Friday, December 18, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
puppy barks
10:43 PM
It's been a short 9 days.. starting to miss the place already.. the mountains, the snow, the many places of interest!! Photos in FB!
Day 1:
Well, was very tired with the 3hours transit from singapore to doha then to zurich. It was 18degrees in Doha. And when we reached Zurich, it was 5degrees. WOO! COLD! My bro came to fetch us from the airport. Reached Zurich Flughafen at 3plus i think. Went to Interlaken to check into our first hotel - Hotel Merkur(3-star). The room was very small. =( Just like a chalet room in Singapore. So we put down our luggage. It was already quite dark at 5 plus(wow!), so we went Bern - the capital of Switzerland for dinner. First meal in Switzerland! =) Well, it was all the knife and fork. It was so damn expensive! Just to quote one, Macdonald's. The Fillet Burger in Singapore alone just costs 3,4bucks. But in Switzerland, its like twice the price! 6franks! Multiply that by 1.38. Went to look at the streets of Switzerland and the 3 Bears. But well, it was too dark for us to see anything and all the bears went hibernating in winter. Sad.
Day 2:
Went for breakfast at 7. As usual, knife and fork. Bread, cereal, ham, turkey, bacon... Checked out our first hotel and proceeded to the second hotel - Hotel Weisses Kruez(also a 3-star hotel i think). But, this was much better. The room was big! =) The receptionist was handsome! LOL. He briefed us on the places of interest in Interlarken. So kind of him! Then we went to the MOUNTAINS! YAY! Grindelwald(First)! Took the train up there! Oh one thing i must say, their transport system is the best! They have exact timings for the trains and buses! Unlike Singapore where we do not know when the next bus will be coming(we must call or send sms to know right?)! So DAMN COOL! I like! So we can plan our trip properly. And the trains and buses leave punctually on time! =) Someday i hope Singapore will have this. But the tranport costs are very expensive too!! A train ride (1hour to-and-fro ride) can cost about 27franks. Again, multiply by 1.38.
WOO it was snowing! My first time seeing snow! HAHA. I love it! =) YAY! Walked up further and took the cable car. Our initial plan was to ski or sleigh down.. but we were too late!!! =((( The sky was getting dark already(we reached there around 3). So the lady recommended us to walk down. Imagine, walk down the SNOW. The thick snow. For about 30mins. What an unforgettable experience! WOO! =) Had fun walking in the snow, playing with the snow, throwing snowballs at each other and rolling down the snow!!! Haha. The snow was damn soft. So most of the times my leg would sink to the middle part of the snow. The deepest was until my knee cap! And the most funny thing was my mum! She kept falling! Walk a few steps and you see her on the ground again. HAHA. Should have taken a video of the whole process. FUNNY. LOL. After that, she was so afraid of walking in the snow. Warned us not to go to the snow anymore. But well, the very next day, we went again. =x Took cable car down and went for dinner. While walking down she fell once again! OMG. I thought with the experience of walking in thick snow, she would be able to walk properly on normal ground filled with a bit of snow here and there. But i was wrong. She fell a few times. HAHA. Even the people around us laughed when she fell...
Day 3:
The usual same breakfast. Set off early to JungFrau(Young women) - the top of Europe, about 12000ft above sea level. WOO. Very cold too. The train took us to Eigerwand and Eismeer. Stopped at 5mins at each stop. Went to the ice palace! Everything was ice! COOL! And of course, the ice was very slippery. I had to hold onto the bar to walk! WOO!
Then went around to explore. Wanted to go for Husky-Sleighing, but it was CLOSED!!!! =((((( so sad so sad. WHAT A WASTE. SAD.
Went for dinner. And hotel sweet hotel.
Day 4:
Went to take the ship all the way to Thun at 2pm. Boring trip. Real boring. There was nothing to do in the ship. Just admiring the scenery and mountains. And it was a long 3hours plus ride. Slept for a while actually. Reached Thun at 5plus. There was nothing much to see as night falls at that time. The shops were mostly closed by then. So what to do? Took a train back to Interlarken. Had dinner again.
Day 5:
Checked out from the hotel. Brought all our luggage to Luzern, where my bro's convocation will be held at one of the hotels there. Took a train there as usual, with our SWISS PASS. Damn expensive. 195franks for youths(<26years) and 260 for adults for 4 consecutive days of travel. Well, no choice. For convenience. Checked in to our last hotel - Hotel Flora(3 or 4 star hotel). The room is so small for 3 people to stay! =( Unpacked stuff and went to explore Luzern while my bro gets the stuff ready for his convocation. Went to Emmen Center - the so-called biggest shopping center in Luzern. As usual, the stuff there are so expensive. Like espirit, almost the same price but in different currency. Can't afford to buy any. So just walked around the place.
He came to join us in the afternoon around 3pm. Went to the lion place(forgot what it's called) and to the old town for shopping! Finally a less expensive place to shop! And also finally a THAI meal for dinner! Ate Tom Yam soup, chicken, veg. The waitress got our order wrong and gave us a dish we didn't call. And she charged us for that. -.- TOtal was about 80franks for 4 dishes. But it was not bad. For a change. Then my bro went to play his maple while we went to the chapel bridge and looked at the swans and the ugly ducklings. LOL. The swans were very nice. Explored and admired the scenery. Went back hotel. Good night.
Day 6:
Went up to Mount Pilatus! =) Another mountain! SNOWWWW!! 7000ft. My mum was actually very afraid then we kind of forced her to go. Haha, to our surprise, she played with the snow. Threw snowballs at us! Haha so fun! Formed big snowballs and threw at each other! =)
Our next destination was the transport Museum! At first, the word 'museum' scares me. I thought it would be boring.. but it was not! It was so fun! =) Seeing all those old cars, trains, planes, etc.. And the most exciting thing was the Stimulator! My sis and i went to play this stimulator; you will be the pilot and can change pilots to control the plane! HAHA so fun! Almost turned the plane upside down but it was fun doing so! =)
And sadly, on our way to the transport museum, my bro didnt pay the bus fare. And so unluckily, the bus conductors came up the bus. Had to pay a fine of 80 FRANKS!!! WTH. So damn high fine! This goes the same for trains too. You cannot not afford to pay for the train ticket cause all the trains i took so far, the conductors came to check! Even more of a fine country than Singapore. =x Well, so my bro faked that it was his first day here and he didn't know he had to purchase a ticket. And he paid 50franks and got away with it. OUCH. Heart pain. By right, he got fined once. The second time caught without a ticket will have to pay 120franks. But well, with no record or passport, they can't do anything.
Went to eat at ASIA TOWN Restaurant. Finally different from the usual knife and fork. CHOPSTICKSS!! =) Had roast duck(WOOOO.. nice!) and tofu. And the meal costs about 70franks. Just 2 dishes and 4 rice. 1 rice costs 3 franks by the way. =x EXPENSIVE.
Day 7:
My bro's convocation. Congrats for getting FIST CLASS HONOURS! =) The 3 of us went Old Town for shopping in the morning FIRST. Bought some chocolates and blouses! YAY! Finally. =) Then had lunch and proceeded to Grand Casino Hotel Luzern for his convocation. Haha. Quite boring though. But the speeches made by the 2 students were good! APPLAUSE for them! =) Had some refreshments after that.
Went to Bern while my bro went to celebrate with his friends. Not much to see as most shops were closed and my mum was afraid to go too far from the station. Brought a drumstick each! WOW nice! =) And one more thing thats different from Singapore - Food and Drinks are allowed in the train. So we ate in the train. Woo.
Day 8:
Departure. My bro came to send us off. And it was a long way home...............
Overall, had lots of fun! I love the snow! =) YAY! Hope to go another europe country!
puppy barks
9:43 PM
Back from exams and CHALET! NARUTO CHALET! =) Thanks to Weijie for organising this and also getting the cooked stuff for the BBQ!
It was very fun and exciting! Met up at 3pm at JP to buy stuff for the BBQ. Got a surprise cause menghui brought his girlfriend along! HAHA! Not bad huh! Got one so fast! Good Job! =)
Went to minfong's hall for the chalet.
Started with TABOO. It was fun playing that! WOO! But not that fun with all those mosquitoes around biting almost everyone of us in the lounge! =(
Then it was BBQ time. Sadly, it was drizzling. So we waited for a while for the rain to stop. Started the fire and prepared the stuff like marshmallows and corn. Most of the time, it was Weijie and Raymond bbq-ing. HAHA Thanks thanks! =) We had the usual stuff for BBQ - chicken wings, otah, stingray(my favourite!), sotong, satay, prawns, bee hoon, corn, potato and many more! Nice food! =) Played zhong ji mi ma to finish off the food!
Went back to hall after that, which is around 11 plus. Played games like Saboteur(I like this game! Very fun!), UNO, Pictionary(fun game too!) and..... eh my memory's failing me. Well, we jut had a lot of fun! And i slept around 5 cause i was really sleepy. Wei Sheng, Chee Kiat and my sis slept too. They woke us up at 6plus for breakfast!!! AHHHHH. Destroyed my sleep. =( Went to JP for YAKUN. Sadly, they have not prepared my SILKYZ BARLEY yet. I must drink it before i leave for switzerland!! Went back to hall and my sis and i continued sleeping while the rest went to play wii, card games and frishbee. Woke up around 11 plus and went to find them. Played the last games of saboteur and it was very fun and exciting! The saboteurs( Phyliscia, my sis and i) nearly won! Great game anyway! WOO!
Then we went for lunch at NEWYORK NEWYORK! And celebrated the belated birthdays for the November Babies - He Xiang, Phyliscia and Junling! =) Had fun playing tricks on them! HAHA. But i guess we were all too shag for too much of that. Sang birthday song, distributed the presents and ate the cake. Too full for that too. =x
Went home after that! Had a fun and exciting time! =)
Thanks once again to Weijie for organising this chalet! And also to those who went to get the presents! =) Hard Work, guys!
And i reached hom around 5plus. Went to sleep after bathing. Slept until i got up this morning at 10. Woke up a few times though. HAHA. Nice sleep anyway!
ANd i'm leaving for switzerland tmr night! Flight at Terminal 3 at 2am............
puppy barks
10:50 AM