My first ordinary post

Finally a simple daily blog post. Nothing fancy about any trips in this post. Just an update from yesterday. But clearly a moment that I've been waiting for. Wanna know? Read on. From chronological order, 12 am: Right after I had a noodle made by Mario and returned from Ruegen, I watched Lost's season finale.

Shouldnt type anything more about it. A real shocking part in the end, even if you know that Lost is continuing for the next 3 seasons until 2010. I shall end here.. if not ill see some hate messages in my chatterbox. But before that.. hehe, I must say the episode is damn good, well written and much better season finale than the other past 2 seasons. Ok.. done.

As you know season finales are mostly 2 episodes long, so I slept around 3 am and woke up around 8 something for grocery shopping. So, I had a major headache all the way and further fueled by the pouring rain and chilling winds. But, it was instantly cured unexpectedly when I was forced to carry 6 bottles of wine plus 6 bottles of coke. Thats 1.5 x 6 litres + 1 x 6 litres = 15 kg, in a box, while enduring the cold winds and rain. Sure adreneline rush killed off the headache instantly. But I shouldnt complain about the weight. Reuben carried 20 kg sack of rice while holding an umbrella. RESPECT.

Aldi. Grocery shopping in Germany for foreign students made easy and cheap. Eat Aldi. Drink Aldi. Buy Aldi. Even theres Talk Aldi. Serious! They have their own prepaid service also, which Im using now. But with lousy reception.

After a good meal, had the moment that I've been waiting for...

Notice that I've been wearing cap always.

Tada! No more cap! and new haircut! No more hiding my overgrown hair beneath the darkness in my cap.

Noler, I'm not a vain person. Must show and be proud of my new hair for a friend who cut my hair. Besides, she also cut another friends hair, Wilson's.

That's Grace. Our "freelance hairstylist". Must stress these 2 words because she really put an effort to style our hair and its free. It was all done in my room with newspapers laid on the floor.

Yikes!

Thanks a lot Grace! Comments are welcomed in my chatterbox. Not because I'm vain or bimbotic, but all these comments are good (hopefull all) inputs for my friend. As by me, I say its pretty good, but she needs a new pair of scissors that is sharper, so that it doesnt pull peoples hair while cutting.

At night, we watched Pirates: World's End

Starring Chow Yun Fatt and Johnny Depp

Like the other Pirates film, this 1 has the most complex plot where many of the characters changed sides from good to bad or vice versa. But forgiven le.. since pirates are meant to be cunning. Shouldnt talk so much about this film. Just sit back and enjoy the jokes and action.

The cinema costs only 5 euros for a normal movie. Not bad le.. Its like watching cineleisure in Singapore, but getting to watch some funny German premovie advertisements is the best la.

Major Trip part 3: Ruegen Island

Finally! I can update my Ruegen Trip blogpost. Thanks to Chong Wee for compiling and burning all the photos by the rest and I. He even did a nice cover for us.


After going to some world famous places like Salzburg, Vienna and Venice, I settled for a somewhat unique and different trip to an island. Ruegen Island is only famous for being the largest island in Germany. It's located in the north of Germany. So, it took 11 hours to reach there and we had to depart at 620 am!

There's the regular 4 of us. The train towards our last stop was only 2 carriages long. This shows how remote Ruegen Island is. 4 of us met in the subway station before we meet the rest at 6 am.

Incidentally, the night before we left, there was a huge Studentenstadt Culum, something like beer+concerts+sausages+kebabs+games festival right at my doorstep.

1 of the concerts. I decided to sleep early cos of the fear of missing the train. But, the other 3 partied on until much later. Apparently, while I was sleeping, they had some beer drinking duel on each other. Girls should know that challenging guys in alcohol drink is always futile. So, poor Wilson the guy had to take care of them by bringing them up to the hostel to sleep and then wake one of them who was drunk up single handedly, while I had my sweet sleep. Kudos to Wilson!

So our trip went without a hitch.

So, we reached our destination at 530 pm. 1 day wasted on the train!

We checked into our hostels. 5 beds. 2 double-deckers. Wilson is so happy being on top sleeping. While I prefer bottom.

We took a stroll around Ruegen's finest parks. Check out the ripples. No inteference sia.


A little R&R.

Is this pespective trick? She may be small, but lets see if we compare with my height.

Hmm.. maybe there's no trick afterall. Btw.. Jialin is a full time student in Munich. Not an exchange student like us. So don't mess with her German. She's in the same spanish class as me.

We also took a boat. Not a cruise like they promised. Oh well, it was fun though.

This is me after the next stop. The rest were still on the boat, and took a photo of me. Yes, it's amazing that my pale-faced and seasick-look still managed to put up a smile and wave at them goodbye. What to do... a man must always show that he's strong from puking on a rocky boat.

There was kareoke session also. There was "Scissor Sisters - Don't feel like dancing" in the machine. But, I failed miserably.

We sat on a steam train for a short thrill.

The best part of the trip: Beach games! Played volleyball and frisbee. I even tried swimming in the sea with some of the juniors. It was so cold that I suggested a survival game, that the last man in the cold water wins. Nah.. I almost win.

Every night there will be card sessions. Mostly bridge. Sometimes asshole-taidi.

The best has to be poker- texas hold'em. (The 1 where James Bond played in casino royale) Instead of using poker chips, we used Haribo Gummy Bears. Innovative huh. No, the winner did not eat them.


Very convenient. Anywhere also can play.

The trip wasn't exactly happening as expected. But, at least I gained some things.

1) Know that many Singaporeans study in Germany. Germany is still popular among middle eastern and China students.

2) Gotta know the current exchange students better. Like Wilson, Jieming, Chong Wee, Yu Cheng and also Grace. Hee..

3) I managed to experience beach life which it's usually unthinkable in Germany.

4) Learnt some tricks in Bridge.

5) Found out that my photography skills need to be improved! Gotta thank Chong Wee again for the photos! The photos taken by others like Chong Wee, Raymond and Jieming are great! For instance, the 3rd picture of this post (the pier) was taken by Jieming. Not me! Wanna see mine?

The angle should be improved. Oh.. wait.. maybe it's because of the person in front! =P

Major Trip part 2: Venice, Italy

V for Vienna and Venice! Finally my big V-Trip is over.

Voila! Allow me to introduce Venice.



A Vanity city, with great View, and the Vanguard of all cities with canals. Even Dubai's Very big Palm Island cant top it for sure. The island may be small, but it ain't a Village. Visitors would be Victims of getting lost Venturing around the city without a map. It's impossible for Vehicles like cars and Vans to be in the city. This city may not have Vivid colours in its surroundings/ buildings nor Varying building styles, the combination of an old city with canals and narrow roads makes it Very special. Too beautiful to expect Vandalism there. Violin players everywhere. Venezia in Italian. Venedig in German. It's still the big V in the end.

Venice. A great Vacation to Visit. Great Value for money even though prices here can be Viciously expensive. Venice. That's all the V I have out of my Vocabulary.



Ok. I may have made Venice further over-rated like what many people have commented. I do agree it can over-rated for many backpackers or low-budget tourists. This is because Venice is ideally for Honey-mooners, cultured people and well-off people (not like us). It's a great place to chill in cafes drinking 2.50 euro cappucinos, on top of paying 5-10 euros for sitting outside. I'm serious! We even saw american tourists doing their own makeshift accapella performance by the streets to finance their further travel plans in venice.


We could have sat this gondola. It's around 78 euros for 4 of us in total plus some further payment as tips to the gondola rider. On top of that, it's only 50 minutes ride. Next time I'll just buy and bring an inflatable rubber sampan.




Then we could have our own "private" boat and park around as we please.

Venice is also famous for narrow roads everywhere. So, you'll see human-traffic jam sometimes. This is because Venice was built hundreds of years ago. So, further renovation or development is impossible.


No, not this narrow. Its just us using a shortcut.


This narrow. This is average only. Can be half is this. Reminds me of playing cs_italy in Counterstrike last time, not only because of the lanes but I was able to hear some classical music around. Sorry, didn't see any chickens to kill though.


Venice is also famous for masks like these. It's based on their history in Venice where there was a man named Casanova (now I know where the word came from). Check the story about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casanova . Quite interesting. But after reading that, please continue reading my blog ya. I even bought 1 for my mum as a souvenir because it looks like a clown. Sadly, I only bought a palm sized mask, while a life size mask costs over 50 euros.

Sighz.. damn blardy expensive ler this place. But we still had a great time there by doing economical activities. Besides visiting those boring cathedrals, we...


ate at a decent restaurant after eating pizzas in cafes. 14.50 Euros for a 4 course meal + 2.50 Euros for the open air ambience. Notice that we were just drinking plain water.



bought the cheapest souvenir there. Around 40 cents each. Venice is also famous for glass making. So this is the smallest glass souvenir they have.
Good to give friends. I didnt buy though. Cos, I spent my last remaining money for my mum's mask. Grace bought quite a lot of them.


ate 6-7 Gelatos there. Finally, something cheaper here. Only 1 Euro each.




tried an Italian special drink called "Spritze". Not bad and it's sweet.

Besides walking around, we took some time of to rest anywere we could sit.


Hang around on the bridge.


Enjoyed great views during sunset.


Jason bought a spongy thing from a guy who sold it on the bridge.

Although we had to stay in this pricey hotel (68 euros for 2 nights), the view was awesome since it's right in the city center. So we also took some time to chill in our hotel to enjoy the sceneries and cam-whore.

Swim? Hee... no way. The canals may look clean without floating rubbish, but the sewerage and toilet system of Venice is still not perfect. In other words, the waters are not clear, even if people dont litter rubbish inside.

Vatican City may have the pope. But it's Venice that has the overwhelming pigeons!

Don't I look caring towards animals?

Quite cool pose... by the pigeons.


Most importantly, the company that I travelled with made my trip worth. Thanks, guys and girl.

Next up. Major trip part 3: Ruegen Island. I'll be away tomorrow early morning till monday. Hopefully less travelling next month. Too tired already.

Till then.

Major trip part 1: Vienna, Austria

Ok. So Vienna is only 5 hours away. So this trip is not so major le.. Just that I hope this trip would be considered "major", so that no further "major" spending in future trips. I have done the following trips so far...

1) Fuessen, Neuschwanstein Castle
2) Salzburg
3) Konstanz + Schaffhausen (not updated yet)


Thanks to Jeremy(left) for showing us around Konstanz. Even though our visit was planned last minute. =)

4) Stuttgart (not updated yet)
5) Vienna
6) Venice

Sorry, I always have to do a recap because of my irregular updating.
Future trips...
7) Ruegen Island (north of Germany)

Proposed trips.. (if have time and monay le)
8) Cologne and Muenster (again! whee)
9) Berlin
10) Amsterdam
11) Dubai =) (if I can change my Emirates Flight)

Firstly, introducing those who visited me last week...


1) Jaburu, who won the business competition in Riga with Veron and Adi. Congrats! and sorry for the misintepreted arrival time.



2) Waylon, on the next day to join us for this trip.


Thanks for visiting yea! It's an honor to have someone to fly all the way to Munich to visit me.. hee.. But, I realised that entertaining friends in a foreign soil, which I'm only 1.5 months experienced here while studying and upkeeping my own chores here is not easy le.. So, for those who want to visit me, your 'application' will be revised by me thoroughly.. heee..

Ok! back to the main topic. Vienna. City of Classical Music, Gardens, Royalties (because one of them's death started World War 1), Palaces, Museums, Arts... So why was I still there, you'll ask?
After visiting significant landmarks like the Schloss Schoenbrunn, Hundertwasserhaus, Hofburg Palace, Augustiner Church.. etc..i realised: forget about art, history, mozarts, musuems...

Just be a cam-whore in front of buildings, landmarks and statues that I have no idea what they are and make your friends get plunged into a vast green pool of envy.


So fun. Can be a 'boy-band'.


Had a Gulasch


Stayed in a nice hostel room which is like an attic.

Of course, we cam-whored ourselves with vienna's finest statues.





Horse carraiges are popular in Vienna






Apart from cam-whoring, I lost my opera-virginity. Yeap... can't believe they were so happy when we purchased a 35 euro opera+classical ticket from this man!



During the half-time of the opera, a small celebration by me and Waylon for being able to stay awake.

In the end, the show was not bad le.. thanks to the emcee who interact with the audience and the songs they played that are quite famous actually (they are classical songs).

We also went to a huge theme park. Only ride I took and that interests me was this 1. Cos instead of sitting position, we had to lie down in this roller coaster. Also, this roller coaster is brought up by a single turning pole that moves the vehicle round a spiral track. Very smart.

Lastly, we leart how to make apple-strudels in a palace. But, I better learn to bake normal cakes first.

I almost forgot to introduce me and my travel mates in this trip: From left, Grace, a baker-lady(not with us), Waylon, Me and Jason. Just read their post on vienna in their respective blogs to know more.