packing is a bitch

packing is a bitch

we should all be able to hire people to pack for us.. i have to pack a 50 litre backpack for my 40 day trip and according to instructions from cherysa n shujun, i must not bring so much things cos i will surely buy things.. then if my backpack is full where am i goin to put the extra stuff? yah hor.. never tot of that.. haha.. but 50 litre backpack really not much space u know..

all i put into the pack is 2 tank top (cos the weather is warming up), 1 jacket, 1 sweater, 2 teeshirts, and 1 spag top, sleeping wear... plus like 10 underwears n 3 bras that you probably don need to know about but i'll say it anyways.. n lots of pads that i swear i will use finish or discard hahaha..

what else am i bringing? oh yah.. 50 cents socks that i will wear n throw.. cos firstly the quality isn't good, secondly it lightens my load as the days past.. slippers that i'll also wear n throw.. uhh... my medicine pack, my phone n camera charger.. toiletries stuff.. some heat packs.. so in that way i'll free up some amount of space.. i think i'll still need to repack my pack.. looks kinda bulky.. mayb i'll take out one sweater to wear there that ways i carry less things? what say u?

den aside frm the pack, i oso need to pack my suitcase cos im bloody moving out in a day.. still kinda unbelievable haha.. well when i came, i had 1 suitcase full of things and another duffel bag 3/4 full... now i don seem to need to utilise the duffel bag... which is good rite? but my suitcase is extremely packed.. but not well-packed.. think its the lack of floor space to spread all my things over.. n the floor's really dirty cos i haven cleaned it in 3 weeks i think.. haha.. will clean tmr in time for the cleaning lady's inspection on thursday morning.. damn alot of things to pack damn!

i will miss Rouen, i will miss Ango.. even tho when i first came here i was appalled by the size of the place and the general run-down look.. i kinda got used to it.. it became my home for 3 months.. filth, dirt n all.. so now that i have to leave i do feel a bit she bu de...

i still dunno if i can walk under the weight of my backpack haha.. it really looks super bulky haha.. feeling physically challenged... urgh.. damn.. sigh..

seeing the world is exciting.. but not when it involves a hell lot of bodybuilder strength..

Amsterdam Day Four- last day

Our last day in Amsterdam and we didn't know what to do with it haha..

Rosh, Shujun, Cherysa and I visited Anne Frank's house. its super nice but too bad they dont allow photos so we could only show u photos from postcards tat we were too stingy to buy haha..

As we all know the story, Anne Frank's family hid in this secret area behind a bookcase in their father's office. It was a relatively spacious place to live in but no windows, no sunlight so while we were walking in the house, even if its just for an hr, i already felt damn blardy claustrophobic.. i cant imagine how the Frank family could survive living there for 2 years! Sadly, Anne died 2 weeks before the liberation from the Nazi control... how sad..

Anne's diary... a view of how the outside of the building they hid in looks like.. tried to capture the whole thing but oh wells.. we'd need to jump into the river right in front of it to be able to get a better picture of the whole place.. there's was a super long snaking queue too!

we spent the rest of the day hanging around the city area, walking the Red Light District again and saw Tang Ren Jie parallel to the Hong Teng Qu... and sitting at some random place gossiping until it was time for dinner! haha.. den we had to rush back to the hostel to take our things, rush to Amstel station by 920pm to check in for our bus ride at 1010pm.

yups.. amsterdam was da bomb.. i love the trip there! haha..

Amsterdam Day Three

We began the day relatively earlier.. it was a saturday and the weather was gorgeous for a bike ride! did you know most of the people in Amsterdam cycle around? There's actually bicycle lanes and bicycle traffic lights... which of course we struggled to abide by.. but naturally 7 people with no experience on cycling alongside cars on bikes with no brakes (u had to backpedal to slow down- that's brakes for the Dutch) were a recipe for disaster.. we caused damn alot of commotion, nearly crashed into pedestrians numerous times and effectively created our own traffic rules that earned us alot of stares and vulgarities haha.. but overall we survived the whole 5 hour ordeal in 1 piece.. it was a good experience too! also made me realise how much i need to build up my stamina.. haha..

the bikes costs 6.30 euros for a whole day thanks to Tim's discount card.. we cycled to a flea market n it was awesome even better than the one in Rouen! This flea market sold almost everything anyone could possibly want.. its like Singapore's pasar malam kinda thing... we bought lots of stuff and they were all super cheap.. well we also bought alot of food.. had to try this Dutch delicacy known as a 'mackerel sandwich' (consists of smoked mackerel that looks kind of raw but tastes heavenly)... we shared one declared it fantastic and went ahead to buy one more plus a paling fish (prepared the same way) and a fried cod fillet!

After devouring all of that we also bought a King Waffle for 1 euro! now here is where i introduce our most fantastic buy of the whole trip! Stroopwaffles! well it basically is syrup waffles n it is superbly delightful! it was so good all of us bought extras to bring back to Singapore! lucky you people this is good stuff we'll be giving out k! hahaha.. and we had to search 3 different Albert Heijns in order to find them so be appreciative k? lol...

at about 4pm, we went on a day trip outside the city of Amsterdam! had to take a ferry across the river supposedly to see some historical site but we couldn't find it and we had to rush back by 6pm to return the bikes.. so we chiong-ed all the way back cos we took our own sweet time getting there.. this is where i realised how jialat my stamina has become haha..

having ate so much and became so poor from the flea market, shujun cherysa n i decided to skip dinner and went back to the hotel first where we watched American Psycho... i declare Christian Bale the hottest man alive.. watch it and u'll know why.. tho i cant say much about the story line of the show though.. jus find it too weird for me liao..

yay i love Holland! they have English shows there... 3 months in France with no english channels to watch (not that we have tv here anyways) is depressing.. finally we can channel surf and watch stuff we actually understand! and we also caught the Dutch version of "who wants to be a millionaire".. damn we can join u know.. even tho we dunno the language.. the questions until the 500 euro mark is quite easy.. see with 500 euros i can lessen the burden of my exchange haha..

we slept rather early.. i like amsterdam trip very slack haha...

Amsterdam Day One - In the night + Day Two

After the windmills, we got super hungry seeing that we didnt take a decent breakfast or lunch.. we headed to the only buffet place we've seen in Amsterdam known as "The Dim Sum Buffet 7.50 euros eat all you can in 1 hour" n its opened by a Singaporean family! how cool! well its not really authentic dimsum.. but it'll do cos they served superb chinese food! haha.. i love the fried drumsticks yummy ate till we wanted to burst.. the fun began later in the night! we declared the first night the best night to try Space cakes from the local coffeeshops located all around our hostel.. having heard that Space cakes makes one hungry we stocked up on dry rations in case any of us felt hungry.. dont want to eat garbage while on a high do we now?

At the end of it, we all experienced a little something unusual... it was a good experience to have haha...

So because of the fun we had with the Space Cakes, we slept in the next morning and completely missed our free breakfast.. damn wad a bummer! we dragged our tired carcasses out of the hotel room at about 3pm to visit the Heineken Brewery! it costs 10 euros per entry they give u 3 free drinks and a free gift at the end of it but me being me.. i onli took half a glass of beer and forgo-ed the other 2.. im jus not really that much of a beer person..

And we concluded day 2.. well not really.. cherysa n i headed back for the hotel cos we were so tired... the rest went for a walk in the Red Light District.. not much photos there so wont post on it.. anw its all porn photos if we had anything to post.. go surf the net or smth if u wanna see such pictures..

Amsterdam Day One - In the day

We left Rouen for Paris on Wednesday afternoon to settle some issues on our Qatar Airticket.. it was settled beautifully and if all goes well i should be on the May 10th flight for home.

Our bus to Amsterdam, Eurolines, left at approx 11pm on Wednesday night and slated to arrive in Amsterdam at about 6am the following morning. Bus ride was a bitch.. we had a bunch of really noisy mexicans sitting behind us who talked the whole 7 hours.. fang n cherysa had to endure bad BO frm someone infront of them.. and the whole journey was fraught with interruptions... somewhr in Belgium we had a security check and the cute officer couldn't believe i was the same person as the me in my passport.. confusing hor.. i also couldn't believe my ears when he asked me "is this really you?"... like DUH... do i look brave enough to travel on a fake passport? im how humji can... go n ask my friends they'll tell u...

We arrived at Amstel station finally! and went to take the metro to Central station to catch Tram 4 or 9 to reach RembrantPlein where our hostel 'The Veteran' was located!

A nice cosy place with dangerously steep staircases and suspicious woollen blankets.. but they had a big TV and bathtub.. so i aint' complaining! besides the owners were a nice chinese couple who offered delicious breakfasts every morning and they didnt mind us da bao-ing food out! haha..

Finally got to our rooms... dumped our things and headed out again after having rested abit.

Wandered the streets abit, came across a Sex Museum! Entry was at 3 euros! walau must go check it out man!! haha.. yes at the end of it.. we were kinda grossed out by the time we left the place... but it was an eye-opener.. ivy has more photos.. i was just too engrossed in the private collection photos from 1930s-now to bother whipping out the camera hahaha!

Here is Rosh checking out the Telephone Sex haha.. see her expression damn hilarious lol..

And this is a chastity belt! i declare it the worst invention ever cos women actually die from wearing that frigging thing.. they get tetanus or some sick disease frm the metal rusting.. urgh.. sick..

Headed to De Zaan region to check out this windmill place that's apparently a must-go : Zaanse Schans where 800 windmills used to be cramped there 250 years ago.. but when we visited we only saw bout 5 or 6 windmills there.. the wind was strong n we were freezing but we ate hell alot of cheese at their cheese factory haha.. sort of settled lunch there lol...the cheese was really fantastic but a bit they only have one month shelve life so i can't buy it home.. sighs it was damn yummy..

I dont haf alot of photos so make do! haha...

back from Amsterdam

tomorrow i must start packing. only have 2 days to dump all my things into 2 piles : one for travelling, the other for cold storage in fang's room until i come back to retreive them before heading back to sunny Singapore. It really is happening... 40 days of travel.. still cant believe we're doing this..

photos will be up soon.. as soon as i get all of them sorted out haha.. we have quite a large collection among the 6 of us.. :) will post them in parts.

the fun begins!

we are heading to amsterdam!! one more day... to the land of nice happy cakes, sleaze districts n prostitutes..

yay-ness to cherysa we found a family room for 5! not hostel! haha.. call me pampered whatever.. but ever since that bed begs incident tho i wasn't a victim i oso scared of hostel beds...

ok so after all said n done... packing in progress... for amsterdam.. will blog when we're back.. also after im back it'll b even more insane packing for our big 40 day europe tour.. prob cant blog as often but i'll do it once im back in singapore..

gosh how time flies... 10 weeks of sch gone by jus like that... 6 weeks of travelling will be even faster.. boo..

Back in Rouen

hello hello...

its been a while since i blogged!!! yes we're all back from wherever we all went and boy did i miss everyone of them!!! yes we took tons of photos while holidaying but over the last few days tt we were all back in Rouen, gradually i started to fall in love with the place all over again..

so this weekend we didn't go country-hopping.. instead we stayed in Rouen to enjoy the idyllic lifestyle here.. having crepes and galettes for lunch at Le Tarte Tatin on Saturday, then St Sever shopping and eating ice-cream..

On our way to Le Tarte Tatin!!

Our heroine of the day: She wore a tube out.. no jacket hor just a tube.. in this winter.. we shud haf videoed the public reaction.. it was hilarious!

Yummy!! The food!!

After lunch we headed down to St Sever... our biggest shopping centre here! woot... it was fun to haf no agenda at all for the day just wander around.. and wow it pays to wander.. cos we stumbled upon Yves Rocher's weekend sale! 50% discount off all items!! we all went a lil crazy in there.. facial masks for only 0.50 Euros.. how can... its an injustice to our wallets if we were to walk away from the sale..

Yves Rocher!! Sale of beauty products!!! yay-ness.. next i will just wait for the clinique products to go on sale den i'll attack.. murhahahah... haf decided to purchase clinique face moisturizer instead of neutrogena when my current one runs out.. :)

Having stocked up on moisturizers and masks, we wandered around somemore and decided to take a walk in their children's toy shop! It was so fun can.. haha.. we each took a photo with a soft toy and since i couldn't decide which was my fave.. i just took a photo w them all! haha i look so greedy hor.. ;) tho walking in the toy store updated me on the toys kids have access to these days.. its not just about barbie and transformers anymore.. toys have evolved... to replicate real life machines... like the microwave, dishwasher, washing machine, etc etc.. and we revisited our childhood 'masak masak' wahaha.. it was funny... and nostalgic in some ways..

Sunday was spent at the flea market at Place St Marc again!! The weather nowadays is absolutely delightful!! Sunny enough to warm your skin but yet still cooling enough that you don't perspire.. in Singlish terms: Damn SHIOK arh!

We saw strawberries at St Marc that were absolutely gorgeous: crimson red, bursting with juice. We just had to buy them even if they cost 6euros/kg. Haha.. the most expensive strawberries sold there at the flea market, yet it also had the longest queue so we deduced the strawberries must be damn sedap cos we ain't the only ones willing to fork out the extra money for them!!!

So CHIO u jus wan one rite!!!!

The man selling the pretty strawberries... he kept repeating this phrase that we didn't understand but it was so catchy I can just stand there all day and hear him say it whilst counting the number of times he said it... NOT.. haha..

Lovely bouquet of flowers that Ivy and Fang bought - 2 for 2euros.. i like them too... but don need to buy lah just go to fang's room can admire liao hahaha! anws they were pretty bouquets of happiness so we just had to take photos with them..

Of course we had to pose... with our strawberries too of course.. we bought a kilo of them delicious sweet beauties..

Intended to pack lunch to eat in the park, but we were too lazy to walk there so we just settled down to consume our sandwiches at the busstop while waiting for T1.. den when we alighted at our destination, we walked to the look-out point that wasn't far from our hostel... boy was it a sight to behold when we got there..utterly breath-taking... there was literally a carpet of yellow flowers dotting the lush green grass so we all got a little high and started photowhoring... aahhhh...

yes im afraid that's all the photos i have to share with you this time around.. now its back to the books in prepartion for my test.. i have not forgotten ok.. even tho the term is over.. the exams aren't.. so must study!!