Happie happie 2008 my friends! Thanks for all your greetings, and I apologise for taking so long to post this entry once more! Came back from my 3 week long trip to Germany, Eastern Europe and Scotland, then for the past week I've had my hands full with all the laundry, washing my muddy shoes, unpacking my stuff, packing my room, and most recently, with typing my 2nd report to EDB to claim my allowance for the next 3 months!
In the meantime, I've got for myself quite a bad sore throat and a dry chesty cough to start off the new year, and its day and night keeping colleagues at work wary of me and my housemates awake at nite!
Now a bit on my trip.. Bavaria and parts of Eastern Europe were invaded on our December march, and we did enjoy ourselves most of the way. Lots of sights, sounds, FOOD!!! Go Germany of course can't miss out on their beer and bratwurst sausages, and we announced our arrival in Munich by trying this hot red wine (mulled wine) made with red wine (isn't it obvious) and secret spices. The drink was quite strong surprisingly. It's nice and sweet, but after a while the alcohol content sinks into you and evrthing just goes spinning! Haha maybe we drank it on an empty stomache, so it made us quite queasy. We topped the queasiness with some greasy German sausages and meat patties in buns.. really superb in the cold cold Bavarian winds! Dunno wat they marinate their meat with leh.. its so different from the normal sausages we get in the UK.. no wonder they're so famous! Munich is the capital of Bavaria, and we spent just enough time there to appreciate the grand old buildings and cathedrals. Not enough time though to visit the famous science museum cos we were too busy searching for a certain museum of oddities. After a long long hunt we finally discovered that the museum had closed down!! Grrr!
Our tour of Bavaria included Munich, Nuremberg, Ulm and a castle on a mountain at Neuschwanstein. Of these, I think the most attractive place has to be Neuschwanstein, with its castle gleaming pristine on the white snowy mountain. In fact, this is the most photographed structure in Germany! It was one of the fantasy castles King Ludwig II dreamt up and built to pay homage to Richard Wagner, whom the King had respected. The interior was as much a fairy tale castle as it looked outside, and thou we were not supposed to take pictures inside, I did manage to sneak quite a few!
At Nuremberg, we saw one of the biggest, grandest Xmas markets u'll ever get at the town square, as Charles say "the grandmother of all Christmas markets"! Here Charles had his turn at taking on the deceivingly innocent-looking mulled red wine despite my warning, and his world started spinning too. He turned red and promptly fell aslp after we arrived back at the hostel!
Along a way, a mistake reading the German train timetables (the German words were totally alien to me!) landed us in a city called Augsburg for 1.5hrs.. it was so freezing cold outside we din feel like going out to explore, and to our delight we found a supermarket in the mall adjacent to the station. To me, German supermarkets meant just one thing.. cheep chocs!!! So we went running towards the automatic doors, and for the next 1hr, were heaping the chocs into the trolley (and at the same time trying to avoid knocking wine bottles over with our cumbersome backpacks!)
While in Munich, we also managed a day trip across the border to visit Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart! Another truely amazing place.. everything was white and snowy there.. and the hillsides were really straight off The Sound of Music... well the hills were alive... with the sound of Mozart! In fact, I think they're so obssessed with Mozart just about evrthing is about him! Mozart liquor in almost every store. Cut-out lifesize figures of Mozart holding out his trademark marzipan chocolate to u at every street corner!! Haha I was quite amused by that, but that aside, I really like Salzburg. I think the people there were really nice, and the sights simply amazing. The prices there were not as high as Munich or Vienna (not to mention London).. hehe so dis could be one place I can consider retiring to in the future!
After Bavaria we moved on to Vienna, another city steeped on the the cultural scene. We actually had the good fortune of catching snowflakes drifting down from the sky in front of the landmark St Stephan's cathedral.. a dreamy white Christmas. Then on Christmas evening we went to one of the "Palaces" (actually these were the many theatres they had in the city) to catch an orchestra/ballet/opera performance. In fact the promoter (he claims he's a performer, but we dun quite believe a performer would be out on the streets selling tix on the day of the performance) was bragging that this was the exact arena where Mozart and his sister first performed in Vienna! Mozart again... arrgh! We did enjoy the performance.. beautiful areana, wonderful ballet moves, terrific opera voices, and the Vienna Resident Orchestra, though our evening was somewhat soured by run-ins with some snobbish people who thought young Asian backpackers were less "cultured" than their own rude bloated angmoh brains reckon they themselves are! Some rude people can really spoil your impression of a place, and I try hard not to let these black sheep spoil my otherwise good memories of Vienna. The hostel we stayed in at Vienna was well worth a mention as well. Lying on a hillside outside the city centre, it was only accessible by a metro ride, but luckily the travel card we bought ensured we din overspend on transport. Looking out of the windows it was all snowy mountains, one of the most magnificent views I've ever seen from any hostel window! The room was pretty good as well. Personal lockers, personal reading lights, and sturdy new furniture like the kind u'll find in a child's room.. nice and bright! We met a couple of really nice Brazilians who were on their honeymoon backpacking trip. Learnt quite a bit about Brazil from them, and that got me really interested in visiting Brazil sometime in the future!
From Vienna we took a day trip out to Bratislava on Boxing Day. Vienna and Bratislava are in fact the two closest capital cities in the world. The train ride took only an hour, and all of a sudden we were in Slovakia! What a world of difference it was though.. a bit like Johor and S'pore. We blinked a few times to get used it, then started asking for directions. Then I realised that much fewer people know English here than in Vienna. Perhaps it's because Bratislava is less developed and less open to tourists ba. The people here were very straight-in-your-face, but I thought they were more simple, nicer people than those we were to meet in their brotherland Prague. We walked towards the city centre, expecting to find a bustling town full of tourists, but were somewhat disappointed to find the streets empty. The Bratislava tourism board people had replied to my email promising me that all attractions will be open on Boxing Day, but in fact, the most important ones, such as the Primates Palace and the castle, were all closed! I was so angry and disappointed lor.. cheated into visiting the city on the wrong day! Yup thinking of it.. I should send an email to the tourism board to demand an explanation! But apart from that, we pretty much covered the whole of the old town in Bratislava in the day, and even tasted some traditional Slovak cuisine in a recommended restaurant at quite reasonable prices! In fact, I just chose the restaurant randomly cos the prices looked better than those on the High Street, and only later realised it's recommended in the travel guide! Their traditional food makes use of a lot of goat cheese and stewed meat, and is often served with potato dumplings. These were starchy "kuehs" which tasted like rice cakes. Quite nice with the meat gravy! Then we also got to taste poppyseed flavoured crepes and cakes.. I was waiting for it to make me high.. but it din leh! It was quite nice though.. abit like black sesame. Bratislava is actually quite a charming little town.. nice little buildings (we saw the narrowest shopfront in Europe) and a much cheaper place as compared to Vienna. The castle was pretty magnificent from the outside, and it was just a pity we couldnt go in. We met some nice people at the souvenir shop outside the castle though, who gave us discounts after I bargained for a long time with them, and even gave me a clay model of the castle after they heard of how I was conned by the tourism board!
From Vienna, we flew over the border to nearby Prague. We would've taken the train, but flying was apparently much cheeper than taking the train between countries in Europe. Prague leaves me with very mixed feelings. In our 2 days there, we saw some of the magnificent sights that earned Prague the label as Europe's most beautiful city, but also met some of the most rude people we came across during the whole trip. The city was really beautiful, and all the Christmas lightings and the Christmas markets made everything seem so magical. Most of the buildings were really historic.. centuries old, but in surprisingly good condition. In fact, even our hostel was a 16th century building! It was pretty tourist-friendly too, with English signs and many people speaking at least a dash of English. And more importantly shops stayed open till almost midnight.. unseen in any other European city I've visited, but I didn't mind it at all! This makes me wonder if the Czech govt had been planning for this in the closing years of the Communist rule. Perhaps they'd been busy building "historic" buildings, planning for the tourism industry.. who knows.. since everything was closed to us before the iron curtain was lifted! But whatever the case, I must say they've done quite a good job. The Prague castle was a tad disappointing though. It was beautiful on the outside, and there was this street lined with 16th century shops inside which was quite enchanting. The cathedral was pretty outstanding as well. But the old palace was simply a disappointment because it didn't look like a palace at all! Looked more like an aged museum looted of half its exhibits! Then these exhibits had explanations capable of putting the most avid history fans to sleep! A full-length explanation of everything in semi-broken English.. I gave up trying to read after a while!
Food and shopping in Prague was something else we enjoyed! At the Christmas market, we tried this very large Hum Jim Pang textured kind of pastry buttered with garlic and cheese. Super huge, super oily, but super nice.. especially in the freezing temperatures! We ate some Prague sausages too.. distinctly different from German ones (dun ask me in wat way.. cos I cant tell! only know dey taste different haha), but equally nice! On our 2nd nite we ordered a meat platter at a pub recommended by the hostel, and it was quite good! Served with the potato dumplings we'd seen in Bratislava, only this time dey were accompanied by rice and spinach dumplings as well! Downed with the famous Prague-brewed beer.. made for a great meal! We spent quite a lot on shopping in Prague as well.. as I said this place was simply made for tourists.. all the souvenirs and keepsakes were so nice and intricate u just had to buy them! And the crystals!! How can anyone leave without buying some of the local produce! We ran out of cash, and had to draw more money from the ATM, but I think it was really money well spent lah.. I'd save up when I get back to UK!
From Prague, we jetted across the ocean, back to the UK. The Jet2 flight we took was in such a tiny plane it got me quite worried for awhile haha! but there were no glitches, and we arrived safely in Edinburgh. After lugging our perpetually-getting-heavier bags up the 70+ steps to the hostel and checking into the hostel, we were out on the streets. Shop windows were plastered with lots of banners and placards advertising the post-Christmas sales, with happie shoppers trotting out of these shops. What a stark contrast this was compared to Bratislava! The streets were bursting as well.. people all out with the New Year cheer, in preparation for the biggest Countdown party in Europe, Edinburgh's Hogmanay. On our 1st nite there, we ate at a pub.. 2 meals for 6.5pds.. and we realised the cost of living in Scotland is significantly lower than in England! Hehe now now... Scotland could come into consideration for my retirement destination too haha!
Anyways we managed to catch a bit of the torchlight procession too. Yingyi told me it was about people walking around with blue light sabres.. budden later I found out it was actually done with real torches.. Thousands of people carrying torches marching on the streets... the purpose I still haven't found out.. but it looked quite amazing.. the river of fire winding down the beautiful streets of Edinburgh! I was in nostalgic mood and went around retracing the footprints i'd planted on my previous trips. I even located the pie shop we ate at 2 years ago.. same prices, same delicious pies!
The next morning, we caught a bus to Glasgow.. then heaving my backpack onto my shoulders and hugging another 20kg bag with all the souvenirs from the whole trip, trudged 2+km to our hostel!! I was nearly dead by the time we reached, and already dreading the return journey back to the bus station! Glasgow was your typical growing city. I'd read in a Geography module that it traced its roots to shipbuilding, and there were even campaigns in the past to clean up the city and make the people more proud of it! Now I understood why. The buildings there were pretty dull and boring. We visited an architechural gallery at the Lighthouse (dis is no lighthouse as its name suggest.. just a 6-storey building) and promptly regretted our decision to go in.. cos the architectural history of the place was simply boring! Buildings have been built to be functional instead of ornamental, so there wasn't anything interesting to speak of, except maybe for architectural students. We did miss out on the more famous attractions Glasgow had to offer.. a famous art gallery, the "West End" and the universtity campus cos its wasn't en route to the city centre. The city centre was disappointing apart from the shopping, thou we managed to find another pub.. even better than the one in Edinburgh.. 2 meals for 6pds.. summore the food was superb!
On the morning of 31st, I made the arduous journey back to the bus station with the 28kg load on my back, then took the bus back to Edinburgh. We met up with Yingyi's senior, who was kind enough to let us leave our bags at his place (I was relieved manz!) and agree to put us up for the nite. We treated him to Pizza Hut buffet to thank him, and I stuffed myself super full at the buffet too! Took a walk around the Royal Mile before a visit to the Scottish History Museum, which totally impressed me. It was very well laid out, the exhibits well lit and uncluttered, and each one with simple, concise explanations.. so much better than the Prague castle!
Later in the evening, we met up with Charles' gang for dinner at a pub recommended by YY's senior. The ambience was good, but it came at a price, and the food was only so-so. After dinner.. the build-up towards the countdown party began. People started spilling onto the streets, beer bottles in hand.. and as the nite wore on, they started getting rowdy. By 11pm the whole street was totally flooded. We were starting to feel uneasy cos our time was split between looking for the others and trying to squeeze through the throngs of drunkards! Just before midnight, YY had to go to the toilet and her senior ran off with some others to see the fireworks. We chased, but lost them. The fireworks were nothing impressive compared to wat we've seen at NDP, and my mind was totally on how to locate the others. The phone networks were totally jammed, and we spent the next 1.5hours combing the streets for YY and JL till dey called at 1.30am! By that time, we were already dead beat. Got some food, then went back to YY's senior's to rest. In the end all the buildup ended in disappointment, and on retrospect, we really should've spent a few more days in Eastern Europe. The street party was probably big for the angmohs cos its the kind of party they like.. few performances of substances.. just lots of drinking, pushing each other, rock music, kissing the random stranger next to you.. but all these din seem any fun at all to me. In any case, drawing on the positives, we did manage to get some good food and do some shopping, and see the Scottish museum, so it wasn't all that bad!
We took the New Year morning flight to Manchester, then a bus to the city centre. Because it was New Year day, the bus schedule was changed, and there were so many pple on the bus the 40min trip became a 1hr30min crawl. It caused us to miss our National Express bus to Liverpool, and we got charged 3pds to change to the next one! Worst thing was that it was 1.5hrs later, so by the time we reached Liverpool later it was already all dark and quiet. Had our dinner at a kebab shop, noticing how the prices were obviously higher than Scotland, then went for a walk around to take in the sights of Liverpool by night. And how beautiful Liverpool was.. elegant little city.. building its fortune upon its port (and more recently tourism). There were plenty of nice buildings, nicely lit against the winter night, and lots of very clear direction signs. We visited the pub and street where the Beatles were born.. really an important place in the history of rock and roll.. in its heyday, many of the world's top bands and groups used to perform at the pub!
The next day was one of the major highlights of my trip.. a visit to Anfield.. not just for a tour, but to catch a proper EPL match!! Tried so hard, and finally managed to get tickets, so here we were.. in football heaven! In the morning, we visited the 2 famous cathedrals of Liverpool, one Catholic, the other Anglican. 2 contrasting designs.. the Catholic one is new, modern and shiny, an architectural feat with the largest surface area of stained glass in the world. The Anglican church at the other end of the same street was a massive structure, which strangely looked a bit out of place in a city such as Liverpool. It was ancient, red-bricked, and the interior was simply carvernous. There lies one of the largest pipe organs in the world, and from the tower, we had a breathtaking view of the whole cityscape.. literary blown away cos the wind at the top of the tower was pretty scary! Coming down from the tower, we walked to the station and hopped onto a bus to Anfield! The visit to the Anfield museum was an emotional affair.. coming face to face again with all the trophies, the jerseys, the history of the team that I hold so close to my heart. I nearly cried watching the video of the Road to Istanbul, even though this was my 2nd time watching it and 2nd visit to Anfield! At the shop, both Jolene and I quite simply lost control. She bought her 1st Liverpool top, and I made her buy a scarf for the match. I tried to resist, but in the end still bought a shirt, and even a toiletries bag cos dey were both half priced! In the end we spent alot, but it was still nothing to the 150pounds I spent ALONE 2 years ago!
In the afternoon, we went back to the city centre to visit the Maritime Museum, Slavery Museum and the Beatles Museum shop (we were told it's not worth gg into the museum so we just visited the shop ;p), but my whole mind was on the match in the evening! In no time at all we were on our way back to Anfield, where we were welcomed by amazing scenes. Thousands of fans flooded the streets outside the stadium.. there were stalls selling merchandise, and even a group of bagpipers playing! Tremendous atmosphere indeed! Our seats on the Centenary Stand, 2nd row from the top.. all the players seemed q small, but at least we got a bird's eye view of the whole pitch. The atmosphere once the match started was slightly disappointing though. The Kop was seemingly still hungover following the new year celebrations and the usual singing was muted to my disappointment. The players seemed lethargic too on a cold cold night. In the end, not everything can go the way I want it to. The match finished with a disappointing 1-1 draw against Wigan, which totally spoilt my mood for the next 2 days!
The following morning, we packed our bags and left Liverpool, me vowing to go back again to catch the Reds playing the way I know they can play and to hear the Kop sing the way I know they can roar! The megabus ride back to London took 5hrs, but it din seem all that long cos we were aslp for much of the journey. Upon reaching London, we trudged a long long way to Paddington in the constant drizzle to deposit our bags. London is no doubt London.. 6.5pds per piece of baggage!!! We had stored 2 pieces for 4euros in other places lor! But we had no choice. Once we were free of our big bags (the strap on my backpack had snapped by now) we grabbed a quick pizza lunch, then walked to Oxford Street to look for some good deals at the post-Xmas sales. At nite, we rounded off our 2week+ trip by watching the Nutcracker performance. Not exactly the classical ballet kind, but rather modern dance with a dash of humour infused. It was quite a good show in the end, entertaining even thou I dunno nuts about ballet at all!
By the time we took the train back to Burnham and trudged wearily home past midnight, we were already totally worn out, and glad to be back in my own bed after the long, eventful journey.
The following day, we were up and about early again. This time it was a day trip to Oxford, the illustrious university town. But we were quite half-hearted about this trip cos we were still so tired, and cos it was raining nonstop the whole day! Oxford was beautiful, but it was nothing compared to the buildings we'd seen in Eastern Europe. Most of the colleges were shut to the public as well, so all we could do was to peek from the outside. We did visit the oldest Blackwell bookstore in the world, with the longest stretch of shelf area in a bookstore in the world, and I actually bought a couple of books becos there were so many on crazy sale! We also saw the oldest museum in the world, the Ashmolean.. wah if museum=old things.. oldest museum in the world would be incredibly old ah! And it did feel really old.. all the floorboards were creaking beneath our feet and the walls look in danger of collapsing! My trip also made me realised just how many famous people are related to Oxford.. Christopher Wren and Tony Blair just to name 2.. really illustrious!
The rain dampened our mood to do much more though, and we were on the train back by 5+, back to boring 'ol Slough!
Now I'm just trying to recover from this persistent dry cough which just refuses to go away. I woke up with my voice totally gone dis morning to my horror, though I've slowly found it back since then. Going for another trip to Brussels next weekend ah.. so I'd better be well in time manz..
In the meantime, sorrie for all these words.. do visit my photo site soon, where all the pics are gonna appear.. hopefully dey can tell the story of my trip better! Have a good weekend then!
