It has been ages since I last drop by...Esp after I came back from Spore.... TB incident....internship....Wien/Budapest...

Was in spore from 19/2 to 27/2.....Has lots of yummie food and managed to smuggle some back*wink*There is simply not enough time to meet all the frens...Some did not know that I was back..Oops...really paiseh!

When I came back, Puji was diagnosed with TB....And later did I know that she had a history of TB...the few of us who had frequent contacts with her had to go for TB tests...mind u...it is not so simple....first...Xray...and then phlegm and then blood....And each time, you have to go back to the doctor so that she can analyse the results.....before you arrange another day to do another test.

My X ray suggested that I had TB...Fortunately, my phlegm test and blood test are negative...The case was closed. The infected part of the lungs that was shown in the X ray had recovered by the time i had the blood test.....Super scary....And I am really relieved to know that I am healthy....Else, the implications will be disastrous!

I have not visited Puji who was quarantined in a hospital in the outskirt of Munich as my parents forbid me to.....The only thing that I did was to spend 6E to call her on the day she was admitted.I hope that she is getting on fine.

"After knowing that I am healthy, I decided to reward myself by gg somewhere!!!I must take advantage of the ICE offers which last by 31Mar....Planned to go to more places....but due to TB scare, I had no time and energy to do anything except gg to work and go for checkups.

I bought a 29E one way tic to Wien....Initially, I wasnt sure if i should travel alone as i had never done it before. People tell me that it is dangerous, esp for a little gal like me.Despite having bought the ticket, I was rather apprehensive. On the other hand, I thought is it time for me to try travelling alone as I have to start from somewhere. Vienna and Budapest are relatively safe places....So it should be ok for me to be slightly more adventurous.

The only regret I had then was that I overlooked the fact that I will only be reaching Vienna at 8pm...It is a bad time as the would have set.Consequently, it is dangerous for me to locate my hostel which 500m from the last U Bahn stop alone.
Fortunately, I met a couple ( guy from Koeln, female from Paris) at the U Bahn station who are heading to the hostel. I struck a conversation with them and followed the 2 kind and friendly souls to the hostel!I am not sure if I can find the place without them.

At the hostel, I met another chatty roommate from Taiwan.We talked quite a bit before I slept.She was doing her PHD at the moment and was in Vienna to meet someone so that she could continue with her research papers.Oh ya, I was a bit shock at the fact that males and females share the same bathroom in this hostel though we have separate dormitries....There were just miserable translucent white curtains that separate each bathing cubicles from the sinks......Good for the buayas out there....

I set off to tour Vienna at 7am....The sun is already high up. I walked around the city area with a map in hand till around 4pm. I haven been reading maps after the good old St John days....You can say that it is a good time for me to refresh my map reading skills...haha....My last stop was Schoenbrunn Schloss...And I went back to the hostel at 6pm when the sun is about to set.It is my first time travelling by myself, so I thought it would be best for me to stay in doors during night time.

I met the Taiwanese in the hostel room....And then I decided to join her for a Strauss and Mozart concert at Schoenbrunn.It was super ex...costed 31E after reduction.It was worth the money cos i think u cant get anything like this in spore with this price!I happened to sit beside a old retired couple from USA. They were very friendly....I enjoyed talking to them and guess what???They gave me their contacts and asked me to visit them in US!

After checking out the next morning, I went to visit the HundertWasser House.Too bad that it was closed when i went there...and it would only be opened at 10am....I decided to give the place a miss as I have to catch a bus to Budapest at 11am. As I didnt get to enter the House, I had an hour to spare....So I decided to walk 3 U Bahn stops to get to the bus terminal.Seems like a typical St John trekking...except that I am not in a foresty area....haha

At 1420, I reached Budapest. I was in a fix as I had no Forint and the money changer at the bus station was closed. After some enquires, I found out that I could change money at Deak Ferenc ter.I had to take the metro for 6 stops to get there without buying the ticket. On the way there, my Prague experience with the conductor was still vivid. And when i was about to get off the train at the fateful stop, I saw conductors stationed at the escalators. Consequently, I went on for another stop and got off. I was lost and I did not have a map with me so it was really hard for me to find my way around.

I figured out that one metro stop cant be that far away...So I chose a direction on the main street and started walking. Lady luck is shining on my side, I saw a money changer along the way.And with Forint, I started looking for a metro station so that I can get to the tourist information point. I found out that I was at the next stop instead of Deak Ferenc ter.haha

I bought a ticket and went to Deak Ferenc ter.And I got a map from the tourist information point.I started walking to my hostel which was located one metro station away. By the time I checked in, it was 4 plus.I set off for the Parliament House, followed by St Stephen Basilik, the State Opera House, Hosok ter and Vajdahunyad castle. After vitnessing the sunset, I ordered takeaways at Macs and headed back to the hostel.

I realised that the dormitry is mixed...togther with the bathroom that is found inside the dormitry.There were no doors as well.....sigh....I befriended a French....and found out some information of Budapest from her.Then I went to bed. I didnt sleep well as the buys sleeping on the left side were chatting loudly...and at 12am, someone snored all the way till 6am....haha...I was amazed.

I checked out and continued with my tour around the city. I was quite disappointed with the Buda Castle which I explored in the morning.I like the labyrinth part though it cost 1000Ft.I felt that I was cheated in the afternnoon. I paid for a guided tour in the Synagogue for 1600Ft....only to found out that the entrance fee costed only 400Ft. Well, I guess I will treat it as a donation to help in the reconstruction of the building.

The hot thermal bath session at Szechenyi is really refreshing.I simply love the warm water though it is 37 deg and no one in the right mind will think of visiting in S'pore.....haha....I spent one and a half hours there....

I overchanged Forint....after changing back 10E worth of Forint, I still had 2000Ft left...So i went on a shopping spree in the supermarket....as I figured out that I wont have any use for the currency anymore. And following, I went for another in Burger King. I had 47 Ft left after all the purchases. Initially, I was really pleased with myself for utilising the money so well....However, I regretted my decision later as I realised that I need 60Ft for entrance to toilet at the bus terminal.....I was prepared to pay Euros in replace of Forint...(1Euro is 252Forint) to enter the toilet as I had to sit in the bus for 9.5 hours subsequently.....

I tried to communicate with the toilet attendance that I want to pay Euro but they couldn't understand me.....At this moment, the policemen who were on duty gave me 20Ft...haha....they are so nice..I am really touched!!

I feel really good after giving away my unused metro tics to a cleaner who works at the bus terminal. I felt really bad that I wasted the unused tickets from Barcelona when I could have offered it to someone who needs it."

Unknowingly, I had spent an hr typing the above...I think I shall conclude now.

It is kind of nice to travel alone as you can go anywhere you want without giving in to friends. However, it is not advisable if you want to take many nice photos of yourself. I dunno why, the photos (though not many) that i asked passerbys to take are kind of disappointing...I gave up taking photos of myself in the end..haha

Secondly, I still think it is dangerous to travel at night if you are alone in a new place. I miss the night scenery of Vienna city as a result.

As I am not sure if I will travel alone again, I really treaure the experience I obtained from this short trip.

url for photos:

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4287359921
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4287359921

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User name : celeste110