Experience the world

Back from a LONG Hiatus

2011-08-25T20:35:00.001-07:00

Hey all! I'm BACK! Or at least, I'm back to working on my blog after an absence of almost a month. For the last leg of my trip (Nice - Paris - Barcelona - Valencia - Madrid - Porto - London), I was really busy with keeping up with the schedule that I didn't have time to blog down my thoughts. After I came back, it was packing, clearing administrative work, meeting up with old friends and settling down into school once again.

So now that I have settled down and ready to begin my blog updates, stay tuned! What you can expect:

1) Regular updates on my foodie adventures

2) My past 2 weeks foodie adventures, including

Japanese buffet at Kiseki

Famous Bah Kut Teh at Keppel Road

Ramen Competition at Illuma

and many more

3) The reflections and guides to the last leg of the trips

4) The complete guide to the cities I visited before this blog was started

There are so many things to look forward to on this blog. So stay tunes and keep check back for updates.

Live: Freiburg - The German University Town

2011-07-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Freiburg is the small town in the south-western extreme of Germany and has a proud tradition of being one of the famous German university towns. More importantly, this town is the entrance to one of the most beautiful forest in Germany - the Black Forest. Not to be mixed up with the cake, the Black Forest is the thick and luscious woodlands of the Baden-Wutternburg region and is the host to many small traditional villages that is well worth a visit. Sadly, this entrance was "closed" by the weather when we were there. We were supposed to get an accommodation in Freiburg, rest of the night and head into the Black Forest on the next day, but the second day's weather proved to be rainy and we weren't up for braving the weather , given that we just did the Alps and the Scottish Highlands. We then decided to just tour the city and call it a day.

Here is some of the highlights:

Check back this space. More updates will follow

Live: Baden-Baden - Sit back, Relax & Enjoy

2011-07-13T03:42:00.000-07:00

Caracalla Spa

My next stop was a big question mark. To be truthful, before this trip, I have never heard of Baden-Baden before. All I knew about it when I was reaching there was that there was two huge baths and a really classy casino. Well, it turns out that these two was enough to make my experience an amazing one.

Town Center

After walking around the town center (there isn't much of it), I went on the first the only two highlights - the modern bath house near our hotel. Basically Baden-baden translated into English is literally Bath-bath and has traditionally been a spa-town since roman times. There are two major bath houses in the area, one is the traditional Roman bath house Friedrichsbad and the other a modernistic bath house Caracalla Spa. The traditional one requires full nudity throughout the entire experience whereas the modernistic splits the area into a nude and non-nude one. I chose to go to the modernistic one not for this particular reason but more for the fact that it looks 10x bigger and have a lot more to offer. If I had another day or so, I'll gladly give Friedrichsbad a shot.

The bath house was huge! When I entered and was faced with 5 different pools (2 outdoor and 3 indoor), 3 different sauna and steam bath and many other relaxation and massage facilities, I felt a rush of excitement to try all of them. Its really says a lot about our lifestyle when we get so excited just to relax. Once inside the pool, there was no turning back - minutes turned to hours within a flash and I had the best time of my life. Before I got too carried away, I had to try the upper stories where there are even more saunas available. If the experience downstairs was fantastic, the one upstairs is double the fun and enjoyment. After reading the "instructions", I had the tough choice of choosing the saunas that I want to go. Each of the sauna is a different experience. Yes, you do not just sit there a sweat like a pig, you basically get different types of oils and fragrances around and some of the sauna machine is a sight to behold. After the entire experience, all my travel stress had gone away, I was ready for more action and I lost a whole one kilogram of water weight.

The Kurhaus

Distance to the nearby cities

The next experience can't compare up to the first one. The casino Kurhaus is a little unter-whelming and there's nothing much to rave about it. Its definitely not one of those Vegas-style casino with incredible amount of games and gamers alike but its still worth it to check out how a traditional classy casino looks like. The ceilings are really high, the tables are pretty much spread out, a strict dress code is being enforced (I had to rent an €8 jacket) and there are many high-rollers around. However, if you are there to gamble, there are also tables with really low minimum bets, so its not so damaging to your wallets. So it may not be most over whelming experience, but with its beautiful decor and huge range of minimum bets, this place certainly caters for a huge variety of people - the tourists, the small-time gamblers and the high rollers. Just remember to grab a jacket and bring some cash in for the entrance.

All in all, Baden-baden is one of the best places in Europe to sit back and relax. This form of relaxation (and the cheap price that comes along) is really rare in our busy cities and its one of those things that have to tried at least once in a lifetime. The casino itself it not worth it (unless you want to gamble) if you plan to go into Monte-Carlo. I recommend a 1 day stop over for this little town. A good relaxing bath, a short visit to the casino and a good night sleep is all you need for this little town for an experience of a lifetime.

For more information:
The entry will be up soon

Live: Frankfurt - More than just the bank of the world

2011-07-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhof

Next up was Frankfurt, the one that broke my "capital of Germany" trend, though technically with its commercial banking prowess, it is considered to the "capital" of european banking and transportation system. Located along the Main River (thus her full name "Frankfurt am Main"), Frankfurt is the seat of the European Central Bank, the German Federal Bank, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the Frankfurt Trade Fair to make it the financial hub of Germany and Europe. On top of that, Frankfurt boost one of the busiest international airport and largest train station. If there is any city that can claim rocket speed recovery after being leveled in WWII, Frankfurt will be on right on top.

The main highlight of the day definitely was the view we got from the Main Tower (the only tower that allows tourist to go up to its rooftop). It was totally worth the cheap €5 and its a must-do for all who visit Frankfurt. Even if you have only 1 hour there, you got to just rush in there, take the elevator up and enjoy the view. Frankfurt is the only city in Germany that has that many skyscraper and it is certainly not a view that can be enjoyed anywhere else in Europe.

Let me try to orientate you:

Commerz Bank

Euro-Land

Frankfrut Airport in the Background

Hauptbahnhof from the Top

Twin Towers of Deutsch Bank

Pool Party, Anyone?

State Opera House

Besides the obvious skyscrapers, Frankfurt also offers a little bit of history and churches. All these can be found along the main shopping stretch starting from the Old State Opera House. The walk took us through the eateries that bankers invade during lunch hours, the main shopping areas, the old town Romer, St Paul Church and culminates in the grand St Bartholomew's Church. An interesting incident happened around St Paul Church - I was out hunting (not sure how the church looked like) for St Paul Church when I chanced upon a small little chapel in the middle of a square, went inside thinking it was St Paul Church. We spent nearly half an hour there trying to locate the "to-see" in the church only to give up after a while. It took us a few more yards down to realized that we went into the wrong church! Worse of all, we missed the closing time by a mere five minutes.

The day ended on a high with dinner with Amanda. Its always nice to meet up with familiar faces and to be able an good friend is even better. Like what Amanda said, its really good to hear the Singapore Slang again. Maybe Singlish is quite a good sense of identity after all. So it was a good night with Thai dinner and a 2nd tour around Frankfurt with Amanda. Thank you for recommending airbnb.com to me, I have added it to my sidebar. See you back in Singapore!!!

St Bartholomew

All in all, my one day stop in Frankfurt was more than enough for me to enjoy what Frankfurt had to offer to a tourist. Among all the historical sites, only the St Bartholomew's Church is worth the long walk. However, a two-day stay in Frankfurt is also good for a more relaxed pace and to enjoy experiences like watching the afternoon rush (the streets will literally be filled and emptied out within minutes). I would recommend a full two-day stay in Frankfurt. First day to check out the historical sites and go up the Main Tower for the bird's eye view. The second day to sit back and watch the crowd fill the lunch areas, check out some museums or even catch an opera.

For more information:
The blog entry will be up soon

Live: Hanover - Rest Stop for Germany

2011-07-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

View of Hanover from the New Town Hall

By now you should have realized my pattern of travel for Germany and if you haven't, here was how it went.

Munich (Capital of Bavarian) -> Berlin (Capital of modern-day Germany) -> Dresden (Capital of Saxony)

Hauptbahnhof

I hope you see the pattern now. So after the third capital, my fourth was the capital of the Lower Saxony, Hanover. We left the barren Dresden train station at eight in the morning and four hours later, we saw a whole different train station in Hanover. A highlight on its own, the Hanover train station is one of the best in Europe. With an attached shopping arcade, easy access to the platforms and many peripheral facilities to aid travelers, you can't help but feel the Hanover Hauptbahnhof is the gold standard for all train station. Dawn was in awed by one another thing - the availability of good valued asia food. There weren't just one of them, there were at least ten of them for us to choose from. We hit the first one we could find, were satisfied (or rather Dawn was) with the food and decided that we will try it another stall (recommended by wikitravel for its portions) the next day.

When I planned for the German leg of the trip, I inserted Hanover in as a "rest stop". This meant that for this stop, sightseeing is kept to a minimum, try our best to recuperate and prepare for the rest of the journey. More information can be found below on how this "rest stop" works. So after the asian lunch at the Hauptbahnhof, we checked into the fantastic hotel-style Bed'n'Budget and took a short rest. After that, we did what we would usually to back home (check out the additional information to know why) - do some groceries shopping, watch a movie and stay in to watch TV. We only managed to do the first and third item. The watching movie part failed terribly as just before we bought the tickets, Dawn had the sense to ask the language of the movie and the stone-faced box officer told us "its in German". I was so disappointed. So no transformer 3 for me but at least shortly after, I found a huge stash of rittersports and bought the whole lot (25 bars of chocolates), not too bad of a day after all.

The rest day was really effective as we were revitalized and ready to go the next day. However, we still wary of not wanting to tire ourselves out too quickly, we decided to take it easy on the second day. We slept in late, then decided to skip the Hanover garden and go on the "Red Thread Tour" instead. This particular tour is unique because it does not have an actual tour guide. Instead, you buy a book for €3, follow the red thread on the floor from the TI and take a scenic walk around the historic city center of Hanover. So we managed to cover the Hauptbahnhof, State Opera House, New Town Hall, Fat Girls Sculptures, many other churches and the Marktet Hall. On the way we saw a few memorials and monuments, got a great view of the city above the New Town Hall and sat down for coffee and dessert. Overall, the tour gave me an all-encompassing view of the historic side of Hanover and and well-worth every penny of the book and time. I highly recommend buying the €3 Hanover book, it'll truly enhance the whole experience. At least you'll know what you are actually looking at.

Here are some of the highlights:

State Opera House

Arrow-shooting the New Town Hall

The New Town Hall

The City in Ruins after WWII

Fat Bottom Girls

Old Town Hall

Overall Hanover is a nice modern city to visit. Don't expect as much history as you will find in Berlin or Munich or the tall skyscraper in Frankfurt. Hanover itself isn't a place that is overflowing with tourist and most of the facilities are meant not just for tourists but for the masses. Their main stab at the tourism comes in the form of the Red Thread Tour and the Herranhauser, not too impressive if you compare it to some other German states. She is definitely not a city on my must-go list but if you happen to be passing by the Northern side of Germany and have the extra time and cash, its worth a day or two.

For more information about the city:
Blog entry to be up soon

For more information on "rest" days:
Blog entry to be up soon

For more photos:
Hanover Photos

Live: Dresden - Capital of Saxony

2011-07-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

View of the Royal Palace & Katholic Hofkirche

So far, I have been to the capital of the Bavarian states and the capital of modern day Germany, next up is the capital of yet another major kingdom of Germany - the Saxony. Dresden is one of the sites that tourists tend to miss out when going all over Germany and from the looks of things in there, its easy to find the reason why. When I first entered, I could notice that Dresden lacks the glamour the other major cities have. The infrastructure is not as well-designed as other major cities, with no underground trains (for some geographical reasons) and a barren train station. This makes the place one of my favorite location in Germany as it comes as an unspoiled package, not overspilling with tourist yet with enough sights to fill my day.

Elector Augustus the Strong

This city found her prime during the Baroque era, where she was ruled by the elector Augustus the Great. Thus the structures that I found all around are of Baroque style, a good change from the typical romanesque or gothic style that can be found all over Europe. The city is split into two portion - the old and the new town. Due to bad weather on the both days I was there, I could only accomplish going through the old town. Walking through the entire old town will probably take you only 1 to 2 hours. For starters the area is not really very big and on top of that, all the worthy sights are packed in one small corner of the old town. A slow walk in the rain took us through the Theatreplatz, Zwinger, Katholic Hofkirche and the Frauenkirche. These buildings were mostly restored after being leveled by the Allied bombings in WW2, in particular the Frauenkirche which was rebuilt using Dresden's people money and workers, making it the pride and joy of the people of Dresden. Another highlight was the Historic Green Vault, the imperial treasure of Dresden. This is one of the best imperial treasures museum I have been. It is equipped with a interesting audio guide that gives context to most of the exhibits and well preserved.

Cute Eastern Germany Traffic Lights

The most interesting thing about Dresden is that it was under the communist sphere of influence after WW2. She had the unfortunate fate of being located on the east side of Germany and was placed under the Soviet care. Much of the "backwardness" in its looks and facilities can be attributed to the fact that Dresden became stagnated in the post-war era while her neighbors shot far ahead under the Allied care. Thus it is interesting to see how a post-war communist germanic state is doing after reintegrating with the rest of Germany. I would say I was very impressed by how much they have improved over the last 20 years (communism fell between 1989 - 1991). The historical sights were mostly re-built within that spam of time, infrastructure developed over these years and it is now fast catching up with her western neighbors.

The Augustus Bridge linking Old & New Town

All in all, Dresden is a rare gem in Germany that is worth passing by if you are near Berlin (just a short 2 hour train ride from Berlin). The place is not as jam-packed with tourists (but still crowded with them) and still has the basic infrastructure to make touring the place easy. English is spoken by most of the people in the tourism industry and the cost of isn't as high as the other major cities. I would recommend a 3-4 day stay, taking time to explore the old town, the new town and the historic green vault. If you are a ardent museum fan, you can buy the €10 museum tickets that allow you to go to all the museums in the Zwinger. If not, just sitting around with a beer in hand is also a good idea to spend one day in Dresden.

For more information:
My Guide to Europe: Dresden

For more photos:
Photos of Dresden

How to work this blog

2011-07-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

Travel Section

Basically, my travel section will be split into a few major components - Flashback, Live, Tips and Commentary. I'll start with Flashback.

.Flashback: As much as I want to keep this blog as "live" as possible, there will be bound to be places where I am not able to update as soon as I like it. Furthermore, I had started this blog in the middle of a trip and for past cities, the memory is a little bit fuzzy.

.Live: This will form the bulk of my travel entries when I am on my travels. I will try my best to jot down anything on the spot and a complete guide is available at the end of the entry.

.Tips & Commentary: The bulk of my non-travelling days. I'll constantly source for interesting and useful travel articles and tips from other travel bloggers and give my own thoughts on the issues. I'll also bring up issues myself regarding travels. Please note that whatever that is inside this section (apart from the quoted articles) is my opinion and not the universal truth. If you disagree with me, it is okay - there are many ways to travel and write a blog, and mine is just one of the many. So take everything with a pinch of salt and if I have mentioned anything that has offended you, just drop me a message and I'll make the necessary changes. We are all here to share and learn, never to offend and insult, so lets be civil about it.

Thats all for the travel section. As for the food section, I'll add another entry after the first food entries. As I have mentioned, this blog is bound to evolve and changes will be made over time, especially when I pick up more blogging skills or change my ways of travels. So improvement will be made constantly. On top of that, I will update this blog at least every other day, unless at times when I mentioned beforehand otherwise or when I have no steady internet connection. So keep checking back, I'll always have something for you. Do email me at marcusfpj@gmail.com if you have any suggestions or discussions for the blogs.

Hope you'll enjoy reading this blog and it will further enhance your travelling experiences.

Live: Berlin - Capital of Germany

2011-07-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

After a 10 hours overnight train from Munich, we arrived at Berlin, the capital of Germany. It was my second time in this fabulous city and I was looking forward to visit new sites and to revisit some of my old favorites. Unfortunately, things turned out quite differently as we planned. Dawn and I fell ill on the first night and the weather took a turn for the worse on the second day onwards. With only three full days, many of our plans were shelved, including nights shots for the Bradenburg Gate, Reichstag and trying out of different local food. Still, with the attitude I had for such unfortunate (look at my tips) events, this city turned out to be quite fascinating for both Dawn and I.

As per Munich, we started with a tour with the New Europe Free Walking Tour. The tour was jam-packed with historic facts and figures, stories from the past and experiences from all over the world. From the formation of the Germanic tribes to the first Germany Republic, from the Weimar Republic to Hitler and from Communism to Liberation, the amount of information passed down is too much for an average human to take. But who can blame the tour, it was in Berlin where it all happened, this was the center of all the actions.

Walking down the streets of Berlin truly makes history come alive. We started with the symbol of Berlin - the Brandenburg Gate. Afterwhich, a walk through Eastern Berllin took us through the different eras of the Berlin turbulent past. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews gives us the space to interpret the horrors of the Final Solution carried out by Hitler, the Charlie Checkpoint and the museum allow us to relive the experiences of the struggles of a forceful separation, the ex-Nazi Airforce Center showed us what the new Germania would have been and the Bebelplatz tells us of a story of ignorance and intolerance. There are many more places that will reflect the struggles Berliners and the Germans had went through before Germany reached what she is today. One lesson learn - the peace and prosperity we have today cannot be taken for granted, what was ours today may easily be gone tomorrow.

One highlight of of this city that is off the beaten track is the Berlin Jewish Museum. This museum is different from the other structures dedicated to the Jews. The most important difference lies its in emphasis on not the horror of the holocaust but on the need for everyone to move on. In order to that, understanding of the Jewish race is essential. This museum took me for a Jewish ride of my life and it was worth the five hours that I was inside. The architecture was amazing and thought evoking, the exhibits were interactive and it certainly gave me a fresh perspective of things. A must-visit if you have the time in Berlin.

Overall, a three-day visit (hampered by the weather and illness) is never enough. Instead, plan for a good 5-6 days as it will allow you the freedom of time. Besides the historical Eastern Berlin, there is the modern areas in German around Potsdam Platz and the good Germany History Museum. Usually I wouldn't recommend history museums but this one is special because the events in German history has a direct impact on what we are today, see how the world in the 20th century evolved into the world we know in the 21st century. Other museums on the museum islands are also worth some time. If time allows, a day trip down to Potsdam is good to see the German version of Versailles. Grand palaces are littered around that area and you get to see a rare side of Berlin - the pre-modernist era. Berlin is certainly a place for one to really has to understand and reflect on the past and ponder the would-have-beens. So read up on your history and be there to watch history come to life.

For more information:
http://myguidetoeurope.blogspot.com/2011/07/berlin.html

Live: Munich - Land of the Beers & Old

2011-07-01T03:31:00.000-07:00

New Town Hall

The last time I blogged, I was heading up to Switzerland to conquer the Alps. I managed to head up to the top of Europe and hiked mountains around the Bernese Alps. After that were hikes after hikes in the Scottish Highlands and I was unable to find the time and energy (my friends can attest to how lousy of a hiker I am) to blog down my thoughts for the mountains. So I'll just start of with the first city after the nature-wandering leg of my journeys - Munich.

Munich Town Plan

The capital of the Bavarian states in Germany, Munich has lots to offer in terms of its history and culture. When she was leveled in WWII, she had a choice of starting from scratch (this was the choice of Frankfurt) or to preserve its historical roots and rebuild the city like before. Evidently, they choose the latter. Walking through the city wit the New Europe Free Walking Tour, it felt like a journey back in time. We started from the Neues Rathaus, a mega gothic structure where it was the center of life in the old town. Like the Rathaus elsewhere, it had a Glockenspiel that puts up a performance twice to thrice a day. My advice, if its your first time, try it with really low expectations. If you've seen it elsewhere, just skip it.

The walk took us through the pride and joy of the Munchners - the Frauenkirche, Alte Rathaus, St Peter's and many other. Each of this place have a story to tell and when I pieced everything together, I understood the choice made by the people of Munich to restore their buildings. There are some things that money can't buy and no economy can show. Their love for their Bavarian roots and the pride they had in their past glory reflects in the sights of the Old Town. Join the tour to hear about interesting stories about the churches. I loved the one about the Devil and the St Peter's Church.

Dawn awaiting for her food in the Hofbrauhaus

One thing the Munchners love as much (or even more) than their proud history is beer. Beer is not just a drink in Munich, it is a lifestyle. The fact that water cost so much more than beer speaks volume of the beer-drinking culture. When in Munich, a must-do is to grab a beer, sit in a beer hall and just hang out. Its an experience that is only fitting for a Munich atmosphere. The famous Hofbrauhaus is overtly touristy but the atmosphere is good. There is a good mix of locals and tourist and the staff are well-equipped to handle non-German speaking tourists. If the weather was better, I definitely would have head up to the outdoor beer garden. Even in the beer halls, there are still some history involved. The Munich Hall Putsch was the started right here in Munich and started nearly a decade of destruction and terror.

Overall, Munich is worth at least a week's stay. Walking around the different sights can take a day or two. No major museums in this city but there are one or two that's worth a try. Most importantly, spend your time gulping down beer in various beer halls and beer gardens (start with the touristy one to get a feel before moving on to the ones that cater for the locals). There are four major beer companies in Munich so there won't be short of any choices. Day trips to Dachau (concentration camps), Neuschwanstein (Disneyland castles), Fussen, Salzburg and many other towns can fill up your other days. I highly recommend Dachau and Neuschwanstein. The former one of the first few concentration camps and a stronghold of the Nazi's cleansing program - I promise you a visit that you'll never forget in this place of terror.

Now on to my next destination - Berlin!

For more information, here is my complete guide to Munich:
http://myguidetoeurope.blogspot.com/2011/07/munich-germany.html

Tips for the Young & Inexperienced

2011-06-18T11:34:00.001-07:00

I have been traveling since 8 and at 18 I started my first "unsupervised" travels. Since then, I went on 2 Europe Backpacking trips (including my current one), countless of short trips to Malaysia & Thailand and trips to China & Japan. I don't claim to be even close to being experienced but I hope these tips I have picked up along the way will be useful. Here goes:

1) Mindset: This is the most important advice that I can give to any inexperienced travelers. Always assume that you will get the chance to re-visit the place - your first is not definitely your last. Many people tend to treat their first visit to any cities as their final visit there and will squeeze in as many things to do or see in their itinerary. You get things like attempting to "cover" Paris's Louvre, Eiffel, Champs-Elysees, Notre Dame, etc... in just 3 DAYS. Rushing 3-4 attractions a day gives you hardly enough time to fully enjoy any place. The rush makes fatigue set in earlier, making future destinations not as pleasurable. Worse of all, what most don't realize is that in the midst of all hustling and bustling, you miss out on the most important experience - the "local" experience, where you understand, learn and live about the true culture of the place.

Note: Assuming that you will get a chance to re-visit doesn't equate that you definitely will. Let the place decide for you. Make the decision after leaving the place and not before. In this way, you will not feel hard-done if you end up missing out on certain sites, unable to attend certain events or can't try certain local food. Furthermore, with new innovative ways to make traveling so much more convenient and cheaper, there shouldn't be a reason why you can't re-visit certain places again. So take your time, fully enjoy the experiences and bask in the true reflection of the city.

2) Set your objectives before the trip & adjust the attitude accordingly: What do you want to achieve from this trip? Do you want to see as many sites as possible, meet new people or party all night? Experience local cuisine, live like a local or simply to unwind? I could come out with more possible objectives but ultimately you got to ask yourself why are you on this trip. From there, set your expectations and adjust the pace, look for places or experiences aimed to meet those expectations, tailoring your plans accordingly. Many travelers just dive in without even giving a thought about the objectives and come out disappointed ("Everything looks the same after awhile" or "I don't even know what I'm looking at after awhile"). You obviously can't achieve anything without even setting what you want to achieve. On top of that, travelers in a group tend to get along better if their objectives are similar.

3) Expect Mistakes: In any trip, no matter how meticulous the planning was, hiccups will happen. It can be bad weather, inaccurate maps or directions, strikes, unexpected closure, etc. EXPECT THEM! Be flexible and be ready to plan on the go. One wrong turn doesn't mean the destruction of the entire trip. Remember Tip #1: there is always a chance to come back if you choose to after the trip.

4) When travelling in a group, get everyone involved: Besides allowing everyone to sync their expectations, being involved in the planning simply makes the entire trip more rewarding and enjoyable. Be involved, know what is happening and have a stake in the ultimate outcome of the trip. Even if its a small part, at least you know you played your part and can enjoy the fruits of your labour when the time comes. For the leader of the group, no matter how minor a part is (even like in-charge of coming out with cooking/cleaning schedules), make sure everyone gets one.

5) Open your mouth and ASK: This saves time and reduces unnecessary errors. Enough said.

6) Be sociable but not imposing: This is especially for travelers staying in hostel or couch-surfing. Don't let the usual stereotypes stop you from socializing but at the same time do not impose yourself on others. Know when to stop the conversation. Gauge the situation before asking personnel questions. Do not make the people around you uncomfortable. The worst thing is to have to come back to a group of uneasy house/hostel-mate.

7) Don't be lazy, do your research: This goes in line with Tip #1. How do you know which are the sights and experiences that can truly reflect the spirit of the city? What to eat and where to party to be able to sample the local culture? All these have one simple answer - R-E-S-E-A-R-C-H. There are enough guidebooks (to buy or borrow), blogs, websites and forums for you to make an informed decision. Even asking locals online is considered good research. Research can save you time and money too. Of course, I don't mean doing detailed research that boils down to every single minute of your time. General research will suffice, allowing you to have an idea of what to see and do given the time you have.

That is all for now. I will go into the details about each advice as time goes by, giving a clearer idea on how each piece of advice will fit into your travels. Feel free to comment or contact me (via email or twit) if you have more to discuss regarding this. I love to discuss travel issues. Stay tuned for my Swiss Experience.

Time for Part II of Euro Summer'11

2011-06-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

Its the day before I fly to Switzerland for the second part of my Europe'11 Summer Backpacking trip and I'm simply thrilled by the prospect of travelling once more. For the past 7 days or so, I have been in Stockholm "taking a break". The real reason behind this hiatus is for Dawn to study for her final exams, happening on the 14th and 15th of June.

This break, though too long for my liking, have turned out to be quite useful. I managed to:

1) Sort, edit and post my photos
2) Start this blog.
3) Research and bookmark online travel sites (which I'll review as I go along). This will keep me updated all the time with travel news.
4) Join the various travel community and update my profiles and officially be an active member in the said community. For now, I'm active on Couchsurfer, Vjvlounge & Triptrotter. More to come!
5) And obviously, planning for the rest of the trip.

These are the things I wanted to do but have not quite managed it:

1) Clear the backlog of blog entries for the previous half of the trip.
2) Do post-production on my photos.
3) Complete the detailed itinerary for the rest of the cities I am in.

All in all, I'm now truly connected to the travelling world and will be always on the know of the latast in this industry. Thats not bad for a start. For all the uncompleted tasks will done during the trip itself. I'lll be regularly updating travels experiences both "live" and also "repeats" from my past travels. So don't be surprised to see 2 blogs entry in a day.

So now its off to packing and ready to jetset for Zurich, Switzerland!

Welcome To My New Food & Travel Blog

2011-06-11T04:06:00.000-07:00

Me with my grilled platter in Greece

Once again, a big HELLO and WELCOME to all. Travelling has always been my passion and it wasn't till recently that I came to a realization that I simply can't live without travelling. A simple reevaluation of my life and I set my dreams and life-goals in this sector, starting this blog brings me one stop closer to the ultimate dream. As for the exact details of the dreams and goals set, I'll slowly introduce it throughout my time blogging.

Beyond the grandeur of sights and sounds of my travels the lowdown of my escapades, here are the few other things that you can expect from here:

Evolution of Travels: Currently, I'm a student that has zero pay and living off my limited savings. Obviously, best part of my trips will be based on frugality. You'll more or less get a backpacker's perspective of things for at least the time being. This is bound to change. As the years go by, I'll be exposed to different travelling experiences, ranging from my frugal backpacking trips to the luxurious high road travels. I'll include everything inside. However, one thing that I can promise is that from time to time, I'll still go back to my backpackers roots and do it one more time.
Thoughts Sharing: This is fundamentally still a blog. A compilation of what I want to say out in a public space. This will not only include my experiences, but also my thoughts on pertinent travel topics, the latest travel news and other travel-related updates in the travel world. Please take my commentaries with pinch of salt as whatever's in here will still essentially be just my opinion and nothing more. I welcome all comments (non-offensive) and I'll try my best to reply as much as I possibly can.
Gastronomical Experiences: One thing which can rival my love for travelling is F-O-O-D. I'm all for visiting the grand colosseum or the magnificent great wall of China, but ultimately travelling is more than just the accumulation of the sights that you have seen. It is the wholesome experience of living "locally" that counts too. The fact that I'm not the party-animal type of person, I have chosen to enhance this experience through living out the gastronomic affairs that the locals have with their cities. Thus a strong emphasis, besides the typical sights, will be on the food I have tried (regardless how unusual) along the way.
Timeline: I try my very best to keep this blog as "live" as possible. However, due to no small part my lack of time and a wee bit of procrastination, I still got a lot of backlogging of the first half (and my previous leg) of the current trip to clear. So you might see the dates jumping here and there, but once this is clear up, a clear timeline will be made obvious and you can track where I am anytime.
History of the places: I'm sorta of a history buff myself and always make an effort to read up on any place I visit. Thus I'll add them in here too for those interested. If you aren't, just skip over and move on.

Obviously, from the title of the blog, you'll figure that this is not just a Travel Blog. This is also a foodie blog. I'll definitely not be travelling 365 days a year, so when I'm back home, this blog will still be active for the sharing of the second love of my life - the taste of Singapore. So stay tuned for more recommendations and experience sharing even when I'm not globetrotting.

Alright, that's all for now. Its getting too lengthy so I'll just end here and if anything else comes to mind, I'll add it in my future entry. So time to start cracking!