Thursday, September 24, 2009

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon is the capital of Portugal, also the Europe's westernmost capital. I was there November 2009, it was sunny autunm with mild temperatures.

My business administrator booked me the TAP, national airlines of Portugal for 2 hours and 40 minutes flight from London Heathrow Airport to Lisbon. I was on my office wear as taxi driver picked me up straight from my workplace.



As usual, did the weekend sight seeing and the very first thing that caught my attention was the amazing view of seagulls flying near the coastal of Rio Tejo or Tagus River in English. Rio Tejo is longest river on the Iberian Peninsula, border between Portugal and Spain.



Praca do Comercio, the commerce square is just near to the Rio Tejo.



Lost in the winding street of Lisbon's transitional quarters (downtown) before came to this look out point.



Infinity ocean, blue sky, nice view... and i think i look great with the RM10 sunglasses!It's from Petaling Street and followed me all the way to Portugal.

Visited Castillo de San Jorge.


and Padrao dos Descobrimentos, the monument that celebrates the great Portuguese looking out over the river, departed to their unknown destination. If you remember, Portuguese reached Melaka in the 1511...



I was standing in front of a red bridge that looks like the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge! This is Ponte 25 de Abril, connecting Lisbon and Almada on the left bank of the Tagus river. Emm... Tagus River, i still perfer the Portuguese word - Rio Tejo.


If you are going to Lisbon, do not miss the Torre de Belem. It is one of the UNESCO World Herritage building built in the early sixteenth century.

Where should i go next? reading the Lisbon city map while waiting for my bus.

Is time to have some food. Portuguese style egg tarts is definitely a good choice! It's a traditional Portuguese custard pastry. According to wikipedia: " It was created more than 200 years ago by Catholic Sisters at Jerónimos Monastery at Belém in Lisbon. Casa Pastéis de Belém was the first pastry shop outside of the convent to sell this pastry in 1837"
I'm not sure how true (or not true) the story is, but what i can confirm is the Portuguese style egg tarts sell in my hotel, Lisbon Marriott Hotel are mouth watering!!!

After the tarts, i saw this note inside the hotel lift when i was on my way back to the room.
USA Election Night and i was at Lisbon! Barack Obama won and became the 44th president of the United States.

Summary of Honeymoon at Mauritius

We fly with Air Mauritius from KLIA, transit at Singapore Changi Airport.

It was a 9 hours end to end journey and we landed Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport at Mauritius ( long name!)


Mauritius is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean.


Beach... Our resort located at Le Morne.




Some sight seeing around the island including :
- Port Louis, capital of Mauritius
- Caudan Waterfront
- Salt Pans
- Black River Gorges & the magnificent waterfall
- Coloured earths of Chamarel - the result of the erosion of the volcanic ash
- Sugarmill as 60% of the land in Mauritius is covered by sugar cane
- Holy Lake, rests within the crater of an extinct volcano









For us, highlight of the honeymoon as catamaran cruising at Tamirin Bay. For the first time in our life, we watched the dolphins at their nature habitat.







Big Dar and i did the quad biking and safari at Casela Park. Casela Park situated at the west of Mauritius, Rivière Noire district and stretches over 25 hectares. It was June and the temperature varies between 22°C and 27°C.




Not easy to control. Dar needs to grab the handle really hard. We are going down the hill ~~~ Quite scary...




Very fun biking in the river. Wow! Luckily not even a drop of water splashed at us.


All the zebras are not in the cage, they roam freely in the safari : )



Big Dar : Hi ostrich, do not run away!!!

Ostrich : Run! Run! Run! I'm faster than you!!!

(Yes, ostrich won and we were left behind...)



Love is in the air and we decided to in touch with the wild - Lion King!



We have signed the agreement before the walk.

We survive ^_^


Also, attended the safety briefing, the lion encounters are very professional and experience.




In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleep tonigh~~~ la~la~la~la~la~


牧牛场的幻想与现实


对, 这是一头乳牛!它是我2009年春天,在荷兰的一家私人牧场里拍下的.

记得小时候有一个牛奶粉的电视广告这样说: 乳牛呼吸新鲜的空气,喝清洁的水,所生产的牛奶也格外有营养还是什么的... 

我中学很要好的同学,婷的梦想是在一个四季的国度,买下一大片绿油油的草地,开始养绵羊的生活.绵羊感觉上比粗壮的乳牛来得可爱,割羊毛也浪漫过挤牛奶.我当时的梦想是买个无人的小岛,小小就好,然后在岛上和家人一起过着世外桃源的生活.

我们的梦想都还没有实现,可能梦想也因为长大而有所改变.如果可以让我当一天的 Farm Girl, 体验挤牛奶,替乳牛洗澡喂食,清理牧场,肯定是一个难得的经验.

幸运的是,我在2006年冬天第一次到荷兰公干时,认识了当地的一位男同事 - 艾德里安.他除了在烟草公司上班,还在家族的牧牛场帮忙.可是当时工作很忙,时间紧凑,也因为赶着到下一站的伦敦,没有机会到他家的牧牛场一游.我们约好下次如果有机会,我一定到他家的牧牛场亲手挤牛奶喝!

没想到,约好的'下次',竟然是两年多以后的2009年春天.我第二次到荷兰公干,一切安排妥当,在微冷的周末,当起牧牛场姑娘.






牛棚里一遍明亮,干净,通风,没什么异味.和我想象中的臭脏暗,大便,潮湿,吵杂有很大的不同,印象很不错.




看到这头有点敌意的乳牛旁有个黄色的电动刷子吗?那是替牛儿们要搔痒和梳理用的. 它们都很喜欢, 一头一头往刷子边靠, 很有次序地享受被按摩的时光.



这里都是母牛,乳牛,只取其奶,不吃其肉.整个大牧牛场,只有两头负责打种传宗接代的公牛.当然,都是荷兰一等的品种.



我顽皮地伸手让它舔一舔我的掌心! 





黑色夹克的男士就是艾德里安,站在他后面的是另外一个同事,英格丽.红色夹克的小女孩是英格丽的十岁女儿,玛格.

地上的干草都是牛儿们的粮食.那时还是初春,冬天的冰雪溶解过后,大地正逐渐苏醒,生机勃勃,小草开始从地里长出来.艾德里安说,在过一两个星期,草地完全绿了,暖暖的太阳,他就会把牛群放到草原去,让它们在很自然的环境生活,生产的牛奶才是最上等的.一般上他把鲜奶卖给大集团,制成乳酪和各类的奶制品,或牛奶粉出口到其他国家.

牧牛场里其中一个牛棚的外观. 



另一个半露天的室外牛棚.艾德里安德家族牧牛场规模不小,他爸爸从几十头乳牛开始,到今天的数百头乳牛及一望无际的牧场草原,想必也是一分耕耘,一分收获的成功故事.

玛格和我正在喂牛儿

逛了大半天, 我忍不住问艾德里安 :我可以帮忙挤牛奶了吗? 好想喝一口新鲜的牛奶.


幻想与现实的确有很大差别.


艾德里安有点不好意思的说:要让你失望了. 我们已经不用人工挤奶, 现在全都是机器代劳.


一个自动的机器手, 连带着泵, 先被清洗和杀菌. 乳牛进来挤奶房后, 泵刚好吸着乳牛的奶头, 开始把奶吸出来. 我可以看到那头原本胀奶的乳牛, 在几分钟后, 乳房开始的小了. 牛奶则直接从真空运输管, 送到储存室.
旁边有一个银幕, 纪录了牛奶量及其他相关资料. 整个过程我们不需要做任何东西, 只光看. 挤奶机嘈音低, 效力高, 牧牛场里就辛苦和难控制的挤牛奶工作, 就在我们说笑中重复的进行着...

我还想要替牧场干点活. 我又问艾德里安 : 挤牛奶虽然全自动化,不需要人手,但是总要有人把牛拉进挤奶室里,机器才可以开始挤奶呀!
 
艾德里安笑了笑,指着说:你看, 我的乳牛会排队, 它们会自愿地站在挤奶室外,等候被机器挤奶. 当前面的那头牛挤完奶后, 离开挤奶室后, 这道铁栅会自动打开, 让下一头牛进来. 每天都这样循环, 没有休息, 我也不必去拉牛.


这样的操作方式, 让门外汉的我太惊讶了. 艾德里安解释说:其实牛非常享受被挤奶.你看它涨奶时是很不舒服的.当牛想要被挤奶时,会很自然的到挤奶室外等候.每头牛有自己的周期,我们不会强逼它,它不痛苦,我们也高兴. 
艾德里安的真正工作,就是在电脑控制室监视每一头牛的进展.每一头牛耳朵和颈部的识别证,与机器联系,把产量,挤奶次数等等资料记录下来.如果有一头牛在原本该被挤奶的时间内都没到挤奶室,电脑就会显示红色警告.艾德里安跟着会检查那头牛的健康状况,或其他问题.

艾德里安还让我在牧场的范围内试驾非常大型的拖拉机! 



在辽阔的牧场,有一部分为郁金香的种植地.那种在花海里起舞的感觉很难忘...



谢谢艾德里安的招待!临走前, 我们回到牛棚里, 和艾德里安及他的乳牛群来张正式的合照.
我告诉他, 如果有一天我辞掉了我们的烟草公司的工作又想要与移民, 我会考虑到这里帮忙他打理牧牛场的生意, 说不定我们可以开拓参观牧牛场旅行团, 还是牧牛场民宿小旅馆, 感受不一样的荷兰.