I don’t know if you’ve realized this. Other than the occasional updates and photos about our travels, this blog has been pretty stagnant.

I would like to attribute it to the lack of inspiration, but I’m beginning to believe that it’s a reflection of my life here. Yea, I think I’m starting to get bored. Finally. After more than four years of doing nothing.

Maybe it’s because we’ve been here in zuzuland for too long. Maybe because I miss those Paki days, when there were some strange (though not really desired) encounters every other day. Maybe because I’m alone and bored at home now, knowing that Mr. Tan is in Paris and not coming home tonight. Or maybe simply because it’s just time to move on.

A few days ago, I had a conversation with a friend who lives here. She asked me a question and the answer that I gave was one that even surprised myself. She asked if I was looking forward to going home next year. I didn’t have to think long to give an answer which I believed came from the bottom of my heart - ‘Yes’. (Although this by no means suggest that I look forward to waking up at six everyday and singing the national anthem at 7.20.)

I had never thought that I would feel this way. I had always believed that I would continue enjoying the life I was leading now, indefinitely. Surprisingly, the yearning to go back home has been escalating. I look forward to being with my family and friends, living in familiar surroundings, surrounded by similar-looking people, doing things that I love, and leading a normal working life. (Although this by no means suggest that I look forward to waking up at six everyday and singing the national anthem at 7.20.)

Well, I guess a part of it also has got to do with us knowing when our time here is up. This is as opposed to the past few years when we never knew when we had to move, and where we were going to move to, until the time came. With the end in sight, the psyching process is definitely speeded up.

I know I’ve always been championing the lifestyle here, and been critical of that back home. Now I think I finally understand and am able to identify with what it means by ‘There is no place like home’. No matter what. (Although this by no means suggest that I look forward to waking up at six everyday and singing the national anthem at 7.20.)

Bonjourno!

We just came back from a short (and almost spontaneous) trip to Florence. Over the span of three nights and four days, we put up at three different hotels and drove more than one thousand kilometres.

Well, it wasn’t so much a spontaneous but a planned-at-the-last-minute trip. Back in August, we’ve already had the intention of visting the Tuscan region of Italy. Due to the mind-boggling Italian summer heat and the coincidence with one of their major festivals during the few days that we’d planned, the trip was put on hold. With the news of us going home and the arrival of Winter, I thought it was going to be a trip that would be put on hold forever.

Just two days before our departure, Mr. Tan decided he could actually squeeeeeze out a few days. So we set off after work on Tuesday evening, drove three over hours, stopped for the night just across the Italian border, and continued the other half of the journey the next morning.

Since Wednesday was predicted with rainy weather, we decided to make it a shopping day. Ever since coming to zuzuland, we’ve heard lots about ‘The Mall’ and the ‘Space Outlet’. The Mall is basically a scaled-down European version of the American outlets, while the Space Outlet is essentially a Prada Outlet.

If I tell you that a friend who visited last year entered the Space Outlet and left with twelve bags, you can expect some knock-out prices. Of course I didn’t go as crazy. Well, neither did I leave empty-handed.

Me and my stash! (Of which only 1/4 belongs to me)

The next full day was then spent exploring the Renaissance city of Florence. Even if you, like us are clueless when it comes to art, names like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci should strike a chord. So would Michelangelo’s nude sculpture of David, which now resides in Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence.

This is only a copy of David, found at the Piazza della Signoria

The Duomo (cathedral church)

I could only capture six out of the twelve apostles

The fresco-ed dome

Interior of the Duomo

Vespa country!

Ponte (Bridge) Vecchio over the Arno River

Shops (whose tenants are mainly jewelers) built on the bridge. During WW II, this was the only bridge in Florence not destroyed by the Germans during their retreat.

On Ponte Vecchio

View of neighbouring bridges from Ponte Vecchio

Bread and pastries… a common sight

Colours… I like…

It reads, “If you buy fake goods, you could be fined between 500 Euros and 10,000 Euros”! Oooh la la…

Supposedly where the Renaissance movement started, Florence is a city synonymous with art; buskers lining the streets, museums situated at the most inconspicuous corners, sculptures adorning the squares such that they almost seem like an outdoor museum. Undeniably, the place exudes so much charm that even the most artistically-apathetic person would be overwhelmed. The only downside were the throngs of tourists, fighting to strike that picture-perfect pose on Ponte Vecchio or having a go at the corny juxtaposed shot of their hand holding David’s manhood.

The Uffizi Gallery - home to the “world’s single greatest collection of Italian and Florentine art”

Busker 1

Busker 2

Piazza della Signoria packed with tourists… and we were there during the off-peak season

Loggia dei Lanzi at the Piazza della Signoria (now you know what I meant by an outdoor museum)

Perseus With the Head of Medusa (first sculpture from the left in the photo above)

Fountain of Neptune (found also at the Piazza della Signoria)

Palazzo Vecchio (also at the Piazza della Signoria)

Food-wise, we were happy with the dosage of pizza, pasta, tiramisu, florentine steak and of course gelato. Except for gelato, a few more days worth of the italian-styled carbo diet would have been too much.

I think we were ripped off… the cappuccino cost 5 Euros!

Greeeedyyyy…

Candies galore!

More eye-catching candies… I like…

A Lonely Planet recommendation: Trattoria Sostanza, an authentic Tuscan eatery, with super friendly service

The photo really doesn’t do justice to the food. 1/2 kg of Florentine beef (top) and the house specialty - chicken breasts in butter (bottom). Though I must admit the butter-soaked chicken got a bit too ‘gelard’ towards the end’

After dinner, we set off again for the three hour drive back to just before the Swiss border, where we spent the last night. We crossed the border the next morning, before stopping for another round of outlet shopping at Foxtown in Mendrisio.

Now don’t ask me what the total damage was.

My lau gong aka best friend came a visiting over the last weekend. Well, they didn’t actually fly all the way to zuzuland, but rather took a detour from their honeymoon tour of Europe.

Although the time spend together wasn’t a lot, it was some good quality time. We were really touched that they gave up their day tour of Lucerne, a night’s hotel stay, and paid a hundred over francs to take the train up to meet us here.

The least we could do was to cook a sumptuous birthday meal for the birthday boy aka FOO, who coincidentally was born on that day 30 years go. 

Yup, this is the name of the trail that we took. Distance was 14.3km. Time taken was supposed to be 4hr 50min. Err… we took 6hr 30min, including some side-tracking and soup-stops. So, still not so bad lah huh…

After a 3-hr drive from zuzuland, including a very long up- followed by downhill drive along the Furka mountain pass (in the clouds!) we finally reached the Betten valley gondola station in the canton of Valais. The weather from the time we set off had been terrible. Along the way, I was praying hard that as we went west and southwards, the skies would clear up. I guess my prayer must have had been muted by the pitter pattering of the rain.

When the gondola ferried us up to the mountain village of Bettmeralp, we thought we had overshot and reached heaven. The entire village was shrouded in clouds, and the handful of tourists, whose moods must also have had been dampened by the constant drizzle, appeared to be wandering around aimlessly. The poor visibility meant that whatever plans I had of going for a short simple hike to while away the rest of the afternoon had to be shelved. The only thing left to do was to check-in, and wait for dinnertime.

A Walk in the Clouds

Speaking of our hotel, I’m getting excited all over again. Since we were just going to spend a night, I had booked for ourselves the cheapest accomodation in the village. Called the ‘Nebenhaus’ of the hotel (literal translation: beside house), our room was housed in another building beside the main hotel, and had the most basic of facilities; no TV, toilets and showers along the corridor etc. Well, it only cost 45 CHF per person, which added up to be 90 CHF for us. Most average hotel rooms in the village, including a room in the main building of our ‘hotel’, would have set us back by CHF 180.

And… guess what?! While checking-in and waiting to be ushered to our dingy little room, we were told that we had been allocated a room in the main building… for the same price! And that’s thanks to the shoulder season and reduced number of tourists. Woohoo! Now I’m starting to wonder if I have the words ’Please upgrade me’ written on my forehead.

Heidi wondering what I was doing

Thankfully for that and the TV in the room, the wait for dinnertime didn’t seem that long. By the time we settled for the night, Mr. Tan was already immune to my hourly chant of, ‘I hope the weather turns better tomorrow!’

Alas, when the curtains were drawn the next morning, I was crushed. The picture outside was status quo. Argh! This was no way to end the last hike of the season. Plus, we didn’t drive all the way here, stay one night, just to experience living in the clouds. (Hmm, actually that does sound like a nice idea!)

View from our room. According to Mr. Tan, ’Simi sai ma kua boh!’ (Literal translation: What sh** also cannot see)

Nevertheless, we checked-out, and proceeded to take another gondola up to the starting point of our supposed hike, Bettmerhorn. (Well, what else could we have done?) Along the ride up, the scene of us emerging above the clouds kept playing in my mind. Again, I was disappointed.

In the gondola up to Bettmerhorn

Bettmerhorn station

Not wanting to give up, we pushed on. At least make it to the viewpoint behind the station, right? At least try to catch a glimpse of the Aletsch glacier - the largest and longest glacier in the Alps, right?

As though the Gods had heard us (and possibly all the other tourists around), slowly but surely, they began to draw the fluffy curtain of cloud. Bit by bit, the glacier and its surrounding mountains came into view. As everyone started taking out their cameras and snapping furiously, we embarked on our hike, finally.

The mighty Aletsch Glacier

Thirsty?

The lower end of the glacier

Heidi being distracted by fellow hikers behind

Don’t-know-what’s-the-name-peak peering through the clouds

Greedy me still hoping for all the clouds to ’shoo’

Don’t know what these features are called. Any geography experts here?

In terms of difficulty, this hike is graded as ‘medium difficult’. After 2 hours into the hike, I could see why. The trail started out along an easy, generally wide path cut into the mountain, running along the glacier. As always, the view was fantastic. Never for a moment did we lose sight of the majestic 23km long glacier, which together with the surrounding areas have been named a UNESCO Heritage Site. The more challenging part appeared in the form stone steps built into the trail - definitely only for the sure-footed!

Resting along the stone path

At last, the final curtain was drawn

Bettmerhorn: Our starting point

The lower part of the glacier, towards where we came from

Don’t underestimate the size of these cracks-lookalike. They are actually deep and wide crevasses ok

Spot the moon and the plane!

One of my favourite pics

The destination, or rather the turning point was Marjelensee, a glacier lake. The area around the lake has been described to be ‘reminiscent of a polar landscape’. Well, I guess this applies only in Winter. What greeted us was a vast piece of land, bowled by the glacier and the surrounding rocky hills. If it’s any reminiscence, I’d say it reminds me more of Iceland. 

In front of Marjelensee

So does this look ‘polar’ to you? Destination: The hut in the distance, for a pee-break and hopefully something to fill our stomachs

The glacial reflection-wannabe 0f the mountain

More hikers coming down the stone path

Scene of tranquility

However, the highlight for me was the side-track right up to the wall of the glacier. Yes, we’ve hiked on glaciers before. But never have we known the depth of the ice we were walking on. Now we shall find out!

We’re heading down to the ice!

Reaching reaching…

Apparently, the Aletsch at its deepest point stood as tall as almost 1km - that’s more than 600 of me stacked on top of each other!

Can you see meeeeee? Looking from above, your could never imagine how gigantic the glacier was, right?

Icy shelter

Ice Kachang?

Heidi loves it too!

From then on, it’s a walk back to Bettmeralp, except that it’s along the other side of the mountain. Having lost track of time a little, especially at the glacier, we realized we had to hurry. Hurrying for a while is ok. Hurrying for more than 2 hours is tiring. Thank goodness it’s almost downslope all the way. But also thanks to that, I now have a black toenail on a bruised and swollen toe, which hurts just by walking normally. Yes, I do realize that my lower limbs seem to be the unluckiest parts of my body.

Name-less man-made lake nearby

Gletscherstube, the hut where we stopped for some hot soup

I love this pic too!

A 1 km tunnel through the mountain, a shortcut which we decided we had to take

Literally the light at the end of the tunnel

Finally emerging from the darkness…

…to a different kind of scenery

When the village finally came into sight, not only were we ecstatic because we were super tired, but also because we could finally see how it really looked like!

The gondola up to Bettmerhorn, which was still as evasive as in the morning

We almost congratulated each other when we spotted the village in the far left

Car-free mountain village of Bettmeralp

Ahhh… so this is how the village looks like

Our hotel - Hotel Alpfrieden

Pretty swiss cottages along the main street

By the way, I should also mention that Heidi has been the most incredible dog. Throughout the entire hike, she had never lain down to rest at all. Even towards the end of the day when both two-legged beings were deadbeat and aching, she was still paving the way, trotting along like we had only just started. It was only in the gondola down that she finally plopped down to rest, something that she doesn’t normally do in a moving vehicle. So in fact, she was tired too.

‘I love hiking!’

So, that sums it all - our last hike of the year. With the weather turning cold suddenly, and I mean really suddenly, the hiking season’s over. Which means it’s time to usher in the ‘you know what’ season! Yippee!

Watch her go! A true sheepdog, indeed!

I’ve run out of ideas for a title for this post, so it’s just called ‘Five in Four’; the fifth game we’re watching on our fourth trip to London.

From the 25-28th of September, we were back in what can be considered as our second home in Europe - London.

I guess I don’t need to tell you what we have done and what we have eaten. You must be sick of hearing it anyway. I probably wouldn’t even need to dedicate a post to this trip, if not for some unforgettable encounters and exciting photos that I can’t wait to share with you.

Since my Nicky Wu- and Andy Lau-fanatic days more than a decade ago, my star-chasing boots have been hung up and left to disintegrate in the shoe cabinet. Well, we didn’t exactly go chasing after stars in London. What we did was just to hang around at the backgate of the White Hart Lane stadium after the incredible 5-0 match, waiting to get star-struck. It’s actually not our first time doing this. The first and also the last time was during our first London trip more than two years ago. However, then I was just a beginning fan, and the thrill of seeing some soccer personalities up close overwhelmed anything else. I don’t know what made us decide to hang around again this time, since we left right after the match during the last three. Oh, am I glad we did.

Along the road outside the stadium, where everyone’s getting a quick bite before the game

Come On You Spurs!

First time we’re sitting on this side of the stadium

Hat trick hero, Robbie gets to keep the ball after the game

Final Score: Almost hoarse after all the screaming

By the way, the backgate where we hung around is supposedly used only by the so-called non-star players, where they have to exit from to get to their cars parked opposite. The star-players, also supposedly, have their own lots within the stadium, so that they can drive off rightaway. Well, this is probably the reason why we have never bothered to stay behind for the past few games.

I don’t know if it’s a change in policy, or if it’s thanks to Lady Luck. Most of the players exited via That Gate on that day, to some very excited and extremely lucky fans, like us.

Here are some of my favourite photos:

Our Croatian right-back, Vedran Corluka: Whoa, never knew he’s so shuai! Look at his deep set eyes! *Swoooon*

Another Croatian, Niko Kranjca: Are all Croatians so good looking?!

Our Brazilian No. 1, Heurelho Gomez: A friendly guy

Who else but our 2-metre man, Peter Crouch: If only he didn’t crouch. I’d have loved to see how high he towers above me.

On-form English winger, Aaron Lenon: He behaves and looks as cool as he plays

Our steady midfielder, Tom Huddlestone: Another giant

When the security guards started keeping the mobile fences, we thought we must have had seen the last of the players. Then there was a mini commotion, and out came…

Our captain cum star player of the day, Robbie Keane!

To be honest, I must say Robbie is the first player I admired when I started watching the sport three years ago. (Gosh, it’s been three years already!?) Then, he was one half of our mighty strike force, with the other half now in Club Manure. As crap as he may be now, there is still a soft spot for him lah.

And as much as Mr. Tan doesn’t want to admit it, I know he loves him too

Last but not least, another of our favourite player, Michael Dawson: He’s the most friendly player of all, with no airs or whatsoever. Unlike most, if not all of the others, he goes around chatting with the fans, especially the kids. To put it simply, he actually opens his mouth. We got the impression two years ago. Today confirmed it.

Ok ok, so as not to bore you, here’re some non-soccer photos:

A musical every trip. This time it’s Billy Elliot

Chinatown celebrating PRC’s 60th anniversary

Believe it or not, it was our first time on Regent Street. Coincidentally, the Regent Street Festival was on

Colours… Sweets… I like…

Poor roasted pig

A busker

Free hair-tousling by the MSN-inspired mascots

Face-painting

Since I came back to zuzuland, life on this blog seems to have been revolving around saying ‘Hi’s and ‘Bye’s. Oh, as well as playing catching up in terms of putting up posts of recent travels.

I know I’ve yet to share our London photos with you (over which I’m really excited). Before I can do that, tomorrow we’re going on what will probably be our last hike of the year, since the season’s coming to an end. With this, I am happy to say that we’ve accomplished all that needs to be accomplished, and hiked all that’s worthy to be hiked. (So please don’t let me find out what else is more worthy, cos’ we have no more time!)

Tomorrow’s destination is Bettmeralp, a car-free mountain village in Valais, where we’ll spend a night, before setting out the next day for the Aletsch Glacier Path in the Jungfrau-Aletsch area of the Swiss Alps - a UNESCO Heritage site.

For this, the past few days have been spent researching (again!) on which village and which hotel to stay in. On top of that, I’d been more active in my job search, but so far to no avail. I’d sent my CV to several schools and kindergartens, even though I know they’re probably looking for native English teachers. I’d even posted on the english forum, offering my services as a dogwalker. Today, I finally started on and finished my application letter for Starbucks, in german! But before sending out the application, I think I should go and take a proper headshot of myself to replace the old grubby one (that was intended for my swiss residence permit 2.5 years ago!), which I’d been sending out together with the CVs. I don’t think a photo of a job applicant dressed in a pink, round-neck lycra top is particularly impressive, right? Oh well.

Oh so nostalgic…

Finally! Our Scandinavian photos are up! Check them out under ‘Pages‘.

Time to koonzzzzz…

Hallo hallo! We’re back from London! With that, it should see the end of our travels, at least for the time being.

Now, I should really get to work on updating about our Iceland trip. But before that, I can’t wait to share this photo with you:

With Robbie Keane, my hero cum 4-goal scorer of the day (who wasn’t looking at the correct camera cos’ there were so many flashing around him!)

I know some of you might call him crap, and even though sometimes he really plays quite crappily, he’s still my favourite player. So please pardon the ear-to-ear grin while I bask in the moment. (Wah! He’s even got his arms around my shoulder leh… )

Ok, sorry sorry for the lack of activity on this blog. It’s been three days since we came back to zuzuland, and I have been busy… doing the loads and loads of laundry, cleaning up the house and preparing to host some guests for dinner yesterday, trying to sort out and delete some photos from the the 1000 I took, as well as doing up my CV.

Yup, that’s a Curriculum Vitae alright. In fact, it’s the first-ever CV I’m writing in my whole life. (Yea, teachers hired by the Ministry in Singapore need no CVs.)

I’m starting to look for a job here. Don’t worry, we’re not in dire straits. It’s just that without the usual rental-income we’d been getting all these years, things just ain’t that cushy. Besides, the bread that I foresee bringing home should lessen whatever guilt I always feel when instigating any travel plans. The money would also definitely come in useful in furthering my German studies, which have came to a halt since I completed the last of the intermediate level last month.

Yea, I know it’s a tad late, but better late than never, right? I’m looking at of course, teaching positions. But if all else fails, Starbucks sound pretty exciting as well. Looking at my CV, I know I shouldn’t have too high an expectation. Honestly, I think it’s a rather decent resume, that is when discounting the past four years of void. Well, we shall see how it goes lah.

By the way, in two days time we’re off to London… AGAIN! I have decided to just give up on saying it’s going to be ‘our last-ever London trip’. It’s a Spurs versus Burnley match this time, and looking at how we’ve lost all four of our central defenders to injuries, I’m not harbouring too high hopes of winning. Just expect the usual itinerary - Dim Sum and Roast Duck overload, Burberry factory outlet, catching a musical, shopping at the Spurs megastore and of course the match itself.

Ooooh, and how could I have forgotten! Our Iceland trip was a blast! Besides the rainy weather that dampened our spirits sometimes, the country itself is an amazing piece of land, and traveling through it was just like going through the most interesting physical geography lesson ever.

Looking at the countless photos, I don’t know when my ‘Iceland & Oslo 2009′ page will ever be up. Just be rest assured that when it is, I’ll let you know.