Paris Part I

Paris, the city of romance. I finally here, but then I was not really enjoy my trip because of the super extreme cold weather despite i was fully equipped for that. The weather dropped to -6 celsius on the day i reached Paris. Yes, is negative 6 celsius with wind. Never in my life experienced this killing cold until i came here. Wearing 2 pairs of gloves and keeping my hands in pockets didn't help much. Cold weather, everything look dull in winter, 2 weeks of western food and had not seen QQ for 2 weeks made me feel depressed. I pulled myself together and my mission visit Paris is complete. Vola~~~

@Arc De Triomphe. The Arc de Triomphe was commissioned in 1806 by Napoleon to honour his imperial victories but remained unfinished when he started losing. All the names of the generals and victories engraved on the inside and at the top of the arch.

Standing @Arc De Triomphe. The arch is at the center of the roundabout. You can see cars moving around the arch.

@Seine River, a major river in France.

Taking photo of myself with Eiffel tower behind.

@Eiffel Tower, I'm finally here. I didn't spent much time walking around here as the weather was too cold. I quickly asked one of the visitors to take the photo for me and left for the next destination.

This view reminds me of winter sonata~~~~

I was happy when i entered this restauran operated by chinese. I spoke chinese with the boss and asked him to recommend something nice for lunch, this is what i got~~~

Toilets at Europe dont come free accept for indoor guest. You need to put in coins in order to open the door~~~

@Eglise Saint-Eustache, one of the most beautiful Gothic churches in Paris.

@Eglise Saint-Eustache, the church is too big to capture the whole~~~

@Eglise Saint-Eustache, beautiful painted glass~~~~

@Eglise Saint-Eustache, the organ with 8000 pipes is known to be the largest organ in France. Yes, it indeed really big~~~

@Eglise Saint-Eustache, I discovered this, I love standing on it coz hot air coming out from here~~~~

@Centre Pompidou

@Centre Pompidou, having a hot coklat banana crepe on a cold day, just make my day~~~~

Few youngsters performing music near Centre Pompidou~~~ They bring cheer to the crowd !!!

@Porte De Choisy, Chinatown.

12 Feb 2010, 30th night, a important night for chinese, I had my dinner at this restauran.

It looks nice, but i didn't manage to finish it~~~

Imagine

Came across this song, simple lyrics and yet so inspiring~~~

by John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living life for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Amsterdam 2 days 1 night

Carla, Jeannie, Sarah & I took train to Amsterdam after the training on friday( Feb 5, 2010). The distance between Leuven and Amsterdam is about 164KM, but then we took more than 3 hours to reach Amsterdam. We had our train changed in Antwerpen. At Amsterdam central station, Sarah's friend, Charl was there waiting for us. He was our tour guide for that night. He took us to one of the local bar, Wynand Fockink and welcome us with dutch liquors. After having our dinner, Charl took us to "The Red Light District". It was really an eye-opening experience. Prositution is legal in Netherland. All the sex workers dressed in sexy lingerie standing behind red illuminated windows, trying to flirt with the pass-by visitors. I saw some man even asking for price from one room to another!!! Amazed by the scenes, I wanted to share this with my friends when back to Malaysia, I took out my camera and quickly snapped a photo. Flash came from my camera, ooopss!! I forgot to switch off the flash!! Immediately, the prostitute pointed at me and shouted angrily. I was really terrified at that moment. I pretend nothing happened and walk away quickly. I quickly deleted the photo in my camera and stay close to my friends. What a experience I had in Amsterdam!!

On the next day, Carla and I visited Madamme Tussaud & Sex Musuem. We took a lot of pictures in Madamme Tussoud. We spent a bit of time on shopping too. Shopping in Amsterdam is cheaper than Leuven. Due to we had not much time left, we did not manage to visit The Anne Frank House. We took train back to Leuven. Netherland, I'll be back to visit you again!! See you soon~~

Canal night view.

This is public urinals for men, found nearby the red light district. The red light district is filled with bars that serve beers than anything else. So, this is built for men to relieve themselves instead of againts whichever corner or wall of the shops or house~~~ I think this is more civilized than people who pee on the trees or drain!!

@Wynand Fockink, you have to bend down and sip before you can bring this glass away from the table~~~

@ one of the street at Amsterdam.

@ Charl's house.

Chastity belt - designed to prevent woman from committing adultry.

Can you find me in the picture?

Mata hari, born in Netherland, was an famous exotic dancer in Paris. Before the outbreak of the World War I, she had affair with high-ranking military officers, politicians and others in influential positions in many countries. Later on she was accused of spying for Germany and was executed by firing on October 1917, at the age of 41 years old. The pictures behind her is on the day of her execution.

@ Sex musuem entrance.

I can climb like spider man~~~

ta da~~~~ I'm floating in the air~~~

Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt.

David Beckham is doing sit up.

Marilyn Monroe

Michael Jackson is looking at me!!!

Princess Diana. She look alive~~~

Madamme Tussaud. She opened her first wax figures in London when she was 74 years old.

Foggy weather~~

@Antwerp Central, the station has 4 levels. This picture shows level 0 & level +1.

2 weeks training in Leuven, Belgium

31 Jan 2010, 9.30am,after taking 14 hours of flight, I'm finally here at Leuven, Belgium. Walking towards to Novotel Leuven which is 400m away from the Leuven train station, I felt it took ages to reach the hotel. It was really cold, 4 celsius , snow covering here and there. Yes, this is the very first time in my life walking on the snow. I had been waiting for this moment to come, but at this time I didnt really enjoy watching the snow as I was freezing (my winter jacket was inside the checked in luggage and the checked luggage would only be sent to hotel later) and hoping I could reach the hotel soon. This is only the begining of my journey, I would be spending 2 weeks here for training and 1 week in Paris and Rome, I got to get myself "used to" it!!!

Spending 2 weeks training with Piet Wuyckens, I would say this training was really beneficial to me, I gained a lot of knowledge from this training. To be honest, I did not feel a bit of sleepy at all throughout the 2 weeks training, thanks to Piet, his presentation was lively and easy to understand. On the last session of the training, I got full marks for the final test!!! I was told by Piet that I'm the 3rd trainee got full marks from his training!!! ^0^

Let me give you a brief introduction of Leuven. Leuven is situated 20km east of brussels. Belgium has three official languages, Dutch, French & German. English is widely spoken here. I'm quite amazed by the multilingual of the people here. Belgium famous for beer and chocolate. Famous chocolate maker include Godiva & Leonidas. I had chocolate almost everyday, chocolate here is really nice. I hate myself for not buying more back to Malaysia~~~

Cycling is one of the common transportation in Leuven, even in winter. How could they cycling under such freezing weather?? This really puzzle me~~~

Morning view from my hotel room. Cars, roads, buildings all covered by a thick layer of snow~~

The Saint Peter's Church, the first catholic church i saw in europe. I expected more to see when in Paris and Rome~~~

This little cute chiwawa wearing winter jacket catched my attention~~~

Don't they feel cold??

Taking photo with my trainer, Piet~~~

Celebrating last night of training in one of the bar. Left clock wise, Camil, Piets, Jeannie, Sarah, Carla & me~~~ We had lots of fun that night~~~

Group photo with the team on the last day of training. Left, Piet, Joe, Yves, Jeannie, Me, Camil, Sarah, Carla & Eric.

This little statue is named "Fonske". Latin for "fountain of wisdom." The statue represents a university student who, while reading a book, lets wisdom flow into his head as liquid from a glass.

Main street in the city.

The town hall of Leuven.

I'm BACK!!!

Hi all~~~ Ok, I must confess that I feel extremely guilty of not being able to post anything in my blog for a year. Many things had happened in the past 12 months. I shall post one by one from now onwards. Stay tuned ladies & gentleman, lots of pictures are coming~~
Cheers~~~ Happy 2011~~