Many photos coming up! After Bern i went to Geneva and after meeting Angela at the airport, we took a train to Luzern, a really charming lakefront town surrounded by the lower part of the Alpes. When i was very young, my sis and I bought a 2000pcs puzzle and put it up together, the image of the puzzle is the tower and the bridge of Luzern Lake. It has been hanging on our wall for ages without me knowing it is actualy this beautiful place in Switzerland. The feeling is really great when i was finally upfront with the real scenery.

Really grateful for the good weather when we were there

We had our first mountain trip up to Rigi Mt at the high of 1800 meters. The trip started with a boat journey across the lake, followed by a rail train ride all the way to the top. Apparently it is the first mountain rail system in the world. (Do I really sound like a tour guide or what.)

Some sceneries we caught on the boat

Up on Mt Rigi, Angela and I were behaving like suaku kias as that was the first time both of us encounter deep snow. First we got trapped in the snow and laughing like crazy infront of the angmohs. Then we were taking pictures like crazy and spent a whole lot of time playing with the snow. She even made some snow bunnies which later became a tourist attraction where passer by would take pictures of them. We were mad happy and contented with what we saw on this mountain already without realising that there is grander experiences ahead.

The view from the mountain top, overlooking Luzern and its lake.

After whole day of indulgence in the white land we were brought back to greenery by cable cars . Spotted some meh meh on the way to catch the ferry back to Luzern town.

We continued our journey by taking a train to Engelberg, one hour away from Luzern. It is a skii town with lots of hotels and skii shops and it is located just right underneath Mt Titlis, a 3238 meters high mountain with snow all year round. We were really excited as this mountain is almost double the height of the previous one we went. After an hour plus (or is it more?) of travelling on cable cars we were exhalling air of great excitement. Man we were above the clouds! There were lots of skiiers and snowboarders doing their cool stunt while we snapped pictures like China and Indian tourists. It was great fun trying to walk on hard snow and slipped and fell flat on the butt occasionally. Really really cool and cold stuff!


A lot of panaromic to see hor... Sorry for the sloppy job as i am really lazy to joint them nicely la.But trust me, the real scene is nothing like the picture, the impact is hundred times greater! In case you are wondering if we are cold since it seems like we were wearing so little, yes we were very cold! but for vanity sake, we took off our jackets at points of time to take pictures la.. haha


So yeah, we did nothing much except taking pictures and took a silly balloon thing. We took the ski lift as well that flew across a beautiful glacier path and went into an ice cave. The whole experience robbed one day too and then we took the cable cars back down to the ground, blood rushing and still high on the near heaven experience we just had. Okay sorry, sound erotic. Well, it was just very beautiful la.

After the Mt Titlis, we took a train again this time towards Interlaken where we will meet the heart of the Alpes, the top of Europe, the famous Jungfraubahn. Standing tall at 3,471meters high, it is the peak of the Alpes. Couldnt wait, but there was beautiful beautiful sceneries along the way to entertain us.

Never bluff you right? Every where is so breathtaking lor... I wonder if Switzerland is the most photographed country in the world. Well, will never know anyway. Are you tired of reading already? I am tired of updating already, haha... till next post, i will conclude with the finale on the top of Europe and a brief stop at Geneva before this heavenly excursion ends. Tschuess!

I am back from Swiss! I am coughing badly now with a chao ta face cause that country robbed my breath and ruddiness. It is so damn beautiful even the garbage piles look damn lovely. Ask Angela and she will agree. Haha. The next few posts gonna be long rambling of Swiss worshipping and many many peektures to prove my points. Hehe. But really la, peektures don’t do justice; you really must be there to experience the overwhelming sceneries.

I shall start with the capital of this adorable country. While waiting for the female lead (that everyone wants to see) to arrive, I went alone to Bern and spent a night there before going to Geneva. Bern keyed me up the moment I arrived, the atmosphere feels like a living 17th century. Imagine yuppies and city-dwellers in power suits and hip hop jackets walking on brick road and chatting underneath hundred years old clock towers, trams and cars passing by stone fountains and relic monuments. The historical present in the town exudes very interesting contradiction. I was snapping pictures of buildings and people like a crazy tourist amongst the bustling crowd. Everything looks so interesting from a gothic door knot to a clown face fountain.

There were two parts in the town, the new one on top of the hill and the old one below by the river. The buildings are the same only the old town being dead quiet with only hobby shops and galleries around.

The new part has got penetrating tramways, high fashion boutiques and Einstein house!
He spent 7 years in Bern before moving to Zurich but this is the birthplace of E=mc2! Haha how cool. Actually I am not really interested in learning about him la, just wanted to pass time waiting for my hostel which has closed for lunch break.

I really like the richness on the street and i took so much photos of just people on the streets. Modern people on olden streets.


Yeah so the rest of the day is pretty much point and snap and my excitement went from high to low then to negative. Yeah it was really bad at the evening as everything closed damn early. Suddenly it just went quiet, with not a single soul on the street. (Prove : Check out the first two peektures on the 1st montage above, I am not so crazy to photoshop away the people and cars) I was damn bored alone so I went to watch a Dutch movie with German and French subtitles. Hehe. It was a good film nonetheless, superb cinematography. It is called After the Wedding, nominated for this year's Oscars for best foreign film.

If you think the scene in Bern is pretty much like France, yeah I agree cause at this point of the trip nothing extraordinary seems to happen yet. Stay tune for next part when I met Angela (can hear Nat and the rest cheering eagerly) at Geneva and started my never before experiences ☺

p/s : Blogspot seems to lighten all my pics so they might look dull, but the scenes are really much more vibrant in real life. And one more thing, I do not blog this to show off how am I enjoying life while some of you were busy working or studying, I did it as my own travelogue and if you really think I am showing off, you can either don’t read them or make it a motivation to work harder so in turn you can travel to better places.

Update soon!

Not long ago I was in this talk by a Scandinavian design guru Per Hollerup, listened to him talking about his great insight of minimalism and Mies van der Rohe, how we all should strive to design something simple and avoid ornamental elements that serve no purpose in our artwork. I thought it was very motivating and I like his remark of “nowadays there’re so many standards there’re no standards”. I left the talk thinking I must go minimalist.

48 hours later I was on a euro coach reading about how ornament design is coming back with a vengeance. Less isn’t more anymore and people want design that they will get lost in. The new trend of ornamentation is taking over and that is good news for me as embellishment has always been my cup of tea. I finished the magazine thinking I must go back to complicated design and look forward to producing a busy illustration for the adobe award.

16 hours later I arrived in Lyon. France never fails to mesmerize me. There is something about the hue and weather here; I can practically smell romance in the air. Met up with sis and bro in law and they brought me around the town, treated me to good food and explained to me the meaning of many French words. Sis can speak and understand French now. It is gratifying to see how she could slowly adapt to the French world now.
Lyon is beautiful. Like most town, it was built along a river and backed by mountains. The old buildings, some of which are already 400 years old, are very captivating. I always have a thing for brick walls and gothic doors and there are plenty of them here.

This is taken from a church on the hill and how Lyon look from the top.

48 hours later we left Lyon in my bro in law car and drove 2 hours to their French abode in Lons Le Saunier. The journey was scenic and it reminds me a lot of Malaysia actually. The feeling got stronger when we arrived at their town. The place look just like any town in east Malaysia, with the only difference being the language and of course the French are much much much much better looking than the Malays. Sis shares a nice little house with an old French couple and life seems kinda comfortable here. The next day I traveled with sis in train to a slightly bigger town called Besancon where she studies French. This town is much more interesting compared to where they stay and there are tourist attractions all around.





After walking her to school (a very nice building) I was left alone to explore. Besancon is even more picturesque than Lyon with also a river through the town and surrounded by hills. I walked to the Rivotte, where Besancon’s town gate is located. There used to be war in the 16th century and the gate is part of the city’s fortifications. There is this famous castle at the border high up on the hills called La Citadelle.

I reached the peak after climbing hundreds of steps and to my delight, the castle is now converted to a tourist spot and it houses a zoo, an aquarium, an insectarium, a climatorium, two museums and of course the castle itself is worth visiting already. The walk along the parapets offers impressive views of Besancon. I didn’t expect it but ended up spending the whole morning there looking at tigers, monkeys, beetles and learnt how France won over the ruthless Adolf Hitler’s domination.

Top of Besancon

After having lunch with sis, I made a visit to a sizable art museum which houses paintings of some renaissance French painters and some ancient artifacts found during the building of the town. The greatest reward of this trip was to learn about Fraganaud. He sketched with superb line quality and I am in love with his drawings. One funny incident while I was looking at Fraganaud. There were this group of young children, probably doing their kindergarten, were lead by a teacher to look at the drawings. The kids went from drawing to drawing and did Q&A with the teacher. The teacher would ask a question (in French, which I didn’t understand, but it must be something like “Who can tell me what’s in this painting?”). A few paintings away from where they were gathering, there were drawing of a male and female copulating, with uncensored depiction of genital organs and also one with a gentleman sucking a lady’s breast. I was waiting in awe to see what will happen when the kids all move to the two drawings. But too bad, they left shortly after they talked the last drawing they were at.

Yesterday I didn’t go to Besancon with sis, and decided to walk around Lons Le Saunier instead. It is much smaller and really nothing much to do. I spent time walking around looking at brick porch way, gothic window grills, elegant archers, alfresco French and grand facades. Although there were nothing much to do, I still felt great walking amongst the French and smelling the romance.


Today was out with sis to Besancon again. I grew to like this place a lot and I think I like it more than Paris. Paris is too complex but Besancon is just a comfortable portion of France you get for historical and leisure experience. Today I walked around the Porte Noire (black gate) area and visited the famous St. John’s Cathedral. I really like the Rose window and there are a few paintings from the 15th century in it. The weather was too cold today to walk around so I kept running into shops. I must say I am really impressed with their bookshops, any one of them are really huge with anything from cradle to grave. I spent the whole afternoon flipping through art and children books. They have really really nice illustrative books for the kids here. All done tastefully with thick matt laminated cover, spot UV titles and stunning illustrations from skillful French artist. If my dad prints money I probably will take 10 boxes of children paperbacks. Anyway check out Enki Bial, really good artist!


Tomorrow I’m leaving to Bern. That’s the end of France for me this time round. Sis has been such a great host and I really really enjoyed the time catching up with her these few days. We talked so much all the time and it has been so long since I felt like a small boy in her attention. I think I will miss her very much when I am back in London.


Alrighty I am going off to bed already cause I am taking a super early train to Bern tomorrow. Update of Swiss trip soon! Au revoir!

Sorry guys I see the need to rant again, please do not read on if you are in a foul mood.

It is now 3:45am and I couldn’t get to sleep because a bunch of fucking idiotic morons are shouting and quarrelling outside at the corridor. They are all friends of this fucking mad American man who stayed two rooms away and this is the second Friday night he brought a group of about 10 English fools back to the hall and create commotion. They were fucking shouting at each other like nobody business and as much as I wanted to step downstairs to call the security, I am really hesitant about the idea of getting pass those drunkards safely and also to consider my safety in the future. I am already on really bad relationship with that American bastard as days ago I almost got into fight with him.

I was at the kitchen washing my stuff, NOT cooking anything and there he came kicked opened the kitchen door, stormed in and started warning me saying that I have to turn on the ventilator as smell went into his fucking room bla blah (well I wanted to say that’s what you get for living conveniently next to a kitchen, moron, there’s nothing really as best of both worlds) I just replied casually that I was just there to wash my stuff and I am not cooking anything. He then walked towards the rice cooker (which someone has cooked some rice in it) and shouted “What the fuck is this?!” I got really annoyed, turned around and raised my voice a little “That’s not mine!” There, I have given him a good excuse to get his mad veins working. He started scolding me with all kinds of vulgarities, accused that I raised my voice to him etc. I didn’t even give a damn, just speed up my washing so I can leave the kitchen. After yelling for sometimes and got no response, he came nearer and shouted “Hey! Look at me when I am taking to you! You are fucking rude! You need to learn some fucking manners you fucker!” He got on my nerves so I turned around, stared him in the eyes and asked him what he wanted. At that instance, I actually wished that he would punch me or something so I could go down to the office immediately and make sure they have him removed from the floor. But yeah, as expected, big talk no action. He just continued to yak about how he needs to be respected, how he owns the whole of London bla bla blah…Sigh, fucking noob. I just ignored him and grabbed all my stuff and walked back to my room.

I really don’t understand why ang mohs like to talk and argue so much. So much for their ego huh?. Mike, u remember what we encountered on the eurostar train the last time? Where the two girls go

“You stop!”
“No, You stop!”
“No, You stop 1st!”
“No! seriously, you stop!”
“No! You Stop!”
“No! You Stop!”
“You STOP!”
“NO,YOU….. (and it goes in a loop from the top)

what they are doing outside now is exactly the same, with a harsher tone

“You fucking shut up!”
“No! You fucking listen to me!”
“No! You Shut up!”
“No! You listen to me!”
“Fuck! Shut up!”
“You fucking listen to me!”
“No! Shut the fuck up!”
“NO, YOU…..(and it goes in a loop from the top)

Why?! Why must they do that? Are they not any cleverer than that?

I have a friend who said that I should have maintained a good relationship with the guy so things will be easier for me. I didn’t agree with him because he didn’t know how exactly is it like staying here. I once had quite a good relationship with the American guy when the mad Japanese guy was still here. We were kinda on alliance so we always talked about the jap guy in the kitchen and will greet each other every time we met. In fact until quite recently I still greet him whenever I see him, but what’s the use? He is brainless. He hated the Chinese on the floor for cooking heavy dinner in the kitchen every evening and smell gets into his room, but he couldn’t be bothered to remember which Chinese is which. So no matter how many hellos or byes I have said to him it doesn’t matter cuz as long as I am yellow skin I am responsible to the fucking (aromatic, sometimes roast chicken, sometimes steamed fish) smell that gets into his room.

I really wished I could summon enough courage to get out now and get the security up to shut them up. If not for mom warned me about my extreme bad luck this year (which may bring about serious injuries) and I have read about a news quite recently about this Vietnamese guy (who stays in Wood Green like me) and been here half a year (to study like me) got pushed down to the railway track by a group of young English soccer players and got crushed to death by the train, I would have done something. Anyway I do think the security is scared of them too else how could all 10+ drunkards got passed the gate.

For now, I can only grumble. Is there a plague going on here? Why one after another some morons get this disturbing-others-in-the-night disorder and possess peculiar violence traits that threaten the residence here.

Sigh.. There were once peace and tranquility.

My friend also told me that I shouldn’t complain if I didn’t do anything to prevent or to cure the problem. Well sorry guys, I am really not looking for solutions or revisions of what should have been done out of this, I am ranting cuz I am annoyed. Some of you might know that I have been terribly ill that last two days and just when I got better, I am deterred from sleeping.

Alright I gonna stop and put on my big full cup earphones that I bought to solve this problem (I did think of the remedy la). A if you are reading this, I hope I do not stir your emotion again, must remember how we said we must be determined to get problems out of our lives. I am quite settled on the fact that the mad guy is gonna leave this floor just like the previous mad jap guy if not me first.

Take a look at http://www.nemation.sg/, these kids are really good, i wonder if they get proffesional help thou; and dont forget to support this year's fusion. I have missed 2 years in a row liao

Thanks to everyone that sms-ed me... I shouldnt have sound so desperate in the last post la.. haha. I do have some cash reserve at home, so no worries k? I'm still alright!

My mac is working fine now after i put back the ventilator and mom seems better when i called her today. Well fridge theft is still a problem but i am not in the mood to talk about it now. Thanks for all the suggestions though, i will consider and seriously think of doing them.

and steady la james and jeri, got mahjong clan blog somemore! what's next? got mahjong clan tour to london or not ar?

This post is gonna be pure rant and nothing else.

I was in good mood today and thought I would go to the student office and settle my accommodation fees once and for all. I didn’t do it earlier becuz I had issue with their lousy management. Once there the lady went through the process with me and took my (only) bank card to swipe for payment. She then proceeded to make a call to get authorization and while she was on it, she asked me what is my password with the bank. I thought she meant the pin number but she said it is not the pin but a 5-letter English word.

I was taken aback. I never knew there was a password. (I checked with all my mates later and none of them know there is supposed to be one) I told her I wasn’t aware of any password. She then asked me some other questions like birth date, mother’s maiden name etc. After getting everything right, she asked for the password again. I stressed that I don’t have one.

And you know what happened? She said the bank authority suspected that I am not the owner of the card and asked her to hold my card. I told her it is ridiculous and asked her was there any other way to prove my id. She then proceeded to murmur to the phone and hung up.

“Sorry I can’t give you back the card, I have got instructions to destroy your card now.”

Her stupidity really got my blood boiled. The card has got my full name printed, she has got my student record right in front of her to prove that they are of the same name, I have got my photo student id to prove that I am the person with that name, what is suspicious there?!! I argued a lot with her but all she could say is “Sorry, I can’t give you back the card unless the bank says so!”

I was furious and asked for the bank number. I rang the bank there and then but the officer wasn’t helping at all (as usual). She just yak away strings of nonsensical bank procedures for minutes and went to the conclusion that she couldn’t help me. I totally understood that because she was in no position to prove my id.

And as I was talking to the bank officer, you know what the bitch did? She broke my card into two! I yelled at her but it was too late. I just felt like punching her but I was blocked by the glass. She played it by the point that the bank has to ask her to do that because of the need to protect their account holders. And it was for my own good in case someone tries to use my card. Fucking hell. I totally understand and I didn’t blame the bank at all but that bitch, she knew jolly well that I am the real owner and could have given me back the card and asked me to sort out the password issue with the bank instead.

Fucking retarded.

Now because of what she did, I have to go down to the bank to reapply for a new card that will probably takes ages to arrive and I am left with £3 in my wallet. How am I going to survive for the following days? I told her about this then she resumed her motherly look and whimpered in regret. But what’s the use then.

I have to go for my class thus i didn't have time to argue with her. I just spilled some vulgarities and walked away.

Damn it totally spoilt my day. How can someone be so dim. I have had really bad experiences with the brits. I think they are plain dickheads. I have wasted lots of time trying to get a bank account last time and now a simple action of paying my school fees, I have to waste my time again!

It didn’t help when I came back from school to find out that my food in the fridge got stolen (again!) Sickening. They just take everything, cooked or uncooked. And when they take, they took not just one, but the whole bunch away (i.e. one dozen of yogurt, whole bottle of milk, whole bottle of mayonnaise, whole box of raw chicken etc) and most recently, my Tupperware is gone cuz the thief lust after my half eaten pork chop inside it. How filthy can they get? And besides that we have been loosing our pot and pans. Are we supposed to store pots inside our room too?

We didn’t have this problem before, but weeks ago my flat mates started loosing things in the fridge and since then we have been cutting down our storage there but there are things that simply can’t stay out of the fridge. And yeah great all my meat is gone now and I am left with no money.

I wrote a bloody big sign saying, “Beggars have more honor!” and stick it on the fridge.

I should start putting rotten food in the fridge. Fucking thieves.

Before I came back to my room just now, my temperamental hall mate who was once a lively guy responsible for our dinner every nite told me that he doesn’t feel like cooking anymore (which he did 2 weeks ago but decided to cook again and decided not to again tonite). And he claimed that I still owe him £100 for the previous dinners. Maybe I was in a bad mood but I really don’t think I owe him that much. Given the fact that I have paid him until last dec, and across these two months, I think I have only eaten 3 or 4 days a week, and the last two weeks I have been eating on my own. So it is like almost £5 per dinner last time? If so what’s the point of cooking then? I could have eaten at a restaurant every night.

Damn I really hate arguing for vague issue like this; especially it is between people that stay together.

And my family problem.

And my mac problem.

Arghhh!

Sorry for the outrage, i just need to grumble. Over and out now.

Hey updates! Well lets do the necessary first, Happy New Year! Well its kinda weird as CNY whizzed past me so quietly this year. No reunion dinner, no visiting of friends and family, no angpow, no cny goodies, no junk shows on tv, no mahjong and most important of all, not enough sleep and have to drag myself to work whole day on 大年初一. I think it might be a blessing in disguise though, else i might feel super lonely staying back in hall.

I skipped lunch and made a quick trip to chinatown to see the celebration and before I plowed through the massive crowd, i heard cheesy trance music, turned around and i saw this

She was wiggling to the music and totally ignorant to hundreds of trigger happy people around her. Star of the day at leceister square.

Basically theres nothing much to see except endless angmoh heads and lines of really old fashioned red laterns that i think has been recycled for years. The crowd is really amazing and as i was working my way around, i heard loads of insulting remarks. fucking chinese, bloody chinese, oriental crap, ching chiong ching...they were swearing because they thought the chinese causes all that jammed when 80% of the people there were caucasians. I even heard a mother telling her son, "dont go too near the chinese, you will get killed". Oh well...

I managed to catch lion dance before going back to work but the lions could hardly move due to the overwhelming crowd so instead of prancing around, they were carrying the lions' heads squeezing through the crowd and shouting "please move back! we need to go forward!" all the time. But it got the crowd very excited still.

Managed to see my friend in the crowd but i have to wade through the crowd to go back to work. Then i saw people. More people.

You get the idea?

Went back to chinatown after work for dinner. The crowd has cut by half and i thought chinatown looked better at night.

Well, thats it i guess. Back to school tomorrow and a full study timetable ahead before i work my ass off again next weekend. You lucky people enjoy the consecutive days of cny okay? All the best of luck and health to everyone :) Jia you!

Breathless

祝有情人終成歸屬

Just went down and built a snowman :D hehe...

it is snowing heavily in London today! :)

Draw-a-friend-a-day

Out of a sudden urge i decided to start a draw-a-friend-a-day track as a little CNY project of mine, hehe. The challenge is to take 10 - 15 mins everyday to illustrate a friend, and i shall start with none other than Miss

The pleasant surprise came as soon as i opened my eyes this morning... grinz :]

sorry cant help but think that specky guy looks a bit like ah boon.. :p

The wonderful Matthew Woodson, who is only 23. sigh