Jogging in cold weather is bad

Today, I jogged in the English Gardens, which next to my hostel. Dont ask me why its called English. Even the directory for the garden below is in German.

Like I used to jog in West Coast Park frequently during my healthy days, I planned to do the same right here. Life's pretty good here when there's good beer and ample food daily. So, some form of exercise should be essential... I don't think walking and getting lost around munich which I'm good at would burn enough calories.

From the map you see, I jogged 1/4 of the map.... Don't laugh ok. I did a measurement from Google Earth. That was around 2.7 km. Not bad for a start yea... :)

However, the after effects was pretty bad. Somehow, I'm just not used to cardio exercise while breathing cold air. So, I ended up coughing a lot right after the jog. Then 3 days of running nose.
Maybe I should wait till summer. Till then, just witness the physical transformation of me. =)

Dachau Concentration Camp

Concentration Camp. The perfect sign of Nazi's attrocities. A small peaceful little town's reputation was forever changed by this establishment.


No, it's not a mass-orgy. This art piece represents the heap of dead bodies (Jews, French, Gypsies, Homosexuals.. list goes on) that were left exposed when the crematarium became too busy. All thanks to 1 man who visioned a better Germany for his future.

Click here for photos on what me, Mario and Reuben saw over there.

"Arbeit macht frei" means work in this place will grant your freedom. The lamest way to cheat the inmates by giving them false hopes.

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.