Guess the bit I hate most about intercontinental travel is jet lag. It hits me pretty bad, unlike boss who can be back on schedule the next day. Hrmph. He's a robot, I say... I generally have trouble shutting down at night and starting up in the day... cheez. Being exhausted and dehydrated and cramped on a KLM seat don't help, either...
Arrived in Stockholm last Sunday morning and took the Arlanda Express to town, as advised. Checked in to the hotel, but my room wasn't ready yet. So I asked if I could shower somewhere and was shown to the spa. Went downstairs to the sauna bathroom and found the smallest pool ever! At 5m x 5m it could have been a wading pool or something. Took a swim anyway until I got pening from turning around so often. Heh! Shower was reminiscent of the TKC shower stalls - no doors, curtains only. Chee... lucky the place was deserted!
Once I freshened up, left my stuff at the hotel and went a wandering. They gave me a map and directions and off I went to Gamla Stan (Old Town) to look see look see. The weather was nice at 14C. Got gazillions of photos of the fabulous old buildings
and interesting plants, plus a few birds. The photo above shows one
of the bridge entrances to the town which is located on an island. The town is full of quaint shops, chocolate boutiques, restaurants, souvenir shops, whatever. It's lovely! Took my time strolling the streets and eventually went to the pier to catch a boat over to the Vasa Museum.
The public boat was a convenient way to cross the lake to the other island where the Vasa ship Museum was located. It houses reconstructed parts of an ancient Viking vessel and its treasures. I was too reluctant to pay the 80 SEK (eq to RM40) entrance fee and ended up in the free Museum nearby. It was interesting, with stuff like fashion trends and old doll houses on display. But the thing that amazed me most was....
...the toilets and locker room!! It was the coolest thing I had ever seen :D Afterwards crossed the street to the park opposite and watched some mandarin ducks
swim about. It was lovely just to be outside. Much later, I took a bus back to the hotel. Room was ready and I gratefully settled in for the night.
The next day, I visited the mosque before going to a new development which was supposed to be very sustainable and environment friendly. Got lost and stumbled across a bank of recycling bins. Cool stuff, for people like me, at least... Got to Hammarsby Sjostad at abt one and had a nice chat with Josefine, the girl in charge there and later walked around the area. It was a very nice development. Also liked their very efficient public transport system.
Tuesday and Wednesday were conference days. I found it to be not too interesting. Maybe not enough new things or experiences, perhaps. Flew out to Netherlands Wednesday night itself. Stayed over at Oshani's place and took the train to Nix's place in Sittard in the morning.
Nix is a very, very old friend from our primary school days. She's in the middle with her kids Maryam and Zacharia here. Yup, that's my other Zach :D We also refer to them as Yami and Adik. Just spent the day hanging around the house with a brief excursion to the store in the evening. Found it colder here than in Stockholm although thermometer shows 18.5 C. Must be the continental effect.
The next day went shopping for foodstuff in Germany which was actually 10 minutes drive away. Then we went in the other direction to Belgium to look at clothes. Didn't buy anything, just enjoyed the view and the outing. Too soon, we had to head home and pack my bag. Seems someone's mulut is masin 'coz i brought back almost as much as I took there...
Left at 4.00 to catch the 4.16 pm train to Schiphol. Alas, I kena again with the Dutch train problems. Dah la all announcements were in Dutch... Mujur almost everyone spoke English. Terpaksalah tanya diorang every time an announcement is made. This time, we had to take a bus between the 2nd and 3rd stations. Nasib baik the driver saved me a seat. maybe I looked like I was ready to do battle kot... Heh! Then I had to change trains in Utrecht instead of Eindhoven as scheduled. The worst bit was lugging my heavy bags up and down platforms and trains since there were few lifts and escalators available. While fasting, I might add...
Got to Schiphol airport a little late, and again had to carry my bags long distances in the airport itself. Grrr... Could not check in using the machines and had to wait a long time for the guys before me to get sorted out. It was the usual routine with security checks and stuff before boarding. Flight was largely boring since I sat between an Ozzie who might be a little hard of hearing and a Norwegian who did not seem to notice I existed. Chee... Prefer the nice Indon guy I sat next to on the flight out. In any case, KLM seats are cramped. My buka puasa meal and sahur was one and the same due to the time factor. I didn't have much to drink and had a hard time fasting in the mega-dry cabin air. Almost 12 hours in a darkened cabin and hardly moving is not my idea of fun!
Finally arrived in Malaysia and eagerly awaited my luggage at the carousel, only to discover that it had been left behind in NL!!! AAAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!! B****y Dutch!! Dah la I terforgot to move my house keys to my daypack... Adoi... Had no choice but to report the missing luggage and ask Abang to pick me up coz he had a spare key. Ended up lepaking at Abang's house sampai malam. Conked out the moment my head touched the pillow and woke up at noon the next day still quite exhausted. A nice massage would have been great, if I knew where to get one.
Spent Sunday at home waiting for my overdue bag. By the time it arrived in the afternoon, the fruits had spoilt and the cheeses were soft. All my clothes were stained with berry juice and smelled funny... Ended up with more washing than I liked, but had no choice there.
So there you go... 2 extra days recovering from my "ordeal". Sigh. Hope to be back on schedule by tomorrow... Should go now. Ciao!!
