Dont Matter: December 2008

BRUSSELS, Tuesday, 16th December 2008

Before we caught up with the rest of the gang in Amsterdam,

Ping and I dropped by Brussels, Belgium.

So we flew out from Dublin and arrived at Charleroi, a town pretty close to France.

This would be the Charleroi Sud Train Station.

Most of the trains in Belgium is incredibly comfortable.

Unlike the Tube,there's no pushing, shoving and smelly armpits here.

The train is Double decked (Beat that London) and the train ride was smooth throughout.

This is in the Thon City Centre, our Hotel,

and just right before this, our Cab driver drove off with our 5 EURO change.....

I was damn =.= ...but oh well..

nothing could be done about it...

After a short rest, we spent time exploring the city...

and lucky for us...Brussel's main shopping street the Rue Neuve-Nieuwstraat is just right in front of our hotel.

and as you can see...Ping just had to get Belgian Waffles!

It is really really different, and it is THAT good.

But funnily, as glutton as she is...that's the first and last waffle we bought in Brussels=.=..

Ping in front of the Royal Theatre

Notice that the name of the theatre is bilingual.

In dutch and in french...both are used widely in Brussels,

though French remains it's lingua franca

We were extremely lucky because we went to Brussels during christmas...

and the Christmas market just down the Rue Neuve was huge!!

Here the store on the left sells artisan cheese while the one on the right are sausages!

and Ping didnt catch this on camera but the Foie Gras was only 8 Euros for a HUGE lobe!!!

was extremely tempted...lol

This fella is selling urm ...

some sort of Chocolate shelled-mashie-mallowy-ganache which tasted amazing..

This is his stall..wif tonnes of goodies!!

Ping's white Chocolate and my coffee thingy..

crunchy on the outside...soft and gooey inside..delicious!

This is the Grand Place-Grote Markt

This square is basically surrounded by 300 year old,magnificent buildings

and there's an evening light and music show with the buildings serving as the canvas..

and again...we were lucky to be there in the evening..

so we didnt miss out any of it.

and this is the city tower which is the centre piece of the Grand Place..

We dropped by Leonidas after the Grand Place...

and Ping just could not resist the Huge chocolate Fondue!!!

and regardless wat ppl say about Neuhaus and Godiva...

LEONIDAS makes the BEST Belgian Chocolates EVER!!

This is one of the chocolate shops that are littered all over Brussels...

they are literally EVERYWHERE..

and Ping made it a point to take pictures with every choco shop she can find!!

but ladies...seriously...if you plan to slim down/diet..

dont ever ever EVER set foot in Brussels..

The chocolate there will murder you...

The deco of a seafood restaurant!

After walking aimlessly for about an hour exploring the backstreets near the Grand Place,

we got back to the Christmas Market where ping got her Santa hat.

and to warm up! i had a shot of ice COLD Jager..

as Helena would put it : ORGASMIC

Oh and we came across some pretty interesting stalls...

those 'fruits' were actually scented candles and those 'cakes' were actually towels!!

and this is back at the Rue Neuve..Ping just HAD to take a picture of that Zara-kid kissing advert..

This is in one of those Shopping malls...

and they really made an effort to put different types of winter theme deco around the mall..

those wolves behind me actually moves..

At some random statue which i cant remember the name...sorry guys=.=..

For dinner, we went to this cosy restaurant with a nice fireplace in the middle

and sat right next to it....

Well.. i made it a point to try different Belgian beer..and ordered a Chimay on top of the complimentary Stella...

and btw..the Stella in Brussels actually tasted better than the ones in London!

For dinner..i just HAD to order the Bouillabaise..

a classic French fish stew with lots of different types of seafood.

at least 3-4 types of wish, langoustine, prawns, scallops, mussels, clams...

It was pretty sensational..

and Ping ordered Belgium's national dish..Moules Frites (Mussels and Fries)

This is a picture where she COMPLETELY removed the mussels from the shells..

ALL 1 kg of it!

This is wat it looked like before deshelling..

a large bowl full of empty shells!!

Ping loved the fireplace a lot, whereas my left cheek felt like roast pig while my right cheek cold as ice!!

So after dinner we scurried home after a long day..

Something interesting happened though...

While we were on the way back..this dude came up from behind and asked for a cigarette lighter which i did not have!

So he came up to us...stood in between us..placed his arms around both of us..

and started some being friendly and came up wif a wierd dance and asked me look at his footwork..

while his hand slowly crept down towards my back pocket,

sensing this bugger was trying to pick pocket us..

i kicked him and nudged him away !!!

after that we just left ASAP...

So guys..the next time you go traveling... it is best to be extra vigilant!!!

So that ends our first day in Brussels...more updates to come!!

Jie and I just got back from Amsterdam and I'll be up on the plane again to celebrate Xmas with my sweeties and the Amsterdam gang in Flat 28!

Thank goodness there's no Westminster Abbey in our itinerary this year.

I won't be able to blog about Brussels and Amsterdam anytime soon unless Jie takes over . Exams are coming up pretty soon you see.

Anyways, just a short update on Jie's short visit to Dublin before we flew off to Brussels.

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XMAS MARKET @ GEORGE's DOCK
Saturday, 13th December '08

Jie arrived that very morning and off we walked to George's Dock just 5 minutes from my place for yet another Christmas Market.

After going to Brussels, Dublin's and even London's markets are a far cry from what Brussels' market had to offer.

A view of the Xmas Market in Dublin.

Potatoes potatoes potatoes!!!

Jie's sausages, potatoes and onions.

My German-like 'ham chim pang'.

Hui Xin in one of the hand made hats.

Puppets.

Make shift merry go round for kids, or adults if you can fit into the teensy seats.

Santa's Slide.

It seemed a lil scary because I can imagine a very light kid going down at just the right velocity only to be flung off the slide, over the stalls and into the water.

Blame my exaggerated imaginations.

What's a Christmas Market without beer and Bratwurst?

Cherisse, Hui Xin, Grace and I.

Cotton candy!

Fluffy and pink!

I never realized how 'jelat' cotton candy can be. I wanted to get more bratwursts but the cotton candy really filled me up for some reason.

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The next few days we spent time at home trying to study and apply for internships.
So we ate at home most of the time. But come to think of it, when Jie's around there's literally no need to go out to eat. It's cheaper and most of the time tastier that way.

Home made Lasagne!
Definitely better than my strawberry-milk lasagne I made last year cause I ran out of plain milk.

Curry Laksa.
We were looking high and low for long beans but couldn't find nice and fresh ones so we replaced 'em beans with taugeh! Cheapest veg I can find here.

Jie and Hui Xin.

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The day before we left for Brussels, we went to try this place called Elephant & Castle in Temple Bar which is famous for its spicy chicken wings.