Central Europe - Post 1

Yes, while you think that my blog was dead.. it is now alive once again! This is somehow my first post for the year 2012, written on the last month of the year 2012 as well.. how wtf ridiculous it is. This is all a huge thank you to Amigo.my for sponsoring my trip to Central Europe so i can have the chance to make my blog alive once again. THANK YOU AMIGO! It is an honor to write for you people!

Amongst all the amazingly cheap travel deals available in their website, 8days 5nights Central Europe is one of their top selling travel deal. I was lucky enough to be given the privilege to follow their tour that departed on the 10th November. Flying with Ethihad Airlines, we departed from KLIA at 8.30pm continued with a what seems to be like forever 8hours flight to reach Abu Dhabi Airport for transit. Must i point out that i had a suffering first half of the journey because i was seated next to a XXXXXXXL negro who took up half of my seat's space and i'm like cramped up with the remaining half of my seat.. FOR FREAKING 8HOURS! Then, another 7hours journey to reach our destination, DUSSELDORF. Thank god the other half was a comfy journey and i could have a good rest, I swear i couldn't feel my ass the moment i reached Dusseldorf.

We reached our destination approximately around 8AM local time and we were all so uber tired from the long hours flight. From air to land, we then sat for another hour plus bus journey to our first destination from the itinerary -  Cologne, where the largest Cathedral Church in Germany is.

I was mesmerized by the unique beauty of the church the moment i laid my eyes on it. It is just so breathtaking! The whole structure, the architectures are so detailed like every crafting has a story behind it. Oh, and I was very lucky to be able to witness a huge parade going on at Cologne that morning too. I don't know what parade was it although everyone was dressed up in all sorts of quirky costumes, and it wasn't a Halloween parade. The locals who attended the parade were very hyped up and can see that they really took alot of effort to dress up for the parade. There were bunches of Minnie Mouses, Swat teams, Camouflaged soldiers, Animals, Mushroom heads, Marios, u name it they have it. All of them are singing and enjoying themselves with all at least a bottle of beer in their hand at 9am in the morning. Yes, 9AM IN THE MORNING and they are getting themselves high in alcohol already.

The spectacular Catheral Church of Cologne. Breathtaking isn't it? This picture is 100% unedited and yet it looked so surreal, just like a beautiful painting.

 

Please do ignore my makeup-less tired face.

 

This is what i call "People mountain people sea" XD

                          The animal category from the parade. How many 'animals' can you spot?

 

Woohoooo!! Minnie mouse in the haos! I want their costume so badly!!

This is me making an attempt to ask them for a picture..

Succeed!! I kind of blend in too... lol!

 

This Avatar couple is one of my favourites. They really took the effort to color themselves blue. Thumbs up for the both of them!

The Sesame Street category. I wonder where they find such cute Cookie Monster costume. The costume even come in different designs for male and female. How cool is that! Why Malaysia no have such cute costumes!?

 

Sis with the macho SWAT team. She chose this because she thinks she blends in with them. =.=||

These are the random categories of costumes.

 

Woofies spotted!! Woof woof!!

 

"Hello this is Superman. I need help, there's no more money in my account"

 

 

Surprisingly most of the shops are close on Sundays. According to the Starbucks barista, he said all the shops are closed on Sundays in Germany. Who cares, as long as Starbucks is open can adi. Hahahaha!

 

 After lunch, we continued our journey to our next destination - Amsterdam. It was almost night time when we reached Dams Square for dinner.

Bicycles are the main transportation in Europe. I believe mainly because it is environmental friendly and it is very convenient. If I ever get a bicycle and make it as my transportation I bet i'd die a horrible death on the road.

 

Finally bunking in for the night! I love our hotel in Amsterdam. Ramada Appollo Hotel is a new hotel and i love it because their room and facilities are all very good. Best of all they have FREE WIFI and their speed is fast too!

The hotel's cafe for breakfast. Love their concept and love their breakfast too! One of the best hotel breakfast i've ever taken. And you can enjoy the beautiful morning scenery while nom-ing on your breakfast. Perfect kick start for the day.

Journey of my 2012

Yes, i realized i haven't been blogging since 2011. Too many things had happened throughout this period of time that had somehow made me lost hope in life, too many ups and downs that i myself don't seem to be able to cope up with. L.O.S.T is the only word that can describe me.

But as time goes by, i'm slowly picking up myself, trying to drive myself back to the right road, the right direction. It's slowly going somewhere i assume. A bad journey may not be that bad if i try to look at the bright side of it. I've grown tougher, stronger, and more mature in many ways.

I know nobody might wanna give a damn about my suck up life and probably nobody will even bother to read. But it's ok.. i love to write and thus i shall write whatever i wanna write! I shall continue with this blog as i do not want to leave it hanging just like that. Am trying to give a new twist to it besides just blogging about my travel experiences. I will try my best to update my blog more frequently than i used to and hopefully i won't bore you guys to death. Support me as i'm trying to get back up to who i used to be! Your supports meant alot to me, let me know my efforts are not flushed into the toiletbowl!

Sea Sand Sun of Phuket

Sawadeekaa!!~ I stepped foot once again in Phuket after 6 years and honestly, this small island changed quite alot! I was on a 3days 2nights trip with my whole bunch of colleagues as this was our company trip for year 2011. Believe it or not.. i survived in Phuket for 3 days with only 1750baht = RM175! Yes i did! It's no surprise though since most of our meals and entrance fees to the Simon Cabaret Show and Phuket Fantasea was pre-paid by our company. Most of my cash was spent on massage and of course.. Starbucks! lol!

Why i said Phuket has changed alot since the last time i went (well.. what kinda place will NOT change after 6 years right?) was because first: the type of tourists and secondly: the enviroment. 6 years back, the main tourists in Phuket are from countries like U.S, Australia, Japan, the list goes on. Now? the island is swarmed with tourists from China! I assumed their population are just too enormous that they're basically scattered all around the world and not like back in those days, China people's spending ability is just too strong nowadays. Although i'm a Chinese myself but i personally do not like their culture. They spite everywhere like nobody's business, talk extremely loud, and rude! They always spoil my mood whenever i'm surrounded by them and sad to say i'm ALWAYS surrounded by them wherever i go! They spoilt my mood when i was on shopping spree in Singapore and also when i was in London. FML! Again, i was surrounded by them in Phuket! Is there any country where i WON'T be surrounded by them?!

In our itinerary, we were to go to this island called Coral Island where it was said to be one of the must go  islands when you're in Phuket. In order to get to this Coral Island, you must first go to this Motorboat Company who provide the water transportation to the island. When we reached, the crowd was just moderate hence we took our own sweet time chilling out since it wasn't our turn to take the ride yet. But minutes later, hell knows from where swarmed in a whole big bunch of China people and the whole area became SO noisy if their voices screaming and shouting around and they were like hungry people snatching for food when actually it was just the safety vest we are told to wear throughout the whole journey to Coral Island and even when we are at the island itself. They were stepping all over the vests trying to pick out the 'best' ones when IT'S ALL THE FREAKING SAME! One of them even spitted on the simen floor and nearly kena one of our VIP guest's wife! yucks!!

I thought i went to China instead of Phuket. Mountain people mountain sea!

Me and my colleagues

At that moment i just realized that Bintang was actually from Indonesia and not Thailand. Silly me!

Us taking a group pic before we take the shuttle boat to the island

The shuttle motor boat

Whoosh whoosh hair!

Coral Island is really picturesque! The water is crystal blue like the sky's reflection. Loving it!

My colleagues having a good splashing time in the water.

I is not wearing the vest because it is smelly!

I insisted not going down the water and getting myself wet. My colleagues thought i period but when i told them is because i doesn't wanna get my hair wet from the sea water because i just dyed my hair and it'll be extremely dry if i kena sea water.. this is what they did to me..

THEY STARTED SPLASHING ME!!! FML!

Woofies A.L.E.R.T!

 This time to Phuket, i didn't manage to take a walk at the infamous Patong Beach. Reason was because our itenary was pretty packed and we did not have much free time to roam on our own. Sad max! I really wanted to go back to the Starbucks facing the beach and just sit there, enjoy my favourite Ice Caramel Machiatto and relax myself to the rhythm of the waves. But in contrary, i get to spend time and get to know my colleagues a little bit more. Besides Patong Beach and Coral Island, 2 more must-visit tourist attractions in Phuket are the Simon Cabaret Show where all the aquas there are seriously SO beautiful (i have to say they're even more beautiful than us - the originals). Cameras and video recorders are not allowed inside the show thus i couldn't capture any photos to share but after the show, there's a photo taking session where you can take a photo with any aquas you desire for only 500baht. They're all uber sexy, pretty, and all glam up with their bling bling costumes.

These are the oni 2 pics i managed to capture at the Simon Cabaret Show. Can u see the beautiful aquas? can u can u??

Another attraction is the Phuket Fantasea. What is so good about it? Buffet and the elephant show - people are usually there for only these 2 purposes. There's nothing much to see inside and honestly, 6 years back and 6 years later? Nothing changed! Not even the elephant show's storyline! Thus my advice is.. there's no need to revisit the place if you've already been there before. But for those who haven't you should go for the elephant show. They have a good chereography and fantastic backdrops. A small FYI, you're not allow to bring in any handphones with camera and video recording functions, cameras, and video recorders in. Hence, while queuing in to the hall they'll check your bag and if you have any of the above inside, you'll be directed to counters whereby you have to surrender all those gadgets for them to keep in a locker. After the show, you'll have to go to the Collection Counters and collect back your stuff. Don't worry.. it's safe.. so far. Oh, wait.. i know what has changed there! They do not have Illy Cafe 6 years back, and they do now! Still it should be better if they have Starbucks. XD

Illy Cafe!! Beautiful ain't it? I love the architecture.. wooden craft and all.. you can sip on a cuppa coffee while waiting for the show to open..

The buffet restaurant inside Phuket Fantasea can accommodate up to 5000 pax! So if you come late for the buffet, be prepared for a food fight lar..

Must try their dessert.. it's yummay!!~

Forgot how much they charge for the elephant ride =.=

The grand entrance to the elephant show..

All the shops in Fantasea are created based on their own theme.

They also have cute game booths for you to kill your time. And the game attendants are dressed according to their game booth's theme too! Look at their cute hats!

On our last day, we visited this cashew nut manufacturer called "Sri Burapha Orchid" where you can buy all sorts of products made from cashew nuts. They also sell other products such as candies, dried food, ointments, and many many more. Prices are reasonable and slightly cheaper from the outside because they're directly from the manufacturer itself. Before going to the airport, we begged the tour guide to bring us to some local stalls for lunch because we were all so sick of buffets and restaurant foods.. WE NEED TO TASTE THE LOCAL FOOD! So in the end, the tour guide brought us to this rather dead looking local stall and surprising.. the food was OMFG YUMMYLICIOUS!! Now, we can fly back in peace.

The guide explaining to us the story of a cashew nut.. FML

The 'kitchen'.. XD

You can find all sorts of cashew nuts flavors here. Tell me what you want? Original flavor? BBQ? Wasabi? Sour cream? Salted? Non salted? What you have they also have lar..

Pork! Oink oink! I'm not really a pork eater but this is just too hard to resist!

The local food stall was SO old school they're still using metal mug! Uber epic max!

Now everybody hold up ur mug.. hehee!

My colleague in red sprained his neck in the massage section and yet he gave tips! It was so funny we decided to make fun of him. We took a last group photo at the airport with him and without telling him we all senget our head like him! hahahahhaha!