I wrote it when I was alone in Blyton last year. This year, back to my comfy pink room in Penang. It was a very fulfilling year for me. No doubt on that but nothing would have beaten the memorable and ever wonderful year of 2007 for me.

First quarter of 2008 was easy peasy for me. I was living the life of a spoiled brat, some say rich tai-tais. The year started when i visited Venice with WendyCookie.

That was also my heaviest point in my life. You can see how fucking round my face was. Thank god for winter clothing, at least i am bundle up like dumpling most of the time I will always remember the best pizza I ever had by far and wine as cheap as plain water.

Back from Venice, i spend the rest of my time at Edinburgh as a parasite to KokoKrunch and friends. It was a good way the very few precious time I had there since i just sloth around and do nothing but absorb everything around me to prevent a faint memory of the place i am so so fond of.

The beautiful pond with stupid greedy swans.

The dogs that never misbehave. This westie in particular who just sit and wait for its master. Not one bark when i was near, ever so friendly! i love him so much!!

My final dinner before leaving UK.

Then it’s Dubai on the way back. Personally, i don’t think i’ll ever go back to Dubai again unless i am like super duper rich. I don’t like the weather, the food or people there at all. Except maybe for the delicious chocolate cake at RM18 per slice.. hohoh..Yes i was that spoilt.

Twas CNY then…and i continue to sloth my way through time. KL almost every other weekends, Concerts and Shopping. Typical day for me

Late Morning > Gym > Lunch > window shopping > Dinner with friends.

That was my schedule for at least 2 months! Filled with tiny trip to Langkawi. Followed by Bangkok in July. The travelogue i never did finish blogging about! What a failure!!

RCA and Chatuchak. i miss you

July is also the month i officially move the blog of my life here from blogspot. Thank you Prof ShiMingYu, the smartest person on earth… who is also hosting and helping me manage the blog. Four Season Duck Rice on me..hehehe

August~ is when i met the love of my life in Singapore. It’s all about Mraz Mraz Mraz and a little bit of the rest. I can’t wait to see him again in March 2009!

Magical moment i had there. I tell you, he look at our direction from the whole mass of humans there!! OMG! Thinking about it makes me feel so happy already lalala

September was a bad month..I had so much bad luck i want to cry so much. It’s also a month i can’t remember much. Must be all the stupid bad lucks. Oh, the only thing is i finally got my pink Instax mini camera..

November, came and went..

First it’s SweetSarah happyclappy Mois trip..ahha and then Hadyai with fellow colleagues.

Smashing time

Not forgetting..it’s also my birthday month!

The sneaky MrSmallFace gave me the bittersweet birthday. A nice change this year. Instead of me making all the planning, everyone just turn down my invitation and plan one for me..

December is a month to party and go out!! I went all the way out to Whitewater Raft at Sg.Sedim! It was probably one of the bravest thing i’ve done in my life seeing how phobia i am of heights. It was exhilarating and I will definitely do it again! The below photo is taken above a waterfall..

Then it’s Christmas @Duckies place. Simple yes, but much comfortable. Minus the craziness that happen in crowded areas. After that off to KL and Cameron Highlands for me.

Looking at this post, i think i had a pretty exciting 2008. With this i conclude that I manage to achieve my last year resolution which is to Live Each Day at a time and make the fullest of it. I am so proud of myself yet again. My life isn’t that bad in Malaysia afterall

Next year resolution:-

• Save at least 1/4 of my wages monthly. (difficulty level – HIGH)
• Travel to at least one new place in the world ( difficulty level – easy )
• Live Life to the fullest (difficulty level -moderate) (i have my emo days)

Happy New Year and a much better year ahead to All :)

Remember to sing Auld Lang Syne tonight, my friends!

I was in Venice back in January with Wendy and i’m only blogging about it in March. Wau, procrastinator maximus.

We nearly miss our flight because Wendy’s train got delayed and we were rushing through the gates of Liverpool airport to barely make it but manatau the stupid plane got delayed for 20mins. By the time, we got to Venice mainland, it was already dark, ya, thanks to winter, the days are so much shorter. Breath-taking view from the plane.

Snow Mountain ahhhh…!! Looks something like my imaginary heaven.

Our hostel is located at St. Stae vapretto station, and when we got there, we don’t know how to get to the hostel because the instruction was to call the caretaker. So after asking around for abit, coincidently we ask the correct person because he IS the caretaker! haha so lucky and so we made friends with 1 hongkie and 2 taiwanese girls.

It’s kinda cool that although the uncle speaks only Italian and we know 0% italian, we could still understand each other. Our room…which is the best hostels ever! It’s like hotel..

And the bathroom….hairdryer provided.

Wendy, remember the uncle kept asking us to go dine at Luca’s place? Luca luca…and we found out Luca’s pizza parlour damn expensive.

Best pizza i’ve ever had. And considering the prices in Venice, this is a very cheap place to dine. Ae Oche and they have alot of branches throughout Venice. 1 pizza will cost u about 7 Euro and that 1 pizza is HUGE.

Luckily the hongkie gal, Joanne came along with us and we had 2 pizza that is shared among 3 of us. For comparison purposes, obviously the pizza is bigger than my face…haha..and cheese and ham and mushroom..all my favorite ingredients! That pizza that i’m holding is the usual serving for 1. Best of all, the waiter is cute and speaks with a slight italian accent

The next day, we wanted to rise and shine very early, but i guess traveling is tiring and age is catching up, so we slept like piggies till kinda late..HAHAHA .

The Basilica di San Marco . The gold part is really made of gold. If it’s in Malaysia, the next day already habis dikorek by scavenger.

Inside the basilica, the interior was really amazing and alot of gold ceilings. Then there’s a signboard showing ” To the Treasures” Me and Wendy was like WOW! To the treasures..so we followed the arrow…………to a guard which we had to pay 2Euro each to see the treasures -____-

One of the many treasure. A sword emblem with gold, pearl, emerald, ruby, jade dan lain-lain. Kinda Grand right.

Doge Palace and the basillica. The palace was dubbed as the Pink Palace. Where is the pink, my dear?

Venice’s famous gondolas. 40Euros each. Any takers?

Dorsudoro area. My jumping protege AHAHAHA Somehow after crosing the Accademia Bridge ( a similar one was seen in cambridge!) we accidentally ventured into this area and its totally deserted except for the occasional tourist.

More sight seeings

Phantom of the opera bought his mask here.

Italian Fashionistas. Fur coats with perfectly groomed hair deck complete with LV bags. Banyak sekali, people like this. It’s a surprise PETA people doesn’t come after them.

Then we went all the way round the whole island to Zattere >> Gelateria Nico; apparently the most renowned gelateria in Venice…. All for the giandiuotto, consisted of large slabs of chocolate & hazelnut gelato (hazelnuts roasted and chopped very finely) squished into tall glasses with the rest of the available space filled with soft-as-a-cloud freshly whipped cream. I’m still amazed at just how much cream they managed to cram into the glasses and balance on top!

Sunset view from vapretto.

Oh..after that…started our hunt for LV, Gucci shops. Damn hard to find in the winding and confusing dark alleys of Venice. Our tea. Italians like to have lil snacks with caffe expresso randomly. YUMMYLICOUS!

Then got nearly lost when we tried to go back to St. Stae. Seriously, the place looks so different during day and night >.> The grand canal at night.

Then after dinner of pasta in one of the restaurant (forgot to take photos) we went back to Ae oche for 2nd round of dinner. It’s simply too delicious, de pizzas!! I miss it soo sooo much T___T
FYI, most restaurant have cover charge. So that’s something like their service charge and it’s not really cheap. This is the first time i see pizza in the shape of karipap. And it’s so tasty most probably because it’s cover up…hmmm

My tiramisu…

And we went back to the hostel, 2 very stuffed tourists. AHAHAH

The view from Rialto Bridge in the morning. The weather was wonderful on the last day we were there.

The only souvenir we got from the Venetians. He’s only the conductor of the waterbus. Imagine the abundant of look-alike in Italy.

The guy that sold me the last gelati i had in italy is by far, the most good looking person i’ve seen in my life. I’m too lost for words in his gorgeousness that i forgot to take a photo of him. Such a waste~ I miss u alot, gelato boy…

Tip # 1: for those traveling to Venice, actually you don’t need to buy the vapretto ticket. Maybe just buy 2. We bought the one that valids for 48hrs and then we found out that most of the places are within walking distances. And if you board the vapretto from smaller stations, you don’t actually have to PAY! So the smart and cunning way to save money is buy the one way 6Euro ticket when you enter Venice island and then another 6 Euro when you leave the island with your luggage. However, be careful not to be caught without the ticket(biglietto), or else you might be fine heavily. HAhaha.

Tip # 2: The wine there are really cheap and you can get 1 liter of them for 1.5Euro. So if you really love drinking wine, you can bring you own bottle over to a tratoria or a shop with alot of barrels and get them to fill it up for you. It’s really cheap. 1euro for a bottle of water. 1euro for a can of beer too. and they sell wines in kebab stores. =__=

Verdict: Venice is so cold during winter i think because of the narrow alleys that turns into wind tunnel. SEJUK SIAL! and it;s not as smelly as summer. The water in the canals are kinda dirty and they gondolier did not sing also.

After all being said, it is still a very romantic place and i love the feeling of getting lost in the ancient alleys and stumbling into lovely areas away from the hoards of tourists. It’s a very slow pace city and it’s littered with cafes, and small shops, a lot with masquerade masks.

I would love to go back there one day, before it sinks, and explore more of it; as even if you spend a year there, it’s impossible to finish exploring the beauty of Venice.

The B&B i stayed in

• B&B in Venice, Flat CàCorte
• Flat Ca’ Corte Santa Croce -,
• +393474351065
• flatinvenice@hotmail.it