Hong Kong finally!

Hongkong 21-26 Aug 2000


Source: http://www.worldcitypics.com/hong-kong-night-2/

I really like this photo. I really like the bustling city life in Hong Kong - lots of cars, lots of people, colourful and messy buildings!

So happy to finally be able to go to Hong Hong! This was also the first time we met Sali after she returned to HK in 1999 :)

Check out my second trip to HK too!

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So Kel, Moh and I flew off from sunny Singapore to sunnier Hong Kong to hang out with Sali.

Went to Ocean Park the very next day. It was so crowded even though it was a Tuesday! And it was so hot! Hotter than Singapore! I remember taking the viking ride and the cable car. As we left, we were wondering what the design on the hill slope was - turned out to be a dolphin :)

Our travel package included the flight, the hotel and a half-day city tour, which we did the following morning. They brought us to some temples, but as usual with guided tour, I hardly knew where we went!

Went to the peak the next day - it was a hot day but it was windy at the top. That day, I think, was also when we met the other HK scholar - forgot her name! We went to visit a (her?) university and left for dessert. I think that was when it suddenly poured really heavily. But the dessert was yummy - that was when I first had 双皮奶!

The bus ride to Yuen Long for cakes was scary - the rain was so heavy the water from the road splashed all the way to the window level of the bus! Thankfully, the bus was air-conditioned so the windows were closed! But it was worth it. We bought really yummy 老婆饼, mooncakes and probably some other confectionary from Wing Wah and/or Hang Heung.

Oh, and we went shopping shopping too! Think there were some sales going on, and there were many people wherever we went. And of course we went to the night market at Temple St. Also had 猪扒包 one night - that was really yummy! I seem to recall the place sold only pork chop buns, but I could be wrong, cos the place looked like this. But almost every other eatery in HK looks like this so... And talk about good food, I had good char siew for the first time here! At the same place where we tried roast pigeon (!) - not meaty enough for us :p And we had dim sum too - Kel would never allow me to forget how many char siew bao I had!

* While googling for roast pigeon, I came across "40 HK foods we can't live without". I don't know how reliable this is because I see things like Indonesian satay.. But I would strongly recommend 1-2, 6-8, 13, 16, 24-27, 32, 36-37 :)

Moh left a day or two day as Kel and I extended the trip. But honestly, I don't recall what we did haha! Probably more eating and shopping! And the last day when we met Sali for a dim sum lunch with her parents. They were so nice to us!

There are men, and then there are vikings

Scandinavia, 29 Jun-18 Jul 2000

I was having my mods (i.e. first year exams for mathematicians!) AND my laptop broke down, but I managed to plan for this trip from itinerary to logistics. I was very proud of myself :)

This is a trip with a lot of funny stories from both G and me. Read on!

Written on 5 Apr 2011 based on short notes.

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Prologue

I don't know why we set off on a Thursday. Really, I don't know. Or I should say I don't remember. Maybe we were moving our stuff into storage..? Probably, cos I remember we were camping at a senior's place, and packing our backpacks until quite late before setting G's alarm clock for 4.00 am.

I kind of gave a start at 5.15 am or so and shook G up. Our flight was at 6.45 am, and we MUST catch the 5.30 am coach to the airport!!

Well, we did but we almost didn't. I was slow even with my lighter backpack, and G ran to catch the coach and waited for me to catch up *.*

We checked in at 6.30 am, and this being pre-911, they let us through. PHEW!

From then on, I think we used my pager as the "official" alarm clock.

29 Jun - Copenhagen

My notes said we went to Nyhavn and the palace. I only remember the mermaid statue - it was disappointingly small.. Nonetheless, I must take a picture with this princess!


We took a day trip to a chocolate factory. I love chocolate! (Thought not so much these days..) On the way back, we got lazy and so we decided to hitchhike! G wrote our destination on a piece of paper and stood by the road. But we didn't have any luck. So I tried the age-old method.. Not sticking out my leg - the thumb! And voila, a car stopped quite immediately that we were taken by surprise! The driver couldn't really understand English but he knew where we were heading for, so off we went! So exciting :p

The hostels in France and Italy (my previous trip) we stayed in were more like one-star hotels. Scandinavian hostels are real hostels. We were required to use bedsheets so we brought our own (else we had to buy). But then I realised that we still needed blankets and they were rug-like and USED BY THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE! So I wrapped myself in my bedsheet and covered myself with the blanket! G had a good laugh..

Another thing about these hostels was the shower. I think it was in Copenhagen where there was no place to hang our towels inside the shower cubicle. I can't remember even if there was a shower curtain for each cubicle! Thank goodness there were separate showers for men and women!

2 Jul - Gothenburg

Crossed into Sweden this day. I think it was here that we saw lots of plastic bags in the harbour, but after a while, they just looked too uniform. They were all puffed up and showed only the seamless rounded part. Jellyfish?

But the most fun thing about this segment was looking for our hostel, MS Seaside. So we had the address, and from the map (and the name), we knew it was by the harbour. So we walked along the harbour until we were sure we had gone past it without realising it. So we retraced our steps. But we found nothing! There was hardly any building! When we'd ascertained that we were at the right spot, I wondered if it was what couldn't possibly be... But it was! Our hostel was the big ship docked at the harbour! It was an interesting experience.

It was summer in the Nordics, so the sun set really late. I think we took this at nine plus, after we'd showered - we were actually in shorts but you couldn't tell hoho!


4 Jul - Oslo

Next was Oslo. I remember a busker that attracted a lot of people. Before he began his act, he said something along the lines of Oslo being an expensive city to live in, and if we were not paying, we shouldn't be watching. Woah.

It wasn't an easy act, involving oil and a huge balloon. We watched and we contributed what poor students could.

We were up in some building when we took this shot.


5 Jul - Bygdøy

I think this was the main reason for going to Oslo - we took a day trip to an open-air museum of sorts at Bygdøy, which showed how Norwegians used to live many years ago. I remember a stave church, a summer school for children to "live" in old Norway, and baking and eating yummy lefse, a Norwegian potato pancake! I tried to make it later but somehow it didn't turn out right *.*



But most of all, I remember our lunch.

Scandinavia was and still is an expensive country. So we saved by buying bread and spread from supermarkets for lunch. So for lunch that day, we were looking at canned tuna for spread. We wanted this particular can but it needed a can opener.

G: Oh, I have a can opener!

So we bought the can. And lunch time arrived! So did the can opener. Which was just a blade of a pocket knife. Suffice to say it was a very long lunch, mostly spent on the preparation *.*

6 Jul - Flåm

My notes say only "5-hr cruise along Sognerfjord, passing by Nordfjord", but we probably took a train to Myrdal, hopped on a scenic train ride to Flåm and took a cruise, to get to Bergen or somewhere near!

The Flåm Railway stopped somewhere in nowhere for a while, and we alighted to view the Kjosfoss waterfall. We heard someone singing but thought it was piped music until we saw our pictures: if you look carefully, there's someone really far away in the middle of the photo! We took a few shots and the person also appeared in later pictures!


(But come to think of it, she was so far away and the waterfall must have been so noisy that it was probably piped to us!)

We reached our hostel in Bergen in the evening. And they had free waffles on Thursdays! Yay!

The hostel was huge. The main room had tens of bunk beds, and they were three-tier bunk beds! And the shower was fun, again. We had to press a button for five minutes of hot water. But of course, five minutes weren't enough! But the button was OUTSIDE the shower cubicle on the door frame, facing the common corridor AND some buttons were on the hinge side! So we had to choose shower cubicles carefully..

7 Jul - Bergen

We were at the Torget fish market one day and chatted with a Chinese girl from Shanghai. I think we bought some smoked WHALE meat from her. It sounded bad, like evil bad, but we gotta try! Verdict? Salty fish. Could have been any fish.

There was a carnival and everyone seemed pretty happy. We couldn't understand a word but I was happy enough to suddenly grab a passing witch from the line for a shot!


8 Jul - Mt Foyer

It was the day we got lost. Decided to take a little hike up Mt Foyer. It was a lovely day so we just followed a map and walked. I recall a little lake or pond in the middle of the mountain, where we rested and I sang a little :p We even met a troll! But we couldn't find our way down... But it was still early so we kept walking until we saw an old couple and we followed them out :p



It was also the day we discovered Baker Brun! That was the yummiest hot chocolate I'd ever had! And memory and impression are such powerful things that I think I'll never have such good hot chocolate ever again!

9 Jul - Geiranger

We set for for Geiranger, probably on a cruise cos this photo was taken in the fjord - the Seven Sisters.


Then we found ourselves in a cottage like hostel with only two other guests, where hot water cost 5 kronas or something for seven minutes. I was cheapo enough to wash my hair with cold water in the wash basin before showering with hot water. G fed the machine twice. Ah, don't we love budget travelling...

10 Jul - the great hike

We started early. We took a bus to Dalsnibba for the views, but I think this was taken somewhere along the way up:


On the way down, we alighted halfway for a little hike. Along the way, we came across a little stream - an angmoh drank from it but I don't remember if we did.. After a long walk, we found this waterfall and walked behind it!


We were quite tanned by then.

Then we walked downhill for a long time to get to our little hostel. Almost broke our knees.

We were sweaty but I don't remember if we had time to shower before we dashed off for the longest transit yet - we would be crossing into Finland by land, i.e. going very very north.. I remember we took a train to Trondheim in the middle of Norway and caught another train all the way to the northern part of the same country. I think we spent at least two hours waiting in another train station along the way in the middle of the night! Finally, we boarded a bus near the border, and crossed into Finland!

By the time we reached Rovaniemi, it was already the evening of the next day. So, one night without proper accommodation and sanitary facilities. Two purposes here: Santa Claus (in summer!) and the Arctic circle.

But it was evening and the Santa Claus village was already closed :( But I think we saw a few reindeer. No they didn't fly!

So we just got our passport stamped with the arctic circle stamp! :)


And got a certificate of crossing!


[ I scanned this in cos G lost her certificate along the way :( ]

And then it was an overnight train down south..

13 Jul - Helsinki

And we were in Helsinki!

By then, we had survived two nights of no proper accommodation and sanitation. We rested. And we had reindeer and rabbit for dinner *.*

The next day, we took a trip to Savonlinna Castle - I still remember how it looked like, not just because I have the photo here! :)


That evening, we boarded an overnight cruise bound for Sweden. We didn't get a cabin but we got dinner! It was where I was first introduced to smoked salmon AND I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT! That kind of led to my later romance with sashimi... Anyway, we ate so much that I couldn't move and G couldn't sit down. While she walked around, I was motionless in the passenger lounge, looking like the third backpack.

15 Jul - Stockholm

I like Stockholm. We visited the Swedish Parliament House and Gamla Stan which was the old town where we found a really tiny statue of a boy and a super narrow street whose walls I could reach with both hands close to me.

We took a day trip to Gamla Uppsala - not sure why we found burial mounds interesting enough to take that trip but it wasn't half bad.

Another day trip was to Skansen - we wanted to see wolves! But wolves in captivity are just not the same, sighs..

And a note about the Swedish people. They are generally nice. We were on a train one day and taking the time to take stock of our spending. Somehow, G lost her wallet on that train. The train had left our destination station by the time we realised it but we sought help from the station people, and when the next train came by, the conductor had her wallet! The cash was all gone of course but everything else remained intact. Treated it as reward for returning the wallet, I guess.

Epilogue

Despite all our mishaps from almost missing the flight to opening a can with a blade and even getting lost, it was a super fun trip - we just laughed a lot all the time, even when we were tired or lost. Maybe some 苦中作乐 but it was the mark of a good trip!

Oh, let me add in one more anecdote just for laughs. I don't remember where we were but G decided to get some milk from a minimart. We took some time deciphering the words but eventually we found her skimmed milk, i.e. red bottle cap. Before the cashier rang the till, she said this, "Are you sure? This is tasteless. Like water." We exploded haha!

First and last ski trip

Livigno, 12-18 Mar 2000

It was just six days of skiing but I have since decided that, that's it! One and only, first and final!

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18 happy boys and girls went up the hill to conquer the slopes!


The six freshers tried skiing for the first time. Poor mf was a slow learner. Only on the third day could I stand up on my own, my instructor finally relieved of the, ahem, heavy task. Once, the ski lift operated went down on his knees to beg me not to fall off the ski lift again!!

G helped count my bruises, thirteen or so of them all over my limbs and yes, butt. It was painful but on the fourth day, a gush of courage came over me and I almost literally flew down the slopes! The feeling was great! mf could finally ski! But it was just for that day...

The next day, we attempted an easy slope but ended up on a not-so-easy slope after almost going into a difficult slope!! I could hardly finished the last part; I literally slid down on my butt!

On the last day of their ski course, the ski class had a little race. Of course I didn't manage anything la, haha! Here's our class:


Near the end of the day, the snowboarders got too bored and came along happily with snowballs in hands, all too ready to ambush unsuspecting freshers, who unfortunately succumbed... And neither could we beat them during the grand finale - snow fight! Our ski boots were just too clumsy!!!

The last evening, I wasn't too well and missed the prize presentation for the race in a local pub... But I had Miki for company :)

From English to Anglais to Inglese and back!

France and Italy, 6 Dec 1999-4 Jan 2000

Wrote this on 3 Apr 2011 based on some rough notes - it was tough remembering things!! And unfortunately, photos are very limited to what I scanned from hardcopies many years back..

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My very first trip! While most freshers went back to Singapore for winter, I packed up my bags and embarked on a one-month extravaganza with KF and KP!

Here is a brief summary of the cities visited:

Lyon Avignon Marseille Cannes Nice Monaco Monte-Carlo Venice Florence Pisa Rome Siena Paris

6 Dec 1999 - Lyon

We took a nauseating ship ride from London Dover across the English Channel to Calais in France before catching a train to Lyon. Why? I don't know!!

KP and KF planned most of the trip, and tempted this fresher to go along with them. More people, greater economy of scale. And I jumped on - my first trip! :)

Lyon was tough; too much walking for a first timer! There happened to be a town hall festival - Festival of Lights. We walked/stood for such a long time that I fell and a big angmoh helped me up otherwise I might have become mince already! Memory is dim now but we also visited a rose park somehow. In winter. Think dead roses.

But as I moved on to other cities, I finally felt more energetic.

8 Dec 1999 - Avignon

Avignon was on the way and we spent a day at the Palais des Papes - The Popes' Palace - built in those days when there were popes in France. I remember St Benezet Bridge, a broken bridge. A couple of years later, a Swedish girl sang the song associated with the bridge for me! :)

Somehow, I remember the pensione in Avignon. Perhaps cos that's the first time I stayed in a hotel! We stayed at KF's friend's friend while in Lyon. I still feel stupid for carrying a sleeping bag for a month just for those two nights of free accommodation!

We booked our hotels for only Rome and Paris in advance given the holiday season. For the rest, we called one stop ahead or looked for lobangs at the train stations! And the options were quite good - we changed hotels in Rome from the prebooked one to a random one that was cheaper and better.

9 Dec 1999 - Marseilles

I remember spending a lot of time walking along the coastline of Marseilles to the top of a fortress and singing along the way!

11 Dec 1999 - Cannes

We went to the this island where the Man in the Iron Mask was imprisoned. I could only remember the toilet in the cell *.*

12 Dec 1999 - Nice and about

Nice was nice. =) Part of the beach was full of pebbles and pebbles only. All of us rolled up our jeans and played in the Mediterranean! And I even got a *taste* of it! All thanks to the guys...

We took a day trip out to Monaco Monte Carlo on 14 Dec 1999, just walking around the Grand Prix area and the casinos. But no we didn't go in :p


15 Dec 1999 - Venice and about

It took them a night train to get to Venice but it was all worth it. In the famous square San Marco, they played with pigeons - thousands of them! - and visited the palace grounds, walked through the original Bridge of Sighs and went on a gondola ride.

We took a day trip to Vicenza on 18 Dec 1999 but I don't remember anything about it today *.*

19 Dec 1999 - Florence and about

It was getting cold as it was winter and it got worse in Florence. We were roaming about this square of statues, like Piazza della Signoria. Then it snowed while we were on a day trip to Fiesole! It was light but still, it was my first snow!! :)

KF and I took a day trip to Pisa on 21 Dec 1999 while KP went to the Uffizi. Later, like 2005 or so, when I became more interested in museums, I regretted not going to the Uffizi then!!

The next day, we were supposed to go to San Gimignano but ended up on the highway *.* So we headed for Siena instead but there wasn't much time to look around..

23 Dec 1999 - Rome

The reason for being in Rome was to hang out at the Holy See during Christmas! And because it was Christmas eve, there was no entrance fee for the Sistine Chapel. And because it was free, it was very crowded *.* We walked slowly for quite a while, passing from room to room until we reached the Sistine Chapel. It was tough looking up all the time man! But it was good.

Then we were in St Peter's Basilica, admiring the gold columns, amid other things of course!

And finally, we stood out there in St Peter's Square and listened to the Pope, then John Paul II, for two hours as he blessed the crowd in many many languages! We even took the holy communion with the rest - I had no idea what people were queuing for so I went along and when I found out later, I was like, what were we three non-Christians doing?!

I should note that there was no more public transport by 2 am so we walked back to our hostel!

This was outside the Colosseum:


We ate at this nameless pizzaria and hit it off with the Italian owners!


We later went to Tiberian island - there was nothing but a hospital on it, as become widely known after the 2003 Dan Brown novel! But we knew someone born there! And we were free, very free :p

And we were at the Trevi Fountain of course. But I found the Fountain of Neptune to be more memorable - I still remember it more than 10 years on!!

I remember we saw Michelangelo's statue of Moses, so it must be San Pietro in Vincoli. We heard a tour guide say that after the artist finished the statue, he found it so real that he hit it with his hammer and asked, "Why don't you speak?" !!! Hence the chip at one knee of the statue!

Somehow I remember liking the Spanish Steps very much though no image remains in my wee head!

27 Dec 1999 - Siena

We were deciding on the timing, I think, on getting to Paris. And after some hesitation by KF, we decided to go for this train for Paris but missed it. And KP lost his temper at KF! But KF thought he was kidding *.*

Anyway, since we'd checked out and we'd missed the Paris train, we headed to Siena. Yes, again!

28 Dec 1999 - Paris!

After Christmas is NEW YEAR! Yay! And we spent it in Paris! We met up with QX while KF left us to stay with an uncle in Paris.

Went to the usual places, Arc de Triomphe..


And the Lourve!


On the eve, we joined the crowds around Eiffel Tower as the clock chimed down to midnight and the fireworks flared beautifully into the sky... and then onto us as ashes!! And so we crossed into the next millennium, and the first thing we did was to walk two hours back to our little hotel! It was quite fun along the way - it wasn't too cold and we were singing along the way and walking with many many others!

I proclaimed my love for this city as we trodded through shopping routes and slogged (ok, only I slogged) up slopes. But strangely, today, I don't feel the same about Paris :p I mean, it's lovely but after my last trip there in 2008, I find it more melancholy than romantic..

The next two days were spent in the city area and the Basilique de Sacre Coeur. The city was pretty dead since it was new year, duh.. But we had the place to ourselves! Just roamed around..


The church was more fun. The area was full of activity and each of us had someone draw a portrait of ourselves! They thought I looked Vietnamese in the portrait somehow *.*

Me and my artist:


Sighs, so when will I return to Rome??

Update 9 Jul 2012

Found a list of my train travels during this trip while sorting out my memorabilia. I wrote it out back then as I sent in my Europass booklet for a free gift... So on this day, five days shy of my EDD, I've compulsively typed out everything here!

Date	Time	From	To	Train
6 Dec 1999	1811	Calais-ville	Paris Gare du Nord
6 Dec	2200	Paris Gare de Lyon	Lyon	TGV
9 Dec	0734	Lyon	Avignon
10 Dec	0828	Avignon	Marseille-St Charles	TGV 801
12 Dec	0720	Marseille-St Charles	Cannes
13 Dec	0823	Cannes	Nice-ville	56925
15 Dec	1044	Nice-ville	Monaco Monte Carlo
15 Dec	1751	Monaco Monte Carlo	Nice-ville
15 Dec	2100	Nice-ville	Ventimiglia
15 Dec	2205	Ventimiglia	Venezia-St Lucia
18 Dec	0958	Venezia-St Lucia	Vicenza
18 Dec	1504	Vicenza	Venezia-St Lucia	00037
18 Dec	2332	Venezia-St Lucia	Roma Tibutina	00843
19 Dec	0731	Roma Tibutina	Roma Termini
19 Dec	0805	Roma Termini	Firenze-Santa Maria Novella
20 Dec		Firenze	Fiesoli	Bus
20 Dec		Fiesoli	Firenze	Bus
21 Dec		Firenze-Santa Maria Novella	Pisa
21 Dec		Pisa	Firenze-Santa Maria Novelle
22 Dec	0915	Firenze-Santa Maria Novelle	Poggibonsi-San Gimignano
22 Dec	1440	Poggibonsi-San Gimignano	Siena
22 Dec	1740	Siena	Empoli
22 Dec	1858	Empoli	Firenze-Santa Maria Novelle
22 Dec	2152	Firenze-Santa Maria Novelle	Bologna Centrale
23 Dec	0232	Bologna Centrale	Roma Tibutina
23 Dec	0731	Roma Tibutina	Roma Termini
27 Dec	0621	Roma Termini	Chiusi Chianciano Terme
27 Dec	0821	Chiusi Chianciano Terme	Siena	Autobus
27 Dec	1556	Siena	Chiusi Chianciano Terme
27 Dec	1800	Chiusi Chianciano Terme	Roma Termini
27 Dec	2315	Roma Termini	Nice-ville
28 Dec	1015	Nice-ville	Marseille-St Charles
28 Dec	1448	Marseille-St Charles	Paris Gare de Lyon	TGV
3 Jan 2000	0925	Paris Gare du Nord	Calais-ville

Oxford, 1999-2003

I have separate entries for touristy trips I made during university days - look under labels "first/second/third/fourth year".

Here, I attempt to put together a brief (I try!) account of other trips taken during those days. During this time, I've visited friends and/or attended events in London, Cambridge, Birmingham, Nottingham.

For university life per se, check out this some time towards the end of this year - still writing...

The Trout

I love this place although it's a little out of town. Peacocks would walk around us freely!



It should be this one.

London

I no longer remember how I started but I remember coming out of Tottenham Court Rd or Oxford Circus station and walking up and down Oxford St for most of one afternoon! I would then take a turn to Regent St and continue shopping. More like window shopping la - I was a poor student *.*

Regent St would bring me to Piccadilly Circus, which is literally a hop from Leicester Sq and Chinatown. Used to grab dinner in Chinatown... That's XY and mf.



..before catching a musical or play in one of the nearby theatres :) This is mf with KP and BH.



And I love to shop at Harrods too. Used to go for around new year when it was crazy! But hey, I like the atmosphere!

On 31 Dec 2002, a few of us went to the Big Ben for countdown. And I met MS there!



No la, the world isn't that small.. We arranged to meet, took a photo and said bye bye! The Oxford people had to go home..

One day, we set out to find the bridge of our childhood - London bridge! It was..just a bridge! But Tower Bridge was fun - that's G and mf.



More on London here.

Cambridge

I went to Cambridge with a bus load of guys for the annual soccer match with CUMSA. Don't know if they're still doing it.. But last time, OUMSSA always lost, even with foreign talent! Haha!

This was when all of Kel, Jon and I were thin hoho! In front of the Bridge of Sighs in Cambridge - Kel would taunt us that the Bridge of Sighs should be over a river, not over a road, bah!



Cambridge is quite similar to Oxford. But perhaps I'm less familiar with it, I find it more spread out than Oxford. I remember walking quite a bit that first trip to Cambridge *.*

Nottingham

Went there twice during university days for Nottingham Games! This photo was taken during my first trip where OUMSSA scored zero *.*



I didn't go the next year but heard it was zero too.. In my third year, we had one point! Haha! The next year, they did better if I remember correctly.

Nottingham city itself is covered here.

Birmingham

Went there about two or three times due to SingNite 2001. I only remember the lake:



Liverpool

It was road trip to Anfield to watch Liverpool play against Man City. I wasn't a fan but well, it was new for me! It was cold in the stadium and I couldn't tell one player from another. Hell, I couldn't even tell the teams apart! But that wasn't my first soccer match - I later went to watch Arsenal play against Aston Villa at the Highbury and another at Camp Nou in Barcelona!

My souvenir picture :)