Journey Around the World: The December Travels

Here I am back in the room in Frankfurt. Our 19 days adventure was over. And myparents are on a plane back to Singapore.

We were away from 19th Dez 08 till 5th Jan:

Frankfurt, Germany

Köln, Germany

Bruxells, Belgium
Ghent, Belgium
Leuven, Belgium
Bruges, Belgium
Antwerp, Belgium

Rotterdam, Holland
Den Haage, Holland
Delft, Holland
Amsterdam, Holland

München, Germany

Budapest, Hungary

Prague, Czech Republic

Dresden, Germany

Frankfurt, Germany

Credit to ME for planning! Distance travelled on train :3500km (about 80 times the distance from East to West in Singapore)

My account will be incomplete, and will fall short compared to the whole experience of the trip. So this will be a poor guide to the travel, but will be a closer representation of what have stayed on with me at the end.

It all began on 5th december when I left home and flew to Frankfurt. That very weekend Nic and I visited Poland. Then we stayed in Frankfurt for a few days before my parents came over to visit me too. Thankfully they got a different room. That following weekend we went to Barcelona. Then it was back to Frankfurt for the week and we left again on the 19 of december.

We took a train to Köln and spent the day there. During the Christmas season there are Christmas Markets everywhere in Europe. Köln was no exception. There was one in front of the huge Dom. Christmas markets were similar in the sense that they would be selling food like sausages, nuts, glühwine, beer and lots of Christmas goodies. But they were also different in terms of the decorations and atmosphere. So it was nice to see the variation in all the countries we visited. Germany still has the best Xmas markets! *a non-biased opinion*

Köln Dom with Christmas Markets

Colourful Houses at Köln

We left Köln in the evening and headed for Brussels. Thats in Belgium. There we met Zhen Yi, a friend from Junior College. We got to know a lot about each other during the trip. Thanks for ya Xmas card and postcards! I will have it laminated for sure! Hugz! In some ways, I enjoyed her company here. It opened up a different "dimension?" We would have conversations that I would not have if I were with Nic alone. Its not that something was lacking, its just that it was not in our nature to have those kind of conversations. Zhen Yi studied a lot of European history, and having her around was enriching. As I realised from her, I am more of a passive learner when travelling. I hated museums and would only read very briskly on places. Yet I found the stories and histories of the places we visited much more interesting and impactful for me through Zhen Yi's words. The information transmitted from her stayed with me for a longer period and history was for once interesting to me!

Other insightful conversations I can recall off hand are of the nobel French university that she was attending and the extent of the presentation the students had. From wearing 3 piece tailored suits to debates and their elaborate presentation on Peru. She also shared her experience of vising Oxford and their college system there, and how Sarah had to wear a university gown when taking exams.

Zhen Yi travelled with us in Belgium. Before visiting Belgium I only knew of their Chocolates. I was amazed to see how beautiful the country was, Ghent and bruges being my favourite destinations. They do indeed have great chocolate, along with waffels, Tin-Tin and some amazing architecture. We headed on the Leuven, Ghent, Bruges and then Antwerp. Zhen Yi left us at Bruges to spend her Christmas in London.

Belgium Chocolates, Brussels

Belgium Waffles

Peeing Boy, Brussels

Brussels Xmas Market

Zhen Yi did ask me why I travelled. For me its for three main reasons. The first is to meet new people, the second is to learn and the third is to appreciate. I won't really explain the first reason, but for the latter, I find it really broadens my view of this world when I see different places. People in different places have different cultures, live differently, do things differently and follow a differnt set of rules in society. Such exposures reveals how similar things can be done in drastically varying ways. What is against the norm for Singapore is actually a reality somewhere else. The good things in other societies can be adopted. Negative things that doesnt appeal to me allows me to appreciate the many things that we have in Singapore. I am thankful that chewing gum is banned in Singapore especially having seen what a nuisance it can be. Foreigners think that fines for littering is weird. I am thankful for that. Look at how dirty theire streets are.

I feel that it is also important for couples to travel together because:

"Travelling brings out a side of people that is not shown in normal, daily life."

There is indeed alot of truth in that.

Bruges Family Portrait, Belgium

Bruges River by Night

Zhen and I

Ghostly Castle

Another Xmas Market with Ice-Skating ring in the open, Bruges

Pretty Houses, Bruges

Bruges Outline

Venice of the North, Bruges

Antwerp Performer, Belgium

From Antwerp the train took us to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. That was on Christmas Eve. Personally, I hated Rotterdam. It looked like a dirtier version of Singapore. There was about 10 chewing gum in an area of 1m x 1m along the pavement everywhere. Our accomodation that night was on a ship. It was small, cold and the host unfriendly. That was the worst night ever. We were glad to leave to Den Haage on Christmas and check into Ibis hotel. The accomodation was heaps better. Christmas day was quiet. It was like the first day of Chinese New Year in Singapore. Its only this day that I feel Singapore really shuts down, or run on minimum power at least. All shops were closed, the streets were deserted. Everyone was spending Christmas at home. We also made a day trip to Delft, another pretty town before going to Amsterdam. Amsterdam was pretty interesting too. There were many canels that flowed through the city. It competes with Bruges and Ghent for the title "Venice of the North". The red light district was red and pretty, umm, unique. It was window shopping literally.

Delft Reflection, The Netherlands

Travellers, Amsterdam

Flower Bicycle, Amsterdam

Amsterdam Sky

From Amsterdam we took a night train to München. München was bloody damn cold. It was my 3rd time there but my 1st during winter. It was just too cold to be appreciated. We spent a night there and left early the next day to Hungary.

The train ride brought us through Austria which looked really pictureqe when covered with snow. There were nice houses with pointy roofs and smoke emerging from their chimnies. It conjours the image of happy family gathering in a warm living room indoors. I'll have to visit Austria. Our stay in Wein was barely 10 minutes. Prof Hugl came originally from Wien and I heard alot from him about Wien and how pretty it is when I was previously invited to his place. I would really like to visit Wien somehow. Maybe when I am in München. We disembarked our train and boarded the opposite one. This took us to Budapest.

The scenery through Hungary was starkly different from that of Western Europe. Ravaged and desolated fits the bill. We arrived in Budapest at a lost. We were on our toes trying not to be conned by misleading money changers, fake money changers, taxi drivers and other suspicious characters. The spoken language was incomprehensible, but we found an english speaking man who, after trying to guide us to the right tram for half an hour, pointed the road to the hostel for us. German was more effective than English in Budapest. I felt "powerful and useful" once again :)

Budapest, however, was defintely better than Poland. All the buildings appeared old and uninspiring; something out of the communist era. There are exceptions like the Basilica and the Palace grounds. These were more elaborate and appealing. There was a street that reminded me of Orchard Road with the high-er fashion shops along it. Apparently the baths were a must visit but I did not get a chance to drop by this time. Zhen Yi joined us again after on the first night. After a series of misfortunate events on her side -having 2 trains delayed and missing her flight by 2 minutes, she made it to Budapest exhausted.

We celebrated new year in Budapest. Thou it was not much of a celebration for us. We were lying low in our hostel as the 5 of us were staying in a 3 bed room. Accomodation during this period was hard to come by. We left early on the 1st of January 2009 for Prague. The year before I celebrated new year in Sydney with Nic, Sarah, Ben and Nara with awesome fireworks and company. Miss you guys! Probably make a trip to Australia after graduation in 2010. This year it was in Hungary. Thinking back, I really would like to spend my new year back home in Singapore again. Walking along Orchard road and enjoying the expensive and elaborated lightings. Would be nice if there were fireworks by Esplanade? =) But this time in Hungary, it felt as thou I missed the transition and landed in 2009. Christmas and New Year were just another day for us travellers.

I talked to a Hugarian girl working at the hostel. She used to be a tour guide for the English tourists and she studied English at uni. We learnt that the stigma of Hungarians being "suicidal" was very true. According to her, it was even ingrained in their national anthem. There were people who jumped off the bridges in Budapest due to depression, thou I will hold back on adding the word "occasionally". It was nice just exchanging opinions of places that we have visited. We talked for hours. About 2 hours. We exchanged Emails and I invited her to Singapore.

Windmill Plains

Budapest from above

Budapest Castle

The train ride through Slovakia and Czech was disappointing. Dull, dead scenery. We would roll pass small villages with houses. And only one window was illuminated. Where were all the people? It seemed like we were passing through wasteland. When the train first pulled into Prague, only the silhouette of the city was visible. The city was covered in a blanket of dark stillness. It was only after interpreting the user friendly metro that we saw the crowd in the trains. There they were, under that blanket, a city was pulsing with life. We emerged a few stops later to the desolated streets, found our hostel and stayed the night. We filled our stomach with chinese food from a nearby restaurant. It was the cheapest thing around, and delicious too. It was only during the day that Prague reveals itself as a gem. The bridges and the river that flowed under it, together with the castle gave the city a similar charm to Chiang Mai. Rustic, magical, charming, lovely, Prague. It is my favourite city on this trip, followed by Ghent, Bruges and Amsterdam. It was also in Prague that we saw snow. And it was snow falling, snowflakes with that characteristic six sided symmetrical shape. It covered the streets and the cars parked along side. It fascinated us all. Prague is a place that I will return to again.

It was also in Prague that we saw nic's antique suitcase. It was going for 18 dollars. But he hesitated to consider the practicallity of bringing it back. When We returned later, the shop was closed. And it would not be open until after we were scheduled to leave. Quoting nic: I lamented to Jackie and she told me I should be a Hungarian.

One of the 4 bridges in Prague

Charles Bridge, Prague. Bought a painting here.

Lovely Snow

Prague Castle Cathedral

Zhen Yi left us on the 4th of January to head back to France. We left Prague on the 5th morning and took a train to Dresden. It was covered with snow, and it was also snowing heavily. Nic and I got disapproving sighs from passersby as we plotted each other with snow balls and tried juggling them. An old man also started talking to us when we were waiting for the traffic light after noticing our excitment with snow. But snow was not a common sight for us Singaporeans now isn't it?