Day 3 - White castle

This is Salzburg's view taken from a hill that I climbed that morning. Superb right?

Then I went to the white castle, called 'Festung Hohensalzburg'. It is a museum with medieval collections of weapons, cloths, and many more. It is also interesting to find out the development of the castle which was built since 1100s and was expanded for the next 600 years. Having visited this place intrigued me to learn more about the Austrian history.

Once I was done with that, I walked around randomly in the city of Salzburg. Good thing it didn't rain.

And I found KK in Salzburg!

Day 1 - Rainy

Another great solo trip! Woohooo!

Landed in Mozart's birthplace, Salzburg at 9.30 am local time. It was rainy and windy, I did go out and explore the city nontheless. My first on Salzburg is that it emanates a sense of medieval era with its huge castle on the hill and plenty of preserved ancicent buildings that some date way back to the 12th century. There's plenty of narrow alleys fenced by tall buildings.


Back at my accommodation by 4.30pm where I met my room mates, from Japan, England and Hong Kong. Then I hanged out at the hostel's bar chatting with few more English and Canadians .

Day 5 - Palace

Today I visited Schombrunn, a magnificent Austrian palace previously resided by the rulers of Austrian. I took a tour inside the palace, and I was in awe on the very elaborated designs of each room. The details of the patterns were very deep. I was amazed at the great wealth these rulers must had in their times. I didn't even have the slightest idea that any ordinary man today would even be able to enjoy such luxury. Of course, I really want to live in palace like this, given that I would plenty of cleaners (and money) to maintain it. Its surrounding area was magnificent too - the huge gardens (which have mazes), wide lakes and fountains.



I even had the chance to watch apple-struddle making demonstration, and had samples of it- wow!!!!!

The 2nd last picture showed a church at this place called Zenthralfriedhof. It is a church made in the center of cemetery ground which is about the size of 8 football fields! As to why I was at a cemetery, it was because I visited the graves of great music composers, namely Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss (it is promoted in the guide book!). These people are no longer fictitious to me.

This was the day I bought my 72 hours travel pass. It's great that I could get on any trams, trains and buses to go to anywhere in Vienna. Austria's public transport is one of the best in the world, and for a person who likes to go around randomly and stumble into interesting areas that are not listed in the guide book , I truly appreciate this system.

Day 4 - Hello Vienna!

Took a 3 hour train to Vienna. Traveled with a Dutch friend whom I stayed with in the hostel. He took the same train to another city called Linz for a Christian conference. I by myself for the second 1.5 hours of my journey after he got off in Linz. Snowy weather ruled the entire journey and I was pretty sick and tired of snow by now. It did not help a bit when I got off at a wrong station called 'Wein Hustledoff' instead of 'Wein Westbanhof' as I had to wait for another 30 min before I could proceed with my journey in the freezing cold weather! Trust me, those 2 stations can be easily mistaken for an unfamiliar and uninformed traveller like me (all I cared was for me to get to Wien, the German for Vienna)

As soon as I checked into my accommodation (which was very 'interesting'), I went out exploring the city on foot til dark. I went out for 4 hours and it rained the last 2 hours. Despite the rain, I truly, genuinely, sincerely felt in love with Vienna. I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVED Vienna! The city is full of Baroque/Victorian-theme buildings. Very beautiful!!!!

The last 2nd pictures above are of Vienna's high street. The last is Stephansdome - a really beautiful cathedral that has very beautiful ancient gothic lustre to it.

My accommodation has an extremely great location - smacked-right in the centre of the city and another super-long high street. The rooms are decent. My only reservations about this place are: not a sociable hostel (like in Salzburg) and its showers' doors cannot be locked! It's a place for just sleeping; probably more suitable for travelers in groups the for solo ones. However, I was lucky my room mates, which 2 were Greeks and 1 English, were very friendly and very considerate. I hanged out with them for the rest of the evening.

Day 2 - Tours

I woke up and it snowed heavily right out of my window! This was my first-ever proper snow experience (London's snow is pathetic compared to this). I was very happy ... until I went out to the city centre - very, very cold and wet. I forgot about the latter; snow is frozen raindrops afterall.

Anyway, I followed went on a four-hour tour visiting filming locations 'Sound of Music' (I'm impressed how such movie can make this place famous worldwide). Some were in the city, but many were in the countryside. Not all shootings were done in those places, as Hollywood did artificial copies of the locations. The original places were very, very beautiful indeed. It already stopped snowing and the sun came out producing gorgeous views! Mountains and house roofs were blanketed in snow. It's very serene... .

I also tried out Austrian's apple struddle. Yummylicious!

In the afternoon my tour continued. This time we're on a trip to Germany to the Bavarian mountains and its mountain salt mine. The mountainous view was very pretty!!!! And on top of that is where the Hitler's "Eagles' Nest" rest - an outpost for the Nazis. Must had involved many lives during its construction.

After descending the mountain (using a minivan), we went to the salt mine where salt deposit, which is concealed within the rocky mountains, is obtained for daily domestic use. This industry started since 19th century and in those days, salt=money. We get to wear the miner's uniform before entering the mine. That was a very educational tour and it's amazing how we actually went into the mountain to see the passage of the salt mine. We even took a boat to cross a lake inside the mountain! Not forgetting to mention, we also slid down to get into the lower level of the mine!

Day 7 -Easter Sunday

My last day in vienna. After having a very expensive capucinno (€3.90) with my greek rom mates, we exchanged contacts, bid our farewell and head our head our separate ways.I attended an Easter Sunday mass (in German) in St Augustine (i found it by accident at right time). Service lasted 2 hours. The church was packed !




To be honest, after the service ended at 1pm, I was already very ready to go home. Combination of money and having visited all the places i'd liked to see made me feel that way. But my bus to Bratislava airport (in another country, Slovenia) was ony going to leave at 6pm. I killed the 5 hours by walking around randomly , dragging my bag along.



My holiday trip this time is again another very interesting experience. I shall do more solo trips in the (very) near future !!!!

Day 6 - MAK, UNO, classical concert

Went to MAK, a museum of contemporary modern art. Not that i'm really into this kind of stuff, but since it's free on saturdays, I might as welll go. It displayed plenty of of household goods design that dates back to the roman, boroque era til today's. Almost like and IKEA museum. Some of the designs were so elaborated you cannot help but to admire the skills the workers had back then when technology hadn't developed. Next went to Jesuitkirsten, one of the most beatiful churches I've ever seen! I then went to , Vienna international city, Vienna's business district-the 'canary wharf' of vienna. Love the modern architecture, especially the church.Then Hofburg- an art museum collection + Imperial history. But just stayed outside. Next I went to Favoritaße, a high street outside the city centre.

I tried their Austrian sausages. Damn oily, but simply delicious!







I watched mozart's concert afterall( I didn't want to initially )! But plenty of 'interesting' journey before getting to Konserthaus, the location of the concert.

I was just about to turn into the junction to my hostel, when I randomly walked somewhereelse, that led me to Volkstheater, Vienna's prestigious theatre. Curiosity led to curiosity when I went in and dimply for ticket prices and its availability. The lady said I could even get ticket as low as €1! That, suddenly ignited my desire to watch the concert again!

I quickly rushed to Konserthaus' nearest station, Staadplast. But walked out of that station the wrong way! I was.... Lost! In a place that seemed like residential area- quiet patchy lit areas. I was lost for nearly 30 minutes now. My watch showed 7.30p.m, and I thought for some strange reason, already missed the concert. Mixture of nervousness and disappointment were very dominant.

With the kind help of an old lady who couldn't speak any english (she was very insistent that she would show me the direction despite the language barrier), and some helped from the bus driver and another passenger, I finally reached Konserthaus at 7.45pm! I was very happy the concert would only start at 8.15pm. I finished My last note, €20, for this concert.

All the effort was worthwhile. That evening was superb!

holiday!!

off Austria!!! woohooooo!!! 3 nights Salzburg..then 3 nights Vienna!!!

Austria, here I come!

Yeah, bought my flight ticket and settled my accommodation for my Easter holiday!! (on another unrelated story, I've bought my ticket back to Malaysia already!) woohooooo!

Destination: Salzburg 3 nights, Vienna 3 nights (Austria). Total: 1 week! The former is famous for its 'Sound of Music' location setting, while Vienna is famous for Mozart!

The scary bit is, I'm doing this alone. But then, nowhere near as Eliza's hardcore solo Spanish or French trip. Hehe. As much as that being a daunting thought, I'm more scared that I'll be bored and lonely. There won't be many people on some of the days I will be in Austria - as evident by the cheap flight and accommodation rates that I get (considering that I booked all these just over 2 weeks prior to holiday - really late!)

Guess I will have plenty of things to write about this experience as much as I did for previous solo trip to Amsterdam and Belgium in 2006, and my somewhat solo trip in Nairobi in 2007. I look forward to meet new friends.

Hope that everything goes well. And fun too.

And another matter, I was contemplating of going to Liverpool MNight on Friday, then KOP Ball and visit Abby in Bath the next day , return to London on Sunday...then fly to Austria on Monday 6 am (have to leave house by 2am) ! Woah!

Solo traveling

I have a 2-week easter break in March and as of now, everyone (that I'm aware of) already has their plans.

And I'm neither in any of those.

Reason being, I really want to go Ukraine to visit my friend, Jonathan, my La Sale exclassmate who is studying medicine over there. But I'm apprehensive with going ahead with that plan as tickets are expensive and even he himself says that there's nothing much to do over there. And I also need to pay for my visa to enter that country. So, I'm not sure if that's worth the trouble.

But then again, depending on everything else, that I would go Austria. Vienna is probably a must, and see a concert (and have my dreams fulfilled), then go to Lviv (ukraine) by train or flight. That works out to be much cheaper, as flight is about £70 London-Vienna (Batislava) with Ryanair. Then, if I decide to visit Lviv, then it would be much cheaper from Vienna.

This could be a good compromise. If I were to only go to Austria, then I could also go to nearby cities, such as Slovenia (that's where Batislava is), and Salzburg (where the famous Sound of Music is made). I don't think it would be too boring to even spend all 1 week in Vienna itself, otherwise I would have the aforementioned plans.

Another story of solo-traveling would be unfold soon.

It's scary, though.

Kenya - Day 4 & 5

These two days we visited 2 hospitals - the Nyanza Provincial District Hospital and Kisumu District hospital - to do observations only. Generally, doctor-patient relationship is still very paternalistic, and these hospitals are underfunded in many aspects which turned to be as resourceful possible (e.g. ripping off the end of gloves and used it as torniquet) .

Provincial
I visited the paediatrics ward. Apart from seizures, I saw many kids with Burkit's lymphoma (due to high assocition with Malaria, AIDS, and epstein-barr virus). These kids were around 5-6 years old and had very huge abnormal masses on the neck, body, etc. And at such a young age already they had to suffer from chemotherapy everyday for the next at least 2 years. Despite the a good prognosis in children with Burkitt's, lack of medical supply hampers their recovery progress, aggravated by prevalent malnutrition issues in the community. They looked really frail and emaciated, and they cried a lot when the doctors injected them with medications.

It was a very enriching experience for me, and made really more interested in learning medicine, wanting to find better ways on how things can be cured.

District
Another fulfilling experience, where I get to interesting cases like necrotising fasciatis. Others things include fractures, malaria, tb. In the morning I get to see a doctor suturing a guys head (he had very deep cuts on his head), and I found that to be equally interesting and agonising (esp when the doctor had to apply occasional force to pierce the needle through the skin of his head). Amusing case was a local medical student who was with us suddenly fainted after witnessing this procedure!

We visited the assylum in the afternoon, and I must say I enjoyed myself there dancing and chatting with the patients (few looked really normal). One of them made me (nicely) write my (fake) contact address so that he could write to me. He even gave his address (looked authentic!) so that I could send books to him.

Kenya - Day 3

We were split into groups of 3 or 4. We went to HOVIC centre, which is basically a day rehab-centre for street/homeless kids, where met and were briefed by all their 9 working staff members. HOVIC provides free breakfast and lunch, also informal education to about 100 (average) children, who are between 3 to 18 years old, every day except on Sundays.

We had a number of activities today. We helped preparing meals (meals called nyoyo - basically consists maize, beans and potato), befriendedand watched the children debating, and in the afternoon, played football (I suck. Even the girls played way better than I). I tried a bit of the meal, and despite my diarrhoea panaroia, the food wasn't bad at all. We snapped a lot of pictures with the kids (and staff!) and they really loved them!. They were really friendly; you hardly need to make the 1st move to talk to them - although I did think they were probably friendly because we are westerners (?).

We chat a lot with these bright kids, and discovered a lot of their concerns about life. Until the HOVIC night centre porject is done, they have nowhere to go to after the centre closes at 3pm. They slept on any shelter they could find with constant fears of being assaulted by patrolling policemen every night. I heard their storied of how some are often beaten mercilessly, even if you are just mere 5 years old. Many of them sniff glue, the thing that they claim to provide them with warmth to survive the harsh coldness during nighttime. Homeless kids are constantly stigmatised by the society, and even by their own family members. They are always blamed for the crimes happening in the society. While they may be some truth, very few see the bigger picture; of how these children's helpless circumstances - family breakups, poverty, exploitation - have forced them to commit crimes in order to enable them to find the very next meal.

They also talked about education very much. They wanted to become lawyer, engineers, pilot - ambitions almost impossible to achived unless they have someone to sponsor their education. They see education as a way out of the poverty cycle, but it is just too expensive here. To get to a secondary school, they have to afford at least 20,000 shiling a year (1000sh = £8), and with the average monthly family income of 3000sh, they more likely to abandon their studies. Made me feel quite sad some people back home took their education oppoturnities for granted.

The debate topic the chilcren had today was 'home-shelter is better than street-shelter'. After listening to their points, I think a very good summary to them is: home is where your heart is

Kenya - Day 1 & 2

Jambo everyone! Karibu Kenya! Welcome to Kenya!

After a grueling 12 hour (with 3 hours transit in Doha) flight + 9 hour bus journey (after the 20 of us landed in Nairobi) we arrived at the state of Kisumu - the 3rd largest city in Kenya. Finally after almost 24 hour being in a sitting position, I got a proper sleep in the bed in the hotel we stayed in. It's not hotel in all its sense - those like you would expect by western standards - but it's a fairly decent place (except for occasional water supply interuption) and that's where I would be staying for the next 12 days.

The next morning, we had induction on what about Kenyan Orphanage Project (KOP), went around the town, and visited some of the project sites that Barts and The London supports, many of those are quite far from the Kisumu town centre itself. There is a marked difference between the rural and urban areas in Kisumu. You hardly see any 'modern' buildings in the rural areas. Houses are made of animal wastes (dungs) and hardly there is a house made of wood or bricks. Houses are not supplied with basic utilitites. Many people in Kisumu, more obvious in the rural areas walk to go to places they want to go, and very few who can afford bicycle, let alone a car ( although in this agricultural-based area I occasionally saw fully-loaded trucks). In town where everything is centralised, things are very scattered in the rural areas, with nearest school and health centres can be as far as one hour's walk.


Interesting fact of the day: the world's highest number of wives married to a man is in Kenya - 265 wives! He must be extremely rich to afford that. He built school for his own children. Well, as you may expect, it's definitely difficult to remember, let alone identify which of the children in the village are his. So, people take advantage of this!

Back from kenya!!!

I just got back from Kenya this morning, and really loved to blog my experience up. But I'll probably do that by next week when I'm more free then. I'm in the middle of a very important mission. Something important, so important it will have a massive impact on my future

To be continued....

Pre Kenya trip blog entry

Fact #1: I'm officially broke. After a somewhat series of unfortunate events (hence the previous earlier blog entry), I end up using some of my 'emergency' money. Maybe justified lah, unfortunate events = emergency also what. If not, I'll end up canceling my WHOLE Kenyan trip and not refunded any single penny/cent!

JPA £££ nowhere to be seen. Hopefully by the end of the week.

Fact #2: I've been jabbed 4 times in 2 weeks. All in the name of avoiding suffering from infections when I return from Kenya. Vaccinations taken: Hep A, DTP, Typhoid, Yellow fever. Yellow fever vaccination certificate is officially needed to enter African countries. If you refused to get a vaccination, then you'll be forbidden to enter the country.

Fact #3: Despite the some brilliant researchers successfully making you immune against Yellow fever for up to 10 years with just one injection, the £50 (RM350!!!! That's at least 70 nasi ayam! or 70 wantan hor!) fee imposed is still not acceptable.

gee.. thanks, but no thanks

Fact #4: Nairobi City center. That's where I'm going to stay in Nairobi for 3 days when program ends on 25th (I'll be at a faraway city called Kisumu before that). After (the same) series of unfortunate events, I currently don't have a traveling company. It's very hard to contact the rest of my other 20+ friends to check on what they are going to do right after the program ends. Probably I'll get to meet Omair, a course mate who is already there in Kenya (NOW) having fun and becoming wasted.

Well, not like I care. I have traveled alone before this. In a foreign country.

It's very easy for me to imagine how dodgy things will be in Nairobi. However, after looking tthe pictures, things are looking up very brightly actually. It all boils down to this: Wherever you go in this world, you can find both heaven and hell in any one city.

Fact #5: I pay everything for my trip using my own money. How much? Sufficient to say, which otherwise I can afford a very, very luxurious holiday in Europe, and still have gone back home to Malaysia .

Though, I really, really hope the experience I get from Kenya get will be priceless.



CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!