The perfect day started with the perfectly French breakfast. Baguette with salted butter…
Then a visit to the quaint Jules Vernes museum where I learned of Nellie Bly, the perfect inspiration for a round the world trip. She’s my travel idol. Continue reading “Day in Nantes, made out of little perfects”
I hate eating raw vegetables. Maybe it’s because I’ve grown up in a Chinese household where salads are not common.
I dislike the taste of raw leafy greens, eating it makes me feel like a goat. (Others would inject here: At least say a rabbit, not goat!)
It wasn’t until I was in Vietnam where they consumed pails of vegetable that I learned how to eat raw greens (half raw, would be the better term).
At a pho restaurant, a metal pail of fresh greens await you. When you bowl of piping hot beef noodle soup comes, you pluck the leaves off and dunk it into your soup.
I gingerly sniffed the darker greens. It smelled alright. A bit of the unnamed vegetable and I was hooked. Their veg has a slightly herby taste that goes so well with beef soup.
The next time I ate another pho, I eagerly drowned my vegetable in the hot soup and slurped it along with my noodles. Yummy.
But the spell broke once I ended my trip. Back home, all greens uncooked taste yucks.
This post is part of BootssAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel project. Day 8: Love Learning.
The rest of my posts for the project can be found here.
November
It’s amazing how one person can change your world view.
I used to have the impression that travelling would only happen at the year end, during the long Christmas and New Year break. I even gave in to the thought that the only travel I would be doing is going home to Sabah during Chinese New Year.
That was until my (now-ex) colleague joined the company. His frequent weekend trips and mid-week flights to exotic locations (thanks to the budget airlines) were a culture shock to me.
I decided to be as carefree as he was. I booked my flights half a year in advance, sometimes with, sometimes without the permission of my boss. I rationalized that if the budget tickets were cheap enough, it doesn’t really matter if I don’t go on the trip anyway.
But, I’ve managed to go on every trip I booked. My dream to visit Paris and to see the Jidai Matsuri were fulfilled this year.
Not satisfied with one long trip every 3 months, I even came up with mini trips each month, trying to see all of Malaysia within a year.
Looking at my TripIt account, I have three trips lined up next year. I’ll be in Hanoi in February, Jogjakarta in April and Da Nang in July.
Now I am also planning for a RTW trip. I don’t know when it’ll happen, but I’ll definitely make it happen.
How have you changed?
This post is part of BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel Project: Day 2: Change.
The rest of my posts for the project can be found here.
Went to Ginza on Monday night for dinner.
Stopped by the Apple Store when I found out it was nearby.
Found out that the iPhone 4S is only S$770 for the 16GB model in Japan. In Singapore, the same memory is more than S$900.
Totally WTF
I was sitting under my umbrella in front of Todaiji Temple when a deer (one of the hundreds there) decided to come around and see if I had food.
With its large doe eyes, it looked at me and poked its nose into my bag.
Of course, being the Gen Y that I am, my first reaction was to take a photo of it with my phone.
Unfortunately, by the time I dug out my Lady Madonna, the deer was attacking my magazine. I had to wrestle to pull the book back.
I changed my seat and the deer left me alone.
But this is not the end of the story! There’s part 2.
My mom bought me a postcard of Todaiji and I wrote the card I promised M. The mail described the deer attack. After writing, mom and I sat around eating persimmons.
The deers (another 2) probably smelled the juicy plump fruit and wanted some of them too. One even chomped onto my postcard and refused to let it go and I did a tug-of-war with it.
A guy standing near us gave the postcard-eating deer a pat on the behind and it let the card go.
But it went around for a bite of the magazine as well. :(
On rapid train (not shinkansen) to Osaka, the land of food and comedians. I am now wearing a pair of carrot orange tights which I bought last night at Uniqlo for 100 yen from the bargain bin. I suspect it’s too gaudy to be sold at regular price.
Looking around the train, most people are wearing black tights. The only colored pair is wine red worn by an old lady.
The train supposedly will take 50 minutes to reach Osaka. That’s a lot of time to spare.
Busy busy day. Woke up really late at 9.30am plus.
YQtravelling 