i am back..

for how long.. i duno.. at least for this trip i guess :)
want to record down the stuff i did so that i have somewhere to refer to when my memory fails me (which is like all the time)

anw.. lets start w my 5-yr anni! (which is today/yday depending on which timezone we're talking abt) been w debs for 5 years now..
we were trying to recall how we celebrated our anni e past 4 yrs and we both couldnt rem!
sigh.. so we re-read my blog! haha. but out of e 4 yrs i only blogged abt 1 yr's anni,
so the other 3 yrs are still a mystery to us, and will prob remain that way.

this yr, for our 5 yr anni, we picked a nice chic restaurant, vapiano, which we spotted walking arnd yday in stockholm in the ostermalm area. in fact, it took us lk a while to realise it was a restaurant coz e e interior was so cool and modern.
the crowd was young and and the whole atmosphere was good.
e ordering style is somewhat like marche/shokudo (we only found out after we went in)
so we were each given a card and could choose any area to sit
we ordered a pasta, the chef cooks right before you with fresh ingredients and sauces.
we also ordered a pizza. they used the beeping device tat beeps when your food is ready so you dont have to wait arnd. so far ive only seen it in e US. we also had some local beer (duno wat we drank). hahas.
den on to part 2 which is just champagne, our fav, asti martini.
over here, it's like in US where they have specialised shops selling liquor.
according to my bro, the suppermarkets are only allowed to sell liquor up to alcoholic content of 5%. to buy liqour/wine/beer with higher alcoholic content, you gotta go to the specialised shops called system bologet.

anw.. 5 yrs is an aweful long time! cant believe we made it so far.
i asked debs during tis entire period, when he tinks we were most happy, and he said now.
reason-we have money to do wat we wan now, eg. our trip to scandinavia
for me, i guess the happiest period would have to be when we got tog, coz everyting was fresh, new and exciting back den :)
i guess we are both happy with the way tings are now, thats wat's most impt.

ok.. time to post abt the trip.

DAY 1
First day in stockholm! From the airport, we took a real fast train called Arlanda Express to the city centre. took 15 min and it was so clean and efficient. Pple in this region are really huge on conservation/recycling. The heaters/radiators they use for winter is actually the by-product heat that comes from their industrial plants. They also give you incentive to recycle your bottles and cans by placing machines in supermarts where you can recycle these and get cash back. Pple in this region cycle alot too! (more later).

My bro n his gf, Jaime, came to the central station to meet us. and after a quick (but expensive) lunch, we headed to his university. Extremely pretty! too bad no pics to show. but just imagine the sch buildings/hostels are spread out across a huge piece of land and everywhere you turn looks lk something that came out of e postcard. sigh. if you put me here i def will look forward to sch everyday!

so after putting down our luggage and putting on more layers of clothes, my bro brought us arnd the city centre.

We came by a xmas market selling all kinds of xmasy stuff.
it is actually v similar to our CNY market in chinatown, except that instead of pussy willow, they have xmas trees, instead of the dried sausages/ducks they have salmon/cheese/meat. There was a huge open air ice skating ring too! ryan and i went back another day to skate! hahas. e whole atmosphere was really warm and nice. they also had these stands with burning logs where you can warm your hands. v cool.

for dinner, my bro wanted us to have a uniquely swedish experience so he suggested bbq-ing (alternative to camp fire).
we went to e mart bought some chicken fillet/potatoes/salmon/falukorv (traditional swedish sausage made of pork and beef, traditionally it is made of horse meat, lucky for us, this is not the case now, btw this is mad delicious!! lk damn yumyum!!).
we prepared the food and went for a short hike through the forest and came to a 'camp site'.
it was by a lake and it was pitch dark by e time we got there. totally eerie!!
anw, e food was good and it was a really different experience.
the weather is so cold that having e charcoal burning is so soothing and warm, unlike in spore so sticky and hot. after dinner,
we went back to his hostel to have a round of drinking game.
didnt noe my bro's gf could drink so well.
we spent the first nite bunkin in w my bro and i totally concussed coz of e jet lag

DAY 2

We caught an early flight to Copenhagen the nxt day. we were there just 1 day before the start of the COP 15 hence there was alot of buzz all over the town, right from the airport when we landed. and coz of the COP15 the accom there was so limited and ex. luckily we got our air tix at a reasonable price. But it's really v interesting coz of COP15. there were posters everywhere, the WWF artic tent with the melting polar bear and the future city and the prep of the hopenhagen concert. Everyting, everywhere and everyone were pretty hyped up! too bad we didnt have time to head down to the Bella Centre which was the centre of all the action. Our first meal there we tried a Danish restaurant, pretty good food but e portions were enormous! and coz we were cold and hungry, ah koh opted for the buffet and ended up so full from lunch tat we didnt have dinner. first day in copenhagen was just spent walking at the stroget, which is tis long pedestrain street w lotsa shops. did i already mention that tings here are freaking ex? lk FREAKING ex!! hahas. we obviously did not buy anyting coz everyting here we could get in spore for cheaper!our lunch alr cost us abt 70-80 sing! (ok lar, it was a gd lunch n we had drinks.. haha)

As mentioned, the accom was real expensive. we manage to get ourselves a budget hotel and that cost lk $190 a nite. it's called CABINN hotel. so as u can imagine, the room is wat u would typically get in a cruise cabin. haha. real tiny but ok lar.. clean and was a gd resting place for our tired legs!

some pics of the events from the COP15.. first day was spent just walking arnd aimlessly till there was no more daylight (abt 4pm?)

more later.. haven uploaded the pics. im already at day 8 of my trip alr! almost at e halfway mark! yikes!!!