Help! I'm stuck!

Due to unforeseen circumstances, further travel posts will be delayed.

I said that I would follow up Bruges with posts about Antwerp. But I'm having problems uploading photos on Blogger...it will sometimes work and sometimes not (and only if I upload single photos, if I try uploading multiple photos it just won't work :( ). That in itself wouldn't be such a problem...I could just go on uploading again and again, waiting for it to work (annoying and time-wasting, but not a complete block). But unfortunately there seems to be a trend...once a photo is unable to be uploaded, it can no longer be uploaded, however many times I try. -_- I can't exactly prove that, since I am unable to try uploading it an infinite number of times, but up till now all my "experiments" have met with consistent results. (lol how's that for use of science in daily life?)

I had the same problem while posting my Bruges pictures, but after about a week or so, everything worked fine again. This time it's lasting a lot longer... (I was already trying to upload the Antwerp pics while dishing out the Bruges posts one by one.)

But somehow I haven't been having problems with other photos (those that aren't travel pics). Hopefully they won't start going on "strike" after I say that! *touch wood*

So...as of now, I'm stuck. Like...



Poor little doggie.

:P

Bad ads

There is a bunch of ads making the rounds on the TV channels, promoting the use of the national language. The purpose is all good, I guess...but the ads make me want to gag :s

In each ad, there is someone who asks for information in a language other than BM. And the person asked would stare blankly at the person who's asking. Until someone else asks the same question in BM...then he would answer. The message being that you should only speak BM in Malaysia.

What happened to advertising multi-culturalism? On the radio there were some other ads (I don't think I've heard them recently though) "bragging" about Malaysians being "diverse", being able to speak several different languages. (those were aired so often that I got tired of them...does "Macha, ini nasi kerabu berapa harga?" ring any bells? Or "You speak so many languages, man!" "Of course, I'm Malaysian!")

Not to say that I like any of those ads. But I could at least understand the reasoning behind those radio ones. As for these new ones on TV...I can only say that it is plain rude of those so-called "nationalistic-people-who-will-only-reply-if-you-speak-BM". If they wanted to speak BM, they could have done so. Even if they were spoken to in another language. Even if they didn't understand the language they were spoken to in. They could have just said, "Maaf, saya tak faham." Isn't that what it means to be polite? (or even "Sila guna Bahasa Malaysia" if they wanted to continue being stuck-up :P )

And they dare complain that the French are stuck-up when they don't reply unless if you speak French. They are teaching the same thing to young children with these ads.

The extinct chicken

Remember my post about Superchook? I couldn't find any photo of it online, but I found some pictures of it after all :)

First, a book from the colonel's library!


And a page in the book (so that you can see the whole chicken lol)


And the Kid's Fun Club membership card.


Now, does anyone remember Superchook?

Bruges Episode 6: 't Zand

From the St. Saviour’s Cathedral (previous episode), we just walked along, not having another specific destination in mind.

a pretty house...which turned out to be an artist's studio (and home)

a peek through the window

The artist came out and invited us in. He told us how he came to settle down in Bruges (at first, he was spending just a weekend there, like us) and about his work, abstract and semi-abstract paintings (I like semi-abstract better, since I at least manage to see something in the painting :P Like the flowers in the previous photo)

taking photos of his work to put on his website

Heard of him before?

a building with some drawing on its wall

fish in a window

the concerthall

This fountain was right behind me when I took that photo.

The square is 't Zand, the marketplace. According to this webpage, it is the biggest open square in Bruges. (I sure had a hard time finding the name of this square...everywhere I found the concerthall mentioned, I found 't Zand, but I didn't know what that meant!) It's not surprising that it's not in the town centre...in the centre there isn't enough place for a square this size :P

There was an event for animal rights that day...organised by a biker's association.

the stage...they sang songs in English

We could buy coupons to exchange for food and drinks, then sit down to eat.

there was even a snake-man

A lot of booths were set up for the occasion.




Then we headed back towards the town centre.

a little "garden" we walked through

Here's his name, if you happen to know this guy...

taken from the garden of a convent called the Beguinage (Begijnhof)
(Or does Beguinage mean convent?)

We had also passed by this place on the boat. Remember the photo taken from the opposite angle?

So that's Bruges for you...on Sunday afternoon the others went back to France, while I continued my visit of Belgium (since I had nothing better to do lol), taking the train to Antwerp instead. And that, as usual, will be for another post ;)

Départ en Brétagne

Look what I found while going through some old stuff!


This is the planning for our trip to Brétagne (organised by our teachers), all the way back in 2005 when we were still in Angoulême.

I didn't have this blog back then (and even if I did, the first few years of blogging I didn't write much travel posts), so there's not a single photo of Brétagne on it. If I ever manage to finish my more recent travel posts AND have free time left over, I'll try to dig out those old photos and post them here!

Anyway, this list reminds me of our visit to the usine marémotrice (tidal power station). We had to cross some kind of road to get to the station...and I don't remember why but Corinne (one of our teachers) stopped in the middle (she was explaining something, maybe?) and suddenly the person in the station made an announcement over the loudspeakers telling her to step away from the middle of the road. She was awfully embarrassed...while we roared with laughter :D I even remember Fairuz (ever the joker) saying to her, "Je vous connais pas, madame" lol

Oh, memories...

Stereotypes?

You know, there seems to be this trend on Malaysian television. For some reason, Malaysian movie(or series)-makers seem to think that whiny-voiced gay (and here I mean homosexual, because "gay" has another meaning that most people seem to have forgotten) guys are funny.

I wonder why, actually. I myself find these portrayals exaggerated and really annoying...and unlike any actual Malaysian (or gay guy) I have come across before. (and aren't they insulting as well?)

In which series did I see this? There was Alvin Wong's character in Mr. Siao's Mandarin Class, and more recently another character in the Crossings series (played by Xavier Fong).

I think that this is how some Malaysians are trying to show that they are "open" to the gay culture. But I doubt that it's the right way...

Anyone else has thoughts on this?

(Oh...and the most recent episode of Crossings had several transvestites prowling the streets. I thought they'd be arrested if they were to do so openly in KL?)

Bruges Episode 5: Covering unseen territory

The next day we took a different route to town, so that we could see different sights.

Jerusalem church. There was supposed to be a lace museum next door, but we didn't see it...maybe because there's no sign on the door??

This should be St. Anna's church

the front door

We came here on the boat the previous day. The U-turn place, remember?

See the Jan Van Eyck statue?

nice buildings

the front of the statue (the back faces the canal)

another nice building (seen from the same square)

the fries museum

yummy...okay, not really, I prefer real fries :P

Guess what? There is a National Order of the Gold Cornet for people in the potato-frying profession.

in English

They even plant potatoes upstairs ;) (that's the ceiling)

a statue outside a building

said building

We came across these fake goodies in a shop selling Christmas decorations (why Christmas? Don't ask...we went there in August)

St. Saviour’s Cathedral (Sint Salvators-Kathedraal)

Is this the front? I think the previous photo was a side door. But I'm not too sure...

In the next episode, we walk randomly and stumble upon the biggest square in Bruges. Stay tuned! (Do I sound like a commercial or what? :P )

Bruges Episode 4: Windmills and beer

We went to see the windmills along the outskirts of town.

Can someone tell me that that wooden thing is for?

a bridge being lifted up to let a boat pass

some more canalside scenery

and more

This ship is a home. There is a mailbox on the bank beside it. A boy cycled up when we were looking at it, and we asked him what the boat was. He replied "It's my house." lol

windmills!

my travel companions

the canal

the weather got better while we sat there

and better...

looking back from another windmill

the Kruispoort (a gate at the bridge)
Check out what's written at the entrance...it's a UNESCO thing! (the "thing"=world heritage, I'm guessing :P )

the view from the bridge (that's where we came from...the bank with windmills, I mean)

the other side of the Kruispoort

The Kruispoort wasn't far from our hostel (actually we stayed in the budget hotel, it has both hostel and hotel rooms). So after going back, we were lazy to go out to town again (not that there was really that much we hadn't seen) and spent quite some time in our rooms. That night, we ate in the hotel restaurant.

We received this coupon when we checked in; we could sample Belgian beer for free if we ate at their restaurant.

our beer samples
I like Hoegaarden quite well...the abbey beer not much. And the cherry beer...it was like cherry-flavoured Shandy :P

a huge clock on the wall (I have no idea what it's for...must be an ancient relic :P )

Then we called it a night and left the rest of our adventures for the next day. Zzzz...