Who would visit Paris and not see one of its most recognisable structure ever?

The Eiffel Tower is almost synonymous to Paris. During our brief visit to Paris, the Eiffel Tower was the place we happened to visit the most.

I remember realising how truly beautiful the structure was when I first laid eyes on it from the Palais de Chaillot. Furiously nudging my girlfriend in the process of course repeating "The view damn nice right?" a thousand times and proceed to snap another thousand photos of the tower from a million different angles.

However, due to the vast amount of tourists there and our tight schedule (you see, we planned to WALK the city of Paris from one end to another, kiamsiap couple), we didn't manage to go up the tower on the first day.

A small fraction of the queues.

On the second night, we returned to the same place to witness the hourly sparkling of the tower. I must say that Paris has one of the best night views I'd ever seen before.

Night view from Palais de Chaillot

Sparkling Eiffel Tower

It was only during the third day that we decided to brave the cold with the long queue and go up the tower. Hearing the fact that the top platform has nothing much to offer but barricades and limited view, we opted to settle for the second platform and save a couple of euros in the process.

Happy girl on the second platform.

There were two ways of going up the Eiffel Tower - through the elevators or stairs with the elevator being the slightly pricier one. (I think it is free to go up the first platfrom by foot). Since I don't want to fall to a certain dead at a young age, the elevator it was.

The elevators.

From the second platform itself, the view of the entire city of Paris was right before our eyes. Other than the fact that the winds were incredibly chilly on top, I enjoyed myself identifying the buildings that we went to and snapping another crazy amount of photos.

Palais de Chaillot from the tower.

Champ de Mars from the tower

What a great experience being on one of Paris's global icons.

Peace messages on the pillars.

Now, cross Eiffel Tower on the list. Who is next? The Colissuem and the Leaning Tower beckons this summer.

Two presentations and a coursework due on the same day, what are the odds?

If this is not an evil scheme to torture us, i have no idea what is.

Stepping foot into one of Europe's culinary centre, it was hard to resist the temptation to taste what Paris has to offer...

...until we realised that it is also a place with the most exorbitant price tag in Europe.

To think how much I cringe at a 3.5 pounds McD meal - namely the cheapest meal available when I first arrive in UK.

Coke in French. Note the different metric system used.

The exact meal cost 6.5 euros in Paris. Almost 50 percent more expensive than UK. That is how expensive the food in Paris cost.

No wonder bread of all kinds are so popular in France.

Roti apa?

Other than cafes that serve overpriced sandwiches and baguettes (at least to my standards), you can see crepe stalls everywhere around the city.

A cup of hot chocolate which cost roughly 3 euros.

Crepe, a very thin piece of pancake is normally served with either sweet stuff like sugar, chocolate sauce, nutella or as a meal itself with cheese and ham. They cost around 2-3 euros for the sweet one and 5-6 euros for the more filling one. They are like the Ramly burger of Paris if you know what I mean, but of course, no question which one would I starve myself for.

Focus on the crepe please. Not my gaping mouth.

On a limited student budget, I am glad I was able to try some French dishes that you don't normally see on your dining room. It may not be the best representative of French cuisine, but at least it was what's best at that moment.

As far as I know, escargots are meant to be served in their shells and ate using snail forks and tongs like the one I ate years ago in a French restaurant back in Malaysia. This time however, the escargots I ordered came in a small sizzling pan served with garlic and butter.

Garlic and butter escargots.

No complains though as I gobbled down the snails with no trouble at all. Chewy texture, tasted like shellfish and incredible as a starter.

They looked like cockles to me

I have always heard how tasty foie gras are but never did have the chance to taste them. Until I saw them as part of a set meal in a restaurant.

The hunt for foie gras.

Just in case you are wondering, foie gras is the liver of ducks or geese that has been specially fatten for their liver. Tender, oily and sinfully delicious I must add. Too bad for the hefty price tag though.

Hot Foie Gras with crystallised dates

Due to the fact I have never tried veal before, veal was chosen as my main course whereas my girlfriend and her obsession with chicken chose a Yorkshire Pudding lookalike filled with wild mushroom and chicken with a glamourous name like Poultry vol au Vent.

Veal with too much spinach for my liking

A friend said it looked like beef rendang on a huge pastry. Another said it looked like something you find in the loo.

A huge version of Ferraro Rocher tops the icing on the cake on a satisfying dinner. Then we realised the restaurant is more famous for their desserts. Swt.

Grandparents of Ferraro Rocher.

Most of the meals we had are in fastfood joints other than a day when we managed to have tasteless fish and a bloody cow's buttock for dinner.

Nice looking fish.

First taste of chewy and bloody rumpsteak.

Well, at least it was decently priced and I get to choose escargots as starters!

Can't be choosers when you are broke can we?

I have decided this time around to go against the tradition of my blog and post no april fool's entry and attempt to deceive anybody.

Which doesn't normally work I know.

Actually I did thought of writing something to con you people. Something along the lines of:

" Hey, just came back from a wonderful holiday! And you know what? I saw the statue of liberty!!! In Paris! "

Then I proceeded to search a close up photo of the statue of liberty.

Then I realised that nobody is going to fall for that. You guys are too smart. So I did some superimposing and put a very constipated (to show that the sun is bright or something, how every detail is important) photo of me in front of the statue.

Hmm, this doesn't seem to work too. Not convincing enough. Seems everybody knew I am going on a vacation with the girlfriend in Paris, why not superimpose her photo as well!

After much thought, I realised what the heck, nobody is that stupid. It is April Fool after all. So I gave up the idea totally. So much for wasting my time.

Happy April Fool everybody. Don't fall for anything stupid please.

Musicals had never sparked any interest in me whatsoever throughout my life. I've never been to any play or watched any musical movies until when I got a free movie ticket to Sweeney Todd.

Although the movie wasn't as yawn-inducing as how I expected it to be, it was still mildly hilarious in my opinion.

But how can one not watch a musical play when you are in London? One of the places where you see more theatre posters around than movie posters.

During my girlfriend's short visit stint in London, we decided to catch a musical play which was top of her must-watch list. It was none other than the well known Phantom of the Opera.

I broke into cold sweat when I did my research and found out the value of tickets to the Phantom due to its popularity. Just say it cost less to watch a football match. But the mentality I had was "Why settle for second best?" since I planned to watch only one play as an experience.

Therefore, I die die also want to sit near the stage at the stalls to be able to savour everything. That is how I ended up watching the most expensive show ever in my entire life.

But the experience was well above my expectations. I thought I would be halfway dozing off listening to people story tell by singing but instead what I did was paying full attention and cursing the tall guy in front of me for moving his head so often.

View of the stage

I was amazed at how well the actors and actress could sing that I asked my girlfriend an extremely dumb question: Are the songs pre-recorded? What amazes me more was how the props and everything worked in telling the story and the swiftness in changing them between scenes. Utterly professional.

A very happy girl

Orchestra in front of the stage

Sensibly, photos and recordings weren't allowed when the play is on. During the interval, we strolled up to the top floors and was glad I chose to buy the slightly more expensive tickets.

The circle floors

Safety curtain during the interval

I really enjoyed the performance and that was unexpected of a person like me to do so. The songs are currently stuck in my head for 3 days and I even watched the movie version of Phantom.

I think a slight sparkle of interest in musical has ignited in me. Bad news for my wallet.

I am homeless, internet is scarce.

The girlfriend is in town and we are going for a holiday.

Which means some stuff like my thousands of backdated photos nobody care to read will have to take a back seat now.

Be back soon.

It was no doubt a fine day in Birmingham.

However, it was all in vain.

To think we spent a significant amount of money and time hoping to cheer on my fellow Malaysians in the finals of the All England championship, and they have to crash out one day before our arrival. The feeling of "so near yet so far" sucks.

The biggest joke was the crashing out of our Malaysian doubles defending champions at the first round itself. What a disappointment.

We have to make do with watching the finals in a neutral point of view with expectations of a dominant China.

Mixed doubles warming up.

As it seems, the results weren't all expected. The chinese women singles and doubles did not manage to overcome their opponents while men top seed Lin Dan was defeated by his compatriot Chen Jin.

Lin Dan (blue) trailing Chen Jin. Accidentally resize the photo too small.

The atmosphere in the arena was pretty lively with the constant cheerings from the supporters. Nevertheless, some matches were sleep inducing (ahem, women singles) and some a showboating event with nothing much at stake.

With the dudes.

The experience would be different if we have somebody to cheer for. Flash photography wasn't allowed in the arena so I will have to make do with blurry images. My battery gave up on me after a few minutes anyway due to my memory's incompetence to charge it a day before.

Prize giving ceremony.

Good experience, bad timing. Hope we could really cheer our team next time. That will probably be the Malaysian Open then.

Yes, cheaper tickets.

Despite being UK's second city, Birmingham didn't really provide me with a lasting impression and live up to its expectation.

Of course, that is probably only me as I was there for quite a limited amount of time and probably had been to the wrong areas.

Granted Birmingham has the usual musuems, statues, churches, shopping complex and whatnots, but nothing else was special.

Maybe only the famous strip clubs I have heard about, an oddly shaped Selfridges store or a bull made out of candies.

As usual, I am lazy. So photos and captions all the way! (Is it just me or are the photos of Birmingham extremely dark?)

That was how long ago this entry is overdued.

Selfridges Building covered in small discs.

Candy Bull.

Statue in front of Birmingham's main shopping centre, the Bullring.

The owner of Bullring.

Colourful blocks outside of Borders.

Poles sticking up the sky.

St. Martin's Church.

Council House in Victoria Square.

Perverted looking Sphinx.

Sunbathing statue on a cold evening.

God knows what these naked kids are up to.

Dusk beckons.

Signs of Birmingham.

Clock tower.

Town Hall.

Mr Priestley on the phone.

On Centenary Way.

Macho statue outside of Baskerville House.

Contemplating.

The kids behind are spoiling our posing photos.

The Ikon Gallery.

Why am i taking photos of a bank?

Posing with Mao and Patrick.

The beautiful canal.

St. Phillips Cathedral at night.

The interiors of the cathedral.

I will have a chance to revisit Birmingham this coming week again as I will be attending the All England Badminton Finals. Here is to hoping that I will enjoy Birmingham better this time.

And of course...at least one Malaysian in the finals la! Please. Don't waste my money.

I was nonchalantly surfing the internet when it happened.

The rumbling grew louder and the vibration was distracting. I cursed those drunken partygoers on the floor above me for making such a ruckus.

Then it occured to me I am staying on the highest floor.

The MSN nudges started to pour in while everything around me was swaying to the song on my media player.

How lucky I was to be able to experience the biggest earthquake in UK for 25 years.

It will never be boring here.

So, how was my Chinese New Year?

Can't leech money of your friends for pocket money during the annual chinese new year gambling sessions?

All you need as substitute is to drop by your nearest casino, utilise their free vouchers and place your bets. No need to fork anything out of your pocket. If you win, continue. If you lose ONCE, leave the table and chill out with the free flowing drinks available. Bored? Get a set of mahjong tiles from the counter and enjoy your time away. If everybody is as cheap as us, there will be no more casinos.

Can't seem to see any Chinese New Year atmosphere?

All you need as substitute is to pay London's Chinatown a visit. Enjoy the sight of a million Asians and red lanterns surrounding you.

Red lanterns over a horse carriage.

Packed Trafalgar Square filled with people watching Chinese performances.

Another view of Trafalgar Square.

No house visiting?

Knock on the doors of your friends in London and have a mini gathering. Or you could go visit places you haven't visit together or pose with people you haven't pose together.

With Kwan Mun.

PE sixers on Chuey's party.

A bored looking guard, his handsome horse and his obvious sign.

Sleeping on the job?

Posers.

I am spoiling the photo for not being "statue-ly" enough.

View of place with loads of palace guards but I can't remember the name.

Dragon Cannon.

Tall Monument of Trafalgar Square.

St. James Park.

Fat swan suitable for a filling Chinese dinner.

River view.

Flowers of St. James Park

No lion dance?

All you need to do is watch a parade on the streets with millions of curious tourists and salivate at the sight of a lion dance and its weird minions.

Curious onlookers waiting for parade.

The lion arrives.

Another lion...

Accompanied by a dragon...

..and a phoenix....is that Stuart Little with a jaw disability? Oh yeah, Year of the rat.

The Beijing Olympics mascots.

The perverted looking masks.

Shaolin monks and a lady who shoves a finger down her throat.

Some normal kids with their fans and colour ribbons.

...and ending with the weirdest minions of all. What is that white creature with spots suppose to be? Can't remember him in the zodiac.

So this is how I spent my Chinese New Year, what about you?

ps: The dreadful assignments workload arrives.