Tübingen

A few weeks back we made a day trip to Tübingen. Also known to be the traditional University Town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The buildings and architecture in the old town is super.. As the second world war did no big damage to this part. Most of the buildings were unscathed and very well preserved. The Rathaus (City Hall), traditional half timbered houses & Schloß Hohentübingen are the main attractions in the Altstadt (Old Town). Just some pictures to share... =)

 The Rathaus (City Hall)

 

Schloß Hohentübingen

Traditional Half Timbered Houses

 Streets of Tübingen

Going 4 months and still having fun....

2 more days and its the 3 month mark for me in Germany.. How time flies... I was still just complaining that the weather is always cold cold freezing freezing.. now its Spring already. Still chilly but there is definitely more sunshine... =)
Still 'struggling' with school but I made quite a few new friends. My class is super international.. We have classmates from so many countries. Spanish, USA, Canadian, Czech, Russia, Turkey, Peru, Ukraine, Taiwan and of course... China.. *winks* Its really interesting when we go out for meals cos there are some many different languages coming from one table.. LOL...
Other than the norm school day routine, I have managed to find some interesting 'close to home' food. There's a Chinese restaurant - Rice Man - in downtown Stuttgart that sells Sichuan Mala-Steamboat.. Was soooo elated and it actually tastes not too bad..  But do take note that the steamboat is on the second level. The shopfront is quite deceptive.. Looks well... not so appetizing.. If I didn't know it, I would never step in.. keke.. Last weekend I also found a great Korean restaurant - Eat Drink Man Woman - @ Schwabstraße a few stops away from Stuttgart by S-Bahn. The BBQ is great but personally, I would give the Kimchi soup a pass the next time.. =D
Today is Mikka's birthday so I decided to try to cook some real German food. Poor Mikka, had to put up with my not East not West cooking.. but he's still alive.. keine panic!! So, for the first time in my life, I attempted the Schweinebraten... and it didn't taste too bad.. keke.. I also made Vanilla & Chocolate pudding for dessert.. Sweet right?.. *winks* Hope that he liked this Birthday dinner...
So much so for now.. will try to update more soon... Ciao!!

After 1 month in Deutschland.....

Okay.. I know I've been too lazy to update my blog but still trying to fit in to the new environment... =P
Have been here for one month and ten days and still trying to get used to the cold.. lol.. Chinese New Year just passed by as a breeze as there is no big celebration here like Singapore. Was soooooooo homesick during those first few days and I would just die for some of the dishes on the reunion table.. You know what I mean.... Maybe next year I will go home for CNY... Still need some of these familiar traditions once in awhile.. *winks*
Mikka's parents are really nice.. For the fact that my Deutsch still sux, we had to trouble them when the building maintainence guy came along to fix the taps when we had our washing machine installed.. Gosh.. Was really surprised at how the parts were corroding.. Should have had these changed long ago... Thankfully they are staying really close by..
Had the chance to meet up with Dawn & Kel when they came down to Stuttgart for a visit. Picked them up from Stuttgart HBF and hung around in town for the day.. Even brought them to Lola's (Towers is actually the name of the place but I call it Lola's.. a joke from last time) in Ludwisburg, my favourite Irish pub so far.. =D Hopefully will be able to meet up with Dawn again, maybe in Bonn before she finishes her work contract.
Also met up with my friend Cindy from the Deutsch class @ Goethe in Singapore. Her husband works in Nürnberg and they go back to Manheim where her in laws are staying once in awhile. So, Mikka & myself took a day trip to Manheim for a visit... =D  All I can say about Manheim is.... its a city of cars & traffic lights.. LOL.. Mikka was going crazy at the amount of times he had to stop on one stretch of the road cos the traffic light intervals was like every 30 - 50 meters.. Maybe its really better to go around that town on bicycles.. keke...
So, what have I been doing for the last month... Hmm... playing maid, cook and carpenter... LOL.. Have been trying out different kinds of recipe and poor Mikka has to eat... can't complain.. heh heh.. I also built up a chest of drawers from scratch... First time in my life.. but it was quite fun.. At first it drove me crazy and I wanted to kick myself for even attempting.. Should have waited for Mikka to finish work and build that up together.. But after awhile, I got it.. LOL..
Will be starting school next Tuesday @ the Henke Schulungen in Stuttgart downtown.. Compulsory Integration course that I have to take... Course will stretch all the way to July.. Hopefully I can catch up cos I'm actually joining another class that has already started....
Ohh.. and my ex company (the head office) offered me a 3 day translation job.. and I have to go to the city of Bielefeld which is (accordong to Mikka) around 300Km away from Stuttgart. After that, I will go to Hannover with them and join Mikka to come home... =D But that means I have to miss school for 2 days.. Think should be no problem.. plus I have to make some money for my monthly train ticket.. keke...

Will update again soon... =D

Taiwan Trip 2010 Part 4

The nice taxi driver that picked us up the previous night asked if we would like to book his car for a half-day tour and we thought why not especially since we are tired enough and it would simply take up too much time just for travelling alone... So at 10am in the morning, there he was waiting for us with breakfast in hand.. Cool eh?! *winks*
 We were busy slurping up our oyster mee-suah when he stopped a distance from the 101 tower and asked if we would like to take pictures... He's really cute, he loves to snap snap snap away.. What I call 'trigger-happy'.. LOL... As I did not bring a 'real' camera with me, my pictures were all taken with my iPhone 4. Not too bad I must say.. I never really like to take pictures.. this time its a miracle I had so many taken and I actually like them.. keke... So, after the 101 Tower, we headed for Qing Tong Old Street (青桐老街) where we got steamed peanuts along the way with compliments from the driver again...
While the driver was parking his vehicle, we were just looking around waiting for him to come back when we had a little shock when he came back with another guy... He wanted to ask if this guy wanted to follow us on our 'tour' so that he could earn a little more and at the same time share some costs with us. We were ok with another person joining us but he declined as he wanted to take the train ride from there but he followed us to the 'post office' which is actually also kind of a souvenir shop where I sent out this really nice postcard which is actually a wooden plaque to Mikka... After we said our goodbyes, we headed for our second destination, Shi-Fen (十分).
Along the way, we did something that we would never get to do here in Singapore... Lighting the Sky Lantern (放天灯).. Ok, it might not be the most environmental friendly thing but then its a once in a lifetime experience... Funny enough,  we saw the same guy which the taxi driver tried to pick up earlier again.. LOL.. We were making a joke that if we saw him for a third time he would have to follow us... And yes... at Shi-Fen (十分), we saw him again... keke... Here we officially introduce our new found friend.. Stephan.. He's also from Germany but staying in Switzerland. So after he joined in the group, we went to see the waterfalls and after that, headed for Jiu Fen(九分).  Jiu Fen Old Street(九分老街) is a 'must-see' place.. Other than shopping, it has the real 'old street' feel compared to the other old streets that I have been...  Rushing off to the next destination... The Gold Ecological Park / Museum(黃金博物園區) at Jin Gua Shi (金瓜石).. In this place, there is a block of gold weighing 220Kgs. It is supposedly that if anyone can lift it with one hand, he can take the gold back with him.. Don't talk about lifting it, no matter how much you try to push it, it will not even budge.. Think its nailed in... keke... Next, we drove to this cliff area overlooking the sea where the taxi driver told us that this vast ocean actually leads to 3 different places.. Japan, Korea and Shanghai.. respectively in 3 different directions of course... =P There we met a group of aunties and uncles having a picnic... Cool right? Driving up the mountains just to picnic...They even offered us some of their food.. LOL.. The cherry tomatoes were really yummy... keke... Then along the way, we stopped in the middle of nowhere.. yes I really mean it.. this driver is crazy.. He can and will stop just about anywhere to show us stuff.. Here, he was showing us the rocks that is of different colour tones due to the staining from the gold particles in the water...
I managed to get a picture.. keke... As it was getting dark, we had to skip Keelung so we headed for Yang Ming Shan instead.. Nevertheless, still can't beat the speed of the sun going down. By the time we arrived, we had to walk in with a torch.. So, with my lousy 'camera' I did not manage to picture anything.. Dinner was ermm... haha.... We decided to buy the taxi driver dinner as he had brought us around for the whole day but the food that he recommended did not really suit my tastebud.. I had my first beer in Taiwan... LOL... Liquid food.. I learnt this from Mikka!! After dinner, we got the taxi driver to drop us off at Wu Fen Pu (五分埔) which ended the half-day but in the end became a full-day tour...
 We ventured into Rao He Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市) after that and at the end of the night, said our goodbyes.. It was nice making a new friend in a foreign land.. =) Last day in Taiwan already... That's how fast 10days just passes you by... We still had time to shop around as our flight was at 7.30pm so we went down to Xi Men Ding (西門町), the most popular shopping district in Taipei. I finally visited Cheng Pin Bookstore (城品书店). Wanted to drop by earlier in the wee hours of the morning (this bookstore is opened 24hrs) but never had the chance to as we were always too kaputt by the time we got back to the hotel....

In the last few hours that we have left in Taipei.. we just ate and had fun.... We had a really good time.. Till next time Taiwan!!!!!

Goodbye Taiwan!!!

Taiwan Trip 2010 Part 3

Finally, we arrive in the capital city of Taipei... Walking thru the underground shopping street (which is really confusing due to the many exits of the station), still with our 2 big cases, found the exit which leads to our hotel.. I tell you... It has gotta be a scene right out of a Stephen Chow movie... You can imagine the shock that we had when we saw the 'hotel' sign at the side of a really rundown building.... I truly, honestly, nearly dropped my case.... I could not bring myself to take a picture of this one... Gosh.... Thankfully the 'hotel' 

 (which is actually only one level in the building) was not as bad as the exterior... Phew!! In the end, it was kinda cosy.. No complains for the room itself. After throwing down the luggages, it was as usual, out again.. 

Took the Metro to Da Zhi Station to walk around abit and headed over to Lin Jiang Street Night Market (临江街夜市) also known as Tong Hua Jie Night Market (通化街夜市). It was food and shopping shopping shopping all over again...

Next day, we headed to Dan Shui Old Street (淡水老街), Yu Ren Ma Tou (漁人碼頭) was on our 'to-visit' list but we could not make it there in the end. The boats stopped its services due to the strong winds so we had to give it a miss... Also in Dan Shui, I had my first Starbucks coffee in 7days in Taiwan... *Yay-Finally*!!! We simply had too much shopping in hand and too less time so we decided to give the Hot Springs a miss as it will take quite a few hours to travel there. Will leave this one to the next visit as well... keke... Shi Da Night Market (师大夜市) was the planned one this night. Still... food and shopping... (What else?!.. keke...)  

 We decided that we had to be more tourist like this day.. so in the morning, we headed over to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂). There was a pre-Halloween party/bazaar for kids in the open area before the hall.. All the kids were dressed in different kinds of Halloween costumes.. They looked really cute.. Passing the bazaar, we climbed the long flight of steps towards the hall. We were lucky to catch the 'take over duty' procedure of the Guards in the main hall. A procedure that only lasts for about 10mins at 12pm each day. 

 We took the train to the Eastern shopping district next and we stopped by at  the 'famous' SOGO to look for our lunch restaurant - Dian Shui Lou (點水樓). I had looked forward to going to this place as it supposedly serves real good dim sum. Nice ambience and yes... Great food. =)    

Next on the list... the National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院). As it was a Saturday, we had free entry to the museum after 6.30pm. As we were browsing thru the many exhibition rooms, we realized that 2 hrs was not enough.. We did not manage to finish touring the whole museum but it was a very enriching trip there. I guess I would go there again if I have the chance. 

Night Market Highlight for the day - Shi Lin Night Market (士林夜市)... The shopping area and the food area is really so huge... By the time we finished the shopping area, I was already too full to get anything from the real food section... Wie Schade!!!

Taiwan Trip 2010 Part 2

After the cold cold night in Alisan (if I ever go there again I would stay in a better hotel).. We travelled downhill to make our way to Yunlin.We stopped by a few places of interest along the way. Fen Qi Hu Old

  Street (奋起湖老街) - to eat the 'famous' Railway Bento (铁路便当). Bought a lot of ginger tea from there.. haha... When we arrived back in Jiayi, we also went to the Wen Hua Lu (文化路) Night Market before heading to our destination. As we were relatively early, there was not much of a crowd but pity that we only had about an hour so we didn't really have the time to look around. Thankfully the journey to Yunlin was only about 45mins so by the time we checked in, we still had time to relax before going to bed. Next day was supposed to be a real adventure as our target place is Jian Hu Shan Theme Park (剑湖山). We arrived there at around 10am and to my disappointment, there were not much people in the park. There were a few student groups

around but they left at around 2pm which made the park more or less... empty!!! Other than the fact that I did not wanna go on a roller coaster ride all alone (can you imagine one poor soul on a huge coaster... I wouldn't know what to do at all.....). The worse part was, the power to the park went out at around 3pm.. Gosh!! What luck we had.. At that point I was telling myself thank God I was not on any of the rides.. I would not like to be hung in the middle of the tracks... I also missed the haunted house too.. You can say it

 was more or less a wasted trip there. So next time when I have ride buddies, I will go back there.. =) We waited for our Taxi at the main entrance of the park at 5pm to take us back to the hotel to collect our luggages to move on to the train station for our ride to Taichung. We were so relieved to see escalators in the station.. The thought of carrying our cases and climbing the stairs really scared us... LOL. As per planned, we headed to Feng Jia Night Market(逢甲夜市) almost immediately after we put our stuff down in the hotel room. This market is really huge and the winds were sooooo strong I had a feeling I would get blown away.. To be honest, I wasn't prepared for such cold winds as the weather forecasts that we had checked before we left Singapore tells us that the average temperatures would be around 24 - 28 degrees.. so I had to get some thick clothings to keep

myself warm.. Also, as we travel further north, it is supposedly going to get colder. Before moving off to Taipei the next morning, we went to the much recommended restaurant Wu Jiao Chuan Ban(伍角船板). The food was really good but the prices are rather steep. On the way to the High Speed Rail Station, we picked up our Sun Biscuits (太阳饼) and Pineapple Cakes (鳳梨酥) along the way at the taxi driver's recommendation of the best shops...