Two Trips a Year

Entrance fee to Westiminister Abbey in London is a cool GBP15.00 (approx RM74.00). That's why I just passed the abbey and snapped a photo of it from outside :-)

Travelling is expensive, no doubt about it.

When daily expenses starts eating into savings, most people would put travelling last on the list of "needs" as travelling is definitely a "want" which you can go without.

As for me, travelling is important. It not only adds spice to the routine of life, it's also a breakaway, a learning experience and definitely an enriching experience. I want to continue travelling as long as I am able to.

But since travelling needs $$$, I have devised a plan according to my budget, i.e. to travel twice in a year - one in the first half and the other in the second half.

The first trip will be within the region with a plane ticket averaging RM1,000. This would allow me to travel to places like South East Asia and South Asia.

The second trip will be a "bigger" one, meaning the destination will be further from home, with a plane ticket averaging RM2,000 and above. This means Europe, Middle East, South Africa, etc.

It's tough especially when the yearnings of travel are deep, but the pocket ain't deep enough!

Now that I've just started my new job, I was rather apprehensive that my new boss may not approve long periods of leave.

But during our recee trip to Langkawi recently, we spoke quite a bit and I was relieved to know that she's an avid traveller herself. So she understands why I need to travel :-) In fact, she has verbally agreed to approve my 2-week leave come year end, yippie!

I Can't Open This Stubborn Jam Bottle

I bought this jam a couple of weeks ago and till today I can't open the damn bottle.

I've tried all sorts of methods - putting a rubber sheet around the cover for a good grip, waiting until the bottle is in room temperature, heating up the cover on the stove, etc.

I even brought the bottle back to my mum's place to see if she know of any special tips in opening stupid, stubborn jam bottles. Unfortunately her attempts were also futile.

I think I need to bring the bottle to the office and get one of my male colleagues to open it. I need a pair of strong hands as mine ain't strong enough to open this stubborn bottle.

Note to self: Never ever buy Steffi jam again !!!

My Oregano Plant

This is my new oregano plant. Bought it for RM9.50 from one of the stalls at the Friday market behind my office building.

Opening price was RM10.00 but the seller wouldn't give me for RM8.00 that I asked for. So had to go with RM9.50 loh ...

Anyway, when I moved into my apartment 3 years ago, I left my balcony empty cause I didn't want to clutter it. Everything has to be zen like, you know.

But lately I've been wanting to plant flowers to make my balcony colourful and alive. But somehow couldn't start my green fingers engine. Maybe I was too busy cyber-farming on FarmVille :-)

This oregano plant came about after a friend suggested that I plant herbs instead of flowers. And if this oregano grows well, I wanna start planting petunias in hanging pots on my balcony.

I think I need to harvest my oregano soon.