ikan の旅

马六甲之旅（“随手一拍”篇）- Nov 2011

2011-11-15T00:14:00.004+08:00

马六甲之旅（夜市篇）- Nov 2011

2011-11-14T00:03:00.005+08:00

马六甲之旅（食物篇）- Nov 2011

2011-11-12T03:08:00.005+08:00

最近，和朋友们去了一趟马六甲。虽然地方并不是很大，也没什么地方可去（除了老街和一些大型百货公司），感觉却很休闲，relax. 每天都忙于尝试一些不同的Chendol，Laksa 和小吃。虽然种类并没像台湾小吃一样的多，却有它自己的独特风味。

Turning 28 @ the zoo - Part II

2011-09-02T01:04:00.001+08:00

Turning 28 @ the zoo - Part I

2011-09-01T15:48:00.005+08:00

Yup. One of those odd days whereby you woke up feeling happy yet sad at the same time. Happy coz it's a day of celebration and sad coz I can start counting the wrinkles and white/ grey hair on me. Yup. Another year has gone by and hopefully another year of wisdom gained.

We initially planned to go to the Singapore Zoo at 9.30am but the morning rain stalled us . So we ended up lazying in bed till about 11am, packed up our load when the skies finally cleared and off we went to the zoo!

And boy was it crowded. Queued for nearly half hour before we got our hands on a pair of tix (complimentary for me from the zoo since it's my bd) and tucked ourselves into the expensive but delicious curry chicken at Ah Meng Cafe before heading in to explore the place.

It's kinda weird having a birthday badge (from the zoo; which I refused to pin it on and was just satisfied to have it sit in my palm) and a young attendant at the entrance wishing me 'Happy Birthday'. Gee... not sure if i should laugh or cry.

In any case, it was a fun trip despite the drizzle, the missing polar bears, the giant turtles which seemed like they had been shrunk by something and the ongoing renovations/ upgrades around the zoo.

Underwater world with 家族 - Part IV (最後)

2011-06-14T23:21:00.004+08:00

11th June 2011 (土曜日）

Underwater world with 家族 - Part III

2011-06-13T00:02:00.003+08:00

11th June 2011 (土曜日）

Underwater world with 家族 - Part II

2011-06-12T00:20:00.004+08:00

11th June 2011 (土曜日）

Underwater world with 家族 - Part I

2011-06-03T00:10:00.004+08:00

11th June 2011 (土曜日）

Creatures @ Sabah - 20th/ 21st May

2011-06-02T00:13:00.004+08:00

Chasing lights @ Sabah - 21st May

2011-06-01T00:44:00.002+08:00

Sunset @ Sabah - 20th May

2011-05-31T23:48:00.004+08:00

Had tagged along with Tuk for his company trip to Sabah recently; where he had his team bonding sessions while I had a very much welcomed short weekend getaway. Super glad that I was finally able to breathe in some fresh air.

We'd stayed at Sutera Harbour Resort and it was truly a relaxing place where we got to enjoy splendid views of sunset (well, not from our room though), the sea and easy access to sea sports and to nearby islands. (^ _ ^) happy!

Before I rattle on any further, I should just share some of the sunset shots taken on the first day of our stay:

WS' birthday lunch @ Da Luca Italian Restaurant - 23rd Apr

2011-05-12T00:03:00.001+08:00

Jalan Jalan Trengganu - 8th Apr

2011-05-11T20:15:00.002+08:00

Seeing double?

2011-03-27T20:18:00.002+08:00

Snapshots of March (^ - ^)

2011-03-25T01:52:00.002+08:00

18th March: Team dinner @ New Harbour, followed by a crazy 5.5-hr ktv session @ Party World Liang Court :)

19th March: Sun rays captured @ Tanah Merah MRT station

19th March: Rainbow spotted @ EXPO

22nd March: Home-cooked dinner @ Victor's. Yummy!

24th March: @ Work - Sweet gifts from a sweetie :)

STUCK!

2011-03-20T01:33:00.003+08:00

Here's Tuk trying to figure out what button to press so that the leg rest will come down and he can get out!

Well, the background to the above pix is:

Just this past Thursday, the gang met up @ Raffles City's Sushi Tei for Akong's homecoming from Japan (glad that he made it back safely and unscathed by the 9.0 earthquake) and Jac's bd celebration. After dinner (around 10.30pm), a few of us (namely me, Cheryl, Jac, Zhihui, Wanlin and Tuk) decided to hop onto Cheryl's car and head down to Holland V. for some tea. We were all tired and majority of us had to work the next day as well. But heck. It's been quite some time that we do something random. So we decided to go for it.

But just before we hit the road, Cheryl suddenly commented that she felt like singing KTV at that moment. And that sentiment was then seconded by Jac, followed by the rest of us. So within seconds, we reserved a slot at Party World (Liang Court) and headed over there immediately.

Upon reaching the place, Jac was so busy in picking out a soft toy (as a form of redeeming her KTV membership points) that all of us had to stand around and wait for her to be done before we could proceed over to the room to start our "kill chicken" session.

It was then that Tuk spotted the massage chair and decided to hop on (since he's a "old" man with body aches). He happily reclined the massage chair and began his massage. Unfortunately for Tuk, Jac was suddenly done with her selection (she chose a fur dropping Hello Kitty) and in a bid to catch up with us, he scrambled to get up only to find himself trapped in the seat in an reclined position. Ha!

A sneak peek @ my pre-wedding photos

2011-03-14T01:04:00.005+08:00

３月１２日（土曜日）
What an early start to a weekend morning. Woke up at 5am and had the stylist in (my house) by 5.30am, fussing over my make-up and my hairdo. Took almost 1.5hrs to get both done. Yes. Freaking 1.5hrs. But at least I looked sort of pretty. So that's cool. The stylist also helped applied some make-up and etc on Tuk as well, so that he looked less lethargic.

At 7am sharp, the mini-bus uncle came and picked both of us up (together with our trolley of props), headed over to Bishan J8 to pick up our five photographers (Yajun, Chee Wei, Victor, Celeste & Ken) and helper (Shiau Hui), before heading over to our first location for our pre-wedding shoot...

All in all, we went to about 3 places - White Rabbit @ Harding Road, Henderson Wave and National Museum of Singapore.

The shoot went on pretty much without a hitch except for when we were at National Museum of Singapore taking photos, quite a handful of tourists took a pix of me - some had politely asked for permission while some tried (but failed miserably) to take pix of me from a distance 'discreetly'.

I was told by some that I looked "pretty" while some others mentioned "gorgeous". Whereas I personally thought that my make-up was a little too thick and the crew seconded the thought that I didn't really look like myself. Oh gee... I'm not sure if I should smile or wallow in self-pity. Well, at least the 1.5hrs was not for naught.

The actual photos ain't ready yet but here's a few peek shots that Tuk and Shiau Hui took using their iPhone :)

Pretty nail extensions that came with a price...

2011-03-13T22:05:00.010+08:00

３月11日（金曜日）
In view of my pre-wedding photo shoot, I decided to do something that I've never, ever done before. Nail extension + nail art. My nails turned out pretty, but came at a price of course and not to mention the inconvenience experienced. I couldn't feel my finger tips after doing the nail extensions. Even simple tasks like buttoning up or zipping up, and removing a card from my wallet became such a chore. I never felt that as handicapped. Gee~ this would be the one and only time I would ever have nail extension. Once is more than enough for me. Sigh.

*P.S.: I spent close to 2.5hrs in the nail salon just to get the nail extensions and nail art done. Lesson learned. After my pre-wedding shoot was over, I took a cab down to the salon and removed the nail extensions immediately. I'm just SO glad that I got my actual fingernails back!

The princess' 2nd birthday

2011-03-07T01:33:00.005+08:00

为什么一个好好的生日派对，大人比小孩还更累？

Cake from Cupcake Divinity

JJ Lin - "I AM" concert @ S'pore Indoor Stadium

2011-03-06T01:14:00.010+08:00

JJ 不愧是位实力派歌手。就因如此，我对演唱会的要求更为苛刻。
他的好嗓门及歌唱技巧实在是让人没话说，除了赞赏的话之外，我实在是想不到有什么好让人挑剔的。可是在于演唱会的各种环节，编排和时间方面，却有待进步。例如：该早一些放烟火好让整个气氛更 high，曲目方面的编排（应该拿掉和演唱会不对调的“猫熊”歌），串场应该顺利些（有好几段的 silence 实在太久了。。。让我还以为发生了什么事），JJ 在唱快歌时，音乐应该小声点而他的 mic 的声量反而该大声点。。。希望这些缺点能在他下一次的演唱会上一一纠正过来。

Cute booth @ Plaza Sing.

2011-03-02T02:27:00.002+08:00

(^ _ ^) Chanced upon this kawaii booth @ Plaza Sing (level 2) and got ourselves two kawaii plush! I got the rabbit with stars (refer to 2nd pix) and Tuk got the chimp in grey giraffe prints (refer to 3rd pix where the chimp's head got "cut off").

P.S.: Apparently, this is not the only place that's selling these cute plush. You can find them in selected Action City branches as well. Sigh~ I'm such a sucker for such stuff. I think I have pretty much enough "animals" to open a mini plush zoo. So to all my friends out there, DO NOT attempt to give me any more plush toys please~~!

Farewell lunch @ The Banana Leaf Apolo

2011-02-25T23:04:00.003+08:00

It was Amy's last day so a few of us decided to head down to The Banana Leaf Apolo @ Race Course Road for lunch. Spicy & yummy!!! I like~ (^ o ^)

Bridal Shoes from TANGS • Studio

2011-02-24T00:10:00.002+08:00

The wedding invite. Ta~da!

2011-02-23T23:16:00.005+08:00

Why computer? 'Coz his name is PC.

And why Ikan? 'Coz I'm just a tiny fish trying to find my way and survive in the big blue ocean. (^ _ ^)

21st Feb (Mon) - Food tasting

2011-02-22T22:40:00.005+08:00

A sneak preview of the food!

Tea break with the gang (after gown fitting session & dinner)

2011-02-21T22:50:00.003+08:00

Gown selection/ fitting

2011-02-20T03:22:00.006+08:00

It seems to rain every time I'm at the bridal boutique. I wonder if that's some kind of omen or something. Hmmm....

The gang (Cheryl/ akong/ Jacq) ended up being late and it was my sis (together with rascal Kayley and bro-in-law) who'd strolled into the boutique on time. So without further ado, we began the "tedious" task of choosing gowns, trying them on and taking them off again and again.

After a few tries, we decided on the following for my wedding day gown:

*P.S> I'm too skinny for the dress so the dresser had to use a huge clip then to keep it from falling. Ha!

... this tea dress for the tea ceremony:

*P.S> Damn! I think I can still see traces of my sun tan marks on my back. Sheesh... can someone hand me my whitening cream, please!

... and this as the evening gown:

Such a pity that the appointed make-up artiste couldn't make it for this session. Otherwise, it would've been nice to see how the proposed make-up and hairdo would go with my dresses. (- _ -)

*p.S: And I was quite pissed with Tuk then as he was so distracted about the house (we went house hunting and confirmed the house just hours prior the gown session) that he hardly noticed when I had stepped out of the changing room in a different gown. I'd to call out to him a couple of times to get his attention and his butt off the couch. So not cool at all. Humph.

Bridal Boutique: LE GRAND

A peek @ the wedding car

2011-02-11T01:48:00.001+08:00

A 1972 Volkswagen 1302 Beetle:

Rent a beetle from LOVE BUG

CNY randoms

2011-02-04T00:01:00.000+08:00

les bandes de mariage

2011-02-03T22:45:00.004+08:00

Custom-made by BRAI

Meet my new ipod/iphone docking speaker

2011-01-24T00:42:00.002+08:00

Walking with dinosaurs... very, very slowly...

2010-12-03T00:32:00.002+08:00

It was good :) but could've been better. Although the stage was small, the props, lighting and the setup was great. The dinos were pretty good too, rather realistic and flexi in terms of movement. The down side was that they were too few Dinos and the pace was a bit draggy. Go only if u truly like Dino (like I did) otherwise u may feel bored coz of info overload and slow pace :P

Pix from iPhone

Archived randoms

2010-11-23T02:23:00.008+08:00

SG skyline enroute/ atop Marina Bay Sands (taken on 29th Aug 2010 - my bd!)

18th Nov (Thurs) - Makan!

2010-11-19T00:09:00.005+08:00

After being away from work for two long months, I literally forgot which floor my office was on and had to take my name card out to check, on my first day back to work.

And the food! Ever since I got back, all I had was KFC chicken and fast food. Eerk! I need proper food. And by proper food, I mean my favourite dishes such as BBQ sambal stingray, roti prata, cha kway teow, carrot cake, curry chicken, fish head curry and etc!

So, I was super happy when the gang called to meet up after work for BBQ dinner at one of the hawker centres. Yummy! And I LOVE those guys for even suggesting. MUACKZ!!!!

La~la~la!

Engaged - 14th Nov (Sun)

2010-11-18T01:17:00.003+08:00

I was kinda expecting him to propose when I came out from the gate (he hinted about it about 2.5 months ago when I was supposed to go to India on a business trip which fell through in the end), but he didn't. So I was a bit curious as to why he was behaving rather nervously around me - the way he spoke and wanting to rush to the toilet just right after he fetched me, which was not the norm. Then again, having taken a long flight back, I thought I was being a little paranoid. And as I was anxious to see my little niece again, I kinda put that thought behind me rather quickly. My family had arranged to meet us at the other terminal, where we would have dinner at the Chinese restaurant.

So off we went to take the skytrain to T3. And because I had so many barang barang, he had a hard time trying to get them all and to keep up with me after we alighted (p.s.: I offered to take some of them but he wouldn't let me). I ended up walking way in front of him as I was starving and rearing to go see my cute little niece.

Alas, from the corner of my eye, I saw a bunch of my friends. I was a kinda surprised that so many of them came to fetch me. But upon a slightly closer inspection, I realised that they were all wearing the same t-shirt design and baring this "evil" smile. Oh~oh.

When they stood together, this was what the T-shirt design read:

And he was the one wearing the word "Me".

A little surprised and super embarrassed, I moved further away from them and Tuk (who finally caught up) had to drag me back to them. And since he still had his hands occupied with my things, there was a long awkward silence that followed as he rushed to find the ring from his pockets/ bag.

Finally he found the ring and popped the question "Would you spend the remaining time with me?"

I was like thinking "Erhhhh? Are you/I dying or ????" at the back of my mind.

Then he realised his mistake and re-phrased the question to "Would you spend the rest of your life with me?".

After much cajoling from the "by-standers", I said "ok". And he fumbled to put on the ring for me (which was a size too big for me btw).

Well, although his proposal wasn't as perfect as he planned it to be (his sequence got messed up because of my barang barang), he deserved some credit for being able to "jio jio" so many of our friends to come on board his scheme.

And to my friends (the guys/ gals who braced themselves against weird stares from the public when they put on the T-shirt, the photographers, and the flower-giver), you guys are sibei lovely and 真够朋友啊。

*P.S: The bit about the family dinner turned out to be a pre-mediated plot.

14th Nov (Sun) - ただいま、I'm home!

2010-11-17T20:42:00.004+08:00

I almost couldn't come back. Seriously.

My flight from Oslo to Paris on 13th Nov was originally scheduled for 3.15pm. But since I had to check out of my hostel by 10.30am and had no where else to go, I decided to head over to the airport real early. By the time I checked in at the automated kiosk and went over to the baggage check-in counter, it was around 12noon. After the staff checked my ticket, she informed me that I need to head over to another counter to pay for excess baggage and come back here again to check in. So I did just that and probably spent about 15 mins there and went back to the baggage check-in again.

But to my surprise, I was told by the staff that the gate for baggage check-in has already closed. I was dumbfounded. So I rationalized with her that my flight was at 3.15pm and there's no way it's closed this early. Then, another of her male colleague came over and explained to me that there's no flight to Paris at 3.15pm. It was then that I came to realise that my boarding pass had reflected 12-something as well. After much confusion, it turned out that the flight had been brought forward by 3 hrs! Meaning, my flight was about to leave in 15 mins and yet there I was still trying to check-in my baggage. And I wasn't informed. No email. No sms alert.

So after reasoning that I did not receive any notification about the change in schedule, the guy politely said "I'm sorry ma'am. You'd have to question whichever agent helped you booked your tickets."

That's when I showed him my e-ticket. It was issued directly from Air France.

He was surprised and said "well, that's us." He was dumbfounded himself.

And the next thing I knew was they made a few calls, got the gate re-opened again, re-issued me a ticket and I was off rushing to clear the customs. Thankfully, I made it in time - partly because the plane's arrival was delayed as well. Phew!

So, after 65 days of lone "adventure" across 28 cities, I'm finally home again. Spent another month or so (this post is backdated btw) to filter through the 5000++ images and updated my previous entries. And there you go, have a look :)

STOP 1: Madrid, Spain

STOP 2: Santiago de Compostela, Spain

STOP 3: Barcelona, Spain

STOP 4: Bordeaux, France

STOP 5 & 6: Nice & Monaco, France

STOP 7: Rome, Italy

STOP 8, 9 & 10: Pompei, Amalfi & Naples - Italy

STOP 11 & 12: Florence & Pisa, Italy

STOP 13: Venice, Italy

STOP 14: Verona, Italy

STOP 15: Vienna, Austria

STOP 16: Prague, Czech Republic

STOP 17: Munich, Germany

STOP 18: Switzerland

STOP 19: Paris, France

STOP 20: Brussels, Belgium

STOP 21: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

STOP 22: Berlin, Germany

STOP 23 & 24: Copenhagen (Denmark) & Reykjavík (Iceland)

STOP 25: Stockholm, Sweden

STOP 26: Rovaniemi, Lapland

STOP 27: Tromso, Norway

FINAL - STOP 28: Oslo, Norway

12th Nov (Fri) - Oslo

2010-11-16T03:12:00.004+08:00

Since I only got a day here in Oslo, I went and got myself a 24-hr Oslo Pass from the Tourist Info counter. It's so much cheaper to get it than to spend a la carte. Of course, this is on the basis that I'm cramming all my attraction visits (most museum attractions and transport were covered under the pass and no need for additional fee) in a single day and need to keep changing transports so a la carte would have been super costly.

Places which I'd visited include:

1) Norsk Folkemuseum

2) Vikingkipshuset

3) Norsk Sjøfortmuseum
*P.S.: Nothing much to see here unless you are a maritime fan.

4) Kon-tiki museet

5) Frammuseet

6) Icebar Oslo
Apparently, the interior design of the bar changes every few months. And it's good fun only when you go with a bunch of friends 'coz it's not a free-to-walk-in-anytime kind of bar. What happens is that visitors are let in in batches every 20 mins or so. By then, the previous group had already cleared out. And the bar is actually very small. More like a room than a full-blown bar. So, although it's nice to check it out, don't get your expectations too high.

The entry fee is not covered under the Oslo Pass but you do get a discount off it. Comes with a drink.

Other than the above (which pretty much took up my day already), I went window shopping around the main station as well. Nice stuff. But too ex. So I ended up keeping my hand in my pocket most of the time to restrain myself from buying. Hahahaha.

It'll be nice to visit Oslo again and visit all the other museums (including the weird ones). But I really do need to save up to enjoy myself there. Well, for a rough gauge, I spent like SGD 80++ just for a starter soup, a fish main course and a medium glass of coke. But the food's damn nice. Still, it's expensive. In Singapore, I could get the same dishes for about the same (tasty) standard at about SGD 40 or lower. Jeez... Oh well, at least the food was good :) and I didn't have to stuff myself with another round of pizza tonight just to save $$$ since it's the last night of my entire 2-mth adventure.

11th Nov (Thurs) - Tromso

2010-11-11T00:02:00.005+08:00

There goes my arctic adventures just when I finally made up my mind a few days ago to screw the budget and just indulge while I'm still in Tromso. Unfortunately for me, the reindeers were still in the forests and would only be herded into the farms this weekend - which meant no reindeer sledding for me since I would be on my way back to SG by then.

Had thought of switching to Ice fishing or snowshoeing or perhaps even arctic fishing but the ice wasn't thick enough so I could do none of the above. What a downer. Sigh.

So the next best choice I had was to go chasing the Northern Lights again. This time round, I visited a husky farm (but didn't take on the husky sledding since I'd already done it in Rovaniemi), sat in a lavvu (Sami Herdsmen’s tent) and waited for the Northern Lights. But I wasn't that lucky. It got all cloudy so I pretty much stayed inside the tent most of the time, drinking tea and having mini slices of a cake. Kinda boring. Perhaps I wasn't with the right company - i.e.: like with friends to take turns to tell ghost stories or head out to create some snowman or snow angels. Sigh...

But Tromso itself was beautiful. Very tranquil and the mountain view unhindered. A small town with loads of nice and friendly people. :) They even made a long traffic tunnel in a cave. Pretty amazing.

I also visited the rather interesting Polaria...

...and got out of town to get to the Mt. Storsteinen cable car.

The only grouse I had (apart from the lack of activities that I could participate in due to my wrong timing), was that things were freaking expensive! Okay, it's Norway. But it was like having to pay 11 Euros or thereabouts for a Burger King meal, without up-size. FAINT. Seriously.

Oh man... I'm not sure if I would ever head back to Tromso again. The cost of living in Norway really made me think twice. But on the other hand, it's still rather attractive when I start thinking of all the things I could do if I had gone over in Jan/ Feb instead. Oh man... I can't decide.

8th Nov (Mon) - Rovaniemi, Lapland

2010-11-10T23:12:00.006+08:00

I finally got a slot for the husky sled today :) At first, the agency wouldn't let me sign on 'coz i was the only one on their waiting list. But just soon after I got off the phone with them, they called back saying that another person had just signed on as well. Yippee!!!

But before I headed over to the huskies, the agency brought me and the others over to a Reindeer farm as well, where I got up close and personal with the reindeers.

The farm owner mentioned that majority of the reindeers were still in the forests and had not been herded back to the farm just yet. Thus, we only saw about 10 reindeers in the farm itself. And she did add on that most farmers would not tell you how many reindeers they own in total as that would be the same as you telling someone how much money you have in your account.

After a brief conversation on why one of the reindeers seemed to have injured its horns (see pix above - which turned out that the reindeers had to break off their horns now and then to facilitate the growth and it would be rather painless for them), I decided to brave the following questions:

Q1) Were the reindeers here bred for meat or mainly for sledding?
The answer was mainly for meat and some for sledding. And the slaughtering would take place only once a year, during autumn (more or less 6 months after the reindeers gave birth to little calves). But there's a quota set by the association/ authorities on how many they could slaughter each season, so that there was proper population control.

So if you happen to consume reindeer meat in say spring or summer, those have been frozen for quite some time since the slaughter in Autumn.

Q2) Were old reindeers the ones which got slaughtered?
Answer: On the contrary, about 70% of the reindeers slaughtered were the 6-month old calves.

When I heard this, I felt damn guilty about my previous reindeer meal... I would have felt better if she had said it was mainly the old reindeers...

Anywayz, after a brief stay in the cottage to warm up, we headed over to the husky place. The huskies got all excited and started barking and howling non-stop. We took some time to go around the cages to greet and pet some of the dogs (there were more than 150 of them and we couldn't possibly greet all), while the staff hurried along to prepare the summer sled.

I was quite surprised to find that these sledding huskies were a lot smaller than the domestic husky and there was a wide variety as well. They didn't necessarily take on the grey-white fur. Wow~ The staff explained that these huskies in particular were bred mainly for speed and performance (they were sledding dogs after all), and not for looks.

Once the sled was ready, the dogs latched to the sled were super hyper - as if they were trying to say "Let's get going NOW!". Hahahaha.

The summer sled alone weighed about 150 kg. If we add on 2 passengers plus one driver, the average total weight would usually come up to at least 250kg. And all it took was 10 huskies to get it moving. Wow~

When we first took off, I could really feel the excitement and acceleration from the dogs. But soon, they would switch to a constant gear and the average travelling speed (whilst carrying us in the summer sled) would be about 60 -70km/ hour. WOW~ Yah. I'm a country pumpkin. I couldn't help being fascinated by how these small dogs could pull off such a thing. I'm amazed.

After the short ride, we went inside to a fireplace to warm up before heading out to greet the husky puppies! They were super shy and kept running away to their mommy or the trainer when I (and the other fellow tourists) tried to approach them. So cute~ Hahahha.

Soon after, it was time for me to head back to the guesthouse and finish up my packing - 'coz I had to leave for Helsinki (and then take a plane to Oslo) in the evening.

Having visited the reindeer farm and getting the answers that got me feeling all guilty, I kept deliberating on whether I should still have the traditional Sauteed Reindeer for dinner. In the end, I decided to go for it but at the same time, telling myself that it would be the final time I would consume reindeer meat.

My verdict? I personally felt that it was an acquired taste. Not that it wasn't nice. It was just that it tasted rather different. Somehow the texture reminded me of a very well done slice of beef, but yet retained a distinct strong taste. If you were one that found lamb has a distinct strong taste, that's probably it. Not that reindeer meat and lamb tasted the same, just that each has such a distinct strong taste that some people might find it hard to accept.

After a hearty dinner, I boarded the VR overnight train for a 12 hour journey to Helsinki. I was kinda surprised when I opened the door to my bunk. There was a personal toilet in there! In addition, there was a shower facility within that same toilet as well, complete with nice, clean towels. And this was just 2nd class cabin! Hmmmm... EUROSTAR should really take cues from VR and start revamping their facilities.

And to end off my adventures in Rovaniemi, here are some additional random pix taken during my stay:

7th Nov (Sun) - Rovaniemi, Lapland

2010-11-10T05:48:00.009+08:00

PRELUDE

Friday - I should've checked the map of Finland/ Lapland before I went on board the plane. Coz I'd thought that Tampere was part of Rovaniemi when it was in fact a different city altogether. So when the plane made a pitstop at Tampere airport to pick up more passengers, I alighted the plane and happily (plus unknowingly) went out of the customs and stopped for a toilet break. It was in the toilet that I heard my name being mentioned over the airport PA system and was asked to proceed to security control asap. Thank god I was still in the airport and ran over asap. The airport staff were pretty amused, especially the air stewardess who was at the door, greeting me for the 2nd time when I boarded the plane again. Phew! What a close shave.

************************************
The average day time temperature was about -7 to -10.5 degrees. Night time ranged from -11 to -15. Still bearable for now except my face felt frozen. Well, kind of. Just exaggerating it a little.

It happened to be a holiday yesterday, so almost all shops were closed. So I decided to visit the Artikum and to understand more about the Sami culture and the arctic circle. That was how I got to know that the word "Arctic" actually derived from a Greek word. And it meant the "land of the great bear" as the constellation of the great bear could always been seen in the north.

As for today, I took the Santa Express bus 8 from the train station (see pix below - which happened to be less than 200m from the guesthouse I'm staying in) and went straight for the so-called "official" Santa Claus Village, situated right in the Arctic Circle.

Well for starters, I could have gotten the Arctic Circle stamp on my passport and/or have the official certificate to show that I was at the Arctic Circle. But since there was a bunch of Japanese tourists queuing for it, I decided to come back later instead (which I didn't in the end).

The Santa Claus Post Office was kinda cool. The staff were dressed like adult elves and there were displays of letters to Santa from kids all over the world, including one super long one which the staff had to roll up into a scroll and put it on display as well. Most of the letters from kids were like "I've been good this year...blah blah blah". But there were some that asked really sensible and cute questions like "how many helpers do you have", "don't you ever go for a holiday", "were your helpers really elves" and etc.

Though I didn't send a letter to Santa nor did I purchase a request for Santa's letter (which cost about 7 euros), I did get my hands on some postcards from the post office, get them stamped and posted them back to my address in SG. I would love to get more postcards but they were rather expensive - like 2 SGD per card. So I got limited choice but to settle for only a handful. Lesson learned. Next time, bring your own postcards and just buy the stamps and get them posted from the post office.

Next stop, the Santa Claus' office - which turned out to be just a small studio which you could take a picture with Mr. Santa Claus. There were several options for you to choose what output you want, either it was a postcard set of 5, or photo saved in a Sony thumbdrive or a large print out. Since the large printout was the "cheapest" of them all, I opted for that. And yet, it still cost me 25 Euros. No kidding. This would be the one and final time I would ever take a photo with any Santa Claus.

After wandering around Santa Claus Village for some time, I decided to head back to the guesthouse and retire for the night.

5th Nov (Fri) - Stockholm

2010-11-06T23:11:00.012+08:00

PRELUDE
Reached Stockholm bus terminal at 6.20am on Wednesday. It was still pitch black then. I was deliberating on whether I should get on a taxi or not as (1) I wasn't sure how to get to the hostel and (2) I didn't have any Swedish Krone with me at all. Just euros and Danish Krones. After explaining to the taxi driver, he agreed to let me pay by card. Phew! The 10 min taxi ride cost me 150 SEK (approx. 17 euros) though.

Upon reaching the hostel, I rang the door bell, only to realise that the receptionist would only be in at 9am. Luckily for me, one guy happened to be leaving the hostel and he let me in. So I took a sit in front of the computer and tried to sleep by resting on my arms. My throat was feeling better but my cough was getting much worse. I felt sick and needed to have a wink or two.

Finally at 9am, the receptionist appeared and I got checked-in immediately. Slept for approx 3 hours before heading out to look for food. The medication made me hungry. And this pattern kinda repeated for the past 2 days as well. Medication. Sleep. Food. Walk. Food. Medication. Sleep.

************************************************************

I was kinda suprised that Stockholm was warmer than Copenhagen. The last I'd checked, Stockholm was faring at about 8°C. Night temperature averaged about 2 to 4°C. Though the temperature was milder, I still felt the chills. Probably coz I'm still feeling sick.

Anywayz, I went walking around Old Town (Galma-Stan area) and kinda like the place and the whole atmosphere. Not to mention the simple yet super nice lifestyle items and interior deco stuff that could be found almost everywhere. How I wished I could bring them all home. But I couldn't. There were so many times within a day itself, that I would pick up an interesting object only to put it down seconds later after looking at the price. For instance, a A5-size wooden tray (chic design kind) would cost about 40 SGD. And a 2-pc cloak hook would cost around 36 SGD. *FAINT* Sigh...

Price aside, if you were to start from around Skeppsbron 8 and gradually make your way through the numerous back lanes towards Stora Nygatan (which is the more touristy Old Town street), you would be able to find quite a handful of interesting and/ or chic local design or handicraft shops. Very nice ~ :)

And since I was staying near to the river bank, I took a stroll there as well. I was kinda surprised to find yachts and cruise ships in the middle of the city.

And there was the main shopping area on the otherside of town too - i.e: Kulturhuset and Stadsteatern, where all souveneir shops, H&M and other major brands could be found. The area's nice but I kinda preferred the Old Town charm.

Meals in restaurants and cafes tend to be rather expensive (for a budget traveller) too. I originally wanted to opt for those roadside grill stalls where you buy-and-go, like a grilled burger + fries + coke that would cost me about 7 euros. But considering my battle with the evil cough, I had to gave it a miss. But I did get my hands on trying reindeer meat and crayfish in one of the local pubs though.

Unfortunately, the reindeer meat was sliced so thin like a piece of pinic ham and topped with so much onion and sauce that I could hardly make out the taste.

As for the crayfish, it had too much mayo and it tasted way too salty. Argh! Hope this wasn't the usual way the locals would cook crayfish, otherwise, they should really learn the teowchew way - just steam it with garlic. Yum yum!

OK. Time for me to log off and flag a taxi to Arlanda airport. Or rather, ask my hostel for help in the booking. Amongst the different taxi operators, apparently there's this company called "Transfer" (black and yellow taxi) that offered the lowest, fixed rate @ 450 SEK. The others were about 520 SEK.

I would have opted for the bus or train if it wasn't for the cough and the heavy luggage. That would have saved me anything from 60 to 150 SEK. Oh well...

2nd Nov (Tues) - Back in Copenhagen

2010-11-05T03:35:00.006+08:00

My sore throat and cough seemed to be getting worse. Slept till late because of the medication and headed out for lunch in the shopping mall nearby only around late afternoon. It's been raining here in Copenhagen too. But thank god it's not as cold as in Iceland and there's not much wind chill here either.

Seeing that there were very little asian food in the mall except for Sushi and Thai cuisine, I opted for the latter and ended up having not-so-nice-but-expensive Tom Yam soup and Pad Thai. The bill came up to about 168 DKK. OUCH.

After a short stay in the mall where I stocked up some pastries for later tonight and tomorrow's breakfast, I headed back to the hotel to pack. Need to get ready for my overnight bus ride to Stockholm, Sweden. There goes my one day in Copenhagen.

Darn the cough and sore throat.

* P.S: Don't worry. I have medication with me, which I brought over from SG. :)

1st Nov (Mon) - Iceland Day 7 + Back in Copenhagen

2010-11-05T03:23:00.008+08:00

It rained today at Iceland, making it rather impossible for me to head out and grab some lunch. The cold weather plus the wind chill would be enough to kill me - figuratively speaking. So I opted for an earlier bus to the airport today and got my lunch there.

I also got a bottle of Icelandic vodka (1 litre), a bottle of Icelandic wine and a tiny bottle of Icelandic Schnapps from the duty-free to try when I'm back home. Oh boy... i wonder how they taste like and I do hope that they will survive the journey back home.

At first, I wanted to ship them back. But considering that there was no post office nor TNT/ DHL near where I was staying - be it in Iceland or in Copenhagen, I gave up the idea. And since I'm beginning to feel unwell, I thought it's better to stay indoors as much as possible and not risk getting it any worse. A sore throat and a cough had caught up with me.

Think it's partly because my immune system was down with my rib injury, and also partly because of (1) the horrendous wind chill while I was doing the glacier hike + the northern lights chases and(2) my dorm mate from a few days ago was down with serious flu and I could have caught the bug then. Darn. What luck.

So now that I have checked into my nice hotel room in Copenhagen, I shall get my medication and go to sleep. Ciao.

* P.S: I hope to be back in Iceland someday and explore the other parts. And hopefully, I'll be in time to see the Puffins and the whales as well. :)

31st Oct (Sun) - Iceland Day 6

2010-11-05T01:18:00.005+08:00

Went to Blue Lagoon (geothermal pool and spa) today. At first, I was worried that I couldn't get into the pool coz I didn't have any swimsuit nor towel. But thank god I could rent those over the counter. Paid like 1600 ISK for those two items. I felt funny wearing a one-piece swimsuit since I've never worn it before. But oh well, I just got it over and done with.

It was freaking cold before I got into the water. The temperature was 2°C. But the moment I got into the pool, it was super comfortable.

Since I didn't know how to swim, I pretty much anchored myself to the boards at the side of the pool, near the stairs. And because of the strong wind and me being so close to the stairs, I kinda had to help scoop out a pink croc shoe and a towel, and threw them back onto the platform when they got blown into the water beside me. Sigh. Alas, I had a great time. Some people even ordered a beer from the floating bar counter. Cool...

But when it was time to get out of the water, I hesitated. Coz the wind was getting stronger and I had to wait for the right moment before making my dash back into the enclosure. I ran as fast as I could whilst shivering non-stop at the same time. Hahaha.

And when I got back to the hostel, I decided to treat myself to a decent meal for once (in Iceland). Have been surviving on my maggie mee all these while. So I went to a local restaurant around the corner and ordered a Blue Ling (one of the Icelandic fish) dish. Yummy!

After which, I ran back to the hostel, got my laundry done and began blogging this entry. :)

30th Oct (Sat) - Iceland Day 5

2010-11-05T00:10:00.006+08:00

I almost woke up late this morning. Too tired from last night. After gobbling down 2 muffins, I donned on my thermal, ski pants plus extra clothing, and waited anxiously for the pick-up. Today, I shall attempt my first glacier hike. The venue? Sólheimajökull glacier.

As the guide veered the vehicle into the parking lot, some distance away from the base of the glacier, I could hear the wind howling outside. And there was the eerie sight as well. It looked as though we were caught in the middle of a sandstorm and yet the distant glacier remained undisturbed by the chaos around us.

I battled against the wind to put on the crampons and gaiter (with help from the 2 guides). But from time to time, the sand would get into my eyes and impeded my motions. Just as I got it out, another would get in again. The wind chill was simply horrid. Even the guides said we were pretty unlucky to meet with such strong winds on such a nice day.

When everyone was ready, we began our hike. I was kinda expecting to tread through snow but nope, it was layers and layers of ice all the way up. So, I had to stomp my feet real hard into the ice so that I could get a good grip and not fall flat or worse still, fall backwards and slide into one of the sinkholes. Tried as I might, I still felt light-footed. And it doesn't help that the wind was so chilly and so strong that at times, it would threw me off a step and slightly off balance. I felt like I was ready to be blown away.

And so, as per usual, the timid me got real scared once more. The guides took notice of it(and also because I had informed them of my rib injury earlier) and began taking turns to lead me by hand so that I could get a better grip on myself. I then asked the guide if anyone had ever been blown away by the wind. He said "nope, not at all." And then I thought to myself "great... sekali i'm the 1st one."

And I'm not sure if it was sheer lack of stamina or if it was the altitude plus my rib injury, I would pant every now and then as we slowly made our way up. All other fellow trekkers were first timers as well, though most of them had at least done mountain trekking before. They were quite steady and at times, even offered me their hands or asked if I was okay, when the guides had to attend to something or someone else. That was extremely nice and kind of them. I was glad for the attention. REALLY.

We would cross the ragged and sometimes frail ridges so that we could lean our bodies forward to catch a glimpse of the sinkholes pretty up-close. And of course, one of the guides would be standing at the edge of the ridge to hold on to us, one by one, so that we wouldn't fall into it accidentally and sayonara forever. But I was feeling scared for the guide (scared that he would fall inside) and awe at the same time. How do these guys do it???

My hands were either too shaky or too cold that I hardly took pictures of the glacier or the sinkholes. Psychologically, I felt that my hands were super important in case I got blown away by the wind or if the ice below me collapsed. So I would rather use my hands to hold the spike and not the camera.

And on the wind again - there was this strong wind blowing constantly. But every few seconds, a gust of even stronger wind would come and I would (plus some other fellow trekkers who felt the same) lose my balance and immediately felt the need to plunge my spike into the ice for support. If you were into watching chinese period drama, it would be like Swordman A releasing his Xiang Long Shi Ba Zhang and the opponent would plunge his sword into the earth, grit his teeth with all his might and fight against that power blast. Yah. It's kinda a weird scenario but that was kinda what I felt when I was battling those sudden gusts.

The original plan was to have our sandwiches (our lunch) on top of the glacier but that had to be canned because of the strong wind. Even the guides had a difficult time trying to find a suitable sinkhole for our ice climbing session. The wind was simply too strong.

In the end, they settled on a smaller sinkhole closer to the base for us to attempt ice climbing. But I had to bow out because of (1) it looked so slippery that I was scared and (2) more importantly, I had to keep in mind my rib injury. There was no way I could swing the axes hard enough to secure a good grip on the ice to pull myself up. And out of the 11 trekkers (excluding the guides), only 3 made it back up on their own.

As we gradually made our way down, back to the pick-up, the wind was blowing behind me as I felt like I was pushed to move forward, real fast. Then one of the guides took my hand and slowly led me down. Along the way, he kept chanting like he would to a kid to stomp my feet like a huge teddy bear. That was quite funny so I couldn't help but laughed at it while feeling nervous at the same time.

And here's a pix of one of the guides chiseling steps out of the ice for us to get down.

By the time we got back to the pick-up, I was very certain that this would be the one and only time that I attempted glacier hike. Once was more than enough to last me a lifetime. Ha.

All of us were super hungry and munched on our sandwiches like greedy bears. Mine had cucumber and lettuce in it, so I took extra time to pick them out before munching in whilst the guides continued the long drive back to town.

I didn't have the time to rest either when I was back in the hostel. Since my northern lights chase failed last night, tonight would be my only chance to catch it in Iceland before I leave. 'Coz according to weather forecasts, it would get very cloudy from tomorrow on and the chance of seeing the lights then would basically be zero.

So I decided to sign up for the Northern Lights tour (4900 ISK) from Iceland Excursions at my hostel reception, headed out to the hotdog stall closest to my hostel, grabbed 2 hotdogs and was on my way out again.

The guide on board told me that tonight, we would only have 20% chance of seeing it. But it's better than none since the days ahead would be too cloudy for any chase to happen. And I got lucky. Got to see the faint, white Northern lights some minutes past 10pm. It wasn't as grand as I thought it would turn out but I have to count my blessings nevertheless, to even see one. :) When the lights were first spotted, the driver was even more excited than the passengers. Hahahha.

I tried to capture it on my GF1 but it simply refused to work. Then I had to peel off my gloves in the freezing cold environment, to try and adjust the aperture and etc in the dark. I couldn't see what I was doing and I got so fed up with it that I gave up and just concentrated looking at the lights through my own eyes. In scenarios like this, I blame the camera.

29th Oct (Fri) - Iceland Day 4

2010-11-04T03:59:00.008+08:00

Wow... went on the Golden Grand Slam tour today and was super busy with the sightseeing and activities. Let me try to recall...

OK. First, I went to Þingvellir National Park today to see the birthplace of the oldest existing parliament in the world. There isn't a building or anything, just a pole that indicated the land where leaders used to conglomerate, between the America and Europe continental plates, to confer on big issues. So if I looked to my left, I could see mountains belonging to America. And on my right, mountains that belonged to Europe. How cool was that!

And there's the impressive looking rift valley as well. But my stupid camera batt had to die on me at this point and I couldn't take pictures of the small river near the rift valley and the coins people throw in (the water was super clear) to make wishes. Darn!

After which, we headed over to Gjábakkahellir cave, one of the Icelandic lava tubes, and began my 1st attempt at caving.

Oh man... the cave was difficult for me (someone who hardly exercise and was of a clumsy character) as I had to scale through what had seemed like endless mounds of lava rocks and boulders. There wasn't even a point where we could walk on flat soil. It was climbing and scaling throughout. And we had to gradually made our way 20m down the cave, before scaling up again. It's cool when I think back now but it was scary then. I was more afraid of (1) straining my ribs and (2) spraining my ankle or something than actually falling down. Although there were only 4 of us for this particular caving trip (including the guide), I still found it rather tough to keep up with their pace because of my own stupid fears.

I did surrender halfway as I was too strained to keep up, but my guide explained to me that they were gonna exit from the other side and wouldn't be coming back the same way again, and we were already more than half way through so the exit's not too far ahead. So I gritted my teeth and continued forth.

Sensing my discomfort, the guide encouraged me to fall in line just behind him so that he could keep a look out for me and also lead me along the way. That did help increase my pace a little :) What made me felt bad was that the other 2 people in the group were 1st timers as well. But they were doing far better than me. Ok... I admit it, I suck. But I did try to keep up. Honestly.

At one point, the guide motioned us to sit on the rocks and asked us to turn off our headlights (which was the only source of light in the dark cave). Total darkness engulfed me and it seemed to grow with every passing second. But since it's a deliberate decision to off the lights and not because of equipment failure, it was ok and I didn't go into a panic state.

It was strangely peaceful to hear the water dripping down from the (tiny) stalamites and onto the floor. But as the seconds passed, I began to wonder how did those trapped victims (i.e.: under rubbles, collapsed caves and etc) managed to pull through those long hours or even days of waiting for rescue. Just a few seconds alone in this dark cave would be enough to scare me to death. And my instructor said, "without light, you wouldn't be able to tell from day and night and all sense of time would have fled you." True.

As we turned on our headlights and continued on, we seemed to have met with a dead end. All I could see was a wall of boulders blocking the exit. But my guide smiled and said, "let's go the other round". True enough, there was slight gap at the side and we kinda climbed and crawled through it before meeting another narrow hole again. This time, I went like " oh nooooooo".

I wasn't sure that even I could crawl through it. It looked so narrow. But my guide motioned us forward and then I began to see that the hole was bigger than I had saw from a distance earlier. And so, I gradually and finally made my "grand escape" out of the cave. I was tired, hungry but super glad that I made it. The full approx. 374m journey.

As we made our way to our next destination, I began reflecting on the thoughts I had had earlier. Then I came to a conclusion with those thoughts. My reaction to the blocked wall and the small openings was a reflection of how I would usually react to sticky problem or a bottleneck in life - which was "no, I can't/ won't do it". Come to think of it, sometimes I just get so tranfixed on the problem that my mind just simply refused to think og anything except the negatives. If I would just go nearer to investigate or confront it, perhaps I would realise that the problem wasn't as big or as complicated as it had originally sounded. Note to self.

Ok. Now back to my list of activities. After a quick lunch stop at the Gullfoss Cafe, where I had another bowl of the delicious traditional Icelandic lamp soup, we went over to witness the beauty of Gullfoss - the 8th highest waterfall (31m) in Iceland. I even saw a rainbow at the falls!

It was so cold there that ice had began to form on the land along the waterfall. They looked so pretty and sparkly un the sun that they looked more like crystals to me.

After the waterfall, our guide drove us down to the geothermal area of Geysir. Unfortunately, since a earthquake in year 2000, Geysir had more or less stopped its impressive hot water sprouting. It's so rare that you would be able to catch it once a year for that few seconds, if you were so damn lucky. So we walked over to the other smaller, but still active geothermal pool instead.

Our last stop for this day tour was at one of the volcano craters which has now been tranformed into a lake by decades of rainfall. It was super windy so I gladly stood far away from the edge and let the guide, plus the 2 other fellow travellers, stood at the edge.

By the time we got back into city centre, it was close to 5pm. As I still had another 45 mins to kill before my next tour began, I went into one od the cafes and got myself a carrot cake and a cup of hot choc. And boy was I surprised to find whale meat in the menu in this small cafe. I kinda expected to see it only in big restaurants. I was very tempted to try it but I managed to get a grip of myself. I shall not participate in eating the gentle giant.

Time passed by rather quickly and I was soon up and running for my Northern Lights chase. But just before that, there was supposed to another caving as part of this package. But I was too tired and my ribs were starting to sting again, so I politely explained to my new guide on why I had to exempt myself from the caving bit. He was cool about it.

When the other passenger came on board and started asking questions about this cave (Leidarendi cave) that they will be visiting, I couldn't help but listen in. Sensing my interest, my new guide assured me that this cave was way easier than the one I had gone to earlier today. And there would be room for us to walk through the cave as well. So just before they got off the car to get the equipment, I decided to join in. Well, simply because of 2 reasons - he said it was way easier than the previous cave that I'd went to and it would be safer to stick as a group rather then me staying alone in the car in the wilderness.

The new guide was right. It was way easier than the earlier cave and I got to see the insides of the cave better - partly because each of us have 2 lights (one headlamp and one on our hand) and because I felt calmer and more sure-footed than before. The only "bad" thing was that I had to walk like hunchback of Notre Dame most of time through the 900m long cave, because of the low ceiling.

We stopped a couple of times along the cave to observe and marvel at the tiny stalamites (the big ones were stolen years ago), the metallic texture of the minerals, the decades old sheep skeleton and etc.

As I began to relax (I felt rather tense before I went into the cave), I even started counting the number of times I hit my head against the ceiling. I lost count after the 9th time.

At one point, we sat down and off our lights and started talking about zombies. Well, it's basically about how people in the past didn't know anything about hyporthemia had thought that the people who had suffered this were actually dead and then came back as zombies...etc etc... and how it gradually led to the saying of "saved by a bell/ ring".

After caving, we went to the local fisherman village to have our dinner. And tada! Icelandic lobsters. Yummy! The taste of the meat reminded me of crayfish though. Sweet and juicy.

And then, for the final activity of the day, we went chasing for the northern lights. Full moon, clear sky, predicted 99% chance of seeing it. But after 4 hrs of driving and still no signs, we called it quits at about 1am and went back to our respective hostels sadly. Sigh. It would have been a superb closure for the day if we had seen it.

28th Oct (Thurs) - Iceland Day 3

2010-11-04T03:56:00.010+08:00

PRELUDE:
Before talking about what I did on Day 3, let me cite the unfortunate accident that happened on Day 2.

Well, I was supposed to drive an ATV into the mountain terrains on my own yet keeping in line with the rest of the group at the same time. Yes. Me. Alone. Driving. That's a real scary thought for a person who only knew how to maneuver bumper cars and shopping carts.

I did highlight the fact that I didn't know how to drive and have no confidence in doing so, to the guide. But she assured me that it was easy and you didn't need a license to operate the ATV. So, I decide to give it a shot. I mean, how bad could it get?

So I got myself into a fat jumper (underneath I wore my Triclimate)...

... got into the ATV that was in the middle of the line...

... and began my drive.

Alas, within 2 - 4 mins of my drive, I literally "drove" myself into a nearby ditch.

Well, here's the thing. I couldn't get a grasp on how to control the gas pressure so instead of slowing, I sped up. By the time I realised I was nearing the ditch, it was too late to turn back. The next "best" thing I tried to do was to release my hand from the pressure button and tried to brake. But given that the brake was too big for me to get a good grip and in that moment of panic, my already-loose-grip loosened further, it was a lost cause.

You know those movie scenes that featured a car dangling at the edge of the cliff (half body on land and half in the air)? Well, I was in that situation. At least for a second or so. I remembered telling myself that there was still hope and if I could keep real still... maybe... there's a chance... maybe.

But in a split second, my hope was dashed and I went tumbling into the ditch (in slow mo - or at least it seemed), together with the ATV. I remembered falling and landing almost gently onto the uneven ground (think the fat jumper cushioned off the impact) and gradually rested my head on the dirt after my instincts told me it was fine to do so. And then, I felt the weight.

Half the vehicle weight came crushing down on my ribs and I was suddenly gasping for air while sheer pain shot through my ribs. My lungs (or ribs) felt like they were about to burst and my survival instinct kicked in. I started gasping wildly for air through my mouth.

At that instant, I heard voices on my sides. The guys in my group had rushed down to help. One of them was a paramedic. He asked if I was alright and all I could mutter was something along the lines of "Can't breathe. Get it off me."

Within seconds, the part that was crushing me got lifted up but the guys couldn't get it out of my way totally. They could only suspend it for as long as they could hold and just high enough for me to squirm.

In the meantime, the paramedic assessed my condition and after having ascertained that my legs and other body parts were not injured, he asked me to gradually "pull" myself out from underneath the vehicle while he lent a helping hand from the back.

I got back to my feet gradually and felt sore all over, especially on my right lower back (apparently I hit on a rock or something) and my ribs. My guide was thoroughly shocked and so was the rest of the group. I felt so apologetic for wasting their time and grateful for their help at the same time. I couldn't stop apologising to them for the rest of the trip.

After a short rest (which included the guide checking the condition of the crashed ATV as well), we got back onto the road again. This time, I sat behind the guide. As the unbeaten track was super bumpy (I felt like I could get thrown off the ATV some times even though I was clinging on to the handles), it caught me off guard and startled me on and off as well. Although I was still feeling shaky and my tears set in from time to time (I was told that my mind was trying to recuperate from the trauma that's why), I was glad that I continued on as it took my mind off the accident a little and allowed me some time to calm down.

And I was relieved to hear that the crashed ATV only had a minor gas leak problem which was easily fixed and I didn't have to pay for any damages. Phew. And of course, I was glad for a lot of other things as well. A lot of things could have gone wrong and went extremely bad -i.e.: If it wasn't for the uneven pit that held off half the vehicle weight, the entire ATV could have landed on me and crushed my bones. If it wasn't for the jumper suit and the timely help from the rest of the group, I couldn't have walked away with just a bruised rib and lower back injury. If it wasn't for the soft ground (it rained in earlier in the morning), I could have hit my head real hard when I landed. Yes. Many other things could have gone wrong. But it didn't. And I'm glad to be alive and kicking. :)

After the ATV session, I had a bowl of super delicious traditional Icelandic (lamb) meat soup that helped calmed my nerves further, before moving on to my Icelandic horse riding. I was still feeling sore but well enough to continue forth.

I'd asked for a smaller Icelandic horse thinking that it'd be easier to manage. Turned out that I got a delinquent which refused to move every now and then. According to the trainer, she (the horse) does that only to certain pple... for instance, young children. KNS. And so, I had a hard time trying to catch up with the trainer and the other 2 fellow travelers. In the end, we had to resort to "whipping" to scare her into speeding up.

When we got back to the stable, I gave her a good pat and rub once I dismounted. Well, even though she gave me a hard time earlier, I was grateful for the fact that she kept me safe while I was riding her - be it the times when we were crossing the river streams or going up hill and down hill. And I was glad that she didn't throw a tantrum and threw me off. There. She deserved a good pat and rub after all :)

***********************************************************************************
DAY 3

I did it! Not bad for a water-phobic. Made it through an hr odd of snorkeling in the 2°C water (after adorning my thermal, then a puffy insulated jumpsuit, then a dry suit, then thermal gloves and special headgear), just to see the Silfra lava fissure that lies between the continental plates of Europe & America! Unbelievable! I don't have the underwater pix but I do have pix of on land :)

At first I was so afraid that I wanted to give up. But I kept telling myself that I've already signed up for this and canceling at this very last minute would (1) cause a lot of trouble for the instructors and fellow snorkelers, (2) no refund and (3) more importantly, if I gave up then, I would most probably never ever touch it again even if another opportunity came knocking.

So I gritted my teeth and continued, despite constant (and rather unnecessary) fear of sinking/ drowning. I gritted real hard on the mouth piece as if it was the only thing that separated me from living and drowning.

Of course, the many layers of clothing kept me afloat as well. When I first finished donning on all the layers, the instructor told me to pull open the fabric near my neck and squat down slowly, so that the excess air (which was what made me look like a super duper fat teletubby) could be let out. It felt like I'd just vacuum-packed myself.

One of the fellow snorkelers then commented that I still had too much air in my suit and it was keeping my body half in water and half on surface, and I should get the instructor to help "vacumn-pack" myself again. But I said no. I was happy to be floating. That kinda took off some stress from me. The fellow then shrugged and swam away. Oh well, those who could swim would never understand one's phobia of water.

Anywayz, since I was so afraid and I always ended up snorkeling in the opposite direction and/or ended up being the last in line, I kept whimpering and whimpering until one of the instructors decided to just snorkel beside me to give me that peace of mind. And that helped a lot. Seriously. I'm really grateful for that. It made a huge difference to know that if anything did go wrong. Help was within a metre.

At times, I would look up from the water to see if he was still around. Most of the time, he was. But at times when he wasn't, I would panic. Like seriously panic. Then I would try to see where the rest were and tried snorkeling over. And when I looked up again, he was back in my vision. Thank goodness.

Panic also struck when I kept floating over to the deep fissure instead of the shallower waters as well. Then, I would paddle like crazy and attempt to swim (rather hopelessly) over to the shallower side. Stupid current.

And oh! It struck again at the last league. I was almost there to join the others on shore but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't move forward! By then, all my energy had drained off and I was so close yet so far. The instructors had all gone on shore as well and I was the only one still in the waters. I panicked and accidentally swallowed a few sips of water that almost chocked me. I turned over to float, removed my mouth piece and did some panic breathing. Then I heard the instructors cheering me on and I gritted my teeth and tried again.

At what seemed like an eternity, I finally reached the shores. But I was so drained out that I could hardly get myself out of the water. One of the instructors had to pull me up. But yeah!!!! I made it after all.

My fears apart, the whole experience had been rather surreal - like watching Discovery Channel on 3D through a shallow water-filled panel. According to my instructors, the fissure offered up to 100m underwater visibility.

I kinda paddle/ floated around rather weightlessly - except when there was a current and I had to paddle against it to continue forward. There's no marine life (in terms of fishes) in this part of the fissure but I did come across one or two white shrimps (those that DC showed in deep sea documentaries) and an alien-looking creature that looked more a like a magnified version of deep sea plankton as opposed to a jellyfish.

But I don't think I would ever do snorkeling again though I seriously think it's the nest way to develop abs over a shorter period of time compared to other sports. Main reasons:

1) I'm still water phobic

2) Asia climate = no need for "fat" suit = I can't float = I'll hallucinate drowning

3) Abundance of marine life in Asia tropical waters = busy pushing them away or avoiding them = possible collision with marine species = panic attack under water

Oh! By the way, I thought I'd gotten myself an underwater proof camera but it turned out that it was only water proof (i.e. withstand rain droplets) and not underwater proof (i.e.: for me to snorkel with) - see below. In any case, I wouldn't have been able to bring it to the fissure with me even if it's underwater proof. 'Coz (1) my hands couldn't hold on to anything with those over-sized thermal gloves and (2) I would rather keep my hands free in case I unwittingly hallucinate that I'm drowning and needed to grab onto something or anything.

* P.S: Since my Northern lights chase was cancelled due to bad weather, I took the time off to visit the local clinic to check on my ribs. Had to take a cab there (cost about 2250 ISK) as it was in another town and quite far from where I stayed.

Doc said it should be fine and no need to do any X-ray, though the pain may stick around for a few weeks. Even if there's a hair line crack, there was nothing he or I could do anyway.

And after visiting the doc, I strayed into a nearby mall (while trying to look for a taxi stand) and got myself a 20" luggage/ trolley bag so that I could reduce the load from my back pack and in turn, reduce the pressure on my ribs. Cost me 5999 ISK inclusive of the 25.5% tax. Darn!

But compared to Copenhagen, Iceland's actually way more affordable and the daily expenses would probably be more comparable to the cheaper European states and not Scandinavia.

26th Oct (Tues) - Iceland Day 1

2010-11-04T03:15:00.009+08:00

Just before I landed in Keflavik International Airport, the aerial view took me by surprise. It looked like a no man's land. All I could see was brown land with smoke coming out from the different parts. I was intrigued.

And once I was out of the customs, I queued up at the money changer so that I could get my hands on some Icelandic krones (ISK). The currency could only be found in Iceland so I would need to change it back to other currencies before I leave Iceland as well. Even Denmark doesn't offer it.

After which, I caught the Flybus from the airport (2500 ISK) to town. It took about 45 mins - during which, I had to change to a smaller shuttle bus, which was included as part of the ticket.

Along the way, I was awe struck by the un-hindered view of nature once again. There were no skyscrapers, no big billboards nor tall trees that would play peekaboo with you. So I could pretty much see the mountain ranges, the sea and the moss-covered lava mould/ soils as we sped along the highway. Amazing... although it kinda reminded me a little bit of the Scottish highlands, it was obvious that Iceland's landscape was very unique. And I don't think that there is any camera in this world that could capture the beauty of Iceland as well as the human eyes do. And so sadly, I must say that my photos did not do any justice to the magnificient landscape. And I also think that Iceland is a place to be experienced and not a place where you just look at surface value or from picture books.

Anywayz, back to the topic. I alighted at Laugavegur, the main shopping street in Reykjavík. But I wasn't there to shop. I was there to settle my 5-day tour package with Arctic Adventures.

After having sorted out my booking, I headed towards my hostel which was located about 15 mins away from city centre by bus. A single bus ride cost 280 ISK and I was told that it's best to carry the exact amount as the bus driver would not be able to give you the change.

I didn't do much for the rest of the evening as it was too chilly (2°C outside, not factoring the wind chill) to head out and I had to prepare for my big day tomorrow :) Yes! Tomorrow will be day 1 of my "adventure" trip with Arctic Adventures. Am soooooo looking forward to it.

* P.S #1: I didn't realise that Iceland's behind Denmark by 2 hrs. So what I thought was an hr flight turned out to be 3 hrs - from Copenhagen airport (Denmark) to Keflavik International Airport (Iceland).

* P.S #2: The hot water from the tap tastes weird - like water with sulphur. But that's because of its geothermal origins so although it's safe for drinking, it's better for bathing. And I realised that the hostel has no heater at all. Well, they don't need it since there's naturally heated water :) But if I let the tap run cool for a few seconds, the cold water is refreshing and somehow feels like I'm drinking chilled Evian. How cool is that! I later found out that that's because it's pure spring water.

* P.S #3: Heard that wind chill in Iceland average from about 16m/s to 26m/s. And if you are around some parts of the coast (can't remember which direction), the speed can go up to 45m/s. SCARY...

* P.S #4: Icelandic hot dog is a must-try! It's made of lamb and tasted way less salty than the traditional pork/ chicken sausage hot dogs.

25th Oct (Mon) - Copenhagen

2010-11-01T05:05:00.006+08:00

Did nothing much today. By the time I'd reached and checked into the hostel, it's already 1pm.

So I headed off to a nearby cafe (recommended by both the hostel and the young traveller's guide) for lunch --> Tjili Pop...

... before heading down to Osterport station, in search of the Little Mermaid.

After walking through a lovely park, I finally found the place where the Little Mermaid resides.

But hey! She was nowhere in sight!

KNS. Apparently she's touring in Shanghai for the Shanghai Expo 2010 and won't be back till December this year. WARAOZ... I came all the way but she's away.

Anywayz, I decided to head over to Vesterport Station after that and took a long, slow stroll from the City Hall and into the shopping streets.

That's when I chanced upon the North Face shop and went crazy over there. Damage to my pockets was probably around 500 SGD. I dare not think nor see the bill when I'm back. But it's money well-spent as I got myself a triclimate jacket, a cozy scarf (the current one that I'm using belongs to Tuk), another base layer and a can of washing powder for water-repellent or water resistant clothings.

At night, I got so tired (and also because I'm broke by this time) that I just settled for yogurt and milk for dinner. Food's expensive in Denmark. And the tax on items alone was 13%. Waraoz... glad I'm only here for a day before I head over to Iceland. (^ _ ^)

And here are the random shots as per usual:

24th Oct (Sun) - Berlin

2010-10-29T05:52:00.024+08:00

PRELUDE:
The overnight coach that I took from Amsterdam to Berlin was stopped by the police on patrol in the middle of the night, like around 2am. At first, I thought the stop was for toilet break, so I totally ignored the lights that went on and continued sleeping (I was on the aisle seat). Then, one of the beefy policeman knocked into my elbow accidentally as he walked passed me to get to the back. Since my elbow was kinda supporting my head, I was jolted awake. They were doing a passport check. So I grugdingly took out my passport and passed it to the officer. He took quite some time to flip through my passport and finally, he found my entry stamp from Paris. And I was allowed to go back to sleep once more.

But sleep evaded me. I was too awake by that point so I looked around and witnessed a few passports being confiscated. The police got back into their car (which was parked right in front of our coach) and didn't re-enter until about 45 mins later. The atmosphere in the coach was strangely tense. The driver too was tense or impatient with the unexpected delay.

When they finally got back on, most of the passports were returned to their respective owners, except for one unlucky guy. I couldn't tell where he originated from but he was asked to go back to the police station with the officers. He didn't put up a fight (darn! I could use some action for entertainment) but he did put up an argument with the police. After about another 10 mins or so, he finally gave in and went with the police. And for the rest of us, we continued on with our ride.

*****************************************************
So. I'd spent the past 3 days in Berlin. As per usual, I joined the free walking tour so that I could get the most info at the shortest time plus some lesser known local facts or tales. But personally, I'm not in love with Berlin.

It's certainly rich in history - from the Nazi history to the Cold War/ Berlin wall. Just these two alone would give anyone an info overload in just a span of 3 days. But, I have had fun learning them. As for the city itself, I didn't get that vibe - the kind that would get you all excited and almost ready to jump at every opportunity. Nope. None of that. Unlike Amsterdam.

However, it's not hard to spot traces of the underground scene within the city, particularly graffiti art. I supposed there really was a hidden energy and vibe behind those tell-tale signs just that I didn't manage to experience it.

Now, just a recap on some of the places that I've been to around Berlin:

1) East-Side Gallery
Overall, I think it's rather overrated. I get it that it was to commemorate the collapse of the Berlin wall and the new found freedom, but some of the works didn't really appeal to me. Somehow, I felt that those few didn't convey the coming of the nation as one or the freedom theme that as strongly. But then again, such things tend to be rather subjective. What's beauty to me may be shit to you. So, there. You could take my comment as a pinch of salt. In any case, if you can't find your way to the wall, you could always get a small book which compiled the artworks in selected souveneir shops in Berlin itself. Or if you still wanna give it a shot, alight at Warschauer Str. and walk towards the direction of Warschauer Str. U-Bahn station. After walking straight down for about 3 mins or so, you would reach a traffic light. You should be able to see the start of the wall/ gallery diagonally on your right.

2) Checkpoint Charlie
Erhhh... apart from the historical significance, much of what we see today appeared to be super touristy. Even my tour guide said that it's rather sad to see that little had been done to commemorate the past. Today, you could see someone posing as an American soldier and you could just go up to him to take a photo at the checkpoint. In addition, you could also pay to get a East Berlin stamp on your passport. This was of course, just a tourist souvenir. Whether you would get into trouble or not at the official customs, it's for you to find out. If you miss the stamp at Checkpoint Charlie, you could also get it from the souvenir shop somewhere along the East side gallery.

Another remaining stretch of the Berlin wall could be found close to the checkpoint as well. The history of the Berlin wall (i.e.: the rise of the Cold War, how the pple felt and fared with the divide, how they tried to escape to the other side of the wall and how some of them succeed or perhaps killed for trying) could be found nearby as well - to be exact, it would be on the sidewalk leading up to checkpoint charlie.

3) Topographie des Terrors (near Checkpoint Charlie)
The info site was constructed on the grounds of the previous central institutions of Nazi persecution and terror (Between 1933 and 1945). It currently holds exhibitions that documented the “Third Reich”. If you're interested in the history just before the Holocaust, do have a visit. The nearest station would be Potsdamer Platz and a short 5 to 8 min walk to the site from the station. Personally, I was very surprised and partially shock that the crimes/ terror was extended to silencing hospital patients as well. It could be the disabled, the mentally-challenged or those with terminal or infectious illnesses. Children were not spared either.

4) Juden Europas (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin)
There's been a lot of speculations on the meaning behind the memorial. The creator had kept it a secret so that pple could see it for themselves and have their own interpretations. For instance, some said that the stelaes form a graphical chart/ pattern that charted the gradual growth of anti-jew sentiments, its peak and then its decrease. Another saying was that the stelaes represented people of different age/ life stages who had all met with the same discrimination and fate. Despite the different perceptions around the idea behind the memorial, one thing was for sure, it looked like a mass grave. There's also a small museum (free entry) just underneath the memorial. It's really worth to take a look as you would get to read and hear accounts of the victims and their lives before, during and after the terror.

5) The site where Adolf Hitler committed suicide.
There's no museum or memorial to tell you that "hey! this is the site." In fact, you wouldn't even know or notice it unless a tour guide or a local pointed it out to you. This was because, the govt. did not want pple to come here and "worship" the guy behind all the terror nor let it be a mtg place for pple with no good intentions. There's only a insignificant-looking signboard that listed info in a factual, no-nonsense manner. The underground bunker had long been destroyed and all entrances to the remains have been completely cut off as well. Today, a car park's built around it and a green grass patch now grows on top - where residents would walk their dogs and let them poo there. It's located near Juden Europas.

6) Sachsenhausen concentration camp (outside of Berlin - alight at Oranienburg station & walk for 15-20mins)
It's a pity in a way coz back in those times when the war has just ended, the locals were so into de-nazification that most of the original buildings, photos and other precious data/ documents/ items were destroyed. But you would still be able to see a few of them in this camp.

And here's the usual random shots segment to end off this post:

21st Oct (Thurs) - Amsterdam

2010-10-25T02:02:00.010+08:00

Oh man... 2.5 days in Amsterdam was certainly not enough. I should have stayed on for like 5 days or something so that I can spend at least 3 full days around the vibrant city and another 2 days at the minimum to explore the outskirts or countryside. Oh well, now I know.

I was fortunate enough to stay with my sis' friend at a village some 45mins away from Amsterdam city centre. So not only did I get to explore bits of the city, I also got to catch a glimpse of the outskirts/ countryside as well. And more interestingly, I got to stay in a Dutch house with huge windows. I like~ (^o ^) If only SG has houses like this. Hmmm... then again, even if SG does have it, I won't be able to afford them anyway. Oh bother.

Things that I did while I was in Amsterdam:

1) Played with the cute kid...
... who kept saying "dodo" instead of "photo". (^o ^)

2) Did the free walking tour in the rain and in hail.
The weather in Amsterdam was freaking weird. It was bright and sunny one moment, and the next, I would find myself fumbling for the umbrella. And just as it cleared again, it would start drizzling some moments later. So it was quite annoying to keep opening and closing the umbrella throughout the 3hr tour. It even hailed at one point. And oh! My umbrella was not of any good when used against the gusty wind of Amsterdam. Sudden breeze would swept by and threatened to ruin my umbrella every now and then. And it did succeed once. Only once.

3) Had frites aka fries from the roadside stall.
I hate it when they put too much mayonnaise with the fries. The fries alone was crispy but a little too salty. Next time, I shall try Vlaamse Frites for comparison.

4) Searching for Miffy aka Nijntje
Apart from the Nijntje baby cookies I got from the supermarket, it was pretty hard to find it anywhere else in the city centre - even if it's just a postcard. Surprisingly, I found more traces of Nijntje in areas outside of the touristy district. Even then, there wasn't a huge variety. Japan has more. How strange.

5) Went to the red light district as part of the free walking tour
Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take any pictures 'coz I may just end up taking a picture of a display window (which houses skimpily-clad women/ prostitutes) unwittingly and the woman/ women would have every right (irregardless of whether they are really in the photo or not) to delete that photo or worse still, destroy your camera totally. But I did learn from the tour guide that most of these women were there by choice and the government, in a bid to clam down human trafficking, has began to cut down the number of windows around the area and limit to only a handful of streets. Which in turn means that, if the government is successful, the red light district facade would totally change.

And one more interesting thing that I'd learned of was that there's a panic button in every of these windows. So if a pervert, psycho or a bad customer tried something funny on the prostitute, she would press that button and all the other fellow workers on the street would gather to clobber that guy. And after some time, the security would show up, drag the guy into safety before interrogating him (perhaps with physical "persuasion" as well). And then some time later, the police would show up and take the guy (or whatever that's left of him) into custody. Hahahhaha.

Oh well, there were other stuff that the guide had mentioned but I'm too lazy to type. :P

6) Got shown around some of the more reputable coffeeshops (these were places where you could get soft drugs like marijuana and not the coffee houses where you drink real coffee)
It's not legal to blatantly mention you are selling it. So these coffeeshops often have imagery or names that you could indirectly associate with. For instance, smoke rings as part of the shop logo design.

7) Went into quite a few souvenir shops...
... and was surprised to find that they even sold instruments or kits that aid you in the inhaling of those soft drugs, and even kits that could help you determine the purity of the drug and etc. What an eye opener... Too bad i wasn't allowed to take pix of them :(

8) Open-air market - stumbled there by chance

9) Van Gogh Museum
I'm not sure about The Sunflower. I personally preferred his other works. The museum however, was one of the few museums that really took pain and effort to plan its exhibits and its boutique. It really carried out a consistent theme - unlike The Atom which I'd visited while I was in Brussels. The latter looked great on the outside but crap in the insides.

10) Anne Frank Huis
It was hard to tell that it was the Anne Frank Huis (aka Anne Frank House/ Museum) from its exterior. It looked really modern (after the renovation) and the only tell-tale sign was a small signage (which was hidden in the long queue) at the entrance. Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed inside so I couldn't show you how the rooms looked like. But I do have a photo of the exterior. To be honest, I've almost forgotten the content of Anne Frank's book though I vaguely remembered the gist of her documenting her life whilst hidding in the hidden annex. Initially, I wanted to buy a copy of her book so that I could read it along my trip, but it was (1) rather expensive and it would cost about the same or cheaper in SG and (2) it was a rather thick book. In the end, I decided to scrap the idea. But I will get the book someday in SG.

I'm itching to go back to Amsterdam already. Next time, I would probably split my time staying within the city and also some time at a local countryside farm. Lalalalala~

Usual random shots segment :P

18th Oct (Mon) - Brussels

2010-10-24T00:27:00.016+08:00

Yawn... 3 days in Brussels was a long time. The first day was rather fun but it got real boring real quickly from the second day onwards.

Had met up with Uma on Saturday, and we went around like typical tourists, hunting for waffles and the Comics Museum. At first, we walked up the street in the wrong direction (ok... my fault), then we decided to ask the locals for directions to the museum instead. Surprisingly, 2 out of 4 people we had approached didn't know the way either. But all the locals we (or rather, Ms. Uma) had approached were really friendly and enthusiastic in communicating with us albeit their limited English vocab.

When we finally reached the museum (which was tuck behind one of the main streets), we got ready our cameras and began snapping :) The museum had quite a wide range of nice comic strip exhibits from various artists but sadly, only 2 panels or so were dedicated to The Smurfs and Tintin. So I was a bit disappointed 'coz without knowing the context of the other comics, I couldn't truly appreciate them.

Next up, we went over to MOKAFE (which was highly recommended in the guide for young travellers) to try out their waffles and some other desserts. The 2.90€ waffle was really crispy but not sweet enough.

We also tried out some other street waffles (usually about 2.50€) just for comparison. The latter was sweeter but not as crispy. ARGGGGGHHHH... why couldn't we get one in the right combination of crispiness and sweetness... I think because Brussels was known to be the land of waffles, we tend to have high expectations around it. So at the end of the day, though the waffles were nice, I still think waffles in Brussels were overrated.

Btw, the locals told me that they usually go for the plain waffles (either sugar on top or sugar inside) whereas tourists would go for waffles with extra toppings (i.e.: choc or whip cream) or a silly waffle with loads of cream, fruits and choc. (^ o ^)

And oh, we went by Manneken Pis as well and I was like "huh!!! so small". Oh well, I wasn't the only one. When I went back there on the 3rd day to get chocs from the nearby Leonidas and Godiva, I heard other tourists saying the same thing too. Hahahaha.

We'd also checked out the flea market on the Vossenplein/ Place du Jeu de Balle. There wasn't much to see there though - unless you were looking for some really old cameras or used/ antique utensils.

The Sunday market at the Gare du Midi station was a bit of a disappointment as well. It was supposed to be like a market where you could gather food from all over the world, especially local pancakes and etc. But when we were there, huge sections of it were dedicated to clothes, shoes and fruit/ vegetable stalls. Only a handful of carts sold grilled chicken (which smelled really delicious), cheese, waffles, hamburgers & etc. And these were scattered across the huge ground and not conglomerated together. So you may end up going one whole crowded lane selling clothes before you finally see one or two food stalls. Sigh.

On chocs (which Belgium's famous for as well), I had asked my hostel recep on what were the brands of choc that locals usually went for and what were the premium ones as well. So she pointed out Cote d'Or as the usual supermarket brand and both Leonidas and Godiva for their praline chocs. Apparently, praline was supposed to be the best and there was like a huge variety (i.e.: different flavours) to choose from. So I ended up buying bars and boxes of chocs which I intend to bring back to SG. But because it was getting rather heavy, I ended up finishing my box of Godiva. Bleh. Who knows, if I get too lazy or too poor, I may end up eating the box of Leonidas as well.

Let's see... I also ate a huge pot of Moules-frites as well (mussels cooked in white wine and served with fries). It was so much that (1) the pile of shells was pretty much as tall as my face, if not higher and (2) I became mussles-phobic overnight. It was darn good... but too much of it and now think I have grown an allergy towards it. Oh well.

On the 3rd day of my trip, I got so bored that I'd wanted to get out of Brussels and head over to Bruges. But it seemed that Belgium disliked me 'coz there was a rail strike on that day itself. So I ended up staying in Brussels and went over to Place Stephanie to shop for my winter wear (in preparation for Iceland and Scandinavia).

Glad that I got myself a nice North Face fleece jacket and a pair of insulated skiing pants (North face kids), amongst some other things. Felt really happy 'coz I finally did some real shopping since I started on my trip. But at the same time, I felt super heart pain as well. My bill for that one shopping trip had burnt a huge whole in my pocket (and bank account). It came up to a whopping 305€... ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Converted to SGD, it was almost 600 SGD. FAINT. The first 2 items listed already cost about 215€. Stupid North Face. So expensive. But I still love you.

*P.S. #1: The weather was super sucky on Sat and Sun. And my card refused to work when we had dinner (where I had Moules-frites). I "blame" it on my companion. :P 'Coz the weather turned out great and my card worked again after she left.

*P.S. #2: Don't bother visiting The Atomium. It's a classic case of looks-good-on-the-outside-but-totally-crap-in-the-inside. The organisers should really pay more attention to the types of exhibits there, how to utilise the space better and improve on the things sold in their boutique.

As usual, here are some random pix to end off this post:

15th Oct (Fri) - Paris

2010-10-20T03:41:00.007+08:00

Paris, Paris - the city that had me walking in roundabouts with my 15kg backpack and other barang barang for over an hr just to find my freaking hostel. Firstly, the hostel kinda lied. It was a really long walk from the station, approx. 30 mins.

Secondly, I didn't know that odd and even unit numbers will never appear on the same street. So I spent half hr or more walking up the street seeing unit 35 jumping to unit 37. Until I could take it no more, I took out my phone and dialed the number (I hate making overseas calls which I couldn't claim) to the hostel and was told that I should start searching on the opposite street instead. So there. What an unhappy way to start my "romantic" Paris trip.

Maybe çoz I was staying near Anvers station, I got to see a different side of Paris - not the glamour nor charming bit, but the part where immigrants conglomerate, and whereby the wedding gowns in the nearby shop displays (think of designs back in the 80s) made me cringe. I'm not saying that it was bad. It was a decent neighbourhood where things were just slightly different from the usual projection of Paris. I could even find people BBQ-ing corns or even chestnuts on a used oil barrel, placed in a shopping cart, to earn some money from passerbys. Not to mention cheap ladies boots ranging from 5€ to 30€ in shop fronts that look like our "Closing down sale" stores in SG.

And here were some of the places that I'd visited:

1) Arc de Triomphe

2) Area around The Eiffel Tower
I didn't go up the tower as (1) it was rather foggy when I was there and I didn't want to spend so much time and money just to go up there and see absolutely nothing and (2) I was tired out by the walk. But I did learn some quirky facts about the place. For instance, there was actually such a thing as a marriage to an inanimate object (i.e.: Berlin Wall & Eiffel Tower). One marriage was recently conducted in June/ July 2010 on the tower, between a girl and the tower. And because the tower is considered a female in French, it was basically a les marriage. And the girl (human) was so upset that the officials did not close the tower for her to carry out the ceremony, thus opening her to other tourists' ridicule and photography, she's now sueing them. In addition, she was upset that the officials did not grant her the wish to spend the night with/ on the tower to consumate her marriage with the tower. Erh... I don't know how she's gonna do that but intercourse/ masterbate with steel in the middle of the night doesn't sound good nor sane to me. But then again, there were at least 20 or 30 others who were already married to the tower. Hmmm... I wonder if any of them could sue the tower (and the authorities) for infidelities...

And btw, I saw students protesting near the area as well. And my sis' friend (a local) congratulated me for experiencing the "true" Paris.

And I did catch the sparkling effect on the Tower too on midnight when my sis' friend and his gf brought me around after a lovely and super filling French dinner :) Cool~

3) Notre Dame Cathedral
I didn't manage to head inside for a look çoz I was either busy getting lost in the streets or going somewhere else.

4) Sainte Chapelle
Everyone's been telling me that this was way more beautiful than Notre Dame but I only passed by it and no chance to enter it for a look. Çoz I was busy hunting around Paris for my rings. Sheesh.

5) Centre Georges Pompidou
Absolutely love this place. Go there if you like contemporary art and have a stroll in its boutique and bookshop as well!

6) Rue des Rosiers and the Jewish QuartierIf you have the time, do take a stroll from Centre Georges Pompidou to Rue des Rosiers and the Jewish Quartier. I found these more charming than the Champs-Elysées. You won't be able to find much shopping there but there were definitely some chic boutiques (think SG's Haji lane) and lots of pastry shops around :)

7) The Louvre
Had a fun time when my free walking tour guide started telling us how the Mona Lisa came to be so famous and it led to the numerous shields around her. I did went through the security check just to look at the basement of the pyramids (which wasn't exciting at all - just your usual starbucks, McDonald's & some other boutiques which weren't selling anything interesting), but I did not want to waste the money just to be one of the 15,000 pple visiting her each day. And I've had enough of art pieces çoz I'd been to quite a handful of art museums that any more of it would be a lethal overdose.

8) Champs-Elysées
Don't see what's the big deal with it. SO BORING... unless you like branded stuff. And oh, H&M just opened a boutique there. If you buy anything from that branch, you'll receive a specially embossed H&M paper bag with the words "Champs-Elysées" on it.

9) Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
Wooooohhhh!!!!! DINOSAURS!!!! I like.

10) Moulin Rogue & The red light district
Apparently my hostel was just a few streets from the red light district (where you'll see rows and rows of sex shops and clubs).

11) Place de la Concorde
Witnessed the "ring" scam being carried out on a fellow Asian traveller. But as I was travelling alone, I thought I better stay clear, just in case. And my free walking tour guide (a girl) was also a bit hesitant as well. But in the end, a Caucasian girl in our group went up to the victim and the guy and asked the guy to fuck off. The guy was super pissed and he kinda pushed her. That's when another guy in my group pulled her away. Upon seeing that she's part of a bigger group, the "scamer" went away grudgingly. Kudos to the girl. But the victim seemed to have went away without even saying a "thank you"to her. How rude and what a disgrace.

All in all, I'm not in love with Paris but neither do I dislike it. Even though it was only my first time there, I fear that it may become another Rome in years or decades to come - where it becomes truly touristy and little would be left of its romantic charm. So go there soon before this becomes the reality.

And just to end it off, here are some random snapshots taken around Paris:

10th Oct to 12th Oct - Zurich/ Luzern/ Swiss Alps

2010-10-19T17:10:00.004+08:00

Zurich was just so freaking expensive!!! SERIOUSLY. A BK burger meal cost average about 11 CHF, which equated to more or less 20 SGD! And when I first met up with Uma in Zurich, we headed over to a local eatery, off the tourist track, and ordered a Rosti. It cost 12 Euros. Yes. 12 Euros (close to 23 SGD) for a plate of potatoes.

Don't get me wrong though. It was nice. But too ex for a plate of nicely cooked starch. Oh well, nothing I could do about it. Even freshly cooked pasta from the supermarket (like a entree portion) would already cost about 5 Euros. Oh man.... But one thing I did like about their supermarkets was their variety. Yummy! Yummy! :)

Spent the first day visiting a church and a museum (where I saw one of Van Gogh's self-portrait, Monet's and Chagall's works, amongst many others). Happy :)

The next day, I woke up bright and early and went on the 9.5 hour trip/ tour to Mt. Pilatus. Had booked the tour at the Tourist office for 137 CHF (about 97 Euros). But before I even reached Mt. Pilatus, the coach first took us to Luzern - a small, quiet town that didn't really appeal to me. There were nothing much there other than the usual suspects - The Lion Monument, The Chapel Bridge and the Water Tower.

When we finally moved on, the fog was still strong. So, as I took the cable car up to the mountain, I was struggling to see through the fog to see how far I was up from the ground, and how much higher I was going to go. But I could see nothing. And thought that the tour guide had lied about today was a beautiful day to visit Mt. Pilatus. Then, I imagined that I was in a fantasy world, taking a cable car, entering into Harry Porter's world. 'coz the journey just seemed so dreamy and it was as if I was carried through the clouds and into the sky. Hahaha.

But as the cable car went higher and higher, the fog began to clear and bright sunlight and mountain scape greeted me. Magnificent!!! The tour guide was right! It was super bright and sunny up there.

And here's a pix of my lunch break @ Mt. Pilatus - dining on a mountain! :)

After taking a quick lunch at the cafeteria on the mountain, I began my short hike to the peak (actually, there were stairs all around, so I just need to climb the stairs and not really hike up a dirt road). The view's beautiful and I thought to myself that it would be great to see the sunrise on the peaks, instead of viewing it then, in mid afternoon. Maybe next time.

And I was amused to see a helicopter ferrying the building materials up and down the mountain numerous times within the hour. Kinda cool actually. But I supposed it was real tiring for the pilot. Anywayz, they were still broadening and constructing a sheltered walkway/ platform so that visitors could have a better view of the alps, irregardless of the weather. So nice.

As for my descent, I took the world's steepest cogwheel railway (48 degrees gradient) all the way down. At first it seemed a bit frightening (like "when am i gonna fall...") but the view along the way distracted me. LOVELY. And then, I'm back to foggy "ville" again.

In order to get back to Luzern to board the coach back to Zurich, the guide took me (and the others) on board a boat ride to enjoy the picturesque view of the lake. Too bad it was too foggy. Otherwise, the view would have been lovely.

The next day, I woke up early again to see if I could get my hands on the train tickets to Jungfraujoch (so called the "top of Europe"). I'd initially wanted to join a tour 'coz it was cheaper by about 50SGD but the tour happened only from wednesday to sunday. So, I'd to go on my own instead.

The railway office helped me calculated the cheapest way to get to Jungfraujoch and it was as such:

Zurich HB --> Bern --> Interlaken Ost --> Lauterbrunnen --> Kleine Scheidegg --> Jungfraujoch (total duration: approx. 4 hr 20 mins)

And so I began my adventure to the alps alone, after munching on the following:

The feeling and the scenic view from Bern --> Interlaken Ost --> Lauterbrunnen --> Kleine Scheidegg --> Jungfraujoch was simply GORGEOUS!!! The non-stop changing of trains and the long travelling time, not to mention the cost of rail tickets, was definitely worth it! I just felt so brightened and happy along the way! At one point, I was so busy taking photos that I just shoved my ticket to the train conductor and quickly returned to my picture snapping. But he found it amusing and it was kinda clear that he had picked that time to check all passengers' tickets to playfully disturb them. Waraoz... kajiao pple...

When I finally reached Jungfraujoch, I went straight for a cup of hot choc at the cafeteria before I dared venture out into the observation platform and into the cold. It was kinda scary to stand on the platform 'coz I kept imagining that it could collapse any time (i.e.: whether the steel platform would freeze and then suddenly crack under the weight). But it ended up fine. Ha.

Honestly, though the view was nice, I found the scenary along my way up was a lot more captivating.

If given more time, I would definitely want to visit other parts of Switzerland such as Leissigen (where I think it would be beautiful to go there in Summer), Grindelwald, Interlaken and a few other small towns in between Lauterbrunnen and Jungfraujoch.

I LOVE THE ALPS!!!!!!!!!!!!

And here are some random pix I took along the way:

9th Oct (Sat) - Munich

2010-10-19T01:16:00.004+08:00

I wished I had spend one more day in Munich (which would make it a total of 2 days). If I had, I would've been able to make a trip down to Dachau - the concentration camp constructed in 1933. (- _ -) And I'd missed the Oktoberfest by 3 days as well. ARGH!

But nonetheless, I'd a wonderful time in Munich. Maybe 'coz I'd went there on a Saturday, so the locals were out in the Beer Gardens drinking beer and chilling out. The whole atmosphere felt great (though I don't drink beer at all). And I even saw a toddler and some other old gentlemen, dressed in the traditional costume. SOooooooooo cute! But too bad I'd to stay in the walking tour before I got swallowed into the crowd, so I didn't manage to capture any of those moments. Another argh.

Apparently, only the 4 - 5 fountains around the Beer Gardens were potable. So, my free walking tour guide strongly discouraged us from drinking from the other fountains in the city. Those were just for decorations.

And just right beside the Beer Gardens, was the Viktualienmarkt. I went berserk after seeing some stalls selling cute handicrafts and bought like 80 to 100 Euros worth of stuff - which Tuk said he would split the cost with me. And thank god Uma was willing to help me bring back to Singapore when we meet up at my next stop (Zurich). Otherwise, I think all the handicrafts would be damaged in a way or another by the time I went back to SG - coz apart from my 15KG backpack, I still have my sling bag and a hand carrier for instant food. How the heck was I gonna hold on to one more item? Phew! But Joe had a different opinion on my choice of handicrafts and I'd asked Uma to hammer him in return.

Anywayz, back to the topic. As part of the walking tour, I'd also visited:

1) The Glockenspiel
It was so funny when the tour guide had his back to the clock but could still tell us exactly when the next tune would come in, what actions the figurines on the clock would do, when the next "woooos" and "ahhhhss" would come from the other fellow tourists. Hahahha.

2) The Beer Hall Putsch (Coup of 1923)

3) Marienplatz (city centre) - where all major brands could be found. In short, a shopping heaven and a sibei crowded place.

4) BMW Musuem

There were so many others that I couldn't remember anymore. Above were of the most memorable. In any case, though there were a lot of "dry" history to listen to, it was nice to have learnt all of that. :) Maybe, just maybe, I would return again during one of the Oktoberfest. :P

To end off, here are some additional pix taken around the city:

5th Oct to 7th Oct - Prague

2010-10-18T03:53:00.010+08:00

The first thing that struck me about Prague was that Asian food/ eateries could be found almost anywhere - Thai, Indian, Chinese & etc :) Simply fantastic. And sadly, the food's cheaper than the traditional Czech food, which cost more (average 11 euros per dish) and could only be found mainly in the super crowded and touristy areas. So, I decided to try the nearest shopping mall (Palladium) instead, headed straight up to their food court and got myself a spicy Tom Yum soup (I'd asked the chef who was tending the counter at that time, to make it very spicy) and a Phad Thai. And boy, the portion for the Phad Thai was HUGE... it's like having 3 meals at one go.

And because I was too tired from the coach ride from Vienna to Prague, I'd pretty much slept in and/ or lazed around in my room (Hostel Rubicon) most of the time after that sumptuous meal. I'd rather spend the time to sleep and recuperate my energy and alertness than walk on the streets like a zombie, and not pay enough attention to my surroundings. :P

But I made it up the next day. Joined a free walking tour and pretty much gone through all the attractions within one day. For instance:

1) The medieval Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square
Got to see the hourly chime but not the 12 apostles as those only appear every 3 to 4 hours. And I found it interesting that if I (or in fact anyone else) were to translate my name to local language, there's a super high chance that I would be able to find it on the calendar dial. Coz each day of the year had a lunar decription/ name attached it to. I.e.: XX September is the day of Leo (for example). Well, something along those lines...

2) Charles Bridge

3) The former Jewish Quarter
Felt super sad after visiting the old Jewish Cemetery and the Jewish Museum; especially after seeing those aged drawings from the Jewish children who were sent to a separate concentration camp from their parents for their "education", and the names of the deceased on the walls. It was also disturbing to find out that as so many Jewish had perished during that awlful period, many had to be buried underneath the current streets that led up to the old Jewish Cemetery. :(

On a slightly happier note, our local guide told us a story about a Golem living in the attics of the Old-New Synagogue and how it/ he had helped the local people in growing the local bakery industry. But when the creator died, it/ he remained in the attic and everyone else was forbidden to visit the attic even till to day. And it was said that during WW1, one of the Nazi soldiers came to hear about the tale and decided to head up the attic to satisfy his curiosity. But he never did come back down...

4) St. James Church
I saw the mummified hand but as photography was not allowed in the church, I have nothing to show :( As per www.prague.cz, the story was that a thief once wanted to steal the gifts or the jewel ring from the Virgin Mary statue, "but the statue grasped his hand and he couldn´t get out. He was found there in the morning. Nobody was able to disengage his hand, so it had to be cut off. Then the statue dropped the hand spontaneously. The Minorits hanged the hand on the wall as a warning and it can still be seen there, wizened and blackened."

5) Wenceslas Square
Had learnt about how czech citizens had changed and/ or removed the road signs leading from Russia to Prague, in a bid to drive them back to Russia in a time before GPS and google maps were invented. And the prescence of a certain plaque in the square, dedicated to student Jan Palach, who had set himself on fire in protest at the Soviet invasion.

And something else did happen during our walking tour. We were walking into a buidling to look at photos of the old city hall area when the siren sounded - the one that you would expect when airplanes were coming to bomb the city. One of the tourists was so shaken that her eyes turned red, and was very close to tears. It took the local guide some time to calm her down. Apparently, the siren was just a drill to test the various systems in place. If you have been following the news recently, there has been a terror alert or travel warning issued from UK, Japan and U.S on people travelling in or to Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain. Although Prague wasn't on the list, it had been through too many wars and times of turmoil that the authorities took the threat rather seriously as well - which of course, was a good sign.

All in all, Prague's a really nice place to walk about and the locals were really nice as well. And it would seem that most of them speak multiple languages - i.e.: czech, english, German, spanish and italian. So, asking around wasn't all that difficult.

However, you can't run away from the fact that Prague's pretty touristy (but still has that certain old town charm to it) and there's not as many attractions when compared to other cities like Rome or Barcelona. So, a full 2-day stay there would pretty much do its job and yet allows you to stroll along the lanes and streets rather leisurely :)

And here are some pix from around the city:

4th Oct (Mon) - Vienna

2010-10-08T04:35:00.005+08:00

So here I am, in Vienna. Haven't been doing anything much except chill out at Starbucks near my hotel most of the time. It's not that I don't like Vienna, but when I first arrived here yesterday, which happened to be a Sunday, all shops (including Zara, H&M and Mango) were all closed. And as I was early, I couldn't check in to change into thicker clothing and had to nestle at Starbucks, filled up my stomach a little and get warm. Boy, it was chilly out there.

When I finally checked in, I was simply too tired and went in for a nap. By the time I woke up, it was pretty much dinner time. Thank god there was a local bar/ restaurant nearby. So I ordered a platter of battered chicken, potato wedges, onion rings and cheese sticks. :) and while I was having dinner alone in one tucked away corner of the bar, one guy came up to me and asked if I will like to join them at the bar counter. I thanked him but turned down his offer politely. I was simply in no mood or conversation (just woke up) and moreover, his tone was more like 'aiyo, poor thing. Eat alone' than a pick-up line. So after downing my dinner, a coke and a hot choc drink, I headed back to the hotel and pretty much snoozed away.

Today's better and I went for a walk around. Damn chilly and the skies were grey. It looked and felt like 7pm even though it was just mid day. Went to the usual tourist hunts like Hofburg, National Bibliothek (library) and etc.

Sadly, the grand State Hall in the National Bobliothek's closed on Mondays, so no chance to see the classic grandeur for myself.

Same goes to the catacombs of Michaelerplatz. Not sure if it was opened coz I couldn't find the passage down from within the church and there wasn't anyone whom I could turn to and ask (except those people who were either praying or making confessions). But a signage outside the church did say there's a English guided tour to the catacombs every Wednesday, 3pm. So I supposed I pretty much missed my chance.

I didn't take a lot of photos in Vienna coz although it's nice, it kinda felt and looked similar to the other places that I had visited - except it's a quieter and more 'spacious' version. I'm still stuck for words on how I should describe Vienna, but one thing's for sure, if I were to ever visit again, I would do so in spring or summer and attend the concerts (I.e.: Vivaldi's Four Seasons). That would definitely be a beautiful experience.

For now, I'm just contended with sipping my cup of hot tea, or a sip of the traditional Vienna soup and have a slice of afelstrudel in a cozy cafe, looking out to the streets, the grey skies and the crowd going by.

Food mobiles were a common sight as well. I even got myself a box of Asian nudeln as well :) Not too bad for Asian "fast food". Relatively cheaper than eating in their cafes and restaurants.

P.s: It would seem that I had unwittingly booked myself into a first class night train from Verona to Vienna. There was even a cabin steward on board who gave me a bottle of mineral water when I boarded, and milk + croissant for breakfast. The bed's also a lot more comfortable Of course, all these came with a price (tag) in the ticket. Heart pain but oh well, consider it an experience and the mountain view (in dusk) made it all worth well. Maybe someday, if there's a chance, I'll visit the mountainous area in Austria instead. Breathtaking.

Btw, while I was on the train, I'd a nightmare of my camera being stolen during my sleep and my passport was swooped. And more funnily, I dreamt that in trying to get back my belongings, I stumbled into a magical land which I had to pick mushrooms or something. I think I'm too tired or stressed... Hmmmmmmm.... What a weird dream.

2nd Oct (Sat) - Verona

2010-10-06T04:28:00.011+08:00

Verona, an unlikely stop. Or should I say, it's being over glamorized or romanticized by movies. The comment that I had generally gotten from other fellow backpackers, prior to my arrival in Verona, was that "it's dirty". At first, I was confounded by their comment - what do they mean? When I got here, I finally understood. Or more or less. But it doesn't mean that I agree with them on that comment. In fact, I felt there's a hidden charm in Verona and it's difficult to unveil it and experience it unless you interact with the locals.

On the surface, Verona's a really old town and it would seem like the grey population dominated the place. It lacked of that vitality, that buzz that places like Rome or Venice would have. If we really nail down the really interesting attractions, it's possible that only Juliet's balcony and the Arena would pop into mind, and the rest would be a blank.

But I've been fortunate enough to have met and observed the locals. They really made the difference to my stay and my perspective on this town.

When I first arrived, I took the bus that the B&B had listed. But I had missed my stop unknowingly and had to ask the lady beside me for help. Although I couldn't understand her because of language barrier, she clearly understood my distress and helped redirected me to the bus driver. Same case. He tried explaining and finally managed to wrangle out a few Eng words - "opp. 31, 32". He looked really sincere and apologetic at the same time. And I was really grateful for his effort and help.

Got on the bus and got off at the right stop but couldn't make out the road direction. So while I was standing there, looking lost, an old lady who had just crossed the road, made her way back again with her walking cane, just to ask me in Italian on where I'm heading to (or so I assumed). I showed her my google map print out, with the address, and she started pointing to the other side of the road and started explaining in Italian. So although I didn't understand what she was saying, I tried to make sense of her gesturing. After copying her gesturing and repeat in English, she smiled and we seemed to have a mutual understanding on the direction, finally. And as I thanked her, she gradually made her way across the road again and continue on with her journey.

Having past the initial directions, I got lost at another junction again. At a nearby bus stop, there's a young and an old lady who seemed like total strangers. I approached the younger lady thinking there was a higher chance of her knowing a bit of English. She did. But she didn't know the way so she consulted the old lady. And then I finally reached the B&B Veronetta.

The owner was very nice and helpful too. The house felt really cozy and i had a feeling that this was what retirement should feel like. It's hard to put it into words but it just felt that time seemed to have stilled for me and i didn't have to do much things. I just need to simply pause and observe the action around me instead. It could be as simple as watching the bees stop by the plants to gather pollen, listening to oldies while sipping my tea or just watching the crowd rush by underneath my balcony. Simply be at peace.

I'd handmade spaghetti with minced donkey meat at a local eatery too. Although the people in the local eateries (away from the touristy areas) had little English-speaking skills, you could tell that they would really try to reciprocate your effort in trying to communicate with them. It was really nice of them.

And what's also nice was that most of these local eateries have their own base of usual customers. And the latter could either just be dropping by for a quick hi or chat. The atmosphere just felt so cozy and friendly. Just so natural.

The only grievances that I have were:

1) the local eateries were open only from 12 to 3pm, and 7 to 10pm. Unlike the touristy ones that are opened throughout.

2) missed the chance to catch the opera musical at the Arena. But had heard their rehearsal from the outside and was wowed by the vocals.

3) Juliet's balcony - no big deal

4) don't know there was a regional day train from Verona to Vienna. Could have saved myself the hassle, cost and discomfort

Now bk to the owner of the B&B, upon hearing my uncertainty to walk through the back lanes late at night to get to the train station, he volunteered to escort me to the bus stop and even asked the driver to keep a look out for me and where I should be alighting. And knowing that I would be on a long night train, he insisted that I accept a bottle of lemon tea, in case. He would have given me some snack as well but it was rather last minute so he didn't have any on hand. It was just so sweet of him to be so considerate :)

Although others may have found Verona "dirty", but I just think that they just didn't have a chance to uncover the charm, which lies in its people.

And here are some pix from around the city:

30th Sept (Thurs) - Venice

2010-10-04T23:10:00.009+08:00

These 2 days have been great. A little too great actually. I was hoping for a bit of rain, contrary to what I was wishing for when I was in other parts of Italy, so that I could see and experience for myself how the locals would re-arrange the nicely stacks tables and stands into instant narrow platforms for people to walk on, instead of having to thread through the flooded, low-lying areas. But what's new, Italy seldom answers my 'prayers'. So the days remained exasperatingly sunny.

I didn't take any of the boat taxis, boat buses (6.50€ per way though a day ticket would cost 13€) or even the gondola. Anyways, it's no fun sitting in the gondola alone. If I ever do sit in one, it better be of a romantic reason or with a bunch of friends. Otherwise, no way.

Surprisingly, it's really easy to just walk around Venice even though it's quite divided because if the canal network. Apart from the main touristy lanes, the track less beaten felt safe to explore alone as well. And everywhere on the island just seemed so laid back, quite without a worry. Really made me slow down my pace to just stroll along and see the gondolas pass by the neighboring canals and etc.

And, if you looked really closely, some of the stuff in the touristy areas were easily sold twice the price than the other lesser known shops in the back alleys, off the main streets. For instance, like the murano glass work below :)

I'd fun making my way to the wet market in the Morning as well. Along the way, there were the small and also bigger boats that would carry like fruits, bottles of water or other goods around, making their rounds of delivery to the shops on shore. I got to witness a water traffic jam as well! :)

And at the wet market itself, I would see seafood that I had never seen before. And somehow, the overall setting didn't seem too different from the wet markets in Asia. There were also lots of fruit and vegetable stalls around it as well.

But then again, 2 days probably good enough to explore around Venice, including a boat trip to nearby islands like Murano, Burano and etc. Sadly, I missed the guided boat tour (30€ or 40€) to the 3 islands. It only happened twice a day. If I remembered correctly, one's at 9.30am and the other at 2.30pm. Duration's about an hour and you could get your ticket only at the ticketing booth, near the tourist info office at San. Marco pier. Alternatively, if you want to go to these islands by yourself, you can also take the respective boat bus using the daily (or extended) transport pass. But do note that the last boat back to Venice usually ends at 4pm. So, go early.

Last but not least, what's more well known about Venice other than it being a floating city? Masks!

P.s.: To save money, I bought an instant pizza and brought it back to the hostel to microwave it. But the guy at the hostel said it's better to oven it and helped me to set it up and reminded me that it should be ready in about 2 mins. But, I have never really used an oven before. The very few times that I did, there was the timer that would auto shut it when it was done, like a microwave. So I kept waiting for the 'ding' that never came. And after like 8 mins, he came out to check on me and we realized that the pizza was burnt! Like really black. We had a good laugh over the 'ding' thing and for the rest of the time, I picked out those black bits and continued to eat whatever was left/ edible. Remember, I needed to save $ and couldn't just throw the whole thing away. Now I know.

28th Sept (Tues) - Florence/ Pisa

2010-09-29T01:38:00.010+08:00

So here I am, 2nd day in Florence. Florence's actually a pretty small city and almost all major attractions are within walking distance from Firenze S.M.N station - except for Piazzale Michaelangelo, which you have to take Bus 12 to get there and take in a bird's eye view of the city. So scrap the open bus tour if you can.

(For a bigger view of the landscape pix, click here ).

I was a sucker for it and went for it at 20€ for 2-day pass coz I was simply too tired to walk around. Well, it's coz of a very disturbing sleep I had at Napoli just before I came over to Florence. That's why. And that's another story altogether which I'm still very jittery about even now. I'll tell when that feeling subsides. In the meantime, here's the pix of the hostel which I'd stayed at - Archi Rossi Hostel. Pretty interesting and comfortable place :)

Anyway, it's been raining ever since I got here. The sky cleared for like only 2 hours earlier today. So, the initial perception I had of Florence was that it was just like any other Italian city - same old building architecture and looking dreary - except that it was quieter and less crowded. I couldn't see the charm behind it. But when the sky cleared for that 2 hours today, I'd a more enjoyable time walking down the streets and exploring the lanes to see the local going about their businesses - i.e.: small roadside shops, book stores and etc.

I began to reflect on what went wrong and deduced that because most of the buildings here have been here since the early 50s or 60s, they wore the dull and sometimes dirty yellow on their facade. So when it began to rain or became cloudy, the faded paint became even more depressing, making the atmosphere rather dreary.

But when the skies began to clear and the light shone through, it was a different story altogether. The yellow walls lit up to show a more cheerful side and helped to lift the whole city atmosphere. Even a stroll along the same riverside became much more brighter. But alas, today's my last day in the city. Damn the cranky weather for spoiling my mood to explore.

Aside, I'd made a trip to Pisa this morning and yup, saw the leaning tower. But after travelling for 1 hour from Firenze S.M.N station to Pisa Centrale (one way regional rail @ 5.80€) and after which, walked for 40 mins to get to the attraction, I was like "erhhh... ok. Not very majestic. Now that I've seen it, what should I do next?".

So, after much deliberation, I decided to walk the same way back to Pisa Centrale and caught the next train back to Firenze (Florence). 'COZ there was simply nothing else to look at or explore except for the leaning tower and the catedrals beside it. And I personally found it ridiculous and refused the idea to spend more money to go up the leaning tower - coz (1) it wasn't very tall (2) there's not much view of Pisa that you could get from there (3) it was raining on and off and (4) I was freaking starving.

And while I was waiting for the train back to Firenze, I tried to buy a snack from the vending machine on the platform but it didn't work. So I had to starve for an hour on my way back. But at least there was one good part to it - when I ejected the money, I got 1€ more due to a tech problem with the machine :)

And when I got back to Firenze, I went straight to McDonald's for comfort food (I'd enough of pastas and pizzas) and ordered a chicken McNuggets meal. Oh man, the nuggets were damn sucky. REALLY.

So there you go. I'm a grouchy traveller because of the stupid weather. ARGHHHHHHH!!!

After the short lunch break, I went on the bus tour again in search of the 'Asia Market' mini mart that I'd past by the day before - hoping to get my hands on some instant noodles in case of emergency. And I finally found it!

And I'd came across some interesting street signs & sights as well :P

Oh ya, almost forgot. While I was travelling to and fro Firenze-Pisa, I'd came across 4 different women at different times who handed out a request note to ask for money. The only difference in the women's notes were the number of children that they each had.

24th Sept to 26th Sept - Pompei/ Amalfi/ Napoli

2010-09-27T01:13:00.014+08:00

I think Italy hates me. Apart from the very cranky weather, there were things like:

1) Wrong train. Wrong stop.
Upon reaching the Napoli Centrale station, I had happily carried all my barang barang on board the local train to Pompei Scavi. But like a few other fellow tourists, I took the green line instead of the blue line and ended up 2 stops away from the intended. So I had to wait for another half hour to go back to the previous station and waited yet another half hour for the right train to get me to Pompei Scavi. I had planned to reach there by 10.30am initially but ended up being there only at 12 noon.

2) Ignored
As I was queuing up for entry ticket to the Pompei Archeologoical site, one Italian guide was asking the queue if anyone wanted to join a English tour. I raised my interest as he walked by and he totally ignored me!!! Maybe all my energy had been consumed by the luggage I was carrying, so my call-out ended up being just a mouse squeek to him and he didn't hear me. So, being rather pissed from carrying heavy luggage all the way and having being ignored, I opted for the audio guide instead.

3) Caught and drenched in rain not once, but freaking 3x
After walking for a mere 10 mins, I was really hungry and did a pit stop at the one and only cafeteria within the site.

After finally finishing up my pizza, I rushed out only to be stopped by the heavy rain. And it had to be at a time when I left my umbrella in my backpack at the luggage storage - the first time i decided not to bring an umbrella along in my sling bag coz it hadn't rain for weeks. Yup. It's the time where i really cursed and swore. I would have waited for the rain to stop but I was worried that I would miss my coach to Amalfi so once the rain turned into a mere drizzle, I continued with my exploration within the site.

But damn. It rained not once but THREE times!!! The later 2 were even heavier than the first and they happened so sudden that there were no shelters to hide under - remember, i'm in the ruins. The best shelter that I found was under a make-shift scaffold in the middle of nowhere, and where quite a number of us hid under. But oh, it was not totally fool-proof. There were so many holes in the scaffold that it only kept us a bit drier.

4) Lost. Again.
Even with a map and an audio guide, I kept getting lost within the Pompei site. Took me quite a while to find the brothel.

5) Rainy day. Yet again. Amalfi.
So, after leaving Pompei Scavi and reached Amalfi, I thought I was ready for the glorious view. But tada! Yes. There came the rain again. And it was like just half hour difference between me checking into hotel and out to the pier? And it did not stop there. For the 2 days I was at Amalfi, it rained throughout the night and into the morning. Even if the sky finally cleared in the afternoons, it started to drizzle without warning again. And just when the sky finally decided to clear up, I had to leave Amalfi for Naples. ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

6) Rain + choppy sea = no boat to Grotta dello Smeraldo
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

So there you go. Above are the reasons why I think Italy hates me. Or maybe just Pompei, Amalfi and Napoli.

Now, for some recap on how I tried to make things more interesting for myself inspite of the above reasons. After all, I had made so much effort in making to these places. I really shouldn't let all these negatives get to me. At least not so soon and as long as I could still stay sane.

So, here are the slightly more positive things that I did or come across:

1) Coach "adventure" from Sorrento to Amalfi
Despite the weather condition that clouded the true beauty of the amalfi coast, it was quite a roller coaster ride with all those bends throughout the entire 1.5 to 2 hrs coach ride. And not forgetting the roads were so narrow that in a lot of instances, I could just reach out a finger to touch the glass on the oncoming coach from the opposite direction. Kudos to the coach drivers who got us safely up and down those bends :)

2) Treated myself to an expensive dinner by the sea
First time I had dinner by the sea, outside of SG. Best part was that I didn't have to worry about getting all sticky with the breeze. :)

3) Took the open top bus ride from Amalfi, along the coast to Minori and Mairoi in the rain.
Since it was drizzling non stop and I was too tired to walk up and down to visit the different towns along the coast, I opted for the open top ride in the rain. And I was the only passenger on board :P And as we head back to Amalfi, the drizzle stopped and I past by a newly wed couple on a horse wagon. How sweet. The return trip cost 6€.

4) Had super sour lemon sorbet and ice cream
It seemed that lemon's a crucial ingredient in all their local cuisine. Almost all restaurants had something lemony in their menu. Gelato as well. This particularly one (4.50€) that I had tried, sold pure lemon flavours only. Sibei sour siah. Sour until my hole face cringed into like dunno what like. But damn shiok.

5) Had potato dumpling, sorrento-style in tomato and cheese
ERh... not a fan of this but hey, it's an experience nevertheless to try something local. Instead of tasting like potato, it really tasted like our Chinese plain tang yuan.

5) Pictures of Amalfi in the heavy rain
Since I could do nothing else when it started to pour heavily, I decided to cover myself with my leather jacket, steady my umbrella and tried to grab some shots. Come to think of it, I supposed the people at the bus stop thought I was crazy to be standing out there in the rain.

And to sum it up, my advice for people travelling to Pompei and Amalfi:

Pompei
1) Do not take the regional train to Pompei. That's a different stop. You'll need to go to the basement to take the Circumvesuviana blue line (towards Sorrento) to Pompei Scavi. Do say it's to Pompei Scavi and not Sorrento when you buy your ticket. Otherwise, they will charge you the full fare.

2) At Pompei site, go for the guided tour instead as that would save you a lot of time and trouble. There's a counter dedicated to the tour guides so go there to enquire before you buy your ticket.

3) Should you still prefer to explore on your own, get your ticket and go to the counter at the side to collect your free map and brief guide booklet that would give you an outline on the description or history on each of the major spots.

4) As for luggage storage, it's just before the turnstiles into the site, right behind the audio guide booth. But do note that they would only accept your luggage (depending on space availability) upon seeing your entry ticket. The luggage storage is free of charge.

Amalfi:
1) Instead of travelling to Amalfi from Napoli, take the Circumvesuviana from Napoli to Sorrento (about an hour, 3.40€) and from there, take an hourly coach to Amalfi (about 1.5 to 2 hrs, 7.20€). Although there are coaches from Napoli too, the timetable's less frequent. Sorrento is a safer bet.

2) From Amalfi, take time to explore Positano, Minori and Mairoi.
You can do so by walking, if you have the stamina. Or take the local buses, open bus tours or ferries there. The view's breathtaking. But a word of caution. There's really nothing to do once there except take in the beautiful coastline and enjoy food by the sea.

3) Go to Amalfi and the coastline only during super sunny days
It wouldn't do the coastline any justice if you go in rainy or cloudy days. Really. Take it from me.

4) Go sign up for the Grotta dello Smeraldo tour if weather or sea condition permits.

5) Try out the lemon sorbet, ice cream gelato. Worth a try just to take a pix of your sour face.

6) For people with motion sickness, take your pill before heading to Amalfi. You'll definitely need it. And please, if there are no more seats left, wait for the next one. Even personally (I don't have motion sickness btw), I can't imagine standing throughout the 1.5 - 2 hrs journey along the endless bends.

If you have time, try to walk around Sorrento as well. Seemed like a nice town and I wished I had the time to do so. But well, maybe next time if possible.

*P.S.: My one-night stay in Naples (aka Napoli) gave me the creeps and certainly freaked me out. More on that next time.

23rd Sept (Thurs) - Rome

2010-09-24T01:16:00.007+08:00

It's only my 3rd day in Rome and I'm bored already. My first day in Rome (Monday) didn't count as I'd reached Rome only in the evening (p.s: the airport here isn't really efficient). Perhaps I just didn't know how to appreciate Rome enough.

So maybe I should just ramble on the parts that I DISLIKED about Rome first:

1) Expensive transport from Airport to Termini/ central Rome.
If you reached the Roma airport, go to T3 for the bus that would take you to the city center. It would cost 8€. At first, I thought that was expensive and speculated that maybe the rail would be cheaper. But I was terribly wrong. The rail costed me 17€ and the ride lasted for 30mins. Heart pain siah. But what to do? I didn't want to walk back to the airport terminal with my now 14.5kg backpack and heavy slingbag. :(

2) Lost in Rome
Apart from some of the impressive attractions like the Colosseo, all other buildings in general, the lanes/ streets and restaurants looked the same to me. Seriously, it's the first time in my travelling experience that I kept getting lost in the streets or at almost every turn. Local and google maps were of limited help as there were too many small lanes and interjunctions that would threw you off your sense of direction if you make even just one wrong turn.

In addition, the directional signs to the tourist attractions weren't clear either. And it didn't help that most tourist maps here were over simplified and not drawn to scale. So it's super easy to have the wrong impression that the attractions were very close to one another when in fact, they could be more than 30mins apart by walking - assuming you didn't lose your way, whilst walking over.

3) Sibei crowded siah
There's just so many people everywhere, especially around the touristy areas. Just one look at the crowd gave me an headache. Almost everytime. But of course, if you go off the beaten track and focus on non-touristy spots, you wouldn't have this problem at all. In fact, you would be able to stroll along quite leisurely but there's nothing much then to look at apart from the restaurants that lined up the walkway (which looked similar altogether) and some local shops and offices.

4) Sick of food
Oh dear, it's only my 4th day in Italy and I'm already getting sick of pizzas and pastas. I still have another 10 days or so in Italy. What shall I do? Can someone please ship over some of my favourite Korean spicy instant noodle or the Maggie curry instant noodle? And oh! There's no Aglio Olio here. Damn!!!

Now, for the bits that I found interesting or LIKED about Rome:

1) You mean I can cross here?
In most places, the zebra crossing markings (i.e.: those white stripes on the floor) have already faded and you could hardly make them out. So an eye for details would help. And unlike Singapore, if you were just standing at the head of the zebra crossing, the cars would not stop and wait for you to cross first. They would just continue to drive by. So you would have to go ahead and cross the road, with caution of course, and the cars would then stop accordingly. Well, you know what they say - do what the locals do.

2) Friendly locals
Most of the locals whom I had approached or bumped into to date have been very friendly and helpful - and that really helped to lift my impression about Rome. Most of them could speak some English so asking around for directions was usually okay. Even if they seemed a bit apprehensive when you first approached them, they would still point you the way courteously. Of course, I was courteous in the first place. Hehehehe.

3) Doing laundry at a local laundry shop
Hehhehee... It's my first time bringing my clothes over to a laundry shop so I found that personally interesting. But it's rather ex loh. Paid 7€ (equivalent to SGD 14) for washing and drying. Self-service some more. The only up side was that the detergent was included in this fee.

4) Nice Gelato!
So far I only had one (strawberry flavoured). The serving's rather big and it costed only 2€. (^_^) I shall try more gelato flavours as I move around Italy.

5) The nice graffiti art near the Termini central station.
The train was travelling too fast so I wasn't in time to take any pix of them. But you would definitely be able to see them if you came into Rome from the aiport to Termini Station via the rail.

6) Bumped into city tour promo - paid 18€ for a 2-day pass
There were numerous city tour companies to choose from and they all offered about the same routes. So do look around before getting on one. Usually, a one-day pass would cost 20€ and a 2-day pass probably about 25€. One thing that I liked about this city tour though, was that I got to pass by (but not stop at) the non-touristy bits as well, which gave me a glimpse of the local lifestyle. And of course, a slightly less cluttered view of the city from the top :)

7) Discovery of new pasta flavour! Yummy!
Although I'd a few pastas and pizzas here, the Linguine Allo Scoglio was still my favourite! The sauce was just different from the usual tomato-based or cream-based ones and it was simply yummy! Not to mention with lots of clamps, mussels and scampi!

8) New found friend
Clicked with one of my bunk mates over here (with her mom as well). And it was really funny when both of them called out to me from a distance within the Vatican grounds. But since we didn't introduce ourselves to one another formally before, they didn't know my name and they were just shouting "Hey! Hey!". But as I was concentrated in taking photos of St. Peter's Square just some distance from them, it took me a few seconds to realise that someone was calling out to me. One of the passer-bys even smiled and said "Hey!" back to them. Hahahaha.

Okay... now for the places that I'd visited so far:

1) Colosseo
Very impressive monument indeed. There was always a long queue to get in. But fortunately, there were quite a few counters so the queue moved pretty fast. My take? Don't waste your money buying express pass or the ROMA pass, just join the queue. You should be able to get in within 15 to 20 mins.

And from the Colosseo, I could also see the Areo do Tito, Palatino and Arco di Constantino. The pass for Colosseo also encompassed the entry to these spots but good luck to finding the way in. I got lost (as per usual in Rome) and gave up. But honestly speaking, you should just head over to Piazza del Campidoglio and over to the backyard where you would get a even better view of the ruins.

2) Piazza del Campidoglio where the famous Michelangelo monumental wide ramped stair could be found. But I didn't go inside the museums though as I wasn't really interested in sculptures and statues.

3) Santa Maria in Aracoeli (just right beside Piazza del Campiodoglio, up a super long flight of stairs)
I didn't go up the stairs nor enter the catedral as it was closed for service when I was there. :( But I heard and seen from the pictures from the internet that the interior was beautiful. Go have a look for yourself if you have the chance.

4) Mercati Di Traiano (or Mercati Traianei in some tourist maps)
I could only look from the outside as there weren't any clear directional signs on-site to tell you how you could get into the ruins. As per wikipedia, "thought to be the world's oldest shopping mall, the arcades in Trajan's Market [were] now believed by many to be administrative offices for Emperor Trajan. The shops and apartments were built in a multi-level structure and you [could] visit several of the levels... The upper levels of the market were used for offices while the lower part, in front of Trajan's Forum, had shops selling oil, wines, seafood, groceries, vegetables and fruit."

5) Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II
Just viewed from the outside.

6) The church of Gesu

7) Piazza Navona

8) Pantheon
I had thought this was the Pantheon that housed the statues of the Greek gods and goddess but it was not. It was actally dedicated to St. Mary and the Martyrs instead. So I was kinda disappointed. Oh well, I guess I could only see the Pantheon of my mind in Greece.

9) Fontana di Trevi
Freaking crowded!!! All fanatsies of a romantic atmosphere (as portrayed in the movies) just vanished in an instant once I reached the fountain. But it nevertheless, impressive.

10) Fontana del Tritone

11) Santa Maria Maggiore

12) Piazza del Popolo

13) Vatican
You MUST definitely book your admission ticket OR the guided tour online before you even go there. The queue was madness and if you were unlucky, it might be an hour or more before you even get to the ticketing counter! Luckily for me, I'd booked the guided tour online for 31€ (inclusive of the admission to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel) before I even left for this trip - go check out the official Vatican site for booking info. But do note that if you applied for the guided tour, you would need to get behind the Vatican to the Museum directly, and not enter from St. Peter's Basilica. I made the mistake of entering via St. Peter's Basilica and had to run like 10 minutes round the fortress to get to the meeting point at the Vatican Museums. Managed to reach in time in the end for the tour.

The tapestry and wall paintings inside the Vatican were simply amazing. I was like "Wtf... the painters and artists would have had to spend a decade long just to get one room done!" and the next thought that came into my mind was that if the Vatican was to even sell one of the rooms, the proceeds could perhaps be more than enough to save a quarter of the starving African children population!!! Yah. I'm evil. I know.

Anywayz, sadly, photography was not allowed in the Sistine chapel where the famous Michelangelo wall paintings were - especially The Creation of Adam, which portrayed God giving life to Adam. You know, the famous finger reaching out to finger?? So, at the end of the tour, I went to the Vatican post office to get myself a postcard of that painting and mailed it to myself. This way, I not only get the picture of the painting as a momento, I could also collect the Vactican stamp and unique franking. *Smiles*

And it was really interesting to learn during the tour explanation on how Michelangelo was "forced" by the Pope to learn painting and to then paint the Sistine chapel, what each of the paintings meant or portrayed & etc. And also the facts about Constantine in which he wasn't as good looking as all the statues had portrayed him to be, how his famous quote came about and how he ended up being baptised only a week before his death. Interesting.

So my verdict for this trip was that if you would like to go slow, 3 days in ROME would be enough to visit all the attractions and monuments. But if you were the kind that liked to go fast just as I did, 2 days' just nice. Just don't expect it to be as romantic as the movies portrayed it to be and you should be able to enjoy it just fine.

Misc:

19th Sept (Sun) - Nice/ Monaco

2010-09-23T17:27:00.008+08:00

Took an overnight train from Bordeaux to Nice Ville the night before and came across two very nice French people in my cabin who had voluntarily reminded me on when to get off the train - coz it was making a few pit stops along the way and I wouldn't want to end up missing my stop. Well, one of them, an old gentlemen was overly helpful. I was supposed to reach my stop around 8am but sensing that i might take some time to prepare myself, he woke me up at about 6.30am instead. Hahhaha. It didn't really make any difference to me coz i haven't been able to go into a deep sleep anyway - with all the din that went around at every pit stop and people getting up and down the train with their luggages.

And as the cabin was sooooooo dark that I couldn't even see my hands in front of me, and no one was occupying the bunk opposite me (I was on the upper bunk), I decided to change out of my jeans into my comfortable track pants under the blanket instead of venturing out to the toilet. And the same thing vice versa when I was about to reach my stop. :P Yup. Im a lazy bum. Too lazy to even climb down the narrow stairs and pass the narrow passage way to get to the toilet.

Upon reaching Nice, the first thing I did was to dump my backpack at the hostel and headed over to Monaco directly.

Honestly, there wasn't much to see or do at Monaco except for the sea view and sailing if you have a yacht or a boat. Or perhaps sun tanning at the beach. Otherwise, it could get rather boring easily.

The change of guards at 11.55pm daily at the Prince's Palace didn't really lift my spirits either. It was way to simplified and you would be way better off watching the change of guards at Buckingham Palace in London instead. Just spend half a day at Monaco will do.

And it's also way too easy to lose your way as well if you're first time there and trying to find your way out of the train station. That's what happened to me. I had headed for the Jardin Exotique exit thinking that it led to the main street but I was wrong and had to climb up and down, make several turns before getting to where I wanna go. You should just head to the opposite direction from Jardin Exotique instead (sorry, can't remember the name of the exit but it should lead you to the station ticketing office), and take the lift some distance from the ticketing office to get to the main street.

Luckily for me, I met two very lovely couples from China and we decided to tour Monaco togther. So all was well in the end - we got lost together, got into the tourist train together, took some pix together and etc :)

We went on separate ways just before lunch though (around 3pm) coz they wanted to go sun tanning whereas I was too tired and preferred to head back to the hostel for check in and to freshen up as well.

While waiting for the hourly train back to Nice, I had a ham & cheese sandwich and a coke at the station cafeteria. And it cost me freaking 7€! *Faint* Oh well, what to do... there wasn't any other eatery in sight and I was starving to death.

Back in Nice, after freshening up, I took the city bus tour to view the major attractions and up the steep slopes to see the breathtaking sights of Nice. But do note that the tour's freaking expensive - at 20€ for just one day. Oh well, I was only spending half a day there so no time to be picky and walk around. At least it's a hop on and hop off kind which I could take multiple times in a day.

Personally, I very much preferred Nice to Monaco. I could really feel the relaxing atmosphere in Nice, where couples strolled lesiurely along the beach stretch watching their kids ride their tricycles or play with the sand, people watching others (mainly the older and fatter women) skinny dipping at the beach, teenagers roller blading along the stretch, hunks with six packs jogging or blading along and a sweet scene of a mom holding onto her babe's hand as the little one tried to learn walking on the sandy beaches. Everything just fell nicely into place. And I could even imagine strolling along the stretch with you-should-know-who-you-are, taking time off and slowing down our hectic pace.

I would have gone for the water sports as well if I had brought my swimwear along and if I had friends for company too. Damn!

But still, I think a day or max 2 days in Nice for beach and water sports would be more than enough. Coz like Monaco, there's not a lot to see or do. But it did make me wanna be fit and exercise along the stretch as well. Hiak hiak hiak.

Oh! And just one side note, although there's a short shopping lane (where H&M is) just around the Nice Ville train station, the side lanes actually looked and felt really dodgy even in the day. So try to avoid that area as much as possible from the evenings on.

18th Sept (Sat) - Bordeaux, France

2010-09-20T18:27:00.011+08:00

OMG! The French here were so nice and helpful that they easily overturned my preconceived notions of French being snobs. They really made my short stay in Bordeaux truly enjoyable. :) If there's a chance next time to visit the place again, I would definitely stay much longer to go to the various vineyards and try the wine from the different regions of Bordeaux. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a wine lover. In fact, I hardly drink it at all. But when you couple the surroundings (think chateau and vineyards) with good wine, good food and good company, it becomes such a relaxing and incredible experience!

Initially I'd wanted to sign up for a tour to Saint Emilion but it was fully booked. And it happened only once a week on Fridays only. So I decided to opt for another tour on Sat to a different vineyard where I actually got to harvest the grapes from the vineyard, followed by wine over lunch and then ended off with a cellar tour.

At the vineyard, 2 people were assigned to each row of vines and we had to harvest from end to end, squatting down to cut the grapes most of the time. The white vines were ready but the red vines still have 2 more weeks to go before they could be harvested.

When we first began, I was kinda grossed out 'cause there were quite a number of insects hidden between the vines and as we harvest the grapes, they go into the bucket as well. Apart from big spiders, there were some other insect that I couldn't make out as well. That kinda slowed my progress. But I was glad that my partner, a guy from Australia, 'saved' me numerous times when the sight of creepy crawlies got to me. He would kinda remove them from my bucket so that I could continue with the harvest.

Manual harvesting was fun and I kinda became more appreciative towards wine after having tried out the labour work myself. But then again, it's also an extremely tiring work. I've only tried out one side of a row, under the sun, and I got tired already only after an hour or so. For the workers, they have to do this for a full day for several weeks! Not to mention that that's just harvesting. A lot of work went into the initial growth and the preparation as well.

After harvesting, we paid a quick visit to the distillery and the wine cellar to better understand the process of wine making.

And then we moved back into the chateau where we were served with a 4-course meal - quite unexpected actually. The portions were really huge as well. I'd thought it would be just one simple main course. But I ended up feeling like I had had 3 main courses for lunch!

I had this terrified and worried expression on my face every time they serve the food that the Japanese guy beside me kept teasing me about it. And the food's really good. It was prepared by a lady who owned an eatery in the suburbs of Bordeaux. So it's quite authentic french cuisine. Yummy!!!! So there, good food and good wine.

As for good company, I was the youngest at our table. There were 2 elderly couples from Sweden and a Japanese couple as well. We had really nice conversations over lunch and the guys consumed 3 bottles of wine over our 2.5 hours lunch in the Chateau. Everything just seemed cozy, natural and at a leisurely pace that I really felt that I was savouring the moment and enjoying life :)

Although we parted after the tour and not very likely to meet again, it was nevertheless, a moment they we had all enjoyed and shared.

And here are some additional pix from my walk/ ride around the beautiful city:

I miss Bordeaux.

15th Sept (Wed) - Barcelona

2010-09-16T04:10:00.010+08:00

6th day into my trip and 3rd day of my stay in Barcelona. I never thought nor expected it to be hotter than Singapore! So it's really an uphill task to actually explore the city when I constantly felt as if I was (1) melting and (2) almost blinded by the blazing sun. And forgetful me, I hadn't brought my sunglasses along for this trip. So now I suffer, BIG time.

Nevertheless, let me do a recap of what I liked and didn't like about the city. Let's start with the dislikes first.

DISLIKES:

1) The city's too busy and touristy. It doesn't have that certain charm even in the old town. But if you're here for a shopping trip, then you'll like it. Not quite the tranquil nor charming place and sit back and relax though.

2) Food's more expensive when compared to those in Madrid and Santiago de Compostela. In addition it seems like there's a lot more 'modified' or fusion Spanish dishes than homemade/ traditional dishes. Well, this is just me speaking based on what I've seen for the past few days. A paella in Madrid cost about 6-8€ whereas in Barcelona, the cheapest that I found was at least 8€. Thank goodness it turned out to be rather delicious :)

Well, at least there's a wide variety of Tapas to choose from:

3) Admission fee to most attractions are also quite high. For Museu Picasso, it costs 9€. For Casa Batllo, it costs 17.80€. And for La Sagrada Familia, it costs 18.50€ in total if you include the admission + audio guide + lift.

4) Palau Guell is currently closed for restoration dunno till when - which means I had walked all the way there but it was closed.

5) The various transports to Tibidabao is only available on Saturdays - which meant I came at a wrong time.

6) Parc Guell - many people hogged the iconic frog sculpture for photo-taking that I had no chance of intercepting to take a pix of it. And not forgetting the super steep walk up the slopes... but the place itself was nice.

LIKES:

1) Cute chefs and nice food plus slightly frozen (think smoothie) Sangria at Tapac 24 @ 269 Carrer de la Diputacio.

2) Nice and comfortable hostel that I'm staying in.

3) Despite the cost and that it's still unfinished *probably takes another 2 decades to complete), La Sagrada Familia is a MUST visit!

4) The big, muzzled patrol dogs at Sagrada Familia metro station. They looked so fluffy and cute beside the guards.

5) Sangria! Kinda reminds me of vodka cranberry but tastes much stronger (alcohol due to the red wine in the mixture), less acidic and much nicer! And I would feel sleepy and happy after drinking it :) Hahahhahahaha

Well, so far the 'dislikes' seems to outweigh the 'likes'. But we'll see. I still have one more day to go in Barcelona before I move on with my trip.

Other places that I've visited to date are:

1) Old town along La Rambla - which is a super long stretch of road that took me hours to walk from end to end. Of course, in between I diviated to explore the lanes on the side :p

2) Catedral (aka La Seu)

3) Museu Picasso

4) Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu near Liceu Station

5) Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar

6) Casa Batllo

7) Casa Terrades aka Les Punxes

8) Casa Mila aka La Pedrera

I haven't got a chance to catch a proper flamenco show yet, nor Carmen. Let's see if I have the luck tomorrow to catch these!

In the meantime, here are some shots around the neighbourhood :)

12th Sept (Sunday) - Santiago de Compostela (Spain)

2010-09-14T04:26:00.006+08:00

Although I just reached Barcelona this morning (Monday), I'm missing Santiago already. It's such a tranquil and beautiful town and everyone whom I'd came across while I was there, was simply great! Everything was within walking distance. It took just slightly over 5 mins from my hostel (meiga backpackers) to the old town. As for getting to the cathedral, it probably took about 15 mins.

When I first arrived at Santiago airport, I was quite surprised that it was quite a new and well-managed airport. Had kinda thought it would look somewhat like a make-shift space and super budget looking bcoz it sounded so 'wulu', but I was pleasantly surprised. From right outside the airport, I took the shuttle bus to the main bus station for 3€ and the journey took about 25mins.

Along the way I'd past by very old-looking Spanish houses; with huge cracks across the walls and not very well maintained. And when I saw that, I thought to myself 'what had I gotten myself into'. But as we neared the city centre, I felt relieved. There was a mixture of well-maintained traditional houses plus lots of nice apartments. Yah, I know. I'm superficial. Ha!

Anyways, I kinda got lost and decided to approach an old man who was playing with his grandson at the nearby playground. Although there's the language barrier, he was all smiles when trying to direct me in Spanish and with lots of gesturing. And then I thanked him on my super imperfect Spanish and gradually made my way up the slopes. Yes, there were loads of slopes in Santiago. It's not funny when you have to carry a 13kg backpack and a heavy sling bag up the slope(s).

Eventually, I found it.

After a short rest at the hostel, I took a stroll out to the old town and kinda fell in love with it.

And have I already mentioned that a lot of pilgrims actually go there to end their journey by queuing up under the hot sun, just to get a chance to get inside the Catedral and visit/ touch the tomb? There were the hard core pilgrims who backpacker and hiked around Europe, those who cycled long distances in groups and those who took the easier way by plane and taxi. Of course, there were also a portion of non-pilgrims (like me) who went all the way there just to see the UNESCO site. For me, I was contended to just see the Catedral itself. So I could go by another entrance and didn't have to queue for long.

There was the lady from Poland who had asked me to help her take a pix of her in front of the Catedral because she forgot to bring her camera (and I asked her to help me take one as well), and there was also the young girl who was lying on the floor hyperventilating while her fellow group mates attended to her. She'd belonged to a big group of young backpackers and it seemed that she first got a heat stroke prior to her hyperventilation. Although I was trained in CPR, I wasn't ready and didn't know how to help. But luckily enough, someone who seemed like heir teacher or guide was around to attend to her. Phew!

My one-day stay in the city seemed too short. If you do have a chance, stay for 2 days - like a weekend getaway to relax and wind down. There isn't a lot to do there except go slow and enjoy the beauty of the old town and the surrounding views.

P.s #1: I forgot about my 'allergy' to potatoes. I'd saw the people beside having something that looked really tasty so I pointed that dish to the waiter and then realized very much later that it too contained potatoes. Oh, bugger. But the dish was great, nevertheless.

And here are some pix from around the neighbourhood:

P.s #2: The guy at the hostel told me that the famous local dish is actually pulpo (octopus). But I'm really not a 'octopus' lover so I gave it a miss. But if you can, go give it a try.

Let my journey begin - 11th Sept (Sat)

2010-09-11T22:27:00.015+08:00

Here I am, 2nd day in Madrid - my very 1st stop in my long trip. It´s 3.20pm now (local time) and I´m hiding away in the comfort of my hostel room, away from the blazing heat and sun.

I think I got a slight sun burn on my hands already. You see, I was having lunch alfresco-style (see below) and the umbrella wasn´t huge enough to cover all of me. So I ended up eating my tortilla espanola (spanish omlette with bread) under the hot sun. Ouch!

I also ordered the patatas brava (fried potatoes spiced with chilli and paprika sauce - see above right), but i haven´t managed to eat it yet. I was so full from the tortilla espanola (see above left) that i had to ask the waitress to help me pack it for dinner later tonight. And i think with immediate effect i´m "allergic" to potatoes now, with such overdose. I shall stay away from potatoes (torilla & potatas'related dishes) during the rest of my stay in Spain. And I need meat! I should also try Sangria (one of the famous local alcoholic drinks) soon.

Speaking of which, I´d paella (and a little bit of tortilla) yesterday and it was good - except the rice was a little too hard for my liking.

Apart from food, I´d also joined the local tour (3hrs of non-stop walking) that was organized by the hostel I was staying in (Way Hostel). The tour´s free but tips to the tour guide was greatly appreciated. It was kinda cool to learn about the golden age and the stories behind some of the attractions from a local´s perspective. Well, almost local. The guide I´d has been staying in Madrid for the past 6 years. He was from Argentina and had stationed himself in Madrid because of his girlfriend, who´s a local. That´s kinda sweet.

Anywayz, through the tour, I got to know some fellow backpackers from other hostels as well. But sadly, we´re off to different locations after that. We´ll keep in touch. Somehow.

Had been to a couple of places since yesterday:

1) Palacio de Real Madrid

2) Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almundena
P.S: Almundena is the name of of a girl who looked horrible from the front but looked damned good from the back. So because the catedral is right next to the palace, its front view is awlfully plain while its back view looked way grander. This was sort of a political & religious power struggle at that time. The catedral´s front was simplified, to show respect to the king.

3) Gran Via Street

4) Plaza de Cibeles

5) Museo del Prado

6) Mercado de San Miguel

7) Plaza Mayor

8) Monumento en recuerdo de las victimas del 11-M @ Atocha Renfe station

9) many more that I had passed by but had either forgotten their names or didn´t know where it was in the first place :P But I do have pictures on some of the interesting ones...

And I was very happy that I got to see the actual works from Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro in the Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofía today! I´d seen and did a bit of background study on their works back in my secondary school days. So it was kinda great that I finally got to see them from real, and not from books. :)

The only downsides in my trip so far are:

1) backpack too heavy - it´s currently weighing 13kg, which is slightly more than a quarter of my weight.

2) sling bag - too heavy as well

3) got pickpocketed yesterday - he got away with my moisturizing pack. Think it happened on the metro when I was travelling from Anton Martin station to Tirso de Molina station during the peak hours.

4) limited Spanish vocab - i only knew a few words such as Si (yes), thank you (Gracias), aqua sin ga (water without gas aka mineral or tap water) and of course those¨"potato" words that I now fear

5) jet lag - still recovering but getting better. Damn tired siah.

6) The heat!!!

7) overdose of potatoes - need I say more?

end: 4.10pm (Madrid)

Baby•Bubbles

2010-08-19T03:14:00.001+08:00

1st Aug (日曜日) - randoms @ NMS

2010-08-05T00:01:00.002+08:00

Cai Guo-Qiang: Head on & Vortex

2010-08-04T22:26:00.007+08:00

1st Aug (日曜日)
Cai Guo-Qiang's installation art plus gunpowder on paper @ National Museum of Singapore .

一个字：赞。

昨天•雨天

2010-08-02T23:53:00.003+08:00

早到的生日礼物

2010-07-25T23:14:00.002+08:00

原本想选一支 solar powered 的 G-Shock 或 Baby-G 的，但因估计到我在 Iceland/ Norway/ Sweden 时可能只有2,3个小时的太阳，才觉得以防万一，选了用电池驱动的款式。

距离９月９日越来越近，我的准备却还未齐全，有点担心和不安。
但既然决定了，就得加油，坚持到底。加油，加油，加油！

17th July (土曜日) - Ma's belated bd lunch

2010-07-23T01:52:00.002+08:00

Finally. After 2 weeks of confinement due to recurring diarrhea, puking and fever, the little princess was finally allowed outside for a fresh breath of air. We had gone over to No Signboard @ The Esplanade for lunch. Nothing happened out of the ordinary except that the princess nearly choked on a huge piece of biscuit, which my bro-in-law had to use his fingers to dig it out and got bitten by the little one in the process. A rather nasty bite I must say.

After the hearty seafood meal, Pa brought her outside for a short walk and she pretty much worn him out with her almost-never-ending "requests" to climb up and down the stairs. Again and again.

Had a little fun making her wear my cap - which was way too big for her head and it kept slipping down, covering her vision. She seemed to kinda enjoy it though. Maybe she thought it was a new way of playing peekaboo?

We then went over to Haagen Dazs for some delicious ice cream - which got her crying real desperately when we didn't manage to feed her (with ice cream) fast enough.

On my Sis' sudden enthusiasm, we began to take some very touristy family shots. You know - like standing in front of the "durian", or have the merlion in the backdrop kind? The pictures were rather embarrassing, so I shall not post them here.

Princess' 'stone' face when it was time to head home.

After a short rest @ home, we had the bd cake. A pretty expensive one. But Pa wasn't impressed by it and thought it was a bit too sour. He didn't change his mind even after we told him that it was a yogurt cake and it was supposed to taste that way. Mom on the other hand, couldn't tell the difference between this and the cake we'd on Pa's bd. Sigh. I call this G-E-N-E-R-A-T-I-O-N G-A-P.

15th July (木曜日) - Martial Combat @ RWS

2010-07-21T01:55:00.006+08:00

Woooo~ attended my first ever "combat" show that day.

It started off funny ('coz of the way the amateur fighters were battling it out and the people behind me were giggling and laughing away at the 2 "kids" on stage), then it got a bit interesting when the Australian and U.S fighters took the stage. Was quite impressed by the mutual respect they showed each other before, during and even after the match - true sportsmanship.

But the one that got me all excited (and the rest of the audience too) was the round where the girls fought (one from China and the other from Philippines) - and man, they fought more aggressively than the guys. Within minutes, blood was oozing out from both of them. Oh boy, how I wish I could whip out those same ass-kicking moves and punches effortlessly. And oh! Not forgetting those damn-quick reflexes too. Just how did they master those moves? Damn.

Too bad I didn't bring my camera along so all I could do was to use my handphone to snap a pix of the ring. Sigh.

P.S: The final fight for the night was unfortunately a huge disappointment and a super big anti-climax. The Indian fighter surrendered at just round 1 (there's supposedly 5 rounds) and the winner was booed by the audience as he had made some impolite remarks and reactions towards his opponent during the fight and after he had defeated him. Gosh. What a disrespect towards the sport. That was kinda the spoiler for the night. Sheesh.

Forces of nature

2010-07-17T19:43:00.003+08:00

Damage from last nite's heavy rain & strong winds...

3rd July (土曜日) - NDP Preview @ Padang

2010-07-14T23:09:00.008+08:00

很幸运的，Tuk从亲戚那边拿到几张票，让我们有机会出席5年一度在Padang 举行的国庆日庆典。可惜天公不作美，下了一整天的雨，害得我们从一进场就一直淋雨，整整淋了3个小时左右。幸好隔天没生病，伤风。

看一看当天跟我们一样急着进场的民众！

原来那么多人一起穿着雨衣会是这样的场面哦。。。

终于找到位子了！先拍照留念再说。

彩排正式开始了！

直升机带着国旗出动了！

然后是一贯的“总统”出列巡视。

紧接着便是真正的performance。
由于观众席是用钢铁搭建起来的，时不时会随着合唱团的人一起摆动，让我感觉它好像会随时垮掉似的。真是有够吓人的。

由许多被亮起的国旗所组成的“满天星”场面。

没多久就finale 了！

不知道是否是因为这是一场彩排的关系，烟花并没想象中的灿烂多姿。
也或许是会场的局限吧。烟花发射地点被份成几个地方，感觉上有点散，失去了那种视觉上的震撼。可惜。可惜。

Sometimes, the most mundane stuff in life makes me happy...

2010-07-13T01:41:00.002+08:00

I had cookie monster a few days ago (^ _ ^)

2010-07-12T22:38:00.000+08:00

2nd July (金曜日) – Office away day @ Tanjong Beach Club!

2010-07-07T00:34:00.003+08:00

超清新的空气，‘优美’的环境，却好死不死，下了一整天的雨。
结果一系列的 training 只好在寒冷的室内举行。真是又冷又闷得要命。只能从室内‘观赏’海景，却无从参与。真扫兴。(- _ -)

幸好用餐时，雨稍停了一会儿，我们才有机会到外头用餐，吹吹海风。

食物还不错。有稍微 lifted 我的心情。(^ _ ^)

小休片刻后，我们又得回到寒冷的房间，听一系列的讲座。Zzzzzz
本来还以为在分组讨论时，会有机会到外头的 pool lounge brainstorm 一番，但因一直下雨，我们都只好呆在室内了。

当我们正式结束一整天的 training 后，又在一次被分组。这一次是为了分组学习及调出具有 Tanjong Beach Club 独特风格的鸡尾酒。调酒师还在示范的过程中，不小心太用力取出杯子，结果把整个杯子都打碎了。玻璃碎片还真的是满天飞。幸好他没大碍，玻璃片也没往人群里头飞。过了一会儿，他又回到工作岗位，继续为我们示范。

上了这堂课才发现，原来想调出一杯又好喝又好看的鸡尾酒，还真是不容易。
单单为了调出三层不同的颜色就已花了我不少时间。调出来还未必好喝。好复杂哦！我看我还是继续上夜店点一杯吧，或是到超市买一瓶 Choya 配署片算了。

虽然我的组没有赢，但我们还是‘调’的很开心。
说穿了，我们只是乱参罢了。哈哈。
以下便是劳苦功高的评判们。可怜的他们得喝尽各组所调出来的酒。。。

调酒比赛过后，终于到了用餐及自由时间了！
可惜那时还在下着绵绵细雨，更本没法在 pool lounge hangout. 实在太可惜了。
(- _ -)

庆幸的是我有一群 fun-loving 的同事在身边，让这个充满‘扫兴’的一天变成一个 fun night!

1st July (木曜日) - Voyage de la Vie @ RWS

2010-07-06T01:05:00.003+08:00

Thanks to Cheryl, I got 4 tickets to Voyage de la Vie - 2 for me & Tuk, and the other 2 for Ah Hua & her friend. (^ _ ^)

I went for the show thinking it was a Singapore version of Cirque du Soleil as the show had been positioned as "a theatrical circus spectacular [that told] the universal story of a young man seeking to discover his destiny", but was deeply disappointed.

Bits that stood out like a sore thumb were:

a) The plot sucked BIG TIME. It really was more of putting the different acts together in a half-hearted manner. The boy (which Jonathan Leong played) was supposed to be missing link to connect the different acts together. But his role was under utilized and there was barely any interaction with the respective performers. It was just so rojak (aka random).

b) The 'desire' scene was a mess and totally lost me there. The music sucked and the stage design for that scene too.

I'm sure there were others, but I couldn't remember them at this point.

Well, not to be critically cynical, the show did have its merits too. Kudos to the stage designers (except for the ones in-charge of the 'desire' scene) and the stage effects. Really mesmerizing and impressive.

Was also greatly impressed by Viktor Kee's stage presence - the team should really utilize him more. His role as the lantern master should appear alongside with the boy and interact with the respective performers more. His body language was just so damn mesmerizing and convincing.

Was also impressed (and with great pain when I saw him contort) by Alexey Goloborodko. I had the goosebumps (in a good way) when he performed. I couldn't stop pinching Tuk who was sitting next to me.

Had draped in cold sweat when Martti Peltonen performed as well. Same goes to the rest of the cast who had performed mean feats.

Oh well. The script writers really need to do something about it. But overall, still quite an enjoyable show (if you don't go in with the same preconceived notion as I did). Go in with an open mind and you'll be fine.

After the show, Cheryl, Tanpopo and us met up for a drink at Hard Rock Cafe @ RWS and chilled.

Sang the same birthday song twice to 2 strangers in the cafe, and headed home to rest after that. Oh well. I must be getting old to retire home so early. Damn!

Free sheet

2010-07-05T17:46:00.001+08:00

Had helped out my boss' friend with her assignment.
Got featured as a result (- _ -)

Randoms...

2010-06-29T01:38:00.000+08:00

Family outing @ Universal Studios Singapore

2010-06-27T21:06:00.009+08:00

Went over to Universal Studios Singapore yesterday morning 'coz Sis had free tickets but couldn't make it - Princess had to go for her vaccination jab. Needless to say, the trip rendered us lethargic. Not because there were lots of things to see/ play, but because of the long minutes/ hours of waiting to take on each ride or attraction.

If I were to add up all the waiting time, I suppose it would've took up 3-quarters of our time there. And someone should really install some benches or seats along the waiting queue so that the elderly and the kids could wait in better ease under this damn hot weather. I don't care if they don't have it in other Universal Studios. This is Singapore. Summer all year long. Average 35 degrees. Queuing 45 minutes or more under the hot sun is not funny. Argh!

Okay. Forget about the angst for now.
Now back to the experience.

Good thing the Hollywood Boulevard was air-conditioned (sort of) and lined up with interesting buildings and cars/ stalls...

... and we even managed to catch Po for a family pix. Unfortunately, he was the only mascot we bumped into along the way. There were no others around. Sure, I saw Beetle Juice, Frankenstein and Marilyn Monroe, but their presence doesn't scream 'Take me! Take me!'. Where were the characters from Shrek??? Or how about Madagascar???

Damn! As we moved along, away from Hollywood Boulevard, we realised that the Madagascar attraction was not ready as yet. What a downer. But there was this other King Julien's Beach Party-Go-Round (which was essentially a merry-go-round). Had wanted to take that and my parents were almost onz when my bro commented that that ride was for kids - we were not kids. That statement got my parents to retract their initial intention and we moved on to another attraction. ARGH!!! Never mind, I could always go Far Far Away (no pun intended) :P

Had to queue for about 50 mins but it was kinda worth it 'coz Pa enjoyed the 4D show and was laughing whenever the water was sprinkled onto us when the characters sneezed, and also when the kids behind us squeaked everytime an eerie sensation descended upon us or when the chair jerked to the movie. Mom on the other hand got all panicky and was trying to search for her tissue paper in the dark. She kept grunting 'aiyo... why got water one...' But she seemed to have enjoyed it nevertheless.

The Treasure Hunters on the other hand, was total crap. What a complete waste of time. We had to queue for 35mins just to take on an extremely short automated jeep ride. The ride was like 2 mins? Okay, maybe the duration was not that important. But the thing was that it's such a boring ride. There's nothing much to see. Kids would hardly get excited over it. Oh well...

Lucky thing there was a redeeming attraction in the park - Revenge of the Mummy!

Had great fun and a good scare cum adrenaline rush with that roller coaster ride in the dark. Hate the bit where it suddenly moved backwards in fast motion. But the rest was okay. It was Mom's first time taking a roller coaster in her entire life too! I'm not sure if the same goes for Pa though. But mom said she enjoyed it and she went on and on after the ride. We got the photo that showed us screaming in the ride, which was damn funny but I won't post it here 'coz I looked totally unflattering. Mom looked as if she was screaming with her mouth wide open in the pix, but she kept insisting that she was just coughing. Erh... I didn't know one can open mouth that wide while coughing...

Went over to WaterWorld after that to catch the live show. Kinda felt that the stage was too small. Kinda limiting to carry out 'WOW' performances. But good try. Oh well...

And here's a view of the park...

There were some characters that we came across along the way but I wasn't sure if I had ever seen them before. For example, this one:

And some other cute vehicles/ stalls along the way, like this one below:

We went past the Sci-Fi City, which was a bore...

... and the impressive-looking Battlestar Galactica which was still under repair.

The special effects demo in the Lights! Camera! Action! attraction managed to lift our spirits for a while though.

We also took the Canopy Flyer @ The Lost World too. But it was the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure that was really fun... and annoying 'coz we got soaking wet from head to toe whereas the strangers sitting opposite us, were hardly wet. Bro participated in this soaking ride too. And he was drenched.

After that ride, we decided that it was time to head home. We (Bro and I) argued with Pa that we should take a cab home but Pa was adamant that with the weekend crowd, it would be much faster to just take a bus home. And so, all of us, soaking wet (but not dripping wet), waited at least 20 mins for our bus at the Harbourfront bus interchange and sat our wet butts onto the bus seats. Fortunately, the seats were waterproof. Otherwise, it would have been damn embarrassing when we got off 40 mins later. Oh well.

19th June (土曜日) - Opera in the Park with frenz

2010-06-26T00:10:00.003+08:00

After much anticipation, the girlies and I finally met up to attend our first ever 'Opera in the park' @ the Singapore Botanic Gardens. \(^ _ ^)/

As we didn't have much time to prepare our own picnic food, we met up at Scotts Isetan to get whatever we need instead - sandwiches, drinks, pastries and etc, before heading over to SBG.

And as we walked the long way up to the venue, we passed by this lovely pavilion that looked as if it was set against an autumn backdrop.

The only problem is... there's no autumn nor spring nor winter in SG. Only summer. All year. Nevertheless, the sight (including cute babies and dogs that we spotted along the way) lifted our spirits as we followed the crowd to the venue.

Just take a look at the crowd! Never knew Singaporeans are so 'onz' about opera/ orchestra. Well, there's a fair mix of Caucasians too though.

Here's the list on programme highlights:

While waiting for the event to start, we settled upon a nice picnic spot, spread out our mat and glanced around. Apart from noticing that most people had brought proper picnic food (i.e.: fruits, salads, home made food and WINE/ CHAMPAGNE), I was admiring the gigantic tree some distance from us. And as I watched the kids get in line to climb the root/ tree, I was extremely tempted to join them - not that I've ever climbed a tree and knew how to do it. I just wanted to do it. You know. Like interact with nature a bit more? Sadly though, just as I kinda made up my mind to do it, the opera started. So I stayed rooted on my butt.

Had some shots in between...

And as the evening continued, we laid relaxed on the mat and look up upon the darkening sky, whilst listening to live opera/ orchestra...

... and kept saying "DAMN! We should've at least bought some Barcadi Breezer. Next time, we shall bring that or champagne."

12th June (土曜日) - Zhihui's belated bd @ Hairloom & Caramel

2010-06-25T00:14:00.000+08:00

Nice place...

Nice stuff (for sale)...

and nice food...

for a group of nice people like us (^~^)

5th June (土曜日) - Moments @ Haw Par Villa

2010-06-24T00:03:00.003+08:00

Before the bat mobil, there's the Tiger (balm) mobil. Probably.

Discovered the long abandoned outdoor amphitheater...

Chinese version of Titanic?

How about Chinese version of Jaws?

Erh... I didn't know that Chinese myths/ legends have mermaids in them, let alone naked ones...

Same goes to the bunch of gorillas. Not the nakedness, but their existence in chinese folklore.

'See what see, never see a knife before izzit? Owe $ Pay $.'

A red cross rat? Well, i would never have imagined...

This just looks soooooooooo wrong.

Just us. Goofing around.

5th June (土曜日) - Trip to Haw Par Villa

2010-06-23T21:29:00.004+08:00

Woohoo! Finally got down to visiting Har Par Villa (虎豹別墅). I've been wanting to do this for years but somehow or rather, other things just kept popping up and the plan to visit just didn't materialize, until now (^ _ ^)

Basically, to quote Wikipedia, it's a theme park (free admission) that "contains over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese folklore, legends, history and illustrations of various aspects of Confucianism. The attractions include statues of the Laughing Buddha and the Goddess of Mercy, as well as dioramas of scenes from Journey to the West. The most well-known attraction is the Ten Courts of Hell, with gruesome depictions of hell in Chinese mythology".

Needless to say, the Ten Courts of Hell was first on our list.

Here's a taste of what awaited us...

... and there were the ox and horse constables of the underworld at the entrance...

... and into the gates where the person's sins and misdeeds were brought forth before Yama ...

In the 1st Court of Hell, the virtuous would be exempted and led over a golden bridge to heaven.

But for the sinners, they would be sent to repent before the Mirror of Retribution (where all their past sins are revealed to them) and then taken to a court of hell for punishment.

2nd court of hell - conmen, robbers, and those who had inflected physical injury would be thrown into the volcanic pit. Those who were into corruption, stealing and gambling would be frozen into blocks of ice. And for prostitutes, they would be thrown into a pool of blood to drown.

The ungrateful and those who had either shown disrespect to elders or had escaped from prison would be brought to the 3rd court to have their hearts cut out. The drug addicts and traffickers, tomb robbers and people who urged others into crime and social unrest would be tied to red hot copper pillar and grilled in this court too.

4th court of hell - tax dodgers and those who had refused to pay rent or had committed business fraud would be pounded by stone mallet. And those who were disobedient to their sibling or had shown lack of fillal piety would be grounded by a large stone.

5th Court - those who had plotted another's death for his/her property or money, and those money lenders with exorbitant interest rates would be thrown into a hill of knives.

6th Court - People who had stolen from temples committing blasphemy and those who killed animals mercilessly would be made to kneel on iron nails, saw in two or chopped in half, and later gnawed by rats.

7th Court - The rumor-mongers and those who had sown discard amongst family members would have their tongues pulled out. Whereas the rapists and those who drove others to their death would be thrown into a wok of boiling oil.

8th & 9th Court - Robbers, murderers, rapists and those who had conducted any unlawful conduct would have their head and arms chopped off. And those who had neglected the old and the young would be crushed under boulders.

10th Court - After serving their sentences, the sinners arrived here for King Zhuanglun to pass the final judgement, before they were allowed to drink the magic tea that made them forget their past life and go through the Wheel of Reincarnation. Depending on the sinner's past life, he/she may be born into a life of ease and comfort OR into sorrow and suffering.

All in all, this attraction's rather educational. It's something worth bringing my kids to (if I have any in time to come) and kinda give them an education/ overview on the various virtues and about Karma, and linger about especially around the displays on 'fillal piety'. Hiak, hiak.

OK, moving on to something more light-hearted. This park's not just about scary, gruesome stuff. There's also stuff on Chinese folktales...

... epic mythical war scenes...

... characters and scenes from 'Journey to the West'...

... statues of gods...

... and displays on 'modern' sins and virtues.

Too many scenes to absorb and too long an entry to write. So I guess I'll just end it here :P

Weird dream...

2010-06-19T03:16:00.000+08:00

発見！

2010-06-10T01:37:00.002+08:00

那天，在 Lenus 的公司里发现了超大号的面包超人，豆腐和 Domo-kun (^ _ ^)
口~爱~

Still

2010-06-03T02:33:00.001+08:00

空

2010-06-02T23:33:00.001+08:00

空に高く舞い上がる

2010-06-01T01:26:00.000+08:00

Moments @ Pulau Ubin/ Chek Jawa

2010-05-31T01:11:00.000+08:00

22nd May (土曜日) - 重返 Pulau Ubin/ Chek Jawa （第二卷）

2010-05-30T00:41:00.005+08:00

经历过Atlas Moth宝宝的意外惊喜后，我们便到 mangrove boardwalk 走一趟。
一路发现不少有趣的沼泽生物。例如，各种沼泽螃蟹。。。

各种弹涂鱼（mud skipper）。。。

蜥蜴（也俗称四脚蛇/monitor lizard）, 以及 mangrove palm 等沼泽生物。

这之后，大家都累了。于是，我们开始往另外一个方向骑回原点。
这中间，我们经过了可克石场(Kekek Quarry)，

以及甘榜水池，

才终于抵达原点！

大家都二话不说，一窝蜂的往最靠近的杂货店跑去，各自点了冷饮来消暑解热。

我一边喝着冷饮，一边‘参观‘那旧式的杂货店。
店里的鹦鹉十分配合，还让我拍了几张照（^ _ ^）

当大家都较‘清醒'时，我们才赫然发现已经快五点了，我们却连午饭都还没吃。
于是，我们便迁移到旁边的煮炒店叫一些食物来暂时温饱肚子。
在等待食物来临的当儿，就随手拍了一下照片：

好‘复古‘的警察车喔！应该是属于警察穿短裤的那个年代的吧？

奇怪的狗狗：

旧式的咖啡店。在新加坡应该已经找不到了吧？

在离开岛之前，我们在码头附近闲逛一番，还发现了可爱的小狗狗（我们怀疑是岛上的警察养的）。。。

还有八号房子的小白！

离开前还带着依依不舍的心情，瞭望对岸的风景：

船来咯！是时候离开了。

再见，乌敏岛。

（终）

22nd May (土曜日) - 重返 Pulau Ubin/ Chek Jawa （第一卷）

2010-05-29T01:26:00.009+08:00

三年前，去了一趟乌敏岛(Pulau Ubin)以及仄爪哇湾(Chek Jawa),对它念念不忘.
三年后,又一时兴起,重返乌敏岛以及仄爪哇湾...看看它有没有任何的改变.

在樟宜码头(Changi Jetty)等待船开动的当儿,随手拍了以下照片:

快靠岸了!

终于到了!

先和‘当地‘的狗狗们打声招呼...

再去租一辆适合自己的脚踏车!

在骑去仄爪哇湾的途中，我们时不时会经过或发现一些有趣的风景。
例如，较‘新式‘的甘榜木屋...

被废弃已旧的甘榜木屋...

以及突然出现在我们眼前却又很快消失不见的山猪.

骑了一个钟头左右才终于抵达仄爪哇湾！

在大伙儿忙着各拍各的当儿（以下图片参杂了几位路人甲）...

我便跑到一边去观赏自然生态。例如以下照片显示 (^＿^)

待了好一会儿，有人不小心滑倒了，必须去清洗一番.
于是我们大伙儿便到附近的 House number 1 去小休片刻，顺便换换拍照的地点.
那时间，突然觉得又累又饿。幸好过来乌敏岛之前有自备一些三文治，否则一定会饿死.
我和Tuk还到 House number 1 前面的小码头去慢慢品尝那些三文治.

正当我们要离开到 mangrove boardwalk 时，Tuk 突然发现宝了！
原来是一只超大又肥的毛毛虫！这可是我有生以来，看过最大只的毛毛虫了.
在近距离拍它时，(我）全身的毛都站了起来。但同时间，又觉得它很可爱。真矛盾.

后来回家上网查了才知道它是 Atlas Moth 的宝宝.
Atlas Moth 属于世界上最大型的飞蛾之一。它的 wingspan 能长到25至30cm 那么宽.吓死人了！

（再续...）

If only I could... would I?

2010-05-19T22:24:00.001+08:00

8th May (土曜日) - Pixar @ Science Centre。阴天。

2010-05-12T01:48:00.004+08:00

纳闷。场内禁止拍照。

5th May (水曜日） - 没有花的第6年

2010-05-10T00:15:00.006+08:00

So, it's our 6th Anniversary. And it's supposed to be romantic. But no.
Oh well (*roll eyes*). Someone should really set up a class called "How to get romantic" or something along those lines. I think it would be a hit. Almost all gfs would rush to sign their bfs up for this class, and I would be one of them.

Initially, we planned to take the day off and trade a busy workday with fun time at Universal Studios (Singapore). But we had to cancel our plan as prior work commitments didn't allow us to do the swap.

So, after a long and tiring day at work, Tuk took me to a tea/ dessert lounge @ The Mandarin Gallery - Arteastiq. It's hidden within a furniture shop so it took us some minutes to locate it.

The dessert's really great! Not to mention the vanilla champagne gelato in rose tea - luv it! It's a good place to chill out and have some afternoon tea. But I wasn't exactly in the mood for dessert, not when we were starving and hadn't had dinner.

So, we headed back to Somerset@313 to see if there's any other food we can munch on. And we decided on Trattoria Cucina Italiana - a real bad decision. The staff were really courteous but there was a system glitch so we only got our food after 40mins of waiting. And it turned out that the food wasn't great either.

So, there. This kinda sums up our 6th Anniversary.
No surprise(s). No candle light. No flower(s).
You get the drift.

1st May (土曜日) - Fairy shoot & scrumptious meal @ Wild Honey

2010-05-09T21:38:00.005+08:00

Once again I woke up darn early (on a weekend and a PH some more) and got my ass up to CCK so that Tuk and I could dress Kayley up in pink from head to toe, put her in her wing and snapped away. Well, you see, I just couldn't resist the urge to get that pink butterfly wing when I chanced upon it at Mini Princesses @ Changi Airport T2 about a week before. And after explaining to my sis about what we're gonna do after dolling Kayley up, we all got very excited and decided to get to the shoot asap...

After the long, tiring session, we finally managed to take a nap when we got home. Just a teenie one before we were up and about again. This time, to Wild Honey @ The Mandarin Gallery for dinner. Absolutely yummy and pleasant service. I was kinda surprised that an average meal cost only about S$30 (one main course plus a drink), considering that it's situated within the hotel shipping arcade - which usually meant uber expensive stuff. What a pleasant surprise indeed (^_^)

Too bad I was left out of the "Iron Man 2" viewing ('coz Mr-you-know-who-you-are did not wait for my answer and abandoned me before I could say yes to the show). So after the delicious meal with Akong/ Tanpopo/ Cheryl, I had to make my way home sadly and alone.

And here's a clue on who's "Mr-you-know-who-you-are":

ikan の旅

马六甲之旅 （“随手一拍”篇）- Nov 2011

马六甲之旅 （夜市篇）- Nov 2011

马六甲之旅 （食物篇）- Nov 2011

Turning 28 @ the zoo - Part II

Turning 28 @ the zoo - Part I

Underwater world with 家族 - Part IV (最後)

Underwater world with 家族 - Part III

Underwater world with 家族 - Part II

Underwater world with 家族 - Part I

Creatures @ Sabah - 20th/ 21st May

Chasing lights @ Sabah - 21st May

Sunset @ Sabah - 20th May

WS' birthday lunch @ Da Luca Italian Restaurant - 23rd Apr

Jalan Jalan Trengganu - 8th Apr

Seeing double?

Snapshots of March (^ - ^)

STUCK!

A sneak peek @ my pre-wedding photos

Pretty nail extensions that came with a price...

The princess' 2nd birthday

JJ Lin - "I AM" concert @ S'pore Indoor Stadium

Cute booth @ Plaza Sing.

Farewell lunch @ The Banana Leaf Apolo

Bridal Shoes from TANGS • Studio

The wedding invite. Ta~da!

21st Feb (Mon) - Food tasting

Tea break with the gang (after gown fitting session & dinner)

Gown selection/ fitting

A peek @ the wedding car

CNY randoms

les bandes de mariage

Meet my new ipod/iphone docking speaker

Walking with dinosaurs... very, very slowly...

Archived randoms

18th Nov (Thurs) - Makan!

Engaged - 14th Nov (Sun)

14th Nov (Sun) - ただいま、I'm home!

12th Nov (Fri) - Oslo

11th Nov (Thurs) - Tromso

8th Nov (Mon) - Rovaniemi, Lapland

7th Nov (Sun) - Rovaniemi, Lapland

5th Nov (Fri) - Stockholm

2nd Nov (Tues) - Back in Copenhagen

1st Nov (Mon) - Iceland Day 7 + Back in Copenhagen

31st Oct (Sun) - Iceland Day 6

30th Oct (Sat) - Iceland Day 5

29th Oct (Fri) - Iceland Day 4

28th Oct (Thurs) - Iceland Day 3

26th Oct (Tues) - Iceland Day 1

25th Oct (Mon) - Copenhagen

24th Oct (Sun) - Berlin

21st Oct (Thurs) - Amsterdam

18th Oct (Mon) - Brussels

15th Oct (Fri) - Paris

10th Oct to 12th Oct - Zurich/ Luzern/ Swiss Alps

9th Oct (Sat) - Munich

5th Oct to 7th Oct - Prague

4th Oct (Mon) - Vienna

2nd Oct (Sat) - Verona

30th Sept (Thurs) - Venice

28th Sept (Tues) - Florence/ Pisa

24th Sept to 26th Sept - Pompei/ Amalfi/ Napoli

23rd Sept (Thurs) - Rome

19th Sept (Sun) - Nice/ Monaco

18th Sept (Sat) - Bordeaux, France

15th Sept (Wed) - Barcelona

12th Sept (Sunday) - Santiago de Compostela (Spain)

Let my journey begin - 11th Sept (Sat)

Baby•Bubbles

1st Aug (日曜日) - randoms @ NMS

Cai Guo-Qiang: Head on & Vortex

昨天•雨天

早到的生日礼物

17th July (土曜日) - Ma's belated bd lunch

15th July (木曜日) - Martial Combat @ RWS

Forces of nature

3rd July (土曜日) - NDP Preview @ Padang

Sometimes, the most mundane stuff in life makes me happy...

I had cookie monster a few days ago (^ _ ^)

马六甲之旅（“随手一拍”篇）- Nov 2011

马六甲之旅（夜市篇）- Nov 2011

马六甲之旅（食物篇）- Nov 2011