Honey harvesting

Smoked Bees are less aggressive and do not attack unless you try to be funny=) Seeing the bees made my hair stand instantaneously..

It was quite difficult for me to spot the queen... it looks similar in size with the red but apparently it is not.. may be parallex error on my side=)

Here's the machine that simon's dad used to harvest the ney.. the 'platlets' are incertained into the machine and spinned manually... The honey flows out of the comb due to centrifugal force.

Waxing process which doesnt hurt!!! haha.. The honey comb are covered with wax when they are full by the bees.. Removal of the wax is necessary to allow the honey to flow out of the comb. Honey is then filtered to remove any traces of wax. The honey taste good! Got a bottle for my green tea!

Hamburg in 8days:Habour. Fireworks. Castle. Bicycle tour.City. Nina.

Hamburg is the birthplace of the Hamburger. This is not a myth. The beef patties a German immigrant from Hamburg sold in the 1850s in New York allegedly were named after the butcher and then became a generic term.

Hamburg is considered Germany's capital of sport since no other city is home to more first league teams and international sports events. Hamburger SV, one of the most successful teams in Germany, is a footbal team in the Bundesliga (which has played in the group stages of the Champions League twice; in 2000/2001 and in 2006/2007).

Time spent in hamburg was nice and will always be remebered. A big Thank You to my Welcome Buddy, Simon who picked me up from the airport and sacrificed a fair bit of time to settle my accomadation in Frankfurt, Bank account, Internet line and most imptly-the long and expensive trip down to Frankfurt. Du hast für mich zu viel getan. Danke viel mals!

The flight to germany was different from the previous 2 times here. Anxious. Stress. (maybe due to the amount of hand carry I had) Came to the conclusion that I am not very good at saying goodbye. Thanks Shan, Zec, Mei, Dad, Mum and nic for seeing me off at the airport! *hugz*

Speicherstadt was where goods like coffee, beans were stored in the warehouses. Walking around the whole day was nice!

It was a special day for hamburg as many ships were docking at the Harbour eg: Queen Mary etc.. First fireworks in Germany! It was really nice. An old man actually let me into the front row so that I could have a better view! there are always advantages of being small=) Dont be jealous! =)

Danke Hamburg!

City centre!

People who are not married when they reach 30 might have the possibility of receiving such pranks from their friends-sweeping the floor in front of the town hall and doing certain tricks like asking for 30 kisses from different girls etc.

I did a Bicycle tour with Simon to a nearby town to see a castle Ahrensburg Scholss! The route there was tough coz we cycled on sand and took the forest route! It only took us 15min on the road on our way back. the trip there was about 1.5 hrs long! Good trip. Hot sun. Worthwhile!

Ahrensburg Schloß=)

Town Hall in Hamburg

There was a Wine Festival when I was there! germany is so happening! Festivals all year round!

Make a wish. Shooting star! =)

From left to right: Sauerkraut (super sour cabbage, worse tasting than Kimchi), cheesy noddle floury thingy and German Dumpling! I get this impression that chinese is like a 'WOW' thing in ang mo country! Even Macdonals have this Asian burger called Lang Tsu(which sounds chinese). It is 5 plus Euros and it taste super awful. Super small also!

At the Harbour! My camera skills getting better eh!

A tunnel that runs under the river! Din try walking. Too long!

Yeah!! NINA(Left)! Hab dich vermisst! It was nice to meet nina again after knowing her in NZ with nicolas! looking forward to our next meeting at Horse riding! Guess wad. her fren(right) is also gonna study in Munich! Will meet her again when i do my exchange at TUM!

Drove to Bad Segeberg to watch an outdoor play-Winnetou! The process of getting the tickets was even more stressful than a roller ride! we went 2 hours before and there were heaps and truck loads of people queuing in the sun. The seemed to only move 1cm every hr! We were quite worried that all the travelling and waiting would go down the drain when they inform us that the tickets were sold out as we did not do any reservation before hand. Fortunately, after the long wait, we got our tickets and we heaved many sighs of relief! =) Winnetou is a fictional Native American hero and he became the chief of the tribe of the Mescalero Apaches. He rode a horse called Iltschi("Wind") and had a famous rifle called "Silberbüchse" ("The Silver Gun", a double-barrel rifle whose stock and butt were decorated with silver studs). Old Shatterhand became the blood brothe of Winnetou and rode the brother of Iltschi, called Hatatitla ("Lightning"). The play was spectacular with people riding round in horses and fireworks at the end. I only understood maybe 50% of the movie! The effects were superb! unbeliveable!

Fireworks at the end! 2nd fireworks in Germany, all in 8 days!

Simon's car brought me to Frankfurt! The 5 hr drive was expensive! 1 litre of benzene costs 1.4 Euros!

Chinese and Japanese food that I prepared while at their place! Simon's parents and brother were wonderful people. had fun playing table tennis with his bro, benedikt, who is usually rather soft and quiet=) Bendedikt and his dad are computer experts and I managed to call home again! Hurray!

I love the home in germany! There gardens are so nice and dining in the gardens are always something to look forward to in summer! The summer in singapore is too hot for that!

everything is very brief coz i am blogging at BAyer coz I dun have internet at my place! Wont be able to do so anymore when I start Chemistry research in the labs. I am settling all the admin stuff to settle myself in. trust me, germany is damn ma fan! need to register myself at the town i stay, need to extend my visa etc! i am starting to like juz living here! The weather plays a very important role! Walking in the day with the sun and wind has never been so good! Could walk for very long without feeling tired or sweaty!