is packing for trips. You know, in advance of the day of the trip – which is why I’m up doing laundry and considering the construction of what will surely go down in gingerbread history as the most breathtakingly daring amateur production ever.

The Gingerbread Train.

Since I have a feeling that once again this year Mom will veto the Gingerbread Insane Asylum.

Well…sorry for not writing in firstly. Was busy figuring out how unprofessional our college could get…generous is the word actually…freely giving us holidays with a very loose hand. Anyways that’s not today’s topic! This article here speaks about my train journey back home, Goa that is! and these this two insane characters I came across with on my way back.
At 4.30 pm on Sunday, was my train which left from Pune to Madgaon. I got up in the train and sat in my reserved seat. right in front of me as in the seats just opposite me, there were these two Goan uncles, and believe me, i had no idea of what these uncles had planned to do in the night! (chill… they were straight) Well they were carrying two full bottles of whiskey apparently. but that was later.
Before that we started chatting up, and he asked me straight in konkani… “Tu Goencho?” as in are you from Goa? and definitely there was a positive reply from my side. So after that, we kept on chatting and suddenly it was time that they revealed their ‘prized possession’. the Bottles!! and they started drinking.
Now this paragraph is what happened when they were busy gulping in the holy water. I had my yum dinner of Biryani in the train. well you can’t really call it YUM! but it was tasty and quite eatable. Yeah so I had that, and saw a CSF jawaan fighting with the waiter over the number of chicken pieces in the Biryani.
Yeah now…after a while…these two peple come back…buzzed in the head..and just when I think that they will eat now, they get another bottle of whiskey n gulp it in…and now they are DRUNK!
I prepared myself for the utter konkani bad words and bulls**t that was about to reach my ears. and they started jabbering. An exclusive wll be written covering only that too…because it was too much!
But god was merciful and they slept soon.and I reached Goa. But the overall experience as Russell Peters calls it, was ‘Phuntashtick’ and now back to enjoying holidays…watching films! the IFFI is here too… so people, I may not write in for a few days, but when I am back, I will get you some fab reviews on some great movies…till then…ciao!

I had a lovely trip to Bangor with my good friend GJ.
You can tell its nearly Christmas when the Innocent Smoothie hats appear

The weather sucked but that didn’t stop us from walking down the pier

I learnt some Welsh and met the locals, including Jimmi who loves kareoke and blackcurrant cordial.

A lovely little town which i’m sure i will be visiting again soon

Imi pare rau. Imi pare rau. Imi pare rau.

Wagon Christ – Sorry I Made You Lush (tracklist)

1. Saddic Gladdic – 4:52

2. I’m Singing – 5:43

3. The Funnies – 3:56

4. Shadows – 4:26

5. Quadra Y Discos – 5:41

6. UBFormby – 3:36

7. Sci-Fi Staircase – 7:00

8. Sorry I Make You Lush – 3:44

9. Kwikwidetrax – 5:47

10.Nighty Night – 4:24

Dupa o noapte istovitoare de dansat “la fierarie”, caci asa se numea clubul, si ceva discutii filosofice in toiul noptii (presupun, ca nu stiu ce au tot vorbit baietii afara), a urmat somn pentru toata lumea. A doua zi, Eugen se plangea ca a dormit prea repede, iar la masa am fost toti foarte tacuti.

Cu ArTiStul drept ghid, am vizitat Sala Tronului de la Muzeul de Istorie din Suceava, unde am vazut replici din ceara ale boierilor si apropiatilor lui Stefan cel Mare, si am ascultat o portiune dintr-o piesa de teatru: parca ne uitam la un tablou vorbitor.

Dupa aceea, a urmat vizita la Cetatea Sucevei, care era nu doar o gramada de ruine, ci arata chiar ok. Chiar daca erau prezente semnele cu “nu va urcati pe ziduri”, am indentificat 2 scari care duceau fix pe ziduri. De ce le-ar mai fi pus, daca nu voiau sa ne urcam acolo?!

A urmat drumul spre Bucuresti, care lui Bobby nu prea i-a placut (nici noua, ca se termina blogtrip-ul).

Ca o concluzie, pentru mine acest #blogtrip a insemnat un weekend foarte misto, petrecut cu oameni misto, de la care am invatat multe si cu care m-am distrat. In continuare, pozele:

Mai multe poze gasiti aici

Pozele lui Tudor Galos

Pozele lui Bogdan Todireanu

Pozele lui Andrei Pavel

Pozele lui Alex Taradaciuc

Pozele lui ArTiStul

O poza de grup

Alex Bleau a scris despre blogtrip

Acest blogtrip a fost posibil cu sprijin din partea sponsorilor: GreenPixel, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, Paralela45

hello fellas, i was traveling to BSB trying to get my VISA for EUA and.. got it! (i had a little problems, but now it’s ok).

the city is really beautiful, all the structure was really designed.
follow the pictures bellow that i took it on my cellphone.

if you want more details about the city, here the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasília or in portuguese http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasília.

cya.

Vineri seara, cam pe la 11, am decis ca voi merge la munte in weekend. Trenul pleca sambata la 6 dimineata. Am apucat sa dorm cam doua ore, iar la 5:55 eram in gara cu cafeaua in mana. Am mers in Piatra Craiului. Pentru a doua oara. Prima data am fost vara trecuta, cand era ceva mai cald. Insa vremea a fost superba, soarele a zambit doua zile la rand, iar stelele s-au imprastiat pe cer, luminand crestele presarate cu zapada.

Ador sa fug din oras, sa ma plimb prin natura, sa pot sa ma desprind (chiar si pentru putin timp) de Bucuresti, si de tot ceea ce se intampla aici… Chestia asta ma face sa imi dau seama ca intotdeauna exista alternative. Lucrurile sunt relative, si cateodata stam in loc pur si simplu pentru ca refuzam sa privim si in stanga sau in dreapta. Ne agatam de o iluzie, crezand ca doar ea ne poate face cu adevarat fericiti. Ne e frica sa mergem mai departe, sa ne depasim limitele, pentru ca ne indreptam catre necunoscut. Nu, nu avem de unde sa stim daca o sa fie mai bine sau mai rau. Dar putem risca. Eu cred ca fiecare experienta conteaza, si important e ca, oriunde ai fi, sa stii cine esti tu cu adevarat si sa progresezi cu fiecare zi ce trece.

Au inceput tezele. Mai sunt trei saptamani pana la vacanta. E uimitor cat de repede trece timpul…As vrea sa-l pot opri pentru o clipa in loc, si sa ma plimb prin lume, cautand raspunsuri la intrebari pe care le port cu mine de aproape 18 ani…

Voi reveni curand. Sper.

Have a great week! : )

A man from Jersey has died while taking part in a charity event in Ecuador…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: gatwick flight. For a different topic see best dumpling recipes. The blog is also related to: travel tickets.

Carmen liegt wie ein Stück Karton auf der Matratze. Stark genug, um einen gewissen Widerstand bieten zu können und flexibel genug, um Trip dabei nicht weh zu tun. Er merkt, dass etwas anders ist als sonst. Der Alkohol in seinem Körper hilft ihm aber darüber hinweg zu sehen. Er muss an Britta denken und daran, wie leidenschaftlich die sich dem Akt mit ihm hingegeben hatte. Fraulich, füllig, wie selbstverständlich. Mit Carmen war es ja auch immer geil, eher die sportliche Nummer. Dabei hängt natürlich sehr viel von ihrem körperlichen Geschick ab, von der Beherrschung ihrer Beckenbodenmuskulatur und der Ausdauer bestimmter Bewegungen. Heute ist sie völlig passiv. Trotzdem macht er weiter und kommt schließlich auch.
Danach liegen sie stumm nebeneinander. Wie um etwas wieder gut zu machen, streichelt er ihr über den Bauch. Er muss darüber nachdenken, ob und wenn ja wie lange diese Beziehung noch halten wird. Bisher hatte sie der Sex zusammengehalten, aber dieser Kitt scheint allmählich seine Kraft zu verlieren. Er nimmt diese Vermutung relativ gelassen hin und schlummert ein.

Am nächsten Morgen bleibt Carmen im Bett liegen, auch Paolo pennt noch. So schleicht sich Trip ohne Frühstück aus dem Haus. Er will im Linksaußen etwas essen und wie in alten Zeiten seinen Kaffee trinken.
Viel zu früh steht er vor der Tür des Cafes. Er muss auf Britta warten. Zu seiner Überraschung kommt sie ebenfalls früher als gewohnt. Sofort sieht er, dass sie Sorgen hat.
„Susis Freund hat letzte Nacht bei uns gepennt“, erklärt sie. „Ich konnte es nicht ertragen, mit den beiden am Frühstück zu sitzen, nachdem sie in ihrem Kinderzimmer die halbe Nacht …, ach egal.“
„Verstehe schon“, sagt Trip. „Ich mache dir erstmal einen Kaffee. Wie wäre das?“
„Super.“ Sie lächelt.
Er nimmt die Zeitungen und sie sperrt die Tür auf. Bis zur Öffnung haben sie noch eine halbe Stunde. Britta setzt sich an den Tisch am Fenster und blättert das lokale Springerblättchen durch, während er die Getränke zubereitet und Brötchen schmiert.
„Nutella?“
„Au ja! – Ey, hör mal zu! Hier steht was über Peters. Seine Leiche ist für die Beerdigung freigegeben worden. Die Bullen haben einen Rechtsradikalen mit dringendem Tatverdacht festgenommen.“
Zwei volle Tassen und die Teller auf dem Tablett balancierend kommt Trip hinter dem Tresen hervor. Er stellt alles auf den Tisch.
„Ein Nazi?“
„Scheint so. Die Ermittlungen sind noch nicht abgeschlossen. Mehr steht da nicht.“
Er schaut über Brittas Schulter. Die kurze Nachricht trägt die Überschrift: Psycho-Doc von Rechten erschlagen? Kein Foto.
„Das ist ja strange“, meint er. „Was hatte der denn mit den Nazis zu schaffen? Die haben es doch sonst eher mit Schwarzen und Punks und so.“
„Tja“, sagt Britta und beißt in ihr halbes Brötchen. Die Schokoladencreme verteilt sich um ihren Mund herum. Sie leckt sie ab.
Die Ruhe im Linksaußen hüllt die beiden ein. Trip setzt sich und genießt es, so vertraut mit Britta sitzen zu können und zu essen. Ganz entspannt ist er.
„Was ist eigentlich mit Mario?“, fragt er später.
„Der hat ein Verfahren wegen Körperverletzung an den Hacken. Schon wieder. Diesmal wird er wohl nicht so ungeschoren davon kommen. Seine Liste wird immer länger und irgendwann wird der Richter durchgreifen müssen.“
„Ist ja auch besser so“, gibt sich Trip streng. Sie schaut ihn erstaunt an.
„Für mich auf jeden Fall. Ich bin froh, wenn ich den Kerl mal für ein paar Monate los bin.“
„Was gut für dich ist, ist auch gut für mich“, möchte er sagen, räumt aber lieber das Geschirr zusammen und öffnet die Tür für den Publikumsverkehr.

Finaly we edited our europe-trip through paris, london, amsterdam the last weekend. Was kind of funny watching all the outtakes from the people on the buss. My favourit part of the movie is the one with the dutch-gulasch. Incredible stuff. Try it at FEBO “de lekkerste”. And check it out on www.febo.nl.

Darayonan Lodge

Darayonan is a Cuyonon word that means a place to stay. The lodge is situated in a residential part of Coron town, strategically located along the National Highway. Darayonan Lodge aims to provide its guests with clean and comfortable rooms, good food and quality service. Aside from that, one has options on choosing the rooms to stay at: in the native bamboo, sawali and banig set-up or in the modern concrete and tile two-story building.

Darayonan Lodge is an accredited tourist inn by the Philippine Department of Tourism. It has played host to a number of VIP’s and celebrities, the most notable of whom are Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and then U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone.  In fact, Congressman Baham Mitra was amongst the guests of the lodge during our stay from October 21-24, 2009.

What is striking about this place aside from its homey atmosphere is the owner’s love for the arts. It definitely is a reflection of the owner’s strive in achieving perfection in everything. From the lodge’s interior decorations to the food being served for each meal. He personally goes over every little details right before being served or handed over to the guests. We stayed here for 4 days and 3 nights; and it was a part of the overwhelming positive experiences that I have had during my stay in Coron, Palawan.

The place is clean all the time! They see to it that the rooms and private comfort rooms get cleaned everyday during your stay. They also make sure that the entire lodge is spic and span all throughout the day. I have never seen any litter at all in my entire stay.

The facilities in this lodge pass the normal standards of travellers: hot and cold shower, all air-conditioned rooms, centralized water system. It’s like you never left home at all. I’ve had a comfortable stay at this lodge.

It’s also probably the only lodge that includes breakfast for two along with the daily room charge. And what’s more, drinking water and coffee is unlimited, no extra charge. I should say that staying at Darayonan is really a value for your money.

Darayonan Lodge has facilities and amenities as follows:

Cafe which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner

Choice of fan or air-conditioned rooms

Queen-sized beds, single-sized beds plus two extra beds if necessary

21″  colored television sets on all their rooms

Refrigerator/Mini Bar

Closets

Writing desk cum dresser with mirror

Bigger rooms with higher ceiling

Bigger bathroom

Veranda

Darayonan Lodge not only offers bed and breakfast for travelers. In fact, they also  arrange tours/trips for you so you’d have a grand vacation for you or your family or even with your friends.  They have enticing packages which includes everything (accommodations/rooms, land transfers from and to Busuanga, food and tours) and you won’t have to worry a single thing about your vacation. Every single detail of your vacation will be taken cared of  at rates that would suit your budget. Group or barkada packages also await travelers who  wish to visit Coron in groups or together with their families and loved ones. Darayonan Lodge does not have a website at this point in time. So if you like to get price quotes for your stay with them, you may get in touch with the owners through these contact numbers:

Chin Fernandez owner of Darayonan Lodge

Location:  132 National Highway, Barangay Poblacion 1, Coron, Palawan

Cellphone: +639178811151

Landline: +6327443209

Email: dipulao@gmail.com

Well I had a freaking amazing time in Raro… There were a few times on the beach where I was lying there thinking about the Awful Event, that dead werewolf, Ran grabbing me, and generally worrying about the Pack, and whether I could take on leading the pack….

Then I’d open my eyes again and see clear blue sky, blindingly white sand, and that ridiculously clear turquoise lagoon… And I’d decided that living in the moment is always the best idea.

Coming back was a bit hard though.

Holidays are easy and fun… Real life kind of sucks a bit.

On the day of my flight home the Alpha for the village I was staying in came over to have a chat with me. When I saw him earlier in the holiday I had politely told him that I wanted a break from Shifter crap. (I know, I was surprised I was still capable of politeness too.)

Anyway, he graciously allowed me to go on my merry way without bothering with the intricacies of Pack diplomacy. (There are a lot of traditions and conventions involved in being in someone else’s territory, Tiny and I had a chat about it before I left.)

But on the last day I was ready to face the realities of real life, so when he showed up to make sure I’d enjoyed my stay and had no issues with his Pack I invited him for lunch and took the time to quiz him on being Alpha and being wolf, and customs ect…

I gotta say, without going into too much boring detail, the entire culture is different, and some parts I like, some I don’t so much, but it all makes a lot of sense to me when I remember the context of the Islands, and the history, and the people. In Rarotonga people (and Pack) generally are easygoing, social, and very very relaxed…

I probably wouldn’t have gotten away with telling any other Pack in any other country to bugger off and leave me alone to have a holiday. BUT in Rarotonga I did because that’s just the way the people work there.

On the other side of the coin though, they probably thought I was rude, but that’s a forgivable offense I guess.

They do have a system of Chiefdoms and traditional titles and stuff in every day life and history, and a strong culture of respect for elders, and leaders, so I learnt some interesting things about leadership… I also learnt some cool stuff about diplomacy – he was telling me all about how they keep in touch with other Cook Island Packs.

There’s only one other Pack on Rarotonga (Both are mixed, but predominantly medium-sized semi-domesticated type dogs) and he told me about a lot of the stuff they do to make sure there’s no infighting ect…

It was all really interesting.

So after the Alpha and I finished lunch, I said goodbye to all the dogs I’d collected (sigh) and returned my mountain bike and snorkeling gear, and then went down to beach to get one last look.

Then I caught the shuttle to the airport and spent over two hours standing in various queues. The standing in queues bit was about when I started to realise that the ‘wee cold’ that I had was actually more of a raging headcold, and that I was woefully short on painkillers (which Tiny and Doc have told me are really big no-no’s for Shifters anyway), tissues, and time to go shift.

By the time I had boarded the plane I had a tiny (inadequate) packet of travel tissues from someone’s Nana, and a very strong desire to go hang out in the toilets and Shift from wolf and back ten times in a row.

Naturally I didn’t.

Instead I bugged the flight attendants for tissues, and endured a pretty rough decent back into the country. My sinuses and ears were blocked up in a big way, so I couldn’t equalize, and I ended up taking a few aspirin, hopefully to take down any swelling, and help me unblock.

When I got back I had a connecting flight to get back to the city, but I ducked out long enough to call Doc and make sure aspirin wasn’t going to make me die.

His (woefully unreassuring) opinion:

Doc: Well you’ve taken it now haven’t you. There’s not much I can do from here.

Ayla: Riiiight. So I probably won’t die then? Should I get on the plane, or should I see if I can re-schedule?

Doc: If the pain isn’t too bad catch the plane home, it won’t cause any damage it’ll just be pretty uncomfortable. I’ll drop some medication in your mailbox in the next hour for you when you get home – don’t take anything you can buy over the counter, lots of it doesn’t work the way it should with our systems. Also, don’t whatever you do shift. Give it at least 7 days, just to be sure the aspirin’s out of your system before you Shift.

Ayla: THAT long?? My ears hurt. And my head hurts.

Doc: By all means shift then. It’s not like I know what I’m talking about… I’ve only been doing this for ten years now.

Ayla: You suck.

Doc: And you are pig headed and stubborn. I did tell you to stay away from pain killers. Now go catch the plane. It’s nearly midnight and I need to make a house call to your letterbox before I can get any sleep.

So I caught the plane home, and it was short and sweet and owie.

Needless to say I was pretty grumpy when I got in. It was well after midnight, I was all sweaty and grubby with plane germs, cold and sick, with sore ears and a serious meat deprivation. I looked so angry and pissed off that three separate security guards tailed me, and I got pulled aside at EVERY fucking metal detector/ security screaning area.

I kinda wanted to scream at them all and tell them that it’s pointless to screen people AFTER they get OFF the plane. What’s the worst that could happen? They find out that I’ve stolen a safety briefing card? Or that I’ve stuffed the airlines useless stupid movie headphones down my pants?

Andre was at the airport, and because it was just a domestic flight he was hanging out at the baggage claim, and had already grabbed my (teeny tiny) suitcase.

He asked if that was it and I mostly had to lipread because my ears felt like they were stuffed full of cotton. And mucus.

I nodded and he ruffled up my hair (just to see if he could get me to bite him in public?) and gave me a lift home. Doc, true to his (grumpy) word had left some awesome cold killers in my letterbox, and Rumplestiltskin was absolutely over the freaking moon to see me. Also? HUGE.

I don’t know what they hell Andre fed him while I was away but the fluffy wee kitten I left behind in now an almost-adolescent  with quite big paws and long legs. He’s still skinny, but judging by his age, I’d say he’s going to be a large cat when he’s done growing… And if he continues at the speed he’s going he’ll end up somewhere in the weight range of a small tiger.

(Or possibly not… domestic kitties don’t get that big I guess. And the size thing is probably just more of a case of me seeing him with fresh eyes.)

Yeah… So after that I took some meds, posted a million pictures here, and on facebook, and slept for a day and a bit. Bliss!

The rest of the Pack have held off busting down my door, but I’m guessing Ran will be by in the next few days, closely followed by Tiny.

I’m putting money on the fact that she’s waiting to see whether I kill Ran – or attempt to – before she ventures close enough to get bitten. Luckily for them both I have decided that Ran did what he needed to as a responsible Alpha (even if he’s not my Alpha) to protect his Pack, and other Packs that he has links with.

Therefore the worst I’ll do is kick his ass a little for not telling me. (Even though – I think we all know – if he’d told me before he found the guy I would have yeeled, and screamed, and possibly run away to hide.)

(I am Alya, therefore may be as contrary as I like. So there.)

Posted by Audiegrl

AP/Christopher Bodeen—Washington’s ambassador to Beijing hit out Friday at negative U.S. media coverage of President Barack Obama’s visit to China, saying it failed to take into account important progress on many issues.

Although producing no breakthroughs on key issues, Obama’s first state visit to the Asian giant that ended Wednesday was heralded by both sides as a success.

The trip was the top news story in China, drawing strong interest from the Chinese public who, surveys suggest, are largely positive in their view of the American president.

However, much of the U.S. media coverage was strongly negative, accusing Obama of failing to gain concessions on key issues such as Iran’s nuclear program and climate change, as well as being weak on human rights.

Ambassador Jon Huntsman said the reports missed the fact that the visit had yielded important progress on cooperation in areas such as clean energy, military-to-military exchanges and stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.

“I attended all those meetings that President Obama had with Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao,” Huntsman said, referring to the Chinese president and premier.

“I’ve got to say some of the reporting I saw afterward was off the mark. I saw sweeping comments about things that apparently weren’t talked about, when they were discussed in great detail in the meetings,” he said.

Huntsman made the comments during a question-and-answer session with Chinese and American students attending an international relations program at elite Peking University.

He said criticism about limited Chinese exposure for Obama’s remarks at a town hall-style meeting with students in Shanghai failed to consider the ubiquity of the Internet and blogging in China, where 350 million people use the Web.

“Go check some time and see how messages bounce around from Web site to Web site and blogger to blogger for a very long period of time and you’ll get a sense of what the communication revolution is all about,” Huntsman said.

More @

Okkey Okkey Okkey.

Chiuso il capitolo di Toronto, comincia quello di Vancouver (Van city) nella British Columbia, praticamente al confine con gli States sulla costa del Pacifico. Altri 4000 chilometri, cinque ore di volo e tre di fuso orario (quindi adesso sono a -9 rispetto a voi, amici cari). Fortuna che stavolta l’aereo era un aereo e non una carretta e soprattutto i sedili erano sedili e non inginocchiatoi da chiesa. Anche dal punto di vista della compagnia non mi e’ andata male. Ho conosciuto Hafsaa, una ragazza di origini somale molto simpatica e disponibile (tanto che si e’ fatta fare un paio di primi piani che pero’ ho sbagliato grossolanamente – goddammit – sto ancora imparando come funziona my camera) con la quale ho fatto conversazione per tutta la durata del volo (e magara tutte le volte cosi’).

Al mio arrivo c’era ad aspettarmi Toby, il mio vecchio amico londinese compagno di tante avventure piu’ o meno psichedeliche e di tanti partitoni di pallone a Regent’s Park, ormai in Canada da piu’ di un anno. Alla guida del suo fuoristrada Ford (con il quale lui ed i suoi amici si sono girati buona parte del nord america) mi ha portato un po in giro per la citta’ e poi a casa sua o meglio a casa  di Pam la sua fidanzata coreana, molto carina e gentile. Li’ ho anche conosciuto il terzo inquilino, Cookie (biscotto) un cagnetto riccio e grigio che piagne se siamo seduti sul divano perche’ non puo’ nascondere l’osso tra i cuscini e che passa le serate a fare le punte alle varie ombre della casa. Un grande, c’e’ stato subito un ottimo feeling tra di noi. La casa e’ bella, al sedicesimo piano di un palazzo di ventuno piani, ottima visuale (fotografie arriveranno) e tutte le comodita’.

Van City sembra bella! Dico sembra perche’ non e’ che ho visto molto fino ad ora. La prima sera siamo usciti e pioveva ziffuni, siamo andati a cena con Sam un altro amico londoner e un paio di suoi amici canadesi, dopodiche’ ci siamo diretti verso un wisky festival per il quale Toby mi aveva regalato il biglietto di entrata come regalo di benvenuto. Forse e’ anche per questo che di Van city non ricordo molto. I ragazzi ci hanno tenuto a farmi sapere che in Canada cosi’ come in molti altri posti drinking is a serious business! Infatti dopo il wisky festival ci siamo subito diretti a casa di uno dei canadesi per continuare con quello che era l’intento principale della serata. Appunto il dio Bere. Mi sono addormentato sul divano non prima di essermi reso conto che mi puzzavano i piedi. I canadesi girano scalzi per casa ed io avevo camminato per ore nella pioggia (tanto che il giorno dopo mi sono ritrovato le dita dei piedi macchiate dal cuoio delle scarpe o forse dai calzini). Fortuna che Toby e’ stato cosi’ clemente da svegliarmi in tempo per andare a prendere l’ultimo treno per casa (qui chiamato skytrain perche’ passa sopra la citta’).

Al risveglio ho constatato che il wisky buono la mattina ti lascia pulito e tranquillo, e il mal di testa e’ accettabile. Ne ho preso nota.
Purtroppo il tempo era peggio del giorno prima, quindi siamo usciti in macchina e ci siamo fatti un giro per Vancouver ma la visuale era abbastanza limitata dalla pioggia. Abbiamo subito ripiegato sul mega shopping center di turno se non altro per avere un primo contatto con la vita vancouverina ma anche per comprare la cena. Li mi sono accorto anzi ricordato perche’ me lo avevano detto che una buona meta’ della popolazione di Van e’ costituita da asiatici. Cio’ si rispecchia anche nei negozi, che ovviamente devono soddisfare i gusti e l’appetito di tutti questi simpatici ex abitanti del sollevante, ed eccomi proiettato in un non meglio specificato (non ricordo il nome) super negozio di cibo asiatico. Di tutto di piu’. Inclusi diversi acquari di pescioni di diverse razze mai visti prima che gli addetti, nell’ordine, tirano fuori con un retino, li bastonano vigorosamente sulla capoccia, li pesano e poi ve li imbustano. Alcuni non muoiono subito e quindi in alcuni carrelli si vedono delle buste bianche che si muovono. Ma non c’e’ da aver paura! Vendono anche dei super granchi con delle zampe lunghissime (anche loro vivi, non so che metodo usano per mandarli all’altro mondo, la bastonata forse non basta vista la corazza), ostriche di tutti i tipi poi ci sono i vegetables, meta’ dei quali non avevo mai visto prima (ignorante), e i saccottini viola. Che? Eh i saccottini viola, li metti nel microwave si gonfiano e si mangiano. Io ho rifiutato ma in compenso il saccottino bianco con la crema dentro non era male.

Simpatico venire a sapere che qua le superstrade hanno una corsia preferenziale per chi non viaggia da solo. Governanti del cazzo prendete nota. E la multa per la trasgressione e’ pure salata. Si torna a casa quindi in corsia preferenziale.

Bene e’ quasi ora di andare a dormire e concludere la prima giornata piena a Van city. Ma prima cena italiana, ai fornelli il buon Toby (la cui mamma e’ piacentina ecco svelato il mistero) e poi un bel documentario di Werner Herzog intitolato “The grizzly man” su un tizio fissato con gli orsi che ogni anno per tredici anni e’ andato in Alaska per tre o quattro mesi a campeggiare in una tenda a stretto contatto con questi affascinanti quadrupedi (lui sosteneva di difenderli ma non tutti la vedevano cosi’), fino a quando e’ tra virgolette riuscito nel suo intento. Farsi sbranare vivo insieme tra l’altro (porella) alla fidanzata. Bel documentario, grandissimo personaggio il tipo e come al solito questi tedeschi sanno come raccontare una storia (mi riferisco a Herzog e ci includo anche Wim Wenders).

Piccolo giro di saluti, lavaggio denti e m’imbusto. Bonanotte!

DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, DRIIIIIIINNNNN, (o roba simile adesso il suono esatto non lo ricordo) apro con fatica gli occhi, e’ notte fonda, why don’t they fucking answer to this telephone penso fra me e me (bo? quando mi sveglio di soprassalto mi viene sempre da pensare in inglese), mi alzo, mi vesto di carattere (il pigiama gia’ ce l’avevo) e decido di andare a rispondere io. Era l’allarme anti-incendio ed ha continuato a spaccarci i timpani e le palle per altri 10 minuti buoni. Bisogna uscire. Cookie ovviamente non stava piu’ nella pelle. Fatti i 16 piani di scale a piedi, ci ritroviamo nella hall del palazzo, dove attendiamo impazienti l’arrivo dei pompieri che tra l’altro non tarda; Cookie nel frattempo non risparmia annusamenti ed effusioni varie con gli altri quadrupedi inquilini, ed appena risolto il problema (qualche testa di cazzo ha premuto l’allarme antincendio nei garage) ci si riavvia ordinatamente ognuno nel proprio appartamento. Sta volta pero’ con l’ascensore (ed a turni perche’ siamo tanti).

Buonanotte (ma senza interruzioni stavolta).

Awfully late. I know! Hahaha. Here’s the 2nd part of the recap of my previous Singapore Trip.

I was kicked awake by bf to grab Highlander Coffee, he said it was the best coffee you can get at Singapore. But lo and behold! We took a bus journey from our hotel at Novena (I stayed at Value Hotel Thomson, btw. Cheap and good!), only to find that Highlander was closed that very Saturday for internal reason

So…we took yet another bus to hit our next destination: Maxwell Food Center. But as the result of a non-caffeine morning…we took the wrong bus! Hopped out the first stop we see, we opened a tourist map we got on a tourist center in Orchard the day before, and head to Chinatown…on foot LOL

We arrived at Maxwell Food Center at 12.00p.m. Just in time for lunch! We scanned the food court for our target: Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice. I read this place from Jenz. Didn’t take long to find it; it was the stall with the longest queue! Took us a whopping hour to sit and face our chicken rice SGD2.80 for the small portion, and SGD3.00 for the bigger one, not bad! We also ordered vegetable in oyster sauce, SGD3.00.

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice @ Maxwell Food Center, Chinatown

And yep! It was good. People praise the rice, but my mom can make rice as fragrant and tasty as that. What I like is the chicken, very tender The bokchoy vegetable was good too. And did I say that all the food are rather oily for my taste? Oil equals goodness, my friends

After that we didn’t have any particular destination, but just in front of Maxwell Food Center, there’s this impressive Buddha  temple. We read the sign and found out that it’s a tourist attraction too, being a temple and a museum, so we stepped in inside.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum

Entrance @ Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum

Google up the temple name and you’ll find very impressive shots of Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum We spent quite some hours in there.

Sacred Statue @ Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum

I read a lot of Buddhism-related stories when I was young, even though I’m not a Buddhist. And I revisited a lot of them in the museum

Before we left, we stroll around their garden first. Plenty of pretty orchids! I did some silly poses, too.

At Temple Garden

Grin!

Holy cow! Look at those craters. I was just applying powder with SPF to replenish my sun protection, but the Singapore heat immediately make it crack, I guess. Note the drippy hair too. Eww! This was just a week from my Bali Trip, so the tan was still visible

There was some time to kill before we met with friends, so we proceed down to People’s Park, bought Wall’s Coffee Ice Cream from a street vendor (SGD1 for a big chunk of ice cream!), which unluckily stained my silk shirt. More ewww! Thank God the dry cleaner here in Jakarta was able to take that out.

We took MRT to our next destination, Clarke Quay. It’s still afternoon so we walk around and eventually sit on the Singapore River bank and lounging while playing some games from my rusty-but-not-so-trusty iPhone, until it was time to have dinner with dear Maria (or pink^koala on FD ).

I really have to apologize here. No pictures with Maria n her fiancee, Fredy because all pics taken was blurry! We had dinner at Fisherman’s Wharf because my bf’s boss said that they have a great fish n chips, but my sea bass was not that great. Fishy Amis, that’s the Indonesian word I think Fish & Co offers (much) better fish n chips! However, I had great time with Maria and Fredy. We talked from skincare to makeup (the boys only stared at the girls to this points) to life in Singapore to our works. All four of us graduated from Computer Science, and subsequently work in IT companies, so there are lots to talk about!

At 9p.m, Maria n Fredy went home and me/bf went upto City Hall area to do some touristry exploration

Esplanade - Theatres On The Bay

Please, ignore my slick looking face. When the night approached, I have no reason to apply more SPF powder, so I just leave it as it is. The humidity really took a toll on my face, giving it a ‘real life Gaussian blur’, my bf told me

At Merlion

And there it goes: the signature tourist spot! I’ve come to Singapore, finally! The pretty round light behind me and Merlion is the Singapore Flyer. I haven’t had the chance to ride on it, but I want to Next time, hopefully!

Tree Hugger @ In Front Of The Fullerton Hotel

With the stupid drunken pose, with the grand Fullerton Hotel un the background. Should have taken the pic of Fullerton with all its shimmering glory; as I obviously can’t afford to rent a room there!

And thus endeth my second day. Nice day, indeed!