Neither here nor there

I've been wanting to write about these photos, but there was never a good time (and I didn't have much to say about them anyway). So I'm getting them out of the way before leaving yet again for Penang (don't ask).

I saw some stickman figures in the train to Geneva (this was way back when my parents came to see me and we were going to Switzerland together).


I had some trouble figuring out what they meant...the picture on the right looked like it was telling us to hold on the the railing (what railing??), but I couldn't understand what the other one was about. Then later on (and I mean much later, ages after we got off the train) my mother said that it was priority seating for pregnant and/or disabled people (I can't remember why, maybe I showed her the photo). Oooooo....now I get it. :P The problem was that I didn't see the person as holding a walking stick...

On to the next item (on the news, haha). My mother's friend had gone to Australia and brought some chocolate eclairs back with her.

Lolliland chocolate eclairs

And in one of them, my mother found a piece of plastic! (crumpled up, I think)

that's not me holding the plastic, by the way

It was a really huge piece, considering that it was inside a sweet. A child could have choked on that!

We should have sued them for millions. :P

Boring vs. bored

A lot of Malaysians mix up these two words. I admit it, I myself use the word "boring" sometimes when I should use "bored". The reason is (1) because "bored" has one syllable and while speaking ungrammatically (or using BM and putting in an English word), a single-syllable word just doesn't sound right. And what's more, "bored" could be misheard as "board" ("I boring lah" is universally (okay, nationally :P ) understood, whereas "I bored lah" can make people go "huh?") (2) because everyone says it, and when a few people have just said that they are "boring", sometimes saying that you are "bored" (as opposed to "boring" haha) sounds like you're trying to be all high and mighty.

So, a little clarification for those who do not see the difference.

When you say "I am bored" (which is what most people should say, most of the time), it means that you have nothing to do.

BUT, when you say "I am boring", it means that you are dull and in no way interesting, making absolutely no one willing to spend time with you. Get it?

So the next time you want to say that phrase in red, think about it: do you really mean it?

Thank you.

By the way, I resolve to no longer use "boring" when I mean "bored". Who's with me?

Lazy English

I have noticed that quite some people who send in questions to the "Mind Our English" section of The Star ask about song lyrics.

I guess that it isn't wrong to question the grammar of pop stars, but it kinda shows how people don't READ anymore! (Okay, maybe they do. They read lyrics.)

Today's newspaper had someone asking what "I'ma" meant. Sure, it means "I'm gonna", or "I am going to" in real English. That was what the paper's response said (I can't remember who was the actual person who replied to the question).

But then it said that we should write "I'ma [do something]" instead of "I'ma going to [do something]" because the latter would mean "I'm going to going to". Yup, I agree. But wouldn't it be better to say that we should say it instead of write it? What are you doing, promoting the usage of nonexistent words?

One day teachers will find "I'ma" in their students' essays.

And by the way, have you noticed how people have become lazier and lazier with their tongues? "I am" became "I'm", which is understandable, when you speak quickly it does sound like that. But "going to" becoming "gonna"...where did the T go? Did some innocent child mishear an adult saying it, or did some drunk slur it that way?

Then "I'm gonna" becoming "I'ma"? Laziness!!

I think I accept the usage of "I'm gonna" more readily because I grew up hearing it. But I sure hope that I don't start hearing "I'ma" being used all over the place...and that it doesn't happen till I'm either old and deaf, or not around to hear it any more.

Penang snacks

When I was in Penang some time back (read about the waiter-in-training), we got some ti-kuey. It's actually ti-kuey (literally "sweet cake" in Hokkien, I think my Malay friends called it kuih bakul) sandwiched in between a layer of sweet potato and a layer of yam, then dipped in batter and fried. Only found in Penang, I believe.
[Edit: Okay, my mother said that we can find fried ti-kuey in KL as well, but I wouldn't know where]

Usually the ti-kuey stalls also sell other fried stuff (using the same batter). The other one I like is fried pisang raja. They use a whole banana, unlike those pisang goreng on the east coast where you only have thin slices of banana in each fritter. But I guess that's why the east coast's pisang goreng sells for 10 sen each whereas the one in Penang sells for at least RM1 each! (the price can be higher depending on the size of the banana)

Back to what we bought: there were no bananas there (the seller said they don't sell bananas any more, but they would fry them for us if we brought some). So we got our ti-kuey, together with some potato fritters and lek tau (kacang hijau...the ones we grow taugeh with (not the ones you can buy frozen lol)).

the ti-kuey and lek tau are cut in half

By the way, on the price-list, the ti-kuey was spelt T-kuih. Hmm...I wouldn't have thought to spell it that way, but why not? :P

[Edit (13th March 2011): I just discovered that I already posted photos of these fritters - including the banana fritters - more than two years earlier. You can see them here!]

On another occasion, we bought some apom from a roadside stall. We had to wait quite a bit, so I snapped some photos while waiting.

the apom tray...reminds me of the crêpe trays we used in Lyon

putting banana on the apom (only two slices of banana per apom)

putting corn on the apom (the cheapskate seller only put two seeds of corn on some of the apom! Some got three...and I think that's the maximum. Haha, I guess that's how he makes a profit.)

folding up the apom

done and waiting to be put into plastic bags for the customers
This may look like a lot, but since they're tiny, people buy then in fives or tens!

That's the stall, with the bananas hanging from the roof and plastic bags filled with apom

And from his rival Apom Guan (and brother, my mother says - she read about it in the paper) just a few metres away, we got chicken curry puffs instead. HUGE ones! (we were going to buy the apom from him, but he already had too many customers and we would have had to wait even longer)

eating curry puffs in the car :P

Well, the curry puffs weren't that special after all.

Paris, at long last

When I first started writing about Switzerland, I mentioned that I had never written about it before. The same goes for Paris. I have written a few posts about going there, but my only actual touristic visit of the city was ages ago, when I was still in Angoulême (and before I started this blog). Then I went there for another "tour" with my father, but I didn't take much photos. So this will be the first documented trip of Paris on this blog.

My parents were leaving on Monday's flight from Paris, so we went there on Saturday to do some sightseeing before they left.

We took the train from Lyon early Saturday morning, checked into the Ibis hotel, one of the Accor hotel chain (Etap, our hotel in Switzerland, is part of the Accor chain as well).

On the way to the hotel, we saw a yellow bird singing on the metro.

The guys in the red shirts were filming...I wonder what for. Let me know if you see a video of this bird anywhere!

After leaving our luggage at the hotel, we left for France Miniature.

We had to take the Transilien (a type of suburban train) from La Défense to La Verrière, then a bus to Elancourt-France Miniature (the Sqybus line 411 or 412, which is in zone 5 of the Parisian public transport; we can use the same ticket as in Paris itself). As we walked to the La Défense station from our hotel, the weather was fine so we seized our chance to take some photos (in case it rained the next day...my parents' trip was plagued with rain -_- ).

(From the same website that said I could go to La Verrière, I found out that I could also have taken the train from Montparnasse to Rambouillet, but I'm not sure where to go from there)

la Défense, near our hotel

the view away from La Défense
You can see the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the Champs-Elysées (the long road)

turn around and you see the Grande Arche de La Défense

don't ask me what the wooden car was doing there

a colourful tube thing
The plaque says that this is "Le Moretti", built in 1990

the tubes up close

I definitely don't know what this is

the arch with the colourful modern art statues on the left (the yellow, blue and red "statues"), and a huge "swimming pool" :P

It's not really a swimming pool, of course...I guess it's just another thing they call art.

in the middle of the arch

At this point we left for France Miniature, which was a great park, though I will skip it for now.

When we got back, we had dinner in the hotel, then as it wasn't raining much (just a few drops which seemed to be stopping, and again, we were afraid it would rain the next day), we decided to go out.

the Arc de Triomphe at night (or should I say dusk?)

there was a flag strung up in the middle of the arch (normally there isn't)

and flowers there, too
It was the 8th of May (which had quite slipped my mind), anniversary of the 2nd World War victory.

But that was as far as we got that night, for it began to rain. -_-

The next day we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe again (it was a good starting point, since we were staying at La Défense)

the arch by day
Lovely, isn't it? (I like this monument better than the Eiffel Tower)

Then we went to see the Eiffel Tower.

Palais de Chaillot across the bridge from the Eiffel Tower (I never really noticed or cared what it was before)

the Eiffel Tower
(see Palais de Chaillot behind it?)

there were ponies

the École Militaire (military academy) at the end of Champ de Mars (the grassy area beside/in front of the Eiffel Tower (which is the "front" of the Eiffel Tower anyway?))

Invalides

Place de la Concorde, the largest square in Paris

famous for its obelisk

Then there is the Seine river.

cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris ("our lady of Paris", in case you didn't know)

the Louvre pyramid

the smallest in the series of "arches-in-a-line"
There was the Grande Arche de la Défense, the Arc de Triomphe and this, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

the upside-down pyramid that everyone wanted to touch (making it impossible to get a clear photo)

Then we go up to Montmartre to visit the Sacré-Coeur (I had never been there before either). The metro station is buried deep inside the hill, and we unknowingly climbed up the stairs to get out (there was a lift, but we waited for a while and gave up, thinking "never mind lah" -_- )

the stairs and the short cable-car going up to the Basilica

Basilique du Sacré-Coeur (Sacred-Heart Basilica)

people putting on a show, which meant that it was VERY crowded there!

There were so many people on the basilica steps that I didn't attempt to go up.

the view (don't ask me in what direction it is)

There was this guy who balanced a football on his head...he really was quite good. (though the ball did fall off once when we were there)

another photo of his acrobatics

Then we went back to town.

the town hall, which is highly mundane beside all the other attractions in Paris
(We didn't even try looking for it, we just stumbled upon it :P )

Georges Pompidou centre

We wouldn't have gone to see this if there wasn't this bakery nearby that Kak Asilda recommended. It's called Chocolats Pralus, and its speciality is the praluline, a wonderfully yummy brioche. We went into the shop and wanted to buy one, but they had run out of small ones (the large one was too big for us).

Okay, that's all for Paris, I'm tired of it anyway. I never really liked Paris, despite all the hype around it. What I really liked on this trip was France Miniature...I will try to get around to writing about that sometime. (at least the people coming to my blog will be able to read about Paris now :P )

Lucern: Part 2

Now, after the glaciers, the bear museum. (If you don't like teddy bears, you can skip to the middle of the post, where we go back to town)

Man leading a bear. Why on earth?!

Aww...a cute warrior bear from the middle-ages

some impressive bear origami

Paddington Bear! It's even holding a marmalade sandwich!

a huge bear! (the mammoth is painted, in case you're having doubts)

a stuffed fox (real stuffed or fake stuffed, I dunno...)

a model of Lucern (I'm sure you can spot its landmark ;) )

a model of Matterhorn

some more bear stuff

I've forgotten which ones, but some of them move when we approach the glass case

isn't this bear supposed to be in Bern? (okay, this one didn't move. lol)

Look at the little old lady!

a bear conference

a bear playroom

I love the chessboard!

The dollhouse museum I visited in Basel had a section like this too, with teddy bears. That's why I liked it so much :P Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos in that one. (and we definitely had to pay to enter!)

a fossil (I can't remember of what *sigh*)
Come to think of it, this was probably something we missed in the glacier museum (I told you they were in the same building), and we saw it as we were going out.

two plump rabbits in the garden

that's the museum (pretty building, isn't it?); we didn't actually see what the building looked like when we went in through the glacier garden

Back to town, we walked around a bit more.

Some weird stuff on the streets:

garden furniture?

I'm not too sure whether these are for sale :P

Some buildings:

the town hall (the square was too tiny for me to get a complete photo with my own camera :/ )

the Jesuit Church, across the river Reuss

a bread man! :P

the Needle Dam Facility with the Spreuer Bridge behind it
The level of Lake Lucern is regulated by hand through the removal and replacement of the wooden posts ("needles")

and this is taken from the Spreuer Bridge

the Franciscan Church

the Ritterscher Palace (it doesn't look like a palace at all!)
I'm sure the building with the flags is part of it, but I'm not so sure about the building on the right...

the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower from another angle (the other end of the bridge, actually)
You can see Hof Church in the background.

That afternoon we left for Geneva, where we were to take the train back to Lyon. So that was the end of our Switzerland trip.