Swiss Alps

Switzerland has been a good break from Greece and Italy.

Despite the smokers here,the air really is fresh. But it could be psychological. ^^ 

We chose to stay in Bern as it was closer to Interlaken,a place my L had on her list. So Milano-Bern-Innsbruck was the plan.

The first two days in Bern was boring. The city is so small,we could walk anywhere and they even provided free transport for travelers. 

The hostel was good,clean and with comfy beds. Sadly,we had to make our own sheets -.- which is lame. But do-able.

The real fun if switzerland started on day 3 where we trained to Interlaken then to Lautenbrunnen then to Klein to head up to JungFrauJoch.

The view in Lautenbrunnen is unbelievable i actually teared. Probably too much beauty for a small city girl.

We took many head-out-the-train shots with e alps in e bg and we finally made ot to the highest train station in Europe.

It was similar to Germany's Zugspitz but not as big or fun. This was some scary shit with slippery entrances and exits. -.-

Made friends w another korean who helped us take pics and vice versa.

On e train back,we sat opp a singaporean couple! They were super nice. Talked and talked til we reached Klein and headed to Grindelwald! This was a place i wanted to go to for the name soley. (Potter fan) but it turned out slightly disappointing.

Maybe Lautenbrunnen was too amazing. 

From Grindelwald w trained back to Interlaken w brokebackcowboy,the new korean friend and had dinner at hooters

tgt.

The sunset,though behind us,reflected a wonderful pink onto the alps infront of us. *my heart.

It was 9.30pm by the time we headed to e Interlaken west train station to go back to Bern (1hr journey) 10pm was e train,we hopped on and after e doors closed,we realised we were on e wrong train,it was bringing us back to Interlaken OST where we started out! So the station master was like, get off at OST and run as fast as u can for the opp platform train as THAT is going to Bern. If we missed that,it was another 1hr wait for the next train.

Boy.. Did we run! We had to run down a flight and run up another. Huffing and puffing by the time we reached the train,thank god we made it.

Once we boarded,guess who we saw sitting there facing us? The singaporean couple! But they goy off at Interlaken west.

:)

Fate as they call it.

We got back to e hotel at about 11 and knocked out. 

Yesterday,we had a free day so we took a tram and headed to Wabern,a small suburb of the bern city. We didnt expect anything but were rewarded by astounding views of the alps and the city.

It was gorgeous! 

Today,we leave Bern for Innsbruck in a 6hr busride.

God,pls let this be a smooth one.

Switzerland.

Many people's bucket list: Swiss Alps.

Now i get it.

Today we spent sgd500 to go to the top of europe in switzerland. JungFrauJoch via train.

We had to change 4 trains.

Bern-interlaken- lauterbrunnen-klein-jungfrau-klein-grindelwald-interlaken-bern Boyy was it a long trip.

The best place: Lauterbrunnen.

The beauty of a magneficent waterfall with the backdrop of the swiss alps were too much for me to handle.

I cried. Weird but i did.

It was too overwhelming 

It was so amazing.

At e top if jungfrau,the wind was blowing and it was scary shit.

Maybe seeing others scared of e slippery floor caused my fear to heighten as well.

We met a friend,sean a korean american at e top of it and even explored grindelwand and dined at interlaken together. 

We also met a singaporean couple who were so kind and it was fate that we met them again on e train back to bern!

All in all,it was an awesome day.

And in thankful for it.

Shopping prada outlet in Florence

Ok, there are many reviews and experiences on how it is done but in bits of poeces here and there.

So here is my full experience.

I knew i wanted a prada/miumiu/balenciaga and from reviews,Space was THE place to go (no balenciago though)

And i had decided that i would go to Space at Montevarchi T first and if there was nothing,i would do The Mall.

So i was advised to take the FIRST train out to be the first few in line to get into e shopping mall which opens officially at 10:30am.

Being a kiasu singaporean,i took e train at 8am from Florence towards montevarchi terranuova. I stress this as other reviews only say montevarchi and when an additional terranuova appears on the train selection list,i panicked. 

We reached at 9am and right outside the station there is a taxi stand,we met another japanese couple there and we waited about 10mins before a minivan labelled taxi drove our way. 4euros per pax since there were 4 of us. Otherwise,12euros for e trip.

I wouldnt recommend Luca if you had a choice as he was pure rude to us.

But if there isnt anyone else. Just hop on.

No way we could have walked to e outlet mall or taken a bus. About 15mins drive to some ulu area and there it was SPACE.

When we alighted at 9:10am,there were already 5 PRCs infront of us. We had to wait outside e perimeter of the building.

In chinese,these girls (early 20s) are already boasting about how they were gonna buy at least 15bags and about 20wallets each. And how they are gonna run in and just grab everything in sight and then decide later.

My friends, nothing to fear. The store is too big to let these annoying people affect you.

At 9:30, the security opened the metal gates so we could walk in and take a Q number for the payment of the bags later on. The number really isnt tt much for e Q as space allows e numbers 1-200 in at a time. (There were barely 100 ppl when the doors were later opened at 10:30.)

So after taking our numbers (13&14) as the PRCs took about 2/3 numbers each (which doesnt make sense as there wasnt a cap to how much u can buy)

We headed to e cafe to sit and have a drink while slowly the queue formed right outside e doors. We joined e back of e line even though we were first few at about 10:25. 

It really makes no difference -take it from e kiasu singaporean-

I went straight for e bags to the right of the outlet.

The outlet's layout is simple.

Walk in,u see men/small leather goods. Men stuff to the left, right for women.

Prada Wallets-> prada bags -> miumiu -> shoes -> clothes.

Its a simple layout and fool proof,no hidden areas or second floor.

I fell in love w my miumiu shopping bag the second i saw it. Picked it up touched smelled carried and asked. Last piece! Ok,im taking it. The sales assistant took my q number and e bag was reaerved and off e shelf.

With e main thing accomplished i could take my leisurely time to start from e beginning. We tried on pants and prada down jackets (a steal but i didnt need it)

The most popular area had to be e prada wallets. About 10-15 ppl crowding each table filled w colorful wallets. 

Just looking at them made me so happy! Like looking at candy.

A Little trick to share:

i found a sling in black which i liked going for 550euros. The design came in white,black,red and pink. I torned between e black and e white, so the sales assistant whispered that e white was only 440 euros due to a small defect (which no one could find). Well THAT 100euros made a huge difference. But then white needed maintainence and i wasnt one who could keep up. It would be grey in a month!

So the trick is,at e price tag,there are numbers. If there is a number 3 the price of e item is lower than e actual cost shown. So i went looking and saw that e gorgeous pink also had a 3. Even though i was between black and white for vainess. I decided e pink was the best choice for my pocket and my heart.

Thats 200sgd difference for something i still have not found on my pink sling.

I was tempted to buy at least 2 more items,a wallet and another pretty miumiu sling but as i am travelling and will continue to travel the next few months,i decided against it. The staff were all very patient and very sweet,even to us asians. I had gone with some expectations of being snubbed like in Paris. But this was nowhere near that.

Its heaven. I dun follow e newest designs that much so im not sure of the seasons. But all e items look quite classic to me and as long as it looks good on you/with you,who cares what season?!

Obviously,The Mall was out of the way and out of my pocket by e end of it. I couldnt stop giggling over my money spent. The joys of ur hard earned money evolving into a bag you love. Hahah 

The taxi out was tricky,it would be good to pre book when he first drops you off. We were lucky that another taxi came to us as the guy we came with was etirely booked up.

Give yourself.. 3hrs? I did mine by 1.30pm and im usually a fast shopper. But when u're surrounded by pretty things and discounts.. One tends to be slower.

So we got to e train station and booked our train tkts back to Florence and called it a day.

Prices are sensitive but what i can say is both my bags are half the original price! ^^

Next up,tax refund. Most of you won't have an issue as it can easily be done at e airport,but as i had to train to italy, it was a hella difficult and worrisome.

The word was that trains from italy to switzerland hardly has any custom officers to check ur passport or stamp the tax refund.

And my train was going via domodossola as the italian border not e more popular chiasso.  

After extensive research to take backk my tax money, we had to get off e train at domo, find e customs guy,stamp and then get back on e train (whichleaves within 5mins) since thats NOT possible,we would hafta stamo,loiter tol the next train to switzerland arrives (3hrs later) there was also an issue of not having a seat assigned on e new train.

So i approached the whistle blower at milano centrale, with my biggest smile i made friends and asked about e stamp. 

As e reviews go,he said get down at domo. I enquired if i had enough time o hop back on as me and my friend had 55L backpacks and another 40L front packs alongside our shopping and water bottles.

He was confidebt enough and said yes,just start running when u hear the forst whistel. THAT did not sound good,running was near impossible with backpacks bigger than ourselves.

So we planned that my friend bring all e packs off e train at e door while i run and look for the guy. If we can make it,we simply hafta carry e packs back up. If we dont,at least the train wouldnt take our luggage and leave us stranded in Domo.

Lucky enough,i hopped off and ran towards a grp of 3 whistle blowers,they pointed me in e direction of a man in PLAIN CLOTHES no "customs uniform" whatsoever and it was done. 

One whistleblower even told my friend as he walked past, "i think she can make it" :)

And we did!

Back on e original train while some passengers were still taling a smoke break from e train!

Success in DOMODOSSOLA

next would be tracking iur crefit cards for e refund within 2 months.

Phew.

A bump in La Spezia

This whole trip has been worked around booking hotels and tickets ad hoc. Therefore our train tkt to Padova today weren't booked yet.

 We woke early this morning to walk down to the train station to settle it before going back to e hotel to pack and leave but met with an obstacle.

The unfriendly lady at the counter snapped at us with minimal english that "THERE'S A STRIKE! No trains to Cinque Terre." We asked about Padova,she replied that there was no direct train to Padova,only through Parma and then Bologna before Padova.

So we wanted the tickets to Parma as we had booked our accomodations id Padova already. She said "THERE IS A STRIKE!"

Sigh.. That was all we could get from her.

After sometime we realised that only selected trains were still running and could not be confirmed til about anhour  before the scheduled time.

We tried asking a taxi how much it would cost from La Spezia to Padova (willing to pay SGD200 for a 3hr drive) but he shocked us when he said it wiuld cost SGD1200!! 

So we gave up, went to order ice coffee, and the girl at the counter said "only ice coffee cream?" So fine,i thought i'll just scoop e whipped cream out. But guess what came to me at the pickup counter?

Literally CREAM, ice cream.

Lol.. Wasn't too bad though.

We then grabbed some delish pastries and headed back to the hotel to pack and wait it out at the train station.

Back at the station,only first class tickets were left for tkts to Milan and she said hopefully there would be a train at Milan to take us towards Padova. Spent SGD150 on the train tickets alone.

It's the most we've spent in train so far.

The train for Milan was delayed BUT efirst  class is awesomee

We managed to get to Padova safely and on time! Next bump was we had no inkling on where the hotel was. We didnt have maps nor did we search the directions beforehand (rookie mistake).

We walked outta e train station and it was raining. 

The day couldn't get worse, only better.

We stopped under shelter for me to cover my miumiu with a raincoat. Yes,bag over self.

And litang went to ask for directions,jackpot! The first guy she asked spoke good english and said he would google map it!

But as god would have it,his phone died before anything could be done.. He said if we dont mind,he has a car,and he would be able to charge his phone.

Wahh.. How good was the day getting? When we got the his car,he opened his boot for our hugeass backpacks and that was when we realised,he was offering us a ride! Not safe generally,but Gian Lucca,was awfully comical in speech and seemed more afraid of us than the other way round.

So we hopped in after confirming again that we weren't troubling him. Found out he studies Physiotherapy in Venice and takes e train over to Venice daily.

We followed him to get some petrol and he managed to find e hotel and dropped us off. 

Here's a pic of our lucky star.

We headed into w hotel which can only be described as a cosy haven with a couple who are alil eccentric, in a good way of course.

Dropped our stuff and went out in search of dinner. It being after 8pm,we only had one choice: frozen pasta from a bar. But it was good!

Met an italian man who kept talking to us in italian. We couldnt understand, he knew we couldnt understand but the conversation went onnn

The one way convo man.

And that was the end of our eventful day!

Tomorrow,Venice awaits.

Wonderful day with wonderful people!

To sum up our wonderful day.

First walked around Padova visiting e sights. The feet were crying by e time we were done.

Met a kind church keeper who let us into e restricted areas of e church!

Then met a man who saw us with a map and approached us to give directions of the tourist spots.

After,we met w our new friend who introduced us to a bunch of other new friends.

Home @ 2.20am.

These are e wonderful people! 

The end of 31st may 2014

A Pakistani adventure

Shogran was where we were to spend 3days at. It was a beautiful resort at e top of a mountain, not near e snow capped areas yet but halfway there.

It was clean and the people were kind though they didnt speak to us girls,a culture where females should not even shake hands with males.

Bathing was a challenge as the staff had to heat e water with fire. Not timing your wash will result with a frozen ass (It really did happen). I had the opportunity to hard a real rifle for the first time in my life,damn was it heavy.

The stars that night were the most beautiful thing i've seen so far!

The back of our resort,the mist was just sneaking upwards

Meals were delicious,as were the rest of Pakistan..we probably gained a kg or two each. The first morning was spent chasing glaciers and we almost died.

Our local jeep driver had warned us of a highly possible avalanche but our dearest Asim had wanted to continue taking peeeautiful pictures. The guide was gonna have a nervous breakdown between smoking and speeding his way to safety. It was such a horrible and traumatizing journey out,i never looked at a jeep the same way again.

At the bottom of our resort,it rained and i was falling sick,the kind driver dug out a shawl for me to cover my head. :)

The next day we climbed the top of shogran to the snowcapped areas. It was a 4hour journey in rain/snowfall in really deep snow. But we did it! 

Us trying a snow angel Hamish made.

Climbing down was as scary as the way up but with more fatigue. I had my playlist to accompany me and Danyal on e way down. Singing our lungs out for no one to hear! The feeling=Freedom.

We then had breakfast back at the resort and slowly made our way back to the mutary quarters for one last night in Islamabad.

We stopped by many places and a lavish hotel,Pearch continental,this was the ritz carlton of pakistan. The security was so tight and we had the most wonderful view of the sunset. 

The view from Pearl Continental

We had also driven past the town of Abbottabad (something) where Osama Bin Laden was hiding. 

The next morning we headed towards Lahore. Stopped by a heritage centre,the grand mosque of Islamabad and salt mines where girls came up to us for pictures (told u we were aliens!)

We reached Lahore at 11pm dead tired and Asim checked us into Pearl Continental Lahore (a different

We soen one from before) Oh,the smile that was on my face when i entered the room. Think it lit up the whole city. Was beyond excited for the civilisation the night few nights.

The security of our hotel taken from our window.

The following day,Dr asim's father,a professor of botany in the Lahore University picked us up from the lobby and took us around to the grand mosque of Lahore,older and more beautiful than the one is Islamabad. We were stared and commented on by passerbys but we got used to it. He also brought us to his university for a walk and some snacks before he drove us back to e hotel for a rest. Dinner at 8pm to be met at e lobby by Shamila and him again!

They never let us outta their sights except in the hotel,for that we are thankful. We headed to a nearby "mall" it was an open concept with shops,restaurants and even a themepark by the roads.

Shamila may be a woman in Pakistan but she was tall and commanding,no one in their right mind would even think to approach us ^^ very strong aura around her which we grew so fond of.  

We had a very veryy good dinner again before heading back to crash.

Dinner with Dr Asim's kind sister and father.

The next morning was the day of the conference. Prof Lomanto was in attendence as well! 

The profs who came visiting

We spent the whole morning and most if the afternoon watching the two men do live surgery and finally headed to the borders of Pakistan and India where there was a show of soldiers. We webt with a priority of one of the Pakistani MOs whose grandfather was some big shot in the military. We had VIP seats (tho we remained standing) and tea. We then headed for dinner with the whole team of Pakistani GI doctors. From the clinical fellows to the chief of surgery at a restaurant with the best night view of the grand mosque.

The next morning a MO, Raj, drove us to the airport and ensured us a safe entry to the transit. 

How kind was the hospiality that Dr asim arranged for us? We felt like princesses in a foreign country,fat princesses for sure. Without him or his family,we would probably be slaughtered. Kidding. 

Heartfelt thanks to our kind surgeon.

Basically,tourism in Pakistan is NEAR impossible without a local you can trust of you are female and asian. 

But it was an awesome,once in a lifetime experience in this untouched beauty of a country.

The preparation

Looking back at how much we prepared for the trip..

Seems like most of them was useless.

Badically,the most important thing is to decide what countries are the MUST GOs and saving money.

We had a very specific travel plan but it has changed so many times that now we have just a general outline on which direction of the earth we are going.

I was prepared to resign from my job as a clinic coordinator even though i loved it.

This was something i HAD to do now or literally never. I didnt expect the clinic to wait for me as that was practically impossible. But when i let known the plan,i had to try. And i got what was the best deal ever. An 11 month no pay leave from the managers. 

Of course,i didnt like the fact that i had just put a deadline on my dream but i had to be practical and my heart wouldnt let me give up the family i had found at the clinic.

Company D&D

My team of neurosurgeons during Prof Yeo's Xmas dinner.

So the actual first step was done: settling e job.

Next was breaking the news to the family,mainly the mum. Slowly and bit by bit. She's still not too happy after i had left but she has accepted it somehow. Daily updates vis Whatsapp is still inisisted upon.

After that,we booked our flights. THIS was by far the most exciting yet scary step.

As we were lucky enough to have a very kind Pakistani Dr at e clinic,he had instilled e idea of visiting Pakistan. He agreed to bring us around and host us.

So tickets to Islamabad via Bangkok was booked (SGD700). The plan was to tour e city of Islamabad for a few days then drive down to Lahore for a conference before leaving Pakistan.

We also booked Lahore to Athens,Greece, transiting in Dubai for 5nights (SGD800)

So far the cost of these 3 countries were an estimated SGD1500 and we were pleased.

As the days passed,our hearts beat faster and our packing lists got longer.

Goodbye meals and meetups were almost a daily thing.

The hardest was the family, especially the eldest sister and the youngest. Tears were shed the night before.

Had the thought that i wouldnt be sent off but e mum,dad,aunt,tommy and zuraidah came! :)))

Of course a lil crying from e mum..who hardly ever cries. 

She was visibly happier after Dr Asim introduced himself with much confidence and truth that we would be in his safe hands.

We took off w Dr asim towards Bangkok and then Islamabad and reached near 10pm where he had a military friend to pick us up.

The airport had NO women. All men whi stared at us like we were aliens (which i guess we were).

 We were driven to a bed&breakfast of a military sort. It was guarded by soldiers and only military people had the access to book this place to sleep. The toilet..had a stench and the blanket was.. Questionable but it was safe and that was what mattered.

The next morning we woke to eggs and bread,donned our Punjabi suits and were ready for a journey to the top of the mountains w asim's family.

His mum,a total darling, his sister and her 2 sons. They were kind and so friendly throughout our whole journey in Pakistan.

Dr asim w me and Nessa at CharlesTan's opening.

Sons far left and right,Litang,momma shabbir,me and shamila.

The journey up was wonderful,there was this beautiful place where the chairs were placed between waterfalls and you could have fried potato and hot tea. 

The adventure of Pakistan shall start soon!

Starting anew this 2014

Can't believe im back on blogger.

Im thinking no one would read these posts but me. But i've decided to come back on for the sake of memories.

I've embarked on a loong journey backpacking a month ago.

16th April to be exact.

And this is gonna be my outlet as of today.

When im all grey and 75, i shall switch on my grandchild's laptop and read all these sweet memories.

So no complaining or anger shall be remembered as of now.

I shall rise.

It's currently 1.27am at La Spezia, Italy.

litang is sleeping while im doing this.

It's our last night here. Tomorrow we move on to Padova for 3 nights and then Milan for another two.

Today, we visited Cinque Terre, so far,this is my favorite place due to e sea and the crashing waves. 

While walking e coast,i can imagine coming back here with a husband for an awesome honeymoon. Weird but the thought just came.. Let's see what the future holds.

Will be doing some backdated blogger the next few days. 

The journey so far: 

Singapore- Pakistan- Dubai- Greece- Italy. 

tut room

In a tut room now.. The bigger ones..
The one we took e elective class in..
Wad elective qwas it? Some psychology elective?
The one we all went just for ivanloh?
LOL!
It was soooo funny!
Gosh....
Memories of nyp can kill me wid laughter.

nostalgia

I'm at nyp's library for a module in e UOS course..
Friggin 2 hours early for class but its fine..
Walkin thru e middle part from e carpark to e library brings me back to those days I walked the same path wid Marie n Farhana..
Walking into e library,the familiar "teeeee" sound tt's in my earphones when I pass e electronic beeper at the library.
And walkin thru e cafe where me and yap's favv hot dogs are..
And to e health science section where niz,sexy,goli,paul,bhinisa have stationary places.
Mostly ahyap. I dunno why.. Mabbe cos marie was hardly in school?
And ahyap and me always slacked at e sides of e library wid our earpieces. Her ugly mp3 and near e window chairs. Wid leehom(who is playing RIGHT NOW in my ipod) and weibo..
Ahahhaha.. The memories.
Memories tt brings us back to astro.

school starts

Cud it be tt I forgot tt I've once shook president nathan's hand?
LOL! So here I am blogging to help me rmb tt I did last year during e istana nurse's day event!
Tmr school orientation,9-5pm. SIM,uni of sydney.
Its close to 2am and e alarm is set in 4 hrs time.
I can't sleep!
Have loads to update!
Like how I left e ward,how friggin sad it was..
And suju's concert! BOTH!
How I shook donghae's hand! Wahhahahhaha!
<3
K I'm off to try n slp again.
Will hafta update soon. Memory's failing.
Mum is wayyy worse. A lil worried.

tendered-resignation-day

Hi me! and possibly Winnie.
I've tendered my resignation today.
It was a relief,after holding on for 2 years,it's done.
Its e kinda relief like a patient on dopamine,off dopamine but still hanging on for dear life.
After 2 years of gasping,i let go.
Sad of course,no doubt but a relief somehow.
As i expected,the troubles i'll face after resigning wouldn't be coming from myself
but more of my colleagues whom i've been so reliant on.
Sure,my kaki babis have left me alone to die in e wd but i survived
but these group of friends are of a different kind.
It pains me to hear u cry,get upset or angry for me
It's gonna be tough on my last day.
LOL,im laughing now thinking of what a scene i'm gonna cause on my last day.
The thought of clearing my locker makes my smile die off.
I'll miss 44 with all my heart and soul.
But life demands a change,no matter how comfy and happy i am there.
And i've decided on e next step.
Studies. WHICh,if u noe me,is a HUGE joke. LOL!
I'm leaving with the hope that we can maintain a good relationship,tho hard.
One can always hope.