Vienna-city of music (incomplete)

schronbunn palace..

austria..the birthplace of mozart.

parliment..

hofburg palace...

me at hofburg

behind me is an ice cream stall! love the arty farty chairs..

the famous stateopera house..got the standing tickets at 3 euros to listen to something we didnt understand. haha! however, there were english subtitles though. the opera singers were really good. they managed to amplify their voices that can be listened up till the 5th storey.

didnt update again as i've got another trip immediately after my exams..eastern europe trip... pictures say a thousand words..i'm going to type a billion!

here's my eastern europe trip..
1st stop:budapest (hungary)
2nd stop:vienna (austria)
3rd stop: bratislava (solvakia)


budapest
budapest is a really nice and not to mention cheap place for hotel. personally, i feel that it's even better than paris. i think paris is over rated. budapest has 2 main cities, basically buda and pest. i think it sounds really funny..but fekete(my hungarian friend) was telling me that it was due to some historical reasons. i shant dwell about it here. but i cant imagine telling my frenz this, "hey! i'm staying at singa!" sounds weird..haha! it's a big city whereby we travelled alot by bus. travelling around is messy coz you need to either take the metro, tram or bus coz all the attractions are so far apart. one thing for sure, the night view of budapest is breath taking..especially up at the citadella..

the first bridge that i crossed...

bastillica at night...

heroes square

me at heroes square

buildings in budapest all looks so nice..in fact, i think they're better than paris

pork with apricot and potato croquette

pork with noodles(the yellow stuff are called noodles)

dessert which i didnt like...

rabbit leg with harsh brown..it tasted as tender as chicken!

behind me is the chain bridge..i like the bridges in budapest. i wanna build a bridge for myself!

the view from the citadel. did i forgot to mention that we stayed up the hill and we see this view everyday...imagine living in a castle...

goose liver...

trout..

us at the bath..this time my waterproof camera is put into good use!

outdoor bath...the water is warm..whee!

hungarian traditional dish..goulash soup

lovely breads..many different kinds. i'm so addicted to breads and pastries now!

food + merlot red wine= best combination

creme brulee again..i think paris one was better. it's a french dessert afterall..

the view from the budapest palace..

budapest royal palace

river in the day...

river in the night...

p/s: stupid photobucket made my photos look ugly. will do a better post for vienna and bratislava!

Hey guys, many apologizes for not updating my blog for such a long time. No worries, i'm still alive and kicking. just that i lost my voice and having a bad sore throat. thankfully it was after my presentation. i'll start off from my weekend visit to keukenhof and Zaanse Schans, not to mention that i went sigh seeing during the midst of my examinations. it's something that i'll never even think about doing back in nus. ha!

it's spring and flowers are blooming. visited keukenhof, the world's largest bulb garden. took the train and then bus down. though it's not near to eindhoven but the trip was worth it! had to go soon coz the garden only opens from mid-march till late may. it closes at 21st may..so those who wanna see tulips in the netherlands, do rush down soon! the garden is really big and beautiful. amazed by the number of flowers they have, not to mention the effort needed to maintain them.
the brillant tulips brighten up the photos!
me at the back with the fountain..

sine wave photo..my fav pic!me and more flowers...the field of flowers...too bad my camera doesnt allow me to take panaroma photosme and more flowers...too bad it was rather cloudy that daysee how they arrange the flowers...effort. this explains for the pricey entrance fee too.us trying to be funny...we saw cute haystack benches..

pictures from Zaanse Schans, it is a small village with a collection of windmills and houses.

the first windmill that i stood the closest to...

me on the boat that ferries people during the month of may onwards...

more windmills...my eyes are so small due to the sun! and i'm still wearing my jacket due to the cool wind...

clog shoes!

a even bigger clog shoe!

messy hair!


flower parade pictures!


miffy!
名副其实的花车！使用的是真正的花！

talking abt heineken..i lost count of the number of bottles i drank here..

i heart tulips..

the pursuit of happiness is the most ridiculous phase, if you pursue happiness, you'll never find it..
dang..

examination was bad. i'm dead
lasagna was good. i'm alive again...

news update:
remember i mentioned abt the project proposal that my group had to redo? we initially did our proposal about blu-ray. now we switched to shell. basically, we have to do a case analysis on projects that uses real options strategy.. after the switch, we were informed that another grp was doing on shell as well. tell me what to do now? pek cek...

1 day before the examinations..
i know this sounds dumb/weird but i am actually excited about tomorrow's paper. i hope that it'll be similar to past year papers and dont "出 stuns". i know i cannot afford to fail this paper coz this course directly maps over to my specialization module. however, i guess it's more of a "get over and done with" kinda mentality now. the worst thing is that i'm not stress..which is weird. i guess there's no pressure for me to "do well" but rather "hitting the benchmark". i'll be looking forward to see how the exam format is like in the uni. from what i've heard from the others that examination is rather casual. all papers are 3 hour long and this is horrible. imagine yourself tackling all the sums and formulas for whole 3hour. i cant even withstand a 2hour paper, much less a 3 hour one. think i'll drop dead after 1 paper...1 less paper implies 1 more day closer to holiday(self declared). whee!

fun fact: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_366536.html

friendship day + no bike day...

for no reason i was added into the convo of the 26th and 27th...apparently they're all studying at SSA and had a mass chat via msn even though they're just beside each other. i think too much mugging has got into them. good to see the kindda crap they generated out with. i miss them! their dumb comment never failed to tickle me even though i wasn't there with them.
chatted with zq,bec and mj online today at school too. i was supposed to mug but i guess my brain is too saturated with the matlabs and matrices.
wr msn me too to ask me whether i miss sg. when i replied yes, he was surprised. he made this comment that, "isnt it more fun over there?" i won't say it's that fun, it's just a different kinda experience. eindhoven is much more boring compared to sg and the only fun bit is when you get to travel. that's all...
ps to all who still regard me as ur friend: msn me when you're free k? i really miss you guys...
i realised that i've been eating far too much. i love the breads here that i have 1 nearly everyday. getting lazy to cook rice too and rice is too expensive to have them regularly. i aim to try as many types of bread as possible! this paragraphs sorta explain why i declare today no bike day coz i need to walk around instead of cycling. walking is quite pleasurable since the weather is fabulous!

sidenotes:to those who think that susan boyle was good. you guys have yet to see this...but then again, i give credits to susan as she is untrained. feel like watching les mis again!

rent rants
i need to pay my rent monthly and it has become habitual for me to check out the foreign exchange rate regularly. like maybe everyday? foreign exchange rates has been fluctuating so much. i usually will wait for an auspicious day whereby the rate would favour me the most. some of you may feel that a few cents difference wont differ that much. hmm..true to a certain extent.
come on, let's do the maths!
example:
rent=300 euros
day 1currency rate from euros to sgd. 1 euros=2 sgd
day 2currency rate from euros to sgd, 1 euros=1.98sgd
if i pay on day 1=600sgd
if i pay on day 2=594sgd
money saved if i pay on day 2= 6ssg
and this is an substantial amount. k, some of you may think I'm making a big wooha by trying to save that $6. if i'm back in sg, i think i won't be bothered to try to save $6. the issue now is that I've got no money in and only money out. this suck. any way for me to see some money being deposited into my account? currently sgd to euro rate is not bad even though mas is trying to weaken sin dollars but euro is dropping crazily too. i think the exchange rate will drop a lil more. let's hope so, so i can save more $6!
side notes: i think this is a super no brainer kindda post. i need to post something more intellectual. i think matlab is making me mad.

a letter to me..
dearest hb,
please be reminded that you're supposed to study and refrain yourself from playing restaurant city,watching tv serials,surfing the net aimlessly,snacking,doing facebook quizes etc... stop the mass collection of ingredients for the stupid game. your exams are coming in 4days time and you have yet to start your proper studying. noted below is your schedule for the upcoming exam week and do note that if you fail any of the papers below will imply that you may not be able to adhere to your holiday plans or even make cancellations to your holiday programme.
21st apr-research proposal which needs to be redo again coz previous group did a similar company. lecturer told us to redo it like 1 week before submission of the proposal. (thanks prof! grr...)
23rd apr-introduction robotics exam and international negotiation quiz (hope i'll be able to survive)
25th apr-flower parade in amsterdam (optional)
27th apr-consumer and environment exam
28th apr-fuels and lubes exam
we wish you best of luck in your upcoming examinations! if you're able to pass this hurdle, you'll be able to fully enjoy your next trip which is on the 29th!

yours sincerely,
the school...

when i was at london, i wanted to watch les mis and cats. however, cats production crew has moved to sg. so i'm left with les mis. les mis was really good...enjoyed it. now i saw something that was even better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&feature=related
it's the finale song in les mis...
There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

Bonjour Paris!
the pictures again are not in sequence. no time to do a proper post...busy busy..france is a nice place. the only prob is that it's expensive...yet again burnt a hole in my pocket! i'm thinking of exploring south france...nice, vatican,monacco,marseille...

me at Chateau de Versailles, we accidentally sneaked into the palace w/o paying for a ticket! woot!

Chateau de Versailles garden

us at the garden..

me at montmartre, night view..130m high

there's pasar malam at paris!

entrance of Musée du Louvre

me with escargot like pastry..plus my fav ice-cream. ate lots of it! what to do..it's just cheap!

Tour Eiffel in the day...night time is so much better..in the day, just looks like just a pile of scrapped metals.


Tour Eiffel at night..
the tower again..shimmering at night

food again! this time is crêpe!

me at the famous Notre-Dame

lourve palace park, i like a whole long stretch of trees...

paris river..

the metro station....
french cake and Quiche.. french cake is too hard, didnt liked it

french desserts are the better of course...i raided carrefour's dessert.
Crème brûlée, Chocolate Mousse and apple pie. didnt get to try fromage though...

Foie gras..

escargots...

palini and fries...

chinese restaurant dining set layout. chopsticks, fork, plate..so weird!

the whole apartment is empty coz adam is back poland and xiao hua has returned china. feels different..somehow the whole place looked so big..yet felt so empty. home alone.