Stuttgart, Germany


So where was i? Right, i spent some quality days in offenburg in which time i've played farmer in Dominik's farm, played an enthusiastic soccer fan in three matches, and pretty much just partied hard for the benefit of my host.

time flies when you're having a fab time, and as much as i hate it, i gotta carry on my journey and Dom has gotta go back to the military, i know i'll always be welcomed back here as gran and grandpa love me to bits! he couldnt stop telling me bout the war stories of yesteryear...

Dom gave me a ride to Speyer where his camp is based, and i spent the day visiting Unesco heritage sites of the famous Dom and the surrounding churches and cathedrals, well what's new?

Got in to Heidelberg and that's when the weather took a bad turn on me, rain, snow, hail and whathaveyou started falling on me and despite the city being a popular tourist destination with a backdrop of a charming castle and mountains and valleys and the beautiful river Neckar, i was pretty much inbound for most of the time.

went to a good bday party and some hippie gathering and some wine and dine and that is pretty much it.

arrived in stuttgart yesterday and came here to Esslingen to see Ben. We met in a church in Hasting, NZ and have been friends since, traveled together for a while and were involved in lotsa church activities back then. Reunion is always good fun.

Will head to Fulda tomorrow and see what happens.

Spring09 travel

one interesting fact about Basel Airport, it has three different checkpoints for access to three different countries, namely Switzerland, France and Germany, and i quickly took advantage and checked them off my list one by one.

first stop was obviously Basel, followed by Mulhouse, and Freiburg - the infamous tri-city of tri-countries. En route to the blackforest, which was clearly the highlight of my trip, i spent some time in the town of Colmar.

Now that might remind you of this replica town we have in bukit tinggi back home, and may i commend that the developer did indeed do not such a bad job in the imitation, well at least the facade of it.

entering blackforest from Freiburg, met up with Sebastian and he wasted no time in introducing me the beers of the region, and we had a great nightout with his friends on an all-night bender. Woke up next afternoon and took a hike around the world-renowned blackforest for some fresh air, i really needed it!

and we know the blackforest is responsible for its cake and the cuccoo clock, so i did the obligatory task of savoring them as well.

Moving on, i proceeded deeper into the forest and spent some nights in the village of Waldkirch, Elzach, Haslach and Gengenbach, enjoying german hospitality to the fullest, the people here in the forest are just too nice! and that's an understatement.

Well, it's not just the german hospitality im enjoying, but the asians too! Stayed in the household of two families where the wifes are south-korean and Indonesian respectively. So yeah, fusion food is definitely on the table! and gosh, it's nice to taste real chilli again! and to practise my bahasa too, in the case of the german-indonesian household. Sascha is just too lucky to have an asian wife!

will be meeting dominik here in Offenburg later, it's definitely been a while! last saw him about a year and a half ago, and he's promised a party tomorrow, so we'll see!

maybe i should consider moving to germany eh?



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