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Today or rather a few hours ago, me and a group of friend eagerly went down to Filton for dinner. Our mission should we choose to accept it; was to infiltrate the premise and pass our verdict on how the 'Malaysian' food there fared in comparison with the ones at home.

The moment we got hold of the menu, we ordered the first thing that came to our minds; 'roti canai'! The only drawback was it costs £2 a pop which is a fry cry from a piffling 80 cents back in Malaysia! The 'roti canai' came replete with a steaming saucer of curry which we wasted no time in digging in and for that reason there wasn't any pictures of it. As for how it tasted, I'll leave that until the end of the post just to tease you guys.

After the 'roti canai' we decided to order a few more typical 'Malaysian' dishes mainly the ubiquitous 'nasi lemak', 'char kuey tiau', 'wat tan ho' and fried rice with a plate of fried water spinach/'kangkung' to along with the other dishes.



'Char kuey tiau'


Fried 'kangkung'


Fried rice


'Nasi lemak'


'Wat tan ho'


Me and Vincent in high spirits before eating...


Finally, the part that you've been waiting for, the verdict on the food. We unanimously decided that the food there was utter crap even when given the fact that food which have been exported over to another country usually isn't on par with those served back at home. Although the 'roti canai' had the right taste to the dough, we had a sinking feeling that it was frozen food and it had been reheated before being served to us. Its only redemption was the curry that accompanied it but then again, the curry wasn't anything to write home about.
The 'char kuey tiau' was so so at best since it hardly had any taste in it, Vincent's fried rice was soggy, lumpy and too top it off, didn't even taste like fried rice. The 'wat tan ho' was edible at best and wei chi hardly touched the 'nasi lemak' while the fried 'kangkung' lacked the kick/oomph found in those prepared back in Malaysia.

Our conclusion? If you want good tasty Malaysian food, either:
a) buy the frozen version and save a few quids in the process or
b) cook it yourself or
c) screw it and assimilate yourself with the food here

p.s. The service wasn't that great and the waitress even got ticked off by a customer for being too mindful of other people's business as the waitress watching was constantly looking at her direction throughout her entire meal and we sat just opposite that customer and we could felt the waitress' constant gaze bearing on our backs. Uncomfortable to say the least...


Extra footage!


Vincent pushing himself to finish up the plate of fried rice which he gave up on eventually.

I did some changes under the hood so hopefully now it'll load up faster since I've been getting a lot of flak on how a snail can move faster than my blog can load. *ouch* =)

*Changelog v1*

-Removed the random quotes from Confucious
-Reduced the posts to a maximum of 3 per page
-Removed the read more feature

*End of log*

*Changelog v2*
-Replaced with shoutbox with cbox

*End of log*

History does repeat itself after all... Just when I thought that I wouldn't see my old theme on my old but beloved 6630, PiZero came along and designs a theme that resembles the my old one. Thanks to him, I'm even happier to own a s60v3 phone.


The new version; "New Style"


The old version.

The life of a college student as depicted by a set of emoticons. A light-hearted approach at college life.

At the beginning of a new semester:


During the first week:


During the second week:


Before the mid-term test:


During the mid-term test:


After the mid-term test:


Before the final exams:


Once the exam schedule is released:


7 days before the final exam:


6 days before the final exam:


5 days before the final exam:


4 days before the final exam:


3 days before the final exam:


2 days before the final exam:


1 day before the final exam:


The night before the final exam:


1 hour before the final exam:


During the final exam:


Once out of the exam hall:


After the exams, during the semester break:


And the cycle restarts itself...

A picture taken at my window in the evening.


Cropped and scaled to 100% to show the image in the bubble.

Attempting to get run over by a train.


Since the first picture was obviously a fake, I decided to do the next best thing, taking a nap in the middle of the railway track!.


Posing on the steps of a church.


How short can a traffic light be? Apparently very short!


A shop lot named in honour of Vincent; Vincenti!


Nice to see,
nice to hold,
once broken,
considered sold.
How much? A whopping 2,750 euros!

We set off for Rome, Italy on the 26th of December but we had to stop at Milan for a night as it was cheaper than flying direct from Bristol to Rome and the best part is that the flight from Bristol to Milan was only 1p! We reached Milan in the evening and dinner was at a small restaurant which we gleefully ordered 4 pizzas. The pizzas were an absolute delight to the taste buds as the base was thin and crunchy. Although the toppings were rather sparse, the pizzas were definitely better than the ones sold in Pizza Hut or Dominoes. The next morning we stopped by a few places namely the Doumo; the second largest cathedral in the world as well as a few other churches. Our hopes of catching a glimpse of the Last Supper painting in Santa Maria delle Grazie were dashed as we were told that to view thepaintings we had to book in advanced.



At the airport in Milan.


In front of the Doumo.


A shopping gallery near the Doumo.


Somewhere in Milan...


In the evening we flew out to Rome where we were greeted by Anthony. He kindly offered to accommodate us at his place as well as to give us a guide around Rome. (Side note: Thanks for putting up with us throughout our entire stay there Anthony, gratzie) Feeling fresh the next morning we started on our tour around Rome. Although I forgot most of the names but we visited the Coliseum, Independence Square and a few churches in between.


Pictures will be uploaded as soon as I grab hold of Vincent's elusive camera... =)


The next morning we headed off to Florence in a 3 hours train ride to visit the Doumo and the Ponte Vecchio. We went up to the top of Doumo's tower for a birds eye view of Florence and we were not dissapointed. After the visit, we splitted up into two groups with one group heading for the Leaning Tower of Pisa while the rest us including yours truly remained in Florence. Lunch was steak which according to Anthony is a must try when visiting Florence as steak originated from there. The steaks there even has it own name; bistecca alla fioretina (literally translated as steak ala florence style), something like Penang's Char Kuey Tiau or Ipoh's White Coffee. After the heavy but satisfying lunch, we went about walking around Florence. We were walking by a row of shops when something caught our eyes, a table with chess sets on it. The best thing about it is that the table was the chess board and the whole set came at a cool 4 figures. Now that's a chess set that costs an arm and leg to buy! Dinner was at McD since by the time we reached home we'd be too tired to cook. The interesting part was that condiments such as tomato sauce is not provided f.o.c. but instead one has to pay 0.10 euros for a packet of ketchup. Apparently the Italians hate ketchup as it tastes artificial and the only reason why they have ketchup packets are to for foreigners.



The Ponte Vecchio is behind us.


Inside the Doumo.


Stopping to pose for photos on the way up. Btw, there were over 400 steps to the top!


The view from the top of the Doumo.



Back on ground zero.



What's green with three wheels and has a motorcycle engine and handlebars instead of a driving wheel? Don't know? Me neither!


The next day started early as we had to line up to get into the Vatican city. We got there at 7.20am which by then the queue was about 200m long. If waiting in line in the wee hours of the morning wasn't bad enough, we were standing out there in the cold without much sunlight. Even a steaming cup of hot chocolate wasn't good enough to keep us from freezing but the wait was well worth it once we reached the Sistine Chapel. The walls and the ceiling were hand painted by Michelangelo's paintings and they were truly a sight to behold. How one man managed to paint all of it is anyone's guess. By the time we came out of the vatican city, the queue had grew very much longer and I'd estimate it to be at least 2km. As they say, the early bird gets the worm. ;) Dinner was at a pizza restaurant recommended by Anthony which is one of the few pizza diners that uses charcoal to bake its pizza. The moment I sank my teeth into the pizza, every other pizza I've tasted in my entire life faded away. Even the pizza in Milan was no match against what I was eating. The dough was soft and pliant while being firm and crunchy at the same time. The topping was bursting with flavours and the balance between the base and the topping was perfect. If I had to rate the pizza on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd gladly give it 11! We wrapped up the night by going to some of the scenic places at night such as the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.



Dig in!


Inside the Vatican museum.

The day's itinerary included visiting the Partheneon and various parts of Rome (I forgot some/most of the names) Taking a short break from walking, we were brought to two ice-cream shops, one after the other in the span of 1.5 hours. To put it simply, Italian ice-cream never tasted to good! The smoothness and texture was comparable to the likes of Hagen Dazs. The most popular flavour is chocolate and rightly so as the chocolate ice-cream was full bodied. None of that 'chocolate' flavoured ice-cream which they sell in supermarkets. Even Hagen Dazs' "Belgium chocolate" could not match the full bodied taste of the dark/semi-sweet chocolate ice-cream. The chocolate in it was so pronounced, eating it felt as if I was biting into a bar of dark chocolate except that it was in the form of an ice-cream. In the evening we decided to a bit of cycling before heading home so all five of us rented a bike. With four guys at the pedals and a gal managing the camera, it wasn't long before we started our crazy antics with the bicycle which nearly tipped over at one point and almost hitting the curb at another. At first we were peddling leisurely around the park but as soon as we saw a road bump, we started peddling furiously towards it and boy did we go over that hump with a bump! The onlookers could only look on and shake their head in amazement and disbelief at our boundless energy and our cycling frenzy. Anthony went slightly bonkers from the beginning by honking the horn at anyone he thought was in the way. His honking seemed to have annoyed a mutt as it tried to take a bite out of him while we were passing by. Dinner was courtey of chef Anthony who whipped up fried rice balls with mozzarella in it and a japanese dish which looked like fried eggs.



At Piazza Poppolo.


Indulging in ice-cream at Giollitii's Ice-Cream Parlor.


In front of Fendi's on the designer's street.


The calm before the storm.


The ride of terror!


San Angelo's Castle.


Dinner in Italy!


On the last day, our first stop was the Vatican post office where we dropped off our respective postcards. Then we went we went around town shopping for memorabilia and souvenirs. Anthony stocked up his fridge for the tonight's full course dinner; for starters it was an Italian dish which consisted of chopped tomatoes on a slice of toasted bread with a liberal dressing of olive oil on the top. The first main course of the night was Anthony's specialty, lasagna and the second dish was grilled sausages with smoked cheese. A bowl of salad wrapped up the entire meal and the dessert was fruits. Before the stroke of midnight we went up to the rooftop and popped a bottle of champagne to commemorate the new year. Fireworks lit up the Rome's sky and the air was filled with festive laughter and merriment.



Dropping by St. Peter's Square again for some pictures.


Sending off postcards back to Malaysia!


Parting was the hard part since it had been so much fun while we were in Italy and I'll definitely miss the pasta, pizza and ice-cream and Anthony’s cooking after I'm gone. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience being able to visit Italy. Given the opportunity I'd gladly jump on the next plane to Rome for a second trip around Italy. :P