Barcelona, Spain

I can't do much updating at the moment. The latest hostel i'm putting up at is appalling and everyone's just trying to strap on or lock up their valuables to keep everything safe. Mindy got pickpocketed just awhile ago and lost her wallet so everyone's taking extra precaution now. What a great start to barcelona. zzz. Shall try and update with more photos soon when i get a decent typing surface.

Berlin, Germany

It poured for the first half of the day, so we were forced to abandon our cycling plans to the local neighbourhoods and ended up taking the tube to East Berlin. There lies the longest length of the Berlin wall complete with graffiti and perfect for photography and camwhoring. This, followed by a visit to the Pergamon Museum (link) in the evening. The museum's amongst the many situated on the city's Museums Island and it's pretty neat that they exhibit some of the most famous gates and columns from all over the world. There was the Babylonian gates dated centuries back, and some Roman columns and beheaded Roman sculptures.

Alas, travelers' exhaustion has kicked in because Alan was slumped onto any seat he could find at the museum today. It's really crazy walking kilometres on end for more than 10 hours a day, and it's no surprise I'm down with the cold now. Collecting stashes of used tissue paper wet with fluids from my leaky nose is certainly not something I like doing during a trip around Europe. What's more, I officially finished the final lozenges from a pack of 24 today, and my throat is not completely better--but definitely not hurting as bad as 2 days ago. Time to down a litre of water before bed, and I pray I don't get woken up in the midst of sleep to pee.

Berlin, Germany

The student hostel's wireless connection's pretty weak where I am now, so if this entry goes through (together with the pictures), I'll have to thank my lucky stars. Berlin has been pretty much a disappointment for most of us. We were hoping to see more of history rather than to just read/hear about it. Unfortunately, most of the historical monuments have been either renovated, refurbished or destroyed by bombing. It just doesn't feel right viewing history through a reconstruction, or imagining Hitler's underground bunker in my head when all that's left to represent it is an empty parking lot amongst residential blocks. Strange, if you ask me.

One area Singapore definitely has got to learn from Germany is improvements to its recycling culture. In Berlin, the convenience stores charge an extra 25cents for their recyclable plastic bottles (e.g. mineral water bottles) which they will refund when you return the bottle to the store. It's like a recycling voucher. The Germans also have the habit of sorting out their garbage--paper, plastics, general waste. Quoting our tour guide, Mariska, "the Germans are really extreme when it comes to recycling!". Perhaps the public transport system should take after Germany's too since we've managed to escape paying fares for our trips since we arrived. Nobody checks if you've gotten a ticket so even the locals don't care about buying one!

If you want to feel like E.T., Germany's the place.

Soho, London

[Disclaimer: I very rarely talk about chicken in such a manner]

Tis' the day I took my first bite of Nandos' chicken. 2 words--life changing. The skin of the chicken wings was crisp, salty like how I like it, and loaded with peri-peri spice. Unbelievable. I thought the meat would be shriveled up and dry, but no--it was tender and juicy with even more of that peri-peri goodness. KFC and Kenny Rogers can just bow down in defeat now. Our only gripe was probably the whole chicken which was really disappointing so I guess we'll be sticking to the chicken wings here on.

Funny. Nandos' is almost everywhere in the United Kingdom AND Malaysia, yet there's only 2 miserable outlets in Singapore. One's at Tanglin Mall, the other's at Bugis, and their prices are sky-high. Whyyyyy?!?!

Oxford St., London

Two days away to the big euro-tour. It's 3 guys and 2 girls covering Berlin, Barcelona, Rome and Oslo (that's Germany, Spain, Italy and Norway respectively for those less acquainted with the atlas)! I really can't wait to get out of London because honestly, the city life is getting pretty monotonous for me. It's the same stores, same streets and same Starbucks and McDonalds everywhere I go-- then again I shouldn't be such a brat about it since this city life is the same reason I'm able to sit in a cafe with free wireless to complete this entry.

There are other reasons why I need to get out of here. For one, the place we're putting up at now is not the best of places. The toilet, which all 6 of us are now sharing, has this strange metallic smell which I swear reminds me of the toilet cubicles in Singapore when the sanitary pad bin is filled to the brim and full of whatever's been deposited for the day. Secondly, everything here's beginning to lose its novelty. Kebab doesn't taste as mind-blowing the third time round, and Marks & Spencer's salad combos are no longer calling out to me like they used to. Thirdly, I'm about done with How I Met Your Mother, season 5. I'm saving the final episode intentionally just so that there's an excuse to complete the previous seasons--keeps the suspense in the air! But the problem is... I'm almost half through season 4. Crap. Fourth, I need a guitar really badly--or any semblance of live music to keep me sane. It's all thanks to a performance by this singer-guitarist at Covent Garden earlier (when I went to collect my Macbook) and while he was strumming and singing Goo Goo Dolls' Iris, something within me snapped. I haven't been able to write a single song like how I had wished to do before arriving here. The inspiration's missing and the instruments are absent. I thought I could spend my nights watching local bands do their stuff but there's nothing here. Maybe I've just been hitting the wrong places. Kilian says there's more to watch in Nottingham because it's the hub for everything indie and that's all I'm counting on. Hopefully the euro-tour will keep me distracted from my musical itch.

The silver lining in the cloud though is what I found during my second visit to Cybercandy today--three packets of Twinkies left in a cardboard box by the counter. I know for sure that put a smile on my face for awhile, and it'll definitely put a smile on someone else's. I got 2 packets and I'm hoping the last one works its magic on someone else too.



Got to catch up with mummy, the boyfriend and the best friend now. If anyone ever decides to grab a coffee from Pret (the cafe I'm sitting in now, link), be prepared for shaky hands and trembling fingers. I think this branch seriously overloads on the caffeine because I've never felt this much anxiety after a coffee in my life. God save me please someone send me a bottle of water.

[insert]
I walked in on a guy pissing in the ladies' minutes ago. Here's what followed.
Pret guy at the toilet to me: "Use the gentleman's, the ladies' has got an infection!" (makes weird "taa-daa-daa" noise while waving toilet washing detergent in hand)
Seconds later... "Extermination done. It's safe."
[/insert]

Camden Market, London

Herman and Alan finally joined me in London yesterday (after waiting 1.5 hrs for them at Paddington station and entertaining suspicious eyes from the tube wardens and passersby). Feels different without Sean around now! Nobody to take me sightseeing in London. We're eating and spending differently. Talk about different stuff to. Guess it keeps the travel experience fresh and exciting. I decided to bring the two to Camden market on their 2nd day here--second time for me--and we had quite a feast! The humus roll is to die for! For only 3.50pounds. I had to break the roll up into 3 eating intervals because I simply could not finish the entire thing in one go! Alan got the ham, cheese and mushroom crepe, while Herman got the fish&chips in a cone (good stuff!). Smoothies at 3 pounds each weren't too shabby either.

Alas, the biggest change by far is that I've moved from Plough way, Canada Water to Waterloo. It's terribly boring here compared to the old place--there's no Tescos, or enticing kebab stores. Unless you crave pizza every minute (because there's loads of pizza delivery options available here), there's really nothing much to boast about save for the McDonald's and Starbucks down the street and perhaps the London Eye located relatively nearby. I miss Canada Water :( But I can't complain much when I'm not even paying for lodging. Suck it up.

Covent Garden, London

Covent garden, situated at the heart of London, is home to a mammoth of an Apple Centre, local brands and boutiques, Cybercandy (which stocks Twinkies), and a family of street performers. I caught a few sadly, lacklustre acts. A guy from Melbourne balancing on a platform of nails while juggling, some uber fail magician who spent more than half the time poking fun and taunting the children gathered around him, and some stand-up comedians. Thought I'd spend no more then 2 hours there, but ended up spending more than four.

Anyways, I doubt I'll be able to update this blog as regularly over the next few days though, because my Mac's with the Apple Care Centre and I'll only get it back this coming Monday. All I can say is that it's good to be Asian sometimes. I stress, sometimes.

Tottenham Court Rd, London

Squeezing in a super quick entry because it's already 4am--we spent half the night throwing out stuff in preparation for the cleaners' arrival tomorrow. Anyways, today was pretty mundane. A one-hour leisure run around the neighbourhood, followed by Korean food at this restaurant in Tottenham called Po Cha (link). The Kimchi was hell spicy and the saliva just kept running (I know, gross). Yup, it's true people, not all Singaporeans can take spicy. I'm living proof. Glad to have finally met up with Kilian today after the months of facebooking. Thank god for the internet.

Hyde Park, London

This is what you buy when you suffer from bubble tea withdrawal symptoms. Thankfully I've not reached that critical a stage for me to be willing to part with SGD2 for a can of that whatchamacallit. Seriously. Soy milk with flavoured pearls (mung bean or strawberry)?!?!?!

Camden Town, London

I officially added Camden Market to the growing list of London markets I've visited. Next will be Portobello :D Never expected the markets to be so addictive! Besides the usual offerings of fresh groceries, spreads of exotic and local foods and quirky handicrafts, the people you meet, the sounds you hear and the sights you see... really spectacular. I was thoroughly surprised that Sean and I only spent 4 pounds on food--salt & pepper chicken bites (a la popcorn chicken) from this so-called Malaysian food stall. You'd never find the night markets in Singapore with stalls selling Argentinean, Turkish, South African, Greek, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Mexican (the list goes on...) food all at one venue. Talk about cultural experience--nothing's better than tasting culture and absorbing it through your tummy. Funny though, no Char Kway Teow, chicken rice, fried carrot cake or roti prata in sight at the "Singapore" food stalls. Hmm...

Camden's also home to a family of sneaker stores. The shoes are mostly sold at a discounted price, especially at my new personal favourite Scorpion Shoes (link). Damage to my pocket after leaving Camden? Negative 35 pounds. I'm now a proud owner of a new pair of high-cuts. Say hi to my Asics Kaeli trainers :D

Charring Cross (Hummingbird Bakery), London

Kenneth bought SGD100 worth of goodies from Hummingbird (link) a few days back. Apparently, it's worth lugging the whole bag of cupcakes and cakes back to Singapore to his girlfriend and mother back at home. Personally, I think the cupcakes from Marmalade Pantry (link) kick bigger ass than these--but that's just me. The latter offers cupcakes of a greater variety and with far richer, decadent ingredients such as triple chocolate, nutella and peanut butter. Hummingbird's great only if you're up for their unusual flavours which changes daily--think cherry blossoms, rose, jasmine and lavender. I must say that the red velvet's a winner though. Price-wise, Hummingbird's 2pounds a cupcake while Marmalade's about SGD4 each so I guess it's a tie.

Food aside, we decided to fork out 12pounds for The London Experience (link) attraction. For a history lesson and haunted-house ride combined, I'd say the money was well spent and was perfect for some brainless fun (and loads of screaming!) after all the food-tasting at Borough Market.

Quote of the day-

Me: London has Borough Market... so what does Singapore have?

Sean: Pasar malam.

Sad.