Dumb dumb me

I sometimes don't even understand myself. I wouldn't blame anyone who doesn't.

The dumb me had decided to settle for uncertainty and interest rather than a high paying job, with flexi hours and easy workloads. Well, aren't those what I've been dreaming of having all these while?

I look at the rest and go green with envy with the fancy titles, the vast opportunities given and the high monthly incomes. But when it got to me, I chose to let go and pursue something which I would be more interested instead.

The rest comes in secondary. It's the interest that matters now.

Yea, call me dumb.

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Quote

"I don't have a set destination of where I want to be. I can only build my capabilities and perform better than my counterparts and I know I will go somewhere. "

- An interview conversation from The Star -

Some one just laid out what I had in mind. So I wasn't the only one wandering around aimlessly.

Thank you.

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I finally got 'em!

I am a fussy one on shoes.

One tour member came out of this shoe store in London with 4 pairs of shoes in tow. "All the brands are there. Adidas. Nike. Puma. Reebok. Even Playboy and Hello Kitty. All sizes. All colours. All designs. And very affordable", she said.

So I rushed in. Went through the shelves. Skimmed through everything they have in store. It was quite awhile later when I set my eyes on these. The right design. The right colour. Never mind that they were out of trend.

Only 22 pounds!

Unfortunately, they didn't have my size. As the tag says, "Limited sizes only." I sulked walking out of the store empty handed.

But back in KL, I found the exact same design and colour. With the right size! Yippieee!

You are mine now. All mine!

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An European getaway

It was a blessing that Eyjafjallajökull had ceased to erupt 2 days before I was due to fly and resumed erupting just 2 days after I returned. I wasn't caught in any flight cancelations nor delays. The weather had been great throughout the entire tour. Even the tour guide thanked God for making this tour a smooth sailing one - covering all programmes and meeting each timeline.

My maiden voyage to the European countries had covered the western side of it - Germany, Switzerland, France, Holland, Belgium and the United Kingdoms. I had wanted to go for Kontiki or some other youth travels but the situation had not allowed me much choices, so I went with the tour group. It wasn't really satisfying as I  have little patience for the elders. They just had different interests and different purposes. I was more into cultures and sculptures and architectures. They were more into shoppings and food and more shoppings.

It was a rather rush one - only stopping for around 15 to 45 minutes on each location. There wasn't enough time for photos and souveniers all together. More like a Touch 'N Go concept. You 'touched' one location and hurried on to the next one. But we did covered all the major hotspots. Those must-see places. All in all, it was kinda worthwhile.

Germany - Black Forest

It is a llittle town right outside of the Black Forest. It's the home of the cuckoo clocks. Only originally found in this place - all hand made.  By the way, Black Forest doesn't mean that the trees are black in colour. The pine trees grew so high and so near to each other that you can't see the sun light if you venture too deep into the forest. Hence, that is where the forest got its name.

Switzerland - Rhine Falls, Lucerne, Mount Titlis

  Rhine Falls. 

Uncomparable to Niagra Falls. Clear waters. Very clear.

All around Lucerne town.  

 

The icy Mount Titlis

Mountain Titlis view from land.  

The mountain. Glacier cave. Cheese fondue.

Switzerland has few of the best cities in the world - Zurich, Geneva, Bern. Fresh air. Clean waters. Crime free neighbourhoods. Friendly people. I will certainly choose to retire there.

France - Beaune and Paris

Wine tasting in Beaune. It's not a vineyard. It's a chapel turned wine cellar. 

The one and only Eiffel Tower. 

Notre Dame Cathedral. 

Supposingly the third largest one in the world. 

Lafayette Departmental Store.

One of the finest in Paris.

 

French escargot.  

Superbly yummy.

The French are very stuck up. We have been warned and so have you. If you do not speak French, do not dream that they will look at you. 

Remember to pay a visit to Lido on Champs-Elysees while you're in Paris. It housed the world's most famous cabaret show. Girls trained under a Miss Bluebell, with 2010 its 100 years anniversary. We were not allowed photos during the show, so I got these pictures of the internet. They are the exact same thing. Live dances, music and champagne. Definitely worth it.

Holland - Amsterdam

It's spring! Boy, am I glad I visited this season. The tulips were in full bloom. They looked too real to be fake. It's a huge garden in Keukenhof. Real huge. And my quest for the black tulips have been in vain.

 

Windmills. Dutch clogs. Dutch houses.

Belgium - Brussels

All taken from the Grand Place.  

A UNESCO World Heritage Site. Very impressive.

The Mannekin Pis. Belgium chocolates. Human sculptures.

United Kingdom - London

Buckingham Palace.

No, it's not the London Bridge. It's the Tower Bridge, to be exact.

 

Saint Paul's Cathedral. 

Second largest in world behind Saint Peter's in the Vatican.

Big Ben. 

Westminster Abbey.

Charming. 

Angus Steakhouse. 

They have the "Best Steaks in London".

All around London city.

British Museum. 

That's me with Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Beauty.

Next stop - Italy or Scotland. I am waiting. 

I am already missing Switzerland.

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The amusing and annoying side of Malaysians

There are just too many stories to tell from my recent European tour. It's not about the places or the sceneries or the foreign architectures. You can look those up in Wikipedia itself. These are the stories where Wikipedia could not relate. These are the stories where you've got to experience them in person.

Malaysians are a real humurous bunch. It is both amusing and annoying to mingle with them.

The boastful ones...
Aunty 1: "Wow! You got yourself 4 different types of Louis Vuitton bags. They must have costs a bunch!"

Aunty 2: "Aiyaaa...it's nothing. My company awards me a 5 figure bonus every year. That's why I can afford to come to Europe maaa. I am a huge fan of Louis Vuitton. I don't go for other cheap ones. You leh? You didn't even buy one?"

(That's the same aunty who bargained for lower prices at the Rolex shop in my previous entry.)

The cocky ones...
Me : "Uncle, didn't you buy these tasty Belgium chocolates?"

Uncle : "Ceh, these are unknown brands. No one knows for sure if they are tasty. If I bring them back to KL, no one would even try them. We only eat famous chocolate brands. So no point."

(Uncle's wife came out of the chocolate store with one bag fully loaded of that unknown chocolate brand.)

The complaining ones...
Uncle 1 : "OMG! This soup sucks! It tastes nothing like those back at my hometown! Why didn't the tour agency arranged better meals?"

Uncle 1: "Goodness! This vege is so darn salty! Didn't they realise we are old and can't take much salty food? Didn't the tour guide inform them?"

Uncle 1: "Why do they keep serving us bread and butter? Don't they have any other things to eat? I'm sick of bread for breakfast every morning."

(Uncle oh uncle, if you don't like it then don't come to Europe. Or better still, go get your own food!)

The overly-kiasu ones...
Mum : "Lets get back to the meeting place. I don't want to miss the next programme."

Daughter: "But mum, we are allowed 2 hours for our own sight-seeing. Only half an hour has passed."

Mum : "Hmmm, okay then. Let's just stick to this street. I'm afraid we'll get lost if we venture further."

Daughter: "What? But there are more things to see on the next street. It's not really that difficult to find."

Mum: "Just do as I tell you to!"

(What's the point of travelling then? Just stay at home. Poor daughter.)

The calculative ones...
Uncle 1: "Wow! I have to pay 0.50 pounds to use the restroom. That's like RM2.50! So expensive! I'll just wait till I get back to the hotel."

Uncle 2: "Did I see that wrongly? The mineral water costs 1.50 euros? That's RM6.60! Why is plain water so expensive?"

Uncle 3: "We got to pay 130 euros for that cabaret show? That's almost RM600! No! No! No! I'm not going to watch that!"

(C'mon! If you were to calculate everything like this, you won't even need to go to Europe. Stay back in KL, everything would be cheap. You could afford 2,000 euros for a LV bag but not 1.50 euros on mineral water? Give me a break!)

...And the tour guide
"Oh! I left your entrance tickets back at the hotel. Please wait for a moment. I'll get fresh tickets."
(We wasted almost 45 minutes by the entrance doing nothing.)

"They must have changed the subway lines. I remembered this line would take us straight to the destination. But I guess now you all would have to walk a little."
(We walked alright. We switched trains and walked around the underground subways for almost 45 minutes, unable to board the right train.)

"The driver has exceeded his working hours. So we got to cut short our sight seeing time. Now please hurry and finish your meals."
(I'd rate her 2 out of 10 points for this remark. This is so unacceptable! You deal with the driver on that. Never comprimise your customers!)

And so you see. Malaysians. They define themselves. By the way they talk and act.

I seemed to be having a grudge on my own people just after a week. I can't help it. No offense out there. I seriously can't help it.

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The ugly side of Malaysians

"Do as the Romans do"

Unfortunately, the phrase doesn't apply to certain Malaysians. Just returned from my week long European tour, I couldn't believed that certain Malaysians behaved the way they did. I hate to say this, but, I felt embarrassed to say that I am from Malaysia on European soil. I felt embarrassed to be associated with my fellow tour mates in European restaurants or shopping boutiques. It's not to say that they are in the wrong. They just....they just don't do as the Romans do.

My tour group had consisted of 32 members. There were a few honeymoon couples. One or 2 families travelling together. A group of young friends. A group of 3 grandmas. And a couple of couples aged between 40 -50 years of age. Yea. They all seemed well to do.Until they get real kiasu and real greedy. Gosh! I almost had to dig a hole and bury my face in it.

Scenario 1:

Aunty and daughter with huge luggages stood right in front of the elevator door. Once the door opened, they pulled their luggages into the elevator, not even allowing the person inside to step out first. When aunty realised the rest couldn't get in, she told her daughter to drag the luggages out again. The person inside stood smiling.

Scenario 2:

At the hotel buffet breakfast. All food and drinks were free flow. Realising that, aunty told her husband to get a few cups of orange juices. She poured all of them into her empty mineral bottle, to be taken away. Something like self "ta-pao". Our tour guide found out and told her that it's not allowed in Europe. If the waitresses saw, they could charge a fee on the drink. Aunty didn't even apologise and quickly hid the bottle in her bag.

Scenario 3:

At the public restrooms. The basic restroom etiquette would be to queue up at the main door or slightly inside the main door. Aunty (yes, it's aunty again) was lining up and grew impatient, she barged straight to a cubicle door and stood right in front. Seeing that, the rest of the aunties did the same. So everyone was lining up outside the cubicle doors and blocking the walkways.

Scenario 4:

At the dim sum restaurant in Chinatown. Grandma did almost the same thing. She filled her empty bottle with hot chinese tea, with the intention of taking it back. Grandma later realised that she wouldn't be able to sleep at night after drinking tea, so guess what? She walked to a live plant by the window of the restaurant and poured the filled bottle of tea on to the plant. Everyone else looked at her.

Scenario 5:
In the tour bus. Our tour guide announced that she will allow us 30 minutes for photo shoots at this particular destination. The bus have not even stopped and parked, aunty already got up from her seat, hurried her daughter to the door and said, " Quick! Quick! Get to the front. Get the best angle. Don't let the rest block the view." I went speechless.....

Scenario 6:
At this watch shop in Switzerland. The Swiss are well known for their fine watches. A supposingly well-to-do aunty has set her eyes on this Rolex watch, which costs around 73,000 euros. Instead of just paying the price for the watch, she asked for a discount. Pasar malam style. "No la. No la. 60,000 euros la. 60,000 euros. Can ah?" After a long negotiation, the sales lady agreed to a 5% discount. Aunty was still not satisfied. "So little ah? 60,000 euros la. Round figure. 60,000 euros. I buy immediately. 60,000 euros." The sales lady got mad. "No! No! These are Rolex. The price is fixed. We can't sell for 60,000 euros!" The sales lady stormed away, leaving the aunty at the counter, complaining and complaining to her husband.

Scenario 7:
It was a free and easy day for us. As we were not aware of any tasty food, the tour guide brought us to this chinese restaurant, to suit the tastes of uncles and aunties, on our own expenses. The table next to us were a mix of the 3 grandmas and a couple of the middle aged couples. After the meal, they told the waiter to split the bill for the table into 3 separate ones. Each for the different couples. It was already a hassle for the waiter to take down each particular order and split them. Not only that. They realised the bill was split wrongly. They went to the cashier to complain. "This bowl of rice is theirs. It shoudn't be on our bill. Please deduct this here and include it in their bill." What in the world!??!?! I regreted telling the waiter we were from Malaysia earlier when he was taking our order. I walked out of the restaurant as fast as I could.

No wonder the Europeans looked down on us Asians. I wouldn't blame them. Just look at the way some of us behave. Not every where is like home. Sometimes you need to blend with the flow. And watch out for your manners out there. You are carrying our country's name and your own family name.

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