Tuesday, June 19, 2007

100607 - 130607 - Prague








More PHOTOS


This is my first solo-trip to another country and, first couchsurfing experience. It was so wickedly cool! Damn. I definitely din regret coming on this one.

Arriving at Prague on the first day was not too good for me. First off was I left my couch's address on my freaking table. Then came the dumb regulations at the Munich airport. Ok, maybe I found it dumb cos it happened unpleasantly on me, and I wasn't thinking much about terrorism and stuff but well, it doesn't hurt to complain a little, does it? Then I lost the map CW gave me, which I thought I could rely on. Then I stupidly shut off my handphone on the plane, arriving at Prague, I realised I forgot my PIN number to activate the SIM card. Not very smart, is it? Then my handphone busted. This time, it went out totally. Introspectively, I viewed this both as a good news and bad news. Good news is I justified my SIM inactivation and bad news is I do not have a handphone to contact my surf giver, whom I thought I could use my handphone to call when I left the address on the table... Bad things come in a bunch, how true can the alliteration get? And as if I wasn't in the foulest of mood already, the rain has to come when I was fretting around trying to look for an internet cafe. The rain. The verdammt rain.

Sowieso I still reached the house of my couch giver, Jean (French pronunciation, not a lady), finally after much searching. He was really nice and I was so relieved after my 'series of unfortunate events', that I couldn't wait to put down my bag and start something out in Prague and forget I ever came from Munich. "So erm I will show you your room in the attic." Then he took out a pole. "So what do you need a pole for my room for?" I thought. "Excuse me Jimmy, I need to stand here, sorry." Then he pulled down the trapdoor. From above. Where I was standing before. Then you find yourself climbing up an extended ladder straight up to the attic. To see the most awesome and totally straight-out-of-the-movie attic. Dark, musky, warm, woody etc. But I just find it exciting and cool. HAha, and as if it wasn't enough, there was another ladder that lead u straight up another trapdoor, to the roof! Where we spent in the night, enjoying some breeze and some night scenary from the there. Jean, if u r reading this, I really LOVE your couch. Seriously people, this is what couchsurfing is about - enjoying the travel in a totally different way.

Prague was beautiful. Really beautiful. It's funny how all, and I really mean all, the buildings can look like sculptures. From residences to embassies, even the lampposts and lamps along the streets are unique in a very artsy sort of way. It opened a new horizon to a Singaporean, who was cooped up in his own world, that such normal buildings can be an artistic piece of work and not an architectural one. It makes me wanna see more. Prague Castle is one main attraction that you probably wouldn't wanna miss. Charles Bridge needless to say. Then there was Klementinum, the old Jesuit College, which houses a Baroque style Hall of Jesuit Library. It was really impressive, with all its globes, shelves, books, paintings, carpets and carvings, one of the only attractions that I paid to go in. Vysehrad was impressive only by its stature, because the once grandeur, has been reduced to a mere skeleton. Tons of warring have shattered what was before. I wasn't very keen on the Old Town Square, because it was too 'touristy'. Serious overdose of people. And I would have thought people crowding around Marienplatz just to look at the Glockenspiel was considered a throng; then you should see the real throngs of people gathering to see astronomical clock at Old Town Square. And then you would, also, understand what really is an 'overrated' clock show. Sorry Glockenspiel, you lose, hands down... What's up with big clocks nowadays with people?

And I enjoyed the Josefov Area instead actually. It is a past Jewish area with old synagogues and Jewish cemeteries, and little charming alleys. It has become a place for high-class boutiques. Wenceslas Square is really THE shopping street or platz. I discovered that almost too late, because I found also Deutsche Bank where I could have obtained extra cash if I had found earlier.

I do not think I could really sum up my Prague experience and of course Prague itself in this little entry. I wasn't planning to do so. I definitely would think it would defeat the purpose of writing a travel blog, which I personally think wasn't about writing every little detail about your travelling. Travelling is a thing unto each individual; the same place same time same day can mean totally different things to different people.

My Prague experience was really an individual experience. A solo trip like this certainly did me good. Do things on your own. Make choices on your own. Take pictures of yourself. Talk to yourself. And because there is no external peer pressure to keep your mind preoccupied, instead then u also start to think and introspect. Think about things that has no definite answers. Think about your current predicament. Think about your current imperfect life. Think about how you gonna come ease with yourself. Then at the end of it all, you arrive at no concrete conclusion. That you are not gonna be able to prophesise sowieso, so what the heck are you spending your brain cells on?!??! Then you laugh. In the middle of the street. While you were enjoying the birds chirping and the sun shining. Like somebody had just made a funny comment. Like a conversation was so hilarious. But life is funny, isn't it? In every sense of that word, life is funny. Especially when you think back, when you are here immersed in your life again, life back then when u were just sitting there laughing; u seemed so detached. Funny.

At the end of the stay in Prague, where I got so dreamy, when I was still in my maelstrom of philosphical questions and idiosyncracies, I reached back in Munich airport.

"Sorry sir, luggage from Prague is at Band 6" --one hour later-- "Sir your luggage is at Band 10". And I found it at the "Lost and Found" counter after 1 and a half hours.

Reality slapped you right across the face.

"Welcome back!"

Friday, June 15, 2007

090607 - Dinner








The whole world's girlfriends are coming to Germany... Yes I know. There's Weimin's, there's Jason's, there's Junwei's, there's Wilson's etc etc and here we have Chong Wee's. And they have to wear matching outfits... zzzzz...

Here we have Chong Wee's girlfriend, Jiaying, who just arrived this morning. Jet-lagged and sleepy and all. Nonetheless, despite all the fatigue, still joined us for dinner.

Dinner that night, unfortunately, due to seriously unforeseen circumstances, was held at ChongWee's place. But good for poor Jiaying too. Had Jialin and Mel to come over as well, so 4 black-shirts and 1 white shirt (guess who?) had curry chicken! Oh, thank god they din add the super spicy ingredient. Thanks to Jiaying, we get to have a bit of homely taste. And dun forget the appetisers and desserts provided by Jialin and Mel respectively. Doesn't that just look sumptuous? And we talked and talked like we din want to end the little gathering... From primary school, to eyelashes, to TV shows, and what not. Whoa, din know there were so many things to talk about under the sun.

A prelude to the bigger gathering next week. Kindda looking forward to it...

Silver Lining


Saturday, June 9, 2007

010607 - 030607 - Darmstadt

















More photos here

This weekend finally I get to go Darmstadt to visit the host family that hosted me the last immersion: the Riad family. Like the very first day I was in Darmstadt 2 years ago, it was raining. Feelings of deja vu.... Darmstadt HBF looked so familiar suddenly :P

The mitfahr to Frankfurt am Main was 5 hours!! And from Frankfurt HBF to Darmstadt HBF was another 45 min. I thought I was so late when I reached their house, but Lukas actually stayed up to wait for me... Oh how I missed Anton. I think he recognises me. HAHA... *fantasising* He is the dog of the house if u are wondering. Then Birgit came in... The one who was like a second mother to me. Oh then I realised how I missed talking to her. Her carefree and open nature, always so welcoming, so warm. Staying with them for the next 3 days was one word: bliss. I spoke German almost totally with their friends, with them, with no qualms that you would be laughed at. One of the most accommodating and amazing people...

Unfortunately I came on the weekend, they were the busiest because there was an Egyptian exhibition that the family was heavily involved in, especially Fayek. Fayek's an Egyptian, and he was put in charge of the running of the exhibition, whose aim is to welcome Egyptian enthusiasts and local Egyptians. I was curious anyway so I helped out as a "Gastarbeiter" ('guest worker'), they called me jokingly. Viktor (eldest son) probably helped out the most at the bar counter. During the talks and such, I just sat with their friends, who saw me alone and welcomed me to their table!! So cordial :P I guess the like attracts the like, hence they are friends to the Riads.

Then I went to 2 exhibitions, one at the famed Mathildenhoehe, with the Hochzeitturm ('wedding tower'), where Birgit works at, so I got a free admission haha... But this arts exhibition is a bit morbid but extremely interesting. There was one which I enjoyed, where you get to stand in the middle of 40 speakers. It suppose to let you feel the atmosphere on stage as a conductor of a choir. Really cool when they not only simulate the choir but also the coughs and whisperings from the floor. And there was a visit to the old reservoir of Darmstadt, which is now not in use, but where there have a small bar that sells cocktails - the Tiki Tiki Bar. You have to where rubber boots and that was part of the exhibition actually!

The other exhibition is at the Botanical Gardens, where the whole Garden was filled with sculptures and artworks. I have never seen such creativity, so vibrant and lively in Singapore; there were so many enthusiasts too... Birgit bought one artpiece in the hope that somebody would pay it forward and buy some from her too the next time she sells her handicraft too... I am very sure they would; her work of crafts are so original and so nice too :P I actually thought of buying one of her works, but I din bring enough money when I saw the price...

I think the Riad Familie is probably akin to my second family here in Germany already.... They treated me like one of them... I was so touched and so happy to have gone back to visit them again. When Lukas and Birgit sent me off at the Darmstadt HBF, you know the feeling when you depart and you get the really heavy feeling.. So heavy that you feel like crying.... Well, I got pretty close to that... They keep telling me that I always have a room available in their house and always welcome to come back to them anytime. I never know when I will come back to Germany again to look them up. But they will definitely have a special space in my heart always.. They always do and will... Take care Birgit and Fayek! All the best in future endeavours Lukas (to Uni), and Viktor best of luck in Berlin :P Mach's gut und viel Glueck! Gonna so miss you all.

290507 - Pirates of the Caribbean 3

Ensuing our Ausflug from Ruegen, the Munich contingent has a little rendezvous at Cinema Munich to watch POC3. It was raining like cats and dogs and rats it was cold too! Probably it was too cold, our dear Ms Xinli got a huge blunder.. zzzz.. Probably brain too cold lolx.... She thought the movie was the next day!!! So she skipped this one....

POC3 was not bad lahz. Except for the Calypso part, which I was totally weirded - dunno wat the h*ll they trying to do in the end. She turned out to be a real prop when the half the story was actually revolving about this character. Confusing? Tell me about it... But all in all, the movie was not fantastic but also not too bad, definitely better than Spiderman 3... Mr Chow Yun Fatt's welcome gesture of the pirates to Singapore was well, funny to probably only the 8 of us haha.... Now we know we r at the far end of the world...

Sorry Mel and Jialin, I took a photo before you all came...

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Have a break... Have a....

I will continue... soon... After the Ruegen entry and viewing of all the 500+++++ photos -----> Yuan2 qi4 da4 shang1.... zzzzz.... But the photos combined were so good.... Reminiscence of the fun times we had then....

Anyway, let me go kun3 for a while....

*Stomach rumble*

oops, I am hungry again.....

250507-280507 Ruegen



[CAUTION: Because the number of photos we took is humongous, pls click here for the website of the complete set of photos... Get ready for visual diarrhoea...]

This is probably one of the most satisfying trips I have ever been. One of those that I dun feel like going back to wherever I came from. haha...

A short Pfingsten holiday sent us from south to the north of Germany, at the Balkan Sea, where the Germany's largest island is situated for the SSAG AGM 07.

The Munich+Erlangen (though it is really the Munich contingent, Erlangen only has one poor soul :P) contingent arrived on the 25th to see a storm brewing. We thought all our hopes of a sunny beachout were dashed. The second day proved to be more than fine; it was GOOD!

Immersion people, exchange people and the more permanent students here in Germany - people who initially barely know each other - met and communed on this German island that with all its 'beachiness' and 'sunniness', ironically feels home. For once in a long while, I felt involved. Not an outsider, not a foreigner. What makes us different from the people at home, is probably our new ingredient into our 'rojak' singlish - Deutsch.

Second day proved to be the real ice-breakers. And the sun shone!! Gott sei Dank! Volleyball and frisbee were my games that day. I thought it was too short. We have to set off to Sassnitz, the second largest town in Ruegen. There was a large harbour there with lotsa tourist shops and an "algae-fied" submarine exhibit, not in use anymore. The main event was the hike to see the chalk cliffs, Wissower Klinken. Wanted to see Koenigsstuhl, supposedly the most majestic cliff, but apparently it's 8km and with the stopping and walking, we dropped the idea - no time. Anyway, the hike was when the darmstadt immersion people joined us, so with our clan further strengthened, we followed our Azman Temenggong into the woods. Along the way, it was all chatter chatter chatter of the mouths and click click click of the cameras. Nice walk indeed... Dinner wasn't that fantastic, but it's ok lahz. The price is a bit on the high end though, but judging from the "touristy" nature of the island, I guess that is not too bad already.

Third day was the cruise and it rained. Like crazy. Super crazy! And for the FIRST time in my entire life, I got seasick.... zzzz...... I saw this German girl passing a bag of puke to her already crying sister, my head started to tighten from there.... The road of no return... But going to the deck definitely helps alot. Though the cruise wasn't what we all expect, I guess we supplanted that with connecting with more people and talking more. We then had our BBQ for dinner, which I thought was the shortest BBQ ever! We din even get to finish our food; we have to let another group of people take over. Then, we played charades after the seriously-not-much-meaning AGM. It was a complete walk-over! But well, formality usually does not hold much meaning, does it? It is just.... well, formality. Charades was fun though, I thought. Until some weird parent told us to keep quiet at 9pm!! OMG! What is the world coming to! So in the end, we ended up playing volleyball until the sun set and had a nightout at a cafe nearby... The waitresses there definitely did not seem at all happy to see so many Asians. I sensed somewhat some hostility.... Haiz... But again, there were talking, and then more talking. Well, it's hard to know all 45 others in one shot, so we do it in bouts. On this very night, personally speaking, acquaintances became good friends, and good friends got better. Prost to friendship!

It is not difficult to explain the satisfaction that is derived from this trip up to Ruegen, though the experience itself would probably sum up to a thesis. To me, the people made the difference. Apart from all the other people I met at AGM like Shubei and Xizhen and Azman who is affectionately known as the Temenggong and Raymond and Siddarth etc etc, deepening the friendship with Mel, Jialin, Kat, Grace, and Ian through the 4 days was probably the best thing that happened. First day meeting them definitely did not make a difference, but the course of the trip somehow bonded us closer. The funny thing about human relationships is it's so ganz unexplainable; sometimes something somewhere somehow just clicked, due to the combination of timing, circumstances, and the people's reaction. It's totally arcane if you ask me. With people, you do not interact with just that person, but his/her history, memories and connections too, bounded by the personalities, comes the entire package. And because of this multidimensionality, I feel, human relationships are absolutely beyond the scope of analysis.

And yes Kat, dun anyhow anyhow ahz, remember I got ba2 bing3 of you with me. hehahahaha *sinister laugh*