New Year

In commemoration of the new year, 2014, I changed my desktop wallpaper.

I do not think that I have to wait for a new year to start a change, but I think it is a nice thing to know that you can have a fresh clean slate. It gives some sort of hope, you know?

This year, I have new and recycled resolutions. I have yet to list them down one by one, but at some point today, I will. According to what I've heard and read, listing down your main goals would help you to achieve them. Hopefully, that works!

Resolution number one, write in a journal.

Unseen video

I was doing some cleaning last night when I found this:

A video that Erni gave me two and a half years ago. I have never watched it because I was afraid that it would make me cry a river before. I finally did and hey, I did not cry! Instead, these people managed to put another smile on my face even though we are currently 9000 miles away from each other.

I believed they have forgotten about the existence of this disc and thus, I sent bits of the video clips to them on Whatsapp and I can truly say my hypothesis is valid. I sensed a bit of regret in the replies I got. Hehe. This will surely be added to my collection of 'funny things my friends did that they do not want their future spouses to see'. :P

All in all, I am grateful to have crossed my path with these crazy people I call friends. Thank you for simply existing. :*

On a side note, you girls sure spent a lot of time together without me!!!

Travelog: Vieux-Port de Montréal

After having our breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we headed to the bus station to store our luggage. Our bus to Ottawa was at around 8:00 pm, so we decided to visit Vieux-Port or Old Port before leaving.

I did not enter this Notre-Dame Basilica despite the fact that it is a beautiful building because I refused to pay $5 to see whatever is inside... Tight budget, chop, chop, chop!

Then, I walked along Old Port to see what's around. I saw these cute kids holding hands and I just had to take a picture of them. Matching hats and all!

This man on the other hand, just happened to be in the picture without me realizing it.

We then arrived at this park by the St-Lawrence River. I think it has a really nice atmosphere to have family activities such as a picnic.

At that moment, I envied these people. I miss my family back home...

I decided to have a mini picnic of my own and sat on the grass by the river. Since I was on a tight budget and could not afford any guided tours, I did the self-guided tour provided, while sitting down instead of walking around. The weather was really nice and I enjoyed myself listening to the history of Old Port.

After I was done with the history of Old Port, we headed towards the La Tour de l'Horloge or Clock Tower Quay.

I threw away my fear of heights and climbed 192 steps to get this view of Montreal. My heart almost fell out when I descended the tower to get to the ground level.

When we reached the ground, we walked towards the other side of Old Port; the buildings.

This part of Old Port is beautiful as the architectures are different from the ones I usually see. It gave a different cultural vibe and I love the brick roads especially.

Lastly, before returning to Ottawa, I could not pass the opportunity to buy a French pastry; a box of macarons, just because.

Travelog: Montreal's Tim Horton's

On the last day of my trip to Montreal, my traveling partner and I woke up early to have breakfast.

We walked around the city part to find a coffee shop but it was so hard to find! You would think that an area with a lot of office buildings would have one... However, we finally found a Tim Horton's at the train station, thousand (ten, maybe) of blocks away from the hotel.

I had such a hard time. I did not know how to speak! I thought a lot of ways on how to place my order in my head but in the end, I went with 'Uh, a hot chocolate please'. It was so terrible I do not even know how to describe the experience.

I waited for my drink and pastries and paid attention to every single word uttered by the servers. When my orders came, I quickly recognized it and wanted to say 'ici', but no, I did not have enough confidence to do so and just put up my hand and waved.

Every single word I thought in my head, never came out from my mouth. -_-"

Documenting Life

All this while, I have been wanting to write a travel journal.

Traveling has always been a mini adventure of mine and I would like to document them for me to remember because let's be honest, I suck at remembering things sometimes. There are so many interesting things that have happened whenever I travel and I love every bit of them because they make the trips more memorable and special.

I have been trying to start one but I have always stopped after the first few hours because I am not committed enough! Talk about being hangat hangat tahi ayam... I don't think I took enough pictures too. The fact that I have abandoned this blog of mine doesn't help. A lot of funny things have happened and I might forget about them one day in the future...

Therefore, let's try this once again! Documenting life.