Lapel pins

Trying to find out how to display my lapel pins collection instead of putting them onto a peice of cloth and hang. Ideas will be welcomed.