Everything which could not have happened, happened today. Gosh. What an adventure it was.
But luckily, it turned out all alright.
Managed to reach Berlin after the crazy 3 hour wait between Venlo and Dusseldorf. On top of that, I missed the ICE link between Dusseldorf and Berlin when I arrived at Dusseldorf, because I had not validated my Eurail.
Bah.
But it was kinda fun. Travelling alone...on high speed trains...snoozing whilst the environment gets boring, or gaping in awe of the wonderful structures which you pass by, either the city or the countryside.
The ICE train journey was kinda interesting. Because I used the Eurail pass, I did not need to pay €94 for the train ride (that's the price in Germany train station, but in the Netherlands the journey from Eindhoven to Berlin was €81?! What a difference!)
I did not know whether I could eat in the train, even though there were drop-down tables (like airlines) in front of me, and recycle bins just behind my seat. In the end, I just took out my box of grapes, because they were practically odourless and it would be much easier to eat them without others realising I was eating (except the person next to me, of course!)
I've not said why I was delayed a pathetic 3 hours on the railways of Europe right?? It's like the first time I'm spending 3 hours on a train platform! OMG. Apparently the heavy rain overnight caused some problems for the railway between Venlo and Dusseldorf, so we had to take a bus from the Venlo train station to the nearest German train station to get to Dusseldorf.
And the most irritating thing was that I mistakenly thought that I had to get off the bus at one of the stops, and this Brit dude (with his group of friends) had to take over my seat. And looked at me nonchanlantly even though my bag was bigger than half his size. Gosh. In the end I was sitting in his original seat, the one in the middle, right at the back.
(On normal travels in SG I would think that's a pretty good seat actually. Haha. But just not with a huge bag la.)
The rest of the trip on the bus was spent in agony because I could not sit back and relax. Geez. And his group of friends were so noisy. But I guess that's the thing about big groups travelling together! U talk more and there's a lot of chatter going about.
After reaching this ulu place called Vernin (dunno where it is), the whole bus group realised that we had missed the ride of Dusseldorf by 3 minutes, and therefore, some of us opted to go to Dilsburg whereas the rest stayed to wait for the next train.
I was in the latter group, and what "wise" choice. We were forced to wait for almost 2 hours because the train kept getting postponed. Met 2 Indian travellers, both working in Netherlands, and an Indonesian retiree living in the Netherlands. Had a good chat, which was great! Some asian people at least, haha.
In the end, we left the dilapidated train station and were soon on the way to Dusseldorf, which I slept. Haha.
And of course, back to the ICE train...it was really a nice train! Damn. Fell in love with it. But expensive also. It's interior was splendid! Shall upload pictures when I reach Luzern instead. lol.
Met this PhD student from Austria, and she's really pretty, but we exchanged a couple of words on the train, and later when we were in the Berlin tourist information counter. Too bad, never got her contact.
So I was in Berlin, it was raining, and I was all geared up for the wet-weather. Was apprehensive about going over to the Berlin Internationl Youth Hostel in the first place as I did not have a booking, but I went ahead with it anyway, and got myself lost in the transportation network of buses! Geez. Luckily there were a couple of nice German guys who showed me the correct way and I was soon in the hostel, safe and sound.
And food! Who can forget about it! (shall upload later. haha) Was so hungry, and despite still having bread in my bag, I was really tempted for some warm food on a cold, windy day. So I made my way to the nearby restaurants/cafes and settled at the Kebab stall, which served me a plate of Kebab meat and rice, with salad. Went ahead to get a 0.33l coke and it cost me €6.20. OMG. But I was really satisfied after the warm meal, and the free soccer match showing there was a real deal.
Ok...time to rest and plan for the next few days...might update from Luzern! :)
Current Mood: 
Full
Damn cold today in Eindhoven la...it was cold in the early morning at 7am, then it became bright and sunny, then all of a sudden...it rained -___-"
But the good thing is, I received my Fedex postages! Just nice, I was at home, and the guy just came in the rain. "We Live to Deliver", indeed.
On Timeline: 22 Sep 2007
Blogging whilst Junyong's having his shower. In this few minutes I'm trying to recount half of my journey into Paris, the capital of France, the land of high fashion, wine, curly hair (moustaches included), grand old buildings (like the Pantheon and the Notre Dame), museums, French kisses, and more.
From all the possible ways to get into Paris from my home in Eindhoven, I chose to go via bus because it was the cheapest I could find (45 euros! whoopie!). But the start of the journey on Thursday night was simply unsettling. First, the bus was late, so I had to stay outside along the road (together with many other passengers who seem to be waiting for their respective Eurolines buses) like a vagabond. Luckily, I met this Polish girl Pauliana, who was going home and studying on exchange at the nearby Fontys school. At least there was someone I could talk to. Time passed quickly, and soon my bus came before hers.
Next, I realised that the bus was packed before it arrived, meaning it had gone to other places, picked up passengers, and Eindhoven was more or less one of its less important stops. Gosh. I went up the bus and there were hardly enough space. Found this seat next to this black guy (and I'm not being racist here), and he was occupying 1.5 of the seats la! It made my entire ride super uncomfortable cos he kept squirming and occupying part of my space like nobody's business. And I did not sound out because there were quite a number of blacks on the bus, so I just tried to sleep whilst holding on to my possessions. Luckily, all was ok. Tiredness just crept in after the pit-stop, and I slept peacefully. (Not to mention, his squirming stopped too!)
Third, I reached Paris in the morning, at an ungodly time of 6am! OMG. I was just half-dazed as I got my luggage out of the bus, but switched into trekking mode soon after. Tried to find my way on the entire rail map, but got myself lost in the ever-complicated maze of colours and numbers. Moreover, none of the stops names made sense to me either. Gosh. But luckily, I found the train information counter, and I told him that I wanted to go to the Eiffel Tower ('cos I did not know what to do so damn early in the morning), and I made my way onto the train, still unclear where I was exactly going.
And when I reached the stop at Trocadeo, and got out of the station after getting a more detailed map of Paris from the information counter, I saw this:
I think it's really really beautiful! And I just watched the entire Eiffel Tower glow in the sunrise...It was really wonderful. Gosh. Just wished that I could be there with someone else instead of just me and my backpack...
Anyway, the rest of the day was just hiking around the Paris Central area, going to attractions like the Arc de Triomphe, Louvre Museum, Notre Dame etc...Made my way to Versailles today, and it was really wonderful! But guess I'll have to blog it another day...gotta go!
More updates! :)
On Timeline: 13-17 Sep 2007
Photos from my trip to Denmark. Visited Lisheng and his friend Anthony, both from NUS, in Lyngby. Travelled and visited Copenhagen, Malmö, Helsingør, and the Deer Park (Dyrehavsbakken). Covered quite a lot of ground (I think) and if I had more time I would really love to explore the rest of Denmark (e.g. Legoland!!!), but time wasn't on my side...
So here's some pictures to whet your appetites whilst the rest come in...haha.
Sterling flight
Very little leg room. But comfortable for me to sleep for an hour!
Denmark's "klipkart"
Trains in Denmark look like this
TOTO anyone?
Carlsberg, probably the best beer in the world.
Malmö in Sweden is connected to Copenhagen by the Regiontoget line, which has fast trains running every 20 mins. And the speed of the trains is super fast la! Managed to get over to Malmö within 1hr plus! And along the way, while crossing the straits, you should look out over the horizon and see if you can notice the wind turbines off in the distance (possibly on some island?). And to me, they seem just smack in the middle of the ocean, with their great blades spinning continuously.
Carl X Gustav statue
Malmo Town Hall (Rådhuset)
Water Fountain
Baghdad shop?
Windmill @ Malmöhus
Malmöhus Castle
HSB Turning Torso
This leads to a sauna. Can ya believe it?
Woah this meal was cheap! ('cos I got the 40% off!)
Statues of a band procession
On the trip home!
As you can see from some of the pictures, I was wearing my rain-jacket...'cos it RAINED! V.V Practically walked in the rain for 2.5 to 3 hours because of the pouring, cold rain. As if it's not enough, it's windy and chilly too! My watch registered 12 degrees for the surrounding temperature, but I'd bet that it's much much lower than that!
However, I managed to stay pretty dry for the rest of the day, due to my rain-jacket and zip-on trackpants which I've always brought with me. Definitely put to good use, tested and proven? (lol) Only things which are wet were my socks and shoes, because I did not expect rain and thus, did not wear my trek boots.
After the wet wet day in Malmö, the next day was a Copenhagen City Tour, starting from Carlsberg (probably the best beer in the world). It was a very informative tour...and just staring in awe of how beer production matured and commercialised over the years...from being a home-brewed product, it's now manufactured on a worldwide basis in huge breweries!
Carlsberg Laboratory
Old Ford T
Carlsberg!
Tickets to Carlsberg
Bottles of beer!
Lisheng and Triton
Me and the Saax Blonde
NY Carlsberg Glyptotek
Now there' the 'new'(NY) and 'old'(Gamme) Carlsberg, the 'old' one attributed to the father, and the 'new' to his son. After the death of his father, they were merged as one, and it stayed all the way till now.
After the tour of Carlsberg and boozing in the midst of the morning, we made our way towards the city centre, where we started off from the Tivoli Gardens, and made a long walk from there till the site of the Little Mermaid, passing by some attractions like the National Museum, Christanborg Palace, New Harbour and many more. The walk was not long, I think we walked for about 3 hours, and the rest of the time was spent taking pictures, staring in awe of the huge structures (I wonder how they build those huge clock towers in the past?!) and looking at the scenery.
And did you know that parts of Denmark are used in the writings of Hans Christian Andersen? Go check the books out! *hint*Hamlet*hint*
NY Carlsberg Glyptotek (left) and Tivoli Gardens (right)
Lisheng, Anthony, Me
Christianborg
View from Christianborg
Christianborg Palace (bottom half)
Inside the hole
Me and the Little Mermaid (this is featured in H.C. Andersen's writings!)
Holding the Little Mermaid...gingerly
Hiding in that small hole!
Fireworks at Tivoli
Outside Tivoli after the fireworks display
Current Mood:
MellowCurrent Music: Shayne Ward - Something Worth Living For
Doing a quick update via Lisheng's LAN connection, and to think that 3 days has passed me by so fast (and yea...time to go back to studies 
).
But it was fun, and the entire trip was memorable, for all different reasons. Haha. For starters...
- My bicycle decided to give up on me and I had to get a new one. R.I.P. Had to fork out another 40 euros for the bike, and I hope it works well!!! Dang. Gonna do a free tire change this coming week though.
- Met my friend Loan at Eindhoven station, and she was on her way home towards Amsterdam Centraal. It was quite a coincidence, and we managed to chat (yea! seldom do u chat to school people I guess...esp. since I din know much ppl there. hehs). We met up with this Italian couple and the guy was asking whether the train went to Amsterdam Centraal, but it did not, and Loan kindly took them with her after she alighted at Utrecht. And chugging up towards Amsterdam Zuid, I realised that the train was not on its original route when I did not see Amsterdam Zuid or Amsterdam ArenA, but Amsterdam Centraal!!! OMG. I was wondering if I could even get to the airport in time. Gosh. Luckily, I managed to.
- Schiphol had 3 terminals, and I was kinda confused how to get there. Luckily I managed to find my way around.
- My boots which I wore into Changi Airport did not give a beep at all...but at Schiphol's security check the alarms went off. Subjected to a thorough search ain't my idea of a great holiday, and the police officer certainly left no place unchecked. I told him that maybe it's the boots, but he was not having any of that. 
- The Sterling flight arrived slightly late, and it was certainly going by the creed of budget flights - it landed and then took off within 2 hours!
- The train system in Denmark is such that you get zone tickets which are "clicked". Similar to the Strippenkart system in the Netherlands, but this applies for the buses and the trains! And the trips on trains here are definitely cheaper! 36 DKK from the airport to Lyngby versus €10.60 for a trip up to Amsterdam from Eindhoven.
- Walked in the rain in Malmö for 3 hours...and it was 17°C! Battling strong winds and rain together is a no-no. But luckily I was almost fully protected, save for my shoes, becuase I was not wearing the Goretex boots. -.- Ended up with wet feet! But packing for rainy weather really helped loads!
- Strong winds on Saturday in Copenhagen really reduces the distance covered. But beer really helps keep one warm throughout the day (till the effect wears off!)
- All you can eat pizza buffet reminds me of the one in Pizza Hut! Haha!
Managed to cover quite a number of places over these 3 days - Malmö, Copenhagen, Klampenborg, Helsingor. Too bad I did not manage to get to Hillerod on time.
Damn sleepy now...gonna upload the photos when I'm home! Till then...
Current Music: Tang Yu Zhe - Zhui Ai Hai Shi Ni
I think you guys would not believe that you can try out go-karting for free, because I just did that today and I thought it was totally awesome. I guess in Singapore, you can't get much chances to try it out, but over here, you have the opportunity to try out new things!
And the fun and hype surrounding go-karting certainly lived up to its expectations.
Imagine turning tight corners at high speeds, or slipping behind an opponent who is making a turn and coming out faster on the inside...it's so F1-ish. Haha. And the bath cap I had in my helmet (F1?) was kinda big, it kept slipping down my forehead and I had to drive with one hand whilst adjusting my vision!
And I'm glad I really tried it. It was great! The makeshift track was on an existing carpark with tyres all around to demarcate the track, and the students' even roped in ExxonMobil and Shell to sponsor the company coming in to do the go-karting, so that students like us can try it for free!
Damn...I want more of this!!!
The track
The bath cap was too big.
Good to go!
Ready to rumble...
Turning a corner...
Will NUS have such an activity within the school campus? Hmmm....
Current Mood:
Happy
You must be wondering why am I posting at a god-forsakened time on a Wednesday morning.
Reason: Had a little too much beer to drink yesterday. In fact, I think my limit for beer is pretty low. Sheesh.
Felt the effects of alcohol yesterday after the party called "The Matrix" held at this pub in the TU/e (yea! Pub IN the school!), which was organised by the student association JAPIE. And to cycle home after drinking...OMG.
Actually, joining such events with little knowledge of the language the dudes are speaking is technically a no-no, 'cos you'll just be left in your own world and you will barely understand what they are talking, unless they do not mind conversing with you, and ALSO you need to know ppl who are going (and that makes absolute sense 'cos you wont know ppl in a new environment yea?)
Actually, I was there not because I knew about it, but because Chris (my lab group mate) invited me because he had a spare entry ticket (which also entitles the person to 4 rounds of beer). Also saw Karel and Joris (lab group mates) and also Chris' friends in Kekule (a student fraternity) - Leon (PhD student working in TUe) and the rest. But it was definitely an eye-opener. It seems like Europeans tend to be more open after drinking. Haha.
And the event is well-supported (apparently) 'cos of the cheap beer (1 Euro a glass) and the event of the night HAS TO BE...*drum roll*...the beer drinking competition.
Basically, it's a fun contest with free beer for all. lol!
Gosh...have to prepare for the lesson later. Geez. Too much beer helps in sleeping though. Had a REALLY GOOD AND DEEP sleep. Haha.
Start of drinking competition
Topping up
Chris, Me, Leon
Ok...I definitely look short here. But I guess almost all the Dutch I see are tall, and Asians really stand out (cos we're shorter. lol). Furthermore, their beer tolerance is higher than us, and they really (literally) dump beer into their stomach. Geez. I heard it's 'cos Asians lack a certain enzyme. haha.
Current Mood:
Awake...for now