Holiday is coming! A backpacking tips for dummies :)

For those of you who are still student like me or for those of you who feel quite boring with your work, maybe you can't wait to have your vacation. Do you have a plan already? Well... backpacking is an interesting way to spend your holiday. It's fun, exciting and relatively cheap.

But before going on backpacking, we have to consider several things to prevent our holiday for being a disaster.

Here is some backpacking tips that I can share. But since, using Angie's expression, I'm just a rookie myself, these tips are quite basic... some of you might be able to add some more useful tips. But nevertheless... here are they

Where to go?
This question is very personal. I mean, it really depends on how much time and money do you have, and which places that you want to visit.

If you have decided which place you want to visit, then the next step is to get as much information as possible about that place. The most basic way is to look on internet. Most of the tourism places have their own website that can give you information about all the things that you can see and do there.

But I prefer to check on website that offers travel advice like www.lonelyplanet.com first. A site owned by the official tourism bureau sometimes exaggerate things. I mean, ok it's good to see the oldest church in Venice. But if you have quite limited time, you might want to see other places instead. And also lonely planet offers you some travel itineration according how much time that you have. In that way, you will not miss the most attractive object (except, of course, you already have your own preference)

Also a good idea is to bring a travel guide book. In that case, you can make your trip more flexible. You can always alter your plan at every time instances.



Last but most useful is to ask people who've been there or still there. They usually have a lot of tips and information that are really applicable for you.

So ... that's all for the early preparation. Now I should go back to my crazy Gruendlage Kuenstliche Intelligenz. Huaaahmmm... Booooriiiiing.... :)

Weinachtsmarkt!

Karena masih nggak sempet bikin tulisan baru, jadi saya masukin cerita saya yang pernah di post di blog lain tanggal 12 Desember 2004

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Minggu lalu gue ama temen-temen jalan-jalan di Weihnachtsmarkt-nya Kaiserslautern.

Malem minggu nggak ada gawe :D

Jadi setiap akhir bulan November sampai Natal, di hampir semua kota di Jerman ada yang namanya Weihnachtsmarkt atau Christkindlmarkt atau bahasa Indonesianya sih Pasar Natal (sounds rather funny in Indonesian, isn't it?).

Weihnachtsmarkt ini pada dasarnya mirip bazaar di Indonesia... Ada banyak stand-stand yang ngejual handycrafts dan makanan minuman khas Winter. Karena namanya juga Weihnachtsmarkt - pasar Natal - jadi stand-stand itu pada dihiasin ama lampu-lampu kecil layaknya pohon Natal.

Yang gue seneng dari konsep Weihnachtsmarkt itu adalah selain lampu-lampu hiasan yang bikin suasana winter yang gelap (sometimes even can be depressing) jadi meriah, Weihnachtsmarkt itu juga jadi tempat orang-orang ngumpul ama temen atau keluarga sambil makan-makan dan minum-minum. Believe me or not, hanging with friends or families can make the winter less chilly (and of course, while gathering together they drink Gluhwein, a kind of drink made from wine boiled with some spices like cloves, cinnamon and lemonade... That drink does make them feel warmer... Too bad, that can't be applied for me :(( )


Nyobain Reibekuchen. Hehehehe... Gimana nggak gendut :">

Walaupun nggak bisa minum minuman beralkohol yang bikin badan hangat (can't hardly get coffee or tea, here), kita bisa nyobain makanan-makanan yang dijual disini. Selain Bratwurst - sosis khas Jerman, biasanya terbuat dari daging babi atau daging sapi + babi - yang buat orang sini udah jadi sebagian dari iman (pokoknya kemana pun dan kapan pun kita pergi di Jerman, pasti nemu orang yang jual Bratwurst ini) makanan lain yang dijual di Weihnachtsmarkt ini adalah crepes (standar, sih... tapi lumayan, lah), trus Flammkuchen (makanan khas Jerman yang physically kayak Pizza. Gue nggak pernah nyoba juga... Pake bacon, sih :( ), trus ada juga yang namanya Reibekuchen, 'gorengan' khas Pfalz (daerahnya Kaiserslautern) yang dibuat dari kentang parut trus ditambah tepung dan telur, trus digoreng dan dimakan ama Apfelmus (something like apple jam). Waktu itu gue pertama kalinya nyobain makanan ini... Aneh juga... asin nyampur manis.. :-& Tapi not bad lah.. At least I've ever tried ;)

Tapi sebenernya makanan yang harumnya paling menggoda iman (and luckily, it's halal) kalo kita ke Weihnachtsmarkt adalah Almond panggang (gue lupa bahasa Jermannya apaan... :">). Almond-almond ini nggak cuma dipanggang gitu aja.. Tapi sebelumnya ada yang dilapisin ama campuran butter dan gula, coklat, kayu manis, dll. Can you imagine the smell of roasted nut, combine with the smell of melted butter and caramel and cinnamon? Mmmm... yummy...

Sayang karena keterbatasan dana (makanannya mahal-mahal bo'!) dan mengingat bentuk muka yang semakin bulet aja kayak babi (karena semakin gendut :">) gue nggak bisa nyoba semua makanan-makanan yang ada. But I'm surely will tell you if I get another new experience :)

Merry Christmas!

(Hehehehe... gue lagi ama 'my brother' Akoto)