#4.09 All Too Well

“ 每个人都在旅行的路上，最终的目的地就是自己的家。这个家不住着你的家人与朋友，也没有最美丽的风景，只有属于你自己的一颗心。这就是旅行的意义。”

After Portugal, we spent our last six days in Spain. In terms of weather, it was not even close to being perfect compared to Portugal. This was true particularly for Seville, because it was literally blazingly hot like standing on stove top, or inside an oven, whichever was hotter. And I was not even exaggerating. 

Whilst in Barcelona, we experienced a heavy downpour while visiting Park Guell. Luckily, the attractions that Spain had to offer made up for it because they were equally beautiful and stunning as well compared to the ones we saw in Portugal. All of us stopped at Seville before moving onto Madrid,  which was another lively city with so much to see and do.

Plaza De Espana in Seville made me feel so small!!

Such an engaging view from the top!

马德里不思议。

At Alcala Gate, Madrid.

All of us in front of Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid. =P

However, it's quite hard to find a proper meal to eat especially during dinner time because the locals usually would only serve tapas (cold or warm appetisers) at night. It was very new to us in the beginning but it encouraged us to share our food to make it into a complete meal so I reckoned it was a pretty brilliant culture. And the best part of it - they were lip-smacking good especially the ones found in the San Miguel Market, a vibrant urban market that offered a wide variety of nice food and wine. =)

Portion of Gulas - little white fish that looked like noodles.

Variety of salmon and codfish tapas in San Miguel Market. 

Front to back:
Octopus tapas
Tuna with anchovies and guindilla
Codfish, brandada with lumpfish caviar

Personally, the best Sangria of the whole trip was found in San Miguel Market. =)

The perfect combination - I usually disliked olives but God they were tasty.

Chopitos - the best fried food I had ever had in my life!!

Our third city in Spain was Segovia, which was nothing like the other cities in Spain. It was old, unique, sleepy and quiet in its own way despite the fact that it was flooded with thousands of tourists. While being there, we tried out the famous restaurant that was well-known for its signature roast suckling pig. We thought we're gonna be served the whole little pig until we realised how expensive that would be. It was kind of a funny experience, although not as funny as the story of Vivian locking herself up. (sorry Vivian, but it's true).

The smashing Aqueduct of Segovia.

The must-try crispy roast suckling piggy.

The Snow White Castle.

The charming view from the castle.

The last city of our trip was Barcelona, which was my favourite city in Spain because literally there were so much to feast our eyes and taste buds on. On the first day, we joined the free walking tour and visited Park Guell later on that day. At night, we managed to find a small local bistro recommended by the hostel owner that served flavoursome tapas. If I were allowed to choose the very one restaurant that I wanted to try out again during the whole trip, this would no doubt be my choice. =)

Lovely breakfast with salami sandwich, coffee and churros
with chocolate drinks before beginning our walking tour.

Holding the famous dragon in Park Guell.

Could you believe that it's not a lizard, but a dragon? 

Park Guell after the rain. 

3 of us in Park Guell.

Tapas 1: Fried fish!!

Tapas 2: The octopus. 

Tapas 3: Forgot what it's called but it tasted so much like Malaysian food!!

Tapas 4: Fried squids with lemon.

Tapas 5: They had strong smell but they were still good!

On the next day, we visited the famous La Boqueria market in the morning. We had breakfast at the famous Pinotxo Bar and the food definitely didn't disappoint. Of course, we wouldn't leave Barcelona until we visited the majestic Sagrada Familia. By visiting a few more famous buildings, we finally completed our tiring 12-day journey. A big thank you to those who planned and made this trip so much fun and memorable. =)

Having breakfast at the Pinotxo Bar.

With the must-visit Sagrada Familia behind us.

No doubt that traveling, particularly a 12-day trip like this, could help us discover a lot of things that we didn't know about others and ourselves. It revealed a lot of sides of myself that I didn't know I had or those that I didn't want myself to have. 

First of all, I could never pretend that I was happy when I was not and I figured it was a bad trait. Secondly, once somebody made me go mad especially when I was having a good day, my mood would go straight to hell and would never recover for that entire day even though he/she had apologised a thousand times. 

Thirdly, there was nothing in this world that I hated more than fighting over the same stuff over and over again. Lastly, I would usually snap at those closest to me and I knew it's bad so I would try to snap at those I didn't give a shit about next time. So, thank you so much for all the patience and tolerance. =)

In the end, I guessed knowing ourselves and others all too well sometimes wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing as it would help us learn and figure out who we really were, what we wanted and most importantly what we didn't want in life.

Stay With Me - Sam Smith

#4.08 Treacherous

The Dom Luis Bridge that connects Porto and Gaia.

After the finals, we had about roughly a week to rest and prepare for our upcoming 12-day journey to Portugal and Spain. Usually around this time, I would be heading to US to meet up with my family but due to the summer placement that I was offered, which began at the end of June, I could only delay the trip to hopefully, the end of this year. =(

During the week, while rushing to finish all my e-learning, I managed to squeeze in some time to spend with my smurfies before everyone parted ways for a few months time. We actually went boating in our very own university and it was definitely a memorable moment spent together. And to think that I almost missed it due to being too busy with everything. Fortunately, I decided against it in the very last minute. It was my second time to row such a boat since I went on vacation with my brother and friends in Australia and it made me those time so much.

The boat colour just reminded me how much I loved the colour red.

Besides that, I decided to try out the Thai restaurant in Beeston recommended by Vivian. I guessed I had to settle with Thai food for the moment then since I had not had any real Malaysian food since last September. However, I was really pleased that I could still be able to go back to Malaysia even though it would only be 2 weeks due to the price and time. Speaking of food, I also managed to satisfy my sushi cravings by trying out another restaurant in the city. =)

The delicious salad chicken that Chiechie and Phey ordered.

To start off our summer holidays, nine of us spent about 6 days in Portugal. Due to the exams and everything, I did not have time to anticipate anything. Therefore, there was no excited feelings, pre-departure sleepless night or any oh-my-gosh-the-trip-is-finally-here type of wait. However, I guessed that was the good part because with no expectation came no disappointment. To say that Portugal was a beautiful country full of amazing food (especially the appetising Portugal tart), good wine and breath-taking scenery would no doubt be an understatement. In addition, the weather was also perfect by my standards. Our first stop was no other than Porto, which itself was a World Heritage Site.

The Livraria Lello bookshop that inspired the birth of the Harry Potter series.

A delicious signature local dish: Francesinha with fries. 

Portugal tarts and breakfast!!

Wine tasting session: Pink and Reserva. And Tawny 10 was perfect!

The mouth-watering cherries that were sold at rock-bottom price.

While in Portugal, we visited Porto, Lisbon, Sintra and Abufeira. Of all places, Sintra fascinated me the most, particularly Cape Roca. Its untouched beauty was unquestionably beyond description and I just loved the way it made me feel. And yes, I was usually afraid of height, but it just felt somehow so right and comfortable to be up there, especially when you let your view stretch as far as the eyes could go.

Cape Roca facing the Atlantic ocean.

At Cape Roca with the stunning view. 

The view from the bottom of the Initiation Well. 

At the Initiation Well, my dream destination!!

The majestic Regaleira Palace.

The scenic view of of town of Sintra.

Of course, Lisbon and Abufeira too had their own charms as well. Delectable food, nice company, pleasant weather and great scenery made time rocket past so swiftly. However, before we left Portugal, we witnessed the theft of a tourist's bag. The incident jerked me right back to reality, that there were still unpredicted dangers out there especially in a foreign country. It was easy to forget that when you're surrounded by pretty scenes though. However, what bugged me the most was the fact that I could have at least done something to help avoid it, and I would never forget the look on their faces after the incident.

At Belem Castle.

The majestic Belem Castle. =)

We're in Rio. I'm just kidding. =P

We're in San Francisco. I'm just kidding as well.

Salted sardines with potatoes.

Arroz de Marisco that tasted very similar to Grandma's crab porridge.

My memories faded a lot faster than that of a goldfish. It was extremely easy for me to forget the little things, moments and feelings (both good and bad) that I had experienced as the time passed. It's treacherous in an insensible kind of way. The years went by so quickly that people came in and out of my life so fast and sometimes with just a blink, they were already long gone and forgotten. Everything was moving forward and before I knew it, the very next phase of life had arrived. That was exactly one of the reasons why I decided to write things down every now and then. However, with the limited time and busy pace of life, it was hard. But I always tried my best to do so, so that I could always hold on to these tiny infinities.

Tiny infinities that made up my life and your story.

Problem - Ariana Grande