Salzburg Trip

Piece of advice for exchange students in Munich: Drop by Salzburg for a day or two! Even you're not a Mozart fan or dying to look for happening clubs in Salzburg until you realised that Salzburg lacks the action for night life, just buy a damn Bayern ticket(27 Euros for max 5 ppl) and the train for 2 hours+ only! No way you could miss a UNESCO certified city which is so near to Munich.

No need professional photographers or DSLR cameras, Salzburg sceneries can offer what normal tourists with cheap cameras need. :-)

For some of those who are planning to travel to Salzburg for a day (recommended), here are the places you could visit...

1) Festung Hohensalzburg (Salzburgs fortress)

While Paris has its Eiffel Tower, and KL with Petronas Twin Towers, this fortress has been (and still) a landmark for Salzburg since its foundation. Plus, it a landmark that cant be missed from any parts of Salzburg.

The fortress from the square


From the otherside of the city

From the streets at night. Cool photo, as though the car is shooting lasers.


Besides listening to some educational tours around the fortress, can chill at the fortress, drink beer and enjoy the view.

2) Mozarts birthplace and house


If you're a fan of classical music, then another place not to be missed.

3) Walking along the old streets

Walking around this place is also enough to make your trip worthwhile.

4) Mirabell Palace

Nothing much about this palace, but the gardens are great.

2nd day

If your Salzburg trip is gonna last for more than a day, have a great accomodation at Yo-Ho hostels. Only around 19 Euros for Triple/Quad room. A perfect testimonial by Mario: "The best bed I've ever slept on in Europe so far!". (That is because his bed mattress cannot make it)

Then 2nd day should be the day for excursions outside Salzburg. Many great tours are organised in English.

If you're a Sound of Music fan, then you should go for that tour that takes tourists around the locations of filming like the Von Trapp mansion, or the hills where the girl sang. Another place would be Schloss Hellbrunn that my friend, Grace went.

If you don't fancy the Sound of Music like us, then a visit to the Bavarian Alps shouldnt be missed. Although its in Germany, its just a short journey there and the view from the bus is breathtaking. They should remove the windows for the bus, so that my photos of the sceneries from the bus wont have reflections.

We visited the salt-mines and dressed up as a salt miner.

Then we visited the nearby town called Berchtesgaden. Infamous to be a resort and base for the Nazis last time. But have to agree that the Nazis have a good taste on choosing locations for their retreat from stress in killing millions of people.

Its a great view from the town itself. Great place to bring your girlfriend or wife. Surely, will be a perfect honeymoon trip. However, since 3 of us (all guys) were up there, I guess theres, nothing else to write about.

In the end, it was a great trip. (Hooray, blogged a long 1 this time)

Spring Fest in Munich

Spring fest (or Fruhlingfest) is sometimes nick-named "Octoberfest's lil brother". So, we decided to check it out. Found out that, just like Octoberfest, spring fest mainly caters for youngsters on the rides like a fun-fair while there will be beer tents which also serves food like pork knuckles that worth 1 weeks of meal for me, if I were to eat cooked food in hostel.

Behind us, thats the only ride which I feel packs the punch for any youngsters who want to have the thrills. Too bad I didnt bring my camera that time. So, this picture is from Jasons camera. This ride is something like any other ride you've seen any part of the world, be it from Gold Coast or Genting. But, only thing that interest me was this...

After going through some spins, the water fountain actually shoots higher to cool down the people. In the same time, you can splash water at your friends.

Just like every other fair, you'll see all the young people hanging around. But, 1 thing that puzzles me is that many girls there were wearing gothic-looking clothes. So, in short the fair is just so-so for me. Only great experience was the ride.

I heard that many people would expect some spectacular fireworks in the fair at night. But knowing that night only falls around 930 pm. So, we didnt bother to wait for nightfall and pressed on for dinner at some Italian restaurant. Besides, I dont think I'll see another a better fireworks experience than the 2007 New year countdown by 1Utama-Curve.

ill never miss home food

amazing. 4 weeks ago, i envisioned myself eating kebab, instant pizzas, spagettis, and junk food everyday for the rest of my days in SEP. yeah, thats what an exchange student who know nuts about cooking would do. but, no!

this guy has deprieved me of having these kinds of meal for the past 2 weeks. everyday, he leads in cooking chinese food, with soup and rice. being the head chef among the gang, regular food among exchange students like us will never be the same again.

kudos to Mario!.. *knock* knock* knock* !!!..

wondered why I knocked, i learnt that after every lecture, students will routinely knock the table to show their appreciation and respect to the lecture. its just like replacing clapping with knocking on tables.

anyways, his special ingredients will come here by mid may, once his wife arrives. so, who says that im missing singapore/ malaysia food. ill surely blog about the special local food very soon.

generally, spices here are expensive. 40 grams of garlic costs around 2.50 euro (10 over ringgit). for those who learnt and remember history lesson about spice trade will be very dissapointed. but, in the end, its worth it. Adding ginger+garlic to fried chicken really does magic to the food. another fact about food in germany: the food here is salty. seriously, ever tried salty salad?

what I did last week: visited Deutsches Museum for the 2nd time, jogged in English garden, had a gathering among the singaporeans with some 5 germans. 1 of the best highlight is Deen introducing me to a great site: http://www.alluc.org/alluc/ . its much better than www.peekvid.com .

what I'm gonna do this coming week and beyond: go to the spring festival(lil brother of octoberfest in munich) on friday, saturday- go to salzburg till sunday, monday labour day(havent thought of what to do yet), following sunday go to allianz arena to watch a 2nd devision match of 1860 munich. so hard to get bayerns matches. anyways... forget about watching Bayern munich. they are not worth to watch this season, no ballack and lost the bundesliga title already. heh.

Did a biathlon

I havent exercised for many weeks even before leaving munich.

So, the only daily exercise I do routinely here is just - walking. Yes, walking from train station to my room is exercise. Walking around/to places of interest in Munich like Deutsches Museum, Neuschwanstein, Hofbraeuhaus, and English Garden. Walking to get Kebab is also an exercise. Basically, not having a car is an exercise. Just like Singapore. So that means, in Malaysia I get zero exercise. That is why I was 12 kg heavier before coming to Singapore 3 years ago.

So finally, Ive done my first exercise in Munich. Not 1, but 2 sports. Yeah, cycling and swimming. Yesterday, Wajdie, my Israeli neighbour called me to go for a swim. The prob is the swimming pool is in Olympiapark, the international swimming complex for 1972 Olympics.


Gotta say wow at this impressive architecture, even this building is already 35 years old! Damn.. can thrash Bukit Jalil stadium anytime.

We cycled from our hostel through English Garden (cos I wanted to see how the other side of Gardens look) to a post office near my Uni for him to post some books to Ebay. Then we cycled on to Olympiapark. Just you think Autobahn is synonymous with cars. I was wrong. The urban cyclists like to have their own "mini Autobahn", so catching up with Wajdie was a problem. So, 1 solid exercise done already.

On the way, saw this..

thats the memorial for the Black September incident in 1972. If you watch Munich ( the movie) then you'll know. On top there are Hebrew words, which I didnt take.

Next, swimming. The entry was 3.60 euros. But, I could have gotten a student semester card for 15 euros, but I forgot to bring my student paper. The heating system wasnt good enough for me, so I easily got cramps after half an hour.

Cycled back with lactic acid in my legs. My pants and underpants wet with sweat. But my face was chilling and dry from the wind. Heh.

After dinner(thanks to Super Mario and Bros), checked out a so called "start of semester Party that even have a DJ". But turned out to be a small bar 3 times the size of my room with 20 over ppl only. So, we left after drinking beer and cocktail. Then I KOed on the bed, knowing my body has taken its toll. If this goes on again, I could be a biathlete.

Ok.. signing off with this picture that I photoshopped.

Class starts

I attended 2 lectures on Tuesday. 1 English and 1 German lecture. German lecture is about car engines. That is why I'm trying to attend the next 1 again today. Hope that he doesnt ask me any questions.

Just added a new photo gallery, called Photo Art. Any pictures I took and edited with special effects belong in this album. This is more fun than blogging.

Castle, Lakes, Hills, Snow Mountains, Villages and Magical Things..

Meet Bavaria's bests. From left: Lake, Snowy Mountain, Hills, Hohenschwangau Castle, and Little Towns.

Neuschwanstein Castle

These 2 photos are done by combining few shots into panoramic view. First Ive tried with my 3 year old camera.

How to get there? We took a train from the main station to Fuessen. The journey lasts 2.5 hours. In Fuessen, forget about walking about the town. Just go straight to the castles by bus ride of about 5 km. On the spot, the 2 castles are a sight to behold. The "Disney" castle , Neuschwanstein built by a Bavarian King, while the other is his Daddy's. Just walk and trek around the area with this map below. Gotta admit, my legs did ache halfway during the trip.

To further explain, here's my photo gallery for the trip. Click here.

Later, we went for dinner and gathering with the rest of the SEP gang. Obscenely, there are more than 20 NUS ppl in Munich this semester! Looks like I wont miss Chinese food and Singapore at all! Hurhur..

Next feature, my hostel room... till then.

Quickie Recap

Okie.. finally time to blog once again. What can I say? This blog is just to tell everyone back at home that I'm alright and having a whale of time. So, don't expect it to be journal, diary or some sort.

Recap day 1

I flew on Emirates airline from KL-Dubai-Munich. This picture was somewhere above India at night. Cool thing about Emirates is that they offer over 500 channels of entertainment on the personal LCD screen. Watched few movies, particularly X-Men 3 (finally!, not bad movie) and some tv series like Scrubs for the first time.

Stopover in Dubai for 3 hours, made use of the free wireless there and expected another visitor to Munich this coming May. hmmm... even the whole hall knows about it. -_-", according to Abhi.

Reaching Munich on Easter day was the most stupid mistake ever made so far in this trip. The hostel office was not opened that day. So, I stayed in a hotel nearby. Later, received a mail by Kat (fellow hostelmate) that even 2nd day of Easter is holiday! So, that means I couldnt check into my room for the first few days. Perfect.

Well, I walked around Munich town on a particularly quiet day. So the main square was supposed to be quiet, i assumed. But, some people still flocked over an area.

To watch this! A Chinese man was putting up some of his balancing skills. I salute him for balancing while the wind was blowing quite strong.

Anyways, staying in hotel was an experience. Late TV programs have some "interesting" advertisements. Even Playboy has their own airtime that night.

Day 2

Finally met Kat for the first time in the morning. Gotta thank her for offering her place for me to sleep for the night. I joined her and the rest of the SEP group to visit the Deutsches Museum.

Yup. Germany has an illustrious background and history of their technological advancements, that the main exhibits are their innovations and inventions of the past. It became more of a science center than a museum. Found this awkward cos I watched Night at the Museum on plane few days back. I expected to see Atilla the Hun, Mummies or something. Hee..

Day 3

Jason helped take me around the town to settle all my admin stuffs, like matriculation, accomodation, banking, insurance, applications., etc.. With his help, I managed to settle everything in 2 days. Amazing.

Later went for some shopping in a huge hypermart. Only this caught my eye though. 1 crate of beer, 0.5 l x 12 bottles costs around 10-12 euros. Brands like Augustiner, Becks, includ. I better find out some way to transport them without a car soon. I'll fill in the updates soon, once I secure my best method of transporting this to my hostel.

Day 4

Bayern Munich vs AC Milan that day. No wonder so many Italians roaming around the street. I was expecting them to brawl in the streets. Maybe they are not like Roma fans. In this picture, there is me, with 80000 fans, 22 player, 10 substitutes, 4 referees and 2 managers behind.

Yeah.. the game was on that time.

For more pictures, just check out my personal picasa web album.

Revamp my blog?

Revamp? Since I'll be embarking an unforgetable and adventurous exchange program, finally my blog should function like what everyone expects. But wait, I won't say it will be a frequently updated blog. I don't want to deliver empty promises to my blog reader/fans.

So what changes/additions you'll see in my blog in future?

1) Pictures of food in almost every post

Whether its cooked or purchased, food must be taken before eating. Sooner or later, my blog will be like food lover's.

2) Holding a glass of beer in front of the camera

Yes. Adding a photo of me drinking beer somehow shows how exciting my life in Germany is. Can't explain why. Maybe that makes me look cool and happening , i guess. :)

Maybe, I can be a food critic someday. Like food lover.