Still Lost....

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Aberdeen is colder than Paris. Never thought that 8 degrees C would be that cold. I'm glad that the meetings are over. I just have one more night before going home. Yahoo. Yahoo. Yahoo. One seasoned traveller I am huh?

The flight from Paris to Aberdeen was on a small Fokker 70. Boy, brought back memories of travelling in those tiny Islanders. You tend to feel every single air pocket, no matter how small.

Anyway, here are more snapshots of Paris... I wonder what gulai is waiting for me when I reach home..... I am so sick of ikan, fish and tabasco....



Me and the Arch de Triomphe....



That thing at La Defense, ha ha.....



A billboard along Rue New York. Why a billboard? I don't know....



Parking the French way.... Them French use their bumpers as they were meant to be used...



De Gaulle's statue at the corner of Robert F. Kennedy and Champs Elysee..



My boss and our minder, out for more foie gras. Hati angsa weh....

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I Was Lost....

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... in France. In the street a band was playing....

I got to learn to sleep on flights. Virtually not sleeping on a 13-hour flight is not good. Plus if you only have time to check into the hotel at 7 am Paris time and then you are whisked to a meeting.

Wei, some of the letters in the alphabet are located differently on the keyboards here!!! At least I didn't get lost on the Metro like I did the last time I was here.

France is full Frenchmen. Ha...., and Frenchwomen. Lovely actually. The weather is a cool 8 deg C or so, so only a good jacket is required. Caught a thousand glimpses of the Eiffel Tower, went past the Elysee Palace today and took some shots of the Arche de Triomphe last night. Pardon my spelling of those places, my French is terrible. I am sick of poisson, fish that is... Aaah French girls, I must have fallen in love a thousand times these last 3 days..... Gonna get me a good meat or chicken meal tomorrow.

I can't wait to be home....

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Sofia Sofia

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One day after the Hari Raya holidays, Lina told me that she picked up a smiling, beaming Sofia from school one day.

“Mama, Adik dapat nombor tiga dalam kelas…”, she whispered.

“Really? That’s good, well done!”, said her Mama.

But a few days later, Lina noticed a discrepancy in her results, one of her subjects was listed down as 90 instead of 83 as in the test papers.

We recalled the instant recently where we thought she was 27th but because of fourteen marks, she was actually 10th.

Now, when she was told about that, she was adamant not to tell her teacher as she was afraid that she might slide down the ranking. Of course she would, but there’s no other way about it. It was the only thing to do. But what surprised us was that she took it badly, that she is not third after all. All the coaxing about honesty, what she does not deserved, what is not hers to keep simply would not work.

“Tak boleh Adik….., kalau nanti besok orang dapat tahu, lagi tak elok. Dah lah bukan nombor tiga, tak honest pulak….”

Nothing we said would solace her. She had to tell the teacher the next day, there are no two ways about it. There is a God after all, she was seventh instead of third, so that wasn’t so bad. And we found out why she was very reluctant to give up those seven marks – she had boasted to a classmate who, is not in the list of her favorite people, (the classmate was ninth in class) about beating her this time and was terrified should those seven marks made her placed lower than the other girl.

“Ha, jangan buat macam tu lagi. Dapat nombor satu ke, tiga ke, tujuh ke, bukan untuk lagak dengan orang”, I said.

“This time you got away with it, imagine kalau you actually fell behind her in class?”, I added.

“Budak tu selalu lagak, Adik nak kenakan dia pulak….”

“Adik, that is her problem. Don’t make it yours. In life, you will meet people like that. Lagi teruk dari tu pun ada tau? The only sensible thing to do is to try not to be like them.”

Ya, easier said than done. I see no halo above me…

“At least you deserved the nombor tujuh….”

“Nombor tujuh tak dapat hadiah.”

”Sofia, the hadiah is knowing that you are seventh and if you work a little bit harder and not be so gopoh in your work, you’ll find out that you could be third, second or even first!!!”

Do you buy that? The only reason I do is because I said it!!!

“For heaven’s sake, I’ll buy you a hadiah, I’ll buy you ten hadiahs!!”

“Ten? Ten?”

“Maybe one, OK?”

“Ten lah…”

“Kalau ten pengsan lah Papa, tauke balak pun pengsan..“

”Heh heh........., apalah Papa ni. Oklah, one hadiah, tapi yang besar tau?”

Adoi, pengsan jugak jadi bapak ni rupanya.

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Hong Kong Phooeey Part 2...

My boss, hungry after a night of hectic shopping!!!


The nightly light show at Hong Kong harbor, viewed from Kowloon.


My boss looking at some very interesting literature...


Nightly light show, Avenue of Stars building, Kowloon...


More nightly light show....


More nightly light show, with a pair of lovebirds to boot....

Hong Kong Phooeey

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Aaaah……, been away a bit.

Hong Kong is nice. Nice and clean. I was expecting a place full of full-throated spits all around but there were no such thing and I can say that it is cleaner than KL. The people line up for the buses. The drivers are more considerate of other roadusers than the ones at home.

Did some shopping for the family at Temple Market, Ladies Market and Stanley Market. I turned blue on the way to Stanley Market, due to the winding road. My friend was thrilled to see me turn blue but then I told him that unless he likes the smell of puke, he’d better ask Michael Schumacher who was driving the taxi to slow down. Happiness is getting a little something for the family. And myself too. Ever seen a gun that can store twelve and fire twelve, yes, twelve rubber bands? The cats around the neighborhood better behave. The view of Hong Kong skyline from Kowloon is simply breath taking, only to be surpassed by the view of Hong Kong from Victoria's Peak. Then there was Repulse Bay. Credit must be given to the Brits for choosing that place, selling opium from it and making it what it is right now. Transportation was a cinch. You have the buses, the trains and the ferries. The taxis are a bit pricey but if there are two or better still three of you, the taxis are always better. The people are not as kiasu as I thought they’d be. They are always helpful, though some simply speak very little English, ha ha.

“You speak English?”

The answer came out “No more”. I think she wanted to say “Not much” but something else came out.

Then there was “No your shenality?”

“My what?!!”

“No your shenality?”*

Oh, oh, my shenality. I’m a Malaysian……”

I must have walked a million miles while I was there. Good thing the weather was a bit cooler than home and a lot less humid, so it helped people like like me, who sweats a lot!!!

Food was OK, like other foreign cities, it takes a bit of legwork to find halal food. When I am tired of Pakistani food at the Chungking Mansion, we could always go to this one halal Singaporean restaurant.

Hong Kong is nice.

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