Ikea - Spotted, Located, Conquered!

Finally located the super elusive Ikea in Eindhoven. Gosh, it's not even on the maps given by TU/e and Vestide. Had to google it out, and without printing out the maps, I had to rely on the good 'ol fashioned remember and remember and please do not forget when to turn and when to go straight method.

Armed with a partial map of Eindhoven, and my trusty bike with my Crumpler, I embarked on the most adventurous journey known to man me in my stay in Eindhoven - the search for Ikea Eindhoven.

And finally, after 2 hours, I noticed this:

It's Ikea! And I had to go through a tunnel under the highway to reach that. It was really worth the ride! Haha. Finally found it and I'm ready to go in! But before that....time for pics! :)


The tunnel leading to the famous Swedish brand...


I found it!


Zebra crossing...what's that behind?


Staircase to the blue building...

And of course, I started from the back of the building, so I had to reroute and go a big round to the front...and tada!



Took me 2 hours (yea I'm repeating myself) to find this elusive warehouse outlet, and I must say it reminds me of the one in Alexandra, but looks more like the one at Tampines! Why? Well you've gotta go in to see for yourself!


Oooh...


No change from that in SG. Just the price's doubled x.x


Kids playground


Turtles...Laiyee would love them!


I wan a bedroom just like this...


Woah look at the SIZE!

And finally...a picture which will definitely make u wonder what's the thing which connects all the IKEAs in the world...

That must be....





this:


Hot-dog @ IKEA Eindhoven, costs me a freakin' €1


Bought a pan for €2, and it was pretty okay, though it reminded me of the ones I have in my kitchen currently. Geez.

Current Mood: Happy

Current Music: Darren Hayes - Casey

Interesting stuff on the Netherlands

Just some interesting stuff I've noticed in the Netherlands....maybe if I stay here long enough I will manage to compile an A4 sized paper of all the stuff which are INTERESTINGLY different from Singapore ;)

1) Shops open till 5 or 6pm, unless you are talking about cafes, coffeeshops (aka smoking joints), clubs, AB To Go (something like 7-11/Cheers in SG). Which is kinda sian 'cos u are 'forced' to shop in a certain period of time (and that sucks)

2) Shops aint open on Sundays. 'Nuff said.

3) Open markets on weekends do sell cheap stuff! :)

4) Train tickets can be bought either using credit card, debit card or coins. No cash (WTF?! Who carries 13 Euros in coins???) And in the end I've to keep using notes to break them into smaller notes or coins, and start storing them. As of now I have managed to store 10 Euros plus worth of coins. I've never loved coins as much as now.

5) Trains are on time. So much so that they will either be late and move off on time, or be early and move off earlier than then time prescribed. And no, all the stations do not seem to have the same clock times ('cos I tried setting my watch to Schiphol's clock time and it differed from that in Rotterdam. Netherlands' too big eh?)

6) Bank stuff are all in Dutch. And I am expected to understand what I'm signing. That's uber cool.

7) Smell of weed sucks.

8) Apparently the red-light district in Amsterdam is open almost 24/7. Gosh! Even Geylang's not as powerful as that?!

9) They simply love cycling! (I think Europe is into cycling, somehow. Check out the tourist information on Denmark, Switzerland, and many other countries!) But the interesting point is, although stealing is a crime, stealing bicycles and selling them for a profit (say €10 to €20) by those wiggies ain't a crime by the police. Even though it's like a well-known and open secret!

Lotsa more to go...but it sticks here for now ;)

Current Mood:

Jogging!

Tried to jog in the cold weather (21°C!) and nearly lost my way. Haha. Made a turn too early, landed up on some unknown place towards Veldhoven, and I realised it because of the all-too-familiar railway track which I seemed to be on the wrong side of.

A jog of 28 minutes in the cold weather...quite tough and difficult for my lungs, I guess, since they are more used to the warmer and more humid air in which I breathe in. The air in Eindhoven is kinda polluted(?), dry and cold. Not to mention, a slight runny nose.

But I broke a sweat within my sweatsuit after about 10 minutes, so that's good

Tried to cook some apple soup like what my mum did, and it sorta succeeded, though I needed better pork (not knowing how to read it does not help!) and a better cooking pot too! That was lunch for me, with breakfast being milk and cereal!

And dang. I found another site which has a slightly cheaper flight BACK from Denmark. Sighs. I could've saved €33! Hmphs. Was looking at the hostels in Rome...thinking if I should go ahead with the trip myself...sighs.

Current Mood: Achy

Current Music: Li Sheng Jie - Wo Yi Wei

Denmark trip confirmed!

Was talking to Lisheng online and I've just managed to book my tickets to Copenhagen, from the 13th till 17th of this month. Got cheap tickets at €134 from Sterling.dk.

Which means, I've to get my bank stuff done ASAP. Should be possible :)

But glad to get one thing done. Now gonna research on how to get to Paris (by Eurolines?) and also what to do for the 3 plus days I'll be at Denmark!

It just feels good...oh yea!

Current Mood: Happy

Current Music: Wnag Lee Hom - Xing Qi Liu De Shen Ye

Jenever Museum day

On Timeline: 01 Sep 2007

Barely had 4 hours of sleep before being rudely awakened by the noise of my alarm clock. Was still thinking whether to go for the Jenever Museum Tour in Schiedam, Rotterdam. It was an open invitation by Joanna, a Singaporean who's studying in a Swedish university and currently on internship with NXP, an electronics company in Eindhoven. Not to forget, I've not met her before. Haha.

It was a blessing in disguise that I went. It was a whole lot of fun and I met up with her NXP colleagues, and they come from the Netherlands (Ardy), France (Clement, forgot the other guy's name) and Sweden (Dan)! Well a jolly good bunch of people, and they simply have common love for alcohol and spirits (does not matter if it is BEER or WINE lol)

Luckily, I still had the Kortingcard and it was worth it! I saved about €12 for the trip up to Rotterdam, which made me think whether it would be super worth it to get it in the long run (though it is bought for a year's worth of discounted travels on trains in the Netherlands).

Anyway, we went up to Schiedam, which was about 2 hours plus ride away, and the Jenever Museum was interesting! Everything inside seemed like an old-styled distillery and it was there that we got to know the history of the Netherlands' famous wine - Old Schiedam. This wine has a very strong herb flavour, but it was nice to drink. In fact, the one we tasted contained 40% alcohol (cool!) and we had a shot glass to drink it.

Home-made go kart


Made in 1884?


Old City Hall


Jenever Museum


Cheers!


Me attempting to climb the distilling vat


Guide showing the usage of the corkscrew machine, to put in the lead.


Reminder of lab?


A peer underground...


It's deep!


"Cat" in the museum


Liquor over the years


Entire collection of Schiedam wines!


Oranjebitter is drunk on the birthday of the Queen, and Berenburg was served to us just now!


Me pushing a cart


Collection of miniature bottled wines


If you can read it you'll understand why it's so...“interesting”


Guide introducing the different types of wine


Shot glass?


Bottoms up!


Cheers to "strawberry wine"!


Vincent van Gogh had a wine collection?

And another little known fact is that the world's tallest windmill is in Schiedam! Hmm but we did not visit it. Darned. Another thing is that the museum does distill and produce small quantities of Old Schiedam via the old techniques, even though technology has allowed the massive production of liquor nowadays.

After drinking the 3 different wines shown above, we had the option to purchase some to bring home (as usual, it's a museum/tourist attraction). Was contemplating whether to buy and had a taste of the alcohol "Drop Shot" and it was simply marvelous! Splashed €9.80 on that, and I do not think it was worth any cent lesser


Jazz Performance in the city centre


Liduina Basilic (Singel Church)


The museum visit was definitely the highlight of the event, and we nearly forgot about our lunch! Stopped by a cafe near the city centre and was about to buy food from there, but baulked at the steep prices - €4.50 for just an omelette!! Would consider buying IF (1) it's a Dutch cuisine (which they apparently do not have) or (2) it's something I can't cook for myself.

And of course, I can cook an omelette. 2 years of Rovers trainings sure help! In the end, I bought a Kipfillet (below)



After lunch, we hopped town and went to Hoek van Holland, but not before saying goodbye to Joanna, who was super-deprived of sleep (as I was) and she had to make her journey back to Eindhoven to catch up on lost sleep. So the rest of us guys went up to Hoek van Holland (literally the Hook of Holland) to enjoy the sand dunes and beaches there. And it was a wonderful area, facing the North Sea (?) with white waves crashing on the beaches and nice wonderful sand.


The beach

If only it were summer, or the water being warmer, I might consider having a dip. Haha.


Ending point for the train - Hoek van Holland Haven


Interesting Architecture (so in a flood ppl will survive??)


Yacht Museum


Wind turbines in the far distance


Horse-riding


The lovely waves and Rotterdam port in the far distance


A dip in the North Sea!


View of the beach from the sea


The beach was simply amazing! Really had fun at Hoek van Holland (even though I wanted to go home and sleep), so it was something which I did not regret going for...sacrificing sleep for the natural beauty of the sand, sea and sun!


Rotterdam Centraal - gonna be closed and rebuilt. Opening in 2010!


Dinner at a Grillhouse :)

And above, is my dinner, at one of those shops which happen to open on a Saturday night, outside the city centre (which is kinda hard to find!). Because the lights at my kitchen and corridor are down (stupid Vestide STILL has not given me my bulbs till now), it is almost impossible to cook after 8pm. Therefore, all my meals are at 7pm, which is kinda early (if I have a late lunch).

Denmark, France trips...plannings shall commence now!

Current Mood: Sleepy