Auvergne

15 August is a public holiday here in France. This year it fell on a tuesday. As everyone in the office except two of us were on holiday, my boss decided to close the office on monday. This means that I had four days to go for a short trip.

Anca would like to go to the beach. Seb would prefer to go to the mountains. I just would like to get away. As it was such a last min planning, we could only get accomodation in the mountains and not near the sea.

So, we set off for the town Clermont Ferrand which is about 400km away from Paris. The region is Auvergne . It is a beautiful region with old volcanos, lakes in craters and valleys.

Once we reached there, we left Bao Bei in the hotel room and set off for the nearest peak. Yeah, it was so last min that we could not find a cat-sitter for Bao Bei. Hotels here usually accept animals for a small fee but do not provide any food or bed. Still, we think this moving caused stress to Bao Bei. It is really not a good idea.

We visited the town Clermont Ferrand. It was not very colorful and in no time at all, we had finished visiting the up town. We headed to the nearest peak, Puy de Drôme. As we were there late in the afternoon, we decided to take the bus to the peak. Trekking up the mountain will take about 1h 45mins. It was really windy up there but the view was fanastic.

Below is the Lac Pavin. We took an hour to walk round the lake. It was crystal green and calm.

We visited villages in Auvergne. In the village Saint Nectaire, we bought cheese Saint Nectaire which is produced there.

One of the last place we visited in our stay in Auvergne was Mont Doré. We trekked along Puy de Sancy. During winter, there is a small ski station beside. There were cows grazing along the fields. I saw this lovely mountain flower and could not resist to take a photo.

Singapore's National Day

I am a Singaporean.
When I was in Singapore, I called myself a chinese.
When I was in Australia, I had an identity crisis.
-"Are you a chinese?"
-"Yes."
-"So you are from china!"
-"No, I'm a singaporean."

When I was in US, the same situation occurred.
-"You are a chinese."
-"Yes, I am."
-"You are from china."
-"No, I'm from singapore."
-"Oh, yes. Singapore. It is the island that was colonised by the British ....."
-"Yes..."
-"... and was returned to China..."
-"No. That was Hong Kong."

Now in France, I simply said that I am a Singaporean. Still, the story reminds much the same on my identity....
-"Are you a chinese then?"
-"Yes."
-"Your ancestors were from China?"
-"I never thought about it but I think so. I have no family in China."
-"How many chinese are there in Singapore?"
-"Almost 75% of the population."

I am proud to be a singaporean. There are only 3 million unique pure singaporeans in this world. How rare that is. The foreigners I came across either had personal experiences with Singapore like having visited it, read a special article about its cleaniness etc; or had never heard of it and do not know where on earth it is.

Today is 9 August. Singapore's birthday.

For non-Singaporeans who do not know about Singapore, I hope this blog will make you go search a little more about this sunny island.

For fellow Singaporeans, I hope that you enjoyed the National Day Parade. I will try to catch it online.

Ardèche

Each year, my company organises a company weekend. This year, we passed a weekend in Ardèche which is about 600 km away from Paris.

At Ardèche, we did a full day of kayaking down the gorge of Ardèche. I was glad that my partner, Mehdi, and I had good coordination and had no problem paddling down this 25 km journey. The mountains are impressive though I would prefer the scenery of the Delaware River in United States where I did 9 days of canoeing few years ago. Still, the lavender fields are impressive. There are fields of violets. Pretty!

I would definately visit this area again. It is very picturesque and there are many ruins to discover. Little towns and nature as well.

A hot saturday

France is hot this summer. Even with our fan at the highest speed, there is no cool air but only warm air circulation. But compared to Singapore, this is nothing. However, the french are not used to the heat and a dozen lives had already been claimed by this heat.

I guess this heat was announced as an international news in Singapore because my mom advised me to drink more water, stay indoors and blah blah blah. Mom! I lived in sunny Singapore almost all my life. I am more heat resistant than the french here. And I am a grown up. I know how to prevent myself from dehydration.

I am kinda glad of the weather cos I get to wear my summer clothes more often than I did last year. I remembered that I only wore my sleeveless blouses for two weeks back then.

I just went to Chinatown to buy some essentials like mee hoon, green chinese vegetables etc. And guess what I saw there. Durians!! It is the season again. Whole durians are selling at 6.50 euro per kilo. I have no experience in opening durian so that is not an option. Durians fruits are selling at 18.50 euro per kilo. This is too expensive. I started to think about my coming trip to Singapore and resisted from buying the durian. I promise to eat all I can in Singapore. Finally, in order to calm my taste buds, I ended up with a durian ice cream. Price: 0.85 euro.

When I reached home, I cooked mee siam with the pre-mixed paste from Prima Taste. It was really simple to make. It reminded me of my primary school canteen's mee siam. 50 cents for a plate of mee siam. Just mee hoon and gravy. Just yummy.

Baghdad Burning

It has been months since I started to read this blog regularly. There is even a book published. Please do give it a read. When will Baghad stop burning?
I sincerely hope that one day, she can bring a close to this blog. In order to achieve it, we need to create awareness about the situation in Iraq. It is beyond me. But if you can do something about it, please do.

France in semi-final and the french went crazy

When France beat Spain to go into the quarter-finals of the World Cup, cars on the street started honking and waved the french flags. People were heading down to Champs Elysees to celebrate.

When France beat Brazil to go into the semi-finals of the World Cup, cars on the street started honking and waved the french flags. People were heading down to Champs Elysees to celebrate.

The difference was, there were more people this time round for the semi-finals celebration. This time, Seb and I were at Anca's place watching the game together. As the game ended at 11pm, Anca offered to send us home. We drove along the périphérique of Paris to get to my place as she lives in the south of paris and we in the north.

There were cars and cars heading down the same direction as us. The exit to Champs Elysees is one exit after ours. The traffic was slow. Everyone was honking for joy, even Anca. People were waving french flag, algerian flag (Zidane's origin is algerian as his parents came from there), and portugal flag. France versus Portugal in the semi-finals.

That's not all, people went crazy. They sticked out half their bodies out of the car windows and sat on the window ledge. There was even extreme cases when people sat on the roof of the car. One must not forget that these were moving cars and though traffic was slow, if the driver jammed on his brake, these people could easily get thrown off and be hurt seriously. There were even cars driving recklessly cutting on the shoulder of the highway to over take other cars. Motorbikers without helmets, a driver on a convertible standing and waving while driving with one leg on the steering wheel. Boys running on the highway and at one point, pulling down their jeans to show off their boxers.

These people were drunk in excitement by the fact that france is going into the semi-finals. They totally went out of control and they were heading into Champs Elysees to party and get drunk further.

When we reached home, it was very late. Traffic was never so bad on a saturday night on the périphérique. France semi-final will be on this wednesday. Seb and I had decided that we will avoid going out this wednesday and this weekend nights. I am sure you can understand why.

Irene came and went

Irene and Mag came to Paris during the week of Roland Garros. They are such big tennis fans that they travelled all the way from Singapore to France just for 2 days of "live" Roland Garros. Of course, they stayed for a week to profit on sight-seeings and shopping.

Well, I am glad that they came. Firstly, Irene acted as my "DHL". I am stocked again with some singapore local delights. Cool. Secondly, they brought along with them big sunshine. Just a week before they came, it was grey and cold in Paris. I was still in long sleeves. The day they arrived, it was so hot. Amazing. The ladies were even complaining that it was too hot for them.

I took leave and visited Musée d'Orsay with them on Friday. I had always wanted to visit it but the last time I was there with Nicole, it was so crowded that we decided not to waste our time queueing. This time round, we did not have to queue long. It was so interesting to see the impressionist paintings. Earlier on in Delft, I watched a documentary about the lives of the impressionists. The founders of this type of painting. People like Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Cézanne who started their first exhibition had critics saying that these artists should wear glasses as the images were all blurry. I will write another blog about these artists when I have the inspiration.

On Sunday, we visited Mont Saint-Michel and on the way back, we made a short visit to the Americian Cemetery in Normandy. It was really impressive as rows and rows of white crosses greeted us on green american lawn. These are the americans who sacrificed their lives during WWII to liberate Europe from the NAZIS.

A week came and went. Very soon, it was the end of the vacation for Irene and Mag. Now, I am waiting for the photos from Irene . . . . .

Amsterdam and Den Haag

During the first weekend of my training in Delft, Seb and I spent a day at Amsterdam and the next at Den Haag. Den Haag is the local name. In English, it is known as the Hague.

Amsterdam
After a good lunch in a chinese street, we made our way to House of Anne Frank. Along the way, we passed by Dam Square which is really crowded with people, a row of windows with bikini girls exhibiting their wares and lots of bridges crossing the canals.

The house of Anne was not big and the visit did not last more than an hour. The atmosphere was solemn with people whispering in respect of the event that had taken place here during the holocaust. However, this is worth a visit lest we forget how humans can be so inhuman and treat other humans inhumanly. I really could not imagine how all these people allowed themselves to be loaded up into trains leading to the deathcamps. How their neighbours can turn against them. How their neighbours can turn their backs on them. It is just so sad.....

We walked around Amsterdam and eventually took a guided boat ride along the canals. It was interesting as there were explanations on the artitecture and other trifles about this city.



For dinner, we stopped by a street full of little resturants and settled for Tibetian food. It tasted like Indian anyway.

Overall, we did enjoy Amsterdam. The center was a bit small so it was really crowded. There were less bicycles than in Delft but more coffee shops.

Den Haag
We met up with Elisabeth and her friend Evelyn at Den Haag train station on sunday afternoon. In the morning, Seb and I passed a peaceful time having breakfast in the center of Delft.

The first place we visited in Den Haag is Madurodam, the miniature Holland. With Evelyn as our guide since she had visited it at least 6 times, we had a better understanding and view of Holland. All famous landmarks and buildings in Holland are there. Acurate to the finest details.



Next, we visited the art museum that is next to the Parliment House in Den Haag. We viewed paintings by Dutch painters who made their way to Italy during the 18 century before the impressionists made Paris the center of art. As it was a small museum, it was very enjoyable. I remembered more of what I saw here than I did with le Louvre.

For the rest of the day, we had an afternoon tea and lazed around Den Haag until Seb left for Paris on Thalys and I headed back to Delft. It was a pleasant weekend.

I'm in Delft

I'm in Delft, The Netherlands. I will be here for 2 weeks of training. The last time I came here was more than 2 years ago during winter. So it really surprises me that this week, the weather is warmer than in Paris.

Delft is the second most popular destination in The Netherlands after Amsterdam. It is really a student town as there is a university. The famous painter Johannes Vermeer lived here and painted here. There is also the House of Orange museum telling the stories of some royal family history. The last time I was here, we had a pleasant visit there. Also, it is important to know that Delft is famous for its ceramics. The Delft Blue .

There are good food in Delft as well. I met up with Dick yesterday and we ate good ribs at Billy Beer. (Beer is bear in Dutch) It is really nice to catch up in person as we had not met since our last training and had only commuicated by Skype and emails.

For next week, I will be looking for the good indonesian resturant that Seb and I had once 2 years ago in Delft. I cannot really remember where it is now. The indonesian food here is really good compared with Paris. Indonesia used to be a colony of Holland so they is a high population of indonesians here.

Class is over and we are all heading to the nearest beach. We have to enjoy this great weather while it lasts. I will update on my coming weekend at Amsterdam. So come back again next week.

Singapore Election

This saturday will be election day in Singapore. It will be the first time in my life where I will be able to vote. Not that I just turned 21 but because in Singapore, there are not many candidates up against the PAP government so usually it is a walk over. Meaning no election.

Election is mandatory in Singapore. Yet, this time round, I will not be able to vote because I am here in Paris and the nearest polling center is in London. Well, I wrote to the Election Department informing to be excused and to be included in the next election. Till now, I have yet to receive a reply from them.

At the same time, living in France had made me become more aware about politics. I started to check out on the Singapore Election Watch blog and also on a site dedicated to Yeo Cheow Tong. What a revelation! Maybe you are already awared of the happenings behind the scene concerning the Lee Dynasty. Still, check this http://www.yeocheowtong.com/Salaries.html out.

For now, I am waiting to get my hands on the banned in Singapore book, Escape from Paradise. Mean while, have fun voting in Singapore for those concerned and tell me how it went.

My saturday

Spring is finally here. And in this blog, I will take the opportunity to show you readers with visuals on what Seb and I did on this lovely saturday.

After lunch, Seb decided that he wanted to go to Saint Michel to buy a book from a bookstore that sells a wide range of technical books. In order to reach Paris, we had to take the train from Becon station to get to St Lazare Station. The journey is 7mins by direct train.


This is St Lazare station and it is always crowded at all times. From St Lazare, we walked to the bus stop of bus 81 to bring us to the Louvre. I needed to go to the central post office as it is the only post office still open after 12pm in Paris.

As you notice, in Paris, for small narrow pavement, there is hardly any space to install a bus shelter. So, we really have to look out for the bus stops at times.

Along the way to the post office, I noticed 2 smart cars will dress up advertising Nesquik. Isn't that an idea?


After buying the stamps and posting my letters, we walked towards Saint Michel. It was really a fine day to take a walk in Paris. As you can see from the first photo, spring flowers are blooming and the sky is blue. Above is a photo of le Seine. Isn't it lovely?

And finally we reached Saint Michel, one of my favourite hang out in Paris. It is a lively area with lots of foreigners. There is a bistrot which serves great onion soup. Mirama which serves the best roast duck rice in Paris is around the corner.


Walking past a cafe, I could not help myself but to take this photo as prove of the life style in Paris. Notice that the chairs are arranged in such a way that the clients are facing the streets. This is very Parisians. We like to sit and watch the world passes by in front of us. Now as the weather turns better, people are enjoying this past time to the fullest.

To sum up the day, Seb bought the book he was looking for. We both had a great day walking in Paris. It is really enjoyable and I do hope that these photos will enforce your determination to visit Paris.

CPE, the new reason for the riots here

Less than 6 months and France is in the news for the same reason. There are riots again. It started as peaceful demonstrations by students and ended up with hooligans burning cars and rioting. CNN was first at hand to show the amercians footage of burning cars. I spoke to mom and she asked if everything is fine here. Everything is fine. It's a wonder how the TV news reports out of proportion the situation. They usually make a small news spectacular with sensational headlines, music and some seconds of disturbing footage.

Once again, I had to explain. These riots had nothing in connection with last Nov's riots. There are only a few. The First Minister recently set up a new contract for the first employment. It is known as CPE (Contrat Premiere Embauche); Contract of the first employment. This is meant for young job seekers below 26 years old. With CPE, you can be sacked anytime without any reason in your first 2 years of so-called probation. What horror!

Well, you have to understand the economy in France. This is not a simple right or wrong contract. There are about 10% of unemployment in France and a high percentage of youths could not find jobs after graduation. So, the right-wing government decided to create this contract to combat this issue.

Of course, employers are very happy as France's strict labour law makes it really difficult to sack an employee. There must be valid justifications that are quantitative. Just saying that this employee is under performing and he has to go is not enough. You will have to compensate him. However, there may be a risk that large companies will employ youths and sack them before their two years contract is up.

So, on the other side of the fence are the students and labour unions. Think about it, after many years of studies, you ended up with a CPE job. You cannot commit into projects like buying a house, planning the future etc. One, you have no idea if you will still have your job after two years as your company can replace you without reason in order to employ someone younger than you. Cost saving for the company? Also, how can you borrow money from a bank if you want to buy a house? Will banks be willing to lend money to someone with a two years contract? The risk that the person cannot repay the loan if he is sack is too high.

And there you are, students protesting in the streets, at schools. Who's side are you on? I guess it depends if you are under 26 or if you are a patron of an enterprise. For me, I am neither. I prefer to sit on the fence.

For further reading, check out on BBC. But I can't say if the reporting is fair. From what I read, they seem to be interviewing more of the bosses than the under 26.

Mango

Last Sunday, I had lunch at rue Saint Anne which was nearby Opera. While walking to the train station, I saw this interesting ad at the bus stop. An idea isn't it?
It is not a poster but a hang up of real clothes. 100% 3-D and I feel it real cool.

Are you at a cross junction or T-junction?

I thought of this song today. A song that I had not heard or sung since a long time. At this precise moment, I could not get this song out of my head. I need it as I feel like I am standing at a cross junction. There are roads ahead but my engine is dead. I can't move forward. I need a start-up and a signal light. I hope this song will minister to you as much as it does for me now.

God Will Make A Way
Words and music by Don Moen
Proverbs 3:6
"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. "

God will make a way,
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way, He will make a way.

By a roadway in the wilderness, He'll lead me
And rivers in the desert will I see
Heaven and earth will fade
But His Word will still remain
He will do something new today.

Marching to an Oscar

I am so delighted to annouce to those who still have no idea which film bagged an oscar for the Best Documentary Feature.
It is none other than 'March of the Penguins'. I watched it in french during my flight on Malaysia Airlines last year. It was super touching. It was simply narrated and there were many moving scenes.
It really deserves this award.
Now, this french produced film has been translated by Morgan Freeman for the US market. Friends, if this film is aired in Singapore, I strongly encourage you to watch it.
If you complain about raising your kids, wait until you see how the penguins do it.

1 Mars

1 March 2006. My first blog for this month.
Nicole came visiting last weekend and I took 2 days leave to visit Paris with her. We had fun. It is amazing the number of places we had not visited in Paris. Nicole was in Paris for a year last year and I met her through our french lessons.

We visited Basilica of Saint-Denis, the cathedral which houses the tombs of the royals. There are tombs of 46 kings, 32 queens, 63 princes and princesses as well as 10 great officers of the Crown who laid there until the French Revolution. Today, we are still able to see the tombs from many hundred years ago. It is really amazing.

Catherine de Medicis was laid there with her husband. She was the one who instigated the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre on the eve of her daughter, Queen Margot's marriage to Henry IV. There are great paintings of this massacre. But we will leave the painting topic to another day.

There is also the tomb of Philip le Bel (the fair). The tomb of his son, Louis X is also there. Louis X's wife had an affair and Louis X was never sure that his daughter Jeanne was really his. However, I was surprised to find her tomb just beside his. Also, the tomb of the baby son of Louis X by his second wife is there as well. It is really interesting to have read and watch this story from 'Le Rois Maudits' and then to really see these tombs for real.

We visited St-Germain l'Auxerrois. This is the church favored by the kings who attended mass there as it is just nearby the Louvre. This is also where Queen Margot married her husband, the future king Henry IV. The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre happened just nearby this area. To understand this day better, I would invite you to watch this film, La Reine Margot.

We visited Sainte-Chapelle. This is really the place that one should not miss. I am in Paris since two years and I never really bother to find out more about this small chapel hidden in the court of the Palace of Justice. I cannot describe more about this chapel. You have to see it to believe the beauty of the stained glasses.

Of course, we visited the streets of Paris and the places we used to hang out. Including a beer at Coolin's.

How rich are you?

Last friday, the prize money of the lottery EURO millions reached nearly 200 millions euro. There are 3 people who won. 2 in france and the other one somewhere in Europe. That is about 61 millions euro for each of them. That is mega, super lots of money.

Yesterday, the news showed some african kids who were kidnapped to be boy soldiers. Young african girls were forced to be slaves and child bearers. Some westerners volunteers were trying to save these kids out of their poor situation. A boy of 11 was asked if he had killed someone with his gun before. He shyly nodded his head.

On friday, I wish I could be just a million euro richer. Yesterday evening, I thank God that I am rich. How ironic isn't it?

Have you watch the movie with Nicolas Cage? The title is Lord of Wars. It shows exactly how guns were given to these poor boys in africa. This is an international conspiracy. If there are no warring countries, there will be no demand for weapons which is a powerful industry in the western countries. With the end of cold war, big countries do not need to stock up weapons for the unknown enemy. Thus, the arms were sold off to warlords for their ethnic cleansing and what not.

Africa is a rich place. It has a lot of natural resources. Yet it is a shame that its own people do not profit from it. Outsiders make sure that there are chaos in Africa so that the natural resources can be conveniently shipped off to the richer countries.

Back to the movie. In the end, Nicolas Cage who is the main supplier of arms did not gave up his professional. He justified himself by saying that if he quits, there will be someone else taking his place.

It's cold.....

aWeather report from Paris, France. These two weeks, it has been cold. In the morning, the temperature ranges from -2°C to 0°C. In the afternoon, it raises to about 5°C. The sky is mostly grey but snow does not fall often.

Frankly, I am still not used to this cold weather. Even all wrapped up from ear mufflers to gloves and boots, I can still feel the cold. For the weekend, we choose to stay at home and watch the Manga animation Naruto. Nothing better than a warm, cozy place and doing nothing in this winter time.

I do hope spring comes soon so that I can start to take walks in Paris.

Chinese New Year

Today, we had the most important dinner of the year. For all chinese, Chinese New Year's eve dinner is a time where everyone in the family eat togather. This evening, Seb and I had steamboat in keeping with our customs in Singapore. We put a pot of chicken stock on a stove and made do with our improvised steamboat. The dinner was great.

In order to get the new year mood here, we turned to CCTV to watch the variety program. It feels good to know that there are chinese all over the world and everyone keeps to this tradition of celebrating chinese new year.

In New York, Sydney, and other parts of the world, there are chinese new year celebration organised by the mayors as there is an important population of chinese.

For tomorrow, I will cook a feast for my invites. It is sure a good way to start the Dog year. To feast and drink. And I wish all chinese a prosperous and happy chinese new year.

I am bored

Recently, I received a website on how magazines retouch their photos to make their models perfect looking. Check out this site.

With that aside, what else is new? Have you heard of the game Su Doku? Okay, I think in the United States and Japan, it is not new. Even in France, you can easily find Su Doku games at all newstands. But in Singapore, not many people have heard of it yet. It is a 9 by 9 grid and there are several random numbers in the grid. The whole idea is to fill up the grid with 1 to 9 without repeating the same number for a single row and column and in the box of 3 by 3. Still not getting there, well, check out www.sudoku.com then.

For people who likes numbers and find crossword puzzle interesting, go try Su Doku.