Roman Empire

Vatican City

Thoughts of the billions, Vatican City

The meeting with Audrey and Greg, in Rome

A picture of you, Rome

Dusit Thani Bangkok

This iconic hotel claimed to be closing at the end of this year but then further delayed to early next year.  It reminded me of those shops in HK often claiming as the last day of big sale.  Final and keeping on final.  It's somewhat disappointing.  There was some odour of the room and so strange that the room was much too humid for clothes to get dry.  The sound proof was very bad that I could hear the other room flushing the toilet. 

Central Eastville, BKK

Almost every other month, we would hear there is a new mall or shopping place going on in Bangkok.  This one is in the north east of downtown Bangkok.  However, the traffic is a problem.  Just like many other Asian cities, it's too easy for owning a car.  Apparently people seem to get used to sitting in the car in traffic.

Half of the mall is indoor with air-conditioning and half of it is in open area.  On top of the mall, there are some jogging tracks.  There are also some areas for the kids.  Good for the families to spend an afternoon here.

The Girl and The Pig, Silom Complex, BKK

I got told to try this restaurant in Central Embassy for quite some time.  Somehow I didn't have any initiative, until this night we had no idea about where to dine and ran into a new branch of this restaurant in Silom Complex.

This branch offers a 3 course set meal at THB399.  The portion, the taste and the service were much beyond this price.  However, on the second visit, the main course, pork chop was not as good as the first time, I'd still give this place a plus and a choice to dine in Silom area.

A bowl of plain rice with 2 stalks of veggie, at Taling Pling, BKK

There were some scenes of some TV dramas which impressed me much.  When we were served with a bowl of plain rice and some plain veggie in this Thai restaurant Taling Pling, the scene of Lisa Wong (in the famous TVB drama 京華春夢) told her husband's family that she would just need daily one bowl of plain rice plus 2 stalks of veggie for her and her baby.  So she locked up herself and lived like that for years.  I was laughing actually at how one bowl of rice plus 2 veggies can get her and her baby survive. Yet, she looked so radiant.  Anyway, dramatic is dramatic.  We were then more than happy to go for this dramatic meal in reality.

Flight detoured to Manila

This year I had some very tough travel schedules.  Flight delay to switch flights ended up arriving at the destination 6-7 hours later.  On this flight from Male to HK, the flight got detoured to Manila due to typhoon strong wind in the airport.  Spent over 13 hours in Manila airport.  The crew was so nice to serve whatever left in the plane in the first 6-7 hours.  Later on, the airport permitted the passengers to leave the plane.  Though there isn't anything to browse in Manila airport, at least we could stretch our body for some walking.

Getting closer with the city, Male Valena Int'l Airport

The bridge has taken shape, linking the airport island and Male capital city island.  Also noted a higher barricade has been built to protect the runway.  

Maldives towards the end of this century

Have witnessed various rapid changes in Maldives, from the modernization of the airport, bridge linking to Male City, vast land reclamation and increasing resorts taking shape.  

The beach, Dhigali Maldives