Sunday, December 30, 2007
Happy New Year
I'm recovering from fever. No more high temperature, but still a bit tired. Hopefully the fever wouldn't return. I'm begining to wonder, does it (fever) got some thing to do with my internal clock. Around the same time last year, I had a fever too!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Italy: Trip Recaps
Okay, this is my last entry on the Italy trip. I just remembered I haven't done the recap for Italy. I did it for Thailand, and China. So I should do it for Italy too. So here goes:
1. Celcom partner is Vodafone. Should have better international roaming rate. 3G works just fine. Only they charge by bytes (not sure about the rate). Let just say, with all the SMS, phone calls and internet browsing using my T5, my telephone bill wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. No need tweak the configuration if you already have the phone set up for internet connection in Malaysia.
2. Shopping. From non-shopaholic view point, leather goods are of good quality and cheap especially at the small shop that don't except credit cards :). The goods look like locally made and have no recognizable brands (but then again I'm a non-shopaholic who don't know much about branded stuff). You can try haggling but don't expect the price to drop very much. It might work more to you side if you haggle discreetly with the shopkeeper.
3. Language. More people speak English in the touristy are like Rome, Florence and Pisa. They are also more 'tourist-friendly'. In less touristy area, an Italian phrase book or dictionary would help you a lot.
4. Dress smartly. Even the street vendors are impeccably dressed!
5. Shoes. Wear proper shoes. I made the mistake of not properly worn in my leather boots (the leather was still stiff). They bit my toes! Only now, after the long walks, they are properly worn in. If you go in cold weather, your shoes also should sufficiently insulate your little toes. You wouldn't want to have frost bite.
6. Take care of you belongings. I didn't have any problem. Perhaps because I wasn't smartly dressed :). But upon returning to Malaysia, I heard stories of people being pickpocket.
7. Have a great time. If you appreciate arts, culture, architecture, history, etc. you would need more than a week to see it all ;).
1. Celcom partner is Vodafone. Should have better international roaming rate. 3G works just fine. Only they charge by bytes (not sure about the rate). Let just say, with all the SMS, phone calls and internet browsing using my T5, my telephone bill wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. No need tweak the configuration if you already have the phone set up for internet connection in Malaysia.
2. Shopping. From non-shopaholic view point, leather goods are of good quality and cheap especially at the small shop that don't except credit cards :). The goods look like locally made and have no recognizable brands (but then again I'm a non-shopaholic who don't know much about branded stuff). You can try haggling but don't expect the price to drop very much. It might work more to you side if you haggle discreetly with the shopkeeper.
3. Language. More people speak English in the touristy are like Rome, Florence and Pisa. They are also more 'tourist-friendly'. In less touristy area, an Italian phrase book or dictionary would help you a lot.
4. Dress smartly. Even the street vendors are impeccably dressed!
5. Shoes. Wear proper shoes. I made the mistake of not properly worn in my leather boots (the leather was still stiff). They bit my toes! Only now, after the long walks, they are properly worn in. If you go in cold weather, your shoes also should sufficiently insulate your little toes. You wouldn't want to have frost bite.
6. Take care of you belongings. I didn't have any problem. Perhaps because I wasn't smartly dressed :). But upon returning to Malaysia, I heard stories of people being pickpocket.
7. Have a great time. If you appreciate arts, culture, architecture, history, etc. you would need more than a week to see it all ;).
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Day 9 (Sunday): Rome - KLIA
7.00am
Breakfast at the hotel. It was our last day in Italy. I had wanted to go to the park near our hotel again. However I woke up late. I had a restless night. My aching right knee woke me up every now and then through out the night.
8.30am
We already checked out of the hotel and on the bus to the airport. 40 minutes later we reached the airport in Fiumicino. We checked in our luggage and lingered for a while.
10.30am
We queued at the security check. There was a long queue. 20 minutes later, it was my turn. I emptied my pocket, put my backpack into the scanning machine. I walked into the metal detector gate. “Beeep!”. The security guard asked me to take off my boots and my scarf! Not wanting to make any scene, I obliged. Sure enough, the thing did not beep!
11.30am
After uneventful check at the immigration, and speed train ride, we reached the gate for international flight. The flight, scheduled for departure at 12.20pm got delayed.
1.20pm
We finally boarded the flight home. I though the waiting was over. But no. According to the captain, we would be delayed. There was too much traffic! Can you believe it? My first air traffic jam! The plane finally took off at 2pm.
3.30pm
That was the time on my T5. But the plane must have crossed some time zone for it was sunset. Before I knew it, I lost sense of time. More than 10,000 km later, we landed in KLIA around 7.30am Malaysian time on Monday 19th November.
Breakfast at the hotel. It was our last day in Italy. I had wanted to go to the park near our hotel again. However I woke up late. I had a restless night. My aching right knee woke me up every now and then through out the night.
8.30am
We already checked out of the hotel and on the bus to the airport. 40 minutes later we reached the airport in Fiumicino. We checked in our luggage and lingered for a while.
10.30am
We queued at the security check. There was a long queue. 20 minutes later, it was my turn. I emptied my pocket, put my backpack into the scanning machine. I walked into the metal detector gate. “Beeep!”. The security guard asked me to take off my boots and my scarf! Not wanting to make any scene, I obliged. Sure enough, the thing did not beep!
11.30am
After uneventful check at the immigration, and speed train ride, we reached the gate for international flight. The flight, scheduled for departure at 12.20pm got delayed.
1.20pm
We finally boarded the flight home. I though the waiting was over. But no. According to the captain, we would be delayed. There was too much traffic! Can you believe it? My first air traffic jam! The plane finally took off at 2pm.
3.30pm
That was the time on my T5. But the plane must have crossed some time zone for it was sunset. Before I knew it, I lost sense of time. More than 10,000 km later, we landed in KLIA around 7.30am Malaysian time on Monday 19th November.
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