屬於 - Fish Leong

Clock screwed up

I was sitting on my couch watching the TV three hours ago and the next thing I know, I opened my eyes and the clock was showing 9pm. It's been like this for the past few days since coming back from Paris. My body's clock is terribly screwed up!

After lunch time everyday, my body would slowly go into this energy saving mode and I would feel very sleepy and floaty. As I have been starting work early lately, I would leave the office early as well to come back. After dinner, I would unconsciously doze off and wake up only after a few hours. This is definitely not my sleeping pattern! I have no problem sleeping at night though but each time, I would automatically wake up at 2am and then 4am. This cycle been going on for 3 days already.

Paris is 7 hours behind and as much as I try to justify it as jet lag, the hours that I start to get very tired just didn't add up. Aiya, my body's clock is really screwed up!

Just like we dreamed it

Disneyland Paris is the first ever Disneyland that I have been to... and I have to say that I truly enjoyed the place although I may be too old for fairy tales and the concept of happily ever after.

Anyway, we spent the whole day there in both the parks - Disney Studio and the Disneyland Park, and managed to get a very good spot to witness the Once Upon a Dream parade.





Loveeeeedddddd the theme song for this parade titled "Just like we dreamed it".


Indeed it is just like we dreamed it... but like any dreams, you still need to wake up and go to work.

Pigeon-eyes

Have you ever experienced the feeling when you walk into a store and the shop assistant gave you this kind of look as if you can't afford to buy anything there? Well I do feel that sometimes when I go into those very high end shops back in KL. Sometimes I wondered, could it be because I was being over sensitive or were these people really that pigeon-eyes?

Anyway, I am bringing this up because I felt it again just now. However this time it wasn't in a store but a restaurant.

Today we decided to go to a French restaurant in Paris for dinner after a long day at Versailles. So after a short rest in the hotel, we asked the reception for a recommendation of nice but not too expensive French restaurant nearby. The reception told us about one which is about 20 metres away.

So off we went and upon checking the menu (it's displayed outside the restaurant), we found that it's within our budget. So we went in. When we opened the door, I already felt a bit uncomfortable as the waiters were formally dressed. The place was small and comfortable. However from the time we stepped into the restaurant, I just felt a sense of coldness. The waiter/captain who attended to us were not very friendly. No smile at all when he was serving us. I asked Gan and JM, was it because of us or Paris waiters are damn stuck up in general? I did notice they treated the local patrons differently.

When we were about to pay the bill, Gan asked whether we needed to tip. I told him that generally in Paris, you don't have to but if you are really happy with the food, you can go ahead and tip. Then I added, however in this case with the kind of service we were getting, we should just forget about it.

I am wondering again, am I being over sensitive or are these people just so pigeon-eyes?

Happy Valentine's Day

City of Romance

A proof that Paris is a City of Romance - people making out openly in broad day light.

I had to take the picture secretly while walking past this couple. Wouldn't want to get a black eye, would I? Hehe...

Paris Conman

Last Sunday after we visited Avenue des Champs Elysees (it's a famous street with lots of branded stores), my colleague and I decided that we would take a neighboring street which is quieter to walk back to the hotel. After all it was a nice day and by walking around, we were sure we would see more of Paris.

Indeed we did see more of Paris.

After walking for a while, we stopped and sat on one of the benches there. The street was quite quiet as all the shops there were closed for Sunday. As we were about to resume our journey, a car stopped at the road side and the driver called out to us, "Excuse me, Excuse me!".

I saw that the driver was alone and with a map in his hands. The first thing that came to my mind was that he was asking for directions. Not wanting to be rude, I walked over to the car and told him that we were tourists ourselves and did not know the roads well.

He then started to make conversation by asking where I came from etc. He told me that he's from Italy and was in Paris for fashion week.

Apparently he had a booth for fashion week and now that it's over, he didn't want to bring all his clothes back. So he asked whether I wanted to buy some of these branded clothes for a very low price. Immediately I smelled something fishy. The story just didn't make sense. I told him "NO!" and walked off. This guy also sped off.

Gosh... got people fall for such story one meh? Hmm... maybe because I can't afford those branded stuff to have any interest in it kua.

Perhaps if he had told me instead that he has cheap iPhone to sell, I would fall for it. ;-p

Peletier Haussmann Opera Hotel

Before I came to Paris, many people have already told me about the conditions of hotels here. "Hotel room is very small one", "No toiletries one", "Hotel looks very old one"...

Well of course they are not talking about high class hotels. Ordinary people like us who are not working for huge companies will always go for affordability, so around 2-3 stars is already good enough, somemore in Paris where the exchange rate is about 4.7.

The hotel that I am staying in is Peletier Haussmann Opera Hotel, located in Rue Le Peletier. I have to say that the location is really good as it is about 20 steps (about lah!) from the nearest Metro station.

It is indeed a small hotel where the reception person recognises each and everyone of the guests. Don't even think of sneaking an additional person in while paying for a single occupancy!

Although it's small, I thought it's really cosy. The staff there speaks english and so no communication problem. Anyhow being a polite person I am, I always greet them Bonjour (Good day) and Merci (Thank you) whenever applicable. Those are the only French I know, so may as well make good use of them. :-p

The room rate I got through my company's booking is €80 for single occupancy, €90 for double and €95 for triple. I was told upon check-in that breakfast (€6/person) is included in my room rate.

Breakfast is the same everyday. Each person will get a croissant and a long bread, coffee/tea and a glass of orange juice. So far I am still enjoying the taste of croissant with butter.

As 3 of us will be sharing the room on the 3rd week, the hotel allocated this room with 3 beds (1 double + 1 make shift) for me since day one. I am guessing that this must be one of the bigger rooms in the hotel to accommodate all the beds. So currently I do have plenty of space, using the other 2 beds for my bag and worn clothes, hehe.

3 persons in a room next week, geez.... I wonder how's that like. It's been really a while since I share my room with so many people. Hmm... where will I be dumping my bag and clothes then ah?

I love my iPod, I really do

I am really thankful that I have an iPod Touch and I brought it to Paris with me.

You see, my colleague and I are sharing 1 laptop, but most of the time it's with him. So without my iPod, I would be disconnected from the outside world when I get back to the hotel. Hotel room very small leh, not much you can do. Somemore all the TV programs are in French, even the English ones. You see mouths moving but have no blardy idea what they are talking about. So it can be really boring in the room.

I am sure you may ask why are we staying in our rooms when we are in such a beautiful city? Well it gets very cold at night and when it's so cold, you just feel like hibernating. Besides that, it was raining here in the evening for the past few days, so we rather stay in the room after taking dinner.

I love my iPod, I really do. It's my Internet connection, it's my cellular phone (I use Skype on Fring to make phone calls), it's my music jukebox and my mini cinema (I watched "The Sound Of Music" yesterday) and of course, my blogging buddy.

Eiffel Tower

After our training yesterday, we took our first Metro to the Tour Eiffel. We made a bad decision on which station to get off, so we had to walk a bit of a distance to get to the tower. Anyhow I do enjoy walking (as long as it's not raining) as I think you get to see more of the people and the neighbourhood.

This is my first visit to the Eiffel Tower and it's definitely won't be my last for the duration of my stay here. I am sure my colleague and I will be going there again this weekend, and again when Gan and JM are here.

I am not complaining though as it is a very beautiful and interesting place. One thing for sure now, I know which Metro station that we should stop for this!

Good ones come true, Bad ones go away

I received an email on the forecast for all the Chinese zodiac signs in the Year of the Ox. Being a sucker for these things, I checked out mine. It said that I would have opportunities to be in somewhere far away, which is quite true as I am now in Paris.

However the rest of the forecast is not so good. Damn, that got me a bit worried.

I think I will do what my mom does. I will keep "chanting" this:
Good ones come true, Bad ones go away.

Good boy

In Paris, people bring their dogs everywhere. That is so nice to see, not like in Malaysia where there are so many restrictions on dogs.

Anyway while waiting for my colleague to buy something from a supermarket nearby our hotel, I saw this dog patiently waiting for his owner to come out from the supermarket to get him.

Such a good boy.

Arc de Triomphe

Our training ended around 4pm yesterday. So after leaving our bags back to the hotel, we set off to make the most of the remaining daylight for the day. We walked from our hotel at Rue Le Peletier to the Arc de Tromphe in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle which is about 3.2km away. It took us approximately 40 minutes to get there in the drizzle. I was so worried that my passport would get wet as my jacket already did. Thank goodness it is still in good shape.

Arc de Triomphe in Paris is a monument to honor those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleanic war. On the walls of the arc, there are the inscripted names of generals and wars fought. It is the world's largest triumphal arc.

There is the tomb of the Unknown Soldier underneath the arc. Its eternal flame commemorates the dead of the two world wars, and is rekindled every evening at 6:30.

Musée du Louvre

Musée du Louvre or the Louvre Museum is a national museum of France. I know from very long time ago that this is the home of Mona Lisa, and was enticed further by it after reading the book "The Da Vinci's Code".

So when I got to know about my Paris trip, I told myself that I must go to this museum.. and I did, on the same day that I stepped foot on Paris soil. It was the 1st Sunday of the month, and you know what that means? No entrance fees to most of the museums here! Yippee!!

I finally saw Mona Lisa and like what many people have already told me, the painting is small. With the distance allowed for viewing and the amount of people there, I did not manage to get a clear picture of it. So you won't be seeing this painting from my collages below.

Louvre Museum is sooooooooo huge. If you really enjoy art, you can easily spend the whole day here. Unfortunately I am not a very arty person... so after a few paintings and sculptures, I got a little bit bored. My colleague and I were there for about 4 hours starting from 9.00am opening time. I am pretty sure we have missed out many of the sections but well, we already got enough art for a day.

Anyhow, I love love love the pyramid.

First day in Paris

(I am posting this using my iPod Touch, so I can't post any pictures.)

We finally reached Paris yesterday morning around 6am Paris time after a long 12 hours of flight. The CDG airport is pretty small, sort of reminded me of our old Subang airport. The signboards are pretty clear though letting you know where you should go to take taxi, bus or the RER(train station). However I noticed if the sign shows a vertical down arrow, it doesn't mean "go down". Instead it means "go straight". We were a bit confused by this when we were hunting for the toilet. If it is a diagonal down arrow, then that means "go down".

We went out to take a taxi and got a Chinese driver. He couldn't understand our English and we couldn't understand his French. Thank goodness he asked us whether we speak Chinese! So actually Chinese is also a very handy language in Paris.

The taxi ride from CDG to our hotel in Rue(means "road") Le Peletier cost €38,20. The journey is about 30mins. As we could only check in at 2pm, we left our luggages at the reception and we out to the Louvre Museum. It is sooo cold outside.... Brrrrrrr

As it is the 1st Sunday of the month, entry to this museum is free! Hopefully I get to borrow my colleague's laptop tonight so that I can post up some pics.

Okay time for me to get ready to go for my training. More posts coming soon.