Happy Early Bday JAMIE!!!

Hope you enjoyed the party specially for u(=

Sadness that some'&"&$(#'"%$('#(' person spoiled the surprise....but oh wells, at least we saw that brilliant smile on ur face(=

I think we can all be oscar winners....the acting and what not....a whole day of secretive^ness and distracting....

Thanks to all 3 of u for being great chefs as well(= Would so love to have tasted your cooking....those hungry-eaters are really (x uh-uh)!

Well, last of all....Happy early 21st bday Jamie Chewables!!!!! Totally love calling you that....hope u r happy to the max(=

waaah.. i just need to say it.

jamie spent some time on the below post which included research.

ok, together, " waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah..."

aunty yo, stress le ma?

Freetown Christiania

Hej people!

This is the third post of my exchange.hahah Apologies to all who have been waiting for me to blog and thank you for your patience!!!!!

As mentioned by Laur, I am going to blog abt Christiania, the state we visited during our Copenhagen trip. Its on the western side of Copenhagen, about southeast of Christianshavn. And it... Rocks. Just because it is different, in many ways.

We actually found out abt this place when the nice guy at the Danhostel reception counter recommended us places to check out in Copenhagen. He encouraged us to pay a visit to Christiania during the day, where we would be able to observe a vast difference in architecture and the way people dressed in Christiania, as compared to Copenhagen city.

He said it was a hippie town and a drug haven, where drug trafficking (especially, Hash) was not uncommon in that area. He went on to explain that the place had a number of police raids in recent months but was safe to move around in Christiania during the day. What a cool recommendation?! We just had to include it in our itinery!

Here... our journey through Christiania follows......

First, Let me show you some pictures of Copenhagen city, the 6th most expensive city in the world, according to Mercer HR "Cost of Living" Survey 2007. (The link is here: http://www.mercerhr.com/costofliving).

Above: Shophouses along the river in Copenhagen City. Yes, they have Royal Canal Tours like our Singapore river tours.

Copenhagen city shopping area. Feels like you are walking down the Orchard Road stretch in Singapore. Only difference? Every building to your left and right is at least a Paragon or Takashimaya. haha/..

Copenhagen City Hall. Beautiful well-preserved architecture.

ok TAKE A DEEP BREATH!
here's Christiania!(compare and contrast)

Streets of Christiania - Old dilapidated buildings, a far cry from what you saw in Copenhagen City. With lots of graffiti.

Below: Side entrance of the "central" area of Christiania. I will tell you abt the "central" area later!

Below: Windows of some of the shophouses in Christiania.

To a large extent, the graffiti is beautiful. They seem to tell a story. Worth pondering for a while. See below for the beautiful graffit!

Above: Mural of some fairy tale and a terrorizing dragon?!

Above: The blue-muscle monster destroys civilization?! This picture is very good for venting your frustration and anger - Laureen shows you how.

Typical street of Christiania: Lots of mad graffiti. Aya - As cool as the Ice Queen amidst the mess.

As u can see, not all murals are abt frustration and anger. At least Yiwen shows you one thats not!
Another graffiti. Neat !

Above: a poster of Christiania, pasted on the walls of the streets.

"Yo!" says the poster.

"Yo!" says Yo Yiwen.

Posters pasted on the street walls. Pi sai!

Ask Yiwen what her hand sign means. Ive no idea either.

Bulldogg?!..

Show me the money..

This is what i call ART. And yes saeed, the wall is huge. at the bottom left, it reads, "FREE YOUR SPIRIT" - probably telling us how the Christianites feel. Murals really speak a thousand words.

Cool background!

They design garbage chutes too :)

Ok... let me show you the Real stuff (1 picture only): Entrance of the "Central" area of Christiania:

Picture above: "No photos allowed". As we entered the "central" area of Christiania, the locals immediately told us (in an unfriendly manner) to put our cameras away. On the right of the picture, you can see a few tourist shops. and it ends there.

When we walked further in, we saw spray paint on walls warning us not to take pictures too. You might have realised by now that Christiania is not a typical tourist attraction. When we walked in, we saw policemen patrolling the area, while the Christianites looked on.

The locals, majority of them in hoods and baggy pants, were not welcoming at all, it is as if we were invading their territory. They appeared to be watching the police, and we could feel the hostility between both parties. There was a bit of "tension" when we walked through that stretch. We decidedly to walk one round and get out of the place, as it didnt feel safe at all. We walked past some eateries and one bakery called "Sunshine Bakery". The shops looked very old, as if they were going to be closed down anytime soon. There was no pavement, no roads in that stretch, locals looked suspicious. No street lights, no skyscrapers, totally no resemblance of Copenhagen city.

Just imagine Pulau Ubin with inhabitants and small shophouses, yup, thats what we saw in that stretch. And no, we didnt see people taking drugs of course! They are the pros..

After touring that stretch, we walked back and headed towards the tourist shops. We spoke with one of the shopowner and she explained to us that Christiania was previously used as army barracks. After which they were abandoned and people started moving in to occupy the land. She also explained that the people there resent the government and completely run the state on their own, where they have their own rules and state flag. She also pointed to the stretch we walked through, and said that it was the "central" location for drug trafficking (hash, in particular). No wonder we saw so many policemen patrolling there! No wonder we could feel the most tension when we walked thru that stretch!

Then we asked abt the drug trafficking rules in Christiania, and we got a culture shock. Just liek any other country, drug rules were a Stark difference from Singapore. They fine you for less than 1 kg of drugs, and put you in jail if you are found in possession of more than 1 kg of drugs. Haha, the shopowner even told us she knew Singapore prosecute drug traffickers for lesser than 1 kg. Yup, we have been and will always be well-known for that!

We were glad we were able to learn more about this hippie town from a Christianite, and bought some Christiania gifts from her shop before we left

The dots all join together now, when I wikipedia-ed Christiania. It gave one viewpoint on why the people moved into Christiania - that is, most of the people who first moved into the abandoned army barracks were those who felt the Govt was unfair in housing policies, and could not afford proper housing. Also, they wanted public space for their own use, away from the hustle and bustle of the Copenhagen city.. and very soon, the town developed into a hippie place - with hatred and distrust of the govt instiled in peoples' minds. Their beliefs do not conform to the norm, & they are strong proponents of freedom of expression.

Below is their state flag and their mission:

"The objective of Christiania is to create a self-governing society whereby each and every individual holds themselves responsible over the wellbeing of the entire community. Our society is to be economically self-sustaining and, as such, our aspiration is to be steadfast in our conviction that psychological and physical destitution can be averted."



Courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania.

If you are interested, read up more on the above link.



Here's a picture of the exit sign of Christiania town:



It says: "You are now entering the EU".

On our last night at Copenhagen, some of us went back to Christiania, to take a look at the town at night. Yup, we just couldn't get enough of it!
I do not have the pictures now, but will upload them when i get them.


The feeling was quite creepy. It was a deadlier town at night than it was in the day. The streets were quiet, no cars. When we first stepped into Christianshavn during that nite, we saw a group of guys playing around in the middle of the road. We walked at lightning speed after that. We entered the "central" area of Christiania, and it was pitch dark. The street lamps ended at the entrance of Christiania. There were totally no street lights after the entrance, just small light bulbs lit up outside the small shophouses on that same stretch again. Because it was dark, we could only see clusters of people with hoods hiding at corners, couldnt see what they were doing. The people stared at us too, they must be wondering what these crazy Asians were doing on their territory at night. But no one offered us drugs lar.


& Then ..... we walked past Sunshine Bakery again! and Guess what?! at 11pm, the bakery is still open. The shopowner was mending the shop,and a group of 4 to 5 young boys were loitering at his shop, and they were standing very closely to the shopowner. The last thing that should come to your mind now is, they were buying bread.


Thank god there wasnt any police raids, if not the situation would hav been a lot more messy at night. Everywhere we walked in that stretch, we saw groups of people (abt 4-5) in a circle and standing very closely to each other. We walked fast and took a U-turn back to the entrance of Christiania because we realised we were the only people walking around on that stretch at night. Most were either seated in groups or standing in groups.


How exciting! We left the place VERY quickly and walked back to Danhostel. The speed we were walking at that night in Christianshavn was the fastest throughout our Copenhagen trip.
We were very thankful we reach Danhostel safely that night.


Overall, I would say it was an interesting experience for each of us, as we had the chance to see the alternative side of Copenhagen, totally cut away from the cosmopolitan area, museums, Tivoli, shopping areas, infrastructure. We left Denmark with a different perspective of Copenhagen.
......................................................................................................................................................................

Yiwen's The SECOND post

Haha because my com always get stuck so this will be a short post using Laur's laptop!haha

Its really short because I Just wanted to say..

TIVOLI ROCKS!

just a thought

this trip is so worth it because:

1. so far, i've learnt many many things such as cooking.

2. i've learnt & experience my family's love and support. :)

well, just a thought.

copenhagen in 4 huge squares( made up of many other small squares)

Day 1 of CPh started with a mad race to the airport to catch the plane. well, lets just not talk about it.

it continued with a trip to Ripley's believe it or not museum and HAns Christian Andersen's museum (my childhood dream!). it continued with a walk in the Orchard Road of CPH and a boat tour ard the city. the houses and ships were so pretty, you'll feel like you have entered another different space and time. (totally different from our first time there) although the wind was super strong and we were practically freezing most of the time, it was quite enjoyable. (kangwei was shivering the most he had to use my muffler) Guiness World of records was next and what an eye opener it was!

Day 1 ended wit a buffet at one of the Lonely planet's recommendation. $20SGD for a Vegetarian buffet which included potatoes, pasta and whatever else.. hahaha it was goood!




Day 2 started quite early with us walking around the town of CHristiana. as Jamie is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to tell you more about the place, i'll levae it to her to tell you how unique this little town is.

we had lunch at a famous bakery with nice little pastries (Aya was sooo happy), and we splited ourselves in 2 groups, with one heading to the national museum, while the other group went straight to tivoli.

i guess you can guess who is in each group.

tivoli is awesome! it does not have the presence of disneyland, but it certainly has a charm of its own. its a nice little town with beautiful atmosphere especially at night. the schmaltz felt is indescribable. its a nice romantic place. if i were to go back to copenhagen again at the end of year (which i most likely will), i want to spend my New Year's Eve there. guess its the best way to get through the night!

took many rides there, even take double. esp the rollercoaster names "the Demon", where yi wen, Uta and i sat twice, and on the second time, yi wen and i actually sat front row. goodness. haha.. it is an experience turning 360 degrees twice with nothing in front of you. i guess i'll go on and on about it in another post..

the fireworks display was awesome, i've never seen such a great display in my life. the start and the end is beautiful. spore should see their display.

day 2 ended happily.



day 3 started out with everybody overslept. hahaha.. too tired from the fun we had the previous day. aya had to stay in to finish her assignment =(

we called it cheapo day because we went places without entrance fees like the art museum next to our hostel. and we visited rosenborg castle (surroundings only, cos we woke up late), with big birdcages, and the king's garden where we went crazy taking self portraits on grass ( its the green row u see up tehre..)

we walked 2736437473289683274169821740219 km that day, walking past the little mermaid and a really pretty church of which i can't remember its name, walked past Mersk, the largest shipping company or sth like that.

dinner was at another lonely Planet recommendation called cafe sth. hahaha.. can't remember, but boy, i indulged in a $30+ SGd salmon pasta, and it tasted heavenly, although it was just too much.

walked home with wennie, while the rest grabbed a city bicycle, and headed towards the drug area, Christiana, to experience the night life there. had a nice great long chat with wennie.

wennie: really happy you are in this exchange with us. REALLY REALLY REALLY love you!



day 4 started really early cos of our early flight, as we seriously didnt want to have another adventure.

took pretty sun rise shots from our hostel room and downstairs, and a group photo before kw left us for oslo.

the end of copenhagen.

=> copenhagen good for twice, but thrice?

Norway =)

Day 1:




pics of us in the train, before reaching bergen. =) our train ride was 14 hours in total. 7 to oslo, 7 to bergen. we love NSB, norway's train service, compared to swedish service, because we get free blankets. ok, maybe its night rides, thats why.


Day2:



we've reached! kangwei met us at the train station, brought us to his hostel room. and what greeted us was a rainbow at his window. =) good sign, if you ask me. =) Liren and him fed us really well for lunch with reindeer meat and salmon, and kangwei brought us hiking. (GOSH) hiking is energy consuming, and we still have no idea why norwegians love to hike. apparently they can be found in mountain tops every weekend. although it was tiring to be hiking in the so called forest, battling the rain like 6, 7 times, crossing that ice-cold stream which gushes down at 10000000KW/min (..ok, fine.), the view on the mountain was breath-taking: guess, it was worth it. lost lots of calories on the way, i hope.

reached the city centre where there was 1 stall of fish market in operation. haha. fresh crabs and prawns went out of the sea and into our stomachs. great. yum yum. .. like how i told someone "it tasted better than any chilli crab or bahkwa in the world combined"

the day carried on with us fighting the elements of nature: wind and rain. we were practically shivering at night. it was quite miserable. haha.. but we manage to have a good dinner at cafe opera, where the guys ate reindeer stew, and we shared some chicken and salmon dishes which tasted heavenly.

the night ended with a run to the bus stop, where we passed the landmark fountain in bergen. while running, li ren said in the most monotonous voice ever " if you want to know how strong the wind is blowing, look at the fountain."

and lo and behold, the fountain which was suppose to blow 90degrees straight up, was bent at 30 degrees.

and when I see the fountain subsequently the next 2 days, i'll burst out laughing.

Day 3:



it was fjords, fjords and more fjords. also, it was wind wind and more wind. hahaha.. oh! and of course! we met andrea at flam!!!! =D





Day 4:



museums, museums and more museums. haha.. bergen's national museum is sooooooo amazing! they have like bones of all the whales in the world laaaah. ( i think). its really what a museum whould look like.

well, i guess basically thats it. =) copenhagen soon.

18th September

so kang wei is over in sthlm now to stay, and the ever so free Laureen volunteered to be his tour guide of the day yday. =)

we went to Gamla Stan where we wanted to catch the change of guards, but apparently yday was a special parliament day and guess who we caught instead of the change of guards?








the royal family!!!




the prince looks exactly like orlando bloom, and our pretty princess wore a hat to cover her face (WHYYYY..) and there's crown princess Victoria, looking really slim and well, charming.

yea, so i managed to run with other swedish kids to catch a glimpse and take photos of the family, but really am quite disappointed because the shot when the prince looked over in my direction was quite blur, and those pesky kids in front of me kept moving.. *grumble

but anyway, left kw to himself with the museums while i had lunch on my own at cafe Nova, where i did my readings for class this morning. quite a pretty place. ex, but well, welcome to sthlm.



on my way back to meeting kw after a few hours, i saw this guy with camera and all, can't recall who he is exactly, just that i think i saw him on some travel channel before...



met kw and brought him to cafe art, and left him there again while i rushed back for swedish class. swedish class has become terribly stressful. i have no idea how to construct sentences. all the verbs wat wat wat. don't know lah.

kw came back later on and my buaya left me another surprise! (which jamie dropped on the floor while trying to hang it) i have a huge tub of ice cream and i'll be away this weekend and my freezer is too small, don't know how. hahaha.. but anyways, my buaya left a really sweet msg on the ice cream box. =)





met hidayat and yip hon for dinner at some really high class restaurant but the food didn't taste that good. but oh wells, perhaps its because it is Swedish food? i don't know..

Aya wasn't feeling well, so she didn't join us. =(



during the course of dineer, we realised that the shearites present were all from different blocks. the only missing block was C. looks like we have to find a C-towner to take a complete picture here in europe. hahaha





thats all for the day.

norway pics soon, i promise!