10 Things I Love Doing : Travel

In no particular order, here's one of the things I love doing. I love to travel. That's why this blog has lots of travel posts. And maybe some even bores you. And I haven't posted aout all of my trips yet.

I only started traveling since three years back, which is in 2008, when I first stepped into Europe. When I was back in Malaysia, travelling was such a big luxury that people can only go for vacations after saving money for two years or planning them for the last five years. This, I mean the middle class people who earns about Rm2000 monthly, with a spouse and two kids. I can't say for families with four kids. It's very difficult really. Even planning a family trip from East Malaysia to West Malaysia takes a year in advance! Since I'm from the east, it's not like we can drive up to Songkhla in Thailand. We need to take a flight to be able to got the West Malaysia. And that already costs a bomb. A standard two-way economy clas ticket would cost around Rm400. It's a pity. Some East Malaysian who graduate in West Malaysia can't have their parents attend their convocation just because they can't afford it!

So Rm400 for a domestic, which equals to less than 100€. Here, a two way flight to Spain with RyanAir (which is like Air Asia) costs about 30€-50€ during low seasons. So this makes me smile from my left ear back to my left ear. How coul I resist that. There's always so many choices to choose from and even the supermarkets have travel packages, be it winter or summer. It caters to everyone because it's very affordable.

Then there's the German Rail that connects to every possible country it can reach. Or you may transit in another big city : Paris, Rome, Madrid. Even Moscow is possible to reach. Compared to flights, trains are more expensive but you can take a night train if you would like to save on accomodations. My first time taking a night train was from Münich to Budapest (7 hours) last summer. I was travelling alone and it was really safe! There are sleeper coaches which generally means you get a bed. Busses are abundant and rediculously cheap. They do take quite a while to reach destinations though. Not as comfortable as a train, but it's a cheaper choice.

Since I've stayed in Germany, I've been to most of the countries in its surrounding. My first ever trip outside of Germany was to alzburg, in Austria which was about 3 hours by train from my place. It was a day trip in autumn and it rained like nobodys business. I went there a second time lat year in winter and it snowed like nobodys business. Tough luck.

Our first trip to London

Then came my first travel by flight in Europe. It was during the winter semester break (Feb-March 2009). We were suppose to take a flight to Edinburgh, spend a night there and then to London. But we missed the bus to the airport. So we spend almost 12 hours waiting for the next flight directly to London. It was funny. Deprived of going to Edinburgh, I went for a Gawai visit to Glasgow, Scotland to meet relatives. It was a 5 day weekend during the Passover and we had holidays. Then My First Summer was spent in Switzerland, which we went by train. After the Switzerland trip, we all went back to Malaysia during the rest of the holidays. It was our first year, and we were all kind of home sick. That year, 2009, was ended in Vienna, Austria. There was a promotion : 30€ one way by speed train.

Summer in Switzerland :: Summer in France

Then came 2010, which highlighted my feelings towards the world of travelling. I went to Paris with my bestfriends (Worldcup South Africa Season 2010). After the exam period of the summer was over, we all took a train to Berlin, a bus to Coppahagen and a day trip to Mälmo. In the beginning of September we had more than a week of summer in Turkey and Greece. Turkey still stands high as my number one place I've visited. The culture, the food, the people. I wasa very extremely happy girl because I had lamb for almost every meal!

The trip which we laughed so hard. I can still laugh thinking about it!

Istanbuls famous Blue Mosque

And in the end of the year, we had a family vacation to Italy, France and England. My mum finally got her EPF after all those years of working so hard. So why not coem visit me right? It was fantastic! The three of us had so much fun having pasta in Italy, celebrating Christmas with Micky in Paris Disneyland and shopping in Londons all time famous Boxing Day. It was a good end to 2010.

Family vacation to Italy and France

My first travel this year was back home to Malaysia, during the winter holidays while most of my friends were off to Spain because they found a 5€ flight ticket. Back home, I took the opportunity to travel to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, since I've friends studying there. The flight was Rm120 if I'm not mistaken. I went alone because no one had holidays, but I had fun spending time with my friends over there. Sabah and Sarawak may neighbouring states but not everyone has the opportunity to travel here. The main reason I went back was ebcause my mum's birthay was in March and she turned 50. So we all got a ticket to Bali, Indonesia to celebrate, which was awesome!

A fine day strolling along the Danube in Budapest

During Summer holidays this year, I visited Amsterdam and Belgium in the beginning of Summer and went to Budapest, Hungary right before my practical starts. Last month I visited Prague which might be my last destination for this year. I've got to work hard for my exams in January, so I'm not travelling during the Christmas season. Intentionally I wanted to spend new years in Edinburgh and celebrate Hogmanay (biggest European New Year celebration) together with em Scotts but I can't because it was too expensive.

I usually don't travel when it's a very expensive trip (or expected to be). I save quite a lot montly to be able to afford my travels, and I usually do a survey three months before to see which places and tickets are the cheapest. Then I'll procede. You can even travel with 200€ to places like Prague and Budapest. It's a good bargain. I travel not because I'm rich, but because I've been blessed with lots of opportunities.

Up to the Prague Castle.

I sleep in hostels that I book on hostel world with good reviews, and of course it must be safe. Hostels are cheap and they have kitchen and common rooms to cook in. I most of all prefer hostels because I can meet other travellers too. And you can book a whole room if you have 6 people coming with you. Hotels are expensive, and in Europe, hostels are booked per head. So you can fit more than two in a double room. The third person has to get another room.

Travelling is a culture here. In the companies, after the summer is over, everyone will be asking their colleagues about their summer vacations. It's what they all do whenever they get to. (and they get 6 working weeks of holidays, and this does not include overtime. Some companies even have Vacation allowences every 3 months!)

Travelling isn't imposible. You just have to know how to make do of the little cash or savings you have. Air Asia does offer really cheap flights from Kuala Lumpur LCCT *stalker alert* (I was eyeing on a Rm500 two-way flight to South Korea). And travelling does'nt mean you have to go overseas. Cuti-cuti Malaysia no? There's Mount Kinabalu to climb, Sipadan islands to dive, Redang island to snorkel, Genting to gamble :D

So yes, I love to travel. Even if I have to sleep on a camel.

10 Things I Love Doing

Hello, my fellow readers and family and friends. I know it's been quite a while since I wrote anything and everyone seems to be abandoning their blog. I guess the business of the end of the year gets to all of us : There's a work bonus to collect, moving house, moving country, new job, job applications, interviews, exams, it's always hectic at this time.

So, I'm here to start something that would add some edge to my blog. I know I've been posting about travels (and it's not even done yet! There's still Budapest and Prague that I haven't been posting about!), so I would like to do something different. I'll be doing a "10 Thing I love doing" post. So in every post, I'll write about one thing.

It's quite difficult for me since I don't really have a specific hobby (that's why I specificlly state things I love doing). I'm doing this because I find it very ahrd for me to answer people when thrown the question "what do you like to do?". I'm not a musician nor an artist nor a handicraft worker. *sad* So i'm doing this to figure myself out. Lay it all on the table. I'll be doing this post with my sister so we know what we currently enjoy doing since we are far apart from each other. You can too do one. Maybe link yours if you'd like to. We can get to know each other better.

Maybe after this we could do a 10 things I would want to learn to do. :D

Are you worth dying for?

You might be the wife,
Waiting up at night
You might be the man,
Struggling to provide
Feeling like it's hopeless


Maybe you're the son,
Who chose a broken road
Maybe you're the girl,
Thinking you'll end up alone


Praying God can you hear me?
Oh God are you listening?


(Chorus)
Am I more than flesh and bone?
Am I really something beautiful?
Yeah, I wanna believe, I wanna believe that
I'm not just some wandering soul
That you don't see and you don't know
Yeah I wanna believe, Jesus help me believe that I am someone worth dying for


I know you've heard the truth that God has set you free
But you think you're the one that grace could never reach
So you just keep asking, what everybody's asking


Chorus


You're worth it, you can't earn it
Yeah the Cross has proven
That you're sacred and blameless
Your life has purpose


And you are more than flesh and bone
Can't you see you're something beautiful
Yeah you gotta believe, you gotta believe
He wants you to see, He wants you to see
That you're not just some wandering soul
That can't be seen and can't be known
Yeah you gotta believe, you gotta believe that you
Are someone worth dying for


You're someone worth dying for
You're someone worth dying for

Mikeschair : Someone Worth Dying For
 
A really good song to ponder on in our lives struggle with everyone eyeing perfection. Sometimes we are such worry warts to being engrossd with what the world tells us. We make the media our daily bread and perfect shaped models our God to worship. Along the way, we lost ourself. We forgot who we really are and most of all, we aren't thankful of what we are created to be.

Brussels : The sweet and the savoury

When I travel, one thing have to do is to try their local delicacies. I myself have a very adventourous tougue especially for something exotic. Even for myself, it's been years since I had bat for dinner (I think I might be one of them that made it endangered) or the occasional sago worm.

A destination that has it's plate full ready for me would be an ultimate choice for me. I cant wait to travel Thailand. So ironic that Malaysia is so close but most of us have never been there.

Belgium is one country that is famous for : CHOCOLATES!
I myself am not a frantic fan of chocolate, but I still have them close to heart. Be it the memories of the Swiss Toblerone Fondue in Lucerne or the occasional Ritter Sport bar which I occasionally buy from Kiosks.

The satrt of choclolate boutiques along the

Mary is also one famous Chocolate Boutique. Though I've never heard fo it before, this boutique was an eye catcher. Nothing beats victorian Style designs, especially on chocolates. It's so chic! No wonder it was the favourite of the Royal family.

All around the town of Belgium, choclates boutiques are all around the corner. Take your pick. Godiva, Leonidas, Neuhaus : there's so much to choose from. There are even some local ones that are not so popular. No matter which chocolate shop it is, they are all made right in the shop.

Neuhaus has Smurf fever!

They had something new on ther menu. A line of icecream for the summer. It costed around 4€ if I'm not mistaken. it was really pretty. Taste was not so bad. 

What made Belgium the center of chocalte was this particular chocolate label, Neuhaus. Jean Neuhaus was the first ever person who invented the praline in 1818. Since then, no one has never knew what a praline is.

On the way to see the peeing boy, there are even more shops that, yes, pays their tribute to the tiny Lord. Like this one here. Have a bite. The Menneken Pis in many different colors of your choice!

Crazy peeing Lord.

I think it turned into a fetish. If it were today, people would be filing reports on phedophelia.

A one dull chocolate piece is turned into a beuty just by coating it with chocolate.

After the chocolate is broken into small square pieces, it is arranged on a conveyor belt and coated with choclate ganache. At the end of the line, a chocolatier is ready to ress it up with some designs!

Chocolatier on duty.

This is one of the many Chocolate Shops that I adore. Chocopolis. A really pretty shop with many pretty things in it! It has a chocolate elephant at its entrance. I bought Chocotoffe by Godiva here for 4€. And I bought macaroons here. It was 80cents per piece. I was so glad I bought it because it was the best tasting macaroons ever! I never really like macaroons because it reminded me of childrens antibiotic. But this one was like jelly marshmellow!! The raspberry one was the best!

Owh! How I miss you! I'll never taste any macarrons as how I tasted you.

Another thing that Belgium is famous for is : Belgian Waffles

When I came here, I was unaware of why Belgium waffles are so famous. Then I saw them making it. A belgian waffle differs from the normal waffle because it is made out of dough. Yes. Dough. Like a doughnut before it is fried. Those dough are pressed into a waffle machine and tadaa! you have a Belgian waffle. There are two types you can choose from. One is the rectangular one and another is the smashed round dough shaped one. If I'm not mistaken, the rectangular one is made out of a batter.

This particular one costed me 7€! The waffle as 1 or 2€. With all those garnishing : 7€

I almost soaked my eyebalss in the chocolate sauce.

Don't be fooled. Their waffle is not as soft as the normal waffle you might get. It's actually quite tough. Along the way towards the Menneken Pis, tourists will be swarming the waffle stalls along the street. It might state 1€ per waffle but that'll only be the waffle alone. Additional garnishes will add up to 5€ per waffle.

Waffle stalls on the street leading to the peeing boy.

Kind of pervert-ty don't you think?

Here's another on the Menu for those visiting Brussels : Brussel Mussels!

Little did I know that mussels we soo famous in Belgium. There's even a street that houses seafood restaurant of all types. And the most famous on their menu would be mussels. They have tradional butter parsley mussels which they serve in pots. It looked so simple but it was so delicious.

Mussels with fries. A must try for everyone in Belgium.

An example of their menu. I had one in tomato cream with prawns and mussels. Almost taste like bolognese sause. Nevertheless, I was very satisfied. After the drama the night before!

It might bring up a hefty price, but it was worth it! The tradional Mussel and fries costs around 12€ and an even more special one on the menu would range up to 20€.

Oh lalaaa!

Brussels : Out and about

Finally! A post on brussels which is suppose to be done more than a month ago!

Royal Palace of Brussels

The Kingdom of Belgium is crammed between The Netherlands, Germany and Frace, therefore, they speak all three Languages here. Belgium possessed a number of colonies in Africa, which therefore leads to the African population in Belgium.

Brussels is Capital of the country and is of course well known with its famous Belgian Chocolates. Here, Chocolate Boutiques are in abundance. Both which are local and international. Travelling by train from Amsterdam to brussels was easy peasy. they have a train that connects this two cities every hour and the ride was about 3 hours if I recall. It costed around 30€ per person for a one way trip.

Other than it's Glamourous chocolates and waffles, there are a few places to see th brussels. There was the Atomium and Mini Europe which I didn't go to because I did'nt have the time (also the moody cranky weather). It was also quite far away from the city. Mini Europe is a park with miniature models of famous sights in Europe, like the Eiffel tower, the Brandenburg Gate, the Acropolis and the Szechenyi bath. 

Royal Palace of Brussels

Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert

This 19th Century shopping arcade is still used till now. A vast difference from our modern malls, it was made to be more Gallery like. This is a roofed shopping lane with restaurants, chocolate boutiques, fashion and cafes. This leads to the main area which is in front of the Town Hall. 

Town Hall in daylight

The Famouse Peeing Boy.

Never have I met anything famous for peeing. And with all the hoolabaloo about it, Never would I have thought the size of this statues was so tiny.

Why is this Peeing Boy so famous you may ask? It had even been stolen so many times that they have now kept it in the Maison du Roi/Broodhuis. This 61cm, bronze Manneken Pis was a two year old Lord. His troops were battling against the troops of the Berthous.The infant Lord was put in a basket and hung on a tree to give his troops encouragement during the battle. And so to say that the little Lord peed on his enemies, did his troop won the battle.

Town Hall

The town Hall had a musical lighting display at night when we were having dinner. This was all I could capture because of the annoying waiter who spoke French just to annoy us. We were so dead hungry. We sat to have dinner at 8 and waited for 45 minutes between each course! I was so annoyed. My appertizer were 6 Oysters which I waited for almost an hour for and swollowed in less than 3 minutes, and my main course was grilled Salmon if I'm not mistaken, which took another 30 minutes and I ate in 15 minutes. Don't ever go to that seafood restaurant right on the main street. Along the seafood street they have better places to offer. 

MIA : Lost

Hello.. is it me you're looking for?

I've been so mean by abandoning this blog for more than a month. Now it's almost October and I miss putting up entries. The thing is I'm in my pratical semester and sitting in front of the computer for 8 hours straight daily makes me not want to continue sitting in fron tof the computer after office hours. Heck, I seldom even open up my Facebook on my PC nowadays. Thank God for smartphones. I even watch YouTube and dramas on my phone in bed.

I still have so much stories to tell. Maybe if I have the time next week. All souls day on Tuesday is a public holiday. Hopefully I'get something done by then. I'm going to Prague for a weekend trip by cr this weekend. Let's cross our fingers that it'll be a good trip. I really need to walk my ass off!

Autumn is here officially! This Sunday we'll be changing time for Daylight Saving. Gosh, 2011 is almost over!

Have a good day ahead! God bless!

Amstetrdam : Flower Market Love

So one thing The Netherlands is famous for is that it's the worlds floral producer for Europe. It's also home to the largest green house in the world and has the largest flower market in the world which is the size of 120 football fields.

Aalsmeer in North Holland is home to the largest flower market. Daily, auctioneers will come in the morning to do their biddings before those flowers are packed and sent to florists all around.

It sells an average of 21 million flowers daily. Whoaa!!

Now that is business.

One amazing place which I failed to visit was the famous Keukenhof, not far away from the city of Amsterdam. Keukenhof is only open during the blooming season which is in March till May. For the rest of the year, keukenhof is closed to the public. Keukenhof is the worlds largest flower garden and has fields and fields of everycolor tulip you could ever imagine. If ever you might travel to Europe at any of those months, Keukenhof will be a great place to visit especially for flower lovers. They have a flower parade every year in April when the flowers are the prettiest.

Pics taken from Google.

Unfortunately, I only had time to visit Amsterdam in summer. And when the weather's not at it's best either. It was raining daily like it was autumn and the sky was grey most of the time. I did have a chance to meet the flowers in the flower market.

Being a flower market, it does not only sell flowers. It sells everything that has to do with flowers, plants and its industry. Also, it does not sell only local plants. They do sell tropical plants too! I was quite surprised to see bougainvillas and monkey cups here. Something that's very tropical. Very common back home due to the weather. But again, Amsterdam shows me that nothing is impossible.

One thing the do sell a lot here would be tulip bulbs. They are in abundace!! These bulbs can be bought and brought back with a valid certificate. Or as they say. I'm not so sure. I've read in forums that they are some countries that still reject the bulbs even with the certificate. And there are every other plant seeds you can ever imagine. Tangerine, Watermelon, Chilli, Lemon, Sunflower and etc. I bought a 4€ flower bulb which supposedly doesn't require water, soil or sunlight to grow. And it grows in autumn. So far the flowers are budding! Amazing creatures.

Along the floating flower market, (ouh forgot to tell you that its floating) there are lots of souvenir shops, traditional cheese shops and special shops, for example The Magic Mushroom. Dare you to go on a psychedelic ride? No hash is allowed to be sold in shops. Only Coffeeshops. I'll post on that another time.

Now here's something you don't normally find in any other country

The floating market opens everyday.

Mondays til Saturdays from 9.00-17:30, on Sunday 11.00-17.30

MIA : Update from a new place

Gosh it's been quite a while. After a whole month of running around places I've never been to, and in the midst of packing and unloading, last month has been quite a hectic one. I've finally settled down in my new place which will be my shelter for the next 5 months. I'm currently doing my semester internship in Regensburg, a 40 minute train ride from my previous place.

Hopefully everyones well. Seems like the flu and cough bug is back. Quite a number have been sick lately. Do take care. prevention is beter than cure. Drinking lots of water will do you lots of good. Not only keeps you hydrated but it cleanses too. Good skin comes from drinking lots of water I believe. cos that's my secret *ecehh*

Summer has ended for most European countries. But there's still bits and pieces left behind hat we stil try to grab hold onto. The Summer holiday ends this week for the kids, so parents will all be back to work starting next week. I've come to know that working in Germany gets you 30 working days off per year. Which is equal to 6 weeks. I'm not sure about other posts but that's what an engineer get yearly. Lucky Lucky. Can't really compare to only 2 weeks back home can we?

I'll try to post up more now since everything is settled. I've just managed to *finally* get my internet today. Apparently not all Desktops are wifi friendly. Quite a struggle there because I can't seem to make the programme detect the home wifi. But all's well now. My desktop has finally been updated to the technological world! I've been hovering on my smartphone the whole time. Thank God I had it. Having to splurge on a phone doesn't make it a waste you know.

Ok so I'll try to catch up on my posts then.

Tchüss!

Amsterdam : The City of Canals

Amsterdam is a great place to visit. Water canals, boat houses, cute houses. Unfortunately it rained so much when I was there. The sky was extremely gloomy and the wind was crazy. We still got the best out of the trip. The moment I saw the sun shining, I took the opportunity to go on a canal cruise, one of the best way to see the city.

Canal cruises are everywhere in Amsterdam, run by several companies. They mostly cost less than 10 euros. One thing that I like about going on the kind of touristy cruise is that they'll tell you lots of things about whats around you. What it was like in the past, why they have boat houses, why their buildings are as such and etc.

Perfect timing for a round tour.

At its lowest point, Amsterdam is almost 7 feet below sea level and a quarter of the Netherlands is below sea level. The canals help keep the city dry and since a long time ago, the windmills are used to pump excess water off their soil. One day when global warming goes overboard, we might loose this city.

House boats are plenty along the canals. Once upon a time, land was very limited in Amsterdam so the Dutch decided to live in houseboats. They are all legally licenced and provided with electricity and clean water like a normal house. There are also houseboats for rent.

This might just be a float for the Gay Pride weekend which we just missed by 24 hours.

Because of the limited land that the city has, houses are made as high as possible to save space. Higher taxes will be charged on houses that are wider. This results in their narrow houses with really steep staircases that would be my nightmare if I ever have small children living here.

As narrow as the houses are, they have big windows and a hook hanging on the top of each house. This is to make the process of moving furniture easier since big furnitures can't be brought into the house through the door. A pulley would be hung on the hook and a rope would be tied on furnitures to pull them up or take them down.

Their houses were so cute and pretty like a scene from a movie. The top part of the facade which are called Gables are made famous during the Dutch Renaissance period and comes in many designs.

As we cruise along the canals, we went under many bridges that connects them. The sides of the parking lot facing the waters are fenced to avoid cars and bikes from plunging into the waters. I'm sure that had happend so many times before the fences we made compulsory.

I was wondering why this here does not have a fence

The day was sunny only for a moment. I was glad that I took the canal cruise. By the time evening came, it rained cats and dogs. After dinner we went for a stroll on the famous red light district. It didn't matter that it was drizzling.

Did you know that Amsterdam has been the City of Diamonds (literally) for the last 400 years?