ThlpThinks

New hobby

I have developed a new hobby.

Watching cooking videos on YouTube between looking for jobs. I kinda feel like I can cook pretty well now and outwardly I look fine but inside, I’m just running in circles, waving my hands in the air and screaming OMG FOOD I THINK I CAN COOK THAT THAT LOOKS LIKE HEAVEN. Forgive my lack of punctuation, there’s no time to punctuate when I’m going crazy. Try watching those videos at 2am, and figure out a way to not turn crazy.

I’ve saved all the food videos on a playlist called “Food to cook” and resorted to looking for appropriate ingredients on Cold Storage’s online shopping page. Since most of the recipes are cream-based and in Western style instead of Asian cooking, I realised that our house don’t have the required condiments. And I’m also thinking of starting my own herb garden like Jamie Oliver. So when you need some rosemary or basil or tarragon, you just go ahead and pluck off those leaves right beside your sink. (Who the shit grows their own herbs in Singapore!?)

Now to top it off, I’ll have to cook up a dastardly plan to get the maid to relinquish her hold on her turf. The kitchen.

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona airport. Out of the 11 airports I’ve transited through, this would be my favourite airport. It is so beautiful and clean and airy with reflective marble on the ground and fashionable shops all around! Btw, Barcelona is my favourite city for Europe, so expect more photos in this post. HAHA.

Marbella Beach. The nude beach that me and Van decided to take a peek. On the way there (it’s a little distant from city center and a 15 minute walk from the metro), we keep seeing kids and parents bringing umbrellas and coolers, so we wondered whether we got the place right. Indeed we were right, and what a sight, people were really in the nude!!! (Pardon me for my conservative Singaporean viewpoint) Like are-you-wearing-beige-swimming-suit-oh-no-you-aren’t!!! There was a particular guy who exposed his privates to the whole world, legs wide open, just in case you weren’t looking close enough. Hahaha! Had a good laugh with Van.

Completed model of La Sagrada de Familia

Me and Van went to a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet BUT, there was nobody inside at all! We did still dine there. Apparently we were there too early, near 9pm, because when we left, the restaurant was packed. BUT STILL the food wasn’t good. This restaurant, El Toc de Gracia, had us guiltily indulge in a second dinner, not even an hour after the first. It was so so so much better than our first dinner, we ended up ordering desserts as well. Hahaha.

The town where my Villa was. It’s 20 minutes away from city center by train. And just a tip, after much calculation, I conclude that tourists should always buy the 10-time ticket at Barcelona, it is always cheaper than the single or multi-day passes.

Hola! Welcome to my Villa, it is called the No Worries Villa! I love this place to bits, it is mostly people who make this place so welcoming. Especially since I was alone from Barcelona onwards, the peeps here really made me feel less lonely. Once you come back from the city, there are always people around to hang out with, beer to be drunk, and music to be danced along. Did I mention the hammocks and the campfire? 

Supposedly the best tapas in Barcelona, but as a experienced traveller, I would say DON’T BELIEVE THIS SHIT. This place was recommended to me by some acquaintance at the Villa who went on a food tour so I decided to look for it the next day. Spent 2 hours scouring the streets for bloody restaurant. Found the dingy place and ordered too much. Meal cost me EUR45. What the shit! I could have had awesome food with EUR45!!!

After that depressing lunch, I decided I’ll just do one attraction and be done with my day, since it was St Joan’s Day (which meant PARTYING at the beach at night). So this is Casa Batllo, aka Skeleton House (cos of the windows) and I realised I’ve seen and posted pictures of this place before! Wow!

The staircase looks like the spine of the house.

This is my favourite room of Casa Batllo. It is so airy and bright!

Even the washroom has pretty scalloped tiles.

And this is the famous La Ramblas. Tourist trap and greenery all combined into a long stretch of road.

Less buskers but many performers, such as the above.

Quite a few illegal “merchants” as well, selling imitations. See the rope that the man holds? He pulls that when he sees the police chasing to secure his inventory. Smart ya?

Placa Reial. Quite a nice courtyard, but I remember it as the place where I had the Best Lunch in Europe.

Duck with sweet potato and strawberries. Please wipe your face for accidental salivation.

The geese that represent innocence in the cloister.

Decorated fountain in the cloister cos it was St Joan Day.

Macaroon!!! Violet flavour!!!

At the magical (Montjuic) music fountain. With another 5928 people watching as well, haha.

Dinner after the music fountain was rushed as I have to make sure I don’t get left behind by the last train back to Montcada at 12 midnight. (Meals in Spain at 3pm and 11pm are not unusual sights haha)

Cable car to Montjuic takes around 15 mins. There are only 2 freaking cable cars on the bloody cable! Waited for half an hour before I got on the ride. Unbelievable.

At Parc Guell (or Gaudi Park) with 2345 other people. I even met some Korean nuns there. I was supposed to go with this guy from the Villa, but he stood me up bleah. And I was the one eejit who wore jeans on this extremely hot day.

Flamenco buskers in one of the caves at Parc Guell.

Lucky shot with nobody else in the cave!

See those violet flowers behind, there are a field of them behind me, pretty awesome view.

This is a Casa Mila, another Gaudi creation (said to be his masterpiece, I thought that was the Sagrada Familia no?).

Roof of Casa Mila, a very contorted reality.

Haha, now go figure how I took this photo.

Edinburgh, Skye, Great Britain

Looking supremely happy on the Golden Mile! Just getting ready to start our “haunted” night tour. That was, in fact, quite boring and too theatrical for our tastes. I kinda fell asleep at the last part cos it was so tiring to keep straining my ear just to understand the Scottish accent.

The scenery is so good, the mountain at the back looks kinda fake doesn’t it!

Rumply bed hair, but I quite like this photo.

This looks like a scene out of a movie, don’t it? And SUDDENLY, *cue music & wind sound* a dragon flies overhead to hunt some Scottish cattle.

I am basically freezing and have no idea how Bella is holding up with her Red Indian cape that bares her forearms.

Pot of peonies at this restaurant we had a really rushed lunch. We gobbled down our food and ran the whole way back to the bus to find that there were still quite a few latecomers missing.

Our B&B that we got into so much trouble. First was giggling like a bunch of school girls while people were addressing us. Then came making too much noise after 10.30 while watching TV and playing Monopoly Deal. Finally, Van washed and dried her clothes which is against the rules. :( It could have been a awesome stay, it was so pretty!

Live prawns just unloading from the trawler at Portree. They call prawns ‘langoustines’ instead.

And in between the two pictures above, is what Jingfang coined as “Endless Sea”. Her favourite attraction out of our Skye trip.

Bagpipes! Gah, the most angelic sound you are not. Especially when your owner smells kinda funky.

The Dunvegan Castle! This is my favourite attraction at Skye, cos the guides are passionate and have pretty interesting stories on how people lived and the general culture of Scotland. Apparently, the castle is still in use by the family at times. Imagine having your own castle. WHEEEE!

Who’s an eejit now?

London, Great Britain

Looks ominous doesn’t it? Haha

Ducks in Hyde Park following some kind of calling, all crossing the pavement at the same time! We were really surrounded by them, humans as the minority haha!

Yay! The rain stopped! Bye bye Hyde Park, too bad we missed the nude-cyclist-event the next day :P

Yay, I love Wicked! The best musical I’ve seen! What a plot!

So I’m Elphaba? Haha messing around with the ever joker.

At our Windsor day trip, beautiful weather in a beautiful town. BUT our tour guide was kinda scary, NO HOT FOOD on the bus. He really raised his voice at this lady on the bus when she broke the rule.

At Bath. I would really like to have spent more time there. It’s a lovely place to wander around.

Hello Stonehenge!

Oxford Road! Why do the shops close so early?! Everytime we get there, they’re closing! But that’s fine too, cos my funds were limited.

London Eye. What a cold and depressing night that was. We couldn’t find a place for dinner and when we finally did, the food wasn’t good but still expensive. I feel the ride is overrated, Everything is grey from the top, other than Big Ben and the Parliament Houses. When we were leaving, the wind was so strong, I really understood what’s “chilled to the bone”, but we saw this Asian couple taking their wedding shots there and the bride had to take off her jacket to reveal her shoulders. Things people do for weddings, pfftt.

Westminster Abbey. Cathedral and tombs. Quite overrated too after too many Roman cathedrals.

OH I SO WANT TO GO! It’s a Feastival!!! By Jamie Oliver!!! How!!!

A really good restaurant down at Soho. And our server is TOO CHARMING. I would totally ask him out if I lived there. He’s like a Caucasian Lee Min Ho.

This is my favourite photo of London. Four men strolling down the street together to get lunch. In suits.

Old-school typewriter is, in fact, a piano lookalike device. How would it sound though? Am very curious. Saw it at a Italian Post exhibition, hosted in the High Court building that I was turned away for entry when I mistook it as a tourist attraction. 

Brugge, Brussels, Belgium!

Took the train there, with fields of daisies flying past us at high speed. Why no tulip fields for me to run through?

First time seeing so many swans all gathered at the same place. The whitish stuff on the grass are all their feathers.

All the buskers I see in Europe are pretty good at their instruments, unlike our handicapped buskers in Singapore who use the trade as a last resort to earn money. This guy used some kind of wok as his instrument, which amazingly sounded like the harp, very tranquil.

Oh Belfry Tower, you and your 366 narrow steps to the top almost killed us! The view was alright, but it was the climb that’s memorable.

There are seemingly no ugly architecture here. The ugliest house is probably of quite high standards in Singapore, I’m guessing?

Chocolates!!!

My favourite shop in Brugge, lifestyle shop selling gardening, kitchenry (is that a word?) and cool stuff.

Our fabulous room at Pantone Hotel in Brussels. Wowee! In my favourite colour, violet!!! (Btw, it looks like a bra, but it is in fact a camera lying on the bed.)

Wall art of Pantone Hotel. I love the concept of the room! And seeing as how it is the first hotel after some awful accoms, it was PERFECTION.

Amsterdam, Holland!

好奇怪的三轮车哦！但路上到处都是脚踏车。不小心踏进他们的专用道还得挨骂！哈哈！但那么冷的天气怎么骑车啊？

Cheese making factory with rolls and rolls of cheese on display. We went with a empty stomach and came out full with all the delicious samples offered. Lesson 592 of Being Singaporean.

Real life windmills. ‘Nuff said.

Flowers in Europe look freaking vibrant. It’s as if the flowers in Singapore have jetlag or something. I was buying for my friend’s commencement at Katong Flower Shop and wow, huge difference!

Magnets of Amsterdam houses along the canals. Such variety! 

The Heineken Experience was really fun! Lots of interactive activities, there was a karaoke video thing that you have to sing along to a Dutch song and they’ll send the video to your email.

We bought tulips just to hold them while walking, how could we not! We were in Holland!

So I know

I’ve almost completely ignored my tumblr for over a month. BUT I had a legitimate reason. I was travelling in Taiwan and Europe for around one and a half months.

Taipei - Taichung - Kaohsiung - Kenting - Taitung - Hualien - Taipei

Taiwan was with Huiyi and Teckteng and being the lazy photographer I am, none of the photographs were taken by me, so gotta wait for their uploads on Facebook (and that could take forever.)

Roma - Amsterdam - Bruges - Brussels - London - Edinburgh - Barcelona - Seville - Madrid

Europe has been too awesome. And I can’t possibly elaborate on the amazingness I’ve experienced in this short post (because I’m going running right about NOW.)

So shall instead put up some of my favourite photos from the Rome trip first. Heh.

At the Vatican City, the guards’ uniform are funkyyy~

I love the pillars around St Peter’s! 

Went on a Angels & Demons Tour and it was surprisingly fun, Dan Brown did make a few mistakes on his historical facts and physics laws.

A cosy nice restaurant with a terrace near Via Condotti (their Orchard Road).

This place is so near my hotel, I pass by it everyday and am awed by the greenery. Turns out, the tunnel leads to a quite-famous cathedral after some exploration I did.

Rented a bicycle on the last day in Rome. Out of all the bright and sunny days, it had to rain that day. But was extremely convenient to cycle around Rome.

Had such a filling dinner, I decided to walk around the Colosseum once. A beautiful sight at night, with so much history in it.

Bye bye school

Can’t believe it has come to this day. Went to try on the gowns with Minyi and Val yesterday. Nostalgic but looking (and felt) ridiculously happy in the photos below.

Sick like a dog

Since I’m sick so often, you’d think I’ll be better at coping each time. But no, it’s still the same old “omg-I-need-to-lie-down-and-concuss-right-now”. Even went to church this morning, thinking I’ll sit it out, but left before the service even started. Time to concuss.

FTS. I’m going off to Krabi next week. What a spontaneous decision! Debbie asked me on Sunday, and poof! We bought tickets on Monday and flying off to pristine beaches and RELAXATION in 5 days time!

All you people who were guilt-tripping me for not partying during my exam week, here’s to you cramming your ass off while I say “ADIOS, BITCHES!”