Off to the Netherlands!

After the really wonderful send-off by my relatives and friends (OMG...there's so many ppl! Rovers + Kraken + Scarela + S09 + Fuego + a lot more...) really thanks and glad to see you guys there, sorry that I had to rush off as I had a plane to catch! But seriously, I was glad for the turn-out, but I had to disappoint some by not having time to talk/take pictures, so hope that you guys dun blame me for it k?! :)

Thanks to the following for coming (and to those who sent their smses, thanks a whole lot! Lub u deep deep!):
My cousins, Cynthia, Tiffany, as well as my uncle and aunts.
26ths - Candice, Lianguo, Kheng Hui, Laiyee, Jorin, June, Heng Hong
27ths - Hwibee, Pei Geok, Geraldine, Mufeng
S09 - Guanyu, Weichuan
Fuego - Anqi, Weili
Kraken - Ryan, Ghim Song, Yvonne, Junrong, Weihong, Michelle, Aprine, Yingxi
Scarela - Ethan, Matthew, Samantha
Okailer - Yihui, Jian Long
Others - Amanda, Huijin, Sara, Yi Si, Zhanwei
And of course....my parents..

It was a heartwarming sent off, so I was still busy sms-ing after reaching the gate (phew) and boarding was easy and quick. Soon enough, SQ324 was already up in the air.

But anyway...the plane ride was kinda tiring, and boring. 12 hours ride is crazy. Luckily, I got enough sleep 'cos there was absolutely no interesting movies on board the flight, and I was left with a boring movie called J'et Aime, which totally bored me to oblivion. Haha. So much so, that I slept.

Woke up in the early morning (define morning on the plane??) and it was time for a little snack, as well as stretching of legs. Breakfast soon followed, and it was really really nice! Perfect food and start to the new day! :)

Also met a Dutch couple with their kids. They had gone over to Indonesia for holidays and were on the way back, and the father is an Indonesian Chinese living in the Netherlands now. It was a great conversation regarding the 2 countries, and we even exchanged contacts...a possible farmstay contact in Amsterdam. HAHA.

Reached Schiphol Airport pretty early (about 7am) and waited in the airport (whilst walking around looking to break down my big notes) for Aunt Babe, who was my father's friend. I had met her and Nicole during their holidays in Singapore, and they had arrived in the Netherlands just 2 days ahead of me.


Schiphol Airport: 19th August 2007

Schiphol Airport is really huge! Kinda finished exploring the entire arrival hall area, with their vast arrays of shops, and it is so much like Changi Airport! (though I find Schiphol more noisy and therefore, much more interesting.) There's a Yam Yam To Go shop, with its interesting design, as well as an outlet which sells fries! Simply great food...tsk they aint open only -.- Soon, we were on the way to Nieuw Vennep, a nice little town near Schiphol.

Nieuw Vennep is roughly 10 minutes ride from Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands, so that's pretty near, considering that the train which took us here was a 'semi-fast' train.

After settling down and placing my luggage at Babe's house, Nicole brought me out to view the sights and sounds of Nieuw Vennep on an early Sunday morning, with most of the shops closed for the day. Sunday's a day for family for the Europeans, so most of the shops are closed and the neighbourhood's pretty quiet, which is good 'cos you can just walk around and enjoy the nice weather (cooling!) and the scenery. Can't believe I am in the Netherlands! OMG.


Sights and Sounds of Nieuw Vennep

Then...there is a very interesting place which we went...the Animal Farm. It's a nice smelly place with many animals, like donkeys, guinea pigs, chickens, rabbits, etc. Furthermore, the zoo keeper was hardly in sight; we could pick up (or try to) the guinea pigs and play with all the animals in the farm!



After all that, we went to get some lunch - French Fries, a frikandel & croket. Nice food!




stampot & rookworst

 
The flowers are very nice there too! Oh my...and after getting my train ticket, there wasn't much as could do, so whilst waiting for dinner (seen above), the 'army' of sotongs were very much a talking point. Haha.

Gonna do more updates. Jetlag settling in...now. *yawn*