Back from Europe

After 2 weeks of wandering around the streets of Europe, it certainly feels good to be back home eating Bak Kut Teh, dim sum, and prawn mee. I really miss local food, they not only taste better, they cost so much less too. Spending on food was a killer. But other than that, my first trip to that part of the world was an enjoyable one. Think my leg muscles are so much stronger now from all the walking.

Amsterdam experience
Walk walk walk walk walk... Thankfully the weather was really sunny and cooling, making walking so much easier than in Malaysia. Amsterdam's a really pleasant place, easy to get around and the people are quite alright. All the mention about weed and sex is so not true about Amsterdam. Yes, there is a certain part of the city that is full of it, but there's also the streams, the parks, the little quaint alleys that make the city a really enjoyable place to walk around.

Tourist destinations visited: Anne Frank Museum, Van Gogh Museum, The Dam, Red Light District, Albert Cuyp market

Belgium experience
Stayed in Uncle Kim & Auntie Jackie's house which was superb, and had nice home-cooked food and a huge barbecue. Brussels wasn't anything that exciting, got a huge disappointment seeing the 'peeing boy' the size of a table lamp when i was expecting him to be a little bit bigger. And he was draped in an oversized Napolean costume, which made him look like a midget. Other than that, only remember the nice chocolate shops and a street filled with restaurants. And paying Euro 0.50 = RM2.20 for a toilet visit in McDonalds...(have to pay for most of the toilet visits)

One day River Rhine cruise in Germany
Wasted 3 hrs driving up from Wavre (Brussels) to Germany to take this boat cruise for an hour up the River Rhine, had lunch in a little small town, and took the cruise back where we started. Uncle Kim drove us to a nearby town where we walked around for a bit. And took another 3hrs drive back home to Auntie Jackie's yummylicious foood......*yawn

Switzerland escape
The best part of my trip. Stayed in a beautiful apartment with Anita and Stefan (a swiss couple me and Jaime met while travelling in Vietnam 3yrs ago). Brought us to so many places that no tourists would have been to, really experienced Swiss culture. Even went to Stefan's father's alp in the mountains and had authentic Swiss coffee schnappes. (alcohol level 60% - brewed by some friends in the other alps). And Sarnen (the town we lived in) was gorgeous. Approx half an hour drive frm Lucerne and one hr drive from Interlaken. No words can explain how great the trip was. Sarnen beat all the other places flat.

Tourist destinations visited: Lucerne, Interlaken, Berne, Mount Pilatus

Paris 'oui oui'
Arrogant and rude French people, dirty train stations, ridiculous queues to see overrated tourist attractions. LVs, Guccis, Pradas of the world all convene here, with shops filled with screaming Asian aunties and young wannabes squealing in delight over a RM4K handbag. thats not all...at the LV shop, you have to queue to pay.
Its not as bad as it sounds.....really.... =)

Tourist destinations visited: Eiffel Tower, Champs Ellysee, Arc de Triumphe, Galleries Lafayette, Museum de Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral ( i bet i've spelt half of them wrongly)

Back to Malaysia, back to work, 2 wks was just perfect. Now makes me appreciate home-cooked food even more....no more cheese, cold ham, and bread for a while...yippee..

time to sleeeeeppp.....nice comfortable bed.