Hai ho hai ho..... its off to work we go!

I'm back in sunny, hot, humid, rainy and wet Singapore..... unwilling of course but what am I to do?

Eastern Europe
It was a wonderful 33 days with rather good weather (no blizzards) though a fog held up our plane for a short while. Mostly rather cheap actually except for train fares, even our sky europe budget airline ($90 incl taxes) from Sofia to Vienna is cheaper than some of the asian budget airline prices say from Sgd to Penang. Here are some of the highlights ( in order)

Germany
Dortmund- Christmas Markets
Bonn- Beethoven's House esp for FIL

Poland
Krakow- Wawel Castle (nothing fantastic), great snow!
Zakopane-Ski Town (we didn't ski)

Hungary
Din quite like the people there, rarely a smile and always grouchy
Budapest- Christmas Market, Castle Hill

Romania
Brasov-small piata (town square), Bran Castle (Count Dracula's Castle), Singaporean run guesthouse!
Bucharest-tallest Christmas tree in Europe (abt 20 storeys)

Bulgaria
Prob my favouritest country of all cos the people were friendly and hospitable and sweet
Veliko Turnovo- Fortress, great food, Hostel Mostel
Sofia- easy walking

Vienna
(stopover to Czech)

Czech Republic
Ceske Budejovice- Piata, Christmas Market
Ceske Krumlov- in 1000 places to see before u die, its a beautiful town with snow capped houses and little alleys for shopping
Plovdiv- Old Town with a couple of Romanian ruins
Prague- beautiful city, Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, bought many stainless steel stuff

Austria
Salzburg-Sound of Music Tour, really exciting and enjoyable!!!! Really ex cos its central europe, not exactly eastern, Old Town,Christmas Markets etc

It was a fun trip, cold weather but its ok if you layer up with thermals and a down jacket. Most of the easten european countries are about to join the EU so prices are going up but its safer and not so remote. SOme countries are still rather poor for example in Bulgaria, the University professors earn abt 300 euros (abt SGD$600) .

More pics and travelogues to come!

Driving in Singapore
I hate the ERP. I hate carparks which are always full. I hate parking rates. I hate the road tax. I hate the insurance. I hate the nasty drivers on the road who wont give way. I hate the speed limit in the KPE. I hate the speed limits in general. I hate it when u have to filter out from a small road into the expressway. I hate it when people take a long time to park with a long queue at the back. I hate to top up my cashcard and watch it get beeped away at ERP gantries. I hate the increasing number of ERP gantries. I hate the CBD. I hate taxi's which stop at single lane roads. I hate the traffic jams. I hate the increasing number of cars on the roads. I hate people who dash across roads and people who talk their own sweet time to jaywalk. I hate non automated carparks where u have to stick your head out and shove in the cash card at impossible angles. I hate topping up petrol. I hate to wash my car. I hate it when it rains after I wash my car. I hate the birds after I wash my car. I love my car. I love driving. I hate driving in Singapore.