Italian Thoughts...

So, we've been back for about a week already. Seems like our vacation was like a really really good dream. Yeesin still talks about the molto excellente Spaghetti with clam sauce, and I dream about getting my wonderfully made cappucino from our Barista dude at the Bars...

We sometimes think about how we just decided to go somewhere where we don't speak the language, without a tour guide, just pick up a guide book, and go! It's probably the most fun we've both had in ages! Well I can definitely say we were NOT in Kansas anymore, nor in the same continent for that matter!

Aside from most Italians speaking some English (we had the most luck in speaking English with people trying to sell us something), Italy is WAAAYYY different from USA... So I decided to list them out...


1. Driving - Marco, the driver that picked us up from the airport, very well dressed and polite. However, the courtesy did not extend to the other Italian drivers out there. Coming from Malaysia, we surely respected his aptitude in the following skills: (1) Tailgating within a hair's breath of an accident, but close enough so that no one can "cut" in front of us. (2) Squeezing his nicely detailed black beemer into spaces that only scooters can get through. (3) Running red lights, and cursing other drivers that dare to get in his way... AHHH.... it felt like driving in Malaysia..

2. Italian Bars - We thought the Italians were crazy to be drinking at 9am in the morning as we approached a local bar. Later we found out that "bars" are their equivalent of a diner over here. That said, we had the best panini and cappucino ever at Bar Frattina in downtown Rome! "Una cappucino per favore" will get you an excellent cup of cappucino anytime! Here's Yeesin really pumped that we finally get some food after that looong flight! She's also pumped that she's got some caffine too! Shhhhh... don't tell her that they don't believe in gloves or hairnets when preparing panini's in Italy....


3. Bidets - No. They are not personalized toilets for him and her! Aside from the bathroom being a lot larger than our sleeping spaces, the Bidet was probably the next weirdest thing. The operation of the toilet is pretty much similar all across the world. Now, the bidet, on the other hand is kinda harder to operate. Our one didn't really come with an instruction manual, so its up to your imagination on what position you have to get into to clean your... errr, "special" areas. Just be glad that we didn't try to do laundry in that bidet.. It kinda looks like a nice sink for that!!




4. Caldo. This does not mean "COLD". Just because the faucet is marked "C" it reall just means the opposite. "C" stands for "Caldo", which means HOT. "F" on the other hand stand for "Freddo" which IS "C" for the rest of us. I figure they rather let the hotel guest figure this out on their own... If you turn "C", and it only gets Hotter, then common sense would dictate that you try the other one right?... Well, some direction challenged people like myself take slightly longer (and a little burnt) to find that out !!


5. Trains. Train rides in Europe always seem so serene and peaceful for the passengers. A gentle breeze blows in your hair as you take in the wonderful European countryside. That's all true. Here's a shot of Yeesin relaxing on our Eurostar cabin. But before that, we had to figure out if the train that we're supposed to be on was really on the correct track! They announced it, but it was Italian. If you're not paying attention you'll get on a train that's going to be cleaned, not the one going to Florence. A good skill to pick up is to follow where all the locals on your track is run to when they hear an italian annoucement!

6. Locals. Don't always trust them. Just because you meet an Italian dude, and he says that he is going the same way as you are, doesn't mean that he really knows. Or as Yeesin observed, the phenomenen that men don't ask for instructions is universal. On the way from Burano Island back to Venice we were supposed change boats at Punta Sabbioni. We got off, and ahead of the group is this Italian guy that seemed to know where he was going, so ALL the tourists (50 of us) followed him. We knew it didn't look so good the followers started dwindling as we got further out into the Boonies! In the end, the dock for the transfer boat was NEXT TO where we got off!!!

Stay tuned for our Thanksgiving Adventures.... ;)

We're Back!

We are back from our wonderful trip to Italy... Though it is nice to be back where CSI:Miami is actually televised in English, and traffic signs are actually followed, we are sad to have to leave such a beautiful country.

So, what do we write about? Instead of the usual boring stuff about how much fun we had vs the rest of the people who didn't take the trip, we'll just note some of the highlights of the trip.

1. While its really amazing that the Colloseum in Rome is still standing after thousands of years, its even more amazing that back then, people actually died as gladiators in this place, fighting wild animals, and each other so the population could get entertained. Speaking of Gladiators, notice at the bottom of the picture, you'll see some unshaven, slightly overweight, Italian mafia dudes scamming some tourists into a really "authentic" photo-shoot. Ahh... the hardships of the modern day Gladiator.



2. Ahh.... the romance of Rome reflected at Trevi Fountain at night... This is nightspot where hundreds of tourist and local lovebirds hang out at night to soak in the wonderful atmosphere. We threw a couple of coins over our shoulders into the fountain, a tradition to ensure that we return to this wonderful place. Note to future visitors, when you throw your coins, make sure you don't hit the hundred plus street vendors trying to sell you roses/shinny objects/fake bags/("Insert useless souveniers here"). I think hitting them with the coins only ensures that you buy some useless souvenier back!


3. To the vatican! Since we're are in Rome, might as well go see the biggest Church in the world! Here's a picture from the top after climbing 500+ steps of the dome of the Basilica(=Church). The shadow in the left, is of the dome that we are standing on! We were huffing and puffing from the climb, when someone in the back said [Imagine deep south accent here] "Y'All tired? Know why? Cos we close to the the Lord Y'all! Y'all CAN'T handle the LOOORRDD!" That aside, its an amazing view from the top, and attending mass at the church was a spiritual experience.


4. What trip to the Vatican would be complete without the guards?? Here's a quick picture of the dudes Bob & Joe, dressed up in their wonderfully color coordinated costumes/uniforms. Joe on the right looks a little bit angry. I would be too, if someone gave me those color combinations to wear, and hordes of people point at me and post my fashion sense on their BLOGS. Still, with their wonderfully snazzy, but really sharp looking halberds (the stick thingy Bob is holding), they look mean enough to keep out most people from that private entrance.


5. Apparently, getting into the Vatican Museums was a lot harder than into the Church. Here we are, at the bane of all Eurotrip travellers... the LINE. This picture doesn't do justice to how long the line was... We walked 15 minutes from the front of the line to the BACK! Even the Priests in front of us left the line 1 hour before the front doors closed! So... if even priests don't get in... we didn't even bother to try! Well, since we threw coins into Trevi... I guess we will be coming back!



6. So here we are at the Leaning Tower of Pisa... No this is NOT where Pizza's originated from. Its amazing to see such a HUGE building almost on the verge of falling down, just... hang here, almost in mid-air. Nothing smart-ass to write here, thought it would be nice to have a picture of both of us, just in case you wondered if the husband was even present on this trip!!









7. Then... off to Florence we go, where there are really-really old paintings and statues! Here we'll make an exception and show 2 picures. We gotta take look at the statue of Donatello, one of the great artists of Florence, standing dignified & stoically outside the world famous Uffizi Gallery where Bottichelli's Venus is stored. Too bad they named a ninja turtle after this dude... He must have been turning over in his grave, fuming with anger together with Michaelango, Ralphel, and Leonardo...Heroes in-a-half-shell! On a more picturesque note, here's a breathtaking shot of the Ponte Vechhio across the Arno river. They put really nice jewelry stores over the bridge with really nice shiny objects... and yes, we took a look at the stores.


8. Sunset at Venice... the other city of Romance. Except that there are no cars allowed, and you substitute scooters for speedboats... Here's a great shot as we arrived into Venice from the local public bus/boat. Over here the DHL and UPS boats are worst drivers than they were on land... and everything has to be boated in from the mainland, so prices for everything are pretty steep as well. But then again, romance in Venice is priceless, even if your bank account doesn't think so!



9. Yep, you can't put a price on romance, but you can sure take a picture of it! Here's our attempt a recreating a poster in our living room wall. Its of a couple kissing on the Riva (riverfront) in Venice, with gondolas in the background. Let us know if this picture is close enough to the poster the next time you guys visit!






10. Finally, what visit to Venice would be complete without a Gondola ride. Our Gondola dude was named "James Bond". He musta been really a secret agent, cos he took a lot of phone calls on his cell phone while he was boating us along, undoubtably classified information from his secret contacts... ;) Our favourite song that he sung was "so-lee mia... coka-cola... tiramisu...." you get the idea... I'm still amazed at his skill of taking a phone call with one hand while paddling along with another one... Must be a skill passed down from generation to generation! Here's a shot of the sauve dude hitting on my wife!

Preparing for our EuroTrip!

Nothing evokes more nerdiness than the following 2 things : (1) A guidebook & (2) A money belt.

I don't think we will be mistaken as locals over in Italy on Friday... So, might as well embrace the experience, and be labeled as tourists!

Its 3 days away now, and we spent a few hours this weekend packing!

We've already memorized some really really important phrases already that we think we might need in Italy. Yeesin's favourite one is "Idiota!" ; which I think we'll try not say so much... Not sure if we'll need to be annoying and try to speak really really LOUD and SLLOOOW for those non-english speakers... But I'm sure that we will be able to get by.

On second thought, maybe she can reserve that Idiota phrase if we meet the "Mi-Scuci" guy on our train from Rome to Florence to Venice! That one is for the people who watched "Eurotrip" with us... Hopefully I won't have to fight a mime outside of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence as well...

Still, a vacation is A VACATION!....
I will be nice to get away from everything and have a nice time...
Oh well... Back to packing and double checking stuff...

Nick's Birthday

Yes, Mr Nick gets his own personal post for his birthday! He is that special!

So the TV-MA crowd invade Cheesecake factory in Leawood yet again, reminiscent of a similar one we threw for him at the same restaurant 3 years ago... This time round, we came with our patented gangsta yellow-mafia livestrong armbands... I think they knew we were kinda loud too, cos they put us in the back, where hopefully we didn't make too much noise. ;)

What birthday would be complete without a cake?! Here's a shot of his delicious cheesecake, with a Really NICE "Happy Birthday" done by our server Destiny... I had a great "Your destiny, my destiny" joke earlier, but apparently no one got it... Oh well, I guess I'll just stick to my day job... ;)





Birthday Present? Of course lah... Mr Handsome here got a very nice COACH gift card, and a very nice birthday card (see the picture of a dog named benji on the ourside of the card?). Hopefully he gets that nice wallet he was looking for. Then he can fill it up with cash and belanja us!!!

Popiah Lamentations

Saturday was our very own personal popiah fiesta day! It all started with someone mentioning that they haven't had some good popiah in a while. Mun Sum, then casually mentioned that she could make it over the weekend. That was all we needed to hear!!

As you can see from this very well staged picture, things began very orderly and gracefully, with all the popiah "liao" laid out so that we could build them in an orderly fashion.



I guess our dreams of symetrically arranged popiah's presented in a neatly stacked pile went out the door when mun sum decided that she was going to attempt to build the largest popiah ever built by an engineer! The picture here doesn't really do it justice. It was so huge, she hardly could chew on it... After that, the conversation degenerated into discussions of whose skin on the popiah is thicker, which somehow transitioned into a debate about 4-skin, then to... err you guys get the idea lah.





Not wanting to be outdone, Stephen decided to construct himself a perfectly shaped popiah as well. To his credit, it was very well shaped, just the right length, and girth... Heck, it even gets a Nick thumbs up of approval!

As for the rest of us, present company included, it is not lost on us to remember an important rule in life. Sometimes, it doesn't matter how big your popiah is, as long as it satisfies your hunger, its a good popiah... ;)