"Skipped a few months but still alive after the exams!"

Ahhhh....have been away from xanga for sooo long!  Much has happened since my last entry - the London blasts, my nerve wrecking exams, 10 day trip to Holland, a couple of days in Devon and Cornwall, and finally I'm back in Thailand again.

Firstly, the horrible events....the London blasts were unfortunate and shocking as well as scary and life threatening occuring nearby the library I frequented daily....the exams were as exhausting, strenous and difficult as could be expected and hopefully I fared well.  I'll soon find out in November when the results are posted.  Fingers crossed I'll be attending the graduation ceremony in December in London as a graduate.

My trip to Holland, on the other hand, was great!  As my friend had to work on weekdays, I took the train to different towns and cities just about everyday; The Hague, Leiden, Gorinchem, Rotterdam, Scheveningen, Breda, Amersfoort, etc.  Walked so much on this trip my legs and feet ached everyday.  Suspect I may have lost a few kilos too.  Over the weekend Punch drove us over the border to Belgium which was just over an hour away from the town we were in and the next weekend we visited a couple of outlets where I was able to do a bit of shopping.

Leiden was my favourite town.  It was like a little Venice of Holland with canals running throughout the town.  It differs in that most of the people speak English and the canals don't stink!  A very charming town with pretty houses along the small lanes and roads branching out from the main road where the canal ran.

And during this visit to Holland, I was finally able to visit The Hague or Den Haag as they call it, the home of the ICJ (Int'l Court of Justice or the Peace Palace as they also call it).  I'm not too big a fan of int'l law, but hey, I keep hearing about it in my studies so it felt good to actually be able to stand in front of the building itself.  Would've took a tour inside too, but luck just wasn't on my side.  At least I got a pic in front of it though...heheh  The city itself had lots of old architecture to offer such as the Peace Palace, the Binnenhof, Palace Noordeinde, The Prison Gate, City Hall, etc.

Near The Hague is a town called Scheveningen which is by the seaside.  So of course I took the opportunity to take a peek at their beach and see how it would compare to our Thai beaches and turns out, as suspected, Thai beaches rule!!!  Naturally, we're in the tropics while they're way up there, so ain't no surprise.  Nevertheless, had a nice walk along the beach and took tons of pics of some adorable sculptures.

Also took the opportunity to visit Madurodam, a tourist attraction which houses a miniature version of Holland.  Must say that the work was very detailed and one of the best miniature attractions I've seen yet, very impressive indeed!!!

I visited Gorichem because I was heading to Castle Loevestein.  I was dying to visit a castle and went all the way there and took a ferry ride over to the island where the castle was.  The weather was rather hot that day, the temperature in the mid 20 degrees but inside the castle it was very cool as if there actually was air-conditioning.  I was aware of the fact that castles were cool in summer due to construction using stone, but I never knew the difference in the temperature between the outside and inside would be so different!  It was very pathetic but I was actually looking around for some sort of air-conditioner while I was inside.  I was so busy taking pics I missed the last ferry back to the mainland and ended up sharing a boat with a local family who were taking their kids and their friends for an outing to celebrate their son's birthday to a nearby island in hope that there'd be some sort of transportation to the mainland from there.  And luckily for me, I was in time to catch the last ferry.  I cant imagine spending the night at Castle Loevestein.  Would probably be haunted by the castle ghosts at night!

Rotterdam has long been known as an important port city and is also known for its modern unique architecture.  I wasn't very keen on visiting Rotterdam to see modern architecture as I was more interested in "old stuff", but having spent a few hours there, I suppose it does have a charm of its own.

Just sooo many pics but little space!  Would be overdoing it a bit by putting up pics from Cornwall and Devon.  Will have em up on www.photobucket.com or otherwise in my next entry.  I'm back in Bangkok now but I find myself missing London.  Exam results will be posted November 22nd and the graduation ceremony will be held on December 14th.  Hopefully, I'll be in London that day.  You'll definitely see a pic of me in my graduation gown in here.