The tour around ('kingdom of' )Denmark

Hey the two of you! Yes, the two of you-Tan lilin and Lin Zhexian. Thanks for the time here in Denmark(namely Aarhus, Aalborg and Copenhagen). Albeit the horrendous weather, nordic and somewhat primitive viking system of the way things work here, I wuna thank the both of you for the wonderful memories and unforgettable experience. It's hard to put it all in a nut shell, but I will try my best to encapsulate the time spent with you guys-

Lilin and I outside the Cathedral.

In Aarhus: Behind the cheesy smiles. We hatched deceitful and devious plans while having brunch at Global Flakket and going through the cosy streets of Aarhus.

Denmark represented.

From the Carribean Island

In Aalborg: Lilin and I managed to catch the allegedly 'biggest event in northern europe' (I believe it's all deliberately made inflated)-a Danish version of our Singapore's Chingay( A roadshow carnival featured at Orchard Road on every Chinese New Year.) Colourful costumes galore.

Famous Aboriginal Nordic boy

Zhexian in Aros

At Aros museum:We spent an Artsy afternoon admiring the ancient to the contemporary; the senseless humbugz to the bizarre.

Lilin peering through the window displayed pastries and cakes.

At De Gamble By ('the old town'): We took a walk down Denmark's memory lane where guns and weapons were treasured possessions; pork lard with smørbrod ( a very densely grained typical danish bread-tastes like crap!) was a delicacy and women and men of the 1800s were as short as Singaporeans of today.

Ancient majestic looking buildings towering over us

In Copenhagen:We arrived at the capital of Denmark. Her streets were mostly littered with oxidised brass architecture; historical ramnents of Hans Christian Anderson (Story writer of little Mermaid, Thumbelina, the Snow Queen, the Emperor's New Clothes etc.); and tall skyscrapers with big companies' names on it- suggesting a place of hectic working people; a vibrant international climate.

A very commical picture of Lilin looking really pissed off.

At Carlsberg brewery: Located in an obscure part of Copenhagen that led us frustrated with the directions. Whatever it is, if there's one thing Denmark can boast about, it would be her Carlsberg brewery. It's first establishment and subsequent development was set up in Copenhagen by father and son- Carls and Jacobsen. Now we know why Danish people love to drink.

Ameliensborg: where the queen and her family resides. Changing of guards at noon.

Caught squabbling with one another

Touring the castles of Copenhagen: We weren't too impressed by both the architecture and the sloppy soldiers who guarded them.

Zhexian looking absolutely disgusted at the state of our room.

At our hostel, Hotel Euroglobe: We weren't too impressed either.

It was a one (or rather half a) star standard room and shared toilet. On a positive side, it was character building time for the pampered. And to make up for the dire condition, we tried our best to enjoy each other's company by challenging each other with the game of 31 and egyptian rummy. We all know who was the emerging winner..*grinz*

At Strøget Street: A bustling street filled with all who adored shopping. A pity we didn't had time to do much of it due to bad weather.


Little Mermaid: The feeling we got was almost the same as how one would feel when he or she sees the Manekin Pis of Brussels-'nothing-that-spectacular'. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a nice stroll down the lake, beautiful scenary and savoured cheap but delicious ice-creams topped with 'fluerball' (mushmellow ball coated with chocolate layer).

Zhexian and I stepping between borders of free state christiana and territory belonging to the EU.

A few shady characters loitering around.
Police cars parked along Christiana-ensuring the safety of tourists.
Posing in front of one of the many grafattis

The red flag and three yellow spots is the flag of Christiana-apparently it represents peace, love and freedom. The country does not condone hard drugs, though it is marijuana tolerant.
Tranquil lake

At Christiana: A social experiment of Denmark- dominated by a community of squatters, drug dealers, mafias etc. However, the initial feeling of creepiness, fear and everything dorgy was dispelled by the first human touch encounter at the post office. Apparently it is the only independent post office in the world that is legally recognised. It collects letters from the houses of Christiana, categorizes the addresses in their office and let the Christianites collect them on their own. How queer. But the woman at the office was so friendly as she lent a lightness to the whole atmosphere. The hippy and freedom for all culture was manifested in the graffatis, shop decorations, dressing and attitudes of the Christianites. Many coming from war torned countries like Afghanistan. Indeed an eye opening experience. Luckily we were there a day before the drug syndicate shooting that resulted in some lives lost in Christiana!

Lilin's wrinkled foot-her shoes were totally soaked by rain water.

Drying her shoes using a very handy army tactic(courtesy of zx)-stuffing papers into the shoes to absorb the wetness in it.

The weather: It was really uncooperative almost throughout the trip. It was freaking schizo and erratic because it rained and shined at frequent intervals. However, it was a consolation that we saved the best weather on the last day of our stay for the most exciting activity-Tivoli!!

Enjoying our danish pastries in the sun (finally).

At Tivoli: The amusement park that gave inspiration to Walt Disney.

Rekindling the childhood in us as we sat on all the thrilling rides -the roller coasters (one of which is the oldest in the world), the plunger ( bringing us to the highest and plunging vertically down at full speed) etc. It was amazing fun and a great bang to the end of our trip. We were totally engrossed by all the fun that we missed our bus to aarhus! Fortunately we had the train to get us back on time.

***

It was indeed an exciting 5 days spent with these two wackos. See the two of you back in Singapore. Meantime, I leave behind photos of our trip.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=19raq26a.a5bg5gia&Uy=nvn80d&Ux=1

Guess it's back to routine-studying and more studying. Sobz.

Ahhh hooos!

Primary school friend, Tan Lilin; and JC friend, Lin Zhexian, have just arrived in Aarhus for a visit. So far, it's been nothing but fun filled activities and of course, enjoying the time spent laughing till our stomachs ached. In a couple of hours time, we leave for Copenhagen. Meanwhile, I hope the weather will be on our side...till then i'll be back on Tuesday. oh and about exams...ermz...what exams? * in self denial*

Birthday Celebration Part 2-Grand Finale

I woke up this morning beaming with joy! Why? That's because it's my 22nd birthday today!! woo hoo!! I received tons of birthday messages on my email, mobile and tag board right outside my door. It was such a pleasant morning and a great start to the day. My neighbours were such darlings, many of them wished me at the corridor and knocked at my door just to give me huge bear hugs and kisses. This is what I call simple bliss.

While I was in the room studying for the exams, HL was busy preparing a special meal for me. Guess what it was? MEE SUA with EGGS!! Some of you may not know, but it is chinese tradition to serve noodles or vermicelli (aka 'mee sua' ) and 2 eggs to the birthday person as it signifies longevity. Apparently, you are not allowed to bite the noodles but slurp the whole thing down your throat. Any time you break the noodles with your teeth means it's kinda bad luck. Firstly, I don't believe in this breaking of noodles thing, neither do i believe in going through the trouble to cause myself indigestion. haha...but it was so sweet of hl to prepare this meal for me.

Mee Sua and Eggs

For a side treat, hL also prepared grilled chicken drumsticks. Same as the one I had during my birthday party last week, cept that it tastes even better!!

Later on in the evening, my neighbours and I arranged for a pot luck birthday celebration in the kitchen. All of us had to make/bring something to contribute to dinner. For our side, we made california and tuna sushi!

Since it was a special day today, I decided to grace the occassion by wearing the clasp belt that alvin and hl gave me. I think it fits perfectly on me! And look, i'm wearing Giulia's necklace too. Think it all complimented really well.

Anyone for sushi man?

Oh, my neighbours were so sweet. They bought me a typical danish purse that is currently the latest trend in denmark. It's made of eel skin, and the colour is just so me. Doncha think? Now i've got something really useful and plus I will always think of my danish friends and denmark when im back in singapore.

It says'congratulations serene!'

For dessert, we had Shanti's birthday cake in which she prepared the night before. Gosh. It looks so professionally done and i think that given to any expert dessert connoisseur he or she would definitely give 5 thumbs up for it!

What can I say? This was such a lovely evening. Indeed an unforgettable birthday in Aarhus.

Glad I was able to spend it together with these 2 sweet friends of mine!

And so, I shall leave all of you to enjoy my birthday party photos here and also, click on the bottom play button to witness a danish birthday song dedicated to me.

Hey, guess what? I'm 22! And It's true!

An excerpt from my birthday card written by HL:'One year older, one year wiser, one year prettier...'
I do not deny the last point ( hahaha), And I try not to acknowledge the first part, but I hope that I will age gracefully in strength, in maturity and in wisdom.
I think God has given me a very wonderful present this year and that is the bountiful blessings of love from friends and family. It's almost as if i can feel it overflowing and it's keeping my heart smiling quite a bit. I am extremely grateful to Him and to all those who care. Maybe He has already given me all these blessings and I've taken things for granted, but being away has made me realise that no matter where i am, people back home will still care and love. And, no matter where I go, there will be good friends there to take care of me and make sure that I am happy. It's all the kind and simple gestures that show a plentiful. Just wuna say a Big Thank you to all of You!

To the unsung heroes and therefore special mention of thanks and appreciation on my blog-


Shanti, my neighbour, was sooo sweet as to bake a ginormous looking cake that looks so freakinglutely delicious just for me! Gosh, she spent 4 hours just baking with tender expertise. And really, i'm just so lucky to have such a big birthday cake and it's the biggest and most professional looking one i've ever had in my life..I'm so touched!!

Look at that strawberry icing layer. Yum!

Love her to bits

Chocolate layered cake with oozing banana and strawberry toppings and cream. bring it on baby!

A mystery gift from Alvin and Ling...

Alvin and Huiling got me a beautiful lilac clasp belt. It's so cool because i think it would add an instant glam to anything i wear-even a plain top and jeans would go so well with it. Thank sooo much! Now I've finally gotten something Danish to bring home and show off to everyone!

The Hooooo! boy

Check out HL's new bangs snipped by Shanti! Now, doesn't she look gorgeous?

Special thanks to Yang Huiling for going through the extra mile just to spoil me on this day. You rock my socks honey!

My birthday presents!

To family back home who had sent the first birthday card and 'ang bao' money in my mail box. Thanks for all the support and love.

Thanks Pernille for the mini birthday celebration in my room and all the chocolates and tea to make me diabetic. Don't worry, least I will die happy *grinz*

To my guy best friend who gave me a pleasant surprise call from Singapore-thanks for the well wishes. But I still want my 3 year old birthday card.

And to Aline, friends from kazakhstan,Jay, Giulia-thanks for everything and especially all the lovely gifts!

And lastly, thanks to all who graced my birthday party and to all who has sent me e-cards, emails etc. Thanks for remembering this day. IT means so much to me.

xoxo