Friday, November 16, 2007
Thanks so much again to everyone who remembered my birthday, and who bothered to send me sweet messages on MSN, email, facebook, or in my blog. Really made me feel special on that day... even so far away from home I could feel the warmth of the Singapore sun... erm... alrite nva mind.. I just appreciate ur little gestures.. thanks!
My birthday last week wasn't really happening.. spent q some time trying to come to terms with the fact that I'm already a quarter-centurian! Can still remember the days when I was young.. where have all the years gone! But at least looking back I think the years have been spent quite fruitfully lah... wrong decisions made.. but I learnt from them.. and still quite proud to be where I am today..
Then I went out for my usual off-day jog. Finally ran my record distance liao.. 11.5km.. still way to go towards 42.. but at least I'm still comfortable... actually not that comfortable cos all the pounding on the gravel caused my hips to hurt quite abit later!
My housemates injected some life into the day though.. they pretended to go to slp early then charged into my room to surprise me with a cake and lots of luffter.. so nice of them! Later in the evening we went out for buffet dinner at the Chinese restaurant in Slough Central. Wow dinner there was really good stuff ah.. and we thot lunch was good oredi! There was alot of seafood.. buttered prawns, mussels, calamari... quite fresh summore! Then there was even Peking duck, on top of the heaps of fried noodles and rice and sweet and sour pork and ribs and everything else. The dessert was terrific too.. cheesecake, jelly, chilled green bean soup, ice cream.. even gummy bears and jelly beans of all things! Thoroughly stuffed and enjoyed ourselves.. been so long since we ate buffet le.. so quite a good time to put some weight on to prepare for our trip to Copenhagen!
^^ Dun be decieved by this innocent looking cake.. Its one rich chocolate cheese cake.. one piece can fill u up! Its nice thou!
^^ Me, my housemates, and my birthday cake!
And that trip was right on the next day! Still had to work last Friday, and after work I dashed home, knowing I had to bathe, shave (couldnt bring a shaver onto the plane so cannot shave the next 3 days!), pack my luggage and change in 1hr! It was a mad rush.. luckily I'd made a list of wat to bring.. and we even managed to make it for the earlier train which was late on its schedule, and arrive in London with 40min to find our way to Gloucester Place to catch the airport bus. From the map I'd printed from the net I managed to navigate there within 20min! But the gals went separate from us and lost their way, so we still missed the bus we were booked on. Luckily there were enuff seats on the next bus to fit us all in... very lucky indeed cos there were 14 seats on the bus and we took up 5 of the seats oredi!
^^ The EasyBus which rocked us to the airport
^^ Arrival at our temporary accomodation for the nite..
^^ ... to find the floor lined with sleeping bodies oredi!
The nite was spent in the airport.. Stansted is actually not as rundown as I'd thought! I keep thinking I've been there before, but it was Gatwick where I spent a nite 2 yrs ago.. and Gatwick is really the bad one! Anyway I think Stansted can easily rival Heathrow on cleanliness and shops and comfort.. haha but by comfort I dun mean sleeping on the floor.. It was still a tough nite rolling on my bad back freezing like anything on the floor... but that's the way it has to be if u wanna get the best deals on bus and flight tix ah.. so no choice!
^^ Stansted in the morning, abuzz with activities from the hordes of budget travellers with no money to spend in the countless shops
^^ Our EasyJet
^^ Beautiful skies, as seen from the skies
^^ Aloha Copenhagen!
^^ Wonderful Copenhagen... bird flu!!?
Copenhagen brings images of a dreamy, laid back place to mind.. and it really didn't disappoint at all. The streets were teeming with Danes on bikes.. the people were really nice.. the skies were beautiful.. streets clean.. buildings beautiful.. its all praise for the city manz! Well everything but the prices!! Charles told me it's one of the top 10 most expensive cities in the world, and I got a taste of it myself... I tried converting the prices back to sgd, and it totally put me off buying anything at all! Then bo bian I started converting to pds.. not as bad.. but still more expensive than UK! I think the people there muz really earn alot for them to survive in such an economy.. with the high prices, and the massive 45% slice of their salary which goes to the govt as taxes! Okie lah.. apart from the heartache when we spent $$, Copenhagen was really enjoyable. As I said, people there are nice and always ready with a smile, and that made me feel at home oredi. Its also amazing how the place can maintain that laid back kind of charm even as it's such a modernised society and developed economy. There was a good blend of old historic buildings and the ultra-modern ones, which made the place so different. Haha hard to describe, but I like it alot! Oh and it was only by going to Denmark that I realised that Sweden and Denmark are home to so many of the big MNC companies around! Even Maersk the shipping company is Danish, and even more incredibly it accounts for almost half the GDP there according to Charles' cousin!
^^ The ultra sleek, driverless Metro train
^^ Streets of Copenhagen
^^ Our hostel, "Hotel" Jorgensen
^^ A bike stand the people lock their bikes to
^^American police car in Copenhagen??
^^ Changing of guards in front of the Royal Palace.. I'm incredibly curious how they manage to see through that ridiculous headgear!
^^ Erm.. some cathedral... looks nice thou
^^Me up to my jumping act again!
^^ This guard life super senang! Can roll eye, can turn head.. then even start talking!! Best of all was when he decided to start prowling around his guard post to warm his cold toes!
Prices there were sky-high, but temperatures were extremely low! We'd thot it would be something like UK, but i think it was actually way below that! We spent the 1st day there just walking around after dumping our bags at the hostel. Charles' cousin was nice to come to the airport to pick us up from the airport, and in him we had a good guide to the city.. add it it Charles with his mapreading skills, and we managed to cover alot of ground in the little daylight time we had. By this time of the year the sun goes to sleep by 5pm, and the attractions shorten their opening hrs in tune with that. Even worse, alot of them are actually closed for Xmas decorations... no wonder the immigration officer at the airport told Elsa its not a good time to come for holidays! Haha no matter lah.. we'd no intention of entering the Tivoli theme park aniwei mah.. imagine a rollercoaster ride at sub-zero temps.. freeze to death lor!!We walked along the river, through some of the many parks, and went to see the famous Little Mermaid! That one wasn't quite as impressive as the scenery in the parks.. no wonder one travel guide says its one of the most pointless famous attractions in the world.. aiyoh the statue so small and look so ke lian along the coastline.. but its the story behind it which brings the world's attention to it ah.. but the scene became even more dramatic when it started hailing! At first they were insisting that it was rain when I told them it was ice on my jacket.. then it picked up speed and started pouring from the skies, bouncing off our heads, body and the ground.. quite romantic sia.. ice falling from the skies by the little mermaid! Wah but it wasn't too comfortable when some of the pellets squirmed their way underneath our clothing and started melting and freezing us!
^^ State of the art new Opera House by the waterfront
^^ Our naked friend David decided to shift to colder pastures??
^^ Dark clouds loom
^^ The anchor, a symbol of the contribution of the marine sector to the Danish economy
^^ Neptune standing guard at the park near the Little Mermaid
^^ This.. is the reason why I like the place so much!
^^ The Little Mermaid.. as some say... one of the most bo liao famous attractions in the world!
^^ Lady selling roasted almonds
^^ And then the ice pellets started pelting from the skies
We went back to the city centre for lunch, and couldn’t find anything decent for a decent price.. There wasn’t any special Danish cuisine on offer too, so we settled for a Mexican restaurant! Farnie ah.. first time eating Mexican food is actually in Denmark! It din come cheap too.. around SGD$15 for tortilla stuffed with meat, with rice and salad.. not bad lah.. thou it wasn’t filling! We din want to spend too much for dinner le, so we went to a supermarket to get some food. We couldn’t get any instant food cos there wasn’t any microwave to use at the hostel, so we settled for some traditional Danish bread (rugbrod or something lidat) and Danish tomato mackerel in a squeezy tube.. it wasn’t bad.. nice simple Danish stuff in the hostel basement kitchen with nice company.
^^ Notice the guy in blue? Yup thats the tallest guy in the world standing guard in front of the Guiness museum
^^ Busy city square
^^ Danish pastry
^^ Elsa's tuna steak
^^ Wanqin's tuna and pasta
^^ Jieli's grilled chicken and rice
^^ My meat-stuffed tortilla and rice
^^ Underground latrine
^^ People rushing home in the freezing cold
^^ Danish liquorice
^^ Me and my viking fren
^^ Somehow Harry Potter got beamed onto this tower
^^ Bikes aren't locked to anything here.. their wheels are locked.. I was quite amazed they are left all over the streets without anyone stealing them! The wind did its trick blowing them over though!
^^ 2 limosines, for the super rich kids in a restaurant having a birthday party!
^^ Put in a bottle, get back some cash!
^^ Shot through the window panes of a closed art musem.. does look pretty artistic indeed
^^ The town hall!
^^ Dun they look cute?
^^ Hard Rock Cafe by nite
^^ Our dinner mackeral paste and rugbrod and Danish cookies
^^ Breakfast spread!
^^ Bicycles all over the street
The second day we wanted to wake up early, but all of us managed to oversleep! So by the time we went down there wasn’t anyone in the kitchen already. Breakfast was normal hostel fare.. ham and salami and cereal and Danish bread. Ate our fill, and I even dabao some for lunch later, by then knowing the food prices in Denmark. I spread the dabao syndrome to my friends as well.. and in the end we all had our lunch packed! We shivered our way to the train station in the freezing cold.. its amazing how the Danes can survive can cycle in the cold everyday! We took a train to a border town Helsingor, and the feel there was totally different from Copenhagen.. peaceful, tranquil, even more laid back!
^^ Snowy scene by the railway tracks
There’s a castle there on which the Shakespeare play Hamlet was based, and the view there was impressive.. this castle was quite diff from those in UK, and I was quite interested to find out wat it looked like inside. But we were in a rush to get to Sweden, so in the end we juz viewed it from outside. Well but the view from outside was impressive enuff oredi! Words wun do justice to it, so take a look at the fotos below ba..
^^ The castle from afar
^^ Viking ship, sailing ships...
^^ Dog snore??
^^ Armaments ready!
^^ The sun, a wilted tree, a lone ship cruisin' on the calm Scandanavian waters
^^ and I leap again!
^^ and kena beaten up for it!
^^ Oops I din do dat on purpose!
^^ Wat plan??
We then took a ferry across the narrowest part of the straits to Helsingborg in Sweden.. 2 Helsings.. but the feeling was evidently different. Maybe we should make a trip to Helsinki next time to see wat it looks like! We walked around town abit, and then took a train over to another town Malmo. We wanted to stop by in Lund, where Yingyi did her exchange, but cos the skies was oredi dark by 4+ we decided to give it a miss. When we arrived, Malmo was quite disappointing. Sunday nite, and everything was closed. Few people on the frozen streets, and there wasn’t much scenery nor architectural splendour to speak of, so we juz walked around looking for things to see.. we saw the tallest building in Sweden.. but it sorta look like any other high rise building in Singapore, only it was twisted like a human torso... after awhile we gave up and started looking for shelter from the cold instead. This came in the form of steak restaurant... again not the traditional Swedish fare we were looking for, but we had no choice cos this was more or less everything there was on offer in Malmo. There wasn’t anywhere selling the Swedish meatballs Elsa and Wanqin were looking for apart from Macs, and they were not about to settle juz for a fast food dinner in Sweden, so they walked into the grillery, and we found seats on the long table rite in front of the grill. The extreme cold turned into a comfortable warmth against our numb faces as our fingers thawed out and the aroma from the grill wafted towards us. The burger I ordered was not bad.. but it was as expensive as ever.. the fries effectively filled me up, and broke a hole in my wallet when the bill came and I saw that it was not included with the burger!! When the waitress asked me if I wanted fries I asked her if it came with the burger and she nodded with a “come together”.. then later she denied she ever said that.. and said she was saying “no come together”!!! So kena conned of 27Kr (thats almost SGD7!) for nothing! That incident effectively summed up our time in Malmo.. cold, miserable, unpleasant! Still I’ve high hopes for Sweden. I’ve always had good impressions of this country (since the World Cup 13yrs ago I’ve started liking Sweden for no good reason!) So hopefully my next trip there next year will help resurrect my good impressions ba!
^^ Cross strait ferry
^^ Smoke chamber within the ship, with a satisfied-looking customer
^^ A parting shot at the castle
^^ Ship open its jaws wide!
^^ Sweden here we come!
^^ Swedish fone booth
^^ Sun starts to set
^^ Helsingborg town hall
^^ Guarding the peaceful own of Helsingborg
^^ Rubber train??
^^ Dark and gloomy Malmo.. unwelcoming leh!
^^ Okie lah.. at least they say no to violence
^^ Empty streets
^^ Castle? Looks haunted!
^^ Finally spotted some lifeforms.. warm and comfy under the farnie looking heaters!
^^ The grillery
^^ Jieli's pork cutlet
^^ Charles' burger with capsicums
^^ My burger pales in comparison
^^ Marching with the band!
When we got back to Copenhagen, we found out that it had been snowing that day! We missed the spectacle, but there was still snow on the sidewalks, and piled on the cars.. quite a beautiful sight! Some of the guys hadn’t seen snow before, so they were quite amazed. I was just surprised at how early the cold has come dis year, and how it’s too early to be hitting sub-zeros.. must be the work of climate change.. freak weather everywhere.. its now sub-zero at nite in UK too liao.. in mid-Nov!!? And I heard it’s been raining nonstop back in S’pore hor? Worrying ah... let’s save the earth manz!
3rd day we just walked about town trying not to slip on the ice.. and Charles’ cousin brought us to this “lawless” village where the government has given up trying to rule it. It’s called the free land of Christianhavn or something lidat.. and apparently alot of drug dealing and gang activities go on in there one.. quite exciting to walk thru such a “dangerous” place.. and I was daring enuff to keep taking fotos too.. despite half expecting someone to grab my camera from behind!
Afterwards, we went to this store Tiger which Yingyi recommended. Its the equivalent of the $1.99 shop in S’pore, but prices ranged from $3-$6.. seemed like nothing much to buy, but still managed to spend $30.. felt quite guilty after that haha...
Our Danish adventure ended with another mini-drama at the airport.. we had 25min to do some last minute shopping, but were flagged down by 2 anxious Chinese tourists who couldn’t understand English, and thought the immigration officers had forgot to stamp on their passports! They couldn’t even locate their boarding gate, so I ran around with them to look for some airport staff who could help. In the end it was a false scare for them.. their flight was actually bound for Munich, still within EU, so of course no stamp lah! Showed them to their correct boarding gate, and by then there was just 10min left for Jieli to spend his remaining 180Kr.. haha so we ran around sweeping up all the Danish chocs he could find in order to exhaust those coins with holes in em (Danish coins are like ancient Chinese coins got holes in them one!)
Back in Slough.. this week was totally torturous.. din get enuff sleep the nite we came back, and it was 3 straight days of work after that, so I was just hanging on for my off day, which has finally come, and passed! (very fast hor... I can’t believe I spent a whole day on a blog entry!) Weekend ahead of me... no plans yet.. mebbe I’ll just stay in and rest!
senz posted at 11:30 AM
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