Childhood ~ bye 2013

In a blink of an eye, 2013 is gonna be over soon and here comes 2014. So 2013 wasn't exactly a smooth-sailing year for me. I met with quite a number of obstacles and experienced much difficulty trying to overcome them. In some cases I succeeded but others I failed. What's next? I always have to ask myself (but I don't end up doing so). I have to just try to improve and see what the root cause of the problem is so I won't repeat the same mistakes again in the next year. I didn't exactly enjoy 2013 like I did for 2012 and all the past years. I need to forget what has happened. Well I went for a long trip which made me feel so relaxed after that. I really enjoy going on holidays, but all thanks to stupid June common tests right after June holidays I can only go on 1 trip for next year, j1 id be too busy with jct and a levels during j2 so probably no trip for the whole year or maybe a short one and j2 only at the end of the year after a levels then I can go on trip, a long long one probably planning to go find my cousin in Australia on my own hahah. So now life is so tiring and stressful with loads of homework to chiong and finish. Sigh I miss those childhood holidays I could go everywhere and be stress free and not need to worry about anything, seriously. Now I go on hiday I would also have to sorry about my schoolwork and how I'm gonna finish my pile load of work. Sigh. Actually I wanna go back to Paris again. Well, the entire Central Europe not the eastern one. Like Switzerland (matterhorn in Zurich was just da bomb!) and Korea I loves the trick eye museum and jeju they were fantabulous and Japan (mt fuji sigh seeing everyone's insta it makes me wanna go all those places for a second time again!) but maybe id never ever go back to Europe again cause I've already been there thrice and like it's gonna get quite dull so it'll be many years later wen I decide to go there again..... Hmmm... But my next place id really wanna go is back to china, like the scenic places like harbin kinda thing or US or maybe even South Africa heh. Well we will know next year (if results are ok to travel). I sound like I use this pass which is results before I travel right haha. It's just my personal passport kinda thing. No one said anything but I just prefer to score better then go overseas or I'll not enjoy the trip like when I went to Europe after pe results came out I didn't too enjoy the trip at first cause of results. So yeah. I really wanna go back to start of December again and go to another part of Europe again. Sigh. Why does time fly? I guess even if I question this I Won't get the best answer I want cause no one knows too. Time is something that is fixed and something we gotta treasure cause it is impossible to turn back time though we really want the last to come back right. Actually it's the childhood days of most people that we really treasure cause in it is all the tears we shed and the happiness we get after unlocking a new achievement. It is childhood that we make many mistakes and those mistakes are forgiven and from each and every mistake we learn and try not to repeat it again ~ so I just hope I'll take 2013 as a beginner's course and learn from all my many many mistakes in 2013, and love 2014 happily and not repeat any of such grave mistakes again. 

~ till we next meet, goodbye 

EASTERN EUROPE & DUBAI 2013 <3

Diary for Eastern Europe Trip 2013

Day 5 - 071213

So 678 is still the magic number for the third day this tour. Waking up at 6, breakfast at 7, depart at 8. Let's call it the magic code! (It's cool to have 678 throughout the trip, but it's not also cause it's really early to wake up at 6. So we took this super long bus journey to Warsaw. Alright it's not that long, approximately 306km only hurhur with two toilet breaks. The first toilet break was really smurftastic and wonderful! (; we used the toilet at the petrol kiosk and as there was still ample time my family went over to Burger King and ate Whopper Juniors and chilli cheese nuggets which was fantabulous! 😋 actually ordered take away to eat in the long & arduous bus journey cause my cousin and I wanted to play with snow! So it just snowed yep! And outside Burger King there were many many benches and they were covered with inch thick snow so we started scraping the snow off to make snowballs and snowman and threw them around. The snow was as soft as cotton balls or even as soft as a sheep! (: after the toilet stops was lunch - Chinese food. At first, I preferred western cuisine to Chinese cuisine but after having few western cuisines in Eastern Europe, i begin to think otherwise. Their pork chops are deep fried and taste über oily and are so dry and hard, compared to the grilled types or those with sauces or gravy on top. But I'm still longing to eat yesterday's dinner' dessert which was their famous apple crumble! (: anyways nothing of yesterday in today's diary episode so yeah! (: then also at the second toilet stop we had this snowy field beside it and I sure had fun there too! (: after lunch was the expectedly boring city tour, but it turned out interesting! (: my favourite city in Eastern Europe is Warsaw honestly. The local guide said in polish, Warsaw was called Warszawa, made up of a boy's name and a girl's name. Most of it was tdy except for the palace that had this awesome lake and old town which was illuminated at night and was super colourful. According to the weather forecast for today, it wasn't supposed to snow but it did! (: sadly, grandma and my cousin could not come on the city tour because my cousin wasn't feeling well so he went back to the hotel to rest. Our hotel is Marriott, but I prefer yesterday's Mercure Hotel though it isn't that famous, but the room is loads more spacious and the toilet too. =) 

Day 6 - 081213

Bye Warsaw and our Marriot hotel, hello krakow. Krakow is not so nice I prefer Warsaw best still so far. (: we had western lunch which was a really good change from the old type deep fried pork chops cause it was pork ribs with gravy & mashed potatoes. So after that we had the city tour again, boring but hah I got used to it already. We went up wawel hill where there was a cathedral, some sightseeing stuff that are again boring (please don't mind me repeating this. you won't know how I feel till you experience it hurhur). But my greatest takeaway is learning a new polish letter. Yes really how to pronounce a letter. Normally people would pronounce Wawel hill with the alphabet "w" and not "vavel" but w is actually v in polish. (: so I learnt more about various languages again so yey! ;) then we had this free and easy time which we walked about and had this polish pastry tasted something like sausages with custard but it's all yellow not red and shaped like an egg tart. Then we bought their polish dumplings yes. Poland is famous for that. (: all so yummy then dinner was at this restaurant which we would be eating in again tomorrow night. :( sigh why no variety yea? Okay bye for today already :)

Day 7 - 091213

So today we woke up at 678 again, went to Auschwitz concentration camp and it was really sad and cruel to see the whole plight and how the victims suffered :( then after much tears were shed we had lunch following our salt mine tour. It was this optional tour not in the tour package and we took it on. So it turned out kinda boring, not expected. Just seeing sculptures and stuff but then the climbing was fun! Almost 60 storeys and it is only 3% of whole mine, climbed over 800 steps legs too tired already but tomorrow have a 500+km bus ride to sit too much tomorrow already haha. Then dinner we were served exact same food so sian already. Bye then nothing much to say left :P

Day 8 - 101213

So the long and arduous journey begins. Still 678 magic number. But actually te journey seemed shorter when we watch 49 days cause left with last 4 episodes (: but then we only watched 3 of them so tomorrow will be the finale... [hoho I'm excited and nervous too] we stopped at this petrol kiosk to buy stuff at krakow and there was ankle deep snow everywhere so playing snow again was the thing kids did heh xD. Then we went to Slovakia and lunch was in this deep deep underground dungeon thingy super interesting and soup was this western style "bee hoon" thing haha! Then we walked around the city cause our tour guide couldn't locate the place so we walked approximately 1.5km touring the place and finding the restaurant. Then we went to Hungary where we had the river cruise of the Danube river. The view was spectacular! (: lit Budapest was great! Budapest is made up of 2 separate "islands" separated by the Danube river. On board the cruise we listened to the blue Danube it was great and really nice (: personally I prefer night lights compared to the boring day that's dull. The side of Budapest which has Gallert hill is Buda and the other is pest. After that we took a 10 min short break in our hotel Mercure  Buda and went for Folkshow later. Hungarian style Folkshow with dinner was hilarious and yummy too! (: so bye for today cause it's already 2316 here and tomorrow our schedule is 530,630,730. It got earlier :( *cries* but never mine we go Gallert hill so bye! 

Day 9 - 111213

Hah woke up earlier today just to get the best ever panoramic view of hungary (Danube river to be more specific and some lil monuments around it) took this pano or a bird's eye view so called picture. Then after that we went to sightseeing places and our local guide was named Sultan but in Hungary, S is read as Z so the actual pronunciation of his name is Zooltan. Yea I gained more knowledge of various languages once again. He was quite funny but got kinda dry and boring towards the middle and worst still, the end. Well, if I'm going to Europe for a history trip then sure I don't mine Sultan. But he just went on and on and really enjoyed giving us tours around Hungary which really bored us. Luckily the scenery was really magnificent which kept me awake every now and then to spam pictures in my phone (;. Then my family took this group pic near Mathias Church and developed it, and it came packaged with this envelope that has the panoramic view of Hungary (day and night). It's really awesome, money well spent! xD cause Sultan was spamming us with excessive information, we were slightly behind schedule by 30 minutes. Then after Chinese food for lunch, we took This 348+km bus ride to Austria - Vienna. And the highlight!! 😇 Parndorf Designer Outlet! Actually I didn't get anything but mummy got a prada bag, prada wallet, prada sunglasses, Gege got a prada sunglasses, grandma got a prada bag. Actually I think the reason is cause I didn't want anything was cause I'm not mature enough, sunglasses I have specs and don't feel like getting contacts so can't too. Then Gege and grandma got fossil watches (;. So we spent dinner at Burger King, the best food there cause no time to shop so dabao some food so have more shopping time. Alright then this should be all for today and last three nights in Europe nuuuu I don't feel like going back to hectic life halppp! (: 

Day 10 - 121213

Oh hello I just realised it's 1212 today and I can't post anything like pics or status or whatever cause I don't have 3G in Europe urgh. But still, misses the last one! :( there isn't gonna be a 1313 or 1414 or anything else *cries*. Anyway today the view and stuff was really super good kay.  I mean the palace only (idek how to spell the name of the palace but it's just the summer palace thingy and super pretty). Everything we see that looks like gold is really gold, 23k gold. Then after that had boring city tours as usual and more and more people are sleeping in the bus during the in bus city tour already which goes to show how boring the tour is. But today's guide is really good, called Josephine I think, she gives good background about Vienna and isn't too long winded and dry. After the palace and in bus city tour we went to St Stephen's Cathedral which looked really grand and it's the oldest cathedral in Vienna and really beautiful! (; then we just took a short glimpse of the inside (free and easy) then we went to manner to buy chocs. Apparently according to our tour guide, Sam, manner chocs are heavenly. So we'll know when we get back home and try em yea! Then we took super long bus journey, 348+km to Czech Republic and it's our last stop before we bid goodbye to Europe. Oh wait we had a free and easy walkabout in Swarovski but the crystals weren't as pretty as those in Singapore :( alright alright back to Czech and our long bus ride. Cause we already finished watching 49days K-Drama, Sam played another K-Drama called iris. I watched a lil bit but not too much cause we only gotta watch 2 episodes and havva continue when we get back to Singapore but then I don't have time. We had dinner at this restaurant called Peking in Czech and the food was quite yummy, Chinese cuisine and first time seeing fried egg this trip yay for eggs [says the person who really hates eggs] 

-at da hotel, Pentahotel Prague-

The hotel looks purplish on the outside and quite nice But the reception is like a bar, lulz. Then we have 2 rooms and again problem. Sigh. xx. One room had a single bed only for 2 people so how can we possibly squeeze? So we changed room with our tour guide who's room is much larger beds like double bed. Another Aunty in the group also faced same problem but then had a room in the same level. We can't be different level as grandma and Gege also. Always our rooms giving problem and yesterday our room had this super huge spider, I'm serious, and the hotel guy came to remove it into a cup. I pity the next person who's gonna drink from that cup haha who knows it's a tarantula. Alright I think that's all. Other than that the hotel is really nice and comfy! ^^ but no wifi 😭 for two nights no wifi = no chat with daddy = no insta = no life = no happy but = can coze with mummy and not spend so much time on phone more time together so yayyy! Alright bye for today!

Day 11 - 131213

We had this tour around Czech then after that free and easy. So cold but chilling in Starbucks yay. Then after dinner at barcelo hotel, fish but disappointingly awful :( but desert was great line sorbet! (: then otw to the bus after dinner someone's iPad was pickpocketed and she was just behind us. So dangerous. We better watch out next time! (: alright actually this entry is much longer but then idek why it got deleted so I'm too lazy to write again

Day 12 - 141213

So no wake up call for once, wanted to wake up at 730 but in the end 8. Departed hotel at 12 then went to prague international airport. Then when people were doing tax refund grandma and I were transferring stuff from one luggage to another cos of the weight max limit of 30kg per piece. Then yes Sam said some guy was standing around looking at whole tour group, probably targeting us again..... Then after checking in we went to MasterCard lounge (wanted Menzies aviation lounge but then no nice spread and too crowded. Ended up the lounge we went to only had some sandwiches but whatever still have to eat and it was really comfy so yay. Then we boarded the plane and reached Dubai at 1am by the time we checked in was 3am and slept till 730. It was sure tiring but.....Next entry... 😝 

Day 13 - 151213

City tour was fun. We took the short 5min boat ride to the spice market and the ride, though short was great. Then there was free and easy and bought slippers for our desert tour cause we can walk barefoot and our boots won't be ruined hehe. xD. We toured many places and this place had this carpet made of gold, super PWEETY! Then we had free and easy lunch at Dubai mall and eating local food, Lebanese food was yummy. Then after that we went back to hotel to rest for a while and went for desert tour. Sand dunes was great and jerky but cute and lucky I didn't get motion sickness. Then there was dinner and activities in the middle of the desert. Food wasn't too good. Then me and mummy shared a camel to ride for like 2-3 mins. Then tried on the Arabic kind of dressing and finally back to hotel (:  But we had supper (at 1030heh) at yakitori tei / yakitori house. It's the same place la. It's jap food and yum. (: then later we waking up at 330am to go airport at 430am. 

Day 14 - 161213

So the trip has ended 😭. Yes I dislike the group of 11 people and heard from others they dislike her too. Yes too annoying like urgh. Then there is this husband wife they are super nice! Then we went to Marhaba lounge. There are so many of maharba in Dubai airport we went to the wrong one when one was hair beside our gate. So we rewent to the one beside gate C21. So yeah it's not really Europe that's fun, honestly is quite tiring. But I like Dubai it's really the best highlight ever ok. (: excited to go home cause daddy buying chicken wings for me mummy and grandma <3 yay alright so byeb (: this trip was really really boring at the start but at the end was great! ^^ 

 

Eastern Europe Holiday (:

Diary for Eastern Europe Trip 2013

Day 1 & 2 - 031213 & 041213

We boarded the plane but time was a little tight but we still had some time to go to the lounge to chill and relax and eat some dinner, and when we signed into lounge boarding gate had already opened. Woahh. Cool heh. So basically it was Rainforest lounge by SATS. And I ate mainly steamed chicken (that was rather salty) and mashed potatoes. The plane we took was about 7 hours then we had a transit in Dubai for 3 hours or so. The plane we took was A380, well I took it once before already last time I think it was 2009 during my japan trip. ;) then in Dubai airport we took this train (equivalent of our sky train) from terminal A to terminal B/C. Then we went to the lounge again, this time round Maharba lounge. Time was even tighter and we entered the boarding gate just 20 minutes before departure time, also just when they were about to close the gates. Imagine what we were going to do at Dubai if we missed the flight omgosh. That was really late at night midnight already (3am in Dubai & 7am in Singapore) Then we had some fun meaning sleep muahaha on the plane this time round bound to Frankfurt. When we arrived at Frankfurt, we had collected our luggages and started to change into our winter clothing, which was really really thick and hot and stuffy. When we were about to leave, everyone in the airport was caught and stuck at the customs because someone had illegal stuff and we just had to wait till they were done. Ohmy waiting there in the airport, heater on, a good 200 people, all there it was sure stuffy. Following that we started our holiday journey. We boarded our 48 seater tour bus with only 21 people. Sure it was comfy comfy! ;) we took a super long bus journey from Frankfurt to Dresden. Sadly this tour we are not going to black forest again. When I went Germany in 2010 it was really fun making lots of snowballs and removing people's roofs of snow to make snowballs, really huge ones! (: in Dresden we had this city tour and moved around places like their palaces, semper opera house and many more! But because it's winter, the nights are longer and at 4 plus it turned dark already. We had a good time taking pictures and touring the city yay! Also cause it's the first day and we're still suffering from jetlag. 

Ohh and I learnt a German word which is pickel. Here's a joke first before I say that word. I shall walk into Macs and ask for a double cheeseburger with extra pickles. The workers would scrape pimples off their faces for me to have my burger cause I asked for extra pickels. <<in Germany, pickels are actually pimples>> alright I guess that's all for today and my Instagram account has all the pictures, or rather a rough summary of what we visited today. (; BYE DIARY! <3

Day 3 - 051213

We had morning call at 7am and departed from Residence Alt Dresden at 9am. Then we travelled by bus to Berlin by bus for about 2-3 hours, in the mean time stopping over for a toilet break and lunch (Chinese food). Well, I prefer western food but not many people do sadly. After lunch we went to DM Supermarket to buy water and chocolates yum! We had our city tour after lunch and shopping! (: so this a actually where we went, hopefully I don't get anything wrong ^^ or spell anything wrongly, pardon me 

Unter den Linden (Reichstag & Brandenburg Gate), Berlin Wall, TV Tower, Revolution Square, US Embassy and others, German Palace, Old Museums, Broken church, Stalin Alley etc and Western food for dinner instead of Chinese food was  esp the choc mousse,  

Alright that's just a brief summary and now I'll tell you, diary, more about each place (:

Berlin Wall is just this long wall that is vandalized but is super pretty. And opposite Berlin Wall is O2 mall, the oxygen gas symbol in chemistry, and it's some car mart! 

[For the other places they are just monuments and we drove past them in the coach and we took pics along the way] 

At the revolution square, there was this group of people. They were chanting and shouting... They were having a hunger strike and it was really cool to walk past them but kinda scary cause i don't know when they'll come up and attack us! 

Then there was this park that at any point in time in summer there would be 150 men bathing there! (: it's this park in the open in public and I really wonder how it's allowed to expose yourself in public with women, little kids, other men walking past?? 

Oh and the traffic lights over here in Berlin are super fast! I'm serious. Before you can even cross half of the road it turns red and I think I almost got knocked down twice or thrice in this whole trip already gosh I better watch out. Actually it's cause I'm too careless I guess. Once was at the airport coming out and twice today cause the traffic lights are annoying and once more yesterday oh that means That's all for today, Day 3. (: more will come tomorrow diary. BYE DIARY! <3

Day 4 - 061213

Wake up call was at 6am, breakfast at 7am and departed Azimut Hotel at 8am. We took this super long bus ride to Poland (Poznan). We took this city tour around Poland after lunch which was Chinese food and lunch was quite yummy too (:. Honestly, I find city tours kinda boring if we just tour around in the bus and not go out of the bus, but at times we do. (: we passed by many places and I felt that the local guide talked too much, but I guess he was trying to give us more information about Poznan and increase our knowledge! I'm quite tired of describing each of the places in detail but I enjoyed the Old Market Square the most as it snowed really heavily after that. The snow was super heavy and I think it was heavier than in 2010 in Paris. (Throwback) in Paris I experienced the heaviest snow in the past 23 years then and it was awesome and heavenly! Playing in the outdoors outside the opera house and making snowballs that are super huge with diameters approximately 25cm great yeah! But now when I'm writing this I'm actually warming up in the shopping center! I have many pictures and they are all uploaded on my Instagram so do take a look kayz! Alright I guess today is all about SNOW SNOW SNOW AND MORE SNOW SO hopeful there will be more snow! So byes and that is all for today already! (:

~ till we next meet, goodbye!