brussels: chocolate city

hey roger,

so, we didn't get to meet before i left. i hope all is good. i have to tell you that i m so proud of myself. i have been wondering aimlessly for more than a week now and i haven't gotten loss ... yet. better still i managed to find the same place twice ! i m still found. hahaha. i know. i surprised myself. hey i did return from japan !

day 7 -
ok i arrived and i needed to take the tube.
silly moments:
1. at the subway, when the tube arrived, i was waiting for the door to automatically open. a guy jumped forward, pushed the button, rolled his eyes and walked into the tube. urgh ! and how was i suppose to know ?

rachael gave me a fantastic guide to follow around the city. i followed it like a GPS satellite. was great. went to every place she mentioned and when she wrote 'you will like it'... i arrived with a big grin on my face :)

mmm waffles and chocolate everywhere. unfortunately i m not a big fan of chocolate. even though i was tempted to buy some just because its belgium chocolate. i resisted. but had my share of waffles. yummy.


(chocolates - look they even come with a CD now)

the grand place was impressive both day and night. again. crowded with people and not very good photo op.


(grand place - day)


(grand place - night)

architecture moment:-
i guess the most impressive was the palais de justice. pure monument. the size of it is astonishing. the detaling, the ionic and corinthian columns fell in place, unlike some greek's houses in sydney. this made me wonder if belgium was once a communist country because the buildings here are all so monumental. someone google it and leave me a comment ok.


(palais de justice)

exploring this city is really exciting. every corner looks interesting and almost wants to draw you into it.


(brussels streetscape)

musical moment:-
and finally, i understood what falstaff beer is when sheryl crow sings it in 'a change will do you good' ! hah !


(random shots)

one thing i learned in this trip is that when you get really tired and need a place quiet and warm to rest, just walk into any church, sit on a bench and look like u belong. its dead quiet and people will just leave u in peace. this is when your ipod comes in handy.

drawbacks:-
1. anything looks remotely old and interesting that tourist would want to walk into, charge 5 euros for it ! urgh ! i m so not paying 5 euros to see a beer collection or some chocolate machine just so i can see the interior of a building.
2. i just cant seem to shake this cough. its getting fucking annoying. omfg. can i can i say fuck here ? fucking hell. fuck fuck fuck fuck. omfg i can say fuck in my own post. this is fucking awesome. from now onwards, my posts is so going to get so fucking interesting.

xxx. j.

antwerp: jackets galore

hey phil,

so i m glad that you have decided to go on a trip to the states at the end of the year. its so much fun to be on the road and i m sure you will have a fantastic time. keep checking the posts. i will will give u places to go in the states.

also, before i left, i managed to buy 'the wreckers' CD from HMV for 5 bucks. its now keeping me company on my trip. woo hoo.

day 6 - jackets galore
the train ride to antwerp was interesting. it was only a 1 hour 15 minutes journey. had another interesting conversation with this chick. this time she spoke no english and i spoke no french. anyway, i managed to work out that she wanted to use my cell. she is cute, so i let her.

architecture momment:-
i arrived to what i thought was one of the most beautiful station ever. one big massive vault structure above me. let the pictures speak for themselves.


(antwerp station. simply amazing)

i kinda fall in love with this city almost instantly.

plus :-
1. dogs can read sign.
2. tits (porn) are everywhere
3. shopping is great. they have really nice jackets everywhere. the prices are transparent. they are all displayed at the window. no need to go in and check the price and get hassled by the shop assistant. infact even when you go into the shop, they leave u alone. if u need help, ask ! SYDNEY LEARN FROM THIS !


(caption this)

my first impression of this city was 'this is a jewish city'. they were everywhere, with them hats and funny sideburns. anyway cityscape is ...
reminiscence moment:
kuala lumpur in the 80s. just the feel, the smell, the look. seems dated.

was walking around randomly and saw this same chick that was in the on of the old church back in brugge. i think she is stalking me. if i see her again in another city, i am going to go confront her. and yes. she is cute.


(antwerp streetscape)

went into the modern museum. bernhard willhelm was displaying his work. great fashion designer. had to go check it out. glad i did. love the jackets. almost ripped them from the mannequin and become one meself.


(modern museum - bernhard willhelm: love them jackets)

although this town is fully historical. lots of old buildings, there are so many cool shops. did i mention before ... jackets everywhere ... great. if it wasn't because i have no room in my bag, also i m going to new york ('nice collective' - here i come !)and paris, i would have bought 5 jackets already. i was told that the rent for these old shops are between 20,000 - 50,000 euros per month and they all run at a loss. that is why most of the shops are chain store which have other stores to recuperate the losses.


(jackets everywhere: prices are all transparent)


(random shots - look which flag is flying high !)

the lows ?
1. bad weather - windy and chilly
2. still can't shake my cough. although my nose is now clear. yippee.
3. the main square is again crowded with tourist. not very good photo op.


(main square)

again, lots of old buildings and churches. similar style.

xxx. j.

brugge: the american retiree home

hey susanne & nick,

so i made it out of my first comfort zone. thank you very much for keeping me over the last 4 days in amsterdam. it was really comfy that couch of yours and as you can tell, i totally made it my space. i highly recommend that couch to everyone. haha

well the rain followed me to brugge and i was really glad that susanne made me carry that umbrella. when i first saw that humongous rainbow colored umbrella, my eyes just widen. but it allowed me to see brugge. thank you once again.

day 5 - on my own
the train ride into brugge was interesting. it took 4 hours because i missed the connecting train. gave me time to read up on my spanish. also had an interesting conversation with this chick on the train. she spoke little english and i speak no french. anyway, if only she was cute.



(train ride to brugge)

after stressing out to try to make bookings in brussels, going to brugge was a good choice. i got a room of 4 all by meself. the place was almost deserted. haha. as i entered the town center - its reminisce of amsterdam. tourist town. only this time, everyone there (literally) are 60 - 80 year old american retirees. some even seems older. haha. and i was the only asian there. young and em. looking good. haha. the locals there are really friendly, they kept smiling and saying hi to me. dont blame them. i'd do the same to me.



(if you are american and u r retired, welcome to brugge)

brugge is a great historical town. i m so glad i came. thanks to racheal for suggesting. the churches are massive and more importantly its free. i also learn that you can't wear a cap when u enter a church. one woman ran down the aisle shouting .. "take it of, take it off" in french or hindi. gawd knows but her action implied it.



(michelangelo and look a windmill but not in the netherlands)

saw a piece of michelangelo and a few windmills and i am not even in the netherlands. go figure.



(me and my colored umbrella - caption these)

in summary :
definitely worth visiting.

mmmm :-
1. free entry to churches
2. yummy waffles
3. relaxing

annoyance :-
1. american retiree home
2. HAS ANYONE TAUGHT THE EUROPEANS THE ONLY WAY TO EAT CHIPS ARE WITH CHICKEN SALT !!! WHERES THE CHICKEN SALT ??? I M SO GOING TO START EXPORTING CHICKEN SALT. ROGER ???
3. sort of miss the monotonous 4 story height limit facade.

xxx. j.

amsterdam: happy to be alive.

dear liz,

so, less then 2 weeks for chatswood huh ? i m sure everything will fall into place. they always do.

Day 3 : near death
was a relaxing day. spent the morning walking around and doing some sketches. spent the afternoon with nick and susanne, picnic in the park. was another nice sunny day.

on the way home, we were standing at the lights, waiting to cross like good school kids. when the pedestrian light turned green, i looked and there were no cars. so i started to cross. i took 2 steps forward. but for some strange reason, i stopped. maybe because i wanted to see where nick and susanne was. but i stopped. then i heard susanne screaming "JXEEEEEE" then i felt a car ran pass me. the car was so close what if i was another step forward i would have been hit. also, if i didnt stop but continued crossing, i would have definitely been hit. and at that speed that idiot was driving, he definitely wouldnt have been able to slow down in time. i dont know why i stopped but i did and i lived. counting my blessings now.


(picnic & chinatown)

city walk at night.

Day 4 - rain
ok it literally rained the whole day. went exploring the city without an umbrella. rained on me. and rained some more. managed to find what i think is chinatown haha. and rained again. but the highlight of the day was when i went to watch a film - hairspray. anyone who is a fan of john waters would know the classic and the musical. anyway this film lived up to john's name. totally love it. definitely have to go watch after the submission. maybe after the team lunch, go do a team movie. i am so downloading the soundtrack now with the itunes voucher. yay ! btw. it rained again after the movie. gawd. no one told me that it rains so much in europe.

ok. comfort zone has ended. belgium tomorrow.

xxx. j.

amsterdam: me gateway to europe

dear mei ...

so i promised u that the first post from europe is to you but more importantly you wanted to know my opinion on amsterdam. so here it goes...

DAY 1 - the arrival
my plane was delayed by 2 hours because the plane was waiting for 25 people from auckland. damn kiwis.
well, got interrogated at the immigration (as usual). its not easy being good looking because everyone wants to interact with you. so i really don't blame them.


(my bag - 11kgs and the arrival)

still recovering from my cold (coughing and blocked nose) i arrived at schiphol air port. dont believe i actually made it out of asia pacific. as i was figuring out where the train ticket machines were and how to operate it, there were people more clueless than me. people were actually asking me questions like i belong. again, more because ... interaction. sigh. if only they were cute too.

i arrived at susanne's place, dropped my bag, said hello and literally left the unit and went exploring. i was so fascinated by rows of 4 storey buildings running the whole length of the street and they were the entire city. took me a while to figure out that there were dedicated bike lanes on walkways and people driving on the wrong side of the road. almost got run down by cyclists (many times too).


(amsterdam & bikes)

found the van gogh museum and really enjoyed it. spent the rest of the day just looking around exploring. even the rain didnt slow me down.

VERDICT: i love this city even though by the end of the day i found the 4 storey height limit abit annoying. very monotonous. after a while i kept walking back to the same place. is the city that small ?

DAY 2 - lucky day
It was a beautiful day. apparently the first nice day in summer. whoa. lucky me. hung out with susanne all day. We went to the Rijksmuseum. enjoyed van gogh better but the rembrant's stuff was pretty cool.

found the proef amsterdam place you sent.
http://www.proefrotterdam.nl/proef_nederlands/proef.html
again. they were supposed to have closed till march next year. they only open for a particular season but the amsterdam indesign is on and they opened just for this event. we tried the picnic sampler which consist on a sandwich, pumpkin soup, some crumple desert and some organic drink. it was great sitting under the warm summer sun (still about 25C).


(proef amsterdam)


(proef amsterdam food)


(proef amsterdam surroundings)

after spending hours sitting under the sun catching up, we went to the old central post office. the elevator is amazing. will post a video sometime somewhere. and the entire ground level is filled with graffiti. made it all the way to the top through restaurant 11 to see the view.


(post CS)

walked by and saw my first architecture feature. a renzo piano building. pic to proof it too.


(renzo piano - so i was told)

walked though the red light district and made it back home.

hows everything back in sydney ?

xxx.jxe

love supreme

Hey mathieu and rachael

so, it was great fun at the love supreme. food was great. so was the company. i was surprised by how many people who showed up. i am kinda jealous that you people are going to be hanging out and doing all these exciting things when i am gone. i have to do some amazing out of the blue things to make you people jealous too.

also, i hope you and the rest will continue to support live music in australia, especially in sydney. keep the music alive. they need all the support they can get.
do subscribe to moshtix. they have weekly newsletter to keep you informed about whats on. the really cool venues are :-
1. spectrum (where we were yesterday)
2. the metro
3. annandale hotel (crap place but have great performers)
4. vanguard (ok venue but great performers)
5. the gaelic club
6. the forum
7. the basement (classy but mostly jazz. the most expensive of the lot)

look out for these artist/bands.
1. laura imbruglia
2. bertie blackman
3. erin marshall
4. mandi jerru
5. the panics
6. melenie horsnell
7. midnight juggernaut
8. theatre of disco
9. pomomofo
10. the baddies

bertie blackman rocks

*(more pix on facebook)

well enjoy your stay in sydney thank you so much for all the tips in france.

.j

intermission.

hey prudence.

so you are the only one besides mei who left a comment on my post. one liner, still you bothered. so, i m gonna write this post to you. i did promise mei that she would be the one i first post to when i arrive at amsterdam. consider this a filler. haha. you can sue me but i don't have any professional indemnity insurance, so u will get nothing out of me :p

so i delayed my trip for a month. its all good to sort things out. most of it is good. i get see more of chatswood (contrary to what most of you think, i do really like the job) i finally got to work on something i really like, be exactly where i want to be in my career, and now i'm giving it up ... in 10 days. ironic. is it all worth it ? only time can tell.

also, got to know matthieu who gave me lots of hints on europe, more time to pack and think about where i want to go from here etc, etc, etc. but the one thing i wanted most, i was investing lots of time and effort in, fell the hardest on my face and now i wish i am already gone. well, looking back in a few months or years, this will probably be my very favourite mistake. i can't be an emotional wreck forever. hah. the tide will eventually turn.

i also blamed chris and phil for not making out. and because of that, i didn't get to see you and karina make out. sigh. but we now know the size of karina's mouth. hahahaha

*cra...jxe night


(more pics on facebook)

i also blame .. ok i m done blaming.

i'll try to get some sleep now.

xxx. j.