Gdansk, Day2 (06 Aug 08) The Gdansk Zoo

One of Jing's favourite activities is being around caged wild animals.

Since we weren't allowed to visit a prison and couldn't find a cage for Shinlert...

We decided to visit the Zoo!

Cwei and I were distracted by the shot while queueing up for tickets. We were anticipating the excitement right ahead of us (literally) - in this queue.

The zoo wasn't that huge. Perhaps just the size of 2 Megamalls, excluding their parking floors. Not one the best zoos we have seen in our lives but I don't want to spoil it for you... we had a great time!

Jing & Cwei

Jing was delirious... dangerously elated

We didn't expect that these stinkin', lazy creatures were the welcoming mat of the Gdansk Zoo.

Oryxes, I wonder how they taste like.

White wildebeests? I wonder how they taste like.

Hippos, I wonder how they taste like... perhaps not

Jing continued his lody (gelatos) spree

After about 30 minutes into the zoo, and most importantly living the reputation of future government servants... we rested and snacked.
FYI, these corn crackers were the worst snacks we ever tasted. Even baboons wouldn't eat them.

Trust me, I know.

I would like to introduce this zoo's royalty...

This African bugger who just got its Polish PR, had a house/enclosure specially built and nicely decorated for. There were endless crowds waiting to see it. big deal.

A boa... not the Korean BoA but I wonder how both of them taste like.

my friend with GDD (global developmental delay)

Every time this happened, Jing lamented
''Alvin, f*ck the flash, f*ck the f*cking flash lah!''

another GDD specimen ft. an Asian elephunk on steroids. It just wouldn't stop dancing.
behind it: an African elephunk

Another feature about this zoo trip was ''illegally'' feeding its inhabitants. We may have deliberately jived ourselves into being ignorant about feeding the animals or not being able to read polish on signs which said so.

But there weren't any signs like this either:

SO...

...

...

lil joey wants a lollipop?

OK guys, no doubts about who started it.

... follower no.1

... follower no.2

...too afraid to follow

...nobody followed

She minded her p's and q's -didn't spit while I extended my mouth to mouth courtesy.

Cwei giving the subliminal finger whilst Jing clowned behind him

...

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY!

We bumped into a fellow Malaysian from the Borneo Island. Smart bugger -attention whore...

and another Malaysian from Penang Island... I would have guessed the islanders are related -just another whore

Thats all for now, Happy Deepavali and Happy Holidays

Gdansk, Day2 (06 Aug 08) The Nowy Port Lighthouse

This was how north we were. The places in the sign were just a ferry ride away.

After a 45 mins tram ride, a 1/2 hour hike by foot and lots of cock talking along the way, we got to the lighthouse by Wasterplatte.

On the 2nd of 14 days tour, I have picked up some essential/basic Polish language to ease up conversations and to reduce hand gestures.

Although Poland has quite a huge English speaking majority but most of them are in the larger/cosmo cities. Speaking or knowing the Russian language helps too as the Polish language is similar to Ukrainian and Ukrainian is similar to Russian. Besides, the older generation of Poland do speak German or Russian as they learnt them in schools.

A simple Polish phrasebook will be useful for non-Polish speakers visiting Poland.

The lingo, I remembered the important ones at least;

• Hello = Jen Dobre

• Wassup! = Vigatez!

• Thank You = Jenkooyee Dobzhe

• Sorry/Excuse Me = Psheh Prah Shahm

• How Much? = Illiue Costu'e (Jingo's favourite phrase, he incessantly utter this at random times of the day, even today)

• Yes = Tak!

• How old is your sister? = Jak stary jest vasza siostra?

• Malaysia is between Thailand and Singapore! = Don't bother learning that, even if they know where Msia is... wait a second... nobody knows Malaysia. Say you are from Burkina Faso (kiddin')

Jing's trademark, the mantis?/Penangite kicks ass! pose

Sombre Cwei, forced a smile after he found out WWII actually ended :)

The siblings sampled some wild berries along the way. Thankfully none of them got into anaphylaxis. Else, we wouldn't know what to do with the extra travelling passes, hah!

Cwei ft. The Nowy Port Lighthouse




So we went in and up the lighthouse

inside: An old skool barometer, before we had yahoo weather!

Wasterplatte


While waiting for the ''ball to drop'' (don't worry, i will elaborate later, and it didn't involve any sharp objects) we relished the picturesque view and the cool breeze from the top of the lighthouse. We took pictures of the surroundings

There was a channel where ships berthed into their loading docks.
A depot of SUVs from Japan and cocaine from Colombia in them.

A rare Shinlert - Alv shot

because she rather glue herself onto a wall.

Jing at it again.

Alright, do notice the metallic ball on the roof of the lighthouse and Jingo's receding hairline.

Long time ago, before there was radio-communication and before Malaysians discovered fire, the lighthouse ball was used to signal the sailors the time of the day so they can readjust the clocks in their ships before a voyage or when they arrive at the pier.

What happened was the ball will elevate itself (not sure by human force or mechanically, but mine is definitely not mechanical) upwards towards the wind vane (which ironically happened to be a cock) and drop to its original downward position.

This occurred every 1 hour.

So, we waited outside to witness for a ball to drop from a cock on a towering erection.

Shinlert is having the whole incident on video. Will upload once i get my hands on it.

Gdansk, Day2 (06 Aug 08)

The Monument of the fallen Shipyard Workers (three hugeass steel structures behind us) was erected to commemorate the victims of the December 1970 shipyard strikes.

These symbolic pieces stood 42 metres over Solidarity Square, weighing more than 100 tonnes, were built by the shipyard workers themselves.

You are probably wondering what is all the fuss about this square.

Well, this is the birthplace of the 1st non-communist trade union

(communism did not permit any formation of non-communist unions/clubs/societies... eg: PKR, UMNO, the cougar club or Hung Heng)

and the 1st anti-communist social movement led by Lech Walesa - THE SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT "Solidarność". Its English word, Solidarity originated after this party movement in Gdansk.

I heard Teresa Kok mentioning Solidarity too in one of her speeches after her ISA release.

To put you in a better perspective, you can consider:

• The Gdansk Solidarity Square as Kelana Jaya Stadium

• Lech Walesa as Anwar Ibrahim

• Josef Stalin as Pak Lah

• communism as ISA

• Cwei as Chua Soi Lek

• Jing as Saiful Bukhari

• Shin Lert as Rosmah Mansor

• and I as a potential ISA arrest blogger
  (nobody reads this blog so I'm negligible, as for the others their character stands)
  
  Oh right, you might be wondering whether Jing and I got jackets...

I know, its bloody gay... so shut up

There was a Solidarity museum near the square. So we checked it out.

The museum was a bi-exhibition of ''relics of Poland'' and '' things you still see in Ukraine in the present day''.

Shinlert making an emergency phone call to make sure her credit card bill hadn't arrived home.

and she found out that bedbugs weren't her only problem. She maxed out her credit limit on her card too.

Jing and I just had ''almost dog-food'' during our incarceration.

Me giving the Lenin sign

Tell you what, I will get Cwei and Jing to pose exactly like they did in this picture for another ''present day'' wc shot in Ukraine. The only difference will be the smell and the diorama.

As we proceeded with the tour, we discovered more things which we see in our daily lives across the border.

so we concluded the Polish-Ukraine border was actually a time portal.

Jing in a background of riot police. He aspired to be one...

...and he just yet did! as a riot police enforcing martial law during the uprising.

Damn shield wasn't at all light. This was definitely one of the crazy sprees we had.

We weren't allowed to touch the exhibits in the museum... however, we had a ''paramilitary riot-police prop fight'' even though under CCTV's supervision.

and quickly came out with a cover just in case we were caught for messing with the exhibits. We are going to act ignorant and say we are Singaporeans. Malaysia does not need any more disgrace or defamation... perfect cover!

All in all, this museum did tell an amazing story about how freedom was painstakingly fought for. Wałęsa's 10 years fight was expressed in all the awe-inspiring exhibits, stories and films in the museum.

Solidarity gave rise to a broad anti-communist nonviolent social movement that, at its height, united some 10 million members and vastly contributed to the fall of communism. Poland eroded the dominance of the Communist Party and by 1989 had triumphed in parliamentary elections. Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement heralded the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe

Again, my admiration to the Polish people whom were resilient defending their freedom from the evils of war, stresses of the cold war, communism and annoying neighbors.

for more info about the Solidarity struggle, you can visit the official site by clicking on the link below

http://www.solidarnosc.org.pl/en/

The Solidarity Museum taught me a few things:

• do not set a dateline when you plan to overthrow the government.

• If AI succeed in overthrowing the ruling govt, he might be the 1st Malaysian to be awarded a Nobel Prize like Walesa did.

• If you want to see Poland during the 80's, go to Ukraine.

• Do not sniff the riot-police's helmet, Jingo might have left some souvenirs in there.