Madrid - Time to Chill Out...

Our blog is a little out of sync at the moment...the London and Paris stories will be posted later.

We are at Madrid now, and finally have some time to actually write things down. We were basically going hard-out in London & Paris that we fell sick (sore throat and cough...no, don't think it is H1N1 flu virus - we recovered already) and got really tired. So, our three days in Madrid was a bit of R&R...

And what a place to relax! The people here are nicer (a random lady showed us another launderette when the one we were at was closed), food here is cheaper and places were walking distance.

We got a bit adventurous and went out looking for food. Our McD and KFC diet in the last two places was really getting to us.

What's this??? Squid with bread?!!

Bocadillo de Calamares - Squid Sandwich at Casa Rua, Plaza Mayor. This squid is covered with flour and then deep-fried in oil (like deep-frying french fries!!) and then placed in a baguette-styled bread loaf - it was delicious! And we have never had or seen this idea before anywhere else! This specialty is very common here.

A close-up of the borcadillos. We washed this oily stuff with a small glass of Amstel beer (a Dutch beer) - Cost: 3.50Euro dollars only! Brilliant for both taste and price!

Ok, Yih Jia only had a small sip of beer and I finished the rest. I was drinking beer at 11am!! Everyone else in this place was doing it, and I had to follow!

Another sinful food.... Churros - this is a deep-fried doughy treat, usually dipped in chocolate. We had ours for breakfast without the chocolate dip and it tasted really good. It has a texture and taste very similar to "yeow char kuai" back home but not too salty. It was really nice with a cup of espresso coffee.

Me in action...the other 5 pieces on the plate.

Yih Jia - not eating...yeah, right! She finished 2 and I had 2 and a half - so she wasn't far off from me.


We found this food market near Plaza Mayor - Mercado de San Miguel.

It is quite a tourisy place but the atmosphere was brilliant. Check out the pictures below and see what I mean...

Canapes with smoked salmon and anchovy. One Euro dollar each - really nice and looks fancy!

A Charcuteria selling preserved pork meat. They were slicing really thin pieces of ham and we had to try some. Btw, those meat hanging at the back is preserved pork legs and it does not require any refrigeration!

This was the sample of the charcuteria's product - I think it is thinly shaved ham in baguettes. Ok, we are definitely not that sophisticated but the food looked nice and tasted nice! Euro two dollars - cheapest sandwich we have bought so far in our trip and very, very fresh too (I can even hear "oink, oink" as I sink my teeth into the sandwich).

Sangria - a famous Spanish drink with the blood red colour inspiring its name. Usually a concoction of red wine, brandy, fruit juice and soda water.
It tasted good especially on a hot day. We loved it that we went back for more the next day. We had to find some way to quench our thirst in this hot summer weather!!

How can we not have desserts! A nicely made chocolate mousse - which was pretty solid and nicely plated. It was yummy...

And finally, a last picture...

I had to take a picture of this fruit seller. We had to take a ticket and wait for our number to be called out (actually, they had a machine with big huge numbers like some banks in Auckland or Malaysia - I would have had difficulties in Spanish language).

The thing is that the seller will pick the fruits you want - you can't choose it yourself! There is even a warning sign there - "Do Not Touch The Fruits". So far, the yellow apples and oranges (my favourite) are all good.

We will be heading to Italy tomorrow to continue with our journey. This time, we will pace ourself better and not tire ourselves too quickly to a point where we can't even enjoy the trip!!

Will certainly try and post the London and Paris pictures soon!!

The 27 hours flight

It was a great achievement!! The longest ever flight we have taken in our lives.

We used to think that flying back to Malaysia was long - I was looking at a non-stop 11 hours flight to KL whereas Yih Jia had to endure that 11 hours along with an overnight stopover at either KL or Singapore and then a further 2 hours flight to Sibu the following day.

This was the ultimate....but it all started off with a very enthusiastic couple at the airport.

We were still fresh, raring to go and full of energy.

Emirates has their own departure hall on a new wing in Auckland Airport - it was a slighlty longer walk but a completely new area.

The plane on the right of the picture would be our "home" for the next 20 hours - an Airbus 340. Unfortunately the Airbus A380, the newest plane, is not for us - we found out that it flies to Sydney and then Dubai and then connects to Heathrow Airport.

We were landing at Gatwick Airport in London - but hey....the our ticket only cost us NZD1.9k. It would normally cost NZD2.8 to 3k for a return flight to London!!

A quick stop in Brisbane and then a 16 hours flight to Dubai...

Almost there.....I decided to take half an Imovane sleeping tablet after Brisbane which put me to snoozy land for about 5-6 hours, which is the longest I have ever had on a plane. Yih Jia decided the natural way...she will be taking the tablet on our way back to Auckland; one does not need to explain.

Dubai airport - I was accessing the internet to check my Facebook. We were a bit dissapointed with their toilet facilities, or lack of it. All the Emirates flight lands in this airport and yet, we are made to wait in line to use their toilet....geez. They have quite a few fancy shops around but we were too tired - maybe on our trip back.

After 3 hours on solid ground, we were off again. This time it was a 7 hours flight to Gatwick airport and on a Boeing 777 plane - which we definitely found more comfortable.

Overall, the flight wasn't too bad. Food on Emirates was really good - probably the best amongst the airlines we have been on. Only thing - no foot-rest on their seats.

A true achievement for us...27 hours of flight time. We were glad that we took a long 4 weeks holiday to travel in Europe to make it worth our travelling time!

It was the night before.....

One more night here in cold Auckland before we leave for our warm, sunny Europe trip!!
It was a hectic week for both of us but mainly for YJ....with all her clinics and having to write our end of run reports, it has been crazy...to say the least. As for me, a wrap-up (for the meantime) with my audit and another presentation to the unit couple of days ago....but we can look forward to leaving behind (pun intended) our work and just enjoy the coming weeks.
A huge effort by my wife with her staying behind until 9pm in a deserted clinic, approving all her final clinic letters....hooray!!!
Better end here and hit the bed....have to be prepared for a 27 hours flight from Auckland to Brisbane, then to Dubai and finally Gatwick airport, London!!

Countdown - 4 weeks

Just a quick note....4 weeks and counting. Last minute details are being dealt with, including the dreaded Italian train tickets which are taking a long time to confirm!! Are they asleep there or what???!!!
Precautions are also being planned especially after hearing from our friends who had their wallet and iPhone stolen on the Metro in Barcelona a few days ago.
Swine flu....a.k.a. influenza A (H1N1) - not as virulent as initially thought but we will have to get our Tamiflu tablets and a few face mask, just in case. It is amazing how in just a matter of one week this outbreak has caused a worldwide panic along with minute to minute news coverage - where as in Africa, millions of people are dying of malaria.
Btw, me thinks I can tighten the plane seat belts a bit more after an intense exercise and extreme dietary changes in the last 4 weeks...Gelatos - here I come!!

Preparations II

My second blog entry....as promised, I will post some pictures on the "stuffs" that we bought for our trip. First and foremost.....BAGS:
The darker blue (left) bag belongs to me - I got it from a few years ago; used it a couple of times including a kayaking trip to Abel Tasman with Pok Kern. Yih Jia bought hers 2 weeks ago - we had fun trying out a few bags (or travel packs...as they are officially called) and finally with the help of a Kathmandu staff, we bought the smaller sized one. There are a lot of differences in these bags and YJ actually found a couple of others a bit uncomfortable to use...One was too big for her - the top of the backpack was way above her head...hehe. No pictures of that though...

Check out the goodies I bought from KL during Chinese New Year. A Korjo neck pillow for the 24 hour flight from NZ to London, Yale lock (still the "low chiew pai" ie branded, for those of you who can't speak Cantonese), an international plug converter and the money pouch (which is actually on loan from Edwin, my brother-in-law - thanks man!!).

Btw, does anyone know whether we can access the money from the pouch without looking like we are stripping??

The great thing is that I found all these stuff from a hardware store in Midvalley Shopping Mall....all for a fairly cheap price. It will be much more expensive here in Auckland.

What??!!! Rain Poncho??? Will really come in handy - have to be prepared. My wifey's idea and I think it is a damn good idea!!

We haven't tried the micro-fibre towel yet - it is supposed to dry really quickly. Which will be handy when we move from city to another city....Hey, I recalled hanging wet towels in the car headrest of the front passenger side....

I will write more about the towel once we have tried it. Maybe even time it!!! :-)

And a final picture for this blog posting.....

Yup!! That's my wonderful wifey posing for me...Little does she know that I will be posting this picutre. She is "shy" when it comes to posting her pictures on blogs....but I thought I could not resist it, especially with such a pretty picture of her!!

See you the next time!

Preparations I

Welcome to the first blog on our trip to Europe in June 2009. Joining me will be my wife, Yih Jia, who has done ALL the hard work ie planning!!
I thought that we should attempt to post our trip as we have had trouble with keeping journals in the past....and hey, we have great technology these days, why not use it.
And this is a way to keep our family in Malaysia up-to-date with where we are and what we are up to!
Here are some initial photos of our preparation...

This book is what started it all....bought at 50% discount during pre-Christmas sale at Borders. We had to commit ourselves to planning for our trip after buying this book!!

I bought this book in 2008 after discovering a great deal with Singapore Airlines - a return ticket to Rome with a stopover in Singapore AND enough flight points for a free trip to Australia and back! Only problem - not enough of time and we were planning for our Wedding! Will now come very handy as we are planning a whole week in Italy.

Rick Steves' book caught my eye when I was listening to a talk given by a tour guide. After reading about Rick Steves, we were entralled by his book and the way he relates to first-time travellers. His book is easy to read and somehow I felt less overwhelmed by the information he provided. Sometimes, I get so lost reading Lonely Planet books.....talk about having a simple mind.

And this is our flight ticket - Emirates Airline had a great discount in January; a return flight for only NZD1850 per person....COULD NOT believe it!!!

A Big Thanks to my Dad for telling us to be patient and not rush into buying the plane tickets, with the current downturn/recession!

The price is normally NZD3000 pp....do your maths and cry!!

And finally......a recent purchase......

HP Mini 1001TU Netbook for blogging and a tiny netbook for our travel in Europe!!! It has a 60GB HDD which we will transfer all our photos and video from the SD card, giving us a lot of space to take more pics!!

The next post will be about our "equipments". See you the next time!