Visiting Copenhagen - land of the Nordic (and good genes)
*All photos were taken using a Blackberry*
I wanted to cry when my camera died-ed.
To update really quickly, I left my previous company, October 31st was my last day at work. Joined a new company on November 1st, and on November 2nd, I went for a work trip to Copenhagen, Denmark as the new company's HQ is there.
Anyway, i brought my Nikon DSLR, and guess what, on the day I wanted to use it, the lens just died-ed. Yes, that's right. Camera unusable *sigh* So i was left with my Blackberry, and as we know, Blackberry cameras leave much to be desired.
Copenhagen is a pretty interesting and nice country, reminds me a bit of Amsterdam (water canals and architecture), but I feel the people are nicer here. Had not many problems communicating with the locals, and they are generally quite helpful.
The company booked me into the Copenhagen Plaza hotel, a 4-star hotel there which has much history (google it! apparently many celebrities have stayed there. In fact, in the lobby, there is a list of celebrities who have stayed there). There is also the Library Bar (not to be confused with Library bars in Malaysia), with loads of books which can be read during the day even, and it is done up with heavy wood paneling.
Generally the cost of living there is freaking expensive! Example : 15-minute taxi ride to work from the hotel cost approximately 270 Danish Kroner (about RM 160) wtf. Travel tip: Taxi fare is payable by credit card there! Joy!
Luckily all expenses are borne by the company (and charged to our corporate credit card), if not i'd be bankrupt in no time.
Some memorable moments in Copenhagen:
1. Visiting the Little Mermaid statue:
Yes, my Danish colleagues warned me that she would be really little, and they were not joking. Dunno why but I thought she would be bigger. Felt a little bit cheated, sort of like when u chat with someone online and he/she sends you a picture which shows a good-looking person, but when you meet the person in real life, they turn out to be NOTHING like the picture. Yep. That feeling (not that I have ever had this experience). Apparently last year the statue was away in the Shanghai exhibition, and the statue has been defaced (head gone missing etc) before.
Got lost walking in the park on the hunt for the Little Mermaid. Travel tip: Do NOT ever ask tourists for help. Ever.
On the way back at the Osterport train station there was a flasher next to me and I didnt realise wtf. Fucker
2. Taxi ride to Radisson SAS Scandic Hotel
Went with my two colleagues from China there for dinner at the Blue Elephant, a Thai fine dining place. One of my colleagues who has been to Denmark many times before asked the taxi driver if he knew which Radisson Hotel it was as there are two in Copenhagen. She told him it was the one with the casino. And he was like yes, there is only one casino in COpenhagen. Later she asked him whether it was safe to walk back to our hotel after dinner as we initially wanted to walk back. He paused, then said yes, Copenhagen is very safe, even if you walk back at 2-3 am.
We realised during dinner later that the taxi driver probably thought we 3 Chinese people must have wanted to visit the casino, and also thought we could win money and walk back later. (which explains why he said it was safe to walk back at 2-3 am when my colleague asked whether it was safe to walk back AFTER DINNER).
We did not visit the casino though. And we didnt walk back either (too damn cold).
3. Candy shopping:
None of it are for me btw. I just got myself 2 chocolate bars.
A few other memorable occasions there like visiting the Department Head's absolutely fucking huge and awesome house for a welcome dinner, getting separated with absolutely no contact whatsoever with my colleagues in Fields department store, dinner with colleagues and so on.
Too tired to continue, need to sleep now to offset my jetlag.
Thanks for reading, apologies for not updating as often as I would've liked.
xoxo,
ah ling
Labels: Blog, musings, photos, self, shopping, travel, work, WTF
