Champs Elysees: Every Woman's Dream Destination

Guess what? We're not done yet with our Paris posting! I know this is really embarassing cos there's still the London & the Star Cruise trips also from last year. We're really feeling like a dog chasing its own tail, going round & round but not getting anywhere close, and the Korea trip is just round the corner.

In Paris, there's one place where all women will flock to and I'm not talking about the Eiffel tower. In comparison, Eiffel is a WANT. This is a NEED. NEE: Yes he is right. LV is a need. I know many would proclaim LV as ugly but it does not matter, it is a NEED...Muahhhahaha...

Champs Elysees is used to be like the shopping capital of Paris. This is where all the branded goods are. This is where the streets will leave deep scars on your swipe cards. But nowadays it is still touristy but not so much of selection anymore.

Ehmm...touristy because this is every woman's dream destination, and every man's nightmare vacation.

For this is where the infamous Louis Vuitton is located.

This is the arch enemy of all men, the symbol of pure evil.

This is the HQ of all LV stores, the great grandmother of all over-priced handbags.

Being our very first time there, it was quite an experience. Although we don't have the pictures to prove it, the place was actually packed with Asians. It was so crowded inside that at some point, it felt like I was in one of those Penang tourist shops which sell the famous biscuits. LV knows the Asians are suckers for their handbags & they do not pull any punches in hiring mostly Asian salesgirls.

Oh, Nee has this theory about the popularity of LV as compared to the other brands. LV has managed to place itself as an expensive brand, but one that you can afford if you worked hard & saved enough. It's something like a branded AirAsia. Now everyone can LV.

For Nee, this was like performing the haj pilgrimage. I'm glad she doesn't have an LV Kiblat sticker on our bedroom ceiling.

NEE: Not so bad la....for those of you planning to buy one, wait till you see LV in Paris. You will never want to buy another in Malaysia or even Hong Kong. The price difference is like at least RM300 to up RM1500 for all the products, also because of the tax rebate of 12% when you exit European countries. Say a Neverfull PM will cost around RM2300 in KL but only RM 1850 in Paris. And if our currency is stronger, gosh who can resist right! So ladies Go Paris and Bring your Hubby along. He will never say NO in a city so romantic.

Ok. That was intense. We (I) need to take a break.

Now of course, LV wasn't the only thing at Champs Elysees. There were other shops as well, selling normal things like branded chocolates. But this is chocolate is everywhere in Paris. This is just one of them.

When I stepped inside, there were so many varieties of chocolates that I started losing my photographic sense.

Now, I'm a self-confessed chocolate lover, but I do watch my intake levels as too much chocolates can cause volcanic erruptions on my face. And Parisian choc is REALLY Good. Not the sweet till your face all bunch up in middle. And they are so prettily presented.

Melbourne Day 10: Yu - U

We were surprised this place even had a name!

From the looks of it, it's one of the wierdest restaurants that we've ever come across. Located on Flinders Lane on the Russell Side, it really takes all the street smart intelligence to be able to find this place. Somehow we got the feeling that it seemed to be saying Please don't come if you can't find us.

Roger had been talking about Yu- U since the day we arrived in Melbourne. But somehow, we've only been able to fit it into our schedule on our very last day, 3 hours before our flight.

Yeah, right. This place really needed advance booking alright... NOT.

We really didn't know if they were really full all the time, or just plain eccentric Japanese.




But, in spite of all its eccentricity, the food IS good, and not overly priced, and they looked like this:

Do not touch your mouse. Do not reload this page. There is nothing wrong. As part of its eccentricity, Yu U does not allow food photography in its restaurant. That is like probably saying, Bugger off bloggers, we dont need business. The whole place is exuding. We're not doing business. We're only opening a restaurant!

We apologise for camwhoring. Left with no photos of the food, this is the only thing that we can offer you.

Three Mothers at Four Points

Almost everyone that we knew were at Sheraton Four Points Hotel in Kuching that nite on Mother's Day. We've actually heard a lot about how good Ting Pek Khing's buffet was. So, considering Kuching to be a very small place with limited choices, the Four Points had to be the place to be. So Mother's Day it was at the Sheraton.

There were three mothers:

My own.

My MIL.

and my aunt who's kids are away & we thought it'd be a good idea to have them with us.


Sorry, no photos here. :)

COMMERICAL BREAK:
My bro-in-law. Single, young & available, with good future.

The general outlook of the hotel & the height of its ceiling lends a bit of class to the place. Although the general comment that you'd hear is that the interior materials used are less desireable, very much obviously so especially in the toilets. But of course I'm not going to show you the toilets. This is a food blog after all.

But what you may get is the feeling that it's really a Ting Pek Khing Foochow job - fast, BIG & at the cheapest possible. But nevertheless, it was the place to be.


The spread that night was pretty good. There was an Italian corner where the cook will quickly whip up the pasta of your choice. Obviously we skipped the roasted chicken rice & the bryani section. There was also a barbeque department outside but we were not that keen on meat.

That night, we walloped the oysters.

And the sashimi.

Interestingly, there was even ginseng soup.


This is Nee making ais kacang without the kacang, cos they ran out of it.


We thought that ending the night with a good cup of coffee & tea was excellent.

There was an orchid show on the First floor, but when I got there, it was already closed. I only managed to capture a couple of shots.