Hötorget and the Stockholm Concert Hall (Konserthuset)

{Due to the fact that I'm not using a Swedish keyboard, every time "Hotorget" is said in this post, the first letter "o" always has two dots above it.} 

What is Hotorget? Hotorget is basically a square in the very heart of Stockholm. Since I've been here in Stockholm, Hotorget is basically the site where you can get some souvenirs from Stockholm, like mugs, magnets, shirts for affordable prices.

I also forgot to mention that one of the most noticeable things being sold in Hotorget are fresh (or so I hope that they're fresh) produce. You can find tons of blueberries, strawberries, Swedish mushrooms and all sorts of flowers and seeds being sold here at the square.

According to Wikipedia, flea markets are arranged here in Hotorget on Sundays, but I have personally never seen flea markets in this area of Stockholm since the day we've visited.

Hotorget also has the Stockholm Concert Hall (locally referred to as "Konserthuset", literally translated as "The Concert House"), which is the not-that-highly-emphasized blue building in the picture above and below:

The Stockholm Concert Hall directly faces the markets of fruits, vegetables and souvenirs in the square. This building also is the cite on where all the Nobel Prizes (except for the Peace Prize, which is given in Oslo, Norway) are given.

There are so many useful establishments just within a two-six minute walk within the square and the concert hall. Here are some useful establishment examples:

• Hotorget Tunnelbana (Subway) Station is just a minute away. Literally.
• Kjell & Company - A store that sells electronic accessories and peripherals (plugs, conncetors, etc) 
• Kungshallen - A building where you can find a variety of food stalls, coffeehouses and restaurants.
• Akademibokhandlen - A shop that sells books. It's a chain (along with Kjell & Co.), so don't be surprised that you can see these kind of stores in a range of locations.
• Forex Bank - Currency exchange offices.

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You really need to read more. 

• Stockholm Public Library
• An architectural wonder, the library located in Odenplan and is circular in shape.
• Stockholm City Hall
• Where the Nobel Prize banquet is held, the Stockholm City Hall is trully a highly-recommend attraction.
• Skansen -- Stockholm's Open Air Museum
• An open-air museum that lets you experience the simple and old Nordic lifestyle. Also get ready for a magnificent view of Stockholm. 

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TRAVEL ADVICE for Sweden

Going to Sweden? Here are some useful travel tips for you to know!

1] Avoid sit down restaurants if you're budget travelling. Really expensive. A source tells me that one meal here does not cost less than USD 20. Try going to stalls that often have sausages, Thai food and ice cream. You can buy some stuff with half (or more than half) the price. 

2] Do sample some of its local cuisine. Try dammsugare (literally translated as a vacuum cleaner), kanelbulle, traditional meatballs or any of those cheap supermarket pastries. 

Sidenote: Read one of my many "Pastries from Hemkop" blog posts here. Tack!

3] Join a fika! A fika is a very traditional Swedish act where you and your friends sit down, have a coffee, maybe some dammsugare on the side and chat. Very, very Swedish indeed, ja? 

4] Go to the Vasa Museum and Skansen. The Vasa Ship sank in 1628, on its maiden or first voyage. Go to Skansen if you want to take a look at the Old Fashioned Nordic Lifestyle. Click here for my blog post about the Vasa Museum or here for our Skansen trip. 

5] If you will be staying in Sweden for a long time, you will eat something out of a tube. I think there's some cheese in a tube, caviar and other crazy stuff. Trust me. Not that appetizing, but you will do that if you will be staying for more than a month. 

6] Keep it "lagom". Loosely translated, "lagom" means not too much, not too little, but just right or in moderation. Clothes? Keep it "lagom". Food in a buffet? Keep it "lagom". Budget? Keep it "lagom". 

7] Enjoy their natural offerings. By that, I mean nature. Just enjoy what should be enjoyed in Sweden's natural world. Just don't cut trees, pollute or any kind of bad stuff that destroy the environment. I think it's illegal (if not, it should be). 

So I leave you with this funny but meaningful Swedish proverb: 
"Smaken ar som baken - delad"

My interpretation of this quote is that people can't always agree with each other on one topic. It is okay to disagree, as long as it can be resolved in an orderly manner. 
If you want the English translation of the proverb, here it is: 

"Taste is like a butt -- divided".

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Travel Tips

Here are some tips if your going away to a vacation to a different country.

1: Make a checklist of the necessary items you want to bring. Some necessary items may be toiletries, medication, sunscreen and whatever your heart desires.

2: Book airfare and accommodations two months before your trip. This is especially useful if you're going to a country with major festivities, as the prices may even double in airfare and hotels.

3: Budget travelling? Buy your food at a local supermarket. Still want to taste the cuisine of the country you're going to? Buy street food from hawkers and stalls.

4: Group travelling? Assign one of you to be a treasurer. All the people in the group must then contribute an amount of money and put it in a pouch courtesy of the treasurer. Every expense must be paid using the money inside the pouch, such as entrance fees, food and souvenirs.

5: Use all your money. If you're going to a country that does not accept your own currency, it is advisable to spend all your money there. You don't want to get ripped-off by the exchange rates twice, don't you?

6: If you think flights are crazy boring, bring something that you can enjoy doing whilst in a flight. Enjoy reading? Bring a book. Enjoy playing games? Fully charge your phone or bring an iPad or whatever. Enjoy sleeping? Bring a neck-pillow.

If you enjoyed reading this post, I'll be sure to make a Part 2!

READ MORE: How To Make The Most Of Your Travel Money {from nomadicmatt.com}

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Bangkok, Thailand !

So just before we moved to Stockholm, we applied for a Biometrics Visa in Thailand, since there weren't any machines that can process the card in the Philippines. But you know us, we don't go anywhere without travelling.

We arrived just before noon in Bangkok. So I remember this dilemma on exchanging currency because the converters wouldn't accept cash. We did found one currency converter at the rightmost end of the arrival halls though.

When my auntie went and greeted us, she told us that we booked a wrong hotel in Chiang Mai instead of booking one in Bangkok. She was very much welcome to let us stay in their apartment (with her brother) for the rest of our trip.

Once we got to their apartment, we settled in for about thirty minutes before my auntie and uncle suggested that we go to this mall called Terminal 21 and was divided into plenty of fun sections.

I think we took the SkyTrain for us to go there. A buzz of  different cultures welcomed us inside the mall, not just because of the people, but every floor of the mall was in the theme of a different city. We started off at floor three, which was themed to Istanbul. By the way, the "terminals" were the elevators, since they took you off to the different floor, hence different city theme.

Us Going To The Third Floor 

After some quick window-shopping and a whole lot of talking, we decided to have an authentic Thai lunch at this place in the fifth floor of the mall (I think). The fifth floor of the mall was supposedly "San Francisco" themed. Lunch consisted of Tomyum and Pad Thai with iced teas.

One of the most memorable and funniest moments of the trip is where we seated near the fountain at the mall to take a break and my uncle jokingly said that it's a wishing well but it only accepts banknotes. Kind of thin? Well, those are some jokes that I really like... So deal with it.

After we ended our trip to Terminal 21, we went to this park which is about a fifteen minute walk from the mall itself. Couldn't remember the name, though. So after about an hour in the park and spending some energy on the playgrounds, we went to another mall about another ten minute walk away and bought some snacks for the apartment.

The second day consisted of our application for the Biometics I.D card and going to Siam Ocean World and Madame Tussauds Bangkok, which is a wax museum.We also had a snack in this Ice Cream bar called "Swensens". Unfortunately, there were no pictures I can show you since we didn't have the chance to upload it. Once I find it, I will update this post and keep you notified.

So that wraps up our trip to Bangkok in Thailand. I am so sorry if I did not explain this trip in full detail, even though this happened just four-three months ago (July 2013). Cheers!

READ MORE:  Click Here To Go To A Random Blog Post!
SHOUTOUTS: Leah L. Suarez | Jhoi Ramirez Dagunan* | Dean James | Elleina Suarez

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Malaysia 2011!

So after our trip to the Universal Studios Singapore, we took a six hour bus ride to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. Based on my mom's Facebook post, we arrived at Kuala Lumpur at about 8.45 in the evening.

We booked our stay in Cititel Express Kuala Lumpur. We had two double queen sized family beds in our room, because we were five and my mom wanted us to fit inside one room.

We woke up at a painfully early time the next morning so that we could catch the Breakfast Buffet of the hotel. The buffet consisted of lots of rice, meat and other breakfast pastries.

We then took a taxi around the central districts of KL. We stopped at the Petronas Twin Towers, which was one of the main reasons we visited Malaysia. We were welcomed by the staff and watched a short presentation about the historical influences for its architecture. We then took a fast elevator to the sky-bridge.

Petronas Twin Towers

The view on the sky-bridge was AMAZING. You could see a great view of Kuala Lumpur. No disappointments whatsoever.

Me On The Twin Towers' Sky-Bridge

So we spent fifteen minutes inside the sky-bridge. By the way, the sky-bridge is that thing that connects the two towers together, if you didn't know. So we took the elevator back down and went out of the building. We then saw another tall building and asked some locals. They told us that the building was Menara Kuala Lumpur (Kuala Lumpur Tower).

We then took a taxi there to KL Tower. We took another really fast elevator to its observation deck and spent about half an hour there. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any pictures of us and the tower.

So after another sleep and a painfully early wake-up time, we decided to go to a "Chocolate Factory". It was Beryl's Chocolate Kingdom. This was the most disappointing thing in Malaysia, as it didn't show much about making chocolate. Well sure, there was about three to four artifacts but that was it. The rest of the building was mainly a place where you can buy their chocolate.

Our last full day in Malaysia concluded with a visit to Kuala Lumpur's Butterfly Park.

So that was it. We then went back to the hotel, slept, had the final painfully early wake-up, breakfast buffet and we took the bus back to Singapore and took a taxi to Singapore's Changi Airport. I think it was 4 in the morning when we arrived to the airport.

As we were checking in for our flight, my mom and her friends spotted some members of the Philippine Dragon Boat team also checking in for their flight. My sister some other kids and I then found a playground. Here's a picture of me on the playground that my mom caught...

That concludes our trip to Singapore & Malaysia!

READ MORE: Are These Some Stuff Unique to Stockholm?
SHOUTOUT: Leah L. Suarez (who provided all of the photos from the Singapore-Malaysia blog posts)

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Vasa Museum & Aquaria Ocean Museum Stockholm

So we went to Stockholm city and Djurgårdsbron today to visit the Vasa Museum (Vasamuseet). The Vasa Museum displays an inact 17th century ship, the warship Vasa that sank on its first voyage in 1628. According to Wikipedia, this is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. 

So the admission rates were SEK 130 for adults, SEK 100 for students, and for children and teenagers 0 to 18 years, were free. The address of this attraction is Galarvarvsvagen 14, Stockholm. 

Upon paying for your ticket, you will cross a hall with sets of glass doors. After the third set, you will be welcomed by the ship itself. Take note that once you enter, you will be in the fourth floor. 

The Salvaged Vasa Ship

What amazes me once I saw the boat was it was excellently preserved. You may not see from the picture, but even the minor details of the boat seemed to be untouched, considering that the boat sank in the 1600's. 

There are lots of stuff you can see in the fourth floor, such as a presentation room where you can see how the Vasa ship sank and some models on how they re-constructed the ship itself. 

The second floor didn't have much to offer though. It just showed some mere pieces of planks, axes and stuff that they used to build the boat. There was also a replica of a smaller boat there. I supposed that this was a life/rescue boat... 

On the fifth floor, there was a theme that was introduced, and that was Life Onboard The Ship. It pretty much showed how the people interacted with each other, the form of currency they used and my personal favorite, the gun and cannon artillery. -

A Cannon From The Artillery 

The sixth floor had a theme of Power and Influences. This part of the museum particularly explained how the Roman Emperors influenced the Vasa ship and its people. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures from this floor. Whoops... 

The final floor was an observation deck, where you can clearly see the top and upper parts of the ship itself. I took a picture (below) which shows the view from the seventh floor. 

After this, we headed to the Vasa Museum's Restaurant / Cafe for a quick nibble. Yes, they have a cafe. Overall, I think that this is the most interesting museum I've been in. It was very informative and historic, and I recommend it to anyone. Rating? I'll give it a 8 out of 10. 

By the way, my stepdad told me that he visited the museum 10 years ago. When I asked on how was the museum then, he replied: 

"It's been ten years since I have last visited here. The crew was still restoring the actual ship. The ship was about seventy percent completed then." 

So after our magnificent trip here, my stepdad let us choose if we would rather go home early or go to another attraction. My mom, sister and I then said that we wanted to go to another attraction. We saw a post indicating that there was a Marine Aquarium Museum.

After a quick, five-ten minute walk, we stumbled upon Aquaria, the marine museum. Long story short, the place was divided into sections that resembled the wilderness and rain forests. My stepdad found it pathetic because of its space. I agree. A little bit more space and maybe an air-conditioning unit might do the trick. Rating? 4 out of 10. Funnest part of this attraction? The small, approximately twelve meter Sewage Area that was literally underground.

Me Inside The Manhole Leading To The "Sewage Area" of the Attraction 

On an ending note, I leave you this picture that I took whilst strolling across the fifth floor of the Vasa Museum. It was on the floor. 

Is There Some Kind Of Demonic Ritual Up In Here? 

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