lim peh ka li kong 令伯卡你讲

Skill and style of telling stories is as per what you see - Singlish plus Hokkien dialects. Kam siah for coming into my BLOG and read, thank you! All content is copywrite "Old Beng" unless otherwise noted.

Friday, November 25, 2005

My Trip To Madrid and Paris

lim peh ka li kong

In February 2005, me and my cha-bo-lang went to Madrid, Spain and Paris, France.

Wa-piang, I tell you ah, we left Singapore and flew to Paris Airport and transferred another flight to Madrid Airport, a total flying time of 13 long hours.

We reached Paris Airport in the early morning 0625 hours and the temperature was about 5 degree Celsius.

After the transit to Madrid, Spain which we reached there at 1145 hrs. The Madrid Airport was rather rundown as compared to Paris Airport and when me and my cha-bo-lang walked out from the customs, we were not checked at all. (Of course la, we look so decent one).

The weather in Madrid was even colder than Paris, I reckoned it was about 2 degree Celsius at noon time. Can you imagine noon time was 2 degree celsius, how about early morning and at night?

After we took a cab to our hotel, which cost me Euro 25 dollars (equivalent to S$50) for a short distance trip of about 15 minutes, we left our luggages in our hotel room and out we left to explore Madrid and at the same time to grab for something to eat.

It was really cold and the portion of the food was very big and the best snacks in Madrid is none other than Calamari (fried squid). Until today, I have not come across anywhere which served Calamari as good as those I tasted in Madrid.

After we had our big portion of snacks, we continued to explore Madrid. It was snowing and gosh, how I loved snow. We saw a few children running and playing and screaming when the snow came down.

My cha-bo-lang told me it must be something not common to snow in Madrid since the children were overjoyed with the snow and true enough, we later learned that indeed Madrid had not snowed like that day for the past 10 - 12 years. So were we lucky or what?

During our stay in Madrid, we visited lots of beautiful parks, castles, churches but we missed the "Bull-fighting" as it was not the season for it. Thank goodness as we can't bear to watch the cruelty done onto the poor bull.

The biggest park in Madrid is none other that the "Parque del Retiro" which has 130 hectares of woodland which form a green, tree-clad (more than 15,000 trees) island in the middle of an asphalt sea.

Another place not to be missed is the Plaza Mayor and along that stretch, there are many many shops selling all types of items.

We also went to the famous Sunday Market in "Rastro" and spent a whole Sunday there. It was so packed but we had a good time bargaining on the items we liked.


One of the beautiful castle we visited in Spain. Me and my cha-bo-lang had a snowball war there.

We had our dinner in the oldest restaurant in Madrid, Botin Restaurant. The famous author of "The Old man and the Sea" Mr ErnestHemingway always had his meal there and at a specific table at the corner of the restaurant and commented that it was the best restaurant in the world. (海明威 --- 老人与海) .

The night scene in Madrid is the best in the world, no photo or picture can show its beauty, not even 50% of the actual beauty. I tell you ah, if you want a girl to fall for you, the night scene in Madrid so bo-beh-chow one, it's so romantic and just awesome.

The only set-back during our stay was the cold weather, at night it was below zero degrees.

A loving couple freezing in a cold night but still have to pose for photo taking. The cold temperature was worsen by the constant gust of wind.

Although we missed the bull-fighting (without regrets) but we did not miss the Spanish traditional dance - Flamenco dance.

At a substantial fees, we had a sumptuous dinner and got to watch the famous dance.

The dance was good but the cha-bo were not very chio though, the leading male dancer was more stylo than the female dancers.

Good Food, Nice Wine, With Loved One = A Very Happy Man.


After our 2 weeks stay in Madrid, we proceed to Paris. Paris, I presume is everybody's dream land for its romantic feeling.

We were there, and visited the main places of interests like Musee de Louvre (罗浮宫), The Eiffel Tower (巴黎铁塔), Arc de Triomphe (凯旋门), watch the famous cabarets "Moulin Rouge" and took a boat ride through the heart of Paris on the famous Bateaux Parisiens. Starting from the Eiffel Tower, the cruise follows the left bank of the Seine to the Finance Ministry at Bercy, then returns to the Eiffel Tower along the right bank, passing by most of the famous and beautiful buildings in Paris.

To be honest, both me and my cha-bo-lang prefer Madrid to Paris. Anyway, preference is always very subjective, ultimately it is not the "where" you go but the "who" you go with.

Inside Musee de Louvre Museum looking out of the Pyramid glass roof.



The famous portrait of Mona Lisa


The BIG face and Old Beng

Women's best pal - LV Bags (Anybody interested can carry them back, provided you have the strength)

Arc de Triomphe

The Eiffel Tower lights up and flickers at night in the interval of every hour for about 10 minutes. It is much more beautiful than the pic.

Eiffel Tower from far

The quality of the photo shots did not turn out very well cos both me and my cha-bo-lang are no pro photographers but the beautiful sceneries we have seen are always in our memories..... forever.

lim peh kong wan liao

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25 Comments:

  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 2:14:00 PM , Blogger Mockingbird said...

    Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful! How i wish i can go there too, with my wife, of course :)

    The blog i went to and kena screwed for nothing by the blogger's friend is www.goldlion.blogspot.com

    What an ass!

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 4:26:00 PM , Blogger sÞ¡ηηєє said...

    can anyone sponsor me to go there.........

    actually i'm more interested to go japan and korea instead. wahahahah

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 4:36:00 PM , Blogger Old Beng said...

    Mike
    Yes, you should go there with your wife for your second or third honeymoon.

    lau hero
    Yeah, there was indeed a bomb in Madrid during our stay but we were not affected, heng ah.

    spinnee
    I can sponsor you to the web to see :p

    BTW just to share with you, me and my cha-bo-lang had also been to Japan and Korea before. I tell you ah, Japan is so beautiful...

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 4:57:00 PM , Blogger Mockingbird said...

    I guess you must be pretty loaded. Being able to afford all these trips to all these exotic places around the world :)

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 5:01:00 PM , Blogger Mockingbird said...

    Old Beng claimed he never studied high but still can go to all these cool places. 很不简单叻。

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 5:11:00 PM , Blogger Old Beng said...

    Mike
    No la, me no very loaded. My Spain trip is on company's business trip.

    My Japan was a lucky draw winning trip.

    Yes we pay for our Korean trip but still ok la.

    I last time never study high high so must upgrade myself so continue to study more now at an old age...

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 5:49:00 PM , Blogger sÞ¡ηηєє said...

    i want sponsorship for TICKETS AND ACCOMODATION back & fro Japan & Korea...not WEB.

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 5:53:00 PM , Blogger Old Beng said...

    spinnee
    ha ha just pulling you legs la, call your hubby to sponsor you la, ask him for your 2nd or 3rd honeymoon with him, without children tagging along.

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 6:17:00 PM , Blogger 孺子牛 said...

    so when is the next?

    Jio me, man.

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 6:23:00 PM , Blogger Old Beng said...

    Lau Qin
    Me and my cha-bo-lang plus you and your cha-bo-lang?

    Where do you like to go, to be honest, Old Beng until now have not been to Thailand, Taiwan and Australia.

    Don't laugh, really, never been to the above countries yet until now :(

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 7:53:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    > Ur size so macho

    size? hmm, 这句话很色.哈哈

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 8:08:00 PM , Blogger sÞ¡ηηєє said...

    hahahaha yeah... to "色" pple, the size comment is "色", right ;)

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 8:36:00 PM , Blogger Elydia said...

    Travel!!! I love to travel too... A few places i wanna go Nepal, Egypt, India, Silk Road, Mongolia... Too many to be mention here... And Cairns!! But i can't find khakis... sooo sad... :(

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 10:21:00 PM , Blogger 孺子牛 said...

    No Thailand and Taiwan for me.
    Thailand - I have been pressed by the Thais too often, sick of them. Also, if I go Thailand, I must go alone. There is one bapok in my Thailand plant always jio me to go to look for him/her. A bit scare lah.
    Taiwan - I have been to Taipei, Taichung and Kaoshiung many times.
    Australia - Boleh.

     
  • At Friday, November 25, 2005 11:56:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Old Beng,

    So beautiful memories, huh? I have been to Spain (Barcelona only) and Paris but prefers Paris more, maybe becoz I spent more time there.

    Like Spinnee, I wish to go to Japan and Korea, in fact I am already checking the itineraries for CNY holidays.

    Yippee! Can't wait for holidays!

    :=)

     
  • At Saturday, November 26, 2005 12:41:00 AM , Blogger dandan...™ said...

    wow..envy

     
  • At Saturday, November 26, 2005 10:14:00 AM , Blogger noeyesee said...

    Uncle Beng
    wow, Paris sia, romantic or not? I have also planned to go to Europe for my future honeymoon.

    you really different from others ah?

    normally we will visit the nearby countries first then explore further but you went far out to Japan, Korea and Spain yet never even beeen to Thailand?

    Anyway, nice pic but can post more photos or not, not shoik enough.

     
  • At Saturday, November 26, 2005 10:57:00 AM , Blogger Old Beng said...

    jiji
    Hola. No I did not have any 艳遇 due to the following reasons:-

    1) I prefer Asians to Ang mo;

    2) Ever since I got married, I contacted the illness of 气管炎, er no, sorry wrong characters used, it is 妻管严 instead.

    Macho? ha ha, there are 3 issues which I think are very deceiving:-

    1) A person's voice;
    2) A blogger's post and his real self;
    3) Photos;

    singablogger
    Kam siah for coming to my blog. Talking about size reminds me of the following phrase which I came across:-

    高矮不是距离
    肥胖不是压力
    长短不是问题

    spinnee
    Yeah I agreed with you, it's all simply one's mindset :p

    elydia
    Yes, we should go round the world if we have the chance but usually we are all held back by family, jobs, work etc and money also.

    Qin
    Australia? Hmmn, let me check my bank accounts first.

    Monkichi
    Now I envy you cos you will be enjoying your trip during CNY.

    If you are in Japan, you must try one of their desset known as 雪梅娘, it is a kind of i-cream in a special bun.

    I really missed that and it is only on sales during Winter time;

    Had asked my Air-stewardess friend to bring back from Japan for me once.

    Dandan
    No need to envy too much la, you going somewhere also right?

    hello no eyes see see
    Post more pics? let me think about it, maybe will post a few more photos later.

     
  • At Monday, November 28, 2005 5:26:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    I don't like bull fighting too...that's why I gave it a miss when I was in Madrid many years ago. Sports should not be dealt with blood & death, whether be it man or animal...Don't understand why the Spaniard love it so much ?

    I fell in love with Paris during my first visit abt 10 years ago. The second visit 2 years later made me sick...Did you notice the dog poohs on the sidewalk ? Like landmines everywhere. Is it for better or worse now ?

     
  • At Monday, November 28, 2005 6:02:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    hey, just realize you did not mention the Notre Dame Cathedral de Paris (巴黎圣母院). Did you go or gave it a miss ?

     
  • At Monday, November 28, 2005 6:44:00 PM , Blogger Old Beng said...

    I admired and viewed from the outside only, not enough time :(

    Dont remember seeing many dogs' poohs around but the people there were not friendly, unlike the Spanish.

     
  • At Friday, December 02, 2005 6:43:00 PM , Blogger blueapple said...

    So sweet..! And the photos are nice too!

    My friend told me people from Paris very guai lan because they purposely speak french to u even though they know english... And when u scold them KNNBCCB they thought u're greeting them.

     
  • At Saturday, December 03, 2005 10:52:00 AM , Blogger Old Beng said...

    blueapple
    They are indeed not friendly but the service line personnel are all English spoken ones and were rather friendly to tourists like us.

     
  • At Monday, December 05, 2005 2:31:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    wah....li nai will go paris & madrid one of these days...got money 1st..ok! Oldbeng u bely lucky to have travelled there...

    Doc

     
  • At Tuesday, December 06, 2005 3:52:00 PM , Blogger Old Beng said...

    Hello Doc
    Are you the dofsarah I know? It's been more than a month since you disappeared.

    Welcome to my blog.

     

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