Guess the internet has been the main mode of keeping in touch with everyone. Strangely, apart from using the laptop to skype with my family or check my emails, I seldom use it. But when I was unable to use it, I feel deprived and deeply inconvenienced. Is this reflective of life in general? When you have something, you don’t really appreciate it as much, but when you lose it, you feel so upset?

Guess you learn something new everyday.. From this unhappy episode, I’ve learnt to appreciate what I have and more imptly to let go (of ppl who don’t deserve you).

We began our trip at Rome.  Out of all the cities that I had visited, I love Rome the most. Rome is so rich in history and you see a lot of ancient ruins such as Colosseum. On top of that, the people in Rome are really nice, humorous and friendly (unlike the snobbish french) and the men in Rome are all so charming and handsome.. haha… I ate lots of pasta and pizza while I was in Italy and they are really delicious. The authentic italian carbonara is actually not the creamy sort that they serve in singapore. They are actually stir-fried with egg. Before I went on the trip, I was actually feeling quite apprehensive about Rome as I had heard a lot of horror stories about pickpockets and gysies but thank goodness we never encountered them. The city actually looks quite old and their buildings and trains are filled with graffitti. This seems to be the common trend of european Florence. I really like the leaning tower of Pisa. It’s really miraculous why it was tilted at that angle and the buildings leading up to leading tower were really pretty as well. The weather that day was really good, so the pictures that we took turned out really beautiful with the beautiful blue sky in the background :) Florence is quite a mountainous region and the view from Piazza Michaelango is so nice… (to be continued)

 

I feel deeply blessed. I had one of the best birthdays in my life. Despite being far away from my home, I still feel much loved by all my friends and family. I had my first surprise in the late evening of 10^th Sept (around 11.50pm) when my Singapore colleagues surprised me at my apartment with a cake. They also sang happy birthday song to me. It was really nice of them. When I went to office on 911, I received a parcel from my team in Singapore. They have sent a big bouquet of pink roses which was really sweet of them. Zhang Ran also bought me a small bunch of African daisies J After work, I went for dinner at Royal China with SL, Lijun and Zhang Ran.  

Above all, the highlight of my birthday was the lovely gift that I received from my dear crescent friends. They have made a video and couriered the CD to me. I am so deeply touched. I nearly cried as I saw the video. They made me feel so loved and they really went out all the way to show that they really cared and wanna celebrate this special day with me. I really like the mini-cake  that you gals bought and the birthday song that you all sang. J I laughed my head off at several moments of the video. I do feel deeply fortunate to have met these friends. Looks like u gals have loads of fun during ur shopping trips, thanks for involving me with your purchases (bags & clothes ) as well. I will remember the wishes that you have for me. I really wish that I can be back in Singapore to give you all a big hug each :)

Thanks also to all my friends who msged me and also sent e-cards to me. Bren loves all of you!

It is my 4th week in London. What an interesting 4 weeks it has been! 

I went to watch Les Miserables on my 2^nd day of work. The singing was fantastic though there were a lot of parts which I was trying hard to comprehend as their engligh was too accented. I went to Prague on my first weekend in London. Prague was beautiful, one of the best & most beautiful places that I have visited. Most of the sites were really breathtaking and it made me feel very relaxed and happy despite getting several calls from xxx which made me feel rather down during the week. Charles Bridge which  has several statues on it and it links the main town to Prague castle which is really spectacular as well. The picture you see below is old town square, with Church of Our Lady before Tyn as the twin peak.

I went to a nice jazz bar (Agartha) on the last night of my Prague tour and the performance was great.

I spend my 2^nd weekend at Oxford, home of the prestigious oxford university. There are many amazing architecture with spires on the top of each buildings. Also, at the end of the trip, I tuck into delicious steamboat. But it does not taste half as nice as Rajah Inn, Tian Tian or Margaret’s steamboat. Ha ha.. Regi, u must pei me to eat steamboat everyday when I come back k. 

On my third weekend, I went to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge was in  running this year as one of the seven wonders of the world but lost out to the other wonders. It is basically just slabs of stone but its amazing how these slabs got transported there and apparently it has been there since pre-historic time.

    Here are some of the interesting things that I have observed in London:

(a)    Toilets in London are dirty cos the flush system is weak. I figured that the reason for this is that they are very eco-friendly and they wanna limit the usage of water. (b)   The transport system in London sucks big time. The tubes can break down all of a sudden and some of the stations shut down over the weekend due to re-engineering work. Also, in my second week, there was a tube strike which has created a big havoc and jam. Thank goodness I can walk to work.  (c) ppl in london are quite cold, so I miss good old singapore very much.