brussels, belgium

woohoo.. brussels brussels.. brussels in belgium. capital of belgium.. when it used to be antwerp.. but now antwerp has changed and become the fashion capital of belgium instead. brussels is where all the museums and international corporations are at. ie. UN or EU.. cant remember which.
brussels is boasted as the interesting mix of moderna nd old whereby its beauty lies in the char-charred mixture and pretty and ugly side by side without any logical sense.. and apparently such looks will grow on u..

street in brussel

buildings..
love this picture most of all.. yes and i will miss u too.. :)))

streets.. with its charcharred bald trees and flowering bushes...
the (as we know it) hdbs of brussels.. kinda like those we see in movies depicting the "other" side of the town.. where all the ruffians and bad people hangs and stays.. =x
the flea market that we went.. really REALLY flea market mans.. u've got to see it to believe it people..
stuff that are sold.
apparently there's this guy who was selling old OLD postcards that apparently never got to their intended recipients. kinda cool. and i was like frantically looking tru trying to find a postcard from ireland.. apaprently i couldnt find.. too many le.. =x but got loads from like switzerland, germany, spain.. france.. kinda cool.. and kinda sad? oh wells..
this lady we read from the guidemap that we got.. who apparently sells oysters.. but by the time we got there she was closed.. so like :(( but managed to take a picture with her.. BIG COMFORT..

this park that we hanged out at.. after walking randomly around.. and we got like BELGIUM FRIES (which is like recommended i have no idea why ) and sat there and ate..

this shopping mall apparently is depicts how brussels was like many many years ago.. =S
this whole street sells seafood..
apparently according to the map.. this place is free.. and we get like 360 degree unobstructed sight of brussels..
its the top floor of a parking building. =.=
urinator behind a church..
peeing dog..
brussels have like walls with comics drawn on it.. kinda cool.. in a way.. :)
the famous statue of brussel! the peeing boy..
belgium waffles..
another park that we spent our time at.. :P

basically brussels was like just looking at monuments and statues.. and eating belgium food.. and sitting at parks.. interesting europian style of wasting time.. sitting at parks.. SERIOUSLY...
kinda cool in an old town way...
realised brussels.. and also amsterdam (later) are qte pro peeing.. at least in the case of men peeing..

oh wells.. ONWARDS TO AMSTERDAM!!! woots!!!

p.s. and no. i did not try any belgium chocolate..

dublin, ireland.. what's there not to love?

dublin dublin.. moi favourite place of all.. hehe :))
irish songs, irish food, irish accent.. u name it i love it.. :P
only regret, i din managed to truly explore the whole of ireland as much as i would love to. soo.. more's the pity..

okie this is like taken on my way to the train station. for the first day me and rani stayed at some hotel. (yes! hotel.. utas one summore) but it was like not at the center centre.. (hehe word play) so had to take a train to the town so as to speak.. so on my way to the train station,
just lvoe the way that random plants of all sorts are randomly planted and they jsut turn out to be such pretty mess.. :)
thy irish power.. hehe

so.. city centre..
the street. pretty aint it?
not forgetting irish flag

most of their signs have both english and gaelic on it..
so like first day me and rani just wandered around the town.. and like we went to their market.. some food fair.. which is really cool cus like its all homemade and like real huge (the prices also very pretty la)
see the pastries they have?
chocolates..
was really nice.. had our lunch there.. lovely :)

random statue on the bridge kinda reminds me of our merlion.. hehe
this is taken at the train station near our hotel.. so u can see its kinda countryside-ish.. pretty huh?
even the cement's irish!

so like second day, we moved out of the hotel to some hostel that is located near town.... we spent it walking around again.. hehe.. went to the garden.. damn pretty la!

loads more pictures.. in facebook.. go see urself.. was kinda nice and it was like by chance cus we were intending to go to the museum but the musuem was closed for lunch and all.. so went to the garden for a while and .. WOOHOOO.. PRWEEETTYYYY.. :))
sorry. couldnt resist.

so after, me and rani went to the guiness factory.. but only to found out that need to pay entrance.. and i a bit cheapo la.. so in the end never go in.. :P
this is some interesting posters bout irish and soccer.. kinda cute if u guys bother squinting and figuring out the prints.. :P

so then me and rani was like walking around and i saw like the graffiti sign "the heartbreak hotel" and was like "wth.. who would wanna book such a hotel right?" so i took a picture of it.. then this man came up and was like.. u wanna take me? and i was like okie why not? so he posed and i snapped a picture of him.. :P cute eh? irish.. hee

then after walking and wandering.. me and rani went back to the hostel. then in the dorm, we met this two hungarian people on a trip and we striked up a conversation. so like we were like talking and stuff then we (me and rani) realised that we spent our entire 2nd day 1 hr behind actual time.. cus apparently there's this sun time thingy or something like tt that day and people are suppose to like change their watches and clocks an hour faster... and we didnt noe.. so like.. :S
so anyway after, the hungarians and us decided to find some like authentic local pubs with irish live music to drink.. but then like couldnt find la.. =.= so like ok walked around.. before deciding to head back and like buy some liquor at some store and go back hostel to drink.

so we were like sitting around drinking and chatting and eating.. then after around like midnight, me and rani went off to some nearby busstop to pick up idza..

3rd day.. spent with idza.. rani left to go back london.. went for the walking tour.. qte fun..
so like this statue is like at some entrance of some buildings or something. apparently its like some lady of justice.. but the thing is her back is facing the town.. and thus like symbolizes like not looking at what is going on in the town kinda stuff? and like cus the weighing scale is like real weighing scale so like after rain and all.. it kinda gotten a bit unbalanced.. so like not a very good omen to the people of dublin.. esp since like nearby (dunnoe whether issit behind her or in the building is where like justice is taken place or something? some court or some sort)
okie.. the multi-coloured buildings.. apparently had like no significance.. just that the designers liked those colours and decided that they add colours to dublin so.... and the main thing is that the colour buildings is not just any coloured buildings.. but is like a renovated castle or something like tt.. so... haha..
a tribute to some musicians..
okie apparently this guy is the first owner of the temple bar.. and the thing is that it used to be situated on a barr.. (like some geographic term for like some island that is linked partly to the main island sorta thing? barr) so like.. the name.. temple bar (word play.. haha)
this is like the fake plaque that the people of dublin had made.. apparently like "father pat noise" is this saintly man who is always looking out for the poor and unfortunate and stuff like tt... and one night when he was riding his carriage.. he got flung clear off the widest bridge in dublin, into the river.. and died..
but then the town council found out that like oh this is fake.. there is not father pat noise.. u noe? when they were doing their stock checking of all the monuments and statues in dublin.. so like they wanna take it down.. but like then, when people hear that they were gonna take out this plague they started to like come and put flowers and stuff at the plague.. so then the town council changed their mind.. haha
apparently.. the building used to be some tax collection building or something.. and during that time... like the amt of tax one pays is dependent on the no. of windows they have in their houses... (weird i know) so like in order to like escape taxes.. (a tax collecting organization escaping the payment of taxes.. thy irony!) so like their building has zilch windows.. -.-
so like the tall thin giant needle looking thingy is actually a monument build to commemorate the coming of the millenium.. and it was completed like after the millenium.. 2002 or something like tt.. go figure.. so like the people of dublin hated this monument and gave it loads of nicknames.. one of which is "the erection by the intersection" harhar

okie.. picture of idza, me and our tour guide.. conor.. cute hor? he's irish.. dubliner.. studying maths at trinity college.. cute rite? but i have no idea why he tilt his head so high up so that he looks weird here.. sighs.
the little cafe we went for lunch..
our, or rather, my lunch.. some spring something tea.. which is like a infusion of many many stuff.. nice~~ and some irish stew.. hehe.. fantastico.. :P
some wall murals mocking at the last supper..
my last meal in dublin... at the airport.. breakfast.. at butley's chocolate cafe (or soemthing like tt..) damn nice.. hehe

that's it for dublin.. fantastic place.. loving it.. :)

london oh london..

oo.. have no idea how much i wanna get these post over and done with.. sighh..
anyways london.
took a night bus from edinburgh to london..
technically speaking ti should be a rather smooth ride just sleep on the bus and stuff.. AND IM REALLY REALLY good at sleeping anywhere..
but apparently on the bus which i was on, directly sitting behind me was this bunch of uni kids who just for the life of them couldnt keep their trap shut. seriously. the whole freaking ride that lasted bout 10 hrs? thereabout?
my goodness.. needless to say. wasnt a pleasant ride afterall...

reached london. went to the main train station and attempted to find my way to rani's place.
apparently british accent was so thick i cant catch shit. so when i was buying the tix the guy was like asking me qns and i was like "har?" "har?" and he was so fucking pissed and like slowly repeated it for countless no. of times.. basically asking me whether i want a return tix. =.=
so after i bot a single trip tix, he gave me some instructions as to where to take the train or something like tt.. needless to say AGAIN, i couldnt for the life of me catch what he was saying. so like.. i went to like the information counter and ask for help. and the guy also speaking in their thick british accent got so pissed with me he started talking to me in a speed that resembles that of what he would use to a retard. basically me.
wells, anyways that's not the pt. successfully gt to rani's place. met her and her frens and we head off to legoland.

ok, before legoland.. my first picture that i snapped in london... goes to show a lot.. to me at least.. :P
so anyways.. in legoland, basically everything is like build with lego. haha no surprise there.. so like woohoo.. exciting~~~
can totally see that bob the builder is of the same height, or even taller, than the kids.. cute si le la..
and they have like this miniworld series in legoland (just that their world, as far as i can see, only consist of europe and us.. no asia no africa.. too backwards for them liaos i guess) soo.. kind cool cus its has like the famous stuff of each country la..
the cyclists and stuff. (for more photos, please refer to facebook)
so then we were queuing up for the rides and stuff.. (yes rides. they have like a miniature version of like theme park rides and games and stuff... and when i said miniature i meant the kids-version.. =.= ) and there was like this area for the kids to play lego whiles the poor parents had to stand for hours so that they could squeeze into some small seats with their kids for some rides with thrill factor of.. hmmm.. nil? -.= kids.
so then there was like this kid who was like building this tower.. kinda cute.. cus he keeps building and building and like the tower is taller than him la.. like i said cute.

so then after all the queuing for the rides and stuff.. we were bashed and went back.

spent like next few days at rani's place which is guildford, this quaint little town which is really pretty but i didnt really get a chance to explore which is kinda sad.. but nevertheless i was like r&r over at rani's place.. sleep, eat, read book, facebook, eat, sleep, eat, sleep. u get the point.
:P
after i went over to like central london, checked myself into some hostel and went explore.
well.. disclaimer.. im not really a "woohoo! london!" person.. so ... wells.. dun get ur expectations too high. london's not my cuppa tea with all its shopping and shopping and shopping.. :S

so like first day was wondering around.. walked to some faraway place.. and found this laid back area...
this sign that i find so amazing.. i realised it was being brought up in the oliver twist book!! woohoo...
the traffic lights for equestrians.. cool or what.. apparently its location somewhere above my head.
buckingham palace.. apparently it was like some duke's or someone else's home. but then some king at one time or another came along saw this grand place and bought it over from its original owner... added a few more wings to it.. and tadah! the new home for the crowned family.. =.= (the crowned family's original palace wasnt really much of a looker and smaller to boot.. so see nicer and bigger houses.. OF COURSE TAKE LA.. )
apparently when this flag is being flied /flew/flown (?!) it meant that the crowned personnel of that particular palace is in. and the same rules apply to all the palaces that exist in london (at least).
some grand bridge.. tower hill bridge or something.. go figure.
inside-out building.. apparently it is to maximise interior space.. no idea how THAT is achieved tho..

so like basically time in london was spent like touring around, walking around, and of course wandering into shops and all.. cus i was suppose to buy stuff for my sis.. (didnt get much tho just got me into helluva attitude.. aint made for shopping me.. i tell u.. shopping just doesnt click with me)
last day in london, wandered around as usual.. and chanced upon this area full of buskers.. kinda cool.. and nice.. apparently this group of musicians are really good/cool.. they actually could dance whilst playing their instruments and the girl actually carries her cello while playing and jumping around.. coolios la..

so like, that bout rounds up my time in london.*whew*