I managed to bring 50 kg of clothes, toys, books, rocks and other things back home with me.
Without paying any extra too!
… by cheating a bit obviously.
First was when DikHaHaHau brought back 10 kg of my clothes and books in June.
(His relatives actually asked him to make sure i wasn’t the type of girl who packed drugs into her luggage )
And the rest of my stuff i brought back this week.
At the airport, I checked in a 30kg bag (managed to accumulate so much stuff argh)
while Aunt G stood elsewhere with another 10 kg wheelie i was going to carry on.
Nicked an extra carry-on tag,
latched it to the second bag and brought it on board with me.
Flight from Heathrow missed its take-off slot,
so we were delayed by 2 HOURS while waiting to leave!
Everyone on the flight subsequently missed their connecting flights,
and i met some people on their way to Melbourne and South Africa as well as KL.
Somewhere halfway between London and Doha,
i heard the passenger behind me sing “Let It Be” aloud on the plane with the fellow passenger next to him joining in.
My! What a happy person he must be!
The song brought me back good memories of Isle of Wight.
Grabbing my pen, i wrote him a note on the back of the paper that comes under your meal: “Heard you singing “Let It Be”! Never heard anyone sing aloud on the plane before, let alone that song!
And for that, you deserve a big smiley face.”
Then drew a massive smiley face below it
before waving the note at him thru the cramp space next to my window.
He must have been thinking ‘wtf’ before reading it.
Heard his companion and him laugh from the back. (This mini-story ends with the guy behind me adding me on Facebook.)
That was the only happy thing during the flight,
rest of it was spent plotting how to shut this child up.
He was about 7 and i reckon that if he can have a proper conversation with his mother,
he can jolly well shut his trap instead of crying and whining every time he felt like it.
I even thought of the most harmless thing i could do to him without getting arrested, and wondered i won’t get arrested if i throw a glass of water on him right? People can throw water on noisy cats, and he’s definitely noisy and worse than a cat, and it’d probably shock him into silence cos his bloody mother is not doing anything about it!
No. I didn’t do it in the end.
Cos at the point i had already stood up and shushed him,
and was almost pressing for the stewardess to request a glass of water,
he decided to shut up.
Because i had to wait for the next flight to KL the next morning,
I got thrown into a hotel in Doha for the night.
Some of the buildings in Doha are magnificent,
tho not as so in Dubai, i’m sure.
My favourite was a rectangular building which was made with a twist, literally.
The diamond-shaped reflective windows twisted clockwise,
as if a giant, being the maker of the building, decided to twist his fingers as he reached the very top. “And we think the Gherkin is so spectacular…” one of the other passengers said, mouth agape, as our shuttle bus made its way to the airport in the dusty heat.
Made friends with a design graduate from LKW London who sat next to me on the Doha-KL flight.
He wore really nice shoes and told me bout his girlfriend and him going to Bali next week,
to which i shrieked, “BALI! YOU’LL LOVE BALI! LET ME SEND YOU MY BALI EMAIL!”
Clem picked me up from the airport,
and i’ll just censor the part from when i saw him to when i tried to unpack the next day.
When i took my 2 bags home,
i stepped into my room with trepidation…
half-knowing i wouldn’t be able to unpack due to lack of cupboard space!
Told Clem about it and we discussed proper about moving into a 3-bedroom place next year.
As long as i get 2 rooms for my clothes and toys, i’m down with it.
Someone even said their fantasy job was to be a pornstar,
but i didn’t think it’d be appropriate to put a picture here :p
ANYWAY,
Regardless of how crazy or impossible you may think it is to reach for your dream job,
there is a chance for you to be given a stepping stone!
Nescafe Kick-Start has been making dreams come true for young Malaysians for years,
with past contests sponsoring winners a huge sum of money to kickstart their business ideas.
After a successful run, Nescafe realised that not everyone wants to venture into business,
but everyone sure as hell wants a dream job!
Hence, this year’s Nescafe Kick-Start has got a more exciting concept to it,
once which would appeal to anyone!
The all new Nescafe Kick-Start Reloaded will be offering the winner a 3-month internship at their dream job of choice.
These dream jobs have been selected to cover different interests and personalities!
Imagine being a video game tester?
Or a celebrity personal assistant?
Or even a mystery shopper!?
Things that you never thought you’d actually be paid money to do!
To win, you have to submit your choice of dream job,
ad a self-promotional video telling the public + judges WHY YOU SHOULD GET IT.
After voting by public and judges,
15 finalists will be chosen to undergo physical and mental challenges…
for 24 hours straight.
This will be filmed and broadcast live online
At the end of the 24-hour challenge,
the employers will choose who they want to hire,
based on the contestants’ 3in1 characteristics – passion, personality and perseverance.
Sounds like you have nothing to lose if you want to earn money while doing something fun in your life!
We set sail from St. Tropez on Saturday,
and stopped by different locations on the south of France and Italy,
before arriving at Rome yesterday.
Yishyene and i were awfully apprehensive about how useful we’d be on the catamaran,
as we didn’t know how to cook…
and definitely didn’t know how to sail.
At the end of it,
we achieved cooking one dinner (not much, i know) and i was unofficially appointed Alcohol Officer (thanks to my cocktail-making activities, the only skill i know besides cleaning)
At the beginning of it, they told me not to blog that Yishyene and i will be sailing with a group of Israelis.
And at first, i did agree not to mention it.
But after coming home, and thinking about it,
i wondered – why?
Because both our countries don’t have diplomatic relations..?
That was the only reason.
And perhaps, that my blog may garner some bad publicity because of it.
The fact is, my blog is about life. About traveling, fashion, food, people.
And a big part of my life are the people i meet.
I reckon that the fear humans have about making known
their relations with people of other cultures/believes/countries
is what closes one’s minds and hearts.
That is not the way i want to live.
I had one of the best journeys i’ve ever had,
and will always treasure close to my heart.
A sore but true stigma that stood out,
was when we bantered about visiting one another in each others’ countries,
with an ending note that it was highly unlikely due to its complications.
How sad is that…
As i packed my bag this afternoon,
Nir came in to check on the washing machine (which was in the connecting room to our bedroom)
“Sad to leave the boat…” i said in a small voice.
And he gave me a hug before continuing his quest on Figuring-Out-The-Dryer,
as i continued my quest on How-To-Fit-Everything-Into-One-Luggage-Bag.
In St Jean Cap Ferrat,
we got turned away from a restaurant because it was too full,
i listened in fascination to two French girls talk to each other in singsong voices,
the men helped us pump up the blow-up dolphin, killer whale and turbo ring Yishyene brought,
i tripped clumsily while getting out of the water (which Yishyene got on vid -_-),
i watched in delight as Abi tried playing with our bubble blower,
we slurped bouillabaisse in pleasure,
and a little French boy we made friends with threw baguette at my head.
In South of France right now at Saint Jean Cap Ferrat Gonna make this a quick one as everyone is sitting at a cafe waiting for me!
St. Tropez is gorgeous.
Such a sight.
Everything that i’ve garnered from pictures and stories,
and nothing i’ve ever seen in my life!
Beautiful people dressed to the nines,
in exquisite threads,
that just about cover fit bods.
Nir’s catamaran that 7 of us are on,
to sail from St. Tropez to Rome
(we should be reaching Rome sometime this coming Saturday)
On the way we stop by various marinas with the quaintest cafes,
AMAZING FOOD (i know i keep on talking about food on my trip!)
and sweet-coloured buildings.
Went partying on Friday night in St Tropez.
Fantastic clubs and music.
Price for drinks were also fantastic… 26 euros a drink 0_o
Nir: What are you doing?
top; absolute vintage @ brick lane
shorts; h&m
bag; next
Choice of breakfast drinks – strawberry juice, coffee, Heineken.
No prizes for guessing who had beer for breakfast.
LOVE the ice cream that Nir said we HAD to try.
I had vanilla with white choc bits, and melon.
Things here easily remind me of…
My best memory of the trip so far is watching all the boats and ships on sea,
congregating at a particular spot,
all faced towards one boat playing what sounded like opera at first.
We then realised that it was mass happening on sea!
The entire place was silent,
boats and yachts afloat,
all facing the one that was blasting out a peaceful French hymn.
The only sound besides it was made by a seagull,
and the moment was absolutely magical.
I think i almost cried because it was such a beautiful moment.
)
