Away from Home

2007-01-12T19:10:00.000+02:00

Into the Artic, Kiruna ( 2 Jan 07 - 7 Jan 07) The last trip before returning to Singapore.. Kiruna, up north of Sweden into the artic. Over there the temperature is as low as -25 degree. Don't know how I survived the cold.. haha.. We went to the ice hotel on the first day. Ice hotel.. As the name suggest, the whole hotel is made of ice. There is this absolute ice bar in the hotel where we drink from this ice cup! The next two day we follow this northern light tour which brings us to a base camp where we stay there for one night. During this tour we did not manage to see the northern lights thus, we decided to stay another night (change our train tickets). Lucky we stayed one more night.. If not we will miss the beautiful northern lights! The last day we went to this iron ore mine.. Largest iron ore mine in the world.. The tour just intro us the mine and tell us how the iron ore are mined and processed and bring us into the underground mine tunnel.

Entrance to the ice hotel..

One of the ice hotel bed..

Ice bar.. everything is ice..

Drinking from the ice cup.

A night of fireworks..

First time on a dog sledge!

Having fun on the snow mobile!

Snow.. till my knee level..Trekking in the snow..

Northern lights!! Beautiful..

Kiruna..Kiruna Church..

I like that background.. so "magical" and beautiful..

The place there is so white with snow.. so beautiful.. especially the northern light.. We had a try on the dog sledge, snow mobile, rafting cross the rapids, chopping wood to keep warm, bbq with the firewoods, sauna and then running out to the snow, hiking in the snow forest.. everything is so close to natural.. the feeling is so different, so special.. Such a wonderful experience..

2007-01-02T10:50:00.000+02:00

New Year Eve 2006 Happy New Year! Welcome 2007! Me and my friend did not really celebrate the new year eve, we just had dinner togather then went to watch fireworks after dinner. Thoughout the night you can keep hearing the sound of fireworks. When we arrived at Slussen, there are so many people! Fireworks are everywhere.. Police are also there to keep things in control. People just light the fireworks off the street and you have to be on the look out in case one fire into you. haha. Here are some photos.

2006-12-29T21:08:00.000+02:00

Italy (20 Dec 06 - 28 Dec 06) Italy.. My last Europe country before my exchange program ends. We first travel to Rome then to Venice, Florence, Pisa, Siena and back to Rome. Seem like this period of time alot of exchange student went to Italy. Meet quite a few of them. So happy to meet friends whom I did not expect to meet. Its like a concluding trip where I met friends which I got to know when I was travelling. One regret is not being able to eat in this resturant in Rome.. Went there the first time we were too early and since we were too hungry we settle for something else.. the second time, it was fully booked! Each of the city in Italy has different thing to see.. For Rome, its more of the ruins.. then Venice, the beautiful water city, has a good sun set view and river side view. Florence has more statue then Pisa has the leaning tower while Siena is just a small town with a square and dumo (church). Rome: Colessum

Trevi Fountain

Spanish square.. connecting a shopping street(people queuing to enter Gucci, LV shop...)

So qiao to meet my friends..

St Peter's Square.. Look at the number of people queuing to enter the St Peter's Basilica Vatican City.. Forbidden grounds.. Visitor are not allow..

Venice.. The water city:

What a beautiful sun set.. too bad its too short..

Pisa:

Siena:

Florence: Soon.. I will be back to Singapore.. The last trip before going back will be to Kiruna. Its up north of Sweden into the artic circle. Hope to see the northern light there! Think it be very beautiful.

2006-12-29T12:04:00.000+02:00

Christmas Market in Skansen (17 Dec 06) Skansen is a open air museum in Sweden. However during winter time there is nothing much there except the christmas market. Went there to get a feel of the christmas and to try some of the typical christmas food. There is this center stage in the market where people singing and dancing. We all join in and dance togather with the people. So interesting and fun. haha.

Entrance to Skansen

Fire to keep warm..

Christmas Market..

BBQ fish.. some typical Sweden food..

Dancing round the christmas tree..

Sweden Wooden horse..

2006-12-17T09:06:00.000+02:00

Satisfying my Manjong itch ( 14 Dec 06) Finally.. I can play some manjong here. haha.. Went over to have dinner with my HongKong friends and realise they got manjong tiles.. then after dinner.. Manjong.. haha. The way of playing is almost the same except that they are playing with 144 tiles while Singapore play with 148 tiles (we got 4 more "animals"). The other main differences is the counting of tai. Dinner with my hk friends..

Manjong.. haha

Hmm.. play big play small? haha..

2006-12-16T12:10:00.000+02:00

Budapest & Prague (9 Dec 06 - 14 Dec 06) Hmm.. Let me start talking about Prague, Czech Republic. It is a very beautiful and romatic place. Full of tourist also. Lucky for us, the weather was good, clear blue sky. This makes the whole scenery very beautiful. We spend 2 days in Prague, one day in Kutna Hora (small town in Czech) and another day in Budapest, Hungary. Kutna Hora is famous for its Ossuary chapel which has its interior filled by 400,000 human bones. Budapest.. Hmm.. maybe its due to the foggy and cold weather, I don't think it is as beautiful as Prague. Should have tried the thermal bath there but did not really have the time. Chain bridge at Budapest was quite nice too. "One should view Charles bridge on Charles bridge but should not view Chain bridge on Chain bridge." (If u get what I mean)

Prague- Old Town Square

Charles Bridge

Prague Castle

Ossuary Chapel, real human bones..

Budapest:

Heros' Square..

Thermal spring..

Chain Bridge

Cold..

Fisherman Basilica.. (Should get a good view of sunset here.. too bad weather quite foggy)

Sleeping over at Airport..

Lastly, some lesson learnt.. Always check your change and the price of the stuff you are buying.. Firstly I was given the wrong change.. then I realised that I had paid ard 10Sgd for a bottle of mineral water.. Kaoz.. kanna cheated!

2006-12-03T19:35:00.000+02:00

Rock Climbing (3 Dec 06) Got to know this friend Jackie in KTH (my school here). He bought us to this indoor rock climbing place and give us a crash course for rock climbing. Now my hands are aching after the climbing and its abit difficult to type. haha.. Need some workout. Rock Climbing..

Climbing lesson..

Making my way to the top..

Finally.. top of the wall..

Everyone..

2006-12-01T23:26:00.000+02:00

Russia ( 22 Nov - 30 Nov 06 ) Finally the long waited Russia trip. 9 long days... Althought the whole trip is 9 days, we spend only 3 days in St Petersburg and 2 days in Moscow. Rest of the time is spend on travelling. In Russia, nearly no one speaks English. Getting around asking for direction and ordering food had to be done using sign language! Also, almost every car in Russia is a "cab". Just stand along the street, car will stop by and after getting the price right you hop on and it takes you to your destination. Next, no gums and guns are allowed in the clubs of Russia. There are also no age limit. Girls as young as 12, 13 years old can be seen clubbing! One can also find police, solider, security guards almost every where.

Place visited in St Petersburg include the State hermitage Museum, Catherine's Palace, St Peter and St Paul fortresses.

In Moscow, went to the Red Square, Kremlin and Old Arbat walking street.

In addition, went to catch a Russian Folk Dance Performace, Russian Ballet, clubbing and bar in Russia. Bought the tickets for the Russian Ballet from the tout at 500 Rup. Starting price was around 1500 Rub and it drop as the time for the show draw nearer. Some other was able to get it for 200 Rub.

In front of State Hermitage Museum

As I mention.. Soliders can be found everywhere..

Pushkin & Catherine's Palace.

Red Square (Moscow).

Lenin Mausoleum.

Wall of Kremlin in the back ground

In front of Kremlin, the eternal flame..

Hotel Ukraina (where we stay). One of the seven Stalin time building in Moscow.

St Isaac's Cathedral

Cathedral of the spilled blood (aka Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ)

The perfect street in St Petersburg. Width and height of street are equal in length.

Gambling onboard the cruise.. Using candy as chip. haha

Travelling friends for the Russia trip..

Who jump the highest? haha

2006-11-22T00:20:00.000+02:00

Skiing (17 Nov - 20 Nov 06 ) First time that I tried skiing! We went to Salen, further up from Stockholm (4 hours of train), to ski. Spend 2 days there skiing. The other 2 days was spend travelling there and back. Well who knows how to ski when they are born. haha.. Had alot of falls but all in all its fun. Whole body aching after that. Taken when we were on the bus to Salen. Our accomodation there.. cosy place with own living room.

Snow man! Salen.. Slope behind will be where we ski.. Cold..

Our ski

Looking at the slope..

What can I say.. Great company, fun activity!

2006-11-21T19:02:00.000+02:00

Ice Hockey Game (16 Nov 06) How can one miss a ice hockey game when spending winter in Sweden. Thus off we go to watch this ice hockey game. All I can say is its interesting! Manage to see some pushing and a penalty shoot where one play versus the keeper alone.. Sure goal..

2006-11-12T16:58:00.000+02:00

My Birthday!! ( 11 Nov 06) Hmm.. lets see.. think its the first time I am celebrating my birthday overseas! In Europe somemore.. haha.. Alda and Uwei help me to organise a potluck dinner with my friends here in Sweden. Thank you everyone! Also not forgetting thank you my friends, cousins and family in Singapore for their birthday wishes!

My birthday "cake". (tiramisu made by Uwei)

Shots..

and shots..

and I am drunk.. gone.. haha.

2006-11-12T16:30:00.000+02:00

Outdoor Ice Skating (10 Nov 06) Outdoor ice skating! So fun.. haha. Althought I do know how to ice skate, still find it very fun.. Fall down alot of times (as expected.. haha) till my palm was abit blue black. At first just want to go take a look at the outdoor ice skate place then upon reaching, Uwei and Alda was already inside skating! haha how can I miss the fun.

My skate.. size 48!! so big..

Resurfacing the ice..Skate till the sky turn darks! haha..

2006-11-06T11:33:00.000+02:00

Running in Snow ( 4 nov 06 ) First time running in such a cold weather.. Its snowing lightly.. Feeling of the snow hitting your face and snow falling into your mouth when you run is so special. Run with uwei to the back of our hostel.

Happen to see these hourses warming up for a race.

Jump house.. where we can ski down!

2006-11-06T11:25:00.000+02:00

Day Two of Snow! ( 2 Nov 06 ) Went to school today.. Took some pictures along the way..

Nothing much today.. think everyone tired from last night Snow fight and sliding..

2006-11-06T11:02:00.000+02:00

1st Day of SNOW!! ( 1 Nov 06) Was wondering why today was so cold when I woke up.. Then look out of the window.. Whoa.. its all white outside! And its snowing heavily! So excited!! First time I saw snow.. and its falling from the sky! The view was so nice. The weather forcast was so accurate! This is the view outside my window.. See its all white.. haha

Taken on the walk back to my hostel.. Snowing heavily!

Snow fight Round 1..

Its so "cold". haha.. Sliding down the snow slope! so fun!

My friends in lappis.. Have so much fun with them! The moon was so round and bright. Does the moon in Singapore look the same?

2006-11-03T18:58:00.000+02:00

Belgium & Netherlands (24 Oct 06 - 30 Oct 06) Finally can go travel again.. Went to Brussels, Brugge in Belgium and Amsterdam, Utrecht in Netherlands with Uwei and Diana. Enjoy this trip very much.. think its due to the company and the nice scenery. We had lots of jokes and took alot of photos. Arrive in Brussels on the 24 Oct and stay there for 3 nights, after which we meet up with friends doing exchange in Utrecht and went over to stay at their place for the next 3 nights. Let me talk about Belgium first.. Belgium.. Famous for its chocolate, toys and comic! (Do you know that TinTin is from Belgium?) Also there is alot of chocolate shop in Belgium! Bought some chocolate there.. will bring it back to Singapore! Amsterdam ( Netherlands).. Well.. Its famous for the red light district, space cake, harsh, marijuana... Tried the space cake and joint there.. Don't really feel the effect. Oh ya.. how can you not go see windmills in Netherlands. Went to some country side to see the wind mills. Also went to the Sex Museum in Amsterdam.. Heres the pictures.. Brugge:

Bressels:

Market square

Friends from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore!

Amsterdam:

Wind mills @ country side..

Public peeing along the street.. ppl really use it!

Red light district.. notice the "window" behind me. Coffee shop in Amsterdam.. where u buy harsh, space cake, etc..

Utrecht:

Wanyi.. who provided us with lodging for 3 nights.. Thanz..

So far this is the most enjoyable trip.. Got to know alot of new friends and get to see alot of new stuff. Eat alot of waffles, which Belgium is famous for also.. Ok thats for Belgium and Netherlands.. Now looking forward to Russia next..

2006-10-22T00:41:00.000+02:00

Visit to Vasa Museum (14 Oct 06) This weekend JJ & YY from Lund visited me. Went to the Vasa Museum with them. Vasa Museum is like the must go Museum when one comes to Stocklom. Its about this ship Vasa which sunk after sailling for a short distance. The Museum shows case the recovered Vasa and exhibition of what the Vasa carried. yy, jj and me.. taken on the way to the museum..

The Vasa. Inside the Museum.

Nordiska Museum.

Tram which we took outside the museum. Photo with the person selling the ticket onboard the Tram..

Colours of Autumn and fallen leaves..

2006-10-11T09:31:00.000+02:00

A day with no lesson (10 Oct 06) As the heading says, I have no lesson today. Went to the lappis beach to take a walk and take some photos. So boring to stay in my room and study(exam coming!!). In the evening, went running with U-wei and also not forgetting to take photos of our run and the autumn scenery. Our hands turn numb after (think its during) the run.. Cold... Must wear gloves the next time we go run.

Lappis Beach. (Beach behind where my hostel is)

Beautiful clear sky..

It can be very relaxing to just sit there n look into the lake and the sky..

Running in the forest..

Running along the lake..

Evening sky..

Stockholm is so beautiful.. as long as it does not rain.. the sky is very nice..

2006-10-10T23:58:00.000+02:00

Royal Library, Nobel Museum, Old Town (7 Oct 06) Decide to go to the Royal Library and to take a look at how the library here look like.. Well.. theres nothing much there except shelves of books.. After that went to eat Max, (similiar to Mac) a typical Swedish burger, first time in don't know how long to have eaten a burger and fries.. Shiok! Follow by a visit to the Nobel Museum. Since the Nobel museum is at the Old Town, we walk around the Old Town again..

Outside the Royal Library..

Inside the library..

Alfred Nobel..

Outside the Nobel Museum.. Oh ya.. Forget to mention, Thomas visited me this weekend. Thats why he is there in the photo.. haha

Narrowest street.. I can't extend my both arms horizontally across.. thats how narrow the street is..

Well.. Post museum.. close when I was there.. too bad.. So just take a photo outside..

Thats my Saturday.. So hows yours?

2006-10-09T21:05:00.000+02:00

Mid-Autumn Festival ( 6 Oct 06) Its the mid-autumn festival!! Althought not in Singapore, celebrate it with friends over here. We have a dinner togather and play some guessing games. It was fun! haha..

Making tang yuan.. but it did not turn out as nice as its suppose to be..

Muffins.. looks nice and taste nice..

Group photo.. with all the food..

2006-10-08T09:28:00.000+02:00

Cruise Trip to Riga, Latvia (30 Sept 06 - 2 Oct 06) Going on this Cruise to Riga. The journey there takes around 16 hours so we like spend only around 7 hrs on Riga itsef. Most of the fun and party is onboard where we drink, dance and party. Riga itself is just sight seeing and shopping.

Group photo. Went with this Portuguese, Spanish and two other Singaporean. Total--- 20+ ppl!

The Cruise which I be taking..

Another group photo onboard..

Riga..

Stalls along the street..

Our Lunch.

Aerial View of Riga.

Sun set or Sun rise.. u decide. Whichever.. its beautiful.

2006-09-30T09:54:00.000+02:00

City Hall Dinner Buffet (27 Sept 06) This is the City hall dinner buffet organised for the international students here in Stockholm. There is around 1600international students who went for the dinner.. The whole place is pack. The food is nice but it seems abit not enough. Maybe I was too slow to grab the food, was not that full after the "buffet" haha.. Well here are the pictures taken..

The City Hall.. Group photo outside City Hall.. Salmon..

Me n Uwei..

Inside the city hall..

Friends..

2006-09-29T10:49:00.000+02:00

Flea Market (23 Sept 06) Went to the flea market the entrance fee cost 15 Sek.. With nothing to buy in mind and just wanting to take a look. Ended up.. Bought a winter coat and a badminton racket.. haha.

Entrance to the Flea market..

Inside the flea market..

Coat bought at the flea market.. cost me less than 10 Sgd.. Good buy.. haha. I also bought a badminton racket for less than 2 Sgd.. shiok.. can play badminton here le.. haha

Lucky bought some things.. make the entrance fee of 15 Sek worth it..

2006-09-27T21:23:00.000+02:00

Corridor Dinner.. Great Food! This post shall shows some of the corridor dinner I had over here.. Pictures of nice food.. shiok!

Theres pork ribs, pasta, salad, sushi, fried rice.. follow by dessert..

Apple pie, chocolate cake..

Close up of the pork ribs..

Tiramisu..

Group picture of Uwei's corridor.

Group photo during the celebration of Kevin and Diana's birthday.

2006-09-26T22:53:00.000+02:00

Copenhagen, Demark ( 15 Sept to 17 Sept) There is alot of first time for this trip.. First time staying over night at the train station waiting for the morning train.. First time travel with someone I have never meet before.. First time book my own hostel and train tickets.. First time going into a Green House.. First time staying over night at Burger King.. First time to Demark.. We spend 2 days 2 nights over at Copenhagen.. Think its just enough.. not too long not too short.. manage to went quite a number of places. Walk till my feet got blisters. Went to eat buffet on the first day.. Had been quite some time since I have eaten so full. haha.. Buffet.. First serving.. haha The following will be some of the places that we have visited..

Copenhagen City Square..

The Opera House..

The Palace..

A church where one can climb up the spiral stairs to get a gd view of the city.. Too bad when we reach its close..

Nyhavn Street.. Cafe and resturant by the river..

Christiania.. A small town rule by its own without government control..

Church..

And its interior..

Top view of the city from the round tower.. Pay 25DDK to go up.. A tower the spirals 7.5 times before it reach the top.. able to get a good view of the city.

A visit to the Botanic Garden.. Green House behind me..

The flea market.. Nothing much actually..

The famous little mermaid.. Don't know whats so special about it.. walk so far just to see it..

The photo speaks for itself.. haha

A typical street..

Taken when crossing one of the bridge..

Ok.. thats about it.. Take too long to upload too many photo..

2006-09-24T17:11:00.000+02:00

Stockholm City Hall tour (10 Sept 06) Got to know this girl from our class who is working at the City hall. She volunteer to bring us to the City Hall tour. City hall is where the Nobel Prize Dinner is held at and its also the working place of the government.

City Hall from the outside.. Main hall.. where the Nobel Prize Dinner is held at..

Inside of City hall..

Room where members of the different party has their meeting and do the voting over National Issues..

One of the room inside City hall..

View from the window..

Lastly the dinner set used during the Nobel prize dinner..

2006-09-24T09:30:00.000+02:00

Drottningholm Palace (9 Sept 06) Today going to take a boat ride to Drottningholm Palace, which the Royal Family are still currently staying in at. Stockholm consisits of Archipelago so how can u miss taking a boat ride. The journey takes about 1 hour and cost around 100 kr for a one way ticket. Abit expensive (as usual).

Group photo before boarding the ship.. Building behind is the City hall. Together with me are people from HongKong and Singapore. Glad to have know them..

My "sister".. as she has the same surname as me.. haha

Scenery along the journey...

The Palace..

The Palace Garden..

2006-09-24T00:11:00.000+02:00

Museums Visiting day (7 Sept 06) School start in the evening today.. so have quite alot of time. Decided to go visit some museums. Sound quite boring but there is alot of museums here. So might as well visit some..

Army museums. Display of modern and ancient weapons, history of the war etc.. History museum.. History of Sweden from Viking times to modern days.. Opera House..

Thats abt it.. Museums.. quite boring.. haha

2006-09-23T10:07:00.000+02:00

Free day wondering around the city (4 Sept 06) School has started.. Today is one of the free day I had. Decided to go walk around.

A church.. Doesnt look like it from the outside. Altar of the church.. A very old piece of altar.

Ceiling of the church..

Narrowest street in Sweden at Gamastan.

House of Nobility.. ( Parliament House)

Hard Rock Cafe in Stockholm..

Some other scenery/building..

2006-09-23T07:09:00.000+02:00

Visit to Ikea (3 Sept 06) It is only when I am coming to Sweden then I realise that Ikea orginates from Sweden. So how can u not go to Ikea when u come Sweden.. haha. Went Ikea to walk walk c c.. Bought some container to store my food and packed lunch. Basically their Ikea here is very similiar to that of Singapore.

Ikea.. typical blue n yellow colour.

Me holding a Ikea bag.. (Grocery inside..)

2006-09-22T16:17:00.000+02:00

Scotland Trip (20 Aug - 26 Aug) First trip.. Went Scotland with U-wei, Alda, Diana and Evelyn. Although its just a 6 days trip but we had travel to many parts of Scotland. Took a plane from Stockholm to Glasgow. From Glasgow, we travel to Edinburgh, Sterling, Loch Ness, Inverness, Fort William, Ben Nevis(Highest Mountain range in UK), Rosslyn Chapel, etc.. Althought Scotland is just castle n castle, it has very nice scenery as well.

Ryan Air.. Plane we took to Scotland.

Edinburgh Castle in the background.

Top of Edinburgh Castle..

Having breadfast at the youth hostel n planning our route..

Cold mountain range area..

The famous Loch Ness Lake..

A "fallen" castle..

Group photo..

Foot of Ben Nevis (highest mountain range in UK).

One of the hostel we stay in.

One of the old church in Glasgow..

Cheers.. Drinking whisky at the Wine Distillatory.

The following are pictures of some nice place n buildings which I had forgotten their names and history.. haha

Ok thats about it..

2006-09-21T23:33:00.000+02:00

Walking ard Stockholm (19 Aug 06) School will be starting on 30 Aug.. so nothing much for now. Upcoming is Scotland Trip (20aug - 26aug). Walk around Stockholm this few days.. Here some pictures.

The Royal Palace... ..... One of the church in the city... don't know the name.

Interior of the church..

Drottninggatan. A main street in Stockholm.. Lots of tourist.

Old Town in Stockholm.. Cute dogs.. taken while we walking alone the street.. Another church.. One of the castles.. Stockholm City Center (Night)..

2006-09-21T23:12:00.000+02:00

My Room, 21-311, in Lappis, Stockholm (18 Aug 06) This is my room.. Quite a big room but the rent is very expensive.. Anyway here everything also expensive. My messy bed.. haha window.. study table.. food shelf.. my block.. with all the recycling bin downstair.

2006-09-21T22:16:00.000+02:00

Airport Sending Off (16 Aug 06) Well just decided to upload my pictures for the exchange program to a blog.. So the date will seem abit error.. haha.. Let me start off with the airport sending off pictures.. Family n Friends.. Cya next yr! Family, aunt, cousin.. Np gang.. Hmm.. basketball gang.. Lastly.. Everyone..