Tail-less Pui

WARNING:
The following writing contains pictures that some may find to be disturbing. Reader Discretion is Advised.

A couple of days ago, I saw A-Pui hiding under a car. Usually when I call his name, he’ll greet me with wagging tail, but this time, he just looked at me, curling his body without getting up. I saw a wound on his butt, it was dark, I couldn’t really tell how severe the wound is.

The next day, I asked my staff about A-Pui, he said maybe someone run over the dog’s tail. My brother asked me to get a vet to give him a check. Just in case it was serious.

Monks and Nuns were in the House

On my last visit to St.Peter Basilica in the Vatican City, GUESS whom I met?
A very interesting and comforting sightings: a bunch of Buddhist monks and nuns in dark-brown robes was visiting one of  the most important and holiest site in Catholic world.
For me, it is a odd thing to see how the Buddhist Sangha to visit a Catholic Papal Palace. Not that I doubt their tolerance, or me being fanatic. But, even some Christian refused to visit the Basilica, despite having the same belief in Jesus.

Look at these monks and nuns :) they are so open minded to visit Papal Palace.
They are welcomed by the Catholics too.
Without any suspicions, the world might have a brighter future.

Btw, I made a little conversation with them. By their robe, I can tell that they are Thinch Nath Hanh’s disciples from Plum Village Monasteries (France). My guess was correct, they were from Plum Village; and they were  in Rome and  Italy for a retreat and had a lazy day so they went to visit interesting places in Rome, and here they were, visiting Vatican City.

Btw, I took some pics of them, poor quality. It was kinda dark in the Basilica (I refrained myself from using flash inside the basilica, don't want to disturb those who were attending the mass). And I was too shy to asked for picture with them. (I did actually, but the result was super dark… hiks) These pictures above were taken by a friend with his DSLR camera.

Blinding Love

It's amazing how love will occupy your mind. All of your mind.
On my not-so-recent trip, I witnessed how my fellow travelmate was so crazy in love to other travel mate.
People started to whisper about them, I think they both knew about it.
They tried to be discreet, but the "love" atmosphere around them couldn't be hidden.

I mean, just like little things. The lady was always worry about the guy.
Always put him 1st. Getting him food, seat, anything, everything!
Obviously they were still in dating stage. That's why they were so lovely. Hahaha. They won't be so love-y if they've moved on to more serious stage, rite?
Her actions were more than a wife to a hubby. Seriously! The only thing they couldn't do was to hug or kiss in public for photos (like what real couples freely do).
Sometimes, when they were off-guard, they called each other "honey" ...
So, that what's love can do to u. Crazy in love. And despite those rolling eyes, you'll easily forget and ignore all your surrounding.
Blinding you with all the love love love.

Well, I hope I won't be like her. I want my guy to be crazy about me and adores me, forever. I don't want it to be the other way around like what happen to my travelmate :(

The Art of Bargaining?

Pisa, Italy

My first real experience of bargaining was in Beijing, China. I never really have a chance of bargaining when I was in my hometown or in Australia where I had my uni.
Me, such an untrained bargain-er, usually I hardly get the real good deal. I was never pushy enough. I will just give up and pay. I think the vendor need to make some living too. Rite? Or am I just being too nice?

Today, a bunch of aunties wanna buy some souvenir umbrellas from a sad looking Bangladeshi guy; an umbrella for 3 euro. I think it's a reasonable price. But the aunties wants cheaper and cheaper price. Btw, they sell the same umbrella on the stall for 5 euro. So it was really a bargain! Yet it's not enough for those aunties.

Some aunties will say "Don't bargain anymore, these ppl are poor. A euro or two doesn't mean anything for us, but means a lot to them"
And some will answer "That's the beauty of bargaining, I want to win! I want to get the cheapest price compare to u all"
And she end up buying like a dozen of umbrellas, which I believe she'll never ever use at all....

What do u think?

The Most Expensive Toilet Fee

I find this experience is amusing. I need to share it.

On my last trip, we visited Venice. We took a ride on gondola, exploring the canals of Venice. Nice experience. We only have a couple of hour for free time, so I went to see things around St.Mark’s Square; which kinda boring, cos I don’t shop. Not interested in buying anything at all. So I just walk round and round the piazza, until I bumped into my travelmates, who were exhausted from their shop-and-hunt activites, so we decided have sit in one of the piazza’s café.

The café was beautiful, full-music (they provide a mini orchestra!) and it has an elegant atmosphere. So, four of us sat and took some orders: an espresso, a pizza, a chocolate ice-cream, and a amarena-cherry ice-cream for me. Btw, it was the guy who ordered espresso that insisted us to visit the café, the real reason behind it not ‘cos he was thirsty or anything, he just wanted to use the café’s TOILET.

me being narsistic at the cafe. and that's the super yummy amarena cherry ice-cream

So, there he went to the toilet, and he came back with frowning face, saying “NO WATER”. Then the orders came, he again, started to complained about the espresso. Not about the taste, he complained about the size (which is around 30ml, I guess) and the price. The espresso cost 6.5euro. Plus the orchestra surcharge is 6 euro per person – Yes! We need to pay extra for those fine music! Total 12.5 for his part. Btw, the pizza and ice creams were amazing. So tasty. Worth every cent of it. :D

Yet he was so nice to pay for us, which total 78 euro. I guess he feels responsible to pay cos he was the one that insisted about going to the café. He grumbled as we left the café, saying “kopi tadi, diminum engga jadi daging, tapi jadi pikiran” – roughly translated as “the espresso that I took, won’t transform into flesh in my body, but it’ll become a moan in my mind”.

 I laughed and asked “Why?” Then he admitted that he went to the café just for taking a poo, when he said there’s no water, doesn’t mean the flush didn’t work; it’s just that he need to clean his butt with water, not with tissue paper (just like most of other Indonesian). So, I innocently suggested him to take a MINERAL WATER BOTTLE into the toilet (I’ve seen many aunties bring a bottle of water, please use your imagination on how they clean their butt). And he answered, “Well, I don’t have any”. And I once again, innocently took a water bottle from my bag and offered it to him. Of course, he was irritated; we have left the premises! Hahahhaa.

I was laughing so hard when I found out what he really meant by “NO WATER”. And for him to spend 78 euro just for taking a poo – and yet FAILED, was hilarious. It ALMOST became the most expensive toilet-fee he ever had. Hahahaha.