Italy. It’s the birthplace of the Mafia, Vespa and pasta. Hey, that sorta rhymes! 😉
I’m kidding, most people would think of something like Venice for example…the fabled city of romance where countless have fallen in love (though hopefully not through the canals filled with water that counts for streets over there).
The foot kicking the ball is actually a very nice place.
It’s a sophisticated city with a lot of cultural differences that you’ll only experience when you go there. It’s little things like how Northern Italy (still) thinks of Southern Italy as a bunch of uncouth people.
(Please don’t whack me, I don’t want to sleep with the fishes, a rather drunk guy in a pub told me that while I was backpacking Europe)
I’m into history and culture and during the last trip I actually met someone who fought in the war. Don’t ask me for which side, but it enlightened me that the Axis powers were Germany, Japan and Italy. I’ve always thought it was France. /history fail
It just goes to show that sometimes you have to actually experience to the country – not as a tourist, insulating yourself from the outside world by staying at multinational premium hotel chain which feels the same any country you go and not venturing out after that.
I do concede that the reception staff in Europe is quite pleasing to the eyes though. 😉
However, if you step out of your comfort zone (and that swimming pool which is also available at your country of origin) and visit the places where the locals hang out, you’ll be rewarded with a lot of interesting bits of knowledge.
Of course, I’m not asking you to actually head to the seediest and poorest sections of town (even the locals avoid that) and granted, there would be times when you would have abuse flinged at you by the misguided youth and even have to extricate yourself from potentially dangerous and escalating situations.
I have a story about that last bit actually, but it happened in London. Heh.
Well, the point is, it’s a great opportunity to travel and visit places you’ll normally not be able to…and as a cherry on top, won’t it be great if it’s all expenses paid? 😉
That’s where RHB Now comes in!
I just went to the launch and found out some really fun things about the Italia Mania game. It’s a lot of fun, having played it myself!
There was good (Italian) food, Vespas and a great big canopy at Ciao Restaurant in town. Lots of pizzas too, which I found very apt considering the nature of the app/game.
Just make any transaction online or on your cell phone/tablet with a minimum of RM 30 (your various monthly bills probably costs more than that) and you’ll see a button aptly called:
Play the game and collect as many Star Points as you possibly can!
You’ll be making a pizza – here are the rules.
It’s basically a game where you match the ingredient showing on top with the ones available in the side and drag and drop it onto the raw pizza dough. See that mushroom I’m supposed to put on top of my pizza?
It’s surprisingly fun, I was there for a long time trying to beat my own scores. Heh.
The people with the most Star Points each week and month will get rewarded with awesome prizes!
You’ll stand a chance to win weekly and monthly prizes in addition to the grand prize – which are 5 x Vespa GTS 300 scooters. Guess what the monthly prizes are?
3 x trip to Italy for 2
That’s for the players with the top three highest Star Points each month. As a bonus, the top players who have accumulated the highest Star Points throughout the campaign will win the Vespas! There’s also 5 x RM 100 cash weekly prizes. Head on to RHB Now for more details!
I suggest you go the Venice route if you bring your girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband/It’s Complicated (TM). 😉
wow you really slim down a lot hb! :))
you look good in the last pic. just cut your hair?
Heh! Thanks Peggy! 🙂
Yeah, I think it’s due to the haircut and the shirt collar design – it makes me look thinner than I actually am.
Cheers!
Love that photo of the two old man. Friends forever, that’s what comes to mind…
Yeah, I’m pretty sure they are! 🙂
I took that photo in Georgia one night while I was still in Tbilisi, at a dingy local café that also serves liquor, a local type of which these two nice men bought me.
I was talking to them in a bastardized version of English and some Russian coz I don’t speak Georgian.
Gotta love moments like these while backpacking.
Cheers buddy!
Mafia, Vespa and pasta… Reminds me of the Foochow -ng sound…the Wongs, the Tings, the Lings…and how they would add it to the end of words like “khang ing” for “come in”. Had a tough time correcting my kids then…
Good luck to you – hope you win the Vespa. So who did you go with? Your It’s Complicated (TM)? LOL!!!!
Haha! Come in, indeed.
Thanks buddy! I’m more interested in winning the trip to Italy. I don’t mind going to Europe again…it’ll be my fourth time but there’s a lot the place has to offer.
Heh! This was during the 2011 backpacking trip – my second one. I went along but met lots of people.
Cheers buddy! 🙂
Italy is indeed a nice country to travel to. I would like to backpack there with my wife when our boy has grown up.
Yeah it is, I love the place.
Italy is awesome!
I hope you get there with your wife when your son has all grown up. Backpacking through Europe is a great experience – loved it so much I did it twice! 🙂
Cheers buddy and all the best!
“I do concede that the reception staff in Europe is quite pleasing to the eyes though…”
if they can lockup scientist for not being able to predict earthquakes, then we shall sue the hotel for “aesthetics discrimination” for not hiring oogly people…. tera martha kopa
Heh! I know what you mean!
I was surprised when I read the news about the loooong prison sentence for the six Italian seismologists for manslaughter. It just doesn’t make sense at all.
It sets an unwarranted precedent towards these things and if the appeals don’t go through, it’ll be a sad day for science indeed.
Cheers mate! 🙂
Dayum that blonde receptionist looks fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.
Heh! Well, I think our tastes are a little different.
I thought the one next to her (brunette looking but actually a shade lighter) looks awesome. I didn’t think the blonde one looked good at all. She certainly didn’t catch my eye. Different stroke for different folks. 🙂
Cheers man.
I wouldn’t mind visiting St. Peter’s Basilica and the city of Rome when I’ve enough greens in the bank account to foot the whole bill and a better fluency in Italian or Latin.
It’s a lovely place with beautiful scenery too. =D
Anyway, since you’re into history, you’ve heard of the Carthaginian War?
Hello Ciana! 🙂
Yeah, those are great monuments to visit. I doubt anyone still speaks much Latin outside of the church though, but Italian, yeah that would be useful, although you can get by with simple phrases. It’s nice to learn the language though.
Yes, I know of the war, but in a different context, despite it happening many years B.C. it has repercussions into the Qumran scrolls due to some references which finally puts it in context with historical events such as that and the Roman monarchy periods but that’s too long to write about.
Hey, if you’re banking anyway, it could win you a trip to Italy. That’s what I’m aiming for anyway. Heh.
Cheers Ciana!
haha i don’t want the Vespa. I want the trip!