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Frequency

Sightseeing in Florence day 4: meeting Kate in Rome, skip Tuscany sky for a bit, moving on to Eternal City. Was on the way to train station when the sun rises at 07:35 AM, finally I see the daylight!

What a coincidence that her flight from Russia landed Rome during my stay in Florence, the train distance is only 1,5 hours, our half day in Rome planned 🙂

Kate really understand the ultimate point, this is what I’m talking! People who knows how to take pictures and how to do a boot camp whilst travelling! We are in the same frequency! Rome wasn’t built in a day, but with her plan, we’ll try to see it all hahaha

If you haven’t been to Rome, it’s a must as in M.U.S.T! It’s where every street feels like a storybook. I am fortunate I was with her, she never gets annoyed at my comment “oh, what’s that?” her responses were always “let’s go closer, make picture there”, it could be very south if I go with other people. That’s my girllll!!!! you got me and you got me good 🙂

Trace back our more than 20K steps:

What else other than….. Trevi fountain! oh hello Baustelle Julius informed me about the upcoming events, jubilees ~ the holy year in 2025, caused Rome under numerous construction and restoration projects. This is the Trevi Fountain without any water guys, nevertheless you can’t take away the beauty of it. I asked her to take picture of only building, she was… you could also do it, then she got my point “you asked me because i’m taller?” yessss! if I do the picture I will get the fence only haha

Next on our list is Pantheon Rome, while walking I found an interesting Pillars, undoubtedly she is ready with her camera + squat position. I like my first photos, she replied let’s do it one more time until I like it. #That’s the spirit!

I went in to one of ancient Roman buildings, renowned for its massive domed ceiling. With the oculus – about 9 meters diameter, it allows natural light to illuminate the interior. It has symbolic meaning which represents the connection between the temple and the heavens. Wooooo amazing hey!

The outside view of Pantheon equally astounding. You can feel this building does have history! beckoning you to come inside, you will bow to.

We walked passed two historic landmarks ~ under constructions too haha church Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza: a church symbolizing wisdom and learning with famous spiral-shaped lantern; Piazza Navona: an ancient stadium turned into a square with three Baroque fountains ~ Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, Fontana del Moro and Fontana del Nettuno.

I did zero research about Rome, I just went there because of meeting Kate. We stopped seeing the view at on of the Ponte until I questioned something…..

  • Kate…. that building… is it where Angel & Demons movie takes place?
  • I don’t watch the movie but it’s Vatican
  • Are we going there?
  • Yes we can go to the border, you can see from outside. Vatican is in Rome.

I AM GOING TO VATICAN CITY!!!! #Beyond believe.

Still on the journey to Vatican 😉 another landmarks show up: Castel Sant’Angelo / Castle of the Holy Angel which has serve a lot of function since it was built 2000 years ago from mausoleum, military fortress, papal residence, prison and now it’s a museum.

In front of the Vatican ~ still under Rome jurisdiction, there is Piazza Pio XII, a public space before entering the sacred boundaries of Vatican City. Kate took sooooo many picture until I got the IT picture.

In the end asked Sissy to removed all of people in the background mwahaha, my fav is the Air Jordan style 🙂 What do you think?

Stepping on at Piazza San Pietro / St. Peter’s Square which is one of the most famous squares in the world, located in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City! Let me repeat: I am LITERALLY ON THE GROUND OF VATICAN CITY!!! The place where Papa Francesco holds Mass! Felt a rush of emotions words barely capture, realizing how lucky I was to be here. The place I’d only seen in “Angels & Demons” was now right before me, it was no longer just part of a movie, rather a vivid reality, a tangible experience, one I could see, feel and remember forever. In some way, I was in a sense of disbelief realizing I was truly here. #Lost of words.

I remember when I was 16 years old in Bandung, my housemate, she is a Catholic, she was very very proud ~ borderline arrogant way saying “I’m going to Vatican” I was just listened. 17 years later, here I am, witnessing this majestic building. Never have I ever thought I would be able to be present at this awe-inspiring square.

I managed to put one feet on Vatican + one in Rome hahaha I promised myself I will come back to both Rome and Vatican, do the research so I can be inside! #Me want! One more thing to look forward too.

This dazzling experience leads me to hungrrryyyyyy we just eat somewhere, pasta in Italy = never wrong. We enjoyed the view of what we have accomplished so far from Janiculum Hill, we have walked quite a bit heyyyy! At Trastevere we could see Zara’s national war hero haha.

It’s not finised yet people, we still have got some hours before our trains departs 🙂 Kate took a silhouette picture of me inside the Church of Our Lady of Consolation near the Forum Romanum / Roman Forum a.k.a Ruins. Although the Forum now is archaeological site, back then it served as the political, social, economic and religious center of ancient Rome; lived beyond the Imperial Era of Augustus, Vespasian and Trajan.

It is forbidden to miss the most iconic symbols of ancient Rome and a masterpiece of engineering and architecture: The Colosseum we are saving the best for the last 🙂 we were talking the fact that it was a gladiator contest places, however at that time it wasn’t consider inhumane. There is no time to go inside, we just saw it from the hill.

Let me correct it, the Gelato is the best for the last! We were separated after this on Rome train station 🙂

Kate, it’s been five years, at the same time it felt like no time had passed at all, we were picking up exactly where we left off. Thank you not only for our tour in Rome, for the real conversations we had, and for being the friend I can reconnect with, no matter the years in between. I wish you all the best as you settle into this amazing chapter of life in Italy! Buona Fortuna!

‘Till we meet again 🙂

Tips: buy the ticket of Pantheon online to save some time waiting in line for ticket office. I bought the entrance on 13:00 and get in at 11:00. We asked them, she said OK, they didn’t really control the time. It cost 5 Euro but online fee 0,95 Euro so 5,95 Euro.

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How I Met Thomas’ Wife

On the 5th of July, one of our pioneer member of Food Nerds had his Civil Marriage in Bozen. They are legally married <3.

Alas couldn’t be there on their Standesamtliche Trauung, sure I’ll be on their Hochzeitsfeier at full length 🙂

They planned it so well for us all, shuttle bus pick us up from Castel Latemar, we had some time to get our first drink until Manuel and Rickard aka Thomas’ bestmen ~ not a typo, meant exactly for bestmen, as in men, not man, got it 😉 ~ guided us to sit on the benches.

Music starts, Thomas came out walking side by side with his mother, damn! it built up some feelings in me ~ not yet cry. Seeing Thomas stand at the sogennante ‘podium’ waiting for Janine who later walked with her father. Jackpot, this is the moment where I shed some tears, I’m sure Cecile and Sara too #The scene was just too beautiful.

The dual language bestmen explains who was involved in making stars aligned for them. Vows exchanged, put on wedding rings, opened up the champagne with knife! ain’t it cool? The both nailed it!

It was a very memorable moment when both of them looked at us from their ‘podium’. Come here, we are ready to give you hugs! We really did our job by blowing the bubble soap. Claudia, Sara and I was very total on it, we blew it as if our lives depends on it.

Before they went to have their own photo session, we gotta have ours, the Shanghai group. While they’re gone, we got many many Appetizers, lecckerrr!! At some point, me, Claudia and Nino decided to stay inside, it was warm + we could sit + quiet until…..

…..the Xelom guy arrived in style. I was like häää? what’s the sudden noise? what’s happening? oh we need to get out? we saw this giant machine ~ I think it’s called Tractor / Schlepper / Bulldog have no idea what’s the official name is. As a matter of fact, I don’t know how did it got there? We drove passed it with shuttle bus yet didn’t see those machine parked.

Engineers life, one wrong button caused whole gas coming up! just like what the Xelom guy said “this is how it feels like to work with Thomas every day” I said to Nino who is currently heavily pregnant “wear your mask”

Thomas’ colleagues prepare some games. First is Janine need to drive the machine, seems doable eh? no no no there are some tricks, they changed the program, I think left to right and front to back. She managed it! took the present out: its a Bobby car. Second game is Thomas’ turn to drive it, they played a Folk South Tyrolean song from the mountain haha #that’s what Philip said. Janine gave instructions how Thomas should drive, in the middle he need to sing a song whose lyrics was only “Auto fahren Auto fahren Auto fahren” for the whole 3 minute-ish, continued with parked the Bobby car.

Since I’ve never been to any of it, I use the chance to get in into this machine. At the same time, Sara and Fiona was on the back of the truck jumping, dancing, screaming whatever things they’ve done in Shanghai, they did it there. Of course its provokes other people too such as Cecile, Chris, Armin. Out of nowhere Rickard brought me there. Fiona said “the Xelom guy seems not very happy about it” Dude, we are doing a drop / endurance / jumping test on this machine, they better be grateful 🙂 Then one of the Xelom’s daughter also join us yeayyy!!! #We are TNT, Dynamite.

Getting in for Abendessen, there was no seat arrangement, me, Diego and Claudia need to count many times if the seats are enough for us or not haha. Appetizer, main course was very good! On the other side from my table is a group of football fans, I felt FOMO need to come over to see Switzerland vs England.

Followed by dessert and pinata. The Pinata was kind of a revelation how scary when two sporty people comes together. They didn’t hit it, in another word they missed… nevertheless, their swing was so strong! Everyone need to abstand halten, if they hit you with the bat you are having Feierabend.

Their first dance was so perfect! Have no idea how long they trained for. Janine was “be careful, we need this space” They really do need that space, spin around, backflip, what the hell just happening yo? Suddenly jingle “All the single ladies, all the single ladies” we lined up but none of Food Nerds get it. Claudia said to Sara “You didn’t even try to catch it” It’s OK Sara didn’t get the flower because Diego got the Garter #Same same but different 🙂

Remember I’ve told you about some people on the other side of the table was a football fans? She’s still going on, on the dance floor we knew Netherlands went to the next round! Janine moms change our Limbo game into tug of war #Impromptu games. The “Hey DJ, we want Avicii song” banner being showed, I’m sure this is 100% Rickard as a Swedish himself. What’s more? dancing after dancing after dancing!

At some point during the party, the hat occasion which worthy of story by itself. But for now, we can introduce it to the crowd 🙂

Obviously the Food Nerds took the last shuttle at 01:30 #Right on schedule. As I said we’ve been there at full length.

Thank you for letting me to be a part of your wedding. It was really herrlich you gathered up the Food Nerds Gang again! I miss you all so much! We should do this more often XOXO

I am very proud of my friends; Christian is a loving father to her daughter Juli who won’t put pressure on her. Ooops, wait let me correct my sentence directly, he put 北大 shirt on Juli when we met at the Bus Station from Bozen to Karersee, he did said “no pressure” hmmm…. right, that is exactly how no pressure looks like 😉

Sara & Diego is buying a house on the beach! They said the water from the beach is literally there, I gotta visit them yo, next vacation destination confirmed! #Take my money!

Fiona with business of homemade butter, chenpi lemon balm and jujube ginger balm. You gotta make more products for some people aka me who don’t eat bread hahaha I’m very excited to try two of your products!

Claudia & Giovanni, the power couple who constantly become the heart of every party. Always involving people, knows how to have fun, never missed a chance to party such as inviting us to come to their home for Oktoberfest where perhaps we will all sleeping together on the floor #I’m on! Claudia in any circumstances is very beautiful like a Princess but be careful she is very crazy at the party, we know her…. for a long time 😉

Last but not least, to the man of the night, Thomas my friend. I am very grateful we met back in 2016, watched F1 either live or in Cages Sports Bar, our eating rituals at Bar Centrale, explaining pros & con of studying MBA, introducing me to Food Nerds gangs with whom I’m still friends until now, you are a part of my Shanghai life that made it more colorful than it would be, I have you to thank for. I am very happy you met your other half, big congrats once again on your wedding, wishing you a lifetime love and happiness 白头到老！

It was a legend….. wait for it….. dary, legendary!

And that, kids, is how I met Thomas’ wife 😀

http://marlynpraseli.com/2024/07/13/kann-ja-nicht-alles-unter-einen-hut-bekomme/

Photos + videos was taken from all of us on the group, I can’t really remember other than Armin and Claudia’s. Visibly the high quality professional pictures are from Gabriel Eisath www.gabriel-eisath.com / @gabriel.eisath / info@gabriel-eisath.com

Heart icons created by Kiranshastry – Flaticon

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Double Personality

This is the moment! tonight is the night! the reason why I insist of having Innsbruck Card after all is due to the Innsbrucker Nordkettenbahnen / Top of Innsbruck. The cable car’s ride itself will cost us 47 Euro ~ or 40 Euro according to Ankita #Whatever. It is already included in our 72 hours = 79 Euro Innsbruck Card. Comprender?

Gave Joe some warning on this particular Thursday, we will do ‘overtime’ than yesterday since there are 2 Cable Cars we want to do. The Top of Innsbruck and the Evening Ride from Patscherkofelbahn.

Our AirBnB lady said there’s not needed to go to Patscherkofelbahn as Nordkettenbahn is already the best. Hell no to the o o o, we will go just because we can, on top of that we already paid for it, we are not going to your concert which located on the next city, read: are not included in the Innsbruck card #The math ain’t mathing.

We took the Ubahn at Hofburg, crossed the river, it will stop at Löwenhaus, #Stay on your seat. Almost drop Joe there to check before he got saved by the bell sounds of door closing. Passed through Alpine Zoo, final Cable Car Station: Hungerburgbahn. This is where you all got off.

Joe had his brief moment of enjoying the view while I got busy with my body lotion that spread around my bags to my power bank, his phone charger etc. I need help! he instruct to wipe it with tissues. On the contrary, I responded “noooo, we can still use it, moisture my skin!” He thought the body lotion was somehow ruin, it wasn’t, I didn’t close it properly. #Oh, there goes my sympathy! After the tissue solved the issue, we could walk around to see what Hungerburgbahn offer us. We enter the church, Joe pointed “why do we have Alien? her face is green?” feel a bit creeped out, let’s go to the next station.

I read the word “JETZT” with red, bold, capitalized. Enough to get my attention, it is time, now! whereas he read the info “STOP. Please take the next one”. Two “Germans” ~ not necessarily from Germany, might be from German speaking countries were also confused, he asked Joe about why the gate wasn’t open. Yeah, in the end, the non-German-speakers was the only one who could explain what’s going on 😉 We just need to wait, the sign will always be “JETZT” unless it wasn’t true.

Next station is Seegrubenbahn, we can see…. the same view with higher altitude haha. There are some playground, place to sit around, suspicious white parts ~ had to check if it is snow? be careful on the way there are many shits #Watch your steps. There is restaurants here, looks nice, we both agree no matter how good the view is, we will eat inside, if not the soup or whatever food we ordered will already be cold before entering our mouth!

Joe was distracted by a bunch of birds flew around us, he suspected it was because of me eating chocolate bar. Hey, the other Asian people next to us also eat something, except the birds ain’t coming to them! #I’m innocent

Running away from the flock of birds, we went to our last cable car to station Hafelekarbahn aka Top of Innsbruck! The sign say it themselves! While Joe soaking all the sun, I, on the other hand preserve my youth by reapplying my sunscreen. We saw the signs to go to Karspitze, Geo Trail, Klettersteig, Innsbruckblick or Karwendelblick. Let’s do 3 out of 5, then we satisfied. Walked to Karwandelblick + Innsbruckblick then Karspitze.

On the way to Karspitze we sat for a while, when down there was a fight against the birds, here on the top we have fight against the ‘smoke’ haha I meant clouds. There is no need to go up when the clouds are coming, we can see the skies passed us. Slowly but sure we went up. On the top, we saw a family eating chocolate, that’s a good idea! told Joe to look at the chocolate maybe they can feel our pressure #They didn’t. Joe ran away when he noticed this family would ask him for a picture, instead she asked me. Did it nicely, still getting no chocolate pffff now is their turn to take picture of us! Beautiful up here hey!

Some time ago, on site, Joe was “there is a balcony down there, do you want to go?” “Noooo”. Fast forward to when we were waiting for cable car to wrap this up, I watched the TV, tapped him “Joe, there is balcony on the TV, where is it? we didn’t see any or?” “Yes we did, I asked you, only for you to answer with ‘nooo’ ” ahhh ok! that question I remembered 😉

Now we are back on the ground! What do we doooo? Museum Tour! First is the Goldenes Dachl Museum. We were exactly on the roof, we can see people on the bottom or on the City Tower. Attempted to say hello, no one return his hello 🙁 let’s do some coloring shall we? haha

Second is Stadtmuseum & Stadtarchiv. We didn’t understand why the lady said ‘just go’ the archive section, not knowing is not part of the museum, the guy was working there. I was like “Hmm, is this part of the Museum?” “No, it’s the Archive, feel free to look around” We backed out, we are not a detective who wants to see city archive haha

Honestly speaking, none of us are a Museum Person, is it worthy to continue? or let’s sit somewhere? We do the later, sat down on Starbucks near the Goldenes Dachl, having ice chocolate + ice latte while judging 2 then 3 then 4 street performers before moving to our next Agenda.

What’s next? obviously the Evening Ride we were waiting for since Tuesday, Patscherkofelbahn! We were so happy when we saw a family from the other side of cable car saying hi to us, the father was “gluing” himself to the glass, his daughter on his left, didn’t see the son but Joe said he was on his right. The girl waving her hand, we both return her hi. We knew exactly how it felt when no one return our hi from the Dach! So happy that our thought got passed down to the next generation.

The suspected “German” guy said there was an easy path walk called Ziberweg, not so long #According to him. I’m smart enough to ask “how long will it takes?” 2,5 hours. Noooo, noooo, nooo, noo we can’t. I think he was surprise with our answer. Dude, our “not so long” is 30 minutes back and forth! Don’t you see how much white our shoes are, these ain’t made for hiking….. We will just look around here, you have fun!

Once we arrived, I read the info in German “Joe, look, it’s written we can enjoy the sunset”. “When? At 23:00? We are in the mountain” 😀

We were only sitting from one place to another, calculated how much money we saved by using the card. Then he casually asked “have we been there?” pointed on the fucking cover of the Innsbruck brochure I have been holding for the past 72 hours. Hmmm, I think so…. flipped it to the page where that picture located, fuck! no! we haven’t! shit! we missed it! let’s go now!

I’m telling you, this is where our second personality come out, I remembered we were quiet tired, nevertheless, the moment we knew, adrenaline rush kick in #You think you know someone, you don’t. Joe was a bit ragu ragu “no…. we need to come back once again to Innsbruck” being a very calculated Asian, “no! we still have time, use your 120 GB capacity! look for direction, we need to leave this mountain”

We were brought from our lowest low to our highest high within one second, were hyped up! move directly to our new mission like no others, even Justin Timberlake Intime is not comparable to us. Saw our bus leaving from our cable car cabin! aaaa, okay we take the next one. Got off on the correct station, find out we were in the middle of nowhere. Joe wonder what do people do, what is the purpose of this station? there is literally nothing here, we use his gigantic internet capacity to zoom in, do the 3D view, there is simply no road, it’s can’t be 6 minutes walking? there is a forest, river, stones, everything….. how can we cross it?

Decided it’s a no go, make a conclusion if you want to see this platform, do it from Bergisel, you just need to hike for 30-40 minutes. We took the next bus to Joe’s road: Maria-Theresien-Straße, I’m afraid at some point he will tattoo this road hahaha.

We had Thai food at Thai Li restaurant, it’s his first time trying Mango Sticky Rice, he assured me it won’t be his last. We had a very typical Innsbruck delicacies, Asian food! Wherever you are, top of mountain or on the ground.

Thank you so much Joe for accompanying me in Innsbruck, I always enjoy the time, everything seems funnier with you, whenever you’re around it’s just a different level of energy. Very grateful we knew each other back in 2016 and still somehow manage to be in contact from time to time. Wish you all luck as well as happiness! ‘Till we meet again, take care!

*we conquer Innsbruck within 72 hours* #Mic drop

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The 8 “Working” Hours – Part 3

The second day of our 24 hours Innsbruck card, we did very durchgetaktet! Zack Zack Los! Clocked in our Journey at 09:00 AM. All the rides for today sponsored by a Hop on Hop off aka Sightseer bus! before you get too excited of sitting on a double decker bus, it’s not, just a normal one level bus. Pay attention to the Bus Station, you need to see the red symbol S on it.

First stop was the Imperial Palace / Hofburg. They have a Maximilian 1 Exhibition, please be aware of this name, you’ll hear or read about him many times. Do we know who he is? Not the slightest hahaha our memory is limited to how incapable the guard were.

  • So, Maximilian Exhibition is there, here is written “the office” do you know where is it? did we passed it?
  • Oh I don’t know why it’s written there, do not pay attention to it.
  • Do you know what is the stage outside the Hofburg for?
  • Oh no I don’t know.

There is no photo as we weren’t allowed to take any of it in the Imperial Palace. I almost got busted, could be the reason why the lady kept following us. She seems smart, we decided to ask what is the relation between Maximillian and the imperial palace people to which she answered “I’m not a tour guide” well…. mother!$k3r hahaha

At some point, she told us that we can only walk on the carpet because the floor is lava! haha there installed an alarm where it could ring really loud. Tempted to drop my brochure to test it, yet backed it out #Calm down Marlyn.

Moving on to the other side of Innsbruck, Schloss Ambrass. It was the same Sightseer driver who drove us before. This Schloss Ambrass is very confusing, we didn’t find the entrance easily. Everytime we asked someone, they pointed somewhere else, one of them said “there is a Karte (map)” I know damn it! I just didn’t want to read it! #Lazy ass.

Arrived to the allegedly upper castle which according to Joe wasn’t really upper haha only to being told the entrance was from the down side. The arrow on each is very confusing hey!

We finally made it! welcomed by an armor room, painting room which reminded me of Mr. Beans movie ~The Whistler’s Mother, you know which one~ Joe wanted to go to woods area for a while, he got his wishes granted, even tried to make conversation with a peacock. We followed the map, the Castle is divided into many exhibitions on different places, don’t lose your entrance ticket, you will need to scanned it every time. There were also Chapel, temporary exhibitions ~ while we were there it was about human with special characteristics, like the one from This is The Greatest Show! ~ where we can’t take pics.

Being inspired from the Hofburg where they provided a mirror for a good selfie according to me but since we can’t take a photo we didn’t do it. We saw more or less the same mirror, attempted to take pictures of our zodiac. See us with Virgo and Libra, no right? because we weren’t successful haha.

Next destination is Bergisel Stadion & Sprungschanze for the ski jump. The station called Das Tirol Panorama, the name speaks for itself. Asked Joe to take me some pictures, right after he took some, he confess “I’m not a very good picture taken” well, you gotta learn yo! haha just kidding, it was good 🙂

Oh there was a Café! let’s have a snack break here, I had cake and radler, what a combination #Brain doesn’t work anymore. Checked on his phone, 4 mins walk to Bergisel. Right when we about to leave, it started to rain. Oh no! Let me think, there are two options, went into the Museum while wait until the rain slow down…. or…. just go while it’s still drizzling. We choose the later.

Didn’t regret it, when we arrived the rain getting smaller, at some point it stopped. The “funicular” or should I say “elevator” rides every 15 minutes. What we can see from here? Panorama again! 😉 only from a higher point.

On the brochure, I can see there is a seeing platform nearby called Drachenfelsen. Don’t be so optimistic about the weather, like our AirBnB Lady said “Austrian is always prepared” the drizzle comes back, enough to annoyed us hahaha we decided not to go there now, rather try to go tomorrow when the weather supposed to be good. Unbeknownst to us, there is no way to get it other than to “hike” for about 30-40 minutes from Bergisel #Oh well.

We past the Memorial Andreas where it’s written for God, King and Fatherland #So touching. Both of us directly placed our hand on our heart, began the choir of aaaaaaaaaaaa

Last, we were entering a Tirol Panorama mit Kaiserjägermuseum. Where Joe was confused about the so called “Panorama” it’s just a screen 😀

Then we catch the last Sightseer bus, went back to Joe’s favorite / haunted street, Maria-Theresien-Straße. It was still the same bus driver from morning, he recognizes us therefore commented “wow, very busy!” yes Sir! we were working the same shift as you! When you have an Asian planner, everything need to cross the box!

We wanted to try if we go to watch our AirBnB Lady’s show #We couldn’t. It was far away like 40 minutes, by the time we have to come back it will takes us 1 hour or so. On top of that, remember we just “work” for 8 hours. Having no more energy, we decided to just eat at Chinese Restaurant nearby 来来来.

*continue to our last 24 hours*

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A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Can’t wait to spill the beans of a kind of roller-coaster adventure this week has brought me in, spoiler alert: it’s a fun one 😀

Thomas invited me to his wedding on 6th of July in South Tyrol, without a doubt I would like to be there. Planned started as in looking at the map, what is the city before South Tyrol? Hmm…. Innsbruck, Austria. Read good blog about it, decided it will be my Zwischenstopp. Next is gathering my crowd, texted Hanna whether she’s interested in my idea, think who could be the other person that we both knew? Joe!! I have meet him 2 years ago in Desenzano while Hannah hasn’t for like 7 years or so, let’s ganged up in Innsbruck #Shanghai connection! Sadly, one of the other reason Hanna was not able to join our small trip. Joe hasn’t really confirmed yet, however in the end he did! #Happy!

Do ground research, there are this things called Innsbruck Card for 72 hours cost 79 Euro, bought it in the train station. There were 2 counters with one old “German / Austrian” idk guy, spoke German to him, he said I need to go to the next (empty) counter, he was having 0 customer but it’s not his goddamn business, I wait…. wait… wait until Italian lady come out. Oh hello, Signora, where were you the whole damn time?!

Got yourself these two flyers, it will save your planning!

One by one, let’s peel what did we do in those 72 hours, we maximize it to our use. That I can guarantee #Devil smile.

I arrived earlier than Joe, had Thai food as lunch near Hbf, checked in, strolled around the memorial to those who died for the freedom of Austria, Annasäule, Triumphforte etc. Wow! You always have a mountain view on the background, love it! Innsbruck gefällt mir 🙂

Joe arrived around 15:00, we went to our AirBnB before exploring the city. Every article I read written we need to take a “selfie” with the Goldenes Dachl, being an uncreative tourist, we didn’t even try to take photo of each other, if it’s written a selfie then a selfie it is! We did so many times from different angle, Joe tried to delete some people from background, yet the edited version was too obvious, better try another one, another one, another one and gave up haha

Almost all attraction closed at 17:00. So we gotta go to next one, Hofkirche where they have a Bronze Statue human sizes, before entering the church there was a multimedia show for 15 minutes. What is this multimedia? Voice and a bit of “laser” show. To me it was like kind of escape room where one door opened after explanation or more out of a sudden a couple come out from the closed door, wtf yo?! were you lost or something? Done with it, we enter the real church, I like it, it reminds me of Logo of Hogwarts what? hahaha When we were out of the church ~ still in the courtyard, saw a map with some legends & numbers…. orange squares, number 3…. the altar… hä? what it is? you mean that room is the altar? took us some few seconds to realize it was the map of the inside! the one we just stepped in! #Facepalm.

Right after, we go to the Stadtturm / City Tower. There we can also see the Goldenes Dachl, remember the instruction from all blog I read ~ selfie with the roof ~ not the building so here we got, nothing other than the roof view! Nailed it!

Then my Asian calculation don’t let me miss any opportunity, we wanted to go to the Patscherkofelbahn, since it’s written Evening Ride from 17-23:00. We took a wrong bus direction on the way there, getting off, redirect ourselves, spending 50 minutes up to Patscherkofelbahn Station only to be confused as to…. why it’s so quiet…. I was in the toilet when I found out the Evening Ride was only on Thursday while we were on Tuesday #Shouldn’t have ignored the sign.

Come out, directly run to Joe, we need to go now otherwise we have to wait for the bus for another 20 minutes! Hop on to the J Bus, another 50 minutes to reach City Center. Joe was having a bit seasick / cabin fever due to the way was a bit winding #Sorry!

After almost 2 hours on the bus haha feel so good to breath a fresh air. We see the “Dancing House” inspired from Amsterdam, at least that’s how I called it. There we met Ankita, she heard us speaking English, approached to asked for a photo. Little did we knew, she also lives in Germany! you never know who you will meet along the way, could be someone living close by, for sure we will meet again in Germany 🙂

We talked about our Innsbruck trip, where to go etc, continue to eat in an Imbiss while watching the Europe cup behind us to know who is playing against who. There she had the ‘nerves’ to ask if Innsbruck card worthy haha I am not a person who pour oil to fire. Girl! you will cry once I told you what we are going to go with this card, don’t ask any question you are not ready for the answer 😉

We closed the day by me searching on where to take the bus while Joe said proudly “for sure it will be from Maria-Theresien-Straße” not only he has a correct pronunciation for a German street name, he was also correct regarding the Bus Stop, boah! after 3 hours he is already a local!

*24 hours checked, continue to our next 48 hours!*

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Squeeze

I got the opportunity to meet both planned + unplanned friends during my stay in Bali! Before I continue, needed to say: just because it’s planned, doesn’t mean it was lacking element of happiness.

Schieva. Obviously this is not her real name 😀 rather her character in one of computer game. I know her since we were still studying in Parahyangan University ~ in another word 13 years has passed by!

She picked me up at the airport, went for a Cafe near Sanur which brings back my teenage memory of reading Detective Conan, Ninja Hatori, Nakayoshi, hmmm where is Doraemon!!!

Back when I’m still on planning modus in Germany, told her I wanted to go to a Viral Doughnut Cart called “Lucky Donat”. Why it’s viral? the Mba is such a lovely lady, she met Isaiah Garza who pretended not to have any money, gave him 3 doughnuts for free. In return Isaiah came back, gave her house, open a Doughnut shop located in Tabanan. Why do I know where it is? Because Schieva turn into Detective, did her research, was so proud of it. I need to be there to take pictures with the viral lady, of course buy her doughnuts too.

She is my Alpha and Omega, welcomer and goodbyer haha if that’s even a word. Before I flew back to Germany, she came bringing Pempek! ~ craved out of nowhere, need to have it ASAP! she was my rescue! Two times, one for my stomach second for my bag! I need a carry on bag, mine wasn’t enough, Tokopedia it is, however I didn’t have an account, she searched for seller in Bali then send it to her. She also give me scarf plus notebook, so colorful, so me, love it 🙂 Thank you so much Sher! yep, that’s part of her real name haha I wish you success in you along with Oyke’s Bali Shisha Service business (IG: balishishaservice)

Rivi. She was involved in one of the “Aib” from my sister and me! We tend to cover it, nevertheless can’t runaway from it, we three formed a band when I was on my 5th grade whereas they were on their 6th grade haha She is the best friend of Sissy ~ in another word 22 years has passed by! She knows everyone including what is happening to my long time 阿姨 Mugi where she got hypnotized, sadly lost all her money during her mudik time or that her husband suddenly passed away however now she remarries haha. Her husband was amazed by all the updates.

I am Schnorren Nummer 1, stayed in their Villa for 1 night. Hey in that way I could meet her! not her children though 🙁 They were waiting for me to come home after my Uluwatu trip with Irina. I brought one of the key from the villa, it didn’t work as my sister put her key on the door, luckily I heard their voice, called Sissy! open the door, I’m outside.

Made. He was the element of surprise, he knew my coming to Bali but we didn’t fix the appointment. Made is also my Uni friends in Parahyangan ~ in another word 13 years has passed by! The timing was perfect, I was in Ubud when he was in Bali just for 1 business trip before he’s back to Bandung.

Oh Remember what Detektive Schieva done? Made is the executor of finding the Lucky Donat. After hearing the opening time is quiet weird, followed by a coincidence that Made was on the area, I asked him to check only to find out her place already became a Sushi shop 🙁 I don’t know what is happening with her nor her shop. Wrote a comment, tagged Isaiah Garza, hope he can check it someday.

Anyway, what I found out about Made is…. he is a fake Balinese haha he only got Balinese name yet was born in Bandung #Funny!

燕巧 Yian Chiow. The word of right place at the right time is happening to her! She posted her picture in Wechat diving + hiking in Kintamani area. What? what? what!!! As far as I know, she couldn’t swim….. fact checked: she still can’t swim yet do diving! Bravo!

On her last day in Bali, she stays at Kuta area, let’s go to Hard Rock Cafe. We talked about who is moving to KL, still in Shanghai, who is already became a mother ~ almost all, she still remember my 弟弟们, talk about our best teacher for 留学生 ever 何老师 without him we will not have hot water haha.

We met in 东华大学上海延安西路1882号 still remember the address by heart! She was the one who asked me to join Resident Advisor, encouraging me to not be afraid for blood test for applying for my Scholarship, still remember her phrase 你怕抽血还是怕拿不到奖学金呢? Without her, my stays in the dormitory would be a living hell. She was one of the person who bend over backwards to help someone. The word considerate, patient and kind are not enough to describe her. The only person who gave me flower on my master graduation, that was the last time we met in person ~ in another word 7 years has passed by!

Thank you for squeezeing your time to meet me! I really appreciate you all crossing my path. Wish you all happy, healthy, luck, money! #I’m Asian haha until we 再见 us again!

Keyboard: Piano icons created by Smashicons – Flaticon

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Not the New Kid on the Block

  • Mamaaaaaaa, oooohhhh. I don’t want to die, sometime I wish I’d never been born at all…. Carry on, carry on…
  • Love of my life, you’ve hurt me… you’ve broken my heart and now you leave me… love of my life, can’t you see? bring it back, bring it back…
  • All we hear is radio gaga, radio goo goo, radio ga ga… Radio what’s new? Someone still loves you

I am talking about none others, the legend Freddie Mercury! We got an optional tour to go to Montreux, hell yeah hello Queen Mercury!

There were another group before us, consequently, it took some time until the statue was empty. Once it does, we didn’t waste a bit 🙂 Group photoooo, in order to do a selfie, Joe need to come forward put his arm on the lake area, as you can see I was very ‘merinding disko’.

Still in the memory of the legend, went to the Queen-Studio Experience.

Look at how serene Montrex is, no wonder Freddie spent some time here to recharge from his busy life, it is 有山有水.

Then we visited Bern to beautiful Aare River again, the very unfortunate event side for all Indonesian citizen. In this side is the late son of Bandung’s governor got swept out by the current #Rest in Peace

As usual, city center area, however we didn’t visit any churches, rather Swiss bank #Fulus 😉 We tried the allegedly famous chocolate shop, some says its the best blablabla for me its just normal.

Guess what? we went to Germany too! what an experience of passing the custom via bus. Jo tell a very weird legend about Titisee, a kid being transported by Burung Bangao ~ like in Dumbo movie. Out of nowhere, came water to which it became a lake. I heard it like Hä? what kind of a story were you telling me???

We went to Schwarzwald not for hiking, sort of to buy a Kuckucksuhr. We were explained about the history, how to make it by an Indonesian seller. Right after the explanation, mother wants to have not only the Kuckucksuhr, but also the Magnet for her collection. Pass auf, she took out the magnet from the display and walked through the Kasse, only for a lady on a mask to snap it out of her, unpolite saying in English “You need to talk to my colleague about it” walk away, put the magnet back to the display.

I was behind my mother ofc I can understand her but there was no time to react. I can read the room, she will take the new one from the storage. After some time, she didn’t come back, I asked the other guy to get the magnet for us. He came back quicker than her. All 3 of us were in the Cashier. Like the way she appears was out of the blue, so does the way she reapperas, spoke to him in Chinese asking “Oh you already take it for her? then I don’t need to take it”

Leute, it was my time to shine, I was for sure having metamorphosis process, articulate my loud and clear opinion in Chinese “you didn’t tell you will get us that, besides we wait for you for a long time, you should have inform me at least and not just go away without telling anything” to her defense “but I did tell” I cut her sentence “No you didn’t, you only told my mother ‘she should have speak to your colleague’, none about whether you will grab it for us” Oh Lady, you think I am the new kid on the block who’s afraid to talk back? watch out, I was 7 years in your homeland! #Feel proud of myself.

Right after mother got what she wants, we went to eat. A piece of black forest cake is a must! as this is her favorite cakes. Same thing, according to her it’s very good, to me it’s only mehhh… She even had another one to take it away.

I genuinely quiet confused when I got it because the black forest cake is not….black?….hmmm…

As if all previous 水 not enough, here is the final 水 ~ Schaffhausen. Back to Switzerlandia.

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On and Offline

Did I just decided one day to have a weekend in Spain? No no no, like always there was a story behind 🙂 back to my birthday in September, JP inform me that he and Moni will be in Europe travelling for one month. Naturally I will do my best to catch their schedule. First attempt was to go to Brussels end of October, hat es aber nicht geklappt. The last option was on their last weekend before flew back to Mexico, November 10-12th, search for flights, if I come back on 13th, the price would be cheaper, which one I choose? Obviously the second #duh

Remember Moni had cousin called Ale who I visited in Koblenz few years back? Well, it would be great if she could join too, we texted the whole time planning this as she wasn’t so sure if everything will works with her own schedule. Therefore I bought my ticket, plan my own Agenda without waiting for her confirmation. In the end, she was able to join, yippiii! We only let JP know because we wanted to surprised Moni.

Our flight was at 07:25 AM, to be on the safe side, we stayed one night in a&o hostel, thanks to my Christmas Gift from Claudia & Julius we can stay for freeeee! thank you Freundin!!!!

We are a firm believer of arriving in airports 2 hours before departure time, Ale woke up at 4AM, I’m around 04:30 haha my colleague will laugh if I told him by 5AM I was already out and about #Only happen when you are on your way to Urlaub 😉

Catch the plane, goooooo! Madrid here we are! I am so happy as this is my first time in todos Espana. Apart from my own Agenda of visiting La Casa De Papel scene to which I nailed it! #proud, we were just gonna tag along JP & Moni, they are the one who travelled to Europe, por supuesto they have one.

We still have about 4 hours before they arrived. What do we do? planned to had lunch at 12 failed due to the kitchen only opens after 13:00, for this time they only offer some sweets, croissant, coffee etc.

Ale showed me some places around, El Retiro Park where at first she was quiet confused “Amigos, this is not the Park I want to show you” after some time doch! it is! haha on the way, there was an exhibition about Indonesia somehow yeaaaayyyy

We checked in to our Air BnB, where is the Wifi’s info? She texted our Landlord to which she replied the router’s location, time to get connected. My oh my, in comparison to 2 credit cards number, it’s longer! Ale read whilst I typed it on my phone, in the middle I can’t stop laughing, she’s still not done, it’s just super long! Ale said “it’s halfway, don’t type it wrongly or else we need to repeat it again” FYI, I got it correctly. Now is her turn, she chose to do it by herself, didn’t work. I volunteer to read it to her, I lost it right there and then once I saw it. The Password was not straight, you need to tilt your head to read it #LOL

We thought our surprise was spoiled 20 minutes before their arrival time -_- glad to know it was only Moni messing up with Ale “are you surprising me” Ale pulled out the better lie 🙂 she bought it #wink!

Ale hide in the bathroom, Moni went there, her reaction was rather scared like “aahh, ahh…who are you?” until she realized it was her <3

Mischief Managed

No jokes, I gotta eat yo! this is the first revelation: Spaniard eat so damn late! my Deutsche Magen won’t get used to it, it was already after 15:30 What do we have? Paella + Sangria checked!

Moni has to work for a while, we went to do some sightseeing passing Prado Museum (broke tips: it was free 2 hours before it closed, a lady from walking tour told me, not sure if they have it only on specific day, check the website) + Cibeles Fountain + The under constructions Puerta de Alcala.

We tried many many times to take pictures in front of Cibeles with less car until Ale found a trick on her Iphone. Mind you, it’s called a trick, with a particular catch… I can’t move an inch, need to stand fucking still, I even scared to breath haha it’s something with long exposure. We were so begeistered when we know it works!

Moni finished work, back to her, chill a bit then get ready to eat again haha the restaurant hasn’t open yet, went to the opposite place to have a Vermouth de grifo…. let’s say…. it’s not really my cup of tea…#hmmm

After the Vermouth, we met with their friends’ Lalis. We ate a very delicious food! She really know what to order, the raw Tuna? Tuna right? I think it was it, was fucking amazing! better than the vac 😀

I had too much alcohol on that day, started itchy all over my body, can’t go on anymore whereas they continued partying. Vane just arrived that evening when JP sent me back to the Air BnB I really need hot shower + drink my Pill which makes me drowsy so sleep is really needed. Have fun guys!!! I notice at some hour they came back yet I couldn’t be bothered to wake up hahaha

Next day, continue with me doing my personal Agenda while they were still hungover. They had to endure with no water, fiuhhhh didn’t have to experience it. We met at Gran Via to have Jamon sandwich at Bar Postas although the famous one is the Calamari #whatever, continue our day to a bar inside Retiro Park. It’s a really cool place, reminds me of Yong Kang Lu Shanghai. Look how the waiter took all the drinks using 3 fingers whoaaa

We stayed in the Bar quite some time until our dinner time, which starts late…. Our reservation was at 21:00 haha by the time we were eating it was after 21:30. Casa de Fieras, let me tell you, the food there was better than the day before! very very very good! Their Tuna is really to die for! Lalis successfully became a total game changer in terms of Spanish food!

That was it! Next day they flew back home while me and Ale continued our stay one more day, doing our thing separately.

Here is our comparison back then when we were still planning via online video call vs offline version. Ops we are back in Shanghai, 我们到上海了！ #where it all began.

Thank you Guys! was very nice to catch up with you two who in the end became three with Ale to a sudden additional four, well….let’s make it five featuring Lalis and Vane. You really made friends in every corner 🙂

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ABCDEF (not you)

Although I didn’t mean to sing Gayle’s song, I can’t help myself 🙂 I wrote a series of Vitamin ABCD without slightest knowledge it’ll continue to the next alphabet, yet here we are!

What would be the representation of letter E?!

Eschborn!

Never heard about it? #me too. It all started at the end of April when I met Ashley and Ongky for the first time in Dortmund. We “knew” each other because my father and Ongky’s father are friends. Ongky had a Seminar in Düsseldorf then they drove to my favorite Italian restaurant 🙂

Prior to our dinner, I always texted with Ongky’s wife, Ashley. Thinking back, it was kind of our blind date as we didn’t have any video call before, I mean…. we are Asians in Dortmund, it won’t be that hard to recognize 😉

During dinner, she told me there will be an Indonesian Festival in Eschborn. The Indonesian Consulate General asked her if she’s interested to participate on selling foods. She hasn’t really confirmed at that time, however as the times goes by, I know they will have a stand, so I’ll definitely go! I already realized right there and then that she is a good cook as no one would offer her a stand if she can’t cook and it’s true! She brought me her signature PemPek TOP TOP TOP! I couldn’t sleep that night, woke up at 23:30, fried the PemPek, proceed to ate it! I slept happily after that heavenly snack!

Times get closer, let’s dig into more serious matter, where is Eschborn? its about half an hour from Frankfurt using S-Bahn. What a coincidence is my Archery photographer, Daniel Cuesta also in Frankfurt on that weekend, I told him, he’d better be free on Saturday to go with me to the Indonesian Festival 😉

We found the place! we were a bit confused with their disguise entrace. I thought it should be an outdoor event therefore I kept looking on tent or something that could represents as an event going on, na ja! it’s inside the building. OK. First mission, found them!

The building was OK, many people already sit on the chair… which not belong to them yet they treat it as if it’s generational, they won’t leave it for a seconds! We had to stand in kind of sharing table thingy. Good things we stood there though, we met another guy, precisely he was standing with us eating, I heard him saying “the sound system could be better” directly whispered to Daniel “he’s 100% German” “why?” “German stereotpye, always complaining” 😉 he was indeed completely right! the sound system, the mic, the loud Indonesian customers on behind, everything was horrible. I can’t hear anything what the speaker said. Poor man!

We started to talk to him to some point he asked “why are you speaking in English?” because this Mister right here is from Mexicooooo haha he’s not Indonesian, come on, dude, it’s written in all of his face. We asked the basic stuff until we know he came a long 2 hours S-Bahn journey only for this Indonesian fest! what an honor! thank you! what is more surprising about him is he was everywhere in Indonesia! from the most touristic place to less touristic place, he already plan for his next holiday to Indonesia, on top of everything, he had a Spotify playlist for Indonesian songs, boah! respect! Finally I know a foreigner who comes to Asia often other than the other way around #once in a blue moon!

At 18:00 there were some culture performance on the second floor. Me, Daniel and Pascal were confused (again! nope we are not dumb! the building floor plans confused us) where the damn stairs? I saw a kind of back stairs with an A4 paper stick to the door written “hausmeister” “treppe zur Bühne” guys lets go here!

We arrived, they haven’t open the official stairs yet but we were already inside. Few minutes later more crowds are filling the so-called auditorium. Opening speech, memorable ‘plakat’ were given, yeap, skip skip skip, performance please 😉

Dancers, singer, angklung performance were all out. Guess what? Ashley played Angklung! She didn’t tell me before, what a nice surprise 🙂

In the middle of the event, I was a bit worried if Daniel got bored… on the other side, he cant do nothing anyway hahaha suck it up!

A rather “old guy” (he refers himself like that) sit next to Daniel, he got some questions… so I, being an Indonesian, answered him. He came with his Philipine’s wife, he knew Bandung, from all the place?!?! turns out his ex-girlfriend was from Bandung haha. They stayed until the end, for the whole event I was sitting next to him. Until we were about to be separated, his wife wanted to take a selfie then he said “let’s ask her (read: me) to be in the camera too” I took it as if they won’t mind to have their picture here 😉

A saxophone + band act as our closing performance, they were amazing! all photos and videos about the performance comes from Pascal’s phone.

Here is the recap of Indonesian Performance

Hey! its a culture exchange thingy, they do have some performance by the Germans 🙂 The choir did sing one song from Mexican folks, La Cucaracha. Daniel was “whaaaaaatttt”

That’s our experience in Eschborn 🙂

Daniel comes with me to Dortmund, one step back on the Alphabet 🙂 we didn’t really do much… due to the reason, there is not much to do here haha here are some activities we did when he was here, the rest off to Düsseldorf + Köln by himself.

Jump to alphabet F, I had a seminar in Frankfurt from Facebook regarding finance thingy. Since the seminar is in Frankfurt meaning I went to Ashley and Ongky again yeayyy!!!! their apartment is amazing! the one you wish you could have #Genie, that’s one of my 3 wishes!

On Saturday morning we had a video call with my family so my father could see Ongky again after some decades aparts. I had PemPek as breakfast! best best best! Sister said “for sure Ashley is a good cook, otherwise Marlyn won’t come to Frankfurt” #Im sold easily by food 🙂

They drop me to my Seminar hotel, Ongky said “make sure the Seminar is really there” I was afraid it turns out as a scam or MLM that’s why I prefer to go alone. Long story short, it was actually a nice one, I might join again as a paying customer if they hold it next year 🙂 Afterwards, we went for a Korean food.

We also did some sport heyyy! run 5km! we gained calories while not burning so much haha #this is life!

Thank you beautiful people! Something as regular as eating, watching, sightseeing, even fucking running is more fun when you have friends around. Happy to be able to do it with you 🙂

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Vitamin D

May in Deutschland, what can you offer? hmmm…

There are indeed more public holiday in May compare to other months, let me take you to a city called Stuttgart 🙂 For this trip I took 2 days off + weekend + 2 days mobile work + 1 national holiday = perfekt!

Texted Binbin’s, he welcomed me to stay at their apartment, very well received! Yes I’ll stay in your big place again! Happy to be back!

I am still traumatized with my first experience taking ICE from Dortmund to Stuttgart due to more than 2 hours delay and the end result was the train not stopping at Stuttgart Hbf. Opt to take a Flixbus, it took me 7,5 hours including 3x stops at the gas station, not so bad I’d say.

Arrived their apartments on 1st of May, Binbin was still in Amsterdam only Andreas was at home. No special things planned as it was already evening. Day number 2, I do home office while Andreas went to the real office. Binbin will be back late in the evening. I had a dinner plan with Beaaaaa! Last time I saw her was in year 2017, first time I met her was in Shanghai back in year 2013 whoaaaaa so excited to meet her again!

First dinner in Stuttgart with Beatrice!

We met in front of the Stiftskirche, since I was there earlier, I took myself to visit Markethalle. Although there are many interesting food there, I didn’t buy anything as we plan to eat Korean food! my oh my, how I miss Asian food!

We doubted between two Korean places, Soban or Mandu. We both visited the places yet decided to go to Soban as it has broader variety of menu. At first we felt like we couldn’t finish it but after sitting for more than 2 hours plus kept talking, you could guess right? yep! it’s all gone! we finished it! We or let’s say correctly, our intestines just need some times to digest the food before we deliver a new one.

There is always funny story you entdeckt when you meet your friends. One example is Bea wasn’t exactly sure how to pronounce my name! ha! caught her! I said some Germans are not pronouncing my R in Marlyn, to that she commented “no, its not that they are not pronouncing the R, they are swallowing the R” hmmm… okay? using this chance, I asked her “What’s my name Bea?” she’s like “eeehhh I’m not so sure” haha!

After all of those foods and laugh, we were strolling around the city. She used to work in Stuttgart so she more or less knows the place.

Then she drove me to Binbin’s apartment, thank you lovely Bea for the evening! Good food, good conversation, what else can I ask more? Blessing to have a friend like you.

Who else lives in this city? Nora!

My food nerds friend! Told her I want to have a Chinese food, later she suggested to have a Hotpot, yaissss! it has been sooooo long since I have a Hotpot! Basically because it’s always contain lots of dishes, for me, I’m living alone so eating all at once would be impossible, doesn’t matter how long you spend the time sitting on the chair eating.

We were 3 people, meaning without at doubt we could handle it! While Nora was preparing she asked me if I know one of the dishes, I said “potato noodles” she was totally begeistert I knew it 😉 Okay Nora, it’s a revelation time, Binbin made Potato Noodles at home for lunch, that’s the only reason why I knew it haha, not so begeistert now… right?

They live in a very cozy apartment, I hope someday I can buy an apartment too, for sure it will be smaller than theirs, on top of that, I need their luck to get the one that already has floor, kitchen, bathroom and lamps! Perhaps many more apartments so I could qualified to be a 包租婆 haha if Nora can’t realize her dreams, who knows? maybe I can 🙂 Thank you Jacob and Nora the 王木木! 😀

My brother Thorben! What a pleasant surprise to know you were in Stuttgart while I was there!

How can I miss not to see you? No way in hell! Binbin, let’s gooooo! Since Thorben only have a limited amount of time, we met in the Stadtmitte SBahn to have a drink in the Cafe nearby (P.S: it didn’t make us less happy!)

Then we went to Lululemon where Thorben always says “you don’t need to wait for me, I feel bad” Oh brother, don’t worry, we do have time, this is what happen when you really have no agenda haha

Afterwards, we separated in the SBahn, Binbin got an appointment, Thorben went to the hospital and I went to Porsche Museum #Tourist!

Last day already! #schoked! I do have more time on this visit but still not enough!

After I visited Mercedes Benz Museum, I go pick up Binbin while he was walking Emil. Then he went to Edeka and I’m waiting outside with Emil. Andreas was busy with Billy.

On the evening, let’s have Paella! Me and Andreas already calculated when should we change clothes, when should we leave the apartment so we can catch the bus on time to be there at 19:30 as our RSVP.

Seconds before we left the elevator, last check, Andreas asked Binbin “do you have the DE Ticket?” dadammm! Binbin forgot where is his ticket and he said “there’s no one will check” being a German, Andreas insist him to look for it, if he is Asian for sure we will just schwarzgefahren! hihi #adrenaline high!

We three almost starve to death while waiting for our Paella, yes we knew it will takes around 45 minutes but it was more than that! The waiter, he gave us some more bread, good enough to wait until our main food arrived. At the end, we couldn’t finish it so I took it home for my lunch on the train #no food waste!

Oh Shanghai, what an amazing people you kept introduced me, thank you for all the time guys! I think I will see you soon….as Andreas said I should come more often to put some rational thinking to Binbin, exhibit a. not buying 45 kg of stone from China haha 😉