Wandern

27th July 2005, Wednesday -- Wandern day. Wandern in german means trekking. Where? In the mountains. Kept telling myelf it's one in a lifetime oppurtunity to do that. Really. It really was.

Started off at 10pm where we took the ski cable car up to Corvatsch (2707m). From there, it was all the way walking and walking. It was real trekking in the mountains where the correct footwear is required. Luckily, mami had an extra pair of trekking shoes. If I had worn my Nike, lao zao kaput liao. really. Cant trek with normal sport shoes coz its tooo stoney.

Walked and walked and walked. Along the way, saw the Biancograt, Piz Bernina, Roseg Glacier. I also found out that many Swiss themselves have yet to see all these sceney coz they dont wanna take the 'trouble' to walk all the way where we were. Amazed by those breathtaking views, it definitely was worth the walk or trek. Really. How close can 1 get to the mountains and glaciers?

REached the Coaz hütte(2610m) at 1pm. Phew. finally. Had soup. gotta have some energy to continue our journey. Started being touristish - again. Cant blame this gal coz seriously the views were spectacular!!!!

Continued our rocky journey back down. Just as 'easy' as the begining. but frankly, it was easier than the bike marathon.Walked and walked -- till the glaciers! It was warm and yet the lake was filled with mini ice bergs and ice cold water. I was so darn thirsty I wanted to drink from the glacier lake!

Our stop was the hut before the forest. It seemed so near and yet so far...if u know what i mean. At 5pm, phew, finally reached our destination! Woohoo! Luckily coaches were available. Thus, saved us energy or the trouble from walking for another 2 hours. yeah, as if I was looking forward to do more walking...hahahha =p

Took the horse coach back to Pontresina. Hans sent us back home. What an accomplishment. Haahhaha...did so much cycling and trekking since we arrived. Sun: Cycyling to Pontresina(14km). Mon:Bike marathon from Maloja till Zuoz(42km). Tues: Trekking at Muottas Muragl (8km). Wed: Trekking(20km). No wonder my toes are decorated with new stuff. blisters. yeah. 2 on each feet.

No wonder the Swiss are super fit ppl with long life span. they love doing sports. My host family are also no exception.esp Mami and Papi.St Moritz is also not only an ideal destination for winter sports like skiing, and snow boarding, but also ideal for sport lovers in the summer. Cycling, trekking, golf,etc.

Gotta go now. chao!

Bike Marathon

25th July 2005, MOnday -- Bike marathon day. After a scrumptious breakfast, time for our bike marathon. Rented my bike from Samaden and then proceeded to Maloja.

'Papi,wie lang unser Fahrradmarathon ist?' (Papi, how long is our bike marathon?)
'42 km'

Yeah. I cycled together with my host family, 42km from Maloja to Zuoz!!! It is just not only on flat road. It was really up and down. esp the beginning. We went for the mountain biking way. Man, that was really tough! We couldnt cycle anymore. Had to get down and pushed our way up the MOUNTAIN!!! I finally know what mountain biking is. REally.

All I was looking forward to was going down. However, the way down was also as steep as the begining. After my accident during sports day, my new motto is : slow, but safe. My arms were sore from all the brekking. Cycled and cycled. Went through Pontresina, St Moritz, Sils, Silvaplana, etc, and finally arrived in Zuoz at 5.30. Woohoo! NO accidents! =P

Papi asked whether that was my longest bike marathon in my whole life. Till that day, the answer is yes. Dunno is I may have another oppurtunity like that. However, it was worth it. got to see spectecular mountain views, all the 5 lake views, everything!

St Moritz is one of my favourite kantons in Switzerland. Really breath taking. Winter view, summer view. Both unique in their own way. Love it.

St Moritz Summer Hols

23 July 2005, Saturday -- Gees, just after 1 day of rest and then it's my journey to St Moritz wth my host family, except for Laura, coz she went to south France. I was so tired I slept in the car all the way to Chur, the Haupstadt of Kanton Graubünden.

From Chur to St Moritz is about an hour and 30 minutes drive. The way up is more 'curvy' compared to the way up to Genting, or maybe even more than Cameron Highlands. There were tons of cars, all on their way to their sumer hols like us in St Moritz.

St Moritz is one of the world's most famous winter and summer destinations.As papi once said, only in winter and summer St Moritz is alive. This place is filled with expensive and posh shops, catered for the ppl who can afford to pay more and a few hundred francs for that thin, small piece of cloth, where some ppl may call it fashion.Haha.

Watched FRIENDS in GERMAN! Haha. Funny.Yeah. Out for dinner. Guten Nacht.

Bye Bye London

21st July, Thursday -- Woke up really early, packed our stuff, time to say bye bye to London. took the train to Stansed Airport and our plane left at 11.55. Local time.

Reached Basel. Ahhh...home at last. Home Sweet Home. Home is where my bed lies....heheh....ws so damm tired from all the walking.

on the way home, heard that there was another bombing in the tube. MAn, we were lucky to be back home.... Lucky....and I told my parents back home that terrorists usually dont bomb the same place twice. Guess I was wrong...... Great to be back home safe and sound =)

London - Day 3

20th July, Wednesday -- Woke up early again, to get cheap tickets for the musical,Fame. This time, we managed to get them for £11, with restricted view.Nevermind to us.....we didnt really need good seats....

After purchasing them, my sisters and us went our separate ways. They went to Oxford Street to do shopping while Yueh Chien and I went to Madame Tussauds.With the tube, it's so easy to get around in London. We went to Baker Street to Madam Tussauds. Man, there was a looooooong que! That was for group waiting. As there were only both of us, we qued at another counter. While we were waiting, we were approached by this couple to ask us whether we would like to join them in a group coz if there were 10 ppl , it would be cheaper. Turned out, they were all Malaysians too! From Ampang! Well, of course good for them, good for us too coz getting into Madame Tussauds was not cheap either.

Whoa! There were tons of people in Madame Tussuads. The wax figures were so real! Esp the eyes!!!! Although some werent as good as others.Again, touristy time! *Click click* hahahah =P

THere was a passage where it was a ghost house with real life 'monsters'. THese monsters can sense fear, and will continue to chase u....eg, there was this lady which screamed in fear and the 'monster' followed her along the way....hahaahaha

After MAdame Tussauds, met up with my sisters, went to Tate Modern, Millenium Bridge.Next, I went to meet up with an old friend of mine, Hoon Wei! WOo hoo!! Went to Selfridge at Bond Street to meet up with him. It was great seeing him, a long time liao didnt see him. Went to Starbucks, sat down and chatted.Good old days =)

At 7, was back at Leicester Square. On the way, I heard 1 chinese guy saying' yao meng sing ah'. Guess who was it? It was LEE FROM BLUE!!!! Man! All the English girls were crowding all over him and I couldnt take a picture WITH him!!! DAMN!!!!!!! That's the biggest regret....=( Well, at least I took 2 pics OF him....haih...but that's not good enough as taking WITH him....GRRRR......

Watched Fame at 7.30. It was another great musical. Enjoyed it a lot. REally. I can really just sit down and watch musicals all day long. All week long! ---If I have the $$$ lah.....not cheap leh.....but if i do have, I really can....ahhhh.....musicals....

Went back to the hotel, packed and slept coz we had to leave early the next day....ZZZZZzzzzzz

Eastbourne - London

19th July, Tuesday -- Had typical english breakfast. I was really full!checked out, went to the shopping street-again, but this time, didnt buy anything. really bohlui.Just window shopping.Also went to the pier, along the English Gardens. But as it was too windy, we didnt go up Seven Sisters. The rocks.

The afternoon was spent in the train back to London. In the hotel, we realised y there were so many gates along Leicester Square. Johnny Depp was there for the premier screening of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!!! GRRR!!!!!! Had an early dinner, back at the same Chinese place and then went to Tower Bridge. Actually Tower Bridge is much more beautiful than London Bridge. London Bridge is actually nothing spectecular.

Good night...ZZZZZZzzzzzz

Eastbourne

18th July, Monday -- Took an early train to Eastbourne, the southeast part of England. The coast. The seaside.It wasnt a long train ride from London.About an hour and 45 min or so...

The day was really windy.Coz it was by the sea. Windy....seagulls could be heard...walked really, really, really loong to find our guest house at Royal Parade Road. ON the way, met Laura's teacher from her school when she was in England. He said : ' Good Luck looking for that guest house.IT's a long way down.' See?

Our guest house was really comfortable and homely. Each room had a theme of itself. Ours was Regency, while ny sister's were Red. IT was cool.went out to the shopping mall in Eastbourne in the afternoon. Man, there were sales everywhere!!!! It was so much cheaper than Switzerland. Frankly, I think even with the conversion, food is cheaper than Switzerland. Really. Clothes too.Haih...boh lui ah...$$$$

In the evening, went to Victoria Drive to visit Laura's host family when she was an exchange student there. The girls are mega cute! Joanna(10) , Stephie(7@8) and esp Lizzie (5)!! They were really active and were always on the move. Their cute antics made us laugh like mad.Kids! The greatest comidians on Earth! =) spent about an hour and 30 minutes there and then left for dinner.

At night, my sisters went to bed early, but Yueh Chien and I went to the pebbly beach to chit chat while watching the stars.Ahhhh.....It was a starry night. Cold starry night. Cold and windy starry night.

London - Day 2

17th July, Sunday -- Woke up really early to get to Leicester Square to get cheap musical tickets. Guess what, the cheapest we could find was £36 for Lion King! Anyway, since we were there, I mean, it isnt an everyday thing that I can watch musicals like that (unlike my sisters where they have seen tons), we purchased the tickets.Hor bao chün long...ahahaha

With the tickets securedly in the purse, we proceeded to Trafalgar Square. Climbed up the lions(wasnt an easy task,haha!!!)to take photos. Yueh Chien and I were really touristy, if u know what i mean. Carrying our cameras, taking almost every picture of anything which looked 'foreign'to us...hahha...so touristish....I didnt care coz I paid to be touristish! IT's my Right!!! hahahaa!

After Trafalgar Square, was on the way the see changing of the guards, saw a parade.really formal..dunno some kind of mourning or what lah... the ppl in uniform looked solemn, but the tourists, nah-ah....all with their cameras..flashes flashing away. Went through St. James Park to get to Buckingham Palace. Man, there were tons of ppl everywhere outside the palace grounds!! I mean everyday they'll be tourists crowding outside Buckingham palace, I wonder how the Queen and the Queen's family feel comfortable with more the a 1000 tourists crowding outside their home, clicking away with their cameras...*Click*.....

Standing under the scorching sun till 12, had our sandwiches in Hyde Park. It was lucky for us that the weather was great. Hot, but at least it wasnt too cold or raining. =)Just great for outing!

'Do you believe in God?'
'God is the greatest'
' God is your only life insurance!'
'Believe in God and U'll go to heaven'
'U r meaningless and worthless if u dont believe in God'

Those where the contreversial topics we heard at Speakers Corner.It was better than reality TV! REally! On-lookers 'argued' or rather had 'loud discussions' with those ppl standing on small ladders voicing out their minds....hehe...it was really entertaining =P One guy told us that he comes every week to listen to them speak. Just for the entertainment... hehehe...ppl argued with the concept of God. I wonder if we had a Speakers Corner in Msian, lao zao they will be put in jail-without trial!!! Hahahahaha....they'll be counted as extremists @ terrorists!!! hahaha =P

I was really, really looking 4ward to the next programme.The Lion King Musical at Lyceum Theatre.IT started at 3pm.Oh my god! The starting already took my breath away!The songs, the music, the costumes, the props were simply marvelous!!!! REally there are no words to describe it except for watching it. Seriously. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF THE MUSICAL! EVERY SINGLE SECOND!!! IT definitely was worth the ticket. The story was exactly like the Disney cartoon, all the lines were same too! The props and costumes were definitely a thumbs up. No. Not a thumbs up. More than a thumb's up.IT was TERRIFIC!

After Lion King, went to Big Ben, Westminster Abby, Parliament House again. THis time, without my sisters. Touristy time starts!! *Click*

At night, went to Leicester Square again for dinner. This time had Pizza Buffet for £5.99. No wonder the Swiss are so much more in shape and fitter compared to the English. They are no buffets here in Switzerland! NO offence to any English ppl....

Went to bed as every1 was alreaday tired from the day's walk. Guten nacht.

Back From London Safe & Sound

16th July, Saturday -- Our journey was off to a 'good' start. Why? The baby airport in Basel had a blackout or rather breakdown at the check in counter. Therefore, everything was delayed.The place where the luggages were supposed to be sent to the airplane wasnt working coz of the breakdown. The whole front of the check in desk was packed with luggage! Boarded the plane at 15.10, was delayed about 40 minutes or more, had an hour and half hour ride to London Stansted Airport.

Woohoo! Finally in the land of my mother tongue! English! By the time we found our hotel, bathed, it was already 21.45. All the way to England for Chinese! an All - u - can -eat buffet for £4.95. Those food are really for guai lou lah, ppl like us can differenciate between good Chinese cuisine and that kind.....hehe =P anw, it's the price that matters....

Saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Eye by night. Beautiful. I dunno y but being in England somehow reminds me of Malaysia. REally! If u have been to Switzerland where the culture is rather different from England, U can really feel that Msia is more or less like England. Btw, saw tons & tons of Asian, esp Chinese everywhere from the tube to Leicester Square, to everywhere!

Walked through Piccidally Street, CHina Town, Soho at night. Some drunk guy came up to us and started quacking like a duck! BLeh.... Drunk people sometimes are my entertaintment. Sometimes it can be irritating too.

Geneva

Me in Geneva by the most famous fountain. Jet D'eau

Skiing In Diavolleza

Skiing in Diavolleza,St Moritz

My Swiss Family

My Swiss family and I in St. Moritz for Easter. Left to right : Papi(Thomas Huber), Mami (Ursula Huber), Laura, Me & Anja

Winterthur Party

Vanja from St. Gallen, Me & sayang Sharmin!

Landes Musuem, Zürich

Last day of Sprachkurs-1st April-Friday-Landes Museum Zürich-Exchange students around the world.

Maria & I

Maria from Ecuador. Friend from school.

My Birthday!

1st April. My 18th birthday in Switzerland.Papi, Benny, Nadja, Anja, Laura, Me & Mami at my birthday dinner in Zürich

Bern

Me in Bern.Skipped school ---again...hahhaha =P Behind me is Bern Münster. Some kind of Gothic style cathedral

Exchange Students 2

Me & the Brazilians. Flavio, Taina and Laura in the party in Zürich

Snow View

The view from my bedroom window when I just arrived on the 4th March 2005....amazing huh?

Exchange Students 3

Exchange students around the world.Brazil, NZ, Columbia, Panama Malaysia.Orientation camp in Barau

Exchange Students

Rui(Japan), Me, Courtney (Australia) & Victoria (New Zealand) in a party in Zürich...

Mami and I in Luzern by the famous bridge.Some Brücke. Skipped school to come here...hehe =P

Lugano

11th July, Monday-2nd week of my summer hols.So schnell eine woche hat schon vorbei. Damn. I hate it when they say that 'time flies when u r having fun'. Y does it have to pass so fast?

Our main form of transport.Train to Lugano. Woke up, not even at the break of dawn to catch the train. Ppl who know me know that I can sleep. I'm a good sleeper.Long sleeper.Thus I slept in the train during the 3 hour journey from Zurich to Lugano to make up for the lack of sleep I had the nighte b4.Missed all the spectecular scenery though on the way to Tessin. What was I suppose to do? Sit up for the first 2 hours just to wait for the mountain? I need my sleep ppl! =P

Reached Lugano. Lugano is in Tessin.Tessin is the south part of Switzerland. The Italian part. I find it quite interesting here in der Schweiz.So small, yet so many languages can be heard throughtout the country.Most of the Swiss speak Swiss German & high german of course. But in the west Schweiz,eg Lausanne & Geneva, every1 speaks French. Being there made me feel like I was in France.Not a word of German of Swiss German could be heard. Even if there was, they would have come from the mouths of ppl from the other side of Switzerland.

Tessin is another part of Switzerland where every1 speaks Italian.No kidding.Coz Tessin is so close to Italy, Italians come to Tessin to shop.Hang out..It seemed that I was in another country-again.Couldnt understand a word, except for Grazia and Chao.Same feeling I had being in West Schweiz.

12th July, Tuesday- 1st stop.Fox Town. A paradise for shoppers.Or rather branded goods shoppers.They 'claimed' that stuff there are cheaper than normal.Yeah, maybe some stores like Reebok, Adidas, Tom Tailors.Got a Nike bag.I was desparate.Needed a bigger, but not too big bag!(Haih gals.When it comes to shopping,can hear tons of excuses=P)Esprit. Got another bag & T there. Not bad a price--comparatively.

Next stop.Lugano.Another shopping paradise.My friend decided to go back coz she wanted to swim,while I wanted to continue stying in Lugano.In the end, we went our separate ways.Hung around in Manor for some time.Found some pretty good stuff.MAn, sales here memang sales lah.Unlike Msia,the 50% off stuff are either A)XL @ L B)too ugly or too wierd a colour.ME, a sucker for shopping of course did have some good purchases.

At 19.00, said our goodbyes to the ppl in the vacation house.THis time, I din sleep in the train.Din wanna miss the scenery from the train. Saw Gotthard.Saw a church built by a cliff 3 times--different angles--above, same, under.Unbelievable.Tessin is a place where the houses are built by the mountain.The only higher building u can see is the church.Tessin is Mega Schön!

Reached home feeling tired, yet satisfied.I can officially say that I've been to all 4 major parts of Switzerland. The German(duh, it's the main part), the French, the Roman & the Italian.

Guten Nacht.

Lausanne & Geneva

Wow...such a looooong time never blog liao....sorry guys...sometimes too lazy to update my blog lah....haha =P

anws...on wed was da last day of sch! Yooohoo!! a great last day of sch! Our maths teacher 'belanja-ed' us every one of us ice creams! Not the cone type, but we actually went to a restaurant during sch hour for those expensive ice-creams in beautiful glass cups! Costs Fr9.50 each! After that, coz all of us were still having out ice-cream...our teachers for the next 2 periods told us that class was cancelled & sch officially ended! Earlier!YAY!

On Thursday, went to the Maien Zug Vorabend,a kind of huge fest only in Aarau, Friday-Maien Zug....Sat nite...had a New Zealand & Malaysian feast at Virginia's place..hmmm...Msian curry memang BEST! Sharmin, U ARE DEFINITELY A GREAT COOK! remember to give me da recipe, ok sayang? nite, went to Solothurn coz there was a fest....here in switz alwys have fests in summer...it was fun though...met Francesco and his friends there....cute! =P

Monday, went to Lausanne, met up with Yueh Chien, went to Olympic musuem. It was cool.Of course all about olympic stuff lah....but it was good enough 4 us...then had dinner...eating outside here alwys makes me 'sam tung'...u know y lah...then went to this jazz/choir/folkmusic concert.They were students from England, Oxfordshire or something....it was good...4 something that's free...it was good..hehe

Tues, went to Geneva. Yueh Chien is definitely a really good tour guide. Follow me, sure get lost one.....hahahaa...we got a map of Geneva from the tourists counter & embarked on our journey in Geneva. Saw some monument....4got the name...of course not to forget Jet D'eau....English Gardens....Basilica Notre Dame...St Pierre Cathedral...The reformation wall by Jean Calvin....we also went to the United Nations Office...but unfortunately, it was closed..=( Arrived there a lil too late....Japanese tourists are sooooooo cute! All wore the typpish round hat...with huge cameras hanging around their necks...they even climbed up the gates to take pictures from outside! SO CUte!! HAHAHAa

AT nite, went to the Cathedral in Lausanne as there was a music fest too. For me, counldnt understand a word of French...except merci buku of something like that.....bon jour....

In short, to me, all the sights and sceneries in der schweiz ist MEGA SCHÖN!!!!! MEga BEAUTIFUL!!!! every where you turn is a one hell of a beautiful sight. WIrklich! Seriously!!!! Beautiful........ahhhhhh=)