It was just hot hot hot, which simply reminded me of Singapore. The first day saw us arriving in Girona @ 10am, thereafter making a 1hr+ journey via Barcelona bus into the heart of Barcelona, dropping us at Arc de Triomf.
We made our way to La Rambla, just 3 stops away, at a budget hostel called Apartments in Barcelona II. How apt. Despite the seemingly nice place (La Rambla), our hostel was situated on a quiet street - extremely dodgy. This wasn't helped by frequent "reports" of how unsafe Barcelona was and the potential encounters with thieves and robbers. We were, however, blessed to survive Barcelona unscathed.
I had great expectations of Barcelona, from the various reviews and kind remarks by friends and the rave feedback on the internet. The first day saw us hitting the various "touristy" attractions - La Rambla, Casa Mila, Plaza Catalunya and Sagrada Familia, the last one being extremely impressive and I must say the highlight of this trip, along with Montserrat (see below). Climbing up 100m of narrow spiral stairway is no mean feat and the clean breeze and nice view of Barcelona from the top makes it rewarding. The heart, though, shouldn't take such stress unless properly trained. The night was spent wandering around the Ancient City, near La Rambla.
The second day saw us heading towards the "serrated mountains" - Montserrat. We set off at 9am to catch the train leaving from Espanya. After what resembled a wild goose chase and €25, we set off for Monistrol for the tram up the mountains to Montserrat. The journey took us more than an hour. We rested i.e. slept, along the way and woke up to beautiful, nature-sculptured mountains.
Montserrat was certainly an awesome sight, which ranks alongside Colosseum and the Vatican City as highlights of our trips so far. We spend about an hour at the monastery before embarking on the various routes which you could see on the photo forum. The searing heat plus the long dirt roads make for tired legs and we could only manage 3 routes before calling it a day at Montserrat. We then began our journey back to Barcelona. We stopped at Espanya, just minutes away from the Olympic site of Montjuic.
We spent our last full day in Barcelona by visting Parc Guell and FC Barcelona, the latter second-best club after Arsenal FC. The stadium was awesome and a very well-maintained field which, again, will rank second to the Emirates Stadium. We were shown around the stadium, the museum and saw the CL cup (incidently stolen from the Marble Hall). I actually had a TV interview there (how I felt about the place) by TV3! It took a whole full day to tour the two places. We then spend the evening at Barceloneta and Port Olimpico. The beach was (quite) nice and we had paella rice as a final flourish to our enjoyable time in Barcelona.
Guess I will end here as words speak later than words. So check out our photo album!
Barcelona
Monday, June 19, 2006
Monday, May 22, 2006
Road Trip to Cornwall (27 to 29 May 2006)
Attacking King Arthur's Mount... You can tell how dangerous and tiring it was...
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Monday, April 17, 2006
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Monthly Update (February 2006)
Gosh, it's already 2 months since the last posting. Guess the "shorter" days here in winter means I need to hibernate. The theme of the month REALLY ought to be PRAISE God. Remember the 5 prayer items? God answered them in the most amazing ways!
1. Church - Having visiting All Souls, Hillsongs and Emmanuel Evangelical, we have finally decided on the last. Our first visit was especially memorable, as we spent some time in Westminister hunting down the church, albeit its location amongst "more-renowned" churches. A healing session was on-going and people starting screaming, crying and speaking in tongues. What's that for a first visit by Covenantals!?! Thankfully we spotted someone from Xueyan's former church and turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We were then introduced to other Singaporeans and Malaysians, many whom are students. The church congregation is mainly Asian and African as well as having a Singaporean senior pastor. We have been there for a month and it looks like settling in. Finding a cell group will be next for us. Please keep us in prayer.
2. The flat has been sorted after a plumber came by to fix the boiler. I have also brought in certain stuff like a study table and chair to accomodate my laptop as well as to facilitate studying. The rent is significantly lower than what mu neighbours are paying and the close walking distance to work has enabled me to spend less time on travelling and, of course, waking up later (no later than 7am though!). Home-cooked job is also no longer a luxury as Xueyan dutifully plays her part in serving good food (just had baked rice and steamed cod fish the other day). Please pass on quick-to-serve recipes to her.
3. Xueyan has also gotten a job on her last day before she travelled back to Singapore. We were certainly despondent in the days leading up to her departure, having experienced rejections by companies (and one by Barcap no less). We prayed about it and asked, God willing, to open the door for her before she returns to Singapore. Well, the rest is history and now she's a global colleague of Shwu Min.
4. Journey Mercy. The Paris trip was certainly good and I simply loved the place despite the "commercialization" of the city. The little good of The Da Vinci Code came as I got myself familiarised with the place. My bit French came in useful (on rare occasions) and I hardly draw close to the local cuisine. Well, except for the chocolate crepes. Next stop on the itinerary will be Rome in April and, hopefully, Amsterdam in May. Stay tuned as we will update you guys shortly.
5. Studies. School will start on 24 April 2006, barely 2 months from now. Please pray for me as I try to source the funding for my studies (£20K for the entire course, £10K payable in April).
His blessings have been awesome and I am sure it will not cease. Do continue to pray as we seek to be more involved in church.
As a matter of fact, I have been stuck in bed for the last 2 days with a phelgmatic throat and a nose who has mistaken itself for a running top. That means I really need to rest soon. It's good reading the emails from you guys and God bless your exciting days ahead!
1. Church - Having visiting All Souls, Hillsongs and Emmanuel Evangelical, we have finally decided on the last. Our first visit was especially memorable, as we spent some time in Westminister hunting down the church, albeit its location amongst "more-renowned" churches. A healing session was on-going and people starting screaming, crying and speaking in tongues. What's that for a first visit by Covenantals!?! Thankfully we spotted someone from Xueyan's former church and turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We were then introduced to other Singaporeans and Malaysians, many whom are students. The church congregation is mainly Asian and African as well as having a Singaporean senior pastor. We have been there for a month and it looks like settling in. Finding a cell group will be next for us. Please keep us in prayer.
2. The flat has been sorted after a plumber came by to fix the boiler. I have also brought in certain stuff like a study table and chair to accomodate my laptop as well as to facilitate studying. The rent is significantly lower than what mu neighbours are paying and the close walking distance to work has enabled me to spend less time on travelling and, of course, waking up later (no later than 7am though!). Home-cooked job is also no longer a luxury as Xueyan dutifully plays her part in serving good food (just had baked rice and steamed cod fish the other day). Please pass on quick-to-serve recipes to her.
3. Xueyan has also gotten a job on her last day before she travelled back to Singapore. We were certainly despondent in the days leading up to her departure, having experienced rejections by companies (and one by Barcap no less). We prayed about it and asked, God willing, to open the door for her before she returns to Singapore. Well, the rest is history and now she's a global colleague of Shwu Min.
4. Journey Mercy. The Paris trip was certainly good and I simply loved the place despite the "commercialization" of the city. The little good of The Da Vinci Code came as I got myself familiarised with the place. My bit French came in useful (on rare occasions) and I hardly draw close to the local cuisine. Well, except for the chocolate crepes. Next stop on the itinerary will be Rome in April and, hopefully, Amsterdam in May. Stay tuned as we will update you guys shortly.
5. Studies. School will start on 24 April 2006, barely 2 months from now. Please pray for me as I try to source the funding for my studies (£20K for the entire course, £10K payable in April).
His blessings have been awesome and I am sure it will not cease. Do continue to pray as we seek to be more involved in church.
As a matter of fact, I have been stuck in bed for the last 2 days with a phelgmatic throat and a nose who has mistaken itself for a running top. That means I really need to rest soon. It's good reading the emails from you guys and God bless your exciting days ahead!
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Monthly Update (December 2005)
Hi All,
It has been some time since I last updated you guys on my London stay.
Things have very much improved (except for some minor glitches) since my
last email. I am SO SO glad that the queen of crockery has arrived to
feed my stomach. And yes, she cooks a mean dish of terriyaki salmon and
steamed tofu.
The weather is indeed very cold and, on a few occasions, we experienced
light snowing. Settling in hasn't been much of a problem though the
cold means I can't be walking around in shorts and singlet in the
neighbourhood. We have not been travelling around due to 1) laziness
and 2)just dunno where to go. However, that means we had time to
practice our culinary skills which so far has extended to hainanese
chicken rice, sambal spinach and home-made mashed potato (Xueyan
finished this!).
Church-wise, we have been to Hillsongs and All Soul's. I must say, we
concluded that the ang moh is a bit too powderful for us to stay awake.
Doesn't help with the monotone. SO please continue to pray for us that
we can settle in a church soon. Cell groups are on hold until we
settled down in a church although I missed an invitation to a CG around
my area two weeks ago.
We have set up a blog re my stay in London, where pictures and updates
will be posted. It's still a little messy but we will post you the url
once the site's a respectable sight.
Other prayer requests
1. Flat - the boiler is not functioning well and I often had to get up
early in the morning to switch on the boiler before getting my shower a
hour late. The landlord has not been responsive in addressing this
issue and have EVEN hinted that if I want to get it sorted out, I should
pay. I will be meeting him next week (after first informing him 3 weeks
back) to resolve the situation. He has also proposed I can move out if
I want to. But basically pray that the boiler will be fixed and I can
finally close all issues regarding my stay.
2. Xueyan's job search - Xueyan has been to a few interviews so far and
is still awaiting results of her interview. We hope that, God willing,
she can find a job before she returns to Singapore on 22 Jan. Things
look good at the moment but I have also had friends who took a few
months to get employed.
3. Journey mercy - We will be travelling to Paris this weekend, so we
would need prayer. Can't speak much French and basically very new to
this part of the world. Moreover there will be a Tube strike this
Sunday when we return to London. Prayerfully, the transportation home
will not be a problem.
4. Studies - my application for a part time Masters has been accepted.
Pray that my line manager will be receptive of this desire of mine to pursue
further studies. Basically my dept works very hard and staff only
knocks off ard 7-8pm (I know early by S'pore stds, that's because we are everyone's highly efficient) so studying part time may mean I can't stay as late.
We will continue to update you (monthly it says, so hopefully I can be
disciplined) and please let us know if you have specific prayers (other
than those stated in Kevin's emails) where we can be in partnerships.
In Christ's love,
Ee Poh
It has been some time since I last updated you guys on my London stay.
Things have very much improved (except for some minor glitches) since my
last email. I am SO SO glad that the queen of crockery has arrived to
feed my stomach. And yes, she cooks a mean dish of terriyaki salmon and
steamed tofu.
The weather is indeed very cold and, on a few occasions, we experienced
light snowing. Settling in hasn't been much of a problem though the
cold means I can't be walking around in shorts and singlet in the
neighbourhood. We have not been travelling around due to 1) laziness
and 2)just dunno where to go. However, that means we had time to
practice our culinary skills which so far has extended to hainanese
chicken rice, sambal spinach and home-made mashed potato (Xueyan
finished this!).
Church-wise, we have been to Hillsongs and All Soul's. I must say, we
concluded that the ang moh is a bit too powderful for us to stay awake.
Doesn't help with the monotone. SO please continue to pray for us that
we can settle in a church soon. Cell groups are on hold until we
settled down in a church although I missed an invitation to a CG around
my area two weeks ago.
We have set up a blog re my stay in London, where pictures and updates
will be posted. It's still a little messy but we will post you the url
once the site's a respectable sight.
Other prayer requests
1. Flat - the boiler is not functioning well and I often had to get up
early in the morning to switch on the boiler before getting my shower a
hour late. The landlord has not been responsive in addressing this
issue and have EVEN hinted that if I want to get it sorted out, I should
pay. I will be meeting him next week (after first informing him 3 weeks
back) to resolve the situation. He has also proposed I can move out if
I want to. But basically pray that the boiler will be fixed and I can
finally close all issues regarding my stay.
2. Xueyan's job search - Xueyan has been to a few interviews so far and
is still awaiting results of her interview. We hope that, God willing,
she can find a job before she returns to Singapore on 22 Jan. Things
look good at the moment but I have also had friends who took a few
months to get employed.
3. Journey mercy - We will be travelling to Paris this weekend, so we
would need prayer. Can't speak much French and basically very new to
this part of the world. Moreover there will be a Tube strike this
Sunday when we return to London. Prayerfully, the transportation home
will not be a problem.
4. Studies - my application for a part time Masters has been accepted.
Pray that my line manager will be receptive of this desire of mine to pursue
further studies. Basically my dept works very hard and staff only
knocks off ard 7-8pm (I know early by S'pore stds, that's because we are everyone's highly efficient) so studying part time may mean I can't stay as late.
We will continue to update you (monthly it says, so hopefully I can be
disciplined) and please let us know if you have specific prayers (other
than those stated in Kevin's emails) where we can be in partnerships.
In Christ's love,
Ee Poh
Monday, January 02, 2006
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Our Place @ Boardwalk
I am staying at the ground floor apartment, just in front of the white car.
The dock near our place
That's not the Barclays building where I am working. Mine's further down the road.
Lost in London
Today's our first visit to Tower Bridge. My, it was truly grand and awesome. A pity I only had the 50-200mm lens with me today, so can't really do landscape shots. Nonetheless, my babe as a model made the day for me!
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