Guessed it took me quite a while, was busying with my new job as per previous post. Was also thinking whether to post these as i guess some of the writings would be pretty 'ugly' as it all depends on my mood on the ground.
Guess some maybe offended but i would want to say is, I am sorry that i think it that way before. But you know wat, i nvr put those hard things in my heart.
A friend is always a friend.
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Day 2 (Paris-Tour De Eiffel and Arc De Triomphe)
It has been a bright morning. With the sun rising at 5am and setting at almost now, 10pm. Woke up and realise the zheng family were already up. Its 7.30 though, but guess they were up coz by right, its already 2.30pm in singapore. Anyway, we had breakfast. Corn flakes that i bought last night and milk. Together with the other portion of the meat balls. After breakfast, we took a short walk at the neighbourhood supermart and planned our dinner.
Today we see the Eiffel tower. See only... Coz the queue is too long... Went to take the batobus instead, touring the river. It was a good tour down the river, picking up good photos of buildings along the river. But i guess, thats about all. Coz one stop we went to the Inst de France, the buildings were nice for photo taking, but to see some historical DICTIONARIES???... Er... We didn't go in anyway, lol. After which we wanted to take the boat to the Grande Galerie de L'evolution. Its some royal garden according to wf. In the end we opt out as we felt there were not enough time to tour Champs Elysees. End up we took one round on the batobus to Champs Elysees. Walked through the Royal Palace and the Petit Palace. The royal one was closed so we tried to walk into the petit one and suprisingly, its free!
Had our first museum walk and its terrible... Couldn't understand them at all... Mostly christian stuffs and lotsa history - one of the subjects i opt out as i hate them! But still i tried to enjoy it as the family wanted to walk around. Which i really didn't mind at all. After all, paris is all about art and history...
Had quite a long walk in it, almost 2hrs i think. Then we went to Champ Elysees (CE). The street of CE is beautiful.... Very beautiful that i wanted to walk in the middle of the road to snap a photo. But when i really had a chance, my cam hanged... Sadly, we crossed underground to the actual site. CE is a great structure! Standing right below it, i can see all the details of the sculptures. Impressive! But sadly we didn't get to go to the highest deck to see coz its too 'expensive', 9 euros...
Walk back down the CE, da jie went LV store and paid 1.25k for a purse and bag. Nice, but i feel its way too exp for it... Wf n wife also got stuffs from addidas. Their fav brand. Ended the day with a mad rush to the supermart. But all is too late... Even with me racing forward, i couldn't catch the security guard pulling off the second grill.
That more or less end my day here. Unsatisfied... Worst thing is, even when i tried to plan the trip with wf at the dining table, lots of our suggestions were over-ruled by da jie. Musee Du Louvre might be taken out! Coz she felt we didn't complete the Petit Palace which was free, and didnt wanna go for the 6 euros one... Omg... Dun wanna think about tml le. Too many disappointing stuffs. Maybe next time here ba... Hopefully tml is better...
Wf, if you are reading this, i am sorry. I am jus pening my thoughts. You know i won't want to say these things on the spot. I understand your position too, but some of the things, i feel, if even you can't voice out, wat can i do? Some more i am not very familiar with Paris. I will try to stand firm my ground with the stuffs i researched in London and Glasgow. Hope everything goes as planned...
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Day 3 (Musee Du Louvre)
After a very long day, i am finally on my bed. Jus had dinner, marinate the pork chop, shower and wash my clothes. Its already 12midnight. 7am in sg. Guess i dun hav much jetlag. Maybe when i return home ba. :)
Not a bad day today. Though we actually slacked to noon then set off. Breakfast was a long walk in the super market, something josh would really love. Lol. To making breakfast or rather lunch. Then bought the stuffs back to cook... save $$$ but definately wasting precious time... After which we went to 'Galarie la Fatteye' Paris alternative to Singapore Taka. Though everywhere was marking soldes, soldes, soldes. Meaning sale, we guessed, but prices were still singapore-like. Meaning, same values as singapore, but you must remember to multiply the exchange rate. Eg. A big mac meal cost around to 6€ equilivant to $12.
Next, we finally decided to go to the Lourve, and i was overwhelmed! Reached the place and there was a huge park infront of the museum, wanted to take a walk in, but the Zheng family was tired after the walk to the place. End up i rushed thru the park. Taking photos as i go. I guessed it worth the walk. It beautiful. the we hanged around to wait for 6pm to come, so that we could get the cheap tickets. Once inside, I managed to zoom pass 'Musee du Louvre'. Its "the place" to go when you are in Paris. Esp after reading the Davinci code. Not tat i have remember much. Jus that the book brought me closer to Mona Lisa and the two glass pymarid. It was a huge place, so i suggested splitting up to walk, esp when wf was holding on to the interactive audio device, and the rest (or rather me) were jus waiting for him to finish hearing the story of each artifact...
I am not the history student, as i think i hav mentioned previously. So being in the 'Louvre' is purely taking photos and seeing as many things as i can. And i guess it paid off. Though i end up with very tired legs, i managed to zoom pass almost 80% of the place. Stopping to take popular pictures. :) took pictures until both batt were out, and had to use my n95 to supplement...
After which is bye bye The Louvre...
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Day 5. (Disneyland)
Notice tat i didn't write yesterday, coz was busy having fun with Janice's gang. A bit bout yesterday ba.
Went to the Chateau de Versaillies. It was a great place. Beauty palace with beautiful paintings. Even the ceilings were not spared! Took more then 4hrs to complete. Then there was this huge, i saw again, HUGE garden. Even larger then the one at the louvre. Didn't managed to walk it coz nobody was interested. But managed to took some great photos. :) In the chateau, we met janice and gang. That is why i got a chance to join them. All thanks to them, i had great company visiting the Effiel tower.
But something bigger happen when we were there. Jus when we queueing for the tickets. A police officer came and disperse the queue. Feeling very lost and blur, we hanged on to see wats going on. All sort of ideas ran thru my head. Was it due to the fact that someone threw something over the top? Someone committed sucide? Or a terrorist bomb? Apparantly, it could be a bomb, coz we saw this small bag tucked below some benches which were in the area tat was cordoned off. Suddenly, we were sure of our guesses when one officer walk towards the bag. Did something and walk out. We didn't know wat was going on. Next time we heard, was a loud bang! Something exploded! But nothing happened... Apparantly, the officer planted a small bomb we guess, to defuse the bomb. Mmm... Then again, it seems wrong... Wat if it is really a bomb? Staying right below the tower is not really the good idea right? But as ttypical Singaporeans, we kinda "kapoed" all the way.
After realising tat it is a hoax, we realised its a good time to get close to the queue. And we hurried in. True enough, we managed to squeeze our way in for a quicker way up.
View at the top was breath-taking... Basically because the wind was very strong and cold, had to take hasten our breathing. :) But it is way too beautiful... I also say, your wouldn't hav been to Paris unless you been on top of the Effiel tower. And i am right! Esp when we had the chance to see the setting of the sun. Took numerous photos, maybe you all can see them later. :) Spent total 3hrs on top before we set down, and saw the mystical flashing of the lights on the tower. It was like a fairy tale... Food was up after tat, when we settled for some italian restaurant. Where we had lots of food! Yummy!
The day had to end before we depart to our individual resting point. For me, its a long way back... Reached the hotel close to 2am before i settle down and sleep...
As for today, there is nothing much. Took the train to disney, check in before walking to the park. Here, its much better them japan coz there were lesser queue. Maybe because we never take any ride. Watched three shows and there was one bout a real guy, trapped into the film by some magician. And a wonderful mixture of disney shows like titanic, mary poppins etc. How this guy managed to get out and eventually returned to the film to be together with his love one. Ah... Wat a love story... Its the props used that made it more interesting as we were illusioned to see the guy disappeared and reappeared. After which we went to see the lilo and stich live. Which smartly puts stich in some interactive shows with the crowd. We were amazed how the cartoon can play with the flow of the crowd, crack funny jokes with us. And even captured photos of the crowd! Interesting! Next we went to watch a motor stun show, showing how stuns were made and it was a great show. Other shows like the Armagaddeon were stupid... Subsequently end the day with a turtle ride from the finding nemo show. Which was a fantastic ride! Gotta sleep liao... Early morning tml... Buffet breakfast! Must be american breakfast! My fav! Yeah!
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Day 6. (Disneyland)
Judging from the fact tat i am out of my room, drinking martini and eating a giant hotdog, i guess its pretty much a unhappy time of the day... Well, maybe i shouldn't put so much unhappiness in this blog and focus on the good ones ba... Sigh...
Breakfast, unhappy too... Since there is no hotdog, which explain my neck now... No eggs... Jus 4 types of ham and bread bread bread... Sad 1... But luckily it was compensated with some good ride in the park.
Today, we went to the disney studio again to take those ride tat we missed yesterday. But the park will only open from 9.30 and there is already lotsa people queueing. Talk about 'kaisu' people... Mad rush to queue the hollywood tower. But no one wanna acc me... Sigh... Sad 2... So end up taking it alone. Queueing alone is so sad... People giving you the funny eyes too... But luckily the ride was nice and i bought photo of me with the special cover.
Next join the rest beside xiaomei to the roller coaster ride. Easily the best ride in the park. Tough decision between the crush's ride and this. Both were entertaining. :)
After tat xiaomei and wf went back hotel to grab more clothing while the rest of us took the tower ride. Managed to convinced 'da jie' tat the ride was not scary, but it is. Lol. So the three of us took the ride. You should see the eyes of 'da jie' man! Lol. After we were suppose to meet up with wf one but the heavy pain stop us from going over. Auntie and 'da jie' were exploring the shopping centre hence i decided to run across to the Disneyland park to find wf. Very wrong choice... Took another 20mins circling in and out of the park but to not avail... So i ran back in the rain to explain the situation to auntie. But when i return, i nvr see anybody... End up searching for them instead. Jus when i was about to give up, auntie appear... So i brought them all to Disneyland to see see loh. Who knows, also when we gave up and wanna took the round the park train ride, then we saw them. Talk about lucky man! Got back together and we took one sound the park before going for lunch.
Lunch was great! Managed to took many photos of some disney character. Lunch was the best meal we had after we left singapore. We got pork ribs, nugget, chicken, fish and pasta. Had huge servings of them before we left. Yum yum. For details see photos. :) took a few more rides before we settled down for the 7pm parade.
The parade was nice. Finally had a chance to see eyeore too! But didn't had a chance to hug him! After the parade, we were rushing madly for shopping. Took us 1hr to clear the place. By the time we were dead tired.
At this point of time, i jus wanna rest. From my blur look, you can see. But wf suggest lazing around till the night parade. As i was almost giving up on staying and wanted to go back rest, xiaomei walk up and says they were tired and wanna go back, but didn't wanna disappoint me and hence suggested me staying in the park alone and see the night parade... Sianz... Somehow, i felt they wanna some private space, hence i didn't suggested going back too... Turn out auntie and da jie appear out of no where. And hence i was pushed to stay with them... Sad 3...
Luckying, i didn't wanna stick to them. Rest in tat position and took some walk before going to find some seats for the night parade. Nothing to do, cannot go back, means stay there and dun waste time. :)
Waited for one the nightz parade. It was nice, including the fireworks. But to watch it alone, sad 4... All is done before i walked back with my hotdog and drinks. Well... Thats about all... The martini is driving right up to my head as i see mistakes here and there already... Gtg. Night...
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Day 8 (Paris - London - Glasgow)
On board eurostar back to london before transfering to Glasgow. Yesterday didn't write coz i was trying to finish the martini. Guess, two cups of martini neat made me really sleepy...
Two full and two half days at Disney, really allow us to finish most of the rides in the park, luckily for the various fastpass tickets that allow us to skip quite a lot of queue. It is definately not possible to complete all the rides in a day. Meals in the park were acceptable, i am definately not talking bout the breakfast. Day one, we had lunch at the Lucky nugget saloon where we had chances to take photos with various disney character, not eyeore though... Didn't get to see him during my stay... T_T. But got chance to hug pooh though. :) The second day, we ate at the ratatouie themed restaurant. But it was not really very ratty. We were saying there should be remy and emiole characters walking around to attract people. But then again, they dun really need tat as the queue was super long to get in. Last, we jus had some fine food at the Steakhouse. Where their three course meal was truely satisfying! Had the scallop soup for starters, which was marvelous! Presentation was also nice too. The main course i had rump steak. Lightly seasoned rump meat with fries and salad with never get wrong. Though they didn't cook to my request. Asking for medium rare and i guess they mixed up with medium well... Desserts was baileys irish cream burlee. Which was once again, well presentated and nice. Yummy. :)
Finally we have to part Disneyland, but somehow, i dun really miss it that much. Guess the next time i visit this place, i would be pretty old then, unless there are people who are interested and would wanna go on the next three years. :) Do remember to call me hor!
Long train ride to london, guess i will walk down and hav a look at the galley or cafe they hav on the train. :) Au voir!
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Day 12 (Glasgow)
Its been a while since i last written. Now stranded in bed as i am down with stomach flu. Didn't want to go to isle of sky with them. Worried tat i will be looking for toilet here and there. But guess i can take a walk down the city. Which should be quite alright. :)
Updates for the previous day.
Jus after we reach glasgow, we took the car and travelled to edinburgh. Had a walk down the royal mile and returned to meet up with some of our classmates at night, who were here too.
The next day, graduation day! Gathered at our NAME building and took lotsa photos. Graduation process was long but exciting. Although we jus walked over to the chancelier to shake hands with him, then he will tap our head with his cap, I was still excited. I tried to make a difference by trying to shake his hand longer and greeted him. Managed to see a smile on his face. :) After tat, i even managed to see him and took a photo with him. Yeah!
After graduation, we met up with kali, who was my classmate from adv dip class and travelled over to glasgow to take this course. He brough us to one chinese buffet restaurant. Initially, he wanted to bring us to a indian restaurant, but i strongly disagree... Lol. Had a great meal there. Great variety of food. Maybe the pics will speak more. After more then 2hrs chat and food there we finally bidded goodbye.
Yesterday, we went to the town centre for shopping although the itinerary was to travel to oban and fort williams. But we woke up real later hence we decide to do some shopping. Which was a good decision coz i actually had the best shopping experience! Bought lotsa stuffs too! But the mark and spencer staff was a really slow sia! Was trying to get the VAT refund done, waited almost 15mins before one girl came. After telling her i need to do the vat refund, she brought out a box. Fumbling through the box, she took out four booklet and flipped through. I could see tat its in a mess. After finally finding one empty page right in the middle of the booklet, she began looking for something. Then she says she need to go get a calculator. But the bloody cal was right in front of her! She apologised saying its her first time doing this... Then she started adding up the prices of the items that i hav bought. Der... Isn't it on the recipet? Ok... She needs to reconfirm, never mind. But she dun know how to use the bloody cal! She started pressing 5.00, yes exactly 5 and the dot and zero zero... As she continue, she actually mixed up the decimal place! So instead of 19.50, she press 1950... For four times... Then she apologised for mixing up the decimals... I smiled... But was a little bit irritated... After a whole long while, she finally finished the process, and i had to rush to meet the others coz i was late. And you know wat? I got back to the hotel to realised that that girl didn't sign at the right place... Damn! Now i hav to go and find the shop again... Waste time...
Still feeling bad with my diarraehe, but hav to go and change the recipet. Maybe more shopping. Lol
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Day 12 (Sauchiehall street)
Walking with a empty and grumbling stomach thru the chilling streets is no joke... Wanted to grab some fish and chips or hotdogs but somehow the smell makes me want to throw up... Atlas, i couldn't tahan the wind and settled down at one cafe, drinking my earl grey, sadly without milk as i guessed its not so nice to drink milk now. T_T. The banana and toffee muffin is very nice and light. Taste great over my tea. :) Mission today is to get my vat refund corrected, do more shopping (as we missed one big shopping mall yesterday) and watch a movie! Lol. Alright then, back to my breakfast. To be updated later. :) [1130hrs]
Well, didnt get my VAT done, coz i bloddy hell forgot to bring the reciept. Walked around the city and eventually took the Tour bus around the city. Managed to see some nice n historical buildings and parks. Took one whole round before changing bus to go to the Quay. Previously pass by the quay area and found that there were bowling alleys, casino, food blar blar. Guessed its a interested place to go. But the walk from the quayside to the place was a really far, took me 20mins to reach the place. N still down with stomach flu, its quite an unbearable walk. Turn out, there is really nothing to do down there. Short time there and inthe end i took a bus back to the central to
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Day 13 (London-Fairway hotel)
Sleeping time, 2215 local time. Tired, though we didn't walk as much. Tml gotta wake up early to go for the stonehenge tour. So far, london has been a exp city. Traveling is exp, £1.50 around the city till a max of £5.30. Hotel is more ex, we spent 85 a night for three. Meal is ex too... £10 for fish and chips with some sides. A decent meal will cost you more then £20, which will mean something like eating at the line at shang ri la...
Went to madame tussauds in the morning. Stupid systems made me travel all the way to the london eye to collect the tickets as i booked there and have to pick up the tickets there first... Wasted almost 30 mins to get the tickets and had to rush through the wax figures. The moment we went in, we were frantically taking photos. Thanks to xiaomei, our photographer of the day, took many photos. :)
After which we went to harrods. Never managed to take photos as i didn't bring my cam, wf and xiaomei went back as xiaomei is not feeling well. Harrods is a beautiful place. Every room is designed with taste and suit individual category. Nice. But the stuffs were extremely expensive. Even though they have up to 50% sale, its still ex... End up an empty trip back. Dun think will get anything here, every thing is extremely exp. Maybe jus sigh seeing and photo taking for memory ba.
Got to sleep liao, wf already snoring loudly across the bed. Oh, the room was bigger then the glasgow one, but lower standards. Maybe the pictures will tell more. :)
Nightz!
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Day 14 (Fairway hotel)
Went on a stone henge tour today. Guess me and wf were the only two who really enjoyed the whole tour. Sigh...
Breakfast was TRUE english breakfast! Eggs, bacon, and sausages! Love it! Then we rushed to victoria station to join the tour.
In the tour, we first went to wincester. Some small town with a small catheral. Thats about all we see! It was i short stop. Next we went to the stone henge. It was a long tiring drive, further more the guide was talking so much, that if you missed a part, you would not know wat he was talking about. But alas, we reached the place. Some how i was drawn by the mystical powers of the stone, as well as the interesting fact that people of the pass managed to get such huge stones on top of each other! Maybe i would be equally amazed when i see the egyptian pyramid. But the rest seems bored out. Esp xiaomei, who took half the time we took to walk round the stones. The audio guides made the walk more interesting with interesting facts and myths about the stones. One thing for sure, no one knows wat the stones were build for.
After we toured the stones, we went to roman bath, which i initially tot we will actually see people bathing there. Lol. But it was not la, its ancient bath house tat was restored to its previous beauty. Or rather to its beauty when ever the archeologist can find and restore its stones. :) they were in pretty much bits and pieces... But they were interesting as well. We even had a chance to drink its water, which had a filthy and unpleasant taste. Yuck!
After tat, we were send back to central london. Otw, the guide mentioned half price theatre tickets from leicester square. So after reaching london, i decided to make a trip there and try my luck. Wf sis and mum took their own walk down the station while xiaomei went back to the hotel to rest.
Trip to leicester square was worthwhile, end up i got myself i ticket to see Les Miserable! It cost me £36 though, but i guess i will enjoy it! Although there is no company, as wf and xiaomei wanna save up for duty free and the next two days expenses...
Well, guess its gonna be a solo night for me tml!
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Day 15 (Costa cafe opp Queen's theatre)
Great day today! After many great things of course!
Had our england breakfast as usual befor we set of to buckingham palace. Decided to give the parade a miss after friends tell us its not worth the worth. Thinking tat we didn't not hav much time too, hence we decided to set out early and visit the palace before setting off for a cruise ride at the river thames. Walked thru st james park and managed to tricked a few squirrels to get close to me for a photo. :p Then we walk towards the big ben and the river. Had a short disagreement with wf's sis again. We, or rather i prefer to take the river cruise to view the various bridges. But she prefer to save and take buses. But the buses will not get you great views to the bridges! Esp london bridge! You might get a chance to see it 'falling down'! In the end i suggested breaking up before meeting up again to take the london eye. And so we did. We even managed to trick a discount! Told this to his mum. And they were interested. By the time we were already boarding the cruise. From the cruise we saw them sitting back at the seat with a big frown on wf's mum face. Guessed maybe they didn't get the discount or da jie dun want to take the ride...
Ride was windy, as at every where else in london. You could see people serving by the park and squares as it was lunch time. We got off the cruise and walked to tower bridge. Realising that the nicer bridge was called tower bridge and london bridge is jus a normal bridge. Cross the bridge and too the cruise back to the london eye. Only on the cruise, thru the captain's guide, i realise tat the name 'big ben' is only the name of the bell inside! Actually the name of the place is st steven's church! Lol.
Walked over to the london eye and found da jie and wf's mum. Told them that they could sneak in with the tickets we used to board the cruise again! Lol only singaporeans will do that i guess. As its a hop-on hop-off pass! So i guess wf's mum must be happy now. :)
Anyway, the london eye was not really tat fantastic i guessed... Jus some paramonic views of the river and the buildings. Hence, i was frantically taking photos. Trying to make my £££ worth. After 25 mins, we were back on ground...
Parted the seniors as they took the cruise and we took a long ride to finsbury. Supposely the station where its near to emirates stadium. Yes! We are going to arsenal stadium! It was a dream! Esp when i hav one chelsea and one man u fan with me! Initially wanted to jus smell the air there and feel the stadium. But end up.... I was in a shopping spree... All thanks to my two great buddies. Who managed to burn a huge hole on my pocket! Total damage, £85... Though there is a £5 vat refund. Got myself two polo tee, one scarf, one towel, one bear and an golf umbrella. Pics to be loaded soon. Although i dun think i am much a hard core arsenal fan, but i hav been supporting it pretty much. So i guess, its kinda worth it. :p
After tat, i parted my two buddies before setting out to catch my first musical in london! Les miserables! Actually now already seating opp the theatre and the doors are open. Will update the show later. Gotta go in liao! Maybe will grab more gifts. Omg...
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Day 15 (Fairway hotel)
Back at the hotel. Truely enjoyed the show. Love the voice of 'Javert', the policeman in the show. They also have this huge rotating stage which make walking real as it turns in the opp direction. Many things could be done too with this, they could set up the props behind in the dark while the main cast was singing away in front.
The turn out was almost full. Well, as far as my level is. I was sitting in the dress stall. Four rolls from behind. Initially tot it was four rolls to the front when i got the tics. Guessed i was too excited then. But nevertheless, the view was unobstructed. But the sound was a bit off. Luckily they hav speakers right in front of me, so sound was fake, but loud enough.
Got to go le. Xiaomei is shhhing away wf's snoring. Lol. Guess its a bit too loud for her today, as i could heard her tossing here and there. Guess my typing might hav irritated her to so got to sigh off.
Returning tml! Whoo hoo!
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Day 16 (TG911 Plane back to singapore)
Life's cold... At least tat is how i am feeling now. Shoved away to the aisle alone, with not more then 2 people within my perimeter. Wat do you get? Less warmth, and more cold. Yah, jus feeling cold and alone.
Well, i kinda volunteered out myself though, though not after i heard more them three times of the signal. Yah, i know how to be automatic. You two wanna hav your own space, fine... I can survive alone, well, as far as now a guess... Not that i am not indepentent, jus tat i enjoyed company more. And duh, sitting on a plane of 10 hours alone do make a guy like me bored out. Or rather sitting on a plane jus talking thanks, please, chicken... Is sure bored.
This lead me to my time on my container ship, kota hadiah, jus tat during tat time, i could jus shout out loud to the sea, and the sea will reply me with splashes to the hull of the ship, wind blowing on cheeks. Well... The plane talking to me now too! With its aircon blowing sound and sound of metal cutting thru the body of the plane.
Sigh... I jus dun like to be alone...
So this is the test, Lamborghini. See the nice blue flame.
She also drink it. Al thanks to Justin who bought us the drinks.
We survived!!!
Those were not the only drinks! We drank a total of two bottles of terquila. lol
