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.