Planet Wilder

[thumb:1427:l] Sonnenhof is a big, woody, old house with four spacious, traditionally decorated rooms and a cheery garden. It’s a 15-minute walk through the fields to the castles. That’s per Rick Steve. We actually don’t have a Rick Steve book or have been looking at his website. We just accidentally stumbled upon it when we were looking for a hotel in the Schwangau – Fussen area.

Here’s a tip: on weekends, when you’re traveling to a very touristy place, book your hotel in advance. Winging it can cause a lot of grieve.

[thumb:1409:r] So we left Landsberg am Lech and traveling down to Fussen or really to the two well known Ludwig’s castles. This was Saturday. We left Landsberg at about 10 a.m., so really, earlier than usual. We stopped (of course) at a few different places, Shongau, Peiting, and Rottenbuch. We some magnificent churches and some nice views along the way. Really good ride.
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[thumb:1479:l] Then off to the night zoo. We took the MRT and the bus and took us about 30 minutes to get there… maybe 45. We had to use the MRT’s bathroom and that place was the stinkiest bathroom that I’ve ever been in. You can sit on it, not too shabby (oh, there’s only one sit down toilet, the rest are squats), but the smell just reaked! But we did our thing and quickly left. From the MRT station, you have to take the escalator or elevator to go down to the basement of the MRT. From there you cross (under the street crossway) to the bus station. That’s where you catch the bus to the zoo. Once you’re in the bus, sit back and relax because your stop is the very last stop.

The night zoo was quite entertaining. There were good looking guys dancing around in just their underwear :D Well, they’re old fashion clothes pants. Think of tribal garbs. They were blowing fire out of their mouths and Emma thought that was just cool. From there we went to the animal show. It was short but not bad. If you are interested in the show, sit in the middle/front left. Trust me! From there we got in line for the tram ride. The lady at the ticket counter said that it’d take us a couple hours to walk the zoo and 45 minutes for the tram ride. If we hadn’t been walking around Singapore we’d probably would have walk but since our legs and feet were pooped, we opted for the tram.
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Loved Singapore. We stayed at the Grande Mercure and that was very nice . The first day we just relaxed. Got to the hotel at around 2 p.m. (they have an airport shuttle) and Emma couldn’t wait to go swimming. So we checked out the swimming pool and an hour of pool fun triggered our hunger. After getting cleaned up, we went to the hawker stalls across the street. Had one of the best spring rolls and the cheapest bubble tea ($S1 or $.75 US) ever. I should have gotten more but really shouldn’t… watching my figure ya know :D We walked around, crossed the street (through an underground walkway) to the East Side Beach and for the first time Emma played on the beach. She had a really great time and we will go again, maybe Mexico. Since it was our first day and Indonesia has been a trip, we went back to the hotel, ordered dining service, and went to bed.
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Well, despite all the discomfort, the visit was nice. It was great to see Emma and my parents together for the first time. Emma was grandpa’s little girl. Not too crazy about my mom but she loved Grandpa Swan.

I got to see my brother and his wife and also got to visit Malang where I visited my high school and uncle’s family. I saw many of my past teachers. Of course many couldn’t exactly remember my name (I wasn’t the brightest or the naughtiest) but those whom I was very fond of remembered me. It was very nice. Seeing the rest of my cousins and aunts and uncles were nice too. Many were still so young and now they’re close to getting married and having a family of their own.
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I hate squat toilets. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always been afraid of the Indonesian public toilets. Beside the fact that you have to squat, many are dirty, smelly, and wet. They never use to bother me but ever since I lived in the U.S. and experienced the clean, dry, sit-down toilet, the squat became less desirable.

On this trip, I was surprised to find many modern bathrooms BUT the squat still exists and some are just as nasty as I remembered them. I’ve been really lucky that I have not had to do #2 in the squat. Emma did though but again I was lucky to have my mom. She took care of Emma when she had to poo and squat. Drew on the other hand, had a nasty experience that he wished to not ever talk about. I think he might even kill me if he knew I mentioned it here :D

Here is a good squat toilet tip (hilarious):
Using the Squat Toilet