I didn’t really enjoy this stretch though. Friends are right, Croatia is getting too touristy, even during off season period. Other than my airbnb hosts, the people aren’t really friendly to foreigners, totally felt out of place in the country..
However, there are attractions still worth going to see though.
Plitvice National Park
Iconic Grand Falls of the lake but icy to get there.This would be one of them. UNESCO preserved nature sites, this place is pretty beautiful for the multiple lakes around. Its the coldest part of the entire eastern europe region we travelled as it is surrounded by mountains. The floors were icy so going during winter is actually quite a challenge. Would recommend to go in summer instead, but do note that the price in summer is double that of winter. However, the upper lakes would be opened and the boats(included in the ticket prices) would be included.
Duck sees the worldA good thing is that Plitvice parks can store your luggages for you but just beware of valuables as anyone can go in to meddle with your things.
In winter, most lakes are frozen, and even the grand waterfall as well. It’s quite a sight to see! In summer, the lower lakes are opened to swim in, so do bring your swimwear if you want a good dip:) And ignore the closing times, you can just leave anytime you want, but entrance to the park would be cut after a certain time, depending on the season. For winter, there is absolutely no reason to plan for an overnight stay at Plitvice, which some blogs wrote about. In summer, you can consider because there are more routes to hike and activities to do as well!
Split
Can you see the Dinaric range at the back?One of the most touristy parts of Croatia in summer, its very quiet in winter. There are not much people around and many stalls are closed in winter. We stopped by Split for a night stay before we headed down to Dubrovnik the next day.
Old Town Wall of SplitFood wise, I would say there are more options in summer. We ended up eating kebab cause every shop selling food is closed and we did not want Macdonalds. We could not island hop as most routes are only opened in summer as well. So yea, there is pretty much nothing to do in winter haha, except a hike up Šuma Marjan park to get a panoramic view of the town and the mountain range Dinaric.
DOTS Season 2 lolFor food, it is interesting to note that in Croatia, they do not have a unique food culture. The inland towns like Zagreb follow that of Hungary, which are more meaty and stewy. While the coastal towns like Split and Dubrovnik have seafood and grills(that is in summer as well).
Where is my mermaid? Reference to ‘Legend of the Blue Sea’
Dubrovnik
The Robin Hood SetAppreciated this place best in Croatia. The typical shooting place for GoT King’s Landing. This place is starting to pick up many directors as an ideal site for movie films. It’s the reason why Croatia is getting touristy haha! When we were there, they are setting up the set for Leonardo Decaprio’s Robin Hood, and our airbnb host proudly told us that her daughter is gonna cameo in the set HAHAHA!
Famous Ole City WallsThe most amazing attraction of this place is the Great Wall of Dubrovnik, or formally called Old Dubrovnik City Walls. I mean it was where King’s Landing was filmed. Went up to the top of the walls (paying of course) and spent an entire hour walking around the wall and admiring the beauty. Annoyingly, it was rainy and some parts of the wall we wanted to seek shelter but there isn’t any on top😭
Mostar
Stari MostThe capital of Herzegovina before the split, this was also where the 1993 civil war occurred that killed 2000 civilians. As the country was Muslim majority, the proper burial grounds should have been away from the city. However, due to the lack of resources then to quickly transport and bury the bodies, the city converted all their parks to graveyards, which make the city a little creepy in the night.
However other than that, Mostar is a super nice place to visit! For one, the Airbnb host drove us from the bus station to the Airbnb and fro the next day even though it was about 8 mins by walk away! They even made Bosnian desserts for us to takeaway to Montenegro when we leave awwww!
The famous landmark was the Stari Most Bridge in the centre of the city. It is this arch bridge that was built by the Ottoman Empire. Destroyed in the civil war in 1993, the bridge was rebuilt immediately after the war, which shows how important it is to the country!
One other interesting fact about the country is that it has different administrations running it at the same time so it is kind of disorderly and it definitely will not prosper for awhile. It is a pity that we only planned half a day in Mostar, we would have included more days in this place and the airbnb host could take us on day trips!
My overall thoughts on Croatia is that it is simply too touristy. I had the most expectations for this country but turned out to be massively disappointed. I guess if you still wish to go to Croatia, pick summer months instead where you can island hop in Dubrov and Split or jump into the beaches, bars and pools without worrying that they will be closed. The downside would be that there would be many people around!
Bosnia on the other hand, is pretty amazing to visit if you have some time around Eastern Europe. But definitely the next country is even better😎
Budapest -> Bled -> Ljubljana -> Skocjan Caves -> Plitvice -> Split -> Dubrovnik -> Mostar -> Kotor -> Cetinje -> Budva
My major trip in January was a preSEP trip with Michelle and Nicholas to Eastern Europe. While EEU wasn’t the priority for Xinyi and myself, I would very much wanted to explore it after reading many adventure blogs and insta posts about them. Because of the sheer size of the trip, I will split it into three parts (Hungary🇭🇺+Slovenia🇸🇮, Croatia🇭🇷+Bosia&Herzegovina🇧🇦, Montenegro🇲🇪)
Travel Buds
Well, my chem eng buddies. I am very excited to travel with them cause I know that this trip will have zero conflicts. Both of them are doves after all 🕊. It was also super fortunate that the three of us have similar travelling goals, to cover grounds and see nature! So yep, we are like excited about everything HAHAHA Budapest
I met Michelle and we travelled down to Budapest together. Nic joined us only in the night! Our plane delayed due to the roads freezing in Budapest (we went to EEU during the coldest period of winter), and so we had less time to explore the capital of Hungary. However, because of the weather, we were able to observe a natural phenomenon – the floating ice sheets on the river Duane. Such phenomenon was actually reported on the news the next day and we could go like yea we saw them HAHA!
Btw Budapest is a city made up of two towns (Buda and Pest). We went to Pest on day 1 and Buda on day 2.
Climbed up to Citadella, the hill to catch the panoramic view of the city and the bridges. Amazing view up there, even though it took us 30 tiring mins to climbed up. We also went to the Pest House of Terror, where the Nazi operations and following Soviet Union’s rule was documented. What is different from this HoT from that of Berlin was that Hungary was more sore of the Soviet Union’s rule than the World War as they were heavily traumatised by SU.
For dinner, we ate at Belvárosi Lugas Vendéglõ, a Hungarian restaurant behind St Stephen Basilica. Owing to my stomach flu earlier on, I could only eat really little. I was so sad cause Budapest was known for the “Eat like a king” city:( Ended up ordering Beef Goulash, the traditional Hungarian soup for myself and definitely IT WAS THE BEST GOULASH I HAD EATEN! I have eaten Goulash in Poland and Austria but nothing compares to the Hungarian version! The paprika added was so fragrant and the soup was blended smoothly. Yummy! Michelle got the mushroom cream and Pork fillet. Not bad also, and indeed the bill came up to only 12 euros or so. Haha!
After Nic joined us the next day, we went to try Molnár’s kürtőskalács for the ole famous Chimney cake, for breakfast! It is not cheap and we ordered like 3 flavors. €4.50 for one full roll and it was really filling! I got half Cinnamon and half sugar cause I like it traditional. The whole roll was glazed with cinnamon and sugar. It taste lighter than the one I had in Krakow but moister than the one I had in Prague. i like this the best.
When we went out after breakfast, it was snowing YAY! And heavy snow, which means it is romantic yet cold hahaha! We took some retarded photos in the snow and headed up to Buda to explore the other part of Budapest. The Buda castle is underwhelming so luckily we didint enter. We walked instead to the Buda underground dungeon, where the famous Dracula was said to held captive. The underground was pretty creepy to walk along and there was this part that supposedly be paranormal. Could be a tourist scam but we did feel the chills and kick when we walked through the complete darkness haha! What actually fascinated me was the cave exhibition which showcased the best caves around the world. One of it was the Skocjan caves and that inspired us to go for it in Slovenia.
Other than the dungeon, I will say Buda district is fun to walk around but nothing much impressive, cause its rather touristy! Especially near the famous Fishermen Wharf.
After that, we went down to have lunner before we head back to the airbnb to collect our bags and rushed to the bus station to take the bus to Ljubljana. Err, we ended up buying the wrong kinda water, sparkling water, which tasted horrible.
Tip on transport: In Budapest, it’s walkable everywhere but do take the tram if you are tired as the walks can be quite long.
Tip on attraction: My only regret was to not get into the famous thermal baths 😦 would want to go back and try it next time round! Ljubljana & Bled
Slovenia in January is a frozen fairytale. Just like the town you saw in Frozen, everywhere is icy and magical looking. We arrived at 5.30am, a tad too early and we went into the hostel wanting to put our bags. Realised that we forgot to inform them and we were chased out of the hostel hostile, guess we broke their sleep haha! Lesson learnt: email the hostel if you are arriving early.
We then took a bus from the central bus station to Bled where once again the winter landscape welcomed us! We climbed up to the famous Bled Castle and oh my the ticket is so pretty! If the lake isn’t frozen, you can even take a boat out to the middle of the lake, but unfortunately it was frozen for us. Oh well, save money haha! However according to our hostel staff, Bohinjsko is much better a lake to visit. Lesson learnt 2: BOOK A HOSTEL CAUSE THE LOCALS KNOW THE BEST!
What about the capital Ljubljana? It’s pronounced as Loo-ban-yeah by the way, the Js are silent and not the Ls. Lols, was half pronouncing the name as the Hi-5 mascot HAHAHA!
Ljubljana is really really small haha! Too small to be a capital! However it houses 1/3 of the total population (~200,000 people in the capital). The hostel staff even said not to expect a massive bridge like Chain Bridge in Budapest😂 However, the capital does emit a really close-knitted aura, cause i guess it is small – it felt more homely for sure! We walked around the town and saw so many snowman being built by town people! It’s a business thing so that’s why snowmen were lining in front of the shops to attract customers and for them to have fun too:) its pretty interesting to see them using real carrots for the nose and children’s boots for the attire of the snowman. There was one snowman where the nose broke and a random father offered to fix it by digging another hole for the carrot; we applaud for him when he completed it! Went up to our second castle at the top of this super slippery hill, don’t forget that the slopes are ice and snow filled! Nothing impressive about the castle I would say, I would suggest to skip. We still had to take the Funicular down cause we are fearful of our safety haha.
The dinner place was near to our hostel and we went to the place recommended by the host. The Slovenian dinner was so-so i guess haha. Oh yea, speaking of food, Bled is super famous for the cream cakes. We tried one from Slaščičarna Zima, definitely the BEST cream cake we had cause the cream was so special. Not too milky not too artificially sweetened. Recommend you guys to try it out as well!
Tips: the good hostel we stayed in was Hostel Vrba, do check it out but don’t check in early without them knowing haha! And also, just skip all the castles, kinda waste of time if you don’t appreciate history. They are there for us to avoid the cold only hahaha! Skocjan Caves
This was recommended by our host and also I saw it at the Buda dungeon exhibition. We originally planned to go to Postojna Caves but lucky we didin’t. To each of its own beauty, but Skocjan caves is famous for being the largest underground cave in Slovenia, and also being the largest contact karst (aka collapse). Best of all, we get to walk in the cave. In Postojna, you will end up taking the train and it will bring you around. That’s it! So heng, we decided to go to Skocjan caves instead:)
We can’t take a lot of photos but in general there is two parts to the cave walk. You will follow a cave guide and they will bring you around. Just a side note that no photography is allowed within the caves cause they did not want to delay the group, which is quite annoying:( The first part of the caves is the silent cave where you can see many cave formations. The second part is the water murmuring cave, where you can see a underground river running through it. The latter is much majestic and the postcard bridge is located there as well. The latter was flooded in 1963 when there was a massive flood in the cave.
Tips:
There is a student discount to this attraction. Do remember to bring your ISIC card with you! And there is no left luggage, so don’t bring your entire bag with you unless you are willing to walk 3 hours with it! There is also a direct bus/train that goes from Ljubljana in the morning, so go up to the TRAIN station to enquire about the transport details!
Overall, Hungary and Slovenia are up to expectations. Cheap and beautiful! Do consider them in your planning if you intend to go to the Eastern Europe. They are more of beautiful sceneries rather than city chilling/gourmet trips though!
“Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”
Gustave Flaubert
Let’s skip the last two trips and come to Portugal first. I went to the sunny country at end of Feb when winter is leaving but still lingering around. I would consider this trip my major trip this February and I really enjoyed escaping the cold London.
Two of the famous soccer teams in Europe are in Portugal – Porto and S.L. E Benfica
Travelling pals
The first three places, I was with Wesley and Huiwen and yea its really fun to be travelling with them again haha! Being an ambitious traveller, I like to plan out multiple stops to travel out for memorable sceneries and phototaking sessions. However with the two of them, I travelled differently! The trips are more focused on food (LOL!) cause Wesley is super anal with food haha! But no regrets cause I literally enjoyed the taste of Portugal, which I would probably miss out if I am travelling on my own:) So a shoutout of thanks to them heh!
With Huiwen and Wesley
Porto
The UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Porto
Okay so I was on the plane (with zero connection of course) and I received some texts from Wesley.
So okay, I AM going for my first soccer match spectating hahaha! The match was part of the Champions League, between Porto (Home) and Juventus (Away). Wesley and Huiwen, being fans of the away team, even brought a jersey for me to change into! 🏟
We are all wearing the Juventius jerseys but we can’t openly show it cause we are supporting the away team XD
So we arrived at the stadium about 30 mins before the match started. We got neutral front row seats (super worth it), but turned out all the fans around us are supporting the home team.. We were so scared to take out our sweater and coats hahaha! This was much worse when 30 mins into the game, the referee issued a 🔴 card to Porto, making the fans around us enraged and one even threw the Porto flag towards us. We then zipped up our coats to hide any evidence that we are supporting the away team – what a shame!
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But being in the front row, we are able to catch all the actions in front of us and this Huiwen keep asking me to take nice shots of her star – Dybala – so here you go hahaha! We were also CAPTURED on Euronews and Football TV hahaha how cool was that!
Okay, enough content for a non football fan like me. What else is Porto known for? It is a UNSECO heritage site but the town is pretty similar to many old towns that I have travelled to. When my plane was flying in, I saw the newer buildings and they are continuing to expand the colourful scene of Porto. Wasn’t super impressed ah, but I liked the color of the skies that day haha:) missed the warmth since Nov 2016, lol.
St Luis I Bridge, Porto
A tip for the travellers is that, the suspension bridge is located downhill, so be prepared to climb up if you want to go down to the Riberia Square or to see the bridge. Alternatively, it will be better to uber upwards instead of paying €2.50 pp to take the inclined rail up the slope!
Also, we recommend trying the food at this pastry near the Central Bus Station. It sells super cheap pastries and bread for <€0.80 and the orange juice is so fresh! We had a full lunch and it came up to be ~€15 for 3 people. We were so full we took 2 hours to finish the meal! Lisboa (Lisbon)Lisbon City Centre
Kind of like the Portuguese spelling better haha. After a day in Porto, we took a 4 hour bus to the capital of Portugal. Lisbon is one of the capital I enjoyed the most in Europe. The reason is that I feel safe throughout and the Portuguese are very friendly to English speaking tourists/travellers!
We spent the first day checking in and going over to Bélem. This is a must go not because of the Bélem tower or monastery, but because the world’s most famous Pateis da Nata (egg tart) is there. It is called Pateis da Bélem and an egg tart is €1.10. No, there is no price discrimination, so don’t bother buying in bulk thinking you will save money. Don’t think that you will be satisfied buying one to try only, we bought a dozen to try and ended up buying another dozen in the same day LOL! It is DAT good:) the pastry is flaky but not too buttery, and the custard is not gelat at all. The only people who probably would avoid it are those who are allergic to eggs. Screw all the diet plans, there are no such things when you travel HAHA!
Belem Tower
The other recommendation would be this tavern called Taberna da Rua das Flores. We had dinner in this place for two consecutive days trying different dishes haha! So what is so good about this place? The tavern sells Hoji, which means ‘small dishes’ in Portuguese. Having good experiences with tapas(Spanish small dishes) before, I asked the staff if these are tapas but I was surprised that she rejected that claim, saying that the dishes are uniquely Portuguese small dishes. Haha that is what I like about them, the Portuguese have pride in their own country:)
We ended up buying 4 boxes (of 6), cause its so good!
So back to the food, we had amazing fish dishes. We started off with a dish translated to Mackerel Tatarte, which is a block of Mackerel served with seaweed and dried shrimps. This is the traditional Portuguese dish and it tasted amazing. We also had an amazing spicy grouper with homemade spicy sauce. The spicy sauce is like those in Cantonese/Xinghwa restaurants – a little will spice up the tongue:) love the fish cause it was done perfectly! In fact, all the dishes are done so perfectly that the tastes wowed us in the mouths haha! A tip would be to order the fish dishes over the other meat because Portugal is famous for seafood🐟🦐🦑🐙 One more thing, Portuguese food is mostly sour in general because they like to add citron/tomato to their dishes, so do note that if you hate sour food🍋🍅.
For transportation wise, we would recommend you to get the 24 hour pass because it covers everything in Lisbon zone (metro, train, bus, trams) or you will end up paying a lot for single trips. They will issue you a paper card so keep it well as you can use it to top up and save €0.50. Do ask for youth discount, i think we are eligible for 25% off, same as Rede Expressio coaches!
Sintra is famous for the fairytale-like forests and castles in it!
Please note that Sintra is not in Lisbon zone and you will need to purchase a separate return pass (about €4.95) to Sintra. And if you ever go to Sintra, skip Moorish Castle and hike up to Pena pr Regaleria instead if you lack time. Or do the walk to the coast if you have the time, the sunset is amazing. Dont sign up for any tour at the station as they will probably just try to rip you off!
Lagos
Sunrise in Lagos
Bidding farewell to the couple on my fourth day, I did a solo trip to two towns in Algarve. Honestly, Algarve is the biggest motivation for me to visit Portugal (along the egg tarts). The Algarve region is like the Alps of Switzerland, Black Forest of Germany or Caves of Slovakia/Hungary. It’s not a must go but for a nature lover like me, I would definitely be excited to visit it.
Ponta de Piedade, aka Mercy Point, southern most part of Lagos
The famous landscapes are the naturally formed sea grottos and caves. Hence I researched and decided to take a bus down to Lagos where I can do a boat tour to visit them.
Yet, my bus was overnight and it reached at 5.15am. The bad thing about Portugal is that shops open late and close late, like Spain, and I was stranded with my backpack and shelterless at 5.15am. Decided that I don’t want to freeze in the town, I decided to do a sunrise hike down to Ponta de Piedade(aka Mercy Point). It takes around 30 to 45 mins to reach the destination and I walked in the dark for the stretch courageously. It wasn’t really scary at all until I passed by some houses with guard dogs barking at me. That wasn’t so bad until two dogs jumped over the wall and started chasing me WTF. They are about my knee height and being shocked I ran of course. Got chased for about 200m, fml. I had to recover on the route to the grottos but I was rewarded by the most amazing view this trip:) even though the winter sunrise is blocked by the dense clouds, I really love the place. Places to see before you die yea!
One of the sea caves I saw on my boat tour
Checked in to my hostel afterwards at around 9am and I had 2 egg tarts at SPAR cafe for €0.50 each. Dirt cheap and good, think I am gonna put on weight after I reach London lol!
I then went to join the boat tour i signed up for and because it was off season, there were only 5 tourists on the boat. This organisation is quite good, called Daysofadventures! The gusie explained everything in three languages, cause there was Portuguese, Spanish and English(me lol) travellers on the boat. We passed by like 10-20 grottos and sea caves and the guide even stopped by places when we requested to:) on a good day, we are able to see the southern most point of Portugal, called Sagres(aka end of the world where the god are believed to rest). The two couples other than me are old couples and sitting behind them, it was so cute to see them embracing each other(hug, hold hands, lean on each other’s shoulders) lovingly. Hahaha wish we could be like that when we are old too:)
Lovely couple on the boat tour:)
After the boat tour, I went for lunch. Wanted to try out this high review Peri Peri chicken but they are closed for winter(perks of travelling in the off season!) fortunately, I got to eat at this fish n chips store called Ol’ Bastards (usually you need to reserve in summer cause they will be out of seats). Not exactly cheap but damn worth it! The staffs were the friendliest I have seen and the waitress actually told me she was in Brighton last winter haha! The fish is battered in beer and vodka and the taste was light and crisp! The fries I got came in Cajun salt cause I ordered the American menu. The portion was pretty satisfying and I would highly recommend this place to try out:)
Lagos Adventures
Went back to the hostel and realised there was a rooftop party the night. Wanted to join but I was so tired from the lack of sleep and I KOed straight for 15 hours OMG!
Faro
Runner cooling down by the harbour
My last stop is the capital of the Algarve region! I got to this place from Lagos in 2 hours, pretty easy!
And my hostel is very welcoming, even though I checked in really early (Algarve Hostel). Get the 6 bed dorm instead of the 10, the facilities are much better and quieter.
When I was there, I told the receptionist (Joel) I wanted to walk to Ria Formosa. Thank goodness I asked because it was incorrectly labelled in the Google Maps. It makes sense to head west than east and he told me that in February, Flamingoes are breeding. DAMN, I must see it hahaha! I was praised for having done my research, hahaha, well!
After lunch (at macs), I headed out for my walk. the walk was about 1h15mins to the start point of the park, or you can take a 20-minute bus 16 to the airport and start from there. Haha, I prefer walking cause I got to see a whole range of flora and fauna along the way.
Upclose with nature
Got to play with Dandelions like Eun Tak did in Goblin hahaha, and caught bees gathering honey from the Dandelion flowers. En route to the park, I was walking beside the airport and it was super cool as the planes flew directly over me, which reminds me of Daniel Powter’s ‘Next Plane Home’ album art. Walked further down and I caught my sight – Flamingo nest! I walked towards them and they flew away. Okay I geddit, they are really sensitive to noise. So I approached them with caution the next time and I could only watch them from afar haha! Tips for bird watching, you really need a binoculars or mega zoom lens! At least I got to watch them fly towards the sunset when the weather became cooler. Their feathers are amazingly pink and red:) something that I always wanted to see. Fact, even though I lived near Boon Lay, I haven’t been to the Jurong Bird Park at all.
Flamingoes Party
Came back to Faro and I had Portuguese dinner with my newly made friend from Hong Kong, Kin. This guy quitted his job recently and wanted to find a job in the UK. From what he told me, it seems really difficult, especially for students with a general degree and little experience (he did BBA). Anyway he lived in Belfast the past 4 months and he shared with me something really interesting – Northern Irish citizens are eligible to hold both the British and Irish passport. So Brexit does not affect them at all!
My room mate is also super cool. She was the cleaning lady of the hostel but apparently she is Scottish, studied in Canada(has a house there) and has been travelling for the past 18 years, WOW! She’s really living her life, just that she chose not to settle down! Amazing lass, and super inspiring too. The biggest thing I learnt about the europeans are their emphasis on independence! That’s something Asians struggle to achieve because we have too many considerations that tie us down. It is also the reason why I will not consider a long term job abroad.
Here’s a cute boy to reward you for the long post 😛
And here marks the end of my long post about this Portuguese trip. I really love this trip and I have gained so much from this place. Given a chance, I would definitely come back with Xinyi or my family in the future:) highly recommend to visit this place, over places like Scotland/Croatia/Belgium haha!h
Can’t really see the line of mountains at the distance
So, wassup with the second half of the Moroccan trip? Something golden…. Yes, the desert🐪 We took a trip down to the desert at M’hamid and I am going to tell you our most disappointing yet fruitful story!
M’hamid
But the houses are all made from sand and water
Why was it disappointing? Well because we signed up the accomodation via couchsurf, wanting to learn more about the Moroccan culture. After Xin’s previous rave couchsurf experience, we wanted to have more of those exchange. We thus gave up a desert tour from Marrakech and took the 8 hour bus down to M’hamid. Turns out that the couchsurfer is actually a tour agency and they baited couchsurfers to the desert town and asked them to sign up for an overpriced package if they want to go to the desert. Seriously, for that price they are doing 1 night and I could have signed up for a similar price package in Marrakech and they would be doing 3… however, we were bitter that we travelled all the way down to M’hamid and decided to go for the package.
House cooking with the ‘Couchsurf hosts’
Thankfully, there were no one else who signed up for the same day (yea, there were other couchsurfers who got baited) and we had the tour and the guide to ourselves. Speaking of the tour itself was okay, they brought us to the sand dunes via 4 wheel and the camel. We saw the best sunset in our entire exchange and we also had a mini campfire where the tour guide and other locals began performing their local songs. We got to see a blanket of stars as well in the skies, which is pretty amazing! The major thing was that the desert was really cold in the night and this meant that there was no hot water to shower and we slept while we shivered. Or did we even sleep. It was so bad that we were counting down the hours to sunrise: Lesson learnt, while winter is good to visit the desert (off peak and less hot, try not to stay overnight, or bring a sleeping bag at the minimum). Else, come in April or October.
Our overpriced desert tour (200 EUROS for one night, sighs)
Okay, back to the complaints. When we got back to the couchsurfing/tour holding area, we were in horror when we saw like another two groups of couchsurfers there. Oh seriously, and because we have already paid and done our tour, the guides were giving more attention to the other couchsurfers. We were like transparent there, even though they did cook for us and all in the presence of the others. Once they left for their tours, the interactions between the hosts and us became almost zero. We wanted to see the desert town which the host promised to bring us and initially they were reluctant to do so. It was only till the host was due to receive another couchsurfer and needed to cook dinner that we managed to go and see the town. Sighs, all we felt then was that we wanted to get out of the desert and back to Marrakech, but the bus was booked for the subsequent day:(
At least we got to ride the camel!
Thankfully, we realised the next couchsurfer was a Chinese who is living in Spain and we hit it off really well. We communicated with him in Mandarin on purpose to warn him about the trap and he was actually quite chill about it. He has been couchsurfing for the past 2 years (WOW!) and he was really open out the fact that he quit his job because he got tired of it and used pursuing masters as an excuse in Spain to travel around XD. Super cool guy! He even offered us Lindor Chocs when he figured out that we haven’t eaten dinner and would be hungry, aww:) He’s the only reason that we were glad that we stayed behind.
A night filled with stars. No editing here, just long exposure (~8 secs)
Zagora
The other reason why I said that the desert trip is fruitful was because of Mouad. This pol science student which we had met on the bus en route to the desert. We originally did not have a good impression of him as he came onto the bus looking rather shady and started talking to us randomly as we alighted to look for the toilet. In fact, when he invited us to his place in the town slightly away from the desert town we wanted to go, we were abit scared. However, the impression changed when he helped us to bargain with the taxi driver that was bringing us to M’hamid. We decided to try going over since we wanted to experience local life and it was not possible after the bad experience with the couchsurf host. Thus, we took the leap of faith to go over to the town, Zagora.
Our brother Mouad!
Turned out that Mouad was really friendly! He brought us to his house, taught us to make Moroccan mint tea and explained to us his family structure:) And despite revising for his examinations, he took the time to make us comfortable:) He also brought us to his family’s house where his mum, sister and grandma were there. We were welcomed warmly by the entire family:) And Mouad’s mum even cooked for us! Mouad’s nephews tried to converse us in English and they are really curious about the world. So we opened out instagram and facebook for them to see XD. Mouad’s sister was quite funny as well because she keep asking us how to make our hair straight, but we told them its the genes HAHA! Afterwards, before we left, the family even took a photo with us for memories sake:) so nice of them, but we can’t post the photos with the ladies because it is not really nice for them in their culture.
Thanks to Mouad, we got to see a Moroccan life and also the ambition and desire of an ambitious Moroccan wanting to see the world! We have learnt a lot from him and despite not being an official couchsurf experience, its more than enough:)
And that was the end of our Moroccan trip, and also Xin’s final trip in Europe:(
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Well goodbyes are the hardest words to say. Tears just say it for us!
On a side note, Happy Valentine’s my dear Xin Yi! Thanks for teaching me how to love and for letting me love you for the past 28 months. We no longer celebrate monthsary but everyday with you is equivalent to a celebration:) even though we are not together physically, our hearts are still connected. Seeing so many couples in thie exchange and hearing their love stories make me understand that every couple is unique and I am very happy and thankful to be able to write this story with you:) i love you!
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Marrakech -> M’Hamid -> Zagora -> Marrakech
It’s been awhile since I blogged. Haha for one, I am quite busy and lazy at the same time. But yay because my profs like my group’s presentation and he gave us A for almost every component. “Good take on the business perspective”. Eh, 我读 finance 不是盖的. Hahaha, just kidding, I thought the cost calculation is quite crappy for all the assumptions we had to make tbh. Whatever, they like it can already!
So at the start of January, after my family left, Xinyi and I decided to head south to Africa for the exotic experience and to escape the cold, hahaha!
The problem with travelling out of the continent is that 1) no data, have to get their plan, 2) not sure if singapore passport can enter without a visa and 3) everything is traded in their currency and their currency circulation is limited to their own country only.
So feeling really lost, we spent our new year planning for all these minute details haha. But we were really excited for our first African trip and last trip together as well. So excited that I kind of can’t sleep in the afternoon (cause we needed to hobo at the airport in the night). Xinyi snores quite loud so you can tell when she falls soundly asleep, HAHA OOPS!
We tried to cook claypot rice for dinner but kinda failed cause we are noobs and we cooked the rice before frying it in the pan. Should be the other way round so the rice wouldn’t be too sticky. Thanks to Auntie for bringing over some rice and sauce for it!
After dinner, we began to head out to the airport. Thinking if we reach early, we will be able to chope seats to sleep. But nah, Stansted airport is a sucky place to HOBO because they have limited seats and they only open the departure gates at 2.30am. We sat at Costa Coffee and waited till 3am when the ryanair counter is opened. Got in and surprisingly we cant sleep and went to eat BK instead lawls.
Luckily the plane ride was comfortable that I could sleep well for the three hours:) As the plane was hovering over Morocco, we saw patches of brown and gold(desert). It was an interesting geography there!
And finally yay to 22 degree weather, havent had a chance to shed our layer for a long time XD. When we stepped out of Marrakech airport, we started to feel the heat and well the warmth is good!
Took a bus down to the famous Jemma El Fna medina, and we were greeted by a row of fruit stalls. Essentially, all of them are selling the same thing, orange juice for 4 MAD (or 0.40c euro) and some varied fruit drink for 10 MAD (1 euro). It was perfect competition and nobody can raise the price at all. And every stall we walked past, people are persuading us to buy. The annoying thing was that the moment you walk away, they started spewing vulgarities at us – such uncouthness! We tried from one stall and the orange juice is definitely one of the nicest we had! Guess morocco is known to be an orange land hahaha!
Subsequently, we checked in the hostel and wow the riad style hostel is quite cool. Riad are houses where the room are built to face inwards, towards an indoor garden. We shared the room with just one other German guy and we had a really good sleep:)
After the check in, xinyi and I walked around the souks in the medina but the experience wasnt really pleasant because everyone is so persistent and they keep approaching us to buy the moment we set our glance onto their items. We bought some agand oil that smells really good, as recommended by a friend. So we would recommend getting it. While you are buying, do negotiate for a good price. Dont bother about finding out the quality of the oil because they are all the same – each retailer will probably tell you that their comes from some authentic source..
We also went into a really nice pastry shop that sells turkish and moroccan delights(sweets) and the shopkeeper came to entertain our silly request of buying just 200g of sweets😝
After that, we went to have dinner at one of the street stalls in the medina. Ordered kebap, tagia and harira(meat skewer, moroccan veg stew and veg soup). They are really good but what really impressed us was the MINT TEA! Its like sweetened tea with a hinge of mint inside, super refreshing after all the salty and savory dishes:) best drink in morocco, better than the orange juice haha! However, something to note is that, return all the bread and appetisers back to the waiter if you DO NOT intend to take them. They are not complimentary and they will charge you even if you take a small bite. Touristy place indeed. We also saw some exotic dishes like sheep head but I didn’t dare to try😅
On day 2, we decided we are so sick of walking around with our guards up that we decided to take a stroll down to carrefour, which is about 5 streets away. Marrakech out of the medina feels like a normal city but still doesn’t let go of the tourist air. The cities are lined with rows of orange trees and occasional cluster of national flags alongside of the rode. Mischievously, I plucked an orange and tried it with Xinyi. Its super sour, that we threw it away after one bite😅 Guess we shouldn’t have listened to the mischief and pluck it haha!
Walked into carrefour and shopped there like we are doing our regular groceries shopping. We compared prices between that of UK and we realised some stuffs are actually more expensive, like ice cream haha! Their fruits are damn cheap though! So we bought a bit of groceries and went back to the medina.
Enroute back, we walked into a park that is sponsored by the telcom provider Maroc Telcom. Quite a nice place to chill haha, we walked around and saw many families who came over to walk around. Kind of love this walk with xin haha:)
We then went back to the medina to go up some cafe @ the roof to catch the sunset. Not before we actually went down to the bakery to get our Moroccan sweets again:) the girl who served us recognised us and came right away to help us XD. But sadly she can’t take a photo with us as it is a culture thing not to reveal their faces to public:)
The sunset was beautiful but we had to order something or the people would keep coming to bother us. We could not get a good seat at the start until some Swiss couple left and gave up their seats to us:)
“We thought that by leaving, we would make someone else’s day”
thats what the lady told us, and it was definitely sweeter than the mint tea we got:)
Some couple suddenly pulled the chair and wanted to sit with us, and questioned what’s the problem when we refused them. Guess they were being racist and thought that we could be bullied. Thankfully the Swiss couple came back and defended us by saying they gave the seats to us and not anyone else. We were so touched when they help us out in the situation:) bless them!
The sunset was really beautiful in Moroccan’s uninterrupted skies and it signify a beautiful closure for our marrakech days:) (had targine again for dinner but whats new right?)
Alright, I shall break here for a while before i continue with the second part:)
The next country that we visited as a family is Austria! Decided on this place because my family wanted to spend somewhere special for Christmas. Knowing Austria’s Christmas scene is quite special, I decided to bring them there!
Salzburg
It’s however a wrong choice to do so. On 24th December, Christmas Eve, almost EVERY PLACE is closed. Supermarkets, restaurants and even Macdonalds. Which means, no food?!?! Having arrived only in the evening, that was the struggle we had to deal with, we ran around hunting for anywhere that sold food. Ended up paying €3.50 for some ham and cheese sandwich that tasted rather meh, but oh wells.
Spending Christmas Day in Salzburg wasn’t too bad though. We walked around the Christmas Market and indulged in the festive feels! Went up to the Hozensalzburg Fortress for the panoramic view and I would say that you have to go there because you can see the Austrian Alps surrounding Salzburg in the distance. Beautiful! In the fortress itself, there were some small exhibition showing and we went into this puppet-like gallery. Got a really bad shock when I opened a queer-looking wooden. Itchy hands me hahaha, but I drew a crowd to that exhibition subsequently and people started opening it as well.
We then drove to the Mirabell castle where the famous “The Sound of Music” was filmed. Quite an underwhelming garden to be honest, but it was crowded with tourists. My dad also scratched his car the moment he tried and enter the carpark. Be extra careful here! The carpark entrance in austria are so badly made that any medium sized car that leaned too near to the side will strike the curb! It was a heart stopping experience for my family trying to reverse out of the damage UPHILL and the locals are just watching and not helping-.-
We also did some grocery shopping at SPAR and guess what, it is filled with Mozart Chocolates😂 So touristy but it has one whole section filled up by those chocs, be it if they are produced by different suppliers. The other goods are okay and not as cheap as other parts of Europe.
Hallstatt
On day 2, we drove out to Hallstatt, one of the towns surrounded by the alps! Wanling has always asked me to visit the place if I had the chance and indeed after seeing the photos, I knew that is a place in my list as well! Driving in Austria is a beetch because we are not used to manual gear and neither were we used to left hand drive. Being the first driver of the day, I faced countless amount of stress as I drove through the narrow roads and icy highways of the country, at 80km/h. Once, I turned into the wrong road from the highway into a narrow one-way road and i had to make a 15 minutes drive about to get back to the main road. Definitely not helping when the engine keeps stalling!
But lo and behold, we drove past a gem – Wolfgangsee. This lake was half shrouded by mist and it looks like a painting! We pulled over and had the whole lake view to ourselves HAHAHA!
Continuing our journey to Hallstatt, we began to see tour buses piling up beside one another. To our surprise or shock, Hallstatt is rather famous as a tourist attraction and many tour groups will drop by😅 However, that did not break us. We walked around the town towards the photo spot, which my parents called it 仙境, and we played with hungry swans. On our way back, we saw llamas too that Xinyi and my Sis thought were alpacas HAHAHA! Funny max, the llamas even queues up for food!
Leaving Hallstatt, we drove down to Vienna. That is where a lot of events happened!
Vienna
Well first my mum got angry with me for commenting about her and her food oops. Then she refused to speak to me for a good half a day.
Then, she got pickpocketed for about 800 pounds:( kind of skilful though cause my mum kept the envelope two compartments within her bag and she didn’t even take it out at all. So we had to go to the police station abroad to report the loss.
Nonetheless, Vienna was pretty beautiful in terms of the architecture and night scene. Known as the city of music and art, every street is so grand and pretty that it is a really relaxing experience walking down them. Just be careful of your belongings yea.
Apparently, you can watch opera for 4 euros! Xinyi and I watched a ballet(opera wasn’t shown that night) for that price, but we need to stand throughout the show. To go for these standing tickets, queue for the show at the respective venues at the standing queue about 80mins before the show! And bring along a scarf, after you get your tickets, you will be led to the hall to mark your seats. Subsequently, you can go and eat or use the restroom if you like. I would recommend to sit and rest cause its honestly tiring to stand throughout. The ballet? It is really arty and nice but Xinyi and I cannot appreciate it fully. So we gave up after the first intermission and walked around the streets itself. Super amazing city I would say, the public transport systems are super effective as well!
And so, that marks the end of our Austrian leg and having ended this, I had to say goodbye to my family soon:( This is getting really sad haha!
Our next family trip is to the Scottish land. Reached Edinburgh and got our car from the rental shop. My goodness, don’t ever book your car rental via Ryanair, the car company they used are cheap but shady and small. When we rented our car for around 200 GBP for 4 days, they made us sign for this insurance package(saying its compulsory and added some miscellaneous charges) that added about 50% more to our rental car charges. Turned out we paid about 680 SGD for the car. Angst, the car company is easirent by the way.
After some delay, we drove the car to our airbnb. The house is really cosy with two bedrooms and 1 living room. Xinyi and I took the living room and it was really cosy at night. So happy for lovely accoms😄
Dinner was at this Italian restaurant and honestly it is quite nice! My sis ordered Risotto cause she wanted to try and we also ordered this italian dish called Calzone. Calzone is basically pizza ingredients wrapped up in a puff like bread and my mum said that it tasted like curry puff lol.
Drove up to Pittenweem on day 2 and i would say the coastal view there was so pretty! Omg, the sun was the biggest I have ever seen. And so was the wind, it was so WINDY standing there that my family started cuddling one another to block out the wind XD. We then had the Scottish Fish and Chips at the fish bar nearby and it is the first time we tried Haggis(aka sheep intestine patty). If you do not know how it was made, you might probably enjoy the dish better HAHA!
After lunch, we did a 1.5 hour drive up to Dunnottar Castle and I think it was abit too much for my family. Kind of regretted driving them there just to catch the sunset cause the ride back took really long and they were uncomfortable:(
This was also the time I found out that I left my tripod at Pittenweem and by the time we went back, it was missing:( I am so sorry Auntie, you gave it to me for Christmas and I muddleheadedly left it elsewhere:/
And when we reached the accom, we realised… there was a blackout YAY! WHAT A LUCKY DAY! Took us 15 mins to get the power working again (with the help of the airbnb host) and then we could finally settle down for a homecooked meal for the family:) The kids cooked okay! Even though we only made maggie and reheated the fries from the afternoon HAHA
The next day, we walked around the town of Edinburgh and I personally like the old town. It has the Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley feel! And there are some shops like the bookshop that look really antique. The new town held the Scottish Monument and George Street was so-so. We went there to the Christmas market and walked around. As we were about to head back to the old town for lunch, we chanced upon a double rainbow! OMG, it was our first rainbow in Europe and it was a massive double rainbow! Spent some time admiring it despite the shower until it faded away!
Went over for lunch at Oink, famous for the Hog Roll and then the Edinburgh Castle. IMO, 16 pounds for entrance is bloody expensive and the castle wasnt really worth the hype. Plus Scotland weather sucks that it kept raining and pouring every now and then. Didint really enjoyed this part of the day! The walk back home after dinner was good though, xinyi and I were singing all the chinese old songs haha. Kinda miss singing K since the start of SEP:/
On the last day in Scotland, all I have to say is that the weather is against us. No matter where we went, it would rain the moment we leave the car and stop when we are in the buildings/car. Groans, it was our outdoor day somemore-.- The most enjoyable part of this day was us goofing around at the Forth Bridge. It was soooooo funny making the whole family do jump shots on Boomerang HAHAHA! We also stopped by Falkirk for lunch, at some chinese restaurant which served all-you-can-eat buffet at 7.50 pounds per person! Cheaper than most other restaurants! The owner was a Hongkie and she had ran the business for 20 years already, wow!
And that marks the end of our Scotland trip! The whole trip was enjoyable and all, but just have to say that Scotland is a really bad place to visit during the winter. The rain and wind are strong and unpredictable. In fact, there was an ongoing gale that hit Scotland that week and would only leave the week after. Since Scotland is a nature focused place and bad weather would cripple your trip, do consider the place in summer instead!
My last day with my family was spent in London (of course). Xinyi went to Stockholm so it was just the 4 of us this time.
Honestly, I just want to cherish every moment of it and I can remember every event we went through. Waking up in the morning, we had breakfast at the hotel. After which, we went to my hostel to bring back the luggage we left on Day 1. Staying there with my family for the last time was kinda hard haha, and I then brought them to the place where I usually do my grocery shopping – ASDA.
We combed the place section by section, row by row. At the start, it was really exciting to show them what I would buy and what they can bring back to Singapore, but as the number of rows decrease after time, my heart got heavier as I know the time to leave North Acton is getting near. We spent 60 pounds for this shopping though, omg!
Had lunch at the ASDA cafe before we head down to Westfield Shopping Center. Quite a nice place with a few high end shops here and there. However, there is nothing much to buy. We then walked to the police station to file a second report before we headed over to Marble Arch for our lobster dinner at Lobster and Steak.
The best dinner I ever had is in London. This Lobster and Steak meal is SO good! Every lobster or steak set is 20 pounds, which includes the main (Lobster or Steak) , salad and unlimited fries. The lobster and steak are SO DELICIOUS! We really enjoyed the meal and we chatted merrily hahaha!
After dinner, we then went back to the hotel for some last packing before we had our last night in London.
The day came and I solemnly brought them to the airport. Carrying the luggages down 3 levels of stairs and lugging them through the one hour tube to Heathrow were hard, but nothing was harder than sitting down at Costa Coffee with the family for our last breakfast. They began to remind me that I am gonna miss home and CNY, asking me to take care pf myself while I am in London and all. I remembered every word they said and I will keep them close in my heart to keep me warm through this lonely winter.
After the breakfast, we walked to the departure gates. I hugged them and we had a flurries of saying goodbyes, as if trying to compete who would bid the last goodbye. I won, and they finally went in. My heart sank. The airport staff was watching us and she was really nice to let me hang around there for awhile to pick myself up. “Was that your father, mother and sister?” She asked. I nodded and I turned back. Walking to the tube was really hard, I watched the number of devices connected to my personal hotspot drop to zero and I know that they are gone. I stopped to tear a little before continuing to walk.
As I was in the tube, I got a messenger call from my family. They showed me that they are already in the plane and told me how they were chasing for it until the airport staff gave them a ride on the airport cleaning vehicle. Hahaha! So funny! But yep, seeing them well and happy made me really satisfied. I did my best to give them a trip to remember and they did their best to warm me up for the next six months too. Thank you, family!
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After a week with the Lim family, I finally met my own family. The most look forward to trip is one that you can feel fully at home. When I saw my family, I was so excited that I began chatting non-stop to them about London! But I can feel them getting really tired from the jetlag on the first few days and it kind of made me 心痛 a little!
The london stretch spanned across four days and I brought them to Trifagar Square, London Eye, Tower Bridge and several touristic places cause they have not been there before. Pity that the weather was foggy but at least they managed to capture a view that they have wanted to see!
Brought my family to my hall in North Acton to show them my living conditions and also explain to them my lifestyle during exchange and was really happy that they are more 安心 cause I have been living really well:) I brought Xinyi’s family to birmingham too and as I explain to Xinyi’s mum about her life in Birm, I could see her smiling and feeling rather satisfied to have sent her daughter for this exchange. It’s a nice feeling and I am starting to know better on how a parent will be feeling haha!
Got to try a lot of food that I have never eaten before in London so far due to the cost. One of such is Spanish tapas at Jamon Jamon! I felt guilty for not being able to bring them to Spain so I decided to get the deal on Groupon:) Thankfully, they love the meal a lot and they asked me to bring them back again if we are out of food options😁
Thanks to Novia and Kenneth, I knew that Starbucks cards are free to take in Europe and I brought my sis around to collect the different designs! Turned out to become our favourite hobby in this trip as we go around hunting for the cards every time we walk past a starbucks. #shameless
Went to the platform 9&3/4 but I have to say that it was too touristy that the queue to take the photo was about 2 hours long?! Gave up queuing and went to Camden instead. Kind of happy to also meet Xinyi’s family for 2 meals – Duck Confit burger at Southbank Market and chinese meal at Goldmine. Glad that the meals turn out well and the two families are able to talk casually to each other! Marriage is a lot easier next time HAHAHA! On a side note, Goldmine is really overrated and I suggest people to pay a little more and eat at For Seasons instead. And the tip to eat at Four Seasons is to order white rice for one pax and ask for refill (it’s more worth the money as one pax of rice costs £3.20 but it comes with free refill)
We also tried out Duck & Waffles and I would say that the view up there is amazing but you have to book 2 months in advance to get a nice timing! We got a slot for 5 people at 7pm! The food are expensive but their sauce tasted really well. Xinyi and I have cooked something similar to the chicken dish before and it is definitely not easy to do so:) one restaurant off the bucket list yay! Now left with Burger and Lobs! Anyone coming over to London, jio pls!
Winter Wonderland is overpriced but it is still worth a visit in the night! The Christmas lightings are really nice and the festive mood is there when we were there jostling with the crowds:) Advise to not take the rides cause they are a waste of money but I heard the £5 churros are good, so it might be worth a try!
Now that we are reunited as a family, I am really looking forward to the next adventure with the family – to North of UK, SCOTLAND!
The second country we visited for the family trip is Switzerland! This is my second time coming to the Swiss land yet I feel equally as excited:) this is because we will be taking charge of our tour this time and we will be driving around rather than following a guide:)
Our base town is in Basel (no puns intended) and whats really cool about this town is that is is located at the edge of Switzerland, bounded by Germany and France. It is possible to cross over to the France and German border by walking through without a passport! And we did get out of Switzerland for two days:)
Arrived at the Airbnb via car and I would say that it is the best bnb I have stayed in! Having the whole house to ourselves, we were able to make ourselves cosy and picked our own rooms:) peering out of the window and we can see the French border!
Opposite the accom was a pizza store, whom the airbnb host told us were from USA. However, when we saw the menu, we realised that it was written is German and the people speak French. We ordered Italian food and this concluded how diverse the Swiss culture was!
On day 2, we took our rented car and drove south, towards Interlaken and Grindelwald, where the Swiss alps can be seen. Xinyi’s mum was rather cautious about driving and she refused to drive above 70km/h😂
En route to Interlaken, we saw the defining view of Switzerland – blue snow-capped mountains, icy fields and sky blue lakes that reflected the colours of the skies perfectly. Breathtaking! We then reached Interlaken and took some beautiful shots at Lake Thundersee. Love the shots I took of Zhiyi and also I have to praise Zhiyi for being so photogenic haha!
Had lunch at Migros restaurant, which concept is really european style. You go to the station, pick what you want and pay at the cashier. Super loving the blackforest cake and so happy that we got two of it:)
We then drove further down to Grindelwald to see the Swiss Alps. The roadtrip is so beautiful that we keep stopping to take photos! Wanted to drive further up to the foot of the mountains but the roads ended up to be too narrow and we decided to head over to Lake Brienz for the sunset instead. Driving at this stretch was the most stressful as one wrong move and we would be tumbling downhill😱
Lake Brienz is gorgeous by the sunset! We stopped by the side of the town Brienz and braved the wind and cold to capture the sunset hahaha! Our roadtrip somewhat became a photoshooting trip because the views are soooo breathtaking and we have 3 photographers and wannabes plus an instagrammer to satisfy😅 also monkeyed around the bank of the lake and we are quite surprised when some swans came to join our photoshoot:)
Our next stop would be Bern for dinner and as much as Bern was supposed to be nice as I have experienced 3 years ago, it wasn’t that meaningful in the night and foggy weather because there was nothing much to see.
The next day, we crossed over to the French border by train to visit a castle in Sélestat! We went to a cafe for lunch and not surprisingly, the waitresses refused to speak English. Annoying bitch, but we tried our best and I spoke French to the best of my abilities to order the food we want. Definitely not helping when they are discriminating against the Asians too. To make up for that, we ordered one buffet set for one person even though Zhiyi and I shared the food. Have to say that the French desserts are so good though haha – we had the Eclair and Apple Strudel!
After lunch, we went to Sélestat station to realise that the bus only comes on weekend:/ wanted to uber to the castle but we found out that Sélestat does not have uber, and the staffs from the train station refused to help us call a cab, knowing that we can’t speak French, nor do we have a SIM card that could help us call locally! Thankfully, a kind lady saw us struggle and decided to help us place the call and that really made our day so much more bearable!
The taxi then came and pick us up to the castle, which was about 20 mins away. The castle visit was kind of boring without an audio guide but it was made meaningful as Zhiyi, Xinyi and I decided to do stupid things like film a MV at the place and making subway advertisements at the rooftop hahaha! Once again, we took a sunset photo at the castle too!
On our way back to the train station via taxi, the driver was also another rare kind soul that spoke kindly to us! She spoke to us in half french and half english and it was quite funny that we misheard sometimes. For example, she said it takes ten hours (heures in French) to fly to Japan, but we misheard as ten years 😂 but she was the best to talk to so far in France:)
On the last day with the family, we went to Lucerne and I showed them around the place, as I have been there before 3 years ago. We visited the bridge, Christmas market and the shopping street I have been to three years back when I was in Lucerne! We went to the exact same shop and bought the exact same things (Lindt chocolates)! Super good and also we became criminals too😏
Travelling with Xinyi’s family made me really happy because it felt cosy and homely, auntie and zhiyi regarded me just like their son/brother. I was very happy to have gotten closer to them and understand them better through this trip. While there are little quarrels and unhappiness here and there, I really cherish all the times we spent together! Those fun times like playing situational puzzle on the train and jamming in the car makes me love the travel and company more and more!:) thank you to the Lim family for making this trip a memorable one! I will see you all in July!
This week is finally here! The last unofficial week of school and Xinyi’s family is here:)
Went to fetch them from the airport and headed down to Xinyi’s hometown at Birmingham. Spent two days in the city while we visited Cadbury World and University of Birmingham. Cadbury world is honestly quite meh cause it’s too kiddy and the UK people don’t know how to build an amusement park😒 so yea, adter the underrated theme park, we went over to Cafe 55 for the student canteen kinda food. But wtf, 7 pounds for fried rice, no way if not for xinyi’s mum hahaha!
Then Xinyi came and joined us for dinner at Bogeda, a mexican restaurant. YAY full family reunion at last (okay her dad is not in though)
Next day, we are off to Denmark. 5 transport change and 10 hours of transport, indeed we were quite afriad that Xinyi’s mum and sister would not be able to take the travel. However, it turned out much better than expected and we arrived in Copenhagen at 6pm!
My first thoughts of the Scandinavian country? Cold but not so cold, peaceful but super spacious (there are like 7 lanes on the roads. We first checked out the Christmas market at Trivoli Gardens, the oldest theme park in Europe! Its not the typical kind of theme park that is super big and rabak fun, but the Christmas market made the place rather lively! Yet, if I were to rate the Christmas Market, I would give 3/5 because you kind of need to pay SGD 25 to get in? Without taking a single ride. Yea it’s Denmark… the decorations are really ups and fairytale like though!
Went to Nyhaven the next day. Nyhaven is where the postcard view of Copenhagen was taken! It’s located a bit Southwest from the Little Mermaid statue, which is super chio but touristy. Both Nyhaven and the Little Mermaid are the representations of Denmark and I enjoyed trying out my new tripod and Neutral-density(ND) filter that Xinyi’s mum bought me for Christmas! Thank you auntie, now I can take long exposure shots already:)
Climbing up the Christianbourg Palace tower is advised and you can do it for free! The best time to climb up is during sunrise or sunset when the sun is orangey yellow as you willbe able to see it set down the city!
And lastly, we also went to this no-law zone called Christinia where the people can smoke and deal drugs legally. Kinda creepy as we walked through and in fact, we can feel the creeps as we walked through the place! To be frank, I didn’t felt comfortable at all and I kept ask Xinyi to hasten up the walk haha; she was quite calm lol. As we were about to leave, I saw a guy stashing out a bag of Cocaine, and immediately I pushed the family to the exit! Crazy adventure much😅
And with regards to the food in Denmark, expensive they are! A meal would cost on the average 15-20 SGD😞 but in terms of the quality, damn awesome! We had some Danish meal at a restaurant near Nyhaven and we ordered three open faced sandwiches. The smoked salmon and fish and chips are really fresh, and the Roast Hog skin is super crispy! In Denmark, it follows the Sandi countries and they serve Rye or White bread along with the main courses! However compared to Norway, the portion is much bigger for the similar price and we really enjoyed the meal:)
The second Danish meal we had was unpleasant though. We reached the restaurant at 11.30am but the waitress insisted on only serving us at 12 noon when the restaurant was opened and they served the European customers over us (such discrimination). I would recommend to eat near Nyhaven instead rather than that restaurant as their services are so bad!
Overall, Denmark is a comfortable place to explore and I believe that one shouldn’t just limit themselves to Copenhagen! I have friends who are exchanging in Denmark and I believe there are other parts of the countries one can explore too, such as the north coast or the other islands! And the next post will be really interesting because we will be visiting one of my favourite country in Europe – Switzerland! Stay tuned!
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My last day with my family was spent in London (of course). Xinyi went to Stockholm so it was just the 4 of us this time.
CinqeMinte 
