Amsterdam Trip

Just back from Amsterdam, purposely went to see Tulips and luckily it did not disappointed me. Saw a lot different kind of flowers in Keukenhof, €21 included entrance ticket and bus from Schiphol Airport. The amount of flowers really impressed me, it was so beautiful.

We took a boat to the flower farm.
Actually the flower's colour was very sharp
but don't know why it becomes normal after uploaded here.

This was inside the garden.

Besides, I received a special anniversary present which is a bunch of Tulips. It was so nice and we brought it back all the way from Amsterdam.
The next day when it back to my house, it starts flowering.

On the second day, it was nicer than the previous day
and it keeps on blooming.
So, everyday I was so excited to see how big it can grow. =D

It was our 7th Anniversary trip, we book and bought everything about 2 days before we depart (including transport, hostel, sightseeing ticket). Although it was a bit rush, actually it was very rush but he doesn't want to disappoint me and therefore we settle everything in 2 days time. ~Sweet~

Due to the restriction time, we forced to travel on Sunday. Normally we try to avoid Sunday so that we can attend church for worship. So, I looked for churches in Amsterdam online and I chose to go to a Chinese church. It is Amsterdam 恩泉宣道会.

This church is quite big with about 100 people attended, mostly from Hong Kong and some from China. After the worship, they welcome new comers and we told them we are coming for travel and therefore we r going back to London next day. But they didn't change their attitude (coz I thought some people will think we will not coming back anymore so there is no point to spend time on us). But they treated us the same and even invited us for lunch. This was the one time I received free LUNCH from church. It was so warm and friendly, I understand church is my home no matter where I am. ^.^

My FREE LUNCH..lol
it was so tasty and homely

After that, we received a welcome gift from the church
which was a testimony CD.

Before we say goodbye, the sister gave me her number and asked us to call her if we come to Amsterdam again, so that she can bring us around. She was so nice and I am really thanks for her kind thought.

You think that's the end of the story, then you are wrong. After 2 days, I was back to London and I received a letter.

When I looked at the envelope, I know it is from oversea and should be Amsterdam coz of the dutch word. So I was guessing is that from the hotel?? they want to charge us extra?? or did we do something wrong in Amsterdam. After I opened, it was from the church, a welcome card. It was so touched and so warm.

I think this is something I learned from them and I think our church should have this as well. And I believed this church is full of God's blessing and it can bless many people in Amsterdam. Not because of the free lunch or welcome gift but because of their sincerity and enthusiasm.

Easter Trip

Easter break 2010 - Windsor castle, Stonehenge and Beaulieu

Windsor castle is one of the biggest and oldest castle in the world
We reached there about 10:45am, good timing to watch the changing guard, it starts at 11am







after that, queue for a while to buy the entrance ticket (student price £14.50)
what surprise me was the check-up before enter into the castle
it was exactly the same check-up when u take a flight
so strict, maybe it's bcoz some royal families still living here
after that, got the audio guide (free) and start our discovery journey
there is a place shows the internal room of the castle
another room showing royal's appliance such as meal ware, clothes, weapon and etc.
has a gallery room, give some history of Henry VIII
a cathedral where some royal's families buried there
we spent about 4 hours there and before we went out
the staff stamped on our ticket meaning we can visit the castle again for free within 1 year

Stonehenge -- a mystery place

















with few stones standing on the grass
but no one knows the meaning of it and dunno how was it built
from the audio guide, all descriptions started with: it should be....
meaning they are not sure also, all with guessing
so we spent the time by taking photo rather than try to understand it
student price: £5.90


Another day, we went to Beaulieu
for photo on my facebook, please click here
it is allocated at South of England, New Forest
it takes about 2 hours drive from London
adult ticket - £16.00

















it is a nice place to spent a day
with family or a group of friends
Beaulieu means
beautiful place in France
There is a National Motor Musuem
with lots of old vehicles, F1, sign vehicles such as Mr. Bean's car,
special vehicles such as Creme Egg car, future car and etc.
there is another room showing
some vehicles from James Bond's movie and World of Top Gear
to see some picture, please click here
since we brought our lunch so we spent some time to picnic there
relax and enjoy the nice weather, environment and flowers
Also, a Pallace House is allocated inside (forgot who's Palace)
and a Beaulieu Abbey (church), a garden (should have more flowers during summer time)

Flowers in UK

Living in a place and visiting a place will give you totally different feeling. When you are going a place for travel, you will keep on taking picture (especially myself) and tend to put more attention to details. On contrast, a place where you lived, you will show less interest and even don't remember how does the road where you pass by everyday look like.

Since I have been living in UK for about 3 years, I don't take much picture unless I saw something really interesting. And there is one thing that interest me these few years was the flowers in UK. I realised those flowers in UK are very different from Malaysia one. Most probably is because of the weather, so there are different kind of flowers in UK during winter, summer, spring and autumn. I found some flowers with special shape, special colours and special....................name?? (nah, I don't know what's their name, lol)

Here are some pictures I took from my iphone, obviously, when you are living in a place, you wouldn't always carry your camera with you. =P

Very sharp yellow

Looks like grape

Does it looks like....lamp??

Dark red rose

Dandelion 蒲公英

bamboo
yeah, i know this is not special
but this is my house plant, so need to show it..haha

sharp pink big flower with little purple flower

erm, this is........grass??

my lovely house plants

the main character is those water..haha....

dunno what fruit

similar with rose

The end....hope you enjoy

圣诞老人的故乡－芬兰

圣诞老人
一直是小孩的幻想，也是我的幻想
对圣诞老人有很大的期待，亲切的圣诞老人，装满礼物的大红袋
可以说是小孩在圣诞节的最期待的东西

直到我听说芬兰有一个圣诞老人村，好想去看看哦
可是因为时间上一直没有好好安排，所以来了英国这么久都还没有去过

前几天终于去了，抵达圣诞老人村时
心中就涌出喜悦的感觉，好像回到小时候哦
全白的人行道，被雪铺满的圣诞老人屋，闪闪的灯饰，真的很漂亮，很童话
我们先是跟圣诞老人合照，再去Husky Park
花了€35，坐了大约五分钟，感觉是很不错，就像电影里的情景一样
可惜是天气实在是太冷了，当时还在下雪
大风再加上雪，全打在我的面上，冷得我的五官已经没有感觉了
之后到了圣诞老人邮局，写了一张明信片给家人，一张给自己
因为邮局将为你印上圣诞老人的盖章，加上圣诞老人的邮票
只有那里有哦！所以很值得做纪念

这是邮票的大图在Rovaniemi，大概就只有圣诞老人村

而在Helsinki，我们去了动物园，是蛮特别的，
看了许多冬天的动物，雪鹿，雪猫头鹰，等等
还有去了Suomenlinna，是一个海上的城堡，也是很值得去，景色都很漂亮

荷兰五宝及三滥

之前去了荷兰旅行，导游说荷兰有五宝，我觉得很有意思，就把它记下来了。

第一宝：钻石
很多人都不知道这个，因为荷兰本身并没有出产钻石。其实是因为很久以前荷兰人做海盗时，到来南非，意识到钻石的潜伏力，把钻石带回荷兰做研究，再把它发扬光大。现在，荷兰在切割钻石的科技，可是在世界上很有名的。

右边的钻石是荷兰的科技切割的，一共是201面，是目前世界上最多切割面的钻石。仔细看看，是不是比左边的钻石更耀眼呢！

第二宝：达尔西郁金香
在十七世纪，由于产量少，它的价值就被提高，曾经贵过金子的价格。现在就很普遍了，很多人在四月份特别到荷兰观赏郁金香。由于我去的时候是夏天，就没有办法看到茂盛的郁金香，只能拍下木制的留念。





第三宝：风车
用途：排水，把麦子作成面，也作为主人的标志。
如果风车叶成十字，就表示主人不在家；如果成叉，就表示在家；如果风车叶挂上彩旗，就表示主人家中有喜事，邻居们就会纷纷到家中祝贺。




第四宝：奶酪
大部分的奶酪是牛奶，但也有羊奶。购买奶酪时，可以从它的型来分别；车轮型的奶酪是保存期较久的，长圆形的是烟熏奶酪，适合陪酒吃。






第五宝：木鞋
用途：防潮（因为荷兰地区都很潮湿），下田（干活）
在荷兰的传统，男子向女子求婚时，必须送上自己亲自雕刻的木鞋表示诚意，如果女方答应，就会收下并且在婚礼当天穿上。





听完荷兰五宝，我自己发现荷兰其实还有三滥，没错！就是泛滥的“滥”

第一滥：红灯区
各个女人为了金钱出卖自己的肉体，站在玻璃橱窗前搔首弄姿，卖的正是自己的肉体，值得吗？只有他们自己知道。许多欧洲国家的人在周末特意到荷兰放纵，使这色情行业每年能够为荷兰带来1亿美元的收入。第二滥：大麻
荷兰是第一个国家合法售卖大麻，在1976年允许18岁以上的人购买和拥有5g大麻或麻汁。

第三滥：同志婚姻合法化
荷兰也是第一个国家合法同志婚姻的，也允许同性伴侣领养小孩，彩旗成了同志协会的标志。
其实我不是歧视同志，而是不赞成同志关系。从一开始，上帝造了男人，之后再造了女人作为男人的配偶，因此人要离开父母与妻子连合，二人成为一体。（创世纪1－2章）我们既是神造的，他自然知道对我们最好的计划，为什么我们要走相反的路，令自己痛苦呢？

说到这里，这只是我对荷兰的个人看法。

Worth places to visit in Barcelona

I have been to Barcelona, Spain on 4th to 7th of Jan 2009. Barcelona is a worth place to visit, a city full of awesome building and wonderful art! Below are the places that I have been to, listed according to must go place to least important place to go.


1. La Sagrada Familiar - Architect: Antoni Gaudi

- €9 student price, take the lift to the view point €2.50

- We spent 3 hours in this place.

- Suggestion: Read some synopsis or introduction of the building before visit.2. La Pedreda - Architec: Antoni Gaudi

- €5.50 student price

- Spent 2.30 hours in this place

The roof top of the building is very nice!

3. FC Barcelona Stadium

- We bought the ticket of the stadium tour and museum for €14 online

- Wonderful experience because we watched the FC Barcelona team players training
Players included: Xavi, Henry, Messi, Puyol, Eto'o, Victor Valdés, Iniesta, Yaya Touré, Hleb, Dani Alves , Márquez, Bojan, Abidal, Gudjohnsen, Pinto, Keita, Iniesta, Pique, Coach: Josep Guardiola



4. Park Geull - Architect: Antoni Gaudi

- Free entrance

- We only spent 1.30 hours in this place because of lack of time, but if we really walk around the whole park, should spent 2.30 hours5. Flamenco Show in Poble Espanyol

- It was a restaurant, serve drink or dinner with the flamenco show. This restaurant is located inside the Poble Espanyol.

- We book a table online costs £71, included dinner (4 courses) and the Flamenco show. Start at 19.00 to 09.30

6. Barcelona beach

- We spent 1 hour there
7. Museu Picasso

- Free entrance on every 1st Sunday on the month

8. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

- We went there to watch the Font Màgica (Magic Fountain) which is the fountains in front of the Museum but don’t know why there was no show on that day.

9. La Rambla

- Place to eat and experience the culture of Barcelona

10. Barcelona Cathedral

- Free entrance

- Due to the refurbishing work, we were unable to see the whole building
11. Plaça de Catalunya

- Place to shopping and experience the culture

12. Casa Batlló

- We didn't go in, only take photo outside because it was not built by Gaudi, he was only refurbish it.
13. Parade - 3 holy king procession

- Something extra

- We saw it because of our visiting date.

- A festival in Barcelona, it was like Christmas in UK, therefore, 6th of Jan is their bank holiday