Happy Easter...

Gdansk, Poland

Such a happening weekend, food and drinks and eggs aplenty, and yeah, ive had my fair share of attending Polish mass in different churches...albeit not understanding a word the priest had to say, i really did enjoy the presentation, and being in the temple of God, all the understandings that you ever need is between you and God...enough said.

so i met up with Marek in Sopot and was welcomed into his household. Brilliant God-loving family, i had one of the best Easter in my life, not only experiencing Polish Easter and rituals, but also first rate polish hospitality.

Just got back from the village of Prabuty in the countryside, and cant stop thinking of the warmth and love that was shown to me. I've always been deprived of grandparents, and was totally spoilt to bits earlier by Marek's. Being seated conveniently between grandma and grandpa, my plate was constantly kept full with food by grandma on my right hand side and my shooter glass with polish vodka by grandpa on my left hand side, they really did adore me!

there were also water fight (they throw water at each other on Easter Monday, yeah even when it's freezing ) and egg fight with the cousins, talk about Easter fun!

We will be heading to Lodz tomorrow where Marek studies and will meet up with Rafa for some reunion, and drinking is definitely in order.

I'm loving Poland!

Oh so Beautiful...

Woke up today to a brilliant change of setting, everything and everywhere is blanketed with snow, such a breathtaking transformation overnight into a winter wonderland, and it always has to be my last day in that particular location...the best part is, it's not even freezing cold!

something about the color white that just seems to beautify everything it touches, it was as though a magical spell has been cast and all of a sudden you appreciate everything around you, things that you have taken granted for before...

I can still remember the very first snow flake that had flew upon me and kissed my cheek, it was in prague, and it was totally unexpected...i recalled feeling the sudden excitement, the exuberance in me growing by the second, as more and more flakes followed suit, and then the sky was filled with a million puffy flakes, flying energetically everywhere, anxious to meet the earthlings, and to paint the surface it laid on into a white canvas, totally magical.

Snow takes away worries, regrets, guilts, despairs, depression, and just about anything negative, and believe or not, it does brighten your day, and nothing matters anymore, you feel like you have got the whole world under control, it's incredible like that...if only it lasts though...

im heading to Hamburg today, fingers crossed, hopefully there will be snow there too...but right now, im gonna go play with the snow...

Hildeshime, Germany


Alright, it's about time to pick up that backpack and be on the road again. This past week had been completely relaxing, good food and good company, and it's getting warmer too!

Chloe gave me a much needed haircut yesterday and now im ready to face the world without looking like that dude in 'castaway'.

Been thinking of going back home alot lately, everyone's giving me the pressure, everyone's getting married, having housewarming party, promotion, and all that goingons. And knowing that i probably need a job once i get back, friends are telling me that they can bring me into their company easily and i get to become an engineer, just like what ive studied to become from the very beginning. I dont know if that sounds exciting or not.

have i had enough travel? i dunno if i'll ever be...but i really needa start doing something the world requires me to do...

if only time stops when you wanted it to...

"Suddenly the world seem such a perfect place..."

just how stupid can i be?

i was messing around with my templates earlier, editing and adding some links and deleting redundant stuffs in Html, and then i proceeded to click on Save Changes (without checking what changes ive made)...

and voila....everything is gone, ive deleted most of the Html...

this is just soooooo typical of me...

watcha gonna do?

oh gawd, i am feeling so completely worn out, my foot's been hurting for days now and im walking with a limp, but you know what, it's OK...I've arrived at my 'rest house'.

So i traveled from Prague with eurolines up north, crossed the border, through some snow-patched area and mountains, and got in to the german city of Dresden. Great city, a capital of Saxony, lotsa nice sights, and altogether a very proper and well-planned township. Spent the night at Quentin's, a french scientist, and we chilled out at a local diner, relaxing ambience and captivating music.

from then on i decided to boycott germanrail if i could help it, the fare is unreasonably high and spending money aint exactly a priority in my list just now. So i hooked up with some locals and we shared a ride to leipzig, a sister city of dresden.

i met up with friedemann and sebastian in this city and we had some good nights of partying and attending local musicians' jamming session. I also visited ThomasKirche, the church J.S. Bach was reciding during his time and we sat in for a Motette. Powerful repertoires by the choirs and sopranos with accompaniment by pipe organs, it was beautiful.

We also went on cycing trip through woods and lakes and wild parks, a breath of fresh air and to take in the subtle Spring smell. It's starting to turn green and buds are blossoming. 'It's a good sign', i told Ondra back in Brno. 'Hardly', he replied. ' Winter aint over yet and there shouldnt be signs of life at all!'. Good point. How nice of that guy who came up with the term 'global warming' so that we can all point fingers to.

moving on, i stopped by in Magdeburg and got another ride to my current pitstop in Hildeshime, giving a pleasant surprise to Chloe in the middle of the night, who wasnt expecting my visit at all. A good surprise. I think.

I should be resting here and try to rejuvenate for at least a week, and thereon Hamburg and to Poland where ive been invited to to spend Easter there. It should be nice spending easter in the village.

Been on FRIENDS marathon for few hours now, just taking a break to update my current location and wellbeing. I look forward to catching up with some favourite TV series for the next few days, damn, i miss American TV.

It's all good...



thanks Kristof, for making me fall in love with this song, hope it can be an inspiration to everyone out there.

and then it snowed...

just when im about to board the bus to germany...wouldnt i love to see snow-capped prague? oh so much...

good thing is, the storm is over, or so it seems, and just might as well be too...ive had some lousy bitchy weather for the past few days, it had rained on me started on my last day in Vienna and followed me through to Prague, and then the cloud cleared and temperature dropped sickeningly low, winter is coming back...

Prague, such an amazing city, unique in every ways and have so much to offer, i was completely charmed at first sight, this is definitely one of the capital cities that i can call home to.

unlike other cities, prague is ideally sized in that you dont feel overwhelmed upon arrival, you dont get slapped with a hundred underground and tram lines and with a million people walking past you, on the contrary, you feel completely at ease and comfortable.

what i like most about this city is that, such a vast area is devoted to being the city´s green lung on the other side of the river, it´s like you can have city life during the week and escape to the wilderness on the weekends, talk about a balance lifestyle...

as it´s customary, i like to begin exploring the city from the highest point of view, literally. So i took a hike up the mountain, admiring fancy-swanky-pants houses along the way, and was rewarded with a glorious view of the city when i got to the top. It really is beautiful, and no doubt why they say prague rivals other european cities to be amongst the handsomest.

Thanks to Bohdana, i have my own apartment in the middle of prague, i did feel blend-in with the society so quickly, finding the location of the apartment with the right tram, getting off at the right stop, and getting in the house with the right key (there were a bunch of them).

at night, i savoured some reputable czech beers with the girls, who dont seem to stop once they´ve started, and it was good times, good beer, good company...

im loving prague...



What would i give to live where you are?

Brastilava, Slovakia


Traveling to the eastern side of europe isnt as daunting as i first thought it'd be, sure ive heard stories about them being less wealthy and everything, but at the end of the day, they are still part of europe, the same medieval town, adorned with castles and churches and gigantic cathedrals, monuments and fountains and obelisks and parks, and yeah, the obligatory river that cuts the city in half, one side more developed than the other, and in our case here, the magnificent Danube...it makes me hum Strauss' everytime i sees it...

there are certain changes nevertheless, let's just say traveling from Vienna to Brastilava is alot like traveling from Singapore to Johor Bharu, for those who's done that route, you know what im talking about...it's really a rude surprise though, all of a sudden things just arent so pretty anymore, everything is everywhere, rubbish strewn across the countriside, and the train station was madness...

but looking past all that, you will see a beautiful country before you. The slovakians are such friendly creature, always eager to help, and the fact that their english literacy is higher means they dont struggle during conversations, and oh, they are so cute...

Currency exchange works to my favour as well, and probably why im falling in love with east europe...we were at the bar yesternight and Half a litre of beer costs less than a euro...talk bout being in heaven...

will leave the beautiful people and head for czech next...

Vienna, Austria


This beautiful city is doing me lotsa good, i feel like im getting back in touch with the music inclination in me, i wanna play the piano soooo badly! well, at least to some of Mozart´s sonatas...

Visited yet another Mozart´s apartment today in Vienna, the only one remaining after that of his birthplace and his residential place in Salzburg. I know a deadman´s living place is hardly interesting to anyone, but i felt his presence when i stood at his room where he has written some of the greatest pieces in his lifetime, the man was so talented! think ´The Magic Flute´, think ´Don Giovanni´...

Well, we know vienna gave birth to many other famous composers and took pride in being the world capital of music, so of course i also dropby to see Beethoven, Strauss and Haydn. Such geniuses...

Should be heading to Slovakia for a brief visit of its capital tomorrow...

im getting a little weary of all these running around...

some rest is definitely in order...

The germans and me


Breakfast


our cozy hut


apres ski


train travel through ice, nice...


trentino meal


italian steak


me falling on my bums, which was often


alpine view


gondolas

***


Salzburg, Austria

So much have happened in a matter of days! I left Piacenza, traveled to Verona and spent the night there, and thereon headed north towards Trento, great place, i felt completely at home amongst the dolomites, ive always had a thing for the mountain ranges and there is something about them that gives me the sense of peace...

Spent my last day in Italy partying the Italian way, Bonaventura had some of his friends (like 14) over at his place and we spent the night eating some bolognese food and good italian wine, and beer...

from trento, i stopped and visited bolzano and brixen for the day, nice quiet towns with great cathedrals and castles, and the next day went on to Brenner, nothing much there except it is the Italian-Austrian border town...took an austrian train thereon and quickly realized train travel in Austria is EXPENSIVE! im paying something like 16 euros for every 100km i traveled, as compared to the 6 euros/100km in Italy...dont i miss Italy already?

but really, crossing the border through Brenner´s pass actually means entering a whole new world, how can things change so quickly? From latino to caucasian, from cheesy creamy pasta to hot spicy austrian soup, from wine culture to beer culture, from italian plains to the snow-capped austrian alps...so different, and oh so beautiful...!

Brief stopover at Innsbruck and met up with the Bavarian girls (petra, carola and stephie) at Jenbach. We drove up to the sweetest little hut up in the mountain that overlooks the valley, and the view is just so stunning, totally unbelievable, with indescribable feeling...(quoting Jasmine)

The rest of the folks joined us in the evening and there were a dozen of us in total. Met these fantastic friends in new zealand and now we hooked up again for some get-together. Spent the night catching up and you know, drinking...

the next day, what to do in Austria except to ski? we went up the ski field in the gondola and arrived in the winter wonderland. Skiing...you either hate it or you love it, for me, i totally love it but i completely suck...the bruises now resting all over me is a testament of that. But gosh, so much fun...

Left the germans and the bavarians today and continued on my journey while everyone left for home to face reality, got in to Salzburg and right now staying with this great Austrian/German family, who´s been following my journal so far and know everything there is to know bout me...

Will be meeting my favourite composer, Mozart tomorrow at his birth place...cant wait to be totally inspired!

stay tune...



Here´s Lea and Brad again.. :p

It's been very informative traveling so far, im learning new stuffs everyday, about history, cultures, and right now political occurrences that are happening even as we speak...

as im currently staying with Dusan from Serbia in Piacenza, Italy, i am getting right-to-the-date information about the independence declaration from Kosovo, which i knew nothing about until now, gosh im just so ignorant...

the thing i wanna emphasize is, even though we (malaysians) do not have strong diplomatic ties with the Serbians and worse still, Israelis, some of my closest travel mates are from there! no one is holding grudges against anybody...

you know what a good idea is? the politicians should start backpacking around the world to learn of tolerance and acceptance of one another, and stop fighting!

and ironically, i get to know about the current hots of our election issue back home from Luca, my host in rome...i was like:'wow, really?', when he told me about it...not that i really care, if i may add...

may the best man get the victory then...

Genova, Italy


One man's meat is another man's poison...When i told my italian friends that ive incorporated Genova in my itinerary, they have advised otherwise, it's just aint worth the while, they said. Well you know what, im in love with this harbour city, and i daresay more so than Rome or Florence or even Venice!

Traveling from Pisa to Genova takes you through Cinque terre, or Five Lands, the legendary Italian fishing villages, and i didnt pitstop there simply because it is the wrong season! the mediterranean water is freezing cold this time of the year and trust me, it sucks to admire the water at a distance, just like what im going through here in Genova.

this is a vibrant city, and just like other italian cities, it is full of history and medieval buildings, but on the contrary though, and probably why i love it so much, this place is totally free of tourists!

Giovanni brought me out to a fantastic lunch today, and being the hospitable italian host that he is, he wont hear of my getting the bill, gosh, dont i just love being a traveler!

As we are all aware of, the italians are known to be gastronomes, we're talking about a nation who enjoys good food and drink! and they are very eager in sharing that trait to all who aint suffering from food disorder! A complete Italian meal consists of such in that order: Antipasti, Primi (pasta/soup/risotto), Secondi (meat course), Contorno (vegetable) or Formaggi (cheese), and closes with Dolci (sweet) with espresso.

I know i love food, but after Primi i declared that im stuffed (we each had one serving per course, as is customary, and of course, gigantic-sized serving), Gio werent so convinced, so i eventually opted for all time favourite Tiramisu, it was divine...

i later went for a coastal walk to burn off all that fats and soaked in the sun, something in which the italians are blessed with, among others, heavenly weather...

wish i can stay here for a long long time...





started off with fizzy white and bread


followed by white


antipasti


primi


Dolci


coastal walkway


genova day


genova night