M40間諜米格魯的秘密日誌

Every country which has (or used to have) a monarchy will find that that venerable institution usually comes attached with a string of specialist shops and merchants offering goods and services of all kinds to members of the monarchy. For instance,  in Vienna, the capital of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, you will see countless tourists from Asia and the US waiting patiently at the counter of Demel's Confectionary shop to spend their hard-earned money on some pieces of ridiculously expensive chocolates and cakes, simply because Demel's were the appointed Imperial Confectionary. Same crowded phenomenon applies to shops and merchants all over the UK who have the honour to provide members of the British Monarchy with clothing, tea, candies, footwear... etc. As a matter of fact, these shops and merchants have attained such degree of global prominence and popularity that you can find their goods and services virtually everywhere you go.

Which is why it is a bit unusual to see neither long queues nor anxious tourists crowding inside the very same shop where Haci Bekir, the inventor of Turkish Delights and Imperial Confectioner to the Ottoman Courts, first concocted the sweet meat some 232 years ago.

On day 3, it was time to visit different villages on Gozo by bus. The funny thing about going around by bus on Gozo is, you never know if it is worthwhile spending 40 minutes at Victoria's bus station waiting for the 5 minute ride to your destination. Since distance between each settlements on the island is short, you can probably walk to the village you want to go during the time you spent waiting at the bus station.

As I had some time to spare on my hands, instead of walking up the 3km country lane towards the seaside hamlet of Xlendi, I sat down at a small cafe right across the road from the bus station and spent the next 40 minutes drinking Lavazza latte macchiato.

As expected, the bus ride to Xlendi took less than 10 minutes....

Xlendi is a cute little seaside place with rocky cliffs and a few decent restaurants. There is no sandy beach nearby but you can still swim in the sea using the rock-path and stairs leading down into the water. Somehow it was very windy on that day; waves splashed up on shore and drench the pavements, the current was too strong for swimming.

So I chose to have my cup of tea and cake at a nice hotel on the waterfront instead.

Since there is nothing much to do in Mgarr after dark, I decided to stay at the hotel and watch live football match on TV instead. The next day, I set off from the hotel after a hearty, delicious English-Maltese breakfast to catch the bus to Victoria, the main town of Gozo.

Buses on Malta and Gozo are a tourist attraction in its own right, as they still use traditional Leyland buses from the 1950s and 60s. The interior is austere, but it was still a very fun way to travel even though there is no air-conditioning inside the vehicle.

For those interested in Greek mythology, it was said that Gozo was the island on which Odysseus was kept captive for seven years by the beautiful nymph, Calypso. Given the smallness of the island (it tookebarely 24 hours to explore major sights on the island), it is hardly surprising that Odysseus longed to return home, even though he was promised immortality by his demi-God lover.

The famous Azure Window on the island of Gozo - a nice place to get fresh sea breeze and views.

前幾天無意中發現,自己辛苦寫的部落格文章被山塞版的旅遊網站剽竊了...

考慮到請個律師做我的法律顧問,可能只能嚇嚇君子,擋不了隔壁的小人;有朋友叫我試試這個方法:

There are several hundred bus companies in the whole of Turkey, serving both major cities and small villages throughout the country. Many foreign visitors who speak little or no Turkish, however, find it intimidating to venture around this beautiful country by bus due to language barriers, despite the presence of a highly comprehensive and efficient long-distance bus systems.

Unlike in Greece, where several private travel agencies compile comprehensive database that provide up-to-date sailing schedules and ticket price of most domestic ferry routes, there are no such thing yet for inter-city bus routes in Turkey. Which means: the only way independent travellers who speak no Turkish can obtain up-to-date bus time-tables and prices is to check with the bus ticket office in person upon arrival at the bus station (known as Otogar, Terminali, or Garaj in Turkish) in Turkey, and hope to find a bus connection that meets their schedule,

I first came across Elli Kokkinou's Greek ballade 'Tha Perimeno' whilst on the Greek Ionian island of Corfu. For a few days in a row, the song was played over and over again on various Greek radio stations; as I travelled quite frequently with Corfu's local bus networks during my stay on the island, I became familiar with the melody. For some reason, the tune fits so right into the landscape: bright sun, blue sea and countryside with lots of sentimental nostalgia. 

Kokkinou is a very well-known singer in Greece. Some of her ablums also sold well in neighbouring countries such as Cyprus and Turkey.

Prior to my first visit to Greece in the early 2000s, I (out of ignorance) thought Greek music was mostly about traditional village folk music performed by bald, middle-age musicians dressed up in colourful local costumes. After all, that was the kind of image most of us get to see on foreign TV shows or travel programmes about Greece. But Greek pop music is certainly more lively and more fun than that. Some of the big stars in Greek music scene are no less attractive or sexy than their British or US counterparts. As a matter of fact, music videos of many Greek female singers are  definitely not traditional at all, but full of skimpy bikinis, tiny little black dress and provocative shots.

One of the more famous Greek pop stars is Despina Vandi. She was born in Germany to a Greek immigrant family from Kavala. While she has a huge fan base in Greece, some of her critics thought her style was too artificial and her figure 'too thin'. But some of her songs have become sort of Greek pop classics, such as the song 'Odigoun se sena':       

I am not sure if she is well-known in Asia, but Patricia Kaas has a deep, expressive voice that captures the spirits of French chansons and made her one of the most successful female singers in Europe. One of her trademark songs is Une Fille de l'Est, a song about Kaas' home region of Alsace-Lorraine in eastern France.

Little illy, our Shiba Inu puppy, has already quite a few nicknames given her tender age of 5 months: depending on the occasion, she is called H.R.H Little Princess illy, illy Dog, illy 狗狗 (illy the Doggy), 夜店小公主 (in English= Party Girl illy), and 打屁狗狗 (Doggy that loves to hang around doing nothing in particular).

我們的小柴犬寶寶 illy 雖然只是五個月大, 已經有好幾個綽號,分別是: illy小公主殿下, illy Dog, illy 狗狗, 夜店小公主,以及打屁狗狗.

H.R.H. Little Princess illy enjoying her afternoon nap on the sofa after her weekly bath. She likes to snoggle up close and personal. Give her a rub on her belly and she will begin to fall asleep.

叫她 illy 小公主,因為她吃的是一包250大洋的零食,每一包要價 850大洋的高級狗食,用的是一瓶五六百塊的進口天然寵物洗毛精 (我自己使用的洗髮精一瓶才五十大洋 ....),如果請人替她洗澡梳毛,一次要價比我去剪髮還貴....

In the last few weeks, we were preoccupied with Illy, the intelligent little Shiba Inu pup who arrives at our household kind of unexpected. Actually I have always wanted a beagle as a house dog, but it turns out that our first dog in more than 10 years is a Shiba Inu (of all breeds) !!

Her favourite activities include: running and jumping around the house; digging the corners and walls; playing ball and playing with little rocks. It is actually very dangerous for doggies to play with rocks, because they might get stuck in the intestines but Little Illy ignores our warnings. Since our front yard where she goes for potty is full of gravel, we have to put a hood around her neck to prevent her from playing with the rocks.

For many years, I had used Lancaster's Lily Nectar & Iris Florentina Alcohol-free Softening Perfecting Toner until someone told me that Lancaster used vivisection (animal-testing) to test their cosmetic products. Since my favourite breed of dog is beagle, and beagles are often used for animal-testing because they are docile, uniform in size and easy to handle, I decided to give up on facial toners manufactured by well-known cosmetic firms and turn to organic products instead.

The problem with organic products is, they are usually very expensive and not all of them are suitable for my skin. Given the lack of reasonably priced alternatives, I resorted to using French thermal water sprays as facial toners ...

This lasted for a while until I was introduced to 100% pure rose water (rose hydrosol) produced in the region of Isparta, Turkey, while on holidays there. Turkish 100% pure rose water is obtained by distilling the petals of rose damascena and by separating the resultant essential rose oil from the hydrosol. 100% pure rose water is colourless and has a very  light yet pleasant natural smell that reminds me of freshly cut roses with a greenish, leafy note.

100% natural rose water from Isparta are usually packaged in cheap-looking translucent plastic bottles. But they should not be judged by their looks only. They might not look pretty on the outside, but these 100% pure rose  hydrosols are of very good quality, and prices are very reasonable. I personally think that it is nonsense to spend 15 or 20 euros on a small bottle  (i.e. around 100ml) of beautifully packaged so-called 'rose water'' from one of the well-known brands such as Jurlique , Kiehl's or Crabtree & Evelyn. More often than not, these well-known brands will charge you exorbitant prices for their rose water toners just because they add a few drops of essential oils or rose fragrance into their concoctions. In some cases, these 'rosewater toners' are not made from 100% pure rose water at all, but are mixed with paraben-based additives and other preservatives to prolong their shelf life.