My Own Farmville

In my garden, most of the fruit trees are at least 90% ready with some of them ready to be harvested, hee hee hee

I have my own Farmville at home (for those who don’t know, erm, Farmville is a game on Facebook)

From the farthest, the mango tree, the rambutan tree and the Ciku tree, 

and all our fruit trees bear really sweet delicious fruits, slurp

Up close, here are the mangoes

and here is the ciku, unfortunately, the rambutan tree is 0% ready at this point of time – no rambutan pictures

I wish I could get my friends to visit my farm just like in Farmville and chase away the squirrels who eat the ciku fruits

and here is the banana tree – its my favorite Rastali type – and this batch is the first fruit – yummy, can’t wait!

You can be sure I keep an eye on this tree everyday, just in case the monkeys come to attack the bananas

Here’s the papaya tree and below it, we have a sugar cane plant, though its a bit on the thin side

Outside the house, we have another mango tree, a coconut tree and a cempedak tree – erm, still 0% ready :p

How much is enough for a 9 day trip to London and Paris?

Before we left for London and Paris, we found it really difficult to estimate how much we will need in London and Paris. Having been there, done that, I have compiled a list of my expenses, which I add, if I may, is very accurate based on the amount of cash we had left over when we returned

You might have a totally different idea of a holiday and how much you want to spend, so this might not suit you, let’s agree beforehand, you don’t judge me for being careful with money and I won’t judge you for being extravagant :p End of the day,we didn’t kill ourselves in order to save some pennies – its just the way we do our holidays

Please note the following before you take everything lock, stock and barrel:

a) Look through my list of activities and places we went in comparison with the cost;

b) We are very simple, no luxurious coffee drinking at expensive coffee outlets or expensive meals at restaurants for us. Our accommodation in London included a fantastic spread for breakfast and we don’t normally have lunch (not even in Malaysia) and our accommodation in Paris included breakfast and dinner. When we were hungry, we usually bought a sandwich or salad from the supermarket. Two of our main meals were paid for by friends/family;

c) We are fit and enjoy WALKING A LOT!

d) We didn’t do a whole lot of shopping – I mean, one LV bag would have smashed our budget to smithereens;

e) We got our accommodation at a great rate in London – you still can get that amount but for a lesser off place. Bear in mind that anywhere out of Zone 1 or 2 in London will increase your transport budget;

f) We don’t mind taking transportation at unearthly hours to get a better rate – we’re hardy and practical tourists;

g) We mostly went to places that did not have entry costs.

OK, here goes:

LONDON (all amounts in Sterling)

Transport                                                         212.08

Bus  33.28, Underground 30.00, Eurostar 148.80

Food and snacks                                            48.20

Hotel accommodation                               120.00

Telephone usage                                              30.00

Gifts for friends and family                      21.07

Payment for lost and found phone         5.00

Misc stuff for self                                            19.56

Clothes for Angie and Andrea                  25.00

Travel trousers and shorts for us        125.88

Costumes for work                                          54.55

Juggling props for work                            161.00

PARIS (all amounts in Euro)

Food                                                                        26.07

Accommodation                                            180.00

Souvenirs for family/friends                    15.80

Entrance fees                                                      34.00

(Notre Dame 16; The Lourve 18)

Transportation                                                   62.40

(3 days Paris visite card 39.20; final day metro ticket 3.20; Paris river ride 20)

 

 

We are posting this MAINLY to help future tourists to plan their budget. Another tip is to buy your currency earlier IF you feel the rate is good and will go up. We bought our sterling at the 5.25 rate and our Euro at the 4.7 rate and our left over cash was sold for 5.7 and 5.11 respectively.

Oh, and our airfare by Air Asia KL-London-KL was RM3k+ for both of us. This included an extra RM400 that we paid for extra leg room (hot seats) and some extra money for additional luggage weight for the return trip.

 

Last leg in London – Spitalfields market, Iraqi-an food, where can you see a Malaysian flag in London and goodbye to UK

Went to Spitalfields Market on the second last day of our holiday. Visiting markets is always one of the things we do when we travel as that is where we get stuff for work, especially costumes.

Its always better to see and try on the costumes ourselves rather than buy them online. This hat we bought will be going to our costume room.

Between spitalfields market and Bricklane road is where we found this couple from Iraq selling what looked like Nasi Brianyi. It tasted good and was going for a good price. We enjoyed it.

The stall selling this

Allan having a great time choosing his food

Our tourism Malaysia seems to have their office at Trafalgar Square, just opposite the National Gallery

BenderaMalaysia flying proudly in London

Finally, its time to go home. The bus to Stansted is in front of the Allsop Arms pub.

Our stuff – had more bags going back – bought mostly work stuff

Our dinner before we left London – 1 pound 80 for half a roast chicken bought from Marks and Spencers.

 

We want to thank God for the great time we had together, the sights we saw together, the bargains we bought together and the weight we lost together – really one – lots of walking ma

 

Mummies and more at the British Museum

The British Museum is a great place to go to – loads and loads of stuff to see and entry is FREE

If you’re really into museums, give yourself 1 whole day for this trip. Otherwise, pick up the brochure and decide what you want to see

We went for the Mummies, of course

I’m sure the British Museum has more mummies on display than the museum in Egypt!

This is what was found in Tomb 723 and the picture on the left shows how it looked when they found it.

Picture of the interior as it was and …………. on display. The wooded boat was on top of the coffin

 

Interior of the coffin with delicately drawn pictures and hieroglyphics

Actual mummified body unwrapped

PROCESS OF MUMMIFICATION

1. Washing – As soon as possible after death, the body was taken to the Tent of Purification located close to the banks of the Nile, and was washed in a solution of natron in water.

2. Removal of internal organs – The brain was extracted via the nose (YIPES! if the deceased was not entirely dead, this would have done it), using a metal rod. A stone knife was used to make an incison in the left flank, through which the organs of the chest and abdomen, except the heart, were removed. The organs were separately preserved.

3. Drying – The Chest and abdominal cavities were packed with bags of natron, a naturally-occuring compound of salts which absords fluids. Natron powder was packed around, beneath and on top of the body, which was left covered for about 40 days.

4. Packing – the skull was often plugged with linen or filled with resin and the chest cavity packed with wood shavings, linen, earth or occasionally lichen. Sand, linen or mud was inserted under the skin to restore substance to the features.

5. Anointing – The skin was coated with liquid plant resin to exclude moisture from the body.

6. Wrapping – During wrapping the embalmers placed the limbs in the prescribed positions and the body was wrapped in sheets and strips of linen, while prayers and magical spells were recited.

Having gone through that kind of process, you can be sure you won’t find a mummy jumping around :p

Below: more mummies

…. and more mummies

they have so many!!!!!

This mummy was definitely a male

They made sure that there is no mistake regarding the gender of the mummy or the figurine

                                        Tombs in Cyprus around 500 – 450 BC

  

Limestone cinerary in the form of a seated man. The ashes were placed in the lower section

Armoury – helmet, breast plate …….

Belt

Buckle

Shield and horn

Shoes

Leg piece.

Goodness, how on earth did the soldiers managed to walk after wearing all these? No wonder David the shepherd boy declined the full armor and went for Goliath with just 5 stones, a sling and a prayer

  This lyre (4th to 5th century – from Athens) has a tortoise shell as the sound box

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ching, ching, ching – will be nice to have one of these around

 Coin no 9 is the silver denarii – the same kind that Judas received for betraying Jesus

    

 

 

 

 

 

They took a lot of efforts to make their clocks good looking in those days

Outside the museum

Covent Garden and beyond

Wanted to look for buskers at Covent Garden but was really disappointed. We only saw one or two and they were all singers, no acrobats or magicians.

The pillar on the left is where the original Punch and Judy show was performed. There is a picture of it below

The plaque remembering the spot where the Punch and Judy show was

Nice T-shirt

Might make myself one of these, since Allan has a tshirt advertising for “Good woman” which Andy gave him for his birthday

Anyway, the only thing Allan doesn’t really do is sew ……….. and of course we kinda lack on the sports car and plane bit, ha ha ha …………. 

 

Can’t remember where this is – could be somewhere near Leicester Square but we thought the curved building looked interesting

Ripley’s Believe it or Not!

In Malaysia, most people look for food at about 7pm, then go for drinks after that, say at about 9m. In Soho, London, most people have their drinks till about 9pm, then everyone scrambles into the tiny restaurants and look for food – is that why they call dinner, supper? Cos our supper is really supper and its after dinner

For us, no drinks, food is more important  

My pasta was a big disappointment though

Next: London museum

Brighton seaside, where to eat and the Marina

This is where most of the action on the sea front is. Its near the Brighton Pier.

Of course there is also the burnt West Pier, which is seen in this pic.

You can see Brighton Pier in this pic. There is a fairground at the end of the pier

Made Allan pose for me

I’m sure you’ve noticed that this beach has NO SAND??

Yeah, there are only pebbles on this beach – good for reflexology

After so many days of wearing sneakers, my feet had a different color from my arms

Sun-ning myself like a “ham-yee” (salted preserved fish)

Outside the fish museum

Interesting puppet play

We bought our lunch from Jack and Linda Mills, recommended by my cousin. But you can get fish and chips from any of the shops here.

I can’t eat fish, so I opted for fried calamari – they are not as crispy as I thought they should have been, but I was pleasantly surprised by the taste and sheer texture of the calamari rings. They were fat and succulent. Allan had smoked fish for 3 pounds 50 and mine cost a bit more. But we both agreed that my calamari tasted good.

Wetherspoon – a good place to have your meals. We brought my cousin here for dinner on the second night. The portions are HUGE and they normally have pretty good packages. In fact, pubs will always be less expensive to eat in than restaurants. This one is at the Marina. I know there is one at the Stansted departure lounge before the train shuttle. To find their outlets in London, just google Wetherspoon. We had 2 dinner sets and 1 bottle of wine for 15 pounds 99. The sets can be a choice of steak, lamb or fish. We paid another 6 pounds 99 for another dinner set. A good price.

Its back to London again on the 3rd day, so to Brighton station we went. Oh, did I mention that the train ticket is cheaper if you purchase a return ticket? and the good thing is that you are not tied to a time, just purchase the ticket for the date you want to return to London. We had another round of shopping just before going off – bought some clothes for under 3 pounds and managed to get some colorful tights for our clowns. Andrea’s jacket was 3 pounds and Angie’s all-weather waterproof jacket went for a bargain too.

Allan liked the chicken sandwich which came in a long french roll – only less than 2 pounds

The stall is at the entrance of the station (inside the station)

Next : Covent Garden, London Museum, Spittalfields, and the National Gallery

Paris to London on Eurostar and onward to sunny Brighton by train

We travelled back to London by Eurostar and saw much more since it was the 11+am train. Remember that you have to go through immigration at Gard Du Nord if you are heading for London. So give yourself an hour to be comfortably on time. There is a pretty long queue cos the Eurostar is a really LONG train which can take a lot of passengers.  Due to immigrant problems the UK is experiencing, its important to show proof that you will be leaving the UK when you enter. I remember a friend of mine visited London and then went on to Paris like we did. He made the mistake of leaving his return ticket (London-KL) in his friend’s apartment in London. On his return to London, the immigration were not very happy with him as he had no proof that he would be leaving the UK eventually. After some drilling, he thanked God that they allowed him to enter the UK.

We exited the station at Carriage no 30+ of the Eurostar and our carriage was the first few!!!! Long walk indeed.

Cafetaria carriage

Brighton is a delightful little town by the seaside with lots of character. 

This is the Brighton train station

Went to Burger King and wanted to use the toilet but they had a sign on it saying that they had closed the toilet to public use due to previous abuse of privileges. Finally went to the Travelers’ Lodge about 7 mins walk away. That is a good place to stay at because of the great location, the good price for a clean place. You’ll have to book in advance through the internet though.

We chose to walk by the beach

This is a lift door, you ring the bell next to it when you need to use it.

Just so interesting

The guy manning the lift was so friendly

One of the cheapest place to buy stuff, especially food, is at ASDA. This one in Brighton is one of the bigger ones in UK. I didn’t see any ASDA outlets in London though I’ve been told there are some. We bought our cheese, chocolates, junk food, tea and other stuff for friends and family at this ASDA. 

Look at the prices

Fruits that are still good but going for a bargain. We bought some fruits and vegetables to make a salad for dinner. My cousin had already prepared the main dish. It was a simple meal that night, but a GREAT one!

Our lettuce

The next morning, we bought a unlimited one day bus pass for 3 pounds 60 each and did our own city tour. Its easy, just look at the bus route map at the stand and check the number of the bus going into that area, then look at the numbers on display at that particular bus stand to make sure the bus you want will stop there. This is the same in Paris. If you have a good city map, it will be better. The first time is difficult, but you’ll get the hang of it by the 2nd time.

Can’t remember the name of this church but we stop the bus here because it is so interesting.

A lot of the graves here are really old, some of them contain many members of the family, for example, “mother and daughter re-united”, husband and wife and for some, almost the entire family.

We then realized that the daughter was buried above the mother’s body.

Churches here are not locked like the ones in Malaysia – anyone can just walk in, sit there and spend some time alone with God – a good practice, I feel. When we walked in, we thought we were alone and walked all the way to the front. After we turned to go out, my heart skipped a beat when I saw two people sitting at the last pew. Why skipped a beat? Well, it was quiet and dark in the church, we were quiet AND the 2 people were also quiet. Can be a bit scary, ha ha ha. Wonder if we gave them a scare too?

I like this welcome greeting – that should be the essence of our faith and the way it relates to human kind.

The church building was so big that the door look really cute and small.

Millets – one of the places selling outdoor stuff, including clothes (Western Road). The other places to look at include Snow + Storm and Kathmandu. We bought a couple of traveling trousers each. These are really comfortable, light weight, easy to dry, non-crease and with many pockets, ideal for traveling. A pair of these beauties in KL would cost us above RM300 for the long trousers and at least RM150 for the shorts. There were sales in most of these, including Millets. Just to give you an idea, we paid about 52 pounds for 3 pairs of North Face trousers at Snow + Rock. That’s 50% off the regular price. IF you like the stretchable ones, look for the Kinabalu range at Kathmandu. By the way, Kathmandu comes from New Zealand, so maybe you can get it cheaper there. Anyhow, all 3 outlets are available at Brighton.

Another 2 good places to shop (for budget conscious Malaysians) are the Pound shop and Primark, both at Western Road, Brighton; and The Factory Shop and Reebok at the Waterfront, Brighton Marina. 

The Pavilion, a “playhouse” Palace built by one of the Kings. Its interesting because it looks like an Indian Palace on the outside but has a lot of Chinese design inside.

Remember studying about one of these in school? This was around before the days of the ATM, ha ha ha.

We were stingy, so didn’t pay to go in.

One of the lovely squares within the Brighton shopping area

Amazing shop – full of ORIGINAL armoury but selling at hefty prices, as expected, since they are original antiques

Allan’s play land – He was fascinated by the Samurai Swords

there are many interesting church buildings all over the UK

Quaker meeting signboard. Hope you can read it.

Narrow alleys are clean and NO human urine smell!

More on Brighton next……

Andy’s Gucchi-Scoochi (whatever that means) at Coffee house

Our son, Andy is having a great time at college and we’re thankful he has made good friends there

 

My cousin’s gorgeous place by the sea in Brighton

We went to Brighton immediately after arriving in London. Just changed trains at St Pancras – quite easy.

We wanted to walk and so we did – which was quite enjoyable at first, until our bags got the better of us, that is!

It was a good 30 – 40 minutes walk, fine WITHOUT the heavy BAGS (3 of them). Sigh, me and my bad mistakes

The only good thing was the fantastic view along the way

My cousin was coming back from Bath and we’d arrived an hour earlier, so we’d made arrangements to have our bags kept in her cabinets outside her apartment first, then have a good walk on the beach. But because I miscalculated the walking time, we ended up arriving after she’d arrived home

As a result, the next 3 photos were taken the next day cos hubby dear was not in the best of moods to take photos. I had erm…. mistakenly told him it was a 15 mins walk from the station, and guess who was the one hauling the bags?  :(

(Stealing this line from Emily Yip : Can we please not kill me?)

Her’s is a LONG flat – this is the corridor leading to the living area and kitchen; with rooms and the bathroom branching off the corridor

Absolutely charming

Garden behind

Another separate room behind the garden

Living room from a different angle – why all these pics? Ah well, my sisters are waiting to see her flat.

With my cousin

These flats are heritage protected because they are old and also because of the famous people that used to live here. 

It has its own park – residence are given the key to it

The park is HUGE and really, really great to sit in and just relax

 

It was designed with lots of small private areas 

Your own private moment is possible here

The children love this secret garden

Another private enclosure

that you can use for private parties

This path leads to a tunnel 

which leads to the beach ! Brilliant, isn’t it? 

There is more….

Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, lived here and actually saw a rabbit coming out of this tunnel – now we know the background to the rabbit in the story

The tunnel leads to this area

And its kept locked too

Looking at this building from afar, I’d never think that the gate leads to the tunnel!

Farther up is the marina, another lovely area

The electric train comes by here too, which is what we should have taken to arrive here!

Some others are not so fortunate though, we noticed a few “camps” along the pavement in enclosures like this

 

Goodbye Paris – final morning & one more photo from the previous night

In my last post, I forgot to add this picture. See the girl and the guy on the far left? Well, we didn’t manage to capture this on time, but what they did as we passed them was that the girl lifted up her tshirt to show her bra and the guy took his pants off and showed his butt. 

As usual, we had Korean food for breakfast

Just a few pics to let you know what you get for 30 Euros per head

A bed and of course breakfast and dinner

There is not much to this B & B. Basically its just the bedroom, the bathroom and toilet

And the dining area which is private to the caretaker

We got internet access too, which is rather important

So we left Marie D’ Ivry station

By the way, Parisians are really slim and the station doors are narrow. We couldn’t get our big bag through it cos by the time we managed to squeeze the bag through, the door had closed

These are the exit doors which are slightly bigger. You do not need to put your ticket through anymore upon exit. The doors open automatically, like the doors of the hospital operating rooms 

Gard Du Nord, one of the main railway stations in Paris