Belle-Ile-En-Mer, Brittany France ~ Winter Feb 2014

After Nico finished with his work in the office and i'm done with Rodin, we catch an afternoon train and went back to Brittany to his parents place. The day after, we went with Gildas and Patricia to Belle-Ile which is famous among the Parisians for holiday during summer. We left very early in the morning to catch the first ferry to the island which took around an hour to get there. 

Nico rent a car right at the city and we start our day with hot chocolate. Hot chocolate definitely tasted amazing in winter and i don't know how much cocoa i have consume during my short stay in France :) So, we get our car and went around the island. The good thing about travelling in winter is, there's no one around and you can have the place all to yourself. The bad things besides cold is, most places closed. 

 (arrived before sunrise)

(Gildas, Patricia, me and Nico)

The weather was ok in the morning, its cold but i still can survived. We stop at a lot of places and of cos to the famous La Pointe des Poulains. From car park we need to do some walking to the cliff and it was a refreshing walk. 

 (meeting before sight seeing)

La Pointe des Poulains is definitely beautiful. Its windy when we arrived there but there's no rain. So we managed to walk around the area despite the cold. 

 (Its beautiful here)

 (church...ehhh or was it light house?)

 (lil birdy in the cold)

 (refreshing walk2)

 (funny pose from my in-laws)

(i think this place look amazing in summer)

 We also went to see an old light house in belle-ile which if im not mistaken also served as a museum. Unfortunately, it was closed during winter and we can only see it from the outside.

(make a stop at the famous light house but it was closed)

(sheep at the light house)

On the way back to the city we stop around other places and also in search for food. We've been told when we took the rent car thats there's not so many restaurant open during this season and we have to go back to city center. Fortunately there's few restaurant open and only 2 place served a good food and we end up having Moules Mariniere which is my favorite food in France. 

(otw back to the city)

(not so many restaurant open during winter and thank god we found Moules Mariniere)

 (our ride back home) 

 When we leave the island it was almost sunset, i was so tired and cold and we have to take another 1 hour boat ride. The sea was rough and i almost throw up from seasick. To top that, when we arrived at the main land, it was raining pretty heavily and we run under the rain to get to the car. My husband make a joke by saying that i finally experienced Brittany famous rain. It was another couple of hours to get home and when i get inside, i immediately sit in front of fire place before moved to sofa and dozed off.

(I got so tired and sick when we reach home)

The sweetness of doing nothing for 2014

Dec 2014

(View of Hong Kong Skyline during river cruise)

Sept 2014

(During our 2 weeks trip to Palawan, Bali & Lombok)

(Blessed to swim with this turtle during our snorkeling trip at Gili Island) 

(Balinese Dance at GWK)

(Snorkeling at El-Nido)

May 2014

(Medhufushi Island Resort staff getting on small boat to shallow water)

April 2014

(The main highlight at Sandakan Sabah besides Orang-Utan)

March 2014

(One of Borneo best beach, Malaysia)

February 2014 

  (The island present its name beautiful island in Brittany, France)

  (The famous La Rochelle tower, France)

(Musee des commerces d'Autrefois aka old shop museum, France)

(Donkey Sanctuary, France)

(Place de la Bourse, France)

January 2014

(Finally be able to see Rafflesia, the biggest flower in the world, Malaysia)

Grenoble & Briancon, France 2013

Its been a week since we came back from France and i've been busy ever since. But today, since i got nothing much to do except filing i decided to make myself busy here :)

It took us almost 5 hours from Brittany to Paris and another 6 hours from Paris to Grenoble. We decided to stay for one night in Paris and hangout with Nico friends. It was so cold in France this spring and it felt like winter to me. Its something common for everybody to speak about weather here in France or maybe everybody in Europe. Weather can be unpredictable, it can be sunny for 5min and immediately raining after that for another 5min before sunny again. So its not easy to plan something with this kind of weather. 

We arrived in Grenoble around 9pm due to heavy traffic in Paris earlier in the afternoon when we suppose to be there at 8pm to meet my friend Marlies and her boyfriend. We are fortunate to meet each other again after 4 years since Marlies went there for rock climbing and we decided to stay for the night in Grenoble before proceed to Torino for our trip to Italy.

(I was more excited with Geneve sign..lol)

 (Marlies & Steven, they are Dutch and i called them giant for being so tall :p)

After dinner we went directly to our bed & breakfast place after being delayed for an hour. The owner of the house seems upset that we arrived late but nothing we can do about it. Bed & breakfast have been our choice of stay for this trip. Its cheaper, easier way and nice to see how local live and decorate their place. 

 (mistress of the house aka fat cat)

(we had homemade bread, blueberry jam and honey for breakfast)

Since we are still in France and both Nico and the house owner are French, they speak a lot during breakfast and it was then house owner (which i didn't know what her name was) suggest to skip highway and go to Torino through Briancon. She said the view is nice and there was snow one week ago. After discuss with me, we agreed to go through Briancon for its view especially when we are on holiday and doesn't feel the need to rush to get to Torino. 

The journey was longer but we didn't regret for choosing Briancon especially when we still can see snow in May. It was amazing, it wasn't cold except when its windy, one part already green and another still covered with snow. This is the first time i saw real snow on the mountain so you can imagine my excitement :)

 (when we just started already excited seeing snow and immediately cam whore)

(nice view at dam)

 (windy...)

 (tadaaaaa....my first snow which already melt and became ice :(

 (its 1st May 2013 and there's still snow)

 (Love the combination of green & white)

 (Briancon also a place to ski)

 (melting snow became waterfall)

(Small town right at France & Italy border)

France 2012 - Part 3 - Nico Home

We took TGV around 8.30am to Brittany (Bregtane) on saturday the 4th and ticket cost us around 175 euro person since it was a peak season. Our journey are smooth and fast. Nothing much can see along the way except field and more field. I get excited to see hays everywhere since we don't have this in Malaysia. We arrived in Brittany around noon. It was cold since its been raining the whole journey. Nico live in Surzur which is another 20min drive by  car from train station. 

It was windy and cold. As my clothes are more suitable for summer (i expect lot of sun and not lot of rain) i was freezing to death. Short walk to the car feel like eternity. Nico's friend fetch us since we didn't tell his parents that we coming for the party. We wanted to surprise his mom after one year and to see their expressions. Its my 1st time meeting his parents and i was quite nervous. 

Nico live in a small town call surzur. We didn't find time to walk around the town but they have an old church which look nice and a quite neighborhood. My 1st impression was, the place is quite and where is everybody. His home surrounded by corn and barley field, when we arrived his mom was doing some work outside the house and not really sure whose coming. When she saw nico came out of the car she's burst into tears and been hugging him. His dad wasn't home at that time and after received a call he immediately came back. When he hugged nico i can see how proud he is with him.

Since we are in Brittany and these people are french, his dad suggest to have apero (drinking session) as early as lunch. We chat a lot during lunch and i was a bit upset cos i cant make conversation since they speak little english and i speak little french. Nico become translator most of the time. Nevertheless i received a very warm welcome from his family and i didn't feel so awkward as i expected. 

Culture different is something that i try to adapt very fast. French people really proud with what they have so if you want to see their house, just let them know and they will be more than happy to show you around. I get a tour around the house, field and nico's dad workshop. I've been told that most people who live there are farmer. Nico told me the reason he want to be engineer was because there's a construction site in front of his house which at that time only have one excavator and nothing much build. So i make fun of him saying how one excavator can change him. ^_^

People in Brittany well known for their ability to drink like crazy and didn't get drunk and they eat a lot of pork. "Je ne manger pas le porc", is the 1st thing nico teach me so there wont be any incident of me eating pork since i am muslim. Before i eat anything i will ask what in the serving and thank god both party respect each other. When his parents took us dinner outside they make sure we take seafood or at least no pork in my plate. 

Eating out in France are usually a special event. Most family will cook at home since eating out consider luxury. Unlike here in malaysia where you can get food anywhere and everywhere with cheap price. 

Kissing each other cheek is a way of greeting in France. Usually you have to kiss at both cheek BUT if they consider you as family you have to do it 4 times, twice at each side. So you can imagine how many people kiss me and i kiss. 

During apero, when they cheers with the glass its really important that you look them in the eyes, its consider impolite if you didn't look. One thing that i don't understand until now they sure love standing and standing a lot. Even when they are inside the house and chairs available, they will form a circle and talk. Its look like they only can seat when dinner is ready and invited by the owner. Its a mystery that i need solve. 

 (Small lake in front the house)

 (View from entrance)

 (i think thats not lavender)

(family pet - Bexsy)

 (Their barley field)

(i get a chance to ride this when the harvest barley)