adventuresofxt&dd

Monday, December 11, 2006

Oh what a day....



I won't exactly say that this is a day I've been waiting a long time for, but at the back of my head, I have always been wondering when we will meet again. It has been 2 whole years. So many things have happened since. I wondered what you look like now... whether we'll get along the same..... what we are going to talk about?

Though the meeting was a short 3 hrs, it was lovely, pleasant, simply a joy. You seem like still the same wonderful girl I adored so long ago. We had lunch at a neat french brasserie, chatted like old friends, caught up with each others' lives, promised to see each other soon... though soon may be another 2 years. It feels that in a way I know you well.... but then maybe not.... afterall, counting today, we've only really met each other for 9 times. It could very well be the case of us always being on our best behavior whenever we meet each other. Oh well, not like that is very important.

More importantly, this meeting seems to bring to a close a chapter of my life that was never properly completed. The end, while not ugly, was abrupt. I'm glad to see that you still look great, and doing fairly well in your life.... it was great meeting up.


That afternoon, xt & I finally had a chance to test out what we had been preparing for the longest time - playing hold'em at a casino. It certainly felt like a fish out of water in the beginning. Though along Champs-Elysees, it is not your typical pretty LV casino where it is luxuriously decorated and spacious. This was cramp, messy, and made to be just sufficient in terms of ops & deco.

To get a seat on a table, you actually have to bug the runner to write your name on a white board; not unlike when you play pool at a pub and have to write your name on the chalkboard if you wanted to play. We then had to wait rather long for a seat.

There are all sorts of people here, who are of course all strangers, so that feels different as well, especially when we are so used to playing with our frens. You try to check out the crowd and get a read on what type of people we'll be playing with, but there are simply so many of them.... you brain can't process it so quickly.

Then add to the fact that we were about the few handful of asians there, and probably the only asians there who don't speak French. At least the Americans don't stand out that much you know....

So we played at this 2-4 euros blind table, and did pretty well I must say. Other than getting some experience playing real poker, I think we managed to get an accurate read of the type of table we were playing at, and how best to play against it. Not to mentioned getting paid abit for all this.... haha... So we'll definitely try to go back a few more times to validate our strategy, gain more experience and hopefully make some extra pocket money along the way....

It was certainly a great day... one of the more eventful ones I've had....

- DD

Friday, December 08, 2006

random nonsense from xt
Hello pple, finally an update from xt... ITS DEC! Life in France has been going well but I have been missing CJK and XLBs for a long long time already so I am really looking forward to going home! This exchange in Europe is really a new experience for me, I have washed more clothes and more dishes in these 3 months than I EVER did in the past 18 years or something. I realised how powerful my mum is.

Cheryl who just came over a couple of days ago commented that I am a chinaman for missing all the cheena stuff like fried rice and chinese tv shows but I guess thats just me, I don't feel totally at home in Europe. Its also not easy when you have been missing a person since day 1. I know the place is insanely beautiful with all the monuments and stuff and the museums here are just crazy.. I have spent 9 hours straight in the British Museum but somehow I still feel that while Europe is a great place for spending a vacation and to sightsee but theres no place like home!
Being in Europe also made me appreciate Singapore even more:

1. you can walk around at 4am without fearing being mugged/stabbed/whacked/raped etc.

2. you can buy stuff at 4am.

3. shops are open on sunday.

4. you dont have to stay awake and stare at everybody on the mrt becaz you are worried that you will get pickpocketed.

5. you dont have to wait go to the bank 4 times and wait for a week for them to print your account balance.

6. you dont have to stand in line at the post office for 40mins with 2 counters open and JUST 4 people in front of you to post a letter.

I guess now that I have sort of seen the rest of the world, I can say confidently that Singapore is a great place even though we dont have chewing gum and that you get fined for jaywalking around school.

now for the pics..
..me in amsterdam
...christmas lights in london
...the big ben.. i think.. haha


... the british museum .. thats one of the doors of Sargon's palace, some assyrian dude.
...the Elgin marbles
... visiting Xuefen in Nice..
...the Bay of Angels
...me and Yixuan on the Nice beach
...Monaco! check out the houses and the yachts.
...the exit of the Monaco F1 tunnel

Nice is a very nice place. haha.. Thats it!

-the xt

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Brussels

We were here for a short stop-over before going to Amsterdam. Thinking it was part of Rick Steves' Best of Europe, we made no preparations for this trip. But as it worked out, Brussels was extremely easy to explore by foot. Certainly for a short 2 day trip to try the snacks and chocolate as you walk, and not to mention the mussels in Brussels....


The first thing we see when we walked out of the train station.....


At the main square, called the Grand Place..... the buildings around here are very kick ass....


Chloe & Casper, bringing more life to the trip with their bubbliness...


Everyone was trying these waffles...


....so we couldn't resist too....


A must-see.... the little peeing boy....


...but what was more memorable was the escargot stall next to it...


...with the weather being cold, nothing beats 10 plump escargots dumped into steaming hot spicy celery broth.... it was heaven and back for a discount of 3 euros...


ahhh....so delicious, we probably had 4 servings each in 2 days....


The makan street....


with alot of fresh seafood....


cheese on mussels......


A few naked cows..... haha


European Union Parliament...

ahh.... these honkies influenced me to act silly....


having a drinking nite out with the asians....




This looks like the Brandenburg Gate.... dunno what it is called though... haha... someone just told us there's something here to see...
after so many restaurants touted at us along the street, we decided to settle for this one...
we hadn't eat fresh prawns for a few months.... hence the steam look...

xt.... horrified by his fish....

Brussels was great... won't forget the escargots. However, though they are known for their chocolates, we just found really wonderful truffles from the supermarket next to our residence that cost just 1.50 euros for a box.... will try to bring back more for you guys....
- DD

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Asian Company

From the previous posts, it seems that xt & dd have only been spending their time with the ang mohs... but we are no SPGuys.... and we've been lucky enough to find a whole bunch of fun & eccentric Asian exchange students here. The only drawback for xt is that none of them are Jappo... haha...

This post will be more for the guys... since the only other Asian dude, Casper, may not be that appealing to the Singaporean taste buds.... haha.... but then again... don't girls love to check out other girls too....

Any Koreans or Honkies for you lums???.....

Jeeyeon's B'day


Jeeyeon is the one in yellow.... she's from korea

the 2 other girls were so nice to make a tiramisu cake....

this is Chloe from Hong Kong... & she likes to act cute... but at least she's not ACBC... haha


Chloe, Hye Jun (SK), Casper (HK) & xt....

Latern & Mooncake Party

frens of the honkies posted over a couple of laterns, so we had some fun with it 1 night....





Jeeyeon looking unglam here....


if i didn't tell you, you wouldn't guess that we are spinning those lou pok lanterns, right?

doesn't this look so cool....


Zoe, teaching us how to make crepe..... she's one of our only french fren here... and that's cos she's in our project group... haha... I think we know more dutchies from this exchange...


crystal trying her hand, but making a mess...

this casper is really very funny.... a joker face with a bubbly-vulgar personality....


and making the worst crepe of the night....


Sri, a Sri Lankan Aussie.... he's our roomie....

had mooncakes courtesy of Alvan...
We have alot of great times with this bunch... and its comforting to be hearing cantonese around next door... reminds me of my granny and how I miss her cooking....
Ok I'll be heading for my Salzburg/Vienna/Bratislava trip, while xt will be going to Nice to look for Xuefen.... will be back with more stories and pics....

- DD

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Munchen Oktoberfest

Hey folks.... xt is lazy again, refusing to blog.... that's why it's me again. At 1st he said that he doesn't wanna blog about our trips, and that he only wants to blog nonsensical. So I said ok, post something nonsensical then.... He gave up and juz said that he wants to download anime... haha...

This was the trip that we have been looking forward to when we left Singapore. The greatest beer festival in the world... it proved to be as mad as we imagined it to be!! Beer, beer & more beer... it is the 1st time I've seen so many people gulp down so much of it. The average guy drinks about 4-5 mugs per day, while the girls probably 2-3 mugs. No mean feat considering that they are 1 litre mugs, and have a higher alcohol content than normal beers (8% to the normal of 4-5%). On both days, I would feel tipsy/red after the 1st mug, high after the 2nd, bloated after the 3rd, and would be puking on my 4th... haha.


our 1st beers there... Lowenbrau.


look at how happy a beer can make you... haha


our 2nd at the renown Paulaner....


after 2 beers, xt could not see proper or aim straight... the tin cans were at most 2m away... he threw with all his might, and totally missed everything... haha... it was hilarious!!..

We were so high after 2 beers, we decided to go back to the hostel for a siesta... and continue in the evening...


feeling lovey dovey here.... for some reason, xt always doesn't remember the walk back to the hostel, so he doesn't remember taking this shot... haha..


After a nice 3 hr nap, we were back at the party. This festival is not just about beer.... it is also a fun fair & food festival combined... and they really all go hand in hand... the games & rides are more fun when you are high... and you get hungry after drinking too much beer...


before we started drinking again, we decided to try this massive ride that turns you round 100m into the air... freaking kick ass!! Highly recommended for drunkards....


how could we miss the pork knuckles.... deliciousss...


many germans bought this heart shaped biscuit and hung it around their neck... looked kinda silly... haha...


The beer tents were huge football field size, 1 or 2 tents for each beer brand... but even so, it was virtually impossible to get a table in the evening if you came late. If you were indeed late, you would just have to try table crashing with someone... we were lucky to be able to do so on both days. Inside the tent, everyone will be dancing on the benches to the music being played by a large live band situated in the middle. There are no Wala Wala act cool kids here...

... everyone just lets their hair down & have a smashing good time there....

xt was having a jolly good time man....

gene feeling the beat.....


Just earlier, I could not finish my 4th mug, so xt called me weak & continued downing with gene. Awhile later, I started puking.... so that xt was laughing at me.... calling me lousy... haha... Little did I know that once we got out of the tent, xt started puking.... hahaha... it was hilarious for me!! I could shove his comments back into his face, plus take photo evidence of how screwed he looked... haha..


On day 2, we crashed with some german youngsters at the Paulaner tent... they were so crazy & high that they got themselves & xt chased out of the tent by the security for falling on the table and spilling all the beers on it.....


... all this nonsense was happening while gene & I were outside enjoying very fragrant, tender, juicy & tasty roasted spring chicken..... hmmm.....

these fellas could barely stand.... look at the guy in baby blue tee, Manu.... haha..

... we had to go to another tent, where the craziness continued....
gene calls the girl in front their village bicycle....

don't ask me what they were trying to do... haha...

these guys were so fun...

gene feeling like he won the World Cup for Singapore....

these beer waitresses are bloody strong.... they can carry up to 10 mugs of beer at a time.... and their forearms all look bigger than mine...


stoning...


posing...

toasting...

Here comes the classic gene pics:
1st you get a huge feeling of puking at the back of your throat & neck....

then you let go... and let all the puke spill out...

finally you start spitting the remaining puke that is in your mouth..... haha...

Oktoberfest was totally what I expected.... absolutely smashing!!! It was probably alot more fun cos I was there with my good pals... so we could do so many crazy silly things together, laugh at each other, and afterthat recall the good times we had. I can't imgine how much fun we'll have if the whole cr8 was there... taking a whole table & getting totally wasted. That'll be alot crazier I'm sure...

- DD