....

RIP Harold Ramis. 

Though I might or might not have seen Ghostbusters as I was too young to recall, all 70s and 80s children will know the song made famous by this movie. 

Flashback Thursday

Somehow, Run DMC vs. Jason Nevins' 90s anthem "It's Like That" started playing on Spotify (because I liked it some time ago and I was going through my Liked playlist)... And I can't stop listening to it!!! In fact, as I blog this on my phone, the video is playing on YouTube for the 3rd time already. 

More than 15 years on, it still rocks. One of the best songs ever. 

Edit: ok, F4 boy Vanessa Wu is one of the breakdancers in the video...

Me no like them gypsies

Honestly I've had bad experience with Roma people. 

Many trips ago to Barcelona, I was cornered by two women whom I presume are a mother and daughter pair. 

Yesterday as I walked back to my hotel from shopping, one Romani from across the road I was crossing eyed me and my shopping bags for the longest time, even as I walked past her.

The gypsies still give me the creeps. For whatever they're still doing today, no wonder they're not welcome in all parts of Europe. You don't see them a lot, but when you do, you usually need to be extremely careful with your belongings. 

Found the reason why Brazilian girls are slim

The food is DISGUSTING. 

Probably my tenth time here and food is still terrible. McDonald's fabulous fries taste like cardboard here. Third outlet I've tried, third outlet that failed. Lettuce in Subway sandwiches are not fresh and brown in colour. 

Then we get to the local food chains.... Things just get worse. If the most reliable McDonald's can't get it right what can you expect from the rest? 

For the amount of money I pay to eat, I'd really rather eat oats every single meal. No surprise why I packed a big packet of oats in my luggage. Every time I pay US$8-10 for a McDonald's meal here I kick myself for being stupid yet again. Oats and tuna for every meal til I get back to Barcelona! Enough of the shit here. 

And a word of caution for all - don't bother with the onboard meal out of Brazil. You should carry cup noodles in your luggage and ask the stewardess to add hot water in it for you. Right up there with Moscow, São Paulo has the worst inflight catering! 

Time flies

And the March roster is out. 

Before I know it the little one in London will (if she chooses to) be back for summer! 

Her room is still not quite ready. 

Full steam ahead when I go home after this flight! 

Most expensive instant noodles ever

Went to the supermarket at 3 am today to buy stuff for my long flight tomorrow (I haven't done a long flight for more than a month, poor me!) and that 24-hour FairPrice was freezing cold. My teeth started to clatter and I had to run on spots to keep warm. The staff were all wearing jackets and cardigans. 

Anyway as I went along the aisle to grab a can of curry tuna, this range of instant noodles caught my eye because I've never seen instant noodles in black packaging before. On closer inspection I noticed that there's one in Singapore Chilli Crab flavour! To be honest I'm no fan of instant noodles but I thought that was interesting enough for me to put into my basket. I also was in a real hurry to get out of the massive walk-in freezer to even check the price of anything before they went into the shopping basket. 

During check out, I was shocked when my total bill came up to S$16.05. In the bag were a packet of Twisties, a can of tuna, a small box of Koko Krunch and a pack of instant noodles. All dry rations, how could they have totalled more than $10??? 

In the car I went through the receipt to realize that that packet of instant noodles was $9.70 (and it's on promotion...apparently I have already saved $0.70). How can instant noodles cost so much?!?!? I would never have paid $4 for a pack of 4! 

That's RM25 for 4 packets, making it more than RM5 for one. I can actually get very good bowl of konlou mee in Malaysia for that price. Or even chilli pan mee! 

There had better be gold in each of the four packets when I open them. 

Wear face masks!

On my flight yesterday, so many passengers were coughing away. These were people of different origins heading to the geographically isolated land of Australia.  

(Australians, beware. A bug is coming your way!) 

Northern winters always bring about the common flu to the majority of the world but why travelers can't use a FACE/SURGICAL MASK on the plane, I can't understand. The Japanese will not hesitate to put on a surgical mask if they are not feeling the slightest bit fine. On Japanese flights, it's common to see half the cabin wearing face masks. Maybe because they aren't feeling too well and are being considerate to contain the germs to themselves or maybe because they know the cabin air is full of crap. 

I was pretty concerned myself as I had just recovered from a cold. As I also did not get myself vaccinated this time around I do not wish to catch another bug. 

A quarrel almost broke out between two passengers and I was caught in the middle of it. 

Me: hello! *looking at both* Would you like the omelette or the seafood noodles?

Lady: Give me the omelette. 

Man: *pointing to lady* This lady has been coughing since we boarded the plane. I don't wish to catch whatever she's having. 

Lady: *turns over to mumble something to him*

Man: She's been coughing and I don't feel comfortable! 

Me: Errr. Maybe I can offer you a face mask, sir? 

Man: Why should I wear it. She should be wearing it. 

Me: *exasperated* ma'am can I offer you a face mask?

Lady: Sure. 

In the middle of a meal service that's the kind of thing that I hate holding me up. Do you know how many rows of people are eagerly waiting for their meal that's turning cold in the cart???

Anyway do ourselves a favour. 

If we don't want to catch something, wear a mask. 

Be considerate. Others do not want the same bug in you either, wear a mask. 

If you're feeling ugly, a mask may help too. 

Seoul

Finally back in Seoul after a while. 

We are staying in a new hotel now and my oh my the rooms are so high-tech! I like! 

And one of the highlights for coffee drinkers will be the Nespresso machine in every room. 

Anyway, that aside. The most interesting part of coming to Seoul is the shopping.

I'm in Yeouido, and it's a distance away from Myeungdong and Namdaemun. So I took a cab to Times Square in Yeongdeongpo (?? Not sure if I spelt it right??). Even that was good enough :) 

Linked to Times Square is Shinsegae (Korea's answer to Takashimaya). 

Bought quite a bit including this jumper which I love! It is, officially, the most expensive jumper I have. 

But how can I say no to those elbow patches! *hoot hoot* 

Spooky

I had stayed in one of the most notorious layover stations among this airline's crew. 

The rooms, in particular a room right at the end, are apparently haunted by a child ghost who loves to disturb girls and sometimes would not even let the female occupant sleep. 

This morning during check out, I was packing my things and I was going to put my comb (that I always use for bunning my hair) back into my handbag when I came across not one but TWO combs.  

I'm very particular about my sharp-end combs - it has to be baby blue in color (it's a silly thing that started at home with Anlynn). 

How there ended up to be two identical ones lying in the room.... I really don't know. 

People I would never have met

My job takes me to places. But more importantly, it lets me meet people. 

And you will never believe some of the very important people that I've served. On certain flights, we use planes that have no First class and they're forced to travel in Business - that's where I serve some of the most important people to a country or even the world economy. 

Like today. I had one of the top guys from a very big Swiss bank traveling with his family. I also had the ex-VP of another country. 

It's really rather common to have people like that over and over again. 

Some of them are so humble and grounded that I may not even know they rank so highly in some of the largest corporations in the world. 

One of the most humble and polite man I've met would have to be the chief executive of GE in SEA. I had him on my flight to Jakarta. I would never have known he was such a decorated man until I googled his name (that I saw on his boarding pass). 

These are people I will never cross paths with if not for this job.