Oktoberfest

I was thinking I could research online and write a whole long essay about Oktoberfest but all of you out there can just google it (or wikipedia it), so to find out more about the origins etc., find it yourself ok? =P

Statue of Bavaria, overlooking the venue for the annual Oktoberfest, Theresienwiese.

Anyway, some basic info about Oktoberfest:
1. Celebrated across 2 weeks, 3 weekends ==> 16 days
2. Starts from the end of September til early October
3. 6.2 million visitors came in 2007, and consumed a total of 6.7 million litres.

So anyway when Oktoberfest approaches, Bavarian people start to wear their traditional clothes: The Dirndl for the ladies, and the Lederhose for the gentlemen.

I actually felt like buying one set but it costs a whopping 199,90 Euros!

The Dirndl. There are more "exposed" types out there, which really show the bearer's "assets"

Ok, so now about me. People who know me know that I don't really drink a lot of beer. Alcohol-wise I like drinks with a fruity taste, like Bacardi Breezer. I like Guinness stout as well which somehow many of my friends don't, and my favorite beer is Stella Artois. Bavarian beer has been rising up my "beer-ranking" now.

There are many beer tents (Bierzelt) set up during Oktoberfest but all the beers come from only 6 Bavarian beer companies:

(l-r) Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, Spaten-Franziskaner. Taken at Goetheplatz U-Bahn Station.

The Hacker-Pschorr tent. The banner reads: Hacker-Pschorr, heaven of Bavaria.

Oktoberfest is not all beer. It's actually like a huge entertainment park as well with thrill rides and small food stalls.

So the first day I went to Oktoberfest (or as the Bavarians say it:,, Auf d'Wiesn")with my Spanish friends and I had only 1 Maß of beer, which is 1 litre. I took a bit more from other people's mugs (but they didn't mind). First time I puked because of beer, and I puked into an empty mug and filled about 1/3 of it. Lol. I guess I drank too fast. Random people came over to our table for a toast, and there was this one guy who saw that I had an empty mug and decided that that shouldn't be the case and poured some of his beer in my mug. Anyway, it was fun and we were all high.

Enrique from HK, me from M'sia and Carmen from Spain

The 2nd time I went was when Melvin and his friends came down from Maastrict in Netherlands. I brought Sverre, my Norwegian friend, along. The music wasn't very good in this tent though. Still, due to beer games and chit chatting, I had 2+ Maß of beer this time. Went back to hall earlier than Melvin & co to sleep, and I woke up with the worst ever hangover in my entire life. Crazy.

Sverre and me with the funny hats they have on sale during Oktoberfest (not ours, we borrowed)

And as if I hadn't learnt my lesson, I went to Oktoberfest the 3rd time. However this time it was to meet my Indonesian friend Grace who came over from Karlsruhe. She didn't stay for long but at least the music here was better. At the neighboring table 2 guys broke their mugs when they toasted. We had some chicken to eat this time, and I only had 1 Maß. Phew.

Me and Grace! So funny that we met here in Germany but not in Singapore! Haha...

I went to Oktoberfest a 4th time but I just wandered around, bought some nuts to eat and bought an Oktoberfest T-shirt as a souvenir as well.

And to end this blog entry, here's a simple song that everyone should learn when they go ,,auf d'Wiesn":

Ein Prosit
Ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit
Ein Prosit
Ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit