The Hubs, Rodney and I joined a guided tour together with 27 other Malaysians on a 10-day tour of Europe. France was the first of the 5 countries we visited.
We took a red-eye flight, departed Kuala Lumpur at 8:00 PM and arrived in Paris in the morning after a fifteen-plus-hour flight with a layover of 2 hours in Doha.
As soon as the plane landed at the Charles de Gaulle Airport, we were whisked into a waiting coach and began our tour of Paris right away!!
Paris is 7 hours behind Malaysia.
Jet-lagged and sleep deprived, Paris was a blur to me. In zombie mode, we took lots of photos but I really couldn't identify most of the places we visited other than the iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Lourve Museum and the Arc de Triomphe.
We headed up to the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower and viewed Paris in all her splendour. More photos in my upcoming post.
Arc de Triomphe
Lourve Museum
Champs Elysees
Petit Palais
Grand Palais
Pont Alexandre III
Ecole Militaire
Les Invalides
The Palais Garnier opera house
The Galeries Lafayette Haussmann is surely the place to go shopping when you're in Paris!
Besides Harrod's in London, this was by far the most ornate, elegant and beautiful department store I'd ever seen! I will share photos of the resplendent interior in an upcoming post.
Our three-course French dinner at Chez Edouard
The much maligned but utterly delicious garlicky snails were the highlight of the meal.
Escargot with herb butter
The day ended with a night cruise on the Seine River.
Doing Paris in just one day right after a 15 hr flight was exhausting! And when we checked into our hotel, we all crashed out on our beds, too tired to even shower! I was way too knackered to brush my teeth or remove my makeup!
Hi folks! We're back from our vacation in Europe, checking off 5 countries on my bucket list.
Today is my first day back online after being off-grid for more than 10 days. I haven't even unpacked yet!
I have missed blogging and connecting with you all and can't wait to hear what you guys have been up to but I need a little time to get back into gear.
Some time back, I shared a post about crunchy mung bean sprouts and super-smooth tofu that my hometown, Ipoh, is famous for. I've forgotten to mention about our unique white coffee!
Lonely Planet named Ipoh as one of the top three best coffee spots in Asia and it's all because of our very famous white coffee!
Travel guide book publisher Lonely Planet collaborated with coffee-obsessed travel writers and journalists on a mission to discover the finest cafes, espresso bars, roasteries and plantations in more than 35 countries around the world. And Ipoh came out tops!
The taster's guide titled "Global Coffee Tour" describes our cup of joe as "hot, sweet and almost buttery in taste."
The book is packed with over 150 amazing coffee experiences in 37 countries, from its birthplace in East Africa, to modern-day Cuba, the United States, Australia and the UK.