Ole...Barcelona

Welcome to Barcelona...one of the famous cities in Spain. One of the non-English speaking cities in the world.yeah....had trouble to communicate with people here.

This is Catalunya. The city centre or, the heart of the city.Same like the cat statues near Riverside Majestic lah..Anyway, this was where Pame and I waited for her friend....erm..what's his name...s&$t.It's been a while, and my memory retention is getting low these days.

Anyway, this city was pack with a lot of people, especially tourists. A tour operator advised us to take care of our belongings because a lot of pickpockets happened around here..yikes, and it was only our first day.

Before that, both of us had our breakfast in a cafe outside our hotel.It was quite expensive and I had no idea on some of the things in the menu because it was written in Catalunyian language, so I had a hard time to decide what to order. Until I read something that said "hot dogs".

Captured this pic in the cafe. I think due to a lot of smokers around, so they decided to have vendor machines for ciggies.OOooh, how thoughtful..wonder what's the smoker's death rate?hmm..

I took this pic when both of us waited for the bus. The bus ride was damn expensive.Return ticket was 22euros!It wasn't that far!

This is one of the back alleys in the city. See the graffiti work on the shutters?not that nice, huh..The streets and alleys are not really clean. At some point, we had to hold or breaths while walking because we could smell pee and...saw poo..dunno whether it was dog poo, cat poo or, human poo.

We found the Barcelona Cathedral while walking along Las Ramblas (or La Rambla,some people say like this). It was magnificiently beautiful.Words can't describe the work that was done on the walls and the ceilings. I was speechless, yep...indeed I was.

We also stop by at a market called La Boqueria. Food!!hehehehe..so many fruits, so many types of chocolates, so many types of meat for people to buy!Look at the porks sold....nyum..nyum...

Bought a t-shirt here. Cost me 22.95 euros..yeah, expensive..but, worth it...adds to my collection.heheh..

I think this was a porn museum. I took this photo while walking along La Ramblas.Have no idea what's (or who's) inside there. I didn't dare to go.

I went to other areas, too in Barcelona. Saw human statues along Las Ramblas, had difficulty to look for directions as the people we met were not that friendly,or refuse to speak in English. We got ripped off by young girls when we walked to Hablo Espanol near Barcelona Stadium. They told us to sign for petition, then, when I was about to sign, I saw a column for contribution/donation. Damn, then..immediately, I know this is a scam. But we couldn't run away because they surrounded us at the stairs.Gave them f&*ki*g 2euros and they wanted more. I said no, I need the other money for my bus ride. so teruk laa..

To cut short (I'm tired) in three days, Pame and I covered most of the tourist spots. If I have a chance to go to Europe, I may not come here again.hehe...this is purely based on my opinion.

I end my post with my jump near the Barcelona stadium.

Next stop, Venice!My most favourite city..

My trip to Oxford City

Ok....I'm back...After CITA'09 last week, I can say now I'm a bit relaxed. So, off to blogging and continue with my report on my Euro trip.

In the bus to Oxford City. We almost missed the bus because in the itinerary did not state exactly which bus stop we should go to. Luckily we arrived early for the day. I had to run with my very hot, hot chocolate cup in my hands to get to the bus stop. But, see...I was smiling!

When we arrived, we saw very old buildings. They were very well preserved.

Found the university souvenir shop.Apa lagi, shopping la.

Some guy posed in front of a church door. Macam model.

Ok, I'm too lazy to post up pics one by one, so I made a collage of the pics.

Next post, Barcelona....

My first time in London.

We arrived hrmm..I can't recall what time in Heathrow Airport.The airportt was quite pack with people. I was a bit scared bout the swine flu and everything but thank God I'm ok.

So, I called up Diane and confirmed with her the directions to her house. It was easy to get to her house. We took the train and hopped on the Picadilly line train. On normal days the journey would take about an hour to reach Manor House station from Heathrow. However....on that particular day, the line was discontinued for maintenance. Both of us and also some other tourists I supposed didn't realise this, too, until we reached a station and everyone was asked to leave the train. Some station worker said that we had to get to another station if we want to use the train. So, we got out of the tunnel and walked to another station which took us about 10 mins to walk. I didn't mind the walk, but, I was carrying my backpack, and the bag weighed about 10kg.hehehe..why didn't I bring a trolley bag, you say?Not recommended for this kind of trip.

So, we took a train from another station but the train doesn't stop at Manor House. Closest stop to Manor House is Finsbury Park. Diane told us to get a cab from there to her place. Cab??$$$. Okay, as long as we reach her place. After another 10-15 minutes ride on the train we reached Finsbury Park. Got off the train and went out of the station to look for a cab. There was none. Asked around, and they gave useless directions. "You can get the cab from anywhere,"said one guy Pame asked. Like where?Yeah..we didn't see any. So we walked in front of the station, and there..was.. a cab stand!Why didn't we go there in the first place?I don't know..too tired and jet lagged. Cab arrived few minutes later and then about 15 minutes we reached Diane's house.

Sorry, Pame. I had to use this picture. I want to show her house. This was the best one I have. I was to tired to go out that evening, so both of us chat a bit with Diane and then dozed off. That's what I did on my first day in London..hahaha..

The next morning, we're off to the city. Took the train and then had breakfast at Leicester Square. Ok, let's talk about what happened at Leicester Square. We bought our breakfast from a shop then decided to eat at the square. We wanted to go on the Hop on hop off bus after that and the stop point is just around the corner. As I was about to eat my sandwich...PLOP..on my left index finger...bird poo.Yep....it's morning..and the bird just decided to do it's morning business above me. I thought it was just a drop of water..but...nooo...definitely poo.

Well, they say...if a bird poo-ed on you, it brings good luck. Well, I don't see any proof on this yet.Have you?Ok...enough about that. After we had our breakie, we bought ourselves tickets for the Hop-on-Hop-off bus tour.

I was so excited and I quickly went on top of the bus. It was COLD..and WINDY..and POLLEN-Y..I am allergic to dust and I kept on sneezing on the bus. But it was fun being on top of the bus!heheh..

Saw some old buildings. The commentor on the bus said something but I didn't pay attention.

Saw this, too at some street.

Our tour include a river cruise. So we must stop near the Big Ben.

I was really here!

The London Eye. I saw one like this in Singapore. Didn't ride on it coz quite expensive.

There's more...but I'm a bit tired of waiting for the pictures to be uploaded. Will post up some pics of Oxford, next!

I am fully recovered from my two weeks holiday

Huaaaaaaa (yawn)...

I know...I know...I'm not a good blogger.

Work took up most of my time and by the time I reach home, I was too tired to switch on my lappy  (that's what I heard people call their laptops these days) or my PC.

ANYWAY, I had spent my holiday with a very close friend of mine, Pame, to Europe. We covered London, Barcelona, Venice and Paris. For those who has me as their Facebook friend, I'm totally sure you have seen my photos. So, next post is about my trip to London. I know I should've continued about my stay in Bario..maybe some other time.hehehe..

next post, LONDON..fiiuuuuuuuu...(airplane landing sound).

A trip to Bario : Day One

I just got back from Bario. Actually, came back on Thursday.hehehe.. And now I'm already at home, telling you my experience in this lovely place, far from traffic jam, stress and rowdy people on the road.

Ok...now about Bario....Google it. You'll find lots of information on the place, ok, ok..here, find it in eBario . Now, about my trip. There were 7 of us in the trip. Dr Alvin, Dr Tan, Sharin, Lau, Elly, Nancy and myself. Dr Tan and the gang (4 of them) went there first on Monday then, me, Sharin and Dr Alvin flew on Tuesday morning. I didn't have a clue why I was included in the trip, then I realised I'm in the eLearning project for students in Bario. Damn, I was excited, alright..I'll tell you later why.

Flight was at 7am (aaaaaaaa) to Miri and both Mom and Dad sent me to airport at 5.45 am. Yeah, I'm still their baby. Well, actually, their both were worried about me going to Bario. Both of them never been there, so, they could not expect how would I survive in that very remote place. I was about to open my door to get out of the car at the airport when suddenly Dad said, "Come let's pray," Huh???ok...so we all prayed. Aya....manyak susah hati mau pegi. It's all about the plane to Bario. Yeah, it's a plane alright..wait til you see the size of it.

On the way to Miri

Pictures were all taken using my Sony DSC-T5. I wanted to bring the Nikon D60, but, I've decided not to because my backpack was already heavy without it and I was ultimately scared that I'll be thrown off the plane because of my weight + backpack is already -toot- tooot- kg. Good thing about this camera is that I can slide it in my pocket. Bad thing is, it's only 5MP and I did not upgrade the card, so, the size is 256mb. Yes, I could not take too many pictures.:( Not to worry, I have plenty to share *wink*.

8.00am : Arrived at Miri airport. It's been a while since I last came to Miri. I think it was in 2004 for my final stage interview with Shell. (obviously, I didn't get through) We had our breakfast in one of the restaurants in the airport after we checked in for our next flight to Bario. Chat a bit then the three of us walked to the departure hall. Our flight was at 10.30 am and we were expected to arrive at 11.20 am in Bario.

So, I've been on a Twin Otter. It seats 19, erm..no, 12 passengers and all passengers sit in first class. There's no second class. There's no air stewards/stewardesses, so, pandai-pandai la buat air sendiri.

This was our plane to Bario. I was excited to get on this plane.You know why?

You get to sit behind the pilot!hehehe...

I was struggling to put on my seat belt. I couldn't loosen the belt to fit me. Shitt..who the -toot- sat here? I said to Sharin, it must be Dr Tan.hahahah...Sharin told me to ask him later after we get to Bario. The pilot started the engine, and I still couldn't put on my belt. Sharin pulled, I pulled, finally I found out I had to push the "stopper" to adjust the belt. Phewww....

Two anxious looking people

And, we're off!Sharin and I didn't even realise we were already on the air until we looked out the window. Then the pilot said something through his mic. In normal circumstances, we should be able to hear the pilot's report, but because of the engine was too loud, I couldn't get what he said. I prayed, yeah..I prayed.

I didn't seat exactly behind the pilot.There's no seat number but I said next to this sign.

I even found out there were fans

and, if we still feel hot/stuffy/like fainting, we can use this,too.

One of the pilots covered his view window with a cloth.Haha..I guess he was hot, too.

The view was spectacular. Mountains upon mountains..

I saw this...

Dr Alvin saw this. He said this is Gunung Murud.

Then, we saw him sleeping soundly. No, not Dr Alvin..His name is Jeffrey and he's from Bario.

11.30 am : Touched down in Bario airport.

It was a smooth touch down, thumbs up to the two pilots. I got off the plane and I paused to look around. Hmm...very quiet, indeed. Dr Alvin led the way into the airport and we passed by the check- in counter. Hmmmmm...

We walked to the other side of the building and we were greeted by a man named John Tarawe. He is the owner of the place where we were staying for the next two nights and also the man who us in charge of the eBario telecentre. I've heard and read about this man, and now I'm meeting him in person. Google him, if you want to know more about him and his effort to his community.

We lepak for a while and ate curry mee + egg and chat with John. He talked lots of stuff about his plans for Bario and his involvement with NGOs like UNDP and WWF. Dr Alvin did most of the talking, as he's good friends with John. I just knew that Bario just had Celcom line in two weeks ago and John told us that everyone has been busy on the phone talking to each other. Thank goodness I am using Celcom, haaa....llelujah!

It was noon already, so we decided to leave the airport to go to John's homestay and also meet Dr Tan and the gang. The road, sigh....the distance to the homestay from the airport was probably 5 km and on a smooth road will probably take us about 3-5 minutes. However, they have what Dad said, timber tracks. It took us about 15-20 minutes to get to John's place in second gear all the way.Wooo..hoo..

After the bumpy ride, we reached to a stop in front of John's. He invited us in and he told us to go check our rooms upstairs. This was the room for me and Sharin.

Our beds

The view outside

Both of us went down to lepak with the others. To discuss things to do next. Dr Tan and the gang came back from lunch in town and join us at the verandah. John played country music on his MP3 player that was connected to speakers. Made me feel like I'm in Texas.hahahah...

Jeffrey, John, Sharin and Dr Alvin.

Jeffrey being introduced to Lau and Dr Tan.

hang out place

Oh, these are the shops in Bario town.

We stopped by at the eBario telecentre.

Computers that are available in the telecentre.

2.30pm: Our next agenda was visit schools in Bario. Dr Tan and the gang followed us, too, in order to identify the 'potential' hills for his study. Nostalgic moments for me when we arrived at the secondary school.

After that, John sent us to the primary school. The school was having a sports event.

Very curious looking kids.

John decided to bring us to Bario Asal, a very old longhouse. I'm not sure how many families were staying there.

I find that some of them still use firewood.

Dr Tan tried to immitate the chicken...yes, he did.

The troop

In Iban, we call this ruai of the house.

Ta da...

After that, we went back to John's place. We saw this buffalo passed by us in front of the house. Make way for the four-legged creature!

I decided to take bath before it gets dark and also before it gets cold. There's no water heater available, I don't know about other homestays, I doubt any of the homestays provide this. I was confident that the water will not be cold because it was sunny in the afternoon, but..I was over confident. It was freezing cold!!!!

As night sets in, the temperature was below 21 degrees. It reminded me of autumn in Sydney..sigh..sometimes I missed that city, but, too expensive to live there. Ok, back to Bario. We had our dinner together. I didn't take any pictures coz I was afraid I will use up all the space in my card. But, we had Bario rice, nyum..nyumm...and barbequed chicken wings which was deliciously done by James, John's younger brother. Lotsa vegetables, too. I should've taken pics of the food...hrmmm..

One thing good about less communication technologies is that you tend to communicate verbally with each other more. Most of time in the office we communicate using emails, text messages, or Gtalk. We talked about lots of stuff for quite some time then we played pool.yes,..using pool table.

Few hours later, Sharin and I decided to go to bed. We went upstairs to our room and then half an hour later we dozed off...with Sharin's torch light switched on the whole night.

Pheww...that was my first day experience in Bario. Will update to tell about the next day.:)