13-15 dec - back to munich and to sg

Munich. Much much more expensive. Pple are very direct. They can speak english but very "rude". As in, im quite used to their attitude, jus like precise engineers, not the most suitable personnel to be in the service sector. The way to deal with them is again newton's 3rd law, which really works everywhere. Jus say back in the same tone. If they are not offended then fine, im also not anyway after being aware. My cousin and the other bro are still not used to it. Germany has the best christmas markets really. Expensive but so much better than the italian shops. I prefer to look at handicrafts and art pieces to bags and clothes. not too fun to shop in the sub zero temp tho. Gluhwein are what kept us warm since i cant brisk walk much. A hotdog bun cost 5 euro, we had mac for lunch instead for the set.

Quite fun that we had to live on some budget and lots of language barrier. Even my dad had fun gesturing to italians when they stand ard to smoke and drink together.

At last, had to end the trip with troubles with the ticketing machine. Doesnt want to accept our notes so we had to insert 30 euros worth of coins, which im alr surprised we have. Then until a point at balance of 2.30, it says it cant accept coins anymore! So either we try with notes or abort. No chance with the notes, we aborted and the machine regurgitated out 27.70 worth of coins, wah piang. Really can puke blood. And we took s8 direct to the airport. the procedures of tax refund is quite weird, had to chk in, then to customs then to tax refund. And the stupid global blue and premier tax is on different levels. We rush like mad, only to learn later that we got an extra hr cos of mistaking boarding time as departure time. Anyway we sent dad off first at 1310 before ours at 1455. But we reach 6 hrs later. Poor bro continued his alone till 28 dec, too eager beaver, shld have come home with us for mee pok dry. Hitting high winter really isnt fun.

Sweating in changi airport. But feels great in light and thin clothes. home sweet home! No more shivering after showering while drying urself with the towel. Noodles taste great. Back to routine life but the trip had provided sufficient respite. Still suffering from jet lag tho, tossing and turning from abt 1-3 plus am. Kenna flu but quickly curbed with self medication. left shoulder prolly strained from the backpacks, killing me....slowly adjusting back.

10-12 dec, milan, the fashion city

Tho still think it second to paris.

Shopping paradise for them but waiting frenzy for me and bro. we went in between churches visit and in search of handbag for mum but no luck. Nothing pretty, nothing we deem to be her style. Sigh. Shopping is such a chore. Anyway would rather nt buy than anyhow spend on something that will become junk at home, i can probably pull her out to walk ard in sg for something useful. Honestly thats abt it, nothing interesting. But milan is where i learnt abit abt the brands. Their origins and design styles. I compared and scrutinised what make them so expensive with supposedly quality checks and obviously the logo. The material and patterns, from handbags, clutches, wallets to belts, shoes, jackets, watches etc.

Had enuff of italy, nt the best destination for sure. Ate alot of potatoes, bread and chicken, before finally getting some maggie noodles from the supermart! The stupid hotel charges 3 euros for a cup of hot water! Unbelievable. We tried asking again the next morning, it dropped to 2 euros. In the end we used the hot tap water to make the maggie mee. Hot enuff. The hotel is so far the worst one cos it is damn cold. The heater like not working. Curled up under the blanket, leaving only a puff of hair, according to my dad.

So finally on the sleeper train back to munich. Had trouble finding the train as only vienna as the destination is reflected. Later after chking with 3 different staff, then we got the ans that the train will split up later, 4 carriages to vienna and 2 to munchen. So cool.

6 beds in a cabin. Totally no space for the huge number of luggages that our grp has. The kind train uncle gave us his cabin which i think the drivers will take turns to rest in, for our luggages. Me and bro got the top beds in another one from the rest. Really will be difficult for big size pple to climb up. Think the max they can reach is the second deck. I concussed immed at 10 plus or so. Till 530am when the rest told me that they probably dechained the train at abt 3 plus at a long stop and lots of noise which im totally oblivious of. Faintz.

8 - 9 dec pompei and vesuvius

Pompei. Isnt it exotic? Not as touristy as the other major cities.  We went up mt vesuvius by a private bus which cost us 30 more euros as the public bus went on strike, according to the locals. Here, many cant speak english. Those who can understand few words are already v rare. But this chicken and duck language gave us a mixture of experiences. Some are really racist, but doesnt matter as we couldnt understand what they are saying anyway, only by body language. Some are really frenly, tried very hard with gestures and their blabbering. We even use my note 2 to draw to ask if there is chilli flakes for the spaghetti. Very fun actually. We thus picked up the numbers in italian very quickly for the prices too.

The road trip to the mountain is rather horrible. He drove very fast even at turns, kenna motion sickness. The roads are also cobbled in the town, thus v bumpy. He drove us up to the 1000m altitude where then we trod up the slope towards the crater. Almost puke blood when they say they dun want climb, then shld have said so earlier?! They say din know so high. I told them to wait here then, i go myself. My bro joined me. The view is indeed breathtaking, where we can see the entire town and city. The slope is jus soft soil with some rocks, not exactly paved. Really cool, wish we can spend more time up there. then we saw dad ! Then where are the younger ones? It turned foggy, fortunately only after all the shutters, we were practically in the clouds. And we finally saw the others appeared from the fog. Totally surprised and congratulated them for the achievement. We were given only abt 1.5hrs at 170eur in total. We had to rush down first to hold the driver, for fear he jabo without us, bluffed him to wait abit more cos pple nt feeling well. A white lie la.

After the descend, we went to a restaurant, which we totally condemn, they were v busy, and prolly racist too. Food was lousy too, took half an hr to pay the bill, wanted to leave after asking 3 times and even stood and waited at the counter. Why r they more interested in seating and serving pple instead of collecting money? If we had a train to rush, we would have jus siam.

Unfortunately, we jus had to enter the drama again a second time, tho still counting. Jus cant stand certain behaviours and attitudes. Aye i shldnt be reminding myself of these incidents to avoid erupting the volcano within me. My cousin said that i was too quick to ignite, while my bro kept it within until a very explosive eruption, the other bro is jus too extremist as well. how can she dump food that she doesnt like to dad and jus take his plate away?! Leaving him with no choice, we gave him our portion as obviously hers was puny and horrible, handpicked by herself. Then after the meal, i jus cant keep mum. Never eat ur food selectively was what we were taught, then why is dad 纵容-ing such attitude? And i had to fend for my bro, couldnt stand pple blindly malign and put words into others' mouth. How dare she blame him for instigating all against her? And i was really appalled by her asking what has she done wrong and her reply of her only weakness is being too kind. Pukes..urgh...typing this sentence is polluting my page. Totally beyond cure. and since she cant tell me what duty do i have to point out what i think her weaknesses are, i dont need to spout a word. Too bad if she doesnt have self awareness and she is free to think what she wants, but she cant stop me from loathing her. Crap.

My dad was kind to ask if she wants to join, and she still say why must she let so many pple bully. Dotz leh..despicable. continue to dwell in self pity lor. Really shld go and atone her sins. Anyway how much i cheered in my heart for her absence.
Went to salerno by metro, 1.5 hrs of standing and it was super hot! Conversed with lots of gestures on the metro in case we took the wrong direction. And the metro was packed like sardines! Many pple couldnt get up from other stops at all. Upon reaching the destination, jus a shopping place with supposedly nice xmas lights, but not to mention orchard road, tampines mall can qie this easily. Sigh. Anyway we managed to get a helmet for dad,  a v cool looking one indeed, for 150 eur. Then we grabbed pizza before heading back. We took the regionale train this time and we reached in 20min. Really condemn their metro.

The next morning. It rained. Phew. We didnt postpone the mt vesuvius climb to today. Dad doesnt want to explore the ruins so we sat ard to chat instead. Ate chicken and potato for lunch before taking the regionale train to napoli where we will transfer to milano centrale.

At naples, the supposedly unsafe place with lots of snatch theives, we were wary. We took turns to roam abt abit, while the rest look after the luggage. There are indeed suspicious looking pple ard but there are polizia on petrol too. There is a police office right inside the napoli centrale station. An italian lady tried to tell us to look after our luggage, lots of hand signs too but we got what she mean, sceptical of her a little as well. She dropped a coin, we decided not to pick up in case she wants to extort more from us. If she claims that she dropped more, then we will be digging our own graves.

Not a very relaxed trip, got to wait for pple, got to be porters, got to navigate, got to be alert and look out for each other. But still got some stoning time in churches, in the streets of small towns, in the bathroom and on trains. And i know alot more abt pple's styles when u really had to commit these 2 wks with one another from day to night. Like camping, where we learnt alot more underneath if we choose to.

Now on the train to milan, 300km/hr, took the business class at an offer rate. Ok time to sleep, will only reach at 1140pm. Oyasumi nasai.

5, 6 and 7 dec - roma and its famous landmarks

Alighted at roma termini. Met a super nice waiter outside a restaurant who offered help to locate our hotel. It is in the 3rd level of a building, a small one, all 5 of us bunk into one while the other 2 into another.

We had mac for bfast before setting off.  bought a one way tix at 1.50 each to Vatican City on bus 40 which was super crowded, fully packed. The rest are on foot. They din want to go down to the crypt where the coffins were, i had gone down previously so fine to give it a miss this time. One of the 3 places where i learnt its chinese name, fan2 di4 gang1, sounds abit obiang, but well direct translation. Lots of picture whoring then proceeded to other check points along the river, crossed a few bridges before chancing upon an underground restaurant where we initially thot the uncle was unfriendly. Not surprising cos they arent the most frenly pple ard, alr expected it. And they always wonder why we have 7 but ordered less. Totally dont understand how can pple finish one meal on their own. The portion is huge. Anyway we got 3 sets which comprise first and second course with beer plus a pizza. More than enuff for everyone. And it turned out to be the best food so far. yummilicious, kudos to the chef who prepared our food. The uncle was also extremely frenly, v hospitable. we were the only customer then, but i really bet the place will be filled at dinner time. The restaurant is quite big with the chairs were overturned on the tables in most sections still. They prolly jus opened when we stepped in.

So far, munich has the best supermart, innsbruck has the best scenery, venice has the best hotel , and rome has the best restaurant food.

Then we walked on to some piazza and then to the spanish steps, while we took turns to look after the food and drink bag, the rest shop while i stoned on the stairs with my bro. Watched many tourists taking pictures, couples kissing, grps chatting, i bet we are in most of their pics in the backgrd. Then when it is our turn to roam, we climbed up the stairs to the top, bro went into church, while i jus enjoyed the view from the top of the shopping street view abit with the sunsetting. Too many pple touting and selling scarfs, laser pointers, and dunno what kind of toy. Quite irritating. I will say no nicely to them for the first time, if they keep bothering me, i will jus give death stare. Most of the time, i will jus look away and zoom past them, at my walking speed, they wont bother to stop me.

Cousin and sudi missed the time, and when they r finally back, true enuff, they had lost their way. Faintz when both couldnt rmb the waiting place is the famous spanish steps. As in can jus ask pple for directions mah. Most can speak a little english or they will point out. or jus try to rmb the pronounciation of certain italian famous landmarks like scala, fontana, colloseo, termini etc. And then muttered a grazie lor. They will naturally be more frenly once u at least be seen to make some effort to converse in their language.

Next to supermarket for bread, ham, salad, nutella and cake for dinner and breakfast. Then we made our own sandwiches in the hotel room. Had fun teasing those who are jus being cyclops, eye power, as if they can make toast with those eyes.

Next morning we continued our ai xin meals, then to the pilates stairs where pple kneel up the flight of stairs to jesus i think. I jus took a peek from outside. And then witnessed a group of protestants who release pink and yellow weird smelling smoke. 2 groups of policemen and their vehicles cordoned off the roads from 2 ends, with their batons in their hands, they formed the human wall. We jus moved back towards the church, jus in case we need shelter from any bloody scenes. All's good, luckily, no fights, no casualties. We went to st john lateran where we had picnic at a bench next to the field. We had gotten some meat for protein in a shop earlier on, they sold all kind of meat in the shop but only one type is cooked and can eat on the go, luckily it doesnt taste too bad.

Walked on to the roman forum and colloseum where there are scaffolds on the outside, prolly for repair works, but real sad, cos it spoils the facade. Wanted to re take the photos which i lost due to the hard disk failure, but couldnt get back those shots anymore. Sad. Then to pantheon which is still as nice, and to fontana del trevi. Winter time still so crowded! Urgh. Forever looking over shoulders and getting heads out of the lens. Really need to go in the middle of the night. Didnt do it this time.

Alfreco dining next, with spaghetti and chicken plus super sour red wine, yucks, my dad finished it up.

Bad evening thereafter tho, really hate her to the bones. It has reached the stage of no return. she prata-ed twice, really dont bother to reason with idiotic pple, i'll jus be wasting my breath. Still dare to say has been 10 yrs, thats exactly the length of time which we had put up with. Totally illogical, and when she couldnt win the topic, she will jus raise another topic to quarrel. Dotz. And her voice irks me to the max. i hate pple who self pity and thinks that she is the victim. wth, not jus she has zero contribution in this trip, she is a burden. Totally zero iq, nt to mention eq, likes to interrupt when we were having family chat. Cant jus leave us alone for even a minute. Who is oblivious to the objective of this trip first? I swear that i will nv go anywhere with her again, too bad, i will forgo trips with dad if he insists on having her ard. Both my bros also couldnt take it, we had to calm each other down. Now i shall treat her as transparent, ignore everything she says. She can rattle to the wall if she wants, i have ear pieces for music with me and i will jus walk away, make sure she is nv in my 10m radius. Baka. She better dun come crapping with whatever christians do, ive let go all methods, only left touching her, which i wouldnt want my hand to rot. Better dont make me punch her in the face. Alr said not to mix well water with river water, she comes barging into my territory next time, i wont give a damn anymore. Try pushing the limit to my tolerance n u will see.

Really despise ladies who are leeches and cant handle their own stuff. And why must be accompanied everytime to a place which is jus a few steps away. Want to see go urself la, why must drag the guys along. Bro's gf also like that, cant comprehend. And i jus said in their face to take their own handbags. If heavy, den dun bring, else carry them urselves. Why are pple so irritating. And why must the guys accommodate them, dont u feel ashamed carrying ladies bags, be it longchamp, gucci or lv? No logic. And pls dun preach abt care, cos the gal shld feel bad for letting the guys suffer even if they claim they are nt suffering, the emotional torture should be worse than physcially handling ur own stuff which u shld be carrying it anyway. ridiculous societal norm and expectation. Wat on earth... then later massage for the bruise the bag caused, too late alr.

At rome station, this man helped us with finding the platform for the train, over frenly and over enthu. He jus held on to my luggage to carry it down the stairs when i already said dont need. True enuff, he then insisted us to give him some tips.shrugs. On the train to pompei now. some alone time, and thanks to the music and the lovable view outside the window.

3 and 4 dec - masquerading in venice

Venezia, a revisit, as arty as prague i thought. The grandmasters' works are bewildering. How did they do it? To create such beautiful art pieces. The venezian paper masks and the murano glass. But ever since the imitation comes in, really v sceptical with the products, are they made in italy or made in prc? Even with the stamp and wax seal, i am still sceptical. I dun recall i had issues previously yrs back. Prolly not as rampant i dont know. They shld jus bar all the china products. The worst is pple pay for china products which the dishonest shop owners claim to be made in italy. Wary of deceipt. And many shops are manned by indians or bangladeshi, i cant really differentiate the 2 but yea really dislike the whole tainted tourist industry. Sigh.

on the other hand, how did the chinese make them? How are the imitations done and they can sell so much cheaper from mass production. If u really look carefully, there is a very subtle difference. The style is more delicate and the paper material is more obvious than the plastics but then u still can miss the difference. Never ending patterns, u manage to spot one, may miss another. Actually jus buy if u feel like. Jus for that moment of purchasing power and the desire to own it. Tho transporting them safely back is more troublesome, they shld provide boxes. Japanese would have been very thoughtful on packaging. But well, they r italians or others.

Enjoy roaming the network of small alleys the most. The alleys are really dark and narrow, like a maze. There are roads everywhere, rivers and bridges. Everywhere looks the same. I would be more carefree without the grp depending on my topo. Luckily i knew the hardcopy maps are not as detailed so i loaded the google maps with the saved poi to avoid detours for all. google maps are really well maintained. Really walked the entire day with stops in between. even the dead ends are marked! So after using google maps, u will nv use the hardcopies again. with the directional arrows, i dun even need to read the italian road names. Fuss free. Went to the st mark's square again, the square with super large numbers of fat pigeons and the 24-hr clock which i really love. Remembered it from venice and almost bought it from greenwich during the last visit to london. It isnt cheap and i wonder how practical it will be as we are too used to the hands positions. The time can be misread easily. Good to be back there again. Walked down the canal, but in the opposite direction from where i drank the most expensive coke at 6 eur 9 years ago. Wonder if it is the same price now.

Venice is great except being too touristy. Ate 2 pizzas n beer for dinner and it cost us 38 eur, up from the original 23? For dining in. Forgot to chk the cover charge. So we paid 15eur extra for using their tables and chairs. Dotz. We know that we will take away or chk resturants with cover charge included into the food price next time. those included ones are still more worth it then separate charges, which we dun even know how it was calculated, by tables or by pax. Me and cousin came out again for gelato in the temp at 2deg cel. Brrr. Really shivered...

The second day in venice, recommended them to take the water buses to enjoy the view along the canal, but to the murano island, nothing much there except for many shops selling murano glass and the glass demo factory. Decided to give that a miss since ive experienced it. My bro chose not to go as well so we roam the streets again, without the rest, no nid to navigate. We just walked on, would be alright even if we get lost, tho we didnt. We tried back-tracing the streets from another direction to look for the charity shop we saw yesterday without google map and the camera shots. We managed to retrieve our memories. an achievement to recognise the various parts of the maze.

We then watched the locals, students marching out of school, fed the pigeons with pretzels and strolled along the canal. Italians here walk at a rather fast pace. Surprising. Soaking in the local culture is what i deem as real travel in the city, instead of chking in at the POIs. the luxury of doing nothing but wandering about, exploring and observing. At the end of the day, we were really tired from the walking, reenergised on the train to rome.

2 dec - crossing the austria borders into italian land

Innsbruck is indeed picturesque, surrounded by mountains. We roamed the streets the next morning. There is this whole section of houses and streets with lots of fairy tale statues, some of which i dont recognise tho. jus have fun roaming abt christmas markets and the old town.

Had chinese food for lunch, too oily even tho we said less oil less salt. After lunch, sad to realise that i lost my ear muff. We walked back slowly to the hotel to collect our luggage before gg to the train station to take the train to venice. 3 hrs to verona porta nuov where we transfered to another 2 hr one to venezia s lucia. Jus 2 more stops, the conductor insisted that we paid the difference for a fast train as our tix is for regionale train. Even tho it was no where mentioned on the ticket and he couldnt tell us why but just kept insisting that we pay. We cant even get off the train. Dotz. Seriously why then a supposed fast train take the same amt of time as that indicated on the tix which he claimed to be a slow one. Got down his name and staff number first as we handed over the 153 eur. Crazy conductor. But i must say that he is jus carryin out his job faithfully, but inflexibly. Damn suay.

When we arrived at venice, we were assisted by nice pple, the kind resturant waiter and the lovely staff at the hotel which we sourced last min by jus walking in to ask for the price. Settled with one that is really jus opposite the rest and at 30 eur per pax per night, include bfast, which was surprisingly good. Me and bro got this quainty room at la locanda di orsaria. there was errors in the booking of the hotel abazzia which was converted from a part of the church for the other 5. Anyway for the nice pple at orsaria, i will strongly recommend chking in there when u visit venice.

1 dec - innsbruck, austria

Sub zero temperature. Got flexi with the train to ostbahnhof after knowing the network, really suspect next time jus buy over the counter.

Off to innsbruck where we chked in at ibis jus across the road from the train station. Urgh, everything's close on sundays. We took the sightseer bus tour round the city and to the last stop first, schloss ambras. A castle with exhibits.

We spent alot of time playing with the ice or snow on the ground surrounding the castle. I tried the snow angel and got my jeans wet. Not soft enuff, not defined enuff. We make snowballs and throw at each other and take alot of photos while we simulate snow falling from the sky. Played enuff before we decided to buy the tix into the castle.

Like a musuem, look beyond the exhibits and u will find more interesting things like columns, carvings, room structure. Look out for unfurnished parts on top of those they highlighted with explanation panels. Without recognition of castle features, be it typical or unique, it is jus another boring museum tour, which u wont feel like it is a castle. Thus u create ur own experience by fully utilising ur senses. i entertained my dad by pointing out my observations, after he asked wat is there nice to see. Dotz. Thereafter we competed with spotting interesting features and angles. Told him that is wat photographers do, photography opens up ur senses. The exhibits are tools, clothes, crockery used by the pple leaving in the castle in olden days and there was a strange tree trunk with the antlers horn. Is it scientifically possible?

Then to the christmas markets, tried their kiachl, both sour and sweet type. They are like deep fried flour in the shape of a bowl with filling in it, taste like donut. The filling is saukerkraut which is like sour cabbage/turnip and the other is like jam and small red cherry-like things.  And after that we lost the bus tix, instead of waiting in the cold for 20min, we decided to take the abt 30-45min walk back to the hotel. Really cold at night but dad still can make it. Thumbs up.

30 nov - day trip to salzburg from munich

Woke up at 5am munich time. Luckily one day is enuff for me to overcome the jetlag. Really dont bother abt cousin's disapproval of drinking tap water. Without lots of water and rest, i will prolly fall sick on the next day, enuff experience to prove that. Anyway safe to drink la. She refuses to drink so kenna sore throat due to the cold and dry air prolly. Shrugs. And then we had to search for supermarts for bottled water which is really heavy to lug ard.

Bfast was good. Small cosy bfast room. Coffee and tea nt hot enuff tho, jus warm. After that, we took the 2hr train from munich hbf to salzburg.

Nice with the snow capped mountains. Cosy town where we wandered about and decided to head towards the fortress where we took the funicular up for the panoramic city view. Cousin has phobia of heights and the driver jus had to shut the door before she got in, ao she had to take the next one alone. We will be expending our tix if we were to go back down to fetch her. She really mustered courage to take the next one and when we saw her, ahe was shivering in fear, not the cold. Poor gal. But it was really stable wat no jerking like cable cars. Anyway europeans are usually racist. Alr warned the rest from experience of my last trip.

Went washroom hunting in town later which we need to pay 50 cents so decided to stop there for cakes. The choco ball and the apple strudel were really superb. Accidental good food hunting. And the guy manning the shop is v gd looking! Think most of them got the hereditary genes where the good looking ones are preserved in the region. Walking in the cold for a long time before the dinner at a restaurant where we had wines/beers and italian food in austria. Slept early as we need to wake up at 6 to reunite with the rest at ostbahnhof.

28 and 29 nov - starting the europa trip with munich

was a rushed thursday again. why am i always rushing on the dates of departure? Dashing around in between meetings till when it is finally time to meet the rest, i was still 45min late. Quickly changed into jeans and then half run half jog to t3. They were alr chking in at the counter and when i joined them with my passport, was praying that i wont be showered by death glares from the long queue of pax for cutting queue. we went to basement for dinner before bidding the rest farewell early since they were gg sitex.

Abt half an hr to departure time, we reached the gate hold room. I treasure the slow pace in the queue sometimes, even tho i hate queues, slowing moving along the plb towards the plane. Slumped into the cramped seat in the 777-300er of qatar airways. Tsukare da. Muscles relaxed against the hard seat. Started the inflight entertainment while waiting for my fav moment of the plane picking up speed on the runway. the in flight entertainment wasnt too great. Have watched most of the movies in the collection. Picked the heat by sandra bullock in the end. The touch screen app is really slow, nt responsive. And the plane took off into the dark sky at 9 plus.

Arrived in doha int airport at 11 plus pm, half an hr ahead of schedule. Departure time 205am. Temp was 23 deg, similar to sg. Trodded thru the immigration into the transit dfs area. Lots of camels and aladdin lamps type of souvenirs, other than the usual pack of perfumes n EDTs that filled the air with the pungent mix. Urgh, i moved quickly away from the section.

Free wifi provides some comfort after people watching for abt 15-20min in the crowded boarding areas. Jus a mass of seats outside the boarding gates. With so many people. It is a boring sight. Horrible actually with such crowds. Will t4 be like tat. Now i know the pros of gate hold rooms. They make the airport looks neater with crowd control. The network gives less than 1 mbps, but sufficient for my use with wassapping and some net surfing. Was still trying to curb the zombified feeling from lack of slp. It was 5am in sg.

Boarding time. Onto the new plane for the first time. The dreamliner, 787. read it somewhere, dun think sq has its batch delivered yet. Love the double touch screen and the tint control bigger window. I think the seat can recline more, seems more space when the seats are upright as compared to the triple 7. Another 6 hrs to destination. Cant slp alr. Watched the croods before dozing off with the assistance of the audio playlist in which japanese songs were saved.

6am munich time, 40min from flughafen to hbf. The day trip tix for grp up to 5 at 20 eur is so much cheaper than the 10.60 eur per pax tix. They dun trust the self service one and wanted to queue at the manned counter. Sigh.... no leap of faith to risk buying the wrong one. Anyway someone asked if we need the tix as she wants to sell it at 15 eur. I jus got it frm her with the rest jittering in uncertainty. Insisted on chking with the counter if it can be used, they kenna scolding as it is illegal to buy frm others. Yawnz. Anyway, we made full use of it later on to hop on and off, the whole journey without any officer chking the tix at all.

Have heard that munich is much nicer than berlin and frankfurt. I actually find them similar. Too cold for comfort, under dressed prolly and they walked so slow that i cant even get my body warmed up. Still love the architecture and the naked trees, with their exposed hair-like twigs and branches which make them look prickly. The houses have big sloping roof to drain off the snow. So many cut pine trees on sales in preparation for christmas.

Got currywurst with baguette for lunch. Yummy as usual. Some dunno chicken or pork patty was also nice. We jus pointed out to the stall tenderer. They couldnt speak english well. Christmas markets everywhere but not all opened yet even at 3pm. We went to schloss nymphenburg where the pond had frozen, half water half ice. There were so many swans and ducks or geese. Arent they cold? They even dipped their head and neck into the water, prolly looking for food. It is jus a musuem, they din want to go in so we jus walked ard the freezing park in front of the palace. some ice on the grass too, it had snowed before we arrived.

went back at abt 4 plus for a bath before the night tour at 7pm. Decided not to join, as i had experienced similar ones in scotland. And when they return, all said envy me to be able to skip that 2 hr walking tour in the cold with boring ghost stories. The only good thing, they saw snow. Haha. Lucky, didnt miss much and i used the time to fully recover my energy. Relieved n more rejuvenated.

Creating space

The personal challenge becomes creating space for everyday's life as it happens. Space in the mind, emotional and physical space, as well as space in the red pumping machine. When this challenge is conquered and things start to work for u, life simply becomes better. question is do u want and to learn to cope with it.

Im glad i chose to waste time to attend the t4 ground breaking ceremony. Nothing spectacular but the event was quite well handled under the marquee which sheltered everyone from the torrential rain.

Went to be less anti social, like a crash-course reporter for a day, decided to communicate. Breaking out of the natural preference and inclination of not being kaypo, posed questions abt others' work. Even tho alr aware that every type of work has its own difficulties and challenges, jus decided to find out more, trying not to reinforce what i already know, but focus on debunking any assumptions.

Sat abit at the coffee shop again and observed the workers there carrying out their work. Even the toilet guardian who sits there all day long to collect 10cents for every entry. He jus glues his eyes to his smart phone 90% of the time, with occassional glances ard himself and the coins that are placed on his counter. The drink helpers are indeed quick with the mental sums and memorising the various types of beverages ordered and those behind the smoky hot pots and pans, throwing in ingredients and waving their ladles in and out of the kuali.

Caged birds watching. More like deciphering their chirping. What they talking abt? Why so chirpy and noisy when they all gather? Some uncles chat among themselves with the backgrd music, some uncles stare into blank space. I wish i can understand what the birds are talking abt.

An office worker who stayed late in the office, ended up slping under the table for the night and then scaring the poor cleaning aunty early the next morning.

A masseur who knows limited english was trying to convey her thots in single words and short phrases. Since the time she was interviewed for the job, her own preferences and her specialist knowledge on the pressure points, sharing the various types of customers, including 6-7 yr old kids?! Indeed, found out more with the keenness to find out. Even with the language obstacle.

As i read abt what happiest pple have or do at work, i suddenly recall my long lost plant in the coca cola glass. The green leafy plant had disappeared without me noticing until at least mths later. Unbelievable. Poor plant. I hope u have found a better owner.

Witnessed another set of well done slides, unveiling the events systematically n logically, convincingly without questions from the audience, all engaged and listened attentively as the presenter reveals what was initially not known. It is a skill to master, and i shld really put my heart and determination to it, instead of doubting what am i doing this for. It may be meaningless as the rqm has become passe, but it is the innate perseverance that shldnt be killed due to time constraint as the consequence is affecting well being. No passion, not doing for oneself, it is game over. Time jus passes without joy and purpose.

It is difficult, it is something i dont know how to do, and i have the "sigh, give up" mentality. Instead of the contrast of "if others can do it, i can do it too". Recently ive been tagging the latter with "but do for wat". Crisis. Or maybe i was really jus avoiding, cos i dont know how to do it. When was the last time, i said i dont know how to do. What is wrong to say that. Ego? Can i be taught how to do it? Isnt it great to have a senpai to rely on, life will prolly be easier than trying to handle everything alone.

Witnessed the courage of owning up, on the spot, after jus a pause. The moment is wordless. Admirable virtue.

自転車をするが大好きです。私に空間を提供しますから。

ice skating mo. Demo, koko no ice skating rink wa chisaii desu. I shld prolly find on my next quest, a big frozen lake overseas and skate the entire day. First i shld finish up italy's research. Taihen da.

Sometimes when u pause to smell the roses

有时候，就让自己陷入这不开心的当中。只要不时常、不连续地被困绑着，懂得松解与松懈，就能体会在潜意识中的那份绝望。哈，严重了。但仅仅那几分钟里，已可領悟到各人所憧憬的未来。所谓有绝望就有希望。

也有时候，盘问自己，是坚强还是倔强。为什么偏要做些吃力不讨好的事。不照顾好自己反而让他人操心，虽不想影响他人，但无形中已形成自相矛盾。这复杂的思绪也随着压力的产生。不是多此一举那吗？

I drank the piping hot tom yam soup yesterday on a cold rainy night. I dont particularly fancy tom yam and the place where i drank it most often is ironically the uk.  it was one of the dish that can be easily prepared, with the paste brought over from sg.  With noodles and oven baked chicken fillet, a good enuff meal for winter in the cold hostel. The sourness enhances the mild spiciness. While honing sense of taste, assessing how it is prepared, be it boiled or baked or stir fried, and the ingredients used in this, relieved that there r functioning taste buds on my tongue.

Sabbath 2013

Sometimes do u feel distracted and out of character, no wind in ur sails, all stagnant in the still air? this happens to be the time when u find yourself in a bubble, shutting out the rest of the surrounding and u discover silence and placidity, probably virtually. Then when u look at the watch, the hour hand has moved over quite a distance.

The simple power of kindness and comprehension from the pple ard u indeed dilutes the harshness of the environment, which forces u to go with the flow of life. And then u asked what's life?

Recently, have been having vocabulary crisis. The basic japanese and even english and mandarin, somehow loss of words. No words could convey the meaning of my thots accurately. And then when i squeeze some random ones out after an uncomfortable pause, i instantly question if i have used the words correctly. Felt checkmate. Handicap. Urgh, i need more practise. Have suspected that my brain isnt working too well lately. Cant keep up with my own expectation. What is going on? Is my brain deteriorating? I reminded myself to slow down and to avoid multitasking as well as memorising. To offload these info, i created chklists. Dear brain, stay strong and sane.

Not worrying, would be unnecessary. Jus hope that i can manage the thots and actions better. Then that would life enjoyment with control instead of being all messed up.

The gorgeous horizon with the vast sky and sea are a feast to the eyes. The clouds with the reflected sunlight create the most beautiful thing u would see on earth. I sat there and wonder why this can be formed, a visual therapy. Finally tried the starcruise, virgo to phuket and langkawi for 3 nights. exploring the ship, having no plans for the next activity and no time constraint at all is a luxurious feeling. I was really trying to get bored so that i will cherish the bustling city life more, instead of taking it for granted and detesting it all the time. Was hoping to develop boredom with doing nothing.

It started raining on one of the nights till the morning. The sea was choppy. Couldnt even walk straight along the claustrophobic corridor with the cabins lined along both sides. We had to take the ginger pills to prevent getting sea sick. They r prevention not cure, thus after the china trip, i am really not keen to endure till i kenna giddy spells, it would feel horrible. I watched the dark grey water as the big ship sailed. The water surface was "ripplified". Is there such a word? The waves arent obvious until my window passed them. U will see the trough, a depression on the water surface, surprisingly deep, like a big fruit bowl. Then u realise the waves are quite high. the top part of the wave came crashing down onto the sides of the ship. As the pointy part of the hull cuts through the waves, white masses formed against the grey. They look like thick liquid, with many layers, flowing away from the ship, whitening the grey rippled water. Then there are many stubborn white droplets that refuse to flow with the rest, jumping high up to my window before joining the rest. We bobbled on such powerful liquid mass for a while, i dont recall how long ive stayed in that state admiring nature.

When the sea is calmer, i read. One of the few times when i managed to read alot more pages than those before bedtime. We went to the restaurants to fill our stomachs, most pple chat. They jus chill in the uber cold restaurants, we will take the non aircon seats as much as possible. They chill by the pool too, in cafes etc. The draft was unbearable. Brrrrr.....why is the temp so low? It is amazing at how these 4 days pass by so quickly. Time really jus ... is there a word faster than flies?

And now the lucky winner of the trip sponsored by st and samsung would be happily seated in the vip box for the barcelona vs real madrid match before returning to sg tmr. He still has to blog for them, i wonder how are they gg to do it. Thats where the difference is betw writing leisuring for ur own records vs writing for submission. He is supposed to blog using the samsung gear and note3. Honestly can give up on the gear, too small screen. Hope he is enjoying his time there! Pls dont go zara shopping. Shld help to retrieve my lost photos from the incomplete church and the colourful hilltop with works of gaudi. Can no longer rmb the spanish names of the places.

Rhythm of love by plainwhitets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWiwuiT58Yc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

My head is stuck in the clouds
She begs me to come down
Says "Boy quit foolin' around"

I told her "I love the view from up here
The warm sun and wind in my ear
We'll watch the world from above
As it turns to the rhythm of love"

We may only have tonight
But till the morning sun you're mine all mine
Play the Music low and sway to the rhythm of love

My heart beats like a drum
A guitar string to the strum
A beautiful song to be sung

She's got blue eyes deep like the sea
That roll back when she's laughing at me
She rises up like the tide
The moment her lips meet mine

We may only have tonight
But till the morning sun you're mine all mine
Play the Music low and sway to the rhythm of love

When the moon is low
We can dance in slow motion
And all your tears will subside
All your tears will dry

And long after I've gone
You'll still be humming along
And I will keep you in my mind
The way you make love so fine

We may only have tonight
But till the morning sun you're mine, all mine
Play the music low and sway to the rhythm of love 2x
Yeah sway to the rhythm of love

Unbelievable luck

Contest craze fan finally reaping some results from the seeds sown. Unbelievable perseverence. Congrats to merv for earning a trip to barca, a note3 and the samsung gear. Got to write some blog entries which will appear alien to me, i guess i forgot all the "knowledge" picked up during the world cup fever. Really chiong down to support already, actually lucky was late. Wont be too gian to be in the room filled with shutters and flashes even if i were early.

The bigger events in the wkend

On the same day - bro's bday and fren's wedding.

Bday celeb @ tao's

Wedding at chjimes and carlton

 

Public holiday - hari raya haji

Woken up by bro for bfast. Wanted to skip but no, pulled myself out. Wake up for bfast with the company of bro and mum. How many days per wk can i achieve this?
really grateful for a public holiday in the middle of the wk.

I was introduced to Isochronic tones. :) Interesting. First try for its effectiveness last night. Tired and slpy but was pondering over something amiss. Jus not the right arrangement. Something is wrong but what exactly is it? How to avoid and resolve. So i played the alpha wave. When i finally decided to stop thinking and to get into slp, i cant. I got to reach for my phone to change it to the theta wave. Din realise when i actually enter dreamland.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, i got up to switch off the music with one eye close and one eye half open. 4+Am. thunderstorm. Can hear the heavy rain pitterpattering against the glass window. And i dozed off back in the sound of the rain. Had terrible nightmare, not sure if it was before 4+ or after. I recalled this pair of thumb and index finger holding onto a feeler of a cockroach right in front of my eye. I closed my eye tightly and tried dodging but the fingers persisted at the same location. Urgh. Stressed. I woke up with shoulders all cramped.

Tried the alpha waves a second time when doing my europe trip planning this morning. Gave up for lunch. Shagged. I guess the end is wat gives the sense of achievement, the process of it is torturous. But if i dont do it today, i dun have any other time left before the prices start going up. Plus i dont want to be nagged by bros and cousin. Finished my part first so i got the choice to nag them instead.

Read the article which shares similar sentiments with me. If the most ordinary things are what makes u happy, u will be happy most of the time. But if only big events such as trips and parties make u happy, then u will only be happy for a few times in a yr. Im lucky to be the former. Jus happy to laze ard, read articles, sip tea, chat and jus stone. Cycle by the beach is easily achievable too. Tho trips, less the planning part, make me happy to explore new things

Went on 2 wheels after dad left for work. Jus nice for sunset. Sunset at east coast is definitely comparable to sunset at angkor wat. The hews in the sky jus left me bewildered at how beautiful nature is. and really like to watch the plane fly towards me, makes a turn and then heads into the horizon away from the sg land, as if embarking on a journey to a fantastic destination...the transience in life

The ceiling needs a ceilingpaper

I stare up at the ceiling, and my brain stops working.

Ouch, my tail

Sometimes prolly it is better to give death stares. U know there are jus some wounds that remain open forever n imagine salt being sprinkled onto them. The reflex, the immediate reaction is jumped up, swiped everything off the table and fire at will. thus to avoid such situation, got to train to fire death stares. The silent manner instead of getting worked up.

An interesting find. Hate the elitist way, train train train, it is like jus drills, jus sharpening to reach a "desired target" the structured way. So urgh. The gep way. Taboo, but always what we hate. This encompasses too many traits. Jus like how the express and normal acad pple speak to us with sarcasm "ok lor, of cos u r right, u all are "special"" what. We always kenna verbal abuse. Since sec 1, i wonder why pple want to put pple down like tat. Whats up with the streams? We dont like the gep but we jus secretly hate them. These camp mates are straightforward. very status and rank conscious. Shrugs, a cycle.

I cant stand the structured way, anything that resembles the sg edu will kenna condemed. The mould, the shoulds and should nots. The elitists way. It seems like to them, there is only one way to success. A single path. Trod along else u fall back. Jus loathe it.

But then, i realise actually innately, it is my default inclination, v easy for me to behave in that way, aim to reach where i wan to go, will put myself under training, in the race, to be better according to my own expectations, with relativity still. And then I hate being results oriented, why must we be trapped in the mould the sg way, the deemed to be successful way. and then i realise... i m training myself to go against it. Im breaking away from my natural pref, undergg the stress to become someone who is not me. Here it is, if im not aiming to become better, why am i training myself?

Ironic, and i didnt realise till i thot abt it. Prolly during sch days i was a STJ. it is like trapped in the competition, conscious of scores, conscious of being the best i cna become in all activities/ activities. Being in the top few until i got fed up with this kind of life. Then i change to NTP, but i wonder if it is a clean switch, there could some lingering traces of the character. There is a change in pref. I jus dont want to go the structured way. Pple shld be develop in their own way, not the trainers' way . This is the stress. This is not easy. I will have the tendency to do it the np instructor way, i mean how difficult is it to teach pple what u know, wat u think is right, create a regime, jus train. Easy of cos. What is difficult is to unlock others and enable them to develop in their paths. Teachers need to customise their methods for different students, no longer like the past, one method for all.

I hate the limited edu courses in sg, why are we so geared towards math and science? Why are writers not developed, musicians, architects, designers and artists have fewer or no platforms to perform? Jus cos they think sci and math is required to boost the economy. Why is there more emphasis on the sci stream as compared to the arts stream, how many sgporeans have suffered. if i had not been moving along with them, what was my real strength? If i were left to develop at free will, what would i become? And now they want to push us to the bottom with what we have, what we are supposedly to be stronger with the fts in unis. How many talents have been buried jus cos their own wishful thinking. The society is moulded in the specific direction and not enabling, facilitating and supporting its pple. This is the level up from the usual teaching or coaching. One is not to produce clones of oneself. But indeed this is stressful, the onus becomes to be on the trainers.

And so i discovered that i get annoyed when the old way is pinpointed. Of cos easier for me but is it what i want to become. Shld i give up jus cos it is easier. Inner struggle, have wanted to take it easy a few times. But i will be falling into the mgmt trap...noooooo.....

And then the pros and cons of democracy start to surface. The balance is required for this, cant swing too much on one side. i commended one on purpose to all in the email, to illustrate what is value add, what is going on the extra mile despite how small the task is. Really it is always better to point out someone's weakness through another's success. The intention is there, it is alright if not achieved, if the person din catch it then too bad. Always better than hurting his eco, tho lack of slp and the stress is creating havoc with the temper, not excuses, but have also apologised for firing. We jus need to review what we have been doing is right. trust leads to lack of policing. No there is no breach of trust, jus miscomms. R/s will hurt more if it is the latter. So far we have maintained that. not worth to sour becos of work thus pls control. Soliloquizing.

Fins to fins, tail to tail

A trip to the s.e.a aquarium, thanks to my dear pal, finally made it there cos of the time limited tix. Have wanted to go on my bday but has postponed it till last wk.

We were indeed brave to go on a saturday. Would be more enjoyable if we had the whole place to ourselves, jus the 4 of us. The glass has the magnifying effect, at certain angle, u can feel quite giddy.

Staring and observing the vertical column, brimming with life. So lively. So real. So happening. So much energy. So cohesive. The corals are thriving. The fishes and other organisms are jus living, breathing, creating bubbles. Jus feel wonderful to see such a harmonious sight, in the h2o behind the glass.

Next to the world's largest acrylic panel. The water is not as clear. The manta ray was obvious, the rest of the other stingrays really all look similar. Cant tell the difference. Tiny fishes were swimming with them, feeding off them. Big clumsy fish stared thru the glass at us, lips against the glass, aa if trying to find a way out of the uber big tank. The smaller ones are totally camouflaged in the unclear water, appearing and disappearing out of sight. Some swim and wandered alone in and out of the window of wreck near the sand, some in shoals.

We also saw a super big octopus in action. Lots of jellyfishes. Dolphins are all time favourites. Amused by the sea dragons which totally look like leaves. And many other species which i never know of their existence. We marched towards the exit with all the sharks, thats where they are. The finale.