random versatility

" Thoughts are the free mind's desire, captured to convey, to reveal. "

everything breaks - not funny.

For some reason, my main supplies for maintaining a dutch and urban life have decided to start a conspiracy against me by simply breaking. It is not really surprising, since this seems to always happen in the least favorable circumstances and situations, such as economic lows in my wallet or in places where I cannot replace them.

It all started with my laptop deciding to delete everything (including its operational system) by restarting it. This happened twice and fortunately I got a new laptop now. Secondly, my backpack broke and I had to replace it. Said and done. Thirdly, just as I went to school two things broke at once, which would be my headphones and my bike. I have the impression that ALL headphone companies (up until now: Shure, Skullcandy, Apple and Creative) include shitty cables that break easily so the consumer has to buy again (I have had mine for barely 2 months) and that bike builders suck too.

FKCU!!!!

what the deuce?

I use this opportunity to once again elucidate Lars' perception of us studying:

"We eat, sleep with beautiful women and occasionally have some projects going."

No mum and dad, that is not entirely true ;)

amsterdam and generell.

I just heard a casually funny remark of Dr. Lars M.

We just found out about the fact that on a weekend we were trying to spend in Amsterdam a lecture takes place. We also found out that Amsterdam is a pretty attractive and interesting city. Therefore, Lars made a - how I think - hilarious remark.

"Dann muessen wir unbedingt zum Burger Restaurant...und......GENERELL!"

Hope you speak German. If not, tant pis. If, for that matter you do also not speak french...may god have mercy on your soul ;)

life.

Life is good. Life has been good and that even though some of the passages seem to be plastered with hindrances and thresholds. The fact that I found an internship in Sydney with Amnesty International does certainly not belong to the sucky things that I am surrounded by every day such as missed opportunities, indifference and the dull feeling I sometimes carry around in my gaze.

My housemate Lars and two of my other friends have eventually finished setting up their exhibition and the vernissage took place last night. I truly enjoyed helping them with the finishing touches even though the difference in length of installation cables brought a lot of different, positive and negative feedback. Get over it Raphael... He asked me how this could have happened when having a couple of drinks at Kyra's and I told him a very nice story that was met with laughter and followed by a very uncertain face. It goes like this:

I was in charge of placing some additional pictures, hanging from the second, down to the first floor. I must admit I drank the night before cutting them so they were consequently uneven in length. Raphael then asked me why that had happened. I told him that Colm and I had placed bets on how close we could cut off the cable for the pictures free hand so they would resemble the model cable in length that Raphael had cut off himself. He believed me. In Germany we have a fairly retarded saying, namely: Stupid question, stupid answer!

The Europe Calling event also takes shape as time draws closer, giving me the chance to effectively spend my time with a topic I guessed to be terribly boring but in fact is not.

My new laptop allows me to be full part of the communication world which enables me to interact with everyone at any time, place and for a period I can choose myself. I find this simply stunning, considering the small and big troubles I have had lately with ICTs. I was actually loosing faith in technology for that matter. But then it came. My new metal thing! And everything works so much faster, nicer and more efficiently. In short - my standards are being met again. I don't know how anyone could have created something more beautiful, simpler and lighter, faster, thinner, black and silverisher, whitecabled, virility engendering, ..... than my new laptop (hinthintedyhinthint! Dear company that reconginzes itself here, please invite me for an interview for an internship or as Steve Job's assisstant in near future (preferably after I have finished my internship in Sydney) and all jobs that permit a paycheck higher than $200,000 per year or month, respectively).

This morning I woke up with the wonderful gift basket my mum sent me, containing plenty of sausage, a suit, shoes, wine, and, most importantly, Stifado, a well cooked and spiced Greek goulash. YUMM!!

Aight, cheers and g'day mate! Assimilation has started.

lasagna and essays.

Today is a feast again. So much lasagna and essay writing are simply a stunning combination which is why we decided to do exactly this. Now I am sitting in front of my screen, waiting like an antsy child for the meal to be ready. And I'm hungry. Terribly hungry. For those of you who have ever seen me in this state can tell that I am about to fly away only because of the speed and the acceleration my arms and jaws cause. I will rise and shine over the city with a smile of satisfaction on my lips that humbly hums: "Yes, yes, YEEEES!"

Metallica has become one of the bands I listen to most at the moment due to their fantastic new album. Sometimes it needs something like that to trigger the existing but forgotten affection for certain things in our life. The last time I wrote this was quite a while ago and that only shows how randomly rare such a 'happening' is.

Today, the workers in front of our house fixed the tram rails. Or better, the mess. For some (to me unknown) reason they lately decided to replace the asphalt leading the rails by thin lines of styrofoam. Yes, that's exactly what I thought too. Lasagna!!! Anyway, this stuff created such a mess in front of our house and is supposedly also bad for the environment that they filled the gaps today with new asphalt. Not enough (not that I am concerned but I feel for the people that are) that they waste money of taxpayers in order to keep the world's economy running, no, now they start to contradict themselves with infrastructure! Ah well, I don't understand a thing of what the workers did out there but I wanted to complain at least about something since the lasagna is still NOT ready. 10 minutes to go. I can do it. I am convinced. Now I need a nice pinch of perseverance. Right, that's it.

Lasagna's ready!

he waved hello silent like a mime

University wise my life is back on track. After giving me heaps of shite for a good new start, my Uni did pretty much everything to make my life more difficult and make me walk through the anyway rainy streets with a rather depressed attitude, asking myself "Do I really need this right now?!?" I didn't. It was time to get over that and I did eventually.

In fact Hong Kong was once again warmed up in my mind when lovely Adele arrived on a Thursday night and stayed for as long as one week in the place I call my home. A home that dwinldes but still my home. The week was fantastic and Adele a fully integrated member of our 6-headed community. She arrived around 11:00 pm and we started to get warmed up for a long night out when she suddenly pulled something bottle shaped out of her bag - something that would change the outcome of the evening decisively. Talisker. Scotch. 1 liter. MY GOD! "Some Ice, Adele?", "Nah, just straight please!" Said and done we went to "Het Paard", listening to drum 'n' bass, electro and all kinds of alternative tunes. Good fun, good night.

The next morning was fairly miserable, but hey, that's the deal, right?


I haven't made any progress with my dictionnary so far and my time management is really tight at the moment since I am working off my presentations for this semester in the first half. Well, and some courses require simply a lot of reading. My dream is to simply chill in my armchair with some big headphones, listening to all my favorite songs really loudly forgetting about the world and think of the bluest lights that can surround me. This day will come and I don't want to make this sound like I am all so unhappy which is simply not true. Lars has introduced me to "Six Feet Under", a TV show that has already taken its toll on me - a show that displays once more that the life I am leading is pretty damn good!

Now I am for instance taking the time to go down to the pitch to play some of my favorite sport! Season has started and I truly am loving it to play with the team again.

So far for now, and, needless to say that Elliot Smith is sugar sweet melancholie in my ears.

the hague and dictionaries for odd people.

School has started yesterday and everyone has by now acquired the motionless feeling of being back in the daily life of foreign students, living in the Netherlands. Can you blame us? This weekend has been too fantastic to make the coming period seem nearly as sunny as the last couple of days. On the other hand I am quite glad to be back because I will have a fix routine and stuff to do.

I, for the first time in my life, am now owner of a fitness card and therefore pay for fitness. Nobody could have guessed that this day would come (for those who didn't know: I despised fitness and always regarded it as redundant and a sportive activity only business people perform because they don't have the time to do proper sports) but now it is here - I am fitness. Can you actually say this? Consequently, I have a meeting with the - how I shall henceforth name him - GYM MASTER who will show me around the facilities tomorrow at "4 o' clock sharp!". Sir, yes, Sir.

What else?

I am constantly developing the idea of writing a dictionary for neologisms of mine. I am not talking of new word inventions in the funny sense but rather situations, habits, feelings and expressions that have not been named yet.

When I did my civil service in an elementary school, the children sometimes showed a certain kind of enthusiasm I don't have a name for. I think most people have encountered a certain expression of joy but children do it in a very specific way: after the first rush of joy is gone, a certain density of facial expressions commences that will make them aware of the joy they are experiencing and therefore start acting in a more set and down-to-earth kind of manner. What then starts is I think called busy. Business and motivation flood the room and something clicks in the child's mind and the joy cannot forbid it to be all serious so they continue being goofy and childish (well, they are children...) as well as getting back into this down-to-earth mood. It then collapses when realization kicks in. The realization of past acts of joy. And this expression, manner of behavior or whatever you may call it - I simply don't have a word for it. And neither has anyone, do they? That's the reason I want to take up the idea and create a dictionary that emphasizes mainly on such expressions or manners or whatever you may call it.

Oh yes, I will take up Lars' idea of cutting stencils for our hallway.

Bonne nuit. A tout le monde.

will it come back?

The last few days I have been very quiet for the simple reason that my life is mainly dominated by thoughts I keep on squeezing up and up again in my brain - like a tube of toothpaste which is empty but that can still be used to get a little out of. These thoughts I squeeze are beautiful in nature and concern my time in Hong Kong. I am raiding people's Facebook accounts, looking at their pictures, being amazed how much I missed out when being in that exact place. I want the time back and that's why I keep on squeezing and pressing until my head hurts and I find myself in the state of pitty I found myself in a couple of times when being in that exact place. Realizing it's over only came now. It only came now that I realize it's over, that nothing can bring back these times and that I have to accept that fact. I cannot bring all the people and the exact environment together to just live on and on and on. I will meet people again but will it be the same? Won't it be more like: "Oh dear, do you remember that time?", indulging ourselves with what used to be rather than to concern ourselves with what is and what will be? I guess time is and always was my enemy in so far as I would love to put time on stop and experience certain moments or spans of time forever or at least something more imaginable.

At the same time I should be so grateful being as privileged as I am to have had the experiences and to change with them. And here I am, seeming to fail but still not giving up hope to bring it back to something I cannot bring back. I am overly melancholic as well. I think most people are when they think of times that were lifechangingly good. They (including myself here) seem to oversee negative experiences that used to be part of the positive whole which again makes them seem positive.

Just thoughts. Nothing more.

of flies and men.

I'm lately beset by thoughts of how men differ from animals. They don't. Well, let's say men are complicated animals - at least I do think that.

I am basically talking about myself here, since this is the only reference I have. You see, I have not yet discussed this topic so I'd like to know if you, dear reader, would agree or disagree with my point of view.

Now, the basic argument to defend my thesis is a trivialization. That's why I took one of the, in my eyes purest of mother nature's animals - the fly. Pure, because their life is very short and only serves the purpose of surviving to give birth to small flies within a couple of days after their birth. Is already this a similarity?

The fly sat down and started cleaning itself on my arm. It simply strapped off the ballast that clung to its legs and flew again. I watched it flying abrupt turns with a system that could not have been any more unclear to me. I drank my coffee, feeling for this small insect that obviously was as confused as me when I am walking in a supermarket, trying to figure out what to eat. Similarity number two. At a certain point this confusion had passed as the fly began to fly towards a small girl sitting next to my table. It sat down on her neck, obviously attracted by the moisture human skin produces in small quantities. It started cleaning its legs again and eventually started to suck up the thin layer of moist.

And so do we. We are no different than flies or any other being. The only thing that distinguishes us from them is triviality. Our problems seem to be so complex for we don't see that they consist of several small attributes - small pieces that are problems themselves, be it laziness, unwillingness or just fear. Whereas the fly straps off all its ballast that hinders it from tasting, flying straight or eating properly, we push problems. Everyone does. I believe there is no one that gets rid of all problems that may hinder the way. The fly does. It simply cleans itself. And that's what makes us complicated. The bigger the problem, the more numerous are the attributes from which it evolves and the more people it involves, either directly or indirectly connected.

Our life basically consists of small problems, just like the fly's life exists of an urge to find new food, or just to survive as long as it can to give birth to as many flies as it can (which can be a problem because they are so annoying to us). These problems give that fly a reason to exist. It knows (or maybe not): "I don't know much but I have to give birth to some other flies in order for us to survive. And I am hungry. What's that long thing in my face called again?!? Damn it....my brain's simply too small. Flag it!"

We should just do it like the fly and confront our problems right away in order to keep them fairly small. I think that humans develop more and more towards being so complicated that a distortion or even an abstraction of mind sets or the being itself takes place. Is there a human being that is just as trivial as a fly? Is this even desirable? Do we want to get rid of our problems straight away or do we have to keep them within us because we exist to be thrilled by something?

Well, I am back. Back in the country that should've served as my transition before coming to Germany. But here I am after all. The reality slowly catches up with me as my mind slowly focuses on matters that do matter. Studying obviously for the moment, internship applications later. I am excited to see where the world will put me but at the same time I feel the solitude of a student who has only 4 months at his University. Such a short time and still so many things to accomplish. I am sitting in my newly decorated room, trying not to think too much about what is going to come. Fukuyama does not really help me to get on with this thought but at least it's some kind of distraction.

The end of history? Certainly not.

of blue lights.

Hamburg is a city that has its very own, unique charm. It is after long nights out that I enjoy sitting by the harbour most, looking out for the sunrise and ships moving back and forth, forth and back. Sunrise and sunset alike fill the scenery with golden colors and warmth. That is the time when I close my eyes and see the blood red of my eye lids becoming more and more intense, listening to the ships moving back and forth, forth and back.

Yesterday, I went to the harbour and felt the solitude surrounding me as I swept away in the long views of lost lights. The blue was cold, yet warm as I felt the calm melody of our song dripping softly into my ears filling it with red waves of blue light. Nothing matters in times like these. No future, no past, not even the present and the thought itself. Only the ships move back and forth. Back and forth.

belated picture update - pt 2

The ornamentic and carvings in the temples of Angkor. It is stunning.

Sunrise, sunrise,... At the temple on top of the hill in Angkor.

On the Meking, waiting for the fresh water dolphins. If you read Lars' blog you can read the story of the "Papagaienduijkers" and you'll know what I felt like.

In the Ratanakiri province in Cambodia.

Being lazy on the lake I was musing about in an earlier post. It was so beautiful.

belated picture update.

Borneo - the diver's paradise

still on the dive trip on the beautiful island of Sipadan.

The slightly disapointing Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur

Sam, Jojo and I in Siem Reap, one night before visiting the temples of Angkor.

She is one of the cutest children i have met on this journey. Short story - I always have and still do find bus trips absolutely terrible and boring. Thus, I thought how bad it must be for this small girl in Borneo and got to the result - even worse. She was with her sister and I started making funny faces which the two enjoyed a lot and answered to me in the same manner. The bus ride passed by a lot faster and I will not forget their looks of appreciation, a look I got to know in Hong Kong. It is a look of relief, a look of sympathy and a look of astonishment. That and a little smile - how much better can looks get?

culture lost?

I certainly do think so. I feel strange in a culture that once used to be mine but has now become a blurry something that does not give me what I expect from my own culture - a feeling of being home. I live here, I love to see my friends and my family again but apart from that I feel terribly strange in this country. The time in Hong Kong and beyond has been such an intense one and coming back from this chaotic place called Asia has taken its toll on me (or better a piece of my heart from me).

As lovely as it is not to be travelling and changing positions daily brings me back to a slower life that I do not accept as it is. The independence, the anarchistic approach and lifestyle of backpackers is lost for now and I don't know when (if ever) I can be part of it again and if my approach to be free in such a pretence that travelling appears to be to me is possible.

For now I have to live and adjust in a culture that I enjoy for trivial reasons but has lost a big part of me to a different part of the world.

"Le temps le plus important c'est la première fois.
Le temps le plus important c'est la deuxième fois.
Et après ça la troisième fois et on recommence.
J'ai perdu les habitudes de ma jeunesse et je me
sent désunis et à part de ma propre histoire
et on recommence."

vietnam.

The fact I am skipping Laos is that the events since my arrival in Hanoi (yesterday) have been quite intense, considering the difference in personality of Vietnamese citizens to those of Laos and Cambodia.

I was terrified by the reports I heard from other travellers and wanted to see for myself but I got to the point where I don't want to but have to agree that communication can easily turn directions within a milly second.

It all started with the airport pick-up which was adequate. Adequate until we reached the first hotel the drivers would get a commission off. I insisted on staying in the car, knowing a cheaper place to crush. The driver tried desperately to get me out of the van by ignoring my words and telling me how cheap $12 for a room a night were. "I know, mate, but I want to go to this place I saw in my guide...it's $3 a night and that's better, innit?" Didn't work. With the time driving around the driver got really annoyed with me and that contributed to my mood. I was having a blast with some other travellers, telling him I actually got a reservation in that place, which of course wasn't true. Funny thing was: He would have only had to drop me off at that place and his suffering with us would have ended. He decided against it and we went to the next hotel of his choice. Now, I was getting a little annoyed and he was having a red head. I started teasing him a little and - none of us believed it - he went to the place I told him to go to. Got off, got a cheap room with a Finnish and a Spanish, sorry, Basque, guy and went out to get hot pot while feeling like one.

This morning I got up and went to book my trip to Sapa, in the North of Vietnam. Paying about $100 for train (back and forth), accommodation (1 night homestay with local family, 1 night hotel), food and anything else but personal expenses. We'll see how it goes.

Done.

cambodia - laos.

In fact, the rain did not change at all, so we stayed in the hostel, frustrated, bored and somewhat looking forward to our return to Phnom Penh. On the morning of our departure, we figured we had about US$11 left and still had to buy tickets and nutrition for the day. We bought tickets and thus had about US$2 left. we decided we had to keep that money for the internet cafe in Phnom Penh if we wanted to get into contact with Eddie, one of Jojo's mates from New Zealand. After 6 hours and 1000 times hungrier, we arrived in Phnom Penh and found Eddie in the hostel "Lazy Fish", beautifully situated at the lake side. We immediately bumped in our savior and had curry as our first meal of the day (which for me actually is a lie since I had a chewing gum before).

We had a couple of drinks and went out the next day and bumped into another friend of the two who was doing a world journey and (20 seconds later...) ran into Chloe as well. Gathered, we went back to the guesthouse and had a good night. The next day, Jojo and I did the same programme we had done before (Killing Fielgs, etc) and visited the S21 concentration camp which was truly gruesome, considering the methods and instruments of torture being shown in the museum. Eddie and Chloe were just as stoked and in the evening decided to go to Siem Reap, a fact that seperated them from us for a couple of days.

The following day, Jojo and I went to the north to the Mekong to see the least spectacular "must-see" in Cambodia - the endangered species of the fresh water dolphin. Lame. hey look like floating turds in the anyway brown Mekong. It would have been nice, if they would have come close to the boat but they decided to stay about 50m away which made it really hard to see them at all.

The next morning we left Kratie for the (by far) more interesting Ratanakiri province in the North East of the country. The trip there was and adventure itself. Examining the map of Cambodia in our "Lonely Planet", we had always wondered why this part of the road was dotted but not a proper line. We were about to witness the worst road I personally have ever travelled on. The bus was crammed to the max and we got shitty seats above the enigne which made the temperature increase about 30 degrees. The holes in the street and the oversensitive suspension of the bus enabled some good "jumpin-out-of-the-seat-action" and after 5 hours and several bruises later we arrived at our destination.

Ratanakiri is the purest part of Cambodia I have seen in the weeks staying in this lovely country. We went on a tour and took showers under epic waterfalls, spotted fantastic towns, lovely people and a perfectly untouched mind of Cambodia. I am always amazed how people who have literalyy nothing try to comfort you by giving you everything they have, rather than taking it themselves.

The tour finished at Yeak Laom, the most wonderful lake I ever swam in. It is perfectly round and surrounded by jungle. The water is clear blue with sight of up to 5 meters. The temperature was lovely and made the day one of the highlights on our journey which has now lasted over one month. Slowly, Jojo and I made our way to the center of the lake and started soking in the silence which was only broken by our hands touching the surface. After this expierience we decided to stay another day and to come back to this place that poses serious competition to all the beaches I have seen in Thailand or Malaysia.

After a good night of sleep we went to have breakfast with John, a Canadian we had met on the bus to Ratanakiri. We rented motorbikes and camke back to the lake, trying to do some exploring. We went to an empty Pier and started doing jumps into the lovely water. As time went by it got a little crowded (about 20 people in the water...judge yourself) and we went back to the place we had descended from, running into a group of locals that asked us to sit. The were incredibly drunk and played music on their native instruments. As Jojo got the drums, the amazement on the part of the locals lost all boundaries and soon we also were intoxicated with beer and rice wine. When one of the locals humbly asked me if I could maybe buy some more beers I was aware of the fact that we had in fact been invited to everything we had drunk so far and it felt as if I blushed slightly and immediately went to buy another crate of beer. That was the point my mind got aware of how lovely these people actually were.

Next point on our programme - Laos. We met Chloe and Ed, who had been so nice to pick up our Visas+Passports in Phnom Penh, in Stung Treng, a small village on the way to Laos. We stayed for one night, playing a lot of Chloes favorite game - La Bataille Corse. Favorite because she never looses. Le lendemain, a minivan picked us up to bring us to Don Det, one of the 1000 islands in the South of Laos. From then on theres not much to say since we travelled a lot and saw little which is about to change tomorrow, when we will eventually arrive in Vang Vieng to do some tubing on...whatever river there is. Oh yes, I almost forgot. We invented drinking poker without chips. KEY!

At the moment I am listening a lot to Kashmir and Sigur Ros. Someone made me aware of a very true quote of Nietzsche who said:

"In music the passions enjoy themselves."

Love that one.

Cambodia.

Well, we eventually escaped that sh**hole in KL and went off to the airport to catch our plane to Phnom Penh (pronounced Pnom Pen), the capital to my beloved Dead Kennedies song "Holiday in Cambodia".

As absolutely appropriately described by the Lonely Planet guide it is indeed impulsive, hectic, chaotic and repulsive. Seeing the state of this city makes me understand this is one of the poorest countries in south east Asia. We found a really nice hostel that was the complete opposite of what used to be our center of operations before. Air conditioned, two queen (or king...more appropriate) sized beds. We met Sam, a fellow friend from Hong Kong and went to get dinner on the scooter he got from his couch hopping friend Romyr. The three of us went on and got happy pizza at the river side. it truly was very happy as we realized afterwards. Romyr and his friend David came to pickus up to go to a bar where we got drinks basically for free. I took a closer look at the interior of the bar which was plastered with pictures of antic statues that were not (as usual) lacking their genitalia. Paired with the behavior of our hosts and my knowledge of such bars, I assumed we were indeed in a gay bar, which was good fun. after we had finished the bottle of vodka we went on to a bar called "The heart of Darkness", the biggest whorehouse I have ever been in. We left after an approximate time of 1 hour and got back to our hotel.

The next day we rented motorbikes and made our way to the killing fields, a sight in which the ultra communist party of Cambodia (Khmer Rouge) killed a total of 17000 people in the late 70's. Coming from Germany and having been to a concentration camp, this was the first that came to my mind. We slwoly approached a small Mausoleum, containing about 9000 skulls. After 25 minutes of walking around and seeing mass graves we left and went back to town, a ride of about 20 minutes on our motorbikes.

We then were stopped by the notorious policemen that fined us for not driving with a Cambodian drivers license. We haggled them from US$100 to 25 each. Corrupt bastards they are!

Later that day we went to a mansion that is called "Elswhere" and whose owner hosts a party every first friday of the month. It was fantastic. Chilled out vibes, a pool, nice people, relaxed atmosphere and extremely tasty passion fruit cocktails. Good evening, Good night.

The next morning we were picked up by a TukTuk, which brought us to our bus to Siem Reap. After 6 hours we eventually arrived in our hostel and went out for dinner. This city is by far the best we have experienced food wise, so far. Tasty Curries, Masalas, Soups and fresh beer. Perfect. We went out that night in the "Angkor What?" Bar and had a bucket of the vicious Mekong Whiskey too many. The hangover the next day was not pleasant at all... We met up with Sam again who had left a day early and went off to see the temples of Angkor. It was stunning. The only issue I had: I thought I lost my camera the night before. It turned out I did not but who could know that? :) It was lying safe in my backpack.

The next day we got up at 04:30 to see the sunrise and it was absolutely fantastic. Seeing the sky fade from dark blue to red, to bright red, orange and eventually showing off its round master that gives life to the world, makes the mist vanish and filled me was a moment I will not forget.

"You came to take us
All things go, all things go
To recreate us
All things grow, all things grow"

The rest of the day we experienced some other 6-7 temples before we decided that they would become less and less amazing the more we would see. Thus, we decided to call it a day at around 01:00 pm and went back to the hostel and into town to get Indian food. Our driver (which we hired for the whole day for $15) got a little pissed off in the meantime, assuming that after the temples we would pay him. Since $15 are a lot of money we were told that we hired him for the whole day. So, he got more and more pissed off and as we asked him to drive us to a swimming pool he almost started crying and got reeeeaaaally angry. Was good fun though.

The next day Jojo and me were alone again and just chilled and lay in bed, reading and watching movies. One day filled with laziness, the next one on the bus again, on our way to Sihanoukville, the place we call home at the moment. It is raining and the thought of going to the beach seems riddiculous. The rain is hard and enduring. Hopefully it'll change soon!

Malaysia.

I will keep this rather short and this is just to keep you guys updated on my current location.

On the 25th of May we did finally arrive in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. Our hostel was great, considering the fact that Vincent, our host was a big stoner but at the same time reliable and organised our trips and diving course. Jojo and I started taking this course on the third day of our stay and really enjoyed it. After only one day we had passed the 4-day theory course and went into the water on the 2nd day of the course. This was what we had imagined. We found Nemo, retured him safe to his father and said hello to his neighbors, the Stingrays. Lovely people.

After the completion of this course we went on to Sepilok, the Orang Utan resort on Borneo with our new companion Kelly from Canada. After having experienced the true dangers of the jungle (I got bitten by a leech and almost died of severe bloodloss) and watching the Urang Utans cover themselves up with leaves due to rain (they are somewhat more intelligent than I am) we left and went on to Semporna to do more diving.

This time, we went from Semporna to Sipadan, a small island with an incredibly amazing lime stone wall which descends about 600 m into depth. We saw reef sharks, swam into a storm of Baracudas and enjoyed ourselves.

Today, after 10 hours on the bus, hardly any sleep, 3 hours of waiting due to plane delay, 2 1/2 hours on the plane and 2 more hours of search, we arrived in the crappiest hostel I have ever dwelled in. It resembles cheap late 90's horror movies. This is in Kuala Lumpur by the way.

More soon.

"You are the bluest light."

off to new lands.

Do you know the releaving music after a happy ending in a movie? It's just like a quiet controversy of what has happened before. Watch "The Butterly Effect" (which, frankly, is not a very good movie but pretty extreme, which serves my purpose) and in the end listen to Oasis' "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" ringing the imaginary bells for a wind of change. I, for instance am listening to "But, honestly" by the Foo Fighters. It is just as controversial as denying the fact that I actually left Hong Kong but still am not accepting the fact I did. Leaving everything behind, knowing it will never be the same again is a heavy burden that lies like an inconvienient shadow on my mind. It's a shadow that fills me with sadness and for the first time I really felt what it means to leave something behind you that has treated you in such a positive manner. I could summarize my musings in Hong Kong as a feeling that tells me to stop at the point when you feel it cannot get any better. The only problem with this is that this feeling could then also mean that you realize that something could actually get worse which then again means that it has already gone past the peak of enthusiastic emotions at which you cannot imagine a thing that could negatively infringe the status quo. My friends will understand what I mean.

I don't want to make this sound like a CD booklet or an EMI price giving but I really wanted to thank my family for their love and support.

Love,

Christoph.

traveling

So, here's the deal: Do never, and I mean NEVER! make an attempt to plan a journey to China without a credit card within only 3 days.

The first day, everything went fine and I bought a train ticket which brought me closer to my goal. The second day, the booking of the hostels was confirmed - no problems either. Wow, this is amazingly unproblematic. What else do I need? Yes, a visa for China.

This morning I set my alarm (for my standards) relatively early. After having had about 5 hours of sleep in bright light due to Joel's obsession with Heroes I woke up at 7 am and made my way out of bed to the next bus stop and caught the 40M that also collected Louise at her stop and together we drove at slow pace towards the Chinese embassy. At 20 past 8 and some HK$1000 richer, we arrived and saw the humongous line in front of the building. Oh, I almost forgot how user unfriendly the application for the Chinese Visa happens due to the Olympic Games...Firstly, it requires a copy of the ticket that shows a date when you actually leave China - very welcoming. Secondly, you have to have copies of the payment confirmation of hostels you are planning to stay at. Thirdly you need to fill in a form - the actual application, including a photo of your beautiful countenance. As soon as you have acquired these items, the application happens rather quickly. I walked up to the counter, gave my material to the civil servant and was ready to go. EASY!!! The whole process of standing in line plus the quick actual application took us 2 1/2 hours.

Afterwards, we bought some big boxes for sending stuff back home and drove back to the halls. After 15 minutes I checked out again and went to Uni to see Sam for one last time. After the goodbye, I went to the library to study but could not uphold the resistance for very long and soon found myself sitting in front of one of the numerous computers, checking for plane tickets. To my great dismay I noticed that the fares for flights had increased about 100% compared to yesterday. After countless, hopeless attempts to find out the cheapest flight I gave up and joined Emma downstairs. Jordan passed by and saw my useless attempt and gave me the address www.elong.com to book my ticket which was a brilliant idea especially since they provide a 60% discount on all economy flights. Thus, I started booking. HA! I had made the bill without the host (I love word-for-word translations from German). As soon as I typed in my Dad's credit card details, it denied me to continue my booking since my name is only partially the same. Shame. Now I got really pissed off and Emma calmed me down by giving me the number of her travel agent. The price now will be HK$1100 which is still a considerably good deal. HA! update: My flight is booked! I am going to China on Friday!!! ICH FASS ES NICHT!!! (for my English friends: "I grab it not!!!")

END!

Eventually...

The time goes by even faster now that my time here comes to an end and the fact that not only I but also all people I learned to like so much are leaving one by one. We had a goodbye dinner for Adele at Wagyu which was truly lovely and tasty but the bitter taste of melancholy remained an irritating factor we could not deny. If I got it right she is going to the Philippines and I will see her in The Hague soon.

The fact that the one person I like most left for Beijing this morning leaves me in mixed emotions. I'm sorry for being so desolate lately but this is what my mind tells me to write and I always write what it tells me to.

My emotions have been going to extremes lately as well. There are times, maybe even moments, in which I am terribly sad, then happy and then angry again. The time of just being fine has unfortunately been absent for far too long. This city is giving me a hard time being so wonderful to me and the fact I'll be traveling for 6 weeks does not ease the feeling of departure. Maybe Iron&Wine and Nick Drake are not really the music to listen to either but my mind wants to be sad.

flying around the world.

http://www.flyingaroundtheworld.com/

this homepage is the creation of a dear friend of mine back home in The Hague, Raphael. I find his idea quite amazing.

Shek O

Misty clouds on their descent.

What does in fact sound like a former NBA giant is indeed one of the more enjoyable beaches on Hong Kong Island. The idea was initially triggered by Melissa who stood outside the hall, waiting for us to go out for Dim Sum. The difference that she made was mainly marked by the fact that she was carrying a towel and I wasn't. So back upstairs, grab a towel and c'etait partie.

Tim, Lorna's boyfriend came over to visit and Lorna wanted to go out for Dim Sum in Causeway Bay, which is an absolutely decent choice, considering the variety, quality, amount of food and price this restaurant is offering. I was not too amazed by the idea of going to Repulse or Deepwater Bay afterwards, since these beaches are artificially built up and so I announced the idea of going to Shek O Beach on the Northeast side of the island. No sooner said than done and we sat in an MTR towards Shau Kei Wan where we got off to take a minibus to our final destination. It was packed! I had not seen this beach that crowded when I went the first time but this was crowded. Bold as we are, we rented an umbrella (the sun was burning and it was considerably hot (28°C)) and passed everyone else until we almost reached the waterfront. We laid down, enjoyed life, read, listened to music and just felt well.



After a while, Tim and Lorna (who had been staying in Causeway to do shopping) arrived and I made the announcement of having a BBQ on the beach. Alongside Shek O there are several small places with barbecues to be rent out to tourists and us. Melissa and I did the shopping whereas the others got the fire running. We returned with a variety of meat, chicken, vegetables, ketchup, my beloved BBQ honey and odd fish balls, that are chewy and definitely not one of my favorites.


A few cold beers, lots of steaks and a lovely stroll at the beach later we made our way back to our halls (takes about an hour...roughly) to get changed for Andi's exam bash party.

Tim, Lorna and Jojo in the MTR back.

Lovely day, Lovely end.

Of Sleeping Chinese and Birthdays.

So, what is the result of going to bed at late times? Being tired in the morning. But what if you really went to bed late every night and did not have the time to recover until 01:00pm? A stroll through Soho makes it clear: you sleep while you're working. I find this a good compensation.

I do not know what exactly the reason is, but lately I have not found an adequate reason to write this blog. Maybe it's just my mind that has so many more things to deal with than usually (i.e. packing, procrastinating, birthday dinners, etc). But as soon as I read my friends' blogs, I realize how interesting I find them and how selfish it would be to just keep these last few weeks for myself. Since I am not a selfish person I hereby will share some more with you.


I did not take my cam for the actual party but this is from a former one and this is about what our roof parties look like.

I do not know what exactly it is, but lately I have not found an adequate reason to write this blog. Maybe it's just my mind that has so many more things to deal with than usually (i.e. packing, procrastinating, birthday dinners, etc). But as soon as I read my friends' blogs, I realize how interesting I find them and how selfish it would be to just keep these last few weeks for myself. Since I am not a selfish person I hereby will share some more with you.

Yes, Jojo, Melissa & Emma were celebrating their "be-earlied" birthdays on the rooftop of our desolate hall that did not look that desolate after all. About 60 guests showed up, ready to indulge themselves with the lovely food the girls had prepared (asparagus wrapped in Serrano ham, lettuce wraps with ginger-chicken, and so forth). Jojo, meanwhile, spent hours and hours on getting cocktail sausages that he served with a big bowl of tomato ketchup. As time went by, the average party guest started getting considerably drunker. As a result our lovely security guard showed up, telling us we should keep it down a bit. No probs mate! At around 12, we made our way down and went to LKF to further celebrate the three.

All in all a very enjoyable evening and a very drunk birthday boy/girl/girl.

Long time, no see. No see, long time.

Dear loved ones,

Lately I did not feel the urge of writing this blog since my life here has just become more and more fabulous.

Now that the time here in Hong Kong comes close to an end I am getting more and more sentimental and experience the city in a new, unknown way. In the beginning I had to focus my senses for not being completely overwhelmed by the colorful and hectic way of living. Now, after having lived here for a couple of months my mind is capable of distinguishing between necessary and unnecessary, relevant and irrelevant information, which guarantees a re-experiencing of this wonderful city. The smallest things suddenly become important, the smells and noises become familiar and a part of myself that I do not want to miss anymore. It should be possible to catch smells in jars. The best souvenir one could possibly imagine.

Wednesday I had my last class and finished with Uni here. Tuesday is the deadline for my last essay, the 15th the last exam. If I should tell someone, what my feelings of this exchange have been, I'd say the best experience of my life. It was rather hard leaving all my friends in The Hague but at the same time leaving meant a new beginning for me and the thought that everyone was going to be gone anyway in my mind made me more than prepared to experience a new part of my life that is not HEBO.

Yesterday, Chloé, Ted and I had dinner with our country tutor Joe Morrin at a very nice Indian restaurant, called "Bombay Dreams". Recapitulating our experiences here, we all came to the same conclusion that these months passed by too fast and we are by no means ready yet to go back. If this blog is read by any students I might not know in person, let me say that Mr. Morrin by no means exaggerated when presenting the Asian countries. Studying in a European environment is clearly one of the advantages of HEBO. Going abroad (and thereby leaving Europe) sheds a completely new light on what Europe means, what its role in the world is and how privileged especially our students are when choosing from a vast diversity of non-European Universities. As my friend Lars in his double-negation always says: "This should never not be happening." And I fully agree. This is special, wonderful and mind broadening. I hope that our University will always be as open in the future and enforce more non-European contacts to enable all students of HEBO to experience the world in such an open, tolerant and fantastic way as I did.

Soccer

Our wednesday's soccer group who meets up at Flora Ho Sports Center is growing and growing. It is so much fun to just kick the ball around with other amateurs. I am clearly one of the weakest links in this assembly but I guess that's why I don't play soccer primarily. Let's put it like this: from out of 10 shots only 2 go into the direction of the goal, the other ones are going anywhere else. Into the wilderness downhill for instance. After 15 minutes of search in this odd place behind the barbed wire I was about to give up and buy the Sports Center a new ball as I heard the releasing voice of Jojo from about half a kilometer downhill, frolicking he found the ball. Owe that man a beer for that. This is why I'm off to drink one now. Sports and beer. There are people who love it and people who can't understand it: "But...You have to rehydrate your body...not dehydrate...alcohol dehydrates!!!" So what? Been doing it for years and still think it tastes like the nectar of gods. The ambrosia will probably be a burger from Shake 'em Buns.

With this in mind, I leave you the reader and me the wallower.

Cheers!

thoughts.

So here I am in Hong Kong. So there I will be in another country in about 1 month time. The exchange was/is truly the most wonderful experience I have made so far in my life. 6 months seems to be nothing, considering this city and this wonderful community I am spending my time with here. I think that most of the people feel the same way as I do but I don't feel that they do. Everyone is so enthusiastic about traveling and seeing the world whereas I find myself in a sniveling mood. Living for the moment: Yes. It seems to be the only medicine there is. Get as much distraction as you can, Christoph. If one asks me if I was missing my friends at home I say "Of course!" This is not a lie. I just wished they could be here with me and experience what I am experiencing here. It seems as if everyone is happy about their exchanges but at the same time is also happy to come back to The Hague to continue their studies in the house of Mayhem called....I will not say it...they might sue me. I am sure they got their spies everywhere to sneak around and look out for people like me complaining to put my arse to court. Anyway. Sarah Brightman is clearly not one of my highly appreciated choices in every day's music selection but the song "Time to say goodbye" might actually become more and more present on my mind. I am having such a good time being here, I actually could imagine staying here for much longer. Hmm- now: shall I publish this or not? I often write stuff to get it out of my system but then don't publish it but I think at least some of my friends can identify themselves with the thoughts I am having here.

First match for the Varsity Tournament

Yesterday, my team won the first match of the Varsity 15's Tournament. 61-0. Quite clear but god, I was pissed off in the end. The other team was terrible...so were we. In the six years that I have been playing rugby now, I have never experienced so many knock-ons in one match. As terrible as the opposite played: They did not commit any knock-ons. At least that's what I felt. Well, Tuesdays training gives us the opportunity to improve a lot of mistakes. After all, it was the first match as a whole team so I cannot be too unfair.

Wish you all a nice sunday.

THE sport.

Friday at the 7s
Saturday at the beach
Sunday at the 7s
South Africa vs. Australia
Jojo "The Unsatisfied" Judd, Dave "The Cross"McKeown, Sam "The Bunny" Dreiman, Christoph "The Huula-Boy" Ritzke

Well, not exactly, considering the huge party that surrounds the Hong Kong 7s. This weekend was about to be one of the best ones I've had so far. Considering Rugby and Partying.

Starting on Friday, the tournament was about to last for the whole weekend. Extremely lucky students that we are, the first day was free for us, so we went to the stadium and could not believe our eyes as we approached the incredibly long line of scholars and students waiting to get in. well, we managed to overcome the time standing by chanting the old "Yogi Bear Song" and drinking Coke diluted with way too much whiskey. We eventually arrived inside and went up to the legendary "South Stand", the part of the stadium that gave home to all the funnily dressed and disguised people. I myself looked rather normal in my polo shirt beside people dressed up like playboy bunnies or country flags but still enjoyed every second of my first international, professional rugby tournament experience. The day went by and we got more and more indulged by the sec taste of cold beer. After the last game we mingled with the massive and incredibly drunk crowd towards the exit from where we went to the MTR to go to Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the day. Really, there were at least 2000 people outside on the street celebrating more the atmosphere than the sport itself. It was fantastic.

The next day was rather hungover and we decided that this weekend was one weekend lost for work and I took the bus to Repulse Bay where I met up with my friends, enjoying the sun and the amazingly refreshing and soon the hangover was forgotten and replaced by fun as we jumped of the pontoons into the water. As I always say: "The human being is doomed to not be satisfied at any point of his life!" Accordingly, Jojo and I became melancholic, regarding the fact we had missed out on buying tickets for the whole weekend and made plans on how to still get into the stadium the next day. After having thrown all stupid plans over board there was only one real solution: Buying tickets for a horrendous price. Flag it! We went to Causeway Bay to go to the stadium and purchase some illegally sold tix in the street. After half an hour travel we arrived, jumped off the bus and ran into a completely destroyed guy from New Zealand. His name was James, Jack or anything similar. He told us that he had just come from the 7s and that he was incredibly tired. The leftovers of make-up, his dirty shirt, the pungent alcohol smell and the small eyes told us that he was not lying. Poor J. only had one problem: one credit card but no cash. "What are you guys doing 'round here anyway?"he asked. "Buying tickets for tomorrow's games!" He took a position that resembled the thinker pose of old Greek statues (even though he was not really an Adonis, even though a bodybuilder) and said: "Lemme think...If you guys get me home to Soho...I'll give you tickets." We looked at each other and J. stared back like a car. Why the heck not! 3 Minutes later us 3 sat in a cab, heading for Soho. So far you think the story will lead to an happy end? Agreed. But from now on we were about to experience J.'s true nature. He started contradicting himself (yes tickets, no tickets, tickets for free, tickets for $4000 a piece) and told me to shut up which got me in a kind of awkward position. Sitting beside him and abusing his power or just throw him out in the middle of nowhere, leaving him for the crows. Jojo was the better negotiator and managed to cool J. down. When we arrived in Soho we doubted that he was actually living here but in fact he did! "Victory shall yet be ours!", I thought and we went upstairs where we entered a really nice, one-room apartment, furnished with expensive couture but messy as if someone had broken in. Amazingly, he really had tickets that he gave to us. We went back outside and couldn't believe our luck. "Let's move before he changes opinions...", I said, we went around the corner to have food at "Shake 'em Buns" and celebrated.
After our delicious meal we went to the close by street of 1000 costumes and got ourselves a straw skirt and black and white face paint, before going home and being exhausted.

The next day, my alarm woke me up at 6 am, I put on my costume, went to the bathroom and painted myself and went to the stadium, where I met the others (Jojo, Sam & Dave). The entry opened at 7.15 am and we managed to smuggle some 3 small bottles and food in. Off to the south stand! (according to Jamie (mate from my team) THE place to be). We were some of the first ones, saved good seats and Sam amazingly managed to fall asleep in one of them. After 2 1/2 hours of waiting the ranks finally filled up and the sun got so penetrating that we bought the first Jug of beer of the day. The problem of this day was that it, of course, did not last with one but several pitchers and that I, for the first time felt like Liam after a rough night: I CANNOT REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED!!!! The happenings are distorted and not in order.

All in all I can say that this weekend was worth fighting for and we saw a lot of good Rugby and loads of odd creatures wandering through the stadium.

Oval greetings,

Christoph.

Lamma Island

I named him Toby

My companions (me in the mirror)

Dogs over dogs on this island

The beach

Sahara


This again is about hiking and pleasure outside the dorm ;)

The day after our excursion to the new territories, I decided to go to Lamma Island, an island only 20 mins from HK Island, mainly populated by relaxed old people (a lot of hippies and 68ers amongst them) but "über"-crowded. It was probably not the smartest idea to go on that holiday after easter but still I wanted to and did not regret it. Hence, I had to find companions, who happened to be Lorna, Melissa and Maria, Helena and Alex, three of Lorna's friends from Berkeley. Arriving at Lamma we became aware of the amount of tourists that would be overpopulating the island at this time and chose to find a place to eat. We didn't manage to and thus made our way over to the other side of the island, the part where most restaurants are situated. The hike took us about 1 hour (maybe a bit more) and we discovered the beautiful island with its hidden beaches and red bean ice cream sellers. The whole island is paradoxically controlled by an alien with chimneys huge as skyscrapers - the so-called power plant. Such an inappropriate place to build one! We marched on and came to the restaurant area where we started opposing artificiality by eating vegan, organic food. Make a point and bust a move!!!
Tired but happy we made our way back to the beach where Lorna left us to pick up more friends from the airport. After chilling for an hour or so we made our way back to the ferry and to Hong Kong Island.

what a week.

New Territories



On the way to town
The poor crabs.

It's been a while and a lot has happened.

I will start telling you guys about our hike to the new territories, i.e. Sai Kung.
Emma and Adele being the initiators of this fun trip, planning to go hiking around the mountains and eventually finishing the night with some good seafood and a cold beer. The trip to the new territories took us about 1 1/2 hours by bus and MTR and we eventually arrived at Emma's families friend's place where we were provided with a map and nice company. Guy and his wife plus son guided us to a small temple in which we lit up joss sticks to pray to Buddha for more prosperity and luck in our lives. I considered this to be wrong (at least the wrong thing for me) since I do not believe in Buddha. One reason for this is the meat, onion and garlic free food.
We eventually reached the path and were left by the family and about to enter the "jungle". I kinda wished to be listening to Guns 'n' Roses at that time which I did not manage to due to a lack of appropriate technical equipment. We were hiking on and over the mountains that gave an excellent view over the bay and the extremely misty and thus mysteriously beautiful mountain site. The weather was rather warm and very humid which made my jeans stick to my legs and walking rather uncomfortable. After passing the "Hong Kong Adventure Squad" (which to me looked more like simple scouts...) we reached the end of the path and made our way back to town where we indeed did finish the day with some tasty food and a cold Tsing Tao.

swimming

Since we do have very good sports' facilities at our Uni, I went swimming with Jojo today. The pool itself was stunning. Eight 50 m lanes and only 4 people using it. Doesn't get much better than that. Considering the fact that I used to swim about 4000m in 1 1/2 hours in my competition days seems so far away. We made it up to 800m this time. I blame it a bit on the shoulder workout yesterday but even without it I would probably only be capable of doing 200 more meters. I will improve the distance though. Tomorrow I shall go to town and get proper Speedos and goggles for not having to borrow Jojo's water polo ones that make me look like a member of the NZ water polo association which I am clearly not. Bullocks, wherever my condition is, I hope it's having a good time chilling out.

Just wanted to share this experience. Nothing world moving but still an astonishing recognition from my part.

old women and economics

As promised.

The hook of this story is my presentation in "East Asian Societies and Economics". I started hating this class in the first lecture due to our professor. Well, this is going to be controversial, since she seemed to be a really nice, maybe 70-year old lady from mainland China with a strong accent, making it difficult to follow her lectures. She made the misunderstandings up to us with a smile that made her anyhow small eyes basically disappear. The girls loved her for it. "Isn't she just adorable?" Yes, in fact she was until last week. Wait, I messed it up already since I want you guys to understand why I dislike this class and not love the prof as well :D

The reason I started disliking this lecture was because she boldly changed the name from "Politics" to "Economics". Since I really am not interested in world economies at all (yes, I know that you need it to understand politics but I really only know the basics which in my opinion is by far enough) I started switching off during the lectures. Big mistake as I was about to find out. To be fair I must say that I did not prepare the presentation too well, since my topic was an extremely broad one: Japan - Case Studies. I thus started preparing a presentation through the macro filter on the Japanese economy since 1945. Reasonable, isn't it? Well, where to start...outline and research of course. The matter of research was that basically all books on the topic I needed them for were unavailable in the library. I hence started raiding the online e-sources. Since you do know that I am not a big fan of economy and by far more interested in history I started summing up political events and underlined them with a few (few) statistics. I thought "Ah well, I think everyone will understand, why Japan is the economic power it is today, why the economic bubble collapsed and how it will be in the future." After the presentation my fellow students agreed. But I will come to that later.

The presentation starts and I start talking. As soon as I mention the term "processing nation" she indignantly interrupts me. "Never in my whole career did I hear this term. I think what you really mean, if you did the readings (which I partly did but was disgusted by all the statistics and numbers) you should know that what you are trying to say is called "vertical integrated economic system"." OK, fair enough. This brought up the discussion in my head, which of the two would be easier to understand for my fellow students. (It's basically a country importing goods such a s steel, etc., processing them and re-selling them for more money -> btw the key to economic prosperity in Japan) What a start. From now on it only got worse. I stuttered, finished the presentation/ torture and was now ready for execution. Again I quote "Mortal Combat" : "FINISH HIM!" The Q&A session, only held by the professor this time. I held the fortress and some people tried to help me out by defending its ground columns. The axe stopped as it started splitting my beard hair. We had reached events that occurred after '95 and the apple market shares, a topic I indeed follow closely in recent weeks and its comparison with market shares of Japanese companies. She didn't know anything about recent events. After having proved herself being a bitch before, she now put up one of those smiles I mentioned earlier. Did not work on me. My picture of old ladies is now forever distorted. After the presentation I received a lot of claps that helped me to get on with my everyday life and thereby escaping the scaffold.

I really have to raise the question here whether academic education always has to be based on difficult facts and terms when it could be so much more trivial and easier. Well, I think it has to be a balance as in everything. Puh! and all that on my birthday... After that I just went home to enjoy a couple of well deserved beers. They just taste best after a survived battle.

"Madness? THIS-IS-HONG-KONG!"

Khawp khun khrap

Cd-shopping at Ko San road

Day of our departure (view from Lee Hysan)

exploring the Grand Palace in Bangkok with timeless stylish dresscode

Louise...Imagine the ROCKY theme whilst running up the stairs
Jojo....take Teletubbies theme


I figured, that 5 pictures are not sufficient to give you an idea of the experiences we had in the 10 days in Thailand. That's why I will upload more right now and distract myself from writing this bloody essay! If I am already bored by this topic, I really don't see how the other ones will work. Will I drop the grandma course? Oh yeah, I did not have time to tell you about this escapade...next thread will.

"SLAUNTJE!"

Jojo waiting
In front of Starbucks

Erin
Louise and Marc
Tired in the cab.


St. Patrick's Day in Hong Kong. Melissa initiated a gathering at Lan Kwai Fong to go to an Irish Pub to celebrate the Irish Patron Saint. Arriving at LKF, Jojo and I were sitting down on the stairs in front of Starbucks, when Jojo appreciated the Irish manner of cheering to random people, passing by the entrance. One of these was an obviously completely stoned junkie who had a lot of stories to tell. He was a good laugh until he mentioned having lost his heroine. This was the point I, in secret had been waiting for, so I told him to "go over to that lovely street sign who wants to listen to all of these stories." He then asked whether he should leave and I assured him he understood me and quietly he left. I felt pity for him.

Soon after, Erin arrived and sat down beside us, still waiting for Lorna and Melissa to show up. When they eventually arrived, all of us got stocked up with "Irish-saying-buttons" Melissa's Mom had sent over. We crossed the street and got ourselves some beer at club 7/11 (for all of you who might not know what it is: a supermarket...) and went straight to the amphitheater to await the arrival of the rest of the group. Jojo's friends Dave and his older brother Mike arrived and soon after we were also joined by Louise, Marc, Adele, Ted, Hana & Franky. As you can read, a nice bunch of people, willing to go full-on for St. Paddy. The expectations were high, the result rather poor. With all the ex-pats in this city you would expect more than this. Only at one point there were actually people in the street celebrating but the group did not want to stay here but move up to one of the Irish pubs. We went into "Dublin Jack" but since the music was very quiet and the atmosphere not really good either we left and from then on just strolled around , trying to find the ultimate...no, not beach...location. We eventually ended up in "Dublin Jack" again, where I drank my last drink for the night: ice cold Bulmer's. Next year there's a better party to come. No dislocated arms though.

Art anyone?

This was one of the weirdest and most random gatherings of exhibitions I've seen so far. I took Melissa out for the so-called "Refabricating city", an exhibition of different artists with a focus on architecture and other random stuff in the old HK police station. Entering through an iron gate, facing a small alley leading uphill plastered with bamboo constructions and green writings on the ground, we reached the vast yard from which we were led to different rooms within the acutal station. We went through them and I just let go the feeling of attempting a certain kind of understanding, since I really did not. We eventually came to a room where we started drawing down what Central district meant for us. Very different approaches indeed.

Funny afternoon...and artistic.