April 17, 2013

Rainbow Darkness

At first glance, this looks like a boring touristy picture of myself; posing in front of KaDeWe. What can be worse? i’ll tell you what can be worse. But before that, i stumbled upon a fact that when look closely, one could start noticing how the shimmer of my leggings matches the blue car, the 3 measure of depths unintentionally captured in this shot, how perfectly KaDeWe fits in this picture with its slightly un-stupendous height, or the massive crowd dressed mostly in black and blue (just like me) flooding the entrance into the famous building . . . i was about to be one of them.

In my life i’ve celebrated 26 new years eve but i can hardly remember any of them. This is the very first one that still contains every preserved second of it, ‘like it was yesterday’. How could it not be? First there was (again), KaDeWe, which offered us nothing much in terms of items, but loads in terms of memories:

We basically took the escalator up to the highest floor (without any stops, mind you), and repeated the same thing going back down. i must confess though that i once made a quick stop at one of the ‘escalation stations’ to . . .

. . . pose as a totally covered slutty mannequin member. What’s missing is a Niqab. Remember my promise to inform you about what’s worse? Possibly this.

We laughed our a** off as we exited the very humble mall and i pulled a KL joke to slab it all over Leo, “Let’s get outta here. This is not even a Pavilion, this is a SOGO!” But if you ever go to Berlin, don’t skip this mall. Go up to the highest floor for a meal or do your grocery shopping there if you are staying in a house / apartment and would like to do some cooking. i am entirely positive that it would be a very rewarding experience for a change.

So this is me, all cosy-ed up in a barely unfolded orange / red (i can’t decide) fleece blanket because it was too cold and i would prefer to move the least i could. Loyal in hand rested a mug of warm gluhwein to defrost any ice particles that might exist within me. And of course please, please don’t ever leave your iPhone like i do in public. It’s like a crime tease.

Tired of the whole mall culture we decided to hop on a tourist bus. Judge if you may, but i must say that it was the best decision ever made in Berlin. Forget renting, driving, jamming, cursing someone’s mother, parking, honking, more jamming, getting lost . . .

Go to KaDeWe, and look for the bright yellow van nearby that sells hop on/off bus tickets to get a whole of the extravagant city. You’ll also be given a map together with a set of earplugs to repeat what i demonstrated above. Should you be interested in any of the locations mentioned / you see in the map, just hop off like a genie in a bottle!

p.s. Always remember where you hop off so that you know where to wait for the next bus when you’re done.

Starting from this point you will see 7 to 8 pictures of buildings mentioned simply because i’d like you to count them as you scroll down instead of just skipping them altogether. You see, i took them just for you. 😛

{the very first traffic light in Berlin looks like this and is still operating!}

{i did NOT fall asleep in the bus (though i know saying this like so make you believe even more that i did)}

You probably guessed it right – the legendary Berlin Wall is next, filled unforgivingly with thick layers of spray paint / designs:

{even the Dali style}

{undoubtedly, my shot-of-the-day}

{behind-the-scene: two men were holding the broken ladder for me}

{a truck that looked like it emerged from the wall}

{the building that BECAME part of the wall}

Disclaimer: The following section marks the most unforgettable part of my trip in Germany!

So we found a secret opening enough to fit only one person at a time, provided if s/he enters sideways. Immersed in our very own version of Enid Blyton adventure stories mode, we squeezed ourselves through like no one’s looking and to our somewhat horror, found this:

Given any other countries i reckon i wouldn’t be that surprised. But because it was Germany; which in my eyes is like the Singapore of Europe (mentality wise), i was shocked to see a part of the city’s heart so unkept. And no, i don’t mean it in a bad way. Especially when it gave me a hell of an experience i can never forget!

So we found another opening, this time INTO the building.

And we CLIMBED IN!!!

Imagine those days when people actually lived here – their families and loved ones separated by this very wall, this building, for 28 years! As i stood there in complete darkness, digging deep into my imagination to watch the rise and fall of this so called ‘wall of shame’, my curiosity rose up higher than it did before and i knew i had to go further in. Leo took my hand so i won’t trip over something unimaginably murderous leaving me to die there.

It was like walking on eggshells while finding our way through that damp unfriendly darkness, pre-stepping on each surface to make sure there weren’t any holes in disguise, gripping everything my pre-touches approved. After what felt like a day, we finally found light. If a person has 5 senses, i had probably awaken 7. Contemplating the countless possibilities a second could change, what ran though my mind was beyond what i could share.

“Was it an office? Someone’s home? Who sat here, lived here, breathed here where i breathe?“

Before it got too dark, we decided to leave. i hung a proud star medal across my neck as we successfully made our way though the exit gates and i skipped like it had a name “Hooray!“.

Then, we found ourselves in a ‘gypsy town’.

{R.I.P, unknown and untitled}

{went to the fernsehturm but it was closed without notice – another Berlin surprise}

{dinner was a super fantastic and pretty romantic one at Carambar – wine and steak. classic}

{lost our bus tickets so we took the train + taxi + Jan’s pickup service to go back to his warm, home sweet home}