by VeryBerry on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 | Travel | 2 Comments

Interesting news and perhaps something to consider when you feel like your holiday is not versatile enough. I read this article in METRO and I think is brilliant idea, perhaps I can start my own business too, London to Bali by bus…hehe :-)Here is another version of the article quoting from holidayletting website,

Travellers bored of flying to New York will soon be able to take the bus instead. Anyone with plenty of time to spare can travel from London to New York by bus from next year.The new London to New York bus service is being offered by OzBus and will take 18 weeks. The novel way of travelling to your New York holiday apartment will take in three continents and thirteen countries, reports The Telegraph.

Passengers can look forward to experiencing a wealth of cultural diversity. Mark Creasey, OzBus’s founder, said: “Many who book will see more countries in this one trip than they have seen during their entire lifetime. There aren’t many journeys where the highlights could include Amsterdam, Berlin, Moscow, Tibet, the Great Wall of China, Siberia, Alaska, the Rockies and Niagara Falls.”

Travellers on the London to New York bus route will have to get one flight, from eastern Russia to Alaska. The first bus is due to set off on March 26 2009, and tickets will cost £4,950 one-way.

Nice huh?

by VeryBerry on Monday, July 21st, 2008 | Dining, Travel | 9 Comments

Dear…dear…dear…I just cannot believe this, Monday morning, Victoria Line on my way to work, grabbed my METRO and take a sit next to a lady, probably about 30something and while she smiles at me, she said ‘no more peking duck huh!’. I really don’t understand her, so I asked her what she meant and she showed me this article with header saying “Peking duck falls fouls of EU rules”.

Sad, but this is true, more than 10 restaurants in London, including some of the famous one in China Town district have so far been affected and more will be. One of the most famous one, Phoenix Palace where all the politician, celebrities and many other high profile people goes for their peking duck has their oven sealed with council tape preventing the use of this special traditional oven and all just these ovens and do not carry a CE (Conformité Européenne) mark certifying that the equipment meets safety standards on carbon-monoxide emissions laid down by Brussels. No nasi bebek and also no peking duck…how sad. Quoting from the daily mail,

The 6ft-tall drum-shaped appliances are much larger than a conventional commercial oven and can roast up to 24 ducks and four suckling pigs at a time. They are heated via a central burner at the base so the heat can rise up through the racks of hanging meat and reach temperatures of 300C. The ovens have been shut down by Westminster Council. The crackdown was launched after an official noticed the ovens were not CE marked during a routine inspection of Chinese restaurants in May.

Westminster has now contacted other councils in areas with large Chinese populations to raise the issue. A council spokesman said: ‘If the restaurants want to continue cooking ducks in the traditional manner they will need to get new ovens which will comply with EU standards by having CE marking.

‘We are absolutely not picking on the Chinese community. This is an issue with any kind of ethnic type of food where they may well be using catering equipment imported from outside the EU. We are not aware of a single injury or accident involving these duck ovens but now we are aware of this issue we want to prevent any accidents happening.’

In 2006, Westminster confiscated burners used on tables at Korean restaurants because they did not meet European safety standards.

Peking Duck dates back more than 600 years and was traditionally served at feasts. It is prepared by forcing air between the skin and the meat and then roasting, leaving the skin extra crispy. It is usually served with pancakes, hoisin sauce, spring onions and cucumber. Cantonese duck does not have the skin separated from the meat and is less crispy, while suckling pig is roasted whole on a spit.

Proud being a european and definately a big support of this whole carbon emission plan but no more peking duck hanging in the window of chinese restaurant does make china town less authentic. I think I will really miss my crispy peking duck

by VeryBerry on Sunday, July 20th, 2008 | Life, Love | 10 Comments

Being here in London, 1,5 years, living, working building up my existence…ups and downs, happy and frustrated. I guess just like many other expat all around the world. This morning when I woke up, made breakfast with my ‘better half’, I mentioned about blogoncherry to him, described what it is all about and he said…is it Life, Love and Relationship or is it Love, Life and Relationship or is it Relationship, Love and Life?

Interesting huh, to me it’s exactly as what this blog all about, Love comes first and then Life and then Relationship. Many people in London think differently, they don’t really believe in Love so they put Life first and then Love and then relationship. The general understanding of word life for majority UK citizen is finance, no comfortable life situation means no life, no life means no love, no love means no relationship. I disagree as I have experience love so strong encourage me to have faith in moving to the UK, on my own and allow this life process me to be the person I am today.

Let’s take some step back and look this 3 words from various angles…Love is always been there, inside us. Oliver Wendell Holmes(physician and writer) once said, “Love is the master key that opens the gate of happiness”. So…when we don’t have love inside us, how can we live this life and being related to other people?

How do you folks think about this?