5 going on 6 years since I have set foot in this country.
And I deeply wonder what it takes to make myself click with all the angmohs, because I still DON'T.
When I told my father that I wanted to come here to study, he told me that it is honestly not as good as I think it would be. He cautioned me about the culture differences, the difficulties in making friends and also that I will realise that no place is better than home.
At that point I scoffed and laughed off the idea.
Me? Not making friends? Excuse me?
I know lah, I am big headed. But I did not think I lacked much in the social skills department that I would be unable to actually make friends. I came all ready to know my entire class and university, if I can handle it.
Silly 19 year old me.
Don't get me wrong.
University was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I made fantastic friends and had an incredible time.
But mostly with my people.
Malaysians/Singaporeans/Hong Kongers. Heck. Asians.
The AngMoh world is impenetrable.
Still, it did not affect me so as I had 3 lovely flatmates that I knew I could always fall back on and plenty of different cliques of other friends that I loved dearly and melded so well with. People sometimes look (down, perhaps?) at me and say that I am too sociable (and I do strongly believe that some people actually dislike me for it, although they have not said it to me).
But really, I don't care.
I know who are friends who will be there forever and who would not be.
So although 5 years in medical school where 90% of the population is AngMoh, I am terribly sorry to say that I have only made ONE AngMoh friend that I will truly keep in contact with until perhaps the end of my days.
The others are all just acquaintances.
5 years.
1825 days.
43800 hours.
Ok, ok. I can go to seconds but we get the point.
And I still fail in my most prided department that is social skills.
Mark my words, at my prime time in Edinburgh, I would know almost all Malaysian students alive in this city, and certainly close to 100% of all Malaysian medical students from first to fifth year.
And they would know who I am too. (Aiyah, let me show off a bit can)
Can anyone top me? I doubt it. (I said know ar, not like or hang out with)
So when I graduated, I thought, well you know what, let's move somewhere else and preserve Edinburgh as the best of my student days.
Let's move closer to London. (If not London then what's the point of moving anywhere else?)
So apply I did, got I did and here I am now sitting in my FY1 accommodation writing this blog entry.
5 months ago, when I left the safety and familiarity of my home in KL to face my new workplace and workforce, I was scared out of my face.
Yes. I was.
I hate uncertainty and also I knew that my non existent training of 5 years talking to AngMoh has never served my purpose of actually penetrating their social group.
So I arrive frightened and absolutely lonely for the first 1 month.
Did not help that I was placed in a flat with a boy whom is akin talking to the wall. ( I sincerely hope he never reads my blog)
This blog entry is really my grievances in my failure to connect with my flatmate.
You know you get flatmates that is plain outright weird or at worst so annoying that all you want to do is really to keep a distance and pray that the year goes by quickly enough so that you can fast fast shift out.
No, X is not like that. He is a great person (so far I think la) and has the potential, repeat - potential to be a really good person to talk to and laugh with.
Only it had never happened.
I immensely dislike the constant work my brain has to go through to think of topics of conversation when I am alone with him.
I immensely dislike the awkward silence that hangs in the air when my brain is doing that bit of work.
I especially immensely dislike the moments of do-not-know-how-to-answer-to his replies or, worse.. non replies(!!) to my bits and bobs of information that my brain thinks up so I can fast fast fill in these awkward gaps of silences.
So a conversation will go like this:
Me: 'Eh, you know that day Y told me that he was outside A&E and the ambulance crew tipped a poor lady from the stretcher onto the snow!'
X: no reply
Me: er... shit. Did he hear or not hear or hear but not understand or....
In a normal person, they would go, 'Oh, CRAP. REALLY??!?!? what happened to her then????'
And that would lead into a happy discussion of how snow affects patient co morbidity or shit like that.
But no.
That Did Not Tooting Happen.
So no choice, fast, fast think of next sentence.
Me: 'So right. Y did not know what to do. Whether to help or not.'
X: still no reply
At this point, a normal person would perhaps give up and resort to silence, or say, 'Eh babi, u hear me anot?'
But obviously neither was an option to me because read : I HATE AWKWARD STRETCHES OF SILENCE and needed to say something else.
Me: 'Today got teaching ar?'
X: 'I heard no more'
Phew. Finally got an answer.
Anddddddddddddddd ...................... the silence continues.
You know. Sometimes I give up. I ask or throw about a few random sentences to initiate a conversation but that never works with X. He either completely not answer, or answer in short, end of conversation replies/answers and the weirdest part is when he like only answers me 1 minute after I ask/say something.
E.g.
Me: 'What do you think of my daily wear. (cos I wear jeans to work. Eh, anaesthetics, wear scrubs everyday) It is hardly professional right?'
Silence for 1 minute at to which I feel, erh..... ok, I better start to think of something else to say....
X: 'Yeah.'
This is the point I get confused. What's with the long wait before he answers? Either he didn't understand my accent first time and had to wait for his brain to connect all bits of it or he was thinking of the right answer to my question, or he just doesn't really give a shit.
My accent I think.
I dono.
Me: 'How is working with Z????' - in a very obvious I got something to say about her/him voice.
X: 'It's alright.' - in a very obvious full stop voice
Me: '...'
But then, there are times when conversation is good and funny and really is what I do with Alvin, Kai Lin and Phey Ming in the past.
And not only X, I get really nervous if it is in a group of AngMohs because I cannot always keep up to the flow of chat. And I don't deal very well with silence either.
So as a summary of what I discovered in my almost 6 years of British exposure:
1. AngMohs can TALK OVER ONE ANOTHER. No. Like literally impossible to get a word in. And it's so loud and animated that I cannot, for the life of me, interject a thought process of my own at any one time because it is TOO LOUD AND TOO FAST. My mommy has always told me I speak too fast when I was growing up. If I am fast, then these people are Michael Schumacher.
2. AngMohs like talking about themselves, only, themselves. Especially girls. So far, I believe I have done well with AngMoh girls compared to boys because they like to talk about themselves and all I have to do is agree with whatever they say or throw in a few well placed, I see/I agree/Totally/Indeed/Oh Really?? etc.. the list goes on. Short sentences like that I can deal with. Boys don't really talk about themselves but always talk about... leading us to no.3....
3. Sex. WHY IS IT THAT SEX IS SO IMPORTANT?? I don't know what to say about it when it is being discussed because firstly they use a different language to me. E.g. well hung = big balls. and alot more other terms that I have totally no idea about. You know, it's difficult enough as it is for me to strain to understand their accent - throw in unfamiliar words and everything becomes a load of gibberish.
Not the way forward to join a conversation.
4. F this F that.
5. Everything, every time and every meal and literally every excuse.... involves alcohol. Come back - stress! Answer: don't talk to me, I need wine.
5. My own lack of knowledge perhaps regarding British or even American culture/music scenes/movies/children shows... whatever. That is the number 1 killer in a conversation. E.g.
X: 'Did you know that there is a competition between Joe McElderry's The Climb and Rage Against the Machine's Killing In The Name for Christmas No. 1?'
Me: 'WHAT??' Blank stare.
X: no reply.
Silence continues.
Fail max.
Joe McElderry X Factor champ I know la. Rage Against the siapa? Killing apa?!
Babi. Only when I go and YouTube it then I know.
But you know, I was thinking what's the limitations and the crack code to get into easy conversation with an AngMoh.
And I realise that unless I actively read everything online and listen to all music will I then only have just scratched the surface.
So give up Jay Chou and Lee Hom to swap with Artic Monkeys and Coldplay?
-_-
Why is it that when I went to New York and met this whole bunch of Malaysians, we clicked immediately? WHOLE BUNCH, NOTE.
Not ONE.
But it takes me a whole 5 years to make one GOOD AngMoh friend up in Edinburgh.
Why? Because I do better with my own people.
I am well disappointed that I failed to hack into the social system of the British population.
WELL INDEED.
I think that in 8 months time, I would leave my life here and my flatmate knowing that he was just another acquaintance of mine once upon my lifetime.
And that just makes me rather sad.
But having said that, if I have to put in so much effort to talk to someone I see everyday, then maybe it is about time to give up and retreat back to the comforts of my own day dreaming and happy thoughts.
AngMoh
Blink
I was doing my monthly indepth perusal of fashion magazine Glamour (I pay £10 for a year's subscription ok, that makes it less than £1 for each copy; I think I can afford that and a girl's gotta keep updated with the fashion industry) and came across Blink Eyebrow Bar - a one stop joint for instant eyebrow shaping using the ancient Indian art of threading.
What a mouthful.
So I click onto the website that actually reads 'Pioneerof walk-in brow bars and experts in eyebrow shaping using the ancient art of threading' and read the whole story of how this great bit of business venture took off.
Of course, my time would much better be spent clicking on bmj.com but the heart does not always follow the mind.
Anyway.
I like eyebrow threading.
It's clean and fast and yes, I agree it's one of the best ways to trim and shape your eyebrows. So I was a bit excited that this is an easily accessible service for me now and click onto the different links available to read about it. However, all hope fades when I came across:
Eyebrow threading : £17.
WTF.
I pay RM5 in KL.
I know I know, one cannot compare this country to Malaysia whose GDP is 100 times less or something like that. But still.
Do you know how long eyebrow threading takes?
10 minutes. Or 5, if you have already done it before so all they gotta do is just trim the excess.
OMG.
£17.
Let's take it dollar to dollar.
RM17. STILL. Vs RM 5.
Then I click onto more of the website and slowly the it dawned on my WHY £17.
No. 1
You get served in a place that looks like this.
State-of-the-art salon , colour coordinated with a fancy dressing top mirror for your use at any minute while you comment, ooh and aah over each hair that is plucked out.
My eyebrow threading bar in KL is more like a hospital ward with cheap curtains drawn across for privacy in a 4 bed bay area cramped into a tiny room.
My mirror, sorry, OUR mirror hangs on a wall at the far end of the wall, that you can probably only use once you get your brows done.
Well, you also have the hand held ones that you have to ask for and not readily fed to you.
No.2
Their locations include spots in Harvey Nicols and Selfridges&Co. in London.
-_-
That's like telling me you have an outlet in KLCC or The Gardens in Midvalley; and still that's not as posh.
My eyebrow 'bar' is the back room of a clothes outlet that's a bit shady, owned by some Indian businessman/woman. The only thing posh about it is that it's in Bangsar.
Hah.
Eat that.
No. 3
You can book an appointment online.
Now.
That's cool.
I just turn up at mine at Bangsar and wait for 1 hour before I get my turn.
No. 4
Their session takes 15 minutes.
Of course, they'll sit you down, introduce themselves, give you a once over with your eye shape and nose and crap like that and in the whole process tell you the story of their life.
In Bangsar, I lie down and they get onto the job pronto. That's not overtly bad customer service though, if I want to know what eyebrow shape is good for me they can answer my questions, if I want it thin or thick they will do it and at intervals let me check my reflection.
No, I wouldn't know their name or how many oceans they had to swim through to get to London, sorry KL.
I swam through the South China Sea meself.
No. 5
Blink sells brow products.
Now, like all business's go, nothing rakes in the cash better than the raw ka-ching you get from selling solid consumer products.
Blink knows it only too well.
They go ahead and sell stuff like sandalwood oil for the brows, tamer (?_?), eyebrow oil... and a gazillion of other things for brow health and nourishment.
Isn't the whole idea of threading is to get the brow in shape so it looks gorgeous?
How would oil and stuff and a tamer(!) make it look better?
It looks bad only when it gets OUT OF SHAPE, so, go back and thread it!
Oh sorry, my bad.
£17.
FFS.
No. 6
Blink has a website.
That's top of the league in the marketing sense for you. Accessible anywhere and everywhere with loads of information on it for your own perusal.
I like it.
My brow bar - invisible if not personally taken there by someone who has been there.
Overall, I am rather impressed by this brainchild of the founder Vanita Parti who discovered this niche in the market that can exclusively be supported by the power earners of this country. Combined with the mysterious and profound sounding 'ancient art of threading' - Winner.
However, KL is far away from a beauty salon that offers instant eyebrow threading for RM 17 when you can really just get it for RM5.
Why? Because breaking it down to the raw basic of it all, the only tools used in threading is after all - threads.
My Uber Cool Phone
Ok.
What phone is this?
Bingo.
HTC Hero.
What phone is this now?
Bingo.
The Iphone.
Put them two together...
What is this?
Confused?
Puzzled?
Baffled?
Muddled?
Frustration setting in?
Knew you wouldn't get it.
CJ phone. (as in yes, CJ from Stephen Chow's CJ7 movie aka 'Chang Jiang' or 'Cheong Kwong' in canto)
Cool?
HELL YEAH.
What's so cool about this phone?
Let me see.
1. It cost less than RM500
2. It has 2 sim card slots, hence u can have 2 sims running at the same time AND use whichever you want without having to turn the phone off. (don't believe me? look at the top left hand corner of the phone, you can see 2 signal carriers there)
3. It has an antenna.
YES.
An antenna.
That can be used to watch TV.
Live.
4. It comes with 2 batteries because they take into account that watching TV will eat up lot of battery power, so you can substitute your spare to continue watching the X Factor finals if required;
5. It has a 12.5 megapixel camera.
6. It has all your built in Wi Fi, Google maps, Windows messanger etc
7. If I get bored of it, I just throw it away and get a new one.
For less than RM500.
Aye.
The REAL HTC Hero
The REAL Iphone interface.
Welcome to the world of gadgets only made in and available in China.
Don't mess with the CJ.
Alton Towers
Ever since I heard about this amazing theme park (probably around the time I was in 2nd year of uni), I knew I had to go.
The chance came when Faizi and I co organised a trip there with the rest of Malaysian crew in Edinburgh on behalf of EMSA (Edinburgh Malaysian Student Association). But of course; the beautiful plan backfired when the radical malays in the association decided that we are downright rude organising a happy-we-are-going-to-play thing over Ramadhan.
So it was cancelled.
Dammit.
Fast forward 3 years and I finally got my chance.
On one of the cold, cold weekends England is so famous for, 10 of us set out for Alton Towers that is in the middle of nowhere.
The nearest station is Uttoexeter where you would still require a 30 min bus ride to the park. So since 75% of the group was coming from Edinburgh, they decided it probably made more sense to drive.
Drive the whole 5 hours they did.
Bless them.
We rented a cottage which had 10 beds, 3 toilets/showers/baths, a massive kitchen and an equally massive living room surrounded with our very own green pastures and black-white spotted cows.
A very good thing we got 2 of Edinburgh's finest cooks to come along - who prepared all meals for us. I helped in the eating.
And washing up okay.
I am not completely useless.
The first day, we all got up early, excited and geared to head out.
We arrived well early at the park.
How's that for 10am? Keen.
Okay, before we embark on our journey...
Let me explain to you the science of winning in a theme park. I know. I am kiasu. But seriously, in this time and generation, if you are not kiasu, you are going to lose forever.
Same thing goes with maximising time usage in an amusement park. Tried, tested and 99% fool proof.
All you need is a little planning and knowing exactly what type of ride vs personality person you are.
Focus.
Decide.
Choose.
Zone in.
Kill them all.
Yes.
You can do it. Look at the theme park map, identify the must-do rides and plot your route to ensure you cover most of them in 1 day. If the park does Fast Track tickets (like Disney) then bloody calculate your hours and seconds to 99.99% specificity and sensitivity to ensure that all bases are covered.
So there.
Our first ride was towards the X-Sector for Oblivion.
Set out we did with our one track goal and....
We
Unfortunately
Got
Completely
Side
Tracked.
A mass of spinning ball like things caught our attention and we hopped on instead.
So much for planning our route of action to the T.
We got to Oblivion in the end - the principal of this ride is alike Gyro Drop in Lotte World (Korea) and Solero Shots in Genting.
Only much, much better.
In fact, it was my favourite ride in the entire park.
The car just goes up, up and up... turns over and hangs for 1 milisecond above a hole with a huge body of water pouring down into it.
So your field of vision is literally gaping darkness with fine sprays and mist from the cascading water that further enhances the thought of falling into absolutely nothing.
The drop comes and yes, the black hole and the thundering of water gets louder as you dive into the never ending velvety darkness....
Ah.
Winner.
We later tracked on to The Towers where we entered this entirely lame ghost house that brought you to Hell and fast forwarding from that...
....chanced upon Rita, Queen of Speed (my foot).
Yes, fast la, but compared to Aerosmith Ride in Disneyworld?
Lose Big Time.
Somemore we had to wait in the rain to board the ride.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was close at hand in Ug Land, at which the boys blatantly refused to enter. Only 1 conceded in the end but boy, it was regrettable for the others. A boat ride to see the Oompa Loompas, and the great glass elevator that brings you up into space? Why, Mr Willy Wonka kicks ass.
In the whole 2 days we spent at Alton Towers, we squeezed in almost all the rides, including the much acclaimed Air - which gives you the sensation of a bird flying. I highly recommend girls to tie up their long hair though, if not all you see is.... hair.
Nemesis was forgettable, in fact, I cannot even remember what it entailed. Spins and turns and what not. Definitely not exciting enough for me as my adrenaline sensitivity sites are already oversensitised.
The other thing that worked for me was Sharkbait Reef by Sealife.
The title tells you all about it - live fishes, turtles, sharks... but the winner were the ever friendly stingrays.
I swear if they were not so wet, I would've gone all in to kiss them.
The Flume ride was wet - sponsored by Imperial Leather, our ride was in the shape of a bath tub.
Res assured though, if you got too wet, there are human dryers where £2 will get you blasts of hot air in all directions to hopefully dry everything including your underpants out.
In true honesty, the theme park was quite exciting and pretty. However, much more can be done about the layout, walking from one end to the other is too long and lacks direct connections.
I just can't be arsed walking so far.
They had ample parking space and a free monorail that brings you to the park which is highly convenient.
But seriuosly.
Earn the money and head over to Disneyworld Florida.
Promise you would never had had so much fun and entertainment in your entire life.
Kicks Alton Tower's butt all the way to America and back.
Dangerously Close to Being Old
Yes, rather.
I spent the dawning of the 30th of September 2009 working nights at the hospital. No birthday dinner, no celebration.
I did not expect any whatsoever because my current relationship and ongoing social status with my fellow house officers are not at the level of birthday celebration chumminess.
I wasn't affected at all though, after all I celebrated my 'early' birthday in Toulon, where Kai Lin and PT went in search for candles (bijuu in French) to put on my chocolate melting pot dessert.
A huge fireworks candle indeed.
I was however, pleasantly surprised when I emerged for my handover at 8am and all my surgical house officers wished me happy birthday.
Jonny even got me a Tesco Chocolate Muffin to eat.
I went home a little happier and got my second surprise of the day, when my military man flatmate gave me a card and a present. Practical everyone puts it - a TV antenna to go with my Samsung LCD Flatscreen!
It works.
2 hours before I was due in for work again, my SHO and partner turned up at my doorstep with 2 cakes - Tesco's Raspberry Cheesecake and a mini Smarties gift cake.
Yet another surprise.
Then another 3 friends popped by with half a bottle of wine - I know, nothing impressive whatsoever but I spent an enjoyable 30 mins eating as much cake as I can indulge in, and half a glass of wine. Cake, cake, cake.
Then came my weekend.
Edinburgh beckoned.
The first night was spent with my old classmates. I had no idea how much I missed them, how much I missed talking in the Malaysian slang and also just jabbering non stop. I really think I talk too much. What is that phrase - silence is golden, speech is silver? I Really Need to practice that. But, after all, we did spend 5 years together. That's almost 1/5 of my life.
Then came another cake, yes, a chocolate fudge cake from Double Dutch that Edinburgh's No. 1 chef - Su Ping tastefully decorated.
I mean, how can you say No to a cake like that?!
I had too generous slices.
The surprises did not end there.
The next morning, I was awakened from my nest of warm duvets with a chorus of Happy Birthday and a beautiful cheesecake materialised out of thin air.
I had a cheesecake right on my bed!! (not mine, technically. Meryl's).
Jo, Edinburgh's Chief Baker (and eater) made this lovely strawberry cheesecake. How can I express my love for her and the rest of the team? I cannot. It has to go to proof with me inhaling the entire cheesecake as fast as I can.
A slice of fatty cheesecake first thing in the morning, right after a minty teeth brushing - makes quite a difference to life's outlook.
I also received a DKNY pink apple perfume from them, so now I have both the green and pink version. Love it.
On top of that I also received a really posh manicure and pedicure set that's so uber high class, I am a bit afraid to use it.
From what I thought would be a really boring birthday for 2009, had in actual fact turned out to be a surprised filled one indeed.
I returned to Maidstone a tad deflated, but massively happy for I love my mates, also bearing in mind that I would be meeting everyone again the next weekend for our trip to Alton Towers.
Wicked.
Of Rude People
They are shit.
Was in the ward where a patient who is extremely complicated and annoying because she has this terrible pain that seems to go on forever and ever, was discharged and readmitted; whn I spotted the Acute Pain Team nurse - whose name is J..... (due to confidentiality) J..... the pain. It rhymes btw. Go figure.
I spotted J and immediately asked her if she is seeing my patient at to which she snaps back and says no, she cannot do anymore for her and also that she has not had any official referral form for her. The ward sister then asks if she wanted us to put a proper referral in at to which she blatantly refuses and says NO.
EH B****. You are the PAIN TEAM OK. You would know most about pain drugs than ANY consultant and you are saying no? So if a patient comes in and there is nothing more I can do for them, do I say no, I am not going to see you?!
F.
What followed was a highly strung conversation where I asked her what was the last pain medication she prescribed for this patient and she immediately answered that she did not know, but the patient was on morphine, oxynorm.. etc...etc...
Of course, you are a nurse, it is totally your right to forget, not to mention you've seen her loads and controlled her pain medication all the time she was in. Your brain is probably the size of a pea. If not you could very well be a doctor. (This statement is only intended for her and I believe all other nurses are brilliant). Obviously, I see only 1 patient a day and with a turnover rate in urology that runs at an average of approximately 1 patient per year, the pain medication suddenly came to me (because my brain capacity is the size of the atlas), and I said, 'Ok, I believe it was Oxynorm Liquid. Can you tell me the dose you gave her?'
At to which J the bitch says in the superior-est tone, 'Can you not look into her notes? She has only been discharged for 2 days, her notes and drug charts should ALL BE HERE.'
And I retort, 'I can, but if you remember it NOW, I can prescribe it NOW and then the patient will stop bugging us all for pain relief every 2 seconds'
At to which the winner comes, (I should really document what she said to me in the patient's notes), 'What are you going to do if I am not around doctor?'
'Well, I will look into the BNF'
Duh, asshole. WTF are you going to do with NO doctors around?! While you are almost too easily replaceable with a book who gives me all the medicines and doses, I am tooting irreplaceable because you did not tooting go to medical school. What you effing know, I EFFING KNOW. Just at a lower level of competency. But what I know, you DON'T. So do not give me bullcrap about what I AM GOING TO DO WHEN THERE IS NO YOU AROUND.
'Well, what if I told you the wrong dose and you prescribed it and the blame will be on you cos you signed it....'
Eh, f****er. If you don't want to tell, then just SHUT UP and say you do not know or remember. Why in our good Lord's name do you even care if I got pulled up by the GMC for prescribing a wrong dose of Oxynorm Liquid?! It won't tooting KILL the patient and even if that happens, it's me who is answering, not you nitty gritty pudding face blabbering idiot who cannot work your brain cells to tell me the dose.
Even if you think I am taking the easy way out to ask the dose, I am more than happy to admit - I AM. So? Just say you don't know lah, end of story. So what if I have to dive myself into the drug formulary book to find out the proper dose or read through her entire stack of notes to confirm it?
Or you could make everyone's life easier if you just tell me it because you obviously tooting know the dose.
That's teamwork baby.
I mean bitch.
Anyway, after her lecture about me getting into trouble because of wrong dosing, I completely lost it, said,
'FINE. '
'FINE.'
And immediately stalked off the ward.
Possibly slamming the phone that was in my hand with quite unnecessarily force into its cradle and slamming the doors behind me.
No, I don't think I did that.
As I walked down to the paediatrics ward to clerk in 3 patients, I had to constantly remind myself to calm down, forget it and plaster on the fake warm smile when I finally had to meet the children and their parents.
On retrospect, I could probably have handled it better by saying in a sugary sweet voice that 'it is okay if you do not remember' instead of the two very stiff FINE. But things thought on retrospect always seems cleverer anyway.
I give up.
Enemy No. 1 have been made at my workplace.
Côte d'Azur
No.
One does not start working and give up the world of travelling.
But, the problem is, when one starts working, holidays are too short.
No more 14-days trip to Greece and Turkey in 1 package. Gone were the 10-day trips to Germany or Italy.
What we get is hardly a week, and even if you get more than a week, your travel mates gets 5 days or some nonsensical time like that. So even if you could take a whole week holiday, you'd have to go alone.
Or settle somewhere in between with a 5 day holiday.
So after much deliberation and deciding WHERE to go for our first holiday since the start of work, the French Riviera was decided on.
Not really because we wanted to go there, but because its relatively cheap and neighboring cities are near each other.
We met at Nice Côte d'Azur airport £130 poorer.
Being doctors and employed now, we decided to ditch the poor student days of travelling by public transport and rent a car instead.
Thank goodness we had our 28 year old friend with us who qualifies for the cheapest rate available.
Our first city: Nice (pronounced Knees)
Villa St Exupery. Our hostel for the first 3 nights.
You know how I sang the praises of the Living Lounge Hostel in Lisbon? This comes as second. Although not as tastefully nor artistically decorated as Living Lounge, Villa St Exupery does the rest as well, including free internet access and wifi, a cheap cheap bar, 1euro per beer - honestly?? and the best bit, dinner at only 6.50euro for a main course, 5.50euro for pizzas with your choice of topping and 2euro per humongous brownie.
I recall that Living Lounge was 10bucks for a 3 course meal.
Anyway. 6.50 is pretty darned good for a proper big plate of meat-with-sides dinner in France. So good that we ate 2 dinners out of our 3 nights in that place. Breakfast was included too, in the 20+euro we paid for 1 night, although it was a basic meal of bread, 10 types of cereal, coffee, tea and hot chocoloate.
Loved it.
The exciting stuff to do in Nice includes strolling down the Promenade des Anglais which Kai Lin blandly states, 'This is like Tanjung Muar.'
.....
So much for the French Riviera.
France's Tanjung MuarWe also did not miss the fruit and flower market at Cours Saleya.
At to which Kai Lin once again quips, 'Like pasar malam.'
.....
So much for France's marketplace.
Some people right, so difficult to please.
France's pasar malam.
We drove right up.
You know, when you have the luxury of a car. Beats the walking which would be what I'd have to do if I was still a student.
The hill was an entire garden, with a playground at one side and lots of small lanes winding up and down it. There was even this random archaeological site - cordoned off obviously that is very similar to... an archaeological site.
We chanced upon this large waterfall on the other side of the hill.
Pure randomness, with water cascading down into a man made pool below.
At 7pm we got chased off by the park guards which rode about in a scooter blowing their horn AND whistle at every other living thing.
Even a couple who wanted to take a quick picture got booted out double quick.
We then explored the Old Town of windy streets and narrow lanes, not unalike Venice or Lisbon's Alfama.
Honestly.
After travelling around Europe for 5 years, every other place seems to resemble every other place. Every church resembles every other church and nothing seem to be too exciting anymore.
Like I said.
Some people right, so hard to please.
In search of this highly recommended restaurant that serves Socca, a local delicacy, we found it and had to Q for 30 mins before getting our hands on this pancake-thing made of a flour+eggs batter - poured into a pizza pan - drowned with olive oil and baked in a stone oven. After it's done, you douse it with liberal amounts of pepper.
A worker mixing the batter with oil in the flat pizza pan with a whisk
Tastes like peppery oily thin pancakes. Literally.Dirt cheap.
We went home that night with oil sloshing in our tummies and deliberating if we should prescribe ourselves some statins to cholesterol levels.
Intravenous of course.
City No 2 - Monaco
A drive along the coast brings us to Monaco, City of Casinos!
Of course halfway my camera battery had to die so no pictures of it - yet.
We spent a good part of the morning exploring the Oceanographic Museum, Princely Palace and Saint Charles Church. Managed to cheat our way as students with our biometric cards and student visas into the palace(only 3.50euros!) but was solidly refused the student price into the Oceanographic Museum although we approached them TWICE (ended up paying 13.50euros as adults. Students get 50% discount). Wankers. Bah. We are under the Tier 4 UK visa status ok, and that makes us STUDENTS!
Lots of underwater animals in the oceanographic musuem, live and dead. Live wise is quite impressive but I believe Hong Kong's Ocean Park beats them hands down. Dead wise - quite disappointing. Of course, once again, the best is the Smithsonian museums in Washington. However, the view from the top of the museum is good, and its location just at the cliffs overlooking the sea gives it a very 'oceanographic' feel.
Whatever that means.
The Princely Palace was ok-ish and the Napolean Museum whose ticket price is included in the palace ticket was er... boring.
We collected our car 3 hours later and had to pay a freaking 7.50euros for parking.
Babi.
Then we drove up to Monte Carlo - the father of all casinos and sure enough, you see Porsches, Lotuses and a Ferrarri parked outside and .... with no surprise at all.... lots of chinese tourist everywhere. We blended in quite well without anyone giving us a second glance.
10 bucks to enter the casino. No credit to gamble even. Just to enter - ENTER.
Whats this. Haven't even start gambling also lose 10 bucks liao.
But since we were already here, we decided to heck it and enter..... into a casino albeit as grand as Paris's Opera House, is 1/10 the size of Genting's Casino.
Maybe an exaggeration, but with only 3 rooms and one bar, (1 room has about 5 tables for roulette, another room 2 for black jack and the 3rd jackpot machines) if this is not small, what do I call it? Minuscule?
Yep, miniscule.
To top it off, we had to pay another 7.50 for parking.
Truly, only the rich can afford this place.
3rd day - Antibe
Was having breakfast when the boss of Villa St Exupery chanced upon our table to nick our butter. This then led to the conversation of where we were headed to and the recommendation of stopping by Antibe on our way to Cannes. He was brilliant - told us that the parking by the roads were free from 12-2pm and that food in Antibe is as good as Cannes but 1/2 the price. He also gave us a total tourist update of how to get the best out of the area - which we followed to the T.
So started off by trying to search his recommended Antique Market - which we failed to locate.
We however found the slip road he was talking about that cruised along the coastline. Walked down it, found a few beaches and got back to the car to drive along the coastline, down the peninsula before cutting across to Cannes.
No you don't enjoy life much more than we do.
Cannes.
The Film Festival.
No, the Film Festival was not going on when we were there. But, there was this other festival.
To enter this festival Plaisance which is about selling speed boats, yachts and luxury cars, one has to pay. How much I cannot remember, but... chotto matte kudasai... you are trying to sell their products, but I gotta pay to enter to view your products and then pay again if I wanted to buy them?
Wah, so lose-lose situation.
So of course we don't enter.
Learnt our lesson through Monte Carlo casino.
After that we found this tourist hill to climb up to view the city and our overtly cool friend Alex who walks around with his uber cool sunnies takes a photo for us, peers into the camera screen and exclaims, 'It is very dark!'
At to which PT immediately retorts, 'Take of your glasses (you twerp!)'
Hence, the laughter.I looks ugly hor.
Alex is so cool.Then a stroll down Rue de Antibe (so boring, same name as the nearby town) led us back to our car because we obviously cannot afford anything.
Despite being doctors and all.
Toulon
Why did we go to Toulon?
For the islands off its coast.
Only to arrive there and find out that the islands are off the coast of the next town.
Thank God for cars.
The Island of Porquerolles
Maybe one of the most fun days ever because we got to the port, and lo and behold - an abandoned fortress complete with its own private bridge.
Randomness.
A good deal poorer from the ferry crossing and bike renting (of course, we abused our student rights again), the team made our way to the famous Notre Dame Beach.
Which is scarcely as interesting as it sounds.
Pebbles, and slightly green-blue water awaited us with seaweed and bits of driftwood clinging along the coast.
Some laid towels down and sun bathed and just behind us was the forest, where you'd have to find a good hiding place to change.
The water was cool, and in the horizon, a few yachts bobbed up and down probably adding a hint of elegance to the place. We floundered around for a while before deciding that it was probably enough.
A splash always makes one feel better.We had a map denoting the biking tracks and we tried to tackle them only to find out that indeed, we are an unfit bunch.
Even Alex who is so cool with his cool muscles gave up the ride halfway through on the Le Levant Circuit with a difficulty level of average to athletic. Still, we managed some of the easier routes, like the Le Midi Circuit that brought us to a lighthouse towards the south of the island. I suppose the memories of cycling through earthen tracks and navigating around slippery tree roots and large pebbles can only be cherished as it's wholly difficult to put them into words. These reminded me vividly of my youthful days when I donned bicycles bigger than my then small self while trying to keep up with my cousins and siblings when as raced through the rubber trees and palm oil estates in Sitiawan.
Of course, I am as big as a buffalo now.
We left the island at 5pm and made our way up Mont Faron for yet again a bird's eyes' view of the city (all of this French Riviera cities have some hill to look down over the city) and was not disappointed. The narrow and windy road up would make you queasy, it was all we could do to repeatedly remind Alex to continuously keep his eyes on the road and to NOT DRIVE SO FAST!
Happy days.A mini celebration of my upcoming birthday (at which I will be celebrating it by working nights and doing what I do best, ahem) in the form of a sparkler atop my chocolate melting pot dessert on our last dinner together was probably the icing on the cake.
Another year older, another wrinkle to add on onto my already wrinkly face....
I hereby await the year 2010 to arrive.
