I truely, seriously believed that I know the basic grounds of this world... or at least what is going on in this western part of Europe... but evidence proves otherwise this weekend in Breda's We-cob.straat...hmmm...
.... maybe it is just because I've had a quite busy week... with working double shifts almost every day and managing a full-time study besides...
... or maybe it is becuase Antoinette and I have given it yet another try to maintain a diet (this time consisting of no more than veggies, fruit and magere (no-fat) yoghurt) for the whole weekend... - mozarella of course doesn't count, as that would cause some serious Entzugserscheinungen (withdrawal sypmtoms such as halucinations, fever and shaking)....
... whatever it is, something just causes my lovely roommate to go through a very philosophical phase... and so I have to endure her asking extremely vital questions that might have answers to save the world. Yesterday the traumatized me with 'How many cucumbers do you think I or you or actually anyone else eats in his/her life?'.... and after trying to find the most truthfull answer to this (X = 1,472 per week x 52 weeks x sum of years lived)... today I had find the meaning in this life through 'I wonder what might happen to all those read and unread 'Metro' and 'Spits' newspapers you can get in train stations etc. at the end of the day... as there are always new ones every morning!?'... this horrifyingly reminded me of Paul Gaugin, and a question he already found no answer to at the end of the 19th century with 'Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?' ... well, with some colorful oil he put his thoughts on canvas....maybe that would be the solution to this somewhat weird weekend....
... it definately is a quite philosophical one!
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Thursday, March 08, 2007
outtake of life on planet pluto (w.cobergherstraat) - March 8th
duhhh... do you know this? you write a whole long text then you either push some stupid wrong button (coincidentally) and everything is gone? irretrieveable I mean...grrrr... or the internet hangs up and its gone.... or the computer hangs up and its gone.... no matter what, its GONE! grrrrr .... pffff.... arghhhh.... well, I chose for the first solution and pushed whatever key.... and my lovely text that I had just written, accumulating all my journalistic talent (which is as you know rather limited ;) ) grrr... and now I have to do it all over again, so here is the new version. hmmm....
I actually just wrote to report of the 17th world wonder: We (Antoinette, Anke, Karo en ik) successfully managed to hang up a picture in the living room in total team work. this was our task division:
- Karo: CEO of operations - tool: 'Bohrer'
- Claudia: Architectural pinpointing, location management and interiour assistent (task:vacumer-under-drill-holding)
- Antoinette: creative assistant, tool: camera, task: documentation
- Anke: human resources motivation
now why this is so surprising? well... lets just say the picture has been standing there waiting to be hung up for a little while... and I mean, we just didnt dare to, because it is such a valuable uhmm... copy.... of the Guernica... so yes, now we did it: Pablo Picasso is haning in our living room, aren't we sophisticated?
hmmm now besides this I guess nothing too worldshaking happend lately.....
.... I just read today that Airbus/EADS is still struggeling in Germany and France, but do be honest, is anybody really doubting that they will finally finish A380, sell it and the trouble will come to an end then? the grwoing amounts of sacked people will get their jobs back and the sun will be shining!
.... also DaimlerChrisler has to pay $54m in the US because some bloke wasn't able to maneuver his Dodge propperly and let it run over him.... leading to deathly injuries... duhh.... well, how hard can it be to put an automatic transmission into P (maybe he just didnt discover this PARKING funktion yet? - I mean, he was just driving the car for 5 years.....)
hmmm... and here?
NHTV is still the same.... was there a point that I said I missed this chaotic school? Planning is a bad as ever.... but (after only 4 months of planning) they now decided that we will go to Madeira on our fieldtrip - yuhuuuu
....
went to *tha shit is banging* party in the Speltuin in Breda last week, met up at Isabelle's place before... here is just one really nice pic of our flat crew... more pics will follow!
on monday, three exchange girls from Hong Kong and Isa were over at our place and we introduced them to the art of baking *typically dutch* (as the dutch claim) Pannenkoeken - pancakes... now I guess its something claimed ad their own by every country, but it was a lot of fun and for them it was something totally new! A really fun night!
oh oh oh... and today... tatatadaaaa... world-wonder-day...... *trommelwirbel* .... an die Gewehre..... Anke, Antoinette and I went - dont laugh - jogging! not a joke we really did it... and we after a nice start we went on for at least 16,73 minutes until we decided it was hyper-extreme-ultra-hard, also tiring and cold and so we turned to walk back (for cooling down purposes obviously)... now that was surely enough sports for about a month or so... when this urge will return and make us do it all over again, just because we forgot what dreadful an experience it can be. it is a viscious circle.
And thats life so far. 再见!! *learning-to-write-chinese-now-;)*
groetjes to the world,
歌迪亞
Thursday, February 08, 2007
time flies... me too!
so, its been a while again, so here a quick catch up:
I returned from HK on December 18th, being my moms personal birthday surprise! The first week home was weeeeiiird people! cold weather, people that look like me, and I am not the tallest and fattest around anymore (in comparison to the Chinese that is), people understand me - and I them! I can read everything that comes in sight. and it is clean. not that Hong Kong is not, but the air. my god its so fresh!
and oh yes of course: the Christmas Market in Aachen... with real Glühwein.. yummy... then Christmas with my family... just nice!!
I miss Hong Kong though.. it was a great time there... I couldnt really decide what I loved most... guess just tha big-city-life ;).... the nice weather, accessability to other places in Asia... party in HK... and all the weird stuff that I came across. Of course there are things that I wont miss... such as chese with pineapple and chocolate flavour... elevators that talk to me ('ba lou - eight floor') and all other kinds of speaking information ('please stand behind the yellow line - the train to lo wu is approaching...').
Over new years I visited my best friend on the northernmost point of germany on the isle of Rügen... nice place, slightly more quiet than Hong Kong... and it was cool to spend new years eve on the beach! After the new year, I went to Poland for a weekend, then to Bremen where I met up with Lisa. Another weird moment. What is she doing here? Does she belong here? NO! Go back to Hong Kong where you belong - Room 750... PolyU student halls of residence!
To keep myself busy, I went to Madrid to surprise Karo as well, together with Antoinette. That was a really cool weekend also... got a new jeans yeah!
Now I am back in Holland since one week. Weirdness continues. Coming back here, I took the wrong exit of the highway first, then after having to drive through the whole city, I found the way back to our flat... and of course went to the wrong floor!! oh my good! scary
I also started to work again back at the IKEA. On my first day last week I had a very warm welcome from my former and future colleagues and by now it is as though I had never left!
Today a new surprise then: the first snow of this winter!!! (it is February 8th, the fact that it was more than 10 degrees until last week will not make us think of global warming and that kinda stuff now...) Now, snow in Holland, what does that mean? oh yesss... how lovely: Ausnahmezustand! Chaos in Breda... traffic comes to an almost hault... 9 out of 10 traffic lights break down as soon as 2 snowflakes are spotted in the sky, small streets are being closed down... jajaja... have I missed that? hmmm
but well, I am glad to be back but I am also sad not to be in HK no more... and through this I wanna thank everybody who made this exchange in Hong Kong possible for me, like nhtv, my parents and the ikea for my job last year... and the people who made the time in Hong Kong so great, like all the other exchange students and the StudiVZ people!
I returned from HK on December 18th, being my moms personal birthday surprise! The first week home was weeeeiiird people! cold weather, people that look like me, and I am not the tallest and fattest around anymore (in comparison to the Chinese that is), people understand me - and I them! I can read everything that comes in sight. and it is clean. not that Hong Kong is not, but the air. my god its so fresh!
and oh yes of course: the Christmas Market in Aachen... with real Glühwein.. yummy... then Christmas with my family... just nice!!
I miss Hong Kong though.. it was a great time there... I couldnt really decide what I loved most... guess just tha big-city-life ;).... the nice weather, accessability to other places in Asia... party in HK... and all the weird stuff that I came across. Of course there are things that I wont miss... such as chese with pineapple and chocolate flavour... elevators that talk to me ('ba lou - eight floor') and all other kinds of speaking information ('please stand behind the yellow line - the train to lo wu is approaching...').
Over new years I visited my best friend on the northernmost point of germany on the isle of Rügen... nice place, slightly more quiet than Hong Kong... and it was cool to spend new years eve on the beach! After the new year, I went to Poland for a weekend, then to Bremen where I met up with Lisa. Another weird moment. What is she doing here? Does she belong here? NO! Go back to Hong Kong where you belong - Room 750... PolyU student halls of residence!
To keep myself busy, I went to Madrid to surprise Karo as well, together with Antoinette. That was a really cool weekend also... got a new jeans yeah!
Now I am back in Holland since one week. Weirdness continues. Coming back here, I took the wrong exit of the highway first, then after having to drive through the whole city, I found the way back to our flat... and of course went to the wrong floor!! oh my good! scary
I also started to work again back at the IKEA. On my first day last week I had a very warm welcome from my former and future colleagues and by now it is as though I had never left!
Today a new surprise then: the first snow of this winter!!! (it is February 8th, the fact that it was more than 10 degrees until last week will not make us think of global warming and that kinda stuff now...) Now, snow in Holland, what does that mean? oh yesss... how lovely: Ausnahmezustand! Chaos in Breda... traffic comes to an almost hault... 9 out of 10 traffic lights break down as soon as 2 snowflakes are spotted in the sky, small streets are being closed down... jajaja... have I missed that? hmmm
but well, I am glad to be back but I am also sad not to be in HK no more... and through this I wanna thank everybody who made this exchange in Hong Kong possible for me, like nhtv, my parents and the ikea for my job last year... and the people who made the time in Hong Kong so great, like all the other exchange students and the StudiVZ people!
Friday, December 15, 2006
wrapping it up here...
now, its already December 15th, and with HUGE steps the end of the semester and thus time to go home is approaching!
I am as sentimental today as to reflect on this semester... but first of all, this week!
As most exams were doneY I had some time to do all the last stuff that I hadnt seen yet (obviously the HK-must-sees kinda). So after the exam of Airline Management on Monday Mandy, Fi and I went for a last Dim Sum. Damn am I gonna miss that, I should have had it more often! Tuesday, Mandy and I went to Lama Island in the morning - after Lanau and HK Island the third largest one in the region, and really beautiful. Instead of walking the family trail - as planned - we got stuck in the town of Yung Shue Wan, more explicitly its shops which all sold really nice stuff. However I managed to control my shopahilic nature as I have to remember the luggage restriction on the airplane... so I just got some presents for Xmas and family and friends back home... then we visited a Tin Hau temple. Tin Hau is the godess of heaven by the way, and thus also responsible for seafarers (Yung Shue Wan being a fishing village it makes sense to have such a temple there)... it was a really nice morning, despite the bumpy ferry ride... and most excitingly Mandy saw a Banana tree for the first time ever (believe me - people can get SO excited about that ;) ) and I found out what a plumagranate is (for tha Germanzzz: a Granatapfel!) and actually saw it on a tree... and well, we just had a good time walking around the areas where the average tourist doesnt go...
In the afternoon Lisa joined Fiona, Mandy and me to go to the Peninsula Hotel (THE hotel of HK.... a 5 Star luxury place for the rich and famous like us ;) ) so we went for a High Tea there! After spending some time waiting (while choosing our Xmas presents at Chanell, Cartier, Versace and the alike...) we were led to our old fashioned table... it was so posh, I loved it! just sitting there and watching the people and absorbing the atmosphere... with all those people running around with BAGS of Prada and Armani... the Titanic style children behaving like 19th century porcelain dolls... We enjoyed out Earl Grey with some scones and pastries... just the finest of course. I must say, the atmosphere in there was quite amazing, though rather surreal and more like 100 years back in time...
Wednesday I finally made it into one of HKs most popular museums, the History one. And - did I catch you thinking: BOOOOORING?? - no believe me its not! I learned loads bout HK, and expecially the past +-100 years were quite fascinating!
Wednesday night I went partying in HK island for a last time probably... as there is not much time left. We all had a real good time! Before the Skitz, Mandy, Kaley, Lina, Fi and I went to a Vietnamese dinner, afterwards enjoyed a Sesame Ice Cream and then - as if Ice cream was not cold enough yet, made it to a Russian Ice Bar (-20°C) for a Vodka warm up ;). Then we headed to the Skitz and danced the night away... til it closed at 3... so we went across the street to the 'Dusk-til-Dawn'... yesterday then, I did quite much nothing! oh yes, in the evening I went for a German dinner with Fiona, Mandy, Lisa and Martin to the Biergarten, but I had better memories of hte food from last time. weird... Kassler meat without sauce? I mean WITHOUT sauce? duhhhh...
Today I went to Shenzhen a last time, to pick up my clothes from the tailor... and do some shopping...(bought a box of DVDs of all 6 seasons of Gilmore Girls!!!)
and then tonight I had a really nice Xmas get-together party with Fiona and Mandy... we had British White Chocolate Cheesecake... yummmmmmy... Belgian Chocolates.... PG tea... and all kinda other yummy things! and we watched Home Alone! Haha how nice that was!
Ohhhh... I am so gonna miss it here! Well, I guess when it comes to the end everybody sais that but hey I am also looking forward to go back home!
so here are some HK curiosities:
OH and of course a good way to describe a Hong Kong resident would be this:
People who wander around aimlessly and always seem to get in your way in stores and supermarkets, chatting on their cell phones and paying no attention to their surroundings. One who has difficulty determining their next course of action in traffic (sometimes going 10-20mph top speed), and, as a result, is not predictable . (Urban word of the day)
THIS is a serious problem here! if they werent walking everywhere in amazing huge crowds I would get everywhere at least at double speed, but well, I take it positive, I advanced my flexibility in terms of zig-zagging through people, anticipating their every move just a second before they get into my way...
food: they eat eggs of really dark colour, called preserved eggs... which is one of the most unugly things actually, besides that they eat dried fish (dried as in not-at-all-fresh-waterless-stinky-hard), they eat living crabs. McDonalds sells sweet corn. You can also buy Pinapple beer, a drink called 'Sweat' and Chese with either pineapple or chocolate flavour...
Weather: uhh... it was hot in the summer... now it is coooold, almost freeezing at about 20 degrees only!! Specialty about HK weather is, this unbelievably BLUE SKY!! it is so blue, you can never even see it. To secure the residents of its stunning sight they hide it behind a thick unbreakable layer of smog... which they basically never allow to lift, and if it does they make sure to stuff the hole with some new pollution. --> doing this they are quite successful! (for anyone who'd like to copy: try a combination of too much traffic of trains, subways, cars especially taxies, ferries and busses... without catalysts, and keep them running 24//7!)
allrighty, as I cant think of more right now, I will go to bed... anxiously looking forward to my exam tomorrow morning (or better said in a few hours time this morning)...
I am as sentimental today as to reflect on this semester... but first of all, this week!
As most exams were doneY I had some time to do all the last stuff that I hadnt seen yet (obviously the HK-must-sees kinda). So after the exam of Airline Management on Monday Mandy, Fi and I went for a last Dim Sum. Damn am I gonna miss that, I should have had it more often! Tuesday, Mandy and I went to Lama Island in the morning - after Lanau and HK Island the third largest one in the region, and really beautiful. Instead of walking the family trail - as planned - we got stuck in the town of Yung Shue Wan, more explicitly its shops which all sold really nice stuff. However I managed to control my shopahilic nature as I have to remember the luggage restriction on the airplane... so I just got some presents for Xmas and family and friends back home... then we visited a Tin Hau temple. Tin Hau is the godess of heaven by the way, and thus also responsible for seafarers (Yung Shue Wan being a fishing village it makes sense to have such a temple there)... it was a really nice morning, despite the bumpy ferry ride... and most excitingly Mandy saw a Banana tree for the first time ever (believe me - people can get SO excited about that ;) ) and I found out what a plumagranate is (for tha Germanzzz: a Granatapfel!) and actually saw it on a tree... and well, we just had a good time walking around the areas where the average tourist doesnt go...
In the afternoon Lisa joined Fiona, Mandy and me to go to the Peninsula Hotel (THE hotel of HK.... a 5 Star luxury place for the rich and famous like us ;) ) so we went for a High Tea there! After spending some time waiting (while choosing our Xmas presents at Chanell, Cartier, Versace and the alike...) we were led to our old fashioned table... it was so posh, I loved it! just sitting there and watching the people and absorbing the atmosphere... with all those people running around with BAGS of Prada and Armani... the Titanic style children behaving like 19th century porcelain dolls... We enjoyed out Earl Grey with some scones and pastries... just the finest of course. I must say, the atmosphere in there was quite amazing, though rather surreal and more like 100 years back in time...
Wednesday I finally made it into one of HKs most popular museums, the History one. And - did I catch you thinking: BOOOOORING?? - no believe me its not! I learned loads bout HK, and expecially the past +-100 years were quite fascinating!
Wednesday night I went partying in HK island for a last time probably... as there is not much time left. We all had a real good time! Before the Skitz, Mandy, Kaley, Lina, Fi and I went to a Vietnamese dinner, afterwards enjoyed a Sesame Ice Cream and then - as if Ice cream was not cold enough yet, made it to a Russian Ice Bar (-20°C) for a Vodka warm up ;). Then we headed to the Skitz and danced the night away... til it closed at 3... so we went across the street to the 'Dusk-til-Dawn'... yesterday then, I did quite much nothing! oh yes, in the evening I went for a German dinner with Fiona, Mandy, Lisa and Martin to the Biergarten, but I had better memories of hte food from last time. weird... Kassler meat without sauce? I mean WITHOUT sauce? duhhhh...
Today I went to Shenzhen a last time, to pick up my clothes from the tailor... and do some shopping...(bought a box of DVDs of all 6 seasons of Gilmore Girls!!!)
and then tonight I had a really nice Xmas get-together party with Fiona and Mandy... we had British White Chocolate Cheesecake... yummmmmmy... Belgian Chocolates.... PG tea... and all kinda other yummy things! and we watched Home Alone! Haha how nice that was!
Ohhhh... I am so gonna miss it here! Well, I guess when it comes to the end everybody sais that but hey I am also looking forward to go back home!
so here are some HK curiosities:
HK itself: a city of signes... maybe a weird thing to say, but I have never seen so many signes for everything at one place!! No waiting, no spitting, no hawking, please keep quiet, Please stand behind the yellow line, no bikes (next to the one of no cycling).... unbelievable... there is everything! in our shower there is one: 'water temperature adjustment' that actually tells you how to turn the tap in order to get warm water, on the phone there is one 'place me back tenderly' above the phone one 'use of phone'.... on our Toilet door (one of my favourite ones) it says 'female toilet'! and of course the normal ones are there as well... (no smoking, no cooking, no pets...)...
besides signes, Hk is a city of cleanliness... they clean EVERYTHING here! I see them washing the floor (walkways outside i mean) every day...
Hong Kong is a city of everything. ask me anything you like that money can buy... you can get it here, and for everything else, there's mastercard... well, seriously, it is full of surprises and each time I go out I might turn around a different corner and see a face of the city that is so diverse from anything seen before... you could live here for years and not see it all I guess! One must love and hate this place at the same time!
Hong Kong has some quite great architecture. The most beautiful skyline I know is shining every night in a lazer light show... but other than the Central Skyskrapers, it has old time temples just around the corner, and in Hung Homs Whampoa area (around the corner from where I live) they've just build a mall in form or a boat!)
OH and of course a good way to describe a Hong Kong resident would be this:
People who wander around aimlessly and always seem to get in your way in stores and supermarkets, chatting on their cell phones and paying no attention to their surroundings. One who has difficulty determining their next course of action in traffic (sometimes going 10-20mph top speed), and, as a result, is not predictable . (Urban word of the day)
THIS is a serious problem here! if they werent walking everywhere in amazing huge crowds I would get everywhere at least at double speed, but well, I take it positive, I advanced my flexibility in terms of zig-zagging through people, anticipating their every move just a second before they get into my way...
food: they eat eggs of really dark colour, called preserved eggs... which is one of the most unugly things actually, besides that they eat dried fish (dried as in not-at-all-fresh-waterless-stinky-hard), they eat living crabs. McDonalds sells sweet corn. You can also buy Pinapple beer, a drink called 'Sweat' and Chese with either pineapple or chocolate flavour...
Weather: uhh... it was hot in the summer... now it is coooold, almost freeezing at about 20 degrees only!! Specialty about HK weather is, this unbelievably BLUE SKY!! it is so blue, you can never even see it. To secure the residents of its stunning sight they hide it behind a thick unbreakable layer of smog... which they basically never allow to lift, and if it does they make sure to stuff the hole with some new pollution. --> doing this they are quite successful! (for anyone who'd like to copy: try a combination of too much traffic of trains, subways, cars especially taxies, ferries and busses... without catalysts, and keep them running 24//7!)
allrighty, as I cant think of more right now, I will go to bed... anxiously looking forward to my exam tomorrow morning (or better said in a few hours time this morning)...
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Survived: tha PHILIPPINES!!
alrighty... its been a while again and so what did I do in the meantime? uhm... it was somewhat an unlucky time... I twisted my ankle, ... then I was sick... and I was busy with uni stuff... not the most exciting of times... until last week wednesday, November 29th... yeah!!! Cuz that day - after a last presentation in the morning Lisa and I went to the airport to catch our plane to Cebu at 1AM.... now, where the f*** is Cebu? --> I challenge you to read the headline --> yesss: the Philippines!! Cebu is a city on Cebu Island, in the South of the Philippines, but well, not in the real south south... more of a little bit south of the centre.... arghh.. just look it up if you like!
we arrived there in thursday early morning.... and after seemingly endless journeys of taxies, busses, ferries and tricycles (funny motorbikes with a seat thingy next to the real bike - one of the major modes of public transportation in the Philippines), we arrived at our first destination: Kiwi Dive Resort on Siquijor island... where we spent a relaxing rest of the day at the beach...
next morning called for an early wake up: we hired a guide for 2,50€ to take us on a motorbike (yes, the THREE of us on ONE bike!) up to the highest peak of the island.... a one hour journey, so we had to get up at 3:45 - no kidding - to go up there for the sunrise... which we could not see because it was a *little* foggy! but not a problem, going back down we turned around a corner and all the sudden we could see the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen.... in front of us just the jungle, palmtrees and bananatrees.... and the red sun... sooooo beautiful!! then we made our way to some waterfalls.... where we went swimming in the clear turquois blue water...
the next days went on like this... we switched to another island - Panglao - the other day... where we spent most of the time in Alona Beach.... lazing in the sun, white sand, palmtrees surrounding us... clear ocean, blue sky, barely any clouds... and it was so hot, but not as humid as in HK... just really relaxing....
we went on a boat tour to watch dolphins...
enjoyed delicous meals in 'our' "OOOps Bar!" - with tables set up on the beach approx. 5 meters away from the water.... aaaahhhh.... what a life!!
we went to Bohol Island also, did a river 'cruise' on the Loboc River.... well, that was ok but not thaaaat nice... in comparison with our beach before.... so after having a look around and doing some involuntary hiking to the next 'highway' (paved street ;) ) we took a bus back to Tagbilaran, from where we went on a adventurous tour back to Panglao - Alona Beach again!!
After another beach day we had to leave again.... taking tricycles, busses, ferries, taxies and the plane back to Hong Kong - the day we feared most!
Hong Kong - yes - that huge, busy, never quiet, loud, stressfull, humid, 'cold', city.... haha... I know this must sound quite pathetic, but Hong Kong, the nice city it is, is after a while also rather hard to take.
Today is Wednesday already, I came back on Monday night.... Tuesday - yesterday was one of the more busy days here... with lectures, seminars, a loooooong meeting, a take-home-exam to start work on... and a Chinese exam in the evening...
today I did my laundry again.... (I HATE IT!!) and then kept working.... as I will do the following week or so...
what else is planned? well, Saturday probably a trip to Hong Kong's Ocean Park, an amusement park supposed to be much better then the local Disney..., another trip to Shenzhen for more shopping, a massage and to pick up my stuff at the tailor... and of course some planning for January!
I will keep you updated and upload some pictures soon if I feel like it....
oh... one more thing: guys: is it christmas time?? unbelievable... first signs of Xmas I saw where the decorations they did in the Oops bar on Panglao... ornaments haning on the beach bar.... with 30+°C and nothing but the white sandy beach around.... and now, back in HK... believe me, they've gone nuts!! in every store: christmas music.... on every building: christmas decorations.... and people actually started wishing me happy holidays.... what is going on?
I guess I have to get used to this rather different kinda christmas... maybe I should go to the beach to have a relaxing day to think about that ;)
we arrived there in thursday early morning.... and after seemingly endless journeys of taxies, busses, ferries and tricycles (funny motorbikes with a seat thingy next to the real bike - one of the major modes of public transportation in the Philippines), we arrived at our first destination: Kiwi Dive Resort on Siquijor island... where we spent a relaxing rest of the day at the beach...
next morning called for an early wake up: we hired a guide for 2,50€ to take us on a motorbike (yes, the THREE of us on ONE bike!) up to the highest peak of the island.... a one hour journey, so we had to get up at 3:45 - no kidding - to go up there for the sunrise... which we could not see because it was a *little* foggy! but not a problem, going back down we turned around a corner and all the sudden we could see the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen.... in front of us just the jungle, palmtrees and bananatrees.... and the red sun... sooooo beautiful!! then we made our way to some waterfalls.... where we went swimming in the clear turquois blue water...
the next days went on like this... we switched to another island - Panglao - the other day... where we spent most of the time in Alona Beach.... lazing in the sun, white sand, palmtrees surrounding us... clear ocean, blue sky, barely any clouds... and it was so hot, but not as humid as in HK... just really relaxing....
we went on a boat tour to watch dolphins...
enjoyed delicous meals in 'our' "OOOps Bar!" - with tables set up on the beach approx. 5 meters away from the water.... aaaahhhh.... what a life!!
we went to Bohol Island also, did a river 'cruise' on the Loboc River.... well, that was ok but not thaaaat nice... in comparison with our beach before.... so after having a look around and doing some involuntary hiking to the next 'highway' (paved street ;) ) we took a bus back to Tagbilaran, from where we went on a adventurous tour back to Panglao - Alona Beach again!!
After another beach day we had to leave again.... taking tricycles, busses, ferries, taxies and the plane back to Hong Kong - the day we feared most!
Hong Kong - yes - that huge, busy, never quiet, loud, stressfull, humid, 'cold', city.... haha... I know this must sound quite pathetic, but Hong Kong, the nice city it is, is after a while also rather hard to take.
Today is Wednesday already, I came back on Monday night.... Tuesday - yesterday was one of the more busy days here... with lectures, seminars, a loooooong meeting, a take-home-exam to start work on... and a Chinese exam in the evening...
today I did my laundry again.... (I HATE IT!!) and then kept working.... as I will do the following week or so...
what else is planned? well, Saturday probably a trip to Hong Kong's Ocean Park, an amusement park supposed to be much better then the local Disney..., another trip to Shenzhen for more shopping, a massage and to pick up my stuff at the tailor... and of course some planning for January!
I will keep you updated and upload some pictures soon if I feel like it....
oh... one more thing: guys: is it christmas time?? unbelievable... first signs of Xmas I saw where the decorations they did in the Oops bar on Panglao... ornaments haning on the beach bar.... with 30+°C and nothing but the white sandy beach around.... and now, back in HK... believe me, they've gone nuts!! in every store: christmas music.... on every building: christmas decorations.... and people actually started wishing me happy holidays.... what is going on?
I guess I have to get used to this rather different kinda christmas... maybe I should go to the beach to have a relaxing day to think about that ;)
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