Lille - Yang's 30th and Felix's 27th Birthday Celebration

Nothing very exciting happened during the work week except a bit of overtime as we had reporting deadlines on 25 October.

On Thursday, I met my ex KPMG colleagues at Jamies in Westferry Circus for their promotion drinks – 3 of the SwissRe team had been promoted – 2 to Manager and 1 to Senior Manager.

Saturday 28 October 2006
Early Saturday morning we set off to Lille on the Eurostar with Sean, Loreen, Felix, Henry, Inchee, Linh, Kah Leng, Helen and Claudine to celebrate Yang’s 30^th 21^st and Felix’s 27^th Birthday.

We arrived in Lille at 10am and then Loreen and I headed off to the Tourist Office to pick up our tickets for our Segway tour whilst the others dropped the bags off at L’Hermitage Gantois Hotel. Then we (sans Henry, Inchee and Kah Leng) all met up at the Esplanade to get our quick introduction on using the Segway (although Yang, Sean and I had it easy as we had already rode a Segway before in Florence, Italy).

After we had mastered using the Segways, we started our tour of Lille. The tour guide was quite informative although, some of us spent more time playing with the Segways instead of listening to him (can you blame us?!). Luckily, there were no accidents, despite a short game of Segway Chasey at the end of the tour, when Linh crashed into Felix (and was then kindly told to step off the Segway).

Arch de Triomphe; Grand Place; Palais des Beaux-Arts

"Bombaysers de Lille 3000" decorations on the main street and at Gare de Flandres Station

After our tour, we met up with Henry, Inchee and Kah Leng at Place d’ Rihour and had lunch at Le Pain Quotidien. The food took a while…so by the time we finished there wasn’t enough time to go to the outlets as planned. Instead, we walked around the old town to do some shopping. Lille is pretty hard to go shopping in…there are just so many small streets everywhere and unlike London or Perth, it doesn’t have the equivalent of a Oxford Street/Regent Street or a Murray Street/Hay Street Mall…everything was just everywhere. However, I did manage to find a few of my favourite French brands, but it wasn’t sale time so my only purchase was a skirt from Comptoir des Cotonniers.

With very sore feet, Yang and I managed to make it back to the Hotel to have a ½ hour rest before getting ready and meeting the rest of the group for dinner. As most of the girls were in heels, we decided to catch Taxis to the restaurant, but there were huge traffic jams in the city centre so the taxi driver took us for a ride around the outskirts of Lille before finally dropping us off 50 metres before the restaurant (we were not impressed!).

Dinner was at L’Huitriere, a Michelin star restaurant in the town centre. The food started off well, but I think we were all disappointed with the main course…duck…which was very dry…most probably because they took the skin off (the best part!).

After dinner, we walked past the Opera and caught the “Bombaysers de Lille 3000” lights (there was an Bollywood Festival in Lille for some reason) before walking back to the Hotel for an after dinner drink…a bottle of Dom Perignon vintage 1998 to celebrate Yang’s Birthday. Notice the liquid stains on the wall from Yang spraying 1/4 of the bottle on the wall, the carpet and himself!

Sunday 29 October 2006

HAPPY 30^th 21^st BIRTHDAY YANG!

We had a much later start today thanks to the end of Daylight saving and therefore the clocks being turned back one hour.

Our first stop was the Pâtisserie next door for a good old Pain au Chocolate and Croissant before heading to the Palais des Beaux – Arts (Museum of Fine Arts), a museum second only to the Louvre in importance and size in France, where we strolled through the many paintings and their small selection of Egyptian antiquities (nothing beats The British Museum in London…although the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna comes close).

Then we strolled through the quiet streets of Lille (all the shops were closed – typical of most of the Continent on a Sunday) to the Notre Dame de la Treille Cathedral (which was only completed in 1999) that was very weird as the entrance is modern, but the rest of it (inside and outside) looks like any 18th century gothic church in France.

Then lunch at La Chicorée…most probably the worst meal in France ever…exacerbated by the very rude waitress. It has a large plate collection on the walls, each signed by an artist or a famous person, as La Chicorée is the place were they usually eat after the show (as it is very close to the Theatre and the Opera).

Given all the shops were closed, there wasn’t much else to do in Lille apart from more eating and drinking so we found ourselves queuing outside Meert Pâtisserie and Salon de thé until they opened for afternoon tea at 3pm. The cakes were great…and they gave us a plate of chocolates too…a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

We then went back to the hotel to relax and pick up our bags before walking to the Eurostar terminal to head back to London…the end of another weekend…

The Hague - Where and What is The Hague?

I spent most of this week in The Hague for work. Almost everyone whom I have told about my work trip has asked me "where or what is The Hague" so this week's blog entry is aimed at educating you all!

The Hague (or Den Haag in Dutch) is the third-largest city in the Netherlands after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, with a population of close to 500,000 people. The Hague is the seat of government, but is not the capital of the Netherlands...I had always assumed this though until I read about The Hague. The capital is actually Amsterdam (and yes, after I read that I knew that made sense). Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands lives and works in The Hague. Parliament, all foreign embassies and government ministries are located in the city, as well as the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden (The Supreme Court). Although I didn't get to see much during my time in the Hague, the indonesian-dutch taxi driver did point out the various foreign embassies and government ministries to me on the way to and from the Rotterdam Airport. Another interesting fact is that there is no airport in The Hague, you either fly to Rotterdam and take a taxi (usually 20 minutes) or take a train in the city centre from Amsterdam Schiphol airport (around 1/2 hour).

The Hague is probably most famous for being the home to the International Court of Justice and the centre for international legal arbitration...a result of its legacy in international politics, which started in 1899 when the world's first Peace Conference took place in The Hague, followed by a second in 1907.

Ok, so that is your geography lesson!

There isn't too much to tell you about what I did in The Hague...work was really busy so we didn't finish until late most nights so we were all too tired to go out and ended up eating in the Hotel Restaurant. A bit disappointing as The Hague apparently has some really nice shops and it is actually a beach city so just down the road is a major beach...not that it is warm enough to go swimming at this time of year.

I flew back to London first thing on Thursday morning...couldn't fly back the night before as I had just too much work to finish and then straight into more testing at Shell Centre. But, luckily, there wasn't as much pressure to finish work up in London so I left at 6pm and met Allison and Linh for the Vogue and Topshop Fashion Show. It was much more interesting than the one we went to at the Natural History Museum a few weeks earlier, but still, none of us would wear the majority of the clothes on show...to much of the Twiggy look...one hint...black leggings are all the rave this season! On the positive side, no damage was done on the credit card - I spent a mere £4.80 as a result of a £10 voucher and 20% everything; we got to have champagne, vodka mixers and canapes; and most importantly, we got a goody bag with Kiehls and Nars products!

On Friday, Yang and I had a relaxing night and went to watch Click (another Adam Sandler movie) at West India Quay.

On Saturday, I woke up early and went to the gym whilst Yang cleaned the house (yes I have trained him well!). Then we headed into Piccadilly Circus and had lunch at Ten Ten Tei. Yang headed to Waterstones to a Moleskine Exhibition whilst I continued up Piccadilly and then back on to Regent Street for shopping. Ended up buying 6 knits for winter and a pair of winter boots from LK Bennett. After the shops closed, Yang and I had dinner at Maze, where the Head Chef, Jason Atherton, was the first British chef to train at Spain's famous El Bulli restaurant (the Number 1 restaurant in the World's 50 best restaurants 2006). After dinner, Yang and I watched yet another movie (needed to make the most of our unlimited card before it expired)...this time it was my choice, so we watched The Devil wears Prada...which isn't going to win any academy awards but it was cool to see all the fashion and nudge Yang everytime I saw something in New York that I had been to.

On Sunday, Yang and I met James (an ex work colleague from STASCO) and his partner Mark for dim sum at Lotus. Spent the rest of the afternoon trying to reconcile my company's accounts whilst Yang helped Henry move house.

Bristol - Russell Peters

Wednesday 11 October 2006
My parents arrived back from their cruise around the Greek Islands, Egypt and Turkey this afternoon. As a mini family get together, we had Sean, Jason, Ammy, and Peter over for dinner. On the menu was Gado Gado and given the number of Foos in the house, what better dish to have then Hainanese Chicken Rice? I was supposed to cook but thankfully mum started without me (it could have been a disastrous dinner otherwise) so I ended up just helping out by cutting vegetables. We spent the rest of the evening looking at Dad's photos from their trip.

Thursday 12 October 2006
I woke up at 5:30am this morning and headed to London City Airport to catch a flight to The Hague for work. It was pretty much GO from the moment I stepped into the office and it only stopped at 8pm when the team went for dinner at Gaucho's (an Argentinian steak restaurant) in the city. The Hague is actually really clean and modern, and very civilised...not like Amsterdam.

Friday 13 October 2006
It was another busy day at work in The Hague, but as it was a Friday, I left at 5:30pm and headed to Rotterdam Airport to catch a flight back to London. My parents were flying back to Perth this evening but as my flight was late arriving into London City, I couldn't send them off. It was interesting to come home to an empty house compared to two days before when my parents and Sean were all around.

Saturday 14 October 2006
Sean, Yang and I met Jason, Ammy, Peter, and their friend at Paddington station to catch the train to Bristol Temple Mead. Jason, Ammy and Peter were running late and their friend Nakul, who we have never met before, approached us on the platform based on a description given to him by Ammy. We are still wondering exactly how Ammy described us to Nakul...

Our first stop in Bristol was to find a place for lunch...but we didn't have much luck with the first restaurant recommendation we had (Bordeaux Quay) not accepting reservations and the walk-in brasserie section being full, and the second recommendation (The Glass Boat) being closed for lunch on weekends. So we found ourselves at a pub called the The Old Fish Market, similar to The Rampage in Holborn as it was an English pub that served Thai food. After lunch we dropped our bags off at the apartment and then caught a bus to the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

After taking in the sights from the suspension bridge, Jason led us to the Coronation Tap for their famous Exhibition Cider (which they sell in half pints as it is apparently quite strong). Unfortunately they were closed between 4pm and 7pm (I didn't know the English had afternoon siestas!) but Nakul was persistent and knocked on their door until the owner opened up - he did tell them a bit of a white lie about how we had travelled "all the way from Australia" to taste their cider. So the owner let us in, put 4 pints of the Exhibition Cider into some plastic bottles, gave us some plastic cups and then we were on our way. It was quite a sight seeing a group of Chinese people and one Indian person walking around the street drinking cider! (But it shows there is at least one positive to living in England - street drinking!)

From Clifton Village, we headed to the Cabot Tower in Brandon Hill and climbed up the many stairs to take in the views of Bristol.

Then it was time to see Russell Peters, a Canadian born Anglo-Indian stand-up comedian who has created a bit of a following amongst the Asian and Indian communities. It was a very enjoyable show (especially for me given I don't really like stand up comedy), he worked the crowd a lot and there were some great lines which I am sure the boys will continue to repeat. After the show, we lined up to get Russell Peters' autograph and take photos - great marketing on his part and from the 1 minute we had talking to him, he seemed like a really friendly guy. We left the theatre very much amused and had a late dinner at a Japanese Restaurant called Obento on Baldwin Street before heading back to the apartment.

Everyone was a little tired after our day in Bristol so we all crashed on the couch/floor and watched Snatch and then the Russell Peters' DVD 'Outsourced' (which Sean bought at the show and had autographed) whilst drinking G&Ts and Vodka Lemon Lime. After the DVD, the 'oldies' (Yang and I) headed to bed whilst the 'younger' ones kept on with the drinking and card games until about 4am.

Sunday 15 October 2006
We woke up and checked out of the apartment at 10am. The plan was to have brunch at Browns as though it is a chain, it is a bit of an institution in Bristol and is housed in a former museum, art gallery and university refectory. But after walking up the hill with our luggage to get there, we were told they only opened at 11am. So we waited outside for 20+ minutes and then we were told that they only opened at 11am for drinks, not food...we were not impressed...could they not have told us earlier. Luckily, there was a J. D. Wetherspoon across the road so we went there for a £1.99 breakfast...couldn't complain about that!

We got back into London around 4pm and then I quickly unpacked my Crumpler and repacked my cabin bag as I was flying to The Hague that evening for work again. So I had a quick dinner with Yang at home before I caught the DLR to London City Airport and Yang met up with the gang at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden for the Mozart 250th anniversary concert which included scenes from Mozart’s major operas with full orchestra and choir as well as an international cast of soloists. Loreen and Felix paid for Yang’s ticket as his birthday present.

London - Too much drinking makes Sonia go something something...

Monday 2 October 2006
I started a new role in the Group Direct Tax SOX team in Shell today. Still SOX work but auditing tax numbers (as the name of the team would suggest), and hopefully may include some travel to cool places like Brazil and Argentina (but everyone on the team wants to go there too so there's tough competition!). The good thing about being in the Shell Centre is the canteen and the free lunch (hopefully I don't put on weight)!

Wednesday 4 October 2006
After work I met Mariani, Linh and Sara for the Bally "History and Heritage" evening which was used to promote their new range. For us girls, it was a good excuse to sip bellinis and eat canapes (the foie gras and baby octopus canapes were delicious) and most importantly, claim our "goody bag" which contained a Bally leather card holder (so cool! love free stuff!). I left the girls at 8ish and then met up with my ex SwissRe KPMG work colleagues (Danny, James, Callum, Balaji and Arjun) at Aura in St James for more drinks and dinner. We stayed until close to midnight and then Callum, Balaji and I continued on for more drinks at Babble on Berkeley Square in Mayfair before I caught a taxi home.

Thursday 5 October 2006
Dinner with my ex work colleagues from STASCO this evening at a Korean Restaurant called Jindalle to celebrate my new job and to say goodbye to our Korean intern, Suyoung. We let Suyoung order for us, which was good as we got to try more authentic korean dishes, and I also got to try the korean version of the japanese plum wine, which was not as sweet, but still very nice.

Friday 6 October 2006
The Group Direct Tax SOX team had a workshop this afternoon so all the team that were out of London flew back in and so the office was buzzing. After the workshop the team headed to Belgos in Covent Garden for belgium beer and dinner. During dinner, one of the girls introduced me to Kir Royale; very dangerous! For a work function, it was lots of fun and great to talk to all the team informally.

After dinner, I met up with Sean, Joe, Kah Leng and Shawn Koh at Abacus before we headed to the Wax Bar for clubbing.

Saturday 7 October 2006
Woke up this morning and given my last few days of over indulgence, I headed to the gym. Had lunch at home and then Tammy and Linus came back from house hunting with a bottle of Frangelico...

That evening, Tammy, Linus, Yang and I headed to Bayswater to meet Toby Grayson (ex work colleague from PwC Perth who is now working in Milan but was in London on a business trip), Jane and Ed for drinks at Phoenix Bar before dinner at Gold Mine (the new Four Seasons - as the chef left Four Seasons and opened this restaurant). Unfortunately, by the time we had dinner, there was no duck left...so sad. One final drink at a local pub in Bayswater before we caught the tube back home.

Sunday 8 October 2006
We had dim sum with Tammy, Linus and Helen at Royal China on West Ferry Circus; very relaxing given the sun was out (although it was cold) and the view of the Thames. Tammy and Linus left later in the afternoon for Jane's place as Tammy is moving in with Jane until Linus and her find a place in London.

That evening, we had Allison, Aaron and Felix over for dinner so that Alli and Aaron could show us the wedding photo proofs. As it was a mini celebration, we popped open a bottle of Mumm Demi Sec Champagne, which went down quite well!

After 5 continuous nights of drinking I so need to detox this coming week!

Munich - Oktoberfest 2006

Monday 25 September 2006

After work, we met up with my parents at Fung Shing in Soho before heading to Her Majesty's theatre to watch the West End production of The Phantom of the Opera. It was so much better than when I saw it in Perth years ago at the Entertainment Centre. Just the atmosphere of being in a Theatre, and so close to the performers made it such a different experience compared to watching it in Perth. Also, the props were much better, but I guess given the musical is still running after it opened in the West End in 1986 and in a permanent location, they can afford to keep updating their props.

Wednesday 27 September 2006
I met up with Allison, Claudine, Jane, Inchee, Tao and Kah Leng (and we also bumped into Maxine) for the London Fashion Weekend at the Natural History Museum. It was not what we were expecting...although there was a fashion show, sadly it wasn't anything glamourous...just a place where London designers sell their collections at reduced prices. I didn't end up buying anything apart from a £3 goody bag - a definite bargain, and we got some free Elizabeth Arden cosmetics and a Campari cocktail. After a rose champagne at the Moet and Chandon Bar in the tent, Alli, Claudine, Inchee, Jane and I left the others to their shopping and grabbed dinner at Oriental Canteen down the road.

Friday 29 September 2006
It was my last day at Shell Trading so the team had dim sum at New World in Chinatown to send me off. After work I met Yang at Paddington Station and we headed to Heathrow to catch our flight to Munich. The flight was delayed so we only arrived into Munich at midnight and by the time we got to the Le Meridien it was approaching 1am.

Saturday 30 September 2006
We met Sean and James at 9am and headed to the fairgrounds for Oktoberfest. There were masses of people when we arrived and even though we were early, the tents were all packed. 2 hours later and we still couldn't get into a tent or a beer garden (weather was much better than last year, sunny clear skies and warm) so we decided to cut our losses and try our luck at Hofbrauhaus in the city centre. Hofbrauhaus is where Hitler gave his first mass meeting of the then fledgling Nazi party. In keeping with Oktoberfest tradition, the boys had pig trotters with bread dumplings and a stein of beer. I took the easy option and had a radler (equivalent of a shandy) and a bavarian meatloaf (just a fat sausage).

After lunch, we walked around the town centre and did a bit of shopping. I got my first pair of birkenstocks - so much cheaper than in Australia or London - but I had to check 6 stores before I got the model, colour and size I wanted.

That evening, we all headed back to the fairgrounds to try our luck at getting into a tent. But with huge queues still, we compromised by grabbing a seat in the beer garden of a boutique brewery (famous for its Wheat beer but I can't recall the name...must have drank too much!). We met a two people from Hamburg and had a good conversation over dinner and a pint.

After dinner, we tried our luck getting to the Hippodrome beer garden and thankfully we got in after not too long. After a stein and a bit of dancing, Yang and I headed back to the hotel whilst Sean and James moved on to Club 4004.




Sunday 1 October 2006
We woke up even earlier today to make sure we could get into a tent, so just after 8am, Sean, James, Yang and I were on our way to the fairgrounds for the third time. We decided to go to Augustiner as locals told us that it was the best beer in Munich (and apparently keep away from Lowenbrau - it is only for tourists). The tent opened just after 9am and we got a table just in front of the band stand. As there was only 4 of us and the benches sit 10, we got to meet a few locals, and had a great time. The locals introduced us to a white breakfast sausage with sweet mustard and then to a product called "snuff" which is tobacco mixed with menthol in powder form and which you snort...very legal so don't worry! Later, as the local was fascinated by how intrigued we were with "snuff" he bought us a bottle of ice "snuff" which is sugar with menthol...which was deceivingly cocaine looking (all white)...but still legal!

After lunch, Yang and I said Auf Wiedersehen to Oktoberfest and headed to the airport to catch our flight back to London (not a good flight as we were in the plane for 1.5 hours waiting for it to take off) whilst Sean and James continued on their journey to break drinking records!