A week in Sing

Even before one of my best friends had moved to Singapore, I'd already booked a flight to visit her and her family. So last week was spent in hot and humid Singapore, pretty much just when summer decided to show its face in the Netherlands as well.  Having caught sinusitus pretty much on the way to Sing, it turned out a very quiet week. Still, I had a lovely time seeing E, getting to know her kids better, and catching up with a few colleagues. I lost most but not all of my appetite, so still managed to eat some of the great food the city has to offer. Next stop: Vienna, in two weeks time.

Travel bug

After my hols down under it took me a while to get back into the swing of things in the Dam. But I think I got there. Spring so helps. My balcony is full of flowering plants. When I work from home, I can do so with the balcony doors wide open, surrounded by flowers. And my travel bug is back well and truly.

In the past week I booked a ticket to visit my friend Marianna in Vienna, and another one to visit my friend Lira in Boston and a bunch of Dutch, British, American, French and Australian friends in New York. This on top of the ticket to visit a friend in Singapore I booked last month. So....travel plans till end of September sorted. Although I might sneak in a trip to London soon as well.

Beautiful Amsterdam. After a tough week at work, I was so happy to go out and play on Saturday! Blue sky, not too cold, and a beautiful walk on the canals. First time I could do so since I moved to the Dam in '98. Loved how so many Dammers decided to sell mulled wine and hot choc in their stalls on the canal. One of those perfect days when everybody seems happy.

Auckland

Auckland harbour and its Princes Wharf, a photo by Gypsy Saskia on Flickr.

My last day in Auckland already. Time flies! Having a wonderful stay with the most amazing hosts. Brien and Lynn, whom I met in '98, have gone out of their way to give me a great time. Island trip, Parnell, Mission Bay, fancy supermarket (I am a foreign supermarket junkie), nice food all the time, just fantastic. Oh, and I should mention the wine. These people can drink! Great chance for me to try loads of beautiful kiwi wines.

Victoria for the win!

Banksie's ranch on the Peninsula, a photo by Gypsy Saskia on Flickr.

A quick lazy post before I go to New Zealand tomorrow. Victoria has been good to me! I stayed with friends in Carlton North and West Melbourne, made a trip to the Yarra Valley with Em and spent two wonderful days on my mate's ranch in the Mornington Peninsula. I've been to heaps of wineries and drank some great coffees! Boxing Day test was fun, even more so when we won. And I bought two pairs of shoes today (oops...).

Can't upload pics directly from my iPad but there are a few more on Flickr.

Melbourne!!

In about 48 hours I should touch down in Melbs. Fingers crossed I won't have a 60 hour delay like last time. I cannot wait to catch up with my dear friends, spend Christmas in my mate's pub, spend a few days in the G and drink loads of fantastic coffee. Oh, and sun. Sun is good. Woohoo!

London baby

Last weekend was my last weekend in London for 2011. And what a nice weekend it was. The city is so lovely when it's all Christmassy. I stayed with Melburnian friends in Notting Hill, which is an area I've only ever visited as a tourist or to go shopping. Staying there, and being out and about on Portobello Road when the shop owners are preparing for the crowds gave a whole different view of the area. I also finally made it to Primrose Hill, and enjoyed my Saturday morning walk there.

Other than endless walking I caught up with loads of work friends which made me realise once again how blessed I am with the people who have crossed my path in my three years there!

Gail's in Portobello Road before the tourists get there

Christmas music in Peter Jones on Sloane Square

My granola fix and some chocolate

A weekend in Toulouse



French autumn leaves

As I hadn't seen my cousin and his wonderful family in ages, I decided to visit them in Toulouse mid November. My Dutch cousin and his German wife and their three kids moved there last year from Hamburg. A recipe for linguistical confusion and for a relaxed weekend.

The fact that it was 18-20 degrees was just a bonus, 'cause even in rain and thunder I'd have had a blast. I totally fell in love with my little cousins, aged 3ish, 5ish and almost eight. They were so much fun, and it's so cool to see my cousin in them. The oldest turned out to be a great interpreter (and peace keeper for that matter) which was very useful as my German is rubbish and the wee one doesn't speak Dutch yet. Over the weekend I navigated between Dutch, broken German and even more broken French. 

So Toulouse....the biggest ancient city centre in Europe if I remember well. A massive cathedral. Loads of cool shops that I didn't visit. And quite some tea shops, so I had to sample a caffé gourmet in one of them. It's a good thing I don't often have time to eat properly during the week as the goodies that were the 'gourmet' probably counted for a full day's calories. Delicious.  

On Saturday we made a day trip to Auch, in the mid Pyrenees. A cute cobble stoned town, where the little one did a Marilyn Monroe on a wind machine for about ten minutes, much to the entertainment of other tourists.  And of course my trips abroad aren't complete without a visit to the local supermarket and markets. The Tournefeuille Carrefour and Sunday market saw to that.

And that was it in terms of 2011 weekend trips. The next trip is a biggie: to Melbourne in four weeks!



My two little helpers





Best place ever for a tea break



Holidays

The main goal of my trip to DC, Seattle and NY was to visit friends and family. Second came the bakeries in Seattle (seriously justifies trip to west coast) and third came shopping.

To start with the latter: I had a few things I wanted to buy, which I did: a white iPad, Tory Burch flats, a Marc by Marc Jacobs handbag in a light colour, and books from Kramer's. I managed to get all that, plus picked up a nice DKNY workdress and jacket for the price of Warehouse stuff in the UK. All good, and the iPad has already become an addiction. What a fantastic way to read the papers in small spaces (like airplanes) or when abroad.

Seattle's bakeries were ace. And I managed to find the best sticky bun at Amy's Bakery in The Village in New York. That said, it is a good thing we don't have these bakeries in London, it would easily add a few inches to my waistline.

And friends and family? I had the best of times with them. Spent my days in DC with my bro and his colleagues mostly, and saw Ajax visit the White House and beat DC United. In Seattle I got to meet my friends' youngest, a brilliant kid named Ruby. We did so much I happily refer to my friend's blog for the list. She forgot to mention my highlight though, which was dinner at her parents'. Such wonderful people, and her dad made the best chowder EVER. In New York I browsed the streets of Soho and The Village, and visited the Guggenheim. That plus two playgrounds, as these friends also have two wee ones. Soho playgrounds are full of yummy mummies I noticed, some of whom were definitely models in their previous lives.

So there we go. Back in London after the best of times. Awfully jetlagged, and slightly in denial of the fact my days in London are almost over.

A day trip to the coast

Beach huts from behind, a photo by Gypsy Saskia on Flickr.

When friend Sandra emailed me she'd like to get out of town when next visiting me, I thought that was a brilliant idea. When I realised the CWC final wasn't in March but on the 2nd of April, the brilliance was lost on me. So we agreed if Australia would make it to the final, we'd watch the match. If not, we'd go to Whitstable. And Whitstable it was... Though dubbed 'Islington on Sea', I wouldn't have heard of it if my bro hadn't sent me a NYT article two years ago about this coastal town in Kent. It looked pretty and was known for its seafood. Sold. So off we went. Sun, a nice train ride (d*^khead ticket dude at St Pancras more than made up for by the sweetest ticket lady on the train), the sea, seafood and a close friend. Ingredients to a perfect day.

A week in the Algarve

Albufeira beach
Originally uploaded by Gypsy Saskia

When we booked it back in October, all we hoped for was that the Algarve in this time of year would be sunny. Temperature wouldn't matter, just sun on our skins please. And that's what we got. A week of sun and never more clouds than the ones in the pic. Friend Ilse and I have a very healthy looking tan, and stocked up on vitamin D.

Our little Fiat Punto took us from west to east, and even into Andalucia for a few hours. The Algarve is beautiful this time of year. Citrus fruits everywhere and some blooming trees already. And, big plus, hardly any tourists. Ok, we spotted about 4 under the age of 40, but the senior Dutch, Germans and Poms seemed to have mostly stuck to golf resorts. I imagine the Algarve in July/August must be hell.

There was a drawback to this peace and quiet tho.... Few restaurants were opened. And we both like our food. I'd made a shortlist based on Tripadvisor but the top two were closed, as were many others. Which led us to some interesting experiences:

There was a place we referred to as Nicola (which seemed to be similar to referring to an Amsterdam bar as Heineken), where we ate twice. In the tourist heart of the city, but incredibly friendly, and properly home made food. On the first night, the owner apologised it had taken so long, as they hadn't pre-prepared anything because of low volumes. Little did we carre, the chicken peri peri had been delicious, the service homey, and the port good.

The next day we went to a place where even the Brazilian waiter spoke some Dutch ('portje van de huis?'). We were tired and hungry so had decided not to look further. Dickhead slimey Dutch waiter clearly didn't like us any more after I concluded, passive-agressive mastered to perfection, that his sauces weren't home made (Ilse asked for an ingredient to be left out, which couldn't be done). His response that 'we can't do that in a busy restaurant like this' made me burst out laughing.

The place where we went the last night was cute and frequented by locals. Nice owner, menu not in Dutch, good food. And Grolsch beer. Or hold on, the Grolsch bottle didn't contain beer. The four locals next to us drank something like homemade grappa from it and offered us some too. With a dried fig. I love grappa, but hell, this was strong. Ilse didn't finish it, and the owner happily polished hers off. A gezellig experience.

One resto we were very keen to visit, was open thank god. Henrique Leis, in Almancil. As we both wanted to drink, we opted for a bus and taxi combo. Good decision, as we gave the sommelier carte blanche for our wine flight and he sure as hell did his job! A seven course tasting menu with three glasses of different Portuguese wines was amazing. Scallops, crayfish, quail, steak, a never ending food heaven. What a joy.

And now after a week of monkfish and seafood cataplane, chicken piri piri, vino verde and grilled sardines, it's back to healthy homecooked meals in London. With my new cookbook (Ottolenghi's Plenty) as inspiration!

2010

Amsterdam canal in winter
Originally uploaded by Gypsy Saskia

I yelled at the tele, fists clenched, and shed a tear when Sven Kramer missed Gold due to a miscommunication with his coach. I felt even more sorry for Kemkers than I did for Kramer. For the WC final I bought an excruciatingly expensive ticket to the Dam. In complete silence I watched the last few minutes in Cafe Tapmarin. It took some time before my colleagues stopped commenting on De Jong's talent for karate. And the Ashes? Don't get me started.... Not a great year for sports, 2010.

Hours were spent on twitter and news websites, trying to keep up to date with the world of politics. British elections, followed by Dutch elections (and don't forget the Australian). A slightly trolleyed Simon Schama on the BBC, a massive applause for Femke Halsema on politiek24.nl. An unusual coalition cabinet here, an unusual minority cabinet in Holland. The Christian Democrats and UK Labour congresses I watched on Twitter and the BBC streaming, both from my bed in Langkawi, Malaysia. Fascinated by the changes in the political landscapes.

Alexander (Lee) McQueens death shocked me. So young, so talented. Mulisch' death came as less of a surprise, especially after an overeager Dutch ceefax journo released the news way before it was meant to be shared with the world. Hanses Dijkstal and Van Mierlo, Miep Gies, Jan Blokker, Leslie Nielsen. The world lost a lot of special people.

And then there were Wikileaks, the miners, The Engagement, the iPad. Things that dominated the news for part of 2010. And of course the ash cloud of the vulcano with the name I cannot pronounce. The fecker was responsible for me not seeing my bro for a whole year, as we were supposed to meet in Holland that week and only he made it. Haiti, Aung San Suu Kyi, bad and good news throughout the year.

When my LinkedIn travel stat told me I'd visited nine countries this year, I figured it must be a mistake. But it wasn't. I made about 17 trips in 2010, only 3 of which were for work. The joys of living in Britain, tickets are relatively cheap and choice is plenty. I visited friends in Vienna, Melbourne, Singapore and Barcelona. Made several trips to the Dam and discovered Malaysia.

Also, 2010 was the year I decided to return back to Holland in 2011, for at least 2 years. The picture at the top of this piece is to remind myself that Amsterdam isn't so bad. That said, it's been a difficult choice. If work weren't a factor, I'd stay here but as things are...the best job for me in the near future will be in the Dam.

And finally, I turned into a bit of a shopaholic this year. I buy less but better stuff and spend hours online scavenging for it on sites such as mywardrobe.com, netaporter.com and theoutnet.com. All of a sudden my wardrobe contains Vivienne Westwood, Nicole Farhi, Missoni, Jil Sander and Marc Jacobs. The northener in me makes sure to buy these things in the sale, but still...I have definitely been Londified.

But the most important? 2010 was another year without deaths and illnesses, with the exception of one of my bosses. He has leukemia and is constantly in my mind. It's a blessing to not have lost anyone dear, to be healthy and know that the people that matter most are too. And that made 2010 a great year. No trips or handbags could ever compensate for that.

A weekend in York

River Foss
Originally uploaded by Gypsy Saskia

Knowing I have (much!) less than a year left in Old Blighty, I am determined to make the most of it. And that includes venturing out of London every now and then. Last weekend, friend Ilse and I boarded a northbound train, and were in York in two hours.

There are three distinct facts about York. 1. It's very pretty. 2. People speak funny. ;-) 3. Girls on Saturday night wear no clothes. Or hardly any. They do wear ridiculously high heels.

On 3: I don't quite get it. If you wear virtually no clothes, you will have to empty a Wetherspoon's supply of booze to stay warm in November. That doesn't quite match with the enormous heels tho, let alone on the cobbled streets. So this is a bit of a mystery to me.

Anyway. York was lovely. Pretty little streets with little shops. Nice food. Friendly people. Ilse and I both beeing foodies, we made sure to eat very well. Nineteen was a Yorkshire restaurant, with interesting dishes. Cosy and delish. The Blue Bicycle used to be a brothel, and came recommended by a work friend. Best resto in York apparently, which meant we could only get a lunch booking. So Saturday arvo was spent eating lovely food and sipping prosecco, cab sauv and tawny port. Dinner was a simple pasta while we watched the locals. Sunday lunch was afternoon tea at Betty's tearooms, including the obligatory Carpenters played by a pianist. It was lovely though in all its oldfashionedness (is that a word?).

Next UK trip: Edinburgh in two weeks time. Yeah!

Langkawi in pics

My home for the week

Pondok Keladi guesthouse
Originally uploaded by Gypsy Saskia

Pondok Keladi. My home away from home on Langkawi. It's a six bedroom guesthouse, owned by a Eurasian couple, surrounded by palm trees and rice fields. Four dogs and a cat live at the guesthouse, hens, roosters, cows, monkeys, squirrels, and what sounds like crickets and frogs share the area. For my week of doing bugger all but eat, read and explore a bit, this is just perfect.

In about 25 mins I am on the main drag, where all the restos and mini marts are. Loads of seafood and some very nice western salads. It's low season, which probably explains why quite a few places are closed. Still enough tourists tho to keep it lively. Tourists from everywhere. I hear a lot of Russian, German and Australian but also a lot of languages I do not know.

This being a predominantly moslim island, it is the first time I find myself surrounded by tourists in chadors (excluding the Arab invasion of London in summer). Quite a lot of them too. Several resorts list prayer rooms as one of their selling points. At the end of the little road that leads to my guesthouse, a mosque calls for prayer five times a day. Your regular ham and bacon have been substituted by turkey ham and beef bacon everywhere I have been so far. Some of the mini marts sell beer, but I haven't seen wine or anything stronger outside the duty free shop (which is also on the main road). It's a funny thing to see the women in chadors sitting on a beach next to scantily clad Russian women in full make up. But at the same time, it's good to see that with a bit of give and take, this beautiful island can be appreciated by all.

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Fish on its way
Originally uploaded by Gypsy Saskia

The second destination of my trip. Sabah is the non-independent Malaysian part of Borneo. Famous for its mountain and orangutans. Neither of which I will see. Well, technically I saw two orangutans in the wild park, but the area where you can see them in the wild is too far away. And the famous mountain? Would love to do that another time but I didn't plan enough time here to climb it. Not having done my research, I figured it'd be a day trip rather than an overnighter. So there are two reasons to come back!

Having a brill time still. Malaysia is wonderfully diverse. KK is very different from KL, it's nowhere near as big and not very pretty. However, the street of my hotel is quite nice and the resto's by the shore have a lovely view. The pic in this blog I took at the place where the fishermen's boats dock. Catch of the day was sent to the restaurants it seemed. Next to it, is the most amazing fish market I have ever seen. The fish is so simply but nicely presented and the colours of some of the fish were quite something. Also close by was the night market where the same fish, now grilled, seemed to be on display. I happily snapped along with my camera, after asking permission from all of the fish sellers.

As I did want to see some indigenous wildlife while here, I went to a Wild Life park today. By taxi which seems to be how one gets around here (backpackers who are roughing it excluded). Very few buses and no other public transport. Having lived in the city with the world's most expensive taxis (Amstie), this felt truly weird. Weird but very convenient. The park was very well done. Loads of animals, and loads of space for them. I skillfully avoided the 100 or so school kids most of the time, and had a lovely morning walking around and taking pics. The monkeys and otters kept me entertained for quite some time.

And back in the hotel now after an early dinner. Not quite the Sheraton but at 16 squid a night it's great. Superfriendly staff, a comfy bed and decent shower. Free bottles of water and cups of tea are gratefully accepted. Next door is a supermarket that seems to cater for expats and affluent locals. They even sell King Island , which is an amzing cheese brand from an island near Tassie and not that easy to get even in Australia. Very weird. I embraced my inner Australian by buying Arnott's shapes and a women's magazine but decided to give the cheese a miss. Not very handy when travelling.

Summer in London

Tower Bridge
Originally uploaded by Gypsy Saskia

Summer in London can be Wimbledon, cricket, parks. But it's also walking along the Thames after work, passing BBQs that resto's set up, Italian al fresco dinner by the water. And on the way back, loads of locals and tourists hanging out by the river as if it were a boulevard.

That was last night for me. And when walking to the tube station, Tower Bridge just opened, the light was just beautiful and I embraced London once again.

My Tour Des Pays Bas

Beautiful east of NL
Originally uploaded by Gypsy Saskia

As I was spending fewer than 48 hours in the country, I decided to make the absolute most of my trip home this weekend. And I was quite impressed especially by how much one can fit into a single Saturday. By public transport mostly.

From the Amsterdam Transvaalbuurt, I went to Utrecht. Ran a few errands, got Martin Bril's Rokjesdag (he was a famous Dutch columnist who was intrigued by the phenomenon of the first day every year that so many women start wearing skirts - rokjes), ate a very Dutch sandwich and took a train to Apeldoorn. And then Voorst-Empe. Voorst-Empe is on the coolest trainline ever. A one track boemeltje between Apeldoorn and Zutphen. Cute as. Met the parents, drove to my nan who lives there, and had lunch. That was three provinces already. I took the boemeltje to Zutphen, where I changed trains to Arnhem. It's a good thing living in London changes your perception of distance. As long as I have a book on my, I find it totally normal these days to travel for almost an hour to go for dinner or meet a friend. Anyway. Arnhem. I had 1,5 hours spare before meeting a friend and driving to Den Haag with her. It was sunny and I was thirsty (day two of a three day mild hangover), so a drink and walk in Park Sonsbeek seemed the appropriate thing to do. Then Den Haag. Dinner with old work friends, in a lovely French-Asian restaurant in the Prinsenstraat. Fantastic food and a very decent sancerre. Quite late, I left province number five to head back to Amsterdam. Happy and tired.

London Fields

London lady
Originally uploaded by Gypsy Saskia

Just off London Fields is a small photo studio. I can't remember how I found out about it, but when I read about a one day camera workshop, I signed up. Friend Ilse decided to tag along, and so we found ourselves in Hackney on Saturday morning. It was an interesting mixture of people and experience. The course was good and structured, and provided me with quite a few tips and tricks

London Fields (that was partly cordoned off halfway through the day as a guy had been shot, and air ambulanced away) and Broadway Market are amongst the best places in London for people watching. I am not a great people photographer, so stuck to other themes. When the girl in the pic wasn't looking tho, I managed a quick shot. She's very Hackney, and I love the contrast with the older lady in the background. Need to go back on a shooting-free day to spend some more photo-time in London Fields.

Mozart

Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
Originally uploaded by Gypsy Saskia

As last weekend was already my fourth trip to Vienna to see my friend Mari, neither of us felt the need to do touristy stuff. Mari was keen to see a concert in the Musikverein, and so was I. I like classical concerts and to listen to Mozart in one of the world's most wellknown music halls seemed great. How wrong we were.

For a shocking €54 I managed to do the most touristy thing in Vienna so far. And that includes visiting the Christmas markets. At first, I was quite impressed. A lot of people had dressed up beautifully. There were women in saris, a woman in a gorgeous kimono, and a lot of heels and pretty LBDs. There was a grandfatherly old man in a suit and hat. It all seemed very smart. The hall is amazing, people were snapping for ages before the orchestra entered.

And when they entered, that was when M and I exchanged an 'oh my god' look. The whole lot of them were dressed in pastel coloured Mozart outfits . White wigs and all. They then proceeded to play a 'best of' set of Mozart's work. Occasionally accompanied by an opera singer in dirndl dress and a male singer in traditional costume. The old man with the hat was happily tapping away with his walking stick, while we tried not to laugh too audibly. Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse, the mail singer walked on stage with a caged bird on his back.

The orchestra and the singers were fine but man.....the both of us will remember this concert for very different reasons.

The pic to the left is of crap quality but gives an idea of the orchestra.