Thursday, March 29, 2007


Prison Break
Haha, it's back to my addiction to Prison Break. Season 2's finishing now, and I just can't wait to watch the final episode next week, 2nd Apr! Been watching a whole night, and now it's almost 5am in the morning; boy am I gonna be so dead during class later!

Anyway, it's been a long time since I last wrote, and a ton of things have happened. Here's how my month went:

Stolen!
Guess this is the most significant, but my wallet's been stolen after I left Edinburgh for Glasgow, and it was really devastating, as I was still travelling in UK, and had all my credit cards and my debit cards taken. Had a hard time replacing most of them; but guess my dad was so sweet, coz he sent me my cards back on DHL, which cost a bomb; but I really do appreciate all his help! Well, guess lesson learnt, and I have to prob stash everything back on my travel wallet, though uncomfortable it might be!

Glasgow
Time here wasn't as memorable, as I had to make a trip to an outskirt police station to make a report for my lost wallet; but overall, Glasgow is a nice small town, but too houses some of the world class museums. Meeshell and I couchsurfed with Bill, who's much older and working in the IT industry; and he was so welcoming and helpful that we felt so much at home.

Dublin
This was my fave city as yet, as the people around were really friendly, like the culture and weather there, and best of all, everything was in euroes instead of pounds! Went to Trinity College to see the famous Book of Kells, which was the illumination of the 4 gospels, made from the different colours shipped from different countries centuries ago, and painted on calf's skin! Also, met up with Laurene who studies at UCD, and stayed over at her hostel, as coincidentally she was leaving on her term hols to Portugal too. It was a neat place, at Blackrock!

Nice, Monaco, Cannes, Antibes, Marseille
Did southern France the week after we got back from Dublin, and boy it was really beautiful there! Went with Debra, Melody, and Alvin who came over from Yale University in US, and we had an awesome time there! Took the TGV, the fastest train in the world, and gosh can you really feel the pressure whenever the train dips down into a tunnel. Anyway, we based out of Nice and travelled to the neighbouring places each day by train and bus. Went to Cannes, home to the well known Cannes Film Festival and walk of fame. Also took a boat to the island Saint Marguerite where the actual Man in the Iron Mask was imprisoned! The next day we covered Monaco and Eze Village, and one thing I have to say - Monaco is definately the most beautiful place that I've ever seen in my whole life! With houses set into the hills, and the grand casino Monte Carlo overlooking the sea, it's simply breath-taking!

Ohh, and back at the hostel, I met these 2 guys, from Sweden and Finland, who were really nice! They cooked dinner for me, and brought me out to drinks the day after St. Patricks. And guess what? I actually tried out a drug called Skruf, which is banned in France and only sold in Sweden (and prob Amsterdam I guess). Had to roll it into a small ball and stick it between your upper lip and teeth, and soon after it gives you a ditzy feeling, and I took it out once I felt that I was drifting. Haha, it was quite a weird experience though!

French Date
Been travelling a great deal, and haven't been able to go out much in Paris. So finally I relented to meet this french guy from school, and we had some drinks at a Pub near Dauphine. First met him when I met with some problems with the printer at school, which he offered to help; guess he's my first french friend thus far!

Easter in Rome
Looking forward to it, though I'm not a Catholic - coz it seems so exciting to spend Easter in Vatican City on Sunday morning! I almost couldn't get the tickets in, as the trains were all fully booked, and so I had to get first class tickets on the night train on Good Friday. Gonna be travelling along in Italy too (my first time travelling alone!), before I meet my friends in Greece. Think it will be all so exciting! However, think I'm gonna be so tired till I get back to Singapore; and you prob think I'm crazy too, once u see my itinerary. Here goes...

Travel Plans:

6th - 18th April: Italy (Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Verona, Milan
18th - 25th April: Greece and back to Milan
26th - 02 May: Stockholm, Uppsala and Copenhagen
05 May - 09 May: Switzerland - Bern, Interlaken, Zurich
12th - 14th May: Belgium - Brussels, Brugges
19th - 21st May: Netherlands - Rotterdam and Amsterdam

Exams

01st -16th June: Eastern Europe - Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, Bucharest (Romania), Budapest, Warsaw
17th - 24th June: Iceland - I can't believe I'm doing this!!!!
24th June - 3rd July: Stockholm, Helsinki (Finland), Oslo + Bergen (Norway in a Nutshell), Berlin (Germany)

7th July - 8th July: Paris - Doha - Singapore

18th July - 28th July: Silicon Valley, San Francisco
29th - 10th August: Tentatively South America (hopefully Inca Trail) or Mexico!

Okies, think I'd better head to bed now, else I'll be a zombie in class. Bon Soir!

Posted by sOtz at 10:42 am

Monday, March 05, 2007


Hello! Sorry I have to keep this blog short, as I'm borrowing my hosts's computer to check my emails. And sorry if I reply late to emails, coz I'm currently still in Edinburgh, and I'm couchsurfing with Meeshell at Nicole's house. She's a great host; she's from Chicago and works here in Edinburgh for the time being; and she held a party for us last night when we came here from London - so sweet of her! We met tons of people from all over - and boy do they drink ALOT! The Australians do drink especially alot though; and were pretty much wasted before they hit the clubs after leaving the house. Met 2 guys from Rotterdam and the Hague too, and they taught us some Dutch phrases; and met this really funny Canadian guy who kept us entertained the whole night. Anyway, aside from that, we've been to Edinburgh Castle, and it's really neat! Though we paid a hefty entrance fee, of 11 pounds; but it was worth it, as we got to see various museums, David's tower and several other interesting sites. It's really much colder here too compared to London or Paris; but walking around is probably the best way to explore around here (rather than the taking the tours/buses). Guess braving the cold is one remarkable achievement for me.

Ahh, have so many things that I wanna write, and so many people that I wanna call back to! So many thoughts that I have in mind too, but each time that I blog, I can just barely get past the events that I go through; but more than that I wish that I could have some time to write down what's on my mind. Well, I'll try my best!

Okies, gotta run now, take good care, all of you yeah!

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Posted by sOtz at 6:26 am