Rome

Rome is a nice place to visit, but I doubt it is that pleasant to live there. It seems a little to complicated for my liking. Once you get out of the train station, you immediately understand why you have been warned to watch your pockets in this city. It is filled with questionable looking people, standing around and doing absolutely nothing but checking out the people walking past. This does not end at the station, as blacks, hispanics and others just hang along the streets. The 3 of us decided it was time again to use our best dodgy asian look to keep safe. It works I tell you, as a lady actually held her bag tightly with both arms and walked away from us when she saw Isa Gan walking towards her... haha...

Having said all that, it is still a marvelous place to visit, housing many key attractions on anyone's Euro trip agenda. For us, it also marks the start where Isa Gan really tilted. It is certainly a side of him we never got to know before... and I'm sure most of you will not get a chance to do so, even if you do travel with him in the future. I believe that it is a combination of travelling with xt & dd that made this side of him come out so many times...


xt enjoying the sight of the ruins at the Roman Forum.


magnificant view from Palatine Hill....


Isa & I risking our lives once again...


At about 2pm this day, we had not found anything other than kebab good enough to be our lunch. Isa Gan was already hungry, but for some reason, he decided that xt & I will be eating soon, so he waited for us so that could we all eat together.

Xt & I were feeling perfectly fine... hence, we decided to head to the Colosseum. There was no decent cheap food there... so we walked and walked.. and Isa Gan felt more and more screwed. The Colosseum pass cametogether with the Palatine Hill entry, so there was no way xt & I were leaving without checking out the hill. So poor Isa Gan.. he was dying.... haha. By the time we got back to where our hotel was.... he headed straight for the kebab store he patronized the night before... he didn't even look back to check if we were following him... haha. After that, never did he wait for us again to have his lunch.

And boy should you see how much Isa Gan eats... it's really alot...


Isa Gan trying to fake a smile... his stomach was grumbling by then...


below was where the Romans kept creatures....


well... it does not look as grand as in the movies yeah... we were sorta expecting to go "wow!"...


this is about the best ice-cream... the taste is as rich & full as Haagen Dazs, and as smooth as Venezia.... truly heaven....


xt looking gleeful at St. Peter's Sq....


inside the Vatican Museum.... isn't the ceiling pretty?


this shot got me chased out of one of rooms in the Vatican Museum... the security refused to let me place my camera on the floor to take this shot....


St. Peter's Basilica.... one of the best churches we've seen, with the walls plastered with amazing carvings & statues....


I told xt to touch the water from the Cupid fountain to give him better luck in love, but he refused... hopefully the Nemo I got for him from Disneyland will help instead..


at the Pantheon... doesn't xt look flabby here.... hehe...


looking silly at the Victor Emmanuel Monument....


I admired the beauty of the Trevi Fountain....


... while Isa Gan & xt admired other forms of beauty....


Isa Gan tilted at the airport... this was because our flight was early morning, so xt & dd decided why not save some money... especially since we call ourselves backpackers, and that we didn't know how to get to the airport that early in the morning....

But we didn't know that Isa Gan could not spend a night without his shower and his bed.... so he started by not wanting sit with us when we were having our packed dinner. His face was totally black and didn't want to talk to us at all....


At 1st he was disgusted at the thought of sleeping on the floor.... but after awhile, he couldn't take napping on the chair....


haha.... looking very screwed in the morning.... never will he do overnights at airports again... so much for being a "backpacker"...

That's all we have from Italy.... coming up will be more from our trip to Germany....

- DD

Those who know John Mayer please stand up...

Hey ya everyone... I just came back from a trip to Rhine Valley over the weekend, and from London for a John Mayer gig on Monday. Ok xt does not know who is John Mayer... I can't believe him, but maybe there's a chance he the only one. Then I asked Crystal, and she did not know who he was too.... but then maybe that's cos she's only interested in rugby and rugby balls.... so I'll like to do a poll on whether you know who the hell John Mayer is.... Leave me a comment if you don't, ok?

For your info, he sang songs like 'No Such Thing', 'Your Body is a Wonderland', 'Clarity', 'Bigger than My Body' & 'Daughters'......

**Oh yar... I've a new post on Florence below Pol's B'day.... it got stuck there cos I created it earlier.. so just scroll down for that...

So Rhine Valley is such a scenic place... a very beautiful destination for a lazy holiday....the mountains, the river, the valleys... If you like castles, there are a whole lot of them along the Rhine as you take a slow boat down the river.... an ideal place for lovers and old folks. It was simply lovely sitting on the boat for hours and chatting with great company....

Here are some pics.... enjoy...


Marksburg Castle... the best preserved castle on the Rhine.... Because of its commanding position and formidable defences, it was never attacked.


check out the gorgeous view from Marksburg...


the missus with cute German houses....


a view of Burg Rheinfels at St Goar.... our hostel is just below this castle....


once the largest castle along the Rhine.... now in shambles.....


adding to my collection of silly poses....


on top of Burg Rheinfels....


starting our boat ride...


St Goar.


town of Boppard....


hills.... with vineyards on its slopes....


Burg Katz

As mentioned before, xt and I will be visiting Brussels for their mussels this weekend.... following which we will head to Amsterdam for coffee shops and cakes.... so will surely come back with alot more to share with everyone....

- DD

Another ESSEC party

Do these french people even study? There are like 2 "official" school parties every week! We have been skipping quite alot of parties.. Seriously, they are too hardcore for me.. which I guess is saying quite alot actually. However, I am proud to say that I have been upholding Singapore's reputation by showing them that Chinese people can drink as well.. heh.

.. taking a shot of some Finnish alcohol that tastes like licorice,


.. a picture says a thousand words.

.. I guess you can guess how nice the alcohol tastes


.. my Spanish drinking buddy

We were having a potluck session before the party in school. Marcus cooked his trademark sweet and sour pork as well as some Japo curry. As usual, my job was to coat the pork with flour before frying it (quite pro standard ok!!).

We then started drinking before heading down to school as there were tons of alcohol around. I decided to try some Finnish thingy which was absolutely the worst thing on earth(as you can see from the pic)! It tastes like Woods + all kinds of cough medicine with this weird licorice flavour. Anyway, I think the Spanish dude saw me whincing after taking a shot so he challenged me to take another and we ended up drinking 5 shots each. By then, we were quite gone already but we headed down to school anyway. After which, we had a couple more drinks at the bar and I made him "ta" everyone, in the end he left the party early as he had wobbly legs and his gf was super pissed with him for being so drunk and she dragged him back to the hostel. hehe.


btw kelldel, this guy told us to send you his pic for QC.




This is actually the main school lobby, they just converted it into a dancefloor, blast hip hop and sell drinks. Its super WTF!! You think theres any chance of us doing this in the concourse?


.. pic of me acting cool and Marcs face


.. you can see that Jim is trying to imitate my look in the previous pic. haha!


.. random people dancing on the floor.. it looked more like they were humping the floor actually.

So thats it, our life in France consists of cooking, washing, doing the laundry and drinking alot.. btw for the record, for all you people that think that I cannot cook.















..my speciality. Spagetti Aglio Olio ai Frutti di Mare















"I will tell your mum that you can really cook!" -quote from satisfied customer Crystal

-the xt

Party: Pol's B'day

There are plenty of parties here... some crazier than others. So here's a view of the type of company we've been hanging out with...


the tough Bavarian lass... and she plays poker well..... Orh, dun I look fat here!!...


this is Jim from Cologne, and he's always working out at the gym...


fellow army officer Serena from the US Army.... she's tough man, cos she could twist open the beer bottle cap by keaping it against her forearm...


birthday boy Pol.... he's great fun.. always getting pissed drunk... haha...


xt looking his best beside the Catalunyan chicks... Christina & Mireia



top from left: Sander & Roy
bottom from left: Christina, Sri, DD & Astrid


.
the virgin boy, playboy & porno boy.... and erm... the carrothead boy...

- DD