Happy 50th Birthday, Malaysia!

5 decades; half a century worth of independence.

We've indeed come a long way since 1957. Many things have changed. While for some, it will always be the same.

This is the 50th year of independence and I'm sure celebrations will be rampant back home. But I'm actually missing it. (It's not everyday that we get fireworks in BP, OK...) *sigh*

And also...another person's birthday also falls on this day of the year. Not in 1957, but in 198X. (Reason for X: to stall a few years' time for her) See...I even dedicated the Jalur Gemilang to her as well. HAHA!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SZE YIN!!! :)

It's almost like Opera!

Call me backwards or what, I have never heard of this guy's name before yesterday. So when I heard that his vocal range was amazing, I thought there'd be no harm checking it out.

And where's the best place to start? Youtube of course!

The keyword is: VITAS

Lots of results came up and I randomly clicked on one called Opera #2.

Nothing special in the beginning (except for the fact that he's quite cute...) but continue watching...



Now...THAT took me by surprise.

Eager to find out more, I googled him and found him in Wikipedia. Read it here.

I can only say, he's really intriguing...seriously! But when I saw Opera #2's MV, I thought it's pretty freaky.



See it?

Yeap yeap...he has GILLS.

The City of Luxembourg

Luxembourg, a small landlocked country in Western Europe, surrounded by France in the south, Belgium in the west and Germany in the east. Luxembourg City, being one of the wealthiest cities in the world, naturally became the centre for banking and administration of the European Union.

To begin with, it's basically a relatively small city which spans over high cliffs to narrow valleys of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers. Though there're many more places that we could have had a proper look at (for example, the European Court of Justice), the lack of time (what's new now?) and the endless drizzle dampened everyone's spirits considerably. (Is it really summer?)


Grand Ducal Palace:
That's all there is to it...there is nothing else. But it's kinda surprising to find the Palace of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg right in the middle of the city and in close proximity to the people there. There're no walls or gates beyond the main building...just a guard or two at the main entrance to keep people out. Hmm...


Hall of the Chamber of Deputies:
The legislature which is housed (and I think connected internally) next to the Palace.


The Gëlle Fra monument:
Dedicated to the Luxembourgers that volunteered their service in the armed forces of the Allies during WWI.


The valley within the city centre with the Adolphe Bridge in the background.


A statue of Charlotte, the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. (Grandmother of the current Grand Duke Henri)


Notre-Dame Cathedral, Luxembourg:
A Roman Catholic cathedral with neogothic architecture. This is the view from afar...not a very impressive picture though...but it really does not look that depressing in real life. Especially not after it provided shelter and warmth for us when it rained (very suddenly) cats and dogs outside.


The Cathedral Quire


Organ gallery in the cathedral.


Stade Josy Barthel:
The national stadium of Luxembourg, and home to the Luxembourg national football team.

8 inches shorter

Newsflash:

Yours truly did something unbelievable today.

Cutting my hair short.

Which is truly a feat because I haven't had my hair this short in 5 years.

The reason I never really liked short hair was because it's so hard to take care of in the sense that it often ends up like a mop on top of my head...or maybe even worse, a (bird's) nest. Long hair just makes it so much easier, and with the help of modern technology (aka Hair Rebonding), it has made my life (and my hair) that much fuss-free.

But my hair has got to the point of being too long now. Thus, I decided to take up on an extreme challenge. Entrusting my precious locks to a *gasp* new hairdresser.

All my life I've only trusted one...only ONE hairdresser. Not only because he's good, but also for the fact that the rest that I've had were rubbish. But since I'm like 8000 miles away from home, I don't think I have a choice now.


This was how long my locks were 2 months ago.

After contemplating for a few weeks, I've decided to go for one particular salon where it seems like they have some experience in dealing with Asian hair. (Except for the ones in Chinatown, and I heard they're quite expensive.)

OK then, take a deep breath...and here we go!

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(1 hour later)


End result.

Hmm...not too bad. I imagined that it'd be much worse. But it did give me a different look that I haven't really seen before. Or it's just that I've plain forgotten how I look like with a bob.

But I cannot believe that there're people who still think that it's too long. Oh PUHLEEZE, I've cut off more hair than what they have on their head right now. So you still think it's too long then?

Amsterdam, Netherlands

What are the things that represent the Netherlands?

Windmills...


Clogs...


Red light district, de Wallen...


Heineken...


And of course, DIAMONDS. (That is obviously glass.)

Didn't travel the whole country though, only went to Amsterdam. Which is more than enough I think. Too much to do in 1 day lar...

So, we started off with the highly recommended canal cruises, which took us through the old and new town's canals.

In the glassboat.


View of Amsterdam from the glassboat.


Intercontinental Amstel Hotel, the most expensive hotel in the whole of Amsterdam.


Houses leaning left and right. I was told that because houses in Amsterdam are mostly built on soft soil, they start to slant after some time if the foundation wasn't laid down well. So one house would start slanting and lean against the next one, and so on, and soon the whole block slants as well. So the government then put in pillings themselves, and charged the occupants for it. And that's how the tax based on the size of the door came about. So, people would normally have really small doors but very tall houses with large windows, and a moving beam at the top of the building (to move furniture and stuff in through the windows instead of the main door). Smart, eh?

After the canal cruises, we went visiting to a diamond factory! *eyes sparkle immediately*

This is a €2500+ real diamond. Cannot afford it, and would never dare to wear it even if I could. Who (meaning normal folks) is brave enough to strut around on the streets and parade around with a diamond at THAT size??!? Not me, definitely.


A comparison with my eye, the diamond is bigger than my iris.

After that, we went to the de Wallen, but couldn't take pictures (for obvious reasons). Besides window prostitution, there's like sex theatres & museums, peep shows as well as coffeeshops, which sells soft drugs legally. (They even have something like Cannabis cookie...-_-") And very often, you smell people smoking them openly on the streets too.

Oude Kerk, Amsterdam's oldest parish church, standing in the main red light district.


War memorial opposite Dam Square, and de Wallen (red light district) is just right behind it.


Dam Square, with Royal Palace (former City Hall) and Nieuwe Kerk in the background.


Madame Tussauds Amsterdam.

Quite a unique city as compared to the other European cities I've been to. Definitely lives up to its name, Amsterdam! (I'm starting to sound like a travel brochure now.)

Preview: Brussels, Belgium

Finally...I've decided to put the trip pictures online. Just when I've forgotten everything that I wanted to put on here. Well, at least there's still pictures.

But but but...

I absolutely hated the pictures that I took in Belgium. Why? Because it was taken by none other than my father.

• Who cannot see the digicam screen clearly.
• And never got the idea of taking a nice picture.
• Who also happens to think that as long as we're in the picture, then it's good.

And I can swear, anyone who sees the pictures that he's taken, would faint for sure.

But I've tried my best and chose a few that seems sliiiiiiiiightly acceptable...


But for this one, I can't find any others, and I really, really, really have to put up a picture of the Atomium. So, this is it.


St. Michael and Gudula Cathedral:
From the rear view. A Gothic style cathedral where Catholic style national ceremonies, e.g. royal marriages and state funerals, are usually held.


Need I say more?



Snapshots at the Grand Place.


Brussels Town Hall:
The left and right wing looks like they're of different length. That's because they really are. (HAHA!) And the architect noticed his mistake way too late, overcame with grief, and leapt to his death from that very tower itself.


Souvenirs from Belgium...


Lace:
The very next famous and popular item for tourists in Belgium after chocolates.


Mannekin Pis:
Little Juliaanske here saved Brussels and is now a proud owner of his very own exclusive wardrobe with hundreds of DIFFERENT costumes (and so, this puts mine to shame).

Something extra

I've noticed that my blog has been quite dead recently. Even I can't stand it any longer.

And then...something came to my rescue...

TADAA!!!

It's Super Mario World!!!

And I decided to put it in my blog as well. So, where is it?

Just scroll down to the end....and you will see it!

Enjoy, people! I'm going off to chase after mushrooms now...

MUAHAHAHAHAHA........ *fades out*

Dilly dally...

It's about a month since I came back from my Europe trip, and yet, I still have not posted up any entries or pictures on the trip. Not because there aren't any, but there're just too many of them.

I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START!!!

(OK, most of them might not be half decent, all thanks to the inexperienced photographers who never had much chance or practice in using a camera at all, what's more, a digital one?

And the wireless where I'm staying now is SOOOO sucky, that it just disconnects itself whenever it feels like it. And only one person can restart the connection, so if that person is not around when the connection is down again, the rest of us would then have to live in the Dark Ages.

Anyway, I also need to do some editing before I can put the pictures up. (Only will put up decent pictures of myself lar, of course!) :P

Gotta go clean up the house, you will never believe what kind of a place I'm living in now. :(