- vatican city
Explored the Vatican City today. St Peter’s Basilica is utterly amazing. I had goosebumps just being there. As i was walking in, a lady offered free tour and was waiting for the group to grow to 8 people. I joined in. Her knowledge of the architecture was impressive and i learnt a lot during our 30 minutes tour. After that ended, i walked into a vatican post office and wrote some postcards as the vatican’s post is supposedly more reliable than Italy’s one!
It was already noon by then and i was ready for another highlight - sistine chapel. I walked towards the vatican museum, the world’s largest museum. rented an audio guide at the entrance, figured it’ll help me appreciate what i was looking at more. Meandered from one gallery to another - the vatican museum is made up of several galleries, mostly private collections of each pope. The only thing that retained my attention though, was some stained glass which i thought were simply gorgeous. And then sistine chapel. Michaelangelo is truly an artist and this trip to italy certainly made me appreciate him more as an artist. The fresco on the ceiling is just, amazing. that and his david at florence which i couldn’t stop staring at. Michaelangelo is truly a gifted artist.
Tomorrow - the Colosseum, the pantheon, the spanish steps, the trevi fountain and much more. yes all in one day! Stay tuned!
- Tuscan food experience
Am typing this out in a train from firenze on the way to roma. i am on my own and very excited. I will be gallivanting to three more countries before reuniting with nadine in florence to head towards poland.
We had a weekend of food feast, finally ate some honest to goodness tuscan food that made my crispy mcbacon experience a distant memory.
Saturday - we squeezed into trattoria mario, a family run restaurant that has been dishing out traditional tuscan cuisine since 1536! I had ribolita as my prima (starter) which was vege soup with bread. Absolutely delicious, i love the thick texture and the beany taste of the dish. My secondo is coniglio airosto, which is roasted rabbit, another tuscan specialty. It was tender, and salty. For dolci (desert), i had biscotti e vinsanto, which is also a traditional tuscan desert of almond biscuits dipped in some hard liquor. Yummy! Definitely beats dipping into coffee or milo!
Sunday we strolled through the streets of oltrarno into trattoria angiolino. i had to have another ribolita as primi, tagliata di manza e rucola all aceto balsamica as secondi, which was sliced beed on a bed of rocket salad sprinkled with (absolutely bewitching) balsamic vinegar. The sliced beef were very tender, just cooked on the outside and medium rare on the inside. Delicious! For dolci, i had tiramisu, which was missing alcohol! Nadine’s panna cotta was definitely more impressive, which was cooked cream, kinda like cream pudding. Mmmm! I also drank local chianti wine with my meal.
That was my tuscan meal experience! Am heading to rome after this, stay tuned!
P/s: am blogging from my phone so please excuse any typo or formatting errors.
- mini notes
in a land where its cuisine is known all over the world - pasta, pizza, lasagna, risotto, gelato, tiramisu, coffee. the only impressive thing i ate so far, is crispy mcbacon from mcdonalds. Hehe! Well all that is going to change coz nadine is taking me out for good meals this weekend. woohoo!
She also asked me to check something for her in spain. She wants to know….if the rain on spain falls mainly on the plains.
Stay tuned for the answer!
- italy so far
Bongiourno. italy so far - bombardment of historic squares, art, architecture. what impresses so far is michaelangelo’s david. That piece of marble certainly has spirit. It is by far the most graceful piece of rock i have ever seen and i couldn’t stop staring at him. Definitely art, and something you have to see with your own eyes to fully appreciate. I didn’t even expect to like it let alone be impressed. But awestruck i was and instantly infatuated.
Sienna. Its narrow winding cobblestone streets is utterly charming. I love the narrow windows with terraces jutting out - often filled with colourful potted plants. Every inch of sienna was like a picture postcard. The bricks with warm hues, the wooden doors. Charming, charming, charming.
Florence’s duomo. astoundingly impressive. The amount of detail carved onto the church’s facade is mind boggling.
Noon bells echoing through the squares. The clipped sound of horse hoofs against the cobblestone. Italian men whistling as they walk. The dramatic italiano conversations punctuated with their vigorous hand gestures.
One thing about the italians - they are very curt people who are difficult to approach for help, and they don’t smile. No wonder everyone raves about how friendly asians are - it is our natural instinct to smile and help.
Despite always proclaiming to be very much a tropical person, i’m taking to the weather pretty well. Am actually enjoying the fresh crisp chill!
I have another weekend in florence before i head off to rome. stay tuned!
- after all that silence
this year certainly unfolded beyond my expectation. for one - my brother got married. i left my company. lots of ups and downs in the emotional department - which served to strengthen my character. i got an interesting new job. and, to end the year with a nice boom - am backpacking around europe for three weeks. mostly solo.
the trip happened on a whim. i have about a month in between jobs. a month doing nothing. naturally, i decided i had to do some travelling as i only did laos this year. my best buddy is working in italy for a few months, and she extended an invitation to visit.
i thought, why the heck not?
i spread open the map of europe - it was astounding. the amount of places i can go, the logistics, the languages. in the end i narrowed down the places where i absolutely had to go. like prague. for charles bridge. like barcelona. for my favourite architect - gaudi. the rest of the route fell into place on its own. budapest. then warsaw because my best buddy wanted some eastern europe charm.
three weeks. five countries. six if you count austria - am stopping there for two hours to change trains. enough time for a cup of hot chocolate and maybe a slice of apple strudel.
i have a very strong feeling that this will be a trip of a lifetime. this will be my best memories in motion. this is me living my dream. i want the next three weeks to go by in super slow motion - so that my senses can savour every minuscule of detail and absorb every ounce of differentness.
i will return different, but the same :) stay tuned, i will be blogging on the go from europe :D
- back in kk for a week
cicadas. i have cicadas serenading me tonight. that’s how kk rocks. am back for a week plus - brother’s getting married :D my whole bunch of awesome friends are flying in to attend it, so it’ll be nothing short of a riot.
the sunset sky was amazing today. i shared that thought with my brother to which he snickered and said - “biasa lah….”. i guess i was too used to the stifling skies of kl, crowded with buildings and impatient souls. i’ll snap a pic soon to show you what i mean by amazing.
while the two of us were out getting dad’s dinner, brother decided to whisk me off for a mini shopping spree. we headed to the new shopping complex in kk called One Borneo. culture shock! its like someone transported Mid Valley and plopped in down here! we parked at the curb (free parking yo, that’s another cool thing about kk) and walked to the crocs shop. i’ve been hesitating. but damn those crocs are comfy. and i’m all about comfort. we even bought them silly deco pins and stuck them on. giggles!
i’m hooked on jason mraz’s new hit - i’m yours. it’s positively, infectiously, HAPPY. the most jovial of reggae beats. if you listen to that tune, and don’t find yourself swaying to its melody then you my friend, are made of rock. cold solid rock. that song makes me think of cocktails by a sunny beach, bare feet on white sand, lapping waves, straw hat, kitsch flower print shirts, wooden shacks, swaying coconut trees and a huge silly grin.
if i’m crazy enough (and have free time), i might run off to the islands for a bit. :D nite good people.
- faith
remember - the trials are there to test your strength. choose grace. look into the eyes of fear to know your courage. your heart knows the right path, the rest are just black noise straight from the demon’s mouth. selflessness is always the key.
- murakami
stumbled onto an article about murakami, it’s a good read. i recently made my first ebay purchase - murakami’s first book, hear the wind sing. this book is rare - you can’t find it out of japan, and a translated copy is an even harder find. received it in the mail a few days ago and was gleeful with joy.
how this book came to be written is an interesting story. murakami was watching a live baseball game in the stadium one day. whilst witnessing a score, he suddenly realised he can write a novel. immediately upon reaching home that night, he wrote. he wrote progressively every night for four months and published the book. its success encouraged him to keep writing.
so - holding that book in my hands, was like touching muramaki’s beginning. it filled me with a deep bookish kinda satisfaction.
- tuesday
the morning rains. this city doesn’t hold itself up very well during rainy days. traffic jam crowd the roads. its citizens panic and scramble to office, or pack into trains and busses. flash floods happen.
this is just a post to say - i’m around (and busy playing d2 whilst waiting for d3).
- diablo 3
i am just SO stoked! i’ve waited for this announcement for six years! the trailer looks mind blowingly AWESOME. i was watching and grinning like a little kid, salivating like a sick fool. i even shamelessly hit the replay button three times and was still blown away. it’s like coming home! the images are just…..insanely awesome. i was heady with adrenaline rush, blizzard totally nailed the upgrade. i so can’t wait for the release……which i hope will be early next year. maybe even a christmas release. if my current rig can’t play this game, i’m so buying a new pc. it’ll be totally worth it.
oh the painful wait! in the meantime, just to ease the itch a little, i’ll be building another barbarian character in diablo 2. or replaying the trailers. or refreshing d3 forums for news leaks.
do watch the trailer if you haven’t…..the cinematics are alluringly sinister, seductively dark and horrifyingly violent. i’m so excitedddddddddddddddddddddddd!
/end geek blabber
newest comments