Despite the lack of rest, we climbed up from bed as early as 6am in the morning. I don’t think there is another couple that enjoys torturing themselves during their holiday. Not wanting to break another pair of shoes, we asked the taxi to come and pick us up at a 8am the following morning. Turns out that their company has a number of drivers on shifts, and they were quite punctual in picking us up from the resort we were staying in.


Scene outside our resort
For 10+ minutes, the driver sped down the highway at the velocity and stability Proton will never keep up with. As recommended by Kelvin, we bought 2 tickets to Lindau for a cruise. In our itenary we planned to go for Rhine-Mainz cruise, but Lindau is very much nearer and the trip was well worth it. For this, we had the chance to try their local bus, it’s comfortable and along the way we could see a different landscape compared to those we saw on train.


SEV to Hergatz
Once we reached Lindau, we went straight to the ferry counter to enquire about their ferry schedule. We were told that the next ferry was leaving in 4 minutes, and the next one would be 2 hours later. Without thinking twice, we paid for the tickets and went up the ferry. The ferry is not as big as LTH (Penang Gambling Boat Tour), but it’s cleaner and much more comfortable. We were lucky as it’s shining today. The sky was blue blended with the turquoise water made Lindau very photogenic.


Lindau Jetty
We sat in the front deck so that we could have a good view of the fisherman, seagulls and a nice panoramic of the jetty. In fact, I think all the jetty looks much better than the ports we have in Penang. IMHO the money invested on building the ports not only allow the place to develop, but it generates income through tourism. The people loves nature, and hence the nature is very close with the people there to. It’s very obvious as we can see the fowls getting very close to the fishing boats and ferries.


Chilling out on the front deck

Man, Fowl and Fish living in harmony
>>>>>>More photos of Day4 click HERE>>>>>>
Irresistible Aromatic Coffee

The cold makes people frequent toilets, and in no time Irene’s bladder is looking for a place to clear. I waited out in the cold enjoying the breeze and suddenly I heard a loud bang from inside. It’s Irene with a menu, pointing towards the coffee asking which one I prefer. Turns out the aromatic coffee is too hard to resist, no matter how expensive it costs. Sitting inside was much more cozier comparing to the chilling atmosphere outside. The cruise stopped over a few pier along the way, and we only went out to the deck during these times for some photo taking opportunity. The cold weather was making everything smelled exceptionally delicious. Not for long, Irene's nose started to get caught by the Fries (Pommes Frites) which we took with a glass of Weizenbier (beer with lighter color which brewed from wheat grain). One thing we noticed about the waiters in Germany, they carry a big wallet with them in their pockets/aprons/pouch where they will put the money inside after the customers paid the bill.


Hot Cappucino on a cold day

A whole plate of Pommes Frites just for myself

Farny Beer
>>>>>>More photos of Day4 click HERE>>>>>>
Konstanz by foot

After nearly 4 hours of cruising in the lake shared by 3 countries -- Germany, Austria and Switzerland, we arrived at Konstanz. From far, we could witness huge buildings and a statue of a Goddess. Just to share some background of Konstanz, the biggest town of the area. It is the starting point of Rhine. Visitors go there to see the Rhine Falls. But sadly, the beauty of Konstanz is over captivating that we had long forgotten about the Rhine Fall. You really should visit it if you happen to drop by.


One of the many jetty

Konstanz Jetty
Fearing that the money we had on hand was not enough for the trip, I decided to withdraw some money out for standby. We went into Deutchbank but were told that for withdrawal, I need to know my credit card's pin number. The officer redirected us to a Reiss Bank where they allowed tourists to withdraw money using signature. Not sure about the exchange rate though. Around town, we visited 2 churches, St.Stephen Cathedral and Munster Cathedral, both overwhelmingly big, with confession booth and tombs of the religious leader buried there. Munster Cathedral set as the buried ground of St. Pelagius, also known as Patron Saint of Konstanz. Inside the church, we were able to witness the Crypt and Relics of the 13 year old Martyr who was sacrificed back in 630ac.


Konstanz Town




After visiting the churches, we went for a stroll in the old town. Streets in Konstanz are rather narrow comparing to big cities like Munich. I can well assured you that those images that you saw on TV, small streets and alleys with buildings along the sides and flower beds at the balcony ARE FOR REAL!!! In fact, it's everywhere in Europe. Before returning to the Pier to catch the boat back, we managed to grab some "Aunty Anne's" and a nice warm hot dog.



>>>>>>More photos of Day4 click HERE>>>>>>
Communing Issues arises

The ferry was late due to technical issues (what other issues can there be?). While waiting, we met an old Irish Couple who later offered us help for the instructions to the train station. After 15 mins of waiting, the ferry finally arrived, everyone was eager to get on board as this was the last cruise for the day. No gentleman or gentle lady gestures this time around. 'Cause if you missed that, you had to stay overnight at Konstanz. Once inside, we could see a nice sunset all the way back to Lindau. It's not like we are romantic couple, but it does strengthen our love even more watching the sunset together.







We had to change cruise at Meersburg before reaching Friedrichshafen and from there we have to take a connecting train from Friedrichshafen to Lindau. As usual with the language barrier we had, it was a challenge for us to find the DB station to transit. Fearing that we'd missed our train, we started to look around for help. Luckily there's a German with the name of Uma who was on her way back to the hotel, which happens to be located nearby DB, she kindly led us through. She brought her dog along, looked small but was already 10 years old. Her English was quite good and we get to know that she's in Konstanz for 2 weeks. "hm...if only I have that much leaves every year".

We were able to catch the train on time, thanks to the help of Uma for her direction. We transferred train at Lindau. 20 mins later, we reached Hergatz and transferred to an SEV back to Immenstadt. While on the bus, we asked a kind soldier for help to book a taxi for us. We wrote the instructions down on a piece of paper with the help of a phrase book, so that he would understand. Throughout the journey, we were both exhausted that we fell dead in our sleep until that same young man woke us up. I think we will keep sleeping in the bus if not for him. The taxi was already there waiting for us, drove us back to our resort. Not to mention, the lady driver drove so fast & furious.

At 11pm, we finally reached our cozy resort. Had a bowl of curry noodle each before preparing for bed. My back ache was too severe I had to salonplass on my back.

Very well satisfying trip we had on Day 4. However, the only regret is that we only have enough time for a hint of Lindau city's fountain. How we wish on of our lakes in Malaysia can be as developed. I noticed that dogs are allowed everywhere, even in public places like trains, parks and streets. How I wish Yang Yang can be brought out the streets like them here.

>>>>>>More photos of Day4 click HERE>>>>>>

Walking 3 hours on torn boots

Having waked up early in the morning; we took a stroll around the resort. The morning mist makes the mountains so beautiful we started taking pictures of the surroundings. After getting ready for Stuggart, we found one huge problem, there was no taxi service. Tried to call a few numbers, but because it’s a Sunday, I thought no one was working.


Beautiful Immenstadt Landscape


What will today be like
What to do? I took out a map from the Resort Directory that showed us the direction to the station. Tossing a coin, we both agreed to walk instead of wasting such a wonderful day staying indoors. According to the map, the trip will only take around 1 hour max. But after walking out of the map, we still see no sign of urbanization. I started to try thumb lifting, but the cars just flew pass. It’s too late to walk back to the resort, and Irene told me that her boots was about to torn. “What better time can the shoes fail on us?”


Boots totally torn

We failed to catch the earlier train to Stuggart, so we called up Cirnelle letting her know about our situation. At the same time, we continued walking until at one instant, the shoe Irene’s wearing came split into half. “What kinda workmanship is that?” Cost down had shown its problem at the most critical moment. For the next 2 hours, we walked through farms and grasslands until finally we saw some people in the mirror lake.

The incident might have shocked Irene so much that she started singing and dancing while walking. It’s our 5-year anniversary, what was it that we did wrong to deserve such a punishment? Couldn’t I just give my girlfriend a better treatment? And we continued walking until at one time, Irene decided to take off her shoes and walk bare footed on the cold pavement. Crazy as it might sound; it’s faster to bare footed then to walk with a pair of torn boots.

Finally after 3~4 hours of walking (we lost count), we managed to reach the station at noon. Immediately we sat down at Doners Kebab stall to rest. The chicken burger and beer that we put into our stomach after 14 kilometers of walking taste extremely good. We’ve made it!!! Next year we can compete in the Penang Bridge full marathon.

We took the 1240 train to meet up with Kelvin (Cirnelle’s lollypop) @ Ulm. We felt embarrassed letting him wait for us at the train station all morning. Instead of getting angry, he sat there dressed to kill, reading up his favorite issue of Readers Digest. He gave us a warm welcome and handed me ½ a dozen of donuts he bought for us worry that we might be hungry. I for sure will never think so far for Irene’s friends, not even my own for that matter.

>>>>>> Click for More Day 3 Photos >>>>>>

Meeting up with Kelvin and Cirnelle


From left: Me, Irene, Cirnelle, Kelvin

Since we bought a weekend ticket (Wochenende), we paid €33 for a ticket that I can share among 5 friends. And as Kelvin met up with another Malaysian, we split out the ticket that saves us €15. With 3 guys in the group, naturally we talked about engineering, and I started to think about furthering my studies in Germany one day. I also got to know that these people are sensitive to the issues back home despite being ½ way around the globe

As we reached Stuttgart, Cirnelle immediately hopped on to Irene giving her a warm friendly hug with a pint of concern that we had been traveling so far. As I showed them Irene torn shoes, everyone couldn’t believe the experience that we’d been through this morning. Cirnelle brought out a pair extra shoes for Irene to wear. After getting her feet warm again, Irene slowly gained back her conscious. Parting with K’s friend, the couple (K&C) brought us around Stuttgart main roads. Like any other place in Germany, people are enjoying themselves under the sun, reading a book, or having a beer while enjoying the rays.


Stuttgart's Ice Cream, Yay~


K&C doing their thing


Yours Truely preparing for the foto


Look-see Look-see on the city

It was still too early for dinner after we finished covering the terrains. So K&C suggested that we sat down and chatted over a glass of beer at a nearby pub. No one drinks mineral water as beers are of the same price (alcoholic or otherwise). I learnt a bit about Nokia from K while Irene caught up with C.

>>>>>> Click for More Day 3 Photos >>>>>>

Spanish Dinner in Deutsch land

For dinner, Cirnelle treated us to a Spanish restaurant Enchilada (its funny how we get the name again). Irene ordered a glass of tomato juice, and for the Spanish, they takes it with a few drips of Tabasco sauce and a pinch of black pepper. She liked it so much she asked me to remind her to buy more tomato juice once we land back on Malaysian soil. For the main course, we had various type of pasta, some with rice fillings while others had meat and vege. All of us had a great time teasing and laughing. The environment was unique, but I couldn’t say the same with their cocktail. We ordered a Devil’s Tail to share around the table…all I can say is that it tasted like – medical syrup.


The lovely waitress that serves us


Our meal


One for the album


Devil's tail taking effect

Bid farewell with both K&C after dinner. Worrying about getting home, we booked a taxi over the phone. Once we reached the station, the taxi was already there waiting for us. Our body was all tired, sticking Salonplas all over our body before resting comfortably in bed.


>>>>>> Click for More Day 3 Photos >>>>>>

Labels: Travel

Sunrise from our bedroom
Not affected by the jet lag, Irene’s biological clock rang on the dot. We had a luxurious breakfast with an assortment of cheese, pastries, and bread loaf. After checked out from the room, we went down to the platz again, grabbed a €1 ice cream along the way to visit the Michaels and Frauen Churches. The NeuesRathaus was under construction so we didn’t manage to catch its show.


Heavy breakfast with cheese and hams


In one of their churches

Celebration in Town
As the city is celebrating Octoberfest in a grand manner, they have parades running through the streets every 30 minutes or so. The band is dressed in their bavarian costumes while horses carry the people around in carraiges. Even the public wear those costumes walking around the town. Planned to buy one but it just cost too much.


Band marching out


Horse carraige

>>>>>>More photos of Day2 click HERE>>>>>>

We climbed up >300 steps to get a panoramic view of Munich town from St Peter’s Tower. The climb is tiring, but the satisfaction we get once reaching up there is priceless. We then walked north going through Max Joseph Platz where we could see the magnificent architecture of National Theatre. Took a turn into the Hofgarden in Odeonplatz where people were playing music in public.


The fleet of stairs we climb


View from the top

>>>>>>More photos of Day2 click HERE>>>>>>

Europeans really appreciate the sunshine, we can see them relaxing on the grass, and walking briskly along the pathways. When tired, they just sit down on one of the many shops that serve a variety of beers. We took a walk in the English Garden, one of the largest reserved greenery in this metropolitan. In Germany, they bring their dogs out with them wherever they go, unlike in Malaysia. It reminded us of our own Yang2, very pity him, as all the parks don’t allow dogs to go in.


Enjoying the sun like what the Germans do


Ducks in English Garden

Before leaving Munich, we found a place and ordered a sandwich and beer. Noticed that everyone was seated in a way where they faced the same direction looking straight on the sun instead of chatting among themselves. It was getting quite late, and we called up the resort to inform them. What I got to know was that the receptions do not operate 24 hours due to cost saving.


Train station leaving for Immenstadt

>>>>>>More photos of Day2 click HERE>>>>>>

Cold Scary Night
By the time we reached Immenstadt Bahnhof, the place was cold and dark. Unlike a busy town like Munich, we could hardly find any cars on the road. Without a map, we were totally lost. The locals were not speaking any English, and we were struggling to ask them for help. Finally, with some luck, one of the taxi driver asked us to wait for 10 minutes and he’d come back and pick us up.

10 minutes we waited, 15, and then later 20. We were left in the train station with an old couple and a few customers getting their dinner from the local kebab stall. It was cold and our tummy started to growl and we didn’t know either to wait or to walk. Thank God we chose to wait. The taxi came back to pick us up as we were about to give up. 4 of us hopped into the taxi and it sped out. The old lady that’s commuting with us is quite friendly, trying to ask us this and that. But she only speaks GERMAN!!! Both of us tried hard to understand and forced out a gleeful smile. After leaving the couple back at their warm cozy house, the taxi turned over and took us to our resort.

Unlike the Protons we have in Malaysia, taxis here are either VW or Benz. Throughout the 20-minute journey, the car sped at 100kmh even at the corners. Unlike popular believe, the car did not make a sound; the tires gripped the tarred road firmly. Germans are one of the best in engineering, and they ain’t bad in designing their car as well.

As we reached, the reception was closed. We took out the key from the locker according to the instructions I received over the phone (high tech hor~). Finding our room was also a problem, without a location map in the dark. The experience was like finding a needle in a hay sack at night. Finally, after half an hour of searching, we managed to open the door into our cozy apartment.

After a dramatic day, the best way to award ourselves for making it is not to go out and dine. But, to boil a cup of hot mocha, and cook 2 packets of instant noodles.

Before bed, we called up Cirnelle, yet she was reluctant to meet us up as she had other plans in hand. Luckily after tones of persuasion, phone calls and SMSes, she finally agreed to meet us up in Stuggart.

When I was young, my parents only brought me to SEA countries; they wanted me to earn my own money to travel west. Now, after working for 15 months, I’ve saved enough to pay for my own flight tickets and a little extra money to spend for our 5-year anniversary in Germany. We both decided to go Germany in conjunction with their Oktoberfest, one of the most celebrated events of the year in Munich.

We traveled to Munich via Bangkok by Thai Airways. People used to complain about “plain” food on board, but we really doubted that…. They served seafood and omelets for breakfast, roast pork with rice for lunch, and pork with noodles again for dinner. While flying over Afghanistan, we looked down at a terrain we only used to see from Google maps – red soil all over with very little clouds. “Oh…so that’s how desserts look like.”


Picture happy in a crowded plane


Transit @ Bangkok AirportCute dog we saw on train
With no prior bookings, we were left stranded without any accommodation for the evening. The information counters were clueless and some of them already had their blinds down. After hours of asking and trying, we managed to get to Munich’s Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station). Both of us were clueless, but I couldn’t just let Irene sleeps on the streets again like how we did when we dated for the 1st time in Johor Bahru 5 years ago.



The 3-star hotel we stayed in.
After enquiring a few hotels, we managed to find a hotel opposite the Hbf that quoted us €122 (RM 590) inclusive of breakfast. Anything sounded reasonable for 2 people who had been on the plane all day, and was hunger for a proper bed to lie down. Good thing was that it’s walking distance from the train station – their main means of transportation. After leaving our things in the room, we went back to the Hbf for a bite. Like dad says, the water is more expensive than beer. One shop asks €2 from me just for a cup of hot water. Siao~! So we had to go for beer instead of mineral water.

In the evening, we took a walk to Karlplatz and Marienplatz. While taking pictures of their unique buildings, the locals showed us with their friendliness by coming into the picture. There were a few instances that they just came over and hugged us, even our close friends never do the same to us in Malaysia. Yet, we were also alert about security and kept our valuables close to us – you can never be over precautious. We went back after midnight as we had a long week ahead of us.



Outside Karlplatz



Irene with a random Italian



The lady hugs me so tighly in her arms



People partying in odd vehicle middle of the Night

14 hours left in my clock before I'll be departing for Munich en route Bangkok. So far our preparation is minimal, a lot of last minute changes for me and Irene. Luckily most of the items in office already assigned to respective members from various departments, leftovers need to wait for me to come back and support.

Things we have yet to do:

1. contact yiling letting her know exactly when she's going to expect us
2. what the hell happen to may cheong??? is she gonna follow us or what?
3. finish packing our things into the bag...so much to take!!!
4. recharging my batteries
5. Forex - haven't get enough Euro

Aih~tonight she has to go train ppl dancing pulak, can we ever sleep tonight? Maybe I can get one of those pills the bus drives took to drive all day on the North-South Expressway.

Labels: Travel

Whenever you want to jot down some notes, scribble some ideas or plot a chart to explain a cost reduction project for your company, what do you do? You turn on your monitor, and start looking for Microsoft Words, Excel or PowerPoint. But, is that THE ONLY option we have? For 90% of computer users, the answer is Yes, Of Course, Definitely. The other 9% of people would say OpenOffice is better? It's free, and enhanceable.

Today, I would like to introduce you another competitor for the OfficeSuite - IBM's own Lotus Symphony. It's free, it doesn't run on Java (Slows down computer) and it open documents in tabs, has ODT support and a lot of nice feats. I'll love to port it into Ubuntu (my fav desktop OS) so that the community might have more choices to use.

From installation till my 1st trial, everything is quite smooth, no hiccups detected so far despite being a beta.(not like Safari's web browser that I file a bug 3 hours after it's launch. So, why wait when you can get the better, most updated(17th Sept '07) and free Office Suite which you can install in unlimited number of computers, and not to worry about licensing as it is GPL/OpenBSD (correct me if i'm wrong).

For FAQs and Installation Guide visit [IBM Lotus Symphony]

p/s: OpenOffice 2.3 has just released as we are speaking, grab it now and be the first to brag about it.

Labels: Tech, Work

I used to think that it is a no-no for a person to deliver the same speech twice in his life – EVER! It's like using the same word twice in a sentence. It would be disrespect to the audience, and the speaker will tend to slack down. But I’m wrong.

After delivering my first speech on Tuesday, I received so much good comments that I don’t know how to deliver something better in such a short time (Saturday). I don’t have enough time to prepare for another topic, and yet I don’t want to bore my listeners with the same speech. I consult my club president, and he just tell me, “Don’t worry, you are speaking to a different group of people, just treat it as another speech”.

And he’s right, when I get my FUD away (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt), I sat down, read through all the comments given to me on Tuesday, and modify the script again, adding in more vocal varieties and gestures. When I presented on Saturday, I can really feel it that I actually improved a lot. Even though there are pauses and jerks, but the difference is quite significant.

Yesterday, I agreed to do an assignment for our Club meeting. But I didn’t have enough time to prepare the script that my speech went hay-wired. I tried to pull out, but there are just not enough speakers as other members chicken out the last minute. So, I have to do it. The points are there, but the way I delivered it is like putting in the wrong ingredients into the soup at the wrong time. I can’t forgive myself despite the fact that the evaluator has passed me.

I can’t sleep properly and today I decided to look back at the script and write everything over again. Instead of moving on to the next project, I’ll really like to redo the same assignment with a totally different way of delivery.

Lesson learn:

1. Despite having hundreds of articles on the same topic all over the world, we have to customize our speech to suit the needs of our listeners.
2. Delivering the message twice is never wrong. Just be sure that your next delivery is better than the previous one.

Hopefully this will be the last time I regret delivering a bad speech. In the future, I will make sure I prepare well before agree to present on stage (unless it’s the Table Topics session).

Labels: Toastmasters

Being a Toastmasters member allows one to improve both a person's communication and leadership skills. It's not just paying up the membership fees that one will automatically gain both of that. We have to earn those skills through practice, and practice naturally takes time.

The reason behind my lack of posting is because of the recent "Speech Contest" season. This time around, all TM Clubs are having their Humorous and Evaluation Contests. These are 2 separate contests....one is to make the audience laugh for 5 ~ 7 minutes, while the other is to try Evaluating someone else without humiliating them.

As I wasn't prepared to be competing, I volunteered to organize the event for my club. It's a win-win situation for me, as:-
1) I've done the same role before last February, hence all the materials are with me
2) I wanted to be evaluated for my Leadership manual
3) Someone needs to take up that role so that other members can join the competition

The program went on smoothly, and I did managed to found some hidden talents some "non-active" members have. Also, having help from other clubs does help at the very last minute. So, as they helped me complete one of my Leadership assignments, I return the favour twice by being a test speaker TWICE in the same week. Huh? Test speakers are the "scape goat" for the Evaluating Contestants to compete on...see who gives the best evaluation.

So that's the Assignment 6 of my Competent communicator manual. Despite receiving a lot of positive feedbacks...being evaluated by 10 people who I hardly hear from is some pressure. So I rested for a few weeks until I receive the video of me speaking in Vistana. I did so badly as compared to other speakers....there's still a long way for me to improve myself before I can actually be speaking in front of an audience who's actually paying to hear me speak. Let's see how long I'll take to achieve that.

Status: Completed helping up in Area contests. Surprisingly both contestants from my club managed to win the Area contest and training hard for the Division level. Can't wait to see them SOAR in the coming contest next month.

Labels: Toastmasters