Leaving Paris

Ok, sorry I haven't been online much, well, I left Lisbon, and back to Paris, huge cleanup of my apartment, sent out 1 more box, (it has to be the last!), and settled the last few administrative stuff. I was quite happy to be back to Paris. I know this is not home, but still, u know the feeling, u can't wait for the plane to land, u can't wait for the train to go faster, u can't wait to be back in your apartment, heave a sigh of relief, and pour yourself a tea. I will update my Lisbon trip later with more photos.

Last 12 hrs in Paris, what are my thoughts... well, i've been here many times before, and I think I'll be back here again, so right now it feels like an end of a looong trip. Long, tiring journey....

So, like what I did for Bangkok, here's my top 10 things I'll miss and not miss about Paris.

1) Croissant, baguettes, and delicious pastries!

Need I say more?

2) French food

Set meals (entree, plat dessert) at 30ish euros, very good stuff, puts some restaurants in SG to shame with their price - quality ratio.

3) Everything costs!

Everything costs in Paris, every single thing, and they cost double, triple of what you'll imagine in Singapore/Asia. What's free, or cheap so far....

4) Excellent parks

5) Excellent (and cheap!) and large variety of French wines

6) The deepest darkest winter I've ever experienced, and easily the coldest too.

7) Life, as I see it: Even in winter, you step out at 5pm, you see Parisians meeting over a glass of wine, a coffee, discussing, fretting, laughing about their lives. 'Relax, take a break, slow down for a while' attitude, which somehow crosses over to professional life.....

8) Angoisse of trying to resolve accounts, technical issues over the phone. Always delays, always not one story, always frustrating.

9) Kitchen experience in 2 real restaurants, if you need an adrenaline rush, go work in a kitchen. This is where I've picked up speed, ideas, organisation and friendship with my fellow kitchenmates. Even if I don't come back to work again, thanks very much for showing me what's it like so far.

10) The broad spectrum of people. Tall, short, ugly, beautiful, crippled, poor, rich, well-heeled, badly-dressed, tourists, provincial French, loud, soft spoken, you get them all, and the best place to see all of them is in the metro.

Thanks for following me up to here.

Signing on back to you from Singapore soon.