Wednesday, January 9

Europe Honeymoon 1 - A bear named Choco

I have always wanted to write a 10,00,000 words entry about my Europe Honeymoon, but never had a full day to sit down before the computer, and spend hours doing photoshop, recaps of itinery and a proper writeup.

So I have decided to do sporadic writeups about the Honeymoon. It will also serve as a diary for me, my children, my grandchildren etc.... to read years down the road.

I shall begin the first of the series with a little story about a bear called Choco.

Choco was a small little bear I bought at our stopover at Austria. For those who didn't know, Austria is a lovely place. Not just because it is the backdrop for the evergreen "Sound of Music" film, but also the serenity and beauty of the mountainous areas.

We past by alot of green mountains while on the tour bus in Austria, and saw plenty of houses on the slopes. Its amazing how these people can live with nature, without the convenience of city life that many of us has taken for granted.

Choco was named after his nose.

Back to Choco. He cost me about S$15. I fell in love with this cute little furry creature the moment I set my eyes on it. And who better to give this bear to than my beloved Wifey?

So Choco accompanied us for the rest of the trip. The bear's too lazy to walk, so he was either resting in my backpack, snuggling in hotel beds or daydreaming in the comfort of Wifey's hug on tour buses, most of the time.

During our extended free-and-easy stay in Paris, we forgot about packing Choco when we departed from the tour's hotel. Wifey thought I had packed him, while I have failed to check the bed before I left. So poor Choco was left on the hotel bed, alone. By the time we realised the missing bear, we were already miles away in another Paris hotel.

We weren't entirely sure if our ex-hotel will keep the bear. As our wonderful tour guide has mentioned, "What you take from the hotel are yours, what you left at the hotel are theirs."

My holiday mood did dampen a little, and I thought I'll try my luck at calling the hotel to see if I can get the bear back. The good news is that I kept a copy of the hotel's brochure, so I could get the phone number easily. The bad news is that the hotel is part of a hotel chain that has 3 similarly named hotels in the vicinity.

Which hotel was it?

So I called all 3 hotels. Luckily, our ex-hotel room was located at a high floor, and the first 2 hotels we called did not have that floor, so we easily narrowed down to our ex-hotel.

Then, our next obstacle was that we had problem communicating to the hotel staff about our lost bear. They kept repeating "lost bag?" You see, most French people do not speak that much English.

Over here in Singapore, we think English is a commonly spoke language all over the world, but it clearly isn't the case at Europe. Europeans are proud of their native language. It also doesn't helped that someway back in history, the French hated the English for raping their female heroine, the famous Joan of Arc.

Anyway, we finally got across to a receptionist that we are missing a bear. And was greeted with a positive reply that Choco was making himself comfortable at the maid's room, waiting for our return.

It may be a soft toy, but I was really happy that they actually kept it. Images of chambermaids taking Choco for their children to abuse faded from my mind. The journey to reclaim Choco was long, and a little out of the way from our itinery. But I'm glad we made the trip.

When I finally reached the once familiar hotel, I approached the ex-hotel's staff counter to ask for the bear (Wifey was too paiseh to ask), the friendly receptionist giggled when returning me the bear.

Now why the POOK was the zhabor giggling?
Was it my silliness they see, to come back for an "insignificant" bear?
Or is Limpeh so handsome, you know, the lady-killer that we all know?

Back to the present, Choco is lazing around on Wifey's side of the bed right now. And everytime I see the furry guy, I think of the great adventure he created for us in Paris.

And the lovely mountains where he grew up.

Our super coach driver, Daniel against the backdrop of the Austrian mountains. All coach drivers should look as cool as him.
I miss Austria. =(

About the Author: Shingo T sees nothing wrong with testosterone-filled man having a soft spot for cute cuddly bears.

1 comment:

(T) (H) (B) said...

Haha. So cute! I'll love to visit Austria someday too..

I've watched The Sound Of Music more than 20 times and I never get tired of it..

Anw, Thank you for the Birthday wish... =)

Facebook "Like" Button