Hostel culture

I just checked in again to Wombat's hostel here in Vienna. Originally I was staying with a couchsurfer Peter who graciously took me in on a last minute request. But scheduling was always weird because I would want to stay out late sometimes to hangout with friends or go to a party.

The first night I got in I met up with my friend Min Kyung again and his girlfriend Carmen. I also met up with a friend from my FLC mentoring university days - Aileen. It was such a coincidence since I didn't even know she was in the city. My checkin on facebook takes all the credit of the reunion. Finally a good use for facebook. It was great to reconnect with Aileen again, and we caught up on what all the FLC people were doing nowadays.

The second night I went to a couchsurfing party at a hostel. I had a great time at the party. There was a foosball table and I met a Brazillian guy Thiago who is working in Ireland right now. We had an international rivalry with an Austrian team. The score was tied 10-10. Finally the Austrians cracked and gave up two game clenching goals. With our secured victory we talked throughout the night and mingled with lots of people. I decided to check into the hostel for one night. But after checking out the sights again today in the morning and meeting more cool people I decided to stay one extra night.

Originally I was going to head to Rome for my new years but after checking out the hostel prices and meeting the cool Brazilians I think my plans might be changed. I am going to head to Budapest for new years and hangout again with my new friends.

Peace from Wombat Hostel in Vienna.

Segway to fun

The best way to see the city? Segway hands down. I met two Canadian guys here both from Quebec and we went to the old city just to wander around today. I used my asian skills and haggled a segway down from $60->$35 for one hour. I think I could have probably gotten away with $25 but the other guys didn't really want to haggle that much. Anyways it was the best thing ever! We zipped around the town for more than our alloted time cause the guide was pretty cool and allowed us :D In addition to the segway tour we also saw some buskers doing an impossible magic trick -> its hard to describe so I will upload the picture later. It was pretty amazing.

Yesterday I went on a walking tour offered by the hostel and it was great. The tour really gave you a detailed history and story behind buildings and architecture. After the tour I just wandered around the castle and saw some more stuff. The architecture of old Prague is the most interesting and complete ones I have seen in Europe so far. Built in either the Gothic or Baroque style, the high ceilings and intricate designs can really swallow your attention.

While wandering around I saw a bunch of people gathered with their candles ontop of a hill near the Petra Tower. It turns out they were there for a Geocaching event. Geocaching is like a global scavenger hunt, people hide their treasures of everyday knick knacks in boxes and containers all around the world then post the coordinates and clues for people to solve and find. I had done some before in Canada and had a good chat with the host of the event. She gave me a token for the event which I can drop off at another place for Geocaching in the future. #Technology yo 

Good news of the day is that I got a last minute couch for Vienna tomorrow. My friend Min Kyung is going to be there with his girlfriend as well, and maybe one more friend from Korea as well. So it looks like I will be spending Christmas night in Vienna.

Peace from Prague.

Some sort of Czech sweet bread

Lord Voldermort

Geo caching organizer

Random Geocaching thing I found at the top of the hill

Petra Tower (looks like tiny Eiffel Tower)

Segways are the shits

Geocaching token I got from the event

Hitch Hiker's Guide to Prague

Step 1: Find awesome couch surfer who will hitch hike together with you
Step 2: Make hitch hiking signs using pen and paper
Step 3: Utilize your thumb in a pointing fashion
Step 4: Get picked up by a BMW and Audi
Step 5: Profit???!?!?!?

So I did my first hitch hiking ever here in Berlin. I stayed over at Tanya my couch surfing host for my last night in Berlin. Tanya is a fashion designer here in Berlin. She posted on couchsurfing website about traveling to Prague and since I was going there too we got into contact. Her home was just simply amazing and provided me with a sense of calmness as soon as I walked in. You can tell she is a very motivated and organized person as soon as you meet her. Having quit her stable job in states, Tanya is now working in Berlin pursuing her dream. I had mentioned about hitch hiking over the phone before I met her and without hesitation she said yes.

In the morning we headed out to the outer edge of Berlin and did our special hitch hiking dance on the side of the on ramp to Dresden/Prague. We had no luck for the first 20 minutes of so. But people were really responsive and looking at our signs and giving us a smile even if they couldn't pick us up. This was definitely a good sign! I was also just being silly in general to try to grab people's attention while Tanya held the sign which I think also helped.

Around the 25 minute time, we got a smile from a really kind looking man in a BMW. Just acting on my instinct I asked him where he was going and luckily for us it was pretty close to Dresden which is a city in between Prague and Berlin. So he told us to hop on. We had AMAZING conversations in the car and Markus who is a photographer from Berlin. Markus even went out of his way to drop us off at a rest stop in Dresden. But this was traveling in style. We couldn't believe our luck.

Right after we got dropped off, not even 5 minutes has passed I asked a cool looking guy having a cig outside the rest stop if he spoke English: "sprechen Sie Englisch?" He did and he was going to Prague too! He quickly consulted his girlfriend and told us to hop on! Such good luck! So with that we got to Prague in one piece from our first hitch hiking experience. This time in an Audi A4 - it wasn't as nice as the BMW but hey still sweet :D I gotta say it was pretty awesome! 

Wherever you are Markus and the mystery couple thank you so much for making our journey amazing! 

Tanya, Marcus and I

Ballin ride

Add caption

Peace from Prague.

TRAP Berlin!

If you go to a very unassuming cafe in the upper east side of Berlin you will find the most amazing hidden gem in Berlin. TRAP Berlin!

Modeled after a Hungarian concept, TRAP Berlin is a small room in the back of the cafe. When you enter you are greeted by your guide. Everything seems very low key. From the small room to the military grade boxes placed throughout the room. You have no idea what is about to happen. But that is all part of the charm.

So what exactly is TRAP Berlin? It is the number three ranked activities to do on Tripadviser for Berlin. I think that is a gross misrepresentation because it should be number one! There is a bomb in one of the boxes and, you are in a race against the clock. There are clubs placed throughout the room and you have to coordinate with your team and use your lateral thinking skills to solve the puzzles and defuse the bomb! It is easily the best 10 Euro I have ever spent for entertainment in Berlin.

http://www.trapberlin.com/#!location/c21nl

The Entrance to TRAP Berlin!

Our team with some of the clues that were part of the game. Unfortunately we can't take pictures of the room because it would be very easy to replicate.

After a long night of partying. Aww Denny!

Peace from Berlin.

Berlin the 48Hr city

This city never seems to sleep or its inhabitants for that matter.

Soon after arrival I quickly found my couchsurfers Zuzanna and her boyfriend Denny. Zuzanna is was a maid at a hotel saving for her dream of going to Mexico. Denny is a programmer. They have hitch hiked all across Europe and had so many interesting stories to share. In a way I guess you could say they are couchsurfing legends. From sketchy road side pickups to cool people giving them money in Venice. There never is a dull moment with these two. And they cook the best damn cabbage soup I have ever had.

I had written on my couch surfing request that I was going to make them breakfast and they reciprocated with making dinner for me - cabbage soup. Quick what is the first thing that you think of when I say cabbage soup? For me it was Tiny Tim from a Christmas carol all sad and stuff. So I didn't have high expectations. But when I had it for the first time I was like - FUCK YEA! Give me another bowl of this shit! It was honestly the best soup I have ever had. And it was so easy to make.

So the first day they took me to see the Bunderstag which is the parlimentary building with an awesome glass dome where you can see a nice view of Berlin. But you had to reserve it so we went to get some drinks and between rounds simply lost the time and missed our appointment. But it was good nontheless for the first day.

Second day I got in contact with my friend Isabelle who was also my roommate in Thailand when we trained Muay Thai together. Isabelle is an artist from UK who won an awesome grant and decided to live in Berlin. We caught up on each others lives and checked out some of her favorite places in Berlin which she dubbed: "Mystery Bike Tour". My favorite was just riding the bike around town cause I love biking so much and Berlin is almost completely flat and has a pretty good bike pathways all throughout the city. I tried something called the Club Mate which is a kind of soda which you can only find in Germany. It was interesting, but they say the first time you don't like it, second time it is kind of getting better and third time you are addicted. We went around the city and saw the Berlin wall, the monuments of fallen Russian soldiers and a really sketchy park where people sell you weed. "Hey - want some weed?" Haha it was sketchy but funny too, so I guess it would be a funny sketch. :D I will show myself out.

Third day I checked out the parliament building again and actually made my appointment. I also checked out the Topography of Terror an exhibit on the atrocities committed by the Nazis in the second world war. In the evening I walked around check point charlie which was one of the checkpoints for access between East and West Germany during the Cold War era. 

Night time in Berlin has it's special charm. From dinner parties at a Wikitravel event to Spiegel crawls we were out every night. The party doesn't start until 2am and can continue till the next day. My body simply couldn't take it after a couple hard nights of partying and waking up early. The last night we got home at 4am after stumbling our way across the subway haha.

Peace from Berlin - the 48Hr city.

Hotdog man hotdog man!

Zuzanna and Denny

Isabelle and I

Isabelle and her bike

Me and my awesome bike

A Germany only soda

Great lamb plate at a Kebab place

Part of the East side gallery

Something

Brandenburger Tor (gate)

Deutschland

Holocaust memorial center

This guy didn't salute! Balls of steel

Remains of the Berlin wall

Checkpoint Charlie

Goodbye Frankfurt (Berlin bound)

"Let's go out for a drink." The start of our night began with this line.

I had stayed home all day to catch up on some much needed rest. I has fixed my computer the night before by running the automated disk repair tool. So with my  newly ressurected POS I contacted couchsurfers in Berlin and Prague - my next destinations. I got good news very soon. Zuzzana a couch host in Berlin was going to host me for the next three days. 

Since it was my last night in Frankfurt Min and I went to a meetup party in the university area. I got to try some more local brews. I also met some cool people like Derek and Simon.

Derek is a patent attorney from US working for a chemical company. He explained to me the history of patents, the difference between design and utility patents. It actually doesn't sound that cool when I write it down but it was really interesting. Like did you know - design patents were first started in the 1800 and was first used for a textile company. Well now you do!

Simon is a PHD student from Ghanna studying political science. His field looks at how we can help people with special needs in a case of natural disaster. We had a really great conversation about the Geo political situation and educated each other on our countries histories. Ghanna won independence about 50 years ago and is the model of most African countries when it comes to democracy and industrialization. We had such a great connection that Simon offered to host me if I ever visits Ghanna! Sweet Africa 2014 :D

Simon & I

 

Me and Derek

Peace from the ICE bound for Berlin

Heidleberg and new friends

Heidleberg is a town close to Frankfurt renowned for its old town and ruin castle. As soon as I arrived into town I met someone. Huang Yali is a PHD student studying in Edinsbourough university. Originally from China in the south we spoke Chinese the whole day and it was quite taxing on my brain expecially since we talked mostly about philosophy and the moral issues.

Heidleberg has an old area of town which is very touristy and that is where we started our day. It actually reminds me of a bigger version of Quebec city. But the warm weather quickly snapped me out of that delusion. Heidleberg has this famous walkway on one side of the river called Philosopher's walk, it has a stunning vista of the castle and was quite apt for our conversation topic. 

Later that night I met up with Minkyung after work and we went to a local meetup for expats that Minkyung has been going to. We talked to a really cool couple Malili and Thilak who were there with their German friend Monica. Mahlili is working for a 3 month exchange for a telecom company that is owned by T-mobile which has a big foothold here in Germany. Thilak works for a Danish company and is living the dream by working from home and thus anywhere in the world. Originally from Malaysia they could not get used to the cold here in Frankfurt. I really loved talking to them and hearing their story and they were great listeners. Just before we parted for the night they told me anytime I am ever in Malaysia I can come visit. I might just take them up on that offer one day! 

So warm

This is actually a monkey statue but it kind of looks like a gladiator with me in it no? :D

My new friend Yali and I ontop of the philosophers walk discussing life's great questions like -> where is the nearest washroom?

Cool graffiti in German subway station

Monica, Malili, Thilak and Min Kyung

Peace from Frankfurt.