Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 8

Day 9 - 25th Dec 2012

Mask

Today, we are going to walk around Chengdu by ourselves. So we got up slightly late (not very late too..hohohho), and got ready to go down for breakfast. It is buffet breakfast, and have cornflakes too..finally got cornflakes to eat...After breakfast, we went back to our room to take our bag and set off. We went to take metro down to Jin Sha Ruins Museum, but when we came out of the metro station, we still have a quite a distance to the museum (and it is not very near...). Finally we reached the museum entrance and bought the tickets (RMB$80 each...). Then we went in to explore the place, there were 5 halls, contained all the artifacts dug out from the site. They had preserved the whole site and let it for public display. There also had videos giving introduction on how it was first found and as they dug, the more artifacts they discovered. We even went for a 4D show, showing the life of the Jin Shan people's life (Can feel the snakes crawling very fast on your butt and can feel an arrow strike on your back...). The 4D show is RMB$20 per person...a bit exp...After that, we walked to another area to see the site where the artifacts are dug out from. We stayed there until 3 plus, then we went to buy admission tickets for the next place - Du Fu Thatched Cottage (RMB$60 each). Suppose there is a free ride between 3 places if you purchase the tickets for the 3 places (which is Jin Sha Ruins Museum, Du Fu Thatched Cottage and Wu Hou Ci Memorial Temple..didn't managed to visit the 3rd place as not enough time), so we expect there is a free ride to the cottage. Instead the lady from the museum told us that the free bus is not operating now as there was road construction going on, so she took us to a bus stop and take their public transport FOC to the cottage. She didn't take with us, she told us to alight after 4 or 5 stops. Luckily the alighting bus stop is near to the cottage entrance.

Du Fu Thatched Cottage

And so, we went to explore the house of Du Fu. The place was also big, spent an hour or so exploring the place. There was a 4 storey high tower inside, i climbed up to 2nd storey and took some photos. When i came down, my friend was nowhere to be found. So i tried to search for her around the area..Gosh..i walked in and out the tower and even climbed up to the 4th level (when i don't have the intention too in the first place). Finally i gave up looking around the tower and walked to another area, there she was...(from far saw her walking at another area..haiz..). She still asked our friends in singapore to send sms to me to meet up at the south gate (already saw her before i saw the sms...kekeke). After done exploring the house, we headed out to Kuan Zhai Alley. We exited at the other gate of the cottage house, and we walked for about 15 mins to the bus stop to take the bus. It was 2 or 3 stops away. But when we alighted, we don't know where to head too...later when asked a passerby where is the alley, she told us it is just opposite the road..the name for the alley is super not easy to see, (unless you know ancient Chinese characters....hohohoho). And so we walked in the alley, there was not much people too....very nice and not squeezing to walk in the alley...We ate some xiao chi as dinner and went back to our hotel after eating..After reaching the hotel, my friend went down to shop around while i stayed in our room to watch tv... kekeke..tv time!!

Day 10 - 26th Dec 2012

Schwarze Ziege

Today, woke up at around 8 plus to get ready for breakfast. After breakfast, we made our way to the bus stop to Qing Yang Gong (青羊宫）. It was 4 or 5 stops away from our hotel, and it stopped at the bus stop opposite the temple...Quite convenient compared to taking their metro.....Apparently the places of interest are near to bus stops, rather to metro stations...And when we reached, we still need to pay an entrance fee of RMB$10 to go in (A Taoist just sat outside and issues the tickets..). The Taoist temple is the oldest and biggest of its kind in the area, located in the west of downtown. While it has a long history, the buildings are modern, cheaply-made concrete constructions, and it quite frequently shows. The statues inside are also cheap modern constructions of no real interest.All the things inside are very old, and the place is super big. There were  a lot of gods inside, and there was an animal statue (shown on the left). It was made up from a small part of the 12 zodiac animals'. (Can you figure out?) We spent about half a day exploring the temple, saw a Taoist washing her super long hair too....really super long (going to touch the ground)...And there was a place for tea too, at the back of the temple. After exploring the temple, we set off out for lunch..hungry...We decided to go back to Chun Xi Road, after finding out the original place we wanted to go had closed. But along the journey back, we alighted at Tong Hui Men Road and went to walk at a street (Qin Tai Lu) where the whole street was filled with gold jewellery shops. After walking for a while, we decided to go into a restaurant there - Tanyoto....MaLa Steamboat time.....

MaLa Huo Guo

We went in and ordered steamboat with mala and tomato soup based...and ordered a fish head, mixtures of balls (got pork, cuttlefish and prawns), lotus root, cucumber, a duck (cold dish) and got a free side dish (corn..don't know what is it called...but still nice to eat..hahaha). We waited for some time before all the food came...The fish head was divided into 2 and boiled in both the soups (i took the mala and my friend took the tomato....). Wah!! The mala is super super ma....cannot tahan...When i ate the fish, my tongue was ma...until cannot talk already...hahhaa..i almost wanted to cry out....really cannot tahan...I told my friend to put all the rest of the food into the tomato-based soup...Cannot eat any more with the food in mala....We spent 2 or 3 hours for this meal..hahaha....Super full after eating....Then we slowly made our way back to Chun Xi Road for shopping (snacks and souvenirs time....). We went back to hotel room to rest for awhile first..then we went down to shop around and bought souvenirs (panda items) and snacks back...After bringing back the stuffs back to the hotel, we went down again to buy some food back...heavy lunch...can't even eat proper dinner...Bought alot of snacks again in the supermarket...kekeke...We had instant noodles for dinner and my friend bought a few yogurts back to try...after that, we went back to hotel to make our noodles...ahh..the instant noodles also oily and no taste..plain plain de...kekkee...Then is back to tv and ipad's time...night night!


Stay tune for the last day's journey in Chengdu..... ^_^

Places visited:
1. Jin Sha Ruins Museum
2. Du Fu Thatched Cottage
3. Kuan Zhai Alley
4. Qing Yang Gong
5. Qin Tai Lu
6. Chun Xi Road

Hotel Stayed:
Haiyatt Hotel

Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 4

Day 5 - 21st Dec 2012

Rice in Bamboo

Today woke up early again...got ready and put our luggage outside our room and went for breakfast. Simple dishes for breakfast, there was a bowl of soya too which doesn't taste like it. I can't find my battery pack...sad..don't know where it went to (until now, also cannot find it). After breakfast, we boarded our bus to set off our journey. First stop, we were going to Highland Bee Farm. There, the guide brought us to a room, where the staff started to introduce to their honey products..i almost fell asleep there (due to sleepless nights from the previous days).....he let us tried their honey jelly too, which is the best of all. And after the introduction, he led us to another room where they are selling their products there...Mi and my friend just walked out and went to toilet. Hahahaha....don't want to get cheated again...So we just went up to the bus to wait for the others. After that, we traveled back down the mountain (it's a long journey ride down) and went to China's bamboo City where we had our lunch there. Along the way, the tour guide told us about the bamboo city and bamboo was being used in making pictures....The dishes for our lunch were quite slow in serving...in fact when they had served until the 4th or 5th dishes, everyone was already full. But there were still some more dishes being served, which we didn't even touch. There was a dish quite nice from this meal, which is the bamboo rice. They had cooked the rice in bamboo...too bad only 1 serving for each..if 2nd serving of rice is asked, they only give white rice.  The tour guides gave us cold drinks and beers to drink too....as the ban is lifted (not allowed to drink cold drinks/beers while staying at high altitude). After lunch, we started our tour in the bamboo city.

Holders made of Bamboo

The tour guide introduced us to the local guide of bamboo city and she led us around their exhibit to see their masterpieces. The master (don't remember the name..still alive...) is a great person and he even have classes to teach people how to do this art (people from around the world actually comes and learn the art from him). After showing us the products made from bamboo, we were led to a room where there is a demo - step by step how a picture is being done by using bamboo. It was very amazing, and it really really takes up a lot of patience. There is a master piece - a picture of Guan Yin. It will go invisible if you are seeing straight from the front. But if you turn the picture to slightly sideway, the picture of Guan Yin will appear before you (It is called 'The Invisible Guan Yin') and it is made from bamboo! They even have colored bamboo, there is a piece of art - where it has 99 tigers in it. It is made by using colored bamboo. There is another art piece where ancient kings & queens faces (total of 100 kings & queens) are created in it. They even made a calendar, wireless keyboard and mouse from bamboo, very interesting. Amazingly the feel on the keyboard feels good...hohohoho...After spending some time for bamboo products shopping, we set out for our next stop - Leshan Buddha.

LeShan Giant Buddha

We arrived at the ferry jetty, our tour guide went to the ticket counter to help us to get our tickets. Then we made our way down to the boat. And we are required to wear a super orange colored life jackets. We also waited for some time, cos our boat was not full yet. We waited for at least 10 or 15 mins, finally our boat left the port. It was first started by a monk called Haitong, but the construction took too long to complete. He died before it was completed, the Buddha was later completed by his disciples. The whole place looks like a giant sleeping Buddha and where Leshan Buddha is, the 'heart' of the sleeping Buddha. And so, the boat set off and arrived in front of Leshan Buddha. We were told that we only have 7 or 8 minutes to take the photo of the Buddha. They even provide service to help you take professional photos. After that, the boat brought us back to the port and that's it (Tour ended...hohoho..). Then we made our way to our new hotel in Jiajiang - Venie Hotel. Ohh...there were some of the tour members who went for body massage when the rest went back to the hotel. So dinner was set at around 7.45pm. We didn't went for the massage, so we were brought to the hotel first. We arrived at around 6 plus, then we went up to check out our room. The room was slightly better than the previous ones and there is heater in the room (too strong...hahaha..). Anyway the room was facing the main road (too much noise by cars), so we requested to change room. Our tour leader changed the room with us, which is not facing the main road. My friend went to the toilet and then followed by mi. We both thought the toilet had a smell after that (she thought it was me and i thought it was her..hahaha). Anyway after settled our stuffs in our room, we went down to the lobby for internet. Dinnertime....we finally had dinner without wearing our outer jackets. Heater was strong enough to keep our food warm. After dinner, we wanted to go the mall opposite the hotel but we need to cross a super big road with no traffic lights and there were alot of big trucks passing. It was very dark and it started to rain. So we gave up the idea and went back to our room, by then there was a super strong stench coming from the toilet. My friend still went in to take a shower...with the smelly stench...hohoho..I tried to call the housekeeper to come and take a look after her shower, the housekeeper just washed the drainholes with water and sprayed some air fresher. After the housekeeper left, i went to smell the toilet. Gosh!! It's a mixture of smelly drain smell and air fresher...wanted to faintz....So i went to look for our tour guide and request for a change of room again. Luckily the hotel has available room to change for us. So we moved from 1 end to the other end, and we went to check out the toilet, whether got stench. There was none, for start. Don't know why, the stench started to come later by the night...Sianz sia....we needed to stay in this hotel for 2 nights and we got a smelly toilet....But luckily the stench in the 3rd room is not so heavy than the previous room..so just bear with it and tuned in for the night....My friend complained too hot to sleep cos the heater was too strong, causing the room too warm for her to sleep well...But for me, i finally slept (really feel like i am sleeping) after 4 days of no proper sleep (think craving for sleep by this time)..hahaha....

To be cont'd.....

Places visited:
1. China's Bamboo City
2. LeShan Giant Buddha

Hotel Stayed:
Jiajiang Venie Hotel

Europe Trip - Back to Singapore

Day 15: Haiz...going to take plane back to singapore..so sian.Woke up and left for Paris airport.Still have to take the airport shuttle train from T3 to T1.So ma fan and the airport is so messy (still got 2A to 2F terminals,don't know how many terminals they have.) Then we checked in our luggage and when we went checking in,there was a lady beside our counter.She was like arguing with the SQ personnel about paying for excess hand luggage.Hohoho....

Anyway the airport looks old and boring,so we went in to the gate early.We did a little shopping too before boarding the plane. Later we boarded the plane,it was a 11 hours plane ride.So anyway basically we just sat and slept in the plane.As there is nothing much to do,except to watch movies or listen to music and waited for our food to come.Lol

With this,my 2 weeks Europe trip ended by reaching Singapore on 24th May 2010 early morning.

Europe Trip - London (Cont'd)

Day 13: Woke up to prepare for our day tour to Stonehenge.But it was too early,the hotel cafe is not opened till 7.30am.So we waited until 7.30am to have our breakfast,so by then we left the hotel,it was already 8am.We reached Victoria Station by 8.30am and the meeting place was like 15mins away from the station.Sadly,by the time we reached the victoria bus station it was already 8.50am.The coach bus had already left,in the end we didn't get to go for the trip. So we decided to go for Buckingham Palace,which was just nearby the area.But again,it was a disappointment as the opening times was 11am.So we headed to Wellington Arch first,as to pass time while waiting for the palace to open.And we kept walking until we reached the Hyde Park.We also passed by the Marble Arch,it is an arch made of marble.Nothing much there.In the park,there were a lot of statues and birds flying around.Princess Diana Memorial Fountain and playground were also built inside.Then we kept walking until we reached Kensington Gardens.There,we saw King Albert's Memorial statue,it was super huge and tall.From there,you can see the Royal Albert Hall.It was across the road,it is abit kind of a round building. Then we kept walking to Kensington Palace,and still need to walk through the garden before reaching the palace's entrance.(Why the garden always so big?)

Anyway,photography is not allowed in the palace,so no photos taken inside.In the palace,we were asked to find the 7 princesses lived in the palace before.Princess Victoria and Diana were in the list. After the palace,i was too tired to walk back to the Buckingham Palace,so gave up going there.(The 2 royal parks not small).We took the metro back to Tower Hill station,it was 4 or 5 station stops away (That's mean we had already walked for 4 stations away from the palace station).At Tower of London,we went to All Hallows by the Tower.It was a small church beside the Tower of London.Anyway we just went inside to have a look.After that we went a ride on the city cruise along river thames.

Along the river,the guide gave introduction on the bridges and buildings we passed.He did mentioned that London Bridge did went down 3 times.And there was a bridge,they called it 'Lovers' Bridge',another bridge named 'Women Bridge'(Waterloo bridge),another bridge named 'Blackfriars Bridge' and there was a wavy bridge which was closed by the police after hours of its opening.Because people was falling from the bridge and it was too dangerous.Anyway the bridge did open back,now people are walking across it.There was a building shaped like an atomic bomb.Lol We passed by the famous London Eye and the House of Parliament of London in Westminster. Then we stopped at Westminster Pier and we went up to have a short walk around there.After that we took the cruise back again to Tower Hill Pier,where we took the metro to South Keingston station to have our dinner.Then we headed back to the hotel to end our day

Places visited:
1. Wellington Arch
2. Hyde Park (Royal Park)
3. Marble Arch
4. Serpentine Gallery
5. Princess Diana Memorial Fountain
6. Kensington Gardens (Royal Park)
7. Peter Pan's Statue
8. King Albert's Memorial
9. Garden Walk
10. Kensington Palace
11. All Hallows by the Tower (Church)
12. City Cruise (Bypass a lot of bridges & Buildings)

Europe Trip - London

Day 12: Woke up early again to catch our train to London.Walked down to Amsterdam Central train station and waited to board to train to Bruxelles Midi station,to change to Eurostar. When in Bruxelles Midi station,the gate for Eurostar train was already opened,we went in.Luckily we went in early,need to pass through customs and luggage scanning stuff.


And so we reached London at around 10am plus,we headed straight to the hotel 1st.But unfortunately,the room was not ready.So we only checked in the hotel,then we went down to a nearby cafe for a full english breakfast.Then we ended up staying in the cafe until it is time we can put our luggage in the hotel room.Finally we can put our luggage in the hotel room,the room was kind of hot and there was a window and we were on the 4th floor of the hotel.

London metro was always packed with people and the circle line train is every 10 mins or more.Sometimes there was no even 1 circle line train,basically you will need to take a train to some place else to transfer.Another weird thing you will notice in London is the police's siren.Every 5 minutes,you will definitely hear a police's siren on the road (like there are a lot of crooks to catch in London,the police there very busy).

After that,we headed down to London's main attractions,which we went for the Tower of London 1st.We went for the exhibits inside,which was named An Armour for a King,where they displayed all the different amour worn by different kings.In there,we also went to the different crowns & staffs for the Kings and Queens.Too bad we cannot take photos of the crowns and staffs.They are very beautiful and expensive (A lot of jewels & diamonds on it).

After that,we walked over to Tower bridge,where we went up for the exhibit.You can even walk on the link bridge on the top.We went to engine room where we got to see the machine inside the bridge on how the bridge was being pulled up when large ships are to pass through.There was a display on a motorcycle which was being used to fly over the tower bridge on 2009 by Robbie Maddison. After that,we walked from Tower Bridge to London Bridge.Then from there we walked to The Monument.

The Monument to the Great Fire of London, more commonly known as The Monument,is a 202 ft (61.57 metre) tall stone Roman Doric in the City of London near to the northern end of London Bridge.It is located at the junction of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill, 202 ft (61.57 metres) from where the Great Fire of London started in 1666.You can even go up and climb the 311 steps to the top.Anyway we reached quite late,it was already closed.After that,we went back to Bayswater station,where we had Burger King for dinner.Went to a supermarket for tibits shopping before heading back to the hotel.

Hotel stayed: Leisure Inn


Place visited:
1. Tower of London
2. Tower Bridge
3. London Bridge
4. The Monument
5. Streets in Bayswater station

Europe Trip - Amsterdam

Day 11: Didn't sleep much and woke up super early to catch our train to Amsterdam.Luckily this time,there is no need for transfer in between,it was a direct train to Amsterdam Central Station.

Reached Amsterdam at around 9 plus,we tried to ask the bus driver how long it will take to reach the hotel by tram,the driver said half an hour,so we got off cos we still need to go for a tour at 10.30am.Anyway we went to the tourist information agency to help us find a much nearer hotel and within our budget.We managed to get 1 nearby hotel which needs 15 mins walk from the train station.So we went to the tour agency first to check on our day tour package,it was a city tour 1st and windmill village later in the afternoon.Anyway we gave up the city tour and went to hotel instead.But the room was not ready yet,at least we can deposit our luggage there 1st.

So we went ahead with the 2nd tour,which was wonderful (since the start of the day was already so pek chey and like a disaster).First stop we went to Volendam Village,the guide took us for a walk around the village.We went to a chapel first,where there would be an old lady,wearing the traditional Dutch costume (which you can take photos with).Then we managed to go inside a real Marken House (whose the owner happened to be at home).Inside the house,all the traditional stuffs are kept and displayed (like a museum).Most of the houses are all painted in green color and from there we took a cruise (Marken Express) across the big river to Marken village.

After a 15 to 20 mins cruise ride,we reached the port of Marken village.The guide brought us to a shop where we watched a 10mins video on the village.After that,we had a 1 hour free time to ourselves where we did some shopping and walking around of the village.The village was famous for their fish n chips.Didn't try one there but did try the small pancakes (with butter & sugar).It was yummy!!Nice Nice!!Next time go back,must try again.

After that,we went to the cheese farm and clogs factory.They were next-door to each other,so we went for the cheese farm first.In there,we had a brief introduction on how cheese was made and preserved for long long time.There was a special plastic (which is mostly yellow color) to protect the cheese and you can keep for years.The young cheese are like 3 months,and they called those cheese kept for 1 years or more as old cheese.The host demonstrated 2 special knives which were used to cut/slice the cheese very smoothly.Anyway they are selling the knives there.Hohohooo...after the introduction,we got to taste the different kinds of cheese and they are mostly for sale.The cheese was not bad (not really a fan of cheese) and they came up with different flavor of cheese.They even had smoked cheese,the taste was a bit werid though.Lol

After this,we went over to the opposite house,which was the clogs factory.There,we saw a lot of clogs hanging up on the roof.Then the host gave a brief introduction of the clogs too.They made millions of clogs everyday,but the clogs are machine-made now.They made clogs for farmers,clogs for flower planting,clogs stick for their sports,they even made a Nike Air clog.Hohoho...the guy said later he will make an Adidas clog.Anyway he did demonstrated how a clog is made by using the machine and it was fast,like 5 mins.The shape of the clog is done,later he brought to their shops to buy their clogs.You can even buy a pair of clogs for yourself to wear.

After the clogs factory,we headed down to the windmill village ( "Zaanse Schans").But it was already around 5 plus to 6.So by the time we reached there,all the shops are closed and all the people had already went home.The village was like kind of dead,anyway we just went there to take some photos of the windmills.There was like only 3 or 4 windmills lining up in a row.Basically,nothing much there too.After this,the tour ended and were brought back to the starting point.We headed back to the hotel first to check our room.The room was big but the toilet again was very small.The toilet door was just a small cupboard size (if you see the picture,it is the white door just beside the desk).

Anyway,can't be bothered anyway,we went out to see if there is any good food for our dinner.We went to a small restaurant,where i had grilled chicken with potato.The baked potato was a big-sized and it was nice to eat with the sour cream (just tat there was no bacon).After a nice dinner,we went back to the hotel and watched Spiderman 1 on the tv.Then went to sleep to prepare for the next day to start.

Hotel stayed: Nadia Hotel
Places visited:
1. Volendam
2. Marken
3. Cheese Farm
4. Clogs Factory
5. "Zaanse Schans" (Windmill Village)

Europe Trip - Romantic Road (Cont'd)

Day 10: Woke up late and went down for a breakfast prepared by the hotel owner himself.It was nice and warming.After that,checked out the hotel and went to walk around the city again,as to pass time (The coach bus would only come at 3.40pm,which was a bit waste of time).We went to the chapel and had a short tour there,did a little shopping around.After that,we went to the royal garden at the back of the town.Spent more time there and later went to have an early lunch.It was yummy.Then we returned to the hotel to wait for our cab to bring us to the bus stop.The cab came and brought us to the bus stop,where we waited for 15 mins for the coach bus to come (It was late). Finally the coach bus came,the ride was super boring!!Cos there was another couple with us,then we didn't even stop at any of the towns anymore along the road.Basically it's just only passing by,and they just wanted to go back to Frankfurt as early as possible.Anyway just slept on the coach bus,finally we reached Frankfurt at around 7pm plus. Then we had to find the hostel I booked.It was just opposite the main train station.The room was quite big but the toilet was super small (i mean,really small).There is no space for a person to stand inside.And the floor was carpeted with those cheap carpet,not nice to stand on,somehow it make your feet itch.Anyway,after check-in,we went down the streets to look for dinner.The streets gave you a feeling that it's not safe and 'messy'.There are a lots of 'XXX' shops around,just 1 or 2 shops away,you can already see 1.Lol,we just went back to a coffeeshop near the hostel and had a half-chicken for our dinner.It was oily and salty,not very nice.After that,we just went back to the hostel and slept early,as we needed to get early to catch train the next morning.With this,our 3 days Munich to Frankfurt tour ended.

 
Hotel stayed: Frankfurt Hostel

Europe Trip - Munich

Day 8: Arrived in Munich train station at around 7 plus,had our breakfast there and walked around the station.Tried to find the meeting place for our next tour,is a 3 days from Munich to Frankfurt package tour.We waited in the train station until it was time to go to the meeting place.Finally we boarded the coach,there are alot of people going together.Chinese,japanese,korea and even united states,first stop: Linderhof Castle.We reached the castle and it was raining again.We had to walk 10 to 15 mins through the garden before we can reach the castle entrance.The castle does not allow visitors to take photos,we only took those outside the castle.Much of the designs are much similar to those in Paris.The king's bedroom window is facing outside where there is a very big fountain and musicians would play music for the king.

After the castle tour,we went to a town nearby called Oberammergau.This town is famous for its play,and the houses are painting with drawings of Christianity.We had 1 hour of free time to walk around the town.Bought a few stuffs from there too,then we waited for the tour guide to regroup.After that,we headed to Neuschwanstein Castle.It was a 2 hours ride up there,we had our lunch at a hotel called Hotel Muller.As there was a lot of people inside the hotel and we couldnt get a table,we took 2 free chairs and sat a table near the window.As when we were having our meal,we saw the tour guide and driver were taking out our luggage,so i asked my friend to go down and check.

It was the hotel we were supposed to check in (The guide didn't even know and we were not even informed anything on the arrangement).Luckily,we didn't go back to Munich with the tour group as the guide thought we were going back to Munich Airport after the tour.And we got all our documents for the next 2 days.After lunch,we went up to Neuschwanstein Castle.It was a long way up to the castle,need to walk up the mountain to the castle entrance.There are buses and horse carriages to bring people up to the castle.On our way up,we saw an old man collapsed on the road and the tour guide or group members were doing CPR on him.When we got to the top,we heard the ambulance arrived.Then we went to tour around the castle,unable to take photos again as it is not allowed.Inside the castle,there were a lot of great paintings which displayed heroes of fairy stories which were the favorites of King Ludwig II.After the castle tour,we went back to the hotel to rest for a while before going for dinner.The hotel room was fantastic,there is an old cupboard to keep stuffs and there was a big carpet.Best of all,there was a balcony which can go out and see the mountains.And Neuschwanstein Castle was on the left side of the view and there was 2 big mountains right in front of the hotel.Pity,we didn't go up to see Hohenschwangau Castle,which was at the opposite side.It was a castle with a swan on top.

Later,we went down to the hotel restaurant and had dinner.We were given a glass of champagne as a welcome drink and we had bread as starter.Then came our main course,it was nice for the pork.Hohohoho....After dinner,we went back to hotel to sleep.


Day 9:Woke up and had our breakfast provided by the hotel.It was buffet breakfast and there were a lot of different kinds of bread and cereals.They even have soft-boiled and hard-boiled eggs.Got a nice view of the castle while having breakfast before leaving the place.It was a very enchanted experience there.

After that,we headed down to take a coach down along the Romantic Road.It was a wavy road which stretched very very long.There are a lot of towns along the way,which we ended the ride with a stay in Rothenburg town.First we were brought to a chapel which was having service.Then we were brought to a bigger church,followed by Augsburg which we were joined by 2 English people who wanted to get to Rothenburg train station.

In Augsburg,went to the city hall.We went inside to have a look,it was big and the room was filled with people as there was a musical concert which going to start in the golden hall and it was free admission.Too bad,we only had half an hour there,if not,we could have stayed there and enjoyed the concert.

Towns visited:
1. Augsburg
2. Donauworth
3. Nordlingen
4. Dinkelsbuhl

Europe Trip - Zurich

Day 7: Woke up and had our breakfast provided by the hotel.Then we checked our of hotel and made our way to the Shihlquai bus terminal for Mount Titlies Day Tour. Boarded the coach bus and we went to Lucerne.Went to the Lion Monument first,it was a monument in a shape of a lion.It was to remember the swiss soldiers who died during French Revolution.Then we stopped near the chapel bridge and we got some free time on our own.So we went to a chapel and have a short tour inside.The ceilings were painted with beautiful paintings,much same to those in Paris.Then walked around the town,bought a hotdog bread and salad for lunch.Then we went up to the bottom of mount titlis,took 3 cable cars to go up the summit which is 3020 metres high up.The last cable car is a resolving car inside,called Titlis Rotair.Then we got our own free time in outside the summit.There is a small playground at some part of the mountain but need to take the ice flyer ride down.But didn't take the ride cos it was a open air cable car.

Then had a grilled fish and soup set for tea break,hehehee.It was quite nice to eat.Then we found a ice cave,and we went inside the cave.You can even set the music/sound while u walk around the cave.After that,we just waited for the tour guide to go down the mountain.Then we took the cable cars back down and waited for our coach bus to bring us back to Zurich.

Back in Zurich,went back to the hotel and collected our luggage.Went to a nearby cafe and ate dinner there.Stayed until it is time to go Zurich HB train station,then we took the train to head for Munich,Germany.We had to transfer at Salzburg train station to reach to Munich.The train was packed with people when we boarded.Most of the people were using 3 seats to make a bed for themselves.Luckily we managed to got seats.It was so cramped,6 people was inside a 'room' and there was no space for you to sleep.And so half-sleeping and half-awake,we reached Munich on the next morning.

Places visited:
1. Lion Monument
2. Chapel Bridge
3. Town Hall
4. Mount Titlis (Alps)

Europe Trip - Paris Disneyland

Day 5: Woke up at 6 plus and had our breakfast.After that,we checked out of the hotel and made our way by Metro to Disneyland parks.We checked in our hotel first and got tickets to the theme parks.After that,we went straight to theme park!!We spent the full whole day in the Disneyland main park first.There was the Disney train which brought the Disney characters out to meet and take photos with the fans.Then there was performance by the Mickey Mouse and friends.There was the chipmunks,toy story,Lilo & Snitch,The Incredibles,Monsters Inc and even Ratatouille.It was showing 4 times a day and luckily it was not raining,so i managed to see the main parade at 4.30pm.Everyone was getting a seat near the road,just to see the parade.Too bad was that there was no fireworks in the night cos the parks' closing time was until 8pm and the sun was not even set!!Bought a nice t-shirt,collar pins and alot of gold coins.Regretted didn't buy the windbreaker there which was like 43 Euro.Sad.....

After a long day in the park,we went out to Disney Village.It was a street where there are alot of shops and restaurants.There is even a hot air balloon at the end of the street.They even kept a crocodile there in the village (fake one....lol)

Hotel stayed: Hotel E'lysee

Day 6:Woke up early so that we can enter the Disneyland park at 8am.We checked out the hotel and left our luggage at the hotel for the day.So we went down to Disneyland parks again,there are not many people there since it was 8am. I took PeterPan's flight ride 3 times as there is no queue yet.Hahahaha....it was not a roller coaster ride though but i like it.We stayed inside until 10am, followed that we went over the next theme parks, Walt Disney Studios.Most of the shows are in this park,but the timings for english was more to the afternoon.Anyway we just went to watch Disney Playhouse Live show first,followed by the motor action show.The motoshow action show was great!!It was a live show where they displayed action by motorcars and motorbikes used in great action movies.The host started out by introducing the action directors and they started with 4 black cars chasing a red car on the street.One of the black cars even broke into 2 parts,lol.After that,Hebe the racing car came out and split into 2 parts and went in separate directions.After the motorcars' action,it was motorbikes' turn to come in action.There are even gunshots and a man was set on fire.There is 1 part where the directors asked an audience to try to control a real car using a remote control.But the car was driving and ramming into anything in the way.In the end,the car turned out to be controlled by a driver at the side of the car.It was funny,the audience was given a certificate for fun too.They had a amazing finale where they put all the action together into a movie and the red car jumped out with a blast of fire on stage.

After the show,we walked around the park and went for our lunch.Had double cheeseburger meals and we stood eating at the table.After that, we went back to our hotel and collected our luggage.Then we went to a supermarket nearby the hotel and bought some biscuits.We made our way down to Gare de Lyon train station.The train station was quite dirty and smelly,think some people just peed at the station there as u need to pay to go to the toilet.Bought a sandwich from a bread stall,the cook was soooo rude.He just throwed the bread to us,and when he was giving us our change,he oso like threw the $ to us.And the bread he sells sucks!!No wonder his stall doesn't have people queuing up.

Finally,we got to board our train to go to Lausanne,where we transferred to another train to Zurich HB train station.Sat on the train for 3 hours plus long to reach Lausanne,walked out of the station for a while. After that,we boarded the train to Zurich which took like another 2 or 3 hours.Finally reached Zurich HB train station around 11 pm plus.Then we tried to find our hotel by walking,it took another 15 mins to 20 mins just to reach the hotel.Then we checked in and slept for the day.

Hotel stayed: X-tra Hotel

Europe Trip - Paris (Cont'd)

Day 4: Woke up early and had own-made breakfast.Today was raining and the wind is blowing strongly,smoke is coming out of our mouth when we speak.Today we went to The Panthéon first.It was a sort of like a museum with a very big dome in the center of the place.There are alot of big paintings inside.The Panthéon is a building in the Latin Quarter in Paris.In 1744, King Louis XV suffered a very serious illness and vowed to dedicate a prestigious church in the name of Saint Genevieve if he were to recover.He did recovered and he entrusted the design to German Soufflot.Unfortunately,Soufflot died before the completion was done and was replaced by his student Rondelet who completed the work in 1790.

After the tour in The Panthéon, we made our way to the Palace of Versailles.It's a pity it was raining heavily and there were a bit of construction work doing there.
Palace of Versailles - a royal in château in Versailles.Louis XIII's successor, Louis XIV, had a great interest in Versailles. He settled on the royal hunting lodge at Versailles and over the following decades had it expanded into one of the largest palaces in the world (Félibien, 1703; Marie, 1972; Verlet, 1985). Beginning in 1661, the architect Louis Le Vau, landscape architect André Le Nôtre, and painter-decorator Charles Le Brun began a detailed renovation and expansion of the château. This was done to fulfill Louis XIV's desire to establish a new centre for the royal court. Following the Treaties of Nijmegen in 1678, he began to gradually move the court to Versailles. The court was officially established there on 6 May 1682. After the palace tour,we had Mac for dinner and went back to hotel,which ended our day.

Places visited:
1. The Panthéon
2. Palace of Versailles

Europe Trip - Paris (Cont'd)

Day 3: Woke up at 6 plus and made our way down to CitiRama Agency for our castles trip. We waited for our coach and traveled down to Loire Valley. The tour guide is a young guy.It took like 4 hours just to reach there and it was raining again. And i was wearing already 3 layers of clothing.First we went to Chenonceau castle.

Chenonceau Castle - is also called "Le château de Chenonceau"or Women's Castle because it is famous for its women. King Henri II built it for his favorite Diane de Poitiers but his widow eventually took hold of the estate after the King died in a tournament.

After that,we went to Cheverny Castle.It is currently owned by a big businessman (descendants of the royals) and he let out the place for people to visit.There are photos of the owner and family inside the castle too. Château de Cheverny - currently is a private property and its collection are from the 17th century. King Henri Hurault built the first château in 1634. Upon finding out his wife is having an affair with a page,he killed the page and let his wife to have 2 death options: Sallow poison or Get Plunged by his sword. So his wife chose the less bloody way (which is poison).Then the king torn down the château and built the present one for his 2nd wife.And there are like more than 20 plus hunting dogs being reared there.The owner and family sometimes go back to the castle for holidays and go hunting with the hunting dogs.

After this, we made our way to another château,which is the biggest of all and it is famous for its double staircases built inside the castle. Château de Chambord - built by King Francois I in collaboration with Leonardo da Vinci.It is a grandiose creation,famous for its inventor's design. It had 440 rooms and a unique roof terrace.

After this,we went back to Paris city where we had Japanese food for dinner.Then we walked to the attractions again so that we can see the buildings being lighted up with lights. And i bought a thicker jacket from a shop which i wore for my rest of my trip. Lol,after that,we went back to our hotel to rest.

BangKok Trip [2009]

Went to bangkok a few days after i returned from my japan trip. Went free and easy with my friends for 3 or 4 days.Shopping was ok, food there is oso cheap and nice.






Day 1
Arrived in Bangkok during the night, check-in the hotel. We ordered fried rice and noodles for our supper.
Ate a nice breakfast provided by the hotel, and we began our journey in bangkok.
First stop, we headed down to the Grand Palace and Temple, which we took a cruise down the river.Along the cruise, we passed by some old buildings like a old hospital and a bridge.
The grand palace is very magnificent and big. Almost everything is covered in gold and there are also nice paintings on the wall, which tells a story. Next, we headed down to the temple of Dawn, which we spent 50 baht just to go up to the top. It was scary just to come down from the top of the temple. It was so steep. After this, we went down to chinatown for shopping but it started to rain heavily which is so disappointing. With no choice, we headed back to the hotel.

Day 2
We went to the Chatuchat market where we spent the whole day walking through the market.
Then we went shopping in Platinum Fashion Mall and Central World Plaza.(Can't remember which one). But we walked through mall by mall to shop there. We even had a buffet steamboat for dinner (where i had alot of lala again,hohoho). With these, we ended our day and headed back to hotel to rest.

Day 3
Woke up and had our last breakfast in the hotel. We had checked-out and since the time was still early before our flight, we did our last shopping around the street market around the hotel. Then we headed to the airport where we took the flight back to Singapore.

Places Visited:
Grand Temple and Palace
Temple of Dawn
Chatuchat
Platinum Fashion Mall
Central World Plaza

Japan Trip [2009]

Japan trip in Sept 2009 with package tour,went toTokyo,Nagoya,Kyoto and Osaka. Got the chance to visit disneyland and universal studios. Didnt get to taste the BBQ Sotong selling up in Mount Fuji. 600 yen for 1 whole big sotong!! Have to try it the next time. The rice in japan smells nice and it taste good. Made you want to have another round.





Day 1 & 2
Arrived in Japan Tokyo, went straight to Disneyland to begin our day. Halloween atmosphere is in the air. Everyone is preparing for the arrival of Halloween in Sept to Oct. The parade are 3 times a day and the queue was super long for almost every rides there. Watched the parade 3 times, it was cool.Spent the whole day there, but sad to say didnt managed to see the fireworks cos it started to rain again. (Why everytime it rains when i visit Disneyland?hohoho). After we gathered and went for a nice chinese dinner down the streets near Disneyland. Then we went back to Sunshine City where we had stayed there overnight. (Didn't managed to go DisneyLand Sea, maybe next time i will go there) (Hotel stayed: Prince Hotel)

Day 3
Woke up early and had our breakfast in the hotel. We headed down to Asakusa Kannon Temple and had our free time to view the temple and do some shopping along the street inside the temple. Then we headed to Ramen Museum, where we had real japan ramen. Long queue inside the stall inside the museum and we had pork ramen. It was a big bowl and the soup was abit too salty and oily.LoL
After this, we headed down to Gotemba Premium Outlet Mall to do some shopping. Here gathered all the branded goods outlets. But it seems like no much diff compared to Singapore (i dont find the stuffs cheap..) After the shopping, we went up to Mount Fuji, where i got a beautiful view of the mountain and sunset. It was also super cooling up there. And there, i saw big BBQ sotong.LoL. After a nice view up on the mountain, we went down to our hotel which is located at Lake Saiko. I got a big room, which is for 3 pax for the night. (Hotel stayed: Hotel near Lake Saiko)

Day 4
Woke up early and went down to Lake Saiko for a nice morning walk. The Lake was big and the water is super clear.You can get the nice view on the opposite mountain. After everyone is ready, we headed down to Iyashi No Sato Nenba (Thatched Roof Village). It is a small village, like those old japan houses where samurai lived. From there, you can also get a very nice of Mount Fuji (Too bad, it is not snowing, so there is no snow on top). You can also dress up as samurai warrior (for guys) and try on the kimono (for ladies). Bought a nice ice-cream at the village, it was nice and cooling.
After this, we headed down to Owakudani Boiling Valley.Then we headed down for a nice lunch.
After a nice lunch, we headed to take a boat ride on a pirate ship (only went from 1 station to the next station). After that, we headed down to Nagoya, where we had some spare to walk along the street of Nagoya (Oasis 21) before we ended the day. (Hotel stayed: International Hotel Nagoya)

Day 5
Woke up and had international breakfast provided by the hotel. Then we headed down to Kyoto, where we went to Heian Shrine first. It was raining again, which is so disappointing. Walked along the 'pasar malam' opened outside of the shrine. After that, we went to Nishijin district where we had a super nice lunch. (like the lunch here, we had pork/chicken cutlet bento)
After the lunch, we walked down to watch Nishijin Kimono Show. It was like a fashion show with the models wearing different types of Kimono. After the show, we headed down to Kiyomizu Temple. It was a big temple and the one of the oldest temple in Kyoto. There are also alot of shops along the way up to the temple. (You even might get a chance to see Geisha there if you are lucky enough). After the visit, we headed down to Kintetsu Kyoto Station where we bought our ticket to take the bullet train and headed down to Osaka. Once we reached Osaka, we went to Shin Sai Bashi0Suji Market. It was like our bugis street, where there are alot of shops and restaurants. It was a shopping paradise there, the stuffs was cheap. There are discounts everywhere. But we only had 1 hour to shop, didnt manged to walk all the shops. (Bad thing with package tours). We went back to hotel, where we stayed for a night.
(Hotel stayed: Hyatt Hotel)

Day 6
We started off the day by going to Osaka Castle first. Bought tickets to go up the top of the castle. After that, we headed to Universal Studio, to spend the rest of the day there. The theme there is also Halloween. Tried the turkey leg for 780 yen, it was big. LoL. Also loves the parade there, which is only once a day. After that, we went down to have BBQ for dinner. Then we headed back to the hotel for rest.
(Hotel stayed: ANA Gate Tower Hotel Osaka)


Day 7
had my breakfast at a 62 level high hotel. You can see the expressway to the new airport. Anyway, it was time to say goodbye to Japan. Waited in the airport for the flight back to Singapore. (So sad....)

Places Visited:
Tokeyo DisneyLand
Sunshine City
Asakusa Kannon Temple
Ramen Museum
Oasis 21
Mount Fuji (5th Station)
Owakudani Boiling Valley
Iyashi No Sato Nenba – Thatched Roof Village
Gotemba Premium Outlet Mall
Lake Saiko
Nishijin district (Nishijin Kimono Show)
Bullet Train ride to Osaka
Kiyomizu Temple
Heian Shrine
Shin Sai Bashi0Suji Market
Osaka Castle
Unverisal Studio (Osaka)

Taipei Trip [2009]

1st time in Taipei for 5 days, free and easy. It was fun, the food there is nice too. Went in February and spent my birthday in Taipei






Day 1
Reached Taiwan in the evening.
We ate BBQ steamboat for dinner along the street in Xi Men Ding, after which we went to Longshan temple and walked the market along snake alley. Went to Wan Nian building for to begin our shopping spree

Day 2
Spent a day in Taiwan Zoo, after we headed to Taipei 101 Building.
Went to a big bookstore, where we had a nice,hot coffee at Starbucks before continuing our journey. After that, we went to tour around the big bookstore for 1 or 2 hours
Then we headed towards Taipei 101 to get a nice of Taipei from above
After that, we went to Wu Fen Pu wholesale market for dinner (which we had the 1st taste of Taiwan's chicken cutlet. It was very big and nice. ~ wanted to have it again)
Shopping around the wholesale market till late, headed back to Xi Men Ding which we had supper before heading back to the hotel

Day 3
Started the day with a nice breakfast in McDonald's. Then, we headed to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. It was so cold, the wind is blowing strong on this day. HM is the only one who had the thinnest jacket and she was sneezing the whole day.We also saw a super long earthworm crawling on the ground.LoL
After that, we headed to Dan Shui Wharf, where the wind is blowing more stronger (it was freezing there). Then we headed back the MRT station, where we had a All-You-can-Eat buffet steamboat for less than $20 SGD per pax. I had a lot of lala there, PY was targeting to clear all the vegetables, ZH was targeting on the beefs and HM was targeting on the porks.LoL
Later, we headed down to Miramar Enterainment Park where i bought a new basketball. We toured around for 1 hour or so,then we headed down to Shi Lin Market. We had fried oyster, red bead soup and mango ice-cream. We headed to Taipei Main Station where i got to visit a gundam model kits shop. We walked around and headed back to our hotel to rest.

Day 4
Had a early breakfast at McDonald's again and we headed down to Xiao Ren Guo Theme Park. Inside consists the miniature on building around the world and there is also a small theme park for children. There is also an exhibit on Doramon. We had managed to grab a toy (like UFO catcher) here. Later, we had a long journey back to city (on bus, everyone was sleeping). We headed back to Taipei Main Station and shopped around. We also had our dinner in a Japanese restaurant. Then we headed back to Xi Men Ding early and walked through the streets of Xi Men Ding. We also had the onion pancake and chicken cutlet on the last night in Taipei.

Day 5
Prepared our stuffs for checking out of the hotel.Ate our breakfast in the hotel
After that, we headed down to the airport, where we waited for our flight back to Singapore.

Places Visited:
Xi Men Ding
Long Shan Temple + Snake Alley
Taipei Zoo
Taipei 101
Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall
Shi Lin Night Market
Dan Shui
Miramar Enterainment Park
Xiao Ren Guo (Miniature Museum)
Wu Fen Pu Wholesale Market
Wu Nian Building

Hong Kong Trip [2008]

My 2nd Trip to Hong Kong in 2008. Finally got to visit the disneyland, it was so fun there.Took photos with old camera when i went to Hong Kong on my 1st trip. Even went to Macau for 1 day, but didnt went to any of the casinos there. wasted!! LoL
Anyway this is the last trip with my bf before we broke off.




Day 1
Went down to the Peak, we enjoyed the view and breeze up on the peak. We also visited the Madame Tussaude there before we came down. Had our dinner in a restaurant, where there seems not many people eating there. Luckily, the food is still ok and cheap.

Day 2
Can't remember where we went during the day. During the night, we headed down to the Victoria Harbour where we caught the laser showing of the buildings.

Day 3
Ate our breakfast in McDonald's and we headed down to Disneyland by train. Unfortunately, it was raining. But we still proceeded with our plan. My first trip to Disneyland, we met alot of the disney characters, everyone is queuing to take photos with their favorite characters. We spent the whole day, ending the day with a beautiful view of the fireworks.

Day 4
We ended up in Disneyland again, this time to catch the High School Musical Parade (which we managed to catch it before it started to rain again).LoL

Day 5
Last day in hong kong and it started the day with rain.Anyway we checked out from the hotel early and we headed down to Giant Buddha Train Station for some shopping. There is a shopping mall where the wholesale shops are gathered. After which, we headed to the airport for our flight back to Singapore.


Places visited:
The Peak
Madame Tussaude
Victoria Harbour
Disneyland
Giant Buddha Train Station