EU07: roma, pisa, firenze, italia. 4 - 6 june 2007

ciao roma

so we jetted off to our next stop, roma, after surviving the crazy airport shuttle drive. at this stop, we got to know wat a kamchiong spider ez is. wahaha. was panicky about finding the way to the airport railway. relek aaaaaah! after asking a couple of people we got to the train station to catch a ride into roma. at this point, i must say i began to appreciate sg's transport system. u know how much the ride cost not?? 11 euros leh! for like, a half hour journey! basket... show some love to the mrt, people.

got settled into our cute apartment which we shared with a couple from aust. lilliput hostel was pretty nice, in a gated building with lots of locks. felt very safe. loved the loo cos of the presence of a bidet. have u guys tried those before? quite cool leh, so easy to cebok. couldn't get enough of it. wahaha. our room was cool too, 3 single beds and then a spiral staircase led up to a loft like thingy with another bed there. little did we know that we were sharing that room...

went walking around, discovered the supermarket, and then went back to make cup noodles. was pretty late when we reached rome lah so didn't do much, just relek one corner and reserve energy for the next day. funny enuf, this was the first night that ez didn't snore the house down... i think i did some teeth grinding though. haha. next morn, a discussion revealed that both zur and ez felt a presence in the room. yeah, that kinda presence. me being me, i didn't wanna talk about it lah, tho i did feel it a little. i'm more like, i don't disturb u, u don't disturb me lor.

pisa beckons

ok another reason we went to bed pretty early was cos we had to catch our train to pisa the next morn and book our other train tix. we were at termini station soo early, we beat the office crowd. haha. zur and i wanted to wear our cute outfits. so we did. bad idea. it promised to be a gloomy, rainy day. thank god for shawls and scarves.

i'm not sure but i think this was the ride when ez once again showed his kamchiong-ness. we were supposed to be in 1st class, but found out that we were in 2nd, so we left the carriage. now, the practical thing to do when the train is about to leave would be to walk thru the train until we get to 1st class. not jump off the bloody train with seconds to spare like our dear mr ez did. zur and i were so confused we followed suit. needless to say, he got an earful when we were finally able to catch our breath in the correct carriage. never. never. do. that. ever. again. he had the cheek to tell us to relek sommore. chey!

anyways, we reached pisa in one piece, then tried to figure out how to get to the leaning tower and other buildings yang sewaktu dengannya. do u know that to get a bus ticket, u can't buy it from the bus stop or the bus driver but rather, u need to go to a tabacchi (tobacco shop) or a bar?? wtf rite? have to go and figure out which one actually sells the tickets sommore. was pretty stunned by this, i can tell u that.

we managed, and found ourselves outside the walls of this enclosed area with all the cool touristy buildings inside. funny thing is, outside the walls, it was just like any other normal street with people going about their daily business. once u pass through the gates, boom, it's like an oasis in the middle of a desert. huge crowds of people, roadside stalls, noise, life. this happened to us pretty much throughout our italian leg. nothing nothing nothing, huge crowd, nothing nothing, lots of noise, nothing nothing... u get the picture. it was damned hilarious. we were almost always taken by surprise.

looking at the tower and just being there was a little surreal. i would have never imagined that i would be halfway across the world, standing in the vicinity of one of the most well recognised monuments ever. it's a piece of history, people. even though the weather was crap, it was still fantastic just being there and soaking up the atmosphere. and yes, it really does lean! the other buildings were pretty awesome too but i can't for the life of me recall what they were.

next stop, firenze

made a pitstop at florence just for the heck of it even though we didn't know what there was to see there. haha. it was a nice place, with this huge market thingy where we got lots of tees for the people back home. there was this cute guy who was helping an old man find his way to some place and he smiled at us. zur and i were so smitten that we started following him and oohed and ahhed (in malay) over how nice he was for such a cute boy. yeah yeah, bite us. it was fun. hehe. we were quite happy to lag behind him and ogle from afar but alas, he turned a corner away from where we were headed. sighs. it was short lived but it will forever be cherished. wahaha.

then after that we caught the train back to rome lah. were so damned shagged i tell ya. we were gonna check out the rome sights the next day, so were pretty excited about that...

shall continue in another post cos this one is getting waaay too long. next instalment- roma, padova and venezia! for pics please go here.

EU07: istanbul, turkey. 2 - 4 june 2007

turk hava yollari

for zuraidah and i, the EU07 experience started pretty much from the moment we stepped on board the turkish airline flight. there was a leceh woman in front of us (which irritated the hell outta me, knowing how easily irritable i am) and just beyond her, a pretty hot steward. hehe. he wasn't as good looking as the jude law lookalike i spied in the aisle on the other side but he was charming as hell. this made me forget all about miss leceh and i was pretty happy as i settled into my seat. we got the very last row at the back. little did we know that this would mean that we would be privy to the antics of cabin crew when they think no one is paying attention...

haha no lah, nothing naughty. think our crew was pretty friendly, the guys especially. the girls seemed like they had something up their arses. not as accomodating. service standards, people, hello?

anyways, the charming steward's butt brushed my shoulder like 3 times the entire flight. was that a hint dude? wahaha. then towards the end of the journey i decided to watch a hindi film. bad idea. bad bad idea. was blubbing like an idiot (come on, hindi leh. and i find abishek smokin' hot. le sigh.) and this was the exact moment that charming steward decided to hit my head with his bloody elbow. i was like, ow. then he was apologising and rubbing my head after that. haha. he decided to be a little more friendly and started talking to me. keep in mind that my brain was already muddled by abishek at the time and all i could do was give monosyllabic answers and grin like a fool. when the conversation was over, i turned to zur and asked, i have eye crap in my eyes don't i? aaaarrrggghhh soooo unglam lor!

first stop

then we landed. helloooo istanbul! we got airport pick up with our hostel and were whisked away to our home for the next 2 nights. stayed in the old sultanahmet area, within walking distance of the blue mosque and aya sofya. antique hostel is pretty awesome lah, very friendly staff, nice setting, good brekkie. too bad we didn't take pics with the staff. oh well.

we dropped our bags off and walked around before checking in cos we were a little early. fell in love with the quaint houses and cobblestone streets. one thing tho, they drive like madmen! seriously! u would think that a huge tour bus could never make sharp turns and pass thru little streets and alleys but it can! saw it with me own eyes! unbelievable. while walking down one of the streets, we got to know a shop keeper named mehmet tim. he was very friendly and gave us a few good tips. little did we know that there was an udang di sebalik batu... hot tip for future tourists- never never accept an invitation to drink tea unless u really wanna buy a carpet! ez and i got a carpet each... small price to pay for escaping with our lives. wahaha.

there were hot men everywhere lah... zur and i cuci mata until we were tired. haha. kept going kacak kacak kacak the entire time. ez wasn't very amused but he was nice about it, seeing how we're so deprived in sg of good looking men. haha. needless to say, our malay improved cos we were gossiping about people right in front of them most of the time. oh, in istanbul, we are malaysians. natives of kl in fact, cos apparently they don't like u.s. allies and guess which country is a u.s. ally? yeah, that's right.

ok this is the brekkie view we get in the morn. cool rite... looks more awesome live!
took lots of pics of the blue mosque. was pretty obsessed about it. haha. this is one of them.
inside the mosque... was stunning, tho the smell of hundreds of feet stank to high hell.
yum yum... our fave restaurant, doy doy. damned good food in turkey. everything halal sommore!
passing under a suspension bridge on our bosphorus river cruise. very hot day, think we got a tan.

as u can see, our time in turkey was quite well spent. went to the blue mosque, aya sofya, a museum or two, walked around and ate like the locals, washed eyes a lot. haha. we got a glimpse of the new city when we were on our daytour and we were like, thank god we're holed up within the walls of the old city. new city like very normal lah, like every other city around. crowded, tall buildings, etc etc.

our shuttle back to the airport was such an experience. like roller coaster sia. they were weaving in and out and stuffing bags and people into the van like no one's business. crazy fellas. just when we thought they had no more room and couldn't pick up anyone else, they did. when we thought there was no way they were gonna make it passing thru a narrow street with a huge truck on one side and a rough wall on the other, they did. it was simply a matter of maneuvering and closing side mirrors here and there. u have to experience it to believe it. really.

and just like that, our turkish experience came to an end. next stop, roma, italy!

*dey got limit on no. of photos that can be uploaded leh! will put up more in flickr and let u guys know ok.

post EU07 depression

ok, back home since mon late arvo and been hibernating, unpacking and sorting out the loot to give away to deserving people. haha. gawd i miss europe. slowly editting and resizing all my pics (3gb worth ok, no joke) so that i can upload them. thank god i took the entire week off work, really don't feel like going back yet. sighs. ok lah, uninspired entry just to fill up the space and time but since u've come this far, check out marsya! ain't she cute?? she can crawl now and pull herself up to a standing position... can't wait to see what she looks like in her ciao bella tee from firenze.

EU07: 1st morning in Padova, Italy

ok ok so i didn't update while in rome... no time lah and everything is in italian! headache man trying to figure out what it all means. anyways, its about 7+ am at shon's place. gorgeous house lah beb! i am so bloody jealous... gorgeous chandeliers too. sighs. roma was very very nice. went to see a whole bunch of important places like st. peter's basilica, pantheon, coliseum, etc. coliseum was awesome! also took a day trip to pisa and florence by train. realised we're spending a shitload of time in italy lor. we're still here after a week! haha. speaking of shit, the cappucino we had in roma caused me to go. like finally! not once, but twice! wahaha. hoping to go again by tonight, cos tomoro, lucerne beckons. :)

ok lah need to go drag the laundry line outside. we washed everything we had. shon's place is a blessing mans. like home away from home smack in the middle of our trip. her family is super nice too... grazie, shon! even though u're back in sg now. haha.

p.s. we will be checking out venice today. woo freakin' hoo!!

EU07: last day in istanbul

ok been in istanbul since sat morn. it has been freaking AWESOME so far. leaving in about half an hour for rome. good lord i'm gonna miss the hot hot HOT men here! wahaha. so damn charming sommore. sighs. haven't shat since sg so i'm pretty worried rite now. ez has gone twice, zur has gone once and i haven't gone at all. damn sad lor.

anyway, it's bloody gorgeous here. fell in love with it the moment i stepped onto the plane... got cute stewards mah. wahaha. one looked like jude law. le sigh. another was bloody charming and friendly. he almost charmed the pants off zuraidah. ahahaha. more about that later. am so totally gonna miss this place. shall check in again at our next port of call- roma. :)