Weekend break in Paris

Another meeting in Paris.

It's Thursday, and I have just finished another meeting with other top IT guys in Paris. I'm not at the airport and neither am I at home. I'm actually in small hotel near Rue La Fayette together with my wife and daughter. We'll be spending the tomorrow and the rest of weekend here in Paris - first plan for tomorrow --> Disneyland.

I'm currently hooked up to a private unsecured wireless access point. Signal is not so good. So better be fast.Time to sleep.

Grüezi ... What??

Grüezi (pronounced "greatsi") is probably the first word that one would learn in the German speaking region of Switzerland (Zurich, Basel and Berne and the vicinity). It's the first word that I caught uttered by the locals, and the first one I couldn't find in the High German list of vocabulary. The word essentially means "greeting" or "hello" in Swiss German (the Swiss version of German Language).

For record

For the record, the following were done:

CT Bank : Enrollment for eStatement
Effective now, no paper statement shall be sent to me. Statements can downloaded
from the web site once notified through Yahoo mail.

CT Bank : Request to Change Correspondence Address and Telephone Numbers

CT Bank : Request to Change Payment Due Date to middle of the month

Standard Chartered Bank : Request to Reregister Internet Banking User Name and Password
Correspondence Address and Telephone Numbers had already been changed. Future statements will be sent to Switzerland
DUE DATE NOT CHANGED!! Remain on 5th of every month

HSBC : Correspondence Address and Telephone Numbers changed. Future statements will be sent to Switzerland
DUE DATE NOT CHANGED!! Remain on 5th of every month

Direct Access : Correspondence Address and Telephone Numbers changed. Future statements will be sent to Switzerland
DUE DATE NOT CHANGED!! Remain on 5th of every month
Balance as of today RM 234.68

May Bank : Correspondence address cannot be changed over the phone. What lah! Will require written request to faxed to Menara Maybank (Fax # 03-2078916)

Merdeka Dinner

Just came back from the Merdeka Dinner in Zurich. A bit knackered. Baby is fast asleep. She’s probably as tired as me.

The turnout wasn’t as big as I’d anticipated. Apart from us, the rest had been in the country for many many years. One or two were very snobbish, macam bagus sangat. Some were very friendly. This one Abang Mat had been in Switzerland for more than 30 yrs. He came in the 70’s and decided to settle down. The couple I’d met at the airport last night also attended the function. In fact we came by the same bus from the Oerlikon train station.

Once the disco started, we left. Too loud for the baby, and it was past her bedtime.

Back in Switzerland

I’m on the train to Baden from the airport.

Earlier on the way back from Paris, I bumped into a friendly Malaysian couple with a young daughter who were also on the same flight coming back from Paris. The husband has been living in Switzerland for more than 20 years! That’s a freaking long time. Strangely enough, the wife and daughter remain in Malaysia (??) but come to visit regularly. Apparently, they’d also be attending the Merdeka dinner in Zurich Renaissance Hotel tomorrow. That’s good. We’ll see each other again. According to the wife, there will a mock Hari Raya celebration at the embassy in Berne on the 9th (September). That’s next Saturday. Alamak! That’s the same day an old friend from the old Petronas-BTU days and the wife are coming. Macam mana daaaaa…?

Paris again

Sitting in the airport lounge waiting for the flight back to Zurich.

I was back in Paris for the 7th or 8th times, but this time only for one night. The plan had been to fly in the morning and returned in the evening, but I’d then decided to go a day ealier (I wasn’t that keen to wake up so early in the morning and rush to catch the first train to the airport.

I arrived at CDG airport at around 7+ PM and immediately took the train to the city. Since it was through Trocadero area, I got off at St. Michael Notre Damme and, as I normally do whenever in Paris, to have a kebab in a halal take away (can’t remember the name) in the area. Not the best kebab in the world. Possibly the worse, but I guess the atmosphere that keeps pulling me there. Plus, it’s halal!

The time I reached the hotel it was already 10+. Wow! As expected, it was such a nice hotel. That explains the price hmm .. (EUR 145, the most expensive I’ve stayed in Paris). It still puzzles me why I had always been booked in cheap cheap hotel (like EUR 80 per night with basic facility) in the past whenever I came here from Malaysia? 3rd class treatment? May be.