Life, Travel, GRACE

As some may have known, the little country of Malaysia had its general election on 9th May. And I took this opportunity to go back to my hometown to cast my vote. Apart from that, it was time to pay my parents a visit, although we've just met in last February. Immediately after touched down at the airport, my sister fetched me to the polling station. The polling process was quite smooth. Maybe because it was already late afternoon and everyone had done their voting in the morning session. Usually, on the same night everyone would stuck in front of TV to catch the election result. Well, as for me, I met up with my high school classmates. Talked about work, life and of course politics while checking the unofficial result from our mobile phones. It was a nice catch-up. And we had it another round on the following night.

Watched this year Academy's Best Picture - The Shape of Water recently and fell in love with its score and music. After all, it also won the Best Original Score. It's a very simple story - love, hope and victory. Probably that's the ingredient of winning. On the other hand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has my upmost reverence. In my opinion, it should have won The Best Picture. The problem with this movie is that the theme of love and hope is not there. In fact, it's a movie full of hatred, revenge and foul language. But in the end, it turns out to be redemption and acceptance. Probably that could be the reason for not getting The Best Picture. And its score and music are better than The Shape of Water. Well, that's probably my personal taste.

The next day was cold as well. Decided to take up the free walking tour around the Old Town. Well, I read from internet resource saying that the Old Town is not actually old as the area has been renovated. Anyway, before joined the tour, I walked to the bus station (called Filaret) to check out the ticket, as I planned to take a bus ride to Sofia in the next few days. Residential apartments are aplenty, plus the thawing snow which made the street wet and slippery. Not a good time to walk actually. The bus station turned out to be quite run-down. Although the building facade looked ok, inside it was quite empty and run-down. Wanted to purchase advanced ticket but it was not possible. Buy on the travel day is ok, the counter lady said. So I continued my walking journey to the Union Square, where the official free walking tour should start. Good thing about this walking tour was that the history and background of the city were explained. At least I know the social impact of the constr...

Had a short trip to Eastern Europe countries in early March. Was attending a conference in Bucharest. So decided to tour some of the interesting places around Bucharest and Sofia, Bulgaria. After all, the whole region is huge. With a limited time and budget, so just settled with Bucharest and Sofia. Landed in Bucharest airport on 6 March afternoon, after a 12-hour flight from Singapore to Zurich. Was surprised to find out snow all over the places. Kinda late winter. Expected the next few days to get warmer. So the first place headed to was the conference hotel for check in. It was foggy when landed. Bucharest Airport. Quite a small size airport. Walking street along the Union Boulevald I guess that is the National Library Photos taken with iPhone 6s

It's the Lunar Chinese New Year again. Acrobatic lion dances, red packets, snacks, home travelling, and of course the standing egg.

Cheap air fare comes with a cost - odd hour departure and/or arrival, unless you buy the ticket super early, like one year in advance. In my case, the flight arrived at 2am in Kunming. Since I won't be spending time in Kunming, so the best and sensible way was to fly there instead of taking the 10-hour train ride. Thus, I bought a LCC flight ticket bound for Lijiang via Ctrip website a month before. Apart from the chaotic boarding, Lucky Air service was satisfactory. Arrived in Lijiang at 8am. Caught the airport bus just outside the arrival gate; bus fare to the city cost 20 yuan. The bus reached the city terminal which was near Xianggeli Avenue. Then took a cab ride to my hostel (which I think should be 2 km away), paid 10 yuan for the short ride, checked in into dormitory, and finally had a good nap (because I didn't have enough sleep the night before). Woke up just after noon time. And spent the day wandering the old Dayan city, which was just across the road. Was very s...