Cologne ,Germany

Back from my trip to Brussels, Cologne,Düsseldorf and Luxembourg last thursday.
It was a blast ,immensely fun to be travelling with the girls. You´ve got no idea how long i,ve waited for them to come to germany and have this trip realised. There never was a dead silence when i was with them . Laughter and fooling around are not something exclusive to them. They are a natural when it comes to making stupid jokes. If only i was in their batch …plus how often you find people who can make you laugh at their hilarious jokes as much as them ? 
Oh well, time to put my feelings into words now. Erm, Belgian waffles are delicious with strawberries or bananas coated with melted chocolate . We had that as our morning breakfast on the 2nd day. Caution: the purported 1€ waffles as advertised outside the shop are only plain waffles  with sugar icing ! We felt very much cheated when the lady told us it costs as much as 4,5€ for one waffle with strawberry toppings. Immigrants are everywhere …not to say that we discriminate against them but after hearing so many horror stories , it was best to heighten our alertness and be cautious with our belongings.
Le Manneken Pis, the boy who peed is probably the most famous tourist attraction in Brussels. To make this trip a bit more special and adventurous, i decided to bring my girls and boys on a comic strip trail.XD Something different to begin with. European cities are generally much the same, with Rathous (Town Hall) and churches as common signtseeing places. In order to cover the comic strip walk probably, it´s advisable to purchase the comic map(0,5€) from the tourist information office first. You can also get Tintin featured comic map for the same price as a souvenir.=) yay, for tintin fans !
I supposed storytelling wasn´t the same without pictures. sSorry lah folk, but there are way too many photos taken . Exams are just one month away. I promised, photos 2 months later ? =P
Next stop was Cologne or Köln in german. The train journey is only 2 hours from Brussels with Thalys line. And cheap too when booked early. 19€ per pax. The Kölner Dom is so strategically located outside the main train station in Cologne. You can see that huge Gothic cathedral towering over just outside the Bahnhof. If i´m not mistaken, this cathedral is the 2nd tallest in Germany after the Ulm Münster.  Nah, see the photos below …. that´s the Hohenzollern Bridge a.k.a as Lovelocks Bridge.
The girls took their own sweet time spotting their own names engraved on the locks among the thousands of locks locked on the fence of the bridge. Talk about craziness….
Anyway, we lepak around the bridge and along the Rhein river for the whole day. It was a pain in the ass to wait for the sun to set in summer. Oh my goodness, the sky turned shades of indigo and dark blue only around 10pm !  But it was nice anyway, we had so much time on our hands … strolling around the river while eating ice-cream then found a nice place with cool shade in the Rheinpark all for ourselves . Duhh…all the germans ever wanted was a spot with bright sun !
Having girls talk and some camwhore moments together are the nicest feeling in the world !!!! So much for girly things we girls do. I could probably ramble on and on about this trip. Rushing to buy Japanese sushi 20 mins before the restaurants are closed at 10pm…first attempt at long exposure photography at the bridge….8 hours to and fro Luxembourg…. taking train at 3am in the morning just to catch a flight ….were crazy but memorable. Thanks for the memoríes, you stupid asians lot. (we called each other that ,inside joke actually) There will be a second trip for sure , i bet.

Mayday

Can´t believe that it´s already end of may.
Gonna be off travelling starting tomorrow.
This time, it´s a girls´outing !  *excitement bubbling to the max!

Updates on my blog right after my Bruseels+Cologne+Düsseldorf+Luxembourg trip. =)

Have a nice day everyone hehe.

Kiss The Rain

It´s Sunday again. 

Other than studying and  playing guitar occasionally, that is if i´m in the mood to play, weekends here are generally spent in the comforts of my own big room. I thought that i would have gotten used to the montonous life here. 

Monday to Friday: go to school.Watch drama .FB .Weekends: go kaufland (supermarket here) and swimming once a week at least.Holidays: go travelling and indulge in my hobby. Sometimes i wonder whether travelling is my only reason for me to study here.


And life stays the same after one year and 5 months since i came here. And the irony is that, my ex-housemate now studying in ireland said to me: "Life in Intec was also the same what ?!!" LOL. Yeah, at least for those from other states, not for me.I stayed over in shah alam once for a weekend and that´s it. I WILL NOT EVER EVER stay back again. even for a day. People like me joined PBSM which stands for Persatuan Balik Setiap Minggu. =P

I like to think that my life is spent meaningfully . On doing things i like and not just studying. Memorising makes me feel stupid. It can´t be helped that almost all of my subjects this semester is theory-based. Funnily enough, the idea of how different german education system must be compared to malaysia´s style of rote learning i had last time seems untrue by now. So much to ponder about.

 It is annoying that i ran out of good dramas or animes to watch ,every now and then. Tried watching taiwanese variety show but they can seriously make people dumber.True, it´s entertainng but most of the times, the topics they talk about seem to be so superficial. For example, what bikini should girls wear, differences before and after make-up and etc.Cmon, I would rather spend my time on something more meaningful or wake up half an hour later every morning than make-up before going to school. Lazy woman i heard ? LOL.I admit i am.

Time passed by quickly whenever i was home for weekends last time. By friday afternoon, i would be home and my mum always tapao homecooked lunch for me to be eaten on the car . I´m so blessed right? I know i know T.T.  Balik terus tidur the whole afternoon. Played the piano .My dog will jump and try to lick me while i´m still sleeping *her trick to ask me to cuddle her. If it rains, i will sit there and watch how the raindrops fall on the plants at my house´s backyard. That damp smell of rain .I like rain.Perfect time to read newspaper, take a nap and listen to the splattering sound of the raindrops . Very nostalgic all of a sudden. 

Watching the world passed by in Madrid, Spain

Arrived in Madrid from Seville after boarding a fast 2,5 hour train .
Luckily there is a locker facility in the train station . Quite cheap also for the whole day.

It´s day 7 if im not mistaken. We were kinda exhausted actually by now. Everybody was walking at their own pace, taking in the sights . Didn´t really talk as much as day 1. Maybe the excitement being in Spain was fading slowly. Taken over by tiredness due to hours of walking and walking.

A big city? madrid definitely is. Lots of cars and modern buildings typical of a capital city.

We tend to look out for Zara,Mango and Pull&Bear. Well, you know what i meant by saying it. *wink
Bought a blouse from Zara for 19€ and red shorts for only 6 € in Springfield. darn cheap i know. Cause these brands are super expensive in Malaysia.

Madrid to me , has nothing except art museums. Since that day is Monday, all art museums in Spain are closed. Even if it´s opened, i doubt that i will pay a visit.

I understand nothing of art. The deepest impression i had of  art museums was in florence. Mostly depicting Christianity.

 Photography is also an art some say . What do you think ?

Plaza Mayor .People enjoying sunshine in the square. What i love most about europe are those squares ! Either you can watch the world goes by with a cuppa of coffee or just enjoy live music from those street musicians.







I swear, it tastes as good as it looks. Forgot what is it called. They have loads of variety in toppings with a toast bread beneath. 1/2€ each i think.



Left: The morning market where we got the food you saw above. It´s a paradise for food lovers.
Right: This church is quite famous. Almudena Cathedral

Well,shortest blog post eh ? Just a day trip in Madrid, what d´ ya expect ?

Don´t say that i didn´t give you all something to admire about. TADA ! A hot model with long long legs playing with her phone. Satisfied?

Off to Lisbon on a night train with sleepers. Not a very good night of sleep i had .Super rocky and small but clean cabin.

P.S: Should have blogged right after the trip when the memories are still fresh in the head. I couldn´t recall a lot of things by now. Like old people already. haha.
oh yeah, next up -The shock we had in the morning in Lisbon . Stay tuned.

My postcards from Malaysia =)

I was asked by my lecturer to do a presentation about Malaysia for Malysian night.  Well, at first, i wasn´t really happy to have additional homework to bother myself with but i have no good reasons to turn her down.  Plus, she was really enthusiastic about it. And she´s LOVES NASI LEMAK to infinity. I could swear that her eyes shined whenever she talks about nasi lemak. Not only that, she can speak BAHASA INDONESIA. awesome german. XD
For the first time ever, malaysian night in albstadt. Something to cheeerrrr? yalah, my town is like super kampung and Dorf in german.  Luckily , i have the option to do it in english. What a failure i was. After almost one and a half year in germany, i still can´t do a presentation in german ? Well maybe yes, if im forced to.
Anyway, i just scanned through my hard disk and copy whatever photos i had of malaysia and made it into collages. More like postcards. Some are of better quality ones, some not because that was before i had my dslr.  I should try selling some of mine on the streets someday. hahah.
I went there unprepared. I meant, what to say for the whole presentation. I just blurted out whatever which crossed my mind. Like the incidece when we (me and my sis ´s friends) asked the Orang sungai in Kinabatangan to teach us how to spot nocturnal animals by spotting the reflection of light in the animals´eyes. The experience is unforgettable. With only moon and the stars as our only source of light in total darkness deep among the wild jungles of Borneo, crocodiles lurking in the muddy river, the insects making their own orchestra music, enjoying the vast night sky of Milky Way galaxy of stars, it´ so pretty.
The worst part was talking about the food. With food, it´s hard to describe it. Im not some TV host who can explain food and showed the viewers how delicious the food is by mmmmphhh…awwwwhhh. You gotta eat it to know the taste, no?
The climax of the presentation happened when the NAZI symbol appeared . I oversaw the part. To me, it´s the symbol for Buddhism , not Hitler .LOL  I must have looked really dumb to them because i even asked the audience what´s so funny about my slides. Stupid me. >.<
I could hardly sleep that night. My memories of Malaysia with my family and friends raced wildly in my mind. Flashbacks .
I am so blessed to have such adventurous family. I remember grewing up going on jungle trekking all over the jungles on Malaysia. We might not able to travel overseas as much compared to my peers but i´m proud to say that we explored and knew malaysia well.
Here are the postcards for you  hehe =)
P.S: Not responsible for any sudden cravings you might had after looking at the photos of food.

What a beautiful “Sin City”

In my last post ,i talked about how pretty amsterdam is .Now here are the pictures finally !!!

I love how the colours turned out this time after some editing. The weather on some days were good for the sake of the quality pictures. Low ISO gives less noise ,technically. Normally, i don´t bother about these technical stuffs but it kinda affects the quality of photo when people view it in big screen.LOL .

And actually,i don´t think i can stay at a place for more than 2 days. Well, i don´t think i,m the only one complaining. Amsterdam is pretty much boring if you don´t go in coffeeshops,eat truffles and patron red light districts. HAHA .Don´t get me wrong now, it´s just that i can´t find things to do “legally”except walking around the city snapping pictures. Not only that, i just paid to enter one museum only in the entire trip!!! Subconsciously, im getting stingy to pay entrance fees for an attraction , the more i travelled. Yalah,  you know some attractions charge tourists  ridiculously ! I have to explain that now. My friend got half price when in fact i paid the normal adult price 14€ to enter Rijksmuseum . We are students all the same. Plus the museum memang don´t have extra  special price for students. What law is that ?!!!! The more i think about it, the angrier i got.  The cheapest entrance fee gotta be Alcazar in Sevilla. And it´s listed as World Heritage Site. Justify the logic behind it yourself.

You will see how many pictures i had featuring just bicycles !! HAHA . It is typical of Amsterdam and the Dutch culture. Since their geography is pretty flat, it makes life convenient by just cycling to anywhere on bicycle. Windmills are there for the same reason too. To supply electricity from modern windmills. NOt the traditional one.

The official train station in Amsterdam where i coincidentally met my high school friends. LOL. What a small world eh?

Shall we go in the coffeeshop for a break ? *just kidding

FYI, coffeeshop is not the place where you have your typical dose of coffee. That would be disastrous if you think so.

They have cafes which serve the purpose above. Coffeeshop is where people get their weed haha. And right, you need to show your passport or ID to show them that you are legally 18 to be in the shop regardless whether you want to buy or not .

When people get high on weed, they say that they get “stoned” . That´s the expression for it. The thought of seeing a man grinning cunningly at me from the shop inside does shake me and my girlfriends a little. Obviously,“he is high already. ”

Some nice graffiti we passed by in the alleyways. Camwhoring in C&A.

Eye-opening experience for all of us.

Shots taken while waiting for my friends. That´s life in AMsterdam for you.

Mafia bosses making a deal ? And that´s JAck Sparrow at the DAm Square.

V for Vendetta.

A high class shopping complex housing mAngo and other luxury brands. Nice interior right?

The most natural looking HDR i,ve ever produced.

I know i looked very bulat.thank you very much.

The newly created heaven called Amsterdam. HAHa. God must be crazy. I bet that it´ll be super crowded and meriah with all spirits getting stoned !

Kita macam jakun saja.

magnets with dirty quotes all over amsterdam .LOL

Didn´t have a chance to try their cheese unfortunately.

My friend says that this pic looked very much like postcard . Whataya think?

The mind-blowing long queue for Anne Frank Museum. Needless to say, we didnt´go in.

Another experiment using lightroom and hdr. Wanted to try my hand to blend raw images digitally using photoshop cs5 but i´ve no idea on how to do it.

This picture is pretty badly shot. High level of noise and unnatural. But this is also the only pic where i managed to get the logo without human pollution if you know what i meant. On a sunny day,   tourists clamouring all over to pose for picture is perfectly normal but a nuisance as well. As my friend put it nicely in words, the playground for adults.

I don´t know how to make the dark clouds on the right look any nicer.

The small cosy cabin i shared with my buddy.

Out on the dock.

Night scene captured on top on the ship .Windy night.

Afterwards, we boarded the Hop On Hop Off red tourist bus which brought us around the landmarks in Amsterdam. Hence, the pictures can be a bit blur. =(

Inside the Rijksmuseum . An awesome piece of art by Vasmeer. Or i think it is. Short-term memory loss.

We could only grab these two alphabets for ourself. *proudly

Sayonara Amsterdam. Good to see you for once . =)