Denmark!

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: Mellow

Current Music: Shayne Ward - Something Worth Living For

Off in Denmark!

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

Go-Karting in TU/e!

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

Wow...Beer Party!

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

happy!

Ur comment really made my day...really. :) Forgive me for not telling you in person ):

Cyclohunt 2007's here!

This year's edition of Cyclohunt is back! Details are as follows:

Date: 22nd September 2007(Saturday)
Time: Registration starts at 7.30pm (but can come earlier of cos!)
Venue: ECP,outside Kid Runner, near car park C3

You caan email: cyclohunt2007@gmail.com for queries. The details are also on the Rovers website. Registration starts from the 10th!

So guys, go sign up yea?!

P.S. The poster looks so damn cool la.

Current Music: Darren Hayes - Neverland

你那幺爱她

Memories...Hmms...

Did you ever regret not saying that to someone??? The lyrics are powerful...

---

Going up to Amsterdam for the weekend with Felix and Hong Keat. Will not be around! :)

Current Music: 李圣杰 - 你那幺爱她

Updating...

Just felt like updating anyway...it's about 20 deg Celsius outside, and I had to ride home in a slight drizzle just now. Luckily I had my rain jacket, so it helped a bit :)

Was thinking why I did not pack a raincover for my Millet bag, or my Crumpler. That should help in wet weather ma!

Was settling my tuberculosis scan (required by the Netherlands at their GGD) today morning, so I did not attend class. Not that the lecturer seemed perturbed. Hehs. Met up with Oya and Sadan, the 2 Turks on exchange to TU/e at the same department as me. We went to have breakfast after the scan at some Bagel outlet in the city centre, and we parked our bikes slightly further away, but under shelter, as it was about to rain.

The bagels were fantastic! Too bad we did not have a camera. Sheesh. Else I could take the pictures of the funny stuff we did. Haha. The goatcheese did not taste superb initially, but it did go down well with the bacon. Haha.

And they served chocolates in the bowl of sugar too! But the problem is, you need to search (or dig) for them! Gosh, you wonder how many people have done so. Tsk tsk.

And the bill...was €5.10! Gosh!

But the worse thing was...Oya's bike got stolen. It's really a bad day for her, and I felt bad for her. After all, there were 3 bikes along the corridor and only hers was stolen. Geez. Hope she gets a new one on the cheap.

Anyway, it's great to be back under shelter. Lesson just now was okay, I was wondering if we are supposed to be under a lecture system, or just here to get grades, with self-studying of the entire book instead. Gosh.

Maybe that's how a Masters student life is! o.O

Gosh and I'm taking so many Master-level courses. Dang.

8 days to Denmark! Woohoo! :)

Current Music: Fan Wei Qi - Na Zhong Nu Hai