Christmas Vacation 2007: Italy

Italy: Europe's Capital of Culture

Rome, Vatican City, Florence, Naples and Capri Island - All of them have a distinct character of her own. It was like visiting a different country when you travel from Rome to Florence to Naples and to Capri Island. Interesting isn't it?

Rome is where the grandeur of ancient architectures coexist with the bustle of a modern capital city.

Florence is the cultured, scenic and upmarket looking city.

Naples is the dodgy, overcrowded and cheaper place.

Capri Island is the beautiful little pearl of Italy.


After spending the night at London Stansted Airport without much sleep, we flew into Rome.

The airplane view of the Alps when flying from London to Rome was truly breathtaking.

The moment we saw the Colloseum and St. Peter's Square of the Vatican standing tall among the low rise buildings in Rome from the plane, we knew we have arrived in Rome.


The traffic in Italy was crazy!

Vehicles sped on highways, switching lanes without signals (3 to 4 lanes-one-way highways), people honk a lot and drivers have tendency of road rage - all quite similar to driving in Malaysia. :p

We had our first disaster of the trip that evening - the hotel management was extremely strict about the number of occupants in their twin bed room. Choon Seong warned me about it but we wanted to give it a try but failed.

All of us panicked! Gotta find a place to stay for the night!

Otherwise have to sleep with the homeless people in the central bus station d.

Called up many hostels, some full, some too expensive but we finally found one!

So the seven of us had to split for the night, 4 stayed in the hotel while the other 3 of us had to sleep in the hostel.


We walked a bit in the city centre, checked out the public transports and familiarised ourselves with the streets and buses in Rome.

Then, we saw thousands of birds dancing in the sky that evening to give us a grand welcome. lol.

Christmas in London

Yes, i'm back from my Christmas vacation!

I returned from Italy via London Stansted Airport and spent my Christmas in London til yesterday.

Spent Christmas sleeping in a hostel with a vast and eerie burial ground just behind it - it was one of the cheapest accommodation in London so what more can you expect.

The public toilet was clean and there were many Malaysian students staying there as well.

Hostels are fun in a way coz u get to meet other backpackers from all over the world.

Not surprising, the other Malaysians hid in their rooms or mingle among themselves in one dark corner that the hostel operators asked why most Malaysians they met are anti-social.

I only saw Big Ben, Tower Bridge and London Eye from the bus when travelling from the airport to Central London.

London was dead on 25th December, no london bus, no tube, everything was closed, minimal traffic and it was raining!

Perfect time to sleep and recover from the Italy trip.


With the Swiss Re tower behind.

This was the worst Christmas ever.

Had maggie mee in cup for dinner coz all the shops were closed.

If in Malaysia i would be in my church's massive christmas service, have christmas lunch with my family and enjoy the annual church christmas dinner at some 5 star hotel.

26th. London became alive again, swarmed by kiasu Asian shoppers.

The Boxing Day Sale!


NEXT's Sales starts on 27th and Debenhams on 28th but other retails were already on Sale.

Oxford Street, the major shopping district was crazy!

Thousands of people were there!


Plenty of Asians and Malaysians too - can tell from the way they speak and look (really! Malaysian Malays are easy to identify and you can roughly tell one's Malaysian Chinese too coz we don't look like the average Chinese from China or other Chinese from elsewhere except Singapore.)

People with their Selfridges bags, Zara, CK, United Colours of Benetton, FCUK, Topshop, H&M etc.

There are so many Zara's and H&Ms there but all were packed and long queues everywhere.

Prada and LV were dominated by kiasu Asians.

All that gave me headache la, i have never seen so many shoppers. It wasn't easy to shop!

Shops ran out of sizes and the queues to fitting room and cashiers were frustrating.

Only bought a shirt, wanted an overcoat from H&M but couldn't find the size. blah.

Of the many thousand people i bumped into Yen Chong at Zara! Amazing!


The prize of the day wasn't about shopping but food!

Had proper meals in Chinatown a couple of times.

Feels very much at home in Chinatown where 90% of the crowd are Asians.


5.80 pounds but totally worth it. I miss Malaysian food so much!

In Leicester Square near Chinatown.

Later we found out Covent Garden wasn't as crowded as Oxford Street and could be a good place to start but by the time we got there all the sizes were gone.

Well, no sightseeings in this London trip but we managed to enjoy the good food in Chinatown and experience the super efficient London tube which make our LRT system look like rubbish in terms of connectivity, convenience and interchanges.

RIP Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan. It was a sad day not only for Pakistan but the world. I have been following news of her return to Pakistan and her assasination came as a great shock to me. Say no to extremism!

NEXT UP: THE ITALY TRIP

Christmas Vacation

I will be back after Christmas!

I pray that we will have a splendid time in Italy and London.

God willing, we will cover Pisa, Florence and Naples as well.





Come back after Christmas k?!

Before i go for my holidays, let me share these videos with you guys. It's from the U.K X-Factor. If you think American Idol is brilliant, this is a zillion times better! You'll never see Simon Cowell giving so many standing ovations and positive comments. Here : Rhydian, X-Factor runner-up from Wales!

You Raise Me Up!



O Holy Night



Merry Christmas!

I'm gonna miss everyone!

Don't forget my blog k! lol

Btw, there's another updated entry just minutes before this below.

Bye!

Merry Christmas in advance

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the semester came to an end.

Students start to leave and Aber slowly turns into a ghost town.

Some are leaving for good - exchange students from EU countries.

I don't even have a chance to say bye to the Belgian and Polish exchange students i met early in the term. Sigh!

Thank you for the Christmas gifts - Sally's Ferrero and Gemma's big box of chocs for the flat!

- Cazz's tube of choc, the beautiful tie from Lentty, the adorable scarf from Mel and another cool looking tie from my secret santa, Aric. lol.


And a big thank you for the many cards i receive!

I have never received so many Christmas cards in my life.

I love all you Aber peeps! *HUGS!

Our last outing in Aber before the term ends was celebrated in style.

The party and music at 'Why Not?' was superb! Vodka shots for only 60p and there were bubbles (as snowflakes) everywhere at the dance floor and the Christmas song 'Merry Christmas Everyone' playing.

We didn't take many photos coz we were all too busy having fun and many were missing from this two photos.

Happy holidays guys!

Have lotsa fun in Paris, London and wherever you will be going for holidays!

To those spending Christmas with their families, enjoy and treasure the moments you have with your family!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in advance, readers!

For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:6-7

This is the true meaning of Christmas!

Another Christmas Dinner

Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! Come shout with me!

It's over!

I have reached 9,999 words for my dissertation and sent it to my supervisor to check. I hope everything's fine and i don't have to make any ammendments! lol.

I had my life back at last.

Final week of the semester! Most of us won't be seeing one another for a month or so.

To those who're heading home: have a good Christmas back home!

Those going back to Malaysia: Go and have your daily dose of Malaysian food and make sure you bring back packets of A1, Seri Aji, Maggie and all that!

To those going off for holidays: Happy holidays! Enjoy yourselves before the exam! lol. Charge your camera battery cukup-cukup then snap many photos for us to see.

To those staying in Aber: Study hard but don't sink into depression! hehehe.

Before our break starts, the newly-revived Aberystwyth University Malaysian Students Society had our first social gathering: The Christmas dinner at Tides.

Less than half of the Malaysians turned up but we still had a very good time.

The mini 3 course Christmas dinner.

My pork chop, not really nice. I ordered turkey but there was some confusion and they ran out of turkey so i settled for pork chop. Anyway, i already had turkey at the other Christmas ball.

The Christmas pudding with brandy. hmmm...weird taste.

I guess i don't know how to enjoy it la.

Elycia, Pui Yin, me and Hon Wai - since July 2005! hehehe.


Four of us and Tiong Sieng who forms the Zhu (pig) 'family' with the other three.

'Yammmmmmmm sennggggggggggg' instead of cheers!

The group photo.

All looking good.


The group photo where the waiter cum photographer kept saying 'say sexxxx' instead of 'cheese' repeatedly while taking our group photos thanks to cyndi's suggestion. lol. It sounded so obscene that everybody started laughing.

Brrrrr. I remember the wind was strong and cold that night and i was just wearing the long sleeves. Never learnt my lesson. lol. The girls who wore skirt more kesian.

After dinner, we went to The Bay for the after party.



We all had so much fun that night!

WOOHOOO!!

St. Mikes Christmas Ball 2007 Part 2

Alright, last batch of pics from the Christmas Ball starting from the after party.

The first semester is coming to an end and i must declare that i have had a superb three months in the U.K now but still hungry for more. Hehehe.

Carrie trying to kill the 'monyet'.

Tony, hardcore fan of 'The Rock' and the supertall, Rob.

That's Jezz doing some funny move.


Tom.

How come take photo with the waiter?

He's no waiter, lol. That's Sian :)

Lorna. Gosh, they are all so tall.


and finally, James.

Most of them are my CU friends attending St. Michael's Church.

R.I.P

Readers, please drive carefully.

Life is fragile.

He's my schoolmate.

Not a close friend but i was terribly shocked when i received the news.

R.I.P, Justin.

May God bless his soul and deepest condolences to his family & friends.

St. Mikes Christmas Ball 2007 Part 1

wow, finally i found time to blog this!

dissertation currently at 6,000 words and counting!

gotta finish it soon!

So yea, it's my church's Christmas Ball 2007 on Monday night at Marine Hotel, Aberystwyth, Wales!

Rather early but the term's coming to an end and everyone's going home.

My tie and shirt was a disaster! Both full of stripes!

No choice though. I only brought two shirts and both with stripes.

And i only have one tie, that one i bought from Birmingham. Bleh. Don't care la.


Table eight!

We had a three course meal English style - soup, turkey and cheesecake!

All for 18 pounds man!

We've always had trouble dining English style, they have so many different cutleries!

In Malaysia we only use fork and spoon OR chopstick OR hand! Simple!

And here you gotta have 'proper' table manners, so complicated la all this just for a meal.





The lovely dining room.

There's a small balcony-like stage infront, like the one in sound of music? lol.


The three Malaysian guys of table eight - yeo, isaac and myself.


Malaysians minus Roddri!

He can speak some Bahasa now thanks to us, 'monyet' is his favourite.


John, our Christian Union president in his Scottish kilt.

Believe it or not, he grew up in Cameron Highlands!

His family lived in Malaysia for 7 years.


Both of them look like twins, don't they?


Becky!


Lentty a.k.a lenghty or panjang.


Robert!

Lucky winner of the international student's questionaire draw, he won a laptop for his birthday!


Sorry, i can't post all the photos here.

There are more photos of the after party in Part 2.

I'll upload the rest on facebook.

Nottingham Malaysian Games

This is the largest annual meet for Malaysian students in the United Kingdom.

Bus loads of Malaysian students come from all over the UK to Nottingham for this meet.

Some rich Malaysian brats came in cars.

We left in our chartered bus from mid Wales at 3am and arrived in University of Nottingham at 7-8am? Something like that la. I barely had more than an hour's sleep throughout the journey.



So here it is, the poorly organised Nottingham Malaysian Games.

Basketball, netball, badminton and table tennis are the only exciting events of the day.

I don't know where in the University is the football match played.

My university sent teams for netball and basketball.

Netball started off well to beat London School of Economics (LSE) but fell to Manchester Metropolitan in the second match.

The Manchester Metropolitan team was highly organised in their play.

We only lost to a better team. The Aber girls played very well.

They didn't train much and yet the win over LSE was impressive. lol




The Aber team in red vest.

It was cold up there in Nottingham!

Really really cold! I was shivering and had to put on three layers of clothing.

Everyone asked if i participated in any sports.

No i didn't. My intention of going there was to meet my friends.

I was watching the basketball game until i almost fell asleep then my phone rang.

"Why you open your leg so kangkang?!! You look like you're falling asleep watching the match!"

Woah, that woke me up!

Sookie! She was watching the basketball match from upstairs and she saw me sitting on the floor near the court!


She came from Hull and was with Jocelyn of Blex.

Then i met up with my fellow Old Frees!

Yen Chong! Haven't seen him since 5 Zamrud days! He's in LSE now.

Other Zamrudians i met up with are Eric and Choon Seong who were busy with management duties for the games.

Saw many other Old Frees as well, khai ming, gerald, joel goh, kok kuan, trishen, thn'g chang etc.

Khai Ming, my junior said i look older now compared to 5 years back! Ish!

Then there was Charmaine and many other familiar faces i've seen before in Penang. lol.

Swee Lin, i met your sister too! Amazingly, i could recognise her!

Former classmates and coursemates from HELP also!


Former HELP-ians now in Cardiff, Leeds, West of England and of course Aber.

Shiau Sang won the women singles' table tennis!

I regretted not taking enough pictures! arghh!

The university is quite nice, lotsa landscaping and vast green fields.

The University of Nottingham.

Came back from Nottingham dead tired.

I hate day trips!