From ashes to beauty †: October 2009

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Amsterdam, Netherlands (30th-31st July '09)

The next destination was vice capital of the world, Amsterdam. It was a waste that we only had 2 days to spend there. Amsterdam is a very beautiful city with wonderful city planning creating a fusion of past and present.

The people in Amsterdam are also super friendly, and they speak really fluent English! =] One could really let one's hair down in this really happening city. We visited the city centre for the day and explored the streets, food and culture.

Fast food vending machine! Killer cool...

The famous fries. This could be a meal on its own!

24k Gold Vodka! What the hell!

A range of Absolut Vodka in the Vodka museam

Vodka in a Kalashnikov and grenade

A typical street in Amsterdam

We then stayed back in the city centre to check out the red light district as the skies darkened, transforming the city into a totally different place..Lights of all colours do their best to draw eyes to their masters behind glass windows. This was where I experienced the temptation...

Red light district, Amsterdam

Beauties behind glass..

Munich, Germany (28th-29th July '09)

We stopped by Munich, Germany for 2 days to visit Nicolas and Xiuqing. 2 days was insufficient to cover what Munich had to offer...However, the meal that Xiuqing fixed us on the last night was uber delicious. Not forgetting the company we had consisting of a German and a French student; they were hilarious.

We noticed this painting on the wall at Xiuqing's hostel. It was pretty descriptive of the 4 of us remaining at this stage of our eurotrip.

Slacking bird: Me!
Shitting bird: Jason
Upside down bird: Melvin
Birds in love: Jiajie and Michelle

I also visited Dachau concentration camp on my own in the day prior to the dinner we had at Xiuqing's hostel. I never regretted my decision to split from the group as the tour guide that brought us around was very well-informed.

I hardly took any photos there as I wanted to respect the place and the people who once walked on the very same concrete that I was walking on during WWII.

It is hard to imagine how human beings can be so devoid of emotions in times of stress (war) and resort to the things they did to other human beings. We are all told that history is written for us to learn from mistakes of the past in order to not make them in the future, but is this so in reality? Does theory and talking on paper translate to practice and actions in real time situations?

We human beings sometimes just fail to learn this important aspect of life...

Paris, France (24th-27th July '09)

The Louvre

Parisian artists plying their trade

Buskers entertaining the crowd

Moulin Rouge

We stayed in a hotel in Pigalle, and it was very near Moulin Rouge. Pigalle is where cabaret apparently originated. Shops flanking both sides of the streets ALL sold sex toys, DVDs, live sex shows and the like. It was indeed an eye-opening experience; it was like living in the heart of Geylang, Singapore!

A fish market

Market

The markets were very similar to the ones we have in Singapore! This was a very astonishing discovery. It seems like markets do not vary much in their layout and appearance.