Wildly Entertaining

Never really heard about this before coming over here, I mean, it hardly applies to us South East Asians anyhow.

The UK does not take this contest seriously at all, its a joke more than anything but apparently the rest of Europe goes all out to try and win.

Its so cheesy, so cringe-worthy, so strange, so theatrical, so garish, so gaudy and just so BAD that its GOOD!

You have to watch it to fully understand.

Temporary Home

I dunno if I've explained why I'm still in the UK. I was supposed to go back to Malaysia in January, but my cousin here in Scotland is getting married in July and my whole family is coming over for it so we figured it would make more sense to just extend my stay instead of go back, only to fly over to the UK again.

Its funny how when I left 3months seemed like a really long time, but I've been here almost 7months now and its felt like the time has just whizzed by.

Anyhow, I saved up for this trip and my 3month budget was being stretched to the limit. Since I was staying with relatives, I didn't have to worry about food and a roof over my head, but still - didn't want to impose too much.

Everyone said get a job, which I 100% wanted to do but the job situation in the Uk is pretty grim at the moment. So many locals were laid off last year and are looking for work, so its even tougher for a foreigner like me.

Thankfully though, I managed to get somewhere unexpected and have been working the past 2 weeks now. Its an outdoor centre, up in the North of Scotland in an area called Glenshee. It can have up to 70ish guests at one time, mostly school groups during the weekdays and youth groups on weekends. I'm doing housekeeping duties and I don't think I've ever cleaned so much in my life.

My day begins with cleaning and ends with cleaning. Though the pay is just so so, food and accommodation is provided here which is great because now I'm not a 'burden' to anyone.

The centre has people from all over - 3 Germans, a Filipino, an Australian, a South African couple, English folkes and of course some Scots. Most of the housekeeping staff are around my age which is also a relief because it was longing for peer friendship.

So this is what I'll be doing till the wedding date, working and saving and enjoying God's creation.

Paris - Day 1.3

1.3 : When In Paris...

After our Eiffel Tower once in a lifetime experience, we met up with our host Michelle at the base of the tower. She's from Cumnock, I met her in December during the Christmas holidays, but has been living and working in Paris for the past 6months.

The best thing about having someone who lives in an area your visiting is that they can take you to the non-touristy places and do non-touristy things.

That night, Michelle told us there was gonna be a picnic at a bridge, a farewell do for one of her colleagues. I automatically assumed it would be on a grassy area at the end of the bridge, but no- it was ON the bridge itself!

Apparently its a local hang out spot. The Pont des Arts is a pedestrian bridge over the Seine and people gather with all their picnic stuff.

I was so amused by it, and a little skeptical. However once we were on the bridge, there were already several groups sitting in circles and had a picnic spread. Tablecloth, baguettes, cheese, ham,wine, beer, juice, fruit, snacks....

Also, because this part of the world gets longer days now, we picnic-ed while the sun set behind us and with boats passing underneath the bridge.

How cool is that?

The thing I loved the most was the atmosphere the whole bridge had, there was a sense of friendliness that flowed from group to group with people going between groups borrowing or asking for things.

For example, one happy looking dude came up to us and asked for salt and pepper! We had none so he just shrugged, smiled and moved on.

Some guy wheeled a big speaker around and was a mini-mobile DJ; stopping beside different groups and DJ-ing for a bit before moving on.

Suzanne and I felt very welcome, thought we 'crashed' the picnic, those we met were great fun. Two Russians, a French couple and 3 Ukranians, all Physicists. It was a blast.
So much so that we made plans to meet up the following night. =)










































































If we did that back home in Malaysia, the police would come and chase us all away.

Paris - Day 1.2

1.2 : Hello Mr. Eiffel

Bir Hakeim is the nearest Metro station to the tower, about 5mins walk from it.

The Eiffel tower is really a spectacular sight! It's massive and it totally lives up to my expectations. When I was sight seeing in London, I was so disappointed with Big Ben because in my mind he was much bigger, but this French icon didn't let me down.

Now the number one thing you must have if you want to visit the Eiffel Tower is patience. It is at least a 45minute wait at the base of the tower. Thirty minutes is spent lining up for tickets, and another 15mins to go through security and wait for the lift to take you up to the 2nd floor, thats about 1/4 of the way up.




















Once the lift takes you up to the 2nd floor, you're ushered/pushed out and can walk around for as long as you like...


























Once you're satisfied and have taken all the photos you want, you then join another queue, the one that takes you all the way up to the top. Thats at least another 45minutes. It is a long wait, but if you have a travel buddy its not so bad.

View from the top, the Arc de Triomphe and just imagine all the pictures above, only smaller.























I'm guessing this tiny bar is located all the way up in the sky for those fellas who decide to propose right at the top of the Eiffel Tower, and celebrate her saying yes with champagne.
























Suzanne and I discussed this and I definitely would NOT want to be proposed to at the top of the Eiffel Tower because 1. omg, its a 2hour wait to get to the top and 2. its so packed with people there is no privacy at all! The dude wont even have enough space to get down on his knee... Seriously, the top section of the tower is totally swamped.

Unless the guy can rent the whole tower for the day, I dont think its a romantic idea at all.

While walking round the top, we spotted a toilet sign (they have toilets up there!) and although we weren't needing to we decided to go anyway.

I mean, how many people can say they peed over Paris eh? (prob thousands)



















Get this, even to go back down its another 30ish minute wait. Yes, again we waited but it was worse getting down because there was no respect for the queue and people were going past and joining on near the top of the line. Grrrr.

To keep you occupied while waiting they have a list of countries and their distance from the tower up on the walls...













Negaraku!










Overall, I would say if you are in Paris and have the time then you should definitely go up the Eiffel Tower. I mean, its a once in a lifetime thing, and its not like I'm gonna be going up it anytime in the near or distant future.

The waiting time is sucky but if you go prepared for a long wait then its fine.
Bring a book if you're going on your own.

Paris - Day 1.1

1.1: Horrible Start

Well, the day finally came, Suzanne (my cousin) and I were off for our weekend in Paris. The whole week leading up to the Friday I would have sudden bursts of, "I'm going to Paris!" and do a little dance, much to the amusement of those around me.

I had booked my flights way back in December, and unfortunately I didnt know where I would be at the end of April. Turns out I was in London, so my journey actually began with an 11hour train-bus-train ride back up to Scotland. Had I known I'd be in London, I would have taken the Eurostar or a flight from there instead of going all the way back up North only to fly back down South again.
















Upon arrival at the Charles De Gaulle Airport, we had to queue up to get a train into the city, but the lines were massive and we spent ages inching our way to the ticket machine.
















Cant understand what took so long because we managed to get our tickets with no problem at all. We were surprised at the size of the ticket the machine issued because its tiny! I felt so cheated, waiting for ages for a tiny insignificant ticket. It reminded me of the scene from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where the great big machine is making so much noise and you expect great big candy to come out of it, when all it produces is a stick of gum.




















After a 40min train ride to Denfert-Rochereau, dropped our bags off at Michelle's flat and got to the Metro station (their Underground/LRT) to go to the Eiffel Tower.

















At the station i was an active participant in a pick-pocket attempt that I helped prevent but was threatened after.

So I was at the bottom of the stairs leading into the Metro and two ladies were walking down. Suddenly her mobile phone went flying, as well as her purse. Her phone did the battery fly one way, casing fly another so she was preoccupied with that. I saw where her purse fell, and half a second later a scruffyish looking man in his 50's stepped on it. Obviously during that exact moment I just thought, "Oopsy, he's accidentally trodden on her purse." But then I realized he wasn't moving, he was just standing still on it. By then the lady had got her phone together and almost walked away when she said to the other woman with her that her purse was missing.

Automatically I stretched out my hand and pointed to the man's foot and said its there! Unfortunately he had it so well hidden, I had to point and say again, its there under his foot. The lady went over to him and was cursing and pissed cause it was by then so clear what he tried to do, got the purse and walked off.














It was then that I was aware that I was all alone. Just me and the pick-pocketer. My cousin had gone up to ground level to make a phone call. There was no one around us at all. Not good. So I quickly went back up the stairs to the entrance of the tube and he followed up behind me.

He then came close-ish speaking French which I obviously couldnt understand, did the finger-to-lips Shhhh gesture, followed by a I'll-slit-your-throat action. He repeated both gestures with a menacing stare, I nodded that I understood and he then walked off. If you can't get what he did it was basically saying, "Keep your mouth shut or I'll kill you."

Once I explained it all to Suzanne (she thought he was trying to tell me not to go that way, its not the way out... hahaha) and we got onto the right platform, our journey to the tower began.