have received feedback that my blog is too wordy, so here's a super-gargantuan deluge of photos for you ppl to gawk at/retch over. all these were randomly chosen and were taken over the period of dec 06 to the last few days of jun just before i returned to spore, so enjoy! ive posted them in reverse chronological order, and they recount (in grosso modo of coz) the various hols that ive had this past academic year. anw, does anyone know of a good photo host website with unlimited storage which allows me to upload my 1.5k pics all at a go, all without compromising on the photo quality?? pls recommend some to me!! seems like a pretty tall order though, as most of them allow uploads of, at best, 20 at a go, which means i wld take like forever to upload 1.5k pics!

and oh, some demarcation now to dispel those tongue-wagging about some of my exceedingly long posts. i write to de-stress when im highly strung; and seeing that i write only about proper strait-laced topics in weekly english assignments, and that i hardly ever get to write in english, this is naturally the only medium through which i can bang out any whimscal stuff that comes to mind, not to mention avoid losing touch with the english language. =) and as for posting pictures, dun get me started on my problematic ISP in france.

anyhow, let's begin. first with southern france.



our host family in Bordeaux. fantastic ppl, v warm and hospitable. can u see a drew barrymore look-alike? haha



thomas and me sand-surfing on a 117-m high sand dune in arcachon
















kelly and me









yvonne 'la catastrophe'!






saint-émilion, a wine-growing region near bordeaux



clémence, daughter of our host family. she was our tour guide in bordeaux, and in this pic, we christened her jeanne d'arc (joan of arc). doesnt she look slightly like drew barrymore?






l'opéra de Bordeaux






art. HIDEOUS art (to my undiscerning eye of coz)










and now for copenhagen. i cant rem a lot of the names of the places,save the more prominent ones. anyway, it was in early april when i went over and the weather was really gd (according to erik, i must have brought the weather from paris over with me hah).















erik! caught in the act of having some cybersex, haha. kiddin.



his bed



see his shisha waterpipe in the corner? it lost its novelty this time round as it was my 2nd time.



his guest bed, which is wider than my own one in france.



Christiana, the bohemian squatters in copenhagen. very colourful and charming. one of my fav places in e city.









e plush seats in the metro.











i was so excited when i saw this orange tree! my first time ever haha, so suaku.
































the louvre pyramids' cousins relegated to a less imposing position-- outside the metro station near erik's place



private yachts moored right outside their owners' places, how shiok is that!



if memory serves me right, this building on e waterfront is called 'Black Diamond' and is the Danish Royal Library



On to Prague.



i realised a lot of the prague pictures have this gossamer feel, which is totally different from copen.



vlatva river.






my cannabis tea, beer and my crab salad =)



ive always loved opera houses, which is why i post pics of them instead of churches and cathedrals, tho i have shots of e latter as well.






















lots of classical concerts thru'out the city. liangsi and I managed to catch a mini one.











that's dvorak immortalised in marble, and in time, just for you






the Prague coat of arms



a jewish synagogue in the jewish town



my piggity-porkity meal with my czech beer









LS and me!



my impression of bata was irrevocably glammed up when i saw this bata departmental store. blame it on our white school shoes and the unglam name which, at the back of every kid's mind back during those pri sch days, seemed to be associated with our dear neighbouring country located upnorth.









more camwhore moments









the impressive ornate clock tower



'great wall' of prague haha












Charles Bridge



prague chicks











our hotel toilet, the most impt criterion when assessing a hotel's cleanliness. this one passed with flying colours.









some river in the loire valley, france. the pictures below were taken during this châteaux trip as well.


















my phobia of visiting castles definitely worsened at the end of the trip.



ice-skating in front of hôtel de ville, paris. v proud that i didnt fall at all during e 2 hours i was there, despite it being my first time ice-skating!






we've now reached the part where zhiheng and i were in transit at zurich airport after our spain and portugal tour. for a meal for 2 at BK, it cost us a WHOPPING 30 EUROS. WTH, that could have paid for a meal for 3-4 ppl in singapore!!!



look what we saw! a SIA showcase!




first class






geisha chocolates at DFS



some disappting soup in lisbon. the bread looked like soaked tissue paper. i smiled so broadly because i had yet to taste the soup.



some back alley in lisbon, very backward for a european capital city no?



i like this postcard, cute! haha






taken in sepia mode in a tram, the above pic cldnt possibly be more befitting of a country trapped in the 70s of a time-space continuum.






i had fun spinning around on this 'ride' at some 'amusement park' we saw in belem, outside lisbon.









my annual study visa, which is due to expire in a few months' time.

alright, ive to go pack for my trip tomorrow. just realised that ive spent almost 1 wk in spore, which means ive only 7 wks left. if only time could be rewound. funny how i pined a little when i first touched down in spore, to be physically here, yet emotionally there in france; only to wish that i had more time to spend in singapore as the departure date approaches.. it's such a terrible destabilising feeling..

part deux coming up soon if patience doesnt wane with incoming workload.