Eastern Europe Trip: Part 1 of 3

I'm gonna split the eastern europe trip to 3 parts..

1. Descriptions
2. Pictures (will do this part when I have a faster internet access and comp)
3. Thoughts

This will be the description part..

Map courtesy of google map.. pardon me for the crappy illustrated route.. i'm not a very graphical person.. BAH! we arrived at Salzburg (Austria) from london.. from the map, we travelled clockwise to Munich (Germany), Prague (Czech Rep.), Budapest (Hungary), Bratislava (Slovakia), Vienna (Austria, not on the map but its near Bratislava), then ending at Graz and we flew back from there..

I dont feel like blogging every detail of the trip but just the interesting events.. 1st day... arrived at Salzburg, birth city of Mozart, and suemay and i found out that the budget accommodation recommended in the book is not that anymore! LOL! was pretty embarrasing coz we had to pay to take an elevator up to a hill and when we had arrive, the mountain huts were missing! I had even ask a waitress at a nearby cafe... not such a great start to our trip!

2nd day.. nothing much.. 3rd day went to munich early in the morning.. finished munich in 1 day as we didnt want to spend a night there coz of the worldcup-hyped-accommodation-expenses.. travelled overnight train to prague.. spent 2 nights in the scenic prague.. watched black light play.. basically a play with creative usage of UV-reactive materials..

Then from prague, we travelled on another overnight train to budapest.. met a guardian angel (will blog more about it in the 3rd part) got my wallet pickpocketed.. luckily that guy only took my money and left my wallet beside me.. cant believed it.. happened between 5am and 7am when we were asleep.. was barely sleeping the whole night and when i thought it would be safe to sleep as the dawn is breaking, it strucked.. grrrrrr... anyway, budapest is actually made up of 2 towns, buda and pest.. Cant remember which is which but 1 of it is really hilly and the other is really flat.. haha

stayed just a night at budapest.. kinda rush.. went to bratislava.. thats the city i least like.. can feel that the city is rebuilding.. its has a very rural feel to the city with some bits of modern stuff.. all kinds of foreign cuisine but very little local cuisine available.. next is vienna.. I love this city.. huge and nice.. a lot of cultural stuff to it.. the city centre is really nice.. cobbled roads everywhere and very pedestrians friendly.. relatively expensive city but still cheaper than london..

ahh.. its 2am now.. 6 hours till MAS counter is open.. and 10 hours till the next flight to Malaysia..

oh yea, to whom it may concern.. I am bringing this up to avoid any confusion.. I am not dating suemay nor there is anything going on between us.. I am pointing this out coz mel, my housemate(s), my friends and my mom asked me, directly or not.. =)

Stranded @ Heathrow

Date: 14th July 2006
Time: 2200

Place: Departure Hall // Zone F // Heathrow Terminal 3

Situation: Desperate

Was supposed to be on the MH001 flight back to Malaysia at 2200 on 14th July 2006.. I was suppose to be rushing back for my internship starting 17th July.. had to cut short my trip with my parents and sister coz of the internship.. was suppose to go edinburgh with them as they are in UK for my sisters graduation.. there were 8 of us on the standby list @ the MAS counter and they had only 6 fucking seats left.. and I'm the 7th on that list.. havent had dinner yet at 2200.. FINE!

Date: 14th July 2006

Time: 2300
Place: Arrival Hall

Situation: Lost

Was looking for something to eat.. departure hall sux! have to go to arrival hall to get some food.. sat down at a cafe.. asked for a menu.. was told the kitchen had fucking closed.. snapped at the waitress (not! i wished tho..) went to mark & spencer.. treated myself 2 boxes of sandwiches and a box of "biggest sweetest juiciest" cherries.. queued up to pay.. was spoken to in korean by this korean girl.. (which part of me looks like korean? besides my small eyes, black hair, chinese-looking, and looking lost with my 26kg luggage and my sister's laptop and my reebok bag) then i told her i dont speak korean.. she smiled and said "its alright then" in english.. What the hell? so I'm not korean and you just dont talk to me? and if i am korean, what would be question be? Ahhh... korean sux! except Kim Tae Hee..

Date: 15th July 2006
Time: 0000

Place: Arrival & Departure Hall

Situation: Wandering

was thinking how to entertain myself till 12noon the next day (coz the next freaking flight is then).. was looking around for free internet.. tried to unplug a wired connection but unsuccessful (LOL).. was looking for wireless internet (lucky I have my sister's laptop).. found T-Mobile wireless.. too weak signal.. went on a mad adventure to get the best signal.. placed my luggage on a trolley and switched on the laptop and went around the arrival hall.. after scanning the whole hall, i could only receive fair signal at best.. decided to go to the departure hall... found excellent signal but only transmitting packets without receiving! found another wireless connection! but costs 12pounds for 24 hours.. ahh.. cant be bothered already.. made myself comfy at a corner with excellent signal and paid with my credit card..

Date: 15th July 2006

Time: 0045
Place: Departure Hall
Situation: Comfy

Listening to music on my w810i.. devouring my cherries 1 by 1.. blogging.. waiting for the time to pass by.. waiting for friends to chat with me on msn.. not such a great time to be online.. those ppl in UK would be sleeping by now (1am, i know its not that late but if they are in UK, they would have things to do right.. ?) those in malaysia would be too early.. (who goes online at 8am in the morning..? lol) left me thinking about my future.. ahh.. i'll end this entry here.. will go blog about my earlier europe trip now.. =)