Fuhong & Weixian's visit!

On Timeline: 7-12 Nov 2007

Panorama of Nieuwe Maas

Well well, weeks after Felix and Hong Keat came over to my place for the stayover to go to East Europe, and me going over to Peiyu's for a short trip, this time round I've got 2 friends from Sweden who came over to explore the Netherlands - Fuhong and Weixian.

Incidentally, I met Weixian in one of the U-Bahns in Berlin whilst I was on my Berlin-Switzerland trip. And I still remember how I went up to him and his friends...

"Heys, you must be from Singapore right? 'Cos of the Goretex jacket..."

Ok and after that, I thought he was very familiar, but I did not remember where I met him before...and it was only when Jacqueline Fu added me to a conversation between her and him that I realised I met him in the Engin Camp this year! Gosh. What a coincidence!

And so, I found another friend living in Europe for this period of time. hurhurhur.

Ok I digressed, but the 2 of them arrived in Eindhoven late in the afternoon. Went to pick them up at the Glaslaan stop near my place, and we made our way to my place to put down the stuff, and then to the nearby C1000 to get some groceries for their trip the next day.

Of course, as every student (or almost every) on exchange would do, we cook our dinner...and this time round I decided to do something...uhhh....special :P


Nasi Goreng (first batch!)


Weixian cooking the nasi goreng


Mix and mix...


Fuhong the server.


The dishes to go along with the *ahem* rice.


Pork floss rocks! w00t!

Yeaps! We cooked up nasi goreng with the rice I bought. A pity the Euroshopper rice aint as great as the normal Jasmine rice we use in SG, so it turned out to be pretty...uhhh...mushy?!?! But I think the pork floss and marinated meat helped to save some of our appetite.

Then again, 3 hungry boys who've been through Army...nothing can be worse than combat rations right?!

And well, the next day I was off to Hanau whilst the 2 of them went up to Utrecht and Amsterdam, thus I will jump straight to the weekend, where I met up with the 2 of them again to go to Felix's place at Delft and then to Rotterdam the next day.

I was supposed to meet them at 3pm in Delft, and after getting my groceries and stuff from the open market (having to wait due to the morning downpour), I made my way down to Delft, but unfortunately the train stopped at Breda and I had to take a 45 minute bus ride to the outskirts of Rotterdam! That totally made me late and I finally reached Delft at 4.30pm. Geez. But luckily Felix was there to pick us up, so we made our way to his place, not forgetting to stop by Aldi *cough*cheapest supermarket u can find*cough* on the way there.


I'm in Singapore!


Felix cooking up a meal for the hungry people


Dinner @ Felix's

Well, slept late as we guys just sat up to slowly talk and cook dinner, and after that the 3 of us (except Felix) went to Den Haag, and tried to get to Scheveningen, but it was a failure as we had not enough stripes on our strippenkart, and the shops selling the card closed on me! Damn! So we just walked around Den Haag at night (nothing much also), and we chanced upon this group of (apparently) drunk Dutch ladies who went "你好!" and high-fiving your hands...and thinking that we're from China (as usual, the link...) Well, talked a bit, but realising they're probably high and would not remember what we said, we just left after the short chat, and promptly took the midnight train back to Delft.

And we woke up late the next morning to go to Rotterdam. Sunlight peeked through the windows and we soon woke up.


I'm back in Singapore..............NOT.


Look at the array of satellite dishes!


River in Delft

And Rotterdam is like 10 minutes away from Delft, so soon after we managed to figure out how the entire bag deposit system works, we went out of the station....into Rotterdam!

Well Rotterdam is famous for its world class port, in fact I think it is ranked among the top in the world, handling millions of tons of cargo yearly. And being a port city, it's also famous for its bridges, skyscrapers and its many museums dotting the city-scape.




Kiss & Ride??? lol!


A rare sight in Europe - Skyscrapers.


Before (left) and After (right)


Elephants in Rotterdam!


Me and the giant Gnome with an even larger ice cream cone??


Ideas?


Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Panorama


Talk about a cliff-hanger office.


To where har??


Erasmusbrug


Walking up Erasmusbrug




Erasmusbrug as viewed from another angle


Villa Zebra


De Hef!


Willemsbrug


Up Willemsbrug


Erasmusbrug stands out in the horizon


That's the place where Jackie Chan did his sliding action in a movie...


Kijkkubus

And of course...I had to introduce them to some of the 'delicacies' which Netherlands has to offer, and I was in luck...there was a weekend market in Rotterdam! (It's a Sunday, that's why I was quite surprised!)


Weixian and Fuhong having the Frikandel


Eating the herring, Dutch style


Fish with mayonaise. NICEEEE~


Poffertjes - close up look


The making of the Poffertjes (reminds me of takopachi)

Introduced them to Frikandel and the herring, and taught them how to eat it Dutch style, which was to grab it by the tail and swallow it together with chopped onions into one's mouth. Well you can read more on the herring and it's rich history here.

And we chanced upon a shop selling Poffertjes, which was a type of Dutch pancakes, served over powdered sugar. (Ok I personally loved the sugar icing. Simply amazing!!!)


Evening time at Schouwburgplein


Tents in the middle of the square??

After leaving Rotterdam, we had to take a train ride from Rotterdam to Utrecht, then change to the train towards Eindhoven. Well apparently Weixian read about the Glow Festival, and I, being a resident in Eindhoven, did not know much about it. Walking about in the rain, I chanced upon the Glow festival exhibition centre and we went in to have a look at how light can manifest itself in...art!


Before (top) and After (bottom)


Lights...the wonder of it.


The Perfect Metaphor


See the words?


Weixian taking a rest in the Garbage cushioned seat


Glow

And finally, after a long day without a proper lunch, we went home and got ourselves into the business of cooking...Bak Kut Teh!!! I had too much meat, so we cooked some Char Siew at the same time with the pork ribs I got from the weekend market!


The handling of the meat...


Chefs at work!


Bak Kut Teh (top) and Char Siew (bottom)


The finished products!


I thought the Bak Kut Teh was simply wonderful! 2 packet thrown in for good measure with about 4.5 slabs of ribs, and loads of garlic too! Man...I miss the Bak Kut Teh in Singapore already >.< It's...simply Singapore!

Just wanna say that: Sorry guys for not being such a good host...especially on the 2nd day after your arrival. But nonetheless, I hope u guys had fun here in Netherlands, and enjoyed the places u've visited thoroughly! (despite the lack of daylight...geez)

Food links: Dutch food and eating habits

Spain beckons...Will be away for 5 days dudes!!

Current Music: Troy & Gabriella - Breaking Free

Just a thought...what if...

Continued from: Just what is wrong with the French?

...the Dutch people go on strike? Well...a WHAT IF question la.

Was talking to Lynn (I din know she's in Grenoble with Xiaowen!) online and found out that the rail strikes have resulted in shutting down of schools, and therefore, she's online.

And how I wish I had some free days like that!!!

Anyway, to the question I posted, I think that life would go on....gee. I think even if transportation is dead, there are still bicycles, since most of the time the Dutch cycle around and not take the buses/trains like the French do (there are like no trains in most of the cities except maybe Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Den Haag?? And most of the public transportation is via trams and buses, which are super inefficient over short distances).

So yea, I dun think a transport strike would hurt in the Netherlands, but probably a strike by energy workers...would.

One test down, One more to go. And my bike... :(

Just what is wrong with the French?

French strike brings travel chaos

France is suffering travel chaos after transport and energy workers broadened a strike in protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reform.

Rail services were severely disrupted and energy production reduced in the open-ended action over cuts affecting some 500,000 public sector workers.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7093373.stm

Public transport in France grinds to a halt, and it's the 2nd strike in a month! It is an open ended strike which might last for a week, and the strike was called due to the planned pension cuts by the French government, which allow some public service employees to retire on a full pension as early as 50 years old.

Oh yea, apart from France having rail strikes, apparently Germany is also having their own rail strikes this week. Bad time to travel, dudes. And apparently, the French invented strikes. Hehs.

Compared to Singapore, I think this is really serious. We should open ourselves to the changing world around us and realise that there is more that is happening in the world than just your cinema-outings, petty disputes and Facebook addiction.

The world is changing. I think it's going for a melt-down soon. Looking at the slowing US economy, weakening USD, sky-high oil prices and a strong Euro, it really tells us that there is a problem and hopefully the governments in the world can do something to stem this slide...else there might just be the possibility of another recession.

Recession. A painful term to hear...if ever uttered.

Maybe it's time to store ur savings in Gold...

Facebook is taking over the lives of you, You, and YOU!!!!

U will know that you're addicted to facebook once you realise...your homepage is now set as http://www.facebook.com! :P

Billy Joel - Piano Man

Who can forget this wonderful song?!?!?

Its nine oclock on a saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
Theres an old man sitting next to me
Makin love to his tonic and gin

He says, son, can you play me a memory?
Im not really sure how it goes
But its sad and its sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger mans clothes

La la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da

Chorus:
Sing us a song, youre the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, were all in the mood for a melody
And youve got us feelin alright

Now john at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
And hes quick with a joke or to light up your smoke
But theres someplace that hed rather be
He says, bill, I believe this is killing me.
As the smile ran away from his face
Well Im sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place

Oh, la la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da

Now paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And hes talkin with davy whos still in the navy
And probably will be for life

And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes, theyre sharing a drink they call loneliness
But its better than drinkin alone

Chorus

Its a pretty good crowd for a saturday
And the manager gives me a smile
cause he knows that its me theyve been comin to see
To forget about life for a while
And the piano, it sounds like a carnival
And the microphone smells like a beer
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say, man, what are you doin here?

Oh, la la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da

Current Music: Billy Joel - Piano Man

OLPC XO Laptop

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO-1 laptop becomes available today for purchase in North America (for "logistical reasons" the program is only being offered in the USA & Canada although there are ways that people from other countries can purchase one too) through the Give 1 Get 1 (G1G1) program. This program lasts for only 2 weeks. For $400 ($200 of which is a tax-deductible donation), a person will be paying for 1 laptop to go to a child in a developing nation and will receive 1 laptop for themself. Although/because/despite (depending on your perspective on how things work in real life!) these laptops are designed for children in the developing world, they include a lot of features that are either not found in other commercial laptops or which cost a lot more (there are a couple of good technical video presentations that cover these features in some detail here and here).



Source: http://bc.tech.coop/blog/071112.html

Buying a laptop, rugged, contributing to charity, and best of all, it's light. Good for travels?? With a linux platform and mainly loaded with free open-source applications, this would definitely be a great tool for those who are looking to stay away from the usual Microsoft-dominance as we know today!

The size of the laptop just measures 242mm × 228mm × 32mm and its weight is about 1.5kg, which handy for those on the road, and need a laptop for browsing the web, and doing simple stuff like checking the mail. The battery power is apparently long-lasting and has multiple ways of recharging it.

Something tells me that it looks like a Mac. Remember the old clamshell G3s??



Well I thought they looked similar. HAHA.

Hanau

On Timeline: 8-9 Nov 2007

Have you guys ever seen the immigration officers when u take trains within Europe? Well I haven't seen much of them, apart from the time at Schaffhausen, I have not encountered them at all!

But this time round, on a trip to Hanau, I saw a team of Zoll, or the German customs officers. As I boarded the train to Dusseldorf from Venlo, I saw a camera crew and a huge dog with the Zoll, who were sitting rather dispersed in the entire cabin.

And as the train moved into Germany, they started to come into action and checked for passports of passengers on the train, with the dog sniffing around, probably for drugs (eg. weed)

The Zoll

And the officer asked for my passport in German (which I obviously did not understand a single word of it), and then spoke to me in English with a heavy German accent, after realising I do not understand at all.

And this was what happened...

(officer flips passport)
Officer: Oh! You're from Singapore? Nice country!
Me: Yup...haha (wondering if Singapore = Nice for Europeans)
Officer: I am going there next year. (I) heard the A380, you know, the big one, fly to Australia from Singapore. Singapore Airlines very good, very comfortable.
Me: Oh yes, do visit Singapore!

And I stopped short of saying, yea, come and visit me when you're there. HAHA. And well, he asked me if I had drugs or weapons with me, and he seemed less strict to me, compared to a guy who was sitting just a row ahead of me. He was confronted by a huge group of officers and they searched him and his bag (well probably the dog smelt something??) and the camera crew even moved into action to take videos of the body-search! Gosh.

Probably the guy would appear on the next advertisement for the Zoll. Hurhur.

I guess coming from Singapore does have its perks? Well most Europeans whom I have encountered immediately linked Singapore to being a clean and green city, so I guess that's the impression we give foreigners (which is good), and being a safe country (also good), but to some of my Dutch friends, our interesting 'laws' (read: Sex is legislated??) are kind of a joke to them.

Well, I don't really blame them, the Dutch are pretty open, and considering that Amsterdam is sorta like the Gay and Lesbian Haven, well.....

Ok I digressed.

The trip to Hanau was pretty smooth, with the ICE train covering about 200km to Frankfurt Airport *yay!*, and taking a slow train from Frankfurt to Hanau. Gosh...Frankfurt Airport is super big...it's a pity I did not have time to walk around in the Airport, else I can prolly explore a bit as I had to walk from the ICE platforms to the S-Bahn platforms.

And after reaching Hanau, I hit a snag. Ok it was about 6pm, it was cold and drizzling outside, and I had absolutely NO idea how to get to the hotel which was given to me. Lucky for me, I met this guy who, after I asked how to get to the bus interchange, offered me a ride there. Apparently he was picking up his girlfriend...and then in the car he offered me a ride direct to the hotel!!! How cool was that!

Had a case of deja vu when he asked me whether Singapore had a lot of Muslims, and a conversation ensued with him ending,

Dun blame Muslims for everything okay...

Ok I had felt that it was a familiar line....so familiar. Probably in my dreams.

And I digressed...the hotel was great. In fact I think the company had some tie-up with the hotel 'cos when I searched online for some rooms to stay I was kinda disappointed - there were no cheap backpacker hostels around!


The room!


The nearby bridge


Rittersports!

Was hungry after arrival in the hotel, so I put down my stuff and went out to the nearby old city (within the old city walls!) and found this small pizza joint which gave a 32cm pizza for 5.50 Euros. Quite decent meal I guess, but too many pizzas are BADDD....But, anything to save money ;) Haha!

Anyway, my impression of the hotel was that it would probably be at least a 3-star hotel. Judging from the people I see in the hotel, I feel so out of place >.< But the rooms were...EXCELLENT! Man...Totally did not expect it, and I think it's the best room I have since my arrival in Europe (yea it's like...that bad???)


This elaborate set-up is just for tea -.-


The old fortifications


Cathedral


Lunch! Fillet with potatoes :)


The hotel - Best Western Premier Hotel Villa Stokkum

I guess the interview went well...Not too sure what I should say on it, so I shall not blog on that. Within the 3 hours at the company, 2 scenarios are possible:
1) I was too truthful and shot myself in the foot, thus the "pls go home and think over it"
2) I have a chance, thus the "pls go home and think over it"

Anyway, since I had time prior to my departure to Eindhoven, I went to change out of my formal attire and explored the old city, and there was relatively good weather too! There was nothing much within the old city walls, and I just walked around the small town, which reminded me of those old cities with the stone pavements and the small houses dotting the landscape.

Then, after having lunch, I decided to go to Hanau city centre early to have a look, but there was nothing much also. Apparently the better places to explore in that region would be Frankfurt, but that is like a big city/financial hub/main airport and my train ride was from Hanau, not Frankfurt! UGH!

However, there were a lot of shopping centers in Hanau (more than Eindhoven I think!) and I just went into them, walked around, but eventually I was not that willing to part money for 2 tee shirts or equipment.

Train ride back to Dusseldorf was late...with the strong winds blowing I was forced to take 'shelter' at the underground pass below the platforms, and even so my hands were starting to become darker in colour as I had not put on my gloves!

Gosh.

But the ICE train soon arrived, and I was finally on a 3hr long ride home, and as the train was late by 26 minutes, I missed my connecting train to Venlo, and I had to wait almost an hour for the next connection. Luckily, there were no problems with the border trains this time round, and I reached back to rainy Eindhoven safe and sound. And on the way, a lady asked if I had a discount card, and I just asked her to travel with me lor. Turns out she's a French, interning in Germany, and studied in Eindhoven! At least, there was someone to talk to throughout the 40 min ride home.

Shall blog on Rotterdam later, where I went with Weixian and Fuhong when they came over from Sweden!

Current Music: Elva Hsiao & Anson Hu - Jin Xing Shi