The towers are without a doubt the most important landmark in Kuwait and appeared almost everywhere, stamps, postcards, moneys and even my hard rock cafe t shirt. As I arrived at the tower, I bought the ticket for 2 KD for the entrance to one of the three towers.

The main tower serves as a restaurant and a water tower with an access to the viewing dock. I spent there, planning my next destination in Kuwait as most of the view of Kuwait City could be seen from the tower.

The other two towers couldn’t be accessed by visitors had a different function than the main one. The other ball shaped tower fully functions as a water tower whereas the third tower, the needle shape one supplies the electricity and illuminates the two other towers.

The viewing dock consists of a two level dock where the lower level contains the photos and stories behind the construction of the tower (including the story during the tower’s destruction by an attack from Iraq). The second floor is in fact a rotating dock with a cafeteria and a souvenir shop. Get yourself a cheese sandwich and drink, which are included in the entrance price, and enjoy the spectacular view of Kuwait City!

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We simply need to put our city of departure and arrival on the website, the date and time of the journey and the website will find the way for you to move to your destination city, as long as it is in Europe.

And to see how impressive it is, just try and search a way to move from the most extremity city of europe (I tried from porto to Istanbul) and the website will give you the solution no matter what. You will just have to choose which one convient you the most, either you want to arrive earlier, you don’t want to change train often, or you don’t want to pass a certain country or city, it is up to you!

And if you are in German, you could use the ticket machine there to plan your trip (using the same tool on the website) and print the train schedule at the machine. Without a doubt a useful tool if you are planning to discover Europe on train!

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I had the chance to visit Vianden during my weekend trip to Luxembourg. A beautiful town just 47km drive from Luxembourg city, Vianden is known for its impressive castle and is one of Luxembourg’s main tourist attractions.

Just before hiking up the hill to the castle, don’t forget to drop by at Ancien Cinema Café Club. Totally different from other normal cafés, this particular place is utterly dedicated to arts and culture. Film shows, jazz concerts, live music and art exhibitions are among the events frequently organized by the café.

Furthermore, the price of the drinks and the pastries is absolutely reasonable. A large choice of cappuccinos, lattes and espressos and local beers cost barely 5€, except for fine wines and champagnes. Not to mention, the interior is totally cool, old fashioned sofas, 70s style canapé and vintage cinema seats really set the atmosphere.

Delicious warm latte macchiato, nice film with the beautiful Audrey, what else do you need for a relaxing afternoon?

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And not to forget, it is located in the heart of Budapest, just behind the Opera, few minutes walk to the metro station, on the pest side of the pest side of the city. In front of our apartment, I could see famous boutiques such as Louis Vuitton and Prada, and also numerous bars and nightclub are located nearby.

And guess what, we are not paying a lot for all these perks. We paid 50 euros per night for the whole apartment, which can accommodate up to 5 persons. Imagine, 10 € per person? That was the same price for a bed in an hostel, well accept that here, you have everything to yourself, the toilet, the toaster, have I forgot to mention the bathtub?

I couldn’t say anything bad about this apartment. If I happened to come back in Budapest in group, no doubt about it, I would definitely choose this place for accommodation. Thinking about it, would we be back in Budapest after all the bad memories in Budapest? This is without a doubt the only reason why we love Budapest!

Opera Residence
D6. Ó utca 24-26.
Budapest

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Located in the modern side of European Istanbul, this mall can be easily reached by metro at the Sisli station. Upon entering the building, you will be surprise on how there will be an ‘airport security check’ which I found normal in Istanbul.

It is without a doubt a way to get away from the chaotic atmosphere of the grand bazaar or egyptian bazaar. Most of the shops here however sell branded stuffs and it could be less expensive then from your hometown.

You are not obliged to come here and shop. Sometimes, if I was undecided on what to have for dinner, I just came here and headed to the food court on the 4th floor, and choose among the variety of 34 fast food restaurants as well as 14 exclusive restaurants in the building. Remind me definitely of my hometown.

Entertainment area, with games for kids, roller coaster, bowling and cinema can also be found in this mall and just for some info, some of the films in Istanbul were shown in original language. And while you were there, you should not missed to take a picture of the roof of the building, which is one of the biggest clock in the world!

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The funniest story, which I heard from my Germany’s friend Alan, he told me that it was back when Brussels was under siege by foreign power, when Julien happened to spy the plan of the attacker, which is to place explosive charges at the city walls. He decided then to urinate in the burning fuse and thanks to him, the city was safe! This story seems to good to be true apparently. Another similar story was told to me, but it was not on the burning fuse, but instead on a fire which later stops the castle from burning down.

A famous fable in Belgium had another version. A small boy went missing from his mother when shopping in the center of the city. Everyone on the city was looking for the child and when the child was found, he was peeing on the corner of a small street.

Another story, which I found from a Brussels guidebook, is about a wealthy merchant who, during a visit to the city with his family, had his beloved young son go missing. The merchant hastily formed a search party that scoured all corners of the city until the boy was found happily urinating in a small garden. As a sign of gratitude to the locals who helped out during the search, he built the fountain.

And the most famous story is without a doubt about a war troops who put the infant lord in a basket and hung the basket in a tree to encourage them. From there, the boy urinated on the troops of the opposing troop who eventually lost the battle.  With all the legend behind this miniscule monument, no wonder it has been stolen seven times during his long life. A man was even to 20 years in prison when, in 1817, he ripped the statue from its base and fled with it. Funny, after all, it was just a pee-boy for us!

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They might have the same thing in Malaysia, known as gear box but it is definitely not the same thing.  The red sauce is simply unique and that’s what make it so special rather than the ‘gearbox soup’ in Malaysia. And the best way to eat it, is to have it with singapore ‘french baguette’.

Lots of artists from Malaysia headed to Singapore just to have the “sup tulang” in this area. The best and the most challenging part when eating it, is without a doubt when trying to eat the inner part of the bone, known as “sum sum”. You can do anything, hit the bone, use a straw but when you have it, you would want it more.

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I was without a doubt intrigued by the beauty of the Russian Architecture, which without a doubt remind me of the architecture of Kremlin in Moscow. It was almost been destroyed by Estonian nationalist who saw it as a symbol of opression. Luckily the decision was never implemented due to lack of funds and the buildings massive construction.

This type of architecture, which is known as Neo-Byzantine architecture in the Russian empire, definitely seduces me. Despite the fact that someone asked me for money in Tallinn, it was still one of the place that I enjoyed the most visiting, and mostly because of its impressive architecture.

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It was the friendly lady,  still with courage waiting for our arrival at midnight, that questioned us “What the hell are you doing in Granada without visiting Alhambra.” After debating for almost 15 minutes, she finally managed to convince us to visit Alhambra, which is just few steps away from the hostel. Thanks to her suggestion, we had the best day in Alhambra the next day.

This kind of service is what I expected during a trip. Being a backpacker, sometimes there were few points that I missed while planning my trip. It is hard to find a hostel worker that suggested us what to do during our visit. She even gave us tips on how to get the tickets to Alhambra, what could we do to kill our time while waiting for our time of visit and she proposed us to keep a room to store our luggage for half of the day.

And the hostel was superb for its price. Maybe because being too tired from driving, my sleep was disturbless. Pity to some of us who had to wake up early to get the Alhambra tickets. That is what you deserved if you slept the whole journey during the road trip while others busy keeping the driver awake.

A cup of coffee and some biscuits were offered to freshly start our day by the housekeeper. But we kind of had a miscommunication with the housekeeper. The night before, we had an electricity problem in one of the room. It was hard for us to explain our problem to him, who speak no english at all. The only thing he responded to, is “cafe manana.” (which means coffee in the morning.”

Last year few friends from Egypt did their own backpacking to Granada and I suggested this hostel to them. They told me that the lady there excitedly told them about “14 Malaysian travelers who arrived late at night.” It was touching for me that they still had a memory of us. The way they treated their visitor, not as clients, but more as friends is the reason why I strongly recommended this hostel for those who want to visit Granada. You won’t regret it when you find out how near it is to Alhambra.

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When I was in Austria, I told myself that I had to try at least once and it was totally worth having it.  After a long walk, I stopped myself in one of the pastry shop in Vienna’s most famous shopping street, Karntnerstrasse, that runs fro Stephansplatz out to the Wiener Staatsoper, the opera house.

I mistakenly pronounced it as “stradelz” and received an ankward look from the owner. For less than 5 euro, my hot freshly baked apple streudels was served with vanilla ice cream and custard, accompanied by a rich hot chocolate drink. A must try austrian national dish, which funny enough, by history, was derived from a turkish pastry, baklava.

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