Trip To Italy

We arrived in Venice to a beautiful Room .. thank goodness.. I'm really terrified of shitty hostels after our trip to Barcelona last year where the hostel electricity kept tripping while I was in the shower which had no windows a.k.a no natural lighting.

First night dinner was a great introduction to Italy. Small restaurant along the canel.. many americans (as we soon realised, Italy was swarming with american tourist)... a boat pulled up along the canel and some semi-drunken guy came on shore to eat.. promptly enticed a pair of Americans to go cruise with him on his boat with a bottle of wine.

After too much wine the night before, Jon woke me up at 8am.. we walked the streets of Venice only to discover most things were not opened.. after breakfast, we walked around a bit more..

Getting Bored.. this is the kind of pictures that result =p

By 12pm, we were seriously bored.



Famed Gondolas.. So they really looked posh and luxurious.. but at like 80 euro for 30 mins ride.. forget that.

More boring photos.

Anyway.. after lunch... we got really tired and realised Venice is actually quite boring. Ok I know this city is supposed to be beautiful and all, but I've never been those tourist that need to see everything.. n cafes seems to be swarming with tourist.. and i was jetlagged! so we went back to nap.. until 5pm. haha..

Dinner at a restaurant near our place.. with handwritten menus! Cool. The food turned out to be great.

We started watching a lot of euro cup while in italy.. it was our only form of entertainment at night ;)

With alot of orchestra performance at San Marco Square, I felt the need to be a bit more.. entertaining :)

Ok.. enough photos of Venice. Firstly, I was pretty bored. And it didn't help that on the day we were leaving, we took the water bus only to get caught for not having a ticket. 40 euros per person was enough to put me off. Of course the fact that it was our fault for not having tickets... but still! *Hmph*. =p.

Rented a car from Florence to roam the countryside..

and what a great idea that turned out to be! Beautiful chianti hills.

Our room in the tuscan countryside turned out to be really nice too.. B&B La Fiabla.. just opened in May.. Highly recommend it guys! the Hostess was really friendly..

I loved these trees for some reason. :).. They look so majestic yet mind their own business.. they down sprout all over the place into other tree's territory. They also line alot of those long rich looking driveways! I swore to buy a villa there someday and line MY driveway with these trees :)... of course I'm talking like 50 years down the road.. ok maybe 60..

Siena!

Can't really see from this photo but the place is sloping like mad.. tiring to walk man..

Anyway, Jon and I lost each other along some slope and I got mad at him cause I thot he left me alone. So sad. We had McDonalds for dinner that night because we were upset with each other. Well, at least we saved money on food for once.

Next day.. after our "anger" had diminished.. we drove to many towns.. :)
Stop #1: Radda. Small city, lots of wine tasting places called Enoteca.

Swimming Pool! ok, a bit suaku. But I love this .. the place overlooks lush green hills.. Wonder if I'll be able to get a summer vacation home like this in future =p

Gigantic Pizza which we had in Radda

We went to this town called Certaldo.. Bad Mistake. First we couldn't find the furnicular which takes you to the city @ the top of a hill.. and after a lot of sweating and walking and more sweating, we made it up to only to discover *gasp*.. NOTHING. We wanted to have a drink in a cafe and was promptly turned away because they "had no bar to only serve drinks. Only for lunch". Even when we went back to ask if we could have desserts.. it was a flat no. Jon and I suspected its because it was near their Siesta time and they didn't want us to prolong their working hours. Anyway, a misleading photo to show the "beautiful Certaldo!"

From Certaldo, we drove 45 mins to San Gimiagnano. The place was again, HILLY. So sweaty and tiring man these towns.

This town had alot of "museum of torture". Wondered wat the history was.. were they a prison city????? Anyway, loved this photo.. seemed to say "follow me, I will guide you towards light". Apt in a "prison-city" eh :)

That night, we had dinner at a restaurant near our B&B on our hostess recommendation. Jon finally got to have his florentine steak.. only to discover next morning that it was meant for two people to share. Haha.. he couldn't sleep that night... too full. Oh we had a bottle of Ruffino Chianto Classico 2005, great drink. Highly recommend it. Smooth, slightly dry but not too dry like most Chianti.

Next day, we went to Montalcino. This town was like 1.5 hours drive away.. not really scenic.. but totally worth it because of the cheap brunello! Ok, when I say cheap, it was like 20 euro a bottle and up.. and up.. and up. But considering a normal bottle outside in supermarkets usually cost at least SGD 80, I'll say it was totally worth it. If not for the fact that there is a 20kg luggage restriction and liquids cannot be hand carried, I would have bought more. As it is, we only bought one bottle for my dad. Had Caprese with the wine. Perfection.

And we're back to Siena for dinner...

another hand written menu. The waiter at this restaurant was really "wierd"... he didn't speak english, asked us if we spoke mandarin.. ask the chinese waitress to serve us.. she totally ignored him... he was also being a sarcastic ass.. guess they dun have a happy working relationship...

An australian mother and daughter pair came and sat across from us.. they had the same problem with the pnly-written-in-italian menu (thankfully jon n I by then already understood what is pomodora, arriabiata etc.. could order what we want i guess).. the waiter didn't know what they were asking and instead went something like this..

waiter: "ok. I know. You like cheese?"
mother: "no. "
waiter: "ok, cheese for you".
.....

sunset on our way back home :). Wished I had those kick ass camera that shows how beautiful the scenery really was

Roma...

First sight of our B&B... not good. dilapitated. At least inside turned out to be not bad.. except NO AIR CON. Die. 33 degrees celsius. :(

Rome turned out to be all about tourist. The weather was really hot too. But the buildings really were something. Huge.. Ruined.. but pretty stunning nonetheless. The sites were really far apart.. we bought tickets for the hop-on-hop-off bus to tour the city but never really got off the bus because it was so hot!

Yeah, we shopped. Mostly for my mom's stuff.. things there were so expensive and I was so broke I didn't feel like shopping =p.

Anyway, that's kinda the end of my italy trip. :)

wow.. time flies.. its been such a long time since I've blog.. just felt like it for no real reason at all.. its 3.33am.. cool =p.. played squash and tennis today.. really shag.. met up with some old friends who haven't yet permanently relocated back to sunny island..

ok.. I'm bored and I'm not asleep.. why why whyyyyyyyy... dreading the end of the year because it means back to work!!

been working for more than 2 months now.. busy busy busy.. with work comes new set of skills but also new set of problems.. I've been quite lucky cause my working team is great.. with some minor hiccups that occur everywhere I guess :)

One think I've learnt is sometimes being so sensitive really no good.. work needs to be done no matter what right.. and sometimes I think someone very angry when he/she is not.. *sigh*.. so troublesome..

want to go for a drink.. now..

Grandpa's Birthday

Huge turnout @ my grandpa's place yesterday.. all the grandchildren turned up.. 2 brought their girlfriend/boyfriend to introduce to the family.. too bad the great grandchild in australia otherwise will be entire family reunion :)

ignore the obvious height difference.. the 4 rats reunite.. qiuyi bought her bf too.. our 1st time meeting him after so long :)

the grandchildren.. plus 2 grandchildren-in-law-to-be

the lone daughter with 6 daughter in laws

6 sons with one son in law

yup.. whole big big biggggggyyy family :)

today going to do some working clothes alteration and going to ACS to play squash with xiang.. so fun!!!!!!!

Back in SG.. but was busy doing my room.. painted my own room!! so pretty.. then spend alot of money buying furniture.. been in and out of IKEA alot .. lucky got one at Tampines.. ya haven't been meeting up with ppl coz so tired doing all thes errands and being my family's personal concierge. =p
Sister's Birthday Dinner at Foo's House.. cheap western place opened by the old Hyatt chef who started Mezza9.. my family big fan of their new year buffet =p


Brief visit to Bangkok.. bought alot of junk including 12 packets of seaweed that cost like $3 a pack in Singapore. really nice. Dad was so excited ordering so much food that Xiang got bored and started taking photos.. we took tiger airways there so cheap!

Thai Restaurant that we ate at arnd Siam Sq.. called Ban Khun Mae.. very nice leh the food

Greetings from Champ Elysee.. the french are the most stuck up ppl around.. service sucks... although their escargot quite nice.. jon is a pig.. everywhere he go must try their delicacy and since we were being cheap, we hunted for escargot foie gras and onion soups at cafes...

walked alot.. the weather was quite nice.. cloudy on off rains but overall we could walk fine.. better than amsterdam.. the buildings very pretty.. our hotel was good.. but wah leg pain..

so now starts my complains.. so we bought a 1 day pass but halfway thru the day i realised we haven't stamped our card at all cause some lady told us we didn't need to on the bus.. so we decided to avoid the metro the whole day so that we can use the card again tomorrow (since the buses don't stamp).. but then at 8pm, half the bus lines stop running and it wasn't reflected on our map... so annoying..

we went to buddha bar.. got turned away coz we weren't suitably dressed..so we went home.. took the cab back to buddha bar.. this cab driver tried to cheat us by "missing a turn and going a round" but after we asked he said "sorry i very tired.. drive very long today.. lady u very beautiful.. and you sir also very beautiful".. then after a while decide to stop the meter.. so ok la didn't really get cheated.. this time made it to buddha bar in style (hopefully) and the bouncer was like "ahh.. ahhh..".. yeah he recognised us and after the eye up eye down once over, nodded and grinned his approval.. buddha bar was really crowded.. each glass of champagne was 15 euro.. damn expensive.. but music n place quite nice.. :).. alot of americans too man.. after a while the music became a bit strange and we left.. wanted to go Rex Club recommended by lonely planet.. but was so crowded Jon decided we should up the mood and take a romantic stroll along the river.. unfortunately the lights to the sights were off so it wasn't as romantic as Jon wanted it to be.. haha think he's just destined to be a brute =p

anyhow.. the next day with our train ticket, managed to cover the rest of the sights not along the river.. montmarte.. eiffel tower close up (which jon didn't really want to see but I insisted.. how can come all the way dun go there!!) and la defense.. then made it to airport..

today morning woke up had super long brunch with jon.. he skipped school to drive me to airport.. now at frankfurt.. boring.. 2 more hours to my flight...so smokey!!!

along the river, found a multilated tree.. but quite interestin.g. like art =p

along the street near pont neuf ("new bridge"), there were like alot of pet shops and florist.. this golden retriever so cute.. but expensive.. 900 euro

my nicest shot of eiffel tower at night

plus more photos.. lazy to blog all... notre dame.. la defense (the arch is a perfect square... houses some ministry)..view from montmarte/ Sacre coeur.. moulin rouge.. and of course another eiffel tower shot

Gallerie Lafayette.. the nicest departmental store around man.. so pretty one the inside..

the lourve

along the river.. saw a tree that was multilated...

along the street near pont neuf (new bridge), whole row of pet shops and florist.. this golden retriver so cute..

my b est shot of the eiffel tower at night

photos from paris.. lazy to blog all hahaha

Pablo Francisco - Time To Joke In Spanish

Olympic Stadium..

@ the bier garten..

new BMW museum.. cool! autobahn right next to it..

going to salzburg!

night out.. seafood buffet for jon.. was going to go clubbing but it was raining and we took a rain check..

what a change from the night before.. new fashion statement

interesting signs around..

Salzburg...

Cool signs sold at a street fair...

photos from salzburg.. very pretty city...Jon as usual found a bench under some shade and sat down saying "beautiful scenery right".. what a cover up. mozart statue in the middle..

jon acting cool.. haha actually he hates that photo but i like it

dogs in europe are extremely tame.. owners bring them on trains.. in restaurants.. and they're really well behaved.. this dog didn't even bulge when I took a photo with flash.

bored on train.. heheh

view from train.. the rainbow was BEAUTIFUL.. took ALOT of photos.. but liked this one the best

Since Amsterdam....

been doing nothing. Jon everyday pick fight with me cause I'm being irritating.. taking up alot of space in his small room.. =p...we've been eating out everyday.. no money..
Wednesday when Jon went to school, I went shopping at Marienplatz.. wah I took 3 hours to walk one street coz there was so many H&Ms each with like different stock. crazy. then not to mention the other multiple stores.. from broke become bankrupt.
On thursday he brought me to the 1972 olympic stadium.. (where they actually firmed the show Munchen..).. climbed up to the top of the "hill".. at 1st reminded me of Bratislava.. he was shocked coz Bratislava was like dead city.. but once at the top.. ok la.. not bad..got the alps in the background. walked halfway down to go beer garden where he had like 1L of beer.. then talked on the phone with his mom until his mom also say he talking rubbish. we went to watch movie! ocean 13! hmm I still think Ocean 11 was the best.. 12 no good.. 13 not bad la. The last 3 nights were always raining in munich so we were very happy when we walked out of the theatre at 9+ and it was bright out.. took the U-bahn back to giselastrasse and walked down the street towards his house where we saw this mexican place and sat down for some snacks and shisha.. the weather still very nice we took a walk arnd his neighborhood.. even he never walked down some of these streets.. quite nice ah :)..

So yesterday he was going to bring me to the English Garden.. apparently the biggest city garden in Europe.. and it was big man.. now jon has a problem with distance. Before we left, I asked if the walk was very long.. cause if it was then I shall not be vain and wear flats instead of my wedges.. like the day before he say very short la very short la (we ended up climbing a hill at the olympic stadium) which of coz turned out to be quite far.. then it ended up pouringggggg... hehe but I forgive him cause he juz wanted to show me arnd la... we ate at the Hilton where Jon had this super expensive seafood buffet and felt really bad the whole...

Today weather very nice.. after very filling brunch at Richart where we of course had my ham and cheese omelette, took the 2 hour train out to Salzburg.. the city very small n quite nice la.. full of tourist.. then I saw this couple that looked like Singaporeans so walked behind them to look at the guy's bag tag.. relalky leh! Pasir Ris!! Cool

we climb up some mini hill to see the view.. came down had crappy pasta for dinner.. the city full of horse shit.. so smelly. =p. On our way back, we saw a RAINBOW!! like really big RAINBOW.. wait I upload photos..then like 45 mins before munich, this bunch of happy merry drunk old man (i think got 1 or 2 women) came up the bus with an accordion and made everyone laugh can... coz the player was really relaly drunk.. making all sorts of jokes (jon had to translate).. came back and went KFC.. heheheheh...

okok, very tired. tmrw then put photos

Amsterdam!

Our Hotel Room.. Hotel Artemis. very nice room with plasma tv.. reason why its cheap is coz its crappy out of the way! =p. When we got to Amsterdam (nice aiport btw), it was raining somemore.. took the bus to our hotel.. by time got checked in and all was 730...

took the tram downtown.. the tram is really cute.. its quite long.. 2 main sections.. one in front with the bus driver who is isolated in a booth.. and the 2nd section has another booth with a conductor who sells tickets... relaly interesting.

By decree of Mr Kam, we braved the rain to look for a chinatown (location unknown except that its in the red light district).. I was quite tired by then whats with the flight in on thurs.. travelling to munich (although he drove all the way.. 2 way somemore.. ) then pack pack friday left for amsterdam.. then rain somemore.. really no mood.. but felt a bit bad ah.. cause Jon was so excited and all I wanted to do was just sulk pout n b grouchy =p

Anyhow, we found chinese food.. quite expensive but the portion was huge and the food was GOOD. haha I was pleasantly surprised when I bit into the crispy pork and images of eating with my family in singapore just popped into my head. Immediately commented to Jon "wah the food here really quite good ah".. anyhow, the egg n beer ont he bottom is from lunch the next day.. and last photo is at (yes again) chinese food dinner on the 2nd day.. I had mini dim sum.. shiok.

after dinner.. we went back to the hotel.. After checking out at 1230 the next day.. we walked out to try to get the bus to airport to drop off our luggage.. missed the 1st bus just as we were walking to bus stop.. the bus comes once every 30 mins.. 30 mnins later two 195s came.. but both going in different directions.. since the 1st one says "station leylann" we flagged down the 2nd bus who told us the bus in front was the right one.. damn up till today I think that bus driver forgot to switch signs when he made the loop (its a loop service that runs a route between two main stations..).. anyhow had to wait another 30 mins.. this time we just flagged down the 1st bus that said station leylann and the driver looked damn irritated at us saying he JUST came from the airport.. think its the 1st bus from before that we flagged then asked him to leave.. the 2nd bus came n it was the driver who told us we had flagged down the wrong bus previously.. aiyo we definitely must have seemed very suaku.. anyhow, I got bored waiting 1 hr so jon and I practiced some self protrait shots.

Since we got downtown only at 3.. 1st things 1st.. SHOPPINGGGG

my attempts to make Jon a more adventurous dresser failed miserably.. possibly cause I suck at it too.. haha anyhow it was fun making him try on different things n seeing a very pained expression cross his face... He's a terrible shopper btw.. instead of going lane by lane we would like walk one lane.. turn onto an alley and cross like 3 lanes so we could walk along the canal which individually was by no means famous and definitely had no shops. Since I'm broke and wasn't really looking to buy anything.. oh well.. just walk with him la otherwise he complain again about how abusive I am =p

btw, coffeeshops in amsterdam are legal places where people smoke drugs.. and they're EVERYWHERE. Jon tried one since the magic mushroom experience left him somewhat unsatisfied n frustrated... couldn't take photos inside otherwise I would have.. really strange interesting place. The coffeeshops are not sleazy as expected.. some are even quite high class with the look and feel of a lounge.. the people inside are ALL smoking some form of hash or weed.. but all look really professional and are having normal social conversations.. no weedy uncontrollable smiles or slouching in their chairs...

It was the menu that really made me feel very strange.. the fact that its so open and all that.. although the servers were quite discrete.. talk very softly and professionally.. no idle banter or anything.. just choose advice if u ask.. give and go away.. the cashier himself was smoking ah..

Another interesting sighting... public open urinals for men.. I was actually staring at it wondering if its what i think it is.. then some guy ran up to it and starting unzipping his pants and all that.. I looked at Jon and said "Is he doing what i think he's doin?????"...

more pictures of amsterdam.. its really quite an interesting city man.. so there's 700,000+ inhabitants.. 600,000 bikes.. 8+ million tourist.. (lots of MEN... especially groups of british men who all look high perpetually)

the city never sleeps.. the sun sets at like 10pm.. Rembrantplein (last row of photos) is where the clubs are.. super crowded and happening.. see the photo of the Borat imitator..

what really struck me was how open the sex trade was.. I mean I knew and read about all the cupboards before.. with women just standing wanting men to ogle at them.. some of them shaking enthusiastically.. some just look damn bored.. on the phone... some really hot.. some fat.. no I'm not being condescending or judging but I was asking Jon doesn't it make sense for them to like lose some weight and put on a more inviting look? the whole point is to entice guys so that they can earn some money right? anyhow, so they just stand behind these glass cupboards.. guys walk up and they open the door, close the door, draw the curtains.. and.....was wondering about the prices.. we speculated that its probably not cheap since they have to pay rent and all that.. if you look inside the cupboards its actually a small room with sink and a bed.. toilets? maybe.

walk walk until tired already.. after more chinese food dinner.. chilled out at a open air lounge at Dams Square to people watch

very interestin sign for a restaurants.. lousy food & warm beer.

Met an old friend Maurits @ Rembrantplein! Seems like everytime there's some sort of vice involved, maurits is there! haha kidding.. just that my last outing with him was our all nighter stint with David at Atlantic City..=p.. was both 1st time for Maurits and me, but quite fun la just taking one table and chit chat all nice while playing blackjack.. we were laffing over how David made like 600% while both of us just broke even.. he's enjoying his work.. takes him to middle east alot since March.. he's barely arnd amsterdam at all.. so we were lucky to just catch him that wkend coz he was back only for 2 days..

still looking the same. :)

Back From Amsterdam

After beer.. crashing at the airport from 3am until our 9am flight.. then back to Munich.. Jon became like this... =p.. ok if I don't blog for another 48 hours, call the police cause I got murdered in the room hehe

A street fair on the Main Street where Jon's dorm is., alot of food.. live music.. I like these kinda scenes.. :).

this is probably gonna sound totally bimbotic.. but I'm watching desperate housewives and I really think its quite meaningful. Just watched an episode where these totally hot housewives are searching for love.. n it seems that ppl always want something better. that's so true isn't it.. we all have impressions about what makes us happy.. what we want.. but its only when things go wrong, like say we get cancer?, do we know what really matters...

Last Day In Princeton

Today was a mad rush. Kevin came arnd 950.. attended my Graduation.. I'm so touched. :). They even bought me flowers. even though I suddenly felt quite lost and sad without my parents.. seeing them here really made me feel MUCH better.. after lunch at Nassau Sushi, came back to my room to rest.. they fell asleep while I packed.. went to eat Bent Spoon.. then Teresa's Cafe with a bottle of white wine.. wah shiok.

Came back to my room.. packed more.. walked kev to dinky.. when we came back, received a call from him... wah he missed the last train.. well I screwed up coz the train timings were wrong :(. ANyhow, borrowed Sun Can's car to go pick him from Princeton Junction.. his car is like a VAN.. haha.. what an adventure on my last day.

I'm all packed and ready to leave. But dunwan to leave. Maybe I'll miss my flight? err anqi will kill me

More Graduation Pics...

Muhamad Ali was our "popular" honorary PhD recipient.. he could barely focus ah.. but so cool! Read about his life stuff.. like how he advocate alot of humanitarian stuff..

Best Pals. :)

Dinner @ Teresa Cafe