Torino, Italy

The world has its eyes on Torino in Italy as it hosts the Winter Olympics this year. As for me, I will always remember it as a quaint town full of kindness :). Torino was our second stop after Milan during our backpacking trip last year, and during our 2 days stay there, we encountered such wonderful and warm treatment from the locals that really touched our hearts. Woonie calls them the "Good Samaritans" and writes a post about them in her Europe blog http://huiwooneurope05.blogspot.com/. But anyway, just to recap and remember them here:

1) A young lady told us how to get a bus to our camp destination when we alighted from the bus (I think the bus driver asked her to inform us as he can't really speak English and the young lady could, a bit:P). Anyway, the lady repeated to us twice just so we get it:P

2) Woonie wanted to get some stamps for her postcards but as they have run out and only had 1.40euros stamps left (which is more than we will need to send the postcard back to Malaysia), she decided not to buy them yet. An uncle who was in the shop while all these happened promptly bought the stamps FOR her :).

3) While we were busy looking at the city map at a bus stop, an uncle, who hardly spoke English:P, tried his best to give us directions (we found out that our campsite was across the River Po so we would have to get a bus headed that way) and as he had limited English, asked around the other locals at the bus stop to try and explain to us. He finally found a lady (who looks quite Asian ) who could speak English and as the lady was also taking the bus, we followed her when the bus came.

4) In the bus, the lady who spoke English deliberately missed her stop just so she can bring us to our destination. The bus didn't go straight to the campsite, so she hailed us a cab and instructed the cab driver where to go. On another interesting note, the lady almost got mugged in front of our eyes in the bus when a young man tried to snatch her handphone away from her =o/)


5) The next day, while me and Woonie were buying Gelati (yummy fresh Italian Ice Cream:)), the waiter patiently served us and gave us his opinions on which flavours go best with which (there was so much to choose from!!!:P) Even the two young men behind us (not sure whether they were locals or tourists though:P) waited patiently for us to make our gelati choices and they didn't rush us or anything:P When we had chosen and purchased our gelati, the waiter, seeing that we were tourists and all, took out 2 tiny Italian flags with flourish and "cucuk" it in our gelati:P

6) As me and Woonie were hiking uphill to our camp (yup its on top a hill overlooking Torino), we saw the abang who ran the campsite driving up in his pick-up. Sure enough, we got a lift back to camp:).

7) The family that ran the grocery store cum canteen at the campsite allowed me and Woonie to recharge her laptop and my digicam there. We bought a small bottle of Fanta from there since they were so nice (remember this was the ultimate budget trip so even a purchase of soft drink is not something to take lightly). The grocery uncle took the money, then took our small bottle of Fanta and exchanged it with the bigger bottle at no extra charge:)


Yup, Torino..it's all good. But then, what else can you expect from a place that gave us that heavenly delight called Ferrero Rocher?;) Hehe, here's hoping that I get to go again (with more money granted:P) so that I can indulge myself in the chocolates that Torino is famous for! :)

For more tourist information on Torino, surf over to:
http://www.turismotorino.org/index.php?id=531&navCmd=reset
(hmm...the ChocoPass sounds nice:))

Happy Valentine's Day :)

Initially I wanted to get myself a limited edition couple's t-shirt for Valentine's Day, but the design that I liked didnt have the size that I wanted anymore :(. Ah well, I suppose I can take comfort in the fact that, after all these years, I am finally 'qualified' to get myself one of those couple t-shirts should I want to:P. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!:)

Frustrations

"job satisfaction", "value your employees and people", "equal opportunity employer", "career development", "be yourself!"...are all just idealistic terms that do not exist in the real world.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Every time i read a new Harry Potter book, it's like falling in love all over again :)...
I can't bear to think that the next installment will be the last, and yet at the same time I can't wait for it to come out, as Book 6 is nothing short of BRILLIANT. In this book, our boy Harry has undoubtedly crossed the line separating boy and MAN. :) Fantastic book! I absolutely love this JK Rowling woman! :) Now if only the movies will do the books justice...



For the record, I generally enjoy the HP movies, when taken at face value and seen as merely movies (love LOVE the actors =D), but if I am to judge the movies as adaptation films of the books, then yes, they are sadly lacking in the Oomph and impact and rich details that grips you when you read a Harry Potter book (regardless of how many times you have read it ;) ).

Roots

For Ah Ching, Yuk Mee, Bao Shu, Yik Yung, Izan...you guys will always be part of my roots and I appreciate how our friendship still remain strong after all these years :)

Above is an excerpt from my final year thesis dedication page (Ah Ching says that it is the longest dedications she has ever seen ahah:P) Went house visiting with a few friends during Chinese New Year, and after half a day of long talks, laughs and good food, it made me realize, and fully appreciate again, the magic of shared memories, history and friendships :)

有你们真好：) 新的一年里， 还是想要祝大家老套的一句话：
友谊永固。。。