Spain

Allo! I am currently in sunny San Sebastian and it is a beautiful place with beautiful beaches. For once, museum and church visiting is not the highlight and instead, it is the beautiful beaches that it has and the wonderful food that is available. The people here can´t speak much English but they are very warm and willing to try to understand and explain... so much better than another country which I had posted on previously. Haha.

For people who are interested in topless beaches, I think you have to make a trip here, from my estimation, I think half of the people at the beaches just parade their assets and I think it is quite the norm here. I hestitate to take pictures of the beaches because I don´t know if people will feel offended, so I don´t have much pictures of it...yet. Also, the sun is hot but there´s a cool sea breeze, so I think it is still alright. I can´t wait to go swimming tomorrow, I think the sand and water is gorgeous. John and LL, I think it was hotter in Madrid.

Before coming here, I have also visited Madrid. The highlight of that trip was probably visiting Santiago Bernabau (mebbe I spell wrongly.. can´t be bothered to check). It was supposedly the most decorated team in Europe and also the most prestigious of ALL Spanish clubs - Real Madrid. They started off as Madrid and the Real actually means Royal, so they are actually quite atas. I will agree till I reach Barcelona anyway. Haha. It was an interesting eye opener and it was a damn big stadium, so hopefully there is a time when I can come back to watch a match. Most interestingly, it was a stadium very near the city centre, so it was very accessible and I guess people living near the stadium can get lotsa excitment when there are matches.

As I have the use of the computer here and I have more time (finally, a place I am spending 3 nights in a row!), I will try to blog more often and add more pictures. For now, I am beat and want to wash up, so that´s all for now. Only 10 days left.. *sigh*

Slight Change in previous post

I just did a change to a previous post because I was told by my dear colleague that I better not post the smoking thingy, but I also didnt want to remove it, so I just changed the name with stars in it. For those in the know, just ignore and for those not in the know, just ask me in private. Haha.

A Random Post about Paris

In Paris, there was a day where my dear friend Andrew recommended us to go to eat at this place in Saint-Paul called "Saint Paul Something" or "Something Saint Paul". He said it was one of the best meals he had there. I think it was steak.

Anyway, me, John and LL went to Saint Paul to look for this place. As we were in Saint Paul, most places had "Saint Paul Something" or "Something Saint Paul" in them. We narrowed it to these 3 places:


Was it -
Or.....

Or.....

All 3 had menus that didn't even look close to having steak. So we did in the end found wifi and messaged dear Andrew. We also asked him if it was this one as it seemed the closest to what he said -


His idiotic reply was: "Hmm.. Le Bucheron sounds familiar..." and "Haha."

Thanks a lot my dear friend - lesson learnt: Don't listen to Andrew about places. He is crappy about them!

Amsterdam

Amsterdam - Simply said, I love this place. Above is the train station and this was the start point of many things, as it was central and it was very tourist friendly as the information was just 50 meters away in front of it. It was confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes easy. Why do I love Amsterdam? I can't really give an explanation, so perhaps the best way to describe it is - it's a vibrant town and as a city, it has everything, from nature, to sleaze, to nice building, to the arts, to late night parties etc. It feels like, as I told a friend, a mixture of Naples and Venice - simply crazy.. lol. Below are 3 things that stand out for me about this place.

After coming here, I think Rembrandt is a genius. I mean, Van Gogh was great, but I just find Rembrandt to be easier to understand and someone who was able to make his paintings outstanding by the use of light. I mean, using light is an easy concept to know, but to be able to harness it is not easy. In photo taking, it's already like tough, but Rembrandt could harness it in his drawings, so it was really cool - so I look at him in a different light after this trip!

The RED LIGHT DISTRICT - I couldn't really take a picture, so this is the best that I can do. It's a real crazy place, but the prostitutes mainly didn't look super pretty so not sure what markets them, and I think they are really professional or thick skinned cos many people just gawk at them and they gotta continue posing and preening. I think they have cleaned up quite a bit of their practices because frankly, I think Geylang is more sleazy than here. I came here twice, once around 5-6pm but there wasn't much action, so I forced myself to come again around 11pm the second time and it was very different. The whole stretch became alive and had so much more prostitutes standing around. Very interesting!

WINDMILLS!!!!! I went to Zaanse Schans to see Windmills and it was really cool - I was happily bouncing around this small area as I could see the windmills and enjoy the nice walk at the sorta country side like place. This was definitely a touristy area, but they tried to keep as much of the country charm, so they are forgiven. All I gotta say is, I love seeing the windmills and makes me feel that I am REALLY IN HOLLAND!!!

There are still many pictures that I can post, but I can't do everything in one sitting, so I will randomly add things as I go along, I have to jump places because if I chronologically place everything, then I should still only be posting about Bruges... haha

Smoking M*******a

Hi, before I post anything else, I have to post about what I did last night in Amsterdam. Nothing fantastically monumental, but still something I haven't done before - I smoked last night and my first step was to jump straight into smoking m*******a. I don't have a picture of me smoking, but I do have a picture of the smoke mates - the one who bought it was Sandra (on the left) and the lady next to me, Emma was the one who taught us how to do so properly... haha!
I can't say that it was very nice, but it was interesting and after a while, I started seeing things in slow-mo. I was watching City of God for a bit afterwards and it was an interesting movie in slow-mo.. haha. Anyway, I only had half a stick (or less), so nothing too serious. I also can't understand why people like smoking too but oh well.
Anyway, to talk a little of the people above, Emma and her friend (the one next to her), Candice are from Melbourne Australia and they are on a 6 weeks trip through Europe. They are going Brussels and Paris next - my trip in reverse! Haha.
Sandra is a Taiwanese from Hualien and we talked a lot coz we can speak Chinese and it was kinda fun to do so after all the English and Dutch. She is a student in France and is on a month long travel too - she's going to Berlin, Sweden, Copenhagen and Norway after this I think. She is an amazing traveller - she sleeps at train stations and is planning to write a sign and ask for accommodation in Norway - kudos to her. Anyway, she was the one who wanted to smoke and I asked if it was alright to share and that's how I got to smoke M*******a - she's a bad influence..
Ok, I will post more on my trip than just about m*******a. Amsterdam is not only about that!

Leaving Belgium

Today I will be leaving Belgium, with this part of my journey done. I wished I had brought my own laptop because the ones I use her have their letters in different parts. Above is a picture of Antwerp´s Grote Markt, which is a beautiful square and arguably their most famous square. I am kind of neutral... I should have visited enough Markts for now.

However, I do feel kind of sad leaving Antwerp. The B & B I am at is wonderful, with the lady Mia being a kind lady who has been very helpful and also very good to talk to. I kind of wished I was here for a while more.... kinda amazing because she used to do social work too. Haha.

Today I am going off to Utretcht! Hopefully I can post again and more next time!

So Far.....

I am currently in Antwerp but previously was at Paris, Bruges and Brussels. Somehow, my pictures cannot rotate so I can only pick what I have - a picture with John and LL at Arc De Triomphe.

I cannot believe myself saying this, but I liked Paris. I do not fancy the people too much still but the city is beautiful and there are lots to see. I will post more pictures later when i figure out how to rotate pictures!