From England to Holland -1

Our Tour de Europe last month (5th-29th September 2008) was really an interesting and challenging journey (among those were our GPS was technically malfunctioned) but - to cut the story short - we managed to find the way out. Gosh...thanks God! The day before we cross the English Channel, we spent a night in Dover and get ourselves ready for the trip which we had technically planned for the past 6 months!- car rental, accommodation, places of interest, culture, languages, etc.

On the 5th @ 0800, we departed from our hotel and drove to Dover Ferry Terminal where we dropped off our rented car. We decided to get another car in France as in Europe , they drive on right hand side and we thought its best to get their car instead of driving a car from UK. From Dover, we catched the ferry to Calais, France. It took us about 1.5 hours to cross the English Channel.

P&O Ferry used to cross the English Channel

Seb and Gab on the ferry (background view-the White Cliff of Dover)

Once we reached Calais, we got our pre-booked rented car from AVIS. After loading our luggage into the car, Seb get himself ready for his first main task...to operate the car in a different setting. After just five minutes driving, suddenly Seb headed on to the road divider....OMG...everyone just keep quite...can he really make it?can he really adapt himself with the right handed driving system, turn right when it comes to the roundabout, etc. Despite all the "obstacles" we managed to make it through to Holland and the first assignment took us 10 hours to reach our destination (plus visits to WC).

We spent 3 days in Holland and came to learn that most of Holland is below sea level where barriers were built along Holland to hold back sea water - no wonder you can find canals anywhere in Amsterdam. We visited the cheese farm and a "Klompenhius", where wooden clogs are made.

The Clog

Demonstration on the processes of making cheese

Photo taken with "The Dutch Lady- susu Dutch Lady liao..."


Typical Amsterdam identity - The traditional windmill

The following day, we spent the rest of the day in Amsterdam City, places such as Von Gough Musuem, Hard Rock Cafe, etc and of course the famous Red Light District (RED) where legal prostitution activities take place. The interesting part of RED is that one can find prostitutes displaying themselves, wearing arousing bikinis in the "aquarium" ready for business. However, we could not take the snapshot in the RED as we have been warned not do so or else you will find yourself and your camera in the canal, thrown by the bonzer. This experience is a good exposure for Gab...I would think so :) She was giggling all the way through and keep on saying "Mummy...... look at the sexy lady." Being a liberal country, canabis can also be found in the night market and they do sell coffee mixed with marijuana upon request. Dont you think its cool?

Ams Tourism Slogan - I amsterdam


Hard Rock Cafe - Amsterdam




Canabis sold at the night market


This is exactly how the RED looks like...


and this shows how liberal the country is....

Thats all i can share with you about NL. The next destination is Germany.

Im back

Hi ya,

Im back now. We touched down safely yesterday (30th September) after a very long journey via Schipol, Amsterdam - we have to catch 3 flights to get us back to Kuching. All of us are running out of energy, in particular me...exhausted mentally and physically. Thanks God, the dissertation things were done and the trip to Europe was extremely interesting and challenging i may say. I'll update you on the trip later cause I need to regain my energy...tired giler

No updates...

Dear All,

There will be no updates on this blog for the time being as im extremely busy with my diss. Gosh..I need all the energy now.

Celebration!!! I PASS THE EXAM!

While Im still trying to get back my momentum, I received an email from the teaching office requesting me to collect my exam results from the school pigeonholes. When I reached the teaching office, few of my course mates were there…some were happy, some were depressed…I don’t dare to ask…I was so damn scared to see those expression…..

When I opened the envelope…

OMG…I pass…I pass the exam and I pass all the modules!!

List of subjects Ive taken. I passed them all, except for the dissertation which will be submitted in September.

My one year effort, finally bear it fruits….Gosh…Ive been suffering for nearly one year to earn this degree…and this is the moment that Ive been waiting for…Now, only left with my dissertation of which I believe, with God’s will of course, it should not be a problem ....PRAISE THE LORD!!!Finally Im getting closer to the finish line.

About being productive...

I am not being productive today. I have done nothing useful except that Ive only managed to read 2 articles on the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression and wasting "quality time?" browsing through some of my friends and associates blogs/facebook...just to keep me posted on whats happening back home, obviously this "activity" does not help me with my dissertation.

My classmates used to tell me that it’s a “curse” when an economist being unproductive…agree? Ya…perhaps he is right, perhaps it is a disease, a Dutch disease (an economic term) - in my context; where you have ample time and thus take things for granted and at the end of day regrets it for being so complacent. So, I will quit….well quit from being unproductive and continue working on my dissertation!!

By the way, just to share on this breaking news: Church will ordain women bishops! “The Church of England's ruling body, the General Synod, has voted to confirm the ordination of women as bishops”- Source: BBC.

For more details: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7494517.stm

Hai…apa nak jadi…

P/S: There was a heli landed in front of my resident last Sunday. Cool!!...what a view to enjoy...birds, hot balloons, etc..Love it!




...and a friend of mine just came back from Switzerland today and bring some ole-ole, swiss chocolate...yummy2. Thanks Hem.

Walaupun kecik, tak ape...paham2 ajaklah...traveling based on student's budget. whats important - the thought that matters!

Dissertation

Arghhhh....Im still working hard on my dissertation which is due in September! Hopefully I can get it done at least by early/middle of August as we have made a plan to conquest 8 european countries (France, Belgium, Amsterdam, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Vatican City and Austria) by end of august. Seb proposes that we should drive for the trips and based on previous experiences, driving is in fact the best option as the GPS system makes it possible and of course one can travel at your own pace and most importantly; making the trips more affordable...

So far Im progressing quite well...done with three chapters and still struggling with two more chapters. In fact the dateline for the holiday makes it more stressful, not the dissertation's dateline, hehehe... Thanks for the holiday plan as it works well to motivate me working extra extra hard for my dissertation. Really looking forward for the "Conquest of Europe 2008" excursion!

Get up and get out for the summer celebration in Norwich

Yesterday was the Lord’s Mayor Celebration (some called it the Summer Day Celebration) - the city's biggest community celebration and is set in the heart of the city on the streets of Norwich. Coming back from work, I went straight to St Stephen's Road where the procession took place.

Here are some of the photos of the lively dancers, carnival characters, etc wind their way through the city streets.

Some of the sexy dancers


The Traditional Lithuania group


The giant butterfly

The Brazillian Group

The view during the procession @ 7.15 p.m. Fortunately the weather was fine.

The procession ended at 9.00 p.m...



...and I took the opportunity to have my photo taken in the middle of the street