Allo Allo!

Hi! I'm back from a long and exhausting trip to Holland! I can't believe some people didn't actually have enough of being there. I mean, sure it's nice to get out of the country for a while, but the place is pretty boring (assuming you don't go for the sex and drugs thing...) But nevertheless, I did get to see lots of really cool stuff there.

Countryside = Boring. Yes, most definitely. Although they have a little more variety than NZ in that they have windmills alongside the usual green fields, cows, sheep and horses, there's much else of interest. (save perhaps the 2 nuclear power plants we saw along the highway)

City = Messy. Nikki (our tour guide) did mention that the Dutch are traditionalists, which is pretty evident from the architectural designs and some of the way they dress and stuff like that, but the city just seems like a hodge-podge of old and new things mashed together to create this big...err... mess. Amidst the towering cathedrals of ancient times (1600 or thereabts) and uh... buildings that look quite old too, there're modern shopping malls and traffic like trams and buses. Of course, there's also the infamous red light district, which we all (Or most of us anyway, although I believe all of us) went to look around. Nobody tried any of the things there... (I don't think so anyway, or at least if they did I don't want to know about it) But the place is quite an experience, in that there're scantily clad people in human sized windows throwing coquettish looks at you (most, if not all being quite cmi though) , and barkers trying to get you to go watch some live sex show or other. We did wander into one of those sex shops (no not selling sex, selling things they...erm, use for sex I suppose) and some of the things inside were weird. No, really, I mean really weird. Anyway, after that we wandered off into the sex museum, a proper place not in the red light district, if you can call such a place proper... But the place was pretty boring. Interestingly enough, most of the guys just sat around on the chairs on the 2nd floor after a short while of wandering around, while the girls were still happily trotting about looking at everything. Tired? Maybe... Draw your own conclusions =p

Competition = Stressful. The practices were long and drawn-out, but in the end we didn't achieve what we were expecting, or perhaps just hoping to get. I hope laoshi isn't terribly disappointed, although I think we all know he is. (redundant sentence? errrr...) But we truly were outclassed, in that the other bands there...well, some of the other bands there really sounded fantastic. Maybe one day we'll be able to play like them too...

Food = omg... I've absolutely, totally enough of bread, cheese and ham. For the entire duration of the trip, every breakfast has been a mix of the abovementioned 3, and they made up our lunches for the 1st 4 or 5 days as well. And by the way, Europeans cannot cook Chinese food. Or, well... At least our caterers can't. Rice with really salty meat (no idea what kind), black fungus and gross vegetables. Eww... From the 4th day our food improved to their kind of dinner, which is probably a better idea than the stuff they were feeding us. I dare say none of us starved though, since all of us brought insane amounts of food which I don't think any of the sections finished.

Ah well, it's nice to be back home in Singapore, with my computer, my room, the local food, and my bed...Zzzzz

Fotos? Maybe when I upload them =p