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The word “Dachau” would send shiver down the spine of those living during that time of the great conflict.

Being a fan of WWII history, my wish of visiting a concentration camp came true…. thanks to Richie and Antonio, the Contiki tour managers. If not for them, I would’ve had difficulties finding the way to the camp from Munich and with limited time. The study of WWII history would not be complete if you have never visit such an inhumane place. Other bigger and more established camps such as Auschwitz and Mathausen would be more educative to visit but Dachau is the prototype for other concentration camps that followed. This is where it all started.

Ok, for more info, read here.

Tablet at the main entrance dedicated to the liberators of the camp. Go and watch Band of Brothers…

The main entrance of the camp. There’s a small river in front of it.

“Arbeit Macht Frei”, the word that gave millions of people nightmares and false hope. It means work will set you free.

Near the entrance of the museum.

One of the vast exhibits in the museum.

The main courtyard.

This is where rows of prisoner barracks once stood.

The prisoner bunks.

Prisoner sinks.

Prisoner toilet.

“Never again”.

St Goar is one of may small towns spread through the Rhine Valley in Germany.

This is where we stayed….. where the station wagon was parked.

The town is very small and peaceful which is often nice break after an often crazy time in Amsterdam. If you’re tour is traveling north it also makes it a great place to rest up before arriving in the Dutch capital.

The town itself is famous in the region for a number of things, the least of which is the ‘Burg Rheinfels’ castle that resides over the town below. As with many of the castles in this fairy-tale part of the middle-Rhine, the Burg Rheinfels was built during the middle-ages and re-fortified during the 16th century. In a region that is famed and filled with castles, the Rheinfels in St Goar is the largest in the region and also one of the oldest.

Another one of St Goar’s claims to fame is that it is home to the largest free standing outdoor cuckoo clock in the world! It hangs from the side of a store in the main street of the town. Even though this clock pales in comparison to the Glockenspiel of Munich and the Astrological Clock in Prague, people always take photos of it. Cuckoo clocks originated in the Black Forest a little south of St Goar and if you want to pick up an authentic German made clock, this is the place.

Other opportunities to shop for Germanic products in St Goar include Steiff teddy bears, Birkenstock sandals and authentic German beer steins. With Contiki you also have the opportunity see a presentation and learn more about German beer steins, many of which are manufactured near the Rhine Valley.

Otherwise the Rhine Valley and St Goar is a very peaceful, safe and relaxing part of any tour while the region also has a reputation as being one of the more romantic parts of Germany, it is also famous for the Rhinelander trains, biking holidays and cruises along the river (sometimes included on summer tours visiting St Goar).

The town is also famous for being very near the ‘Loreley Rock’ – a steep cliff that rises up from a narrow bend in the river. German mythology says was home to a young woman name ‘Loreley’. Legend has it that she threw herself off the rock into the river because of an unfaithful lover. She then became very much like one of the Sirens or Capri, with her haunting tones luring sailors to crash their boats into the banks of the Rhine. She has since been immortalized and is very popular in poetry and song as well as Germany folklore.

Soomwool. The basement wine cellar was cool and everyone enjoyed the wine.
Another thing the Rhine Valley region is very famous for is white wine production. Up until the First World War, the Rhine has a reputation for producing the best Rieslings in the world. Although the world wine market has since offered up a myriad of different whites, the vine covered slopes of the Rhine still maintains their reputation for producing some of the best sweet white wines in the world. Tours visiting St Goar have the opportunity to take a wine tasting excursion in a wine cellar dating back to the 1600’s.

St Goar is a one night stop on Contiki Europe tours that travel through the Rhine Valley. Some tours stay in the town of St Goar while other tours stay in nearby towns in the region.

Here, the crappiest soup I’ve ever had….  rice, carrot… arrgh..

Source: http://ph.contiki.com/contikipedia/articles/st-goar

It was quite a long ride on the bus from London to Amsterdam. From Dover, we crossed the Channel by ferry to Calais. After that, the road to Amsterdam was damn long…. it was my first time being on bus for so long since years ago. Plain green fields were everywhere on both side of the road.

We stopped at a rest station for a quick bite. Their rest station is like the Marche restaurant we have here.

This salad was the cheapest food we can get there….. but its very delicious. The salad was awesome.

This confirmed that I was really in Neatherland.

After a long ride in the bus… everyone was so tired and look at their luggage bags…so big as compared to ours.

Amsterdam at night. Taken when the rest of them went for a canal cruise while we roamed the streets of Amsterdam.

Man, it was cold but beautiful.

According to Richie, the tour manager, this “coffee shop” is one of the renown one. “Coffee shops” here sell all kinds of weed and others such cake, magic mushrooms etc. Red Light District is behind this building. Too bad we were advised not to take any pictures in the RLD or risk camera to be confiscated by gangstas.

Just some random buildings…… and cafes and coffee shops.

I was there. Thats all.

On the way to the town….

Its just nice to walk around in Amsterdam. Everywhere seem so near.

Where’s the black tulip?

A happy family… Dutch family.

The dick is 3D.

The boobs are 3D too.

So, Amsterdam was a great. So many things to see.

Received a forwarded email about this website:
http://www.thebigview.com/pastlife/

The following was generated after I put in my DOB:

Your past life diagnosis:

I don’t know how you feel about it, but you were female in your last earthly incarnation.You were born somewhere in the territory of modern Yukon around the year 1675. Your profession was that of a leader, major or captain.

Your brief psychological profile in your past life:
Timid, constrained, quiet person. You had creative talents, which waited until this life to be liberated. Sometimes your environment considered you strange.

The lesson that your last past life brought to your present incarnation:
It always seemed to you that your perceptions of the world are somewhat different. Your lesson is to trust your intuition as your best guide in your present life.

Do you remember now?

Oh shit….. been strucked by the same warning message twice in a day…. in the office and at home. Looks like I need to spring clean and backup all the files created over the last 4-5 years into CDs. Arrghh.. it will be daunting task. I need a DVD writer.

We reached London in the evening and it was cold. To me it was very cold… and thats why I chose this time of the year to go. Just sick of the hot weather we have here.

Travel post cannot do without touristy photo such as this taken at Piccadilly Circus. That structure may be one the most photographed structure of its kind. I need not elaborate much of this place as it is so famous that you may have heard about it. The nearby Regent Street is a shoping haven.

Went to Chinatown for lunch… KL hokkien mee. Eh… the food is comparable to some of the famous hokkien mee you can get in KL. Granny was so happy to see Chinatown. After lunch, went to places around there…. Trafalgar Square, National Portrait Gallery, Covent Garden Market, and places around there. I just couldn’t remember all the names.

Roads in London are very narrow even for many main roads.

In the evening, went to Contiki’s basement office near Russell Square for a briefing and check-in for the trip… we’re going to Europe the next morning. 

After the briefing, we walked around looking for the tube station but was made walking around by a man selling bus ticket at the Euston bus station. Arrgh… there’s another tube station, but the guy showed us to Euston Square just down the road. We didn’t know…. and walked…. then we looked at the map again and felt something is wrong. Turned back and we found the station we wanted to go is just right behind the bugger’s office. Arrgh. He’s from africa anyway.

When Szer was taking this a picture of me at the subway, this bloke just jumped in, standing next to me. I was shocked at first and thought someone gonna rob me. Then when i see him in his friar robe, I know he just wanna have fun. A bunch of his gang were heading for some play I’d guess.

And so, we headed home and packed our luggage that nite for Europe. By the way, I think i should invest in a good tripod so that next time when we go holiday, there will be more pictures of both of us together. For now, mostly are single person pictures.

Well, I took the Emirates airline to London via Dubai. Man, the airport is full of people waiting to connect flights and well, there’s not enough chairs for people to take a nap. So, many people sleep on the carpeted floor on the main walkway and where ever there is space to lie down.You’d feel like in a refugee camp.

In this picture, many more sleepers are hidden behind the chairs… between the chairs and the railing of the elevator. You be surprised how they can squeeze into the narrow space behind the chairs.

Well, thats Dubai Airport.

Eiffel Tower in blue after a Frenchman was elected the president to head the EU.

I will update my blog as soon as possible once I sorted out the thousands of pictures I took while in Europe. Im back in KL and kinda reluctant to go to work the day after tomorrow. Gotta unpack and do some laundry. Tons of photos to edit before sending it to print. Bills waiting to be paid.

Europe was fun but expensive. Ha.

Yo….. I’ll be back in KL on Sunday evening. The holiday in coming to an end….. so sad.