Finally....a new ride

After the numerous test drives, after the numerous deliberation on which car to get, after shortlisting the cars that we deemed good, we finally did not get any that we short listed!!!

And after saying that we were not going to pay RM60k for a Proton, we did!!

See the pattern here?? hehehhe

So in the end, we got the Persona SE in Haze Blue. We needed the car immediately so this was the only car that could be delivered within such a short time and the only car that we can afford at the moment.

15 July - Got offer letter from new job, put booking fee for car
21 July - Bank loan approved
22 July - Paid 10% deposit for car
29 July - Car delivered!!

Exactly 2 weeks from the time i booked the car and the time i received the car.... thank goodness. Now i don't have to do the DJ-Mid Valley-NKVE (DJ entry) - NKVE (Seafield exit) anymore...!!!

first refuel for the car...

new car smell + smell of the leather

the meter panel so small...

And hopefully in a month's time, we'll get to smell ANOTHER new car smell.... the old junk petrol guzzling body breaking satria has gots to be retired!!

Rome - Condensed...

Again, these are from the pictures i had printed. Too few, but it'll do la.

Rome is actually a really small city. The day we got there, we walked around and managed to walk to Trevi Fountain....then we walked summore, we found The Pantheon, and we walked summore, we found Colleseum!! If you can walk and find so many things to see, it either means that it's a small city or all the sites are concentrated in one area.

Everywhere you go, you're bound to bump into some damn old rocks and ruins. It's like being transported into the ancient world. But you still get the vespas scooting in and out of traffic.

The Pantheon

Gladiators used to die here

The Colleseum

i wonder how old that tree is, the ruins are damn old already....at The Forum

Poser

A nice cold beer always good for quenching the thirst after a long day out in the sun exploring really old rocks

nice apartment facade

ecstacy of St Theresa, this is the church where one of the cardinals was burnt alive in Angels & Demons

Angels & Demons ROCK!! Aips was glad to have read the book in a record time of 3 days!!

The Fountain of 4 Rivers, where one cardinal was drowned in the book, but saved in the movie

one of the many angels in the thousands of churches in Rome. It is said that if you were to visit EVERY church in Rome, it'll take you 2 years....or something like that

And you can find Gelato EVERYWHERE!! So many flavours...so nice, had it numerous times!!

even McD's have Gelato

more Gelato

yummers...

Trevi Fountain during the day

Trevi Fountain at night

St Peter's Catherdral in the Vatican

This is where one of the Cardinals died from a punctured lung

inside of St Peter's

halfway to the top of St Peter's

from the top of St Peter's

deciding where to go next, completely worth the £6 we paid for the Rome guide book

At the bridge of Angels in front of the Castle of Angels where the assasin kept the cardinals

That's the condensed version of Rome. If you want more, wait for the Photobook version...

Rome - The Preview...

Coming up in the next post....

Barcelona - Gaudi

It's Sunday and it's Church day.... and some images from La Sagarda Familia....should be the greatest most stylish church ever built when it's finally completed. Gaudi was and is just a great architect to have all these designs in his head....too bad he got run over by a tram!!

i love this side (Passion facade) the most, with it modernistic sculptures

the stained glass window inside

the lone figure of Christ over looking the construction

haiya....dunno how to read signs ah??

Casa Milla is another one of Gaudi's unique creations. It's actually an apartment block....could just imagine living in an apartment here. You'd know the architect thought about ergonomic of his furniture and how to design the place so that you'd get the most of the natural lighting....

Entry was 10€ each but quite worth it la to get to see his unique designs...

the rooftop of Casa Milla, notice that the roof is not level, it's supposedly so that rain water is easier to drain....quite smart eh...

where else can you find desings like this??

a huge chimney

they said on certain summer nights, got cocktail parties up here, so nice....

the intricate design on a door frame

the ergonomic door handle, quite cool

even staircase also so nice....

That's it for Barcelona....next up, the Roman experience....that's going to be filled with loads of pictures!!

Barcelona - The Food

I was just looking back at the photos of Barcelona that i have and realized that the pictures from yesterdays post, is just the tip of the iceberg!! Got soooooooo many more photos that shows Barcelona.....i think it can possibly fill up a whole photobook also!! And that was just a 3 day 2 night stay summore...

So what's a Barcelona post without some pictures of the food we had right??

First day we arrived, was way past lunch time, just chucked our bags to the hotel and headed back into the city to the promise of cheap shopping at Zara, Mango and Camper. Zara makes some good men shirts too. Kinda forgot that we were hungry too....lucky there was salvation next door....a McD's!! HAHAHAHA

always must try a McD's in a foreign land to see if it tastes better with babi in it.....

And yes, it tasted just slightly better.

Actually, we were really stingy with our €, since our RM seems so small. But what the heck, when are we going to Barcelona again. So we stopped converting and treated everything as it is in €.

Guided by the list that Amy gave us, we embarked on our quest for good food. Thank goodness for Amy, if not for her, we'd never get to do Barcelona a bit like a local, especially the food and beach parts. Thanks Amy!!

She recommended us this place called Sagardi...loads & loads of tapas on the bar top, just take your pick and they calculate later....just like lok lok, just take what you want and the guy counts your lidi (sticks)...same la, only here they use toothpick....hehhehh

beer on a hot afternoon, and tapas.......

sagardi, took us a while to locate this place, must bring gps next time we travel....

the tapas spread

Quite ok, but the bill came up to be about 30€ for a couple of 8 or 9 tapas and 4 beers.....NEVER CONVERT to RM!!

That was our 1st indulgence in good Spanish food.

The next day after spending too much on the entrance fees to the Gaudi attractions, we decided to spend less for food, so we went to another fast food place, but at least this one was local and had jamon!!!

the fast food sandwich place .... this is a jamon sandwich, part of a meal set, 2 sandwiches, 2 cokes and 1 fries for 8€

Later that day, nearly about dinner time, we passed by this courtyard. I think I've seen it before in some travel review or something, it had nice restaurants and some street performances and all that but we resisted the temptation to spend too much for our dinner.

nice place to chill and people watch

But later at night, after a whole lot more walking and looking for cheap food....we realised that it's going to be our last dinner here in Barcelona and decided to just #%@* it and just spend la!! We're not coming here again till we're 60 years old...yeah, we want to come back just to see the finished La Sagarda Familia!!

examining the prices first!!

chorizo, meatballs, calamari....and beerrrr!!

churros!!

churros glasses!!

money well spent. Although the churros could have been better if we had ordered chocolate sauce to dip it in. Oh well......

The last day, we went to the famous Boqueria Market to see the cured babi and all that and we stumbled to this place that was quite packed. And since it's quite packed, and the food smelt nice too, we also kiasu and just sat down and ordered la.

fried potatoes with some spicy mayo thingo....good!!

meatballs again...with some spicy sauce

chorizo with some other spicy sauce

sauteed mushrooms with garlic

the aftermath!!

this was just at the next stall, but we were just too stuffed to eat more jamon.....now, i want jamon....

where to get jamon in KL??