Southern Italy - Campania

I extended my stay over the weekend to explore the region after the conference... The conference ended on Friday afternoon and Sook Leen was supposed to fly in that evening to meet up with me so I had a bit of time to spare...

In the end, I went to Pompeii with some of my colleagues and actuaries that I met at the conference...

Pompeii is an excavation site and outdoor museum of the ancient Roman settlement. A few thousand years ago, the volcano erupted, burying the whole Pompeii town in ashes and soot to preserve the town in its state from that fateful day. This site is considered to be one of the few sites where an ancient city has been preserved in detail - everything from jars and tables to paintings and people were frozen in time!!

Me and my colleagues...







Ooooh... the Pompactuaries (hahaha... that's actuaries in Pompeii...) We met so many others from the conference... I guess everyone thought that it was a great idea to visit Pompeii after the conference ended!

And guess what... of all the sections in the excavation site... this particular area is the most famous... the brothel... apparently Pompeii used to be this bustling area where travellers sailed to and everyone spoke a different language... so to make it easier for business at the brothel... they painted different positions available at the brothel and all the travellers had to do was point to the so-called menu!!!! Hahaha... and the queues for this section was amazingly long...

The Malaysian actuaries gang...

After Pompeii, it was time to bade goodbye to the luxury that I was getting used to in Hilton... but before we left, we had dinner at the restaurant... the seafood risotto was excellent!!

Then it was time to move on... and from Hilton, I moved to a smaller and less luxurious (but obviously cheaper) hotel to wait for Sook Leen to meet up with me... although that said.. it was not too bad for a 3 star hotel!

The next day, we decided to head off to the harbour to go to Capri Island...

Me on the ferry to Capri... that is before the ferry started to make me sick... sigh... when will I get over my motion sickness????

After 40 minutes on the boat, we finally arrived at Capri!!!

Stopped by for lunch... to have the famous Naples pizza and Capri tomatoes... yum yum... the tomatoes were so sweet and juicy!!!

We were planning to take a boat ride out to see the Blue Grotto... but to our dismay... they said that due to bad weather, the water was too rough and the Blue Grotto is closed!!! WTF??? Bad weather??? It's so sunny and the skies are blue... have these people been to London???

But sigh... I guess the sea may be a bit choppy and it's a bit windy... so instead, we settle for a boat ride around the island...

It was really picturesque...

The sea was so blue and calming...

And I guess Sook Leen and I have different ideas on how to enjoy the ride!!! (she's trying to look cool there... :P)

After the boat ride, we climb up to the top of Capri... apparently someone told us later that only the Germans would walk up whereas everyone else would take the bus or the tram up!!! Er... what is that supposed to mean???

The clock tower in the main square...

And after our difficult climb (it was narrow and steep steps all the way up!!)... I decided it was time to reward myself with GELATO!!! One of the many reasons why I like Italy!!!

And true to its reputation of being the expensive island where the rich and famous like to go... in such a small area, you can find every other designer brand that you can think of... there's even stuff like Jimmy Choo, Prada, Gucci, LV etc.

After our little day trip out, we spent the remaining evening exploring around Sorrento...

The Sorrento town centre...

We also searched high and low (even walked in the dark for a stretch of road) for this restaurant that Sook Leen found on the travel guide... Well, the food was not too bad... but the good thing was that it's pretty close to our hotel and we did walk quite a lot the whole day!!

The next morning during breakfast, we were still deciding on what to do when the hotel manager came and talked to us... seeing that we didn't have a plan, he suggested that we take a bus to Positano which is on the Almafi Coast...

I'm so glad that he talked us into it because Positano is absolutely charming and beautiful...

I thought our lunch was pretty good... all things Italian!!! Seafood pasta, tiramisu and even tried the limoncello... although I must admit that I didn't like the limoncello at all!! It was so bitter and tasted like medicine to me... yucks...

The day was so beautiful and the weather was just wonderful... the only regret that we had was not bringing our bikinis to laze around the beach!!!

Nevertheless, I think we made the most out of our little beach time... heheh... you have no idea how difficult it was to set up that umbrella... because we were too short to push it all the way up!!! And when we finally did it (albeit with the help of someone else) Sook Leen wanted to take a picture of our accomplishment... heheheh...

Aaaah.... it's so great to just relax by the beach....