day 25: camping in the alps

Balmers Tent Village is right in the heart of the Swiss Bernese Oberland Alps. It had a row of twelve tents - each housing two to six beds - and a lawn with hammocks and sun chairs to relax on.

Jerrain and I enjoyed sleeping in the tent at Mount Ophir so much we could not resist another opportunity. We booked Mexico City, one of the twelve tents, for the first of four nights in beautiful Interlaken.

Mexico City had two comfortable big beds, a full length mirror (which was the first thing Jerrain noticed), a table, two chairs and a gas heater I could not seem to operate. Common hot showers and toilets were just a few tents away and the main tent had free coffee and tea all day.

Situated 800 metres from the main hostel, the only hassle was the need to take a bus for breakfast, free wifi or the famous Metro Club at the hostel. After a few drinks (too many), Jerrain and I trekked two bus stops in the dark and cold at two in the morning. Fortunately, we did not get lost and found the Tent Village quickly.

Only thing we missed was Siew Huey - the third blonde tent buddy to reenact our Mount Ophir night out under the stars.

• Location: Zurich and Interlaken, Switzerland
• Cost: €1 hot chocolate, €1 salami bagette, €10 burger and fries, 4.50chf wine, 28.50chf per night at balmers, 14chf drinks at Metro club
• Train: Munchen hbf to Zurich 4 hours, Zurich to Luzern 40 minutes, Luzern to Interlaken 2 hours
• Lost and found: Grey Cotten-On scarf and Blondi. I cannot believe I left Blondi behind at the train station! I hope he finds a good owner.
• Injury: Walking with the backpack is still a struggle. I can feel that the injured area on right foot is still soft and sore, it hurts a little when I am applying the prescribed gel.
• Highlight: The scenic two-hour train ride between Lucern and Interlaken is extremely popular. Today we saw why. Passing mountains and lakes, we were not the only passengers in the cabin snapping away.

day 18: time has no power over these memories

The three-level wooden bunk beds look recently abandoned. So do the sanitary barracks, wagon and what is left at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Twenty-five times the size of Auschwitz I or the main camp, everything which stands there today is original.

Walking on the uneven stone ground in the rain and chilling wind at 13 degrees celcius, I could not imagine how the prisoners could have survived in their torn striped jacket uniform which never fitted them. The uniform would have hung loosely on their frail and malnourished body. Surviving on watery rotten vegetable soup and scraps of stale bread, they were forced to work till they die. 'Arbeit macht frei' -work did set them free.

I suppose the unseasoned look of the remains at Auschwitz represents how fresh the memories of the event are for those affected. Time has no power over these memories.

• Location: Krakow, Poland
• Highlight: Learning so much at Auschwitz
• Cost: 130 zl two night hostel stay, 90 zl (€22.5) Auschwitz tour, 8 zl hot choco and snack, 25 zl vodka tasting
• Hostel: Tom & Greg Junior. It is right next to the train station. We were welcomed when we reached at 7am with a lovely breakfast spread. Justin was an excellent host, she gave a brief introduction of Krakow and answered all our questions. There is food all the time, cereal and fresh fruit in the kitchen and louge all day long, and special dinner for free.
• Fun: It was strange to have fun immediately after the trip to Auschwitz but we were just in time for the vodka tasting session once we got back to Tom & Greg's at 8pm. We went to a bar in the Old Town called Wodka and tried four flavoured vodka shots - cherry, honey, lemon and mint. Met many new friends from Britain, USA and Canada.

day 9: sleepless and homeless in paris

Yes, you heard me right. Just as we recovered with a nice relaxing afternoon in the park, we were thrown into another situation.

We arrived in Paris France only to be turned away by the hotel which we had made a reservation with! It was a long weekend so all hostels and hotels we subsequently called (rather frantically) were full.

With backpacks pulling down on our shoulders, we walked two metro stations from Hotel De Ville to Bastille in search for two beds for the night. Fortunately Norie was with us and she could quickly dodge in and out of hotel lobbies to ask. But we kept hearing 'Complet' which is a French word I have now learnt to dread.

After about two hours (it was already close to midnight), we came to terms with the fact that we had to stop the search and think of alternatives. There were not many options. We settled into Hippopotamus for dinner and stayed till they closed at 3am. Fortunately, we found a bar (pictured above) across the road which was open till 7am.

I could hardly stay awake. Jerrain took a quick nap while Norie and I caught up and chatted about nothing and everything.

Although we were completely exhausted, we figured we needed to make good use of the remaining 12 hours before we move on to Brussels. So we dragged ourselves to Gare du Nord train station and deposited our bags for €7.50.

We had prata with beef and mutton curry for breakfast before heading to the Louvre. While Jerrain went in to say hi to Mona Lisa, Norie and I caught up on some much needed sleep in the park.

Location: Paris France
Cost: €14 medium rare steak and chocolate mousse dessert at Hippopotamus, €7 tea at Bastille cafe, €7.50 locker at Paris Gare du Nord station, €2.80 orange juice
Highlight: Staying out and up the entire night and feeling thankful to have Jerrain and Norie there with me

day 6.5: aunties from singapore

I know I said this is a-post-a-day blog but there are a million and one things happening and it pains me to leave them out. So I cannot promise this will be the last of my 'day x.5' blog post.

We have been overly pampered in Warwickshire - accommodation, food, drinks, transport and activities were all taken care of by Gavin and Serene. Once we got on that Megabus to London, we were back on our own.

The original plan was to leave for Paris today, but a Eurostar ticket would cost each of us £179! We decided to lengthen our stay in London for two nights so a ticket will be £57.

We were exhausted by the time we weaved through peak hour crowd with our 15 kilograms backpacks and secured the Eurostar tickets. But before we could heave a sigh of relief, we had to find a place to sleep for the next two nights!

Jerrain - while blonde most of the time - came up with a brilliant idea to hijack the train station trolley for our backpacks while we roam the Kings Cross area for a hostel. Thankfully, the YHA hostel (part of the Hostelling International group) had space. We got the £28 bed in a six-bed ensuite dorm for tonight, and a £60 private room for tomorrow.

After all that drama, Jerrain and I needed a drink or two (or three, or four... Ok, you get the idea). It was a little too late to join the hostel pub crawl, so we went to Belushi ourselves. Situated at Covent Garden, it has a proper mash of locals and tourists. There were flags (the only Asian one I spotted was Korea) on its ceiling and random posters on the walls, including one of the London underground in case you did not know your way back. When Retro Velvet, the Scottish two-man band, was not playing, Belushi reminds me very much of Singapore's Ice Cold Beer on Emerald Hill.

People were friendly, though who could be otherwise to two sweet and petite Asian girls? We chatted with George and Antonio (who are school teachers in the day) from Retro Velvet, Josh and David who knew each other since they were five, and a bunch of lawyer trainees whom we spent more with at another mini club after we were chased out of Belushi about 1am.

• Location: London, Britain
• Cost: £57 Eurostar to Paris, £88 hostel for the next two nights, £4 per vodka cranberry
• Highlight: Feeling like I am on Amazing Race, not knowing where, when and how we are making the next step; clubbing in London with Jerrain and meeting new friends.
• Lost and found: Only lost really - my camera landyard and Melody whom Caleb my iPhone has grown to love (he is now in mourning)

In case you have not figured out the blog post title, middle-age housewives in Singapore often push the supermarket trolleys back home, until the shops started making them return the trolleys to get their dollar back. I felt so much like one of them pushing the train station trolley on the London street.