Day 1: Part 1: Copenhagen.. S-tog & Metro in Denmark

Finally arrived in Copenhagen after a gruelling overnite bus ride of more than 8hrs from 10+ pm the nite before til 7am.. first thing we did when we arrived.. is to go to the Central Station to meet up with Darren, our Singaporean host in Denmark or rather one of our hosts.. We r staying at different ppl's place for the next 3 nites.. Darren is the overall co-ordinator..

how do we noe Darren in the first place, u may wonder.. well.. he contacted LL asking if its possible for us in Stockholm to host them when they come up from Denmark.. but in the end, we asked for their help when we r in copenhagen but none of them came up to Stockholm..

first thing he settled with us is the Klipper tickets to take the train.. we bought each 2 zonal n 3 zonal tickets as shown below..

each klipper strip had 10 columns.. one column representing either 2 zone or 3 zone depending on the ticket.. if u r travelling across 5 zones in the train, u have to clip once on the 3 zonal ticket n once on the 2 zonal ticket which thus adds up to 5 zones.. confusing rite? n the fact that zones change very quickly between every 2-3 stations makes it worse..
There r 2 types of trains.. the Metro n the S-tog.. pretty much like the U-bahn n the S-bahn in Germany.. for each station, a number of S-tog lines go thru it.. some r fast trains.. for example those lines with the plus sign (e.g. H+) r fast trains.. they skip certain stations..

In Copenhagen, there r no barriers where u have to swipe yer card to get thru to the trains.. unlike Stockholm.. its like Amsterdam where u clip yer tickets yerself in machines like these..

Transportation here in Copenhagen is rather expensive.. our 2 tickets costs 260DKK in total.. in total we can travel thru 50 zones (thus we can use them for at most 25 trips since least number of zones clipped is 2 zones) each trip costs abt 10+DKK .. which is abt 3+ Sing dollars n as mentioned before, zones change very quickly so we could easily chalk up to 4-5 zones in one trip.. but if u r staying in Copenhagen central, then its a different story since all r in the same zone.. however, all of us r staying in places just outside Copenhagen.. so haha .. not cheap for transport.. but at least we saved up on accomdoation..
The machine will make a loud clipping sound everytime u insert yer ticket in to be clipped.. it will stamp a time n the zone u r currently in.. transport is so ex that everytime when i hear the loud clipping, it felt part of my life is clipped away.. haha too exaggerated i noe.. just kidding.. u may tink that since no barriers can dont clip wat.. quite true but sometimes there r conductors who check the tickets of commuters n the fine of not having a valid ticket is 500DKK (close to 140+ Sing).. as mentioned in this sign..

Whenever u see these signs..

u r near a S-tog station

u r near a Metro station..
pretty much like the T n J signs in Stockholm..
The S-tog trains look pretty new..


The interior of the trains look pretty nice too.. the electronic board on top tells u how many more stops b4 yer destination n where r u now.. each compartment is separated by a plastic door.. i tink its soundproof.. to prevent talkative ppl from distrubing others

These doors r for bicycles to get on the train.. ppl could bring their bikes on the train..but they have to pay for the bicycle fare.. there r also fares for dogs.. (its the same price as a child travelling in the train)

These doors with bicycles printed on it signifies that these entrance allows the bike owners to park their bicycle in holders like these so the bike wont move around in the train.. the retractable seats could be brought down to be sat on while waiting..

Interior of the Metro driverless trains.. these trains cover a shorter route n r fast n efficient..


SOme trains have speical compartments where no toking n no mobile phones r allowed.. nice..

haha u may notice i tok a lot abt Denmark trains in this post.. yah becos i was really impressed with the efficiency and punctuality of the trains as well as its nice interiors.. very nice trains n good service.. best i seen so far.. yah also another reason why its so memorable is that at times i tend not to clip my ticket.. its stressful becos i have to keep my eyes wide open when the train reaches a station to see if any conductor gets onboard.. haha but its fun.. Darren had had much fun playing with the system.. he seems to get his kicks from beating the system.. i have to say its fun n satisfying but its also tiring n stressful all the time.. haha when i m too tired to bother, i would clip my tickets.. :p there r several techniques to check out if any conductors board the trains n i sort of mastered them already in just 2 days.. haha cool.. maybe i was lucky, the few days we went were public holidays.. maybe the conductors r not working..

After the 4 of us, JL, Dom, LL n me split up to go to our individual host's places, we met up again to go to Copenhagen's open air musueum in Lgynby, the Frilandsmuseet.. Dom, JL n I met up with some Danish gers (DCB alert!! DCB = Danish Chio Bu) while waiting for the trains.. we were still not very sure abt the train system so we sort of asked them.. they r dressed for their school prom... guess how old r they?

They r ONLY 14 years old!! haha unbelievable rite?