askthk

Finally got onto the underground tram system. The trains here run in 2 directions so you have to be careful, and although the direction is shown on a map, it pays to study it beforehand. A smooth journey of about 3 stops - this is easily one of the best light rail systems I have come across. Off at Langstrom Grand Hue!



Final Phase

This part is where Google Map street view is so useful. From the station, its about 2 turns to Rue du Miroir, where the hotel is. I have ""walked down" this street last week in Singapore - such a wonderful thing technology is. Rue du Miroir is also where Mozart conducted a concert. The useful thing was also to note that the Cathedral, which was the tallest thing in this part of the town, was to the right of the hotel. So a bit of orientation and we were there in 5 minutes.

First thing was to settle lunch as we arrived before 2pm. Was recommended this cafe called Christian by the hotel proprietor, which is a quaint old place, with a salon downstairs for tea and cake! We found the place after 2 and they actually stopped their lunch menu. No choice but to route back to the hotel to check in first.



Finally at the destination after 1.5 days of traveling, and all went well :) Thank God!

The time was about about 2.30pm, so we set off for the boat ride around Grand Ille, or the centre of the town. This place has been designated a UNESCO world heritage site. We first scouted ahead for the
mid-range restaurant which serves the local Alsace specialties but its closed until 7pm to serve dinner. Ok point learned, here the food places open only at selected times, not the 24-hr food paradise we have back home! Before that, a little snack off the small shops since we skipped lunch - Tarte flambee or something like a pizza - a local specialty:




The boat ride starts in front of the Palais Rohan, about 8 euros for a 70 minute ride. Each seat is equipped with a headset to translate the commentary to English, Chinese and even Esperanto. The trip highlights the rich history of Strasbourg - the buildings, the people, and finally culminates in the modern developments, such as why its now the seat of the Euro committees.

The boat also went through locks which allow it to go or down different levels of water. Of cos its not as elaborate as the Three Gorges though, but it works well enough. Was a bit drizzly (as forecast) but it only lasted for the front part in the sheltered ship.







As it was still early, the next destination was the Wine Cellar of the Strasbourg Hospital, which was nearby. Strange that wine and hospitals mix. Not an easy find, but one of the locals was so kind to stop and give us directions. The people here are really friendly. The whole hospital was as large as the city centre, and was divided into many departments. Our stopover was near the entrance. The cellar also sells its own brand of pinot noir and riesling among others. Alsace riesling and gewurztraminer are the most famous in this region, and the cost is about 7-10 euros.





The next place was Petit France, a quaint little corner to the west of the Cathedral. Sort of retracing some of the steps taken during the boat ride. The architecture is very WWII style, like something out of Allo allo. :) Saw many tourists here from Taiwan though.



Still a bit early before 7pm, so back to the hotel for a short rest. Connected webcam from Germany to China, but the choppiness connection hanged the laptop :P Incidentally, the hotel and the square next to it are named after Gutenberg..yes. The Movable type guy.

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Finally time for dinner. The local "must-try" is garnished sauerkraut (choucrete in French). Strange right? It's sauerkraut with a selection of meats. First time on sauerkraut, and its an acquired taste. The portion is probably two bowls and I can't finish it. Thus I concentrated on the meat, and washed them down with some local beer. It's really true that the beer around these parts are cheaper than mineral water. You do not see small cans - everything's like 1/2 litre size.

walked around town to burn off some of the meal. Most shops have already closed by dinner time. The environs, as well as the cathedral, look vastly different in the night. Well it has been a VERY long day, and lots have happened, so its time to hit the sack!



Nights!

Finally.. terra firma! The weather was cold as expected but not something completely not experienced before. Quite easy to go through the customs - no immigration cards, most people on connecting flights, non Euro counter (only about 5 people in front queuing :P) Luggage retrieval was a long wait, but everything was settled by 7.30am even accounting for the late landing.  A bit worried today as this series of connections will be the most complicated I have ever arranged before. Went through it many times in my mind prior, but the physically execution can be challenging.

Phase I

It was a challenge looking for the physical location of the Bahnhof (train station) despite the ample signage. Despite a few hiccups the rail passes were validated, while the connecting train was brought forward as the timings allowed so. So, firstly off to Frankfurt Station from Frankfurt Airport! Everything here looked like something out of Harry Potter :)

 

15 minutes elapsed, and still around 2 hrs to go. Interestingly they had luggage lockers so big it could fit 2 pieces of luggage side by side, at a rate of 5 euros for up to 3 days. No change so it was a good excuse to find some food :)


Phase II

Was a slightly long wait for the 10:50am ICE but its worth it. The original timing was 12:50 (to prepare for contingencies, which would place us there at dinner time).



Not as fast as i expected, but trains are really luxurious, with family rooms, work tables and even a restaurant. Too tired from the flight, so dozed the way to Mannheim, Karlsruhe and finally Offenburg. Finally took a good look at my osterlamm, a confectionary that is only available during Easter celebrations. Thought it would be difficult to find, but great to find it at Frankfurt Hbf. There is another version with nuts or powdered sugar on it.

"Off with its head!"


Phase III

Finally arriving early at Offenburg at about 12:24. This is the tricky part, for we have 7 minutes to catch the connecting train to Strasbourg or risk waiting 30-60minutes. I managed to get a map of the station beforehand to plan an "attack plan" - Gate X to ticketing machine to Gate Y within Z minutes. But somehow once we got down the train, the layout of the station had the least resemblance to the map that I can ever guess. The stairs go DOWN not UP.. but anyways rush to the connecting train first - questions later. The train conductor said " no tickets required" probably cos it was going off soon. The train was packed to the doors and we had to stand for around 30 minutes, passing seemlessly from Germany to France across a small river. Strasbourg Gare Centrale station at last! And we are not at the end yet! LOL!

Phase IV

After dropping some queries at the information centre, and getting a map, off we went to get tickets for the Tram, no forgetting to get some food along the way. After all, this nice lady was offering free samples! The cake on the right, which looks like our upside down pandan cake, is a specialty of this region called a kugelhof



more later! it has been a long day!

Arrived at the airport at around 9pm to check in the luggage. Did internet booking as advised but still did not get really good seats. At least the check in was fast and efficient. Somehow I dunno whether I was anxious or just hungry, or maybe cos I am used to not eating food on the planes (cos of the smell) that I found something to eat at T3. The flight was fully booked as expected, as it transit Frankfurt to New York.

Starting out there was a slight delay due to a busy queue to take off, but subsequently engine 1 refused to power up. Flashes of scenes from Discovery Channel and NatGeo..... All planes are designed to fly on 3 engines though. The ground engineers manage to rectify and start it on the ground, and the plane took out like 30 min late into 1st April - no joke!

SIA inflight entertainment = the best. Still remembered my last flight in September I watched "Night at the Museum...ONE". This time round I managed to squeeze the last 30-min fighting scene in Avatar, The Hurt Locker and Nodame Cantabile Movie I all into the 12-hr flight. The ones to look out for during the return: The Blind Side and Percy Jackson.

Don't really enjoy long flights - they wear you down mentally and physically, but this flight is nothing compared to the 21 hr one to Boston :)

Good night!

It's been a long time since I had a good string of holidays, but this time round, I still have to devote sufficient time to my JLPT2 in the coming week. Nevertheless, still took out a bit of time for movies.

First up was 2012. Heard lots about it, gotten mostly bad comments, but why not - just watch it for the effects and let the brain have a rest. I thought it was mostly good, a bit long though, and that the protagonists were simply too lucky - but aren't they all are, besides also possessing Olympic-standard running and gymnastic skills. The basic premise introduced at the beginning of the movie progressed into something quite acceptable and logical in the end without breaking into cheesy territory. However, there was a great deal of what I feel to be highly contrived scenes that tried to evoke emotions and feelings - the only thing missing was probably Aerosmith singing a song in the background in sync with slow-mo movements.

I was really interested to go back to review with IMDB to find out more about the scientific loopholes in the movie, given that besides being a mother of all disaster movies, it could well be a one-shot summary of an entire season of "Seconds from Disaster" from Discovery Channel. In particular the scene where the plane flew over the former Hawaii - that couldn't have happened since the environment almost caused a plane to crash in real life. But then again - whatever!!

I would place this movie way above "Knowing" - that really developed into some royal blue cheese at the end.



We also tried out the prata at AMK Hub - I just realised Ah Mei Cafe is owned (or perhaps bought over?) by Banquet. The prata is not bad except for the kosong - too dry! Lol I always seen to commonly have prata when we meet up - although I don't come out that often - so the calories sort of distribute themselves out :o



I wondered if the following 2 movies could be technically speaking, contributing to my nihongo studies. Saw from the papers and from the posters at AMK Hub that Evangelion 2.0 will be shown in Singapore - but then I have not had the luxury of watching it since it opened 2 weeks ago. Went really on a whim around 1.5 hrs before the show to Cineleisure. Internet booking is really a great boon to ensure that trips down to town are not wasted.

I gorged down a Sesame Coriander Chicken pizza from Pastamania in like...5 minutes? Thought I was going to be late, and my phone was out of juice. Nice recommendation from my sis - satisfying the 2nd time I took it. Saw Ryan as I was about to go up to the theatre - he has just finished the 10am show - his 2nd time. I was rather excited by the few reviews I read, but then again in the fandom of anime lovers, you have to trust people on the grounds level. Ryan gave his big thumbs up!

Asuka and Eva-2 poster. Below of which was the one for Zombieland, which together with the trailer, reminded me of a live-action version of L4D/L4D2 :) Can't wait to catch that one. Felt a bit cheated paying $10 for a mighty small theatre that used to serve as a preview theatre (they need to be more vigilant on the entry check too), but the movie was simply saying - fantastic. While 1.0 served to rekindle interest in old fans, while given a bit of change, 2.0 went for broke and almost completely changed major story arcs. Of course it is still peppered with old scenes to test how observant you were.

My introduction to Evangelion was the comic book that I bought when I passed through Popular Bookstore at Orchard MRT station. That was like long gone now. Then I found this place renting Japanese anime VHS tapes at Adelphi (long gone also?). Eva was like one of the hottest rents (together with Ghost in the Shell - the other seminal work at that time). I watched the show in bits and pieces, as afterall each tape only contained 2 episodes, and that they had only the first few! My JC mate Hanyang, who was in Japan for his studies, was also a kind source of Eva material straight from the motherlode :) It seems I went through several iterations of transformations with Eva - next seeing it in its entirety on VCDs (mind you the first movies were still not out yet), before catching the full series and movies on DVDs. It was indeed a good thing that Anno decided to rework the whole things.

2.0 starts off with a fight, and literally speeds through the entire 88 minutes with loads more. Asuka was always my favourite character in the original anime due to the coolness of Eva-02. I didn't like the new horns on the head though. The emotional scenes are terse without losing meaning - even better now compared to the original series. Just when you thought the movie is going to end, Zeruel comes out - was literally cheering :) As expected some of the moviegoers were a bit too enthusiastic - or maybe its a sign of old age coming :)

The new designs of the Angels, plus the synergy of the new scenes (I wondered how many of the audience realised the design of the purification plant/aquarium is based on the Tree of Life which starts off the OP of the TV series.) with CGI, are worth the price of admission. No wonder Ryan, in addition to the various chatter in the cinema, voted for a 2nd viewing. Stayed back to watch the after-credits trailer - this time they didn't stop halfway like 1.0) and it was considerably critical to the storyline. Can't wait for the next one!

Went home and watched the K-20 DVD - the opening was nice as this was like an aniversary movie for NTV - but somehow the movie seems too contrived - Wild Wild West meets Batman meets V for Vendetta in WWII Japan. The leads are famous but somehow can't save the script - and even their acting was wooden at best in some scenes. As agreed with my sis, there is a growing number of Japanese movies with flaws in exposition of the storyline. The best are still comedies and teenage love stories.

Well, at least I learnt quite a bit of vocab today - I think Brain Rules is correct in saying that memory of facts require both the correct context and multisensory approach :)

As I was walking along Orchard and AMK Hub, seems like the X'mas spirit is building up. The X'mas decor scheme at AMK is actually quite nice IMHO compared to the Santa guarding the entrance to Orchard Road. Takashimaya is also featuring these bear trees (the last I saw something similar was in Suntec with Pooh Bears!) - but the signs are obviously flashing "Danger: Electricity" in vain as happy shoppers and parents try to take many many shots with their kids.

Nights!

Another outing at, yes again, Sentosa ! :) I was indeed glad that it rained very heavily yesterday and a bit last night and this morning, so much so that by the time we met, the skies were out of anymore feedstock. It was nice to sit back and relax, and frankly we did nothing much except to chill and eat. But sometimes doing nothing is the best thing that we can ever do. Weather was a bit hot in the end but it held well throughout our stay.



Bought a cake to celebrate a combined birthday for YT, Hajar and Brenda. Plus I didn't really have the chance to get a good cake for everyone in Wuhan. As, we waited for everyone to gather, by then the sun did severe damage to the cake, causing it to "melt funnily". The mango and passionfruit held, but the cream did not - can't imagine if I ordered some chocolate variety :o Note to self, need to get something that can withstand (cheesecake?) Sentosa conditions!



Wash up! And off to dinner at Pastamania, quite good that we could get two rows of seats in quite a short while. 5.30pm is a good timing. Later on the eating places were packed as everyone was ENTERING into Sentosa for the Halloween celebrating, while we were already out. After dinner everyone had their plans - arcade or ice-cream, but somehow both teams met halfway and resulted in this impromptu group shot :)



Interesting to see that Storm Riders II is coming to Singapore.  Could still remember the good old days (~10 years ago?) when the first movie came out and made me really interested in reading the comics. I could still remember that back then Chinese wuxia comics were put in a negative light. My lab partner in University was a collector and thus I had access to the first ten compiled volumes. I also collected the new story arcs and the swords etc, until I had too many to read. The swords' sort of corroded now, alas.

We were finishing our ice-cream and drinks when I saw the 2 models of the swords at GV. I could still remember the famous broadsword and sword of Feng and Yun. Quite an amusing episode in which Jyan noticed that the descriptions for both swords were wrong. Well, the panels couldn't really hoodwink the few of us who were fans. And anyway most people would know the difference between 刀 and 剑. :P Probably the makers didn't think anyone would squat down and read the panels (it is at knee-level though). Bwahaha :)



Jehanne with 雪饮, TWL with 绝世好剑

Been quite a long time since I went to any place remotely new on the Singapore map. Have seen/heard a lot of people going to Marina Barrage, and today I have a chance to visit it myself. Organised by my former FYP/mentor students, we set off just before 6pm. The guys were still doing their National Service though. Of cos we raided the City Hall area for necessities first - Soup Spoon takeaway, taiyakis, drinks, snacks, fish & chips, floormats etc. I think I have come here before, long ago when I was exploring Marina South Park.

Nice views all around, and great weather too - neither rainy nor cold, although a bit dark at times - can't really get good pics without much adjustments with the settings. No choice really, an inherent problem with most digicams - the only way is to take more and hope for the best :)

There was this interesting incident. The path to the upper levels of the barrage were wickedly curved until it flattens out at the top terrace. There was this pair of newlyweds-to-be blocking the path as the photographer egged them into various poses with the Singapore skyline as the background - wondered how much it will cost them though to assemble a team at this hour.

We talked about their current journeys in Uni - tough as expected, as though times have not change since I was in. No doubts or qualms since this is one of the penultimate or ultimate steps in one's education. The guys could prepare for another 2 years but the girls have had a tough step to cross as they are thrust into the race almost immediately. I don't worry for them though, just a matter of time till they adapt :)


New IR - work still ongoing - probably 24 hr shifts as per Ion Orchard.


Nice fountain with cool arrangements of different-coloured lights


Dinner - soup :) Nice packaging but seriously the size is way below the eat-in size!

Life gets back to schedule - back to work slowly to coordinate the start of classes next week. One thing that hangs on my mind is my JLPT2 exam which is coming in 2 months. Missed six weeks of lessons as I was in Wuhan. Tried bringing some material there to study but not too successful, but managed to get some really good practice materials from there. Found out about the abundance of Japanese learning material at affordable prices in China when I was at a bookstore for a short while during YEP. Interestingly many of the students on the Wuhan trip were also learning Japanese at one level or another, or knows someone who does - and thus I could gather that a good amount of Japanese practice material constituted the kgs brought back.

My teacher gave me a "surprise" today as I resumed classes - a ginormous pile of notes that were missed in the previous weeks T.T Need....more....time.....=.=


A bit poofed out these few days trying to adjust back to the rhythm of life in Singapore, as well as psyching up for new things to come. Thus I rested at home after class on a Sunday evening. Just nice the parcel that we sent from China arrived - sighs of great relief.

When the postman told us that the mail will arrive by air in about 15 days, the quip that surfaced in our minds was - how big is THAT plane? Horrors stories about lost parcels in the global mail systems aside, we also wondered how long our parcels would actually take to come after we returned. Not too bad actually - around 6 days. The box seems pretty ok, just that I observed that the contents were upside down as I opened the box (the box only opens one way, so I couldn't have opened the bottom instead). Wonders at the amount of force required to disloge the contents, but then again I prepared for this by segregating the contents into distinct packets first. Not too much of an issue - everything arrived safe and sound :)


Last item to retrieve - my "breakfast" table

Was part of the 2007 Regatta Team, even brought my Regatta t-shirt to Wuhan as its nice and comfy. Quite a nostalgic feeling as we returned to Singapore River in 2009. I only had training in 2007 and during the drifting at Lulin :P The weather wasn't that great initially (strong sun followed by slight drizzle), but picked up as the finals beckoned. Seems like this time round it's better organised..... Strange thing is that I seem to recall having come into contact/taught at least one dragonboater every semester.



Our student team who came in first for their heats and were third overall. Congrats!

Strange feeling for me as I round up the last man in the final race. Finally pushed through to get 2nd overall - my first "sports-related" award in all my life - never was the athlete - solid metallic feel even. No wonder sports are so competitive - the recognition to be gained can be substantial.

One big thing to cope with was that my room/house was completely disheveled as we were undergoing a fresh coat of paint after 15 years. As a result, everything was in the house and yet can't be found. Time for many of the old stuff to go simply because they have corroded beyond salvation.

Some of the interesting stuff that were dug up:

My notes for extra conversational English lessons taken during primary school. It was quite a challenge then as we are encouraged to stand up and speak/present during class.



1996 TV Guide featuring (then famous) SBC/TCS stars in the annual calendar. Sis was commenting amusingly that I should send these to the Singapore Museum. Sort of corroded and the stars don't appeal to me as much anymore - so off they go to the Garang Guni.



2002 copy of i-weekly with SHE in great condition - I also dug out a few posters and books (some dings here and there due to mishandling :( ). This Wuhan trip has made me realise how long I have neglected my favourite female pop group :)


Books on Chinese idioms/proverbs - had to study lots of these due to CL1 - now largely forgotten. Too old to keep also as almost all of them are severely corroded.


Most people today wouldn't even have heard of a 3.5" disc, much less the 5-1/4" disc. Everything is on cd-rom at least, and my latest PC doesn't even have a 3.5" drive. Reasons are obvious - too fragile and low storage capability. I could still remember using the 100MB zip disc for my Chem Eng Hysys simulation - and even that was prone to fatal crashes. These are the days of the thumbdrive for good reason.


Much more things uncovered - good memories, good flashbacks, but a lot of stuff have to go since either we have no more space, or its too damaged to be useful. Garang Guni paid us $8 for a pile of stuff though.. wondered how he arrived at that amount. Quite tiring getting all books and stuff arranged in neat piles. Heard that we might be getting new cabinets though. Good thing is now my room is more spacious after some rearrangements.

Back to the same old bed, same old environment (or at least familiar as I will explain later), comfy bolster - the rest was reasonable but the feel is just not right - something is just missing. Talked to Milli, Gloria etc and everyone seems to be feeling separation anxiety with Wuhan.  I just felt somewhat that I could have done more?

Night was dinner at Pasta Waraku - never ate such a heavy meal for a long time. Sis predicted that we would most probably be going out for dinner since Dad and I are off work today - and she was indeed correct. Comfy environment - aircon, clean tables, ice-cold cola - yet something just feels weird...

Pasta + Pizza set


Pasta + Doria set = super value


More adjustments required? Nights!