Berlin

Seb and I visited Berlin during the recent school holidays while the boys were with their grandparents.

We spent 4 wonderful days walking around this dynamic city. We walked a lot and came across the major landmarks. We visited 3 museums and watched the movie "Crazy rich asians" that I happened to chance upon. And of course, I did some shopping at the nearby Mall of Berlin.

Our stay at Marriott Berlin was perfect. Thanks to Seb's frequent overseas work trips, he accumulated enough reward points and got us a superior room for less than 100€ for the 3 nights. This room gave us excess to the executive lounge. I did not know such lounge exists. For my work trips, I had been to the Air France business lounge at the airport. The hotel's executive lounge was similar. Cozy, private and always replenish with drinks and light snacks. We could even have simple meals there.

From our hotel, we could see the Singapore embassy. I was surprised to see the Singapore flag flying!

We visited East Side Gallery. The 1.3km of the reminding Berlin wall was creatively painted and it was an open art gallery. There were many interesting paintings and thought provoking texts.

I saw these Eastern Germany manufactured cars, the Trabant. They used to be the cars driven in the Eastern Bloc. Now they are used mainly as tourist attractions.

Before the Berlin Wall was built, it was divided into four zones: US, British, French and Russian. We visited this street to see Charlie's Checkpoint. There was a checkpoint and a sighboard. Nearby was the Charlie's Checkpoint museum.

Seb and I were amused to see tourists posing with fake American soldiers for a small fee.

As for museums, we visited the German Historical museum, the Pergamon museum and the Topography of Terror.

The museum island housed many museums and the Pergamon museum is one amazing museum. It contains antiquity from ancient middle east and Isalmic arts. 

The impressive reconstructions of massive archaeological structures – the Pergamon Altar, Market Gate of Miletus, the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way from Babylon, and the Mshatta Facade – have made the Pergamonmuseum famous throughout the world.

The German Historical museum gave a comprehensive history of Germany since the days of lords and kings. After two hours in there and before reaching the WW1 section, we left. There were many conflicts in europe. In between the numerous conflicts were the 100 years war between 1337 to 1453 and the 30 years war between 1618 and 1648. These information was heavy on the heart. Still, it was a museum full of well preserved items on display.

On our last day, we walked around our district at Potsdamer Platz and arrived at Topography of Terror.  This site was once the Gestapo and SS headquarters. The buildings were demolished after the war. Germans tried to get on with their lives and erased the painful past.

This recent museum detailed the raising of Hilter and how the Nazis came into power resulting into World War 2. How the Jews were persecuted. Homosexuals, gypsies, political opponents were not spared too. 

After the walls collapsed, new buildings were built in these no man zones. Berlin feels young and vibrant. It shows even in its food. Many restaurants have vegan options. It was easy for Seb to find something suitable for him.

Seb organised this trip and after 16 years of marriage (yes, this is our wedding anniversary trip), he is starting to know my travel style. He brought me to a Sunday open market and an indoor Saturday food market. I bought 2 second hand english books and a book about the Berlin wall.

Berlin is an educational trip. Germany has such a dark past. I hope this dark history will never repeat itself though the current political situations around the world seems to be heading towards this path.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We spent 4 days in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia during our recent trip to Singapore.  We got around by taxi or with Grab. Grab is Uber's number one competitor in South-east Asia.  We stayed in the Bukit Bintang area and usually a 5 mins Grab ride cost us 5Ringgit (1€). Considering we were 3 adults with 2 children, it was cheaper to squeeze into a car than taking the bus or the MRT. We did take taxis a few times and it cost us thrice the price of a Grab ride.

For most Singaporeans, KL is a weekend getaway place for shopping, food and massages. Since my family and I travelled from far away, I decided to add in touristy stuff with a visit to the National Museum, the aquarium (cos it was cheaper than in Singapore and France) and going to the KL Tower to have a bird eye's view of this city.

The last time I visited KL was more than 15 years ago when I attended a friend's wedding. KL had changed a lot with so many sky scrapers. There was still construction going on just beside the Petronas Towers. Does this city need all these office space?

We shopped at the Central Market for souvenirs. I chose this market as it had air-condition. Seb waited for us at a cafe after half an hour and the boys stayed with him to write post cards. My mum and I continued to the second storey of the market.

There were shops selling local products be it food, craft or clothes. I bought a few batik sarongs as they were really beautiful. I intend to make them into bags or pouches. My mum bought mango chewy candies and durian chocolates. To each his/her interest.

After posting the postcards just outside the Central Market, we took a taxi to the Petronas Tower.

Petronas Towers are the tallest twin towers in the world. The boys were excited to see them. We had lunch at Suria KLCC, the shopping center at the foot of the towers.

After lunch on our way to the aquarium, we came upon a lion dance blessing a shop front. As it was still the first 10 days of Chinese New Year, I was glad that my boys could see this loud performance.

Lion and dragon dance is part of Chinese New Year. So is the big head doll (大头娃娃) though it is often left out.

Aquaria KLCC was just a short 5 mins walk from the towers. As we went on a week day, it was not crowdy.

The boys had a chance to touch small sharks.

This aquarium was as good as the ones in France and from my old memory, that of Singapore's.

We managed to watch sharks feeding. These sharks were fed twice a week and we saw different species of sharks. Other fishes like eels and rays and even a big turtle tried to snatch food.

On another day, we visited the National Museum. The museum is divided into four sections. Starting from the prehistoric age where traces of early men were found in caves, the bronze and iron ages, the colonisation period until the present day with the advance development in the country.

The museum was not big and could be done in an hour and a half. We headed to KL Tower in the afternoon to take in the view of KL. We could see the top of the Petronas Towers. This was where I got the big picture of how developed this city is.

One evening, we visited Chinatown. I thought spending a cool evening there would be nice. It was disappointing as Chinatown only sells fake luxury goods. Touters kept asking Seb if he wanted bags, watches, clothes etc. Seb told me never to bring him to another Chinatown. The one in Bangkok last year was too hot and dusty. This one was full of touters. Oops. The only good thing out of this trip was that the boys bought metal miniature airplanes and were happy. I bought 2 KL t-shirts for them and mum bought local fruits.

On our last day, we hung out at Suria KLCC as Seb wanted to shop for ear phones. Below photo is a Chinese new year theme set up in the shopping mall. It was very well done.

We enjoyed this short getaway. We stayed at a service appartment and the boys enjoyed the pool. The place was beside a train track and from our 10th floor, A2 would look down eagerly for passing trains.

Things in Malaysia is very affordable though I didn't do much shopping. How is it possible? , my friends would ask. The proof: We went by AirAsia with no check in luggages and came back with the same hand carry bags.

KL feels safe and people are friendly. I would like to visit this country again in our next visit to Singapore. Maybe Penang or Ipoh.

Bangkok, Thailand

I just noticed that this post was in my draft. I uploaded the photos few months ago and totally forgot to post about the Bangkok trip.

We took the public transport including the ferry along the Chao Phraya to visit Wat Pho temple. This was my second visit to Bangkok after 20 years. I am sure I visited this temple but it was still impressive to see the reclining Buddha. The boys pointed out Buddha each time they saw one. There were Buddha everywhere.

We also visited the National Museum and came upon a German/English guide. As we were the only family visiting on a Thursday morning, the guide tried to explain in English and in his limited French to the boys. Other than us, there were students on field trip and a few visitors here and there. This place was peaceful and the funeral chariot hall was full of interesting and beautifully crafted objects.

Having my mother with us, we visited markets as well and even had durians right there sitting on a bench while the guys (Seb, my nephew, A1 and A2) waited patiently for us. None of them like durians. Too bad for them.

Below are some photos of that long away trip. We won't be visiting Asia this year. Hopefully next year, we can celebrate Chinese New Year in Singapore.

Hua Hin, Thailand vacation

In July, we went to Singapore to see family and friends. During our trip, we went to Thailand for almost a week. We spent a few days in Hua Hin. At the airport, our driver came to pick up the 6 of us. There were Seb, my boys, my mum, our nephew from France and me.

We passed by a salt lake with vendors selling salt along the roadside.

The driver proposed a stop at the Amphawa Floating Market and we agreed. This market was very crowded and the river was very murky. Matt, my nephew saw a boat lady washing something in the river and then cooking it.

Though Hua Hin is about 200km from Bangkok, we reached our Airbnb appartment in the evening. The stop at the floating market and the condition of the roads made the journey almost 5 hours long.

At Hua Hin, the boys enjoyed themselves at the swimming pools and the beach. Matt fell sick on the second day and I brought him to a doctor. It might have been the weather.

It was easy to travel around Hua Hin. We mostly took the bus-truck which cost 10baht. We flagged it down and pressed the bell when we reached our destination. We often went to Hua Hin Village shopping mall to have our meals. The food court was clean and the food was generally good. Everyone could find something to his/her delight.

At the beach, there were horse riding activity but my boys were not interested. They preferred the sand and the water.

Our days there were mostly the pool for the boys and massage for me and my mum. There was a massage place nearby where we stayed. We also visited night markets.

The place we stayed in was calm and quiet. There were not many residents and we had the pool to ourselves most of the time. There was a gym room for Seb. All the water features along the residence can be swam in. This is a cool concept. The staff were friendly and even helped in finding a doctor for Matt and calling a taxi for us.

Hua Hin is a tranquil little beach town. It is a nice place to just relax and chill. No wonder the Thai royal family choose this place for its summer palace.