New Year in Prague

Never thought I could be sick of firecrackers and pyros, but after about two hours of seeing people set off all manners of firecrackers last night, I've pretty much had enough.

Bye 2007, Hello 2008.

It was while lying on the hostel bed that I realised how much I miss the revelry back home, even if I would be just watching the 'celebrations' from television. New Year as a tourist in a foreign city just does not have the same feel; although I do feel envious that the locals get to experience such life in their city every New Year's.

Salzburg

Well before I leave this place, just some final words.

Salzburg was where I officially had the worst Döner kebab ever, and the worst excuse for a beer (which smelled and tasted like piss) at the YoHo hostel, where I'm typing this out.

But I suppose there is some charm in this City, refer to earlier post, but its just not quite for me at this point.

Cheers!

The Hills Are Alive

With the Sound of Music :)

Took this photo on the train from Slovenia to Salzburg, rather glad to be out of Slovenia.

And into the land where Mozart was born, where there are Sound of Music tours, mountains, snow, and loads of Asian people. Haha.




Mirabell Gardens. Been told by my financial controller that budget is tight, therefore did not enter the extort-tourist places like the Hohensalzburg Fortress. That may explain the lack of photos this trip :P

Not sure when will be the next time I get internet, but its off to Vienna tomorrow!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to all from Slovenia!

Just got into Bled from Ljubljana, hoping for a white Christmas tomorrow. Would make some magnificent photos of the lake.



Christmas market and atmosphere in Ljubljana City Centre. Very nice, never seen anything like it before.



The ski place called Krvavec. Still aching a lot in areas I didn't know existed. Only thing more bruised is my ego from falling down a dozen times.



The famous Lake Bled on a foggy day.



EAT FIRE! Had a torch tour around the lake during the night.

Slovenia really is an interesting place. Maybe not the place for the faint hearted but also not totally rough and backward. We took a little long clearing customs, had a bunch of nonsense with London customs, and Slovenian customs... I think I'll work as a customs officer next time, so I can kick around even businessmen and politicians flying in. Ask them all sorts of nonsense questions and the like. Price wise the system is very pay for exactly what you use, and their idea of service is not quite first world.

All in all, its the road less travelled. And that has made all the difference =)

Have a jolly good Christmas 2007, Y'ALL!

Quiet Time

Did you feel the mountains tremble
Did you feel the oceans roar
When the people rose to sing of
Jesus Christ the risen One

Did you feel the people tremble
Did you hear the singers roar
When the lost began to sing of
Jesus Christ the saving One

And we can see that God you're moving
A mighty river through the nations
And young and old will turn to Jesus
Fling wide you heavenly gates
And prepare the way of the risen Lord

Open up the doors and
Let the music play
Let the streets resound with singing
Songs that bring Your hope
Songs that bring Your joy
Dancers who dance upon injustice


But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. -- 2 Corinthians 12:9

Today I felt the beckoning after a long dry spell. And I'm glad I responded. Many times I think I can handle my life by myself; I have been blessed and have very little to worry about compared to many. But its not the material comforts or surface level that needed help, it was my soul. Tears streamed as I listened to songs, read the text, did my prayers... maybe it was the exams getting to me I thought, but not really. I needed time to take stock of my life, give thanks, seek Him and His wisdom.

And know that I am never alone, that I can never shut the door. And Christmas season is a time to remember, to say Happy Birthday Jesus, thank you so so very much.

More on Spain

The Mau Travel Fund is always open for donations. Feeling a little generous this festive season? Big year end bonus and feel like sharing the love? Contributors will receive a nice big postcard from an exotic city of Mau's choice. Especially generous donors will get signed glossies of any photo on this website.

Commercial break over. More on Spain.



First day in Madrid, Spain! Got out of the Sol Metro Station to find... Aberdeen Football Club was in town for the UEFA match against Atletico Madrid (guess what, its not ALWAYS about Real Madrid). Loyal fans kicking a ball around. You could imagine how disorientating it was to be me.

Conveniently marked out in the photo is El Oso y el Madroño, statue of a bear and a strawberry tree. Symbol of Madrid.



Took this in Chueca. Gay friendly neighbourhood. Haha. But also great shopping district (big spenders should look into Salamanca district. Or hell, fly to London, Paris, Milan). Start here, walk towards Gran Via, then along Gran Via, turn into Fuencarrel and walk that stretch. Just to clarify, Zara's not fantastically cheap in Spain, perhaps due to the 16% IVA (tax). I did buy a pair of jeans, just not ten pairs of jeans, five shirts etcetc.



Plaza Mayor. There was a small time bazaar / Christmas market in the day.



Best toilet signs I've seen. User friendly, straight to the point.



Dinner was from 11pm to 2am. Then headed for some party until 5am. Took the first metro at 6am home to pack my bags. Headed out again to catch my 7.30am bus to San Sebastian. Great success! Meal timings in Spain are a "little" different from the rest of the world.



Yes Kyle I hate you too. I'm so glad you're on exchange in the country just North of me. Wait... whats new?

This was us arriving at Seville early Friday morning with too little sleep. Apparently we hit the jackpot going Spain because it was the Constitution Day on Thursday, and a Bank holiday on Saturday. We had to hunt down a hostel to sleep in that night, which Oasis Backpackers found for us in the form of Seville Urbany.

Also, somehow or other I left my Student ID at Oasis Backpackers the next day and at the time of writing they're preparing to mail my ID back to me in Denmark. What a fantastic place! What a forgetful moron I am!



Spanish Kopi Tiam. Churros and thick chocolate instead of kaya toast and kopi.



Traditional Flamenco in Seville, Andalucia. I'm not too great with the history and politics in Spain, nor do I want to be involved, but lets just say that flamenco originated from this region first. It was a lovely performance; the dancers were skilled, graceful, good looking.



And this is the Plaza de España in Seville, planet of Naboo in Star Wars Episode II for the Star Wars fans like myself. Very, very, very nice.

BIG THANKS to Liz Wu for letting me set up camp at her place in Madrid for several days, and for being the excellent hostess/tour guide/gourmet that she is. Don't blush now!

Spanish Heartache

Decide to do a little blog post from my hostel in Seville, all part of the whole backpack and travel log thing.

Little tired and will furnish better details of my journey in time to come, enjoy the photos :)



Artistic shot (if I say so myself) of the back of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Sadly I did not get to go in because the museum was closed. But I was still happy to be there, to take in the architecture of the museum.



Nearby the Prado Museum of Madrid is this roundabout with Neptune in full glory. I like to think he's snickering at the motor vehicles honking during peak congestion time.



Cove of San Sebastian, Donostia. Santa Clara island in the middle. I was out climbing Mt Urgull that day.



And finally, lovely spread of pintxos and the bartender pouring txakoli of the Basque Country.

If by now you do not know which country I have been in, uhm, got nothing to say.

Quotable Quotes of the Journey

Kyle: Life is good

Liz: I *must* come back here again

Health Care

Been having a cold the past few days, which is nature's way of telling me... to buy loads of smart-looking warm winter clothing which I will not use at all in Singapore. Was quite looking forward to utilizing my free health care, one of the perks of being a Danish resident. Okay maybe looking forward is not the right word - but again I'm a sucker for a new experience.

I gave the clinic a call and got put through to an answering machine in Danish. Big load of help. Then I decided to haul myself down to the place. Thats when I got introduced to.. the system, something I thought would never occur since the days of SAF Health Care. (Although if you draw the links they are both free health care supplied by the State, and both have no interest in seeing more patients, only in getting their asses covered and enjoying cushy hours. Therefore, THE SYSTEM makes perfect sense!) Apparently all the doctors are busy and they do not take walk-ins. Either I make an appointment, which would be in a few weeks' time, by which time I would be cured or dead, thereby negating the need for a doctor; or I had to call between the hours of 8am and 10am, at which time the doctor would pick up and I can make an appointment for the day. Okay. So the next prudent thing I did was to ask for a thermometer just to check if I was running a fever. But, the clinic// did. not. have. one.

I was sick, but sickly curious: "So how do you tell if patients have a fever?". Nurse/Recep's answer: "Well we do a blood test. Because the thermometer is not very accurate."

Now I just HAVE to see this for myself. But the next morning I had a class, and calling at 9am to make an appointment got me straight to the answering machine again. Lying bastards!

For those who care, I've been depleting my tea reserves, my vitamins, some medicine, and I made chicken soup. Should be getting better on my own. Kudos to Danish Health Care, aka: Visit your nearest Apotek, do not trouble the doctors!

Fairytale of London

Happy Mau Speaking:

That was how the three days felt like to me - being in a place so comfortingly familiar, yet with so many wonders and attractions for me to explore; a fairytale of sorts.

Broadly speaking, the whole exchange experience is one long fairytale. Recently, some of the other ERASMUS exchange students felt their time on the fairytale clock ticking more acutely because they only had a month left to go; and long for this period of enjoyment, carefreeness, surreality and decadence to never end. Happily ever after, so they say.

But back to the fairytale of London. While I would have liked to have stayed there much longer, perhaps it was also good to leave after just a few days, that the magical experience would linger on.

Cranky Mau Speaking:

By now you should realise I'm just talking nonsense, part of the whole London thespian image. I would definitely be going back London, because my lovely flight back to Singapore takes me via there. And the entire fairytale image was partially damaged by the fact that the idea of Fairytale seems to be very marketable. And so it is only as real and magical as you can afford it to be. Just for illustration, I was quite keen on getting a haircut there with English Stylists, but 40 pounds a pop at Toni & Guys nearly gave me a cardiac arrest.

Let's start now from the very beginning...



Early morning pick-up by Michael in his Mitsubishi. Great start to the trip.



Liverpool St Station, where the STANSTED EXPRESS took us. It's just a fancy name for a crappy ol train. From there we decided to hike it to the hostel. I was all right with that, cos I only had on a backpack which weighed 5kg.

Got to see a lot of the city in the one hour. I really like the architecture and huge buildings of London; gives the place a very majestic and impressive look.



Top left: London eye. Funny how it was the one thing I aimed for in my London trip, but I ended up not going for it. It certainly looks pretty at night when its all lighted up, but in the end, the hefty price tag just was not worth it for me. I might do it in the summer, on a nice clear day, when I can see for miles up there.

Top right: Ooh I see a Big Ben. Michael insisted I delete the picture when I took it but I am rather pleased with the result. My rationale: if it looks too perfect and whole, you can get it off a postcard.

Bottom left: Horse guards. The guard was looking totally shagged out. The sign is kind of funny, but nice warning to all the people who went to take photos with the horsie.

Bottom right: Admiralty Arch. Go google it for more information, I'm not a History Major.

\\\ MUSICALS ///

Whats a trip to London without experiencing a musical (or two! or three!) in West End. For that you gotta ask the Austrian brothers. Hahaha. The girls went to watch Lion King, while I happily whacked these two.

Lovely, absolutely lovely.

Except for the curious stares I get from people wondering whats my story watching a musical like Dirty Dancing on my own. Or maybe its because I know my Mom notices people like that, so I'm being self conscious.

---FOOD---

The sad part was that I actually ate McDonalds while in London. That was really a low point in my life. Big N Tasty! Sheesh.



Breakfast at The Breakfast Club in SOHO. I suggested it, and I don't think there was anything to complain there. The waffles were so good. And the atmosphere, lovely.



Fish N Chips with Ale in a nice English pub called Wellington's. The bartender was really friendly, and let me sample three different ales before I settled on Abbot Ale. Fresh fish, nicely done mashed peas... my tummy felt really cosy after. Normally I wouldn't even eat peas.



Thats Emilia playing with her food - Wanton Noodle Soup. Heh heh. I had Roast Duck. The real fun was when the others dropped in while we were having dessert. What I learnt: Europeans find Red Bean strange. But they love Mango Sago.



Tower Bridge at night. It was the only well lighted one - my photos of Tower of London were pretty much useless. Throughout the journey in London, while we were freezing our butts off, we saw many joggers decked out only in tights running comfortably along the Thames River. Some had backpacks on, I suppose for a reason. But it was just too strange for us to fathom.



And yea, ever the Arsenal supporter. Just took a walk around and went into the souvenir store - only way to enter the stadium was to take the stadium tour. Fairytale with a price tag.



Maybe not the best photo to end off with. Changing of guards at the Buckingham Palace. Nothing spectacular, but just do it, to say you've seen it. Haha.

Happy Mau: And they all lived happily ever after
Cranky Mau: Yeah right, b*tch

Male Bonding

Wasn't Me.

In other news, I'm back from London (England, not Ontario) and very very sleepy. Having to wake up at 3am to catch the morning shuttle to the airport just plain screws with your body.

London was like the land of dreams for me - Rich, Majestic, Affluent; Chinatown, Musicals, English. But it left me broke as a Brokeback Mountain. Still, I'm properly inspired to work or get an internship there for the sake of staying there for a longer period.

Quote a Malaysian waiter I met while eating in Chinatown, "Ah I work in Denmark before. Can't find Chinese food there. Everyday only steak, steak, steak. Run fast!" I think a literal translation to Hokkien would be the correct way of interpretation.

Before KO-ing, just like to say that Tris' exchange blog awoke the inner girl in me.

HUGS AND KISSES,
Mau
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Land of Bofferding

Bofferding's the Luxembourg Beer. And no, Luxembourg is not renowned for its beer, or for its amount of beer consumed per year, unlike Germany and Denmark.



Caught my first snow here as well, on the final day. And it was snowing quite heavily on the Autobahn journey back. Though sadly, not seen any snow in Aarhus yet.


Luxembourg turned out to be a social cum study tour, which was really a good thing. It felt like the turning point of Orientation where everybody's just comfortable with one another, whereas previously we were just strangers in the same class.

What is Luxembourg famous for? Banks, fortresses, historical buildings and sights, and of course the European Court of Justice. Its not really much of a tourist place, a day or two should cover it sufficiently. That being said, the sights are AMAZING.

Top left: Gellen Fra Memorial. Gold plated female figure to commemorate the Luxembourgers who perished in the First World War.

Top right: Bronze statue of Grand Duke William II

Bottom left: Palace of the Grand-Ducal family. Was lucky to get a photo in when the gates were opened.






We were tremendously lucky that we had a juicy oral hearing to listen to for our study trip. The case was about State Aid to the Danish Television channel TV2. Language of the European Court of Justice was French, but the parties were speaking in Danish and interpretors behind glass windows were translating the case into the many different languages of the European Union, which I could hear from my headphones. It was very impressive. Knowing many languages is really very useful in the European Union, unlike Singapore where its the academic grades that count.



Our photo-op backdrop was a stunning view with the Grand Duchess Charlotte Bridge.

Thats my roommate Martin. He's in the Danish course rather than the English one, and he has a girlfriend who's in Medicine. Such a lot we have in common. Or perhaps the resemblance is more striking in the photo below with someone else...



Concluding thoughts: Had a lot of time to ponder and think, had a lot of socializing and fun, managed to see how an International (ok, European) Court functions, had some time to roam about a new city -- I would say it was a great trip.