Quebec city! 06.10.2007 - 08.10.2007

Quebec city is totally awesome... HAha.. its like a replica of a European country. Well, it has to bear some resemblance of a european city since the europeans took siege over it some hundreds years ago.. The place is totally awesome with castles, narrow streets, wall murals, and MANY MANY restaurants! Hhaa.. how can we resist food.

Quebec city's history runs way longer than montreal's. If you think montreal as authentic in their french heritage, wait till you see Quebec! Ahaa... THe tourist area was kinda concentrated at the 'vieux-port' where we basically covered the place in a day. The buildings are just awesome, with a strong bearing of the european flavour. You just cant get enuf of them. Its a city fortified with walls (yes walls which means BIG walls for battle. Not those walls in ya house...) and BIG cannons, facing the St. Lawrence River. These foritifications were used during the war against the French. Nevertheless, QUebec city fell to the french... haha.. well, how else would Quebec city be imprinted with such french flavour then! ok. enuf history lesson. Next: L'Ile D'ORleans.

BY hook or by crook, we had to get to that island to go apple picking! HAHa.. we found a way, something called 'call-a-cab'. HAHa... it sucks when you dun have a car and you realize that the whole world (on L'Ile D'ORleans) drives. Silly car rental policy in Canada which doesn allow rental to drivers below 25 years old... i cant help it when i'm THAT young right! hehe..

ANyway, the island is concentrated with farms, vineyards, restaurants along the coast facing the river. The view there was just fantastic! Gosh... the air was so fresh, i felt as if i could juz 'suffocate' any moment! HAHa.. we visited an apple farm for apple picking, followed by a vineyard/winery (cheap wine!), had DELICIOUS apple pie baked on the spot and a chocolate factory (homemade ice-cream). HAHA... it was totally an apple-day: apple muffin from the hotel's complimentary breakfast (they were REALLY good!), apples from the trees, hot apple pie... they shld juz have an apple ice cream... hmm..i think they do. HAha...

On the island, it feels like time has no bearing... where everything comes to a standstill and you are compelled to just enjoy the weather (not the winds but rather the sun!), the trees, water and beautiful houses. It really makes you start planning for your retirement... HAHa.. ooops, or is it juz me :$ fine... start planning for ya dream house then! hehee...

Overall, Quebec city's a really relaxing place to be at... where basically our pace became EVEN slower (as if our pace wasnt slow enuf in montreal) We had the LONGEST lunch since we've arrived in canada. HAHa.. tok about a leisure meal... well, it was the best meal of the whole trip! If you count the apple pie as a snack rather than a meal. Hehe...

Devotion - Hillsong United

Was listening to the album 'All of the Above' when i started to randomly google for it on YOUTUBE. Marvel at the wonders of the world world-wibe web.. again... and i found this! I think this song is juz so marvellous and great and Marty Sampson speaks of how he's inspired to write this song as a proof of how much he trusts in God wherever he is! Whether he was a kid, or 15 years old or even married (or engaged?!) as he flaunts that ring on his left hand! (all girls need to say "awww..." at this point of time)

P.S. dionne, think its really apt for you!

First church service in montreal...

WEnt for my first church service juz now... at Impact Church. WEll, i kinda found out about this church after googling.. the wonders of the world wibe web. ANyway, judging from the websit, i assumed that it'd be ALL RIGHT. you know what i mean yeah. Apparently, the church is made up of mostly youths/students

WEll, things didn really go as i expected... the sermon was all right. The pastor was toking about sacrifices through the story of CAin & Abel. He kinda adopted a more bible study approach through open discussions/comments from the floor... which again, i wasnt used to. Well, the last part kinda shocked me. they ended the service with hymns. yes hymns. they started doing this acappella thingy and sang the song 'HOly, holy, holy'. Ok, i dun mean to be mean... but guess i'm not used to it. The atmosphere was juz sooo serious and sombre...

Mont Tremblant, Quebec!

Visited 'Lac de Sable' (aka Lake of Golden Sand) & Mont Tremblant yesterday! HAha.. well, Lac de Sable is this really small town with REALLY rich pple who buy summer houses by the lake and probably leave it empty most of the time. Juz when you think the number of homeless pple in this world... that sounds really... 'nice'. Well, modes of transportations like bicycles, cars are basically replaced with sea planes, yachts/boats ( i mean BOATS and not sampan boats...) and garages for their mini-toys! HHAA.... WE took a cruise which brought us into the inner areas of the lake and got to see REALLY big houses.... and their mini toys of course. APparently, the land only costs 10 bucks CAD per square metre.... that adds up to around CAD$180,000 for a piece of land?! well, then again.... we haven even calculated in the construction/rennovation/maintenance part.... hahha...

NTL, the view was great! It was kinda surreal as you felt like you were entering into the forgotten land.... HAHA.. where civilisation and society doesn seem to be a part of this world... juz trees, the sky and many beavers! hehehe...

mini cruise ship on lac de sable...
Thats the boat house btw... yes, it means a house for the boat....
See those tiny white specks in teh midst of greenery? those are the BIG BIG houses...


Following this, we headed to have lunch in the city area.... it was a quick bite cos hui qing and i were busy shopping at the factory outlets... again. HAHA>. we got a steal: a tommy hilfiger jacket for CAD$8.55 bucks after discount and discount and discount and further discount... you wonder how they could slash the price from CAD198 bucks to CAD98 then to CAD9.99 then CAD8.55. HAHA>. then you realize, that humans are juz conscious-minded pple who wouldn mind paying the price for the brand. WEll, i want the brand, but not the price... hehhee... i'd like to think that i'm the smarter bunch fo these 'conscious-minded pple'....

Had another half an hour's drive to MOnt TRemblant. It's an island where the ski resort remains as the centrepiece of attraction. The place looks REALLY great as we got to view the moment when the leaves turn red, followed by a lighter shade of yellow which eventually fall, and the land turns into a white sheet! HAha... Again,, the WHOLE mont tremblant ski mountain is owed by this SUPER rich guy who created this ski mountain concept like 30 years ago!? but it wasnt popular till recent years... what can i say, this SUPER Rich guy thought far...

Mont Tremblant, Quebec!
One of the many cable cars... this leads to the start of ski mountain...
See what i mean when the ski resort looks so 'happy-go-lucky'... HAHa. reminds me of disneyland....
Foot of ski mountain where we took the cable car up...

terrified hui qing on the cable car up... HAHA... oops...


Fav pic of the day! He looks so cute with his green raincoat... he was soo shy to take a pic with the guyz... aww....

From left: Hui Qing, Shiyin, Sophie and moi:D
From left: Derek, Hong Ye, Lewis & Boon Han
HIghlight of the day! the REAL ski cars!!! HAHA...

random pic....

View from the ski car... it was totally awesome... kinda felt as if you could touch the trees... hehehe...

New York!

Took me a while to finally sit down and blog about my NY trip... well, here goes...

it was a boring lecture of 'Behavioral Neuroscience' (as usual) when my mind drifted off to making travelling plans... (whats new?!) thats when i decided to make a trip down to ny to find dionne! HAHa.. well, the shopping part in ny kinda motivated me as well...

Day 1: Took the GREYHOUND bus to ny... it was disastrous to start with! I was supposed to reach ny at 0715 21/9/2007. Lo & Behold, there was a bomb threat! no... you didn read wrongly, a BOMB threat. WEll, we were at the US border and the police came and literally took us hostages for full 5 hours... i ended up reaching ny at 1+pm... and missed my trip to WOODBURY:( ooops...

Well, i shld be glad that the BOMB threat was a false alarm and reach ny safe & sound:D thank god! Arrived at dionne's hostel and we went for dinner with her frens to celebrate her b'day! good korean food:D well, i'm sure better than that in montreal....

really authentically furnished korean restaurant...

Making my bed for the next 4 nites! All thanks to Dionne's fren who loaned me the air bed! Its kinda like the one i slept @ Tika & cindy's place! HAHa.. i'm soo amazed at the airbag! its so sophisticated! And guess what, its 10 bucks from target!


day 2: Jersey Gardens! Resourceful dionne found a way for us to take the NJ transit to New Jersey for FREE! HAHa... apparently NJ transit was having some free tix for tertiary students. The coupon didn really state tertiary students in New york so whatever... as long as i get a free bus ride;) I literally went crazy... HAHAH.. we kinda only had 4 hours to cover the whole mall and i had to chop chop.. seriously. HAHa.. the 4 hours werent even enuf... oh... and we had REALLY great burgers.. again, i doubt montreal will have such good ones... thumbs up for JOHNNY ROCKETS!

My burger and i!
My ORIGINAL burger....
Dionne insisted on taking this UNGLAM pic of me...
My shopping and i....


Lasagne dinner! at a REALLY authentic italian resto where we couldn even understand the menu... which shows how authentic they are! HAha...

Day 3: As usual, we woke up late..... i think... haha.... Dionne brought me to check out Times Square. Seriously, it was really a land of billboards... +neon lights at nite! HAhaa.. there were billboards of every single thing you could think of... cars, broadway musicals (how can we forget that!), phone companies.. etc. We checked out some shops like M&Ms, Hersheys, Hello Kitty shop. Lunch was at the makeshift stalls along the Flea market (i think its the Hell's Kitchen Annex) which is only open on the weekends. Well, its kinda like singapore's pasar malam... hehhe... but FAR bigger...

Billboards!

More signboards....

Lunch... from flea market.
Annex's flea market!


Dionne suggested to check out a church: Times Square Church. I was kinda looking forward to it since i haven attended a service for a month! ooops... due to unforseen circumstances rather than my own will though. Well, it was very Sister ACt church, which wasnt really to my taste. Didn really feel comfortable there and i could only think of 'how nice it would be if this was hillsong church'..... interseting vocals and band though!



Of course, we had to catch a broadway musical. my FIRST broadway musical: RENT! Dionne and i went for the 20 bucks rush tix and dionne's plaque card was the first to be called out (34 FRONT ROW tix are allocated according to lottery style). HAHAH... you shld see teh smile on her face when she went up to collect her plaque card. She looked like she had won a million dollars! hahaha.. Well, we got the FRONT row! how cool is that... and we could TOTALLY see every single cast's expressions, fine facial hairs (lighting) and even the occasional saliva spurting when singing... hhahaa.. well, they are humans too. It was REALLY awesome! I even bought the mug as a souvernir, or rather to brag that i've watched a broadway musical in NY! HAhhaa..



One of the many WEIRD buskers in NY....

Dionner & her beloved Mr Reese! Speedy lunch at a 'Kenny Rogers look a like but FAR better' BBQ resto. Church service...




Day 3: Dionne has school... ooops.. i felt guilty bugging her over the weekend and she couldn do her readings and studying. Hope she's finally caught up with her work! well, i had to entertain myself then. HAHAH.. i spent a full hour the nite be4 poring LONELY PLANET:USA and GOOGLE search machine to check out places to see... I ended up with this itinery: Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Century 21 shopping mall, Chinatown, SOHO. HAHa.. not bad huh?! for a day...

Took the metro to WHitehall station to catch the FREE ferry to Staten island. Well, the statue isnt at staten island but its cool cos the ferry PASSES by the statue! HAHA.. well, its free. cant expect much yeah?! IT was good enuf for me... cos you'd realize that teh statue of liberty is after all... a statue! which doesn move.. nor animate on its own. The zoom function in my camera will do the trick;) hehe.. There was an half hour interval in between the ferr ride from staten island back to manhattan. So i toured a little of Staten island. Seriously, the place kinda freaked me out... oops... weird pple... and weird shops! hope no staten island peeps reads this. I highly doubt so... hehe..

Upon returning to manhatten, i walked all the way up to Ground Zero, the previous World Trade Centre. It's kinda ironic to finally see the place, which i only had a glimpse of it through the black box. Ironic in the sense that its a momentous place significant of USA's current war on terrorism. Yet, it lies in the realm of normalcy with TALL skyscrapers surrounding it, cars passing by, passengers walking past. As if nothing happened and the empty land was merely one of the many ongoing construction projects. Well, a busker playing the song 'Amazing Grace' with his flute was kinda the only one giving meaning to Ground Zero....



Century 21 shopping mall! HAha... a mall where everything branded is going cheap cheap... DKNY, Nine West, Le Sport Sac, Michael Kors.... Americans are such suckers for cheap branded stuff. well, who isnt! HAHa..



Walked all the way up to Chinatown which was totally boring... yawnz... i expected to find some GOOD chinese food there. Apparently, it was merely a mess of makeshift stalls with asian proprietors selling 'I HEART NY' shirts, fake perfumes, fake watches, fake caps... blah blah...



Again, walked all the way up to SOHO! HAHa.. land of shopping... Saw AX (bought a couple of shirts for aud & I. Cheap! 25USD per shirt), H&M (ugly mass produced china made stuff), ZARA (EX!), BAnana Republic ( i love this shop now!).... Found some junk food t-shirts going for 20USD. wanted to buy this shirt that says 'I love my ChEVY truck' for aud.. but no sizes.. oops..



By the end of all these, i was carrying so much stuff! i didn have the energy to go further.. back to home it was! What can i say, it was a REALY productive day... HAha.a.


The 'ball' significant of 911 at Battery Park...
Statue of liberty...
No idea what that bridge is.... looks nice anyway...
Ground zero in the midst of 'giants'...

They kinda barriered ground zero with fences. BUt i managed to peek my lens through the fence.... this is what ground zero actually looks like. Kinda disappointing... expecting to see debris and all! HAhaa... ooops...
Not so nice china town....

Day 4: Well-equipped my body's energy level with a hearty breakfast at TOM's RESTAURANT. Its in the vincinity of dionne's hostel. In case you're wondering what restaurant that is, its the place where they film the exterior shots shown in SEINFELD! Thats what dionne told me. only started watching seinfeld in montreal. I had the breakfast special: pancakes with sausages! now, thats what i call DECENT pancakes and not the wet pancakes from EGGSPECTATIONS, montreal or crepe-look-a-like-pathetic pancakes from CHEZ CORA, montreal. HAHHA.. after certifying that its worth eating, bought a similar set for dionne:D i felt like her food taster;0 HAa.. Walked down all the way from 116th street (dionne's hostel) to 30+ street... explored CENTRAL PARK and a little more of times Square along the way. It's funny how manhattan can be separated from all the madness and hype by merely ONE street. That equals up to approximately 50 steps by foot. Central park was TOTALLY cool! Well, thats kinda cos they actually have tennis courts in the middle of the park! HAHa.. i was sooo excited to see it! i ended up sitting at one of the benches and juz enjoying the weather and the gameplay in front of me... well, i ended up watching how an african american coach THRASHED his students at a doubles games.. HAha.. well, probably cos the students (total blonde bimbos! seriously....) were beginners. You shld hear what they say when they miss the ball.... HAHA.. i almost burst out laughing... i miss playing tennis... :(

I realized that i could possible walk along the paths in central park cos i would end up taking 2 hours to cover the trails in it! so i decided to walk along the road beside the park.. and popped back in once or twice... HAHa...

AT times square, checked out VIRGIN store (this MEGA media store) for cindy... it has 3 levels of music CDs, DVDs and even TV merchandise (i.e. 24, Grey's ANatomy). I think cindy would juz go crazy at the DVD section... Popped by at Toys R Us where there were 2 care bears! not really care bears but you knwo what i mean yeah... all the kids were so attracted to care bear.. and the poor giraffe (remember the mascot of Toys R Us) was standing there.. so lonely... HAHAA... ooops...

Had enuf of walking around and went back early to pack up for my bus back. Bought an apple pie from KITCHENETTE (apparently its ZAGAT rated)... well, never trust ZAGAT then. wasted my 5usd!

MOST arduous part of the trip, lugging my 10KG luggage all the way to the bus terminal! i literally had stairs to overcome at every point! Thank god! he brought kinda pple to help me carry it down the stairs... i looked so flustered... hahaa.. seriously, there was someone to help me juz when i am looking at the flight of stairs helplessly!


I've kinda decided to boycott greyhound cos i had a bad experience.. again on my way back. They were supposed to make only 1 stop at albany on way back to montreal. APparently, the bus that nite made 3 stops! It wasnt exactly pleasant getting waken up every other time when the bus makes a stop... i was soo tired by the time i got back to to montreal.. i juz slept the whole afternoon! well, i was glad to be back in montreal... things start to look bakc to normal only in montreal... when the pace isnt so crazy and buildings arent too high.... and of course, the food aint too good as well! Hhaa..

Breakfast special: Pancakes & sausages! with orange juice and lemon tea and LOADS of maple syrup. HAHAH...
Tom's restaurant. Those who actually watch SEINFELD would know what i mean...
Central PArk!
Tennis courts in the midst of greens..... awww.... fav pic of the day!

Metropolitan Museum opposite Central Park...
Lake in central park.

Horse riding in central park.. they even have traffic lights and cars... this shows how BIG central park is! Care Bear in the house! arent they cute and cuddly?!
'Dinosaur' in Toys R Us... My 'ZAGAT-rated apple pie...


P.S. Special and BIG thanks to dionne for alowing me to disturb her peace for 4 nites! hope you got something nice from VICTORIA SECRET;)
P.S. I took 2 days to complete this post! it feels like a school project now... HAHA... enjoy:D