Madridiin!~

The moment we found out a bull is on the loose
He is seriously dangerous!!'killer bull'
U see, it doesnt want to go back to its cage!! scary mary
Our spanish host :)
Everywhere u go, its beautiful buildings

paivi is just showing off!! :P
morata en fiesta. ringside baybeh!!
Quick, the bull is coming, iam gonna touch it. NOOOOO!!
Campo real. oblivious to whats gonna happen
While waiting, we did what we have to do. CAMWHORE!!

WARNING:long winded blog ahead!!

well, emotional-ness aside, (iam writting this at 5.15 in the morn, i cant be bothered to be emotional) Iam gonna talk about the remaining days of my spanish trip :)

Well, we arrived in madrid about 7.40 in the morning. We bummed around the station for a bit, u know, figuring out what to do, and waited for paiville to have her breakfast (she always manages to have her breakfast on the go!!! and, her by the time she left spain, her tummy was in spanish/asian time :) ) and then we thought, 'we have no idea where diana's village is'!!! so we found a phone, (TELEFONICA) and the bloody thing just.. hurmm.. how do i say this.. the bloody phone was just crap!!! i mean, we thought it was like a normal public phone (arent they all?) but the damm thing wont connect to the number that we dialled.. either that @ we just sorta put the wrong number.. who knoes.. (btw, diana later explained how to use it!! hahahah..its hillarious seeing us like.. 'uuuummmm, now we dial the number with @ without international code, ummmmmm, @ issit maybe this way @ that way) hillarious!! I was pissed, and paivi was just not in the mood. We called diana using her mobile. So, got the instruction from diana, so we left and took the metro/train.

Arrived in Arganda Del Rey about an hour later.. it was now 10am. the sun was shinning, but we felt filthy!! i was dyin for a shower!! Diana came, and god i missed her. She looked different, more happy i should say,more tanned and just looking.. radiant!! Looking like a red blooded spanish!! :) We walked back to her place. They just thought i was a pampered lil princess and that i couldnt walk that far!!! i must admit i was a bit quiet during the walk, but its just that i was dying for a shower!! but as soon as we arrived in her place, we cant stop talking!! we talked and talked and talked and talked!! it was like.. a non-stop talking fest!! She decided to cook us paella and spanish omelette (well, we kinda just say, we cant wait to try ure very own paella and spanish omelette) hahahahahahhahah.. it was evening, she had to go to the shops and get the ingredients, me and paivi was at home, doing our laundry (hurraaahhhh) and taking the much needed shower.

I told paiville i just loooovveeeeeeeee drying the laundry out by the balcony, with the sunshine and the wind. it reminds me of home. Here, u tend to tumble dry everything!!

It was good cathing up.It was good hearing about her new life. It was good just to talk among friends!! Well, we slept like a pig then ( i remember saying, well.. iam just gonna sleep for about an hr k) ended up sleeping till 9pm!! haahahahhahah.. well, woke up and got ready coz diana said we were going to a towns festival.

Now, let me explain this festival term. Nope its not one of those carnival festival. well,it sorta is, but on a smaller scale, and usually doesnt really involve naked dancing ladies. It a tradition that every town hold a festival. The pub/bar/restaurant will be open, all the town folks will be out, talking, drinking, laughing, that sorta thing. It also involves one of those bull running thing.Diana told me that there will be a time where the bull will be released,and it would run to the other side of the town. All this is done to familiarize the bull with the crowd, and the taunting that will be done. Why? coz the next day (or if its done in the noon, it will be that nite itself), the bull will face a professional matador, and do its bull fighting thing. So, we tapas-ed, and waited for midnite. (we went there with maria and ana, diana's spanish friend).We couldnt go and sit in the stand because it was full, so we stood behind the fence, on top of a fountain. midnite came, fireworks marked the hour, and so, the bulls were released.. it was quick i would say. A bull would come running, everybody would taunt it, and try to get it to the other side of the ring, and finally it would go into its cage. I didnt really like it. It was horrible seeing the bull being taunt, only to aggrivate it, and the men would just run when it toook a step forward. The bulls are dangerous tho, as we would find out.

ps:highlight of the nite was when we got bored of standing on the fountain, so we made our way to the side of the ring. at one point i was climbing the fence thingy (in hope that the bull would come my way and i could touch it) but they would always tug me down when the bull got close. diana said its a dangerous place to be. So, ringside at a bull running thing? CHeck, been there done that :)

The next day, we went to another fiesta. Its held in a town that is famous for producing its own olives and olives oil. It was different this time around coz we were sitting in the stand. it was 11am and the fiesta would only start at noon. So we talked, joked, camwhored, u know, the normal touristy thingy :) It started out okey, we watched, in awe and took picutres. Then, panic set in because suddenly, everybody was climbing the stand. Everybody was running and climbing up anything they can. the wall, the tress, everything. We heard that one of the bull is on the loose. And it had injured someone. It was a scary feeling because there were children and old people around!! but being the true tourist that we are, the were taking pictures of the moment!!!!!!! then on the PA, an announcement was made that they have got the bull and there was nothing to worry about. We waited and the bull came to the ring. It was big and muscular. we called it the 'killer bull'. Thru village gossip, we found out that the bull had KILLED someone. it had torn the stomach of the victim with its horn. SCARY. we did realize there was blood on parts of his face!!! scary mary i said!!

Then we did the non touristy things. we just sat and talked. A few locals were wondering who we were. It was all merry. Its just like the village i would imagine!! everybody knowing each and everyone and it was just fun being there. Went back home about 5pm, and that nite, we went to diana's town. Met her family, and then , we continued our nite with dinner on the balcony, and just talking thru the nite!~ :)

Monday came, but we didnt feel the blues. we were still on holliday but poor diana had to work!! We went to madrid but we were like.. soooo..where we gonna go now? The two days left we were being very touristy. we wanted to go to museum, but we were looking at interesting ones. We went to the palace, to a church, salamanca (posh area), chueca (hippy, crime area!!), puerta del sol, and basically just walked the whole of madrid!! We had the book and map, so everytime we looked at something, instead of assuming (like we did before) we checked it out on the map!! :)

Hillarious story was that, in the beginning of the madrid holliday, i told her, iam not gonna see the 'arc de triumf' of spain. No matter what happens to me, i dont want to see it!! BUT, luck would have it that i saw it on the 1st day i was in madrid, and on the last!!!!!! paivi found it hillarious (she even gave me a postcard of it, the cheeck!!) and i had no choice but to camwhore infront of it!!

Salamanca was a very posh area. We didnt really know what to expect, but once ure there, u know its salamanca, and u know its posh!! we saw burberry, LV,chanel, Jimmy Choos all side by side.The hillarious part was when i saw the jimmy choos shop. I was like!! paville, this is my dreaaaaammm.. and she was like.. what ? what? . i said ' u know who is jimmy choos rite? He is a shoe designer, and millions of stars just wear his shoes and his shoes are just owh so pretty' all she could say was (while looking and the shoe and price) 'who the hell spend f**king 1200 euro for shoes?'. yep, thats paville allrite. We just laughed and said, man, we shouldnt even be walkin on this street. and we wondered, would they even let us IN? hahahahahahahhahahaah

we went off to chueca after salamanca. accodring to the guidebook, the area is just the opposite of salamanca. Its hippy, and quite alot of crimes happen here. We were dying to see it!! and its true, its very hippy, and we felt like home :)

Another hillarious fact was that we wanted to go to all this museums, but it would all be closed by the time we got there!! no luck i say!! Funny stuff happens, and i cant help but to laugh. :)

The banter between us made this trip.We would complain, and u could see the difference that we had, witouht being different (heh?) i would always complaint about the heat, and the walking. and she would just sit there, and say, now lets go there!! :) she would just suddenly say.. 'i likkkkeeeeee' without reason (well, she loved spain),at one point, we had a rols reversal thing. she was complaining and i was just being quiet. I was the black hobbit (since ive been to spain, i didnt get a tan, i just went black!!, and its known now that iam short*tsk, tsk*) and she was known as gandalf the red (that women is tall!! and she didnt get a tan, she just got red!!). We were together 24/7 and suddenly now i fell.. hurmmm.. like.. alone.. hahahahaha..its a weird feeling.

2 days in madrid just went by, whooossshhh!! and we realized we dont have much time. On the last nite, we decided that we were gonna prepare dinner. poor diana can jsut sit there and drink, and laze around. Paiville cooked salmon with brie cheese, mashed potato and salad. i helped her and then i did my infamous poached pear with ice cream. dinner was good. Brie and salmon is my last choice of fish and cheese, but i quite liked it. Shall cook for amma :). It was the last nite, we just sat and talked. I felt sad because i knew it would be a long while before we see each other again. Well, we did talk about new year in finland. we will see :)

We woke up, and just lazed around.. we were wacthin the news, hahahaahahahhaha, what a thing to do on ure last day. Then we realized it was 11.30, we had yesterdays dishes to do, pack, shower and go to the airport. We left the house about 1.30pm and i arrived in the airpor at 3pm. Its all good. I waited for the plane, and soon, i was on english sky. I did feel like home and i was happy.

So, there u go. A snippet of my holliday. I cant be bothered to type EVERY single thing we did, coz lets face it,it would take a few weeks.I had a blast. I was hollidayin in a new way. I know i complaint about the sun and the walking, but i wouldnt want it an other way. It was because of that i think, we SAW spain. I like those walks on the little street, and when u look up, clothes are hanging to dry on the balcony. I love seeing old ladies walking around, arms linking and gossiping about the latest in the village.

So paivi, next up finland.

and yes iam ready for the fishes, snow, cold, santa,farmhouse,skiing and lapland :)

its a new adventure, and heck, i cant wait for it to start!! :)

Bright lights.

I need a pick me up.

ive been down since ive been back.
life is such a routine that i find myself doing the same thing, over and over again.
Iam listening to bright lights by matchbox twenty.
its uplifting, but not enough.

i miss my family, and frens.
i need to be nearer to god i think.

i need a good cry.

Holliday, Part dos

casa milla. just around the corner from the hostel :)
no, she wasnt buyin ciggie, just stamps :)
these pastry shops were all over!! temptations!!
this reminds me of dubai, prolly the trees
leaving barcelona. goodbye, buenos noches!~

Park guell. tourist loitering. shish!!
It looks like some kinda ancient city @ summat
just another street in barca. i just love the balconies tho!!
artistic dinner. heh, iam just hungry. (btw, that is a bottle of aqua!! how cool is that?)
paiville tries to contain her excitement (heh?)

so, the 1st and second day of the holiday went smoothly i guess. we did ALOOOOOTT of walking and by day three, we were pretty lazy getting out of bed. left the hostel at 1130 am and walked up the hill towards park guell. Its basically a park designed by gaudi (yep, him again) and museo gaudi is situated. its not really a museum, its his house. It was interesting. i mean his house was pink, but the insides were normal. for a guy who design and creates brilliant art and architecture, his house was kinda bland. well.. cant be bothered to analyze it tho.

Park guell was infested with tourist!! gosh, it was a hot day and all this tourist being around u just make u feel like ure in the gutter of hell. So we walked around the forest-y part of the park. the view from the top of the park was magnificent tho. u can basically see the whole of Barcelona, up till the beaches, even the sailing port!! amazing!! but my camera was shyte!!couldnt take a propa picture without it going all crazy and blurry. heck, the memory will stay in my head tho :)

Didnt know what we could do next, so we walked back down to the hostel. had chit chat, talked to the other travellers, shared experience, u know, that sorta backpacking thing :) left the hostel at 9.30pm to hunt for food. found a gorgeous restaurant. was kinda oriental, with slow music, music that makes u wanna eat and sleep all at the same time. Nite life in barca is brill, just walking around with the fresh air, u cant miss it!!

We had to check out the next day since that nite we had a bus to catch. We're goin back to madrid to meet up with diana.So we left the bags and trot around barcelona again!! :) we went back to our favourite places. La rambla, plaza pleica, plaza reial, sagrada familia, the barri gothic quater, casa milla and then we ended our day with a visit to museo picasso. Forgive me for being naive, but i thought picasso was french and that he was a painter in the victorian era. Found out that he was spanish (from barca) and he died (if i remembered correctly) in 1973. so, he wasnt that old and he wasnt that foreign (is there such thing?). saw quite alot of his famous work tho. i liked some of his paintings. it depicts human in very rare form and shape and colours. His Las Meninas version was very.. hurmmm.. cube-y?I guess, that was my first dip into arts :)

We were hungry for food, but the cafe's and restaurant were packed with people. so we decided to sneak in into the hostel and cooked there instead!! naughty naughty, and thank god we werent caught!! :) left the hostel at 9.30 pm. had 2 hours to kill, so we took our bag, walked down to plaza catalunya and just people watch :) It was surreal because the plaza was kinda in the middle of the town, so u could see all types of ppl there. we just sat on the bench and analyse em situation :) was fun. we noticed there were a few guys who came with bigggg bags of canned beer, stash em in the bush and then went around selling it. paiville was tempted to buy it for diana, but heck, where we were gonna fit it in? we had no place. left the plaza at 11.15, walked to the bus station, and just like that, our sting in barca has ended. we were sad, but joyfull at the same time. we were to meet diana. Its always good to see a friendly face in an alien city.

and what a friendly face it was.

we had to idea what was coming our way. but iam glad it all turned out good :)

Iam off to bed, but the next time, ill be talking about my time in madrid. It contains : paella, bulls, dead, frends, food, family, mountians, metro, plaza, del sol, street, colours.And thats just half of it :)

buenos noches.!~

holliday!~

casa Milla. stumbled into it for the 100th time!!
This is just a normal apartment building. what a sight tho
paiville and sagrada, crazy!!
columbus is pointing to america at the back of me. and iam just tired!!:)
rashi and Paiville, as nite catches on, we were lazing around la rambla

as paiville would say, my back hurts!!
parque del buen retiro!! prettyness!!

gaudi's. he's colourfull!!
sagrada familia.inside view of the ceiling.

sagrada familia.its beautiful!!

well then, its holliday time! I mean, blogging about holliday. hell jay will freak when i tell him iam off to another holliday. plus, the bank stats doesnt look good.

So, left london gatwick on september 11!! its funny coz me and paiville was like.. man, its kinda freaky day to leave london and fly innit. then we thought, heck, even terrorist have style. they aint gnna do nought in an easyjet flight rite? :) so kinda slept the whole way.woke up and realize, we're landing. madrid adventure has started.

we left our luggage in the bus station since we were goin to barcelona that nite. we got out, and just walked along madrid street. First impression were good. It was busy tho, and crazily hot!! i mean, HOT HOT. iam used to the english weather by now. (seee!! iam talking weather again!!) but when we arrived it was like.. HOT!! i mean, not malaysian hot, but we were walking and boyyyy did we get burned!! paville turned red like a lobster, and i just turned black!! hahahahahhahah.. we decided to buy a guidebook. got a cheap one. it was cool tho, it had a pen and a compass with it. cant go wrong can it?

so it was kinda lunch time. we were on a backpack holliday,(it would seem that i would always spend like a business travelller).so with our packed lunch (got some fruits and sandwich in the airport) we went to a park. so, walked and walked and walked (we passed quite a few landmark actually, but we didnt know what it was untill daaaayyyysss later we looked it up the map). we finally lunched at Parque del buen retiro. So, we sat and ate, and talked and mess around and just being happy under the shade. we then walked around the park, took picutres, complaint about the heat, ate ice cream and do all those touristy things.

It was a funny holliday actually.. since me and paiville did zilch researching about the city we were going, we didnt know where we should go. i mean yes the guidebook will tell u alll about the museums and galleries and monuments bla bla bla.. but we didnt want to do just that. kinda boring. so what we did was basically walk around.. the downside to that is, u see things without realizing what it is. like the gaudi's work in barcelona.. we kept looking for casa milla and casa battlo. when we were there, we realized!! it was the 1st thing we saw in barcelona, not knowing it was the builidng. so basically, we just kept taking picture, without knowing the signifincane untill we read it in the book!!! we kept on joking about 'we probably saw arc de triump and pyramid but didnt know it was' :)

we were in museo del prado too on the 1st day of madrid. i mean, iam not a big fan of art, but paivlle was interested and i was like.. why not, cant do no harm. it allrite i guess, lil bit toooo old and religous for my liking. but i saw velazquez's Las Meninas. its famous,(like duh) nice colour to it, and it was about a royal family. didnt know the significance till i was in barcelona in picasso's museum!! this is alll too funny for me!!

left madrid that nite in a bus. slept like a baby!! dawn came, and i opened my eyes to barcelona!! left the bags in the hostel, and then decided to walk around. this was the moment we walked around barcelona, taking pictures and not knowing what it was!! hhhahaah..we just said.. uuuuuuu, nice buildings. *snap, snap*

we then though, we gotta get a map atleast, got it from the inofrmation counter and just continued walking.. *snap, snap* .We saw alot, but decided to pay and view some of them. like sagrada familia. its a church,a roman cathlolic church which is still under construction!!!! completion date is somewhere year 2026. its one of the gaudi's work. and man, was it a sight. it was beautifully created and crafted. Construction began in 1882 and its like, a masterpiece. it basically dominates the barcelona skyline.

we went to the beach, coffee, lazing on the sand, *snap, snap*, went around la ramble street (very famous street, littered with street perfomers, cafe, bla bla bla), had paella dinner, wallked around the small cobbled street. We tried to take all the sight, smell and sound of barcelona. and i think we did it justice. We did quite alot on the 1st day. and yes, the feet were aching!!

The buldings design were just beautiful!! it really is. normal apartments looked as if its been painted, and worked on for 1000 of years. everywhere u look, there will be some beautifully constructed building, with georgeous balcony, odd design and heck, even colours @ two.I read in the newspaper that in 1999, barcelona won the RIBA royal gold medal for its arhictecture. its the 1st ever and only (as of 2007 of course) city to won it!! its usually awarded to individuals. so I cant really dispute that fact, coz its true. i love the vibe that i get in barca. its like no place else. its my favourite city (for now :) )

Well, that kinda concludes the 1st 3 days of our holliday. it doesnt seem much, but boy did we discover alot. we were stayin in the dorm, meet other similar travellers!! one guy was hidetoshi. he was a japanese guy who has been travelling for a year, and would go on for another!!! He told me he worked hard, and non stop for 4 years, then just packed his bag, and off to see the world. He has covered most asian, middle east and eastern europe countries, now he is off to africa, america and south american next. iam envious!!

off to bed now. the cold and its the only thing i want now is my warm bed!! :)

Home comfort, theres nothing like it !~ :)

How i wish!~

*sigh*

hollidays over :(
no more sun, no more olla!!~ and no more paivi to wake up too...

i miss my holliday...

anyways.. just got back today.. still in holliday mode but need to unpack and do laundry!! and iam working tomorrow. this is no fun.

shall post pictures and tell u allllllllllll about the land of bulls, fountains, plaza, senors and senorita when i have the energy.

its good to be back.ive missed my bed.

:)

Espanola!

Its freaking hot.
i died 3 times, gone to hell and came back again..the bad news is.. i came back as me!! really thought i would come back to life as angelina jolie @ beyonce, but no avail!!

Shall update when i have time, and yes, pictures tooo!! :)

yes people, envy me!!

So long, farewell

Ola,
como estas!~

11/09/2007 is offcially here, so this means iam on holliday rite this second.
but iam not in the mood. ive just basically packed 8 days worth of things in a tiny itsy bitsy lil suitcase, i feel incomplete. but as paivi said 'as long as u have money, passport and mobile, u will be okey' but i need my 10000 shoes, tops and jeans.
welll, i guess the backpacker me has to start living her life. :)

it should be good. paiville bought me a spanish phrasebook, so iam tryin to learn and speak. would be interesting. paiville would keep me awake with her zoo (dont ask!!) and i will keep her awake with my 'ola, como estas? , bien?, me gustas tu, me gustas tu culo' and alll those things. this would be interesting.

shall update in spain when/if i have time. Doubt it, but will try. We decided to go off to barcelona for 3 days, then back to madrid, to meet up with diana.

so, cheers, this i feel is the new me.
iam taking risk, and i hope it works out.
i shall smile at life and say ' been there, done that'

off to la-la land for few winks of sleep. need to wake up early since iam off to the airport at 5.30. and then, adventure begins!!

buenas noches!~