Vienna (27 to 29 August 2006)

Vienna - a city that loved and loved by Mozart. A pity over commercialised in my opinion and, having visited Salzburg, a bit of anti-climax for me. While peace was a premium, its architecture certainly hold its weight against the likes of Paris and Rome. St Stephanson Cathedral was a tad too similar to Duomo in Florence though.

Vienna is a paradise for photographers and I did like the historical significance of the place, despite Ms Wee's boredom after "churches-and-museums again?!?".

To be continued

Salzburg (26 to 27 August 2006)

We arrived in Salzburg in the early hours and took a train directly into the city centre. Knowing that we only have a day and half in Salzburg, we have long decided to max out our time here with 2 day trips planned for Ice Caves near the Salzburg Alps and Eagles Nest at Berchtesgaden, Germany. Yes we know that the "Sound of Music" tour is usually the key highlight, but knowing we could cover some of the places e.g. Mirabell Garden on our own as well as negative feedback from friends who have been to Salzburg.
In short, Salzburg is a beautiful place. Very peaceful and quiet; charming as a old city yet we know its violent place and historical significance - birthplace of Mozart, previous "country" of its own.


We took a quick walk from our hotel at Haupbahnhof to Mirabellplatz, taking in the sights of this small town. We then moved around Mirabell Garden, crossing the Danuhe to the outskirts of the old town before returning to Mirabellplatz for the tour to Ice Caves. The Ice Cave is at Werfen, about an hour drive south from Salzburg. Reputed to the BIGGEST ice cave in the world, the entire cave stretches an amzing 42km, with the first 1km covered in ice. As we were told, 772 steps up and 772 steps down. We had to cover 20 minutes uphill after alighting from the coach, a quick cable ride up Europe's steepest cable car (in less than a minute!) and then another 25 minutes walk to the cave (Read here for more details).


Breakfast in the morning was a little yucky, with slices of ham, lotsa cheeses and bread - typical Austrian stuff. Our hope for a full continental breakfast has to be postponed to Vienna. The cold/rainy weather didn't add to our joy as we waited to be fetched to the Eagles Nest in the Bavarian Alps, briefly crossing the German border into Berchtesgaden. The tour took us the entire morning, with a ride up the Alps and about 45 minutes at the 2nd headquarters of the Nazi Party and Adolf Hilter's home. Click here to see the pictures.


We spend the rest of the day touring the old town and going up to the Festung, a Salzburg fortress, and a key highlight of the Salzburg city. View up there was beautiful and it certainly didn't make us feel like leaving. Although we did eventually depart for Vienna in the late evening, saying a sad goodbye to this charming town and hoping to return for another visit.

Brazil vs Argentina (3 September 2006)

Emirates Stadium here we come!

Salzburg & Vienna (26 to 29 August 2006)

Please pray for us as we prepare for a 4-day getaway to Austria. Travelling has not been easy since 12 August but pray that everything will go smoothly. The last major travelling before we return to Singapore! Will share more about the trip and the pictures soon!

Back to Singapore Part I

Tickets bought. We are going home on 7 Sept!

Details:
SQ321
Depart London - 7 Sep, 22:15
Arrive Singapore - 8 Sep, 18:00

SQ320
Depart Singapore - 18 Sep, 12:40
Arrive London - 18 Sep, 19:10

The journey so far...

It wasn't so long ago that I came over to London. Hmmm, some ask: "So how has it been?", "feelings after 8 months?". Feelings? Well, I can still remember:
- The apprehension that I had when I first heard of Barclays Capital's interview;
- Confidence when I was interviewed by Mark and George;
- Anxiety of waiting for the results;
- Relief when I got the offer;
- Confusion when I had to break the news to Chin and Shu Ping;
- Excitement in the days leading up to the departure (for London);
- Sadness on the day of departure, leaving my family and friends; and
- Lostness in my first month in London, and;
- Inexplicable joy when I saw Xueyan at Heathrow.

I added disappointment to the list when I was first assigned to Financial Planning and Analysis. Quite a funky title but not quite the technical stuff I was hoping for. How that mindset changes in 8 months. I have indeed learnt a lot during the last 8 months. And most glad to be given (limited) access to management and the trust to handle certain key stuff. The good appraisal simply topped the icing on the cake. I shall NOW replace disappointment with bliss. Most things aren't the way they sound or seem. The low expectations I had made it easier for me to enjoy and whatever good fun I had were bonuses to me.

I look back with fond memories, especially the friendships cultivated with Viv, Anthony, Mark, Sarah, Alex and Matt. Pity Rosy came over just when I was about to leave. Next stop - Fixed Income Exotics and Quantos. Quite a mouthful but I asked for it this time. Prayfully it would turn out equally well, if not better.

Away from the topic, we (group of 10 Singaporeans, Malaysians and Australians) went to join the NEL Ramblers for a 13-miles walk at Hastings last Saturday. What an introduction to walking in UK. Click on the link for some (few) pictures of our time there. Good scenery, nice hot/cold weather and, undeniably, 10 pairs of sore legs after 7 hours of brisk walking. With old folks no less.

Barcelona Buzz (28 June to 1 July 2006)

It was just hot hot hot, which simply reminded me of Singapore. The first day saw us arriving in Girona @ 10am, thereafter making a 1hr+ journey via Barcelona bus into the heart of Barcelona, dropping us at Arc de Triomf.
We made our way to La Rambla, just 3 stops away, at a budget hostel called Apartments in Barcelona II. How apt. Despite the seemingly nice place (La Rambla), our hostel was situated on a quiet street - extremely dodgy. This wasn't helped by frequent "reports" of how unsafe Barcelona was and the potential encounters with thieves and robbers. We were, however, blessed to survive Barcelona unscathed.

I had great expectations of Barcelona, from the various reviews and kind remarks by friends and the rave feedback on the internet. The first day saw us hitting the various "touristy" attractions - La Rambla, Casa Mila, Plaza Catalunya and Sagrada Familia, the last one being extremely impressive and I must say the highlight of this trip, along with Montserrat (see below). Climbing up 100m of narrow spiral stairway is no mean feat and the clean breeze and nice view of Barcelona from the top makes it rewarding. The heart, though, shouldn't take such stress unless properly trained. The night was spent wandering around the Ancient City, near La Rambla.

The second day saw us heading towards the "serrated mountains" - Montserrat. We set off at 9am to catch the train leaving from Espanya. After what resembled a wild goose chase and €25, we set off for Monistrol for the tram up the mountains to Montserrat. The journey took us more than an hour. We rested i.e. slept, along the way and woke up to beautiful, nature-sculptured mountains.

Montserrat was certainly an awesome sight, which ranks alongside Colosseum and the Vatican City as highlights of our trips so far. We spend about an hour at the monastery before embarking on the various routes which you could see on the photo forum. The searing heat plus the long dirt roads make for tired legs and we could only manage 3 routes before calling it a day at Montserrat. We then began our journey back to Barcelona. We stopped at Espanya, just minutes away from the Olympic site of Montjuic.

We spent our last full day in Barcelona by visting Parc Guell and FC Barcelona, the latter second-best club after Arsenal FC. The stadium was awesome and a very well-maintained field which, again, will rank second to the Emirates Stadium. We were shown around the stadium, the museum and saw the CL cup (incidently stolen from the Marble Hall). I actually had a TV interview there (how I felt about the place) by TV3! It took a whole full day to tour the two places. We then spend the evening at Barceloneta and Port Olimpico. The beach was (quite) nice and we had paella rice as a final flourish to our enjoyable time in Barcelona.

Guess I will end here as words speak later than words. So check out our photo album!

Barcelona

Road Trip to Cornwall (27 to 29 May 2006)

Attacking King Arthur's Mount... You can tell how dangerous and tiring it was...

Amazing Amsterdam (28 April to 1 May 2006)

Florence Fantasy (16 April 2006)

Regal Rome (14 to 17 April 2006)

Monthly Update (February 2006)

Gosh, it's already 2 months since the last posting. Guess the "shorter" days here in winter means I need to hibernate. The theme of the month REALLY ought to be PRAISE God. Remember the 5 prayer items? God answered them in the most amazing ways!
1. Church - Having visiting All Souls, Hillsongs and Emmanuel Evangelical, we have finally decided on the last. Our first visit was especially memorable, as we spent some time in Westminister hunting down the church, albeit its location amongst "more-renowned" churches. A healing session was on-going and people starting screaming, crying and speaking in tongues. What's that for a first visit by Covenantals!?! Thankfully we spotted someone from Xueyan's former church and turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We were then introduced to other Singaporeans and Malaysians, many whom are students. The church congregation is mainly Asian and African as well as having a Singaporean senior pastor. We have been there for a month and it looks like settling in. Finding a cell group will be next for us. Please keep us in prayer.
2. The flat has been sorted after a plumber came by to fix the boiler. I have also brought in certain stuff like a study table and chair to accomodate my laptop as well as to facilitate studying. The rent is significantly lower than what mu neighbours are paying and the close walking distance to work has enabled me to spend less time on travelling and, of course, waking up later (no later than 7am though!). Home-cooked job is also no longer a luxury as Xueyan dutifully plays her part in serving good food (just had baked rice and steamed cod fish the other day). Please pass on quick-to-serve recipes to her.
3. Xueyan has also gotten a job on her last day before she travelled back to Singapore. We were certainly despondent in the days leading up to her departure, having experienced rejections by companies (and one by Barcap no less). We prayed about it and asked, God willing, to open the door for her before she returns to Singapore. Well, the rest is history and now she's a global colleague of Shwu Min.
4. Journey Mercy. The Paris trip was certainly good and I simply loved the place despite the "commercialization" of the city. The little good of The Da Vinci Code came as I got myself familiarised with the place. My bit French came in useful (on rare occasions) and I hardly draw close to the local cuisine. Well, except for the chocolate crepes. Next stop on the itinerary will be Rome in April and, hopefully, Amsterdam in May. Stay tuned as we will update you guys shortly.
5. Studies. School will start on 24 April 2006, barely 2 months from now. Please pray for me as I try to source the funding for my studies (£20K for the entire course, £10K payable in April).

His blessings have been awesome and I am sure it will not cease. Do continue to pray as we seek to be more involved in church.
As a matter of fact, I have been stuck in bed for the last 2 days with a phelgmatic throat and a nose who has mistaken itself for a running top. That means I really need to rest soon. It's good reading the emails from you guys and God bless your exciting days ahead!

Monthly Update (December 2005)

Hi All,

It has been some time since I last updated you guys on my London stay.
Things have very much improved (except for some minor glitches) since my
last email. I am SO SO glad that the queen of crockery has arrived to
feed my stomach. And yes, she cooks a mean dish of terriyaki salmon and
steamed tofu.
The weather is indeed very cold and, on a few occasions, we experienced
light snowing. Settling in hasn't been much of a problem though the
cold means I can't be walking around in shorts and singlet in the
neighbourhood. We have not been travelling around due to 1) laziness
and 2)just dunno where to go. However, that means we had time to
practice our culinary skills which so far has extended to hainanese
chicken rice, sambal spinach and home-made mashed potato (Xueyan
finished this!).
Church-wise, we have been to Hillsongs and All Soul's. I must say, we
concluded that the ang moh is a bit too powderful for us to stay awake.
Doesn't help with the monotone. SO please continue to pray for us that
we can settle in a church soon. Cell groups are on hold until we
settled down in a church although I missed an invitation to a CG around
my area two weeks ago.
We have set up a blog re my stay in London, where pictures and updates
will be posted. It's still a little messy but we will post you the url
once the site's a respectable sight.


Other prayer requests
1. Flat - the boiler is not functioning well and I often had to get up
early in the morning to switch on the boiler before getting my shower a
hour late. The landlord has not been responsive in addressing this
issue and have EVEN hinted that if I want to get it sorted out, I should
pay. I will be meeting him next week (after first informing him 3 weeks
back) to resolve the situation. He has also proposed I can move out if
I want to. But basically pray that the boiler will be fixed and I can
finally close all issues regarding my stay.
2. Xueyan's job search - Xueyan has been to a few interviews so far and
is still awaiting results of her interview. We hope that, God willing,
she can find a job before she returns to Singapore on 22 Jan. Things
look good at the moment but I have also had friends who took a few
months to get employed.
3. Journey mercy - We will be travelling to Paris this weekend, so we
would need prayer. Can't speak much French and basically very new to
this part of the world. Moreover there will be a Tube strike this
Sunday when we return to London. Prayerfully, the transportation home
will not be a problem.
4. Studies - my application for a part time Masters has been accepted.
Pray that my line manager will be receptive of this desire of mine to pursue
further studies. Basically my dept works very hard and staff only
knocks off ard 7-8pm (I know early by S'pore stds, that's because we are everyone's highly efficient) so studying part time may mean I can't stay as late.

We will continue to update you (monthly it says, so hopefully I can be
disciplined) and please let us know if you have specific prayers (other
than those stated in Kevin's emails) where we can be in partnerships.

In Christ's love,
Ee Poh

Paradise in Paris (31 Dec 2005 to 1 January 2006)