So on 27th July I went to Germany with Shu Chien, Jun Khee and KC and we stayed at Kar Yee's house in Weztlar.
They were already in Zurich since morning, so I went there at 4pm to meet up with them, but our train was 6pm. Turns out that Shu Jie, Jun Khee, KC, Kar Yee and Jannik were on a boat in the middle of the lake so I waited in the train station alone. Well, not alone. I bought A LOT of food from Migros and it kept me busy in the waiting room. It was supposed to be my dinner, but I bought really really a lot, so I just started eating it slowly in the waiting room. Shu Chien arrived before they came back from their boat-rowing-ride and then shortly after that they finally came. Although Shu Jie and Jannik were not following us to Germany, they came with us till Basel then they went home. And so the train ride begins. It was about 5 hours of train ride till Wetzlar, and we arrived at about 11pm or so. We didn't really sleep a lot in the train. I just remember we talked a lot and we started playing some iPhone logo quiz game. That completely absorbed me into the game and it was frustrating when you see the logo and you know what it is but you don't know what it's called. Jun Khee was giving out silly answers and at one point, it was so absurd I actually spat out my ice lemon tea in the train.
We missed the opening ceremony of the Olympics because we were on the train. Boo.
Okay so the first official day in Germany we went to Köln. It was a weekend, and the awesome thing in Germany is that we can buy a "Schönes Wochenende" group ticket, which literally means beautiful weekend group ticket, which is 40 euros and up to a group of 5. We were only a group of 4, but then equally divide it out, it's just 10 euros for the train ride for the whole Germany. I mean, I can't even get to Zurich with 10 euros, and this is for the whole Germany? SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY. First thing I thought about in Köln is that "Wow, so this is where Lock See lived for a year." We met up with Ying Jee and then we went to buy some post cards. After that, we walked around the city 'cause we were hungry. We walked and we walked and we finally bought some bratwurst and currywurst and for me, pizza. Have I mentioned that things are like so super duper cheap there compared to Switzerland? It's so unfair. After that we went to the tourist information center to buy tickets for the city tour mini train thingy. There was 2 trails for the round trip, and we picked the one that leads to the Chocolate museum. We got on the first train, but apparently it was the wrong train, so we got off. A bunch of ignorant, arrogant, racist bastards (sorry for the language) were freaking laughing at us, saying that we were poor and didn't have enough money to buy tickets and were kicked off the train, in German. They were even pulling the edge of the eyes to imitate the "typical asian eyes" look. Idiots. Okay back to story, we went to the chocolate museum, which was actually a Swiss chocolate brand, Lindt. Ironic, ain't it? A bunch of tourists from Switzerland (well, from Malaysia, but hey! We're visiting from Switzerland) visiting a Chocolate museum in Germany which belongs to Switzerland. I thought we get to try a whole bunch of chocolates in the museum, like the Kambly chocolate factory back in Switzerland, but no, we only got a chocolate waffle straight from the chocolate fountain. We got to see how the machines pack the chocolate, though, and it was AMAZING. I mean, who came up with the design of the whole machine? It's like, CHOMP, and then the chocolates are made and CHOMP the chocolates are cut into pieces and CHOMP the chocolates are wrapped.
After that we took the train again and went back to the place we started. On the way back, we smelled some out-of-the-world, aromatic asian food. We saw a Chinese restaurant owned by Chinese people and we went in and asked about the price. It looked reasonable so we booked a table for 6 at 8pm. THEN hehehe we went shopping. I was determined to buy a pair of new shoes because my shoes were the reason I kept spraining my poor ankle. Don't believe me? Ask my friends. I could walk normally and then *crack*! My ankle is bent into an awkward angle. We searched and we searched and I finally found a pair and I bought it. Happily. There was also a Cotton On shop, which I miss very very dearly, and I bought a hoodie for 20 euro. It's actually for men, but it was comfortable and big and pretty, so I thought, the heck with it. The streets were full of street performers. This one was exceptionally weird.
OKAY NOW THE DINNER.
Can I say that this is the best, I repeat, the BEST dinner I've had since I left Malaysia? We were starving when we entered the restaurant, and we used quite a long time to pick the dishes because we had to consider about the price, and then when the food came, it was like some holy light shined on our table. I AM NOT EXAGGERATING! Lemme show you the FOOD.
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| We were so hungry, we tackled on the chickens before I got a chance to snap a picture |
It was really, really AUTHENTIC Chinese food, with real 麻辣 flavour. The best part : the rice is FREE. Yeah everyone ate at least 3 bowls of rice, and it was average 8 euro per person for this dinner. Can you even imagine?!? Here in Switzerland it's already 10 euro for a plate of Fried Rice. PLEASE. After that our stomach was sooooooooo satisfied. One thing that kinda turned things around were that our train got canceled. It was already the last train connecting to Wetzlar, and it got canceled without any reason. We went to the information counter and kinda "complained", so the guy arranged a taxi to pick us up from Siegen to Wetzlar. We were home 2 hours later than planned and everyone was dead pooped.
So the next day we went to Frankfurt. We went up to the top of a building, which was kinda a tower, or something, I'm not sure.
After that we met up with Mala, a friend of Kar Yee's and an ex-exchange student whom Kar Yee's host mom hosted 2 years ago.
Then we went to walk around and ate some Ice-Cream, and then we went back to the train station to meet up with Lee Chen. We took the tram, thinking that the train group ticket was inclusive of trams. With our incredible luck, there was a conductor checking tickets halfway to the train station. He was scary, but luckily we didn't get fined. We didn't mean to NOT buy a ticket. We really didn't know. So yeah, we met up with Lee Chen. Actually we just walked around and around in Frankfurt cause most of the shops were closed due to it being a Sunday. There was a lot of XXX shops, cinemas and hotels, by the way. It was so weird because they just display everything so openly. And awkward!
We saw someone drinking pearl tea so we went searching for a shop. We found one shop and just went inside, and BOY THE PRICE IS SURE CHEAP!! Compare to Switzerland, AGAIN, take a look at how big the size of the cup is when it costs 4.90 francs.
WHEREAS in Germany, the big one costs 4 euro.
And it tastes SO MUCH better than the one we had in Switzerland. Although it can't be compared to the ones in Malaysia, and the pearls taste weird, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. After that we practically just walked around and took photos. We also went to the bridge where couples carve their names onto the lock and then lock it on the bridge and throw the key into the river, indicating that their love will last forever.
We went back around 5pm and bought some meat and "drinks" from the supermarket in Wetzlar and then we walked back for a BBQ dinner. After the dinner we drank our drinks, and some friends of Kar Yee joined us later. Derrik, who is a Malaysian who came to Germany when he was 15 to study, and 2 of his friends. That night was really an unforgettable night for all of us. Tragic, but funny.
Everyone couldn't wake up the next day so we just spent the day around in Forum, the shopping center in Wetzlar. Nothing much about that day, just that at night they were trying to make me drunk, with no success because I fell asleep halfway through.
The last day, though, we went to the Altstadt, which means the old city of Wetzlar. We had lunch there and then finally we found a hair saloon and KC, Jun Khee and I took the risk and got our hair cut. It was 14 euro for ladies and 12 euro for men, still much cheaper than in Switzerland.
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| Before the haircut |
I can honestly say that I really, really enjoyed this trip. I was laughing non-stop and I don't even remember what I was laughing about. But, this was really an amazing trip and food was paradise!
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