Denmark Adventures!!

I'm still here!!

2006-05-22T02:31:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone!

I'm still alive! But, just barely!!

I'm happy to report that last Wed, we worked through the night and successfully completed our Motion Control project! Great work team!! And we discovered an interesting fact: did you know that even after the effects of drinking coffee have totally worn out, drinking tea still manages to work on you???

And I had my Advanced Data Communications exam on last Friday!! (Yep, I got the slot for the last day!) We were frantically studying for it the past week! ADC is actually pretty interesting! And I dutifully read all the readings in the thick textbook! That if you recall, cost me S$150!!

The examination was an oral. There were 18 full topics to prepare for. And after that, it all depended on which topic you chose from among all the 18 folded scraps of paper lying on the table. It felt like the most important piece of paper I'd ever picked out!

But during the oral, the professor was very nice and he kept on saying "Ja" as he acknowleged what I said as I explained everything I knew about my topic. But unfortunately the topic I got was an in-depth question and when I got stuck on some details, he had to help me out. The results are announced immediately and in the end I only got an average grade. I was a little dissappointed considering the effort I'd put in, but anyhow I learnt a lot from ADC!!

So now I'm back to preparing for my next exam - a presentation with oral exam for Motion Control. It'll be held this Tuesday afternoon (23rd) and I hope we all do a good job!

I'm heading back to doing the slides again... See you all after that!

These are a few of my favourite things

2006-05-10T03:35:00.000+02:00

Nope, not exactly what Julie Andrews sings about -

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

or

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes

Let me show you some of my fav things in these turbulent times. When my brain needs its own kind of food every waking hour of the day. Many nights too. But then again, my days and nights are really messed up nowadays:
My personal collection! Nescafe coffee sachets - Latte and Cuppaccino. Really good stuff. Nice and frothy!
Pickwick Fruit Infusion tea - Forest Fruit, Tropical Fruit, Strawberry and Lemon. Add a generous dose of honey and I'll meet you in 7th heaven!
Nothing like a good cuppa to start you off in the morning! Or in the evening! Or anytime in between!!!
The mokka. Used to make Expresso from coffee gound coffee. Pretty interesting how it works. There're separate compartments at the bottom that contain the ground coffee and water. The water compartment is below the coffee compartment. After boiling, the steam filters through the coffee and condenses on yet another top compartment. This produces nice rich coffee! Really potent stuff!
The French Press. Another device to get black juice from ground coffee. The gound coffee is put below the jug and a sort of filter pump separates it from the top. To extract the coffee, a pumping action is needed to stir it all up. Nice!
The tea thingy. Who knows what it's called? It looks like an ice cream scoop. And is used to contain a portion of tea leaves to be steeped in hot water.
The coffee vending machine at the mechnical engine dept. That's where I'm doing the motion control project. You need a special card to get the coffee. Each cup costs 2 DKK. And I'm running critically low on credits. There are so many choices of whichever type of coffee you want - Kaffe, Cafe creme, Expresso, Kaffespecialteter, Chokolade... so many!! Each with their own variants!
The normal coffee vending machine at most lecture halls. A small cup will cost 5 DKK (S$1.20).

But there's free coffee at the microelectronics dept. Great hang out place. But also great coffee hangover place from too many cups!
Got introduced to Earl Grey Tea by my great pal and project mate Ali Gurcan. Still need to share many cups together before we'll be able to complete our project!!
We were at the labs working on the project last night. Like many other nights. And before you knew, it morning had come. Notice the many coffee cups on the table. There were more!! Much more!!
Somehow, I didn't take any photos of us working. But there was another team working beside us too! Thanks for the company guys!

By the way, we're lucky that the prof agreed to extend the dateline for submission for our project. We're now working towards submission on Thursday morning. We'll do it!! I'll have good news to tell everyone after Thursday!!

The mushy one...

2006-05-06T05:41:00.001+02:00

Sorry, I just have to let this out...

Just today, I received an email from my good friend Albert from the NUS Catholic Student's Society (CSS). I was the camera guy for last year's CSS Freshmen Orientation Camp (FOC 05) and he wanted the photos and videos.

During FOC, Paul, my fellow video buddy and I made a finale video for the camp. I found the video and just watched it. The ending part is an extended series of still photos of the good and bad times we had at FOC. All the laughter, sweat and tears!!
It plays to I'll Stand by You by The Pretenders:

Oh, why you look so sad?
Tears are in your eyes
Come on and come to me now
Don’t be ashamed to cry
Let me see you through
’cause I’ve seen the dark side too
When the night falls on you
You don’t know what to do
Nothing you confess
Could make me love you less

I’ll stand by you
I’ll stand by you
Won’t let nobody hurt you
I’ll stand by you

So if you’re mad, get mad
Don’t hold it all inside
Come on and talk to me now
Hey, what you got to hide?
I get angry too
Well I’m a lot like you
When you’re standing at the crossroads
And don’t know which path to choose
Let me come along
’cause even if you’re wrong

I’ll stand by you
I’ll stand by you
Won’t let nobody hurt you
I’ll stand by you
Take me in, into your darkest hour
And I’ll never desert you
I’ll stand by you

And when...
When the night falls on you, baby
You’re feeling all alone
You won’t be on your own

I’ll stand by you
I’ll stand by you
Won’t let nobody hurt you

I’ll stand by you
Take me in, into your darkest hour
And I’ll never desert you
I’ll stand by you
I’ll stand by you
Won’t let nobody hurt you
I’ll stand by you
Won’t let nobody hurt you
I’ll stand by you

And it brought back such fond memories!! CSS FOC is all about love, fellowship and friendship. It reminded me of how much I miss you guys!! My dearest family at home! All my dear CSS friends, my engine friends, my CCA friends, my classmates... oh man, so many people!!! And all the good times we've shared! oh man!! Such fond memories!!!

I've got some photos in my laptop and here are some of you I could find. Sorry if I couldn't find and put all of you here!

My dearest family!!!

CSS friends celebrating my Bday!!

With CPE friends after our last paper many sems back!

The Engine guys at a post presentation celebration!!

And all the things I truly truly miss!!! Weekends at home with mum, dad and bro. Sunday pig-out brunch with bro. Friday mass with my CSS friends. Supper at Holland V with Abengs (Engine CSS) after FCG (Faculty Cell Group). Lunch breaks in school with engine friends. Sunday mass at my church, St Iggy's... man......

But the worse thing is I won't be able to see some of you as much as I used to even when I'm back home. Some of you are graduating, some going for SEP... Hope we can still stay as close as we were!!!

To everyone at home: You're dearly dearly missed!!! I wish I could be right there with all of you now!!!

This clip plays the entire song. Though the video is not exactly what I mean...

PRETENDERS Music Video Codes

Music Video Codes by VideoCure.com

The Heat is ON!!

2006-05-05T02:06:00.000+02:00

Ok, so now, it's my turn...

I'm sorry, no updates on my touring for now. Since coming back from Dublin, things have been pretty rough. Here's a rough idea of what I've been busy with and will be tied up with soon.

These are the things I've had to complete since coming back:
1) Intro to Artificial Intelligence Project 2 - City Map Navigator. Remember streetdirectory.com? I've finally completed my version for the Copenhagen central district. Given a start point and destination, my program will tell you the route to take. It was fun to make! But really, Danish roads have way too long spellings!!!

This is a map of the Copenhagen Central District!

2) Design of Digital Systems Final Project. This we had to rush to finish. We all neglected it before we left for Dublin. In the end, we didn't complete the whole thing, but somehow the lecturer was still pretty happy with us!! He's Spanish but teaching this module in Danish (so we've special permission not to attend his lectures!) Anyway, we were so delighted that we started singing "Amigos Para Siempre means you'll always be my friend! Friends for ever not a summer or a spring!!" Yep, it's now spring in Denmark!
Here I am with my teammates from Design of Digital Systems: Me, Siong Yang, Jesper and Hassan. Was great knowing you guys!!

3) Presentation of Design of Digital Systems Projects. After completion of the final project, we had to present the end result to our lecturer. We were expecting to be grilled with complicated questions. But it turned out to be a breeze! This module has no official written exams! So this is it! One module down!! woohoo!

And through that door was where I had my Eksamien presentation for Design of Digitial Systems - my very first exam in DTU!

And here are the things I have to complete in the short term:
1) Motion Control Project. To model the control of a laser engraver in MATLAB. This is one big project that is due very soon - this coming Tuesday!! And we're only half way through! But no worries. Cos among the 3 of us, we have enough coffee to put the Brazillian coffee industry out of business!

2) Embedded Systems Project. This will be even bigger. But luckily it's due at the start of June. Need to program a complicated routing protocol. And to learn a whole new programming language for it! But I'm sure I'll gain much from it!

And of course, these are my exams:
1) Advanced Data Communications - (19th May - Hopefully!!)
We were allowed to rank our preferred exam date. And not surprisingly, all of us Singporeans chose the latest date! Hope we all get it! This will be an oral examination to 2 examiners. This is the most demanding of my modules as it is very technical and content-based. But we've got it planned, cos in the event of an emergency, we'll fake a strong Chinese accent, pretend not to understand the question and just regurgitate a chunk of irrelevant stuff! ha!

2) Motion Control - (22nd May)
There will be no official exam and we will need to present our major project to external examiners. If all goes well for the project report due this Tuesday, the presentation later on should not be too difficult to handle. We'll see...

3) Intro to Artificial Intelligence - (29th May)
This will be done by an oral exam. Will need to explain and defend the methods I used in my 2 projects - Tic Tac Toe and Street Navigator. Also will be tested on topics in the reading list. For now, there seems to be adequate time to prepare for this. So this can afford to wait for now.

4) Embedded Systems - (late May)
No official exam also. But we will need to complete our project, write a technical paper on it and finally present it to the professor. But this module is very high-level and we will need to devote lots of time to research on the routing protocols and on the programming language (NS2). This module is risky as there is a possiblity we may get stuck.

Ok, time to get back to work. But don't worry, I'll still try to post whenever I can!!

And NUS friends, enjoy your well-deserved hols!!

Back from Dublin!

2006-04-26T00:31:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone!

Just to let everyone know I'm safely back home in DTU!

Dublin was pretty rushed. But still it was fantastic! The close-knit and energetic Irish culture, the traditional Irish bars, the colourful flower gardens, the ancient churches. And I've lots of great photos to show you! They're by far the most colourful and scenic!!

However, there's a bunch of urgent assignments to be completed, so those will come first...

But don't worry, I'll continue with London and do Dublin pretty soon! Check back in a while!!

Dublin! Another tour??!!

2006-04-22T02:48:00.000+02:00

Wow!

Even before I'm done telling you about London, I'm off to Dublin! What a hectic schdule I have studying overseas!

(Actually, the academic term in DTU is ending and we're beginning to realise the need to start full-time mugging. But for the meantime - DUBLIN!!!)

I'm leaving today (Sat) and will be back on Mon.

See you all soon!

And to my NUS friends: All the best for your papers!!!

London! Day 2/5

2006-04-20T21:33:00.000+02:00

Day 2:
A new day of adventures! Abel and I had booked the Camelot and Stonehenge tour for day 2 and we were to meet at Victoria Coach Station at 745 the next day! But we only reached back at 5am!! from the previous night's roaming! We were going to be so stoned looking at stonehenge! We made do with 1.5hrs of sleep and managed to wake up at 630am to take the train.

But the station entrance was locked. It finally opened at 715 and though we were near Victoria, it was a mad rush to reach there and find the meeting place to board the bus. But we made it just on time! phew! Yuanshuo had arrived the previous night and now we were 3! yay!

Our first stop for the day was Stonehenge! But not before a 2 hour bus ride to the outskits of London! Abel and I were so thankful! We slept like logs. And I think the bus driver/tour guide was deeply puzzled as to why his explanations of the sights were so boring.

But before long, we reached! Everyone was given a audio set and off we went to start the audio tour! There are numbers along the route that correspond to numbers on the audio set and there was a recording we could listen to for each number. The recording started with grand medivial drums. ba-bum-ba-bum...

Lo and Behold! Stonehenge! See for yourself just how large the stones are! Now imagine how the ancient builders managed to move the stones over 25 miles from the nearest stone quary to their present location. Mind you, each of the stones weighed up to 50 tonnes! There were certainly no mechanical lorries at 2500 BC! And worse still, Flintstones technology could no longer be used as the dinosaurs were already extinct!

And notice some of the stones have a horizontal piece resting above it? The horizontal piece is called a lintel. Just how on earth did they manage to place the lintels above the vertical stones? The exact method is still a mystery, but scholars believe the moving was achieved using a mix of horses, and ramps and the lintels was placed using pulleys and scaffoldings.

Stonehenge was initially built for pagan worship. And throughout the centuries, the pagans expanded the structure. It is thought that construction took place over 2000 years, but that the stones were erected around 2500BC. It was simply amazing staring at such this 5000 year old stucture and thinking how many hundreds of thousands of people had been involved in the construction and had been at this same site during their pagan rituals throughout the years. wow~

After we completed the route, it was back to the bus and towards Glastonbury Tor! The rest of the tour was to cover sites that were relevant to the legend of King Arthur! Glasonbury Tor is a hill that rises abruptly among the flat plains. It looks man-made, but is actually all-natural. According many scholars, Glastonbury Tor corresponds to Avalon in the King Arthur story. Avalon was the place where King Arthur was brought after his defeat at the Battle of Camlann.

Actually, the existence of King Arthur in Camelot with his knights of the round table as written in the great classic has yet to be proved factually, but many believe he was based on a great warrior leader in the 5th century. But who cares! The legend paints such a rich picture of the knight's code of chivalry and adventure; and of romance and righteousness! To me, King Arthur lives on!

At the top of the tor stands St Michael's tower, which is all that is left of St Michael's Church. The church had fallen into neglect during the Reformation years. This was also the site of the execution of a prolific figure long ago - The Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey. More on that in a while. In England, it seems that many stories and places involve some execution or other.
We took another path down the Tor and reached the Chalice Well. The Chalice Well is thought by some to be the location where King Arthur was miraculously healed after being mortally wounded during his final fight at the Battle of Camlann. In some versions, King Arthur was buried in Avalon. But in other traditions, people cannot bear to have the mightly King Arthur killed off. Instead, they believe King Arthur was healed and is now sleeping, waiting for the right moment to wake up.
Others claim the Chalice Well is the location where Joseph of Arithmathea hid the Holy Chalice used in the Last Supper, hence the name Chalice Well. Many believe the water to possess magical healing powers and there is scientific proof that the water magically gushes at a constant rate even during drought. The water of the spring is brownish-red and some say it symbolises the rusty iron nails used during the cruxifiction of Christ.
Next on the list is Glastonbury Abbey, just a short drive down the road. This was once a great Benedictine monastary, built in 712. But during the reign of big baddie Henry Vlll, many monastaries were looted and destroyed during the suppression of monastaries, including the great Glastonbury Abbey.

To put things into context, Henry Vlll had married Catherine of Aragon but Catherine was unable to give Henry a male heir. Henry intended to divorce Catherine and requested an annulment of his marriage from the Pope. But this was refused as the Catholic church believes marriage is very sacred and cannot be so easily annuled. Henry then made himself the Supreme Ruler of the Church of England. However, this changed the course of religion in England, which is now mostly Anglican instead of Catholic.

To prevent uprisings, Henry went about formally dissolving monastries where his greatest threats - the abbots and monks lived. He confiscated the land and sold off everything he could, destroying many religous relics and sculptures in the process. This is known as the Suppression of the Monastries. A great pity!

The Abbot of Glastonbury refused to hand over his abbey and was executed at st. Michael's church. Several other abbots met with the same end, but others had no choice but to relent. With the monastry dissolved, the Abbey fell into neglect. Now all that remains is its ruins. Wandering around, I cannot help but feel a tinge of sadness that such a majestic abbey had to be destroyed. It could very well have been like a St Paul's Cathedral!

Here's a site that purportedly marks the grave of where King Arthur and his wife Queen Guinevere were buried. The Glastonbury monks had claimed to have found their bodies in Glastonbury and relocated their tomb into the Abbey. For many years, this was a site of religious pilgrmage. But the tomb was destroyed and lost during the Reformation.

After that, we headed down to the town of Glastonbury for a walk. It was a small town and there were many new age religion shops along the streets - not surprising considering its past affiliation with King Arthur and Avalon.
Last on the itinery was a trip to see the Avebury Stones. This is a ring of huge stones that is similiar to Stonehenge. But it is slightly older than Stonehenge, but it is coarser made. The stones used were not finely chiselled into rectangular blocks but were simply chosen for their size and moved into location.

The stones were huge, some larger than the largest in Stonehenge. And the circle is also wider than that of Stonehenge. But many of the stones were already missing after so many thousands of years and in some places, a man-made stone structure is planted to mark where the original stone is supposed to lie.

Also, some of us tried our hands at dousing. With an L shaped metal rod in each hand, the douser would walk around in search of secret energies. Apparently, the rods would mysterious swing around to point towards the source of such energies. But nothing happened when they tried - the rods pointed straight and did not move. But I was standing in front of them. Does that mean???

That was the last stop of the tour. We had such a fun time! Actually, it started even before the tour - I was King Arthur, Abel was Lancelot and Yuanshuo was Gallahad. Oh, and my Excalibur is the longest and hardest around. Dinner was at Victoria Station, where Deep Pan Pizza had a pizza buffet for 5.99 pounds. It was ok. There were lots of pizzas available. And also a salad spread!

We headed back after that. And as luck would have it, we met our roommates at the Village! Just as we were getting ready to check-in! This time round, the girls were early! And we were all ready to party! We decided it was not a good idea to wander far away and shiver in the cold. So why not stay at home - The Village! The Village has a nice bar that serves lots of alcohol. And add good company to that mix and we've got the best cocktail ever!

We crapped and joked and had a whole lot of fun. It's just amazing how we managed to connect so well! All of us - Abel and I, 4 Swedish girls (Maria, Emma, Sara), an Italian (Marco), a French (Raphael) and we had another Italian tonight - Simon!
Here's some of the gang from the night! From left: Marco, Abel, Sara, Simon, Maria and me!

The bar sold something new - the B52! It was just like a normal shot, except it was sold in a small plastic cup. To consume, just open the metal wrap and drink! They were going for 1 pound (S$3) each.
And apparently 3 of our Swedish friends like the B52! From left: Maria, Emma and Sara!

After the bar had closed, we went to the Chill Out Room. The Village had this room with a big projector and nice comfy sofas. And there we chatted some more!

At 4am, there was only Maria, Sarah, Marco, Simon and I left. We passed by the bar and met the staff there who were having a round of drinks. And before long, we had joined them! Everyone's so friendly! There was Dave (the Aussie manager of the Village), the big-sized Michael (who works at a bar across the street) his pal, Roger (the heavily tatooed but very friendly Londoner) and several others. Too bad I didn't get a photo with all of them!

What a night! I only reached my room at 6am. Another day full of adventure. And breakfast would be served at 830am. wow!

The adventures continue in day 3!! Stay tuned!

All the best people!!

2006-04-20T02:50:00.000+02:00

My dear NUS friends,

I know most of you are probably feeling violently envious me and of the things I'm putting up here, especially when things are getting so rough back home. Please carry on, I'm totally fine with it!

But really, I wanna tell everyone to take care of yourselves and try to take it easy during this tumultuous period!!

Now think a happy thought... Really, I mean it! Now try even harder... Good!!

I know some people who are going to have their first papers soon. Study hard people! Pretty soon it'll be your hols! And oh man, the start of my papers!

May God bless everyone!!!

London! Day 1/5

2006-04-18T21:32:00.000+02:00

Day 1:
Day 1, and we're in business!!! We had a better look at St. Christopher's Orient Expresso in the morning. It was a small, cozy place - the rooms were upstairs and there was a nice cafe at the ground floor. Our room was on the 2nd floor - it's the window on the right!

For breakfast, we had to go over to St. Christopher's Village which was just a 2 minutes walk away. Breakfast was consisted of toast, cereal and tea. The toast was surprisingly good with the spreads of butter and marmalade! But everyone, including the waiter agreed that the coffee was terrible!
By day, breakfast was served in this nice, quiet bar during the day. But by night, the whole place is transformed! The music was blaring like crazy from the dance floor below when we checked in. More on that when I tell you about tomorrow night in the next installment!

We briefly discussed our plans over breakfast and decided to cover the city area by foot. Borough Market was just outside the Orient Expresso and we chose to walk through it on the way. It was so colourful! There was a kind of carnival atmosphere to it all! The vendors represented different farms selling their all types of produce. And Abel and I agreed that that in London, even the female butchers and fishmongers are pretty! To think this is the equivalent of wet-markets in Singapore!
London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. This classic nursery rhyme had new meaning for us when we reached London Bridge. For we wondered if the bridge had indeed fallen down! At the site was a boring bridge that had less artistic sense than the Causeway in Singapore! London Bridge was just a flat concrete span that stretched from one end to the other. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this kids!
We walked on along The River Thames and took in more beautiful sights. The sky was a rich blue, river was calm and the breeze blew gently. It was just so peaceful and serene!
Around us, people were jogging and taking nice leisurely strolls. So many smiling faces around. It reminded me of Roxette's song June Afternoon - "Look at all the people happy faces all around. smiling throwing kisses busying making lazy sounds. It's a bright, June afternoon, it never gets dark... " Give it a listen as you see these pics! It's one of my all-time fav feel-good songs!
Further up, the HMS Belfast was berthed along the the Thames River. The Belfast was the largest battlecrusier in the British Royal Navy that served in World War 2. Now it's a naval museum. Abel and I did think it was worth visiting and gave it a miss.

But this is a must-see! Like the London Bridge, the Tower Bridge also crosses the Thames River, but it is way more impressive! No wonder so many tourists mistake it as London Bridge! It was built in the 19th century to increase traffic flow across the river after London Bridge was built and the economy flourished. It got its name from the Tower of London that is at the end of the crossing. More on the Tower of London just below. The Tower Bridge is able to open at its centre to allow large shipping vessels through. But large vessels only come by rarely. Plus Abel and I figured that building a large wooden ark by ourselves would take too long. So we decided to move on.
We crossed the Tower Bridge and saw some kind of old castle. We had reached the Tower of London! It didn't look very grand from the outside, but step inside, and you'll realise just how big it is! There are so many museums inside! So many things to see!
We bought the tickets for 12 pounds (S$36) each under the student concession rate. The usual price would have been 15 pounds! But if you ask me, it would still be well worth it!
The Tower of London is famous for its Beefeaters. These are the guardians of the Tower throughout the ages since it was built (in the 12th century). Ready to defend the tower against all sorts of perilous invaders! But now, they simply conduct guided tours. Now that is funny!
Abel and I joined the tour and our beefeater was such a friendly and humourous chap! His name was Patrick and he explained more about the beefeaters. In his words: the ER II emblazoned across the chest of their uniform stands for Extremely Romantic. Twice. Right. It actually means Queen (Regina) Elizabeth (Elizabeth) the 2nd (II). Ok, not very funny, but he was afterall a big burly guy and we had better laugh!

And why beefeaters? Cos back in the old days, beef was scarce and these guardians had the important task of guarding the tower and were given rations of beef. The public was envious and called them beefeaters. The name stuck! And now you know!

=fixing bug. video coming soon!=

Patrick brought us around the Tower and explained to us the significance of all the sites. The tower later became a prison and here he is telling us about some of its many "guests". During the tour, we learnt so much about England's rich history - all about the many kings and queens and lords and ladies. And exactly how many of them were beheaded here! It was one messy web of deceit!

Patrick could make a great history teacher - he's really good with dates! The way he rattles on about what Henry the Vlll did to Catherine of Aragon in 1538 blah blah... I only know Sang Nila Utama may have done something that was probably quite important before or after 1538. Could be 1538 itself actually.
And torture was usually used in the tower! This is the rack. First, allow the prisoner to lie down comfortably on the wooden board. But that's the only good part. Next, securely tie the prisoner's fingers to the top and the toes to the bottom. Now, crank the lever as hard as you can and literally strech the prisoner like a piece of play-doh. Guaranteed to get signed confessions of any kind!
And here's another torture device: The Scavenger's Daughter. This time round, allow the prisoner to sit down and lean forward. Next, clamp his back and legs together, squeezing his body together. Ouch! Now tighten the metal clamp as far as it will go. And squish the internal organs and force out all the air. Gasp!

After all that gruesomeness, we went to see the crown jewels! Not some cheap imitation but the real deal! It was housed in one of the towers but with maximum security! You should have seen the thickness of those steel doors!

As a sort of prelude to the jewels, we were shown videos of the coronation of the present Queen Elizabeth. Although it's mainly something for the British royal family to boast about during afternoon tea, the jewels have been used during the elaborate conoronation ceremonies of the British monarchy. The crown jewels are not simply a few jewels but a whole collection: the crowns, the orbs, the sceptres, the jewelled swords, the rings etc. Each of which holds a special meaning in the ceremony! Security was tight in the vault, and we were not able to take photos of the jewels. But as usual, there's always wikipedia!

Without realising it, we had spent 4 hours in the Tower of London! We were also prisoners - prisoners of time, trapped in the endless maze of corridors and exhibits! Right. With all that history that filled our heads, we needed to fill our stomachs. Time for lunch! Our next stop was the famous St Paul's Cathedral and the plan was to have lunch at the cheapest place along the way. We settled for - Burger King! For 1.99 pounds (S$6) we can get a huge whopper. It's just the whopper, but it's the cheapest hot food you can get around. A whole meal would have cost about 4 pounds.

After a very satisfying lunch, we walked down the street. And then we saw it. St Paul's Cathedral! I had heard so much about it! It has an illustrous history - the first version of st Paul's (also at this exact spot) was built in 604AD! It was rebuilt over the years and this latest version was completed in 1708. And it was such a grand sight! So huge and majestic! Just look at the people compared to the size of the pillars! And it was built so long ago! How did they do it???
Now enter the church, and IT IS a sight to behold! wow! wow, wow, wow!! It is so grand in a classic way! Such a huge expanse of space! Dedicated to the worship of God! Inside, although there was a small visitor crowd, there was this holy, peaceful feeling that stayed with me. From the main entrance, you can just make out the end of the church which has a long panel of magnificent stained glass. Yep, in the photo, it's that bright white vertical panel at the end!
This picture is taken at the centre and right below the main dome. Just look up and you may never want to look down again. The roof is so high! The minor domes are already so high and there's an even higher main dome! And where the main dome is, you notice the mosiac designs round the walls of the dome. They include that of the prophet Isiah, St John, St Matthew, St Mark and St Luke. But look futher on and you notice that the roofs of the minor domes in the front are also adorned with more intricate designs! The altar is at the far end, and someone standing there would look so tiny!
Now look higher up and you'll see the main dome is also intricately drawn with the life of st Paul! Such detail at such a grand scale! The dome is 111.3 metres high. But more impressive is that it weighs in at a staggering 65,000 tonnes! Putting that in perspective, the humongous cruise liner Queen Elizabeth (one of the largest cruise ships in the world) already weighs about 70,000 tonnes!
Abel and I reached there after 4pm when the Cathedral was closed to tourists. But it was now open for evening service. And we could enter for free! Though there was only limited access to certain areas. St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican church, like most of England (Read about how that happened because of Henry Vlll). The Anglican evening service is called evensong and the photos above show the cards that were used during the service. Abel and I decided to attend the service. And we were astounded by the choir! It was like a shortened version of a Catholic mass and almost everything was sung. The acoustics of the cathedral was fantastic!

The service lasted for about 45 mins and when it was time to go, I was reluctant to leave without being able to see the rest of the cathedral that was already closed. Besides the grandeur of the church, there was this holy presence about St Paul's that made me want to come back. I made up my mind to return. Check day 4 for a little more info on St Pauls.

Tate Modern was just across the bridge from St Paul's. The supports of the bridge do look very much like cataput sticks!

Tate Modern is an arts museum that houses collections of art that are more abstract. It was newly opened in 2000 when an old power plant was refurbished to become - Tate Modern! But even with its second-hand past, the design is innovative and it does look like a modern arthouse! Not impressive enough? Then come on in and take a closer look!

This is the very spacious interior of Tate Modern. It's very modern and minimalistic!

On the ground floor, there was a huge exhibit using thousands of white plastic boxes. I did not get a chance to read what it was supposed to be, but looking at the massive stack, I had the feeling that someone had bought way too many Ikea boxes.
There were several more levels, each of them containing different art collections. But unfortunately, the area was tightly patrolled with guards, so I could not take any photos of the exhibits. But at the end of the day, I learnt a lot about abstract (conceptual) art. There were many of these boxes with a speakerphone that allowed you to choose what topic you wanted to hear. This one was on conceptual art.

I also learnt that really, anyone could be a conceptual artist! Take for instance Marcel Duchamp, who in 1907 took an ordinary urinal, signed it and called it Fountain.

But I feel nothing can top this. I almost burst out laughing when I came across this. It's an untitled piece by Clyfford Still in 1953. All it is is a big canvas of blue with a randomly painted stroke of red at the bottom and another randomly painted yellow stroke at the top. Clyfford claims the red stroke was intended to contrast with and therefore emphasise the depths of the blue. Ok, fine. But it gets better. The yellow stroke was - "a reassertion of the human context - a gesture of rejection of any authoritarian rationale or system of politico-dialectical dogma." I say give me a canvas and a thick dictionary! I can do art too!

After that, we returned to the Orient Expresso. And met our roommates! Our room was a 8-bed mixed dormatory and we had a great crowd! Besides Abel and I, there were 4 Swedish girls (Maria, Emma, Sarah and Sophia) as well as an Italian (Marco) and a French (Raphael). Everyone was very friendly and we hit off very well! The next thing we knew, we were looking for a place to go party together! It was a rather last minute decision and we finally set off after 1am.
This photo above shows our little gang! From left: Marco, Abel, Sophia, Sara, Raphael and me!

And here's another photo! From left: Raphael, Maria, Sophia, Emma, me and Abel!

It was an adventure really. Marco had stayed in London for a few years and we followed him as he brought us out. However, when we reached the club he recommended, we were told it would be closing within the hour! We agreed it was too short, and since Marco had no more ideas, we simply walked around and around, looking for an alternative.
A passer-by recommended The End. But where was The End? We walked around asking for directions. And finally, we were at The End. But it was really the end of our little party. We realised it would cost 16 pounds (S$48) just to enter! And it was already almost 4am! In the cold, windy night, we huddled together as we navigated and found a bus to bring us back home. We didn't exactly get to party, but we had a great time all the same! Joking and crapping. And we promised ourselves we would set off earlier the following night. Will we make it? Come back and find out!

Wow! So much has happened! And it's only day 1!!! More on the other days coming right up!

London! Day 0/5

2006-04-15T21:31:00.000+02:00

What a blast!! So many adventures!! Way too many to squeeze into 1 post! So this will be a 6 part series, 1 for each day, plus this prequel! Tune in regularly for more swashbuckling adventures!

London: such rich political and religious history - you'll never run out of things to see!!! Just like what Samuel Johnson says: "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." Indeed!

Day 0:
On Friday (7th Apr), Abel, Siong Yang, Yuanheng, Grace and I excitedly made our way to Copenhagen Airport for yet another tour. We were not students but tourists once again! So many things to see and do! And of course, my camera was ready for all the action!

Our flight to London's Stanstead Airport was at 930pm and we checked-in at 730pm. We took the budget carrier EasyJet and it cost about 100 euros (S$200) for a return flight there and back. That's fair enough, compared to the minimum S$1200 you would need to fork out at home! Copenhagen airport was facing disruptions that day and we had to wait for our departure gate to be announced. But finally, our flight departed at 1015.

The flight was only 1.5hrs long. But still, I was prepared! I had printed a whole lot of research papers - tourist material to be precise - to read during the flight. But everything looked so interesting! How am I going to cover them all???

We reached Stanstead Airport and adjusted our watches back 1hr (London is 1hr earlier than Denmark and Singapore is 7hrs faster than London). At the immigration checkpoint, we were promptly interrogated by the immigration officiers. "What are you here for? Have you been here before? What are you studying? How long will you be studying?" I think we just about stopped when we reached the point when I had told him my life plans after retirement.
Here's everyone at the airport! From left: Abel, Siong Yang, me, Anqi, Christine, Yuanheng, Lin Chang and Grace! At the airport, we linked up with Lin Chang, Anqi and Christine. Anqi and Christine are fellow Singaporean exchange students from CBS (Copenhagen Business School). We had met at one of the CBS parties and as they were also planning to travel to London, we decided to go together! Lin Chang had Anqi and Christine to himself for 1 whole day! While I had - Siong Yang!! Some people are just so lucky...

The Singapore Alliance was to be split into several groups. Abel, Yuanshuo and I were going for the King Arthur and Stonehenge tour. Daren and Grace were going for the regular Stonehenge tour. While Lin Chang, Siong Yang, Yuanheng, Anqi and Christine would be driving to Manchester to visit Old Trafford. But frankly, only my group can be transported into a wonderous land of magic and mystery, chilvary and romance, where the hero slays the villian and the damsel is saved, and they live happily ever after! Try beating that, Manchester United fans!

But Yuanshuo had booked the wrong flight and would be joining us later. So for now, there was just me and Abel. But no matter! We both want to cover as much as we can! And 2 wild photographers together! We'll make a great team! Watch out! We'll conquer London!

And it was Siong Yang's birthday that day! Lin Chang and the girls bought a small cake for Siong Yang. We sang him happy birthday right there at the airport and although Siong Yang tried to hide it with his usual round of jokes, I could see he was terribly touched and was on the verge of crying on my shoulder. awwww. It felt wierd parting ways. To think we were all one big family but would not be travelling togeher. After a round of hugs, we reluctantly split.

But first things first, I had to get a handy dandy guidebook! Just like the one I got for Amsterdam! I found the perfect one in a WHSmith round the corner. It was a bit bulkier than the Amsterdam one, but it had a nice map of the city and plan of the tube (which is the notoriouly complex London train system!). And I liked the way it planned day tours by grouping nearby attractions together. Alright! Now we're set!
It was quite a distance from Stanstead Airport to the City. Abel and I found a coach service to drive us there - Terravision. It cost 6 pounds (S$18) for the ride. And to think we thought the 3 euros (S$6) from Amsterdam's Schipol Airport to the city was expensive! The ride took 2hrs. And you know what that means don't you? Time for a snooze!
We reached Victoria Train Station (in the picture) and navigated our way (with my new guidebook!) to our accomodation - St. Christopher's Orient Expresso. It was about 4km away. And it was already 1am. But it was really interesting observing the buildings in the night and along the way. We quickly checked-in to our 8-bed mixed room and tried not to disturb our roommates as we washed up and went to sleep.

What adventures will we encounter the next day? Tune in next time to find out!

London! Here we come!

2006-04-08T03:08:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone! The Easter break is finally here! I'll be leaving for London today and will be back on Wednesday! I've checked up on the attractions in London and there just are so so many things to see!!

For starters, we're already booked a tour to visit Stonehenge. And that same tour will also bring us to some of the legendary King Arthur's sites. The rest of our time is still pretty sketchy, but you can be sure I'll be getting another one of those handy guidebooks like I did in Amsterdam! Hope we'll have a great one! See you back on Wednesday!

I leave you all with some pictures of DTU. After so many false starts, Spring is finally here!

Before:

After:

The one about the Modules

2006-04-04T04:17:00.000+02:00

Ok, I'm here to debunk a myth. Although it's a well known fact that SEP was created by The Chan Brothers Travel Agency back in 2001, SEP is not all fun and games and parties and travelling. Nope, it's not about the beer too. We do study while on SEP too, you know!

Before I continue, let me show you what became of our very first study trip many weeks back. That night, Siong Yang, Yuanheng and I packed our notes, brought our coffee and kettle and headed to a quiet spot in DTU. A few moments later:
Yeah, I must admit, it's difficult when you're on SEP and everything is S/Ued. But you do manage to get work done as long as you stay far away from Siong Yang. He's just too fun to be around!

The lesson schedule in DTU is very different from NUS. Sessions are up to 4hrs!! long! There can only be a maximum of 2 sessions a day (thank goodness!) - the AM (from 8am to 12 noon) and the PM (from 1pm to 5pm). But it all depends on the amount of content for the day and we can be dismissed earlier sometimes. The sessions very flexible and are usually a mix of lectures and tutorials.

Let me take you through the courses I'm currently enrolled in (without sounding too technical):

1) Intro to Artificial Intelligence: (outline)
Venue: Building 306, Auditorium 32
Schedule: Tues 9.30am to 11.30am

This one is pretty interesting. Ok, come on, I'm a computer engineer. It's a computer science module, mapped to foundations of artificial intelligence in NUS. I get to learn all about how to make a computer program smart.

It consists of 2 interesting projects. The first one is to create a fully functional tic-tac-toe game. The idea is to get the AI to make the best moves based on your moves. Sounds easy? I further expanded it into a 4 by 4 tic-tac-toe board. Now that's more complex! It was hard work, but the end result was fun! Plus try beating me at tic tac toe now! hahaha~ Here's the completed program for you to play with. It's far from perfect, but you get the idea.

The next project I will need to complete is a street navigator. Think streetdirectory.com. But applied to the entire Copenhagen City district. The idea is to find the shortest path from point A to point B obeying rules like a one way street. The program will give the user the shortest path as a series of road names to follow. This one will be challenging but fun!

2) Motion Control: (outline)
Venue: Building 402, Room 017
Schedule: Mon 1pm to 5pm, Thurs 8.30am to 12pm

This module is all about control theory. Control theory can be cool cos it can be used to control systems automomously (without human intervention).

This is pretty much a project module and my team and I are to design a laser engraving table. Something that can, say etch your name on a piece of metal. After that we need to simulate it on the Matlab program. Using both classical control and modern control techniques. Quite a mouthful. But it's pretty managable. Plus my teammates Ali (from Turkey) and Alex (from Boston, US) are really great guys!

3) Design & Synthesis of Embedded Systems: (outline)
Venue: Building 308, Auditorium 11
Schedule: Wed 1pm to 5pm

This next module is the one I'm most interested in. It's as the title says - how to design and create an embedded system. For this semester, we are concentrating on Wireless Sensor Networks. So the content is all geared towards this.

But the teaching style is really different! The first few lectures are as per normal and taught by the professor. But right now the class is basically conducted by the students. Every week, we are assigned 4 readings on the topic for the following lecture. 2 groups are assigned 2 readings each and are to prepare a presentation of it. Mind you, the readings can be VERY technical and sometimes, you'd wish you were reading The Complete Works of Shakespeare instead of this mumbo jumbo. The presentations are conducted up to 1 hour long. Afterwhich there is Q&A.

And here's the interesting part. Remember when your NUS lecturers claimed that NUS students are all quiet and don't speak up? Well, it's true! The Q&A discussions here are fiery man! The students just ask and talk like they were talking in the canteen with their friends. From the small cruise missles to the nuclear warheads. This is something we should try to learn from the universities abroad.

My team and I presented on the second session. And we were really happy with our own presentation. To think I presented such technical stuff to a group of students, most of them masters level! And we managed to fend off the verbal attacks! There was this scary TA in the audience whose sole purpose is to intimidate the students and ask funny questions. I think we managed to block off his atacks. At the end, the professor said we did a good job. Well done, team!

My team is mainly Singaporean. My team consists of Yuanheng, Song Ning, Nestor and I. Yuanheng and Song Ning came together to DTU with me. But Nestor is from Macedonia. And yet another great guy! Really humble and knowledgable! We're glad to have him on on board!

Even the assessment is special. We are soley assessed on a project. But we are to propose our topic. And then write a technical paper on it. We took quite a while to come up with an interesting project thesis, but it's finally been approved and we can start work.

4) Design of Digital Systems: (outline)
Venue & Schedule: N/A (exempted from lectures!)

For this one, I'm to create an entire microprocessor using the VHDL programming language. And then implement it on an FPGA (multi-purpose programming board). Sounds difficult! But guess what? Turns out to be similiar to what I've done before in Digital Design (EE2006).

This module is also project based and I'm doing this with Siong Yang and 2 other Danes. Jesper and Hasan. Really nice! And we've come to realise that crapping is universal, whether you are in Singapore or Denmark!

Oh, and did I mention that this module is taught in Danish? We have sought special permisson to take this module and basically I am self studying it from the textbook. But due to the fact that it's more project based, there is less theory involved and more practical, and we are able to follow it quite well.

5) Advanced Data Communications: (outline)Venue: Building 341, Auditorium 22
Schedule: Thurs 1pm to 5pm
This module is pretty chim. Advanced data communications. When I haven't even done basic data communications. This basically involves communication between computers and computer networks. Like how the internet works. Cept now we go deep deep into the small small details.

This class is pretty different, cos I could very well mistake it to be conducted in NUS. So many PRCs in the class. I can see so many black haired heads from where I'm sitting above. Seems like communications is a very popular track among the PRCs.

Also, the lecturer has such a powerful voice! I say give him a tuxedo and get him to grow a beard. And we have our own Pavaroti in the house!

And so we have it - a glimpse into lessons and studying here in DTU!

DTU Sights

2006-03-30T04:01:00.000+02:00

It's back to school again!

Let me share with everyone some more sights from around school:
First off, here's a map of the entire DTU campus. The arrangement is pretty straightforward - the campus is split into 4 rectangular sections. The bulidings are numbered according to the section they belong to. So section 1 would have buidings 101, 102, 103 etc; section 2 would have 201, 202, 203 etc. But despite this simple arrangement and after so long, Siong Yang still gets lost on his way to class. But at least he's getting some much needed exercise compared to the few steps he takes from the bed in his room to the food in the kitchen everyday. I fear a violent reply to these comments soon.

Here's the Admin Block. Also known as the 101. Akin to the NUS University Hall. From the outside, it looks plain and simple, but the interior has a modern minimalistic feel to it. The big main road here cuts across the whole DTU and splits it into 2 halves. To cross it, you need to cross a bicycle track, a road, another road (in the opposite direction) and finally another bicycle track. Congrats, you made it!

This is the Administration Office. The architecture is very modern and you could very well mistake yourself to be in an arts museum. But the entrance fee is expensive. A visit usually means you're there to pay the montly rent of 2150DKK (S$565). Ouch! It's not cheap as that purely covers accomodation in a container without food.

Here is the Bookshop - for all your textbook and stationary needs. But be warned, things are not quite as cheap here! As of now, I've already spent S$450!!! on 3 textbooks! Each of them averaging S$150! You could probably get them for S$50 each back home from the NUS Co-Op. But the deal gets better! My Pakistani friend got his text from Parkistan for a mere 20DKK (S$5!) But the textbooks were really important, so I just went in and got it! I had grand visions of topping the classes at first, but they later became strange visions of myself eating nothing but cheap biscuits for the rest of the month.

Beside the bookshop is the Danske Bank. The ATMs support PLUS, so I'm able to withdraw local Danish Kroners using my Singapore DBS debit card. Most of my friends came over with a bank draft. But apparently, they are spending too little on beer and will have too much left over for the semester. Using the PLUS allows me more flexibility.

And here is the library, also called DTV. Again, the design is nice and minimalistic. There is no quota on the number of books you can borrow as well as the duration. But when someone requests for it, you need to return it within 7 days. Or they visit your home and hang a rotting pig's head on your door. Nah, I'm kidding. They wouldn't do that. There are more cows here and they would rather hang a cow head. moo~

In fact, the librarians will find the book for you when you request for it through their online site. And you can simply pick it up from the counter when they emial you back! Talk about convenience! Plus there's this really pretty librarian around. Who wanted to go to the library to do something? Can we go first thing tomorrow? Or now? You wanna go now?

And here’s the Kantine (Canteen). It was newly opened about 2 weeks ago as it was under renovation when we first arrived. The food is very expensive, but the ambience is good. You can purchase normal Western main dishes (like meatballs and potatoes) or you can go for the bread and salads. The salad bar concept is quite special. Think Ponderosa or Sizzlers, but you’ll have to weigh in your selection at the end. It’s about 10 DKK (S$2) per 100 grams. And I usually end up paying for about 300g at the end. Those onion rings are heavier than I thought!

But the kantine also serves another noble purpose. It’s the place to see and be seen. There are somehow many more girls (pretty too!) there than in a normal technical class. It’s fabled that they are from the Life Sciences and Food Sciences departments. And people go there to ogle at them. Haven’t heard of anyone choking on their food yet though. Maybe it’s cos the kantine has only been open for 2 weeks.

The Cellar Bar is where you can find good company, party and find alcohol. Every Tuesday evening is International Students' Night and many exchange students go there to party. Everyone is so friendly! All you really need to join a group conversation is a big smile. And bottle of your favourite alcoholic beverage! Alternatively, you can just tail Abel. Everyone seems to be attracted to him. Like a bunch of hard-core aloholics to a mug of refreshing, chilled of beer. ahhh~

And again, we're back to the container. On Valentine's Day after part 1 at the Cellar Bar, we headed back to the container for part 2. Here we are with the Koreans and PRCs. And that night, we all drank Abeljuice! Abeljuice is what the Danish call normal apple juice. But we’re referring to the juice made by Abel! Flaming Lamboginnis! It’s an alcoholic drink which is ignited as it is drunk through a straw. And the flames are extinguished at the end of the drink with some Baileys. Abled Abel is very able to make Ablejuice! How’s that for a tongue twister? Forget about that non-enterprising girl who sells seashells. Come on! I’d rather pick up seashells for free by the seashore.

At the end of the night, solving a primary school problem sum would probably feel as complex as solving a 5th order differential equation. Even Filiberto, one of our Italian friends proudly exclaimed: Abel is doing a Masters in Flaming Lambo Engineering. Right. But really, all Abel had to do was to send the photos and videos from that night to Zouk and he’d definitely get the job as bartender. Confirm!

And this is the DTU Pizzaria! They sell burgers, pitabreads and other Western delights. But their specialty has got to be the pizzas! They are gigantic! A family size pizza like this one will cost 80DKK (S$20). But it's larger than Pizza Hut's. And there’s nothing like eating a hot crispy pizza on a cold winter’s day! Plus the big friendly Arab waiter keeps greeting me in Chinese: ni hao! Ok, who knows what’s the equivalent in Arabian?

Next to the Pizzaria is the DTU Supermarket. It sells the bare essentials - beer and beer bottle openers. Also other less important things like food and toiletries. Really, the beer is stacked up high and ready to be moved out to a nearby party at a moment's notice!

I round up this tour of DTU with a weird building just in front of campus village. It always catches my eye as I pass by. It just looks like a giant humongous nail sticking out of the ground and sometimes, I think of finding a big hammer to drive it into the ground. Weird daydreams… But it’s also rumored that it was constructed to be a watchtower of sorts overlooking Campus Village. The admin was looking into making sure the residents would get enough study-time and not escape their rooms and go play. So they were thinking of posting armed guards on the towers to shoot those who stray. But later, they figured it wouldn’t help in their enrollment if others got wound, so they converted it into a watershed. Clever move there, I’d say!

Amsterdam!

2006-03-25T04:53:00.000+01:00

Wow!! What a trip! 1.5Gb of photos and videos! Totally maxed out! So many things to tell!! Warning: get ur popcorn and coke. This will take a while!

Amsterdam. City of vice? Sex & drugs. Legalised prostitution and Marijuana. But really nice people. And such rich religious history!!

Day 0:
My buddy Siong Yang and I decided to take a flight earlier than the rest of the Singapore Alliance to reach Amsterdam 1 day earlier. But our flight was at 7am!. We had to leave DTU on a 1.55am!!! bus in the blistering cold. Rushing around kinda felt like an episode of The Amazing Race. Cept that this time round, you get all the harsh elements - snow, wind, plus Siong Yang's jokes.

When the urge came while waiting at the bus stop, and with the icy wind blowing, Siong Yang gave new meaning to the phrase balls shrink

We actually had a mini-adventure on the way. We took the NS 75 night service bus to Kovenhavn H (Copenhagen Central) to take the Metro (train) to Copehagen Airport. But what a shock! The station doors were locked! Our flight was in 3 hrs. And the train was to depart in 3 mins!!!

It was then that we met Nicholaj. What a great guy! He quickly led us to our platform (at the far side of the station) and explained to us the station was closed for cleaning. We missed our train by a mere 1 minute. But luckily there was another train. And hey, we got to talk to Nicholaj for over an hour while waiting for the next train. Such a friendly, funny and humble guy. Good luck with your photography career, Nicholaj!

We finally checked into the airport and promptly dozed off on the seats with a small table as our leg rest. We were really stoned, for when we awoke, the table had become someone else's coffee table 5m away. As we marvelled at the local talent, we boarded the flight for amsterdam. It took only 1hr and 15min. Far too little time for a comfortable snooze!

We took the budget airline Sterling. This is the ticket. It only cost about S$200 for a round trip Amsterdam and back.

Welcome to Amsterdam's Schipol Airport!! This is a nice restaurant inside. Waiter, can I have a bottle of wine? Yeah, the third one from the right on the highest shelf?

And yep, what better way to spend your money than to gamble it all at the airport before you reach the city! Welcome to Holland!

Day 1:
Upon reaching Schipol Airport, we quickly found the train station within the airport. First things first, we had to check-in to our accomodation. We took the train from the Schipol Airport station to Amsterdam Central station. And the hostel is just 15mins walking distance away.

Inside the train. At the bottom right of the train ticket you can see it costs 3.60 Euros (about S$7). Not your average MRT ride. Amsterdam Central is only 3 stations and 20mins from the airport.

And that's the train we took. Nice and spacious. The cabins are separated into first class and second class. Dun worry, you can still take first class even if ur CAP is below first class. Ok, that's not funny.

Amsterdam Central. The grand and ancient architecture hides the the modern shops and technology inside. Think CityLink inside Novena Church in Singapore.

First few sights of Amsterdam on route to our hostel!

We booked Shelter City. It's as its signage says. It's a Christian hostel, but the interesting thing is, it's in the middle of the red light district. That's just one of the ironic things about Amsterdam. More on those later.

The hostel had a homely, Christian feeling about it. There were several Christian posters and designs around the hostel. In fact, they even had Christian meetings and bible discussions that everyone is welcome to join.

The cafe of the hostel is always packed with an international crowd during breakfast. Breakfast is from 830am to 10am daily. You can choose from so many kinds of "set meals" - coffee or tea or juice and 4 slices of toast and cheese with either 1) ham or 2) a hard boiled egg or 3) extra jam. But they all suck.

Our beds. Believe it or not, this is the top of the range in our hostel. A 4-bed dorm. Others have to share a 16-bed dorm with others. Space wise is pretty much the same cos the 16-bed dorms are larger. But more people = more snoring and more unusual smells.

After checking in, we realised we just missed the breakfast hour. But no matter, it's a good chance to explore. So we went out to hunt for food.

After looking high and low for a good bargain for breakfast, we conclude that there is no such thing as a bargain. So we settle for this Arabian Kebab shop which is the cheapest we could find. 4 Euros (S$8) will fetch you a kebab. Think the volume of a measly cheeseburger. And the big Arab guy serves you on plates with kiddy drawings. Nice concept!

After breakfast, we continued exploring the Amsterdam. Here are some sights along the way:

Amsterdam is connected by an intricate network of dams and rivers. The rivers flow across the land mass. To get from my hostel to the nearest MacDonald's would probably need me to cross 3 bridges.
The National Monument marks the centre of the City Square. It is a towering structure over 5 stories high. It seems Christian-themed and is actually to commorate the loss of Dutch soldiers' lives during World War 2.

The signature dish of Amsterdam: Marijuana.This is just a store front of some fake Cannabis (Marijuana is from Cannabis flowers). But you can easily get them from the nearest Coffeeshop. That's just the place to satisfy all your drug needs. More on that later on.

One of many souvenir shops. So many colourful clogs hanging from the ceiling.

A nice storefront with cute Dutch milkmaid dolls and Dutch porcelein. Didnt see any real milkmaids during my stay tho. Darn!

This one is interesting. Inside one of the toilets is a dispensing machine for chewable toothbrushes. Open the ball and start chewing your way out of plaque. Just remember not to swallow!

So many things to see! I could have gone on and on. But Siong Yang was not getting his average of 10 hrs of sleep a day from the morning's flight. So we decided to head back to rest. Along the way, I bought a nice Dorling Kinderly book on Amsterdam's Top 10s. It was a really good buy - not only did it list the 10s of everything, it even explained the history behind. My personal tour guide!

We woke up later to head back to Schipol Airport to pick up the rest of the Singapore Alliance. Siong Yang and I were acting like lao jiaos as we told everyone about all the sights from earlier. We planned to show them the Red Light District which was on the way back. But 1 wrong turn along the way meant that we were walking along the back alleys instead. Come on, it's not good to know the way along these parts too well! But after they had checked in, they managed to see interesting things. More on that below.

Day 2:
As a big group, we took Daren's recommendatoin to do a bike tour around the city. Mike's Bike Tour. What a nice rhyming name. I like it already!

We had to meet the at the Rijksmuseum which is arguably the most popular museum in Amsterdam. It houses Rembrandt's Night Watch work among other great works of art. And if you've never heard of the Night Watch, don't worry. Neither have I.

Our guide for the day was Steven. A nice chap who could rattle on about Amsterdam's history without pausing for breath. There were about 20 of us for the tour and when we cycled, we formed a long line.

There were times when the pace was too fast and we lost the front. But AD, the other guide would always herd the rest back. We must have cycled like 20 km that day! I must specially salute Grace who although not a good cyclist, managed to keep up with theg guys. Great job Grace!!

A scenic stop for pictures along the way.

No trip to Holland would be complete without a picture of a windmill! The Dutch have a saying: the wind always blows against you. No wonder they can get so much energy out of their windmills.

Here's a group photo of the cycling tour group for the day! The statue behind is of Rembrandt who was inspired by the windmill in the background when he painted. Today, he simply find the tops of our heads interesting.

And a stop at a farm where we are shown how hard cheese really is and its relation to clogs. Apparently, the clogs are to protect feet from the rock hard preserved cheese when they fall on your feet. geezz! But at the end of the trip, I had a conclusion - farm girls are very cute and pretty!

Hey, check out my clog collection!!

And there's AD from the bike tour. Also my fav rocker pal! It's amazing how intellectual, friendly and gentle he is! Rock on man!!

After the tour, we headed for the cheapest place in town for a bite. You guessed it. He who rules the world. MacDonalds.

For the night, some were curious to visit a notorious place in town: The Sex Museum. Yep, a whole museum dediated to that sacred subject. Due to the family nature of this blog, I'll have to refrain from posting most of the pictures. What else can I say? It was really educational.

Venus, Goddess of Love greets you at the entrance. The entrance fee is 2.5 Euros (S$5), which is pretty cheap since a burger meal already costs 5 Euros.

The first floor of the museum and facing the entrance. And did I mention there were 4 whole floors to the museum?
All sorts of funny things in this room. From the biggest to the longest to the weirdest. You get the picture.

But enough about that already. I was really excited that night. Cos Abel and I were going to watch an improv performance!!! Everyone knows I'm crazy about Whose Line Is It Anyway and improv comedy. For the uninformed, improv comedy stands for improvisational comedy, in which the performers make up really funny stuff off the cuff! Everyone should watch it for a good whacky laugh! And I finally got a chance to experience that live!!
After the Bike Tour, our end point was the Boom Chicago. It was a local pub with a theatre behind. And Whose Line fanatics Abel and I discovered that there were live improv shows that night! The 18.50 Euro ticket price was worth every penny! It's a dream come true!

Here's the ticket we bought. Doors open at 2215 and it was free seating, so you can be sure we would be there early to get good seats!

The back of the ticket. blah blah blah... But we found an interesting pamphlet too. Apparently they conduct improv classes! To teach you how to do stand up improv comedy. And there were 4 levels! wow!

Inside the theatre. It wasn't really a theatre but a large room filled with tables and a stage. Alcohol was served in the house! But nope, you had to pay for it.

The show was fantastic!! The humour was live and wicked! The team composed of 4 master improvs from England and America. The performance was a mix of prepared comedy and improv material. Similar to Whose Line, the performers play different games and get themes for their games based on suggestions from the live audience - that included Abel and me! The games played were different from those played on Whose Line, but they all gave the performers a good chance to show their skill.

One of the games was called Shift Left, in which the 4 performers are linked to another person based on a theme and situation from the audience. This forms 4 pairs. The pairs need to make up the scene along the way and after awhile, shift left is called and they rotate, and it's the other pair's turn to make up their scene.

But I think the funniest of all was a piece of prepared material. It was part of Entertainment News and a female celebrity reporter was interviewing Nico, the charismatic member of the boy band Connect 5. Nico was crazy! In his words to his screaming legions of female fans, "I take your cheers, and I kiss them, and put them on my heart because I love you! *smuck* Right there!! yeeeaaah!" Here's a video clip of the action. Watch it!! It's crazy stuff man!

Abel and I had such a great time! Maybe we'll just sign up for the improv classes afterall. haha~ Along the way out, we managed to grab hold of one of the performers for a quick photo. He was super!

Day 3:
Day 3 was the last day for Siong Yang and I. We were to leave first thing the next morning and I was determined to make full use of the remaining time. I was very eager to visit the ancient churches and Christian museums and decided to go there first thing in the morning. So I told the others that I would not be joining them for the Vincent Van Gogh museum. (Yep, the great artist Van Gogh is also from Amsterdam!)

However, I only found out later that the Christian museum would only open at 1pm. And the rest were uncontactable already (cos we stayed at different hostels). Oh well, guess I'll just try my luck to meet up with the rest at the Van Gogh Museum in the morning and then go see the churches later.

Along the way, I met this adorable little girl and her family. Man, should have taken more shots!
I also passed by The Marijuana Muesum. Where they tell you everything from how to grow it to how to smoke it. In fact, I also saw the Marijuana Growing Guide Book in a bookshop somewhere.

As mentioned, this is one of many coffeeshops. Inside, you can easily buy any type of "light drugs". And all of them have funny names. I think a packet of Marijuana is called Love Potion.

And no drug addict will be complete without drug accessories. From plastic toys to smoking pipes. This is from a storefront display.

And I finally reached The Vincent Van Gogh Museum. Only to see a long queue. I think I must have waited at least 30mins.

I was thinking of the best way to link up with the rest when I realised Song Ning had brought his auto-roaming mobile phone with him. But I only had my Denmark SIM card. So I decided to ask some people around me in the queue if I could borrow their phone. A very kind lady very willing lent me hers and refused compensation from me even after her credit went flat! wow~ the Dutch are nice!

And I found out that the rest were still inside! yay~ I've linked up!

Here's the ticket. it costs 12.50 Euros to view the Van Gogh permanent collection.
The first level of the museum. These are some international posters that were inspired from Van Gogh's work.
And probably one of Van Gogh's more known works. Bedroom in Arles. I would have snapped more photos, but the burly guard came over and warned me not to take photos. so, oh well...

Van Gogh's life was pretty tragic. He never got recognition when he was alive and later on got a strange illness people think is epilepsy. He got depressed and shot himself in the chest. He died 3 days later with his brother, Theo at his side and not knowing his art would be recognised the world over later on.
The museum has 4 stories and a very nice architecture.

After Van Gogh, some of us decided to visit the Heineken Brewery which was just down the road. I wanted to go to see the churches and just got a few shots of the outside. I was later told the Heineken Experience was quite good, better than Carlsberg Brewery back in Copenhagen.

And that's the main entrance to the Heineken Experience!

Inside the tram on my way to the churches. The transport system is special. You can buy a ticket and travel where ever you want within the next 1 hour. Inclusive of tram rides and bus rides.

I walked the rest of the distance to the Oude Kerk (Old Church). It's older than the Newk Kerk (New Church) which is in the City Square. The Oude Kerk dates back to the 1600s and is really grand. The camera angle above does not do justice to it!

I had visited The Newk Kerk on the first day. It had an exhibition about Indonesia and I wasnt keen on forking out money to see stuff about my Singapore neighbour. But I still managed to get a photo of this grand stained glass window. It's amazing!

But back to the Oude Kerk and here's the funny thing: The Oude Kerk sits in the middle of the Red Light District! A stone's throw away on the same road, you can see a Coffeeshop and special windows (that are where the girls work).

The entrance fee was 5 Euros (Student rate) and the first thing I was asked was: Japanese pamphlet? English please. Here're the English pamphlet that identifies the parts of the church and explains its background. The Oude Kerk was a Catholic church but was converted into a Protestant church during the Reformation. Now, it is simply a museum hall. I wonder if it'll be in service again.

The chruch has many nice stained glass windows. They were so large that I had to kneel down in order to snap their entire length! And ok, so I love stained glass paintings!

This is the inside of the church. There is a huge majestic organ with intricate detail. It really dwarfs the person sitting down below it.

The next thing was slightly disappointing. I wanted to visit the Museum Amsterlkring. It is sometimes called The Lord in the Attic. During the Reformation days, Catholicism was banned, but masses were still carried out in secret. The museum now houses one such secret church during the time.

However, when I reached, the museum was just closing and I couldn't go up. What a pity! But no matter, I bought the guidebook of the museum for 9 Euros. It has nice photos of the interior.

Don't be deceived by the exterior of this house! Inside is a secret church! With a grand organ and pretty decent seating capacity!

At night, I linked up again with some of my friends. We decided to treat ourselves to something special: Chinese Cuisine!!!
On the way to the Chinese Restaurant, we passed by a shop that sold you tiao!!! Hey, we havent eaten Chinese food since we arrived in Denmark months ago!

And this is where we dined. Actually, there are quite a few Chinese restaurants around town.
What a sumptous spread! Ma Po Tou Fu, Gu Lu Rou, Cha Shao, You Cai! It was so delicious! We hadn't eaten such Chinese food in ages! We gobbled everything down! Here's Siong Yang, Yuanheng and Lin Chang.
And here's me and Yuanshuo, who's acting like a pig. Oink!

And after dinner, we decided to go explore the Red Light District again. Afterall, our hostels were in the Red Light District. Right.

Here are some shots of the red light district. It's actually forbidden to take photos of the district. There have been stories of people who were beat up cos of it. I'm risking life and limb here!

There are literally rows of of such windows. Some along the main canal and others in the back alley. The girls are skimpily dressed and do their best to attract the opposite sex. When occupied, the curtains are drawn.

I'm told that it is relatively safe for the girls as there is a secret emergency button within the room and within 1 minute of it being pressed, a cop will knock down the door.

But it's pretty terrible. A whole street of vice. Windows, peep shows, banana shows, DVD shops, sex toy shops. The whole thing. And this is a space muffin. It has some M inside. Some of us tried it. In fact, some of us smoked M. They got totally wasted the next day.

Day 4:
It was back to Copenhagen for Siong Yang and I. Yuan Shuo and Yuanheng also had lessons on Monday and were on the same flight as us. In the wee hours of morning, we hurried one last time through the Red Light District that was on the way to Amsterdam Central.

Amsterdam. City of vice. But a real experience.

Living in Those Big Red Boxes

2006-03-16T16:44:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone!

Sorry bout the drought! I've been busy with work! Projects and presentations. And of course the parties! heh~

I'm flying off to Amsterdam with the Singapore Alliance over the weekend. In fact, I'm leaving for the airport within the hour. wheee! My camera is guaranteed to be maxed out!! And you can be sure I'll be posting those photos!

In the meantime, here are some snapshots of life in those big red boxes we call home. Enjoy!

Welcome to the DTU Campus Village! Do have a look around! This way leads to buildings T to Z, L and R.

The buildings are actually large containers. Much like those on ships. It is said that this is in case the residents get too attached to their rooms during their stay and can request for their rooms to be shipped home.

T Container. My container. The metal box below the sign is the mailbox. If I were to recieve any postcards from my friends at all, I would probably find some there. ahem~

Welcome to the interior. Remember to close the door behind you, it's chilly outside. Each container houses up to 9 residents. The rooms are on the sides of this common corridor. A kitchen and toilet facility is shared by all.

The kitchen. Where I have learnt to cook several decent dishes and mastered how to do those cool flip moves with the pan. Next, I need to learn how to keep the food on the pan when I do the flip.

It has 4 electric stoves and a full oven. I'm planning to learn how to cook some international dishes from my container-mates. So far, there's Portugese, Spanish, Botswanian, French, Parkistan cuisine to choose from. If I can just perfect a char kway tiao, I'm sure we can start trading receipes!!

Ah~ The dinning area. Where many a successful dish was enjoyed and an equal number of lies were told about how delicious the food was. Container T is the offical hang-out for the majority of the Singapore Alliance.

This is also where many parties are thrown. To throw a party, simply pass the word around that there are many kegs of beer available. As long as you know someone in the party, you're invited! So many parties and so many people to meet. And so much beer.

Ok, so only my container does not have a dish rack. Someone probably chopped it up for a fire one cold winter night. But hey, we are a harmonious bunch and always clean up after we cook and eat.

Ta da~ Our fridge. Where lots of fast to cook, and good to eat stuff can be found. 90% of which are hot dogs, meat patties, ham slices and fries. We try to be healthy. At first, my Spore friend Song Ning was declared war against such fast food. But later he declared war as he swallowed the food.

Doing the laundry is very tedious. First, from my room, I need to walk about 5 meters to the washing machine and dump my clothes in. And as if that's not enough, I need to hit P4 for normal wash. After 15 mins I put it into the dryer. And horror, I need to press 4 for normal spin. And after a while, I retrieve my clothes. What a chore! What's the world coming up to?

This is my cozy little room. Every room has a large pin board. The majority of my board is occupied by the travel highlights of Copenhagen city. Oh, and the brouchre of all the pizzas from the pizzaria in DTU. The pizzas there are huge! I need to visit that place again soon man.

And behold, my cupboard. I'm risking my precious stash of cookies and cup noodles by revealing their exact location here. But then again, my container-mate Siong Yang usually comes in and helps himself to my food. Thanks, Siong Yang, I'll never be able to finish my food without your help!

Here's my sofa bed! By day, it can be adjusted into a sofa and by night, it can be folded down into a bed. Nice and comfy!

But you know what's special? The feeling of opening your window and realising that just outside, the snow is falling and you're still nice and warm inside.

Siong Yang, my container mate is renouned far and wide for his work attitude. Just look at him working at the computer again. At 3am in the morning! Always working through the night! So motivated! I'm proud of you!

Here's our little collection. After about 2 weeks. For the uninformed, it's made up of Carlsberg and Turborg. The 2 local Danish brands of mineral water.

What??!! I must have come at a bad time. Siong Yang, playing DOTA at this hour? He must have finished studying at least 5 chapters of our module Advanced Data Communications. Come on, it's SEP, relax!

Today's my shift cooking at the kitchen. We are split into 2 shifts. And there's always friendly competition among us to produce delicious delights.

After discussing with my team, we decide to up the standard and whip up something special. Grace is busy preparing the bacon bits for our baked potatoes. emmm em!

Song Ning is busy getting the pan. Couldn't do without you, Song Ning! Thanks for always reminding us to take our greens! heh~

Long beans with onions and sausages. Unfortunately I couldn't find my French friend Omar. The dish could have been perfect with a French name. like oeur de beanu longeette or something. Oh, well, next time.

Check out the baked potatoes with crispy bacon bits and a generous dolop of mayonaise. Super!

And the crispy oven baked fish fillet with butter and mayonaise. Just pretend you didn't see the black part.
Some of the Container T dinner gang. Yuan Shuo, Grace, Song Ning, me and Siong Yang on the camera. Yuan Heng was not around that day. But enough already, let's dig in!!!

Hello my dearest family and friends!!!

2006-03-07T23:28:00.000+01:00

Mum and dad, in case you haven't noticed, I'm now in Denmark...

I'd love to tell you all about this great county, but heck, Wikipedia does it better!!

SEP has been such a fantastic rush! The experiences, the people, the friends, the parties, and of course, the workload!!

I think this blog will be just the perfect way to tell you all about my adventures here!

Here are some snippets of what's happening in my life:

I'm now at Denmark Technical University (DTU). It's a cozy place. Ranked 4th best technical university in Europe according to some sources. Again, I'd like to tell you more, but heck, it's all already here!

I've seen snow before in my travels, since I'm a, ahem~ seasoned traveller. But to have snow all day long is really exciting - the slush of the snow on your feet as you walk, and the way the snowflakes just melt on your face. But just don't stay out for more than 5 mins!!

And this is where I call home. The DTU Campus Village! I think you can practically find someone from anywhere in the world here. Anywhere!! From America, Botswana (really!), China, Denmark, (whatever place u know that starts with E)...

That's my address: Electrovej, 330 Campus Village, Container T Room 7, 2800 Kgs Lyngby Denmark. Do drop me a mail if you think you've got too many of those colourful airmail envelopes and are very stressed as to what to do about it.

Life here can be pretty happening! Nope, this is no rock concert! It's in the Oticon Salen right smack in school! Deccoband is in the house! Behind the concert is a bar where alcohol was being poured as fast as the thirsty students could pull money out from their pockets! Yes!! Alcohol and hard liquer can be easily bought within the school compound! Almost anytime of day! This is afterall, the home of Carlsberg. But that's a story for another day.

Over the first weekend here, we went to Isaberg in Sweden to Ski!!! The trip there took about 4hrs and another 4hrs back. But, it was all worth it!! Sking is just about the most exhilarating sport ever! Imagine proudly whizzing by the sking newbies who are afraid to make their first move, only to loose balance and collapse on the snow yourself. hahaha~

brrrrr... It was one cold day for the Singapore Alliance Isaberg! This is just some of us from Singapore! From left to right: Me, Grace Thng, Lin Chang, Michelle Chia, Siong Yang, Leong Yuan Shuo, Kwek Yuan Heng, Chiong Song Ning, Abel Li and Daren Low!

And here's the money shot heh~ That day, I don't know what drove me to take the gondola up the most advanced slope, only to realise that's the closest I'd ever been to jumping off a cliff. Sking at 10 degrees is like whizzing by on a bicycle. Now imagine sking at 40 degrees way up high high high. If I'd went straight on, I would have approached the speed of light!! Now that's terrifying! But hey, I'm proud, cos at the end, my undies were still dry! phew~

But besides the fun, there's still the quiet times that are important to me. It was a miracle that there is a Catholic Church a short walk from DTU. When only 1% of Danes are Catholic! (About 99% are Lutheran Evangelists). There is Sunday mass at 10am. Although the mass is totally in Danish, but since the order of mass is the same worldwide, I can actually follow the mass. With some imagination, I can just envision myself in NUS at Friday mass, together with my Catholic Students' Society friends and singing the all too familiar hymms.

Well, guess that's all for now. I still have many stories and photos to share. But in the meantime, there's quite a fair bit of assignments to clear. Stay tuned! And pls do drop me a msg!! I'm missing everyone back home!!!