Keeping it Most Real in Warsaw

Easter-Baltic Delights

Yc — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:54:15 +0000

Happenings from 10 – 17 Apr

The Easter break saw 14 of us head up north to the capital cities of the 3 baltic states. First to Vilnius in Lithuania, then to Riga in Latvia and finally Tallinn in Estonia. The trip consisted of some pretty good sight-seeing, good parties, long walking tours (as well as biking ones), and many little dramatic events.

Vilnius, Lithuania

I wanted to get a kebab before boarding the 10-hour bus. It says Kebab 24h, but it was closed. So maybe it's closed 24h a day... winners.

Breakfast at Double Coffee after we arrived in Vilnius at 7am.

The main street outside out hostel.

They just love the Americans.

Our free walking tour guide speaking about the Jewish memorial and district.

Another one of the many churches, check out the crown at the top.

This nice little "graffiti" was found on one of the walls.

The view from the top of a small hill. See the skyscrapers in the distance? Our walking tour went all the way there!

My favourite part of Vilnius. Please allow Wikipedia to give you a brief explanation of the place: Užupis is a district of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, partially located in the Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its name means "on the other side of a river"; that river is the Vilnia River which gave Vilnius its name. The region has been popular with artists for some time, and is often compared with Montmartre in Paris. The district houses art galleries, artists' workshops, and popular cafés. The district declared itself an independent republic (the Republic of Užupis) in 1997 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C5%BEupis).

The river that separates Užupis from the rest of the city.

Couples getting married would engrave their names on these locks, attached them to the railings and throw the key into the river. The guide joked that if they wanted a divorce, it meant that they had to search for their key in the river to unlock their lock.

I like the artistic wall set against a backdrop of ruined houses.

The entire town was just filled with unique art pieces on architecture, or just any object that artists could work on.

The artists didn't leave one bit of blank on the wall, did they?

The bridge that leads to nowhere.

This is my favourite piece - a washing machine out of a rock.

Local market in the Soviet District.

Only a street divides the run-down and backward Soviet District and the modern skyscrapers.

One of the many churches in Vilnius.

Local traditional Lithuanian food - sticky potato with meat inside.

Picture of 2 famous Lithuanian pilots (who look a little homo) - apparently you can exchange this for 10 pounds in certain gay bars in England.

One of oldest (if not the oldest) churches.

Pre-party in hostel (where we spent an hour drinking non-alcoholic beer because we simply chose the cheapest option and didn't see the "non-alcoholic" word).

Partying in Vilnius!

Room-mate Mike and Nicolas

Took a day trip to Trakai - it was a beautiful island!

Trakai is a historic city and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies 28 km west of Vilnius.

Outside Trakai Island Castle.

Wiki says: The first settlements in this area appeared as early as the first millennium A.D. The town, as well as its surroundings, started developing in the 13th century in the place of Senieji Trakai (Old Trakai). According to a legend, after a successful hunting party, Grand Duke Gediminas discovered a beautiful lake-surrounded place not far from Kernavė, then capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and decided to build a castle in the location. That is how the Old Trakai Castle was built in Senieji Trakai. The name of Trakai was first mentioned in Teutonic Knights chronicles in 1337. This year is considered to be the official date of town's foundation. When Grand Duke Gediminas finally settled in Vilnius, Senieji Trakai was inherited by his son the Duke Kęstutis. Duchy of Trakai developed and the town entered its best decades.

Getting a kick before being beheaded.

Although there were quite a lot of tourists, the town was still very quiet and tranquil.

Vita brought us around her hometown and was extremely hospitable.

Riga, Latvia

Entering Riga's Old Town.

Outside a traditional Latvian restaurant.

Locals and tourists chilling in the sun (it is colder than it looks) at an open square in the Old Town. Very quaint and relaxing space to have an afternoon beer in.

Another church in the Old Town.

Latvian Bank.

There was an entire row of these weird-looking sculptures along one of the streets.

Another quiet and nice street in Riga's Old Town.

Colourful flags outside a bank.

A small river along a park.

Park in the city.

Freedom Monument.

Another church?

At the sky bar where the drinks were grossly overpriced.

City view from the sky bar.

The big building at the back looks exactly like the Palace of Culture in Warsaw. Nothing surprising since they were both "gifts' from Stalin and the Soviet Union.

Maybe the drinks cost so much because the toilet was really nice and also had a bird's eye view of Riga.

Nicolas making full use of the bar to make his money's worth.

Pre-drinking in the hostel. The hostel was run by a British, American and Australian. No wonder there was a bar in the hostel and there was broadcasting of the EPL there as well.

Mike.

Nicolas and Downey.

Three Kings in the club.

We partied till there was only 6 of us on the dancefloor at 4am.

And the deejay tried to chase us away by playing Backstreet Boy's "Shape of My Heart". When that didn't work, he changed to some weird-ass electro track and that finally chased us off the dancefloor!

Some nice wall paintings along the underpass.

Another one in the same underpass to the local market.

And this time the picture of a heater.

The local market. Each building sells different foodstuff. One for poultry, for meats, seafood, dry food etc.

We explored the "Meat" building. Looks rather similar to the markets in Singapore.

The gift from Stalin and the Soviets - looks like a smaller replica of the Palace of Culture in Warsaw (see below).

The Palace of Culture in Warsaw - looks exactly like the one above.

The Jewish monument. The names of those who lost their lives are on the pillars (which signifies that these people are holding the wall for their community). And this is where I dropped my camera (the stupid floor was hard stone which probably broke the lenses).

And these are how all my photos look like after I dropped the camera.

Tallinn, Estonia

The main square of Tallinn's Old Town.

: One of the streets in Old Town.

Hot coffee and chocolate in cold cold Tallinn.

Yup, another church.

Estonian Colours.

Tallinn Ballet School.

Fat-ass pigeon.

View from the top.

Nicolas and his standard picture pose.

Pre-drinking and back pains from sitting for too long.

Drinking games!

Somehow the mop appeared because someone spilt something.

And with alcohol in your blood, you start doing silly things with a mop.

Another mop-shot.

I don't know what we were doing in the cupboard.

On our way to the "Bar with No Name".

People used to deposit their valuables in churches in the past as it was deemed as a safe place. Check out the really tiny window to prevent thieves from climbing into the church to steal.

The many towers surrounding the Old Town. There used to be a moat surrounding these walls.

After the walking tour we took the Underground Tour to explore the tunnels beneath the Old Town.

Inside a pancake cafe.

And then the best part - the biking tour! 7 of us took this conference bike and 3 went on single bikes.

The harbour.

His spear was really sharp.

Tallinn holds its annual song or music festival at this outdoor theatre. All the stairs will be filled up with singers during this time!

Simply love the coastal line.

The Tallinn Zoo was huge!

The zoo really had all kinds of animals - don't think I've seen these before.

And many exotic birds as well.

Really huge camels.

Siqing, this is a bison.

Love the colour of this duck.

A pelican! The good thing about the Tallinn Zoo is that all the animals have a really large open space and the habitats are as natural as one can get.

The kangaroos were really still.

I was surprised by the strength of their trunks and tusks when they were breaking the branches to eat.

3 reasons for Mathias headbutting a wooden statue to get a bleeding forehead: (1) High alcohol levels in the blood, (2) We were watching Dirty Sanchez the Movie (similar to MTV's Jackass) at the hostel while pre-drinking and (3) I said to him "Hey that statue looks like a real person in the dark!"

And this was the wooden statue that got headbutted for just standing outside a restaurant.

Indian lady.

Trying to do the moonwalk on crutches.

And so this was the last night (a pretty damn crazy one too) of our Baltic escapades. The next day was spent relaxing in the hostel and after lunch, we headed off to take a 17-hour bus-ride back to Warsaw.

Hair Woes

Yc — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:16:01 +0000

Happenings from 6 to 9 Apr

In Singapore, I usually cut my hair every 5 weeks on average. And knowing that the hairdresser here will screw things up (either due to a lack of skill or language barrier, or both in my case), I cut it real short on the 5 Feb before I left Singapore. 8 weeks later (on 6 April), I couldn’t take it no longer, and with the weather turning slightly better, I decided it was time to face the barber.

End result was a haircut that resembled my first day in OCS more than 5 years ago, and it took the dude whose two English words to me were only “shorter”, and “ok?” just less than 15 minutes to finish cutting and styling the hair. Ok there wasn’t much to style since it’s so damn short and he just whipped out some weird gel and smeared it all over my scalp that felt relieved that the excess hair was gone. Then again, I can’t complain too much since the haircut was less than 10 SGD and I have friends who came out with worse haircuts! (You see, the typical Polish hairstyle for men is really short and with an extremely high slope) To illustrate, here are some pictures:

At Club Park. The entrance is less than 5 SGD for free flow beer till 1am, and music there is just as good as Phuture but not as crowded with winners! Oh and Vodka Redbull was also going at less than 5SGD per glass.

The walk back to Sabinki after Club Park.

And to everyone that celebrates it, Happy Easter! Or in Polish, Wesołych Świąt!

About 14 of us are spending the Easter holidays in Vilnius (Lithuania), Riga (Latvia) and Tallinn (Estonia) and since we’re leaving tonight, it’s time to finish packing! I’ll be back in Warsaw on 18 April, Saturday.

Czech Republic

Yc — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:04:15 +0000

Happenings from 28 to 29 Mar

This will probably be the most condensed trip I’ve taken. 2 days in Czech Republic – the first day consisting of 2 guided walking tours that lasted almost 6 hours in all, and a good dinner; and the second day spent in a small and rather undiscovered medieval town called Český Krumlov ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesky_Krumlov ).

Day 1: Prague

The train station at which Eurolines (our 10-hour bus ride) arrived at 6 in the morning.

I don't know if the 2 soldiers were hugging or kissing?

The starting point of the first walking tour - the Astronomical Clock located at Old Town Square.

Old Town Square.

Buskers at Old Town Square, in the background is the Easter Market which is bustling with activity.

Specially for Muthu, James and Fei Lou.

The Powder Tower.

Probably what makes Prague unique and beautiful is that many buildings are intricately designed and made special either by sculptures or wall paintings like this.

One of the shocking pieces made by a Czech sculptor, "David and his Horse".

One of the cubist buildings - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubist for origins!Many thought it was a real person hanging onto a pole for his dear life when seeing this "art piece" for the first time.

In the past, there were no street names, and addresses of houses were identified by having a house picture - in this case, the golden snake.

The one next to it was that of a fish.

And this one was found on another street.At Charles University, with Charles Bridge in the background.

A little girl just sitting on the ledge of a wall. One of the many random ingredients to Prague's beautiful city.

Charles Bridge from a distance.The WWII memorial. Prague was was mostly left intact despite (Only 2 buildings were destroyed - 1 because of a mistake by a German pilot and the other was destroyed deliberately to erase war crime evidence).

Another work of art that had no meaning? Check out how their hands are positioned and you'll find it ridiculous!

Charles Bridge closer-up.

This wall has markings of the water levels of the floods in Prague's history. Its worst flood took place in 2002.

The John Lennon Wall

The view from the exteriors of Prague Castle.

The entrance to Prague Castle. The change of guard was a rather simple and quick ceremony.

The narrowest street in Prague - you had to wait for the green man to enter it because it wouldn't accomodate more than 1 person's width. Located along many restaurants (and Prague traditional food being composed of lotsa meat), the joke was that being able to pass through this after eating at the nearby restaurants might make u feel better about eating too much meat.

Photo taken on Charles Bridge.

You're supposed to get good luck after touching this. And there was actually a queue to do it!

Day 2: Český Krumlov

We woke up at 5am to catch the 7am bus to Český Krumlov. The morning journey there was marred by cold and rainy weather, and also a racist bitch working for the bus company who stared at us like aliens and refused to speak with us until she’s served everyone else. We thought she couldn’t speak English initially but found out that she could indeed speak English rather fluently later on. And she thinks she’s high up working at 7am on a Sunday for a bus company? Anyway, Český Krumlov was a nice little small medieval town and had a very nice atmosphere to it – in my opinion, it has more character to it than Prague. So here are the pictures taken in the drizzle that refused to stop.

Upon arrival at the bus station, the only town to visit in Cesky wasn't too hard to spot at all!

Inside a really traditional Czech restaurant - food there was very good and cheap as well.

My brunch - it was a pork cutlet with ham and cheese stuffed inside.

The bear that guards the castle.

The view from the top of the tower.

One of the open courtyards in the Old Town.

Another courtyard - with nice wall paintings.

View of the whole town - you can see why we only needed 3 hours to finish it.

At the top of the castle.

One of the open-air areas at the top of the castle.

To walk up to the castle park or not? We decided to stop walking and head for some hot coffee and desserts.

The castle walls.

Love the entire medieval look of the whole town.

Didn't realized how gay I looked with the umbrella until we took this photo. GS.

Fishing in the water when the temperature was maybe 2 deg or lower. Isn't he cold?

Our last stop in Cesky, a cosy cafe where we had hot coffee, soup and desserts.

Next stop: Easter trip to the Baltics – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (and maybe Finland)!

Money Murphys Strikes in Warsaw

Yc — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:13:01 +0000

Happenings on 27 Mar

Reasons I chose Warsaw for exchange:

(1) Affordable prices relative to many European capitals.

(2) Warsaw School of Economics is a good school, and considered one of the best in Central and Eastern Europe.

(3) The variety of courses offered allows me to clear 5 SMU credits.

(4) Warsaw is central and close to the Eastern European countries that I want to visit.

(5) There’s supposed to be a scholarships for non-EU students which amounts to almost SGD 1,000 which will well cover my accomodation and transportation expenses in Warsaw.

However, this is what we got in email:

“You are right. The students from previous semesters were given scholarship coming from a grant that SGH got from Polish government. Unfortunately, for current calendar year we only got money for students from institutions that have had free accommodation guarantee in their cooperation agreements with SGH. This is why we are not able to offer you such scholarships.I am really sorry. I hope you still will enjoy your studies at SGH.”

GREAT STATION.

Stockholm – Venice of the North

Yc — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:19:46 +0000

Happenings from 20 to 23 Mar

Stockholm is probably one of most beautiful European cities in many aspects – the architecture, the natural scenery, its people, and how the whole city seems so lively and energetic. The entire feel to this place was just fabulous.

Acco Hostel, where there's no reception. You simply pay online, receive the pin number to your room and check yourselves in and out.

Our hostel room for 8. On the 2nd night there, some idiot took a dump on the middle of the shower room floor (the toilet's a separate room but he had to shit in the shower) and the guys' shower was locked for that whole night. Worse still, the lady running the hostel came by (probably after complains) and thought it was us who did it.

The street outside our hostel. Check out the street lamps hanging overhead.

The nearest train stop to our hostel.

Waiting for the train to go to Central Station.

Public transport is really expensive in Stockholm. The 2-way bus to and fro the airport is 250 Kronas (about 25 Euros), and the 3-day transportation pass was 200 Kronas (20 Euros)!

On the train.

H&M is really quite cheap in Sweden. If I had more time, the damage might have been more than a 80 SGD coat. Saw the coat on the 2nd day, and rushed to get it on the 3rd day just before we left.

Just outside the tourist information centre.Opera House

Tell-Me-Leh was also in Stockholm!

It's the water that makes this city so beautiful.

The National Museum on the other side of the bank.

Outside the Royal Castle

What a skyline.

Nordiska Museum, where they displayed evolution of Swedish culture.

We didn't have time to visit the Nordiska Museum cos we wanted to visit Vasa Museum which was right next to it.

We visited the Vasa Museum and before seeing the pictures, it might be interesting to read the history of this ship from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)

The Vasa Museum

The Vasa sank in 1628 on its maiden journey (a few hundred metres from Stockholm's harbour) and was re-discovered 333 years later, in the 1950s.

One of the reasons why the ship sunk was because there were too many canons that were too heavy, causing the ship to be top heavy with insufficient ballast to add stability. It tilted with each strong wave. And after righting herself a couple of times, it capsized soon after sailing off.

Much of the sculptures (which were meant to portray the Swedish king - Gustavus Adolphus' power) were still intact because of the absence of shipworms in the Baltic Seas.

The perceived original colours of the sculptures in front of the ship (see previous photo).

The view of the harbour from outside the museum.

Sunset at Stockholm.

The view of the entire Vasa Museum from outside.

One of the many little houses along the coast on our boat trip out to the Archipelago Islands.

Probably the best part of the Stockholm trip - the view from our boat.

More linear development along the coast.

The wind was so cold we had to keep running inside after taking the pictures!

Stockholm's Old Towm - Gamla Stan.

Everyone had to wait for us to finish our photo-taking before they could pass through this little walkway.

Viking!

Group photo at Gamla Stan.

Last dinner in Stockholm was the best meal there - a Jap buffet at probably less than 20 SGD!!!

The Soap Bar - Great music, great crowd and atmosphere. Only pity was that it was more of a bar than a club. And this is where you can purchase real alcohol at a damn high price. Real alcohol meaning 5% heinekens and vodka, because in Sweden, the only alcohol supermarts sell are 2.8% and 3.5% beers. There are special alcohol outlets (which close rather early) that sell the normal stuff.

The last day in Stockholm meant that I had to fulfil my OCD of visiting City Hall where the Nobel Banquet is held. So a couple of us woke up early to head there and take pictures, and then a 5 minute stay in H&M to pick up that jacket I saw the previous day.

City Hall.

The courtyard of City Hall.

The bank by the side of City Hall.

Sunday Blues

Yc — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 12:15:04 +0000

Happenings on 15 Mar

I woke up today and for some reason believed that I was back home on my own bed in my room. And then the thought that there would be 2 hot roti pratas with fish curry waiting for me downstairs made me sit up in happiness, which was only to disappear in a matter of seconds after I realized I was still in Warsaw.

The post on Krakow below is finally complete after delays due to the great internet connection here.

And we have 1 week to complete our M&A case before flying off to Stockholm since our presentation’s next Tuesday.

Krakow

Yc — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 01:12:44 +0000

Happenings from 6 to 8 Mar

Spent the weekend at Krakow and here are the pictures along with the decriptions:

Day 1: Journey to Krakow, Visit to the Salt Mine in Wieliczka and Party

We left at 6am and the crazy guys from France had already started drinking Vodka early in the morning. I had a couple myself and it was a good thing we had Macs breakfast shortly after.

Lotsa Vodka + Beer at 8am brings you to this state. And afterwards when the other bus pulled over beside ours, Mr. Mathias jumped onto a seat, took off his jeans and boxers and pressed his bare ass against the window so everyone in the other bus could see his bottoms.

Chandelier made from salt.

Salt crystals on the ceiling of the mine

Another Chandelier (but not made from salt this time)

One of the many carvings from salt - In this case, "The Last Supper"

At the front of the most beautiful chamber of the salt mine where weddings and functions are frequently held

The water catchment area where some miners apparently lost their lives years ago.

Pre-Drinking: Yup, he mooned again upon request. Without hesitation.

Pre-party drinking in the hostel kitchen where the noise was overbearing and the beer overflowing

: In the club where the trance was superb.

Day 2: Sight-seeing in Krakow: Florian Gate, Old Town, St Mary’s Basilica, University District, Wawel Hill, Wawel Cathedral and Wawel Castle

Start of sight-seeing in Krakow

Wisla River - Poland's longest

A statue of the mythical dragon that ate virgins

Sight-seeing on Wawel Hill - I think this is Wawel Castle? Or maybe Wawel Cathedral.

Interior designed by an Italian. The Polish were very grateful to the Italians who came over to Poland. Apparently, the Polish only ate meat until the Italians introduced potatoes to them! And potatoes are now the Polish staple.

The bones hanging by the main entrance of Wawel Cathedral. The Polish liked to believe that these were the bones taken from the slain dragon (the one that ate virgins). The story was that a prince stuffed a lamb with lotsa sulphur and fed it to the dragon, who after eating it, felt so thirsty it kept drinking water from Wisla River until it exploded and these bones were collected after the explosion. However, in reality, these are bones from a whale, mammoth and a rhino.

View from the top of the cathedral

The very big bell at the top of the cathedral is rung on special days (e.g. Christmas, death of a pope etc.) and apparently if you touched it with your left hand, you'll get married soon! Don't think it works well since our guide said she's touched it many times but is still not married.

Square at Old Town

I don't know what this is supposed to be

Muthu was at Krakow's Old Town

Day 3: Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camps

A depressing place, and you can read everything about these camps and the sick deeds performed there at this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz-Birkenau

Entrance to Auschwitz Concentration Camp

The buildings were made of bricks because it used to be a Polish military office. Had the Germans built it their way, it would've been the cheaper alternative of wood, as like in Birkenau (3km away)

The wall at which execution by shootings took place as a daily affair. Surrounding windows were blocked so the other prisoners couldn't see what was happening and all they could hear were the gunshots and screams of the executed prisoners. Tens of thousands have lost their lives at this very wall.

Our walking guide who did an excellent job of describing every single detail of the happenings in the camps

The gas chambers and incinerators - Cyclone B is released through the ceilings of the chambers in which the prisoners brought there were told they were going to get a shower.

A 5-minute bus ride later and we arrived at Auschwitz 2 (Birkenau) Camp.

Main guard tower and gate.

Triple-decked beds.

The selection gate where the prisoners were either chosen to be housed in the camp or for immediate execution.

The main memorial monument to remember those who lost their lives here.

After finishing the tour, we headed back to Warsaw.

Timetable, March Travel Plans & Rising Museum

Yc — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:42:19 +0000

Happenings from 28 Feb to 3 Mar

Here’s what my academic timetable looks like (amid some screwup in the course selection system for me):

Tuesdays

8:00am – 9:40am: Corporate Finance

9:50am – 11:30am: Corporate Finance Tutorial

11:40am – 1:20pm: Mergers & Acquisitions

3:20pm – 5:00pm: Investment Strategies in Mutual Funds

Wednesdays

8:00am – 9:40am: A Review of Classic British Films

9:50am – 11:30am: A Review of Classic American Movies (Yes, I have 2 modules in which I spend my time in class watching movies)

11:40am – 1:20pm: Polish for Foreigners – Beginner Polish

3:20pm – 5:00pm: Effective IT Management & IT Governance

Thursdays

8:00am – 9:40am: Polish for Foreigners – Beginner Polish

9:50am – 11:30am: Internet Marketing Strategies

And my travel plans for the upcoming weekends are as such:

6 – 8 March: Off to Krakow with the rest of the exchange student on a trip organized by the Erasmus Students Network.

20 – 22 March: Flying to Stockholm for a 3-night stay.

27 – 29 March: Taking a night bus to and fro Prague, where we’ll spend Saturday and Sunday at.

We went to the Warsaw Rising Museum on 28 Feb, Saturday and here’re some of the photos:

Tower of Warsaw Rising Museum

Map of Museum

Warsaw before WW2

Old School Motorbike

German Warplane

Art pieces sculpted by a Polish artist in remembrance of Polish who lost their lives during the war

Room with German artifacts.

This tank was built using a Chevrolet truck!

View from the top of the tower

It is good when the sun shines like this.

Warszawa Derby

Yc — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 12:20:01 +0000

Happenings on 27 Feb

We decided to catch the Warsaw football derby. It was the match between Polonia Warszawa and Legia Warszawa. Here’s a little background of the footballing history between the clubs. Both are fierce rivals as they are based in the same area of Poland, and matches between them have often resulted in fights between their fans. For instance, a Legia fan might tell you outside the stadium after the match, “Give me your scarf, or we fight now”. In terms of footballing achievements, Legia could be considered the slightly more successful one, having made it to the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League in recent years. Polonia on the other hand, were relegated a couple of seasons ago. Legia are currently 2nd in the Polish league, and while Polonia are 3rd, a victory in this derby at their homeground meant that they would leapfrog Legia and swap league standings with them.

Anyway, we were anticipating a hot-blooded competition on the field and also in the stands. This expectation was fuelled by the fact that there were countless police cars in the area, and policemen who were human beings twice the size of normal ones (and this applied to their dogs as well, oh and also their batons). However, this was not to be. First, we found out that despite the season ticket being 80 PLN, the Legia fans had to pay 100 PLN to enter the stadium! (We got our tickets free by registering our details at the booth earlier in the day though) Hence there were no away fans in the stadium. What kinda derby is this when there are only fans from one side? And second, there was no much action on-field (the game ended goalless) and the highlights of the match could be summarized into 4 sentences – 1 goal-line clearance by a Legia defender; 1 open-goal miss by Polonia, 1 red card for Legia’s captain and a group of young punks fighting right in front of us.

Match ticket that cost a grand total of 0 PLN.

Just before entering the stands.

In the stands, where there were 0 Legia fans.

Entrance was 0 PLN but the scarf was 25 PLN! We quickly took off our scarfs before leaving the stadium as the Legia fans were all watching the match in some place near my dorm. If asked the question "Give me your scarf, or fight me" - I think I might have ran. But if it was a Man Utd scarf, there'll definitely be a fight!

Passionate fans who sang all the way.

The teams line up before kick-off.

And the referee blows his whistle to kickstart the derby!

A Polonia player whips in a corner.

I am pretty damn sure the match between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspurs at Old Trafford on 25 April will be way more exciting and with more goals.

Back from Zakopane Standing on Both Feet

Yc — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:32:13 +0000

Happenings from 20 to 22 Feb

The Zakopane trip had everything – a long journey, great scenery, nice people, a stay in a mafia-owned hostel and of course, a constant irritant that will not be named right here.

First, was the hostel. We booked this place called Goodbye Lenin Hostel because most of the other ones were full and also due to the fact that the other Singaporeans had already booked this one too. And yup, I realized why this one wasn’t fully booked on Saturday morning when I was using the hostel computer to check out Zakopane attractions. Hit a search for Zakopane on Wiki Travel ( http://wikitravel.org/en/Zakopane ) and the “Sleep” section reads:

Good Bye Lenin Hostel Zakopane is heavily advertised, but should be avoided. There is a strong mafia presence there, and the former manager and two members of staff were recently convicted of the rape and murder of a female guest. Two other members of staff have been convicted of theft. The Hostel is still open, but its future remains uncertain. Zakopane is generally a safe place to stay, but this hostel is not recommended.

However, I must say that after our stay there, the staff were extremely friendly and helpful, the place was cosy with a nice toilet, and one of the staff (or maybe owners) even played drinking games with us on our last night, and even offered to pay for a cab to fetch vodka to the hostel (yes, you can call a taxi to buy vodka and bring it to your doorstep). That aside, the trip was fabulous, and the photos will tell you everything:

At the train station in Warsaw Central

The train cabin had 6 "beds", 3 on each side - yeah they're triple decks

Our train that arrived in Zakopane after 10 hours

At Zakopane's train station

Finding Goodbye Lenin

Oh yes, this is a car buried in snow

Lunch upon arrival in Zakopane

In Goodbye Lenin Hostel

The view from our hostel window - pretty damn awesome

Skiing photos (which weren’t in my camera) will be up once I have them. But nothing spectacular considering I’m as talented in skiing as I am in roller-blading. And the fact that the falls were always in awkward positions also meant that my back was at risk. And so after trying skiing on Friday, I spent the entire Saturday myself exploring Zakopane with a simple map. Most of the day was walking with my ipod plugged in, looking at people, buildings, and snapping away. Took a cable car to the top of a mountain – Kasprowy Wierch, and the view was absolutely fantastic. The only other time seeing something like this was 4 years ago in 2005 when I was on a cable car to another peak in Switzerland.

Snow-laden streets

White White White

Icicles

A church I saw along the way to taking the cable car

Can't feel my damn toes

It took me almost 50 minutes to walk to the cable car place, and then another 20 just to get my ticket

Initial view during the ascent

: The cable car ride was highlighted by 3 drunks talking extremely loudly. They were the winners I would be having lunch with later on.

I decided to give snowboarding a shot on our last day at Zakopane (Sunday). Fell a hell lot of times – but it was way more fun than skiing! The pictures make me look deceptively pro in snowboarding.

The Silver Surfers

Looking like a pro

Just couldn't get her to look at the camera!

Just before taking a tumble