Jetlags suck but on the upside: thanks to the jetlag I was out and about at 7.30am this morning. Off to Brighton Beach, to see the cute beach huts. Not surprisingly, I had the beach to myself bar a few locals walking their dogs.
After Brighton, I managed to fit in South Yarra and Prahrad, the botanical gardens, little Vietnam (yummmm pho) and the city. I am now properly sunburnt and my feet properly hurt.
On the way to little Vietnam, an old dude by a tram stop looked at me and said 'You're sunburnt, you're a pom?'. When I told him I was Dutch, the first association was not drugs, cheese or tulips, but airplane bombers for a change. He made up for calling me a pom, by calling me a 'youngy' later. and for telling me the cricket score.
Tuesday 29 December 2009
Sunday 27 December 2009
Melbourne!!!!!
Bloody hell what a journey. A broken plane engine meant my Wednesday noon flight was delayed til Friday midnight. So rather than arriving in Oz on crimbo eve, I arrived this morning. Having missed the first day of the boxing day test at the G. In good old Emily style, she was still intoxiacted from last night's party and had to ask a friend to drive her to the airport to pick me up. On the upside, I managed to catch up with my bro who was in the Dam for a few days as well as with friends from NY who were in town.
But all's well that ends well. I am sitting on the couch in Carlton North, along with Em and her flatmate, each with our laptop on our laps, watching the cricket on a ridiculously big television. Just went out for brunch and hell it is good to drink a fantastic latte in the sun.
Oh, and Em's mum got me a christmas present, how sweet is that?! Three bodybutters that I am sure I will need after days in the sun. Life is good. Sas is happy!
But all's well that ends well. I am sitting on the couch in Carlton North, along with Em and her flatmate, each with our laptop on our laps, watching the cricket on a ridiculously big television. Just went out for brunch and hell it is good to drink a fantastic latte in the sun.
Oh, and Em's mum got me a christmas present, how sweet is that?! Three bodybutters that I am sure I will need after days in the sun. Life is good. Sas is happy!
Sunday 20 December 2009
Breath in, beath out
My word, my to do list just doesn't seem to get any shorter. Two weeks at home seems a lot, but if you reduce for days spent sleeping and working, there is not much time left. However, I am getting there. My birthday dinner yesterday was brill, and I got loads of great pressies. Managed to go to the gym twice this weekend (discovered cardio machines are not too bad if you can read or watch cricket while exercising), and my backpack is more or less packed. It better be good weather in Tassie as I brought very few warm clothes. Few clothes at all really. With the camera, lenses, and tripod there is not too much space left. Christmas cards have been posted, house is cleanish, to call list is slowly coming down. Admin is more or less done. One more day tomorrow at the Scottish bank, a day at the office on Tuesday and then.....Melbourne here I come!
Sunday 6 December 2009
I heart road trips
My writing these days is about little more than food and booze. And although the title of this entry suggests otherwise....it was a wine and food road trip.
What is said to be the best resto in Africa, is in Franschhoek. Ages ago, some of my colleagues and I decided to go here once during our stint in Cape Town. We had decided on the 5th of December. I made the booking, found a guesthouse and off we went.
More wine tasting on the way in first. Simonsig this time, a lovely winery in Stellenbosch. We had lunch, drove to the Guesthouse and sobered up. Deckchairs by the pool, surrounded by roses and vegetable patches. An amazing place, run by a well travelled Dutch couple. We polished off a bottle of Simonsig Viognier when it was that time of the day, and off we went to Le Quartier Francais.
And wow. A nice non snobbish atmosphere. Friendly and incredibly accomodating staff, and all four of us ordering the seven course tasting menu. With wine (apart from the size 4 Vietnamese Aussie chick who would kill herself drinking that much). We swapped the foie gras for scallops or duck, and two of us the orange buttermilk desert for amarula panna cotta. No problem what soever, we could make all the changes we liked. Amazing flavours, very nice wines to go with it. The most expensive meal I have ever had in my life, but man, was it worth it. The dickhead at the table next to us would not agree though: he hadn't liked his dessert and told the waitress it was revolting, in the rudest, unfriendliest way. Heated argument between him and the GF followed. I almost turned around and informed him of the existence of the phrase 'not to my liking' but thought the better of it. We paid and walked back to the guesthouse. With happy tummies.
What is said to be the best resto in Africa, is in Franschhoek. Ages ago, some of my colleagues and I decided to go here once during our stint in Cape Town. We had decided on the 5th of December. I made the booking, found a guesthouse and off we went.
More wine tasting on the way in first. Simonsig this time, a lovely winery in Stellenbosch. We had lunch, drove to the Guesthouse and sobered up. Deckchairs by the pool, surrounded by roses and vegetable patches. An amazing place, run by a well travelled Dutch couple. We polished off a bottle of Simonsig Viognier when it was that time of the day, and off we went to Le Quartier Francais.
And wow. A nice non snobbish atmosphere. Friendly and incredibly accomodating staff, and all four of us ordering the seven course tasting menu. With wine (apart from the size 4 Vietnamese Aussie chick who would kill herself drinking that much). We swapped the foie gras for scallops or duck, and two of us the orange buttermilk desert for amarula panna cotta. No problem what soever, we could make all the changes we liked. Amazing flavours, very nice wines to go with it. The most expensive meal I have ever had in my life, but man, was it worth it. The dickhead at the table next to us would not agree though: he hadn't liked his dessert and told the waitress it was revolting, in the rudest, unfriendliest way. Heated argument between him and the GF followed. I almost turned around and informed him of the existence of the phrase 'not to my liking' but thought the better of it. We paid and walked back to the guesthouse. With happy tummies.
Saturday 28 November 2009
Food heaven
There are few better pastimes than enjoying good food in good company. Yesterday's lunch was such a lovely event. One of my oldest friends was visiting, and I decided to treat her to something nice. Something very nice. Something two Michelin star nice. My first ever two star experience. And oh, the joys of living in London.....a three course lunch at Hibiscus sets you back £29 and a bit more with wine, coffee and tip. Exquisite service. And the food.... Oh. My starter was a terrine of mutton and pate, with black raddish salad and curry oil. Amazing. As a main we had the roast partridge with caper and raisin sauce, some veg and smoked beurre blanc. Desert was dark chocolate tart with white fig ice cream and yuzu. Nice small portions and all so delicious. Our coffees came with little chocolate thingies and smoked fudge. My lord.... Food heaven. What a treat. And just like both of us still often think of the meal we had at China Tang together last year, I bet this one won't easily be forgotten either.
Saturday 21 November 2009
Wine, anyone?
Three Eaglevlei Viognier 2009, of which only six barrels were produced.
Two Eaglevlei Cap Sauv 2007
Two Eaglevlei Muscat d'Alexandrie 2008
One Tokara Chardonnay
One Ken Forrester T 2007
One De Trafford Cabernet Franc 2008
No wonder I had five pieces of luggage coming home. But all the wine survived the travel. Very chuffed.
Now I need to pop down to the concierge where my 12 bottles of Hartenberg wine were delivered yesterday. Man, I sound like a dipso...
Two Eaglevlei Cap Sauv 2007
Two Eaglevlei Muscat d'Alexandrie 2008
One Tokara Chardonnay
One Ken Forrester T 2007
One De Trafford Cabernet Franc 2008
No wonder I had five pieces of luggage coming home. But all the wine survived the travel. Very chuffed.
Now I need to pop down to the concierge where my 12 bottles of Hartenberg wine were delivered yesterday. Man, I sound like a dipso...
Sunday 15 November 2009
A million dollar day trip
Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope, Muizenberg (picture), coastal routes and sundowners at the Radisson. What a fantastic day and a fantastic weekend. Hopefully sufficiently recharged for the next five days before flying back to Old Blighty.
Boot full of wine...
...and this excludes the stuff that's being sent to our homes. An amazing day in Stellenbosch ended in the manager of Eaglevlei coming over to thank us for our purchases and walk us to our cars with the bottles. The mission for today is to buy extra luggage.
Sunday 8 November 2009
Back in CT
Sitting in an internet cafe, feeling remarkably well. The former as there is no internet connection in my apartment (that is pretty crap altogether so trying to move to hotel asap), the latter as the weekend has been fairly alcoholic so far.
The week had been tough, really tough. Work wise that is. So Nick and I decided to visit the Whiskey Festival in the CTICC (their RAI). Tasting tasting tasting until we were both whiskeyed out.
Then yesterday Patricia and I decided to go to Stellenbosch for wine tasting. After one boutique winery (an amazing one that took us forever to get to via dodgy dirt roads), it was time for lunch. The Lonely Planet had recommended a resto called 96 Winery Road so off we went to...indeed....Winery Road. They had a six course lunch on offer with wines. Trish was the DD but I had the wines. Didn't drink all of them, but defo half. And the food portions were small (they better be with six courses). Anyhow....it was 3.45pm by the time we were done. Enough time to visit Vergelegen, the reason we went to Stellenbosch to begin with. But it started raining. Pouring. And it was nowhere near as close as the map suggested. So plans canned. New try next week.
Just when I was sobered up again it was time to meet some colleagues in a wine bar down town. Our new director is a local, and it was very sweet of him to abandon his family for a Saturday night and come out with us. G&T to kick off with, more wine, some tapas, a cheese platter, desert wine. And back to the Westin's cigar lounge for a whiskey. In bed by 1.15am and as I said, slightly surprised I feel so good.
Tomorrow my team will be complete for the first time so hopefully work will get a bit better. Hopefully the weather will get better too, this is a pretty poor effort by the Capetonian weather gods.
The week had been tough, really tough. Work wise that is. So Nick and I decided to visit the Whiskey Festival in the CTICC (their RAI). Tasting tasting tasting until we were both whiskeyed out.
Then yesterday Patricia and I decided to go to Stellenbosch for wine tasting. After one boutique winery (an amazing one that took us forever to get to via dodgy dirt roads), it was time for lunch. The Lonely Planet had recommended a resto called 96 Winery Road so off we went to...indeed....Winery Road. They had a six course lunch on offer with wines. Trish was the DD but I had the wines. Didn't drink all of them, but defo half. And the food portions were small (they better be with six courses). Anyhow....it was 3.45pm by the time we were done. Enough time to visit Vergelegen, the reason we went to Stellenbosch to begin with. But it started raining. Pouring. And it was nowhere near as close as the map suggested. So plans canned. New try next week.
Just when I was sobered up again it was time to meet some colleagues in a wine bar down town. Our new director is a local, and it was very sweet of him to abandon his family for a Saturday night and come out with us. G&T to kick off with, more wine, some tapas, a cheese platter, desert wine. And back to the Westin's cigar lounge for a whiskey. In bed by 1.15am and as I said, slightly surprised I feel so good.
Tomorrow my team will be complete for the first time so hopefully work will get a bit better. Hopefully the weather will get better too, this is a pretty poor effort by the Capetonian weather gods.
Saturday 24 October 2009
Hoooooooome
After a lovely last night out in Cape Town, I flew home yesterday. Thursday night we spent at the patio of the mozambiquan resto on Kloof Street where we'd been before. Amazing calamari heads, chicken piri piri and a dirt cheap very decent pinotage. Colleague David and I decided to finish things off with a wee drink by the pool of my hotel. A good end to the first tour. I have never been so excited to go home from anywhere. Southafrican Airways business class was fab. Nice wine (a blend I'd never heard of before and have forgotten the name of), very nice port, a lovely stewart and the best of all....a big mug of tea when you wake up in the morning. 6.20 am I landed, and by 8am I was home. Drowsy from lack of sleep (note to self: take those sleeping pills I have next time). Yucky from sleeping in clothes. And happy to see London wake up, to drive past all the sights, and to realise how lucky I am to live here. A whole week of Londenness before my second tour starts. Nice nice.
Sunday 18 October 2009
Food heaven
A three course lunch menu at one of the 50 best resto's in the world, for 20 quid. Or so I thought. But there must have been some sort of small print that I missed. Had I read it, it would have informed me of the fact that the deal is Mon-Thu only. Luckily, my company consisted of four foodies and an easy going guy happy to discover the finer things in life with us.
So off the normal menu we ate. And we ate well. We ate ridiculously well. We ate the best food any of us had had in a long time. Half my starter was rabbit with some chicken liver and other stuff, wrapped in black something ham (forgive me my lack of details, we also had some wine). The other half was scallop wrapped in said ham. The joys of sharing (gosh I wonder why we fall ill one after another). As a main I had lamb with some tomato chickpea courgette type ratatouille and a beautiful potatoey dish. The food porn is on the other girls' cameras so I can't show any dishes, but trust me... they looked to die for and so they were. Choosing deserts turned out to be almost impossible so we ordered the whole menu (four of them) to share. Lemoncake, chocolate ganache, an eton mess type dish and cashew creme. All with little bits and bobs that kept us very quiet for quite a while.
Needless to say the expense allowance the client gave us doesn't cover these type of lunches so it'll probably be the Cape Town equivalent of beans on toast the rest of the week. But it was so worth it.
The photo at the top left I took on the way to the wine shop on the estate. Bought a bottle or port that I am dying to open in London. The last time I had saffa port was in 1997. I won't easily forget Madelon and I, sitting by the fire a friendly Zimbabwean made for us, dining on raw carrots and beautiful port. Not many drinks bring up fonder memories.
So off the normal menu we ate. And we ate well. We ate ridiculously well. We ate the best food any of us had had in a long time. Half my starter was rabbit with some chicken liver and other stuff, wrapped in black something ham (forgive me my lack of details, we also had some wine). The other half was scallop wrapped in said ham. The joys of sharing (gosh I wonder why we fall ill one after another). As a main I had lamb with some tomato chickpea courgette type ratatouille and a beautiful potatoey dish. The food porn is on the other girls' cameras so I can't show any dishes, but trust me... they looked to die for and so they were. Choosing deserts turned out to be almost impossible so we ordered the whole menu (four of them) to share. Lemoncake, chocolate ganache, an eton mess type dish and cashew creme. All with little bits and bobs that kept us very quiet for quite a while.
Needless to say the expense allowance the client gave us doesn't cover these type of lunches so it'll probably be the Cape Town equivalent of beans on toast the rest of the week. But it was so worth it.
The photo at the top left I took on the way to the wine shop on the estate. Bought a bottle or port that I am dying to open in London. The last time I had saffa port was in 1997. I won't easily forget Madelon and I, sitting by the fire a friendly Zimbabwean made for us, dining on raw carrots and beautiful port. Not many drinks bring up fonder memories.
Wednesday 14 October 2009
Cape Town update
Time for an update. Between sleeping, working and eating, there is very little time for anything else. Not that we work ridiculous hours, 10 a day on average, but eating out every day is a time consuming activity. Waistline would be at serious risk if it weren't for all the seafood here. I pretty much eat it every night, staying clear of pasta's, chips and steaks and the likes. Southafricans don't seem keen on their veg, but the Kauai (a health food chain) on client's site does good salads to contribute to our five a day. Hopefully it won't be long until we can move into our apartments (key requests: NO sharing, internet and gym or pool) and can start cooking healthy meals ourselves.
European team is still great. We get along really well, which is pretty key when spending so much time together! We share meals, spa visits and frustrations after hours and buy each other lunch and coffees during the day. The floor we have at the client is huge and old but functional. One of the meeting rooms is our control centre. Two walls have been turned into massive grids of months and work flows and post it notes in all colours specify what team is doing what and when. Our morning prayers are held there too, just to make sure we will never lose sight of our deliverables! For relo's who worry I have gone all religous within a week: morning prayers are 30 minute team catch ups where we share issues and tasks of the day to be able to supplement each other as much as possible.
Friday a week I will fly back to old blighty for a week, before heading back to Cape Town. Three weeks later, I will do that again. Two twelve hour flights a month. That's a lot of airmiles!
European team is still great. We get along really well, which is pretty key when spending so much time together! We share meals, spa visits and frustrations after hours and buy each other lunch and coffees during the day. The floor we have at the client is huge and old but functional. One of the meeting rooms is our control centre. Two walls have been turned into massive grids of months and work flows and post it notes in all colours specify what team is doing what and when. Our morning prayers are held there too, just to make sure we will never lose sight of our deliverables! For relo's who worry I have gone all religous within a week: morning prayers are 30 minute team catch ups where we share issues and tasks of the day to be able to supplement each other as much as possible.
Friday a week I will fly back to old blighty for a week, before heading back to Cape Town. Three weeks later, I will do that again. Two twelve hour flights a month. That's a lot of airmiles!
Sunday 11 October 2009
And another hard day....
....in the life of a consultant. This Lighthouse was our view during lunch. A lovely Greek place along the ocean in Green Point. In between a long walk and a longer walk. After the longer walk, Patricia and I saw it fit to book ourselves a spa session. Pedi/mani for me, scrub massage for her. A place to come back to. Half asleep we took a cab home for dinner in the hotel. After all that walking and relaxing there is nothing more for me to do today than sleep. Zzzzzz
Saturday 10 October 2009
Cape Town day 4
From the moment we met in the BA lounge, we were a team. Over the past three days we looked after each other, car pooled together, had dinner together and developed in-jokes. Last night a Dutch colleague joined and from today, the team will include her. Regardless of what we work on, we're in it together. It's good. Today we plan to go up Table Mountain and do sundowners on Camps Bay. Good food and good cocktails are the main goal I believe.
It's nice to wake up to blue sky every morning and see the big flat mountain from the brekkie room. It's utterly confusing to read dutchish all the time, and I am starting to mix up my languages big time. I also wonder if I never took the lift last time I was here. It's called a hijser, and I'm sure I didn't know that. Few things to get used to as well: condoms in the ladies at work. Being served by black people wherever you go (just when I'd started to get used to being served by Eastern European girls in London). And a cheerfullness around me I am not used to. This will be a good few weeks.
It's nice to wake up to blue sky every morning and see the big flat mountain from the brekkie room. It's utterly confusing to read dutchish all the time, and I am starting to mix up my languages big time. I also wonder if I never took the lift last time I was here. It's called a hijser, and I'm sure I didn't know that. Few things to get used to as well: condoms in the ladies at work. Being served by black people wherever you go (just when I'd started to get used to being served by Eastern European girls in London). And a cheerfullness around me I am not used to. This will be a good few weeks.
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Cape Town
My job can be a weird one. On Monday morning I interviewed with our Southafrican client (from Mary's place in the Dam, on 5 hours sleep and no coffee) and on Tuesday night I was on a plane to Cape Town. After having effed up the dry run interview, my directors were really worried but the one that counted went well. Maybe I should deprive myself of coffee more often....
So.... BA business class. Nice. My own little pod with loads of privacy and a flat bed. Two of us weren't so lucky: they were bumped down to Economy. Thank god I wasn't as we got in at 8am and were in the office by nine. At least I had rested well.
In the office, I introduced myself to a Southafrican colleague by first name only. A lady standing next to me turns around and says "Saskia? I believe you know my husband". I gave her a puzzled stare. She was right though, I do know her husband, who I met when working in Amsterdam. How on earth she put one and one together that quickly this morning? Beats me. Very funny though.
We had a solid day of work both in the office and on site. Good team, good energy. I ended up being team leader despite being the most junior on the team. Feel flattered, but it will be challenging. Irish sr mngr and I instantly bonded at Heathrow over a mutual love of gin tonic (that wasn't available in the lounge) and quickly polished off a bottle of Syrah over dinner just now. Oh, the Irish...
More updates soon. Time for a decent sleep first!
So.... BA business class. Nice. My own little pod with loads of privacy and a flat bed. Two of us weren't so lucky: they were bumped down to Economy. Thank god I wasn't as we got in at 8am and were in the office by nine. At least I had rested well.
In the office, I introduced myself to a Southafrican colleague by first name only. A lady standing next to me turns around and says "Saskia? I believe you know my husband". I gave her a puzzled stare. She was right though, I do know her husband, who I met when working in Amsterdam. How on earth she put one and one together that quickly this morning? Beats me. Very funny though.
We had a solid day of work both in the office and on site. Good team, good energy. I ended up being team leader despite being the most junior on the team. Feel flattered, but it will be challenging. Irish sr mngr and I instantly bonded at Heathrow over a mutual love of gin tonic (that wasn't available in the lounge) and quickly polished off a bottle of Syrah over dinner just now. Oh, the Irish...
More updates soon. Time for a decent sleep first!
Friday 2 October 2009
London life
Well, was I too busy working to have a life at first, the last two weeks I was too busy having a life to blog.
Kaat visited me for a weekend, and we did loads of relaxed walking around East London and Angel. The church on the photo is the largest surviving church in the City. Great Fire and Blitz haven't brought this baby down, though the IRA managed to do almost just that in the early nineties. This is next to one of my clients and one of my fav places in the city. Old churches and the modern Gherkin (in background) and glass office buildings are an inspiring combination.
Last weekend Zoe and I visited a Comedy Club on Leicester Square. Great way to spend a Fri nite after a busy work week. In a few hours I will be off to the Dam again for a fun filled weekend of friends and relo's. If only I could bring the gorgeous London sun!
Kaat visited me for a weekend, and we did loads of relaxed walking around East London and Angel. The church on the photo is the largest surviving church in the City. Great Fire and Blitz haven't brought this baby down, though the IRA managed to do almost just that in the early nineties. This is next to one of my clients and one of my fav places in the city. Old churches and the modern Gherkin (in background) and glass office buildings are an inspiring combination.
Last weekend Zoe and I visited a Comedy Club on Leicester Square. Great way to spend a Fri nite after a busy work week. In a few hours I will be off to the Dam again for a fun filled weekend of friends and relo's. If only I could bring the gorgeous London sun!
Wednesday 23 September 2009
Saturday 12 September 2009
Back home
After a three day jet lag from hell, I finally feel reenergised. Starting at a new client on a very challenging project on three hours sleep is now fun I can tell you. Bloody hell. A walking zombie. But today was good. I ignored the 9am alarm clock to go to a gym class, and slept 'till I felt awake. And by the end of today, I'd cleaned the house, cooked a lovely meal, went for a 30 minute run and drafted a London year 1 photobook to be printed.
It seems this will one of the few weekends in London left this year. Luckily, I managed to postpone the first of four work trips to Cape Town till after next weekend (as my friend Kaat is visiting from The Dam), but after that, most weekends will be spent in the Cape. The project will be immensely challenging, and a career maker of breaker. But no pressure other than that... Let's wait and see.
It seems this will one of the few weekends in London left this year. Luckily, I managed to postpone the first of four work trips to Cape Town till after next weekend (as my friend Kaat is visiting from The Dam), but after that, most weekends will be spent in the Cape. The project will be immensely challenging, and a career maker of breaker. But no pressure other than that... Let's wait and see.
Sunday 6 September 2009
And that was it
The last day of my hols. Boo. But I made the most of it. A lovely brekkie in Ballard was followed by a pedi and after lunch we headed outside Seattle for some wineries. Beautiful buttery chardy, soft cab sauv and other wines. Such a joy. We finished the day with some nice Mexican food and a bottle of the chardy at home on the couch with J&C's friends who'd been babysitting.
It's been an amazing few days here. Seattle is cool, and my friends are even cooler. It was five days of bakeries, catching up, getting to know my 2yo friend Ramona, eating great food and watching tennis. And eating loads of tomatoes from the farmer's markets we went to. I defo need to come back to this place. For the city, for the wines, for my friends, and to meet bub number two who will be born soon.
It's been an amazing few days here. Seattle is cool, and my friends are even cooler. It was five days of bakeries, catching up, getting to know my 2yo friend Ramona, eating great food and watching tennis. And eating loads of tomatoes from the farmer's markets we went to. I defo need to come back to this place. For the city, for the wines, for my friends, and to meet bub number two who will be born soon.
Wednesday 2 September 2009
Sleepy in Seattle
It may only be 9pm here, my body is on east coast time and it's after midnight. So I am in my bed for the next few days in Greenwood, Seattle. So great to see my friends again after 2,5 years and finally meet the wee one who is the coolest todler.
The pic is New York of course, but for the next few days I hope to take loads of Seattle. Can't wait to explore more. West Seattle and the french prize winning bakery where a great start!
Oh, and flying Jet Blue was fantastic. Comfy leather seats, loads of leg room, very tasty blue potatoe crisps and.....live tv!! So I got to watch Safina's near-exit from Flushing Meadow while in the air. How cool.
The pic is New York of course, but for the next few days I hope to take loads of Seattle. Can't wait to explore more. West Seattle and the french prize winning bakery where a great start!
Oh, and flying Jet Blue was fantastic. Comfy leather seats, loads of leg room, very tasty blue potatoe crisps and.....live tv!! So I got to watch Safina's near-exit from Flushing Meadow while in the air. How cool.
Tuesday 1 September 2009
Washington DC
A memorable experience in DC: visiting the Senate, and more specifically, Sen. Kennedy's office. Loved the Irish sign under his name. By the time his body arrived on Capitol Hill, I was on a train to NYC. But from what I've seen online, it was very impressive.
And now off to Seattle. Sitting in the Jet Blue terminal, waiting to board. Washington was great, New York was great, and Seattle can only be fantastic too. What a joy to spend time with my brother and my friends like this.
And now off to Seattle. Sitting in the Jet Blue terminal, waiting to board. Washington was great, New York was great, and Seattle can only be fantastic too. What a joy to spend time with my brother and my friends like this.
Tuesday 25 August 2009
Outtahere
Have never been so happy to leave Old Blighty. Losing the Ashes hurt. Big time. I was in the Oval on Sunday, surrounded by 24,000 chanting Poms (three of whom had a vocabulary limited to c**t and f**k) and would have loved their chants and fanship if I wasn't such an Australia supporter. I can't read any papers or see Freddie bloody Flintoff and way too many colleagues mention it. And to top it all off, Liverpool lost to Villa. Not happy. Not happy at all.
But...in 12 hours I will be in a cab to Heathrow, on my way to DC. Then New York. Then Seattle. So life ain't too bad after all. Holiday!!!!!!!!!!!
But...in 12 hours I will be in a cab to Heathrow, on my way to DC. Then New York. Then Seattle. So life ain't too bad after all. Holiday!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday 17 August 2009
A day at the cricket
Or two days, really. In Canterbury this time, where the Australian team played the Lions. Nothing beats watching the boys play in the sun. I am truly at my happiest when at the ground, and I am a damn happy person in all aspects. It's just the best. Even a friendly. Seeing Binga enjoying his bowling, seeing the boys signing autographs for the young fans, seeing a sea gull take off with the bail of Binga's freshly bowled wicket, seeing Binga chase said bird. Just another day at the cricket.
A bit of stalking we did too: we 'happened to' go for a pre dinner drink in the players hotel. No swimming pool scenes (as my footy focussed brother asked immediately) but enjoying the Viognier with slightly better views than normal. Bit starstruck I was!
Will have to go back to Canterbury another time, as I think the town deserves a bit more attention than I gave it. Staying in the friendliest pub, the nice little shops and the impressive cathedral are reasons to go back for more.
A bit of stalking we did too: we 'happened to' go for a pre dinner drink in the players hotel. No swimming pool scenes (as my footy focussed brother asked immediately) but enjoying the Viognier with slightly better views than normal. Bit starstruck I was!
Will have to go back to Canterbury another time, as I think the town deserves a bit more attention than I gave it. Staying in the friendliest pub, the nice little shops and the impressive cathedral are reasons to go back for more.
Sunday 9 August 2009
Oxford
After a fair bit of rescheduling, Zoe and I finally managed to go to Oxford yesterday. Feeling a bit delicate after farewell drinks with work the night before, I managed to get up at 8am to get into Oxford for eleven. It was a lovely day, we were very lucky weatherwise. And it was truly enjoyable.
We sort of did a tour, and were told a lot about Oxford's history and famous ex students (Bill Clinton and Tony Blair amongst others). Hard to believe the uni was founded in the beginning of the 13th century - it's just so old (potential pub quiz answer: only Bologna and Paris were earlier).
The colleges are incredibly pretty, it must be amazing to study there. The one in the pic is Christchurch. I recognised it from Inspector Morse. The dining hall of Christchurch was used in the first Harry Potter film so it attracts loads and loads of tourists. Still nice to see.
We had a lovely lunch by the river, then headed back into town for some more sightseeing and lazing in the meads. My new camera and I still need to get to know each other. Having limited eye sight due to losing a contact last week and being a bit hungover meant I had my camera on auto all day. Small print manual has to wait till next weekend. Canterbury cricket ground is on the cards for then!
We sort of did a tour, and were told a lot about Oxford's history and famous ex students (Bill Clinton and Tony Blair amongst others). Hard to believe the uni was founded in the beginning of the 13th century - it's just so old (potential pub quiz answer: only Bologna and Paris were earlier).
The colleges are incredibly pretty, it must be amazing to study there. The one in the pic is Christchurch. I recognised it from Inspector Morse. The dining hall of Christchurch was used in the first Harry Potter film so it attracts loads and loads of tourists. Still nice to see.
We had a lovely lunch by the river, then headed back into town for some more sightseeing and lazing in the meads. My new camera and I still need to get to know each other. Having limited eye sight due to losing a contact last week and being a bit hungover meant I had my camera on auto all day. Small print manual has to wait till next weekend. Canterbury cricket ground is on the cards for then!
Thursday 6 August 2009
Beer goggles ;-)
An appropriate blurriness. This was beer one though, and the photographer was still fully sober.
With the yank bank team I went to the Great British Beer Festival last night. Never really having looked beyond lager, I had come to the conclusion British beer sucks. How wrong I was.
450 ales, stouts and bitters could be tasted at this festival. Leave it to a bunch of accountants to quickly do the math and come to the conclusion that's 450 1/3 pints at the minimum, so 150 pints in four days. Totalling about £ 400. An achievement. We tried six or so, and I really liked the ales. Light, dark, bitter, fresh, they were mostly nice and properly cold (as opposed to the lukewarm lagers). Great way to spend a Wednesday night!
With the yank bank team I went to the Great British Beer Festival last night. Never really having looked beyond lager, I had come to the conclusion British beer sucks. How wrong I was.
450 ales, stouts and bitters could be tasted at this festival. Leave it to a bunch of accountants to quickly do the math and come to the conclusion that's 450 1/3 pints at the minimum, so 150 pints in four days. Totalling about £ 400. An achievement. We tried six or so, and I really liked the ales. Light, dark, bitter, fresh, they were mostly nice and properly cold (as opposed to the lukewarm lagers). Great way to spend a Wednesday night!
Monday 3 August 2009
Amsterdam
And another weekend in the Dam has gone by. Stuffed with fun stuff. Dinners, bbq, drinks, baby visit, you name it. Staying with dear friend Mary on Prinsengracht meant I was in the midst of things, in general, and on Saturday in particular when the Gay Pride Parade took place on the canal. Not that I saw much of it: I was too busy waiting for the cricket in Birmingham to begin at Coco's. Damn rain - no cricket. Highlight was the BBQ at Pete's place on Saturday night. Good food, good company, and very educational: I now know the differences between the Cockring, Ego, Arc and Prik (all gay bars in Amsterdam). You never know when that piece of info comes in handy.
Saturday 25 July 2009
Summer life
Summer life to the full, although the weather gods don't always realise it's summer. Leave work at a reasonable time, and go to gym or meet friend for dinner. Or both. That's pretty much been the last weeks. Throw in a bit of comedy and Sondheim's A Little Night Music and you're all up to speed with my life. Nothing exciting, just lots of happiness. Almost done at current client, so will have to brave the rush hour tube again soon. No more fanastic canteen. No more hottie sitting accross my desk. No more walking to the gym straight from work. But first....out for turkish food in Angel tonight with American friend and her Chinese friend. Surely to be followed by cocktails. As it would be wrong not to...
Sunday 12 July 2009
Australia weekend
Priscila Queen of the Desert and Ashes. Jason Donovan (who ages very well, I might add) and Ricky Ponting (who I would love to lynch right now). A night at the theatre with friends. A day in the stadium in Cardiff with fellow cricket fans and a day at home glued to Cricinfo. Ah, and don't forget that glass of Australian viognier I had this arvo. A great weekend full of Australianness, but damn....that draw against England hurts.
Monday 6 July 2009
By Benjamin Zephania
My sentiments, his words.
The London Breed
I love dis great polluted place
Where pop stars come to live their dreams
Here ravers come for drum and bass
And politicians plan their schemes,
The music of the world is here
Dis city can play any song
They came to here from everywhere
Tis they that made dis city strong.
A world of food displayed on streets
Where all the world can come and dine
On meals that end with bitter sweets
And cultures melt and intertwine,
Two hundred languages give voice
To fifteen thousand changing years
And all religions can rejoice
With exiled souls and pioneers.
I love dis overcrowded place
Where old buildings mark men and time
And new buildings all seem to race
Up to a cloudy dank skyline,
Too many cars mean dire air
Too many guns mean danger
Too many drugs means be aware
Of strange gifts from a stranger.
It's so cool when the heat is on
And when it's cool it's so wicked
We just keep melting into one
Just like the tribes before us did,
I love dis concrete jungle still
With all its sirens and its speed
The people here united will
Create a kind of London breed.
The London Breed
I love dis great polluted place
Where pop stars come to live their dreams
Here ravers come for drum and bass
And politicians plan their schemes,
The music of the world is here
Dis city can play any song
They came to here from everywhere
Tis they that made dis city strong.
A world of food displayed on streets
Where all the world can come and dine
On meals that end with bitter sweets
And cultures melt and intertwine,
Two hundred languages give voice
To fifteen thousand changing years
And all religions can rejoice
With exiled souls and pioneers.
I love dis overcrowded place
Where old buildings mark men and time
And new buildings all seem to race
Up to a cloudy dank skyline,
Too many cars mean dire air
Too many guns mean danger
Too many drugs means be aware
Of strange gifts from a stranger.
It's so cool when the heat is on
And when it's cool it's so wicked
We just keep melting into one
Just like the tribes before us did,
I love dis concrete jungle still
With all its sirens and its speed
The people here united will
Create a kind of London breed.
Sunday 28 June 2009
Play me I'm yours
Thirty pianos are scattered around London. A project by an artist, who brought his work to London after Burmingham, Sydney, Sao Paola and Bury St Edmunds. Bypassers can play them and bystanders can enjoy. Simple as that. We found these two blokes in Notting Hill, playing incredibly well. The one we saw on Soho Square a few hours later was less interesting: amongst tramps and drunks, someone was abusing whatever composer it was. But as an arts project: fantastic. So much joy for so many!
Monday 22 June 2009
Is this London?
You wouldn't think this is London, or at least I wouldn't. But it is, somewhere near Hammersmith. A great part of the Thames Walk, with a bunch of nice pubs and resto's conveniently located nearby. After a four hour walk on Saturday and an aerobics class followed by a stroll in Hampstead Heath on Sunday, my legs do feel a bit stiff and tired today. But what a great way to spend a weekend!
Sunday 14 June 2009
Spoiled
Yes. Me. Big time. Growing up, eating out was a real treat. Once a year with my grandparents and parents, the occasional big family celebrations my grandparents did, and a few times while on holiday camping. Then student life came. Students are always broke apart for beer and food. I was no exception. A ten guilder steak, salad and chips in De Eerste Kamer was for special occasions, but having pizzas delivered from the Italian resto across the road to the pub where I worked was rather common. A few years into earning a proper salary, eating out became so normal, I sometimes craved simple home cooked food. However, all those meals were still cheap. Nothing fancy, unless for special occasions that were few and far between. My first ever Michelin starred meal was easter last year, at Yamazato. The most expensive meal I'd ever had and man, I was disappointed. It was nothing better than the cheapo Japanese place in the Nine Streets I would often go to. And the service at that place was better too. Michelin schmichelin.
Then London came. Being a big time foodie, I worked out where to go in no time. And London has a ridiculous amount of resto's with stars (34 alone with one star). And many of those have lunch deals. Pretty cheap lunch deals too. Until you add a bottle of Gruner Veltliner between the two of you, as Chantal and I did today. Or say yes to a glass of champaign the waiter offers without asking the price, as a friend here did (it turned out to be a £27 glass). But man, is it worth it. So far I have had lunch at Foliage (mind blowing) and L'Autre Pied (today) and dinner at Hakkasan with my brother. A repeat visit at Foliage and Hakkasan is planned for later this month when my oldest friend comes to visit me (at her request, my friends are good like that!). Whoever says the English can't cook must not have eaten here for a long time. These days, the food in London is fantastic at so many places. And I plan to make as much use of it while I am here as my wallet and waist will let me!!
Then London came. Being a big time foodie, I worked out where to go in no time. And London has a ridiculous amount of resto's with stars (34 alone with one star). And many of those have lunch deals. Pretty cheap lunch deals too. Until you add a bottle of Gruner Veltliner between the two of you, as Chantal and I did today. Or say yes to a glass of champaign the waiter offers without asking the price, as a friend here did (it turned out to be a £27 glass). But man, is it worth it. So far I have had lunch at Foliage (mind blowing) and L'Autre Pied (today) and dinner at Hakkasan with my brother. A repeat visit at Foliage and Hakkasan is planned for later this month when my oldest friend comes to visit me (at her request, my friends are good like that!). Whoever says the English can't cook must not have eaten here for a long time. These days, the food in London is fantastic at so many places. And I plan to make as much use of it while I am here as my wallet and waist will let me!!
Dutch victory
They may have gone home - this celebratory pic is still worth sharing (for content rather than quality). The poms won't easily forget this!
Saturday 13 June 2009
Signed
As the contract for my apartment expires next month, the landlady dropped by today with a new one. That makes three of this friendly Iranian / Egyptian family I have met by the way, after the dad and her bro. Signing the contract for another twelve months felt nice. Good. Exciting. Twelve more months at least in my beloved flat in the docklands. I celebrated by buying heaps of flowers. Live is good.
Saturday 6 June 2009
Holy fricking crap
The Dutchies had me enthousiastic from the beginning, much to my surprise (so much for my "I will never support the Dutch team" two blogs down.....). They did well, the Dutch crowd (consisting of mainly 'kakkers') were making noise and the atmosphere was great. The English batted first and got a reasonable 162, and then it was for us to bat. And batting we did. Sixes even, unlike the English. Heaps of fours and a consistent run rate. I was jumping, cheering, shouting (all this from row 1, I might add) and clapping. And then that last ball... Two runs needed. Two runs run. Watch the video. The joy of the players was so big. A bunch of amateurs (as in....most of the team have day jobs that don't involve cricket) agains these pro's. Un-effing-believable. The hangover means I miss most of the kiwi game today, but off to the Oval in ten for some more cricket!
Thursday 4 June 2009
Election days
Not only have I done my civic duty by voting this morning, as soon as I left the station I was stopped by a rather hot Reuters reporter who wanted to ask me some questions. No, the expense scandal hasn't effected my voting behaviour. Yes, I find a strong Europe more important now than ever and no, I don't mind spelling out my name for you. And all this before 8am and my first proper coffee.
Wednesday 3 June 2009
Booooooooring
A stomach bug or whatever it was kept me home for a few days. Truly sick on Sunday, crap Monday and Tuesday and back at work today feeling a bit lightheaded still. And christ, I am bored. Not being able to exercise drives me up the wall, there is only so much you can read with a head ache and the route between couch and bed really isn't very scenic. So...tomorrow it has to be over and done with.
I want to meet Chantal for dinner before going for drinks with fellow Dutchies tomorrow and to go to Lords with Zoe on Friday for the England - Netherlands 20Twenty worldcup game. Or Netherlands.... Half the players are, apart from their passports, about as Dutch as I am Australian. Ryan ten Doeschate, a great player, is a Saffa, as are some of the others. There is a dude who was born in New Zealand, as was Borren (who I went on a date with four years ago, only to find out on cricinfo he'd been playing for New Zealand's under 19s pretty recently). The rest seem to be posh The Hague born guys. The few I met in person made such a crap impression I will never support the Dutch team. Don't think much of the English either (I love the English but hate them in ruggers, footy and cricket) so I guess I will be Switzerland on Friday night. But hey ho: It's Lord's, it's with Zoe and it'll be Friday night. I will have a good time regardless!
I want to meet Chantal for dinner before going for drinks with fellow Dutchies tomorrow and to go to Lords with Zoe on Friday for the England - Netherlands 20Twenty worldcup game. Or Netherlands.... Half the players are, apart from their passports, about as Dutch as I am Australian. Ryan ten Doeschate, a great player, is a Saffa, as are some of the others. There is a dude who was born in New Zealand, as was Borren (who I went on a date with four years ago, only to find out on cricinfo he'd been playing for New Zealand's under 19s pretty recently). The rest seem to be posh The Hague born guys. The few I met in person made such a crap impression I will never support the Dutch team. Don't think much of the English either (I love the English but hate them in ruggers, footy and cricket) so I guess I will be Switzerland on Friday night. But hey ho: It's Lord's, it's with Zoe and it'll be Friday night. I will have a good time regardless!
Monday 1 June 2009
SuBo
England had (or has, as time will tell) been obsessed with Susan Boyle for weeks. Her performance of I Dreamed a Dream on Britain's Got Talent was amazing apparently. I only saw a few seconds on the news, and yes, she was good. She could sing. But hello, so can many people. The media attention for the Scottish woman was unheard of. Just crazy. The final of BGT on Saturday was watched by over 18 million brits. And SuBo came second, after a dance act from East London and Essex. SuBo ended up in The Priory, a mental hospital in North London. And all this so confirmed why I don't watch that type of tele. The hypes are ridiculous, the success stories few and far between (Leona Lewis an exception), and my Saturday nights way too precious.
Sunday 24 May 2009
Copenhagen
Man, Copenhagen is a beautiful wee city! I am very lucky, most of the weekend has been sunny so far. It's all walking walking walking. A coffee break or lunch break, and I am back on my feet. The gorgeous canal houses, the palaces, funky Christiania surrounded by beautiful nature, the Quartier Latin and Nyhavn, I am loving it! Peeps seem chilled and friendly albeit a bit reserved. Loads of dudes drinking on the street, guess you have to with the bar prices here. My hotel (named '27') is great. Small but nicely designed rooms with a good shower, a god bed, a tea maker and free wifi. It's next to Copenhagen's Ice Bar and it's funky. And filled with 60+ loud Americans, funnily enough. Would defo book it again though. They throw in a decent brekkie and dinner too.
Tomorrow is for shopping, as shops were closed today (hello - is this a capital?! shops closed on Sundays?!). I already spotted a shop that sells my fav skandi brands (Bruuns Bazar, By Marlene Birger, Day Birger et Mikkelson and Designer Remix Collection). All in one shop. Dangerous. And I should really check out the vintage store around the corner. Chanel jacket and Marc Jacobs shoes in the window. The kinda stuff I can only afford vintage! Then again, this is Scandinavia. It might still bankrupt me... Ah well. Might check out Tivoli as well, time permitting.
Tomorrow is for shopping, as shops were closed today (hello - is this a capital?! shops closed on Sundays?!). I already spotted a shop that sells my fav skandi brands (Bruuns Bazar, By Marlene Birger, Day Birger et Mikkelson and Designer Remix Collection). All in one shop. Dangerous. And I should really check out the vintage store around the corner. Chanel jacket and Marc Jacobs shoes in the window. The kinda stuff I can only afford vintage! Then again, this is Scandinavia. It might still bankrupt me... Ah well. Might check out Tivoli as well, time permitting.
Tuesday 19 May 2009
Goss
Just when the papers here are starting to get quiet on Peter Andre and Jordan, a comparable Dutch couple (or comparable....she seems to have her own breasts still and he has had more than one hit) have broken up. Yolanthe and Jan. I can be certain we won't hear the end of it any time soon. Has she snogged newly single footballer Wesley Snijder or not? Do we care? In all honesty? No. But compared to reading the ins and outs on Michael Martin this week, it's fun. Dutch Goss. Big scandals in a small country.
Monday 18 May 2009
New toy
Woohoo. I am writing this on my new netbook. A wee Samsung NC10. It's cool and funky and not too heavy and has a six cell battery. Once my photosoftware has finished downloading, my new citytrip / holiday toy is ready. As I already carry two cameras, four lenses and a range of chargers whenever I travel, I figured I might as well throw in another gadget. First destination: Copenhagen on Saturday. Three days, by myself. A hotel with free Wifi and the opportunity to play around with my pics straight away. Woohoo!
Sunday 10 May 2009
Just another weekend
Sleeping in till 8.30, 9 o'clock. Grocery shopping. A run on Saturday, aerobics class on Sunday. I may meet a friend for lunch or dinner, and spend time on the couch with a good book and the weekend newspapers (I heart Sunday Times especially). How different is Amelie's life. Since July we've said hi and bye at our Sunday aerobics class. This week, I got chatting to her. She works for a big Japanese (once American) investment bank. Not very newsworthy in itself. However, she does so all day and night Monday to Friday and a few hours Saturday and Sunday. Basically, all she does outside work is spending a few hours in the gym Saturday and Sunday before heading to the office. She asked me, knowing what I do for a living, if I had any time to see London or a museum or anything. Hell yeah. I didn't move here to work all the time. Surely, work can be a pain and some projects require round the clock attention. But mostly it's 40-50 hour work weeks. And nights off to go to the gym or meet friends. And the amount of work I've had to finish in the weekend has been very limited. Amelie is young, she only graduated a year ago. Will she learn what life is about when she gets older? Or is that me being judgemental and is she truly happy and fulfilled with her life as it is? The look on her face when I told her my working hours, suggests differently....
Saturday 9 May 2009
CLM*
Last week had been a bit of an ego boost. A workfriend mentioned how she often hears the phrase 'we need a Saskia' when people are staffing projects and I received - out of the blue - an email from the commercial director of my previous employer stating I was "the one and only finance mgr @UD that knew what she was doing". I am not sure what to make of this man, but a compliment is a compliment. So I had a glass of wine. And another. And I got overconfident. And had another glass. With colleagues, at the wine bar down the road. On a brekkie of fruit and a bagel and a soup for lunch, this is asking for trouble. And despite knowing better, I said 'yes' when my director asked if I wanted to go for dinner with him and a Scottish director I worked with on a previous project. Friday morning at 4am I woke up. Wondering a) what I'd had for dinner, b) if I left when the other two did, c) if I owed anyone any money for the dinner and d) if I'd said or done anything embarassing, which is quite likely considering the state I was in. On four or five glasses of wine, would you believe it. My timing was immaculate - Friday morning the final moderation meeting took place... Ah well, I am not up for promotion and salaries have been frozen anyway. The funniest thing? This morning I had a text from a male colleague. Asking if I could tell him if he'd done anything embarassing. He had no recollection of the night, other than ending up 50 miles from where he lives (which is two hours south of London). At least I got home on the tube without any further probs!
*career limiting movement
*career limiting movement
Wednesday 6 May 2009
Lisboa!!
Lisbon....what an awesome place!! Four days of sun. Four days of great food. Four days of walking like mad. The old streets, especially in Bairro Alto, were fantastic. The cute little bars in Bairro Alto where hipper than hip, or old fashioned fado. A lot of life music, people drinking out on the streets at night (including a HOT brazilian dude we got chatting to), just fab. The castle is a must see, and worth the entrance fee for the view alone. Cascais and Estoril are well known beach towns, where I walked along the esply and ate my first seafood of the weekend. We took a train to Sintra, a world heritage site 30 km northwest of Lisbon. We walked up and down so many hills that may calves are still sore. But oh, such beauty. Pena castle (that had a striking resemblance to Disneyland castles) and the Moorish fort were especially worth seeing. Belem, 15 minutes down the coast on the train, is famous for its tower and egg tarts. Good tourists as we are, we visited the factory and had one. Yummy. Though not as yummy as the chocolate cake we had at Fabulas, a cafe in Baixa.
We managed to eat it there three times in four days. Day four I dragged Amsterdam friends Emily and Jackie (who happened to be there too on a romantic weekend away) there as well and they loved it as much. On the subject of food: Trang turned out to be as much of a foody as me. She had done her research, and so had I! So we ate in this fantastic resto specialised in chicken (fantastic food that is, in a setting of plastic chairs and paper table cloths), in a seafood resto that served us beautiful tiger prawns, lobster and clams (after which we took a taxi back to Fabulas for chocolate cake number two), and in a cool organic caf full of media types. Sitting in the BA lounge at the airport, Trang and I could only conclude Lisbon is the best. For food, for sightseeing, and for bars. Defo worth a repeat visit!
Monday 27 April 2009
Busy bee
Busy working, busy chilaxing (more so than working even), busy exercising, busy watching the London Marathon, buzy eating peking duck pancakes in the sun. Busy bee. And now I should be busy cleaning the house for the guests who come on Wednesday. But am busy reading. And Facebooking. So the cleaning can wait.
Wednesday 22 April 2009
Hakkasan
Before I had even moved to London, one of my best mates had insisted I'd visit this place. I knew I would, but not for just any occasion. My brother's visit last week was special. So I booked Hakkasan. It's supposed to be a great place for celeb spotting, but we were focussed on the food way too much. And the wine menu. And on calculating how many taxi receipts one would need to be able to expense a £ 1450 glass of whiskey. Hakkasan has a michelin star, and man, does the wine list rub that in. It fell from the 17th to the 36th place on the best resto's of the world list that was announced yesterday but is still considered one of the UK's best restaurants.
Soooooooooo....my expectations were high. And wow, my expectations were exceeded. Great staff, great wine, and the food...just amazing. So refined. I just loved everything from the plates to the interior to the desert. Definitely a place to go for a special occasion. Just be aware: if you want the £ 140 peking duck with beluga, you will need to order 24 hours in advance.
Soooooooooo....my expectations were high. And wow, my expectations were exceeded. Great staff, great wine, and the food...just amazing. So refined. I just loved everything from the plates to the interior to the desert. Definitely a place to go for a special occasion. Just be aware: if you want the £ 140 peking duck with beluga, you will need to order 24 hours in advance.
Home
Home is London. Without a doubt. Amsterdam is still home too in a way. And then there is the village I grew up in, but left over 16 years ago. It's still my parents' home. This weekend I went to both. My mum's 60th at my parents' house and two sneaky white beers in de Jordaan in Amsterdam. I saw all uncles and aunts, caught up with old neighbours, and even my granddad and nan had made it up north. A lovely get together. Bro and I had caught up the two days previously as he visited me in rainy and gloomy London (that is now warm and sunny and heading towards the hottest April in the century), and drove up north together with his girlfriend. But lovely as it is, it's not home. Home is where my heart skips a beat when I fall in love with the beauty of the place for the umpteenth time. Home is where my books are, where my couch with the afghan I bought in NZ are. Home is where I have my phone and internet connection that allow me to stay close to friends. Home is London.
Saturday 11 April 2009
How very English
Never had I tried to cook a roast. Not even a roast chicken. It just seemed too English and to easy to get wrong. Today I had friends over for dinner (an early easter caused by public transport closures tomorrow), and it seemed a good occasion to cook a roast. Had I remembered Lynne didn't eat meat, I would have opted for chicken, but I had forgotten this. With a little recipe help from an English friend in the Dam, I cooked a pork leg joint, with cider, apple and sage. And damn it was yum. Crackling, juicy meat, and beautiful apple-cider gravy. Roast potatoes didn't seem very spring-ey so I opted for tarragon potato salad instead. And Gu's chocolate pots. They're a supermarket brand of chocolate deserts and they are absolutely heavenly. Chogasmic. It may even have been the highlight of the meal, despite all the effort I put into the main. They're just so damn good.... Mark brought a nice bottle of red and some Peroni beers, bub Hayden crawled around the living room and was being fun and sweet, and I? I just felt happy as a pig in mud. Friends, booze and food. My favourite combination of things!
Wednesday 8 April 2009
The week of the unexpected reunions
Friday morning I had an email from Cath, who I met in Cinque Terre last October, being a friend of a friend. She was in London with two of our mutual friends - could I meet them for cocktails that night? Of course I could. Three raspberry champagne cocktails and a curry later I took a tube home - having really enjoyed the impromptu reunion.
On Monday Victor, a guy I met in WA in 2003, mentioned in his Facebook status update he was in London. He'd forgotten I was here too, but I reminded him and a few emails later we agreed to meet on Tuesday. We had a sneaky beer in the sun and dinner at Gaucho's (great meat, the weirdest ever waitress). His girlfriend of 2003 is now his wife, and bub number two is on its way. They moved from Sweden to Switzerland, I moved here. Other than that, not much had changed. How lovely to catch up.
And today I exchanged some emails with a schoolfriend. She works for PwC as well, but was on secondment to SanFran when I joined. Nice to swap stories and agree to meet up some time I'm back in the country.
Unexpected reunions rock.
On Monday Victor, a guy I met in WA in 2003, mentioned in his Facebook status update he was in London. He'd forgotten I was here too, but I reminded him and a few emails later we agreed to meet on Tuesday. We had a sneaky beer in the sun and dinner at Gaucho's (great meat, the weirdest ever waitress). His girlfriend of 2003 is now his wife, and bub number two is on its way. They moved from Sweden to Switzerland, I moved here. Other than that, not much had changed. How lovely to catch up.
And today I exchanged some emails with a schoolfriend. She works for PwC as well, but was on secondment to SanFran when I joined. Nice to swap stories and agree to meet up some time I'm back in the country.
Unexpected reunions rock.
Sunday 5 April 2009
Thou shall travel
The red curry I made tastes almost like in Thailand. Em's status updates from Freo remind me of the trip I made there in 2003. I was on the phone for an hour with my Italian friend in Vienna. The tv in the background shows a detective series set in Botswana. I saw the pics of a friend's south america trip, listening to tango music. The book I am reading takes me to the Frisian country side in the last century. I am thinking of all the beautiful food I will eat in Lisbon, about the fado I will listen to, about the coffee shops of Seattle and meeting little Ramona. Today I am travelling big time. I haven't left the docklands but travelled miles and miles in my mind. Nothing, absolutely nothing, beats travelling. My feet are itchy as hell.
Thursday 2 April 2009
G20 and stuff
Just like yesterday, no soap dodgers were to be seen in Bank Street this morning. Canary Wharf is full of bankers in jeans. The demonstrators are either at the ExCeL or are lazy buggers who are still in bed. I bet it's the latter. Yesterday things got nasty in the city, but not as nasty as was expected according to City AM. Which makes me wonder what was expected. They had missiles for god's sake. And a guy died, which I guess could be seen as a occupational hazard.
The rest of the focus is on the Obama's. They visited the queen yesterday and presented her with an iPod with footage of her 2007 visit to the US. Who very 2009 - a pretty cool gift. Queen 2.0 next?! According to the highly reliable London Paper, Gobama brought 200 security staff, 300 other staff, amongst whom were 4 speech writers (and here I was thinking all he needed was that clever 27yo and the presence of Starbucks). Several heli's and cars are also said to have been flown in. Was hoping to catch a glance of the Marine One out of my 24th floor office window in Canary Wharf but no such luck this morning.
The rest of the focus is on the Obama's. They visited the queen yesterday and presented her with an iPod with footage of her 2007 visit to the US. Who very 2009 - a pretty cool gift. Queen 2.0 next?! According to the highly reliable London Paper, Gobama brought 200 security staff, 300 other staff, amongst whom were 4 speech writers (and here I was thinking all he needed was that clever 27yo and the presence of Starbucks). Several heli's and cars are also said to have been flown in. Was hoping to catch a glance of the Marine One out of my 24th floor office window in Canary Wharf but no such luck this morning.
Sunday 29 March 2009
Right park, wrong dress
The Boatrace. Oxford vs Cambridge. The most famous rowing event in the world I think. I couldn't believe how busy Putney was, but as I was well early, I found a spot in the park by the river, right at the start. Zoe joined me half an hour later, and after freezing our *** off for another hour, the race started. And so did ours, as we raced to her mates Dave's place to watch the rest of the race. Glass of vino, two way too handsome brothers, and a whole bunch of Oxfordians, including another dutchy. Oxford won. Big time. We just chilled and chatted in the old fashioned living room of Dave's parents, in the beautiful little house in Putney. This was after a chilled and chatty 40th of an Australian mate yesterday and a chilled and chatty night in on Friday with Heather and Julia. I guess I can say I had a chilled and chatty weekend. The lowlight? The effect DST has in my body: it was nowhere near ready for the aerobics class at 10.30 this morning. But I went!
Oh, and the last words of the title? The dress below? Wrong dress. Or right dress, if it weren't so hideously expensive. Will take it back next week and use the cash to take my bro to Hakkasan. Money better spent.
Oh, and the last words of the title? The dress below? Wrong dress. Or right dress, if it weren't so hideously expensive. Will take it back next week and use the cash to take my bro to Hakkasan. Money better spent.
Sunday 22 March 2009
Wrong park, right dress
So, there were daffodils. Quite a few of them. Yellow and white. And deckchairs, so I read in the sun for a while. I didn't quite get though why Zoe thought the daffodils in St James Park were so great. Only upon leaving the park, I'd realised I'd gone to Green Park.... To the left of Buckingham Palace, where I should've gone to the right for St James Park. I'd only been there once before, and hadn't noticed. So St James Park's daffodils are still on my to do list.
As Green Park is close to Oxford Street, I decided to pop into Boots and House of Fraser. The Karen Millen dress I'd had my eyes on for weeks was still there, so I tried it on and it fitted like a glove. I must by now own 15 dresses or whatever. Way more than in, say, the previous 20 years of my live all together. Dresses rock.
Saturday 21 March 2009
Still spring
It's still spring. Only I can't enjoy it properly. My new project is at a big investment bank that went bust in September, and working for the administrator means much pressure, long hours, much politics and many deadlines. I managed to get a quick run and a yoga class in but other than that it was a week full of work. But by Friday 4pm I'd met my target for the week. So there was time for me and Zoe to have a cheap and cheerful Italian dinner in South Kensington before heading to the Royal Albert Hall for a classical concert. Really enjoyed it, even got the hang of singing Rule, Brittania and Land of Hope and Glory.
But back to spring. I can see spring out of the window of the 24th floor I work on. I can actually see the whole of London and the next counties on a clear day. Which when the sky is blue looks very springy. Zoe mentioned the thousands of daffodils in St James Park, so I might get my camera and do a London-in-spring arvo tomorrow. Today I just rest. My head was spinning last night and it won't have been the one glass of red. Will go for a run, do a bit of work that needs done by Monday morning and will watch all three ruggers matches, hoping for Ireland to win its well deserved grand slam. And that's all. Balcony doors are opened to give me the smell of spring without leaving my couch. Sun and longer days, the best thing in the world.
But back to spring. I can see spring out of the window of the 24th floor I work on. I can actually see the whole of London and the next counties on a clear day. Which when the sky is blue looks very springy. Zoe mentioned the thousands of daffodils in St James Park, so I might get my camera and do a London-in-spring arvo tomorrow. Today I just rest. My head was spinning last night and it won't have been the one glass of red. Will go for a run, do a bit of work that needs done by Monday morning and will watch all three ruggers matches, hoping for Ireland to win its well deserved grand slam. And that's all. Balcony doors are opened to give me the smell of spring without leaving my couch. Sun and longer days, the best thing in the world.
Sunday 15 March 2009
Sas is diggin' the spring
A house full of daffodils, blue sky, balcony door open, run along the Thames and shopping in leggings, t-shirt and flip flops (the latter I also wore on X-mas eve but I got fewer weird looks this time). It's spring and I'm loving it.
Now if only England could beat France in Twickenham in the next hour and a half, then life would be even better. Not that I have stopped being an ABE supporter. But I dislike the frogs even more and an England win would be good for Ireland. Ah, Six Nations, gotta love it!
Now if only England could beat France in Twickenham in the next hour and a half, then life would be even better. Not that I have stopped being an ABE supporter. But I dislike the frogs even more and an England win would be good for Ireland. Ah, Six Nations, gotta love it!
Wednesday 11 March 2009
Saturday 7 March 2009
A lovely day in East London
Just what the doctor ordered. After a hellish work week, today was all about relaxation. Work friend Julia, her friend from Sing, and I spent the whole day doing fun things. A guided tour from Canary Wharf to Limehouse. Eating perfect roast duck at Four Seasons in Bayswater, followed by coffee at Monmouth at Borough Market. Great company, great weather, a great day.
Thursday 5 March 2009
Beetje druk
Work, eat sleep. Work, eat sleep. Work, eat, sleep. Two weeks straight. Trying to stay clear from having to work this weekend. Man, I would so resign if my life was always like this. The upside? Working with a lovely actuary and learning absolute loads. But I'd be happy to get my life back. Sooner rather than later.
Saturday 28 February 2009
Hotel Saskia
One of the great things of living abroad, is having friends over, and spend more time with them than normally in the Dam. And Hotel Saskia is busy the coming months. A snapshot:
10-12 March, cousin Michiel and his gf
13-15 March, Mary
17-18 April, bro and gf
29 Apr - 2 May, colleague Jaap and gf
25-27 May, Sandra
And I am not only having friends over, I have some trips planned as well!
30 Apr - 4 May, Lisbon with Heather and Trangh
23-25 May, Copenhagen by myself
23 December - 15 January, Australia, visiting Ems and Caroline and hopefully a trip to Tassie with Ems
And those are only the foreign trips, excluding Amsterdam! On top of that, there are Oxford with Zoe in March, cricket in Kent with Remy and Nicole at the end of August, and a trip to York with Zoe somewhere in between. Something tells me my camera will be used a hell of a lot the coming months!!
10-12 March, cousin Michiel and his gf
13-15 March, Mary
17-18 April, bro and gf
29 Apr - 2 May, colleague Jaap and gf
25-27 May, Sandra
And I am not only having friends over, I have some trips planned as well!
30 Apr - 4 May, Lisbon with Heather and Trangh
23-25 May, Copenhagen by myself
23 December - 15 January, Australia, visiting Ems and Caroline and hopefully a trip to Tassie with Ems
And those are only the foreign trips, excluding Amsterdam! On top of that, there are Oxford with Zoe in March, cricket in Kent with Remy and Nicole at the end of August, and a trip to York with Zoe somewhere in between. Something tells me my camera will be used a hell of a lot the coming months!!
Monday 23 February 2009
A good day for film
British film that is. I have to admit, I haven't seen any of the succesful films. I salute Kate for her looks and style but have only ever seen her in one flick (no, not that one...Hideous Kinky it was). As for Slumdog - I read the book (Q&A), but haven't seen the film yet. Still, I feel pretty proud for the brits. Or maybe Europeans, as Penelope Cruz won a well deserved Oscar for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (at least she did for the first 50 minutes of so, after which the plane landed and the screen switched off). But I do not think anyone is as proud as the people in Garibnagar, the colony where the kids in Slumdog are from. How weird it must be, going from the slums to Hollywood and back to the slums. The photo shows the Garibnagarians (if that is a word) celebrating the Oscar win. A beautiful pic.
Sunday 22 February 2009
Fun packed weekend
Man, this weekend was awesome. Fri nite Chantal and I had dinner in a wee French place near Covent Garden that's been around for fifty years and where the staff speak french. It was a very early quick theatre menu as we were going to see ballet afterwards in the ROH. Seven Deadly sins with Martha Wainwright singing, Mats Ek's Carmen and the amazing Dance Grande Vitesse, that Chantal wasn't too fond off, but I had been watching with open mouth. Loved it. A quick glass of vino in the pub afterwards was all we could fit in before taking the last tube home.
Yesterday I went to Borough Market to buy some veg (and unplanned Turkish Delight, damn Cranberry stall staff) and orchids. A one km swim (44 laps) in the arvo was enough to knock me out for the night.
This morning I went to the gym in preparation of my four course lunch at Foliage, a michelin star resto in the Mandarin Hotel. Thanks to the credit crunch you can now get some amazing deals in those places. I had scallops, sole, john dory and a calvados with apple sorbet dessert. Small portions accompanied by beautiful wines and nice bread. Food heaven. Heather and I had dressed up for the occasion, Trang had kinda missed the type of resto. Lucky girl still looks amazing in a garbage bag I'm sure so no frowning wait staff. Just a beautiful afternoon, great food, great convo, and great views of Hyde Park. Reality is going to kick in hard tomorrow!
Yesterday I went to Borough Market to buy some veg (and unplanned Turkish Delight, damn Cranberry stall staff) and orchids. A one km swim (44 laps) in the arvo was enough to knock me out for the night.
This morning I went to the gym in preparation of my four course lunch at Foliage, a michelin star resto in the Mandarin Hotel. Thanks to the credit crunch you can now get some amazing deals in those places. I had scallops, sole, john dory and a calvados with apple sorbet dessert. Small portions accompanied by beautiful wines and nice bread. Food heaven. Heather and I had dressed up for the occasion, Trang had kinda missed the type of resto. Lucky girl still looks amazing in a garbage bag I'm sure so no frowning wait staff. Just a beautiful afternoon, great food, great convo, and great views of Hyde Park. Reality is going to kick in hard tomorrow!
Friday 20 February 2009
Celebrity
Jade Goody is dying of cancer. She's only 28 so it's very sad, especially as she leaves two young kids behind. And loads of women started taking their smear tests since her illness was announced, which is good of course. Jade is all over the news, and tries to make as much money out of her illness, upcoming wedding, and the christening of her sons. Good on her she can provide the kids with some money for their future.
The one thing I do not get though, is why people find her even remotely interesting. She was on Big Brother 3, than proved a racist in Celebrity Big Brother, and isn't known for anything she is good at other than being famous. The English seem just obsessed with celebrities. Some of them can actually sing, act, model, or present. But some others are just fampous for being famous. A concept very, very alien to me.
The one thing I do not get though, is why people find her even remotely interesting. She was on Big Brother 3, than proved a racist in Celebrity Big Brother, and isn't known for anything she is good at other than being famous. The English seem just obsessed with celebrities. Some of them can actually sing, act, model, or present. But some others are just fampous for being famous. A concept very, very alien to me.
Saturday 14 February 2009
Confessions of a shopaholic
Right. I spent four or five hours in Soho today. Saw loooooooads of little shops and bought three vests at Sweaty Betty, a body scrub at Liberty's (designer clothes heaven, omg, but not quite for my wallet), and multigrain bread at Wholefoods. Then I got home and bought new trainers (the current ones are about seven years past their use by date), gym shorts and socks at Sweaty Betty online, a camera tripod at some Bristol camerashop and a Vanity Fair subscription. Nothing extravagant but adding it all up, that's a serious day of shopping....
Wednesday 11 February 2009
Organised
I am not the most organised person in the world. Plane and concert tickets are about as much as I can handle in the organised department. And work if I am lucky. My friends are a bit better tho. Two weeks ago Chantal sent me the link for the ballot of the Leeds test. Monday nite I went out with Zoe, who had entered the Wimbledon ballot and asked if I wanted to come if she got tickets. And yesterday's Chantal's ex Mark, who I also consider a friend, emailed me to ask if I knew the Lord's ballot had opened. So....with a bit of luck Zoe gets me into Wimbledon, and I get some cricket tix. And Mark's mate Hodge is even so organised that he sent an email to the MCC (the cricket club that hosts the Lord's test match), quoting our order numbers, and asking if we could be sat together if we got tickets. Now that is organised. For that alone, I think we deserve to get tickets.
Monday 9 February 2009
Home?
For the first time since I moved here and spent a few days in the Dam, it didn't feel like home anymore. I noticed how grumpy I got when trying to get some information on how to get to Arena from Schiphol - an almost impossible task, and so completely different from the service I have become used to. Hearing Dutch was weird, as was grabbing lunch on the go on Saturday. Being spoilt with Pret and cheap sushi bars, I felt a bit lost.
Then again, seeing my close friends, made me realise that the basics haven't changed. I still love them to bits and know those feelings are mutual. When sitting around the table in cafe De Jaren, I looked at the friends I have known for 8 to 15 years and knew we could well be sitting in that same setting again years from now, and the basis would be as strong. Mary, Martin and Elena are friends of more recent times, but the strong bond of friendship I feel, is the same.
But it is weird. I always thought Amsterdam would never cease to feel like home. This weekend, it were the people he made me come home - not the city, despite its beauty and vibrance.
Then again, seeing my close friends, made me realise that the basics haven't changed. I still love them to bits and know those feelings are mutual. When sitting around the table in cafe De Jaren, I looked at the friends I have known for 8 to 15 years and knew we could well be sitting in that same setting again years from now, and the basis would be as strong. Mary, Martin and Elena are friends of more recent times, but the strong bond of friendship I feel, is the same.
But it is weird. I always thought Amsterdam would never cease to feel like home. This weekend, it were the people he made me come home - not the city, despite its beauty and vibrance.
Monday 2 February 2009
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
When I was holidaying in Asia I was secretly gutted I missed all the winter fun and frozen canals. And I hoped to get some winter days after coming back. Well, I did. The weekend was crispy cold and Saturday was very sunny. I went to Broadway Market (a bit like Noordermarkt) and bought organic kale and chipolatas to make stampot boerenkool at night. How enjoyable it is to have a coffee in the cold winter sun. Yesterday, it was red wine in the pub watching the footy, getting nice and warm knowing it is snowing outside. Today there is so much snow in London that the buses aren't running, the tubes are partly suspended and my bike (that has been on the balcony since I moved in) is covered in snow. My mate Sat couldn't get home from City last nite and will try again from Heathrow this morning, but that might be challenging as well as a runway is closed. Let's see what the rest of today has in store. One thing's for sure: I'm not going anywhere that I can't walk to!
Thursday 29 January 2009
Bye bye purse
My purse got nicked last Saturday. While I was immersed in Q&A (the fantastic book Slumdog Millionaire was based on) and enjoying my cuppa, someone must have lifted it out of my bag. In a quiet Coffee Republic on Queensway. Bastards. The costs of replacing everything are bad the enough, but my, the hassle. My Dutch driver's license seems to have to be replaced by a UK one now. I called the Mets who took my statement and promised the 'investigating officer' (sounds very The Bill) would call me back this week. Which of course he hasn't. I am waiting for a new Amex and new debit card - living off borrowed money in the meantime. The easy thing was to replace all my company cards. Waterstones, Tesco, the hairdresser, the gym, all easy. And fast. And with friendly emails. Waterstones sent me a mail saying the were sorry to hear my purse had been misplaced. Misplaced? Stolen!! Bloody english understatement. Anyway. I hope this is a once in a lifetime experience. And next time I will be reading a great book in a coffee shop, I will make sure it'll be one of the type where everyone is too stoned to even consider nicking my stuff.
Friday 23 January 2009
Vouchers
Before I moved here, I thought Americans had a voucher-loving-monopoly. Boy, was I wrong. Vouchers for resto's, for books, for sports clothes, for cinema, for god knows what. Boots and Tesco occasionaly send me vouchers in the mail for discounts on bread, magazines, hair straighteners and what have you. I tend to put them in my wallet, only to throw them out two months after expiry date. Vouchers are clearly not in my system. Signing up for the newsletter of a nearby spa entitled me to a £10 facial. Using a bloody voucher. So the thing is in my bag now, and knowing myself, I will probably show up at the spa on the day of the appointment with another handbag and no voucher. Luckily some of my colleagues and friends are more voucher-clever. So my lunch with a colleague at Dim-T on Wednesday turned out to be cheap, and dinner with Zoe soon will be at a voucher-resto as well. Credit crunch dining and shopping.
Thursday 22 January 2009
Food
The english can be quite obsessed by food at times. And they do great 'behind the scenes' shows (a bit like Dutch Keuringsdienst van Waarde I guess). Today I was watching a program at channel 4 about cheap food, mainly meat and poultry. Now years ago I decided I'd rather eat a small piece of proper meat or poultry twice a week than cheap stuff every day. And man, this program was a reminder of why I do that. The amount of junk that you find in cheap meat. Disgusting. Heston Blumental made good use of his cooking skills by injecting water in chicken breast. And hey ho, the chicken breasts looked exactly like the normal supermarket ones. The amount of sausages on the market with hardly any meat, apple pies with less than 10% apple... Thanks but no thanks. I'll just eat less but I'll eat the real stuff. Well, that, or whatever sausages and meat balls Pret uses in their soups. You can't always be a food snob!
Sunday 18 January 2009
Lovely piece of journalism
A black couple travels to DC, 60 years after their honeymoon, when it was still a segregated city.
Sunday 11 January 2009
Hotel heaven
My god. This place is amazing. From the check in experience, to the gorgeous hotel room and the pools by the beach. Three days of deckchair heaven. Everything smells nice, and looks pretty, and is just lovely. All I hear are birds and crickets, and all I see is blue sea, yellow sand, green surroundings and dark brown wooden buildings. I have a few books to get me through the next few days, and that will be all I need. No tours, no sight seeing, just beach, pool, food, cocktails and books. A dog's life.
Saturday 10 January 2009
Last day in Hong Kong
A week has gone by! I have checked in for my flight, and will be out of here in 12 hours. In the past few days, I saw Venus Williams whip Jelena Jankovic' ass in Victoria Park, I admired the world's biggest outdoor bronze buddha, took a cable car on Lantau Island (where the buddha was) and ate at the vegetarian restaurant of the nearby monastry. Lost count of the amount of photos I took, but there are many, many, on my three memory cards. I am now sitting in a western cafe where I have been getting my morning lattes the past days. Two internet terminals here allow me to update my blog, read my mail, and all that. In a few hours, I will check in my luggage at Central Station, so I won't have to do that at the airport anymore. How convenient. Then it's a last long lunch in Soho. Short nite tonite, before flying to Krabi tomorrow morning. From 16 degrees to 30 degrees!!
Wednesday 7 January 2009
Hello from Macau
Though my intention was to go to Macau yesterday, showing up at a border without a passport somehow doesn't fly, so managed to bring it along today and board a ferry this morning. An hour and several passport stamps later, I was in Macau. Ｗｈａｔ ａｎ ａｍａｚｉｎｇ ｍｉｘ ｏｆ Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ ａｎｄ Ｐｏｒｔｕｇｕｅｓｅ． Ｉ ｋｅｅｐ ｇｅｔｔｉｎｇ ｃｏｎｆｕｓｅｄ ａｂｏｕｔ ｗｈｅｒｅ Ｉ ａｍ． Ａｎｄ ｔｈｉｓ ＰＣ ｋｅｅｐｓ ｇｅｔｔｉｎｇ ｃｏｎｆｕｓｅｄ ａｂｏｕｔ ｆｏｎｔ ｓｉｚｅｓ．．． Ｓｏｒｒｙ ｆｏｒ ｔｈａｔ （ａｎｄ ｆｏｒ ｔｈｅ ｔｙｐｏｓ， Ｉ ｃａｎ ｂａｒｅｌｙ ｒｅａｄ ｔｈｅ ｓｃｒｅｅｎ）． Ｆｅｌｌ ｉｎ ｌｏｖｅ ｗｉｔｈ ａ ｒｏｏｍ ｄｉｖｉｄｅｒ， ｔｈａｎ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｌｏｏｋ ｆａｂ ｉｎ ｍｙ Ａｍｓｔｅｒｄａｍ ｐａｄ． Ｔｈｅ ｓａｌｅｓ ｌａｄｙ ｓａｉｄ ｉｔ ｍｉｇｈｔ ｂｅ ｇｏｎｅ ｂｙ ｔｈｅ ｔｉｍｅ Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｒｅｔｕｒｎｅｄ ｔｈｅｒｅ． Ｄ’ｏｈ． Ｈａｖｅｎ’ｔ ｔｈｅ ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ ｉｎｖｅｎｔｅｄ ｃｏｐｙｉｎｇ？ Ｓｏ ｗｉｔｈ ａ ｐｉｃ ａｎｄ ａ ｂｕｓｉｎｅｓｓ ｃａｒｄ Ｉ ｌｅｆｔ ｔｈｅ ｓｈｏｐ， ｔｈｉｎｋｉｎｇ Ｉ ｍｉｇｈｔ ａｓｋ ｔｈｅｍ ｔｏ ｒｅｍａｋｅ ｔｈｅ ｔｈｉｎｇ ａｔ ｓｏｍｅ ｐｏｉｎｔ． Ｍｏｓｔ ｒｅｍａｒｋａｂｌｅ ｓｔｒｅｅｔ ｓｏ ｆａｒ： ａ ｌｉｔｔｌｅ ｏｎｅ ｏｆｆ ｔｈｅ ｍａｉｎ Ｃａｔｈｅｄｒａｌ ｗｈｅｒｅ ｅｖｅｒｙ ｓｈｏｐ ｓｅｌｌｓ ａｌｍｏｎｄ ｃｏｏｋｉｅｓ （ｙｕｍ） ａｎｄ ｄｒｉｅｄ ｍｅｅｔ ｌｅａｆｌｅｔｓ ｏｆ ａｌｌ ｓｏｒｔｓ ｏｆ ａｎｉｍａｌｓ （ｙｕｋ）． Ｗｈａｔ ａ ｓｔｒａｎｇｅ ｃｏｍｂｉｎａｔｉｏｎ． Ｏｆｆ ｆｏｒ ｓｏｍｅ ｐｏｒｔｕｇｕｅｓｅ ｓｅａｆｏｏｄ ｓｏｕｐ ｎｏｗ． Ｃｉａｏ！
Monday 5 January 2009
Hong Kong
Day three. What a crazy city. So much to see and do. Went to the Peak on Saturday, from where you have an amazing view of the city, and there is a nice walk around. Loads of expats walking their dogs and loads of joggers. My brekkies so far have been in Soho, a bit like its namesake in London. Once my library internet slot is gone (seriously, I haven't seen a single internet cafe in this place, surely they must exist, but well hidden), will head there again for some nice bread rolls at the Real Bread Cafe.
My hotel is in the west of Hong Kong Island, I am pretty much the only white person around there. Great for seeing proper Hong Kong life, not so great for food. If you're not a bit meat eater like myself, there is very little choice. They just don't do vegetarian and after some very dodgy fatty chicken dishes I have resorted to the golden arches or two minute noodles from the 7-11.
Yesterday was a gorgeous day and I headed off to one of the nearby islands: Lamma. The Schiermonikoog of Hong Kong (as in: no cars and many weekenders). Loads of photograping, 1.5 hour of walking and some well deserved chocolate ice cream at the pier waiting for the next ferry to HK Island.
My nights are spent reading and watching BBC World. Hong Kong doesn't seem to have a great backpacker / solo traveller scene, but I quite enjoy the tranquility of my hotel room at night. And with a view of the harbour from the 12th floor, that is not such a bad place to be.
I am amazed at how expensive Hong Kong is. Camera equipment, clothes, food, it is all so incredibly expensive! Had the pound not taken a nosedive in the last few months it may have been ok, but now....shocking. Only public transport is cheap. Ah well, for eight days it's all right. Just no shopping! That wide angle lense I had my eyes on will have to wait till I am back in London.
My hotel is in the west of Hong Kong Island, I am pretty much the only white person around there. Great for seeing proper Hong Kong life, not so great for food. If you're not a bit meat eater like myself, there is very little choice. They just don't do vegetarian and after some very dodgy fatty chicken dishes I have resorted to the golden arches or two minute noodles from the 7-11.
Yesterday was a gorgeous day and I headed off to one of the nearby islands: Lamma. The Schiermonikoog of Hong Kong (as in: no cars and many weekenders). Loads of photograping, 1.5 hour of walking and some well deserved chocolate ice cream at the pier waiting for the next ferry to HK Island.
My nights are spent reading and watching BBC World. Hong Kong doesn't seem to have a great backpacker / solo traveller scene, but I quite enjoy the tranquility of my hotel room at night. And with a view of the harbour from the 12th floor, that is not such a bad place to be.
I am amazed at how expensive Hong Kong is. Camera equipment, clothes, food, it is all so incredibly expensive! Had the pound not taken a nosedive in the last few months it may have been ok, but now....shocking. Only public transport is cheap. Ah well, for eight days it's all right. Just no shopping! That wide angle lense I had my eyes on will have to wait till I am back in London.
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