Day 6 - Lugano and Lucerne

On this morning, we took a bus to the town centre. We alighted just in front of the main train station, and walked down the staircase to San Lorenzo Cathedral. I opened the front door to go in, but there was a mass going on inside, so we didn't go in eventually. We just stopped for some photo-taking and resumed our walk in Lugano town. Being in the town was almost like being out of Switzerland. The buildings and how they are built on the slopes just felt really Mediterranean. The town was also surprisingly deserted, it was the one place we visited which we hardly saw any Asians.

.

Our hotel in Lugano didn't provide breakfast, so Wen Lee and i stopped in Piazza del Riforma ( sort of like the city square) to have some cakes with coffee.

.

After filling our tummies, we had a nice walk along Lago di Lugano from this part of town, with fine views across the lakes from Lugano's peaks. Along the way, we passed Santa Maria degli Angeli, at the southern end of the Via Nissa. The monumental fresco of the Passion (bernardino Luini, 1529) in the church is also quite remarkable.

.

As with Wen Lee making the decision to visit Lugano, i also made a major choice in the trip. Our first itinerary plan was to actually head to Zurich after Lugano, but i consulted my travel partner and we mutually agreed to forego Zurich and spend 2 nights in Lucerne instead. Lucerne, after all, is well-known as the most beautiful city in Switzerland.

.

I bought a big slice of pizza at the train station, and we headed to Lucerne. Reaching Lucerne, we suddenly felt cold again, with them temperature dipping to 8 Deg C in Lucerne. We checked into the hotel, rested for a while and started exploring Lucerne.

.

Lucerne is such a beautiful place, and here i quote Insight Traveller 'Lucerne, on Lake Lucerne, with quaint, covered wooden bridges across the Reuss River, Alpine peaks in the distance and paddle steamers on the lake, is a picture-postcard idyll.' I couldn't have put it better myself!

,

First, we walked to Spreuerbrucke, an old covered bridge containing paintings of the Dance of Death. We crossed the bridge and visited Alstradt, the old town in Lucerne. We gave it a quick glance before heading to Kapellbrucke, undoubtedly the most recognised landmark in Lucerne. It is the oldest covered wooden bridge in Europe. Sadly it was severely damaged during a fire in 1993, and some parts of it were destroyed even though it has been reconstructed.

.

While waiting for our boat ride in Lake Lucerne ( or in German, it's called a tongue-twisting Vierwaldstattersee), we strolled along Lake Lucerne, admiring the ducks and swans as well as posing for photos with the Art Museum, just outside the boat quay.

.

Finally, the boat arrived and we took a round trip in Lake Lucerne. Many previous tourists to Lucerne have earnestly informed us that no trip to Lucerne is complete without a boat trip in the lake, and boy, do i agree! However it got too chilly during the ride and midway we had to dash into the boat's interiors, instead of admiring the perfect scenery outside. We witnessed the beautiful sunset and made it back just after sundown. We had some take-away McDonald's back in our hotel and spent the night the same as every previous night , watching Obama's progress in the US elections from CNN. That was the only channel in English during our stay in Switzerland....haha....

Weekend at the Beach

This year, my company's Family Day was a one-night stay in Amara Sanctuary in Sentosa. This resort is a relatively new place in the tiny island, so who cares that I've been to Sentosa countless times. I heard that the place goes for >$500 a night ( plus it was Zoukout weekend) , so i think the pricing is a little like daylight robbery, but i'm not paying so, who's complaining here? Haha...... truthfully though, i still prefer our chalet stay last year, which was for 2 nights and did help foster relationships between colleagues.

I did a spot of cycling along Siloso, Pahlawan and Tanjong beach...and stopped to snap some photographs and people-watch as well. It drizzled a little while i was cycling so it dampened the fun slightly.

The Merlion is just within walking distance from the resort, so i figured i might as well have a few pictures taken with the big cat. There were many Chinese and Indian tourists around so i had to jostle for space with them.

Our timing wasn't very good, it was the same weekend as Zoukout, the biggest beach party in South East Asia....so there were throngs and throngs of party people cramming into Sentosa 5 pm onwards. My friends and I were going the other way, we took the hotel shuttle bus to Vivocity instead.

The huge, brightly-litted Christmas tree was placed on top of Vivocity...we walked around Vivocity a little, just window shopping and enjoying each other's company.

It was Han's birthday that day. He had just suffered from a break-up so he had to contend with a celebration with another 3 pairs.... poor thing!

Day 5 - Zermatt and Lugano

On the 5th day, we woke up really early....at about 6 am. We had breakfast and checked out at the earliest possible time. We later walked to Migros to get our lunch to be consumed in the train later. At the same time i tried to get a glimpse of Matterhorn peak which i had missed the evening before. This time i managed to get a shot of it, eventhough the sun was not entirely out yet. Really happy that at least i managed to see it, so my trip to Zermatt was not wasted.

.

We then embarked on a 6-hour journey to Lugano. I didn't want to visit Lugano, but Wen Lee was adamant about it, so i guess i had no choice. We travelled back to Visp, and changed for a train to Brig. This train later took us to through the beautiful town of Andermatt and to Goschenen. Near Goschenen, we had the opportunity to go through the railway tunnels of the Gotthard pass. The view of the rock tunnels were simply amazing, coupled with the mist trapped within the valleys, it was awe-inspiring.

.

From Goschenen, we changed to another train (this train looked like the MRT) which brought us straight to Lugano via Bellinzona. Lugano , situated in Ticino, lies in a semi-circular bay on Lago di Lugano (Lugano Lake) , between the mountains of Monte Bre and San Salvatore. Both my and Wen Lee's first impression was that Lugano looked a lot like Monte Carlo! With the flats perched on the mountains....just the whole feel. Being in Lugano was a great change due to its warm weather, sunshine and Mediterranean flair. We felt as if we had travelled to Italy, as many Italians settled in Lugano ( including Jarno Trulli, Italian F1 driver). One of our biggest problem in Lugano was that almost NO ONE spoke English there!!

.

After checking in to the hotel, we immediately walked to the train station and boarded a train to the town of Melide, just 5 minutes away. Wen Lee's main reason to be in Lugano was to visit the Swissminiatur, a green garden with miniature models of Swiss buildings and attractions. We had a ball of a time behaving like we had just walked out of Gulliver's Travel....haha...the toy trains and cable cars here actually moved like the authentic ones. I was just happy to be basking in sunlight again....the weather in Lugano was really lovely....about 15 deg C and lots of sunshine.

.

Later, we travelled back to Lugano and did some sight seeing near our hotel, at the shores of Lago di Lugano. After tiring ourselves out, Wen Lee suggested that we had a proper Italian meal, which was really appropriate as Lugano is famous for everything Italian. We just had some problems communicating with the waiter, but they were really friendly so it was no biggie. After dinner, we trudged back to our hotel for an early night.

.

Day 4 Zermatt

Finally, on this day we left Geneva. I was feeling pretty excited, cos a widespread belief is that Geneva and Zurich are two boring cities in Switzerland, despite being the most well-known in the country. Our next destination was Zermatt, a skiing resort which is famous for two things : the emblematic Matterhorn peak and the fact that no motor vehicles are allowed in the town.
.
Our plan was to leave Geneva at about 11 am, but we missed the train and so we had to wait another hour for the next train. We had lunch in the Geneva Airport train station. Since it was cheaper, Wen Lee and I had most of our meals bought from Migros ( equivalent to Singapore's NTUC Fairprice) and had our meal while waiting for the train.
.
Our train took us to Visp. From there, we had to change to another train, a red and cute panoramic train which had large windows. The train ride from Visp to Zermatt took about 65 minutes and passed through beautiful mountains and streams. It stopped at several small stations along to way to pick up more skiers, and we took the opportunity to admire the beautiful cottages built beside those stations.
.
Once we reached Zermatt, we walked to our hotel. Zermatt is pretty easy to navigate, since it's only made up of several streets and everyone travels there on foot. Our hotel, Hotel Restaurant Derby is only about 50 metres away from the train station.
.
By the time we got there, it was already about 3 pm, but we managed to cover the whole of Zermatt by 7 pm. Zermatt is about 1605m above sea level and my one reason to be there was to catch a glimpse of the majestic Matterhorn, without doubt the most famous Swiss peak, with its trademark triangular shape.
.
Along the way to view the peak, we stopped by at the Matterhorn Museum, where many exhibitions connected to the peak are displayed. The museum is made up of a small glass entrance, but the entire museum is actually underground.
.
Right behind the museum is the cemetery, dedicated to those who perished scaling the peak. Walking in the cemetery was indeed a sobering experience.
.
Also nearby is the Kirche, a small church situated in the middle of the town. We went in for a quick glance and continued our walk on Hinterdorf (Zermatt's main street) . It was a surreal experience walking in Zermatt because on both sides of the road there are rows and rows of Valais houses. The houses in Switzerland all look as if they belong to a fairytale somewhere.
.
Towards the end of the street is Mazot, a place dotted with old brown wooden houses, which i'm not sure if there are still occupants living inside. At Mazot, i see many skiiers making their way to the three main skiing areas : Rothorn, Stockhorn and Matterhorn Glacier Paradise.
.
Unfortunately, the Matterhorn peak was shielded by the cloud that afternoon, so i had to go to the same spot again the next morning. We walked back to the hotel, and on our way grabbed a kebab for dinner. We had a nice chat with the kebab man, who guessed that we were from somewhere near Southeast Asia. Pretty good, given that an Italian man i spoke to in Geneva thought i was Japanese. Most of the people there mistake us for Japanese rather than Chinese. Well, i'll take that as a compliment though.
.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A Very Happy Belly

While i was in KL early this month, one of my top agendas (besides shopping) was of course to eat the WONDERFUL food there!

.

This was the food served during my bus trip with Aeroline. It was my first time taking the bus. All the people close to me who stay in KL take this bus KL-SIN and vice versa. That's why i also decided to try it out. I think this breakfast was pretty scrumptious and very filling. On my way back, they served Subway. I eat that pretty often, so i didn't bother to take a pic.

.
On one Sunday afternoon, my sis and my bro-in-law brought me to IKEA and The Curve to shop for things for their new house. We had a late lunch at Seri Penang. Oh gosh, i miss Penang food!
.

Hehe.... Penang Char Kway Teow....ladies and gentlemen! It did taste pretty good, given that most of the best Penang food come from hawker stalls, and not air-conditioned eateries such as this.
.

Woohoo~ Penang Laksa! What a treat for myself! Finally i got to eat an authentic one, with actual fish pieces seen. I couldn't find any in Singapore, which are of passable quality, even. Ahh...thumbs up for this bowl of Penang Laksa!
.

When i first got off the bus at Sunway Pyramid when i reached KL, i saw a restaurant called 'House of Pancakes' and i made a mental note that i would like to try out a pancake place. Pancakes are one of the food on my favourite Top 5, i think probably because my mom used to make nice pancakes for me. I remember having to beg her to make some for breakfast cos i love it~ Ok back to the story, while we were shopping in Mid Valley Megamall, my sister and I had initially wanted to have lunch at Din Tai Fung, but i just couldn't get pancakes off my mind...and voila! Pancakes at Paddington House of Pancakes...
.

I have a sweet tooth, and so i ordered this dish of small pancakes that came with bananas, peaches and coconut shavings, topped with vanilla ice cream. It also came with 3 dip sauces : Peanut Butter, Brown Sugar and Chocolate sauce....hohoho.... this spells sinful with a capital S!
.

Since i ordered a dessert pancake, my sister decided upon this savoury pancake dish. The fillings were actually made up of stuff with beef and tomato paste...sort of like Lasagna....The mashed potato was nice, but overall, this dish was a disappointment. It didn't have much taste at all....
.

I love pancakes so much i licked my plates clean!
.

The pancakes were hardly digested and it was already time for dinner. My sis and I had dinner at this Chinese restaurant, but we didn't order any rice. We actually only had some light dishes...including this bowl of lotus root soup, which she didn't like.
.

The main dish of the night was Kungbao Chicken....yum.....
.

We didn't have rice, so we had 'Flower Buns'. Hey, that's what the menu said anyway.... they were actually just mantous shaped like flowers.

♥Sue Anne♥Chih Wei♥

Pre-wedding, the gang had a movie night out, watching Quantum of Solace together (including Sheau Ching!), followed by dinner. Later was a joint stud + hen party at Clarke Quay's Bellini Grande....a very nice joint with cabaret shows....as suggested by Jeremy. Haha.... Here are a series of pictures to guide you through the wedding :

.

A picture of some of the 'jie meis' having loads of fun giving Chih Wei a hard time! Sue Anne let it slip that Chih Wei would rather die than drink milk powder and that's what we did to him. The gang of brothers also had to down a cup of parsley juice to go with their 'ALL FLAVOUR SANDWICH'. After breakfast, they indulged in a session of yoga specially designed by the girls, staying in their respective poses while Chih Wei had to finish chaining a necklace of beads using chopsticks. Woohoo~

Immediately after the morning session in Subang Jaya, everyone rushed to Klang for the church wedding. We got there with half an hour to spare before greeting and ushering the guests.


Here's the bride! Her father walked her down the aisle to Chih Wei, who was looking on nervously.


A pic of the big family of jie meis and brothers, all enjoying themselves during this joyous occasion. Immediately after the photo-taking, we went back to Chih Wei's house for lunch, followed by the tea ceremony. Later, we made our way back to Subang for Sue Anne's family tea ceremony...phew....


Hmmm...i caught the bouquet toss. Sue Anne was really cunning. Look at the previous picture of her holding a beautiful bouquet. She actually bought an uglier one for the toss, because she was too much in love with her own bouquet. On the left is the white rose jie mei band Sue Anne handmade for us, and on the right is the red packet from Sue Anne and Chih Wei for assisting them during their wedding.


Alas...the wedding dinner.... I didn't know Chih Wei had an English name till the wedding day!

Our family portrait *smilez*

Ah nee and myself fooling around while the guests were having dinner in the ballroom...haha... Actually the dinner had the best service i've experienced in all these years of attending wedding dinners. The waiters were INCREDIBLE and actually had real conversations and joked around with us.

Last but not least, SABO SESSION. Well, it didn't last too long for all of us were already exhausted at this point, so we just crawled back to our hotel rooms and died of fatigue.

Photos taken professionally in the day :

http://www.robinng.com/webgallery/Anthony_sue_anne_wedding/

Show Luo 羅志祥 箇中強手 MV

OMG! Xiao Zhu's new album is due out soon! Check out the MV... the song? Hate it...but the dancing's jaw-dropping, as usual. Check out his nifty footwork in the solo dance towards the end.... Go Go Go! I wanna dance like him too =P

Day 3 - Montreux & Lausanne

On day 3, we were still staying in Geneva, but we made a day trip to the cities of Montreux and Lausanne, both well known for their classic and nostalgic feel. We woke up pretty early and took the train along the Swiss Riviera to Montreux first, passing by acres and acres of vineyards along the way.

.

Upon reaching Montreux, we took a trolley bus to Chateau de Chillon, the most famous castle in Switzerland. This extraordinary castle was brought to the world's attention by Lord Byron in his 1816 poem 'The Prisoner of Chillon'. Lord Byron even carved his name onto a pillar in the castle prisons.

.

The castle is strategically situated along the banks of Lake Geneva and contains a stunning myriads of halls, towers and courtyards.

.

The city of Montreux exudes a calm and serene atmosphere. The autumn leaves when we were there actually added an extra touch of peacefulness.

.

We dedicated about 3-4 hours at Chateau de Chillon before leaving for Lausanne, the Swiss Olympic Capital. This medieval city is dominated by its array of Gothic cathedrals and museums. We had initially wanted to visit the majestic Cathedrale de Notre Dame, but decided to visit the Olympic Museum instead. We had only time for one, so we headed to the shores of Ouchy by bus and walked to the museum.

.

It was a treat for a sports nut like myself. They had on display so many historical items from the Olympic games, including sports gear and apparatus used during the games. They had a gallery specifically dedicated to the host country of the previous game, in this case the Beijing Olympics.

.

At about 4 pm, we left for Geneva as Wen Lee wanted to visit some of the attractions in Geneva which she missed the day before while she was at the conference. It was a long long day, and we reached the hotel just after dark. It was a really memorable day, i really enjoyed Chateau de Chillon, I must say .

.

Video takes sometime to load...it's quite long

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Four Weddings & A Birthday

First and foremost, a huge relief that Sue Anne and Chih Wei's wedding is finally over...haha... it was tiring! Anyway, feel really happy for the both of them, who have been an integral part of our group for such a long time now. May you guys stay loving till death do you part =)

Lai Kwan!!!! My closest ally...So sorry i couldn't attend your wedding, but i saw the photos and you look absolutely stunning. As i've told Wanqing, you transformed from "basket" to "basking" that day. I'll see you after you get back from your honeymoon! Missing you liao.... *sob*


To Wen Lee and Eng Lee who will be having their marriage registered in January '09.... a heartfelt congratulation from the bottom of my heart. Both of you are such nice people and i hope that you'll cherish each other forever. Another 'Plus One' for our group... our group's getting larger with all these 'plus one's....haha...


Not forgetting.... TODAY IS MY SIS's BIRTHDAY!! Happy birthday to you.... so, this year's birthday wish is to 'GAMFEI'? But you already look very slim in this photo...keke


Lastly, one final congratulations to a good friend who has just gotten married, and will be having her wedding ceremony in April. So glad that you've found THE ONE.... i'm still keeping you anonymous, as you wish.

Day 2 - Geneva

On the 2nd day, we were still in Geneva and i was still combing the streets of Geneva alone. Well, at least it was a fruitful day. I left immediately after breakfast to explore the places i've already intended to visit.

.

First, i took a train to the city, and walked towards Promenade du-Lac, the waterfront area in Geneva, where Jet d'eau is situated. This fabulous fountain ( which happens to be the tallest in the world) is 140 m sky high with a water jet which shoots up at 200 km/hr, and that's almost as fast as an F1 car! At any one time, there is a total of 2 tonnes of water up in the air. I brought Wen Lee there the next day, but the jet was not switched on, for unknown reasons.

.

Within walking distance is Jardin Anglais, a beautifully decorated garden which has lots of statues and a pretty garden clock.

.

On top of my list that day was St Pierre Cathedral which i could see from afar, yet i tried many different alleys to reach it. Phew... This stunning 18th century gothic building is even more beautiful in the inside, but due to respect to the church, i didn't use any flash and so the photos were blurry. The basement house an archaelogical site where ruins of the old church buildings are preserved and guided tours are conducted for all to enjoy.

.

Just 2 streets away is Maison Tavel the oldest house in Geneva. Of course, restoration work has made it brand-new, so i was surprised to see the oldest house in Geneva in spick and span condition. Cameras are not allowed in the house, but i had a good time touring the interior, with its creaking floors and porcelains and antique furniture.

.

I also managed to squeeze in some time to visit 2 museums : The Natural History Museum & Art and History Museum. I must say i love the latter very much. I have always been a museum lover, and being there on my own enabled me to spend hours admiring the exhibits.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Day 1 - Geneva

My friend Wen Lee and I were in Switzerland in October. At first, we were apprehensive about travelling in autumn. Turned out that it was a brilliant idea! Not only were the hotels cheapest during this season, it was absolutely deserted at the places of interests, making photo-taking a quick process.
.
On day 1, we landed in Geneva at about 9 am. We checked ourselves into the hotel. Wen Lee made her way to her conference while i sauntered around the streets of Geneva on my own, trying to figure out the orientation of the city and understanding how the buses, trains and trams work

.
I walked into Geneva city to people-watch, but by 1 pm i left for a more deserted part of Geneva where United Nations was situated. I joined a tour into the building, and also visited other attrations nearby, such as the Red Cross Museum and the Ariana Museum.
Please take a look at my video :

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com