5th Day in Stockholm

It's kinda boring if I update every single day using the same lengthy words style.. So this time shall try something different...

12 January 2008
Weather: Windy, approximately 1degrees celsius

Programme for the day
10am: Scheduled arrival time at City Hall (Parliament of Sweden)->Hope u c the 3 crowns!
1030am: Actual arrival time at CH
Reason: Had 2 bring some1 2 the Tourist Office
Wrong estimate of time as it was quite a long walk from the Tourist Office
Freezing along the way though with mufflers, scarfs & jackets on
Missed the guided tour in English at 10am
Decided to come back at 2pm which is the next scheduled slot

Quick shots of the beautiful surroundings

-------------------------<>------------------------------
11am: Set off for Drottingham Palace
Home of the royalties (kings+queens)
Transporation: Subway + Bus
1145am: Arrival at destination(too early)
Opening hour @ 12pm
Guards at the door, smart & pitiful (it's cold!)

12pm sharp: DOORS OPEN!
Left our bags, no cameras or videography in the palace
Supposingly, flash causes buildings, photos to erode?
Guided tour in English
*Dreams* I used to be a queen too!
Crazy photo-session outside the palace
Simply GIGANTIC PLACE!



1am: Headed back to City Hall again

Seems like we are rushing here and there
All for the sake of maximising our pass
Oh ya we had this Stockholm Card
We were naughty kids
We used them though they expired (shhh...)
Really grand-Singapore can learn from them
The grand hall was available for dinners, galas, functions

Particular question on my mind
WHAT ARE THE 7 STAGES OF LIFE?
From the photo I took, I figured out some:
1) Birth
2) Young
3) Marriage
4) Child Birth
5) Old
6) Death
7) Reincarnation?

According to guide, she doesn't know either
But maybe not the ones I mentioned about
Can anyone enlighten me?

3pm: Lunch (late one!)
Crepes+potato wedges for me! (Hungry=YummY)
No fetish for food photos but I will try to take some in future
Walked around-had to buy new lip-balm
Conclusion: Levis Jeans pockets are really shallow & things get lost easily
The same way I lost my metro card in HK
Both were LEVIS jeans but shallow pockets make the jeans look nicer
SO, "Looks" Or "Inner-beauty"(functions)

YOU DECIDE!

If It's me, I'd still got for LOOKS.. Hahaha...

IQ QuEsTiOn?!

Here is a puzzle for you
Imagine you are in Africa. You have been tied hanging on a tree with a rope anchored on the ground, a candle is slowly burning the rope, and the lion is waiting for you to drop and be his lunch.
Your survival hinges on the rope staying intact, there is no one
around to help you. What to do now ..........
write your answer before your scroll down....


Scroll down for answer...












Sing a Happy Birthday song.




My friend sent me through this email and I thought I should share it! hehehe.. Hope you had a great luff from the reading!

My friends & I

I remember before I left, my bro and jie fu said that I might become autistic or get depression cos no one will be listening to my nonsense about pan yu wen… However, I have to say they will be disappointed… During the past week, I realize that Kim and I hit off quite well and maybe we have a few things in common so we share with each other all kinds of nonsense, crack all kinds of lame jokes, look at guys together and to the extent of fantasizing… hehe.. So someone shares my pan yu wen nonsense! I even showed her the Xin Guang Bang DVD I brought here.. She’s like totally pissed (the way my family and friends in Singapore) are with the way I describe PYW as “God-like”.. hahaha… She’s those “English-potato” so she totally can’t recognize those Taiwanese idols and stuff.. But her conclusion is: PYW is not gd-looking…But of coz, I don’t talk to her to the extent like what I did to my family members and friends!

When it comes to traveling, we share rather the same perspective.. We will make an effort to make plans beforehand; totally don’t mind making detours occasionally, adventurous etc… Never once did both of us grumble about the distance we walked, tiredness etc.. I believe this point about accommodating others and give & take attitude is extremely important when it comes to traveling, especially when we are like total strangers prior to this trip & are in a foreign country now..I am glad I found a friend in her for I always believe friends are your most important support outside home, putting aside your partner..I won't say I know her inside out but at least I have her as company ... :)

However, by June, she will be traveling with her parents to other parts of Europe and I am still unsure if my other friend is keen on traveling because she seems weird… I wouldn’t want to make any judgment about anyone yet as it’s only 7 days in Sweden and we still have 5 more months to go. ☺ But, she seems really quiet, doesn’t really make conversations and is definitely a lone-ranger… Sigh… Alright, she’s staying with me cos she feel it’s out of her budget to stay alone… Though I might appear impatient and particular about stuffs at time, people who know me really well or have traveled with me before will know that I am very easy-going and accommodating when out, I swear! No particular likes and preferences be it food, bed etc… As she arrived 2 days later than I do, I actually cleaned up the whole room by myself during the first day… Nevertheless, I chose the bed I wanted first cos I need to sleep right… When she arrived, I told her if she want, we can always switch and I even give her the shelf and little wardrobe… When it came to sharing the bigger wardrobe, she din’t want the hanging space as she said she prefer to fold her clothes rather than hang them… I don’t have much clothes either or I should say much luggage so I gave her the only compartment with the baskets to put clothes… But guess what? It’s been like 5 days since she arrived and she did not unpack her luggage!! She just took clothes and food out and places them on the table… She doesn’t really make conversation with me either and is usually me who take the initiative to break the silence… I don’t mind cos everyone knows I am talkative and can’t stand silence…

In addition, when Kim & I asked her to join us for our visits to the attractions or breakfast, she doesn’t seem keen at all.. I understand that partly could be due to budget since she ain’t like us, getting sponsors… But the money I have ain’t a lot too! For example, when we want to visit the Drottingham Palace where the royalties of Sweden live, I asked her at least 4 times if she wanna join us but she rejected me in a nice way each time..You may think that I am too persistent and refuse to give up despite 4 failed attempts but I am really doing that in good will.. The first time when I asked was because I thought all of us are from the same school and should travel around together as often as possible right… she did not give me a reply immediately so I asked the 2nd time.. She say she’s not going but would like to get to the tourist office.. So our plan was to bring her to the tourist office, then head to City Hall and finally Drottingham Palace… Upon reaching the tourist office, she say she decide not to go in and would like to follow us to the City Hall… Because of the delay, we actually missed the guided tour at the City Hall but she doesn’t seem a bit apologetic about it.. The weather was very windy and it was exceptionally cold that morning but she just took her own sweet time, strolling behind us… I know everyone has different pace of walking but I must emphasize: IT”S COLD so you should really speed up.. Plus, both of us could have taken the subway but because she doesn’t have the pass like we do & don’t wanna waste the fare that’s why we decided to walk…

Back to my 3rd attempt, it was on the way to City Hall.. I asked if she wanna follow us to the palace since she’s already with us at the CH… She say she dun tink so and I really give up in asking her already… Then from the CH back to the tourist office or the dorm, she told us she can’t recognize the way but she will try to figure out… At this moment, my 4th attempt surfaced! I asked her to join us since Drottingham Palace is like a must-visit attraction in Sweden and she will visit it sooner or later so why not join us? At least we can keep a lookout for each other… Plus the weather is cold and looks like it might snow anytime and she was like freezing already so if she gets lost, I don’t know what will happen… Now, people close to me will think, since when did I become so nice? I may appear impatient and 38 outside but I know my priorities and weigh the consequences…I know how to be caring!… She’s totally alien to the surroundings here and if she really gets lost, I can’t imagine what will happen… No joking or not me being boastful, I am serious! If I ever take photos with her, I will post it then you guys be the judge as to whether I jus mentioned makes sense…

Anyway, after my 4th failed attempt to get her to join us, I gave up and we went separate ways…. So, does anyone encourage me to travel with her after reading this post? She doesn’t really want to socialize with people and this totally defeats the purpose of exchange since you are here to meet new friends, learn new culture and definitely to step out of your comfort zone (family, friends) and learn to be independent… Maybe she’s really learning to be independent so she does not want to rely on the both of us at all but I just feel the way she does it is weird… Sweden is relatively safe to move around alone but still, it’s better to always have company right…

By posting this, I am really just sharing my personal views and thoughts… Don’t worry people, I am not complaining… I don’t mind being in the same room also because she does her stuff and I do mine… Most importantly, I’ve been enjoying every single day that I an here so far and believe this will continue till the day I see you guys at the airport! But frankly speaking, I welcome you guys to join me in Europe in June. So save up la hor… A 2-way air-tic to Sweden is only $1900/-! Hahaha…

Me!

Hey, I may sound a bit soft ah.. Cos the camera is abit far from me..haha.. but hope you guys can hear me la..!

4th day in Stockholm!

My 4th day in Stockholm… It was really another fun-filled day… Met up with Kim at her room at around 9am (the earliest timing so far) for breakfast… We wanted to have the cereals that were left behind by her previous occupant and we had bought milk yesterday (we assumed it was milk) but it turned out to be yoghurt! That’s the embarrassment that comes along when you can’t understand a single Swedish word and did not attempt to seek help from the supermarket staff… hahaha.. The cereal was nice but not the yoghurt.. After breakfast, we headed to the ikea bus stop to wait for the FREE IKEA bus-stop… Why do I emphasize the word FREE? Stuffs here are really expensive, especially transport and food so it’s like every time we know something is free, we become damn high and would want to fully utilize it! (Possessed by OMMA) Hahaha.. but the real reason of going to IKEA again is because the guy on the IKEA bus the previous day told us we can get cheap clothing in the area so we wanted to try our luck… The sun shone brightly that morning and I managed to capture this really beautiful picture of the sun…

Indeed, it was the factory outlet stores and stuff were comparatively cheaper than the city itself but not any cheaper also… We saw piles of snow and were really eager to see the city snowing some day though we know we will be freezing by then.. *Pause* Imagine you are sitting by the window latch and seeing snow falling from the sky… How splendid that moment will be! (Cross arms) I am waiting! Hehe.. Also, we saw this really big candy stores and there are at least 100plus different types of candies and chocolates! Heaven!Continue….we walked ard, din’t buy much then headed to IKEA for the hotdog bun and pizza! Seriously, it’s the cheapest meal u can get.. A hotdog and a drink for 10Kroners (2.5 SGD) A pizza is at 5KR which is 1.4SGD(estimate)… After that, we headed to the museum tours! Hehee..The first stop is the Skansen Museum… It’s an Open Air Museum with displays of Swedish culture, lifestyle dated back to history and also it’s a mini zoo… There were lots of animals there and we saw lots of Scandinavian animals, which we will never see in Singapore! However, the place was too big and we did not have time to cover the entire area, as we had to head to 2 other museums… The whole are would probably be like the size of Hong Kong Disneyland but full of trees and slopes… I took a day to cover HK Disney so there’s really a limited space that I can visit in the 1-hr at Skansen… Furthermore, if you are kidnapped there, no one will ever know so if you stay as a refugee, I doubt anyone can track you down! Also, I managed to capture a few mesmerizing views from the top…Kim was commenting that those shots look like postcards which we buy.. Sad to say, I don’t know what those places are exactly..
2nd museum was the Vasamuseet.. It is a display of a ship that actually sank on its maiden voyage..To make things worst, it did not travel more than 100m or more if I remember correctly! hehe.. the ship was built in 1600s and it was a plan by the government to show off its gun power and Sweden’s power during those days as Sweden was a prominent figure in Europe at that time.. Anyway, the ship was really beautiful, with carvings of the Roman Kings, and dragon statues etc etc.. After it sank, no one found it until a shipwreck specialist discovers it in 1926, which is like 300 years later!


The last destination was the Junibacken.. It’s a toy story museum, Kid’s heaven… We took a tiny train and along the way, they displayed the story of a Swedish children story.. However, both of us were so engaged in taking photos and videos that we did not pay much attention to the commentary…In addition, we did not even recognize those characters. we were just amazed by how they piece everything up together… either Disney stole their ideas or the other way round I guess.. hahaha.. Anyway, the whole place is like a children’s playground, with lots of toys and children clothing for the kids to meddle with… Seeing their lifestyle, I hope Singapore implements something like that! I strongly feel that it is a way of promoting childbirth and building up bonds between the parent and the child…

Maiden Ice-skating experience

#Some description of the weather today... Surprisingly, I saw the Sun in the morning when I stepped out of the house..Kim & I were like *Woah*! Tried to take pictures of the sun and after that we went straight to the tourist office to find out about where's IKEA.. Along the way, i did have my muffler on.. the wind was blowing non-stop though it's a sunny day... My ears were like freezing after 10 minutes of walk.. Alright, we then found out that there's a free shuttle bus to IKEA so we tried to coordinate the timing then decide to go have lunch, visit South of Stockholm and ending the day by ice-skating at near the Cityterminalen (city Hall)...

This is during the morning.. i doubt anyone can see the reflection of the sunlight on the buildings.. haha.. but i tried my best to capture that moment already.. hehehe...

# The lunch wasn't too bad... It's pasta and the restaurant has a very nice ambience.. It's typical of those scenes that we always see in movies.. People enter the restaurants, remove their coats and hang it at those stands that the cafe provides.. then they sit down by the candlelight to have lunch! That's damn cool! hahaha... We were discussing while dining that in europe, what you see on the menu is actually what you pay unlike in Singapore.. There's always taxes and they always write that in small fonts at the bottom.. SO BAD! When we were about to pay, we were contemplating to give tips but later we tot it's bad to leave just coins so in the end, forget about it... just go! hahaha

My food.. looks nice right?

After lunch, we decide to take the sub-way to the South since we bought the7-day unlimited travel pass.. (reminds me of the times in HK when BY,TL, Omma & me take trains non-stop) hahaha.. The south seems more quiet and more run-down.. we were saying perhaps the people there are not as well-off as those in the city itself... we did nothing in the south except walk around abit and WINDOW-SHOPPING! hahaha..

That's the Southern part of Stockholm.. it's called Soldermän!

#We then went to Ikea taking the free shuttle bus.. It was chaos at IKEA.. It's totally like the Singapore one except it's so much bigger... They have got different plans at different levels which means they present different home concepts.. It's beautiful! The thing about IKEA is, there's the famous meatballs! But we din't eat it cos we had a really full lunch... there's hotdogs as well.. Also, the IKEA sells a lot of things including clothes and food stuffs! It's really cheap... much cheaper than the ones in the supermarket! hahaha... Oh ya, on the journey to IKEA, we met this Swedish guy who chatted with us.. he told us he plays football then he injured his knee so he just went for operation... then we asked him where to get good Swedish food? He say he can cook for us.. hahaha.. Even left us his number and ask us to call him.. funny sia? We NOT STUPID! But we appreciate his help in explaining to us the weather in Sweden, wher to go skiing, wher to get cheap clothings etc etc.. hahaa...

#Next, we headed to the ice-skating ring which we saw the previous day! Reached there at around 6.15 then we skated for almost an hr before leaving.. Kim ice-skate once or twice b4 but she blades so she can move about quite easily but she can't do stunts and all that.. she can only skate and move about at a slow speed.. For me, it was the 1st time I tried ice-skating.. I just wanna shout out to all you guys out there.. PLEASE LEARN ROLLER-BLADING OR ICE-SKATING IN SINGAPORE! hahaha.. Cos if one day, you happen to visit Europe or the States, these activities are the ones that you do not want to miss out! hahaha.. it keeps you warm ice-skating in the cold! hahaha.. cos you are exercising and it's very romantic to bring your partner to ice-skating lor... that's what I saw at the ice-skating ring! Those ang-moh couples dating on the ice-skating ring! hehehe..

I did fall twice or thrice while skating.. But i really enjoy that experience.. I will find time to learn how to blade after I'm back in Singapore, I promise! hehehe... Alright, enuff of the words, let's c photos!

3rd day in Sweden....

I am back.. well, nothing much to do here at the moment.. it's winter time so shops close early.. food is expensive here i've to admit... but my friend and I decide to try all the Swedish cuisines first despite the price... After the school term starts, we will then really settle down and cook.. hehe..

Yesterday, I visited Gamla Stan or simply to say, Old town of Sweden.. the buildings there are wonderful.. it's like those that you see in movies... people walking along small alleys and stuff.. really beautiful scenery.. I think tt's what attractive about Europe.. Oh ya, then we attempted something silly... We brought Ice-cream from gelato here... then we ate it on the streets.. it was super SHIOK! We were like always trying to do the effect of the smoke coming out from our mouths and with the ice-cream, you can get the effect much faster... I would say plus the weather yesterday was much colder than the day when we arrived... hehehe...

Today, i will be heading south of Stockholm... Oh ya, we wanted to find tour packages to get down to Finland.. Any1 has any recommendations? hehe... Shall update more another day!

See the beautiful towns of Gamla Stan....

The streets of Gamla Stan...

We were saying this is like movies, where you see all the trees with no leaves during winter and when spring comes, we say we will be back to take photos and make a comparison!

More photos...

More of my dorm.. It's huge really!

I am outside my school door.. Huge door right.. It's super heavy..

My dorm.. When i haf time, i will post more.. hehehe...

Guess how much this cake costs? It's 44 Kroners.. so it's probably abt S$10!