Thursday, July 23, 2009
Our car died on us last sat, and had to be left at 2 service centers until today, when we can finally collect our car.
At first, it only seems like an accelerating problem as our car made funny noise when Cha accelerated. Soon after that, the car was not able to accelerate no matter how hard Cha depressed the pedal... We really quite scared that it will die on us in the middle of the road, so we quickly drove our car to the nearest pepboy service center. When we reached there, the counter rep said that all the car technicians had already gone back , so we had to drive back the following morning for the repair. Then, out of good intention, the rep opened up our car hood and immediately spotted a broken pipe, and suggested that we had a problem most probably due to the tube, so he volunteered to replace it on the spot for us, without needing the technicians who would only be there the next morning. I dunno wat he did, but after he changed the tube for us, the car wouldn't start at all!!! wah biang! That blackie immediately half-sian, can tell that he regretted helping us from the start, as much as we regretted letting him touch our car...very sian. As our home is 50km away from the service center, the counter rep bo bian have to drive us back home, while leaving the car there for repair when the technicians come to work the next day.
So we waited...till Mon and they called us to inform that pepboy was unable to repair the car for us, and suggested we tow it to the nearest ford service center instead. So the same blackie come to our house to fetch Cha over to pepboy to make the towing arrangements. Up to this point, luckily pepboy never charge us for diagnostics testing..think they paiseh that their own staff cause our car unable to start. And also lucky that we just purchased the goodsam towing insurance one month before, so all towing charges were waived, which can be ridiculously expensive if we are not covered.
Finally, we get to collect our car today, after 5 days of torment of without a car. We cannot go anywhere without it lor...even marketing was limited as we can only walk to the nearest supermarket, and also cannot buy too heavy stuff as we are unable to carry back home. And guess what, we took FIVE HOURS to reach the ford service center by taking the public tpt... Public transport here is one of the worst I have ever seen! A normal person living here cannot go without a car lor!! We have to take feeder bus to metro station, take metro to union station, and then take an hour TRAIN to Baltimore, before we walked another half an hr to Maryland's metro station (completely different system from the first metro we took, have to buy different metro card), and finally take a shuttle to the ford. Wah seh! still have to take train!! We macham make a day trip to KL just to see our beloved car, left our house at 12 noon and reach at 5, it's a very exhausting transport experience lor!
And hor, the repair costs us USD 907 lor!!! This includes $600 for labor fee!! Wah, almost as expensive as a lawyer's man-hour charges leh. Ridiculous that a car technician commands so much labour fee!! Heart is bleeding~ Haiz...very sian that we have to spend so much money recently, we both really down on money luck lately...always cannot manage to save money and had to spend more than what we have saved...suay suay suay!! When we return to spore must go temple pray pray...cannot let money flow out like this lar...really have to eat grass these few weeks, or else go Hawaii no $$ to spend...
9:28 PM
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Back from my 2.5 week trip! All went well, except the wet weather in Boston and Quebec City. Heard that this summer was unusually wet and cooler from previous years, so we were clad in sweaters and jackets most of the time despite it's summer! Sianz...all my singlets had gone to waste.
The focus of this trip was different from the winter one which covered many national parks which were closer to nature. This trip mostly revolved around major cities, such as Boston, Montreal and Toronto. I quite like the colonial feel of Boston probably because of its historical heritage. Very different from bustling US cities like New York and LA. Boston has a more serene feel as people tend to take on a slower pace with more appreciation for lifestyle. I particularly like the Quincy Market, the ang moh version of a hawker center, except it's cleaner and much more expensive. Food varieties span through different cuisines, ranging from mediterranean to western and chinese food. Their clam chowder was good! Boston was also famous for seafood, although I don't know why. Seafood in Boston is not exactly that cheap, and taste the same as anywhere else.
Next we drove to Maine to see the Acadia National Park, the only national park arranged for this trip. It was rather similar to the Big Sur in California, with beautiful waters washing up the rocks by the seashore, and the Cadillac mountain so that we can overlook the entire national park. Going up the mountain was really fruitful because as we went up higher altitudes, the dense fogs formed strips of white clouds at the bottom of the hill, creating the illusion of a paradise. Very beautiful as it complements the lakes and seas very well. The small town which we stayed, Bar Harbour, is also very nice, with colonial style shophouses lining the streets. However, the main highlight was the cheap cheap lobsters we had in Maine! I believe these lobsters were caught locally and thus can be sold at wholesale price to consumers. Two lobsters and a big basket of clams only cost us 32USD!! Wahhaah...so cheap! So for consecutive two dinners, Cha and I each had one big lobster to ourselves...I love their pincer meat! SOOOO nice...I will miss the lobsters there lor..
As expected, Quebec city turned out to be one of my favourite city. I love their historical old town feel and thus was called the "old quebec city". The entire old quebec is surrounded by the old wall which gives it a special touch and makes us feel like we had gone back in time. Old quebec was really comfortable and cozy and the romantic feel of the place makes it perfect for a bridal shoot. It would be better if there is sun throughout our stay in Quebec city. But it's already good enuf! Hope we will have a chance to go back there again when the weather is good. Winter there will be very beautiful, making it an excellent place for celebrating Xmas.
Accommodation at Montreal is bad, but the cheapest and most convenient I could find. I could practically hear what ppl from next door are saying. Very clearly. Si bei sian. And although their croissant for breakfast was good, but they only limit one per person. Where got enuf??!! Thus breakfast during the stay there is very unsatisfying lor. Although Montreal is a big city by itself, lifestyle there is rather slow paced. Prob becuz we met with the jazz festival period and their Canada Day, make me feel the ppl there very slack..hehe..anyway, Canada Day was fun!! Weather was superbly good and there were skydivers performing, just like Spore NDP. Not like spore, only a selected pool of ppl get to watch the parade, the performance in Canada is open to all at Vieux port.
Next we travelled to Ottawa, the capital of Canada. The weather here was really bad, practically rained the whole day, very diff to take photos. But overall feel of this small city is still nice, esp their Byward market, which has lots of food located in that area. Even had a free tour in their parliament! Toronto was also nice with its tallest tower in the world, the CN tower. Quite expensive to go up to the top to see the skyline of Toronto. Cost us 21 dollars each lor! We had enjoyed the food spree at the Chinatown, as chinese food was still cheaper and nicer than hamburgers and fast food. Harbour front at Toronto was really nice, and it was quite romantic to watch sunset there on our second evening.
Finally, I LOVE NIAGARA FALLS!! The waterfalls were simply majestic, have never seen such a huge waterfall in my life. Ever minute of the water rushing down from the falls can fill a million bathtubs! My gosh! In particular, I love the Canadian Horseshoe falls because of the special horseshoe structure and the wider width as compared to American Falls. Of cuz the American falls is also breathtaking. At night, the neon lights lit up the entire falls, making it stand out in blooming colors against the dark waters. We even get to enjoy firework displays on Wed night!! Very impressive against the water falls lit up by the lights. We also had a nice buffet dinner at the top of the skylon tower while admiring aerial views of the Niagara falls and its surrounding landscape. The bed and breakfast at Niagara was also impressive. I love the Irish design of our room, very princessy! The bathroom was also one of the nicest I've ever seen. The owners had a HUGE collection of bears in the house lor, they were everywhere: along the staircase, in our room and even our bathroom! I really luv this accommodation. I hope my future master bedroom can also adopt a similar style, but Cha said the humid weather in Spore will tear down the wallpaper, so may not be feasible.
This trip is really enjoyable and because we drove, we saved quite a bit on this trip. Everything was nice except the gloomy weather for most part of the trip; the irritating faces of the custom officers who always put on a "oh they are mighty LL face" and treat foreigners like potential criminals; and Cha kana hit by an egg thrown out randomly by some idiotic punk from a car just to irritate pedestrians on the last evening at Niagara(actually my foot also kana hit by some of the residue). Sometimes, ang mohs can be DAMNED annoying.
10:15 PM
