White, Cold winter

I have seen snow before but usually it snows in the night and I have never seen snow fall before. On my business trip to Paris this time I had the opportunity to see snow fall. It snowed 2 days out of 5 day we were in Paris and on the second day of snowing it was snowed badly. So much so that the motorway was completely snowed in, the airport was closed momentarily and as we left Paris there were still many road snowed in.

The first day it snowed, but it wasn't that heavy and it just barely covered the floor. It was all fun and cool because it was the first time I saw snow fall. It snowed lightly for about 2 hours or so and then it stopped. Quite a few people walked outside to take pictures of the snow but on the second day it really snowed in.

It snowed for almost the entire day and I think it snowed a good 4-5 inches of snow and it caused havoc as the roads were slippery as heck and we saw quite a few car accidents while we were in the train. Since many of the roads were closed or jam packed, many people turned to the public transport and the train was packed to the busting point. The queue to purchase tickets was so extremely long that they decided to give free rides to Gare Du Nord which is the main train station in Paris. We managed to find our way home and instead of going out for dinner, my colleague volunteered to cook dinner. This is the view outside my colleague's hotel room.

On the final day of exhibition, we were graced with fantastic weather where it didn't snow or rain. We had perfectly clear skies but then of course paid for it because it was extremely cold instead. This is the aftermath of the crazy day of snowing.

 

On the day where all of us were to fly to our next destination we were all praying that it won't snow and delay the flights. This is the effect of the heavy snow and the cold temperature. On the day we were suppose to fly off which was 2 days after the heavy snow, there was still ice on the tables.

We managed to get to the airport safely, but we had to take an alternative road because of snowed in roads and luckily the GPS managed to route us to the airport. This is the first time I have seen snow on the tarmac in the airport.

Since the weather was still really cold, the plane had to be de-iced before it could take off. Again since this is my first time I was super Jakun and decided to take some pictures.

They had 2 trucks with weird nozzles coming up to the plane's wing and tail to spray this weird pinkish liquid. Once the liquid hit the wing's surface the entire area was misted up and I actually saw piece of ice falling off the wing. It took about 10 minutes and then we were cleared to take off.

Took some pictures of Paris frozen over from the plane as well. Although I still hate Paris to the guts, this time it was a different experience as I felt the pain when it snowed heavily in the city. Usually you see snow in the movies and you think it is all fun and games. However when you are there it is such a pain as everything becomes so much harder including walking. I almost fell a couple of times but amazingly none of us Malaysians fell flat on our butts and we didn't even have adequate shoes for the snow. It was a great experience.

Lightstick fun

Quite a while back towards the end of August, we took a road trip to the east coast. While shopping for supplies, I found a place selling lightsticks. I was thinking it would be cool to do some light painting on the beach.  However we totally forgot about it and only after we got back that we took it out to play. So Amy and I decided to shut the lights and do some painting.

Started off with something extremely simple like a snail shell. As we got into how fast we needed to go for the light to show up we started doing crazy stuff.

Finally I decided to do some writing but quite fail....

I did it so many times but still couldn't get it right. I had to even write it from right to left in reverse. Hahahah. It was fun and I still have a couple more to do more experiment.

No better way to spend a Sunday

I tell you there is no better way to spend a Sunday then waking up in a nice 5 star hotel, meeting up with some friends for a very very very nice brunch and to top it off with a couple of pints of beer. 

That is what we did after the hectic weekend we had in Singapore. We were in Singapore for a friend's wedding and since Amy was the bridesmaid it was pretty much full on work for 2 days. We didn't really do much other then attend to the wedding stuff but finally on Sunday we managed to do some of our own things. Our friend put us up at the Grand Hyatt Hotel Singapore and it was seriously good. The bed was huge and nice and man the toilet is bigger then my room.

We met up with Juin Wei and Mei Kit who brought us to Dempsey Hill for some brunch. Initially they wanted us to try Cafe Hacienda. Apparently Mei Kit said that the wagyu beef burger is the bomb and suppose to be really cheap. However the place was fully booked out and we ended up at Jones the grocer. This place is a nice grocery shop cum restaurant. They sell all kinds of imported stuff and expensive grocery. We even managed to try some foei gras. That is my first time and it was nothing really to shout about. It taste like you are eating a piece of fat but not really like fat. It has the texture of fat but not the taste of fat.

In the end we settled down and for starters we had coffee...

I had my standard cappuccino and Amy went for her affrogato. My cappuccino was pretty good but Amy said her affrogato was a little too strong. I had a taste but it was after she put in some sugar and it tasted pretty okay to me. To satisfy our hunger I order the Jones Big Breakfast and Amy had the Spanish Omelet.

Both dishes came with sourdough toast which was really nice. It was nicely toasted and very crunchy. The sausages in the big breakfast was really nice and tasty and Amy Spanish Omelet was an interesting combination of Spinach, egg, bacon and tomato sauce. We were extremely full after brunch and I have to thank Juin Wei for paying for our brunch, our treat when you come back next.

With our bellies satisfied, we walked to our eventual destination which was...

Juin Wei has been telling me about this micro brewery which has pretty good and cheap beer. Each pint only cost about SGD 10 bucks. So we all settled in and drank beer while talking about everything under the sun. At the end of the day, 4 and 3/4 pints of beer was consumed and I was drunk. Moreover, we had to take the MRT back to the hotel, grab our stuff and head to the airport for our flight back.

I think there is no way better to spend a Sunday then to have a good brunch and good and cheap beer with some good friends. Thanks Juin Wei.

Shots and Ladders

During the Wen Way birthday party, De Way  got Shots and Ladders as a present. The week after that we had another party to have a go at the Shots and Ladders.

Now before we get to the drinking, we had a heck a lot of food as well. We needed something to soak up all the booze anyway. So we decide to make it a pot luck. Sharon asked her mum to cook curry.

One of the best curry I have had so far. Instead of having it with rice we decided to have it with some bread. Initially Sharon wanted some lemang but since it was so super expensive we settled for bread instead. Gim brought some watermelons and I had a great idea for a shot of the watermelon...

Check out how happy Sharon was when she saw the watermelon. Initially we were thinking there wasn't enough food so Saw Wen decided to order some Pizzas...

The girls hard at work looking for the best deals and decided which pizza to order. Bee Chin was fashionably late but she brought 2 whopping packs of hokkien noddles. We only managed to polish off one.

Saw Wen's parents thought we didn't have enough food and called back to ask Saw Wen if we wanted some yong tau foo. Saw Wen asked her parents to get 6 pieces of yong tau foo since there were like 6 people there. What the parents got were...

In the end Saw Wen's parents bought yong tau foo for like 6 people and in addition 2 packets of curry laksa. The yong tau foo and curry laksa was fantastic and even when we were filled to the brim we were still going at them. We asked Saw Wen's dad where he got it from and all the reply we got was "14th Mile". Next time must really go find this place. The yong tau foo was seriously mouth watering. So much so our own Mangkuk Sharon couldn't wait for the bowls to come she decided to use the cups instead.

With the food settling in our tummies nicely, we adjourn to the hall for the highlight of the night. 

De Way was explaining the rules to everyone and made sure everyone understood what was at stake. Then the fun and drinking began.

Gim looks scared in the second picture and Sharon said "What is there to be afraid off?"

Sharon Pouring the beer

Sharon Posing with the beer

Sharon Polishing off the beer

The eventual winner of the game by finishing it first and also drinking the most was non other then Bee Chin.

Somehow Bee Chin managed to land on all the pitstops (Single Shot, Double Shot, Triple Shot and even one we named ourselves which was 10 shots) and that is why she drank the most but congrats to her she managed to finish off the game first as well. After all the fun, games and drinking we all posed for a victory shot.

Then Miss Chan again was at her old antics and it was all caught on camera.

After all the food, fun, drinks and laugher it was too much for our Miss Chan and she KO-ED nicely on Saw Wen's couch.

Once again it was a successful mangkuk-itis gathering. Looking forward to the next Shot and Ladders night. This time we better ration the food. If we keep going like this my belly is going to reach the floor very soon.