p-P-PARIS!

I am back from Paris!

Yeap! Paris, the city of love/romance or whatever. The city that makes girls go gaga. The city that most girls would first blurt out when asked where they'd like to spend their honeymoon. Besides that, I know more about Paris as compared to other European cities when I first came to Europe. Haha, well I don't know this city very well either. Just 2 FAMOUS landmarks, i.e. The Eiffel Tower and also The Lourve. END. LOL. Tell me to name a landmark somewhere else in another city I'd most likely only end up with one or none.

My initial image of Paris was streets lined up with lovely trees, fresh air, peace, friendly people, buildings with beautiful architecture. At night, it'll be laying down on a spot nearby the Eiffel and just staring, or a wonderful French dinner. Plus all the hype that makes Paris such a popular city amongst the people I know, I was definitely anticipating a lot.

The Arc de Triomphe. The roundabout around it was sick.
Its like a 5-lane roundabout with no road lines!

I have to admit there is something magical about this place. I am starting to have the thoughts that I am missing that city! My take on whether something/somewhere/someone is good is when after a few days you miss/crave about it. Then you know, that was something. This is how I feel about Paris right now. Same goes as food. I wouldn't know how to rate the dish, until after a few days. I know the dish is something good, if my brain goes "I wanna eat that!". If there weren't any thoughts, the dish is not something at all. That's how I judge stuff. Weird? Hahaha..

Honestly, my first thoughts on Paris when I was there was it was an overhyped city. Romantic? I do not think so. How could it be possibly romantic if you had to walk with ur eyes fully fixed on d grounds ahead, so that you would not step onto any shit(yes, bird or dog shit) all the time. Not to mention the smell. That's one. Heck, I even saw someone pee in public. Heh. Talking about class. Metros(Paris's version of MRTs), are not very pleasant. You can always smell the stench of urine around in the air.

My initial thoughts of stopping by the base of Eiffel and marveling and appreciating this humongous, unique-looking structure couldn't be fulfilled satisfyingly. Why? One, I was constantly harassed by people selling fake/stolen souvenirs every 30 seconds or so. Some are so aggressive that you can certainly feel intimidated. They were sold not by 11 yr old half-ur-height kids, but by grown-up black adults whose a head taller, large in frame. Luckily I wasn't a victim to any of them. Haha. Two, there are just so many people at the base, you just gotta be extra careful of ur valuables. Not only that, you have to be aware of the loads of people taking pics too so that you would not be in their way. Hahaha. Its like standing in the middle of the Gadong Fish Market on a Sunday morning. So how could one possibly be at peace and appreciate Eiffel? I dunno. By going up? I don't really know what's the hype of going up high either. One would most likely barely know what is below/around you at that high. Which buildings are significant. Why? Etc Etc.. Even if one would, would he/she spot that particular landmark. I seriously couldn't see anything at night except lights. The mornings I remembered were haze-filled. There weren't much one could see at the time I was there. LOL. My apologies for being that negative. Just an opinion.

See.. How hazy..

Besides the above points, as roughly predicted beforehand, is an overpriced city. Everything is just so expensive!! I spent roughly the amount that an average office clerk in Brunei would had earned over a month in the course of 4 days. I roughly know what you'll be thinking. And no, I did not come back with a LV designer handbag nor anything of designer material. Hahaha. Those who know me would roughly know what I've spend a large portion to it to. FOOD! I couldn't resist experiencing dining in a French eatery. The FOOD there is sickeningly expensive. A dinner set meal could easily run up to BND $100. That is not even 'fine dining' level yet. Just a random cafe. LOL.

Proof:

Although the price, I appreciated the experience nonetheless.

Ohhh... Throughout the days in Paris, I still couldn't find the answer to why Paris is romantic. I had discussions with my male friends, trying to unlock and find the reason. Hahaha. Some say its coz of the tons of designer outlets. Some say the Eiffel. I couldn't get the link of these stuff with romance at all. Hmm.. Which means OH NO!!! Must be a problem of mine???? Then why people still go siao over Paris??? Think.. Think.. Tell me my girl friends!

Here are roughly 6 reasons why Paris WOULD NOT be a good honeymoon destination for me. Hahaha:

1) I don't want my honeymoon to be filled with memories of walking on walkways filled with shit or pee.

2) The people! Too many people. With people, comes noise, insecurity, queues. I guess its the norm for cities. People like me from our peaceful abode back home are still not used to this.

3) I'd be dead if my other half told me to accompany her to the 3rd level of Eiffel. I was already shitting myself at just the 1st level! I wanted to send postcards from the 2nd lvl. But shops above were closed already nonetheless.

Proof! I made it!! (till the 1st floor. hahahaha)

4) I don't want my meals to be only home-made peanut-butter sandwiches nor Digestives biscuits. Hahaha. Food is too expensive.

5) I'd be dead too if my other half wanted a designer product. Id comply if I had a really really stable job with a 5 digit monthly salary. LOL. It seems such a far cry when I saw a watch that was labeled more than 10000 Euros!!! We could get a steady saloon car back home already with that!

6) There are just too many pretty ladies around! Glasgow's pure peanut! Hahaha. How to focus? LOL

I'd had to say the highlight of my trip would be the PARKs! Yep the parks! The parks in Paris were really really really beautiful. Its like an image from a fantasy novel. Hahaha. The Luxembourg Park and the one behind the Chateau de Versailles(Palace of Versailles) were really pretty. The size of the garden at the Chateau is certainly beyond one's imagination. No joke! Google it up. LOL.

The Hall of Mirrors inside the Chateau of Versailles -
The place where the Treaty of Versailles was signed!!

The Luxembourg Park

The gardens behind the Chateau de Versailles.
See how far it stretches. Its not the end somemore. It goes on further!

Besides the Eiffel, the parks and the palace itself, I also visited a few other places such as needless-to-say the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral and Disneyland! The Louvre was so-so for someone who doesn't know a lot about arts. I tried to understand and comprehand the displays and sculptures nonetheless. I wasn't that successful I guess. The place was really really large. Mona Lisa, the painting that everyone knows about yet don't know anything bout it, was disappointing. You could only see it from about a distance of a few feet. Not to say, so many people were crowding around it, I could not get a good view. The painting itself was very small when compared to the others. Once I did, I saw the fading colours of Mona Lisa. The colours on her was really gloomy and dark. It ain't like in the pictures. Some say it is due to the age of the painting. Sad thing. Other paintings were far more impressive like the 'Wedding Feast in Cana'. Damn it was huge! A few art students were doing replicas of the paintings on display too. Wow, really impressive. I couldn't spot the difference!

The popular pyramid entrance to the Lourve

Notre Dame Cathedral - Seriously nothing spectacular inside and outside.

Disneyland - Place I wouldn't go unless I have kids along with me.
I spent more time scouring for souvenirs for my lil cousin instead of sitting rides. lol

I couldn't resist taking a pic with this cute cartoon.
I reckon he was the cutest among the lot from the parade! HAHAHA

Although the loads of negativity above(Maybe it is due to the high expectations I put forth on this city), I am starting to miss this city! (As I mentioned above). There is something. The food maybe? I miss the duck confit. I miss French wine. I miss the pretty ladies. Leong and Keong would go nuts if they were here. I miss the friendly French people. They were so friendly, approachable, well-mannered, respectful, and patient trying to communicate in English with us. I miss the wonderful parks. I miss going about trying to choose from the mind-boggling number of cafes down the streets. I miss the wonderful warm weather.

Thinking back, if there were a list of cities I'd return to in Europe, Paris would definitely be on the list. But first off, I need to have a healthy bank balance first!

Good day people! =)

Winter Holidays - pt 3 : Old Trafford, Manchester

If I am gonna keep up with the current rate that I am doing my posts on my recent winter trip, I guess it would most likely be only be fully completed by next year!! Hahaha.. One thing that slows things down is the image upload facility which only accepts 5 images max. Maybe there is a more efficient way to upload photos to Blogger. Well, if there is, tell me!! LOL.. Uploading of pics now is a major pain!

Well anyways, the story continues.. :D

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Old Trafford is one of the many significant places that I had managed to step foot on in this trip.
As I roughly can predict who my readers are, and as I know, most are mostly non-footballholics, thus Q of the Day:

What is Old Trafford?

Hahaha.. Well, simple simple. Maybe a potential must-know general knowledge.
Its the legendary home ground of Manchester United.

Ohh no.. Don't you dare go "Huh? What's Manchester United?"
You're officially not an Earthling if that's the case!

My initial plans when I was still at Trafford Centre, was to go back, have dinner and possibly have a very short nap, in order to put me in the mood to enjoy the match. However, all these failed to happen. Why? Its coz of the stupid bus system they had at that Centre. We managed to hop on a bus at around 4+ pm at that time, if I ain't wrong. The match starts at around 7.45 - 8 pm. I thought "ahh.. Ample time".

Well, what happened was the bus brought us to a bus hub which was just behind the Centre. It was a service change or something. We had to wait for another bus to pick us up. Thus, we waited..

And waited..

And waited..

..

15 mins passed... No signs..
And heck the weather that time was crazily cold somemore! Somehow time passed so damn slow!

Eventually after around 45 mins, the other bus came. WALAO! That certainly dampened my mood. Not only was the weather cold, I was also tired, hungry and was resisting to go to the loo ( as I was in front of the queue during the wait). If I were to miss this bus, and if the next bus took that long to arrive, I'd risk missing out on the match! HELL NO! The bus brought us to a tram stop where we'd use the tram to head home. However, due that damn bus, it'd be a risk to go back home already. It was already 6+ at that time. Thus, after another 15 mins wait in the cold, then only a tram came about and brought us directly to Old Trafford. I remembering not being in the most joyous of mood at that moment. Seems like the public transport system had a problem with me that evening.

I remember hordes and hordes of people all around the streets leading to the stadium. There were police everywhere, even police on horses (which is a very common police 'transport' here). I guess horses are used coz, sitting on a horse allows you to see everything. Second, horses can vary in speed. Hahaha..

Littered alongside the streets leading to the stadium are stalls like the above
selling merchandise, food, drinks and whatnot.

We could actually already hear the singing from inside the stadium from the outside already! OO.. Excitement!

This is how the stadium looks like at night. The stadium is divided into 4 areas, i.e. North, South, West and East Stand(which is shown above)

The main facade of the stadium. The ground floor is where the Megastore is.
I remember seeing just tons of people squeezing emselves in that store during that time.

After finishing my hot dog bun, its time!
Masuk stadium!

This is how people enter the stadiums for the North Stand.

The fastfood establishment on the inside which only operates during matchdays.

And then I saw it.. It was so bright, that from the place that
I was standing, I thought it a sunny day!

Ahh.. After finding our seats, a pic of the pitch.

The stadium seems to be still very empty at that moment.

Suddenly, the crowd roard!
The source: Kuszack(however you spell it), the reserve keeper came out for warmup.

Not long later, the real deal, Mr Van Der Sar came out.

Then the loudest of the roars..

The outfield players take to the pitch for their warmups!
I couldn't believe my eyes at that time!

They warmed up very close to our area...

After doing their rounds, the players went back in. Then everyone waited..
Suddenly, the music came on, and this deafening roar engulfed the whole stadium.
Everyone was up from their seats.

Its coz the players were coming out from their tunnels!!

They then did all their regular pre-match rituals, applauded the crowd before running off to their halve (referring to Man Utd), as shown below.

Ball gets lined up in the centre. Kick off time baby!!

It was certainly one hell of an experience. No wonder people call it the "Theatre of Dreams". The fans were really really passionate. They were literally singing the club's songs throughout the whole match. Everytime the ball got into the opponent's half, we had to rise from our seats. Everyone was doing it. Thus, I had no choice but to follow suit. But time after time, it was disappointment as Man Utd just couldn't score!! Hahahaha..

Ronney erm, I meant Rooney, coming over to our area to take a corner kick!

The famous no. 7 shirt!

The stadium was close to full house that day. It was announced that around 76 K people were in for the match. WOW. I was certainly sandwiched in my seat. There was this super huge guy (like 3x of Chee Huat) sitting next to me. I had to be seated with my body aligned to about 45 degrees relative to the back of the chair for most of the match! Hahaha.. You call that the best seats in the house? Heh..

Somehow, Man Utd wasn't on top form that night. I was hoping to see some Ronaldo magic or maybe a rampant United, however, that wasn't the case.

8 mins into the game.. It was scoreless.
It stayed like that for most part of the game..

I thought my first trip to Old Trafford would be marked as a disappointing 0 - 0 game??? No no.. I was praying that at least one of the teams would score.. I wanna feel what it'll be like after a goal.

Then at last it came, as usual, ball in half, standup..Suddenly, another deafening eruption in the stadium from the crowd. Everyone was jumping up and down, doing high-5s to their stranger neighbours. It was stranger no-more when you're in Old Trafford. I felt like I was a part of a unit, a part of this family. Ur neighbours are now ur brothers. Hahaha..

After Berba scored..

Yes, a goal at least!

The crowd was even more energetic after this goal. Their singing got even more louder this time. Hahaha.. What joy for the fans. The atmosphere in the stadium was just awesome. The Ibrox one just seems so mediocre when compared to this one.

The coming on for the legends, Ryan Giggs and Scholesy!!!

There weren't any rocket shots from Scholes during his time in the game thou, but he did launched a few of his trademark ridiculously beautiful passes during that time. Wow..

Besides em 2, Gary Neville also did come on. Wow. Another legend. He did his trademark run to the byline and cross too. Man Utd fans should know what Im talking about.

Our Asian pride, Ji Sung certainly caught my eye that night. He's one hell of a hardworking player. He should have had a goal that night. He missed from about 6 yards out. What came after surprised me. The fans were singing along the lines "Park .. Park.. What the f*ck are you doing?". I thought that was extremely harsh!

On another note, the defenders, Vidic and Rafael were awesome too. The way they attack the ball using their heads is NUTS. They damn sure have lots of guts.

After 90 mins, it was all over..
Final Score : Man Utd 1 - 0 Boro

Surprise surprise, where'd the fans go??
This was taken just abt 15 mins after the game ended!

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The next morning, Old Trafford was again the highlight of the day. Why again you'd ask? Its a bit different this time round. Its for the stadium tour for this time.

Views of the inside of the empty stadium the morning after.

Was told by the guide that this is where the players enter the stadium, the Munich tunnel.

A clock to commemorate the Munich incident.

Displays line up along the Munich Tunnel, depicting that story..

We walked along the tunnel, and entered the stadium once again. This time we're entering the way the players do. I was expecting maybe a glamorous looking door, somewhere along the Munich Tunnel. But wrong, the entry point was only a very unassuming conventional looking door! Surprise surprise!

We were first brought to the players' lounge room. This is where the players hang out and chill a few hours before the game. There's a mini bar in this room too. A few televisions too if I remembered wrongly. This would also be the room where the wives/families of the players would chill at during halftime.

This board comprised of the list of names of internationally-capped players who've played for the club.

Portrait images of the past great players.
If you look properly in this pic, there are 2 of em with crowns.
Those were only on the portraits of Cantona and Keane.
I don't remember why either.

The players' changing room!
Was told by the guide that the jerseys were arranged according to how the players usually sit!
The jerseys were only mere replicas thou, not the actual ones worn by the players.

Ahh.. Ronaldo and Rooney are changing-room seat neighbours.

Next was out to the pitch sidelines.. We had to go through the tunnel
where the players' lineup before heading to the field.

I was ahead of the pack when I took this. Hahaha..

Pitchside views

That was about it for the tour. After the tour, we headed off to the museum, which I think was very large. It had about 2 floors if I ain't wrong. Lots and lots of stuff. You could even get a pic taken with the Premiership trophy inside. (Comes at a price thou')

Pics from the museum..

We then headed to London that evening, which will come in future posts. Hahahaha..

Thus, that's about it this time :D

Winter trip Part 2

Yeah yeah.. I very sien hor.. Lama tak meng-update.. only cakap2 nak update lol.

Anyways..

The adventures of L.A.T if you still remember continues....

Sit tight ppl..

Wonderful weather greeted us on our very first morning in Manchester.

Sun in full force.. out our room's window

Started the morning by waking up a wee bit early.. duh.. You don't wanna waste time sleeping when travelling do you? Besides, we have a breakfast waiting for us downstairs. It ends at 10 am was it? Buffet breakfast somemore.. kai wan siao.. With ppl like Eason on board, tell him buffet, habis cerita. LOL.

Well, after breakfast, we headed back to our room to begin our adventure for the day. As usual when abroad, the map was the starting point. Scan here scan there.. Hmm.. Then an idea flashed in my head. The equation of "Weather so good" + "Manchester". Oh shyt.. Its Old Trafford of course.. Nah.. Wrong ppl. NOP NOP. Coz Old Trafford would be tonight!!! OMG!

Anyways, non-footie fans might not realise that there is another popular club residing in Manchester too. Its Manchester City Football Club!

Pls Take note : Manchester United != Manchester City . <--Both are massive rivals So, you could guess by now where I planned to head to this morning. To the City of Manchester Stadium (home of Manchester City FC). Woohoo!~ Gosh, I was really really excited. Seriously, Im not over-exaggerating coz its gonna be the 1st stadium(since Ive been in UK) to visit! And you know how football-crazy I am. Thus, of course, that means a lot to me.. We decided to use the Manchester tram(seemingly Manchester's unique way to get around the city) to get to another area before using a bus to head to the stadium(which was the only way other than taking the cab). Some pics taken while waiting for the tram to arrive:

Hilton Tower/Hotel upclose

The tram track.. Tram tram where are you???

Uhh where next?

It was a very short bus trip to the place.

Here was roughly where the bus dropped us of.
The stadium is located inside the 'SportCity'.
This area was the venue of the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Before this, MCFC's home was at Maine's Road.

Pics from the outside:

Let's go in!

The main facade of the stadium

An upclose

I think this is how the fans get into the stadium during matchday.
Just like how cars get into the Bandar car park building

If you noticed properly on the pic above, there are names.
These as we learned later, are names of the season ticket holders! Cool huh

Off to the side of the stadium:

I guess this is where people can collect their match tix

Directly opposite the tickets' area, lies the
City Store, the official merchandise store of the club.
What does it mean? It means time to get a memorabilia!

The consequences of entering the store.
I decided to get the scarf, the jerseys were way costly

Well, I thought we were done for the day when a stranger suddenly approached us and offered to help us take a pic! Whoa.. I was indeed surprised coz we hadn't asked for help either. Anyways, Ok, why not I thought. After a few pics, he asked where were we from and such. Told us a bit bout the area. Thought that was it when suddenly he offered to bring us inside the area where we non-MCFC members are not allowed to enter. Wow.. I certainly won't be surprised if Im one hot girl!! But Im a guy! And he's a guy too. But no worries, 120% sure he aint gay, coz he had his child waiting for him in his car. LOL.. He pointed to the field(below) opp. of the stadium and told us that that is where the MCFC Reserves play their footie.. Anyways, nice person indeed. How often do you get sincerely friendly strangers nowadays?

MCFC Reserves Ground

Its already past midday and it was about time we head back to get Eason and Li Jiu Zhe. God knows what those 2 were doing alone in the room.. Eek!

On the way back,

Roman Ruins, just at the back of our hostel..

I wonder if it is the Romans who drew and painted these?? Hmm.. Don't think so eh.. Still looks new..

Next destination is Trafford Centre..

Some pics taken along the way to the tram to Trafford Centre..

We decided to get to Trafford Centre via. tram, then from the drop-off to Trafford Centre via bus. The waiting-for-the-bus part was very sucky. We waited around 45 minutes outside in the cold just to wait for it to arrive! That's evil I tell u! Evil bus driver. LOL.. Den I found out what was the cause when we embarked on the bus journey. It was already close to evening, and like most places on this planet, it was TRAFFIC JAM time. Oh noes.. It sucked really. The bus was so packed somemore. Another 30 mins, of painstakingly slow bus trip. Walao.

Anyways, alas, we arrived at the area, deemed to be one of the largest shopping areas in Europe, if I ain't wrong. Wow.. it damn sure is BIG! Gadong Mall is peanuts to this I tell you. I roughly estimate, it is the size of the Gadong area, from Guan Electrical up to The Mall. But imagine it with buildings linked with one another.

Someone save Santa!

Most of the buildings were more to chain department stores, such as M&S, Selfridges, all those. We decided to skip those and go to the mall-like one where there were different shops mixed along with food area.

The inside:

The foodcourt were divided into different 'countries'. This one represents New Orleans. Should be the USA one. Thus, I guess the buildings structures and all that depicted those in New Orleans'. Those food on sold were of course American ones.

Similarly, Chinatown! Thus Chinese food..

The center where all the 'countries' met..

Lots and lots of people..

Classy look eh.. I think this was one of the 'ends' of the food court.

Aights.. Just about it this time around..

I hope that Eason and Li Jiu Zhe won't feel too disappointed that there were no pics of em here. LOL

=)