We even had time to take a pic!

Firefly’s fleet is made up of the ATR-500s which are really tiny planes with propellers. I would say it was about the size of 2 buses in length, and the head space is quite limited. David, Josie and I knocked our heads onto the overhead compartment!! I’ve taken similar propeller jet planes before with Cebu Pacific when we flew to Boracay for our honeymoon, so I wasn’t really worried about the plane being all small and wobbly (as some people may say…small = unsafe). Oh and did I mention, we each get a muffin and a cup of juice?

David’s mobile office at our hotel hee hee… all he needs is coffee for fuel.

Very quickly our 1 hour flight got into Changi Airport’s Budget Terminal and immediately we took a cab and check into our hotel. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Atrium off Outram Road which is a pretty old hotel, though I must say very well maintained, extremely clean and relatively close to the city centre. After chucking our bags we had lunch, met up with my brother for 15 minutes and then off we went shopping! Wheeee! Josie met us up later at Orchard where she had a late lunch and I had my 2^nd lunch wtf. I was so hungry even though earlier we already ate prawn mee and carrot cake. It must be from all the walking *shifts blame*.

David got some sketch pads from Muji cos he’s artsy fartsy like that and I got myself a replacement Teva sandals cos my old one is like a piece of disintegrated rubber mat and I could like slip and fall if it was a slippery surface. Slipping and falling at this point in time is not an option. As much as I love shopping in Malaysia but I must admit our neighbour does have more variety when it comes to certain brands and labels. Just like how I got my Microplane zester in Tangs last year. Oh man, that is like my favourite baking tool!

One for the album! Hubba and I (omg my arms so big)

Josie followed us back to our hotel to chillax and get ready for Lye Keat and Mei Li’s wedding dinner at St. Regis. As soon as we stepped into St. Regis, it was like all posh and sparkly and gold and enchanting and…pretty. Awesome. I’ve been into the Burj but the St. Regis had a more personal feeling to it, less showy and grand (as in size) but more majestic in a way. As the ballroom doors opened we made our way to our seats. Mei Li then popped by to say hi and cam whore for a bit before dinner begun. Speaking of dinner—it was fab fab fab! Mainly Chinese inspired, we had a 6-course dinner presented ala-fine dining. Only thing missing was I was sipping water instead of wine wtf.

After dinner we said our bye byes and walked for a bit down Orchard to see the Christmas lights. They were quite pretty. Odd though, There’s so much emphasis on Christmas decorations but when it comes to Chinese New Year or Hari Raya, we seem to go stingy on making it look “boomz”.

With me and Josie in the pic

Without me and Josie in the pic

Next day we got up, had brekkie and went off to Orchard again to meet Mike, Dave’s Twitter friend for brunch. Ok, Josie and my Twitter friend too. Mike and his wife Kathie have 3 sons, sooper adorable and cheeky. When I was having a conversation with Kathie and Josie, Micah (the oldest one) interrupted me and said “excuse me, can you please whisper?” I think he couldn’t hear the sound of the game he was playing on his iPod. So polite, yet so cute!! After brunch we killed some time around Orchard before leaving to the airport and coming home!

All in all 30 hours in Singapore. T’was fun but tiring as we crashed at 9.30pm on Sunday night. Lye Keat and Mei Li, thanks for inviting us to your wedding dinner in Singapore!

Trip numero tres of 2009, we decided to bercuti-cuti in Malaysia. Now we have Muffin “with us” everywhere we go, we thought of somewhere a little more laid back, where we could just go with the flow without any frills. And without any frills did we go!

Malaysia Airlines had amazing low fares which I learnt didn’t come guaranteed that we’d be on time. Our flight was delayed for 1 hour, but we were accompanied by the Chong’s and their lovely daughter Eva. I was more occupied with playing at Eva; holding her hand and poking her cheeks; before we knew it, it was boarding time. I think being in the KLIA terminal made waiting more pleasant. I would have been sulking if we were stuck in LCCT. I really hate that place, it’s like Pudu bus station, so noisy and stuffy and yucky. Urgh.

Eva, isn’t she the cutest lil girl?

So on the way we were, flight wasn’t full at all, and Eva was at her best behaviour sitting 3 rows in front of us. I didn’t hear her cry one bit. I wonder if I could be as calm as Grace when I bring Muffin out on his/her first virgin flight. I’m beginning to see more clearly why being a mother can be such a life changing experience—just looking at the number of bags the Chong’s had with them…fuh *sweats*

Our in-flight meal was served not long after take off. I would like to say kudos to Malaysia Airlines for their green initiative. The meal boxes were served in a biodegradable container made of sugar cane pulp. I won’t comment about the food but I am a big fan of going green so I was quite pleased that just this little step that they are taking is making a huge difference to reduce the ever growing landfill in our country.

We arrived into Kuching International Airport and said our goodbyes to the Chong’s, picked up our luggage, and there right outside the arrival hall a big-bellied dark skinned man was holding up a piece of paper with my name on it. Ah, the tour agents I picked didn’t fail me! Antoni from CPH Travel greeted us with a big smile on his face and we quickly sorted out payments for the tours I chose plus the car rental during our time in Kuching. He gave us some tips on where to eat, what to do and gently “reminded” us about tipping his colleagues wtf.

Look, even manholes have LOL cat on it. Scho cute!

We picked up our rented Myvi, and took out my iPhone and went into navigator mode. First stop, we went to look for our friend Li Ann who just delivered her baby #2. Ok, Google maps of Kuching is SO outdated!! Where there’s supposed to be a roundy-bout, it’s now gone. And where there’s a roundy-bout, it doesn’t look like one! And you can’t say 3, 9 or 12 o’clock cos each roundy-bout is so unique; some have 5 – 6 exits. Gawd, I was almost losing my mind when giving Dave directions. We missed a couple of turns and thank God we finally made our way to chillax with Li Ann, #2 Ashton and superstar princess Arielle.

From Li Ann’s place we decided to get going and check in to our no-frills hotel, and getting there was more frustration! I was giving wrong directions to Dave, and we were missing our exits and making rounds around the many Kuching roundy-bouts and having to make numerous u-turns. The rain wasn’t helping either. At one point I just simply put my phone down and scrunched up my face. Finally, after almost 45 minutes we found Tune Hotel, parked our car and checked into our room. It’s a good thing that Kuching drivers are very patient. We didn’t get honked at or kena flash at all! And we made a lot of last minute turns, so if we were in KL, the situation wouldn’t have been so serene.

Ahhh….Tune Hotel. It is really great. Location is excellent, rooms are clean, there’s a safe in the room, very basic modern finishing, and price is perfect for the service you’re getting in return. I like how you can choose to rent your towels and buy air-conditioning credits, very green indeed! I wouldn’t say Tune Hotel is for everyone, particularly those who need the space, or those who’d like some facilities with the hotel such as swimming pool, gym, restaurants, in room TV. It is the right choice if you just need a bed to rest and have your own attached bathroom.

Sarawak Laksa and Kolo Mee

Now to the makan topic. Food in Kuching is in a world of its own. The Chong’s introduced us to typical Kuchingite breakfast on Friday morning. From there on we OD-ed on Kolo mee and Laksa in Chong Choon and Choon Hui cafe, had two seafood dinners at Top Spot (superb crabs, tek tang, prawns, midin but found the orr chien wayyy too weird) and ventured into Hui Sing open air food court for some local delicacies like kueh chap, satay and so called kuey teow with clams aka char kuey teow. I love the laksa OMG! I even bought some laksa paste home to make some for my family. Wonder if it’ll taste the same. Now I understand what the big fuss is with Sarawak Laksa. It is really tasty! The meehoon has a thicker texture and the prawns are so fresh speaking of which I’m craving for a bowl right this moment *hungry*. Of course I wouldn’t argue with Li Ann that Penang has the best hawker food in the world but I’d say Kuching has its specialty lah.

ABC Seafood @ Top Spot

Midin, tek tang, tomato mee and the world’s weirdest orr chien

The famous 3 layer teh C peng

Paying for parking in the public lots on the other hand was an experience I will never forget. I remember during my college days in Taylor’s Subang we had a coupon parking system that go by per hour and per day use. That system has since been replaced by the pay and display system which is of lesser pain to the a$$. Friday morning was our free and easy time around town. So we had to get parking coupons for our car right? The parking coupon system is mad! Just look at the amount of coupons we needed for 6 hours of parking! No wonder there are so many multi-level parking complexes in Kuching—easy way out from dealing with coupons. And mind you, for our 6 hours of parking, it came up to RM 10. My daily parking in Taipan is only RM 4 ok wtf!!!

Ok that went off tangent for a bit. Now back on track; what were our main highlights in Kuching? We saw orang utans at the Semmengoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre (30 mins drive from the city). Entrance was RM 3 per person and we made sure we got there during the feeding time so we could catch a glimpse of them. At about 3pm the rangers got us to walk towards the feeding area which was possibly 500 meters into the thick rainforest. We waited quietly for the orang utans to appear when BAM! This one heck of a BIG orang utan was there right in front of our eyes on this huge platform, taking in his buffet of fruits and vegetables. The rain didn’t stop us from leaving as 2 other orang utans slowly lowered themselves in, swinging from tree to tree. One was even with child! Being a city girl I’ve never been this close to orang utans ‘cept that time in the zoo. Worth every sen of the RM 6 we paid to see these furry creatures. As we headed back to the city, we dropped by the Kuching museum only to walk around for 15 minutes before being shoo-ed cos they were closing at 4.30 pm. Now I know what Grace means by Kuching people eat dinner early and sleep early. Look at what time they get off work wei.

Another highlight of our trip was our boat ride to try to spot the rare Irrawaddy Dolphins (30 mins drive from city to Santubong Boat Club to get onto the boat). I did a quick Google search and found out that CPH Travel is the only company which has dolphin watching tours. The cost is RM 130 per person (usual price RM 140 per person but we drove ourselves to the Boat Club so we didn’t get charged for pick up). We met our guide Chronicle at the jetty along with our boatman Jamadi who did an excellent job telling us stories about the wildlife in the area, the way of life of the people of Santubong, and the history of the developments along the river. We casually sped pass the river banks (saw some crocodiles too!) to the mouth of the Santubong river as we almost enter into the South China Sea. Our boatman made some rounds and killed the engine at a few spots as we try to look for the shy dolphins appearing above the water. I must say David and I got a bit discouraged as we didn’t see any within the 1^st hour in the sea. We kept turning our heads from left to right to left again looking out for that slightest “peek” from the almost still water. Then it happened! Jamadi gave almost a scream of excitement when he saw a dolphin pop up above the water! He immediately started the engine and we moved closer to the site where he first spotted it. And for the next 30 minutes with engines switched off we saw possibly 2 dolphins appearing and reappearing above the water for 2 seconds! It was breathtaking. Again I must remind you readers that I am a city girl. These kinda things I don’t see often besides being at an aquarium, at Sea World or on Animal Planet. It is a sight I won’t forget for a very long time. I definitely recommend CPH Travel to those who want to go on the dolphin watch cruise. The team was professional and extremely friendly. Visit their website for more information!

Our ride

Chronicle, our friendly tour guide

Two for the album

Crocodile…grrrrr

Our best shot of the Irrawaddy dolphin

After spending 2.5 hours on the cruise, we returned to the Boat Club to pick up our car, and we headed towards Damai where we took a 3 hour lunch break at the Damai Beach Resort (15 minutes drive from Santubong Boat Club, 45 minutes drive from city). The Sarawak Cultural Village is located 2 minutes away from the Damai Beach Resort, which is where we went to next. Entry is RM 60 per person. We were disappointed with the condition of the place, having paid so much we expected it to be well kept, sadly, it wasn’t. No doubt the concept is great; however we only spent an hour there visiting the 7 ethnic houses that sit on a 17 acre land in the foothill of Mount Santubong. It was so hot and with David worried about me getting a heat stroke, we decided to skip the cultural show and head back to the city.

Damai Beach Resort

One of the ethnic long houses in Sarawak Cultural Village

Beautiful weaved products

They are also obsessed with art

The steps are WAY too freaky for me

Not forgetting this bamboo bridge

Uncle hard at work making a handle for a weapon

More longhouses

Cute lil’ girl trying her hand at a traditional dance technique

Another uncle showing his skills at making a traditional musical instrument

Weird statues outside one of the long houses

All in all Kuching was enjoyable. There are so many places in Malaysia we’ve not been to and we’re looking forward to more opportunities to cuti-cuti in our beautiful country. More photos from our holiday can be viewed in our Flickr album

Schmap is a leading publisher of digital travel guides for 200 destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. More than 90 million Schmap Guides have been downloaded since first release in March 2006: this phenomenally popular series can also be browsed online, with versions optimized for iPhone and Nokia users. HOW COOL IS THAT?

Anyhoo, thanks to the simplicity of iPhoto, I managed all our photos and named them very specifically so we won’t forget where we stepped foot on and then directly uploaded all our pics onto our FlickrPro account (which btw, rocks). Because of our accuracy and detailed description of all the pics, it made it easy for companies like Schmap to find our photos. Over a month ago we were told that our pics had been shortlisted, and finally we received an email days ago confirming 4 of the photos made it! Yay!

So enuff with the fluff here are some screenshots of the pics used in the Schmap guides for Melbourne and Paris. Click on them photos to go directly to Schmap where these photos are posted

Ah, nothing like seeing your name in print.

Always start and end the trip with some local food. Thanks to a former uni-class mate I got to taste Sate Babi, and some Bakut without the teh. It’s ribs in some “kiam chye” soup base. I thought my stomach wouldn’t be able to handle the street food but, all is well. Bakso on the other hand has no “bak” in it but yummy beef dumplings (and some other yong tau fu inspired accompaniments)

Keep in mind the zeros in the rupiah are not really as big as it seems. (IDR 1,000 is barely 40 sen)

Container ports in every country look pretty much the same except some are bigger, some are smaller.

Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia are 2 very different languages.

I can survive running and managing 2-day conferences as long as I have my iPod and I have wi-fi.

Older men can be cute and look like underwear models too.

I discovered that there are some things that I’ve never heard/seen of in the last 28 years of my life such as the Angklung, a traditional musical instrument from the island of Jawa.

I also discovered that the Angklung is so much fun–not only it can make music but it’s a great headpiece.

1. Jakarta is just 2 hours by plane
2. I’m staying only for 4 nights
3. The kek lapis rawks
4. Super Cheapo DVDs (according to Peanut‘s mom—Mangga2 rite???)
5. I realised my dream of becoming a millionaire for the 3rd time (the RM 370 meal allowance boss kasi can dapat IDR 1,125,304.10)
   

OMG. I can only think of 3 4 5 points wtf.

Randomly, I was looking up at my event files and thinking of where I’ll be going over the next year and a half. I took a picture so I could show you guys how much trees I’m killing by filing everything and anything. Hey, I’m old skool can?

And I also suddenly feel like a teacher so I’m going to teach you to say “How are you” in the local language of the 10 cities listed in this photo.

Jakarta – Apa kabar?
Chennai – Ap kaise hain? (to male) / Ap kaisi hain? (to female)
Bangkok – Sabai dee mai?
Bahrain – Kefe halak?
Sydney – G’day mate how’s it going?
Mauritius – Ça va?
Ho Chi Minh City – Ang coh quay kong? (to male) / Em coh quay kong? (to female)
Mumbai – Ap kaise hain? (to male) / Ap kaisi hain? (to female)
Cape Town (in Afrikaans) – Hoe gaan dit?
Alexandria – Izzayak? (to male) / Izzayik? (to female)

Now give yourselves a pat on your back will ya?

Oh yeah P/S Taurus I’ll search hi-and-lo for your Starbucks tumbler.

Bali: For its infamous, cold, cold bottle of Bintang beer, catch a traditional Balinese dance and have seafood in Jimbaran with the sun setting behind us. Not forgetting the coconuts; sweet!

Bangkok: For the decadent sticky rice with coconut sauce and fresh mangoes. It was so yummy we forgot to take a photo first before wolfing it down. We did remember to take a photo of the fruit seller at the Floating Market. The climax of the trip, however, is having a foot massage with your girlfriends after working hard bargaining at the Chatuchak weekend market.

Manila & Boracay: For a Pinoy twist to McDonalds – fast food Jollibee style. Yes, we’re posh like that. Fly 4 hours north-east to have a beef patty sandwiched in a sesame seed burger bun served with chunky fries and tons of ketchup. To increase the posh effect, take another short 1-hour flight down south to the paradise island of Boracay and soak in the soft sun. Cool down with a San Miguel in your right hand.

With MAS’ Weekend Getaway, any cravings can be fulfilled be it Stinky Tofu & Steamed Egg Custard in Hong Kong (plus can do express designer/couture shopping while we’re there, cos we’re posh like that), or tangy and springy Pho in Ho Chi Minh City. After filling up the tum-tum, as millionaires (so posh cos we have tons of Dongs) we can head to Ben Thanh market to shop till we drop.

Can we be anymore posh-ier?? With MAS’ Economy+ we can enjoy Business Class privileges and comfort with an Economy Class ticket. What a deal! Can go to:

• Mumbai just to eat capati with palak paneer and chicken masala (and try digesting it on the way back to the hotel in an Auto)

• Mauritius just to taste the 15 varieties of sugar (and recover from a sugar high absorbing in the sun by the beach)

• Cairo just to savour ikan bakar ala Egyptian style (and check out a chicky belly dancer)

• Dubai just to enjoy the perfectly grilled kebab (and step into the Burj for bragging rights)

• Melbourne just to handpick your own fresh strawberries (and enjoy the rows and rows of grapes and wineries)

• Paris just to indulge in the freshly baked baguette and croissant (and then jump on a Segway tour of the city)

Wah seh, there’s more?!

Here’s the ultimate posh experience; flying Malaysia Airlines and being served “the finest culinary traditions for your palate”. Not only the ingredients used are the best but is also the freshest from around the world to suit my posh taste buds. Each meal is recreated for a fine dining experience in the air coupled with wide variety of the world’s best beverages to consume at your hearts desire.

How fine, fresh and posh are we talking about? Imagine in your head, our unofficial national dish; nasi lemak. If you’re looking for fragrant coconut-flavoured rice, crunchy roasted peanuts, crispy fried anchovies, a generous hardboiled egg, juicy slices of cucumbers, and tiger-sized prawns in your sambal, just chance on the MAS Stimulus Package travel deals . You’ll never want to eat Air Asia’s RM 8 nasi lemak ever again.

Man, that was great! This truly is the time to travel!

After spending 6 nights in Dakar, I was uber excited about meeting up with Dave in Paris for our express tour of the romantic city. First things first, there has been a misconception about the French being snobbish, stuck up and arrogant. They were such a friendly bunch! From asking for directions, and ordering our meals, all we had to do was start with excusez-moi, parlez-vous anglais? And most of the time, we got to where we want to go, and we manage to fill our tum-tums!

We stayed at the Holiday Inn at Gare de L’est, and the Metro was just right outside the hotel lobby. The Metropolitain is one of the most well connected and efficient public transportation I’ve ever taken, what’s amazing is that (credits to Wikipedia) its first line was opened in 1900 and today it is the busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow. Getting around Zones 1 & 2 was quite affordable, at €5.80 for a daily ticket to ride in the Metro, RER and buses. Nice!Because our trip was short (and sweet), we decided to start our tour with a brief history lesson of Paris. We popped by Paris Story for a 1 hour documentary-movie of Paris’ past and how it came to be today. Pretty value for money, €10 well spent. There’s also this uber cool model of Paris, about the size of a snooker table, and you could familiarise yourself with the location of buildings & monuments in the city. Quite fun to push buttons and see little LED lights pop up next to the miniature of the building. Felt like a little kid, cincai press all the buttons in front of us hee hee!

Duty-free shopping was also on my list of to-do’s and Galleries Lafayette is the perfect place for all your needs. The best part I liked about this place is the Tax Refund outlet located on the basement floor of this departmental store. The tax refund document is completed for you by the many helpful staff on duty who could speak perfect English–sweet!

In Paris it’s not difficult to fill your tummy, there’s cafes everywhere, quaint lil’ restaurants to fast food outlets. Parisians love their bread, and to our amusement, we saw a guy with 3 baguettes sticking out of his trolley bag, walking down the street. I really liked the breads, but 10 days of it…erm…really makes me miss nasi lemak lah. The first meal we had when we arrived back in KL was char kuey teow.

There were numerous ground tours that we could choose from but thanks to a recommendation we decided to go with the City Segway Tour. Segways are a pretty cool way to move around Paris with its perfectly paved pavements and dedicated bicycle lanes. At €70 per person, a bit steep compared to regular coach tours, the Segway experience was worth every single €! We were in a bit of a bad luck with the weather, both rain + hail, numbed fingers + toes, and a totally frozen face, but our €1 ponchos saved the day–we were having so much fun on the Segways we temporarily forgot about the FREEZING COLD!

Paris is a majestic city and there is just so much to see. With over 1,800 classified monuments and 157 museums, obviously it’d be impossible to see everything in 48 hours.

BUT, we did manage the absolute musts which are some of the most visited monuments & places in the world. Here’s the lowdown:

River Seine
The bridges over the River Seine offer stunning views of the city. Pont Neuf (built in 1604) is the oldest bridge in Paris with 385 sculpted masks and half moon shaped turrets. The cobbled roads add a sense of nostalgia to these bridges; amazing how well maintained they are for a structure of 400 years. Along the river we saw small green boxes lining the embankment walls. They house rare books, postcards, journals, novels–for sale to passers-by. These have also been around for 400 years!

Notre Dame
Stepping into the compound of the Notre Dame, I stood in awe of the impressive sculpted facade. Stepping inside the cathedral immediately propelled me into the past through its gothic art and its colourful stained windows. Do you know that this cathedral witnessed Saint Louis, barefoot, wearing the Crowns of Thorns in 1239; the coronation of Napolean Bonaparte in 1804; and the liberation of Paris in 1944? Awesome.

The Lourve
Centuries of magnificent work had left behind a masterpiece known to Parisians as the musée du Louvre. A museum since 1793, it is also the biggest (BELIEVE ME, it is HUGE!) it is the home to the Mona Lisa, Raft of the Medusa and Venus de Milo. Pei’s glass pyramid (you’ve all seen it in the Da Vinci Code) is really a work of art on its own, and perhaps the only modern looking structure of the musuem. We didn’t go into the Lourve knowing that we won’t have the time to go through the 35,000 objects on display; nevertheless it was a sight to remember.

Eiffel Tower
OK facts first: 10,100 tons, 2.5 million rivets, 1,665 steps, 2 years of relentless work for the 50 engineers and 132 workers directed by who else but Gustave Eiffel. It sparkles every evening by the hour and it looks like a huge sparkler (loves it!). It’s quite a wonder that this structure was completed in 1889 and since the beginning of the 20th century the tower has been used for radio transmission. The line to buy tickets for access up the tower was so long we really didn’t have the time to spare (48 hours in Paris, remember?) so we just took photos and waited at the South Pillar for our Segway guide to greet us before the start of our tour.

Arc de Triomphe
Right at the tip of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, stands Napolean’s triumphant arch, the Arc de Triomphe. Building began in 1806 to celebrate the victories of the Great Army, it took 30 years to complete (oh yeah, I bet it would have considering the size of it). It lies in the centre of the Axe Historique, and it didn’t take us long to realise that the French were pretty obsessed with perfection as the arch is directly aligned with the Arc du Carousel and the Arche de la Defénse. It’s madness! We paid €9 to climb up the 284 steps to the top of the arch and we had the most amazing 360° view of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, the Eiffel Tower, and the La Grande Arche de la Fraternité. Wouldn’t mind climbing up those 284 steps again!

Champs-Élysées
Bah! This is possibly the most expensive street in the world, adorned with prestigious luxury fashion stores, high tech show rooms, glitzy cafes–you can buy just about anything here, including race cars! We took a short stroll from the Arc de Triomphe to George V station, right outside the Louis Vuitton store just for a quick glimpse before we scrambled underground to get away from the cold *brrr*

I’m really very thankful that I had the opportunity to visit Paris, even though it was such a short trip! If not for work (and God’s timing of course!), I don’t know when I will ever have a chance to step foot into this beautiful city. It was also a bonus that Dave agreed to this short adventure (that took a toll on his body clock) and made this trip a really memorable one. This is definitely a place that you have to see with your own eyes, and feel with your own hands/feet to experience the richness of its history and culture. Perhaps one day we’ll return to see the rest of France, right honey?

For the curious, the full set of pics can be found on our Flickr page!

Finally, I’ve arrived in Dakar, Senegal. Located on the westernmosttip of Africa, the journey took me through Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, car-transferred to Orly airport, before we hopped on to an Air Senegal flight to get here. All in all, 24 hours. Thank God we managed to catch an earlier flight or else we would have needed to wait 10 hours in transit for the one we originally booked.

First impressions? Airport reminded me of the Aklan airport in Philippines, very, old-skool. Customs also very chillaxed. Conveyor belt looks like it needs—a new belt. And everything looks brown.

People? Freaky!! They want to “help” you to carry your bags ALL THE TIME! I didn’t take any photos on the way to our hotel cos I was afraid my camera will “help” itself onto their hands. One guy was trying to take my bag away from my hand, and I was holding on to it with my life!! The a policeman came over, pushed the fellow, and yelled at him go away in French I guess. The he walked away with a black face.

Hotel? We’re staying at the Le Meridien President, which is quite fancy on the outside, but the rooms are rather 3-star. Haven’t got the energy to explore the exterior, but will definitely go outside today to look and see.

Water? Tastes funny. And my stomach has got wind, it’s so uncomfortable and it keeps making a funny rumbling sound. And no, I’m not hungry.

Language? French all the way. I hope to learn some new phrases in the next 5 days we’re here.

Hoping to take some nice photos today of the place. Dang, its only 5.35 am.