VENICE, THE FLOATING CITY: DAY 1

So after an awesome weekend getaway I am back in London with a rather bad cold. I've been trying to fight it off since Friday, and now that my holiday is over I am ready to succumb to the evil germs and let nature run its course.

Nonetheless, I've had a lovely time over the weekend and it's now time to re-cap.

We'd only booked this holiday a few days before - I was pretty hesitant but now really grateful that Stace asked me along. A really good way to take my mind of things and pick myself up after all the unnecessary s**t I've had to deal with.

So we booked a package deal on BA and I stayed over at Stacey's the night before, all packed to wake up SUPER early for our morning flight.

With news of ongoing bad weather and flight cancellations, we were worried that our flight may have been affected. Fortunately we flew off as planned, with just a minor 1 hour delay on departure.

Oh, not forgetting to mention we arrived at the wrong terminal and then had to dash over to the North Terminal - airports can be so confusing. The lack of sleep may have played a part in this as well.

After a 2-hour flight we finally arrived in Venice! We got our rolling cards, took a shuttle to the city...

 

 And then jumped onto the vaporetto...the public boats that we used to get around for the rest of our time there.

 

 

Our hotel!

The people at the reception were nice and friendly and we were allocated a nice room facing the canal. The only thing we had trouble with was the temperamental lock on the door that we always struggled with.

After I had a nice warm shower and refreshed myself, we headed out to explore the city!

 

 

And grabbed a quick bite from a side-street stall... 

 

 

Spotted some pretty gondolas on the way...

 

 

We then arrived at Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) where we had a little wander round.

 

 

Unfortunately we weren't allowed to go into St. Mark's basilica because they didn't allow bags (?!) 

We didn't understand why they didn't have any places to at least store our bags...we are tourists after all!

Oh well, just took a picture of the entrance anyway...

 

We did however manage to visit Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale) one of the main landmarks in the city, which cost 8.00 euros with our rolling card.

 After quite a lengthy wander round the palace we went to check out some prices for the gondola ride. We were initially offered a free ride from one of the punters but we couldn't recognize which one he was so we continued asking around. 

It usually costs 80 euros per ride which can take upto 4 people at a time. Because there was only two of us we grouped up with Kyoungho, a Korean guy who was traveling on his own and managed to bargain a price of 60 euros for the ride.

 

 

Then came the time to look for a place to have dinner. As having a sit-down dinner can be rather pricey in Venice, with the additional 'coperto' and 'servizio', we decided to take a crawl through Venice's cicchetti pubs! - the local appetizers that line the counters of little pubs around town.

Deviating away from the glitzy tourist hubs, we scoured the streets in search for true Venetian baccaris. After all, the key for an adventurous tourist is to wander and not worrying about getting lost. In fact, get lost as often as you can...what are the chances of falling off an island?
As I am known for my poor sense of direction, Stace was mainly the one who got us back on track everytime!

Before we started our bar-hopping escapade, we stopped by a restaurant just to have a drink, but MAINLY to use their free wifi ha!
Not sure if the owner was too pleased but we carried on minding our own business, happy to be connected to the world again!

Here's a few snapshots of our little adventure...

THE most amazing pork balls!

Mouth-watering cured ham mmm...

Fresh oysters!

How could you possibly say no to a glass of wine that costs less than a euro? Okay, it may not be high-class expensive wine, but it's wine nonetheless!

After a satisfying night of bar-hopping we settled down for some warm food at a local restaurant...



We were quite fortunate to have bumped into Kyoungho that day as he seemed to really know his way around the island, saving us the hassle of planning our impromptu route!
Oh the joys of having a guy as a travel companion.

Well, it's time to sign off and head back to work in my snot-filled state.
If anyone messes about with me today I will threaten to cough and sneeze at them.

Watch this space for Day 2 and 3 of my holiday x

LES MISERABLES AT BFI IMAX + DINNER WITH THE GIRLS

After a really horrible week I am starting to pick myself up again.

For a start, after almost 4 months out of the gym I am finally back in the game - starting with a buddy workout with my cousin. 

Probably going to feel a bit sore in the morning.

Today was also the day that I had booked a pair of tickets for Les Miserables over a month ago at BFI IMAX - biggest screen in Britain! 

Complimentary popcorn and bottled water as well, not bad.

Thank you American Express.

https://www.facebook.com/bfiimax

Watching movies in a regular cinema will never be the same again.

After being stood up (again) and almost having to go on my own, my lovely girl Dora was sweet enough to accompany me.

One word - AMAZING.

Not forgetting the amusing random fart in the crowd before the start of the movie.

For me I didn't feel a single dull moment throughout the film. At times I also had to hold back my tears, not wanting to look like one of those emotional movie-goers sniffling away - besides, a mascara-smeared face is also not a very flattering look!

Les Miserables definitely deserves the eight Oscar nominations - and will hopefully be successful in getting the awards. 
The songs are going to be stuck in my head for a while - my dad who has also been struck by the Les Mis fever has been constantly singing the songs during our Skype sessions. 

Later on, we met up with Stacey to have dinner at Baltic Restaurant and Bar in Southwark - our first reunion in 2013!

We each had a glass of late harvest wine, and ordered fish for our mains - cod, hake and mackerel, the lighter and healthier option! To make-up for the sneaky calories in the alcohol and dessert!

It was really great to catch up after the holidays as we filled each other in with what's been happening in our lives. My story unfortunately rather depressing, but I'm really glad that I still have the love and support from those who genuinely care about me.

My heart and mind has been rather unsettled, but I know that in time I will be enlightened.

Whilst reflecting back, one word of advice that I was given started to make sense to me. 

That I was only getting the leftover crumbs instead of the full biscuit. 

Never ever in my life had I ever met someone who seemed so confident, suddenly become such a coward - without even the guts to come face to face with me, but instead went back cowering into an empty shell.

And it made me realize that I deserved better and was worth so much more.

After all, there is no point crying over spilled milk - especially if it has gone sour.

https://www.facebook.com/ipsy?ref=ts&fref=ts

Anyway, it's past midnight now.

I'll be dreaming of Eddie Redmayne tonight ha x

Good night x

BRUNCH AT HILTON + SALES SHOPPING

After over a month of waiting, my booking for brunch at Hilton London Canary Wharf was finally due. I think there were hundreds like me who grabbed the voucher offer way back in October, hence the long wait for an available space.

Someone had PPK-ed me at the last minute but I was fortunate enough that lovely Lili was available to accompany me for the day!
We arrived early, and whilst waiting to be seated I noticed that everyone else had a similar voucher in their hands - fellow bargain hunters!

Each person is entitled to Sunday Brunch, including any dish from the a la carte menu, all Breakfast Bar items and a Bellini or Bloody Mary.

We started off with the full English breakfast buffet...

Sweet Lili :)

Happy me :)

And then had some sweet treats... 

 

Before we over-stuffed ourselves, we remembered to place our orders from the a la carte menu!  

Pan-fried seabass

Tandoori scallops

I then had my last helping from the buffet - sliced meat, cheese, smoked salmon and some veg.

We spent a good 2 hours eating and chatting away.

The meal was definitely worth the wait after all.

After the heavy but very satisfying meal, we wandered about the shops to hunt for some sale bargains!

 I haven't really been in the mood to shop the in-store sales - I cheekily did most of my shopping online this year on Christmas Eve/Day. A much more relaxing alternative without having to battle the hoards of annoying shoppers/tourists.

I did however find a nice pair of trousers and a sweater from Zara today that I just could not resist. Good work clothes are always a necessity.

For dinner, we ended up in Taro on Brewer Street. Nothing beats a good bowl of ramen mmm...

It's been a long day and I'm glad to be back on my cosy bed.

Not quite decided on what I'm going to do tomorrow - the Jubilee line is part-suspended AGAIN...good grief.

Anyway, here's to more weekend love x

deviantART

 

HAPPY FRIDAY!

It's been a short but rather tiring week at work – having two early 6am morning starts and coming back to colleague issues after my holidays was definitely not what I was looking forward to.

A week since the new year started and my healthy or rather healthier eating plan is so far going according to planned – I've finally started bringing my own lunch/dinner to work for a start!

And been meat-free since the 1^st! - oh wait, I think there were some bacon bits in my soup yesterday (drats!)

Not that I'm thinking of going veggie, there are still too many burger/steak joints out there to explore! 

Look at those babies...

  

I've also tried to avoid stocking up on naughty foods – just yesterday I had a sugar craving and I realized I no longer had an emergency chocolate stash (Nooo...).

As part of my spring (or mid-winter?) cleaning I've donated a few more bags of clothes to the charity shop down the road – I hope they find a better home instead of being tucked away in my over-crowded wardrobe. Some older items were not so lucky and were instead thrown into the bin. Being easily emotionally-attached, I quickly threw each item into the bag so that they were quickly out of sight – including an old cardigan that I've had for over 7-8 years, oh the pain...

Good news is that my weekend is finally here again.

There's a few minutes left til midnight, therefore I am still entitled to say...

HAPPY FRIDAY!

 

Have a great weekend everyone. 

Good night x

LAST DAY OF 2012

Okay, this post is a few hours behind schedule, but here's my re-cap of 2012.

Looking back, it's been a pretty good year...

1. I had my first Chinese New Year reunion back home in Malaysia after missing it for the last 5 years.

2. I turned a quarter-of-a-century old - which was when I first started this blogpage!

 

3. I moved to London - my mission of moving down south is finally accomplished! It seems so long ago since I first lived in Sunderland...and haven't been back there since, for obvious reasons.

Hello London!

4. My big brother got married!

So, we've had TWO family reunions this year. 
And we have also welcomed Earn Hui, my sister-in-law into our family.

Happy family

5. I went to my first festival - free weekend camping tickets that I won online!



6. I had the opportunity to watch the Paralympics 2012 - my perseverance on Twitter finally paid off and I managed to grab some last minute tickets.

 7. I've met some awesome new friends along the way...as well as strengthened bonds with old ones.
I'm sure you all know who you are x

8. I started learning a new language (Spanish!) and hopefully my salsa dancing will improve with time!

9. I spent Christmas with a loved one - and discovered my love for mulled cider.

Not to mention it's been a really foodie year for me - looks like a lot of catching up with fitness and exercise in 2013!


And I spent my last day of the year with my special person.

 

Don't forget the to-do list Mr Chan! x

I was initially going to spend my New Year's Eve at home on my own but made an unplanned trip to my Aunty's place to spend it in the warm presence of family. My lovely cousin also helped to sort out my haphazard hair.

Had a lovely home-cooked meal and then 10 of us had a cosy get-together in the sitting room until the countdown at midnight!

Anyway, hope everyone else had a great New Years celebration, wherever you are in the world!

Here's to more joy and blessings in 2013!

Off for a morning walk x