I see a Puget! I see a Puget!

2 reasons to stay away from movies and lepaking - The Amazing Races! Both the Asian and US version are currently underway and I oh so love AXN. (Thank you God for including this channel in the compulsory Family Package).

5 reasons why you should watch:

Funny people. The most memorable vocabulary mistake was by the Indian cousins, Sahil & Manas who became over excited upon seeing other teams' Peugeot cars parked alongside the Penang Peranakan Mansion, and screams "I see a Puget! I see a Puget!". Hilarious. Expect Malaysians Ethan & Khairie to lighten up the Race too.

Pretty chicks & Girl power. Could another all-female team win?, cuz not many of us expected Zabrina & Joe Jer from Season 1 to take it all home. Expect more from party girls Jess & Lani (Jess seems more toned), Claire & Michelle (they claim they're street smart), Yani and her bud, Nadine, Miss Indonesia Earth 2009 (I have a special spot for beauty queens) and Indian actresses Dimple & Sunaina (athletic looking).

Good ol' families. Natasha and her doting dad Hussein comes to mind first, they were already running behind all teams and still managed to keep their heads together to check in (second last). Maybe this is the season we won't see parents yelling at their kids because well, they're the parent. And then there's Hungarian university lecturer Ivan and his Malaysian researcher wife Hilda - which 100% reminded me and my mom of Terri, the screeching and fit throwing machine from Season 2. Terri sulked, yelled and threw her tantrum all over Asia and half of Europe. Hilda cried all the way up to Batu Caves (not sure how many times she had to climb up and down 272 stairs) then cut to her guessing every number for the Indian priest, cried more, sprained her ankle and that was the end of Terri it. But she's still cute, I'll give her that.

Tagline "Ride of a Lifetime". The Race has never disappointed me (except for one season in US) so expect more brutal and hard hitting challenges in the upcoming legs.

Brains, brawn or luck. Season 1 had Sandy & Francesca and Andrew & Syeon, Season 2 had Marc & Rovilson (It's still hard to forgive them for losing!), Season 3 had a few consistent teams but Season 4 will keep us guessing. The only team that stands out are Richard & Richard.

Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris! Unfortunately I had a sore throat from yelling and talking too much the night before so it was really bugging me. And plus, after screaming too much during the roller coaster rides it became super annoying.

Entrance to Disneyland Paris.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Just went around it and came back haha.

Entrance to Disneyland Park where all the train rides, roller coasters etc are located.

First ride - Big Thunder Mountain. I was mentally prepared so I could still open my eyes throughout the ride.

Pirates of the Carribean boat ride. Good thing the camera's flash worked.

Space Mountain roller coaster ride. This was getting somewhat freaky so had to keep my head down, scream and close the eyes to avoid looking like a nuthead in the pictures the stationed camera takes during the ride.

Entrance to Walt Disney Studios.

One whole bunch of Asian people walking around in identical T-shirts haha.

While waiting for the Tram Tour of Walt Disney Studios.

Joyce and me =)

On the tram.

One of the special effects we came across. Flood water literally came down splashing at us!

Before the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride. Awesome but still had to keep my head down and grip the seat handle really hard.

Lining up for The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. It's a kid's ride but just went on it for the sake of experiencing something.

Hugs!

Kids.

Pluto, Chip and Dale. And since this is my blog, I'll continue on bragging I got kissed by either Chip or Dale on the hand =D

Green soldiers from Toy Story.

Beauty and the Beast.

Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.
After the parade most of us had already went off in different directions. I went with some of the girls into shops on Main Street and bought a Christmas decor and watched the tour manager purchase some crystal figurines. Somehow I bumped into JR and we went for 2 more rides - Indiana Jones (roller coaster!) and Phantom Manor (a ride around a haunted house). It was almost time to leave and I was still lining up to buy dinner so we practically ran to the car park.

Other places we went throughout the day:
Honey, I Shrunk The Audience (closed in May 2010) - 3D cinema
Moteurs - car stunt
Armageddon - special effects

We had dinner together at our apartment. The guys bought their remaining cup noodles and soup from Liverpool. Sore throat was still there, and my back was a lil swollen from all the roller coaster rides.

I love these guys.

Thank you Residhome Appart Hotel Carrières La Défense for the 2 nights stay! It's a brand new aparthotel about 30 mins from downtown Paris.

View from the living room. One of the couches can be converted to a bed.

The dining area.
And we head back to London the following day. Of course, I had the cold and it was sniffs the entire day :/

Downtown Paris

Our last city as part of our Europe excursion - Paris. Kinda unfortunate we stayed in the outskirts of Paris so visiting the city at night wasn't a good idea. There was hardly any public transportation where we were staying too, so the nights were spent watching TV and utilizing the free Wifi connection =)

Arc de Triomphe. There was a time limit for our tour bus to stop at the roadside so we had like, 5 mins to run to this place, take pics and then run back.

Parisian architecture on the banks of River Seine.

Si Yuan and me pretending to be koalas.

Group shot with Eiffel Tower in the background.

With Lawrence.

Us.

Kai Siang, myself and Joyce.

Obelisk of Luxor at Place de la Concorde. Funny pic cuz you'd guessed Lawrence was pulling the car.

Tuileries Garden.

Lunch. The bad part about this tour is we have more Chinese food than local delicacies.

This is Sam, our tour guide originally from Singapore.

This is Boon Kit, I might have been holding on him too tight.

As close I could get to the Lourve Pyramid. Nope, didn't have the time to visit The Mona Lisa.

And that was it. We went to Galeries Lafayette, and I spent some time looking for a I Love Paris t-shirt (finally got one at 10 euros) at a roadside stall. Went for dinner and gossiped a lot. Some got a lil drunk from the wine. We also celebrated birthdays for those born in September (Happy birthday Ah Foo!!) and then went back to the hotel and watched TV.

We had 2 plasma TVs in our suite!

Sept 14 09

No pics for today cuz we left Lucerne for Paris, a journey of at least 670km so we spent the entire day in travelling in the bus, sleeping and watching movies. We had lunch and dinner at one of those rest stops along the expressway and reached Paris late evening.

Sept 13 09

Switzerland baby! I could spend the whole day gawking at sceneries I don't have to go sightseeing!

View from our hotel. And a train chugging by.

Houses, villas and B&B nearby.

Me, Fei Lin, Mayyi, Lai Kuan and Alex on the way up to Mount Titlis.

Feels like Christmas.

Grazing cows below us.

White and black sheep.

Edge of Mount Titlis. We only started to freeze as we were leaving haha.

Like it's snowing =) The ice on the mountain top is exactly like the ones in your freezer, no joke.

Snowman #1.

Snowman #2. We built them both, and then destroyed it lol.

Some of us who went higher via the ski lifts.

Final pic of the gang before we left for good. (l-r) Jang Rong, Lawrence, yours truly, Kai Siang, Fei Lin, Ah Foo, Lai Kuan, Boon Kit and Alex. Missing from the pic is Mayyi.

Back on terra firma after our mountain top expedition =P

We left Titlis for downtown Lucerne during mid afternoon. This is the Lion Monument which was built in honour of Swiss Guards killed during the French Revolution. A sculpture of a lion is depicted wounded by a spear symbolizing the soldiers who died.

Downtown Lucerne.

Inside the walkway of the Chapel Bridge.

Chapel Bridge on the Reuss River. It was designed to protect the city of Lucerne from attacks, and the tower in the background has served as a prison, torture chamber and a watchtower.

Some of us who went to the lake nearby our hotel during night time. Couldn't see anything though so some of them went back the next morning to take some pics ... in the rain.