ciao.mi scusi.dove.oh.grazie

Not Italy, but Cambodia!

2008-01-12T01:23:00.000-08:00

a group of 9 of us from our university class made our way to CAMBODIA!
Travelling Asia is definitely different from travelling in Europe.
In Asia, Singaporeans are highly regarded, cos we are rich in their eyes.
In Europe, we are not seen as Singaporeans, but Chinese. So .. i guess that's
why the treatment we get is much much different.

well, Cambodia is not a most fascinating country except for the world wonder it has.
Angkor Wat (wat means temple) is their main tourist attraction, a world wonder, which i think that's all they need to have! It's like an Asian version of Italy's Pompeii!

Siem Reap (where Angkor wat is) and Phnom Penh (more developed one) are the main cities in Cambodia.

We just reached our guesthouse and we were peeping into a primary school right
opposite. The next picture shows a scene in the city centre of Siem Reap.
First meal we had in Siem reap... delicious dessert at Blue Pumpkin too!

We visited a market in Siem Reap and courageously tried a big big spider.
Yes, we shared one leg of the spider each and the boys ate the bodies.
GROSS! ... but it tastes like Chinese bah gua. not too bad actually.
Took me some time to overcome the hairy hairy legs. still scary.

We continue to wander in the city. and wandered into a high school!
We spoke to 2 friendly Cambodian students who were skipping lessons to chase a girl!
but i m glad that we managed to interact with many many natives during this trip.
It makes the experience more wholesome and fruitful!
We visited their lesson even! Fantastic.

Day2 and 3 and 4. Temple hopping day. This is what we came Cambodia for!

i don't understand why are their stairs so steep!

fooling ard :)

faces on stones

power trees which grew on the temples. big big roots

lovely children we met on the way.

on our way to see sunset. our drivers drove us to this steep hill
and left us there to climb and see sunset. This boy stole our hearts by selling
his flutes on barefoot and climbing along with us up the steep slope.
He even demostrate the flutes to us. I hope he used the money to buy some shoes.

we went to visit the Tonle Sap river for a change. pretty immune to the temples
by a certain time.
scenes we see on the way:

children hopping off their own boats onto the tourists' boat to sell fruits and drinks are common. Kids in a basin paddling to beg for money are also everywhere.

this is my favourite boy throughout the trip.
he carries a snake around and allow tourists to carry the snake too to earn a living.
I gave him the whistle and he loved it! i hope he can get more business with the whistle. :)

what always cheers me up?!?!! MARKETS! this mega market is not targetted at tourists so the things are more daily products instead of gifts and souvenirs.

before we leave siem reap... we went to the famous Angkor wat for the last time!

PHNOM PENH!
after visiting the peaceful, slow paced Siem reap...
we arrived at the busy and messy phnom penh with a bit of cultural shock!
I felt pretty comfortable but became more wary of the lack of security.

everyone was feeling quite down and bored by the city scene.
so photo taking always cheer us up..
we posed in our various "i miss.... " poses
i miss home
i miss my bed
i miss my girlfriend
i miss my laptop
i miss my maid............

the main part of Phnom Penh is the killing fields.

well, the whole genocide began in Cambodia in 1975, until 1979.
The country was being rules by the Khmer Rouge, led by this crazy man named Polpot.
Polpot wants all the intellectuals, like doctors, lawyers, lecturers, in the country to die and wants the whole country to start from the basics again, like farming.
So he gradually killed them and their families in a Chinese cemetery by burying them alive, or torturing them till death. The reason for choosing a Chinese cemetery is to cover up the numbers he has killed. When we visit these killing fields, all the bodies were dugged up and the bones preserved. However, there are still some bones left on the ground.
In the middle of the field is a big tree, where he used to hang a very loud speaker to play very loud music to cover up the screaming voices of the victims.
After his reign, the people wanted to kill him.
So he escaped to the borders of Cambodia and Vietnam. To protect himself, landmines were placed at the borders so that no one can enter the region to capture him. That's why there are so many landmine victims with no hands or legs in Cambodia now.
1975 is actually quite recent. Anyone more on the streets of Cambodia now, who are around 30 yr old or more, would have lived through that awful period of time.

sad... :( ... my condolences.
which i don't wish to review the photographs i took. cos they are haunting!
here are just a few.

Cambodia is an amazing country.
rich in culture.
people are really friendly and hardworking there...
but i wonder how much harder they need to try to get their country back on track again.

i m a contented person now.

DAT exhibition

2007-11-16T16:29:00.000-08:00

Digital Art and Technology exhibition at Science Centre.
haha.. pay $4 more on top of the $6 entry fee to see this exhbition.
I personally think it's rather worth it.

Firstly, IDA's version of DO COMO! this is not in the DAT exhibition,
it's in an area called iSPACE.
you will get to see what Singapore is projected in 2015.
I hope the sound quality is good enough...

DAT exhibition http://www.scienceexhibition.com.sg

1. An interactive table whose animations will react to what u place on the table.
"an experiment with real objects and virtual images"
e.g.
I used a rope to form a circle on the table, a pond will appear in the circle and the ducks will start to swim into the pond.
If I used the longer rope to form a long line, the train will start to run on the line.
saucer will cause some flowers to grow.... watch closely!

2. Another interactive table which "revisits the domestic situation" on the table.
This time, the colour of the object u place on the table will bleed in a line down.
If u place another object in front of it intersecting the line, the colour will mix together.

3. This one is power.
"two double beds are video linked up, one in a dark space and one in an illuminated space. live video messages are sent to allow both sides to see one another."
"The ability to exist outside of a users' own space and time is created by an alarmingly real sense of touch that is enhanced by the context of the bed and caused by an acute shift of senses within the participant"
"In Telematic Dreaming, the user exchanges their tactile sense of touch by replacing their hands with their eyes".

4. Really smart.
User draws with ink on a blank sheet of paper.
Pushes a button which takes a image of the drawing.
Removes the drawing.
and pushes the animate button,
then he/she can start playing with the drawing! like instant flash animation. ha

5. By just gently touching the supernormal objects on the table,
the play of shadows will run in and surprise you!
Japanese design - a shadow represents the very existence of an object.
It can also reveal the intrinsic quality of that object.

6. this one is straightforward. Huge toggle table to play on.

I have many more videos...
but playing them real life is really an amazing experience.
i can show more, if you all really have no time to go... :)

yian

last good meal

2007-10-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

Paulina and Julia!
Our very warm neighbours in Corte.
If one day we visit Paris or Poland or Mexico, haha.. guess we have a home!
Miss them all..

First and last GOOD GOOD italian meal.
We ate along Navigli.. haha... after Meihua is carrying 4 moka! haha. poor thing.
Bestest bread sticks ever!
Parma ham and melon and fig.
Gambetti risotto.
Fries and Calamari.
We are so stuffed by the end. Even forgo the planned gelato....
I miss gelatooooooooooooooooooo

snapshots

2007-08-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

I am the spy..
the windows are my workplace..

Hard at work..
ha. pushing my whole box of milan fair stuff... thanks!

Break fast for potato chips and let's make some mojito!

The place i miss a lot.. my school...

i miss milano chiesa (church)..

2007-08-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

last sunday, i was alone in church (the Singapore one)..
the images of us going to the church in Milano suddenly appear in my head.
I miss the ppl, the family spirit, the church.
It is really a sweet, cosy, warm home... our refuge in Milano.
when we get the feeling of being daughters and being loved once again.
A place where we need not worry too much abt acceptance, abt communication, abt safety.

Around 6 months ago, we googled a church Chiesa Evangelica Metodista di Milano.
we noted down the timings.
we were cold and late.
we ran ard the piazza to find the correct strada to turn into.
we found via L.Porro Lambertenghi, 28.

back then it was still winter, now it's summer!

the roads becoming more and more familiar yet we still get lost every now & then.

the lunch after service.. haha.. something to look forward to..
so Asian plus italian cooking.. perfect

forever so friendly and unpretentious

Last gelato at this fabulous gelateria near church..
THEY HAVE MOJITO FLAVOUR! amazingly delicious... ahhhhhhh

A song which we sang to send the pastor off..
but it applies to all of us who are seperating to go back our respective countries
or who are going to leave milano for vacation or for good..

God be with you till we meet again;
By His counsels guide, uphold you,
With His sheep securely fold you;
God be with you till we meet again.

Till we meet, till we meet,
Till we meet at Jesus’ feet;
Till we meet, till we meet,
God be with you till we meet again.

YUP... TILL WE MEET AGAIN.. WE WILL MEET AGAIN..

uniquely italy

2007-08-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

In response to Irene's blog.. LOL..
This is what we always always see along the streets of Milano.
Power parking...

Rewinding.. Up Duomo..

2007-08-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

There are still many many things that I have not blogged abt yet.
haha.. including some exclusive photos!
Well, now that the whole exchange adventure is over, I hope I can slowly rewind back and blog abt those left behind episodes, so that I myself can remember them too next time.

This one is Up Duomo with Valerie.
I didn't meet her before but managed to catch just before she is leaving Milano.
Went up Duomo with her so that we can say for definite that we have completed Milano!

Duomo up close!

After seeing the panaromic view of Milano, i really think that Milano is quite ugly. haha... but i still feel quite at home in Milan.

Duomo is still one of my top favourite architecture among those I have seen!
So intricate and magnificent.. I want to be back!

the S class

2007-07-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

BACK!

so far behind the updates! not planning to catch up.
will take my time.

presenting to you my service design class!
realise i never blog abt school before. haha.. only talk abt food, travel, food, food, and more food... haha

our teachers introducing the class to the clients.
yian ling and yanling presenting! ... in english.. no time to practise for italiano presentation. one regret.

the teachers revealing our results.
the bitchiest girl in class.. but she's a fantastic person who speaks gd english!
yuan yuan, keira (soooo pretty), ricki (jap boy, cute.... ).

Silvia (my dear mexican friend), Francesca (the Napoli girl with pretty shoes, yuan yuan (our fellow dunno-what-is-happening-in-class friend).

how can i forget my dearest dynamic grp members!
stefanor (my italian-english translator),
lucia (she bites! haha.. i love her so much!),
carlo (he's so goodlooking! calm as always as he watches stefanor & lucia fight)

with our teachers!
through we didn't get to talk to them very much, but they are always encouraging and looking out for us. THank u thank u deep from our hearts...

lastly... insieme (together in english)
the S class in masters yr 1...
italians can really smile for the camera. not shy at all!

u all made mine and yanling's exchange so so special.
thank u once again

1st goodbye

2007-07-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

before everyone runs away from the summer heat in Milano,
we take a group photo. Small church, but very homely. My idea of a church.
Will definitely miss this place!

3 music conservatory sisters in church.
2 of them are going back to the Philippines, so we took a last photo together

I guess there will be more of such goodbye scenes very soon... sad

food and sky

2007-06-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

new food.. shepherds' pie..
donn and meihua passed my pie... but hueyying failed it..
today trying again! haha..

As the day of homecoming draws closer, i m starting to take more photos of my beloved neighbourhood (novate milanese) and my school.
All these were taken in one night when i went down to eat gelato with hueyying.
The colours of the sky changed so many colours in one single night.

Wanna show sixiu and cindy how their plant is doing at our house!
The holey leaves but the flowers are growing strong!

2 new dishes

2007-06-21T02:06:00.000-07:00

Breaded fish, baked potatoes and honey mustard salad.
yummmmmm....

Apple pie!
Amazingly, they are made using the same recipe.
One Norwegian version and one Italian version.. wahahahaha

I insist that mine is not a potato meat pie!

COMO lago

2007-06-21T01:00:00.000-07:00

Lago di Como (lake of Como) was rumored to be Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's wedding took place. I don't know if it really happened there though.

Trip to Varenna. One of the towns around the lake in the arm of Lecco.
Arriving at the train station of Varenna-Esino.

The first scenery which greeted us... any place with water is nice. ha

Found this see-saw and realise my heart is too old for a see-saw thrill.
Our butts practically lifted from the seat each time we are dropped down by Donn..
ARgggggggghhhhhhhhh....

Any trip will be incomplete without gelato.
Visited a nice villa facing the lake too...

Entertaining myself when they are taking photos of each other.. wahaha..

FIUME LATTE (Milk River... the name already got Donn excited..hearing that there is a waterfall there due to the rainfall, Meihua got excited as well).
Really refreshing in the warm weather as we were sprayed lightly by the water flowing down the waterfall. Amazing.

After the splash from the waterfall, we went on a hike to Castle di Vezio.
Up on top of the hill. ha... then.. we began to perspire like waterfalls.. haha

A castle and a crazy man..

and destructive Singaporeans..

Unsuccessful jumping shots.

Going down the hill once again..

We took a boat to another nearby town called Bellagio.
We don't find anything stunning abt it cos most of the things are closed.
I think one casino in LasVegas is named Bellagio because of this town!

A manicured garden at Bellagio

What did we go Bellagio for?
haha.. for Meihua to buy a bag ...

Goodbye Como....

one more month to goodbye italy... haiz...

Random photos

2007-06-12T08:40:00.000-07:00

The day when Renzo Piano comes to our school.
He is a famous Italian architect who graduated from Polimi!
We were late for school that morning. Walking as fast as possible, we entered the school building to see our 2 lecturers waving at us while sitting on the railing beside this crowd of people. They told us that they will start lesson only after this interview and talk by Renzo Piano. ha.. Practically all the lessons in school stopped because of him!!!

New plastic sculptures in school!
We still haven't figure out what these gigantic animals are for.
Everyday students who walk past these animals will laugh at them for a while, disturb the animals by shifting them into weird arrangments and taking photos of them like me! haha... a very interactive installation with unknown purpose...

Food once again...
First time we tried the pizza near our home. :) for a lazy-to-cook-dinner night.

Our attempt at nasi lemak! yeah...
i want the fried fish! and IKAN BILLIS!

The old community in Milano.
I went walking around Porta Venezia the other day and found a senior citizen's corner! they enjoy playing longball and chess. No difference from ours back home! :)
And met this very sweet old couple (very very wrinkled skin), hooking arms, walking up and down the street very very slowly.. I also want to be like this when i grow old! the last time shows the old couple strolling with a young couple making out beside them! ha!

Cimitero Monumentale

2007-06-07T03:49:00.001-07:00

Never heard abt this place in Milano before..
It just happened one fine day when Yanling suggests to go out and walk.
Some short research online, I saw a small picture of a nice sculpture and we decided to just go and see it.

Unexpectedly, we found a cemetery.
Not a normal cemetery. A cemetery for the filthy rich families.
Their tombs are huge! around 2 to 3 stories high.
We were seriously overwhelmed.......

Stunning main building ..

Amazing tombs..

This is the main monument in the whole Cimitero.
The one I saw online...
The view when u enter the monument... Beautiful!

The smaller tombs in the building.

Their casket van!... eeeeek...

A cemetery becoming a tourist spot. Not a bad idea at all...

desperate

2007-06-03T00:19:00.000-07:00

Desperate cravings call for desperate measures..

Meihua made us mee hoon kuey! ha
we even try to cut the dought to get ban mian...

oh my god... BAN mIAN...........................

ha.. ta da! mee hoon kuey tom yam... heavenly...

siao siao weather

2007-06-03T00:04:00.000-07:00

the crazy Milano weather.
for 3 or 4 days, the temperature can be super super hot like 34 Deg..
Nothing we have experienced in Singapore. Scorching warm hot..

And the next day, it can rain and rain granular ice and becomes really cold..
like around 11 Deg C. We are becoming quite confused abt the weather and take the
risk every morning of either wearing too little or too much...

First time seeing ice cubes rain..
haha

To us, it sounds fun.. but to the italians, it's dangerous.
The ice cubes can damage cars, buildings if it last for long...

Lake Garda

2007-05-26T03:15:00.000-07:00

Lake Garda (Lago di Garda)
THE biggest lake in Italy. Lake meaning it's freshwater! not salty water!
There are even ducks in the lake!
there are many many towns around the lake and we anyhow picked one to visit. ha
We picked a place called Sirmione. TOY CASTLE LAND!
The castle is right at the entrance of the town.
Really really beautiful in front of the waters.

Not the most majestic castle we ever see...
but it's really like a castle in storybooks!

Finally it's time to go home.. Short but really beautiful trip..
More more more! what's next?

i wan to go back Lake Garda again!!!!

Verona.

2007-05-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

Verona...
Verona is the setting of the story of Romeo and Juliet, made famous by William Shakespeare. Although the earliest version of the story is set in Siena, not Verona — the move was made in Luigi da Porto's Istoria novellamente ritrovata di due Nobili Amanti — a balcony falsely claiming historical connection to the fictional lovers has become a tourist attraction for lovers; the short passageway leading to the balcony is covered with slips of paper carrying their graffiti, and a bronze statue of Juliet stands under the balcony, one breast polished by those touching it for luck.

(From wiki)

yupp.. its rich history is almost forgotten and people flock there for the balcony.. ha just like us.. and to touch juliet's breast. haha!

we took a 1ST CLASS TRAIN jus to start the day early cos we have to complete verona and lake garda in one day!

The Arena.. a better maintained fighting ground as compared to Colosseum.
But it is much smaller.. chopped by half.
ha we have a pose for Colosseum and we did a half one for Arena..

COLOSSEUM! Arena...........

I love the spirit of Verona's town. Quietly lively. Makes one feel safe.
A very contented little town ... one needs to feel it to understand what i m saying.

and of cos, casa di julietta (house of Juliet)
People write their names on the walls of the entrance and stick a lot of chewing gum on it. Supposed to bring some luck to couples issit? i have no idea.
the only word that comes to my mind: GROSS...

Enjoying her breast.. haha! ciao!
will be back with my favourite LAKE GARDA.. a toy castle land!

Venice - Venezia

2007-05-24T04:17:00.000-07:00

took a 3 hr train ride to Venice Mestre and another hour bus ride to reach our campsite! we have no idea how our campsite looks like... very afraid that it will be dinghy and scary...

but it turned out to be like a chalet! jus like those in Pasir Ris!
5 of us... so we booked a house tent which turns out to be really a tent but with 2 beds in it.. and a small room with 3 beds in it.
small but decent enough

We await the arrival of the Torino girl ... preparing her a welcome gift (stalks of dried plants from the side of the road) to cheer her up after her 6 hrs ride from Torino alone.... :)

While waiting for her, we did some research on where to visit on the main island of Venice. Some backgrd of Venice:
Venice is a small island, with small canals as their roads. So, they have no roads at all, no cars at all, except for a carpark at its entrance. We figure that the people who lived on the island itself have to be freaking rich. ha.. Most of them owe a boat each to get out of the house to buy stuff and go around. So just imagine, when u open the door of your house, it's the river right at the door step. Get down the step and get onto ur boat and off u go..
to imagine it even easier, think of flooding the whole singapore. haha.. no longer seeing the roads, just water and boats.

gondolas are freaking expensive! haha.. but see also shuang..

Basilica San Marco.. stunning building.
this architecture brightened up our day! finally saw something different in Venice besides river, boats and bridges...

our favourite! Palazzo Ducale.
the texture and its pink make it a very pleasant building to admire.

just imagine a big space in front of the basilica and these musicians playing music.
very shiok except for the tons of pigeons in the space. think there are at least 500 of them there.

Colour accenting cindy with anything red.. ha

Second day in Venice, we got around in the water bus enjoying the hot hot sun and the water. Overall, Venice is really beautiful

Went up this bell tower to get a panoramic view of Venice. 3 Euros ! Worth it!

Some pictures while we were lazing along the river.
This is truly a vacation....

Ha... some paparazzi photos we take ourselves.. hahaha.. boliaoness

Night flying shots outside the Train station..

church WEDDING..

2007-05-22T03:39:00.000-07:00

Busiest church service ever!
Wedding, baptism and communion.. ha.. happening.

The choir singing melodiously.
The bride waiting patiently.
The bridegroom waiting in front impatiently. ha :)

The bride walking forward with her mum.
Them listening to the pastor and the pastor's wife.
Finally speaking the vow.. exchanging of rings and kiss!

And the part where we are most involved in!
Eating during the wedding lunch!!! haha.. huge huge spread..

The next week in church after this wedding, was Mothers' Day!
We each got a rose! hmmmm... not mummy yet!!! :O( please...
and meihua bought a very very fitting sunglasses finally! yeah..
Pretty at every angle once again..

yoohoo! she's going to murder me.. :O).. she's right beside me now sorting music. ha..

San Siro... :O)

2007-05-21T23:49:00.000-07:00

On the long walk to San siro (it is jus like National Stadium where not many buses go in, we have a new finding in Milan! A huge huge horse designed by Leonardo Da Vinci.. it's so huge that i felt a bit intimidated and frightened...

too bad we didn't get to visit it during the Milan-ManUtd match...
but still.. we see it... ha
one of the largest stadium in the world! holds 87500 spectators!.. haha..
blending into my shirt...
hopefully i can watch one soccer match here before going back SGP!

baking episodes

2007-05-09T15:08:00.001-07:00

Apple cinnamon muffins..
Did it during midnight alone! everyone else sleeping.
Smelled so good and yet no one knew i baked.. ha ..
heart broken.

Baked vegetables!
potato, onions, capscium, mushrooms, tomatoes, brocolli
yup.. just bake with a bit of salt, pepper, oliveoil, oregano, rosemary.

Egg tarts!
After buying vanilla essence, we start to make egg tarts to satisfy our cravings.
have to fold paper boats to house the crust cos we don't have tart cups!
Surprisingly nice! but definitely not one of the best eggtarts ever.

A instant pizza mix.
The whole package comes with the flour mix,the pomodoro, oregano.
Jus need to knead the dough. easy!

Soft baked pretzels.
ha.. as u can see it's not the most successful attempt.
we rested the dough on our baking tray and the bottom is burnt!!

breakfast, dinner recipes.

2007-05-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

Chicken rice!
Yeah… we managed to find pandan leaves! hURRay!
Our chicken rice is tasting more and more professional!
Each of us smelled the pandan leaves and we are reminded of NASI LEMAK!!!
Can’t find coconut milk here.. haiz…

Sweet and sour pork
Remember our failed attempt of sweet and sour pork?
This time we added corn flour and we managed to make the flour stick to the pork!

Rosti
Our rosti sticks together in one piece!!
I think the secret lies in drying the potato first before frying them! Try!
With CREAM CHEESE… woooooooooooo… sinfully delicious

Carbonara
New edition to our list of pasta recipes..
Uses bacon, eggyolks, cream and cheese.. easy and delicious!
We used sausages instead of bacon.. works too!

Grilled cheese sandwich
This is highly recommended by me.. but don’t know if they like it anot.
Spread butter on the outer layers of the bread. Add a piece of sliced cheese in it.
Fry on the pan. The cheese inside will melt and both sides of the bread crispy! Love it!

ROME day 4 last day...

2007-04-30T00:54:00.000-07:00

Third time at Vatican City to complete it..
the all famous Vatican Musuem and Sistine CHapel!

We went there before the opening time to see a long long queue, can't seeing the front of the line at all. the people slowly slowly nudge forward.
After 2 hours of waiting in the sun, we finally get in !!
Sixiu, cindy and Ana have to shift their train timings to get home back cos the wait was so long!!

the ceiling in the Vatican is so so COOL!
I walked around 2 corridors of this kind of ceiling, thinking that it is white casted sculptures stuck on the ceiling. .. and the end..
someone told me that it is PAINTED ON! they look so so realistic!!

Many many famous paintings in it...
I have to swallow the information from hueyying's eyewitness guide jus before going in to fully appreciate the paintings! Mainly to see Michaelangelo's and Raphael's paintings...

I FINALLY GET TO SEE THIS~

last few pictures in ROME... very very interesting staircase..

last picture before saying goodbye!... :O)

the end...

ROME day 3

2007-04-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

Vatican ONLY...
Today we revisted the Vatican once again to go into the St Peter's basilica (Basilica S. Pietro) itself,
since we only found it last evening and never have the chance to enter.

the famous red curtained window where the pope stands and waves at his people.. :O)

Inside the basilica.. MAGNIFICIENT! no photos or videos can capture its grandeur accurately at all.. I m serious!!! Every corner of it is worth a picture. So i will take one, then i will look in the camera and think "hey, this is not what it is like in real life!" just can't do it..

After staying in the basilica for darn darn long.. we saw 2 queues at the door.
One to visit the tombs of the popes. the other to visit the cupola. The cupola? we have no idea what it is like.. so we just queued. ha..
In the end, this was a decision i will never regret for my lifetime!!!
We have to climb 551 steps to go here!!!! for 4 euros only!!

Up and close to see the mosaics on the dome..
and panoramic view of the Vatican city and Rome.. SPECTACULAR...

Each sent a postcard back home..

ha....:)

The day ended with sitting by a street outside Vatican eating our paninis, and watching how the negros and indians who are selling their stuff illegally along the street run up and down it to run away for the police...

Scenery near the street.

ROME day 2

2007-04-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

16 Euros for a touristy bus which allows u to hop on and off whenever you like at all the places of interest. Sounds like a good deal.. with explanation in many languages somemore..

First stop, a river with a tiny island in it..

Piazza del Popole. can't rem the history of it.. didn't spend too much time there

Spanish STEPS! one of the romantic spots..
too bad there were too many people on the steps, hardly any space to walk.
We didn't climb the steps at all.. :O(

Trevi Fountain.. it's magnificent! the combination of sculptures and water..
we each threw a coin in the fountain and made a wish... :O)

VATICAN! our favourite! so amazing when we first see it on the bus.. surreal

ROME day 1

2007-04-27T04:25:00.000-07:00

A final picture before we set off for ROME early in the morning!
of cos not forgetting to eat our final delicious donut before going!

will never forget this...
carrying our heavy bags, we took the bus to the train terminal.
we have the ticket with us but we didn't convalidate it (insert it into the machine to show when we start taking the first bus).
3 bus conductors came and we were being fineD!!!!
supposed to be 34euros each for 6 of us. they being "nice" fined 2 of us instead and we shared the cost.. 11 euros each!... ARGH... WE BOUGHT THE TICKETS... so dumb!

Shaking off the despair, we arrived at ROME...

Rome is totally enjoyable as well. The streets are more orderly than Napoli definitely, and every corner u turn, there is something new to see! AMAZInG!
so, one is constantly amused as he/she walks along the streets of ROME!

Whenever we walked till too tired, it will be silly posing time!

COLOSSEUM! ok.. we can proclaim that we come ITALY before liao!
we joined in the long long queue to get into the colosseum.. 11 Euros..

sitting by the colosseum waiting for dinner time to come.. :O)
i totally love the colosseum ring!!! 75 Euros!
ha.. buy me one and i will marry u for 1 day.. haha

Colosseum by night.. test of camera and photography skills.. ha
some smart indians start selling tripod beside the colosseum. haaa..

Too much to absorb for 1 day.. but no time to lose! more to come tml as we take the tour bus!!!

NAPOLI day 2

2007-04-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

We woke up all excited to eat our breakfast..
I ate the best donut in the whole world! warm and soft in the side!
free flow of cereal, milk and coffee!

Today's agenda was to go to CAPRI ISLANDS!
An island off the coast of Naples. I figure that it is where the rich italians buy a holiday house here and stay over the holiday. VERY STUNNINGLY PRETTY...
BREATHTAKING..

We took a boat ride (10Euros?) around the island to visit some caves...
the caves have some blue light coming beneath the water..
the boatman was explaining that it is due to the rocks not resting on the bed of the sea and thus allow the sunlight to be reflect upwards creating these blue waters.

After nuahing thru the boat ride, we climbed up the capri island to find the centro of it , where all the shops are... we climbed and climbed...

and finally... :O)
realised the people here love lemons a lot.. a wide variety of lemon produce..
from lemon wine, to chocolate, to sweets, .. all kinds..

1,2,3,4 ... ha.. consecutive poses everywhere.

Last look at beautiful capri.. i wan to come here again!

Visited Naples itself a bit before leaving the next day..
Went to watch a procession cos it's Easter! interesting..

tired but still high spirited, we planned for Rome and went to sleep.. :O)

NAPOLI day 1

2007-04-25T04:56:00.000-07:00

After 10 hours of travel on a train, trying all kinds of sitting and lying positions to fall asleep, we finally reach NAPLES!
First impression, a very very messy city with lots of people and vehicles and confusing streets. We felt unsafe.

Upon reaching the hostel, we are relieved! It was small and cosy and friendly staff.
View from the hostel and getting ready to go Pompeii!

Along the way to Pompeii, we passed by a church and there we start our camera's engine, busy clicking non stop...

Pompeii is a place of interest near the city of Naples 45 minutes bus ride, characterized by its vast land of ruins. It was originally a village till it was being drowned in a volcanic eruption. There are bodies in the ruins (in its original posture)which was still perserved by the volcanic ashes. (this is my own understanding, haha.. may be wrong)

Both of us was lost from the pack who went to see the bodies without us!
So we kept ourselves busy by taking photos once again.. haha

i can't emphasize and illustrate how large the ruins area were..
We jus kept walking and walking..
Though it's jus a land of ruins, all of us enjoyed ourselves thoroughly from this change of landscape, good weather and blue skies. haha.. how i wish i could see the village's original form with its true vitality and people..

FINALLY!!!

2007-04-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

All our guests have just left and 4 of us rested at home today.
Have to catch up with some sleep and more blogging!
Our living room was packed to the brim with people for Norway, Sweden, London, Netherlands, Torino, Germany... Steffie, and bf, Jo, yanwei, oli, daniel, venetia, huiqian, tommy, kitty, munyee, yixian, joyce, sixiu and cindy... did i miss anyone? 15 plus 4.. 19...oooooo
Nice to hear the no-content speeches and carefree laughters once again..

wenxin photo of us.. cuddled in the living room with oli slping on the couch! :)
Thank you for coming to visit! haha.. maybe not us but the Fair but who cares!

Ok.. take a deep breath as i start recapping what happened in our Easter trip to Naples and Rome! 12 GB of pictures altogether! Enjoy... :O)

more ridiculous episodes in Begonia

2007-04-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

SCENE 1
One day Meihua was eating a salad...
Hueyying washed the leaves, i chopped the leaves.
Meihua was happily eating until she met a slimy slug in her bowl!!!

ha.. we decided to adopt this slug which was swimming in the salad sauce.
We prepared a container for it. some leaves for it..
gave it a name.. called "chen chen"... using Meihua's surname.
and decided to wash it out of the salad sauce..

that's when i drowned Chen chen ...
our 2 minute pet... it died...
We didn't believe..
We left it there .. expecting it to move again..
It turn black and hardened....
This is Chen Chen...

SCENE 2
Our search for new pasta sauce..
Pesto sauce.
Meihua wanted to try it from Day 1.
A green sauce made of spinach i think..
Not too bad.. not too fantastic either..

SCENE 3
At 9pm one night, I decided to bake...
Searched for a scone recipe and started mixing hard butter into flour.
beat eggs and mix in milk and start kneading.
9.45pm, i started rolling the dough into balls and shoved my balls into the oven.
10.30pm, the balls were ready..
we felt like we were in Popeyes...
i think i got a talent for baking..
they never say my cooking is good.. they finished my scones...
so i think my baking is good.. ha... i don't care.

a day at melegnano

2007-04-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

A module about agriculture in Milano forces me and Yanling to go into the
countryside of Milano to take photos of the current situation.
The brief is to design a Service system to link the city and the countryside together.

saw some beautiful buildings which appear abruptly out of nowhere.
stunning scenery and animals..
went to a farm which sells fresh milk!

ai xin zhao can

2007-03-31T14:08:00.000-07:00

My 2nd post..hehe.
Ai xin zhao can by Yian.
Pancakes!
Woke up at 7am, make and mix the batter, fry it, top it up with jam and butter.
Yummy!

Yong xin de zai zuo gong ke.
Mrs Giorgio Armani and her 'lao gong'

first times...

2007-03-31T12:54:00.000-07:00

My first post. haha.
I feel guilty letting the whole world know about my not contributing any words to the supposedly OUR blog.

Our attempts at western and chinese style fish dishes from the first fishes we bought in Milan.
Tastes wonderful:)

Making tangyuan has never been so fun and arty.
The more people the merrier!

Chocolat!
We brought Sixiu and Cindy to the nicest gelato shop that we have discovered.
Happy faces with our gelatos!
Pistachio.cioccolato fondente.arancia cioccolato.yogurt.nocciolo.casata di ricotta.ciocolato di latte...

Aperitivo@Bhangra.
RED walls and lighting.

Silly old fashioned photos.

Scary translucent heads.
Jumping with joy, full from aperitivo and cocktails, outside Cardona station.

Wanted to go church together with sixiu, cindy and yanling.
But..due to daylight saving, we calculated our timing wrongly and when we got out of the house, we were two hours late!
So, the initial picnic plans fell through and we had it in our cosy apartment using our table cloth as the picnic mat.

Nevertheless, we went to the park in the cold weather after the indoor picnic.
Our random posing shots along the way.

There were much lesser people this time round because of the weather, but it was great fun taking silly jumping and random posing shots, looking at cute ducks drink water, simply enjoying the nature.

To top off the day before our dear friends go back, we had yet another...
Feng sheng de yi dun wan can!
Finally cooked the pork chops that we bought at the start of the week.
Defrosted and marinated for a day.
Along with salad made from 'un kilo of latuga'(1kg of lettuce)and the other vegetables that we bought from the market.
Oh, and fried fries instead of the usual baked ones.

Finally one :) day

2007-03-25T02:40:00.000-07:00

Throughout the week, we went to attend ALL the lessons we can one by one and wasn't too smooth in choosing what we want to study. One bad day after another.

So.. this saturday we decided to go explore Novate's weekend market,in hope of new findings.. ha.. at the sight of the fresh seafood and vegetables and fruits, all the week's unhappiness was gone..

SEAFOOD! Cheap somemore.. heavenly

Flowers and vegetables!

Food... some tomato fillings or ham and cheese fillings wrapped in a riso crust!
Delicious... and very very filling

TRying to clean the first fish we bought in Milan..

Stuffed refrigerator.. hopefully no more grocery shopping for a week!

Cindy and Sixiu attack to Milan

2007-03-25T02:37:00.000-07:00

Couldn't bring them around in Friday as we had lessons to attend..
But, we brought them to our neighbour's birthday party at an Irish Pub at Porta Romana. There was belly dancing performance!

first guests..

2007-03-25T02:34:00.000-07:00

Wei ann and zhiguang came over from UK to Italy to enjoy their Easter break.
Spent one day touring Milan with them before sending them off the next morning.

Discover some new places and i admit guys can navigate better!
Ha.. my husband...

The famous Bar brera and
A guy dunno why jus drove his car to Park Sempione to take a photo of his car and the scenery and attract darn a lot of attention and drove off..

Another 2 daring food attempts

2007-03-25T02:29:00.000-07:00

Sweet & sour pork!
The colour looks too dark to be like our sweet & sour pork..
but the taste is really sweet and sour.. ha!

Our qing dan attempt: Porridge..
with Fergato (pork's liver!) something new in our diet!

Unexpected new findings in Milan

2007-03-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

Visited the church for a 2nd time this sunday and finally listened to an English sermon by the female pastor of that Methodist church. It was good. there's even a welcome dinner at a member's house on the 29th! SOunds gd :)

In the morning, Meihua and I left gan and yan at home, thinking they will stay at home the whole day since gan had not woken up yet when we left.
Both of us in the end visited a park called Guardini Pubblici and the several musuems around it.
We feel like we are back in the first few days in Milan, being amazed at everything and triggered our cameras like mad once again. Finally we feel like tourist doing the sightseeing stuff once again, instead of feeling like housewifes doing the grocery shopping and cooking stuff.. so bear with the photos over load! ENJOY!

the park was very enjoyable cos the weather is good and it felt like a perfect place for family picnics and gatherings. Perfecto!

something we will never do in Singapore.

2 horses standing in the middle of the large park! Scary.
Planetario is a musuem for astronomy. Look at the long queue of people out there
waiting to go listen to a presentation on astronomy by a speaker!
First time i see a queue for a musuem! try queuing for our ACM! ha

Museo Civico di Storia Naturale is a musuem specially for natural creatures!
We specially waited for the free entry timing at 4.30pm! ha..
Went to explore the nearby area and found this hotel "for dressy events" (as described in lonely planet). ha.. ideas went wild about how we are going to get ourselves through the heavy black doors... Sheration Diana Majestic

Huge interior with amazing collections from minerals, to animal fossils, to plants, to analysis of mankind.. very worth the trip. Both of us felt wasted that they don't provide english explanations to their display. if not it'll be splendid!

Didn't eat lunch.. so as we see the minerals, we kept on describing them as food,
like "hey! that looks like chocolate flakes!", "hey! that looks like dragon fruit!", "that looks like chocolate chip icecream!"... ha...

We ended the day by taking the metro in hope that once we reached home we will have the table set and dinner ready. We were so wrong. We met gan and yan at the Novate train station. They too just came back from their tour to Parco Sempione. Oh man.. we still have to cook...........
Rice, fried vegetables, Honey glazed baked chicken &...

Steamed eggs! .. ha.. the darker and darker it gets.

We used our leftover caramel to coat our popcorns too! yummy!
didn't know it's so easy!!!

We always try to cook simple dinners... in the end.. it always end up in a multiple course meal.. can't help it.. ha

i-want-to-shop day

2007-03-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

We have been holding back our shopping craving throughout the week until today!
It's really bad to shop on a weekend. all the shops are crowded and the fitting rooms
queue are ridiculous!

We arrived at Duomo and saw a large crowd with bright blue caps in the piazza.
Everyone was cheering and shouting.. in the end, we realised that they were watching
a rugby match between Italy and Ireland in the piazza! the atmosphere was really fun
and i could not imagine how packed Duomo was on the World cup's finals!

as usual, we begin with a hunt for good and cheap food first!

Off shopping! I bought a tee from H&M and Meihua bought a belt from a local departmental store called la Rinascente.

ha! a tribute to him! sorry for the "e" Meihua couldn't find an "o".
She specially photoshopped it for u! ha..
the puma shoe i really really like.. DROOLS...

Same routine: Go home cook dinner.
Aglio Olio spaghetti and linguine, honey lemon juice and baked blooming onion!

Food.. yes.. again

2007-03-17T03:51:00.000-07:00

I m really sorry.. we didn't take any more photos other than our dinners & food.

This is to wrap up our tangyuan episode! white balls in the making.
We gave some to our neighbours and they love them and even how what it is made of.
Hope it is not out of courtesy or curiousity. hahaha

Our neighbours in Dahlia (our apartments have names of flowers running alphabetically, ours is Begonia), invited us over for dinner on Thursday.
Too engrossed in the wide spread of food, we didn't take any photos with them.
Ha.. there will definitely be more chances!

We cooked chicken rice to bring over as our contribution.
This is our spread the next night with some leftovers from the party.
The top left is my favourite! Lantiche i think. in english LENTILS with potato,
carrots, and sausages.
then stir-fried chicken, vegetables, leftover chicken rice, and qing dan pasta with
chicken broth!

Record breaking dinner preparation time

2007-03-16T03:07:00.000-07:00

A bold attempt by all 4 of us. Mushroom, Sausage, Spinach Lasagna.
This summarises all the steps we took to make the Lasagna:

Squeezing Italian sausages out of their casings.
Boiling spinach and squeezing them dry.
Slicing one whole mountain of mushrooms.
Dicing several tomatoes.
Boiling the lasagna noodles.
Chopping basil leaves.
Frying the mushrooms and crumbling the sausages till dry.
Laying the layers of tomato sauce, cheese, meat, noodles.

1 hr plus of preparation & 1 hr plus of baking (till the oven is smokes).

Our dinner full of our patience and love. Beautiful and taste wonderful/

Our attempt at Caramel Apple Turnovers.
Supposed to roll grated cheese into white bread and cook apple with butter and sugar.
And drizzle caramel on it.
SOunds good? Everything is well & good, except for the bread being too dry and crumbling.
Taste wise, it's good.. :) the leftover caramel is still sitting on the kitchen top.

More indulgences. First Cream sauce pasta.
Red bean soup! Yanling is currently adding sugar to it now!
Will chuo tangyuan later and YEAh!

Successful half-boiled eggs! hurray!

Day 3 in Torino

2007-03-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

We just can't have a day without some misfortune.
We tried to return the skis to JOLLYSPORT before 12.30pm.
to our horror, we realised they didn't open till 3.30pm on Mondays. (Laid back italians)

We carried all the equipment to their backyard, thinking of a solution to
pass time for the next 3 hours.
How optimistic can we be: Playing PSP at the backyd.

Clueless of what we should do, we decided to go for spirits-lifting
gelato in batches while waiting.
To our horror once again, the gate we get in by is locked!
Fortunately, a resident opened the gate for us as she's on the way out. PHEW!
Still optimistic, we left the scis there and headed for real this time to our favourite gelato. Since the gate will be locked, the left behind skis should be very safe.
Gelato at 1 Euros for 2 gusti (flavours!)
Super cheap, good variety and appealing flavours! SHIOK...

Once we stepped back to Milano, all 4 of us are really glad to be back in a
familiar setting and a safer one. In Torino, dunno if the people there are more
friendly or naughtier, a lot of random strangers will approach you to talk to you.
In metropolitian Milano, I guess the people here are more used to seeing people from
Asia, so they are less surprised to see such a big group of us together.
We need not worry too much about pickpockets here in Milano as compared to Torino
as well.. I have no idea why...

As usual, we are hungry during dinnertime.
A simple meal of onion fried with egg and fried cabbage, lettuce and carrots!
Invested in a apple pastry down our friendly neighbourhood. .5 EUROS! leh!

Day 2 in Torino

2007-03-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

6 ppl shared 2 toilets in the Torino apt at 4.30am.
By the time, we stumbled out of the house to make our way to the busstop..
we are late again.. ha.. what a bad habit.
Cutting the story short, the bus to the skiing place in France left without us.
Stranded in front of Porta Nuova, Cindy was negotiated with the bus driver to wait
for us but to no valid. When many ppl face a situation, the burden is always divided.
We didn't feel too helpless at all but took the problem light-heartedly and thought
of a solution. We headed into the train station and asked for directions to a skiing
place in Torino instead.
Some scenery on the 1 hr train ride.
So BARDONECCHIA (in Torino) became our skiing holiday destination instead.

All 6 girls were relieved that we can put the heavy ski and ski boots to use,
though not in France but. .still. .we are contented .. very contented.

A fulfilling for 6 famished souls with heavy ski equipments.
Filled our stomach to a bursting extent before heading for the ski mountain!
Last picture shows sixiu as a ski rack as i went to check for a ristorante to eat.

Finally we reached the ski place!!! what a relief!

Taking a travellator up the ski slope..

Our coolest pose.. tried our best.. ha..

A newly invented way of skiing down the slope..

Overall, it was thorough fun. Words can't justify the whole experience.
Conquering the fear at the beginning when we first look down,
Marvelling at how freely the children around us are skiing,
Falling down during the first few tries,
Picking the loose pieces of the ski equipment up after the fall,
Refusing to give up and go back up slope for another chance,
Skiing down the slope without falling for the first time.
Overcoming all the obstacles throughout the day.

This is indeed an experience not to be forgotten.
It definitely has a certain place in our fond memories section of our brain.
Good times always fly pass and it is time to bid goodbye to the snowy white mountains.

Sixiu's glove stained hands.. ha

the man who keep helping us open the turnstiles to go up the ski slope.
Us frantically trying to pack our stuff so that we don't miss the last bus down to
the station.

GOODBYEe....

Day 1 in Torino

2007-03-13T16:44:00.000-07:00

woke up at 5.30am... to catch in the 8.15am train in Centrale..
Started with a quick check at the train timings, a mad packing of our blankets
and a quick breakfast..

Obviously, as usual, we are late and never catch the 8.15am train.
9.15am train we took.. late to go onto the train again..
so we have no seats and sat on our huge bags..
entertaining ourselves throughout the 1h 55min journey to Torino with PSP, books
and some dozing off.

The torino girls picked us up at Torino Porta Nuova, laughing their heads off
at how huge our bags are. HYMPH!!! seriously we looked as though we are going to
stay there for a week!
After settling down in their condo apt, we headed at the much awaited Ciocolato Fest!
CHOCOLATE FEST in Torino.. an yearly event not to be missed!
The girls happy with their dark like ** chocolate gelato..

River Po is a breathtaking sight-seeing place beside the choco fest.
Very very very beautiful.. not something u will find in milan..
On one side of the riverbank, one can find a hill of churches and settlements
staggered up hill.. reminds me of the palisades condo in pasir panjang.

Cindy and Sixiu took us for a walk along Torino's shopping district and of cos
we took pictures along the way with our favourite subject:
TREES and PLANTS and FLOWERS.
Guess the flowers here are not commonly seen in SGP, thus we are totally fascinated
by them... and even clean grass amazes us to a great extent.

Proceeded to a ski shop called JOLLYSPORT to rent our skis ("scis" in italiano)

The boots and the scis and the scis sticks weigh a ton!!!
We dragged everything home impatiently, all looking forward to the aperitivo at 7pm!

Good food and fruity alcohol at a bar recommended by them called SHORE.
They serve healtier food as compared to the BLUE CANAL one we visited. YUMMy!

All exhausted, me and Cindy, Sixiu and Meihua shared beds to sleep, yan and gan
guarded the living room by sleeping on the sofa and cushions.

One random grocery shopping day

2007-03-13T16:36:00.000-07:00

brought yan and gan to Coop (the nearest supermarket to our home) today..
the trees outside the supermarket were blooming eagerly and we triggered
our cameras non-stop..

we put together a simple meal of salad, fried minced pork (cos it's almost expired),
and curry chicken (to give half to our neighbour for her party as we will be away!).

we tried to make sure that there is little perishable food left in the fridge so that
it won't smell when we return 2 days later!

TORINO, CINDY, SIXIU.. here we come!

Gelato in neighbourhood + Aperitivo + Night tour!

2007-03-09T03:51:00.001-08:00

To satisfy 4 gelato carvings,
we braved the cold in our sleepwear to our neighbourhood down the street.
Totally unglam but we didn't care, showing the undying spirit of "faithful gelato worshippers".

been a HILARIOUS NIGHT!
Excitedly at around 5.30pm (our objective time), we went to take bus to take train, to take metro to porta Genova, Navigli! Where many bars serving free food if u buy a drink are.
Along the way we saw many many ppl selling yellow flowers and holding them,
after finding out from a local newspaper, we realised it is WOMEN's DAY (Donne day!).
To get into the mood, Meihua bought a small bouquet at 1 Euro!
We picked a bar called Blue Canal with a spread that looks fabulous and sat down for a drink and food!!! We really like it there for the good food and music!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for an after-work chillout! SHIOK...

We waited for the band to play and it's really enjoyable as well..
10.30pm, we peel our butts away from our seats and head home...
at the door of the bar, we saw a sign "STRIP TEASE 11pm!" haha.. hmmm... *.*

here is when the series of unfortunate events start.

we take metro from Porta Genova to Cardona..
Talk talk talk until miss a stop..
So we took back 1 stop.. no problem ...

At Cardona, we supposed to change to train..
The train station is CLOSED to our horror..
Desperately, we asked a policeman to tell us a nearest bus station to take 82.
he gave us directons of Turn left and walk straight 100m..
no sign of bus- stop..

we walk back to the metro station to take metro once again to Malachini
to take the bus 82...
take take take.. finally we found the 82 bus stop..
And to our horror again, our Novate 82 stops at 8pm!!!
the Bovisasca 82 that still runs doesn't go home!!!
there's really no other to go home except to take a bus to somewhere near
home and walk home...

So we took to that nearest busstop where meihua and gan copied down the map
at the busstop using handphone lighting, a pen and newspaper as paper for our
night trek home...
with me in heels, we walked 37 mins home crossing many roads, a supermarket,
a neighbourhood cemetry, the gelato cafe we visited in the noon, and HOME!

At our door, we found a huge pile of garbage.. ha..

Last night was a true testimony of how the burden could be shared when more people
are there to suffer with u.. haha.

Potato PARTY

2007-03-09T03:51:00.000-08:00

4 of us were doing our usual morning talk on what to make for dinner.
and brilliantly we thought of making a Potato dinner..
woooo. the ultimate carbo dinner!

Another of our 2 to 3 days once grocery shopping trip..
Took thrice the time to get home making 2 stupid mistakes getting lost.
To balance the carbo.. we added a salad dish with tons of lettuce, carrots,
power tomatoes, capsciums, ham, and gan's secret dressing.

Oven baked french fries,
Steamed potates with oregano and butter,
Baked potatoes with tuna mayo and hard boiled eggs and bacon cubes!

with such a spread of food, wine and good company.. who can ask for more?

An episode on Food

2007-03-09T03:40:00.000-08:00

Food is basically the only thing on our minds most of the time. haha

This shows our staples..
All different shapes and sizes of pasta, Rosemary biscuits, and Bread.
biscuits and bread are eaten with an assorted range of spreads...
Kaya, jam, butter, cream cheese, pomodoro sauce...
We can eat the same thing for breakfast, tea, lunch, tea.. haha..

Our attempts at Italian cuisine..
Leftover spaghetti fritata, risotto, and Pizza..

We still don't dare to invite anyone over to our apt for dinner yet.. haha..
not up to standard ... :O{

Our attempts at Chinese Food!
Mee Sua.. and salt spice chicken.. ha (plate darn hard to wash after that).

The kind of food we see in our neighbourhood everyday.
We will pass by and enter the shop.. stare and examine the mouth-watering pastries
and pull each other out of the shop and go home straight.. haha..

Pains of an exchange student.. ha

Trip to IKEA..

2007-03-09T03:31:00.000-08:00

IKEA in Milan is located at its outskirts..
Very very ulu..
We stroll in the familiar blue and yellow building for 1 hr or so
and ate the also very familiar but the bread shrink by a lot hotdog..

Us too bored waiting for the shuttle bus.. ha!

glam glamour glamorous!

2007-03-07T01:06:00.000-08:00

when people ask me to describe Milan, i always say it's like 100 Fullertons at 1 place. Full of the European style, but a bit too grey..
Even their post office (ufficio postale) is so grande!

Today, we went to the most glamorous street of Milano!
Via Montanapolenone ... prada, gucci, versace, cartier, LV, rolex.... and some
even more high class ones which i never heard before.. immersing in there is totally enjoyable already! I want to be rich next time! .. haha..

Their cartier shop is one whole building!!! ooooooo.. haha.. slurps*

guess where i m in!!! not Ritz carlton!
it's only a ZARA!.. wahhaha.. super majestic interiors..
the shops here usually have narrow shopfronts, but when u step in.. u can't see
the end of the shop.. it's that deep!

some random shots.. an interesting shirt from ZARA
A shot of undergrd in Milano. at the city station, they have a projector to give
entertainment to the commuters. they show some fashion shows and advertisements!
quality stuff not like those "be careful of strange bags lying in the MRT" kind of
commercials. haha
and lastly, tom yam pasta and oyster sauce chicken drumsticks..

funny fun fair

2007-03-07T00:53:00.000-08:00

Saturday night..
We searched online for a non-catholic church in Milano.
Only managed to find 1! called Chiesa Evangelica Metodista di Milano
I felt excited as if i m going for a date! haha.. a date with God
Via L.Porro Lambertenghi, 28
We ran as hard as we could while finding this place cos we were late.
When we reached, we realised it's a combined service that morning as it is the first
sunday of the month. (italian + english service).
A baby boy was baptised in the methodist way!
Next week a couple is getting married in that church! HAPPENING!

Along the way, we saw the first trees blooming as pink flowers!
Marks the start of SPRING! Hurray... the weather is getting better and warmer as well!
CHEERS!

After church, we went off to meet Gan and Yan to bring them tour Duomo and Castle.
me and meihua's first taste of Macs in Milano. Heavenly

like i said, flowers are blooming! A grouchy flower...

hehehe... she claims to be pretty at any angle.. ok lo..

good weather, more people are coming out to roll on the grass

at the romantic park behind the castle, we find ourselves in a middle of a huge funfair! super fun to watch even.. ha.. we keep wondering why we don't have this in singapore. haha

ended the day with 2nd try at risotto.. hmm.. still not too correct..

2 more additions to Begonia

2007-03-04T23:13:00.000-08:00

wE woke up at 5 plus am today to make our way to SARONNO to pick up Gan and Yan!
Supposed to reach at 7am but as usual we were late and arrived at 7.20am
but they were delayed too!
So we managed to enjoy a Latte Macchiato at a small bar near the station.

we wandered to a pastry shop almost like wonderland.
all the tarts and biscuits baked to perfection..
Can't resist the temptation, we bought 4 tarts! Delicious!

Our first cooked dinner together.. Pasta with spaghetti and not fusili this time.
ha.. Cheers! Oh.. they tried their 1st gelato too! 1.50 Euros for 2 flavours at ipercoop!

Not the smoothest day

2007-03-03T15:30:00.000-08:00

Finally we managed to register at the Politechnico di Milano!!!
Rewarded ourselves with a tacchino piadine.. Nice.. 4 Euros..

Off to centrale, thinking we can get our transport pass done..
In the end, at Centrale, the computer was down.. so can't make our pass.
Off to Cardona, the form ran out, so can't make our pass..
Off to Duomo Metro, ahh.. finally! we get a form and queued! they were serving number 545 and guess our number!!! 707!!!
Halfway, we walked away to try to settle our residence permit as well..
The procedure is really complicated, frustrating and ... inefficient
the most ridiculous step is WE HAVE TO PHOTOCOPY EVERY PAGE OF THE PASSPORT!
Then, exhausted, we made our way back to our 707 queue.. was 600 plus..
around 700, we started our chant towards 707.. haha..

Hurray! finally managed to settle our pass and we can take transport for free now! with a monthly payment of 17 Euros.. ahh.. release...

Another reward... ha.. GELATO!.. highclass one this time..
Strawberry and Caffe!

Preparation before COOKing

2007-03-03T15:19:00.000-08:00

Preparation before cooking doesn't mean only
Washing, cutting, heating, boiling..

It also involves pushing our luggage between our beds
and hiding all loose clothings from the smoke and oil!
Cos we sleep in the living room and there's no partition between the
kitchen and the dining room and the living room..
Once everything is covered with the bedsheets, then we can put our garlic, onions and everything into the pot.. LOL..

can't think of a better solution yet.

Our first try at risotto..
Realised we bought polenta (corn meal) instead of arborio rice.
Now we got 1 whole bag of polenta and dunno what to do with it...
Our risotto don't taste too correct but it's still edible...
just need to pei with some JIN ZI YU NIE (war and beauty).. haha
3 episodes per day.. shuang.. thanks to lijun!!!

cooking..

2007-03-01T04:25:00.000-08:00

NOVATE.. the train station nearest home.
Yet it is considered a stop outside Milano.. irritating.
Ha.. we always don't pay to take train. Yest kena caught by conductor.
we need to pay for the ticket and then pay 5 Euros fine each. ha!
Ok lo.. i think we cheated more than 5 Euros for the past week! :p

Went IPERCOOP again.. to stock up on groceries.
Cheap wine at less than SGD$3. Yogurt at 40 cents sing.
and we buy cheese for the 1st time! Emmental cheese. haha those kind of cheese tt really have holes in them.. Cute..

OHYA! the oranges meat here is bloody red in colour.
First time we see it, we went to ask our apt mate if there is anything wrong with it. ha.. that's meihua squeezing the bloody juice!

Our first cooked meal with many ingredients..
Fusili, tomatoes, pasta sauce, capscium, mushrooms, sausages, red onions, oregano.. blah... and CHEESE.. yum... satisfying.. oh ya! and the white wine we bought..
So full that i slept at 7pm again.. .. eat and sleep.. eat and sleep

first eat out

2007-03-01T04:19:00.000-08:00

i no longer can remember what happen on what day liao..
Yup.. One day we went to visit a flea market at St Agnostino.
Ha.. Felt at home over there like a pasar malam. Forgot to take a photo.
But i (yian) managed to buy a sch bag there at 7 Euros after digging in the pile for very very long.. :O) yeah

Bought a Mochaccino at the vending machine for 0.6 Euros.. yum..

Our first meal outside. Ha.. decided to try some food at our neighbourhood.
so happily we went out and walked back home again cos we forgot to bring the dictionary. ha.. after checking many words at the counter, we bought paninis!
Cold toasted sandwich with mushrooms, cold meat, some veg and cheese.
I like it.. meihua didn't.. ha..
took a picture of the pretty girl who served us!

Chinatown... Paolo Sarpi

2007-02-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

First Stop: Politechnico di Milano
Our first visit to our school. Got lost as usual.. haha
Went to the engineering campus instead.
When we finally managed to find Via Durando, we waited for 1 hr or more to make an appointment to come back on Wednesday! ARGH.. haha..
Quite intimidating in the small white room where it gathered many students waiting for some attention from the student desk. Dunno why, the students there speak really good Italian.. SCARY.. felt out of place..
But Anna (the person from the desk) was friendly and we met our ancient-looking professor who gave us ALL his contacts.. email, handphone no., and house no. and all the different timings and days to find him personally.. haha.. Shocking.

Second stop: Happily left for CHINATOWN.. The place which we have longed to visit to complete our dinner with the familiar oyster and soya sauce.
hmmm.. yianling imagined red lanterns hanging across the streets and dong dong qiang songs kept playing non-stop.. (like those in bangkok).. haiz.. how wrong can it go..
The street was full of fashion shops, totally overpriced for the quality.. it's like selling bangkok clothes at 10- 20 Euros. Not worth it at all.
Only 2 food stalls selling Chinese ingredients and food, at prices slightly higher than Singapore. Still, we managed to satisfy the craving for a familiar market place with familiar food.. mian xian, oyster soya sauce, sesame oil we bought.

HAVE TO SAY THIS.. along the way, we tried Nth number of ATMs to try withdraw 700 Euros to pay for rental. AND AND AND only 1 finally work. Have to find one which accepts a 6-digit PIN. WTH!!! haha.. Does that happen in other countries as well? ATM hunting is not fun at all..

Played at a playgrd on the way home carrying the cling clang bottles of sauces.
shit.. i can't swing.. Meihua tried her best to try me how to shift my body, hands and legs muscles.. .. still CANNOT.. what bend knees when moving backwards and stretch knees when moving forward... haiz.. CANNOT means CANNOT. i refuse to admit that it is not an INBORN skill. Pretty park .. with beautiful sky..

Last stop: IPERCOOP. A hypermarket.. giant size.. Tried clothes in Jennyfer for more than 1 hr.. many many cheap bargains.. like a jacket at 7 Euros.. ha.. JUST BUY la! why think so much.. in the end.. ha.. yianling jus bought a 2 Euro racerback tunic. ha. How giam siap we can become.. haha.. so pai seh when paying at the cashier!

CIAO!

Cold Rainy Sunday

2007-02-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

We checked out a Sunday flea market along a river (fiumi) at Pt Genova.
The river is all dried up, less pretty than expected but the scene was gd enough.
Thought could satisfy some shopping desire, but it was an antique flea market, so the things there are not exactly cheap.. in fact it's quite steep!

The weather was freaking cold! the coldest we ever experienced here in Milan.
Carrying the umbrealla, we weaved through the rows of temporary stalls along both sides of the river. Eye-opening indeed .. :) there were some interesting fashionable shops along the river as well.. once again. EXPENSIVE.. heee..

Meihua satisfying her yogurt gelato desire (Euro $2.90). Na-tu-ra-le flavour.
Gustoso!

the gelato place actually specialised in Yogurt. and it has a poster saying yogurt laboratory. Quite interesting and uniquely designed.

We love Day 3!

2007-02-25T14:50:00.000-08:00

Our very very kind apartment mate Andrea brought us to the mysterious city centre of Milan! Milano Cadorna. Where the ever famous Duomo is!
The view was spectacular! Seriously breath-taking. We were so satisfied at the sight.
The misty weather made the whole building look even more magical.
The interiors were grand and equally majestic as the outside.

This is a period of carnival in Milan. Kids are all dressed up in funny costumes and make up. Confetti all over the ground, and ballons, spray cans all over the city.

We visited a building beside Duomo. Slightly paler in comparison but it has many designer shops and cafes. When we step in, we both proclaimed, "This is what Milan is like!" ha.. All glamour and style.

Our first gelato in italy!!! Yummy..

Cos it's the carnival period, there was a piazza with many many brillantly designed metal toys for the parents and children. Very smart and simple toys.
The perfect example of a low cost and totally engaging playground.

Next, we visited a Castle of a total different style as Duomo.
Beautiful as usual.. ha!

the park next to it was totally romantic.
A perfect dating spot. People making out everywhere.. every every where..

Neighbourhood Day 2

2007-02-25T14:41:00.000-08:00

Slept at 6.30pm the night before and woke up at 4.30am.
We are still running on Singapore time!

Settled our Italian numbers at our neighbourhood early in the morning
with huge difficulties again because of the language barrier.
Explored our neighbourhood while waiting too!

Then to Linate, to search for my luggage once again which did not arrive as promised.
Wasted trip as the counter staff has couriered it to Novate (where we stay). ARGH
Then, supermarket, we go again.. a bigger one this time..
Plastic bags also need to pay! .. 0.15 euros i think.. 30 cents SGP.

Alcohol is cheap :) one Hoegarden for SGD$4. one whole Absolut for SGD$16 i think.
cheapest beer is SGD0.90. wahahahhaha

The arrived luggage, bak ku teh noodles for dinner, and skyping the torino girls

Slept at 6.30 again... ha..

An eventful Day 1

2007-02-25T11:54:00.000-08:00

Saying goodbye at Changi Airport at 10.30pm..
Thanks to all who have come or wished to come!
Thanks to all our prayer warriors as well!

On the plane. AF0257
Enjoying the movies, games and food!
(The Queen, Little Miss Sunshine, Space Invasion!!)
& note the highlighted air steward. ha.. goodlooking.
He kept talking to us in Japanese, though we replied in English. :O)
Went to toilet and to get water at least 5 times. 13 hrs of flight is no joke.
The guy beside us did not even lift his butt from his seat for a single second.

At Paris, we were rushed down the plane and into a shuttle van for our transit.
The first moments we experienced the cold weather in Europe. SHUANG!
Hurried through the security checks in the Paris airport.
Barely had time to see the airport properly. ha.
I kept telling Meihua, i feel like Airpork. ha.. onto AF1212 for 1hr 10mins!
Saw a spectacular view of some snow mountains and the sunrise. Unbelievable.

Arrived at Linate airport at around 8.30 in the morning.
A small rundown airport. Proceeded to collect our luggage and...
My check-in luggage was delayed!
a more sweet-sounding word than LOST).
It landed on the next flight. By God's grace, we believed.
I did not feel too anxious and just left my details and address at the counter.
They promised to deliver it by the afternoon.

So, 2 of us had 3 handcarry and 1 check in luggage to drag to our apartment.
PHEW... A task more torturous than we can imagine.

Can't find where to buy the bus tickets.
Not sure where to take the bus 73 from.
No idea how to recognise where to alight (we only have a streetname)
Overshot the alighting busstop.

Can't locate the train station which is supposed to be near the busstop
Drag our luggage everywhere along the street to find the station.
Went down the underground station with our heavy luggage by steps.
Realised that there was an escalator when we reach the bottom of the steps
No idea where to buy the train tickets.
When alighting at our neighbourhood train station, i couldn't get out fast enough.
Had to take to the next station and take back again. (Only time we seperated! ha!)
Had trouble finding the street we live in.
Had more trouble find the apartment number along that street.
Finally HOME SWEET HOME.. body aching, totally exhausted and hungry.

Despite the tough journey, we were very pleased with our apartment!
Cosy, peaceful, pleasant.

Headed straight to a small supermarket to buy some water and groceries.
Made our first dinner here.. Chicken potato curry..

testing 123

2007-02-25T10:40:00.000-08:00

123