Bulgaria.. (NOT Switzerland.. T.T)

Yeap, i must admit that i had made a big mistake.. from the moment I heard about 'skiing', i think i only had 'Switzerland' in my mind.. neva tot of any other countries.. haih.. paise, my knowledge is quite limited.. have to read more edi.. T.T

Anyway, firstly I am here wishing u guys a very Happy Chinese New Year! 2 days have gone, got lotz of ang pow edi? haha, hope u did la! Had my first Chinese New year at England.. wasn't that bad after all coz me n my frenz here had our very own self-made steamboat! haha, without any steamboat stove around, wondering how we did it? Yeap, we used 2 rice cookers as the replacement! It turned out a very good Chinese New Year Eve dinner anyway, though got no ang pow.. T.T

Pretty nice steamboat meal rite? ^^

Ok la, back to my skiing... ^^ Skiing at Bulgaria in fact is far more cheaper than Switzerland and yet the fun is still there! I would recommend u guys to go bulgaria if u got not much money to spend n still wanna enjoy skiing.. If u r rich then go Switzerland la! it's like 1st class flight n economy class if u wanna compare.. ^^

Before I went to Bulgaria, I visited my old classmates, Keok, at London. He treated me nicely, bringing me around city center and I appreciate it very much.. coz though I've been to London a few times edi, I had little chance to visit the places I should have visited.. Anyway, although with only 2 hours, he walked me through his school, LSE, going around city center, China Town (where we had our dinner) n some 'quite popular' spots of London... (I've forgotten them all.. paise.. T_T)

London School of Economy.. Keok's School..

Me at China Town of London! (perhaps u saw me at the one of Manchester in the previous post.. ^^)

My flight to Bulgaria was on 3rd Feb.. together with my sis's bf, Rob, n an English-Malaysian couple, Tom & Serena (a Malaysian gal, juz like my sis!), we reached Sofia, capital city of Bulgaria, after 2 and a half hour flight.. ^^, the time over there was 2 hours later compare to UK time.. so it was juz half an hour difference between departure n arrival!

On the next day, we started our ski lesson! It was snowing heavily on the 1st day of my skiing.. (nice!) neva c that much snow ever in my life! together with Tom n Serena, we entered the Beginner's group.. Rob went here before, so he was assigned to an advanced group.. Since I was sooo looking forward to these, I was like almost could absorb everything my ski teacher, Valin, taught me! Just after 3 days, I became a pretty gud skiier n I even went on to try the intermediate slope myself! ^^ before I further describe, I think I better explain a little bit about the levels of the slopes 1st..

There are 4 different classes of slopes, Beginners (Green), Intermediate (Blue), Advanced (Red) and Expert (Black).. The beginners group could neva try on the Red 1 based on the rules.. But since we seemed quite talented, Valin brought us to the easy Red on the last day of out lesson! hehe.. through him, I've learned Snowplow position to stop and turn. To be even cooler, I've also learned parallel skiing and parallel stop! hehe, pretty fast learner I was.. ^^

1st day of Skiing! heavy snow going on!

Serena skiing! nice control.. ^^

Her boyfren, Tom. Say Cheese!

As it snowed just on the 1st day, most of the places became so icy on the days after especially those corners.. Therefore we went up to the highest mountain of all, MASULA, 3000 meter above the sea level. By a kind of cable car called 'Gondola', it would take about 20 minutes to reach the top.

Drag Lift.. for short distance.. ^^ longer distance: Chair Lift & 'Gondola'

Condition up there wasn't good at the first time we went up there.. it was too windy that we have to go down with chair lift as the cable car was too dangerous to be used.. The second time was pretty good n we all had a very good time skiing there.. ^^

Here are some nice views over there.. ^^

At the fourth nite, the ski company there organized a Ski Instructor Show which we witnessed most of our instructors performed some great stunts, even a five-year-old child was in it! For more excitement, fireworks were going on as well. It would cost us 20 Lev to get in (1 pound = 3 Lev) if we din get in an hour b4 the show began.. I did take some video clips of some ski jumps for u guys! here's one of them:

The boy skiing down in the video was the 5-year-old kid! unbelievable?

Skiing is undeniably one of the extreme sports that not all people are meant to do.. After just 3 days of lesson, 5 left the group of 12 to join the easier 1.. On the last day, there were only 4 of us left in the group, trying on the Red slopes.. Anyway, it was indeed a very incredible week. Though it cost me a week of lectures, I think it definitely worth it. It was a lifetime experience that I'll neva forget.. Knowing some good frenz like Craig from Derby, 2 Chris, Mikey, Lee, Tom, Serena was an extra bonus I've got through this wonderful trip.

Fall-down King, Mikey! He doesn't look like 14, does he?

His 16-year-old brother, Chris.. a pretty nice lad he was!

Lee on the left.. we were waiting for others.. ^^

Another Chris (Lee's fren) who liked to talk like Borat! 'High five!'

We had a party on the last day! Certificates were given.. From left: Serena, Chris n Mikey

Group picture taken b4 the Ski Show! From left: Tom, Serena n Rob.. Missing me? here u go

Bad posing.. T.T

The whole trip cost per person 350 pound.. n luckily I needed not to pay a penny! still, I think I would have paid for it even if I needed to.. I felt like wanna stay there for as long as I could bcoz it would take a whole year for me to ski again.. Haih.. I think I have to start saving some money edi for another trip like this next year.. mayb do some part time too! ^^

Q: What is so nice about Bulgaria other than skiing?
A: Alcohol n cigarettes there were very cheap.. Bars everywhere, food were good n.. some erotic bars around! (though I din get in..)

p/s: Ever seen a paternoster lift? I din even noe it exists b4 I saw it! It's in my Uni's Art Tower.. ^^